My first photography photos

Hello everyone!  Hope your enjoying your weekend.  It's a beautiful day here in SW Ontario, still a bit cool temperature wise, but the sun is shining which helps warm it up. 

A few weeks ago Bill asked if I wanted to get into Photography. He has mentioned it a few times over the past year, but I was undecided.  You all know that Bill is the photographer and I am the 'binocular' gal.  I find all the birds and Bill captures them, and I was happy with that.  I often thought of photography but knew I would never be able to handle the weight of Bill's camera to catch those small birds.  He gave me a few suggestions for lenses, something lighter,  we went and looked at one and made the purchase. 

So last weekend, we went up to Hamilton/Burlington/Oakville area, and I had my first attempt at photography.  I must say, watching someone else it looks fairly easy, but it's not! It took a bit  to be able to hold the camera up without shaking too much, focus and shoot.    It wasn't bad when shooting along the lake edge because you are crouched down and the camera was low, but flight shots etc, it will take sometime. I think I need to lift some weights, to strengthen my arms! There is so much still to learn as I am just beginning.

Although I took tons of pictures and a lot were blurry,  I did mange to capture some pretty good ones. Here are the ones I took:

Mallard (male) in the morning sunlight -

 

Wood duck

 

Mute swan - isn't the sunlight gorgeous against the swan?

 

This was taken yesterday, a Great Horned owl with an owlet.

So what do you think, not bad for my first attempt eh?

Okay, now onto some amazing photos from Bill.  

This first one of the Eagles, was taken along Lake St. Clair back in February.  We had a bit of a thaw, so the ice was breaking up and they were floating down river.  On one of our outings we  spotted eagles flying above and they landed on this floating ice.

 

Next up, we have a pair of cardinals.  These were taken in our backyard after a snowfall.

 

This was taken up on Oakville last weekend.  Mute Swan. 

Mallard (female) along one of the creeks in Chatham - early morning - gorgeous!

Northern Harrier Hawk - male - also known as 'the grey ghost'

Northern Harrier Hawk - female

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I will be back soon with some pictures from our trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Feb.

Thanks for visiting, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Good luck!

I'm back today to share a St. Patrick's Day card I made for a friend to give to a friend! I didn't realize that this coming Saturday is the 17th!  This month is flying by fast!

 I have very limited St. Patrick day stamps, so it really limits me to the type of card I make.

The stamp set I used today is from Flourishes LLC - called Good Luck.

I stamped the image onto some white cougar c/s using black memento and then coloured using copics.  I then cut out the bouquet. The sentiment I used is also from the same set, which fit perfectly on the center die cut, which I have outlined using my gold krylon pen.

The die set I used for the focal point is from Marianne Creatables - #LR0242. 

I added some green sequins and gold twine to finish off the card along with some wink of stella clear to the yellow flowers on the bouquet. 

Have a great day!

Pauline

Especially for you

Hello! I'm back today to share another card I made back in December. 

This card is using a stamp set & matching die from  Papertrey Ink (PTI) called Beautiful Berries: Spring.

I started by taking a die (sorry I don't remember the name of this one and it's been a while since I made this) and cut it out of cardstock to create a mask.  I also used the die from the set and cut the branches from copy paper.  I then set my mask in the center of my card and then places the copy paper branches with some removable tape and placed them underneath the mask and onto the card ( I hope I'm explaining this correctly for you).  I then used aqua mist and sponged being careful as not to tear the copy paper.

When I was happy with the coverage of the ink, I removed the mask and branch masks and then stamped the branches and flowers using PTI inks in the white space of the branch mask.  I then added the sentiment using black versafine.

Finished off by cutting out my image piece using MFT wonky stitched rectangle die.  I then add some sequins and a silk bow.  I used my wink of stella clear pen to add some sparkle to the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Cosmobella

Good morning and Happy Monday! I haven't had a chance to work on anything 'new' lately, but I was going through some of my files and found a couple of cards that I have not posted yet.  I believe I was making these in between Christmas cards and completely forgot to post.

This card today is using a Stamping Bella 2.0 Cosmobella.  This particular one is kind of my 'go to' bella stamp for a  girlfriend.  I know I have coloured her up several times and posted, but different colours, different layout warrants another post, don't you think?

I coloured her with Prismacolour pencils after stamping her with black memento ink. I used MFT Mod rectangle stax to cut our her and the layers.  Papers are from my scrap bin.  The Happy Birthday is an Impression Obsession die.

To finish I added a bit of sparkle to her martini glass with wink of stella and added a few enamel dots.

Wishing you a happy day!  See you back her soon.  I have to make a St. Patrick's day card for a friend to give to a friend, so need to get that done this week.

Pauline

On your special day.....

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've posted, it's been a busy few weeks. I haven't even had a chance to work on any new cards either.  I was out of town for a week of training - work related, and then last weekend Bill & I went up to Algonquin Provincial Park for a getaway for the long weekend.  Our trip was successful as we sighted and took pictures of some birds that we went there for.  Last year this time we had no luck in getting any photos of these birds.  I will have some pictures to share shortly.

Our weather this past week has consisted of lots of rain for 2-3 days and mild temperatures which melted snow, which has caused severe flooding.  Our city is under state of emergency.  The Thames River is to peak tonight. This has been the worst in 60 yrs.  The downtown area which the Thames River runs through has swollen so much the parking lots and homes are flooded.  Several roads in town are closed and many homes have flooded basements.  You can see photo's of our town and surrounding areas in this news report here.

My card today is a wedding card which I made a few weeks ago.  I used some Spellbinders dies, flowers, pearls,  & sequins. You know me, I just love to make these types of cards!

Not a whole lot of explaining for this cards, so I will list the supplies below.

Supplies:

Stamp - Justrite - ever after antique labels one
Dies - Spellbinders - Chantilly paper lace
Paper - SU soft suede, PTI - aqua mist, Cougar - 110lb white, scrap of DP
Misc - mulberry flowers (Wild Orchid crafts), sequins, pearls
 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to get back at creating soon.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Washi tape Christmas cards

Happy Valentines Day!  I don't have a Valentines card to share, but I have a couple more Christmas cards to share with you.  I made these back in Dec.  Our local stamping store The Paper Pickle, has make n' takes every third Saturday of the month.  In November, we did this cared below.  When I first saw the card, I thought the image was paper, but it is actually washi tape - who would of thought?

This is the card we made at the store: love the wood grain background paper, and we use Tim Holtz  Happy Holiday sizzix thinlets for JOYFUL. This card worked up so quickly - it helped that Kim had everything already cut and you just had to assemble.

 

I was feeling the crunch, as I was trying to get all my Christmas cards done and in the mail. I knew I could probably mass produce this card but didn't want to copy exactly.  The 2 cards below is what I came up with using Kim's idea above, to make them my own. The washi tape has 2 images on the roll - birds & reindeer.  I ended up making 6 of each.

 

Supplies for my version:

Dies: Tim Holtz - sizzix thinlits - Happy Holidays #660976, Memory Box Frosty Border #98171, Impression obsession - snowflake dies - #DIE100-F,  Peace # DIE226-A, MFT - stitched oval frames, MFT stitch rectangle scallop edge frame
Paper: cougar white cardstock, gold stardust cardstock, cream shimmer cardstock, wood grain dp.
Misc: washi tape  - gold border & image, twine, wink of stella pen (I added glitter to the washi tape images for a bit of sparkle).

Have a wonderful day, thanks for your visit!

Pauline

Delicate & Dainty

Just in from another hour of shoveling.  We got dumped on yesterday about 10 inches of snow, a  couple more inches predicted for today and same for tomorrow! I must say if you didn't have to travel anywhere it is very pretty.  The male cardinals just pop as they sit on the snow covered cedars and branches of the snow covered bare trees.  The vibrant red is so pretty. I filled the feeders before coming in so they are all happy :).

Okay enough about that, lets get on with my card today.  I'm using Penny Black's Delicate & Dainty stamp.

I started by embossing the image onto some white cardstock with white embossing powder.  I then took some distress inks - shaded lilac and lightly sponged over the image, then added a bit of distress wilted violet.

I added a die cut border along the bottom - this is from Altenew - creative edges: lace die.

Finished off with TH distress rock glitter on the leaves, a few PTI crystal dots, pearls and silk ribbon.
I was tempted to add a sentiment to the front, I first thought of sympathy, but decided to leave it blank, so it could be used for numerous occasions.

Thanks for visiting today.  Enjoy your day!

Pauline

Doodled lace

Hi there, I'm back today to share a card I just made.  When I was in London on Saturday, I stopped at the  stamp store there and lucky me, they had 25% off everything in the store.  They are making room for new items from Creativation.  I picked up this Altenew Doodle lace cover plate.  Because it is a bit busy wasn't sure how I was going to display it on a card.

I also picked up some of the new distress oxide inks at Paper Pickle once I got back into town.  I wanted to try out the new inks so thought I should make a distress background to go under the cover plate.

I started with a piece of Canson 140lb water colour paper.  I smooshed the follow distress oxide inks on my teflon craft mat - shaded lilac, tattered rose, wild honey - gave it a spritz and then laid my water colour paper onto it, lifted up and then heat set it.  The tattered rose is really pale, but I wanted a bit more vibrancy, so added a bit of picked raspberry to my craft mat, spritzed again and then tapped my c/s into the ink where I needed to add more colour.  I heat set again, then repeated once more.  I then spritzed some water into my hand then dropped the water onto the distress background, let it set for about 15 sec, then took a paper towel and laid it over the card stock, picking up any loose water.  By doing this it will leave watermarks.  I then reached for my adirondack metallic - gold dabber, and it was dried up inside.  So I took a craft knife put some on a palette then added a bit of water and mixed it up.  took a fine paintbrush, dipped it into the gold wash and flicked it on my background.

I cut the background down to size to fit behind the doodle lace, adhered and then adhered to my card base.  The sentiment is from Altenew  - Sentiments & quotes set.  I embossed it in white onto some grey c/s, trimmed the ends.  I then added a piece of pink under neath it.  I added dimensionals behind the sentiment before adhering to the card.  Then I added lots of sequins in various colours.  I hope I didn't go overboard!

Overall, this was a quick and easy card, great to mass produce, with different colours and sentiments.

Have a wonderful day!

PS - my new photo at the top is a picture Bill took a few weeks ago.  A 4th year bald eagle floating down Lake St. Clair on a chunk of ice!

Pauline

Nimble musicians of the air

Hello everyone!  First I would like to say thank you or the wonderful comments made on my previous post. I thoroughly enjoy working with Penny Black brush stroke images. It takes a bit of time but the outcome is fabulous.  I just wish you could see the card in real.  I hope to have some more in the near future to share.

Today's card is a digital image from Sassy Cheryl's called Nimble musicians of the air.  She has a huge clearance sale going on right now 75% off.  The sale ends this weekend, it's well worth taking a peak. If you decide to purchase something in the "Classic' section, you can use discount code  CLASSIC75.   My grandson's birthday is coming up and unfortunately we won't be able to get up to see him, so we were there today and I took his gift along with this card.

Now, I must tell you, he is taking a liking to nature/birding- has a camera, Papa Bill (hubby) bought him a pair of binoculars and a beginners guide to birding.  He loves it!! I think he is going to take after his Papa!

So, when I saw this image I thought of Ethan right away.  I didn't have much time to get this card done, so after resizing and printing, I used copics to colour and prismacolour pencils for the grass.

The scallop edging is a die set from MFT - stitched cloud edges and the sun is from MFT (die & stamp set called Things with wings. I sponged some PTI aqua mist on the cloud edges to make it stand out a bit against the background paper which is from MME - fine and dandy - true blue.  I stamped the sun on a piece of scrap yellow gingham paper. The sentiment is also in the same MFT set and I stamped this in black versafine.

I don't make many kids cards, but I really enjoyed making this one.

Thanks for your visit.  Have yourself a happy day!

Pauline

Flower Lanterns

Hello!  I thought I would pull out my Misti again today and do another Penny Black image.  I've always wanted this stamp, and while I was in London yesterday I stopped in at Stamp Art and picked it up.  It's called Flower Lanterns.

 I used canson 140lb cold press watercolour paper.  I placed this it in the Misti, placed my stamp where I wanted it and the closed the lid to pick up the stamp.

For my colours I used several different mediums - distress oxide inks, distress markers, prismacolour pencils.  I started by using my pan pastel applicator to apply the disress oxide inks to my image.  This applicator has a  small pointed tip, so  it was easy to get into small areas. I continue to add oxide  inks, sometimes I would give a light spritz of water, sometimes not.  I then used distress markers for the vines. I lost some of the detail on the leaves so to draw them back in I used a brown 005 Micron marker, but I thought the brown wasn't a good fit so went over it with a black micron marker.  I think it was a bit harsh to for the other leaves I used a distress marker in a green tone and preferred that over the micron pens.

Once I was satisfied with the ink impressions, I went in with my prismacolour pencils to add more depth.  I then cut the image down to 6.5 x 4 3/4.  I then sponged distress oxide ink in antique linen, then a bit of walnut stain, and a touch of peeled paint.

On a scrap piece of cardstock a ran a strip of double sided two way tape 1/4 inch wide along the edge.  I added some cosmic shimmer gilding flakes, burnished it off and then trimmed to the height I needed.  I adhered this to the front of my card, the adhered my image up against the guilded strip.  I love the foil look.  I have several different colours of this, but never think to use it.

To finish off I added some sequins - gold, copper, & green.

I wish you could see the card in real - the texture of the lanterns look like suede - it must be the combination of the oxide inks and the water colour paper, so pretty. Finished card, 6.5 x 5.

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Pauline

Restful

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a very busy  month for me.  I am starting in a new role on Monday at my workplace, so I've been training people on my current job.  Totally exhausted by the end of the day to say the least, both mentally and physically!  Hence, the reason for not a lot of postings.

I did manage to make a wedding card but I don't have it photographed yet. But what I will share with you are some Christmas cards.  Now, I'm sure you have seen similar samples on the Penny Black blog. I basically  took Jill's instructions and colours and went to town.  This stamp is called Restful.

Again, not my idea, but I love the outcome I just had to share.  Good thing for my Misti.

Here are the 3 cards I made, using distress inks, tombow markers, white gel pen, and white paint. I didn't have all the same colours of ink and brand types that Jill used, so I substituted for what I had.  Not a lot of explaining so I'll just leave you with the samples.

Which is your favourite?

Have a wonderful weekend.
Pauline

Go wild

I really don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I'm finding it a huge struggle to make a card. I wasn't well the first few weeks of Jan, and now that I'm able to work on cards, I just can't seem to get in the groove.  I see that Power Poppy has a 'page map' challenge, maybe I should go take a look for some inspiration to get me going!

I do however, have a card to share.  I finished this up early Dec, but just never posted it, and since I haven't made anything new to share I'll share this one.

Image is from Power Poppy -"Go wild". Well I think I went a bit wild on this one with all the different purple tones, what do you think?

I used copics to colour, the die cut it using a spellbinder square die.  I then layered it onto a piece of designer paper, cut using a stitched square die (MFT).  For the dark purple background I embossed it. Yes, I embossed it - it's been forever since I used my embossing folders, but love that bit of design when you use plain card stock.

To finish I used clear wink of stella to the flowers, added some pearls and then some seam binding ribbon.  All the purple tones seem to blend better in real then in this picture (ok we will blame it on the camera! LOL).

Well that's it for me for today, off to get my roast going for dinner in my Instant Pot.  Anyone else out there have one? I love it.  This morning I made a pot of chicken noodle soup in it, so easy and so tasty!

Have a wonderful day!
Pauline

Painted Harvest x 2

Hello everyone!  Sorry I've been away for a while.  Wasn't feel well, but I'm on the mend. 

I have a couple of cards to share with you today.  I made these over the Christmas Holidays. The set I'm using is from SU called Painted Harvest.  I have seen so many gorgeous samples made with this set, so when SU had free shipping around the beginning of Dec I jumped at the chance.  Normally this set would of cost me almost $45 CAD, (stamp set, shipping & taxes) which I refuse to pay that kind of money for one set, but with free shipping that knocked off $15.  Still a bit much, but knew I would get a lot of use of out this set.

I made 2 cards, same colours and layout, just changed the finished touches a bit.

I started by cutting a decorative edge along the bottom. I used Simon Says Corbel curved border die - love it! then I stamped the flowers and leaves and was careful not to stamp on the border edging.

This is a 2 step stamping set, but I just used 1 colour for the flower vs 2 which most people do.
I used SU coastal cabana.  My ink pad isn't overly juicy which I didn't mind, it gave it a softer look.
For the leaves I used SU mint macaron, and for the centers I used SU crumb cake.
To finish my first card off I added a silk bow along the right edge of the border and a couple of sequins. I left the inside liner blank so this could be used for many occasions.

 

For my second card, it was prepared the same as the first card except for the finishing touches.  I added a little tag - which says ' happy wishes' and added a lime green bow.  I also added some enamel dots. I left the liner blank in this as well, but could be used for birthday, thinking of you, or a congrats card.

 

Good timing on typing up this post, our pork tenderloin w/ mini potatoes and baby carrots just finished cooking in my Instant Pot! This afternoon, I made some rice pudding in the pot, it is the best I have ever made or eaten, so creamy and delicious!  I love my Instant pot!!! 

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate your visit. See you back here soon,

Pauline

Magnolia Rhapsody

Hi everyone.  I still have some Christmas cards to share, but I think I'll give you a break from those for a bit and share one of my newest cards I made over the holidays.

My BFF surprised me with a birthday gift (which was on Dec 26), and in that gift bag along with other things is this beautiful stamp from Penny Black called Magnolia Rhapsody.  I just couldn't wait to get ink on this one.  Since it was my first card using this stamp I surprised her by sending this to her, after all she did buy this, so thought it was only fitting that I give her the first card I made with it!

Again, what would I do without my Misti!  So yes, I placed the stamp into my Misti, and coloured using Tombow markers, then stamped this onto some Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper. Once this was all coloured and stamped to my liking, I removed from my Misti and cut it down to size.

I then needed to add a bit of background colouring, so every so gently I added a bit of light blue tombow marker ink and started to shade in among the flowers, well didn't I get just a bit too much water and it pulled some of the dark green from the leaves and branches.  So rather than try to fix it, I just went with it all over.  Just barely touched the leaves with a wet paint brush to pull some of the colour, then take a clean wet brush and spread it out.

I used Kaiser Craft Gypsy sisters collection paper. I added some clear PTI rhinestones, but it still needed something else.  I found ribbon a bit too heavy for it, didn't want to take away from the image, so I went with some fine silver thread/twine - perfect!  I then added a bit of shimmer to the flowers using Wink of stella clear.

I think I will make a cup a tea and snuggle in for the night.  It's going down to -34 with the wind chill.
Brrrrrrrrrr..........  Suppose to be like this until Sunday!

Thu Overnight

Partly cloudy

-21°C

Feels like: -34

POP: 20%

Wind: 28 km/h NW

Wind gust: 42 km/h

Humidity: 70%

Hourly Forecast

Thanks for your visit.  Till next time,

Pauline

All is calm

Hello and Happy New Year everyone! I did manage to make a couple of new cards yesterday but didn't get a chance to photograph them yet, so instead I'm bringing you another Christmas cards

This one is from Penny Black - Dressed in Snow.

I just love these stamps.  Pop them into your MISTI, colour and stamp away.  I used Tombow markers for colouring the trees.  Once I obtained the colour and depth of the shading, I clear embossed the image.  I then used MFT stitched rectangle die and cut it  out. 

Since I clear embossed it, this will resist any inks applied, which is what I love about this technique.
I sponged my background using Memento inks.  With a white gel pen I added some 'snow' along some of the branches of the bare tree and along the fence, and also added some dots for falling snow.

Using Penny Black Festive Snippets, I place my scene back in my Misti, placed the sentiment where I wanted it, then inked and stamped.  I did this a couple of times to get a good impression.

 I layered the image onto some gold mirri paper then onto some white cardstock.

A quick and easy card. 

Thanks for your visit, have a wonderful day!

Pauline