Friday Sketchers Challenge

Good Sunday morning all!

At last, I have a chance to post my card for the Friday Sketchers sketch challenge - sorry for such a delay since my last posting. This weeks sketch is a fabulously versatile one from Claudia! I still stayed with a Valentine theme and used this christmas Tilda holding the heart ornament. I used these beautiful Daisy D's background papers and focused my main colour around the blue. The heart is a stamp from The Stamp Barn which works just beautifully with the Tilda's - she sits in there so perfectly! I stamped it on watercolour paper and used my distress inks to colour the heart and Tilda. On the blue panel I embossed the left side with a cuttlebug embossing border flower folder - I love the subtle look it gives! To finish it off I used some white organza ribbon and a piece of matching green silk ribbon to tie the knot. This is my first time making a stick pin - I think I still need to perfect it a bit but I love the look it gives on the card! I can see some more trips coming up to the jewellry section in Wal-Mart! I ran each panel through the sewing machine to add that extra bit of detailing.

I'm pleased with how I managed to incorporate 3 different dp's on this card (even though they were all from a co-ordinating pack!!). This is always a challenge for me and I really like the finished look to this one! I hope you do too!

Thanks for stopping by today and a huge hug to all of you who leave some beautiful comments! It really makes my day :)

Hugs

Danielle x

Materials Used: Distressing Inks - Aged Mahogany, Faded Jeans, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose

Daisy D's Designer Paper

Valentine Chocolates!

Hi there!

I have had this Alota chocolate box stamp inked up and coloured for a while now, I just haven't had the chance to put it on a card! This is one of my new Alota stamps and it is wonderful - I love it! I coloured the Tilda from the New Years Collection in with Distress Inks. The chocolate box was painted with my Twinkling H20's - it has a beautiful shimmer to it! The background paper says 'oh so sweet' all over it - I think it is probably for a baby girl but I thought it worked perfectly with the box of chocolates! I used a panel down the middle of a slightly darker pink to add some contrast and interest. The bottom of the card hasn't shown up to clearly but I have a scalloped panel on the bottom with some gorgeous heart crochet lace sitting on the top. I added a swirl die cut and a prima flower with a felt die cut flower on the top. With a silver brad I adhered a small heart charm to the centre of the flower.

For the inside of the card I used a matching piece of cardstock from the main front panel, adhered a paper doily and used a Labels 1 die cut from spellbinders for my sentiment. I ran a piece of pale pink organza ribbon behind the panel to add a little extra detail. I used 3 little stick-on brads above and below the sentiment.

I was really happy with this card - it turned out so pretty! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to look and post a comment! I hope you're all enjoying a fabulous day.

Hugs,

Danielle x

Materials Used: Distress Ink colours - Tattered Rose, Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo
Twinkling H20's - Burnt Umber, Pink Chiffon

Amour in Paris!

Hello again!

Well, I did manage to stamp today and I'm so happy - I needed to badly! I've been wanting to play with the Friday Sketchers challenge this past week and have only just got round to doing it today. Oh well - better late than never, right! It was a fabulous sketch and I decided to pull out some of my neglected stamps!! I haven't played with any of my vintage stamps for a long time and I had this idea which I thought would work perfectly for this sketch. I love the subtle hues of green and purple used in this card - they give it such a romantic feel. I used my new Labels 1 nesties and stamped the Eiffel Tower on that panel. The swirls are doodle die-cuts from Spellbinders. I inked, gently painted and cut out the Victorian couple and popped them up with the Eiffel Tower showing beside them. I wanted to give the feel that they were out for a romantic walk in Paris! The 'amour' sentiment is part of the Eiffel Tower stamp which I stamped and cut out from a piece of purple cardstock. I adhered two brads and placed the sentiment to the left side as per the sketch. A finishing touch using two Prima flowers gives the card it's final look.

This is not a usual look for me and I do find 'vintage' quite challenging, but I have to say I'm happy with the final card. I hope you like it too!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you get a chance to play with this sketch challenge too!

Hugs

Danielle x

Valentine "Milk Carton" Box

Hi there!

I finally got a chance to put together the 'box' part of my Valentine class and I've done a 'milk carton' - my first one ever! Oh, it was so fun to put together. I found the template on wonderful Mel Stampz blog - here's the link. I had a brain burp trying to establish which way the folds went but when I figured it out, guess what, it folded beautifully!!! The instructions aren't too clear on which way to fold so if you're wanting to try it, all the folds are mountain. I will have to make another one now to have as a teaching sample so I don't mess up when trying to teach it! I decorated it using stamps from The Stamp Barn and my new Labels 1 nestabilities (was soooo excited when they arrived in the mail last week!!). I left the top open to provide a bigger opening to the carton so you can stuff more goodies inside! I used a red binder clip and tied some matching colour ribbons on to give the finished look. I'm really happy with it so I hope it will be a fun class teaching this to the ladies who sign up for my class. I would have loved to use some MS punches and other embellishments but I am restricted by what Heather carries in her store (and Martha Stewart isn't one of them, lol!). So I think that means I'll just have to make another one and go all out on other embellishments and tools - the sky is the limit!

I hope you enjoyed the post and be sure to look up the link on Mel's blog - she has an amazing array of links and tutorials!

Hope you're all enjoying a fabulous Sunday and I hope to post again soon!

Hugs

Danielle x

Sending You ...... Butterflies, kisses & Valentine Wishes!

Hello there!

Well, all I can say is I hope you guys aren't as cold as we are today! We're sitting at -40oc with the windchill in Ottawa right now and freezing our pants off, lol! It has, in fact, been the perfect day to snuggle up in my craft room and stamp!

This is a card I've made for a valentine's class I'm teaching at Heather's the weekend of February 7th. All the stamps are products from The Stamp Barn. I love how all these stamps work well together to create the feel that the butterflies and hearts have flown out of the open envelope. This design was inspired by a card I saw on Curt's blog - what beautiful work he does!

It was pretty straightfoward to put together. The butterflies, hearts and envelope were all painted using my Twinkling H2o's. I added some red rhinestones inside of the swirls to give the cards plenty of bling. The dots on the butterflies are filled with diamond stickles to add sparkle and I drew in their antennae with a black tombow marker straight onto the card. Pieces of red, white and black ribbon were used to tie a bow which I placed on the envelope. The final touch is the crochet lace added to the bottom of the card which I purchased at Wal-Mart. The sentiment, From Me to You, leaves the message on the card nice and simple.

I will be making a box to accompany this card for the class. Hopefully I'll be able to post that up soon!

Take care, thanks for swinging by today and I hope you all stay warm!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Love Cocktail - Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge Week #2

Hello there! Hope you're all enjoying a wonderful weekend. This is my card for the Viva La Verve Week#2 sketch challenge. It was a fun layout to do and the added 'twist' was BLING! and lots of it. This sketch also took me away from the square cards I've been very stuck on lately and onto a tall and skinny one - a change is always so good! I've used two stamps here which I inked up for the first time. The hearts is a set from Sunshine Designs (by The Stamp Barn) and the luuuurve cocktail is again from TSB. This card is perfect for the girl who loves her cocktails, and let's face it, who doesn't love cocktails!!

I wanted to create a retro feel to this card and I think I achieved that. Classic colours of black, white and red with the splash of polka dots is the perfect recipe for retro! I used my twinkling H20's to colour in the heart and 'juice'. Red chalk ink was used for the hearts in the background. I added detail to the corners of the front panel using my paper piercing tool and of course adding bling was the best part! I used my clear sakura gel pen and stickles to add a little extra sparkle on the glass too. The red polka dot ribbon I just found at my craft store in town and just love it! The black and white dp is from a Costco value stash I bought ages ago.

So there it is. Hope you like it and I have to say I'm just happy to be keeping up with some challenges recently! My year is getting off to a good start, lol!

Take care and hope to see you back here soon.

Hugs

Danielle x

Cuppa Love!

Hi there and thanks for swinging by today!

I saw the sketch for today's Friday Sketchers challenge over on Claudia's blog. I really liked it and wanted to give it a go. I love this stamp from The Stamp Barn and knew I wanted to use twisted wire as the 'connectors' between the bottom two panels. I watercoloured the image using my tombow markers and used liquid applique for the coffee froth! I cut the coffee cup out and stamped the image again on the beige cardstock panel then glued the coloured image down on top.
I cuttlebug embossed the bottom panel with the circle folder and stamped the sentiment 'From me to you' on beige cardstock punched with the SU! word window punch. The final touch was 3 paper flowers which I adhered in the top left hand corner and placed a dot of white opal Liquid Pearls in the middle.

I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed making it! I'm trying to do as many sketch challenges as I can as I love the opportunity to try the many varieties of layouts card making has.

I hope you all enjoy your Friday evening and have a fabulous start to the weekend.
Hugs
Danielle x

I'm Yours!

Hi there!

My new Alota stamps arrived in the mail this week and I've been so excited to ink up this couch! Aren't Tilda & Edwin just the cutest sitting there having a little smooch! *giggle* They are from the New Year's Collection and come with the mistletoe but I thought they'd work perfectly for a Valentine's card. And the sentiment from The Stamp Barn is just made for this card!

The images are coloured with my tombow markers and highlighted with clear sakura pens to add hints of sparkle. The dp is from a double-sided collection but can't honestly remember the brand. I used the MS Paper Doily punch for the bottom panel of the card - I tried to mimic the couch sitting on a rug here and I think I accomplished that. A strip of green velvet ribbon adds some beautiful texture to the card and brings out the green of Tilda's socks. The sentiment is stamped on a nestabilities circle and adhered behind the couch. I took two tones of green Prima flowers to add the final touch to the card. I used the same paper on the inside of the card to complement the main image. The heart is from Sunshine Designs. I have envisioned this card since I found the couch on the Alota Stamps webshop and it's great to finally see it put together.

A little tidbit of news. I've been asked to teach some card-making classes at a store here in Stittsville that sells my cards. I'm so thrilled to be given another teaching opportunity and can't wait to start. It's always such a pleasure to be able to share my craft and help others on their own creative path.

Thanks for coming by today - I love all your visits and comments!

Hugs

Danielle x

Magnolia-licious Sketch Challenge

Good Sunday Morning to you all!

I saw this fabulous sketch on Magnolia-licious and just had to try it! I've never done a layout like this before so I really enjoyed the challenge. I knew I wanted to do a Valentine's card and I pulled out this sentiment that hasn't been inked up in a long time. The dp is from my Costco stash of value papers! I love the polka dots - they always add such a fun element to a card.

I coloured Tilda in using Distress Inks and filled her wings in with clear sakura pen to make it sparkly. I used my tombow markers for her bench and sheepskin rug. I adhered a pink rhinestone brad to the middle of the white Prima flower piercing some organza ribbon with the heart metal embellishment on the way through.

The sentiment is from The Stamp Barn and I really love it for a valentine card. This is my first valentine card of the year so it took me a while to get my mojo out of 'christmas' mode and into 'valentine' gear. On the inside of the card I used matching papers from the main card panel and used a nestabilities classic square on plain white cardstock. I stamped the greeting in Versafine black ink then adhered a strip of pale pink organza ribbon.

This card is one of a dozen I'm getting ready to sell in a local craft store. Let's hope everyone loves them and wants to buy them :)

Thanks for stopping by today - I'll be enjoying the last day of christmas holidays before my boys go back to school tomorrow!

Hugs,

Danielle x