Sorry for doing a disappearing act ...

Hello there!

Wow - it's been SO long since I even looked at my blog .... and unfortunately even longer since I've had a chance to sit at my craft desk!

Well, let me explain!  It has been a hugely stressful few months in my house as my husband had been without work for a few months and I lost a very, very dear friend suddenly to a brain aneurysm.  I was working as much as I could for extra hours and keeping busy with my boys, as well as dealing with the sense of overwhelming grief and loss of Michelle.  After receiving our Canadian Citizenship back in March, my husband was lucky enough to land a job in Boston, Massachusetts.  Since June, he has been living and working full time in Boston and I have been lucky enough to have the summer off work to look after my kiddos and enjoy a full summer with my husband in Boston.  Losing someone so close so suddenly certainly gives one a much greater appreciation of living each day to its fullest and to enjoy every moment IN the moment.

Needless to say we have been enjoying everything that staying by the coast offers - beach days, whale watch, Cape Cod, visiting Harvard and downtown Boston and we head off to New York City for a weekend break this coming weekend before heading home to Ottawa around August 20th.

The only thing I have missed doing with all my time off is crafting!  Unfortunately I wasn't able to pack up my craft desk but it WILL be waiting for me on my return!  When the boys head back to school on September 3rd, I will be reducing my work hours and I finally hope I'll be able to have more ME time to focus on getting back to the gym and more craft time - yay!!

As for a move to Boston ... it will happen, we just don't quite know when!  In the meantime I will enjoy everything life has to offer me right now and will let the future work itself out.

I had completed a couple of calendar pages for a friend back in June which I never put up.  Here they are - hope you enjoy them!  I do hope regular scheduling will resume once life gets back to some form of a routine.  I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous summer!

June - A beautiful LOTV fairy image - coloured with copics.

July - Tilda with flower basket - coloured with copics.

August - LOTV image - coloured with copics.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope come September I will be posting a little more regularly on my blog again and finding my crafty mojo!  Take care!

Hugs, Danielle x

Beware of copy artists!

Hello there,

I feel compelled to write this post today as the uber-talented artist (and friend), Rachelle Anne Miller, has written this on her blog today.

Rachelle Anne Miller Designs

t’s come to my attention that my brand, my style (that I’ve worked so hard to make uniquely mine and be recognized for) has been copied by another illustrator. She’s been participating in Illustration Friday, blogging and has a FB biz page. I’ve had one email conversation with her expressing my concerns and she replied apologetically and said I’ve been an inspiration to her work (well, obviously!), but emails since has fallen on deaf ears. I’m concerned this could be damaging to my brand. Any advice?

I know many of you are very familiar with Rachelle's unique and whimsical designs and artistry and it devastates me to see such a blatant copyright of her original work.  I am not hesitant to name and shame this other artist but this blatant disregard for artists and their original works leaves me so very sad.  True artists work so VERY hard to establish their own 'look' which reflects their very personal and unique talent.  I just want to bring this to everyones attention to PLEASE NOT FALL or PURCHASE work from impersonators and thieves.

This is the other artist's blog http://www.shivashalchi.com.

Feel free to go and check it out and make the decision for yourself.  Please show your support for REAL artists who contribute TRUE work.

Thank you for listening!!

Danielle

Welcome Baby!

Hello there!

I hope you are all keeping well and experiencing more signs of Spring than we are here in Ottawa!  It's still chilly but hopefully the sun will start shining and the snow will melt away soon!  Keeping fingers crossed!

My work colleague is having a baby and it's her baby shower today!  She is having a girl and I wanted to make her a card based on her nursery theme and colours.  She has a beautiful green & purple nursery and a gorgeous wall mural painted by her sister with a monkey swinging off the vines.  

I created this card using that same idea.  The vines are a Magnolia stamp and the monkey is from my stash of PaperWorksCo stamps, all coloured with copics.  Sentiment is from SU! and the grass border and flowers are punches.  I used some purple pearls for the flower centers to finish it off.

Pretty simple card but very pleased with how it turned out.  Hope you like it too!

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate all your visits very much!

Hugs,

Danielle x

A Canvas Portrait

Hi there!

Wow - a whole 2 months has gone by since my last posting! So sorry about that but much has gone on and keeps me occupied ... and I have to say my mojo definitely left me in search of warmer weather!!!  Hahaha. We have also been extremely busy painting the house - we have one room left to do before we hit the basement!

I have one particularly exciting announcement that I'd like to make before I continue with my posting and that is my husband, son Josh and myself officially became Canadian citizens last week!  Finally after 12 years in Canada we became official - a very exciting and momentous occasion for us! :)

Well I've been wanting to do a bit of scrapbooking recently and I have so many school portrait photos that still sit in their packets!  So I bought 3 8x10 artist canvases and decided to 'scrap' each of the boys onto a canvas to put up on the wall instead of just putting the photos into a frame.

So here is Jacob - this is his Grade 1 photo.  I pulled out the blue & orange stripes in his shirt as my choice of colours and papers to work with.  I really love how it turned out - pretty simple but just enough to highlight the photo.  Can't fancy it up with flowers or the like so twill ribbon and buttons, along with staples, was the choice of embellishments!

Thanks for stopping in!  I appreciate your visits very much and thank you should you take the time to leave me a comment.

Until next time .... whenever that may be!!!  :)

Danielle x

Shop 'til you drop ...

Hi there,

Hope you're all well and enjoying the weekend!  I'm back with this sweet Greeting Farm image - taking the opportunity to use my mojo to build up my birthday card supplies!

The image is coloured with copics and I had this fab 'shopping bag' paper in my stash.  I scanned through the challenges and found this sketch challenge over on The Sweet Stop and thought it would work with what I had in mind for my card.  The dotty paper and sentiment are both from SU!  Ribbon is from stash and I used a MS border punch for the scallop edge.

I'm entering this card into a few challenges that I've found:-

Winter Wonderland - Shopping

The Sweet Stop - sketch

Totally Gorjuss - Spotty

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Happy Birthday

Thanks for stopping in and saying hi - always lovely to see you here!  Have a great week everyone!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Beep beep!!

Hello again!

I'm back again with another card.  I wish my crafty mojo would stay like this but I guess we should just enjoy it while it lasts!

I'm getting ahead on some upcoming birthdays and this is for my friends' twin boys who are turning 5 next month.  Love this car EP paper and I remembered I had this cute car stamp in my collection.  It is coloured with copic markers.  The layout is super simple but I'm finding I'm reverting back to clean and simple styles to build up my card supply!

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Winter Wonderland - Travel

Allsorts Challenge - Clean and Simple

Thanks for stopping in and saying hi.  Hope you're all having a wonderful day and are getting some crafting done!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Woof woof!!

Hi there,

Hope you are all keeping well!  Thanks for the lovely words of support and it is good to be back blogging - or at least trying to!!

I was asked by a friend this past week to make a card and frame for someone who just lost their beloved pet dog.  I don't own any pets but I know what a strong bond of love they form with the family in the home and how devastating their loss can be.  

So I made this sweet and simple card.  I found this paper in the clearance rack at Michaels for 29c a sheet!  I don't have any 'sorry for the loss of your pet' stamps so I used this SU! sentiment instead which I think works well.  The frame is covered with the same paper and I used some red ribbon to add some detail and edge the frame.  I have made a lot of these frames recently, both to sell at Christmas time and as gifts.  They were a HUGE hit!

Well, we have a very snowy day here today so I plan on doing a little more crafting before the kids head back to school tomorrow after the holidays!

Here are a couple of challenges I've found to join in with:-

Totally Gorjuss - Anything Goes - with ribbon

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping in - I always appreciate your visits very much and for any comments you may leave.

Hugs,

Danielle

A very Happy New Year!

Hello there friends!

Well, I would firstly like to wish you all A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope that 2013 brings you all much love, happiness and prosperity and that you're filled with gratitude for everything in your life.  I also hope you and your loved ones enjoyed a wonderful Christmas holiday and have shared many wonderful memories this season.

My 2012 crafting year was very sporadic due to time constraints, family and work commitments.  I cannot promise that this year will be any different but I do hope to give some priority to my creative time.  And what better day to start than on New Years Day!!!

So, I begin the new year with a new January calendar page for 2013.  We are in the throes of winter here in Ottawa and there's nothing more seasonal than snow-covered trees and ice skating together!  The colouring of these images took a while but I have so badly neglected my copics of late that I decided to sit down and just colour, colour, colour!  The fence is cut out and Tilda and Edwin are on dimensionals to add a 3D effect to the page.

Looking forward to doing a spot of blog-hopping later and catch up on my many blogging friends whom I have so badly neglected as of late.  I am back to work tomorrow but have thoroughly enjoyed a run of time off to relax and chill with my family.

Thanks for stopping in and saying hi - your visit is hugely appreciated and I would just like to say I am very thankful for the many blogging friends I have and the friendships I have found here.

Hugs,

Danielle x