Opal the Optimist

Happy Friday! I'm back today to share another Stamping Bella image. This is # 2 of 5 that I coloured up.
This pretty gal is called Opal the Optimist.

I coloured her up using Polychromos pencils and blended with gamsol.  I then cut her out using a scallop edge rectangle die from MFT.  The only difference is that I didn't want it as wide as it cut so put the die back over the image to where I wanted it cut narrower and ran it through my Platinum.  I then used my life changing brush and softly added a bit of PTI aqua mist to the bottom right side.

The Lacy scroll along the side is from Tutti Designs called butterfly Scroll. Background designer paper is from Prima - Bella Rouge.

For finishing touches I added some $store rhinestones to the butterfly scroll, and Nuvo glitter pen to the flowers on her dress and glass of wine.

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

Pauline

Coffeeabella

Today, I'm sharing one of the Stamping Bella images I coloured up for a co-worker.  I had to make 5, so here is the first one.

This is 'don'ttalktomebeforemycoffeeABELLA"!  I've had her forever, and this is the first time colouring her up.

I used polychromos pencils to colour.  Once coloured I cut her out using MFT In & Out Diagonal stitched rectangle stax. I then layered the image onto some PTI Cocoa Bean c/s.

Designer paper is from Basic Grey - Curio paper - This is from 2010!

To finish off I added some enamel dots, and I die cut a piece of BG solid dp using Memory Box curled ribbons - there are 2 ribbons in this set, I cut one  twice and glued together for extra thickness. Nuvo aqua shimmer clear pen was added to her shoes and top, it's just a hint of glitter not much.

Thanks for stopping by today, wishing you a wonderful day!

Pauline

Two hearts

I had a request from a co-worker for a wedding card for her sisters wedding.  She wanted something special and personalized.  I decided to add their names and date of wedding to the front of the card.

Not a lot of explaining on this, so I will just list the supplies below:

DIES-
 Penny Black - love
Simon Says Stampes - stitched flag banner die
Wild Rose Studio - Elegant frames
Justrite dies - Open Leaf Vines
Memory Box - citrus leaves

MISC -
Wild Orchid Crafts - flowers
Studio Callico - wooden heart
Pearls
Novo aqua shimmer pen - glkitter gloss
sequins

That's it for me this week.  I've been working on some Stamping Bella cards for a co-worker - 5 of them! Stay tuned for postings next week of them.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Butterfly blooms

A few weeks ago, when I was in a rut and just couldn't get my stamping groove going, I was on Instagram checking out all the new posts.  I came across a card made by Melissa Phillips using some Papertrey Ink stamps and dies, which led me to pull out the sets she used and create a card.  Sometimes you just need that little shove to get going.

The butterfly and small flowers are from the PTI Butterfly Blooms set and the other flowers are from Stitching Garden set. All stamped using PTI inks.

For the background that is behind the white die cut, is a piece of watercolour paper I was testing out my new TH Oxide spray inks on.  It just so happened once I stamped and die cut the flowers I was looking for something to put behind the die cut, and this piece seems to work perfectly.

The die cut is SB Antiquities square, layered onto a piece of PTI Fine Linen and then onto some gold shimmer c/s. 

I sponged ink around the center piece and then embossed the butterfly in gold.

To finish off I added pearls and some little $ store rhinestones to the centers of the flowers.

Wishing you a wonderful day.  Thanks for your visit!

Pauline

Acrobats

I'm back today to share a Christmas card.  I can't believe we are already into September and I only have a couple done, really need to crack down!

This is a digital image from Sassy Cheryl's called Acrobats.

After resizing I used my poloychromos pencils to colour.  Cut out with a stitched rectangle, then layered onto some dark red c/s.

The background designer paper was from my scrap basket, so unsure of the company's name. I used a sentiment from Penny Black - holiday snippets, and embossed using white e/p onto some black c/s.
Cut this out using a Spellbinders tag die.  Added some red twine around the card and then adhered the tag and secured with a bow.

Used TH rock candy glitter for the snow.

Thanks for visiting today, have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

A new little someone

Hello! Hope your week is going well.  So glad it's the weekend, and it's a 3 day weekend for me!  I had a request from a co-worker for a baby boy card using rainbow colours. After I made the card for her I asked her why rainbow colours and this is the reason which I never heard of: "A rainbow baby is a name coined for a healthy baby born after losing a baby due to miscarriage, infant loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death." I actually had to make 2 'rainbow' baby cards as she has 2 friends that both lost a child during pregnancy.  That is so sad.

So, put my thinking cap on and went to work.  I actually struggled quite a bit with this as I really don't have much in the line of something babish that I could using these bright colours on.

Headed over to Pinterest - my source for inspiration, and came a cross a similar card as mine below.

I sponged tumbled glass distress oxide ink in the background using MFT cloud stencil, then trimmed down using PTI rectangle dies.  I stamped the image onto some cougar white c/s and coloured with copics.  I also stamped the image onto my sponged cloud background, then fussy cut my coloured image and then adhered it over the stamped image. 

For the sentiment, I embossed using white e/p onto some navy cardstock.  Image is from PTI.

For finishing touches I added some glitter to the balloons, and couple of matte enamel dots and a little heart on the sentiment strip.

I really appreciate your visit today.  Have a wonderful weekend.

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

Wedding/Shower cards

Hello everyone.  Last month I was busy working on Wedding and Wedding shower cards.  I have done this layout many times, and love it.  It's my 'go to' wedding shower card. 

I actually did 3 cards at the same time, just changed papers, or colours etc on each, but generally the same.

 

Not a lot of explaining on these, the wedding dress is a embossing folder from Coutures.  Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. Stitched frame is from MFT.

Thanks for stopping by today, I love when you do.  Have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Hope your day is fabulous

Hello! Did you think I fell off the face of the earth? Well, I didn't, just been busy with many things in my life. Have had some health issues with my feet - planters fasciitis - very painful.  I had to get orthotics and gradually break them in over a few weeks. This past weekend, something terrible happened and I could barely walk for 2 days.  My feet were so sore it was unbelievable.  Then I experience over the last month swelling of the ankles everyday.  I would ice them at night put my feet up, take advil, they looked good in the morning the it would happen all over again. I also had a flare up with my RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) this past weekend as well.  When it rains it pours, so they say!   But must say I think I'm on the mend - thank goodness! It's been a rough month.

My card today is one I made over a month ago, but just never posted it.  I'm using Altenew - build a flower Cattleya.

I had already made the background a while ago using Magenta Nuance powders, so this came in handy when I was doing this card.  I stamped the flower onto some Canson watercolour paper using black memento and then water coloured it.  I'm sorry I don't even remember what inks I used to colour this with.

I cut out a couple of stitched circles to layer underneath the Cattleya flower.  I stamped the sentiment onto some white cardstock and then cut it with a banner die.  The sentiment is one of a few that come with the stamp set.

I added foam tape behind the flower for dimension, added some glitter to the centers of the flower and some enamel dots for accents.  I also added a strip of silver paper along the right side.

Thank you for your visit today, I will be back soon.  Have a fabulous day!

Pauline

On Your Special Day

I'm back today to share another Wedding Card.  Not a lot of explaining on my wedding cards as most are die cuts, flowers and paper.

Background paper is from Prima Marketing - Princess line.  I used this for the rectangle layer on top of the white die cut as well.

Sentiment is from Just Rite stamps- Every After Antique Labels One

Flowers are from Wild Orchid crafts

Die cuts are from Aliexpress.  The top layers is cut from Antique Gold Matte Cardstock

Ribbon is from my ribbon basket.

Added some wink of stella to all the flowers, gold pearls and some glittery rhinestones.

Thank you for stopping by today, have a great day!

Pauline

Flower Teddy

Today, I have a cute little card to share with you.  I actually had this coloured up about 3 weeks ago and then just never did anything with you.  So, yesterday I decided it was time to dive into making cards again, as it seems I've been 'slacking' lately.

This cute little bear is called Flower Teddy by Penny Black.  I used my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils to colour.

Using my life changing brushes and oxide inks ( spun sugar, mowed lawn, and tumbled glass),   I went around the image lightly to add shading. I love these brushes, as I have a variety of sizes to get into those small spaces without masking. 

I pulled some papers to see what best suited this image, and came across some Lawn Fawn - perfectly plaid paper. I cut a strip for the bottom then added a piece of glitter washi tape (found in the clearance bin at Micheals :) ) to cover the seam between the two.  I stamped the sentiment using black versafine - this sentiment comes with the image. 

For finishing touches I added some enamel dots, nuvo clear glitter pen for the centers of the flowers and I also added some white dots on the cheeks of the bear and center of the flowers.

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

Pauline

Spring birds #1

Rather than share another card (wedding cards that I made a few weeks ago) I decided to share some of my photographs from this spring.  I had mentioned a few weeks ago that Bill is teaching me how to process my pictures.  It's not easy, and lots to learn, but slowly getting there. 

The first 4 pictures were taken at Pt Pelee National Park in May. Love these warblers, but they are very hard to photograph as they never sit still. So lots of pictures are taken but good thing for digital as you can just delete the bad ones!

(click on the picture to enlarge)

 

The next two were taken up north as this is where more of them head for breeding. Bill and I took a day trip up just south of Tobermory ON (4.5 hrs each way) and we did this in a day. Let around 3:30am and left to come home around 4 pm.  It's a long day but so worth it.  I took many more pictures up there but just don't have them all processed yet. One of my favourites was this cute little wren. I have the wrong name on the border which I need to change. This is actually a house wren not a winter wren.

Hope you enjoyed these.  I'll have more soon to share.
Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Masculine thanks

I have 2 cards to share with you today.  Nothing special, just working on some extra cards for my basket. I'm trying to work on cards that I don't already have or cards where I've been asked if I have them and usually don't.

I made a couple of masculine thank you cards.  Love how quickly these worked up.

For my first card was so simple, just one die and cardstock.  I saw a card like this made by Laura Bassen over on the Simon Says blog last year.  The triangle die is from SSS - stripes card wrap (SSSD111781). I used coordinating papers from Papertrey Ink and SU.  Thanks (SSS - Big Thanks Words) was embossed with white EP onto some black cardstock then trimmed.  I added some enamel dots to finish this off.

 

For my second card, I started with some watercolour paper, added a couple of sprinkles of  Nuvo shimmer powder - golden sparkler, then spritzed with water.  This powder has gold mica powder in it so has a lot of shimmer, just gorgeous.  I then used MFT wonky rectangle die to cut it out, layered it onto some gold shimmer c/s then SU navy cardstock for the base.

The triangle layer on top is from SSS - stacked diamonds.  I cut this from cream flecked c/s, also cut it from some of the scraps left over from the background once I trimmed it down, so I could use the diamond centers to fill back in here and there.  The 'thanks' was cut from SSS die using navy c/s.  I cut this 3 times then adhered them together. To finish off  I added some enamel dots as well.

Well that's it for me.  I'm off today, good thing because it is suppose to reach 91F feeling like 115F with the humidex. and for Saturday too. Way too hot for outside, but have lots to do inside (like making cards - wink!)

Thanks for visiting, wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Pauline

Wedding wishes

It's been a while since my last post I thought I best post something.  I haven't been doing too munch in the line of stamping the last few weeks, weekends have been busy as well as work.  I try to squeeze a bit of crafting when I can.  I find summers are hard to work on cards as I enjoy the outdoors, so spend time outdoors when the weather is good.  Although it has been extremely hot, the evenings aren't too bad once the sun goes down.  Looks like we are in for another rough few days of extreme heat middle to end of the week, with temps around the 40C (104F) mark. This coming friday it is suppose to feel like 46C (115F), thank goodness for air conditioning!

Okay, on with my card for today.  I mentioned that I was working on wedding cards for my basket. I hope you don't get too bored with them as I have another one to share today.

Not a lot of explaining on this, so will list the supplies below.

Paper - white cougar 100lb, bazzill light blue, Prima Marketing - Fairy Belle
Die - Creative Expressions - Scandinavian Collection - Stockholm
Stamps - Verve - Wishful Elegance
Misc - Wild Orchid flowers, Prima Flowers,  pearls, dollar store glittery rhinestones,  Nuvo aqua shimmer glimmer gloss, foam tape, versamark, Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder

PS - I've been working on  some of my spring/summer bird photos.  Bill has been teaching me. I hope to have some to post very shortly.

Wishing you a fabulous day!

Pauline

Best wishes

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted.  I haven't been doing much in the line of stamping lately. Bill and I went away for the long weekend, then it's back to work.  Work has been really busy, so when I get home I'm not in the mood to work on cards.  Just exhausted, along with this terrible heat wave we are having, leaves you feeling drained. Temperatures are feeling like 40- 41C (102 - 104 F), and looks like it will continue until at least Sunday, then a tad cooler but not much for the next week.

It's that time of year  - wedding time! I've had lots of requests for wedding cards, so last week I have been trying to get a couple done for my basket.  My card today was inspired by a card my good friend Carla (known as cardsbycarla on SCS) posted on her instagram page. I changed it up somewhat, but just love her layout don't you?

The wedding gown is an embossing folder by Darice.  Oval die cut  layer is from Creative Expressions - Austrian collection - Innsbruck.  Scallop bottom is from Spellbinders A2 scalloped borders one. The hexagon die is from Aliexpress.  Sentiment is from Verve, embossed on vellum with white ep.

To finish off I added a floral arrangement, ribbon and gold beads.

I took this one into work, and it just happened that someone downstairs emailed me to see if I had any wedding cards in my basket, so needless to say I didn't have this one very long.  I need to make a couple more like this. It is very pretty IRL.  Thanks Carla for the inspiration! :)

I hope all my American follows are enjoying their July 4th long weekend. Take care and keep cool!

Pauline