Beautiful day

Hello everyone.  I'm back today to share another birthday card I made for my friends order.

I'm using Altenew's Handpicked Bouquet and matching die.

I started by stamping and embossing with platinum the floral onto some watercolour paper.  I then used my Zig markers to watercolour.  Once done I used the coordinating die to cut it out.

For my background I smooshed some distress oxide inks onto my glass mat, spritzed and then dabbed my paper into the inks until I liked what I saw.  I also splattered some distress ink on top once it was dry.  I then used an MFT die to cut out the background.  Some foam tape was added behind the scallop layer then I adhered this to my card base.

The sentiment is from Altenew - Beautiful Day and is embossed in white onto some black c/s.  I then cut it down to make a banner tag and adhered it to the bottom.  I was going to add some dimension in behind the flowers, but didn't want to make this card to thick as I already had some foam tape behind the background layer, so just adhered this flat. 

To finish off I added some enamel dots!

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate when you do.  Have yourself a fabulous weekend!

Paline

Birthday Greetings

Hello and happy Monday to all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  It was sunny here for a change but cold north winds.  I was still wearing my winter jacket in the mornings as I was outside working in the gardens.

Today's card is one that I made for my card order for my friend.  I'm using Reverse Confetti Tall Blooms.

I started by embossing with white ep on some canson watercolour paper.  I then coloured the blooms using my Zigs.  I then cut them out by hand as I do not have the matching dies.

I also cut two different size tags from the Memory Box Pinpoint Mainstreet Tags - one from vellum and one from white c/s.  I smooshed some distress oxide inks onto my craft mat, spritz water and then tapped my paper in it. (sorry never wrote the colours down I used).

I used the greeting from the stamp set and stamped it onto some white c/s using Archival ink - vibrant fuchsia, then cut it out using the Simon Says stitched banner.  To make the flag banner at both ends, once I cut it the first time, I then removed the die, turned it around and placed the die close to the end of the sentiment - the stitching will line up from the precut stitching to the die, and then I ran it through again. If you don't have a die that fits your sentiments perfecting, this is a work-a-round, I do it all the time.

I adhered the flowers to the tag, then added some foam tape behind the sentiment for some dimension.  I made a double fushia bow from silk ribbon and adhered it to the top of the tags. The yellow gingham paper is some I had in my scrap basket.  I think it might be from Yellow Bicycle.

To finish off I added some clear sequins.

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping in today.

Pauline

Theories #1

Hello all.  Does everyone struggle with masculine cards as I do?  I recently purchased as Tim Holtz - Theories stamp set from Simon Says Stamps when they had a sale, with masculine cards in mind.  I wanted to use my distress oxide inks so this stamp set was perfect for stamping over the background.

I started by applying my distress oxide inks to my glass mat, spritz with water then tapped my water colour paper into it, heat set it and repeated until I was happy.  Once it was completely dry it was a bit darker than what I had anticipated, but went with it anyway.  I stamped one of the images form the stamp set, using my Misti as I knew I would probably have to stamp it a few times to get a nice dark impression.  I used black archival ink for this.

I cut the image out using MFT wonky stitched rectangle, then used another die I purchased from Aliexpress (the rust colour paper in behind). I stamped Happy birthday (Simon Says Stamps) onto a piece of the rust paper and then used a stitched banner to cut it out -(also Simon Says).  The blue paper in the background is from Basic Grey, just some scraps I had in my basket, sponged some distress oxide vintage photo around the edges, then distressed them. Layered all this onto SU Not Quite Navy.

To finish off I added a couple of small enamel dots and a copper dot. Just finishing up another masculine card from the same set.  There are 4 images so my goal is to make a card using each.

Thanks for stopping by, have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Lily of the Valley

Well, hello everyone! Today's card I made with Easter in mind, as well as I made a few of these for Mother's day and birthdays.  I ended up making 3 of these and boy were they easy.  I love dies when  they do most of the work for you.

I'm using Memory Box "Lilly of the Valley Frame" for my card. I started by die cutting it from white cougar 100 lb c/s. There are 2 pieces to this die, the outside square frame and the lily circle.

I coloured the lily with copic markers, a few shades of green and a few shades of the lilac. I also sponged some distress oxide ink onto a piece of white c/s to put behind the lily's. I used spellbinders circle die to cut out the distress background to adhere behind the lily frame.

I find lilac/mauve/purple designer papers hard to match up with inks, but I found some MFT papers from the Tranquil textures paper pack that seems to match quite well with the mauve c/s and the lily's. I added some silk ribbon to cover the transition between c/s and deisnger paper, then added a small bow on the side.

For finishing touches I used my clear wink of stella pen for the lily's, clear sequins and some pearls for the corners of the square frame.

I'm off for 4 days, but it doesn't look too promising for Bill and I to get out for some spring migration birding.  It's been raining since last night and rain today and tomorrow and Monday, so looks like our only good day will be Easter Sunday.  On the bright side, maybe I'll be able to create a few more cards this weekend.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend everyone! Wishing your a wonderful day!

Pauline

Simplest of Gifts

Well here we are in the middle of April, one would think we would be seeing some warmer temperatures and sunshine, well we've had nothing but cold temperatures and lots of rainy days. Looks like another week coming up of rain every day, very little sunshine this week. It's not blustery cold by any means although we woke up to some freezing rain/snow mix yesterday morning, and it's still cold enough to have the heat on.

Rather than share a pretty flowery card I decided to share my first Christmas card of 2019!! This is a digital image from Sassy Cheryl's called Simplest of Gifts, and you can find it here.

I pulled out my polychromos pencils to colour this one. Once coloured I sponged some SU lost lagoon ink around the edges. I then  trimmed it down to fit behind my frame. 

I stamped and embossed the sentiment onto some lost lagoon cardstock with white embossing powder.  Snowflakes were also cut from lost lagoon and some bazzill quartz c/s.

I added some foam tape behind the frame and popped this over my image.  Snowflakes were added on top and under the frame.  The sentiment was trimmed and added some foam tape to that as well on one end and adhesive on the other.  Twinklets diamond dust & Tim Holtz rock glitter were added to the ground area, and pearls to the centers of the snowflakes.

I'll list the supplies below.  Thanks for your visit today. Have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Supplies:
Stamp - Sassy Cheryl's - digital Simplest of Gifts, Simon Says Stamps - tiny words christmas
Ink - versamark, polychromos pencils & gamsol, SU lost lagoon
Paper - Simple Stories - winter wonderland, white, SU lost lagoon
Dies - MFT - stitched rectangle frame, IO snowflake die
Misc - pearls, twinklets diamond dust, TH distress rock glitter, white ep, foam tape

Spring Cardinal

Hi there! You know how much I love birds and nature in general, well my co-worker asked for a special Mother's Day card for her Mom.  She asked if I could do something with a Cardinal on it.  Of course I can - right? Card makers can do anything! LOL.  So I was on the hunt for a cardinal image.  I have a few but they are Christmas/winter images and didn't think that would go so well for Mother's Day in May!

So, I did a search on Pinterest, looking for digital cardinal images and came across one that thought might work.  I resized it and then scaled down the darkness of black to light grey, printed it off and went with it.

I coloured the image using copic markers, and added some shading doing the pointillism technique.
From there I did some die cutting for the layers.  Designer paper is from Memory Box.

Finished off with some silk ribbon and double bow. pearls, Tim Holtz rock glitter, and a flower from Wild Orchid flowers. I was thrilled on how this one turned out!

Yesterday, we had the most beautiful day - it was 23C (almost 70F).  Today calling for some rain, and snow rain mix for tomorrow.  Winter just doesn't want to leave!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Pauline

Supplies:
Image - digital off of Pinterest
Ink - copics - cardinal - R24, R27, R29, R59, beak- YR22, YR24, branch - E49, feet - YR24, flowrs - R000, R02, R05, YG13, YG45, G28, Y38, dots for shading - R01, G00, BG000, Y23
Paper - Memory Box, white, bazzill - quartz
Dies - MFT stitched scallop circle, Spellbinders circle, Joy craft - Square frame
Misc - pearls, silk ribbon, tim holtz rock glitter, quickie glue pen, wild orchid flower

Bowl of Beauty

Hello there!  Today I'm sharing Power Poppy's newest digital image called Bowl of Beauty. Marcella has outdone herself once again!

I was going to go with the no-line image, as I had printed both out, but decided to go with the black outline one.  I used copics to colour this.  I found this a bit of challenge especially for the large peony.  Large flowers intimidate me especially when colouring with copics, but I think I did alright on this one.  Wasn't really sure where I was going with the colours, as the colour yellow was not what I was thinking of for the Hellebores, but that's what I ended up with. I added shading under the bowl with prismacolour pencils.

Image was cut using an MFT scallop rectangle die.  I added some wink of stella to the centers of the flowers and some enamel dots.  The peach background paper is from SU (a few years old). I wasn't sure if I wanted a sentiment on the front, but came home from work yesterday and decided it did need something, so embossed  PTI birthday wishes onto some black c/s using white embossing powder.  I then used a banner die to cut one end and the scallop die to cut the other.

Also, many thanks for all you wonderful comments on our bird photography (previous post).  Your comments are greatly appreciated and most welcomed. I'll have more to share shortly.

Wishing your a fabulous day, thanks for visiting today!

Pauline

Sandhill Cranes Part 2

Hello everyone! Well winter struck again.  Yesterday we had a day full of rain, then turned to a heavy wet snow late afternoon and into the evening.  The flakes were so big almost golf ball size, it was very pretty if you didn't have to drive in it. This morning everything is covered in white, so heavy the the branches are all weighed down, but it does look very pretty.   Looks like warmer weather for this week, hopefully that is the end of the snow.

I stepped outside early (still a bit dark) and took these pictures with my Tablet, so not the best quality, but just wanted to capture the snowfall.

Rather than a card today, I thought I would share some more of Bill's and my photo's from a few weeks back.


Mine:

 Bill's:

Thanks for visiting today.  Enjoy your day!

Pauline

All the best

Just working on some cards for my sale basket at work.  There are always people changing roles or leaving, so thought I would add a couple of these types of cards.

For my card today, I'm using MFT - Painted Flowers & Mini Modern Blooms. I started by die cutting the bottom edge of the white with Simon Says Stamps - corbel curved border.  I then layered this onto a piece of light green/turquoise gingham from MFT - Homespun Gingham

I die cut all the flowers and leaves from cougar white c/s.  I then stamped them using  all Papertrey Ink inks - Green Parakeet, Mint Julep, Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Enchanted Evening.

I arranged the flowers and leaves  then laid a piece of press n' seal over top to pick up my layout. I then stamped the sentiment in black versafine ink - PTI - Water cooler talk using my Misti. Added some silk ribbon and bow across the top, then adhered this to my card base.

I then laid the press n' seal back over the front of the card where I wanted the flowers to be then slowly peeled it off.  Most stayed in place, from there I added adhesive to the backs of the flowers and leaves and some of the flowers I added some pop dots to give it some dimension. I also added a small flower at the bottom right of the card.  Finished off with wink of stella pen on the flowers and some clear sequins.

The colours are so pretty in real.  Well that's it for me for today. Thanks for visiting. Have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Luck of the Irish

I meant to post this yesterday, but it's been a difficult few days at work as our company is going through another re-org with job cuts  and our dept was among the ones to be cut.  But thankfully me and  the folks in my group all still have their jobs. There was just over 100 job cuts company wide within 4 depts.  It was such a stressful day, I was totally exhausted by the time I got home, hence no post.

In my last order I did for a friend she asked for a St. Patrick's day card.  I don't have much in this line, but I was able to find a  12 x 12 piece of designer paper by Authentique at the stamp store in London. One side is patterned the other side is made up of 12 cards to cut out and use.  Easy peasy right?

I cut out the card topper I wanted, layered it onto a piece of kraft cardstock.  I cut a flourish from dark green c/s using a die from Marianne.  Designer paper is some scraps from my bin.  I also added a peel off gold chain strip above the plaid paper.  For the sentiment (PTI), it is stamped in black versafine.  and then cut out using a Spellbinder label die.

I added some sequins to finish off along with some gold glitter to the buckle on the top hat, and a bit of glitter to the insides of the clover flowers.

Thanks for your visit, enjoy your day!

Pauline

Sandhill Cranes & More

Well here we are the start of another week.  Hope you had a good weekend.  Rather than a card to share with you today, I decided to post some of Bill's and my photos from the last month or so.

Yesterday during one of our outings we came across a couple  Sandhill Cranes - we did not expect to see these as were were looking for hawks. I have quite a few pictures to share so will spread them out over a couple of blog posts.

Enjoy the show, click on them to enlarge:

Pauline's:

 

 

 

Bill's

 

 

 

Up next, I'll be posting my St. Patrick Day card, then some  more photo's.  Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Flowing vine collage x 2

Well it's Thursday, and almost the weekend once again! My cards today are two more sympathy that I made for my card order.

As you can see not a lot of explaining on these, so I will just list the supplies for each that I used.

For both cards I sponged distress inks onto some canson watercolour paper.  I spritzed the first one to make the water marks, the second card I left as is.

# 1 - Creative expressions - with sympathy die, Distress oxide inks for the background - wild honey, picked raspberry, PTI - Pierced Feature Frames, Simon Says Stamps - Flowering Vine Collage die, paper is by Cosmo Cricket - sweet nothing, cougar 100lb white c/s,  Silver card stock, sequins

# 2 - PTI - Pierced Feature Frames, Simon Says Stamps - Flowering Vine Collage die, Distress oxide inks for the background bundled sage & tumbled glass, PTI - everyday classics (sentiment), white embossing powder, versamark,  Paper - Little Yellow Bycicle, cougar 100lb white c/s. scrap of blue c/s for the sentiment.  I think it is from SU but not sure, found in my scrap basket.

Well that's it for today, I'll be back soon to share another card.  Have a great weekend!

Pauline

Just because

Hello everyone.  I hope you all had a good weekend.  Starting to feel more like spring time around here.  Yesterday it rained and very windy but temperatures were just above freezing.  This week is it is supposed to be between 4-7 C with thursday being 16C with rain, but then dropping after that. But each day is closer to warmer weather!

I've been asked for 'just because' cards, so this is what I am sharing with you today.

I pulled out my Stamping Bella - Mason jar of flowers stamp, stamped it using black memento onto some white cougar 100 lb c/s, then coloured using Polychromos pencils & gamsol. I already had the lattice die cut sitting on my table, so wanted to incorporate that onto my card.  The mason jar just fit perfectly inside one of my SB oval dies.

Designer paper was too pretty to only use a piece of so I decided to make this my main backdrop, then adhered it to a white card base. I added lots of sparkle by using by quickie glue pen and TH distress rock glitter.  The sentiment comes with the stamp set, stamped using black versafine, then used a MFT banner end die. I added some foam tape to raise it off the card.

Finished off with some sequins.   As always, I appreciate your visit, and any comments you might have.  Have yourself a wonderful day!

Pauline

Supplies:
Stamp - Stamping Bella - mason jar of flowers
Ink - Polychromos pencils, black memento, black versafine
Paper - white cougar,  Patck Trzynastego - Love in Bloom - Marta Pickarcyk ( I purchased this from Frantic Stamper along with 2 other paper packs :) )
Misc - seqines, TH distress rock glitter, quickie glue pen, foam tape
Die - Creative Expressions - Portuguese Collection - Lisbon,  Spellbinders Oval die

With Sympathy x2

I'm back today to share a couple more Sympathy cards that I created for my order.

My first card is using Altenew Dainty Bouquet. As this is a layering stamp, I used all 4 inks from the Altenew Rock collection for the stamping.

Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps - Moments of Grace stamped in black versafine.  I used a MFT die to cut this out, then layered onto some soft gray c/s then a white cardbase. Added a small white silk bow to finish off.

My second card was created using a die from Creative Expressions - Wild Rose Edger.  I started by added distress inks to white cardstock - Distress Oxide spun sugar, wild honey & tumbled glass. Using the wild rose edger I cut this from bazzill yellow c/s. The sentiment is from PTI - birds of a feather and was stamped using smokey gray versafine ink.

I added a gold peel off up the side of the yellow and then added a peel off holographic butterfly.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Wishing you a fabulous day.

Pauline

Beautiful Flower 2

Hello!  I  hope everyone had a good weekend.  Today's card is show casing one of the flowers from the Simon Says Stamp - Beautiful Flowers 2 set.

I stamped the image in distress antique linen for a no-line image onto some Strathmore mixed media paper..  I started out by watercolouring using Daniel Smith watercolours ( I bought a couple of the watercolour palette from SSS - a Debby Hughes Palette and Shari Carroll Palette, so I could try these out, very inexpensive only a couple of bucks for each. Once coloured to where I was happy with it, I switched over to Polychromos pencils for some added detail.

Using an oval die, I cut out the flower, left the die in place and sponged inks around the edge.  This was then layered onto a scallop oval die cut from a soft coral/pink card stock.

Designer paper is from Mintay - Birdsong. The papers in this pad are all gorgeous.  So hard to pick what to use and even harder to even into them lol.  I layered some cheese cloth in behind the image, and also cut out a small butterfly from the piece that I trimmed off.

Added some silk ribbon and bow, added the butterfly and some clear crystal droplets on the leaves. In the center of the flower I added a little bit of my gold wink of stella pen.

Not sure what I will use this card for, but will probably put a Mother's Day verse inside and added to my sale basket at work.

I always appreciate your visit, wishing you a fabulous day!

Pauline

Supplies:
Stamp - SSS Beautiful Flowers 2
Papers - Mintay - birdsong,  Strathmore Mixed media paper, coral, white
Ink - Daniel Smith watercolours, Polychromoas pencils, distress - ripe persimmon, scattered straw and antique linen
Die - Spellbinder Oval & scallop oval
Misc - silk ribbon, cheese cloth, crystal droplets.