Miraculous Mushrooms

Hello everyone! I hope you had a good week, and enjoying your weekend.  We are in the middle of another heat wave, temperatures today reached 106F, it's just too hot to be outside. 

This morning Bill and I ventured out early before the heat set in.  We hit some of our usual spots looking for some birds.  Although we are kind of early for the migration to begin, you just never know what pops up.  Today we saw a couple of hummingbirds, - captured a couple of nice shots, and of the house wren a well.  I hope to show you these shortly.

Today's card features one of the newest digital images released from Power Poppy called Miraculous Mushrooms.  My whole thought when I started to colour this image was to match it up with some mushroom image dp I had.  Once it was all coloured, the mushroom dp was just too busy, so I opt for another route.  Kept this 'masculine', as I never seem to have very many of these on hand.

I coloured the image with Copics.  I was very undecided as to how to cut out this image, I finally settled on the oval arch from MFT - (I don't think they sell this anymore). I left the die in place then sponged some antique linen lightly around the bottom edge.

Designer paper is from Echo Park - Reflection Fall & MME - Wood Designer Paper.  I added some twine around the middle and finished off with some wooden dots.  Image is popped up off the card.

I finally started to work on some Christmas cards!  Well, lets say I finished colouring one, now need to get that onto a card! Progress, progress!

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Pauline

Deepest Sympathy

Hello everyone.  I'm back today to share another card for my stash.  I always find I go through sympathy cards, more than birthday cards, or so it seems.

Today's card is using a die from Creative Expressions  called - Frames & Tags - Chloe. When I first saw this die in the package right away if thought of a sympathy card.

I started by sponging some pink and green distress oxide ink onto some white c/s, large enough to fit behind the opening of the floral die cut.  I then cut the larges rectangle stitched frame  from white cardstock.  This made a perfect border for the frame.

The designer paper is a piece of scrap from my scrap bin.  I believe it is Basic Grey - Two Scoops.

The die also comes with a small flower cluster die with a couple different sizes of flowers, so from the left over of the background sponged c/s I cut a few flowers.  I sponged some darker pink around the edges of the flowers to make them pop a bit.  I adhered them to the flowers that were on the main die cut.  Small pearls were added to the frame to finish off.

The sentiment is from PTI stamped in black versafine.

I appreciate you visiting today, enjoy your day!

Pauline

Mr & Mrs

Hello there!  It's been a busy week, so I didn't have much time for stamping, but I did manage to squeeze in a bit of time to make a wedding card for my basket.

No stamping involved just embossing, die cutting.

I started by embossing some Neenah 100lb c/s using Crafter's Companion Ornate Lace embossing folder.  I love the detail it gives, both the negative and positive side have so much detail, but I chose to go with the positive side.

I then layered a couple of die cuts from Spellbinders Elegant Ovals for the center, popping both layers up.  I used Creative Expressions  Mr & Mrs die for the sentiment. This was cut 3x then adhered together to more stability. 

Then comes the fun part, adding the flowers. Oh so many colour choices but as you can see I went with yellow, pink & blue.  Finished off with pearls, glitter dots and used my Nuvo clear glitter gloss for the flowers.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Pauline

Simple stems

Today, I'm sharing a couple of cards I made back in May, and I guess I overlooked them, as I was going through my file of cards to post I realized I missed these.

These are both made using Papertrey Ink Vogue Vases & Simple Stems.

One I used for Mother's Day, the other for Friendship.

I added wink of stella clear pen to the flowers and popped up the middle vase.  The white scallop layer behind is a die from MFT.  All inks I used were from PTI.  I love how the cards turned out.  The Simple Stems set has lovely sentiments included, lots of choices.

I took my stash basket down to our local Scrapbook store - The Paper Pickle and Kim  bought all my cards - 17 of them, so now I need to start over and build up my stash! With temperatures today reaching over 100 it's too hot for out door activity, so I think I will stay indoors and work on some cards.

I'll see you back here soon! Enjoy your 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

Romantic Bouquet

Hi there!  I hope your week is going well.  We are still in the middle of an extreme heat wave, temperatures in the high 90's feeling like over 100 with the humidex - just wicked!

Today's card came together fairly quickly, as there is only die cutting and embossing involved.

The floral background is embossed using Sizzix 3d embossing folder - Floral Blossom.  The top floral die cut is from Elizabeth Craft Designs  called Romantic Bouquet.  The paper behind this is made with inks.  I made this a while back when I was playing around with distress oxide inks, so not sure exactly what colour inks I used, but tI know I used yellow and pink tones.  I laid the die down on the paper and traced around it then cut it out and glued it to the back of the die cut.

I added some silk ribbon, prima flowers and pearls to finish this off.  I was going to add a sentiment to the front but didn't want to distract from the floral die cut.  This could be used for a wedding card,  or even a birthday.

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Pauline

Enjoy today

Hello everyone!  Well I finally got around to taking pictures of a few cards I made.  Today's card is a card I made for Bill for his birthday a few weeks ago.  I really struggle with masculine cards, why are they so hard to make? What makes it even harder is I don't have a lot of 'masculine stamps'.  I have a few fishing images & digital, and a few scenery (and have already used them in the past), but this time I was looking for something that would represent Bill's hobby - photography.

When I was down at my local scrapbook store I saw that Kim just got in some papers from Alexandra Renke and there was a camera on one of them.  If you have never seen her stuff you need to google it. She has a lot of papers that have matching washi tape, which are just gorgeous! ( I have made and posted a few cards using both her papers and washi tape).

I purchased some papers then came home and literately threw this together as this was the night before his birthday by this time! I know hey, nothing like waiting until the last moment.

Anyway, here is my finished card.

I trimmed down the image and layered it onto a piece of black c/s,  stamped the sentiment (Penny Black snippets), then added some enamel dots.  I used Tim Holtz thinlet die to cut the green dp, then tore off along the one edge.

Background designer paper is from Bo Bunny, and the die I used for the green layer is from
Tim Holtz - Mix Media thinlits.

Once everything was adhered together I wrapped some twine around the top, and that's it!

Thanks for visiting today, back again real soon.  Have a wonderful day.

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

Using up Remenants

Hello everyone, and Happy Monday.  I hope you had a good weekend.

Today's cards that I'm sharing are using scraps from 'what's on my table'.  You know the stuff that you stamp but don't like or wasn't what you had in mind once you start it, then you toss aside.  Well, I have lots of those.  I have a few 'masculine' birthdays this month, so decided to go through my pile to see if I could salvage any of it.  I had success.

These were quick and easy, so here goes:

First card, I already had the leaf background stamp off (MFT stamps), and I already and the die cut Celebrate (MFT) inked up.  Added a few other elements and this is the end result:

My second card - I had the sponging already done.  Not sure what I had intended this one for, but I stamped Flourishes LLC - an image from Country Roads in black memento.  I then stamped a branch from Penny Black in scattered straw along the side, top and bottom, just to fill in the open spaces.
I felt it still needed something, so cut some scrap paper using MFT Flag Stax dies and added a brad. Not sure if the brad is a bit distracting from the image. What do you think?

I wish all cards were this easy to pull together. I'm off to enjoy the afternoon outdoors.  I'm off today, so need to get some much needed weeding done.

Enjoy your day!

Pauline

Watercoloured Dahlias

Hello everyone! Hope your week is going well. I'm back today to share a birthday card I made for a long distance friend - Carla (AKA cardsbycarla on SCS).

I didn't want to post this until I knew she had received it and she has.   The image I'm using is from WPlus9 called Beautiful Bouquets - Dahlias.

I started by embossing the flowers onto some prima watercolour paper using white embossing powder.  I then coloured the images with Prima Watercolour Confections.  I used colours from both of these sets: Tropicals & Decadent Pies.  This is the first time using these paints and I love them. 

Once the paint was dry ( let it sit overnight) I splattered some blue paint onto it.  I then cut out the image using the outside die from a set by Creative Expressions - Frames & Tags - Isobel.

I was undecided as to what colour do layer my image onto, so after several attempts of blues, yellows or greens, I decided on a medium gray.  I embossed the gray using a SU embossing folder by Sizzix called Modern Mosaics.   Some fun foam was added to the back of the floral piece before adhering to the gray c/s. I then embossed in white the birthday sentiment onto a piece of black c/s and popped it up for some added dimension.  Added sequins and a silk bow to finish this off.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pauline

Sending you Sunshine...

on a cloudy day!  Isn't that how the song goes?  Well it's anything but cloudy here these past few days, actually it is very muggy and hot here this weekend and even worse tomorrow.  Currently at 7:22pm it is 91F - there is a air quality advisory out for tomorrow as temperatures surge over 100F. But a bit cooler  - well back to normal temps for the rest of the week.

For my card today I did something a bit different.  I pulled out my Magenta Nuance powders and played with them.  I finished one card and started another.  Here is my first finished card:

Again, the camera does not do this justice.  The yellow c/s under the flowers is a very soft yet pretty yellow, the camera makes this kind of washed out :(. 

So how did I do this you ask? well let me tell you.  I started by white embossing my flower image from WPlus9 called Kind Soul onto some Canson 140lb watercolour paper.  I then dropped powder from the pinhole cap on each of the colours, strategically placing the colours as to where they should be - at least for the most part.  I then took my fine mist sprayer bottle and mist with water, tilting the paper to let the inks run.  I then took my heat gun to speed the drying process.  I went back in a painted the leaves with some green ink just because too many were not green, not that that really matters.  I really liked it at that point, but thought the edges around the flowers were too heavy in colour, I wanted more of a light wash, so..... I decided to trim away the bottom side of the flowers as it was darker than the top,  which made it kind of hard to tell where the flowers where.

I cut out the flower panel using a stitched rectangle from MFT, then added some fun foam to the back side and popped it up on the yellow c/s.  I stamped the sentiment (Papertrey Ink - Corner Adorner February) using my Misti and black memento ink. To finish off I added some sequins.

I was happy how this turned out.  Now just need to finish my other card.  The colours are pretty much the same, so I'll see what I can come up with as far as a layout.

I appreciate your visit, enjoy the rest of your day!

Pauline

Graceful still life

Hello everyone! I guess it's a Happy Monday since I was off today due to a Stat Holiday here in Canada - Victoria Day, but the sad news is that my week long vacation is over, back to work tomorrow!  Bill and I have been busy this past week, walked a lot of trails, took lots of pictures, did lots of yard work (which never seems to end), and I didn't even have time to make a card! I have a couple of birthday's coming up over the next few weeks so need to get back into my routine.

Today's card is another one I made for Mother's Day.  This one actually went to my BFF - Nancy. Nancy's husband requested a card for her for Mother's day.  I knew she would love this, and she did!  I"m using Powerpoppy's Graceful Still Life digital image.

I used prismacolour pencils to colour.  I then cut it out using  MFT stitched rectangle die.
I die cut the border from white c/s - die is by Find it Trading - african border.  Designer paper is Kaisercraft - Kaleidoscope.  The card base is a bit darker here in the picture than in real, I guess I woud call it a deep coral. 

To finish off I added a small flag banner and added an enamel dot and a small silk bow. Used my wink of stella clear pen to add some shimmer to the flowers.

I'm glad you stopped by today.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Garden Treasures

 I'm back today to share another Mother's Day card with you.  I'm using Altenew's Garden Treasure stamp set and matching dies. 

I used Altenew dye inks to stamp out all the flowers and then die cut with the matching dies. I had PTI - Shape Shifter oval die 1 already cut out laying on my table so decided to use this as my centerpiece background.

Designer paper is from my scrap bin.  On the bottom part of the pink gingham paper I added some white rub-ons to give it that bit of extraness.  This seemed to work out well because by doing the rub-ons I was able to add a small rhinestone in the center of each flower.

I also added some small pearls to the oval die.  Now you probably think I'm a bit crazy using such a bright ribbon, but I tell you honestly it is not that bright of a pink in real. It actually matches the gingham pink colour pretty close.  Sometimes the camera captures colours in a different way.  I used my wink of stella clear pen to add sparkle to the flowers.

I made this for a friends MIL.

Have a great day!
Pauline

A Mother.....

Well it's that time of year again, quickly approaching - Mother's Day!  Although my Mom passed 9 years ago in July, there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of her.  It's hard to believe it's been that long already.  Every year when I make MD cards, I always make them with my Mom in mind - what would I make her if I were to make one. She always loved my cards, and saved every one of them.  Now my Dad always looks forward to my handmade cards.

Today's card is one of 3 that I made this year.  I started by die cutting using one of the Find It Trading dies by Lilly Luna called No 1 Flower to love frame. On a piece of white c/s  I stamped the sentiment from AmyR stamps (discontinued) - set is called  All about Mom Sentiments using black versafine.  I then cut it our with a Spellbinder circle die, then using the next size up  die, I cut it using Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon.

I found some scrap designer paper in my bin which seem to match up with the lavender moon paper quite well.  I layered the Lilly Luna die cut over the designer paper. Adhered the 2 circles then added flowers from Wild Orchid.

Finished off with wink of stella clear pen painted over all the flowers for that bit of sparkle and then added small pearls to the centers of each of the flowers on the background.

Have yourself a wonderful day.  I'll be back soon with another Mother's Day card.

Pauline

Becoming x 2

Hello everyone.  Hope your week is going well.  Spring migration has arrived and I can't wait to get out there this weekend and enjoy the birds and hopefully get some pictures. 

I have two cards to share with you today.  Same image just different colours.  I'm using Penny Black's Becoming stamp.  For best results in stamping these types of stamps I'm using my Misti.

All the stamps I used on both cards are by Penny Black.

Inks used on my first card are as follows: Memento inks: Lulu lavender, Elderberry.  Distress inks: Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron & Seedless Preserves. Inks for sponging are: Memento - new sprout & PTI - simply chartreuse. Inside liner I kept blank to be used for various occasions.

 

Inks used for my second card:  Distress inks: Twisted citron, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Antique Linen, Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral & Barn Door.  For sponging - dried marigold & spiced marmalade.  Inside liner I stamped Happy Mother's Day.

Finished both off by adding some sequins.
Have a  wonderful weekend!

Pauline