Sympathy card for loss of a cat

In the past week I've made and sent three dog sympathy cards and two cat sympathy cards. Sometimes I don't think that the emptiness of the loss of a beloved pet is always understood by non-pet owners.

This card is going to a person who had to put her two cats down in the same day. The kitties were father and son and both lived long lives but suffered from progressive and debilitating illnesses. They left this world curled together in the same position they so often slept and played together. So with this card we say, "Godspeed, Gabriel and Winston".

The inside sentiment reads, "Our animal friends teach us more than we could have expected and love us more than we could have hoped...
...that's why we miss them more than we could have imagined."

Baskets full of thanks

Another fun Stampin' Up! set is the "Basket full of fun" stamps set. You can fill your basket or bucket with a variety of different items.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Versafine balck onyx ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I masked the image and stamped a few extra balls of yarn around the bottom of the basket. The image is watercolored with Tombow markers and then silver metalic marker was used on the knitting needles and grommets of the basket handle.

A simple thank you notecard for a knitter.

You know you are getting old when...

Apple Harvest

I'm not sure if I like this card or not. Do you ever create something, go at it enthusiastically, but then, once complete kind of think...eeeeeehhhh? Kinda blah.

But I do like the image. This is from the Stampin' Up! stamp set from the Occasions mini catalog called "For Father." The puppy and boot card I made a while back is from the same set.

I colored this image with prismacolor pencils. Nothing too much dramatic. Just a notecard to use, perhaps to send to a man.

Thanks for stopping by.

Spring has arrived!

Finally! Our snow has melted, the yard is raked and flower beds prepared for planting. The winter that seemed to never end has finally moved on leaving sighs of relief and for me, excitement to see flowers bloom.

Naturally, that puts me in the mood to make cards with flowers and gardening themes.

This stamp is from Cornish Heritage Farms titled Daisy Jar. I used Tombow markers to watercolor it and then added dimensional glaze to the jar to make it look like glass. To the flower centers there is a touch of copper Stickles for sparkle.



Thanks for stopping by. Take time to smell the flowers if you can. At least for us, we never know when they'll be covered in snow again.

Coloring on Embossing Paste

Last month, my friend JAN of Far North Deigns, challenged me to experiment with coloring on Acetate with alcohol inks. So this month it was my turn to choose a challenge and I chose using any type of coloring medium on white matte embossing paste.

One of my favorite embossing techniques is with the use of embossing paste. Embossing paste can be purchased in a variety of colors and metalics but it also takes a wide variety of coloring medium quite well.


For this card I used the Peacock Feather embossing stencil made by Dreamweaver Stencils. I embossed with matte white embossing paste. When it was dry I used Artist Paintstik oil paint crayons and applied the colors on the various parts of the feather. The oil sticks give a very vibrant color to the image. Next I matted the image to teal and royal blue cardstock.

On my card base I randomly stamped the feather design using Archival BRILLIANCE Peacock ink pad. The feather stamp is from Heather's Stamping Haven, in Ottawa Ontario, and is manufactured by The Stamp Barn.

I'm not sure if you can read the sentiment from the photo. It says, "How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it. - George Elliston" This stamp is made by Stampin' Up! and is out of the Easy Elegance stamp set.

JAN will be posting her card using a different coloring medium on embossing paste on her blog tonight so please check out her blog too by clicking on her name.

New Stamps

It is always dangerous for me to go to HEATHER'S STAMPING HAVEN in Ottawa. I never can get out of there without a new stamp (or two or three....)

Heather has designed the most super new stamp sets. She has had them made by The Stamp Barn but her designs are ingenius!

Here is one set I bought. See the birthday present outline? That is one stamp. Then she has designed three different inside decorations, if you will, to over stamp and decorate the present. For this card I chose the candles and balloons. Here is a photo of the stamp set and you can see the pansies and birds as well as a snowflake and candy design for the gift. Won't the snowfake/candy design be fun to use for Christmas gift tags? And the flowers and pansies for mother's day or shower gifts and cards?


Another set that I bought is her butterfly set that works the same way and I'm eager to make cards with them.

Click on the photos to enlarge so you can see the fun details in the overstamping you can create. Oh, and Heather does ship to the U.S. Just thought you'd like to know.

She also has a shoe set and if you are nuts for shoes that are "too cha-cha for words" you'll love the various shoe styles you can create.

For this card I watercolored the present with Tombow markers, added stickles, ribbon and copious amounts of Cuttlebugging from the embossed Happy Birthday background to the tags and mat die cuts. The sentiment is from SU.


I'm back to stamping. I've gone through terrible withdrawl pains these past few weeks not stamping and making cards but there have been just too many other things going on. I'm also doing a lot more sewing these days. But even with dogs, hogs and sewing I'll never stop card making and stamping. Nope! Never!

Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it more than you can imagine!

Hogs and Dogs

Hello! I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post! Time has been speeding by these fast, past couple of weeks. Thank you so much for all of you who emailed me to check up to be sure all is ok. That is what I love about blogging. Sweet caring people. It does my heart good!

YES! A loud happy shout, YES! All is quite well. I've been really going 90 miles an hour in different directions. Primarily, what Paul and I call our "hogs and dogs."

Last weekend I showed my Landseer Newfoundland pup (Gabriel) in his first official dog show. My two Newfies ('Bella and Gabe) have their own blog HERE so if you are a dog fancier you can catch up on their escapades on their blog.

Getting into the dog show world has opened up a whole new exciting hobby and learning experience. I'm absolutely lovin' it!

So, you say, I understand the dogs part, but what is the "hogs" part? Nope. We aren't raising hogs. However, this past Friday we picked up MY brand spankin' new Harley Davidson Sportster 1200L. It is Harley's 105th anniversary colors of copper and black. I was drawn to the colors as they really remind me of my Alma Mater, Purdue University, colors. OK, Purdue's colors are old gold and black but this copper reminds me of the "old gold" of Purdue.



Isn't she a beauty?

I've never had an interest in owning my own motorcycle. Nope! None! Paul has been riding since he was 16 and has always owned one (and sometimes two!) motorcycles of many makes. He is the motorcycle fanatic and I've enjoyed riding with him but too intimidated to even consider owning one of my own. Up until in January of this year when I saw the Sportster 1200L. I sat on her in the showroom. All I can say is that there was no turning back. Paul jumped at ordering it immediately and working on the trade-in of his Ducati for my Harley. He loves his new Harley Road King that he bought last year and rarely rode the Ducati anymore so we traded it for my 2008 Sportster.

I have my M1 motorcycle license. This week I'm taking my motorcycle safety course through the Ottawa Safety Council. They are full days (7 - 5 p.m.) of learning to ride. So, I haven't ridden my new Harley yet, but I go outside and sit on it and practice turning it on, shifting (from a stationary position) and just getting comfortable with the controls.

So there, my friends, is what I've been up to: Hogs and Dogs. We are now a 2 Hog and 2 Dog family and I'm an official HOG member! (HOG = Harley Owners Group).

Sassy Apron Swap arrived!

I was tickled this past week when I received this sweet apron from my swap partner, Emily M. for the Spring SASSY APRON SWAP. The Sassy Apron Swap consists of four aprons to be made and swapped among partners with the seasonal theme. This darling blue print apron is the SPRING themed apron made for me by my partner, Emily. I love the constrasting fabrics and colors...and of course the rick-rack!

Emily also surprised me by enclosing these beautiful custom designed Grocery Shopping lists for me to take the drudgery out of the chore of shopping lists. Aren't they beautiful?!


Below is the apron I made and sent to my swap partner, Kristin. I hope she liked it.



If you are interested in sewing and especially handmade aprons and would like to participate in the Summer Sassy Apron Swap, click HERE and read more about it.

Another fun new website is the APRONISTA. You can see my badge on my right sidebar and new memberships are welcome.

Thanks for dropping by!

Dog Sympathy card

Being the animal lover that I am, it breaks my heart when I learn of family and friends who have lost a beloved pet. Our pets become part of the family and when one has to be put down or dies it really breaks the heart.

This stamp is one of the new sets from the Occasions mini catalog from Stampin'Up!. The set is called "For Father" and this puppy with the shoe stamp is one of four stamps from this set. The "with sympathy" sentiment is from Anna Griffin.

The puppy and shoe are stamped on watercolor paper with Versafine Black Onyx ink and embossed with clear embossing powder so that when I watercolor the ink doesn't run. I watercolored the image using Tombow markers.

I used my cuttlebug to emboss the swiss dots background on the yellow cardstock and then my Nestibilities circle and scalloped circle to cut the image out.

The ribbon and paw print brad were in my stash and I don't remember who makes them.

For the inside sentiment sentiment reads:

My photos are pretty dark. It is SNOWING outside right now and it is another cold, gloomy day so I didn't get very sharp or bright snaps of this card.

Thanks for stopping by!

ISMAKI Challenge #13

One of many things I love about the world of blogging is that there are so many very creative and talented artists who share not only their art, but also their talent for creating challenges from all around the world. It costs nothing to participate and has challenged me to get out of my little box and explore other avenues of expression for my stamping and cardmaking.

Each Monday on ISMAKI website there is a new sketch challenge. They are very challenging for me but I always look at the art shared by other card makers worldwide. This is the sketch that Petra provided for this week's challenge:

I decided to use another stamp from my new Stampin' Up! set called "Bloomin' Beautiful" as the focal point for this sketch. I watercolored the flower with Tombow markers. Next I got out my Cuttlebug and really put it to use using the flourish swirl die cut, embossing folder with swiss dots, and to punch the little "joy" circle with my smallest Nestibilities circle die. I used the Martha Stewart embossing border punch for the edging next to the image. Then I added some prima flowers, some Hero Arts pink gemstones and some Anna Griffin designer paper.

This was fun but not a style I'm very comfortable with creating. Nevertheless, I enjoy the challenge and stepping out of my comfort zone.

April 1st! Is spring ever going to come?

Is Mother Nature playing an April fools joke on us and letting winter stay longer? We had quite the snowfall yesterday. Today it is raining. Tomorrow? Who knows!? Perhaps more flurries.

It has been a while since I have participated in JULEE'S MOJO MONDAY CHALLENGE. I have this beautiful new Stampin' Up! stamp set called "Bloomin' Beautiful" and I just had to ink it up and Julee's layout challenge gave me the incentive to do so.

Here is this week's Mojo Monday 31 challenge:

I watercolored my pansies in the vase with Tombow markers. I wanted to use the pale yellow as the background so I just watercolored on the cardstock. Generally I prefer to use watercolor paper when watercoloring for the obvious reason that that is what it is made to take - water! This prism cardstock worked "OK" for the small area I was working in but it does tend to pill up with too much application of water so I worked the area carefully to avoid the paper pilling.

I very lightly shaded the vase in a pale blue tombow marker and then applied clear dimensional glaze over the area of the vase. The photo doesn't show the effect of a glass vase look but in real life I'm pleased with the outcome.

I just got my dotted swiss Cuttlebug embossing folder so I went to town embossing everything that would hold still with this dotted swiss background.

I also use my new Nestibilities dies to cut the circles and rectangles for this piece.

A little dot of yellow stickles to the center of each flower and my card is complete.

Thanks for dropping by and taking a peek at my latest card. More cards to come.

Alcohol Ink On Acetate

Creating a watercolor effect using Alcohol Ink and blending solution on Acetate is a technique that I've been looking forward to trying out for the longest time. My friend JAN and I decided to begin a monthly technique challenge between ourselves and post our results on our blogs. I was excited when Jan suggested that our first challenge be to use alcohol ink and blending solution as a watercoloring medium and to use acetate as our painting surface. You can view Jan's beautiful card that she created, titled "Pocket full of Posies" HERE.

For my card I began with a clear sheet of acetate and stamped the vase of flowers image using Stazon black ink. One immediately discovers that you have to have a steady hand when stamping and to lift the stamp directly. Even though the stamp does "stick" a bit to the acetate with the stazon ink, the risk of smears is high since the acetate is like an ice skating surface.

After I inked the surface with my stamped image and used a small plastic paint palette and put a drop of each of the colors of alcohol ink I wanted to use on the image in the little "bowls" in the palette. I don't have too many alcohol ink colors (YET!) so I blended some of the colors for various shades.

Next I filled a water brush with alcohol ink blending solution and used the blending solution to regulate the intensity of the colors as I painted it on the acetate. The colors just flow so smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed this painting technique and can see myself using this frequently in the future.

If you'd like to see a tutorial using Alcohol Ink and Acetate, click on Michelle Zindorf's blog, Freedom in Creating, HERE.


I think this technique will be great for coloring highly detailed images when you want the stamped lines to be predominent in defining the image.

Thanks Jan for the challenge! I loved using this technique.

Baskets for the Cure

Did you know that every 13-minutes, a woman dies from breast cancer? One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

My friend Ethel, whose art work is known and admired by many on cardmaking blogs, has created a special blog called BASKETS FOR THE CURE. Ethel's "Baskets for the cure" blog is a special site she has created to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Ethel's idea is to offer you the opportunity to bid on some very special Longaberger baskets and the procedes from this auction will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to battle breast cancer.

If you'd like to learn more about how you can help, follow the link to BASKETS FOR THE CURE.

An Easter bunny funny

Happy 1st day of Spring!

Hmmmm...well let's see. Today is the Vernal Equinox! The first day of spring. Outside my front room window I've been watching snow plows and huge dump trucks removing piles and piles (like mountains - 2 stories high) of snow from business parking lots. I'm afraid it will be months before we even begin to see any semblance of spring. Nevertheless, I do look forward to warmer temperatures and even if it only says it is spring on the calendar, at least it gives one hope to the end of one very long and cold and snowy winter.

My card today is to welcome the new season with a whimsical Fluffles the Cat card. If you are not familiar with Fluffles stamps, they are of the funny kitty named fluffles who almost always is getting himself into some type of predicament or mischief. I colored with prismacolor pencils and used a bit of machine stitching.

Now, if only we could have a few grasshoppers and flowers and kitties on the hunt, that would feel more like spring!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Easter Bunnies

How about one more Easter card? This stamp of the bunnies just makes me smile each time I see it. They have such sweet expressions.

The card itself is pretty straight forward. The stamp is from The Stamp Barn here in Ottawa, Ontario. I love stamp barn stamps. The are cut and mounted on wood blocks better than any other company's stamp I use. The rubber is deeply etched and stamping is so easy to achieve a clear image. Plus, stamp barn stamps are simply beautiful. I sound like a commercial for them. I have no ties other than I like to shop for stamp barn stamps.

The sentiment, "Hoppy Easter" is a stamp from Hero Arts.

I colored with prismacolor pencils. I think next time I'll switch to watercoloring them with Tombow markers for a different look. I did add some liquid snow to their tails to give them a three dimensional look.

Isn't the carrot ribbon fun? I found that on the teeny tiny spools at Michaels.

Happy Easter!

Cross and Blossoms

Another Easter card using Paper Inspirations stamp titled, "Cross and Blossoms." Again I colored the image with chalk and a very, very fine touch of stickles glitter glue on the cross itself to make it glow more than sparkle. The background is stamped using a Hero Arts stamp called Poetic Petals Two. The sentiment, Happy Easter, is also a Paper Inspirations stamp.

I can almost image this type of image on turn of the century postcards, can't you?

Vintage Chick and Egg

Vintage designs have always been a challenge for me. I love them but it isn't a style that I create in very well so usually I just drool over other people's work in the Vintage genre. When I saw the Paper Inspirations stamps though, I had to get a few and give them a try. I still find it very difficult to get my mind to work with them but I sure do love the look of them.

This stamp is from Paper Inspirations. I colored the image with Pastel Chalks and in a couple places (mostly the leaves) added just a light touch of prismacolor pencil. Primarily, though, these are done in chalk. I then added some beads to the flower, a tiny crystal to the chick's eye and some plaid ribbon.

I'm happy with this for me. I would love to see other people's interpretation using this stamp. I know that there is so much more that could be done.

Oh yes. I changed my blog template AGAIN! A friend and I were discussing blog backgrounds the other day. I said for me it was kind of like rearranging one's furniture. It always makes it feel like a new room. I'm not thrilled with this color so I may change it again in a day or two.

Outlines Easter Egg

With Easter just a little over a week away and needing to get my Easter cards in the mail NOW I am afraid I must make a confession. I'm sending cards that I made last year. This particular card was made for a swap at the STAMP SHACK last year. The swap was to use a stamp by OUTLINES rubber stamps. I have about 5 or 6 Outlines rubber stamps and I just do not use them enough. I should correct that situation because OUTLINES make the most unique and versatile stamps.

Anyway, this is a card from a year ago. I made a lot of Easter cards last year and my dear husband took them in to his office and put them in a basket on his desk and sold many for me for a little pin money, you might say. I had just a few cards left over after Easter last year and I put them away for this year. Consequently, I'll be sending these to my family this year as well as a few other designs.

Here is a close-up of the 3 dimensional image that one can create with OUTLINES stamps. These stamps are so unique and I urge you to check out their website by clicking HERE at OUTLINES RUBBER STAMPS.

Thanks for stopping by today!