Surfer Dude ......and Popcorn the Bear!

Happy Friday everyone!!

And is it ever a happy one .........my oldest son is celebrating his 11th birthday today, my craft room is back in order and fully functional once more, AND my laptop decided it hadn't died and booted up this afternoon as if nothing had ever been wrong with it!!!! I am still keeping a watchful eye on it though as I suspect there is a loose connection somewhere inside on the motherboard, but for now, I'm a happy bunny! ;)

So, to celebrate I thought I would show you 2 cards today instead of 1, hee hee!! For those of you who have missed my postings I hope having a double feature will make you happy :)

I will be making this a quick post as we have a fun evening planned with Josh, but he is currently immersed in building his new lego! The surfer dude card is his birthday card - he is a complete fish and just adores the water, so I thought Surfer Ian is just perfect for him! And needless to say he LOVED it! I was really happy with the way it turned out. Even happier when my neighbour commented that the twine and beads look just like a surfer necklace - yay - that was my intention and she 'got' it!! Don't you love that when someone 'gets' your creative thinking!

My second card is Popcorn the Bear which I received from Nikki's online store, Bunny-Zoe crafts. I love him and thoroughly enjoyed colouring him with my copics. The design and layout is very simple as I made it as a get well card for my father who is currently in hospital recovering from back surgery. I used a brand new tool on this card - can you guess what it is? Yep, it's my SU! horizontal slot punch for threading my ribbon - love it!

Well, that's it for now! I hope you're having a fabulous Friday and start to the weekend too! Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad to be blogging again - I've missed you all as much as my craft room!

I'm back up and running again!

Hi there!

Just wanted to let you all know that my craft room is back in order and I've started creating again - yay!! My DH is setting me up a desktop computer sometime later today so hopefully by tomorrow I will posting up some cards again! It's my son's birthday today - 11 - wow, where did those years go! I'm just stealing a few minutes here to post this update but we have stuff planned for the rest of his birthday. I probably won't get a chance to blog hop now until tomorrow .....

Still drying out ....

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments and well wishes with regard to my current water dilema!! My craft room is drying is out pretty well although the wetness went much further than originally perceived. So I've had to move out furniture and pull much more carpet back to let it dry off. I've emptied the dehumidifier bucket 4 times now - that's a lot of water!! Thankfully though no product or stash has been affected by this - phew!!! I've been busy stamping up some images and colouring them upstairs, but I'm itching to get back in and create! And to top this all off, my laptop died on me this morning .....aarrgghhhh!! I went to turn it on and nothing, it flat out refuses to boot up :( And of course hubby is out of town and won't be back until the end of the week. So I'm on his office desktop (at least I can get on that!!) and hopefully he'll be able to work his magic when he comes back!

I'm still feeling dizzy with this vertigo - I was hoping it would have started to clear up by now! Ah well, the medication has to start taking effect soon, don't ya think! OK, enough of my ramblings! Hopefully this evening I can get surfing some of your blogs and catch up on some commenting.

Take care!

A disaster in my craft room!

Hi there!

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to post anything for the next couple of days due to a mini disaster in my craft room! We had incredibly torrential rain here on Friday evening, so much so that it slightly flooded my craft room in the basement. It's not a complete disaster but I've had to move all my stuff to pull the carpet and underlay up. It's a relatively small area of wetness but I have the dehumidifer going in the hopes that it will dry everything up. Fingers crossed this will be enough to fix the problem otherwise we will be looking at having to replace the carpet (which is barely a year old as it is!!).

I'm feeling unwell too with a bout of vertigo so I shall definitely be laying low for the next couple of days! Hopefully I'll be able to blog hop and leave comments tomorrow when I'm feeling up to it! Until then ....

New Monthly Challenge Blog - Check it Out!!

Good morning everyone!

Just wanted to share the news of a fabulous new monthly challenge blog, Bizzy Bec Creatalicious Challenges. Check out the fabulous new challenge blog here and head on over for the opportunity to win some gorgeous celebration candy!!

They are also looking for 2 more DT members so pop on over there and check out the fabulous sketch they have for you to do!

I hope to be back later - I'm heading down to my craft room to ink up and craft!!

Friday Sketchers with a fabulous Hanglar image!

Hello my crafting friends!

I had some time today so I got right onto the Friday Sketchers sketch today done by the wonderful Jacque! It's a really great layout and had lots of fun playing with it! I haven't distressed anything in a while so I thought this gorgeous Hanglar stamp (which I'm so thankful for getting my hands on!!) would work perfectly with a shabby chic look. What do you think? I coloured her with my copics using the new Hydrangea Blue and Blue Violet colours that I've just got. I love them. I used papers from my BG Wisteria pad and the base panel I sanded with my new Tim Holtz sanding block (love this!!). Some shabby stitching around the edges and distressed paper edges with my distressing tool give the card it's final look. Organza ribbon and a Prima hydrangea and rose, together with an eyelet (that covers the Cute Card Thursday challenge), and my card is done!!

I hope you like it! Thanks for visit today and taking the time to leave a much appreciated comment!

Hopefully see you back again tomorrow!

Thank you, thank you .....

Hello there!

Today I have this card using the Mojo Monday sketch this week. My gorgeous My Mind's Eye papers arrived in the mail this week from Nikki at Bunny-Zoe's crafts (thanks Nikki, I love them)!!! This Magnolia image was already coloured up and the colours matched a treat with these fabulous papers. My flower ensemble is using a range of flowers from my stash and the MS oak leaf punch. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly and the ribbon is from stash too. I used Old Paper distress ink which I sponged on the circle before gluing Tilda down.

It's a soggy wet day here in Ottawa - I've had a busy day though with friends by stopping for lunch as they were passing through town on their way back home from PEI. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play a little later. I got a gorgeous new christmas stamp from Sunshine Designs which I want to ink up. Also, Popcorn the Bear was in my parcel from Nikki ...... lots of new things to play with and I don't know where to begin, ha ha!!

Thanks for your visit today. I hope you're all enjoying a beautiful day and I hope to blog hop and catch up on some commenting!

Festive Anya - Simon Says Stamp Challenge card

Happy Wednesday!

Simon Says Stamp Challenge has this fabulous sketch this week so I couldn't resist joining in! It's the first time I've done one of their challenges and I hope it won't be the last. It's been a kind of hit and miss day with the weather and the boys have had play dates so I had a chance to nip into my craft room and play!

I coloured Miss Anya with my copics and kept to a teal colour theme. Not a normal colour I would choose for a christmas card but I have to say I really love the result. The papers are from a stack I bought last season in Wal-Mart and the panel behind Anya is cuttlebug embossed with the swiss dots. The sentiment is The Stamp Barn and the gorgeous ribbon is from my local craft store. I added some organza ribbon which doesn't strictly follow the sketch but I'm sure that's ok! I sewed around all the panels for added detail.

And there you have it, another christmas card added to my growing stash (I might actually not be overwhelmed come christmas time!!).

Thanks for visiting today and leaving your comments - I really do appreciate every single one of them!

Lovely Day .........in Sarah Kay's Garden!

Hi there!

I loved the sketch over on the Stamp with Fun challenge blog this week so I used this gorgeous Sarah Kay image which I coloured in during my vacation time! This is such a beautiful layout and I will definitely be using it again. I found some tulle in Michaels over the weekend which I just love. They only had ivory so I will try running some ink over it and play around with colours.

The image is coloured with copics and I've used the gorgeous BG Wisteria papers for the background. I sewed around the edges for added detail. Mini flowers from my stash and the MS punch, with some spacers, add the flower detailing. A small pearl in opposite corners finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek today! Your comments are always so much appreciated - I love to read every one of them!

I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous week.

Hugs,

Santa Claus is coming to town and a Beautiful Blogger Award!!

Hey there!

I got a chance to play around today and a lot of the new challenges this week are 'Christmas in July' - boy was that ever hard to get into after having just returned from a summer vacation!! However, I managed it and I used this fabulous Magnolia Santa image and sentiment which I received in a RAK from dear sweet Cheryl. I've used this weeks sketch from Friday Sketchers which is from the fabulous Jaqueline. I'm also entering this into the Magnolia Down Under Challenge which is 'Christmas in July' and also for the Winter Wonderland challenge blog which is 'Santa Claus is coming to town'. Woohoo - 3 challenges in 1 card!!

I've coloured in Santa with my copic markers and used Liquid Applique on his hat and glossy accents on his glasses. Here's a close up picture hopefully showing those details are little clearer.

Finishing details to the card are some Prima poinsettia flowers, MS branch punch, sewing, and some snowflake embellishments from my stash.

Thanks for taking the time to come by and leave a comment - it's always so much appreciated. My beautiful blogging friend, Linda, also passed on this fabulous blog award to me - thank you so much Linda, it is truly appreciated!

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Sunday!

Hugs,

Hi - I'm back!!

Hi everyone!

Well, I'm back after what has been a fabulous week away at the cottage. We had great weather most of the days and managed to get in loads of fishing, swimming and just good old relaxation!! I was able to get some images coloured in so I look forward to getting down into my craft room and start creating - I hope my mojo won't be on vacation still, lol!!!

I've missed you all and can't wait to get blog hopping so I can catch up and see your beautiful creations that I've missed this past week.

I'll hopefully have something to post tomorrow but in the meantime here's a picture of me with one of my fishing catches!!!

Hugs,

Danielle x

A Week's Vacation!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I'm off to the cottage for a week with the family. Unfortunately I haven't had time to create this week and won't have any postings scheduled :( But I am taking lots of stamped images and my colouring mediums with me! Hopefully I will get lots of colouring done and then have time to put some cards together on my return.

I wish you all a great week and look forward to viewing all your blogs and beautiful work when I'm back.

Lots of craftin' hugs to you all!

Unfailing Love

Hello!

I am putting some more cards together for my local store and sympathy cards are always needed, so here I am again making more of these!! For this one I decided to focus on this beautiful sentiment that arrived a few weeks back in a package from My Sentiments Exactly. They had a promo on - 100 sentiments for $30 +- dollars. I have to say a fabulous selection arrived and I'm just starting to dig my way through them and explore properly what's in there!

I pulled out some blue paper tones for this with a complementing pale beige colour. A swirl, paper piercing, ribbon, photo corners and pearls complete the card. The argyle cb embossing folder was used for the back panel.

Here's a view of the inside of the card - simple in design - no 'fluff' for this card!!

Thanks again for your visit today - your comments are always much appreciated and enjoyed! Hope you're enjoying a great Monday!

Hugs,

True Friends

Good morning all!

I got some crafting time in and I was able to join in with the Just Magnolia challenge this week to add a charm to your card. I love charms and have to say I haven't added any recently to my cards so it was nice to do this. I also used the sketch from The Sugar Bowl challenge blog this week which was done by Judy - fab sketch - I love all the layers!!!

I decided to pull out my copics as I haven't coloured with these in a while and I think they've been feeling neglected, lol!! The papers are from the BG Wisteria pad and the sentiment is Penny Black. Once again I used my 'Parisian' border punch and Prima flowers, spacer, heart charm and lavender pearls finish off the card.

I'm really loving this card and am very happy with the way it turned out - I was a little worried when I started that it wouldn't come together, but it did!

Thanks for coming by today and taking the time to look at my work. Your comments and feedback are always so much appreciated and a delight to read!

Hugs,

Winter Wonderland Challenge - Christmas Crackers!

Hi there!

Just a quick posting this evening as I managed to have a little more play time and found this sweet party favour/cracker tutorial over on SCS. You can find it here.

The Winter Wonderland challenge this past week has been to create a christmas cracker so this fits into it perfectly! It was really quick and easy to do and I just finished it up by using the cb snowflake die cut and embossed it through the swiss dots folder. A pearl and some stickles, with some ribbon, finish the project off nicely. Phew, just getting this into the challenge by the skin of my teeth, lol!

Hope you enjoyed this and be sure to check out the tutorial - it's very fun to do! Hope you all enjoy a wonderful evening.

Hugs,

Danielle x

2 Challenges 1 card!!

Good day my friends!

I hope you are all well and I'd like to wish my American bloggers a very Happy 4th of July today!

I managed to get this card done and used the Friday Sketchers sketch this week by the wonderful Claudia. I inked up my new Miss Anya's and coloured her with my prisma pencils and OMS and copics for her flesh areas. I'm really enjoying this colouring medium! I pulled out my BG Eva paper pad and coloured Anya in with those papers for inspiration. Cute Card Thursday challenge this week is 'A Stitch in Time' so I added both machine and faux stitching to the card. The EK Success Parisian border punch was used for the horizontal panel.

The sentiment is SU! and I finished the card with dew drops and a small flower and MS branch punch.

Thanks for your visit today and I hope you're all enjoying beautiful sunshine. I hope to get some more crafting time in this weekend - the weather isn't looking too great today!

Hugs,

The Next Level Sketch (Wk 5) - A Sympathy Card

Hi there!

I was asked to make a sympathy card so I used the fabulous sketch from The Next Level this week. I have been wanting to participate in The Next Level challenges since it started and this has been my first chance to get round to doing one. I have to say it's never an enjoyable card to make when it's a sympathy one. So I kept the image very simple - there was an additional request for the card to have a 'fly' (or as close to one as I could get) so I stamped this one which I think is a bee, but oh well, it seems to work!

I kept the inside pretty simple and just stamped this sentiment which complements the one on the front of the card. The sympathy set is from Gina K Designs 'Comfort & Peace'.

Well, it's a rainy day here in Ottawa so we're taking it easy today and I'm enjoying watching the Andy Murray v Andy Roddick semi-final at Wimbledon!

I hope you're all enjoying whatever you're doing today! Thanks for coming by today and leaving a much appreciated comment!

Hugs,

Whiff of Joy Baby Card - Friday Sketchers

Hi there!

What a beautiful day we've had here for Canada Day - they were forecasting thunder showers but the rain has stayed away! I've managed a bit of stamping time today and got this baby card done that I've been asked to do. I was excited to ink up my new WOJ 'Women's Delight' image and she is an absolute joy to colour! I kept the colour tones to brown and pink and used the fabulous Friday Sketchers layout. I used my Prisma penciles with OMS to colour her in. I sewed the two main panels to add some interest and used the MS Doily punch and oval nesties. Flowers, spacers and MS branch punch, together with a swirl and pearls add the finishing touches.

We're off to see the Canada Day fireworks tonight with the boys - should be a beautiful evening. We also put the tent up for them in the back yard today so they're excited about their 'camp out' tonight!! We'll also be lighting up the fire and toasting marshmallows, mmmm!!

Thanks for stopping by today and taking the time to comment! I love reading them and they are always so much appreciated! Have a great evening all!

Hugs,