Chickadeer

I'm back today to share another Christmas card- YAY!!!!!!!  Card making has been quite slow lately, I have explained at the end of the post why.

A few weeks back I was going through my Christmas stamps and came across a few that I have not even touched yet.  It's just like Christmas finding new stamps that you kind of completely forgotten about! LOL.

So here is Stamping Bella's Chickadeer. How cute is this image?

Again, I used Polychromos pencils and gamsol to colour.  Once coloured I cut a some snowy hills using The Greetery Drifting die set. Love this set, it cuts and pierces.

Paper used is from Penny Black Holiday Trimmings. I was debating on whether or not to put a sentiment on the front, so played around with several and ended up using the sentiment from The Greetery called Sentiment Suite : Christmas Stamp Set and matching Sentiment Suite die set.  The one good thing about the sentiment sets so far from The Greetery is that the die set she created matches her last 3 sentiment sets. I'm probably not explaining it correctly, but if you go the The Greetery or click on the link's above I created you will see what I mean.

For finishing touches I used some twine and glitter.

I hope I inspired you today, have yourself a fabulous day!

PS - on the health issue I have been having with my RA - Rheumatoid Arthiritis - well I went for my yearly checkup with my specialist today in London and the reason my feet have been so sore and my right wrist swollen and left hand knuckle issue for months is that my RA is doing a major flare up.  I haven't had any bad flare ups in a couple of years. Normally my flare ups are very painful and only last 2 days, - the type I have is called Palindromic Rheumatism. My feet have been so sore and as of late they are so painful it even hurts to walk or to even rest my feet my bones in my feet are very painful, and my ankles throb terribly when I'm standing or moving. Here I thought it was Planters Fasciitis all along, had a pair of orthotics made for my running shoes and no relief, actually my feet were getting worse.  I never experienced pain like this before in my feet so believed it was something other than RA.  She sent me for xrays and blood work and will follow up with me once she gets the results back.  Card making hasn't been very fruitful lately, with being in pain I have no desire to stamp.  I still continue to dabble at it, but I really need to get going as I have a few orders plus my own Christmas cards to make and time is slipping away.  Sorry for blabbling on and thanks for listening! :)

Thanks for your visit today,
Pauline

Sweet Baby

Happy Halloween!! Sorry I do not have a Halloween card to share with you, as I really don't seem to make those. I sure hope the rain stops tonight for the Trick or Treaters, it's been raining since Wed morning. We don't get too many in our neighborhood as we live just on the outskirts of town, and most of who lives here, their children are grown up and gone.Although we have parents from the country drive their little guys into our neighborhood for treats. But with the rain we will even get less.  One year we only had 7 because of poor weather.  Fingers crossed it clears up.

One of my co-workers is expecting their first baby in about 3 weeks.  I wanted to make her a 'special' card to welcome her new baby boy into the world.  She buys plenty of cards from me, so didn't want to make something she might of already seen.

The baby clothes dies were purchased from Aliexpress back in the summer.  I also purchases a baby girl set as well.  I kind of had a vision on what I wanted, so did some die cutting, pulled some papers and then everything else came together.

I thought I had some small clothes pins, but they were actually too big, so I added some small gold beads to act as the clothes pins.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink - Daily design sentiments, stamped in black versafine and then used a tag die from The Greetery.  I added some flowers, pearls and used my Nuvo clear glitter pen for a bit of sparkle on the flowers. Paper is from Echo Park - Bundle of Joy!.

Now I can't wait to make another one of these for my sale basket as well as one of the baby girl, but I really need to work on some card orders I received for Christmas, Birthday and Sympathy.

I'm so glad you stopped by today. Have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Cosmo Bella

Hello there!  Hope you had a good weekend.  I just finished a baby card, but haven't had a chance to take a picture yet, so thought I would share my last of the Bella's I coloured from the group of 5.

This is Cosmobella.  She seems to be my go to girl, when I need a girl friend card, as I have coloured her many times.  I pulled out my Polychromos pencils and blended with gamsol.

I used a MFT set of edgers to cut the scallop arch on the pink and a Simon Says edger for the white layer. Layered these together, then added a narrow strip of dp along the edge for some interest. 

To finish off I added some enamel dots, Nuvo glitter pen on her martini, and some twine.

I appreciate your visit, see you here again real soon.  Have a great day!

Pauline

Rudolph

Hope you had a good weekend!  I finally finished up a couple of Christmas cards on the weekend, so today I'm sharing a Whimsy image called Rudolph! I believe I bought this last winter and never had a chance to colour it up.

Polychromos pencils where used to colour.  I then used MFT Inside & Out Stitch Round Rectangle to cut him out. 

Paper is from Echo Park - I love winter.  I wanted to put a sentiment on the front, so played around with many sentiments - banner style, round but nothing appealed to me.  I then pulled out some dies and ended up going with Happy Holidays which is from IO.

To finish off I added some red glitter from Art Institute on the berries and added a few enamel dots.

I'm so glad you stopped by today.  Have yourself a fabulous day!

Pauline

Madison has a margarita

Well it's back to work after our long weekend here in Canada, where we celebrated Thanksgiving. I had a chance to work on some Christmas cards yesterday, but I don't have them totally completed, colouring is done but that's it.  So with that being said, I will share another Stamping Bella image today.

This is "Madison has a Margarita"!

She is coloured using Polychromos pencils, (which seems my go to medium as of late), and blended out using gamsol.

I used a very old set of Spellbinder dies to cut her out - long rectangle.  Designer paper is from Authentique - Blissful collection.(2011).

I added some sparkle to her drink using Nuvo glitter pen, added some sequins and ribbon to finish this off.

I'm so glad you stopped by today, have yourself a wonderful day!

Pauline

Winobella

As promised I'm back today to share another Stamping Bella image.  This is the 3rd of the 5 I made.
This is Winobella.  Looks like she is getting ready to Party!!!

I coloured her using Polychromos pencils and blended with gamsol.  Once coloured I then cut her out using an MFT die, left the die in place and sponged some soft pink around the edges.

Designer paper is from my scrap basket.  I cut a little stitched flag tag, added a silk bow and a rhinestone.
Added some sparkle to the wine glasses and her dress using my Nuvo glitter clear pen, then added some more rhinestones.

Well that wraps it up for today.  Wishing you an fabulous day!

Pauline

Spring/summer birds #2

Hello! Bill and I spent  last week up north at Algonquin Provincial Park. Beautiful fall colours to be seen, yellows, oranges, reds, browns, burgundy, truly remarkable.  We have lots of pictures to go through, so when we do I will have some to share. Until then,  I thought I would share some more Spring/summer bird photos that I've been working on over the last little bit in between card making.


First up we have the Ruby Throated Hummingbird - in our backyard doing a little fluttering of his wings.

Here we have a  robin cooling off in the bird bath during a hot day in August. He/she spent almost 10 min in there splashing around, love the water spray.

Next is a Canada Warbler - I tried to photograph him last year but had no luck. 

Playing a little hide-n-seek was this Chestnut Sided Warbler.  Love him peeking out from the top of the branch.

Along the country side roads was this black swallowtail fluttering around. He stopped just long enough to capture this picture.

I'm working on more photos from the summer, it takes a while to do one as I still don't fully understand all the processing techniques, but slowly getting there. I try to do as much as I can and keep tackling them, when I get stuck at a certain point and can't figure it out I call for Bill's help!   I hope you enjoyed these, next post will be a Bella girl, stay tuned.

Pauline

Come play with us

Happy first of October.  This year is flying by don't you think? Rather than bore you with another Stamping Bella image, I thought best to change it up and bit and share a Christmas card.

This adorable image is a digital from Sassy Cheryl's called 'come play with us'. This is just the sweetest image as I just love snowmen.

Again I used Polychromos pencils and blended with gamsol.  I cut a white frame using MFT Stitched square frame die, The snowflake is from Memory Box, as well as the papers.

I added lots of glitter to the bottom for snow as well as around the image and a little pink glittered enamel dot to the center of the bow on the hanging snowflake.

This was a quick to do card, not a lot of colouring which speeds it up.

Thanks for your visit, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

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