Polkadoodles

Hello!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It really felt like Christmas here this year as we had lots of snow leading up to Christmas day and afterwards.  Temperatures have been bitterly cold, with wind chill feeling like -30C.  No warm up until around the 5th of January!

I still have a couple of Christmas cards to post, so I hope you don't mind that I share them even after the holidays.

This is a digital image from Polkadoodles.   I bought a few images from them, and this is the only one I had time to colour so far. They are so adorable.

After re-sizing I used prismacolour pencils to colour.  I then cut out the image using Spellbinders pierced rectangles.  The designer paper is a pack I bought from a Stamp store out of town.  There is no name on the cellophane, but I do know that it is from the UK.  I thought it went well with my image.

The 'holiday cheer' sentiment is from Penny Black, which I embossed in white on some black card stock.

To finish off I added some enamel dots, white flock to the hat and wink of stella clear glitter to the berries and stockings.

Thanks for you visit today!
Paulilne

Happy holidays from James & snowman

Good morning everyone! 3 more days till Christmas, it's hard to believe how fast December has gone.
Are you ready? I only have baking and groceries to do, so since I'm off today I think I will get started on the baking.

I still have a couple of Christmas cards to share.  I think this is one of my favourite  cards I made this season. I'm using LOTV - James - Snowman stamp. 

I used prismacolour pencils to colour. I cut it down to fit behind a red square frame cut from MFT stitched square frame dies.  Stripe paper is from my scrap bin, and the paper in behind is from Memory Box.

To finish off I added some white fun flock to the bears hat, TH rock glitter to the ground then went back in and added some Twinklets Diamond Dust in spots along the ground. I wanted to add a sentiment, tried different ways and ended up using a flag end wood veneer from Studio Calico. I stamped a sentiment from Power Poppys Simple Joy set - merry christmas - in black versafine. I then added a small veneer bird on top.   Used my wink of stella pen on both pieces of veneer to give it a bit of sparkle. Love it!  I didn't want to give this one away just yet, so made another for my basket.

Wishing you a wonderful day! See you back here soon,

Pauline

And the stockings were hung

Hello everyone! I'm back today to share another Christmas card.  I can't believe it's only a week away. We have had so much snow here this week it really does feel like Christmas.  We have had about 13-15" of snow this week, lots of shoveling! Yesterday we went to my brother Steve's place in London and our family had our Christmas together.  It was fun, lots of reminiscing, lots of food and laughs.

 Are you ready for Christmas - cards done, gifts bought, gifts wrapped, baking done etc?  I'm about 75% done, my cards are done and mailed (thank goodness), so all that is left is a bit of wrapping and baking, so I' feel pretty good about that. 

Although, don't you find, once you have your cards done for the year, you are still in the 'christmas card making mode", so you might as well continue working towards next years stash - (at a more relaxed pace),  I think that is what I'm going to do.

For my card today,  I'm using Power Poppy's Stocking from Snow Kissed.

Once coloured with Copics, I cut it out with MFT cross stitch rectangle.  I left the die in place and sponged some distress antique linen and a bit of soft sky around the edges.

I placed the image in my MISTI and stamped the sentiment - which I'm glad I used the MISTI because I ended up stamping this twice, to get a nice clean crisp impression.  The sentiment is from the Simple Joys stamp set.

Designer paper is from Fancy Pants - Saint Nick (2011). I also cut a couple of flag stax tags from the same paper using Simon Says flag dies. To keep the cross stitch pattern across the top I used the MFT cross stitch rectangle and cut just the top of the flags to it all lined up perfectly.  The red snowflake was cut from Poppystamps die - Ava snowflakes.

To finish off, I added a gold pearl to the center of the snowflake, some enamel dots, and used my wink of stella clear glitter pen for the presents and pom poms on the stocking.  I really love how this turned out!

Well, thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your day, and if you are traveling, be safe!  See you back here soon.

Pauline

Once upon a star

Well, winter has arrived.  We woke up this morning with approx 6 inches of the white stuff, and it had a lot of moisture in it which made shoveling a bit hard.  But then the sun came out today, which melted the roadways.  It's very cold tonight feels like -19C with the wind chill (-2F). Brrrrrr..

So with that said, I thought I would share one of my snowman cards.  This is a digital image from Sassy Cheryl's - called "Once upon a star".

After re-sizing, I used prisma colour pencils to colour and blended with gamsol.   I then cut it out with a MFT die from one of the die-namics sets, left the die in place and sponged some SU soft sky around the top.  Then I thought what if I sponge some snow?? so I pulled out my snow stencil and sponged some snow dots using the same soft sky ink.

Background paper is from my scrap bin, and the strip along the side is from Echo Park - reflections christmas pack.  

I added a die snow drift piece along the bottom to kind of anchor him down, and by doing that I had to cut his scarf a bit  so I could lift it over the snow drift.

To finish off I had a snowflake on my work table, so sponged a bit of soft sky then add a red enamel dot to the center and placed it on the right side.  I felt it needed something to till in a bit of space. I then added some silver metallic twine before adhering everything together.

I also added glitter to the star as well as the snow dots and on the snowman.

That's it for this evening.  See you back here soon,

Pauline

Polar bear express

Hi Everyone.  I finally got around to taking pictures of my cards that I made over the last couple of weeks, so lets get started.

I must confess, the image below has been stamped out a couple of years ago and I did start to colour the polar bear and that is far as I got with it.  So was going through my bin of partial projects and found this one.

Image is from Crissy Armstrong over at Whimsy Stamps.  I'm not sure of the name of the image, I don't see on their website anymore.  So as I was trying to think of a name for my post, my daughter Karen suggest 'polar bear express', so that's what I went with.

I used prismacolour pencils to colour.  I debated on whether or not to die cut the image or leave as is.  I tried many different die cuts for along the top and bottom.  I ended up using an MFT stitched hill die for the bottom and Memory Box Frostyville border for the top.

Background paper is from Basic Grey Nordic Holiday collection (another oldie).  I tied some plaid ribbon across the top and tied a bow

Along the hill I added some sparkle by using some Twinklets Diamond dust - love this stuff, a little chunky but very sparkly.  I used my wind of stella clear pen for along the frostyville border to add some shimmer.  I also used my white pen and added some polka dots to the penguins scarf for some extra detail, and some fun flock to the brims of the hats and pompom.

So there you have it.  Isn't this image just so sweet?

Thanks for visiting.  Keep warm if you are experiencing winter where you live.  We had our first snowfall today, a couple of centimenters, but then the sun came out and melting most of it away.

Till next time,

Pauline

A Berry kissed blessing

Good morning.  Now that we are into December (which is hard to believe), the crunch is on for getting my Christmas cards done.  I have many more to go - how about you, are you still behind as I am, or nearing the end?

I've always admired a lot of the designers who create using the Penny Black brush stroke images. They seem so realistic, so I thought I would give it a go, after that's why I bought the stamp, so lets get started!

I'm using Penny Black's Berry Kissed cling stamp for my card today.

I started with Canson 140lb watercolour paper, and placed it in my Misti.  I then placed my stamp on my paper where I wanted  to stamp my image, closed the lid (to pick up the stamp on the other side), then started my project.  I used several colours of distress ink markers to do this, and unfortunately i did this one last month, I did not keep track of the colours.  Basically, I would colour the stamp - I started with the leaves first, huff and stamp, and would continue to do this until I reach the coverage and depth I was looking for.   Then I moved on to the branches then the berries. I kept the paper in my Misti, then took a paintbrush and blended out the colours a bit for better coverage, let dry, the added a bit more ink to the stamp for a bit more darkness in places.  Again, heat set to dry, clean off your stamp good, then add versamark to the stamp and stamp over your coloured image.  At this point you can remove the paper and add clear embossing powder and heat set.  I then cut out the image using MFT stitched rectangles from on the blueprint sets.

Now, that this is heat set with clear embossing powder, I can continue to do the background and the colours will not bleed or smear as the clear ep has sealed the image. I was going to watercolour the background but instead I just used some distress inks and a blending tool to do so.

I then put my image back in my Misti, placed my sentiment where I wanted it and then stamped.  I stamped a couple of times to get a nice dark impression.

It still needed something, so I water downed some white paint I had and flicked on the snow.

I couldn't of done this technique without my Misti.  I have so many more brushed stroke images to try this technique with!

Thanks so much for coming by today, have yourself a wonderful day!

Pauline

Oxide ink backgrounds

Good morning everyone.  Hope your week is going well.  Although I'm knee deep with Christmas card making as I'm sure most of you are, I had to divert from that to complete one of my card orders.   I had a request for 5 sympathy cards.  I always find sympathy cards need to be soft and mellow.  I rummaged through some of my dies to see what I could use.

For my first card I used distress oxide ink work lipstick,  wild honey and inka gold platinum.  I added this to my teflon mat, spritzed with water, mixed slightly as not to get it too muddy looking, then smooshed some canson watercolour paper - gorgeous results.  I used Memory Box dragonfly stems left corner, cut from black c/s, the framed it with MFT pierced rectangle frames. The background is embossed with a ef - sorry not sure of the name.  To finished I added a peel off - with sympathy sticker, then added a couple of PTI clear dots.

For my second card, I used distress oxide ink - cracked pistachio and a bit of peacock feathers along with some nuvo embellishment mouse- spring green.  I used the same smooshing technique as above.
Memory box clara corner was used, then framed with MFT pierced oval frame. I used an ef for the background as well.  Following the same as my first card I used a peel off sticker for the sentiment and then added a couple of pearls.

I ended up making 2 of each of these cards as I had enough ink on my mat to do so.  A bit of ink goes a long way.

Now, I need to get back to working on my Christmas cards.  Thanks for visiting today, have yourself a wonderful day, whatever your day holds for you.
See you back her soon,

Pauline

Peace, hope, love

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends who are celebrating today!

Today's card is a digital image from Power Poppy called  "Felt leaves and fruits".  I bought this last winter but never had a chance to colour it up.

After resizing and printing, I used copics to colour.  I then used Simon Says, stitched circle to cut the image out and layered it onto white c/s cut using MFT stitched scallop circle die.  I stamped the sentiment from the Simple Joys set using black versafine.

Paper is old - I mean old - the stripe is from MME - Laundry line (date on it says 2008) and the background green is from Fancy Pants - Christmas Magic (dated 2009).

I added some gold chiffon ribbon, tied 2 bows and layered them, for more fullness.  Add wink of stella clear glitter to the purple berries.  This is really pretty in real!

Well that's it for tonight, heading out to choir practice.  Enjoy your weekend.

Pauline

Winter chill

Good morning everyone!  As I mentioned in my previous email, I've been diligently working on my Christmas cards.  I try to do one every couple of days. It's a much cooler day here today, yesterday it rained most of the day with temps in the mid 50's, today it is a high of 37 but feels like 26F, much cooler, brrrrrrr.... which brings me to my card today.

My card today, is a digital image from Power Poppy called - 'let's chill".  I have such a soft spot for snowmen, just can't get enough of them!

After re-sizing the image, I printed and then coloured using copics.

MFT mod rectangle stax dies to cut out the snowman plus the layer behind.  Designer paper is Bo Bunny - snowfall collection - this is from a couple of years ago.

I stamped the Happy Holidays onto some SU not quite nave c/s using versamark ink and white embossing powder.  I then used a MFT die cut cut it out.  I was undecided whether or not to leave the banner piece this long or to make it shorter, and as you can see I left it longer on the right side and lined it up with edge of the paper.

I cut a small snowflake from the dp using Memory Box snowflake from the Christmas Baubles set.

To finish off I added some enamel dots, and for the snow on the ground I added some Twinklets Diamond dust.

Well, that's it for today, glad you stopped by for a visit. Till next time......

Pauline

Scarlet Majesty

Good afternoon!  How is your Christmas cards coming along, making head way?  I've been working on them, but have lots more to make.  I can't believe it's the middle of November already!

Today's card is a poinsettia stamp from Penny Black called - Scarlet Majesty - and as you can see mine is not scarlet colour - I thought I would do something out of the norm.

I placed the stamp in my Misti and applied distress markers, and stamped.  I did this several times to get the application I was looking for.  I then took some prisma colour pencils and filled in areas where I wanted more colour or darker colour.  I then sponged distress inks very lightly around the image for shading.

I cut it down to size, then layered it onto a piece of shiny silver c/s.  Then I was stumped!  I tried several pieces of paper, several different layouts and nothing appealed to me.  Isn't it frustrating when that happens?  So I left if for a week or so then came back to it, only because I came across of already die cut frostyville border from Memory Box. I then layered it behind the image, pulled out some muted aqua dp, and I liked what I saw. 

For finishing touches I wrapped some deep blue/turquoise seam binding ribbon around and added a small bow.  Added some Art Glitter - Vintage fine glass glitter - sea sprite colour to the center of the poinsettia. Tim Holtz clear crystal distress glitter to parts of the leaves, then a few crystal clear dots her and there (not really sure of the proper name for these).

I have many more cards to share so stay tuned.

Thanks for your visit today, enjoy your day!
Pauline

welcome baby boy

I had another request from a co-worker for baby card last week.   Because they already know it is going to be a boy, that makes it much easier for designing the card, rather than sticking to yellow and green.

I pulled out a couple of my Justrite baby stamps sets and created the card.

Image was coloured with copics.  I then cut out the image using spellbinders decorative floral oval die and left it in place then sponged some soft sky around the edges. I stamped the banner, the coloured and cut it out.  I used so SU dimensionals to give it some height off the card.

Paper is MFT - homespun gingham (plaid), and the layer with the dots is just some scraps I had. I used an EK success border punch for the edging on the piece behind the image.

I used some lace, pearls, ribbon, and of course you need to have some pretty flowers - right? or are they appropriate for 'boy' cards? I thought hey anything goes since I'm designing the card right?

It's a short post tonight, I'm just heading out to choir practice.

Thanks for your visit,
Pauline

Glittering glass santa

Hello everyone.  Just thought I would pop in for a quick post tonight before heading off to bed.  I tell you with the clocks going back an hour last night, I was awake around 4:15, which really is 5:15 on the old time, so that is about the time I awake during the week. So needless to say, I'm getting tired.

Yesterday, we went up to Mark & Anna's place to celebrate our grandson James' 7th birthday, and guess what? I forgot to take a picture of the cute card I made him (grrrrrr).  I didn't realize it until after we got home. Next time I'm up there I will have to take a picture so I can share it with you.

I've been busy working on cards, some Christmas, some sympathy, and some birthday for an order.
I finally got around to taking pictures tonight of them.

For my card tonight, I'm using Power Poppy's digital image called Glittering Glass Santa. I already had some resized and printed off from last year, but never got around to colouring them.

I used copic markers to colour the image.  MFT cross stitch rectangle die to cut out the image, then left the die in place and sponged some bundled sage distress ink around the edges. I stamped the sentiment from a Penny Black set called 'holiday snippets'.

I pulled out some very old Stampin Up dp, not even sure of the name. Also added some velvet teal ribbon, and added clear wink of stella glitter pen to the fir on santa as well as the christmas balls on the pine branch.

Well that's it for me tonight.  Thanks for your visit.  See you real soon,

Pauline

Mr Purdy

Well, I'm back in the land of the living.  Over the last week and a half I've been sick with a cold - it's hitting a lot of people around here, very soar throat, headaches, cough - a never ending cough, etc.
I haven't had the energy to do much after working all day, come home have a bite to eat and that's about it - it just drains you.  I still have my cough but not as bad, and the soar throat seems to have left today - thank goodness!

So that's the reason for not posting.  Good thing I have a few on reserve.  Remember last month I posted Mrs. Purdy, well today I have Mr Purdy to share.

Love these plump snowman!

I coloured using prisma colour pencils.  Paper is from my scrap bin, I believe it is from MME. I used Simon Says stitched circle die, and an EK Success border punch.

To finish off I added lots of glitter and some Stamping Bella dots.

That's it for today.  I sure hope I get my mojo back working.  I have a card order to get done as well as my own Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your weekend.  Back soon,

Pauline

50th Wedding Anniversary

Just in for a quick post tonight.  I had a request for a 50th Wedding anniversary card.  Well you know me with these types of cards, love to use flowers, pearls etc, so this is what I came up with.

Martha Stewart border punch used for the eyelet edges.  Spellbinder die for ovals - elegant ovals. Memory box - dainty leaf die. I used an old Quik kutz number die set for the '50'.  I cut 3 layers - 2 from white card stock and one from mirri gold paper. 

Designer paper is some scraps from by scrap bin.  And then we have flowers, most of them are from Wild orchid crafts in the UK. 

Added some wink of stella clear pen all over the flowers for that bit of sparkle, pearls, gold beads and I also added some white dots using Nuvo white crystal drops.

And there you have it! It is so pretty in real.

Hope your having a good week, thanks for visiting.

Pauline

Framed corcopsis

Hope you all had a good week, but thank goodness the weekend is upon us!  I made this card a couple of weeks ago, with someone special in mind.  Today, I am able to share, since it is my BFF's birthday today, and I had delivered her card a few days ago.

I used Power Poppy's Vibrant Thanks set, and pulled out the beautiful corcopsis image to colour.

 

I used prisma colour pencils to colour, and then pulled out some copic colours to do some dot shading around the image.

I used MFT's stitched square frame dies for my framing.  Paper is from MME - Indie Chic - saffron - another old paper pack from 2012! - some papers are just hard to part with, but I'm getting better.

For finishing touches, I added some silk ribbon along the bottom, a couple of enamel dots and a clear acetate butterfly (something else from my stash that I seem to forget about!).  Also added some glitter to the centers of the flowers.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! See you soon,
Pauline

Uptown Brittany

Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I last posted.  Bill and I took off for a week up north to a couple of the Provincial Parks. The fall colours were gorgeous.  Did lots of hiking, one trail up at Killarney PP took us 1 3/4 hr to climb one way.  The trail was called 'the crack' - hence you climb up rocks between 2 mountains.  Once you reached the top the view was spectacular. Bill took lots of pictures,  I hope to have some to share soon.

Today's card is one I made for one of my co-workers.  She requested a birthday card for a young gal using one of the Uptown girls.  I coloured up two of them and this is the first.  Stamping Bella - Uptown Brittany.

I used prisma colour pencils to colour her, except for the skin tones I used copics.

Paper is from Bo Bunny - Little Miss.  I used a small lacy ornament die from MFT  (for under the bow), cut it in half. Added some silk ribbon, sequins and some TH distress glitter to finish this off.

A quick post for today.  Mark, Anna & boys are coming down for Thanksgiving Dinner today, so lots to get ready.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian followers. See you soon,

Pauline

Fall Birding # 2

Hello, hope you week is going well. Can you believe it is Oct 1st already?

I thought I would share a few more of Bill's birding photos. Most of these are Warblers in their fall plumage.  We didn't think we would be lucky enough to still capture these guys during migration, we thought, well at least I thought most would have left our area and headed south by now, but seems every Saturday when we go out we still are able to find them in small pockets.  Maybe it's due to the extreme warm weather we have had over the last few weeks.

Anyway, sit back and take a peek.  (click to enlarge)

 

 

I hope you enjoyed them as much as we do seeing them.  Have a wonderful day.

Pauline

First wedding anniversary

This past Sunday - Sept 24, was my son Mark & his wife Anna's first wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year already.  I still remember the day so vividly like it was yesterday - boy how time does fly.

Well you know me, I stressed over what kind of card to make for them.  I wanted something special, I stewed over this for a week, finally one day last week when I was off, I just pulled some dies, papers and flowers and went to town!

Here is what I came up with:

Not much explaining on this one, although, if you notice the leaf texture on the background paper - well I did that with a stencil and paste.  I didn't want it to be white paste, so I took my distress oxide picked raspberry ink and added a bit of ink to my Teflon mat, then mixed in some dream weavers pearlescent paste. I didn't use the whole stencil, just bits a pieces of it as I saw fit.  Love the outcome!
Paper is from Kaisercraft - P.S. I love you.

I used a Cherry Lynn doily die cut from white card stock and cut it in half.  I also used Penny Black - love is growing die - which is the grey vines with hearts.  I used a corner rounder for the other 2 layers, then added flowers, leaves, ribbon and some little shimmer dots (from the dollar store - love these, they come in a variety of colour in 2 sizes).  I added some glitter with my wink of stella clear pen to the flowers.

I found some crystal stick pens at our local store, so grabbed a couple of those last week as well, cut off the pen part and then glued the crystal heart to the bottom right corner.

So there you have it!

I'm sharing a couple of my favourite pictures of that wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your week!

Pauline

Fall Birding #1

Good morning. Well it's Friday, which means my last day of my vacation - back to work on Monday. Weather was extremely hot this week, and it is to continue until mid next week.  Temperatures feeling from high 90's to low 100's!   Just way too hot for me.  But I did manage to get some stuff done around the house which is always good, because you just never seem to get around to it when you are working.   I also managed to get a couple of cards done but I need to take pictures first.  So rather than put this post off until I get that done, I thought I would share some more of Bill's photo's.  These were taken in Sept.  Capturing the Warblers in the fall plumage is different for us as we have never captured these beauties this time of year, it's always during the Spring. We found a unique place where the Warblers seem to stop over during their migration to the south.


So, sit back and enjoy (click to enlarge!)

Hope you enjoyed the photo's. Let me know what you think.  I always share your comments with Bill (unless he pops onto my blog and reads for himself!).

Enjoy your weekend, whatever it holds for you.  See you soon,

Pauline

Algonquin Park - summer

I thought instead of a card for this post I would share some of Bill's photo's from our trip to Algonquin Provincial Park last month.

Please click on the pictures to enlarge them.

As we were driving early one morning around 7ish along Hwy 60 which runs through the park I noticed Momma Moose and young bull grazing along the side of the road.  They checked us out for a couple of minutes while  Bill took their picture then they turned and off into the forest they went. 

Next up is the Common Loon.  Many times as we ventured up to the Park our desire is to see the Loons.  We often hear them out on the lakes but never get a change to see them up close.  Well this time we lucked out.  Two mornings, we were able to sit and watch them as they swam fairly close to the lake edge while we were hidden from sight at the lakes edge.  They are such a beautiful waterbird.

I share some of our favourite pictures.  I'm sure Bill took at least 500 pictures! 

 

 

 

Does this next picture look familiar?  I am currently showcasing it as my blog header picture.

These are Lincoln sparrows.  Bill didn't realize he had 2 Lincoln's in this picture until he got home and was viewing them.  I love their little peaked crown, such a pretty sparrow, love the colour tones.

We spotted these guys at Spruce Bog, along with the next 2 pictures.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I will have more soon to share.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Elegance in Motion

Good morning everyone, just in from my early morning run.  I have been walking for a couple of years now every morning (well almost) for about 1/2 hour, but the last month or so I've turned my walk into a light jog.  I have been doing 1.5 - 1.75 mile run daily.  It's a killer some days, but I persevere through it.  As much as I dread when the alarm goes off at 5:10 am, when I'm done my run I feel so much better that I did do it.

Okay, enough of that on with my card.  I'm using Penny Blacks - Elegance in Motion. 

I started by white embossing the image into some canson water colour 140lb paper.  I then coloured with my Zig Clean colour markers.  After it was dry, I went around the outside edges with a light hand using distress linen ink.

For the "you', it is die cut 3 times.  I left one of the 'you's in the card stock and before removing it I coloured using the Zig's in colours of  yellow and oranges, to give it a ombre look.  I then glued the 3 together for some dimension. 

To finish I added my wink of stella clear glitter pen to the petals.

This was a fun card to make, I really should make a few more but in different colours.  The Zig's water colour so nicely on this paper.

Have a wonderful day, whatever it holds.  See you soon,

Pauline

Note: new picture at the top.  This was taken when we were up at Algonquin Provincial Park last month.  Bill was able to capture these Lincoln sparrows together.  This was a treat for us to see these Lincoln's as we have not seen them before. Love the lichen on the tree. Beautiful composition!!

Plum Purdy - my first 2017 Christmas card!

Well you can say I'm a bit behind, since I figured I would make one Christmas card a month, and I never started until this past week!  I need to get the ball rolling!

The image I'm using is an older Snowman image from Plum Purdy.  She doesn't make stamps anymore - at least not that I could find.  I've had this for several years.  She is just so darn cute!  What do you think?

I coloured the image using prisma colour pencils and blended with gamsol.  I cut her out using MFT - cross stitch rectangle die.  I then layered this onto spellbinders beaded square die cut. Then this where I ran into a road block.  Pulling papers to go with her - geesh - too many papers is what I think - too many choices.  So after a few nights of contemplating what to use, I laid out some paper samples and had Bill decide.  He liked this combo the best.  I must say  he helps me a lot when I get stuck like this.

Papers are from Kaisercraft - Christmas carol (striped paper) and the bottom piece is from - you know what I don't even know.  I cleaned up my work table after and I don't even see scraps from the bottom piece so I have no idea.  I thought it was from the same Kaisercraft pack but I don't think it is.

To finish off, I added some seam binding ribbon, a snowflake cut from Poppy Stamps - Ava snowflake die, white flock for her tassel on her hat, lots of glitter - Tim Holtz distress glitter - clear rock candy - love this stuff, and a wooden snowflake from Studio Calico.

So there you have it, my first 2017 Christmas card done! Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day!

Pauline

B-A-B-Y

Hello everyone, hope you had a good week.  It has been much cooler, it's like we are having fall weather, it's too early for this. Temperature this morning was 43F!, it was a cool run this morning, brrrrr.

Remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned I was going through some stamped off images, and found an image I had coloured but never made it onto a card, well....... here is another one.  I would say I coloured this about 6-7 years ago!  I was still designing for Stamping Bella at the time, and I remember colouring this when we were at  Linda Heavens (Lindabella) house along with Paula Williamson (Paulabella).  I guess I coloured it up and must of got tossed into this bucket of stamped off images.  

In need of a baby card for my basket, I threw this together - yes exactly that because I had a piece of watercolour c/s that I made with some distress oxide inks (playing around one day), and it matched my image perfectly! Did some die cutting, added some lace, ribbon, button and a baby clothes die cut from Memory box and my card was done!  I used my Nuvo clear glitter pen and added some sparkle to the letters on the blocks, along with the stars &  heart on the clothes.

It sold today, so now I'm empty handed for a baby card once again!

I've had a couple of Christmas images coloured this week, but I've spent the last 3 nights stressing over on what papers and layout to use, so still nothing completed on these.  Do you ever had times like this?  so frustrating!

Thanks for your visit, enjoy your weekend, an extra long one for me, I'm off until Wednesday! Woohoo!

Pauline

Uptown Jayden

Mom, to the rescue once again.  Karen asked me on Tuesday evening if I had a card to give to a summer student (Taya)  on Wednesday, that was working with Karen and she is leaving to go back to university on Thursday. Well, yes I have cards, but none that were fitting for  a young adult. (Flowery cards just wouldn't do!)

Of course, Karen wanted something in the 'bella' images, so she went through my stamps from Stamping Bella and pulled out a couple.  I thought Uptown Jayden fit best, since she is going back to school and she loves her sweets.  I'm using Uptown Jayden loves to journal- looks like she is deep in thoughts!  I think Jayden is more for writing a note or keeping in touch, but I think this still works.

I found some papers from Authentique - Flourish which remind me of school binder paper so went with that along with one of the co-ordinating papers in the pack.  Taya's favourite colour is pink, so I had to make sure I had pink somewhere on my card.

Stamped Jayden onto some white courgar c/s and then coloured using prisma colour pencils and blended with gamsol.  For skin tones I used Copics - E000, E00, E01, E11, R20, R21.

MFT stitched rectangle was used to cut her out.  To finish off I added some white freckles on her cheeks using my white gel pen, some sequins, glitter to the icing on the cupcake, and some turquoise seam binding ribbon.

Taya loved the card, when she left yesterday from work she came down to tell me so! :) (Karen and I work for the same company - just one floor apart)!

Well, that's it for me today, I am actually working on some Christmas cards - can you believe it!
Enjoy your weekend, whatever it brings.  It's suppose to be a nice low 70 degree weekend with lots of sun.  Off to the trails we go!  See you soon,

Pauline

Beautiful Bouquet Dahlias

Hello everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend.  Bill &  I took off for a short mini vacation up to Algonquin Provincial Park for a few days.  It is so peaceful and relaxing there. Although it's a long  drive it was well worth it, we got home last night totally exhausted! We are up around 4:30- 5am each day and go all day. We (Bill) were able to photograph Common Loons (which we never expected to see) - and the pictures he took are gorgeous! We sat at the edge of a lake hidden by leaves for over an hour each day and took pictures.  The second day the loon came up very close to us, so you can image the amount of pictures Bill has to go through.  We also saw a number of birds, and a Momma and baby Moose along the highway.

Okay, back to the real reason why your here, to see a card!

This one is using an image from Wplus9 called Beautiful Bouquet Dahlias.

I embossed the image with white embossing powder onto some Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper.  I then pulled out my Zig Clean colour markers and watercoloured the image.  I used MFT pierced frame die to make my frame.  One the frame was cut, I laid this onto my watercolour piece and marked where I needed the leaves and flowers to extend over the frame, then carefully cut around those pieces, before adhering my frame.

Designer paper is from Prima - firefly collection.

I added some wink of stella to the flowers for a bit of shimmer and some sequins and pearls to finish this off.

I'm off today, so lots to get done after being away (laundry, groceries, cleaning etc).  See you soon.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Bee balm

Hello everyone, hope your week is going well.

On Sunday, I did something that it not the norm for me.  I'm not one to sit for a length of time, always busy doing something.  Well, this Sunday was different.  I turned on Netflix, and watched season 1 of
"The Crown".  Oh my goodness it was awesome, I loved it.  I can't wait until Season 2 comes out in Dec.  So while I was watching, I also was making cards!

I know Bee Balms are normally red, at least the ones I have in the yard, but I decided I wanted to colour mine purple tones.  I just googled now and there is purple bee balms! Who would of thought?
I'm using one of the images from Power Poppy's Vibrant Thanks set.

I know your probably thinking, omg what was she thinking with these colours, but I tell you, in real the card is very pretty.  Sometimes the camera just doesn't pick up the right tones. 

I used MFT Die-namics essential cover up vertical die to cut the dark purple frame.  I then used scraps of Memory Box paper to fill in the top and bottom pieces.  Again the bottom piece looks more blue, but it really does have a purple tone to it in real.

I coloured the bee balm using prismacolour pencils.  I then cut it out using Memory Box Pinpoint Main Street Tags die.  I pulled out some seam binding ribbon in the deep fuschia colour to pull some of the colour of the bee balm.  After it was all together, it looked kind of plain (the tag part) so I added some shading around the stem and leaves using a fuschia pencil,  well I got a bit to close with the stump and gamsol, that it pulled in some of the green, so what could I do but go with it, so pulled in some of the green in other spots to balance out.

To finish off, I added a couple of purple rhinestons, and Nuvo clear glitter pen for the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a wonderful day. See you again real soon, as I have more cards to share!

Pauline