Floral friends

I confess! I'm still putting away things in my stamp studio. But yesterday when I stamped this Maryse Carrier image I stamped and embossed two samples. I always stamp more than one image at a time because invariably I mess one up. Well, after I posted the card this morning I went back to my cleaning and organizing and ... well...there was the second image just begging to be watercolored with Tombow markers.

I love this paper from My Mind's Eye so I decided to paint this image based on the colors of the paper and use some scraps of ribbon that needed to be used anyway.

THIS is how I make cards...from this and that and scrips and scraps and images that are just waiting to be colored.

OK...now I really am going to put away my toys!

Friends brighten your day

I was supposed to be putting things away and cleaning up before the new year. I saw this Maryse Carrier stamp that I've had for years. Next thing I know, I'm inking it up and making a card. So much for the housekeeping detail......

This is a Maryse Carrier image from a few years back. I stamped it on watercolor paper with versamark and embossed with gold detail embossing powder. I watercolored the image with Tombow markers and then added a lot of different colors of stickles glitter glue.

OK...back to straightening things up. I'm looking forward to more card making in 2008. Happy New Year!

Miss You!

I really am enjoying my new MY FAVORITE THINGS stamp sets. This set is called Rain or Shine. As I look out my window and see literally mountains of snow outside, it makes me long for the days when all we'll have left are puddles and raindrops, instead of mounds and drifts of snow.

I used some Susan Branch Art Impressions designer paper for the background and colored the image with prismacolor pencils. I added clear dimensional glaze in the puddle beneath the dog and woman and also on the umbrella, which I stamped, cutout and mounted over the image on foam squares.

"Miss you" sentiment is actually from a different My Favorite Things set. Most of the sentiments with the Rain or Shine set have to do with get well cards.

I thought this was kind of sweet card. My husband, who I always ask his opinion, gave it a "it's ok, but not one of your better cards" comment. Hmmm...I kind of liked this one. Oh well...I'm really having fun with these new stamps sets. I see a lot of possibilities for uses.

Thanks for stopping by.

Celebrate!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas - or holiday that you and your family and friends celebrated I hope it was a happy time for you. And in just a few more day's we'll bid farewell to 2007 and ring in the new year.

It is a time to CELEBRATE! For many reasons you may want to celebrate. It could be for new beginnings, it could be for birthdays, promotions, new goals and ambitions. It could be because we made it through another year! Whatever you celebrate, do it with style and laughter and love!

I treated myself to three sets of My Favorite Things rubber stamp sets. Y'all know I'm an animal lover and I just love the headless ladies with their dogs. My stamps just arrived in the mail so this is the first I inked up to CELEBRATE! I colored the image with prismacolor pencils. Beneath the image I've punched the mat with my new Martha Stewart punch/embossing tool. Woo hoo...don't ya just love it when Michael's has 50% off on purchases? I'm a punch-a-holic and I love to use my coupons on a new punch!

Happy New Year! I hope you'll continue to stop by and check out my cards in 2008.

Best wishes for new beginnings, continued joys and all good things in the new year to come.

Homespun friendship

It appears that I'm on a polka dot kick these days since several of the last cards I've made use a background paper with polka dots. It wasn't intentional but it sure is looking speckled around my blog! :-)

I was cleaning off and putting away things around my workspace and I found another image I'd stamped and colored ages ago but never mounted on a card. Well...so much for tidying up in my stamp studio. Today's MojoMonday #16 sketch over at Julee's blog POETIC ARTISTRY helped me get the image onto the card. Here is Julee's sketch for today:

This stamp is a fairly new one for me. I've used it before but I don't get tired of it. It is one of Heather's Stamping Haven, here in Ottawa original stamp designs. You know you can check out her shop site by clicking on HERE to see more about her shop and for information to order online.

I painted the image with twinkling H2O's. Then I added some machine stitching, ric-rac, buttons and flowers.

As much as I love making Christmas cards I must admit that this was a fun change of pace today to make something with barefoot girls and wild flowers. As I sit in front of my window I'm looking out at three feet of snow! YES! I said three feet. We just braved the largest stnowfall in a 24 hour period yesterday. That was on top of the foot+ we already had on the ground so we have lots of snow and barefoot, flower filled days appear to be a long way off.

PAWS-ing to say thanks

Since my dogs are well mannered pups (hee hee) they need to have their thank you cards ready to send to say thank you for the Christmas gifts they received in their dog club Secret Santa gift exchange. (And YES, they actually participated in a gift exchange!)

For the layout I used this month's challenge sketch layout from the internet web site, THE STAMP SHACK. At the Stamp Shack the creative team comes up with wonderful challenges from layouts, technique challenges, to color challenges, to theme challenges. This is the the sketch for the December layout challenge.

My Newfoundland Dog stamp was a gift from Deborah, my stamping friend from Nova Scotia. The sentiment is a stamp from a plate of newly designed dog and cat stamps designed by Tricia (Got Cats.) The paw print stamp is from Inkadinkadoo stamps.

ATTN! Chicagoland. LOST DOG!!

This is not a hoax. You know my love for my Newfoundland dogs, 'Bella and Gabe. Well, another Newfoundland pal of ours is lost and we'd like to ask the readers of my blog who live in or will be visiting the Chicago area if they can to be on the lookout for a lost Newfoundland dog who is lost in the Chicago area.

The dog,who answers to TUG is a 2 year old male Newfoundland dog with white feet and a white chest and he is lost and alone and scared in the big city.


His family is heartbroken without him and are offering a $5,000 dollar reward for his safe return, no questions asked. You can see pictures of Tug and get more information here:

http://www.k9adventure.com/johnny.html

He's been spotted around this area:
Merchandise Mart, around 300 N. Wells Street, as well as the area around the dog park at Grand Ave. and Orleans

It is our sincere hope that his family gets their Christmas Wish and Tug comes home safely!

This is really important. Please check out the information on the web site and if you can help or see Tug, please call the number and help get him back home to his heartbroken owners.

Holiday jingle

Here she is again, full of her "holiday jingle." Remember that last week I said I colored a number of these images but couldn't decide how I wanted to layout the card. JULEE'S MOJO MONDAY 15 layout this week provided me with the perfect layout for this dear old elf to include an actual bell on the ribbon.
The patterned paper is double sided Bo Bunny card stock. Of course the stamp is from Art Impressions and colored with Prismacolor pencils.

The inside sentiment says "Hope you're all a-tingle with the holiday jingle."

Silver sleigh

I've been seeing this panel layout for cards all over the blog-o-sphere so I decided that using powder blue and one silver panel, embossed with my cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and mounting the panels on white and then brown cardstock would work great with my Anna Griffin Sleigh stamp.

For the image I stamped the sleigh with versamark and embossed with silver detail embossing powder and matted on powder blue and brown card stocks. Again I added a couple of silver punched snowflakes using my Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

I'm just loving this Anna Griffin sleigh stamp!

Warm Holiday Wishes

Yes, YIKES! I'm still making Christmas cards. I know! I know! They should be in the mail. Well, just think of it as extending the Christmas joy and cheer if you receive my card after Christmas. The warm wishes will be nonetheless sincere.

This is the first time I've used this Anna Griffin (All Night Media) sleigh stamp. My oldest son gave me a gift certificate last Christmas to Hobby Lobby and this was one of the beautiful stamps I bought with it and am using for cards this year.

The layout is very simple. I stamped the sleigh and sentiment on white cardstock with Navy dye ink. I matted it on silver metalic card stock and mounted both on blue card stock. I love punching everything I can with my Martha Stewart Snowflake punch so I had to add a silver snowflake, centered with a navy brad on top of blue polka dot sheer ribbon. I added a little blue Martha Stewart fine glitter below the sleigh. I can't decide for sure if I like that or not.

I had better get busy and finish up my cards and get them in the mail. I don't want you to have to wait until Valentine's Day to get a Christmas card from me. :-)

The Nutcracker

This is the second "toy" themed card for WEDNESDAY STAMPER challenge this week. It is actually a money holder card.

The stamp is one that I bought at a garage sale and on the end of it it just says "Under Construction" Lindsay, ON, Canada. I've checked online but can't find a manufacturer by that name for rubberstamps. Lindsay isn't too terribly far from me either so I'm curious about this stamp's origin.

I stamped the image on glossy white card stock with versamark and embossed it with black detail embossing powder I colored the image with sharpie permanent markers.

I tried to make up my own template for a money holder card so I used a circle punch on the inside to punch a hole for the denomination to show through --->

The beard is a bit of cottonball glued on. This was kind of fun. Perhaps a bit like an elementary school art class project, but it was fun.

Santa's workshop

Today's theme over at WEDNESDAY STAMPER is "toys." This card is one of two that I tried for this week's toy challenge.

This is one of my new Paper Inspirations stamps called Santa's workshop. I'm so frustrated. I love these new Paper Inspirations stamps but they are so highly detailed that I've found it difficult to get a clear image. I have stamped and messed with this card all day long and it still isn't there.

The background paper is green velvet textured paper. It is so rich. This scan probably doesn't show the texture. I've stamped holly in the corners and embossed it in gold detail embossing powder. Then I applied a few red crystals for some sparkle and a red satin bow.

If you've experienced troubles stamping with highly detailed and/or photo type stamps, please let me know any tips or tricks you've discovered to get clear, lovely impressions.

All a tingle...

Are you getting "all a-tingle with the holiday jingle?"

I colored about 10 of these images yesterday with my prismacolor pencils. This is the first card I made with it. I think this might be used as a gift/money enclosure card.

I'm not too thrilled with this layout so I imagine you'll be seeing several different cards using this image over the next few days.

The stamps are from Art Impressions rubber stamps. Colored with prismacolor pencils and a touch of stickles on the bells and "liquid snow" on her hat and cuffs of her mittens.

This gal cracks me up.

Let heaven and nature sing - Mojo 14

I've had this snowman stamp for a couple of years but this year I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with it. The stamp is titled, "Woodsy Snowman" and is made by Stampendous rubber stamps. I stamped the snowman with versamark and embossed it with silver detail embossing powder and then used my Tombow markers to watercolor the image. I added stickles for some glitter and silver metalic paper and cord for a bit of extra frosty sparkled.

For today's layout I used this layout challenge for the Mojo Monday sketch # 14 from JULEE's (POETIC ARTISTY) blog.

The inside sentiment for this woodsy snowman says, "Let Heaven and Nature Sing."

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmest Holiday Wishes

In between shoveling snow and mopping paw prints off the floors today I tried to work on some of my Christmas cards. Looking out my window today I've watched big puffy wet snowflakes fall all day long and it really puts one in the holiday spirit.

This poinsettia stamp is by PSX. I stamped it with versamark on watercolor paper and embossed it with silver detail embossing powder. Next, using my Tombow markers and a #3 paintbrush, I watercolored. I applied Christmas red and Gunmetal stickles to the center of the flower.

The punched holly corners is a new punch that I cannot remember the name of. It isn't written on the punch.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!

Naughty or Mice?

Those cute little House Mouse stamps are out and inked up again. The sentiment (Naughty or Mice) as well as the Mouse in the tree are both House Mouse stamps from Stampabilities. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils. The background pinecones and pine branches is a cube stamp from Stampendous.

This week's Fluffy Fatbottom's Twisted Tuesday Challenge is the them of Naughty or Nice? So tell me. Have you been Naughty or Mice this year? :)

Santa Paws

This fun kitty-in-a-stocking image is by Maryse Carrier. I have a lot of fun Maryse Carrier Christmas stamps with dogs and cats and I'm sure you'll be seeing more of the critters holiday antics on cards.

I colored the image with Tombow markers direct to cardstock (no watercoloring this time). I like the bold color of Tombows and inasmuch as they watercolor beautifully, they also are great for direct to paper color and, then don't leave streaks like some markers. Gotta love my Tombows.

The paw print is sparkly. It is embossed with red tinsel embossing powder. Looks just like my own puppy has walked through colorful cookie sprinkles!

Pay it Forward

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this Pay it Forward Exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it next week, but you will receive it within the New Year :) The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment, you’re on. I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make for you. Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work. I got mine from LESA HERE. This is a positive way to start off the New Year. Thanx for the idea Lesa!

Christmas Magic

Whew! FINALLY I got a chance to stamp and make a card. This is very simple but it just feels good to have a chance to create something.

I think the snowman image is a Lockhart stamp design. I'm not positive as it was given to me. I colored the snowman with prismacolor pencils and added dimensional glaze and stickles to the lightbulbs to give shine as well as sparkle. The sentiment, Christmas Magic, is an A Muse artstamp.

The background is embossed using my cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder. The snowflakes are punched using my Martha Stewart snowflake punched.

I wanted to create the feeling of dimension and falling snow all around so in real life if you could hold this card you'd see that one flake is mounted on a foam square while the other flake is flat to the embossed background paper. On the snowman image I adhered the white matt directly flat to the background paper and then popped the navy matt and image above it.

Sure feels good to be back making cards, even if it is just a simple one!

Christmas Craft Fair

It has been ages, it seems, since I've posted, made cards, been creative....I miss stamping and cardmaking! Between 'Bella's surgery and all of the physical care required to take care of her and the craft fair this past weekend, I've not been able to stamp or make cards. Funny how one can miss a hobby so much! Hopefully I'll be able to remedy the situation today and have some new cards tomorrow.

Now......about the craft fair. After months of preparations it was a complete BUST! We didn't sell anything. Nuthin'! Nada! Zip! Ok...that isn't entirely true. As we were setting up one of the other craft vendors saw Paul's darling toy trains and bought one before the fair started.

The man in charge of the craft fair said he'd been doing this 2-day craft fair for over 20 years and this was the dullest year ever! He was very apologetic but of course it wasn't his fault. All of the other vendors who had been involved in other Christmas craft fairs in the area the past few weekends said the same is true at all of them in our area. It seems people are just not going to the traditional craft fairs this year and buying. We have a new Walmart in our town that just opened two weeks ago. Could the people be going there? Nahhhh...well...I don't know. Could the strong Canadian dollar be sending people south and over the border to the U.S. to shop? Who knows.

Anyway, Paul and I spent two LONG days in close proximity...more time together than we usually do and we ended up just laughing the situation off. We figure we are all set for NEXT YEAR'S craft fairs, right?

The only photos I took was while we were just starting to set up the table with Paul's trains. So here are a few snaps of his trains, his first sale (before we had even set up) and his fireman's ladder which you have to see in action to appreciate how they work.

ARGH!!!! Warning...this is a rant!

No photos today. No cards to show. I'm so frustrated! ARGH! I was making domino pins and frig magnets for the craft fair my husband and I are in this weekend. I've made domino jewelry and magnets before and with good results. I COMPLETELY ruined all of these for the fair. The ink ran after I applied the Sealent. I have never had this happen before. Then I say to myself, "Self! Calm down. Just work on a Christmas card order." I have 30 cards to get to my client. They are all stamped, cut created, matted and just need to be mounted. I'm using a silver metalic card stock for the mat with glossy card stock on top. No glue - NOT ANY KIND OF ADHESIVE that I own is working. The glue dries and they peel apart. I'm so frustrated. Everything I touch is a mess. Sorry for this rant but I'm at wits end today. Everything I've touched has fallen apart in some fashion. I sure hope my muse comes back tomorrow. I've got so much to do.

Let it snow!

This little snowman is all bundled up for the winter and by all of our forcasts, we are supposed to have a very snowy and super cold winter this year. LET IT SNOW!

The layout for this card is using JULEE'S MOJO MONDAYlayout challenge for this week's mojo Monday challenge on her blog.


My cute little snowman is a Close to My Heart snowman set. I've used Tombow markers to watercolor him. Someone asked about what type of watercolor paper I've used. This is particular image was watercolored on 90 lb. water color paper.

The patterned paper is from BoBunny and I used my dots cuttlebug embossing folder on the square shapes. The "Let it snow" sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder and then I added a couple of silver snowflake eyelets. The scan may not show it but the red heart on the coat and sleeves have Christmas red stickles glitter on them for some subtle sparkle.

Whew...this is my first card I've made this week. I've been so caught up with my Newfoundland dog, 'Bella, leg problems that I haven't had a chance to stamp and create. This felt good and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Snowman and the Christmas Tree

Have you ever made a card, been very pleased with your coloring and embellishments and so you reach to put it up somewhere where it can dry and then...the dreaded happens! Your finger, sleeve or some other object brushes across wet paint and smears the not-yet-dry creation?

This is my story with this card. Sigh....

There were three red dots of dimension paint just in front of the sentiments. The paint is permanent from the standpoint that once the color hits the paper, it is there. However it takes a while to dry hard. In real life this card has a big red smear just in front of the words "O Christmas Tree" and so, after a little bit of cursing I decided that I'd attach a red polka dot ribbon right on it, cover it and...VOILA! No one will notice....maybe...I hope.

The image is from Sunshine Designs and is watercolored with Tombow markers and water and a paint brush.

Gabe passed his first exam!

Gabe passed his basic obedience class last night! Wooo hooo! Atta boy GABE! It was really a fun evening but very nerve wracking too. Taking the floor one at a time, each dog was tested and scored individually. We could do a warm up practice and then told the instructor when we were ready to go through our paces. Tension mounting, Gabe and I took the floor. He was spot on during practice so I said "Let's do it!"

OK, Gabe has a lot of work to still do. We fully admit that. He doesn't "finish" at all, and still has work with maintaining eye contact, but all in all I'm very happy with him. We'll continue to work on skills and then begin our next set of classes probably the first of the new year.

WAY TO GO GABE-Y BABY! :)

Reindeer

A new stamp for me and I just love it. This reindeer is by Sunshine Designs. I've watercolored it with Tombow markers and added a touch of stickles glitter to the swirls in the background.

This image makes me wonder if Santa's reindeer are working out in anticipation of the big night?!!

Snowy winter night

This was a lot of fun to watercolor using Tombow markers but also a lot of detail. I'm still learning to control how much water is enough and/or too much.

The image is from Sunshine Designs. It is embossed in gold, watercolored with Tombow markers and red stickles added to the lights on the trees and houses.

I'm really starting to get in the mood to make Christmas cards!

Thanks for stopping by.

3-D Snowflakes

This week's theme for DARING CARDMAKERSis Snowflakes or Snowmen. You probably can't tell by the scan, but these snowflakes have dimension to them. I've cute a center portion of the flake and pop-dotted it to the center of each flake. The centers of each have stickles of glitter and the snowflake image is embossed in white.

Scanners are handy tools but they don't provide all of the detail of a photo.

Oh well...it was fun to play with this snowflake card with a watercolor wash over it. I'm not real keen on washes but I shall keep playing with the technique

Watercoloring with Tombows

Three more cards made by watercoloring with Tombow markers. These three stamps are from a set by Sunshine Designs now owned by the Stamp Barn in Ottawa. I think these fun Christmas-y images would be fun to use as thank you note cards.

The mitten card was the first one I attempted and it is pretty messy. I used too much water. That is one of the techniques with watercoloring that takes a lot of time and practice to learn: how much water to use. It takes a lot more than some other techniques, yet you don't want a flood.

Godspeed

I've got a goodie box to send to my son in Iraq and I couldn't seal it up without enclosing a card and note.

I love to stamp and color but I have the hardest time coming up with new layouts so I really am happy that there are so many great layout challenges on other people's blogs.

JACQUELINE posted her Theme Thursday challenge to use script on your card. One of the things I really like about this soldier stamp is the script in the background so I thought it perfect for Jacqueline's challenge.

For the layout I used "Mojo Monday Week #10 Sketch" created by Julee T and posted on her WONDERFUL and Inspiring blog, "Poetic Artistry".


The image and sentiment are from Stampin' Up! set called "GODSPEED." I watercolored the image with Tombow markers on watercolor paper. I added the grosgrain ribbon with a Fastenater staple. I've never been too crazy about seeing staple on cards but this gold one had a nice design so I decided to give it a try. The card is a square, 6" X 6" card.

Time to get Matt's box taped up and mailed with this card.

Watercoloring with Tombow markers

Yesterday I spent the entire day at Heather's Stamping Haven taking classes from Krista in watercoloring with Tombow markers. This card is actually an ornament that is two sided and layered so quite three dimensional and I'm not sure a scan shows that very well.


This adorable little penguin is one of Krista's images from Sunshine Designs. Again, using Tombow markers we watercolored the image and used lots of stickles for embellishment.

A total of nine different cards were completed! Whew...that was a lot of work but more importantly I learned a lot about technique, blending and PATIENCE! I'll post more of our projects throughout the week. Some real beauties to come!

The afternoon nap after an autumn walk in the woods

After the walk in the woods and raking one of the garden beds, it was just too much for two pooped pups who layed down in the cool, moist earth and zonked out asleep...side by side.

Autumn walk in the woods

We couldn't have had a more perfect sunny, crisp winter is a coming morning so we scraped the frost off the windows of the van, loaded 'Bella and Gabe in and headed to the woods.

This particular park is about 45 minutes away from our house but well worth the drive for Gabe and 'Bella to be able to roam off leash in the woods and trails.

This was a particularly good exercise for Gabe to show what he has learned in obedience classes about coming when called. He is such a class clown and loves to socialize with the other dogs and sometimes seems to say, "...uhhh yes, in a minute I'll come" but today at the park he came running back each time I called. Hurray for Gabe!

No walk is complete without finding a prize stick to carry around and of course showing it to all of the other dogs at the park. Gabe lets 'Bella find the stick and then he takes it and carries it for her. 'Bella wishes he'd just find his own. SIGH...little brothers!

What else can I say but, "Aren't I cute?!"

Bella was on a mission to find a bigger stick!

Gabe and 'Bella really are the best of friends. Never too far from one another's side.



Hurry up you guys! This is fun!

All too soon, we had to go home. Until next weekend.... Woofs and slobbers from 'Bella and Gabe.