Blog Candy!

Hey everyone!

Claudia over on Pretty Pressings is giving away some gorgeous Sarah Kay stamps for blog candy! These are truly such sweet stamps so swing on by and check out her blog here for a chance to win these adorable images.

And whilst you're there, be sure to admire Claudia's inspirational work. Her cards and intricate detailing never cease to amaze and inspire me!

Hope you're all having a fabulous day. Not sure I'll get a chance to post a project today as I'm busy cleaning our lease vehicle to return it to the dealership tomorrow! My husband is on the road back from Toronto otherwise I'd be having him clean the car and not me, lol!!!

Take care and happy stamping!

Danielle x

40th Birthday Card

Hello there! Thanks for taking the time to stop by today. I've made a 40th Birthday Card for my brother for this posting. I really find making male cards quite challenging as you can't 'fluff' them up too much with ribbons, flowers and all things nice!! Now my brother is into golf in a big way but I wanted to stay away from that as I always make him a golf-themed card! So, I came up with this. It's very simple but I think it works. The dp is from an embossed set from K&Co - it adds some nice dimension to the card.

I wanted to make the card fun and play up the whole turning 40 thing. I love the frog image and I hope he gets a smile from it! The rest of the card is pretty straight forward - I paper-pierced the sides of the Happy Birthday panel to add some interest and used silver brads as the 'musculine' embellishment. The ribbon is a dollar store find. I used dimensionals on the frog on a red nestie circle which adds a great pop of colour to the card.

I hope you enjoy a fabulous Sunday! We are basking in unbelievably mild +8 temperatures and we are seeing green grass again! I'm sure it won't last for long though so I'm off out with a friend for some java and chit-chat!!

Hugs

Danielle x

Winter Wedding Card

Hi there! I hope you all had a wonderful christmas and have had time to relax and enjoy the holidays - maybe with time to ink up and create! Today's posting is a wedding card I've made for friends who are getting married in January. Unfortunately we can't make the wedding so I wanted to make a really special card for them to make up for not being there! The red and white comes from the colours of their wedding invitation so I thought this is probably their wedding party colours.

The white die cut flowers and metal embellishment "To Love and to Cherish" was part of the ribbon stash I received from Claudia - thanks so much Claudia - they were so perfect for this card! The designer paper is from Daisy D's which I ran through the sewing machine to create a frame. I stamped the hearts in versamark and embossed with platinum embossing powder. The stamp is from The Stamp Barn. I added a pearl to the center of each flower and a larger one either side of the heart on the ribbon. I thought a splash of brown ribbon would add some 'pop' to the card over the white organza ribbon. I like it - what do you think?

The inside of the card is way more than I normally do but I did want this to be an extra special card. I cuttlebug embossed the red panel with the d'vine swirls, added some white silk ribbon with red grosgrain over the top. The white card panel I edged with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and stamped the sentiment in black. The other inside panel I again edged with the Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and stamped the Love Is sentiment in black Memories. The heart stamp is a smaller version of the one I used on the main card. And there you have it! I am happy with the final result and I really hope my friends will like it and treasure their wedding day forever!

Enjoy the rest of your Boxing Day evening and I hope to be back again soon!

Hugs

Danielle x

Christmas Card Selection

Hi there!

So here is my final christmas card selection for the year! These are cards I've made for my friends who I'll see over the holidays. Nothing too special here as I needed to get through a dozen quite quickly! I kept the designs simple and duplicated a few too. I'm so happy they're all done - now I can work on some other projects during the holidays!

It seems as card makers we're already onto the next holiday before the current one is over! With that in mind, here I come with all the hearts and cupids for Valentine's Day!!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and many blessings for a happy and healthy 2009! I hope your christmas celebration with family is filled with joy and laughter - and of course I hope Santa fills up your stockings with all things crafty!!

Hugs

Danielle

Christmas Ornament Card

Hi everyone! Thanks for swinging by today and taking a look. I was finally able to get down to my craft room and ink up over the weekend. Oh boy have I missed my stamps these last few days! I hope we all stay healthy over the holidays so I can craft some more! This is an idea I cased from Rachel. I saw this on her blog a while ago and have been wanting to try one and haven't had time until now. It was a lot of fun and whilst it's meant to be a gift card holder, I just kept it plain inside and stamped a christmas message to use as a card. I like doing something original when it comes to card ideas so I hope my friends who receive this card like its originality!

Using the template taken from Papercrafts Magazine (where the original idea came from) I cut out the various pieces from green cardstock. I ran the top circle of the ornament through the cuttlebug swirls embossing folder, added some designer paper to the front and used a stamped image from Sunshine Designs to pop up on the top. I added a plain white ribbon bow to the ornament image.

For the bauble 'topper' I used the MS branch punch to hide the join line and add some extra detail. I used some dew drops (clear, green & cranberry) on the top, again to hide the glue line! I punched a hole and added some white ribbon to the top of the ornament. Whislt you would adhere a gift card to the plain white cardstock rectangle if you were making this a gift card holder, I just stamped a christmas message and will personalise the card before I send it off.

I hope you like it!

Hopefully I'll be back again soon with another posting - I want to make up for lost 'sick' time!!!

Hugs,

Danielle

Sick of being sick!!!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to say that I have no card posting for today as I'm still trying to get over my strep throat! With it being the last day of school before christmas holidays officially start, I am desperately trying to clean up the house. Partly because DH surprised me with a surprise dinner out tomorrow night and I need to have the house looking respectable for the babysitter, and of course hoping to be prepared for a weekend of stamping without having to worry about the house, lol!

For those of you already enjoying the snow day today, we are expecting 'said' storm to arrive here in Ottawa by Sunday. I hope we don't get too big of a dumping! At least the boys can be certain of plenty of white stuff to play in over the holidays!

Hopefully I'll be able to post some projects up in the next couple of days.

Have a great Friday and hope you don't get caught up in the madness of the last shopping weekend before Christmas!

Hugs,

Danielle

Edwin's Winter Ski Day!

Hi there,

Thanks for stopping by and visiting today! It's been a bit of a mad christmas rush the last couple of days but I think I'm almost done! Christmas cards are written and I started a family news blog to share with family and friends around the world. It takes the pressure off having to write and send so many cards and I decided to try and take an environmentally friendly option to printing out so many christmas letters!

Anyway, to my card posting. This is the adorable skiing Edwin image that my friend Lorraine sent me in the mail. I was very excited to use it with my tree stamp and I love the scene it created. To start, I sponged Faded Jeans Distress Ink onto the background watercolour paper, then stamped the tree image with Memories Black. I used tombow markers to colour in the trees and a bit of an unexpected technique happened when the blue ink blended beautifully with the green marker and created additional colour depth to the trees! You can see from the picture where I didn't ink the background and the trees are much lighter. Sometimes you think you're making a mistake where in fact wondrous things can happen!! :)

I used the Magnolia snowflake image and stamped with Pearlescent Beige ink. The trees and ground have lots of liquid applique with crystal stickles to make the 'snow' sparkle. The sentiment from Stampendous is stamped onto acetate and cut out. A clear drying glue adhered it to the card.

And there you have it! This close-up image is to show you the sparkle on the snow and the card from a slightly different angle.

Thanks for looking and I hope if you are a skiier, that you get the chance to enjoy the slopes this christmas time!

Hugs

Danielle x

Waiting for Christmas!

Hi there!

I'm just back in from my yoga class and ready for my day ahead! Today I'm posting this card which I've had all the elements made up and sitting on my desk for an age! Then my dear friend, Lorraine, sent me this cute this calendar stamp in the mail this year and BINGO! it was the final piece to the card puzzle! As soon as I put the calendar in the top left hand corner, the card came together perfectly and I can't tell you how much I love it! The background paper is plain blue which I watermarked with a snowflake stamp from Sunshine Designs (it's difficult to see in the photo). The trees are from Magnolia which I stamped on watercolour paper, coloured with tombow markers, spread liquid applique and sprinkled with silver glitter before heating and puffing it up. I cut them out which was quite time consuming but I love the final look. I machine stitched around the frame of the card to add some simple detail and used a christmas embellishment 'NOEL' on the corner of the calendar. I didn't use traditional christmas colours on this card but I love the tones of purple and blue hues. The calendar stamp is from Imaginisce.

Below is a picture of the inside of the card. Again, it's a little difficult to see but I watermarked a snowflake image in each corner.

Thanks for taking the time to look today! Your views are always so much appreciated.

Hugs,

Danielle

Christmas Joy!

Hello!

I'm still on my Magnolia drive and have had these couple of images coloured for a while and ready to use on a card. I love this image of giggling Tilda sitting on Santa's sack and the background paper was perfect to use with this.

The how-to of the card. I coloured Tilda using tombow markers and highlighted with the clear sakura gel pen to add some subtle sparkle. I adhered a strip of clear cream organza ribbon down the right hand side of the card and made a loop at the top to sit behind the JOY panel. I machine stitched a frame around the designer paper layer and the beige cardstock layer. I adhered silver brads in each corner of the card and finished off with two snowflakes punched from the MS punch on gold glittery cardstock. The Merry Christmas wish on the sack label is a tiny stamp from The Stamp Barn - so handy for little places like that!

I'm beginning to feel very attached to these Magnolia christmas cards I've made - I can't bear to part with them! I've put so much time and love into each one that for anyone who receives one must surely feel it! A new store in my town has just opened selling locally crafted goods and I'm so happy 'cos they took 14 of my christmas cards!!! Let's hope they all go to good homes :)

That's about all my blabbing for now. Have a great weekend, stay warm and healthy and happy stamping!

Hugs,

Danielle

A Very Merry Christmas Wish!

Hi all!

Well, we're still battling with sickness in the house. My poor little guy can't keep anything down - it breaks my heart to see him so sick :( I hope he can get over this quickly and be healthy for christmas.

I had the sweetest surprise in my mailbox yesterday. My lovely friend and incredible cardmaker, Lorraine sent me some stamped images of Edwin on skiis and a cool rocker dude, together with a clear calendar stamp. Thanks Lorraine, you're such a sweetheart and it couldn't have arrived at a better time after having such a tough week health wise!

So today I have a card I made at the weekend. This is the Tilda image where she is holding a bell but I cut the bell out and placed this stampendous stamp image in her hand instead. I really like how this turned out. The dp is from the Basic Grey Wassail pack of papers which I love. Instead of machine sewing a border I did faux stitching instead on each of the four corners. I haven't used my oval nesties for a while so I got those out and used that as a background focal point for Tilda. The prima flowers are white which I touched up with my tombow markers then added stickles for some sparkle. I adhered a little pearl inside each one. This card sat on my desk for a couple of days as the top right hand corner looked empty but I couldn't figure out what would work best there. I was browsing through my stamps and found the little bird and thought that would be perfect - and it works beautifully (well, I think so, lol)! I coloured the bird in with tombow markers and highlighted areas with a sakura clear gel pen.

I hope you like what I did here and I'm just happy I finally figured out how to finish the card nicely, lol!

Hope you're having a great day.

Hugs, Danielle

Polar Bear Christmas

Good morning all!

Well today I have my middle son home sick plus it's a snow day after having had a massive dumping of the white stuff yesterday and last night! So with all my 3 kids home today I can't say how much stamping I'll get done! Maybe I'll get to write my christmas cards instead of making them today!

I tore myself away from Tilda to make this card using the Sunshine Designs stamp of super cute polar bears. And yes I did go out and buy the MS snowflake punch - it's just gorgeous! This card also uses the Sunshine Designs mistletoe stamp which I stamped along the bottom of the card and added some colour using the tombow markers. The sentiment is a strip from a piece of scrapbook paper which I thought worked well with the card. The designer paper behind the polar bear is from Daisy D's.

I wish you all a wonderful day as I get prepared to shovel (or maybe dh will do it!) the several cm's of snow that fell overnight!

Thanks for visiting!

Danielle

Pretty Tilda on Snowflakes

Hi there!

I'm finally feeeling like I can breathe again - woohoo! I hope we've all had our dose of sickness before christmas and that we'll all be healthy for christmas day itself.

This is part of the bunch of cards I'm putting together to sell so hopefully they'll all think Tilda is as sweet as I do and want to buy her, lol!

A pretty easy layout. I stamped my new snowflake stamp set from Sunshine Designs which I love in a pink chalk ink so the image is soft and muted. Tilda is coloured with tombow markers and Distress Inks. The Happy Holidays label is a sticker which is mounted over my stamped sentiment. The snowflake is mounted with dimensionals to add an extra layer to the card. I used gems in each corner to add that little bit of bling that every christmas card needs! The scallop border is a cuttlebug embossing border folder.

Below is the inside of the card. I don't always take pictures of these but I thought this time I would to show you how I finish my cards up inside. I don't always finish them this way but I'm doing it more and more as it gives them that really extra special touch.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by - I know how precious time is right now with christmas only round the corner. Hope you're all enjoying a beautiful weekend.

Hugs, Danielle

Christmas Blessings!

Hi there!
Sorry for the last few quiet days - not much fun being sick :(

This is the sweetest card I put together and what makes it extra special for me is that my mother and I designed the sentiment and had a stamp made for us by The Stamp Barn. It's such a simple card but the message says it all with the gorgeous peace dove 'sending' you the blessings.

My other card is using the beautiful Stampendous stamp 'Joy to the World' and again I used a simple layout with the stamped image being the main focus of the card. I sponged the circle with green ink to take away from the starkness of the white.

My head still isn't quite straight yet so can't think of anything else to say other than hope you're all having a fabulous day and I hope to be back tomorrow!

Take care,

Danielle