Sunshine and smiles

 Hello!  For my card today, I am using SSS sunflower die The leaves are die cut from The Greetery - Botanicuts Rose die set.  All the pieces were cut from white cardstock, then I added SSS positively inks to all, spritzed with water and viola!

After this was all layered together, I cut my panels down using Gina K Master Layouts 2.

I then adhered the sunflower to the  panel, and flicked black paint onto it. I then adhered to the card base.

For the sentiment, this is an oldie from "Verve".  I still have so many of their stamp sets, just can't part with them.  

To finish off I added some coppery gold rhinestones and some flat  glitter drops from PFS.

I also made an exact replica of this card, but added Anniversary Wishes to the front instead, - a request from a friend who wanted an Anniversary Sunflower card!

Wishing you a wonderful!  Thank you for your visit.

Pauline

Curiosity Moth

Hi!  I have another card to share today  featuring  products from The Greetery.  I am using the Jumbo Curiosity Moth die & stencil as well as Leaves all around die & stencil set.  

I started by using the Leaves all around stencil and applied my inks.  Once completed I used  the matching die to cut it out.  What you see below on my card is only half of the  Leaves all around stencil.  You have the option of using the full die cutout or you can snip in half which is what I did.

I then used the Moth die cut out the pieces.  For each piece I used the matching stencil and applied the inks.  I made this card about a month ago and never noted the inks, but I believe they are SSS Positively inks.

I laid the leaf cut out onto my blue cardstock and traced around the leaves, so I could cut away the blue c/s and leave the white card base showing through.

I adhered the blue cardstock to the base as well as the leaves.  I popped up the Moth for dimension.

I silver foiled one of my Spellbinder glimmer sentiments, then cut it out using a sentiment flag end die.

I applied  wink of stellar clear glitter to the moth and added a navy pearl .

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.  See you again real soon.  Have a wonderful day,

Pauline

Spring Mix

Hi there!  Hope your weekend is going well.  It' been just to hot here to do anything.  Since Friday feels like 42C roughly 108F, and this is suppose to last until Tuesday, then it drops down into the 80's.  So needless to say, I have been staying indoors.  I got caught up on Season 4 Virgin River, can't wait until Season 5 which doesn't come out to July 2023. Any other Virgin River fans out there? Now we are watching the Rookie, it's so good.  And I have been knitting socks, reading  and dabbling into some card making as well.

For today's card I am  using the The Print Shop - Sporing Mix from The Greetery.  I just love Betsy's products, I just can't seem to get enough of her stuff.  I have another order coming from her latest release last week.  Anything floral or nature related, I'm in! lol

Okay, so the cool thing about this set is that it starts out with multi layering stencils and then you add the little details with the coordinating stamps. And the die is all one piece, just pop it over your stamped image and viola. I always start with the die cut, then I go ahead and do my stenciling.  I find it's easier to line up the stencils that way.  You could also just stencil the image onto your card front for a one layer card, no die cutting needed.

Once all the stenciling was done, I sponged some soft blue's and pinks for the background and then adhered my Spring Mix die cut on top.

I finished by adding some of The Greetery's - Flower Bits embellishments to the centers of the flowers. 

I chose not to add a sentiment to the front, that way it can be used for many occasions.

As always, love when you visit.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Pauline

Gentle Blossom

 Hi there!  Today's card is one I made just to increase my stash bucket, which is pretty much depleted. I really need to get ahead of the game, much easier to pull a card out of your stash when you need one rather than have to make it.

Using products from Memory Box - Gentle Blossom Watercolour Floral, SSS Flickering Butterflies & SSS Positively saturated inks, Pinkfresh Studio - Essentials Mini Slimline dies and Penny Black - Not older, better (sentiment)

I started with some heavy weight white card stock and cut it down to a mini slimline using PinkFresh Studio die.

I then sponged some inks from yellow to pink over lapping in the middle to get the pinky colour, then spritzed with a bit of water and used a piece of paper towel to soak the excess as I didn't want large water spots.

Next, cut the die out of the white c/s, then sponged the same colours on the blossom. I stamped the sentiment first before adhere the blossom to make sure I had enough room.  Added the butterflies which were cut from gold mirror cardstock.

I was going to add some bling, but decided to leave as is.

I really love how this turned out.  I want to try some more but make the blossom in different colours.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Enjoy the rest of your day. Beautiful day here in SW Ontario only a high of 64F, but sunny and very windy.  I'll take this over the 116F days last week!

Keep well,

Pauline

Bontanical Notes

 I'm back today to share a card I did a few weeks ago.  I'm using Penny Black's Bontancial Notes. I've had this stamp for a while I think it's 3-4 yrs old, maybe older. I found this already stamped off in my basket waiting to be coloured.

I used copic markers to colour, then cut it out using Spellbinders Square die. I then sponged some distress ink around the edges.  I looks really green in the photo but in real it's not that vibrant.  Layered this onto some star dream yellow/gold paper (love the shimmer of this star dream c/s).  I then layered it onto some dark purple star dream c/s, then on to my card base.

For finishing touches I added some shimmer to the butterfly using my Nuvo clear glitter pen, and then I added some Prills to the center of the flower.

That's it for me for today.  Thanks for stopping, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Brilliant Butterfly

Hello! I'm finally back, last week has been  busy but I did manage to work on some cards. I finally got around to taking pictures of them yesterday.

My card today is one of my favourites.  I'm using MFT Dandelion Greenery and Brilliant Butterlies, I'm in love with both sets.  Love the whimsical feeling to the butterflies, and there are a variety of shapes and sizes, and for the greenery, I"m just a sucker for such things, so basically anything nature related I love.

I started off by stamping the greenery using PTI  spring moss, simply chartreuse and a bit of hawaiian shores, then stamped a few times and filled in where needed.  I used the tiny floral stamp and stamped using first and second generation stamping here and there.

For the butterfly, I used my distress inks - I actually only used the ink that was on the daubers, so not quite sure of the exact colours, but if guessing I would think worn lipstick pick raspberry and mustard seed.  I then over stamped it with the black wing overlay. So pretty isn't it? Can you see that bit of script in the background?.  I used a Magenta Company script stamped, add some spring moss very lightly to the stamp then took a rag and removed some of the ink in places then stamped very lightly, I just wanted a very loosely stamped script for a bit of interest.

The sentiment I from Simon Says Stamps - Tiny words, stamped in black versafine (using my misti). To finish off I added some tiny bubblegum pearls and iridescent butterflies, both from Studio Katia. Also added some clear glitter using my Nuvo clear glitter pen to the coloured portion of the butterfly.

MFT stitched rectangle to cut out the image, and background paper is from Memory Box.

So glad you stopped by today.  I"m off today as this is Canada's Civic Holiday, I"m hoping to get a bit more stamping done.

Have yourself a fabulous day! 💗

Pauline

Hello

A few weeks ago we took a drive to London (ON) and I stopped at my favourite stamp store - Stamp Art. If you live in the area and looking for a great stamp store, this is it.  Nancy carries a wide variety of many companies and will be glad to order something for you if you don't see it in her store.  I literally could spend a couple of hours in her store, just so much to see and she is always very helpful at showing you 'what's new'.

So with the 'what's new', one of the many things  I came home with was this beautiful die from Studio Light. I went through some of my backgrounds I made and came across this vibrant one. 

I think I used distress oxide sprays onto some watercolour paper.  I cut it using an MFT scallop die, cut out the floral from white c/s twice and glued together.  I also cut a 'hello' from black c/s twice and layered.  The hello die is from creative expressions.

To finish off I added some sequins and pearls and used my Nuvo clear glitter pen for sparkle on the flowers.

I love that dies make the card making process much quicker.  What did we ever do before dies were available??

Thanks for stopping in today.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Pauline

From the archives

Hello everyone, hope you had an enjoyable weekend!  Yesterday we got some much need rain (thunder showers) to give some relief from this terrible heat wave we've been having. It will still be in the mid 90's for most of this coming week, and then back up to about 110 on Saturday!

After reading Leslie Miller's post a few weeks back about UFO (unfinished objects), I decided to take a look in my basket to see what I had and if there was anything I could salvage.  Low and behold I came across this embossed Thistle.  You will never guess how long I have had this? Are you ready? I'm going to say at least 10 yrs! Back in 2009 or 2010 our local stamp store had Fred B Mullet come teach us a class.  We did fish, leaves, flowers just to name a few.  Looks like I had embossed this with a couple of different embossing powders but that was as far as I got with it.

So pulled out some papers and put it all together.

I dusted the edges around the thistles with some antique linen just to soften the white down somewhat.The card base and the frame around the thistles is a deep purple/gold metallic cardstock. It is a very rich colour.  Designer paper is from Memory Box. 

To finish I added some coloured pearls.

I appreciate you stopping by today.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Bliss

Hello! I happy to say I have a card to share with you today.  I finally got a little bit of my mojo back this weekend.

The weather the weekend was much warmer than normal, especially Sunday with temperatures in the high teens, and lots of sun, but today is much different! Gloomy and cold. Seeing the sun made me want to colour up something spring and floral.  I pulled out a Penny Black image called Bliss.

Image was stamped in black versafine, the I used copics to colour.  Colours are: G40, G43, G82, YG97, RV63, RV66, RV69, YR15.

I then used the Postal Frame die from The Greetery to cut it out.  I left the die in place and then sponged distress oxide bundled sage, spun sugar and seedless preserves around the image using my life changing brushes.

For the sentiment I used a sentiment strip from Simon Says Stamps, ran it through my laminator using some purple foil.  I don't think you can see the purple foil on the writing but it is there. I then popped it up off the card using some foam tape

To finish I added some bling - pearl and some rhinestones from Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Crystal Collection. Also added some TH rock candy glitter to the purple buds. I then layered my card front onto some Bazzill - Cotton Candy c/s.

Thank you for stopping by.  Stay healthy, and stay creative!

Pauline

Sending sweet thoughts

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. 

Today I have another Valentine card to share.  Although, I guess you could use this for a 'thinking of you' or a birthday as well. 

I started with a piece of Tim Holtz watercolour paper.  I smooshed distress inks onto my craft mat, spritz with water and then laid my paper onto it, picked it up and heat set.  I continued to do this until I was happy with the outcome.

I then cut two of the heart frames and glued them together.  I kept some of the hearts to add back into the negative areas once the card was completed.

For the center heart, I cut the solid heart from aqua mist c/s, and then the leafy floral overlay from some valentine designer paper from Cosmo Cricket. The sentiment I used is actually a little verse from Ink to Paper.  I masked off the a portion of it, as I only wanted to use "sending you sweet thoughts', and stamped using black versafine.

Once everything was together, I placed a small amount of glue into the negative spots on the heart frame and added the hearts here and there.  I also added some sequins and a heart rhinestone.

I love how this turned out.  I might just have to make another one using different distress inks.

I appreciate your visit, have a fabulous day!

Supplies:
Stamps - Ink to Paper - Inside Greetings: Valentine
Die:  Papertrey Ink - Bold Borders - Love die, Memory Box - Cupid Heart, Serafina Heart
Paper - Tim Holtz distress watercolour, white, PTI - aqua mist, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink - black versafine,  Distress Oxide - peacock feathers, salty ocean, cracked pistashio, twisted citron, picked raspberry, spice marmalade
Misc - sequins, heart gem, foam tape

Pauline

Robin & Wren

Hello everyone.  I hope you all had a wonderful long Labour Day Weekend! Weather was so perfect here, very little humidity,  a bit of rain, but overall just an awesome weekend!  Bill and I ventured out to see if we could find any early fall migrants moving from the north to the south.  We did come across a few, still very few, so hopefully over the next couple of weekends we will be able to see more as the continue to fly south.

Which brings me to my card today. You know anything 'nature' related I'm in!  I am in love with 'The Greetery' stamp sets.  Betsy is amazing, very talented in many ways from her designing images to her beautiful display of cards.  I just can't get enough of her images.  My latest order from her Aug release, I receive one of two pkgs today, I think I got charged duty and taxes on the other because I have not received it yet.  It just cleared the border, so I expect to pay some additional costs on that package. Oh also, I was one of the winners from her last release as well.  I was selected from 'day 3' winner and received $50 gift cert - how exciting was that.  I never win anything!!

Okay so enough of that, now for my card.  I am using the Robin and Wren set.  What I love about Betsy's sets is that they are multi-step stamping - love, love!

Sadly enough, I did not keep track of the inks I used as I made this a few weeks ago.  For the background I sponged some distress oxide inks using my life changing brushes. I really like these brushes especially for soft backgrounds as I find sometimes with other sponges you can apply too heavily, where these they just seem to apply soft and if you want darker you just keep repeating.

I cut out all the pieces using the matching dies, then stamped the images onto the die cuts.  For the sentiment I used one of the sentiments from The Greetery set called 'thinking of you, which was stamped in black versafine.

To finish I added some little floral sequins, wink of stella clear glitter, and some clear dots to the centers of the flowers.

I hope to get a chance one night this week to work on another card using The Greetery stamps.  Thanks for your visit.  Have a fabulous day!

Pauline

Dreams of Love

Hello everyone.  I hope you had a great weekend.  No complaints from me, the weather was absolutely fabulous, lots of sunshine and no humidity. Managed to get some yard work done (weeding) and just enjoy the outdoors.

Last week I was playing around with some new Penny Black stamps.  This one is called Dreams of Love and I also purchased the matching die.  I don't always by the die, but did this time around. Sometimes it just makes life easier.

I placed the stamp and Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper in my Misti..  I used several distress inks to colour this. Once done, I used the matching die to cut it out.

Designer paper is by Glitz - french kiss -(this paper pack is very old).  I used a die from Aliexpress for the white layer, then sponged some distress ink for a bit of shading.

To finish off I added a little tag (spellbinders), and stamped 'for you' from Simon Says Stamps - tiny words. The sentiment actually says 'just for you' I just masked off the 'just'. I then added a little wooded butterfly, which I sponged on some distress oxide ink and then used my wink of stella clear pen for a bit of shimmer.
I added some Tim Holtz distress clear rock candy glitter to the center of the flower, a couple of rhinestones and a pearl.

The flower really isn't that dark, it's much softer.  The camera picked it this way and I had a hard time trying to adjust the colour to make it look like the actual image.

Well that's it for me for today, wishing you a fabulous day!

Pauline

Cardinal #3

I hope you are not bored with me sharing another Cardinal card.  My co-worker is using my cardinal cards to send to those who have lost a loved one.  I told her a few months ago about what they say about cardinals - When one shows up in your yard, it is a sign of a 'loved' one looking down on you, and she fell in love with this idea.

Not a whole lot of explaining on this one - digital image resized and printed then coloured using copics.
I cut the cardinal using a Spellbinder circle die, then layered this onto another white layer cut using spellbinder scallop die.  The bottom white layer is a die cut using Papertrey Ink - Shape shifters circle #4.

Paper is from Memory Box, sorry don't know the exact collection these are from. I added a piece of gold washi tape along the bottom edge of the red, added some white silk ribbon, and two gold skeleton leaves.

To finish off I added a small little sequin flower to the center of the bow, pearls around the outside edge of the white and glitter to the flowers.

Next time I have to make a cardinal card, I'm going to try going 'outside the box' and colour the cherry blossoms another colour other than pink.

Well that's it for me today. Wishing you a happy day!

Pauline

Mr. C

Hi! Remember last month when I shared a cardinal card (here), well I ended up making 2 cardinal cards.  This was a digital image I found on line.  I enlarged this one a bit bigger than the first.  We have cardinals all year around here, many more in the winter months.  We call the cardinals Mr. C and Mrs. C here at home, just a quirky saying!

After printing this onto some cougar white c/s, I used copics to colour.  Square frame is from MFT stitched square frames.  The fancy swirl border in pink is from Aliexpress. 

To finish off I cut a small flourish from the same pink paper for the decorative corner and added a lime green silk bow. Also added some crystal gems in white and soft pink.

Thanks for your visit, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Starry Flowers

I had this post scheduled to post this morning at 5am, came home from work and did not post. Grrrrr...... so here it is now.

Can you believe this is the end of January already?  These last 2 weeks have been so bitterly cold, I just keep saying to myself as we approach each day - "another day closer to spring"!  Yesterday was -38C (-36F) with the wind chill and today isn't much better.  You can't even stay outside it's that cold. Monday is suppose to be a high of 8C (45F)  - what strange weather we are having! I don't know how the littler birds stay warm and alive being so cold.  I keep lots of feed in the feeders to give them fuel for warmth.

Over the Christmas holidays, I took some time to de-clutter my stamp room.  In doing so I found a lot of stuff to either ditch or to hang on to and use.  I came across some background papers that I had made using distress inks, so decided use a piece of it for my card today.

I really didn't know what I was going to do, use it as a background or stamp on it.  I decided to pull out my Altenew Starry Flower stamp set and stamp one of the flowers.  Since this is a outline flower I felt it worked best in showcasing the colours.

I don't even know what colours of distress ink I used as this was made sometime ago. After stamping the flower I used the matching die cut to cut it out.  I also had the lacey die cut underneath the flower already cut out as well, just waiting to be used someday.  

I cut a piece of shimmer purple c/s using an MFT scallop die then layered the white lacey die from PTI - Mix & Mat Scallop Dies.  I adhered the starry flower on top and added a small bow made of silver thread on the steam.  I hemmed and hawed whether to add a sentiment, so as you can see I decided to go with one.  I stamped the PTI - thinking of you sentiment using black versafine.  I then lined up where I wanted it to go and used just the scallop border piece of the die to cut the edges.  I added some foam tape behind to adhere to the card and added a small wooded butterfly to the corner.

Using my wink of stella I added lots of clear sparkle to the floral piece as well as the little butterfly.

This was a quick card indeed!

I appreciate your visit today, enjoy the rest of your day! Stay safe and keep warm!

Pauline

Glorious Bouquet

Hello everyone and Happy New Year (since this is my first post for the new year).  Hope everyone had enjoyed the holiday. Well it's back to work for me today, after having 2 weeks off :(.

I had some time off during the holidays, so spent it making cards and doing day trips  for the opportunity of some bird photography.  I also did a lot of re-organizing of my stamping supplies (dies, papers, stamps - lots of stamps - stamps I haven't used in a long time) and gave to a friend who I know would use it.  It's always good to de-clutter once in a while!

My card today is one that I did before the holidays.  I saw a similar card like this at our local stamp store Paper Pickle, and fell in love with it.

I stamped Tim Holtz Glorious Bouquet using distress ink tattered rose onto some cream cardstock. For the black border I stamped one of the borders from Tim Holtz Ornate Trims using black versafine.  I then stamped a butterfly in black as well.

For the leaf I used this shiny dark grey/black paper and cut out the leaf - Memory Box - Large Olive branch.  Adhered it to the card and added a small rose silk bow. 

I then layered this onto a piece of cream shimmer and then onto my card base which I believe is like a rose shimmer c/s.

A very quick card indeed!

Thanks for your visit today, I have 7 cards to share with you in future posts! Have a wonderful day.

Pauline

Thinking of you

Hi everyone.  Hope your enjoying your Sunday.

My card today is more for a 'get well' but since I couldn't find my 'get well' stamp right away I went with thinking of you.  I literally put this together in about an hour. We were heading to the hospital to see a friend of ours who took a bad fall.  She is in her 90th year, and she fell and broke her collar bone and pelvis in 2 places.  Bill had asked if I had a card we could use, and I did not, so this is what I came up with this morning.

I used Papertrey Ink - Corner Adorner February stamp set along with matching die.  I also used PTI- you been framed oval die. I started by sponging some PTI -pale peony & green parakeet on the background.  I then layered my frame on top.  I die cut the corner piece as well as some extra flowers, then I stamped the flowers and leaves using pale peony, berry sorbet, green parakeet, new leaf,  and harvest gold. I filled in some open spaces with some of the smaller images in the set using berry sorbet. I also added some stamped leaves under the flowers on the right side.

I have a few thinking of you stamps from PTI, but they were either too large or too small, but I did manage to find one from my Verve set that seem to fit.  I stamped this using smokey gray versafine ink, I actually put it in my misti so I could stamp a second time if needed, and I did.

I added some Distress clear rock candy glitter to the centers of the flowers to finish this off.

Jean loved the card, although I think she was having difficulty reading what I wrote in the inside, but I'm sure her husband will do that after we left.

Since I still have all the ink, stamps and dies out and guess I better make a couple more for my stash and just change up the sentiment.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

PS - The Great Blue Heron above, is one I took a couple of weeks ago along the creek in town.

Pauline

Kind soul

Hello everyone! I was going to post the card I made for Bill for his birthday last week, but just haven't gotten around to taking a picture, so instead I will share one I did a few weeks back.

A few weeks ago I was playing around with my Magenta Nuance powders.  I have already posted the first card I made, so this is the second one.

I embossed the image - Wplus9 - Kind Soul - onto some Canson 140lb watercolour paper using white ep.  I then sprinkled powders in the colours and areas I wanted them, then spritzed with water.  I used my paintbrush to guide some of the colours, the rest I just tilted my paper for the colours to disburse.

After it was dry, I trimmed down the sides.  I layered it onto a piece of cold miri cardstock, then onto some green polka dot designer paper.

To finish off I added some dark pink silk ribbon as well as some Nuvo crystal drops on the leaves.  I ended up doing a second layer of dots because once the first drops dried they were hard to see.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again real soon.  Enjoy your day!

Pauline

Feathered Hope

Good morning all.  It's a dreary day today -rain, rain, rain, today, tomorrow and snow/rain mix for Monday - will Spring ever get here?

Well, according to my little bird below, looks like it might. Seems he has found himself a little 'worm'! It's amazing how Robin's can find those guys beneath the grounds surface, have you ever seen them hunt for food?  It is quite interesting.  Okay enough of this, lets get on with my card.

This image is from a very old SU set called Feathered Hope (1998)  I bought this off of ebay roughly 15 years ago when I was first getting into stamping. 

After stamping the image onto some white cougar c/s with black memento, I used Prismacolour pencils to colour. I used PTI - Mix & Mat - confetti die to cut out the image.  I left the die in place then sponged some inks for the grass & sky area.

Paper is some older Basic Grey - Two Scoops.  I added some yellow silk ribbon to bring out the yellow from the flower pot.  The flowers were dotted with my white gel pen, but then when I added some wink of stella it seemed to disolve the white gel ink??, so I just lightly dabbed the wink of stella as to not remove too much of the white.

I was going to add some sequins or enamel dots, but ended up not doing so.

I'm hoping to get some more stamping done this weekend since the weather is not co-operating for doing photography. ( I will have some new pics to share once I get them done, I have a great egret and a tern).

I appreciate your visit today, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

A moment in time

Good morning.  Did everyone survive the wind storm yesterday with winds up to 100km? (60 mi).
No damage on our property, just a few branches here and there, but down the road a huge branch fell off a tree right into the front of a house smashing their front door.  I"m sure there was a lot of uprooting trees and toppled signs, garbage bins etc.  The winds were so strong on the Burlington skyway it actually flipped over a 18 wheeler - now that is strong winds. They closed the skyway for several hours.  Needless to say the winds have died down over night, thank goodness!

Today's card is a stamp from Penny Black called - A Moment in Time.  It's from their latest release.

I placed some water colour paper into my Misti and positioned the stamp to where I wanted it.
I then added colour to the stem, huffed and stamped, I did this several times with different green distress markers until I had the look I wanted.  I then moved to the flower, again, one impression at a time with various red/corals until I had what I wanted.  I then removed the paper and added some of the lightest red tone to fill in the open spaces and then added some darker shades of red for depth.

I then trimmed down to the size of card I needed - this is a large stamp - I ended up making the card
6.25 x 4.5. Once cut down I sponged some distress wild honey, a bit of crushed olive and then very little walnut stain. 

I used a background image to stamp in the background using wild honey, just inking the stamp here and there.

I then put my paper back in my Misti and lined up the sentiment and stamped.  I repeated this 3x to get a clear crisp black image.

Finished off with some sequins, and I used clear wink of stella all over the flower.

Supplies:
Stamp - Penny Black - a moment in time, blips, special wishes
paper - canson 140lb water colour paper, cream, black
ink - distress markers - spun  sugar, candied apple, festive berries, shabby shutters, forest moss, twisted citron, distress inks - wild honey, crushed olive, walnut stain, versafine black
misc - sequins, wink of stella clear pen

Thanks for stopping in today.  Wishing you a wonderful day!

Pauline