Sending Birthday wishes

Good morning everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Today, I'm sharing a Birthday card I made  - my stash has been depleted, so I need to replenish.  Since it's my Birthday today, what better way to do a post to show you one of my latest creations.

Image and papers are from Simon Says Stamps - I believe this was one of the Simon Says Card kits.
I coloured the image using copics, then fussy cut it. The layer behind the image is from Papertrey Ink - Shape Shifters - Circle #1.  I left some of the 'v's in place while removing others.  I layered a piece of paper I received in the kit behind the circle. 

For the sentiment I cut Simon Says 'sending' die from black cardstock 3x and layered them together.
I then used Simon Says Stamptember Tiny words 'happy birthday', stamped on white c/s with black versafine. I trimmed the sentiment down to fit under the 'sending'.

Popped the flower up with foam tape, used my wink of stella clear pen for some shimmer on the flowers then added sequins. I also add a small bow on the stem of the flower using some twine.

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

Pauline

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Warmest wishes to you and yours for a wonderful Holiday season. May the new year bring much peace, love, good health and happiness to all.

Pauline

Holly Frame

Hello friends.  I have another card to share with you today.  I needed another card in a pinch, so whipped this up on Saturday morning.

The die is from AliExpress.  The sentiment is from Penny Black and embossed in gold and then layered onto a piece of gold mirror paper.  I added some foam tape behind to lift it off the frame.  Designer paper in behind is some old papers from Basic Grey.

 I don't think you can see in the picture, but I cut an extra frame and snipped off some of the holly leaves and popped them up over the existing frame.  I added some wink of stella clear pen to the popped up leaves.

To finish off, I used Memory Box poinsettia dies and gold mirror paper to create the floral in the corner.

I can see me making more of these for next year!

Thanks for stopping by today and warmest wishes for the Holiday's.

Pauline

Holiday Greetings

Hi folks! Hope you had a good week. I have a 4 day weekend, then work for 4 days next week, then off for the holidays until Jan 7th, so looking forward to some time off.

Well I finally finished up my Christmas cards, and mailed the last few today. My plan is (like it is every year, but sometimes I don't follow through) is to continue making Christmas cards to get a jump start on next years cards. But up next on my list are a few birthday cards that I need for next week.

Today's cards I absolutely love.  They are so simple to make, I ended up doing 5 red and 3 blue ones.
Stamp is from IO - no name on the package. This image is right up my alley with the cardinals and blue jays.

I started with white c/s  4 1/8 x 4 1/8 and stamped the image using black versafine. I then cut a white frame using MFT stitched square frame. After colouring the birds with copics, I added TH distress rock glitter to the snow areas - ground, window ledge, watering can. I embossed the sentiments  (Simon Says -Tiny words Christmas) using white ep on black c/s, then trimmed and adhered behind the frame. I then added some foam tape behind the frame to pop it up off the image.
Designer paper for the red card is Carta Bella, the blue dp is some scraps I had.

 

 

To finished off I coloured some white cardstock using G40 then cut out some holly leaves - Die from Jeanine's art - Find it Trading - frosty ornaments. I then added some YG67 for some shading.  I adhered them to the cards and added an enamel dot.

 Wishing you a great weekend whatever you are up to.  Bill and I are celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary tomorrow - where did the years go! Take care, see you back here soon,

Pauline

Under the Christmas tree x 3

Hello everyone.  I finally finished the last of my Christmas card orders for this year.  Now I just need to go through to see if I have enough for me to send out.  Funny thing is this year, I have not received one Christmas card, and I'm beginning to wonder if people are hesitant because of the Canada Post strike, which the government has ruled them back to work.  It could take anywhere from a week to month to get anything in the mail.  They are even saying parcels within Canada could not be delivered until sometime in January! I can hand deliver most of mine, so just might do that, and the ones I need to mail hopefully they will get them before Christmas.

Most of my card orders this year were based off of cards I made last Christmas or previous ( so I didn't bother to take pictures to share as I already posted them previously).  My co-worker wanted 3 cards with this same image, so I just changed up the papers.  The image I'm using is from Lily of the Valley stamps - called Under the Christmas Tree.

If you notice different lighting and tones in my pictures it's because I'm learning a new program on a new computer.  This will take some time to learn it all, so just bear with me!  I think the first card is brighter than the other 2, which I just noticed - hmmmmm.

I used scraps of papers from my scrap bin for these cards.  Papers are from MME, Basic Grey, and some odds that I don't know as the name was cut off the end.  I did stitching around all the layers, and popped up the image layer.

To finish these off, I used TH distress glitter for the tree and snow area, and added some glossy accents to the red bulbs on the tree.  The trees are really sparkly.

Now I'm off to make a birthday card that I need to get in the mail tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting today, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

The Spirit of Christmas

Good morning! Well it's just over 3 weeks until Christmas, how are you Christmas cards coming along?  I have 5 more cards for an order then I need to get some done for myself to pop in the mail. There is just not enough time in a day!

Today's card features another image from Carta Bella Journaling cards.  I fell in love with this image of the deer immediately, that is basically what sold me on the paper.  I went back to get a few more sheets of this, and unfortunately the Paper Pickle was all sold out.  (Big sigh!!).

I used Spellbinders Triple Floral die to frame the deer.  I used a rosy gold shimmer card stock for this, and I also layered a piece of the same behind the image.

Designer paper (dark brown) is by Bo-Bunny.  I traced the swirls with my wink of stella clear pen for a bit of shimmer.  I added a small gold bow using some gold thread - I think it's just the right amount of 'extra bling' for my card.  I also dotted some of the snow flakes with the wink of stella as well.

For the sentiment I used Simon Says Tiny words Christmas.  This is such a nice set, the sentiments are all small fonts which is nice to have.  I embossed it in gold then added some foam tape behind to pop it up.

Another quick card indeed!

Thanks for your visit today, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Comfort & Joy

I'm back with another card using a small section of the Alexandra Renke papers.  My gosh, she sure does have some beautiful papers.  I bought 3 different themes this year from her collection, and they are all various sizes of rectangles, so you just have to cut them up and apply them to your cards or tags.

Not a lot of stamping on this except for the  sentiment on the tag.  For this I used Simon Says Tiny Work Christmas set.  I stamped in black versafine, and the die is from an older Spellbinders set.

I used one of the poinsettia images cut and layered it onto a dark espresso cardstock.  I then cut 2 tags using Sizzix framelit tags ( and many thanks to Leslie Miller for enabling me to finally purchase these after seeing a couple of cards she made using these dies - here and here.) One tag was cut using silver shimmer c/s, and the other a ruby shimmer c/s.

I added some washi tape down the side of the silver tag using Alexandra Renke tape.

For the reindeer I used IO reindeer die #DIE080-N and then I rubbed some Prima rose gold metallique wax over the cut reindeer - love the shimmer of this.  I also cut some sprays using Jeanine's Art (Find It Dies) called Frosty Ornaments # JAD10049, but this time before cutting the sprays I applied the rose gold wax to an area on the white card stock, then cut, that way you don't see any white borders along the edges of the spray.  Although your die does get some coloured ink on it, a bit of warm water, soap and a old brush (I use an old toothbrush) to get the wax out.

I added a little silk grey bow to my sentiment tag, three  clear droplets to the pointsettia, and stickles to the center of the poinsettia.  Wood grain paper is from one of my Kaiser Kraft 6 x 6 which I used an MFT stitched rectangle to cut it out, and I used silver shimmer cardstock for my base.  Card measures 5.5 x 4.25.

I hope I inspired you today, have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Peace & Joy

Good morning all.  I hope all my friends south of the border had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Today, I have 3 cards to share using the Stamptember Tim Holtz Christmas set from Simon Says Stamps.  Unfortunately, this set is no longer available.  There are several images in the set all are lovely as the next.  I chose to use two of the images for my cards along with one of the sentiments.
The sentiment on the last card is an old (very old) PSX wooden stamp from 2003! I still wish PSX was around, they had some awesome images and sentiments.

So, for my cards they are all done the same way, just different images and inks.
I placed my cardstock and stamp in my MISTI and used distress ink markers to colour the images and stamp several times to get the depth of colour I wanted, turn paper around and continue etc.

I then sponged distress inks around the edging for colour.   Splattered with some white paint (which you can hardly see). Sentiments were embossed with either gold or platinum.

Card # 1 - distress ink markers - shabby shutters, twisted citron, mowed lawn, iced spruce, milled lavender, wilted violet, seedless preserves, peacock feathers, and  for shading - milled lavender distress ink.  Sprayed with water with micro pearl added to my spray bottle.

Card # 2 - distress ink markers - crushed olive, shabby shutters, pine needles, vintage photo, ground expresso, fired brick, candied apple and for shading around the edges - antique linen, also spritzed background when done with Hero Arts metallic shimmer gold spray.

Card # 3 - distress ink markers - twisted citron, iced spruce, peeled paint, peacock feathers, pine needles, fired brick, tombow markers - #837 & #847 (for a deeper red).  Antique linen distress ink used for sponging the outside edges, sprayed Hero Arts metallic shimmer gold spray.  Added a few gold sequins.

These cards were part of a card order I did for a friend, but I still want to make some for me to send out this year.  These work up fairly fast once you get going on them especially if you are doing several in the same colours.

I'll see you soon with some more Christmas cards to share.  Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your day!

(NOTE:  New picture above- spotted this Red Breasted Nuthatch sitting in our backyard one day after work a few weeks ago)

Pauline

Christmas Journaling Cards #1

Sometimes you just need a break to make card making a little easier.  Well I found just the thing. Our local stamp store The Paper Pickle had some Carta Bella - Christmas Journaling cards in stock, so I scooped up a couple.  There are 12 cards on a page, basically you just need to cut them out and dress them up.

I have 2 completed and 2 more on the go.  Here are my first two: the center image is the journally card.

For the first card, I used my gold krylon pen and went around the edges, then added a red cardstock layer behind.  Next I  used PTI Shape Shifter Square 3 die for the tree like border which I only used two sides of.  I then layered this onto a piece of Carta Bella Merry Snowflakes which was then adhered to my base card - measuring 5 x 5.  I added some gold shiffon ribbon and gold twin and a couple of snowflakes (Memory Box die) cut from gold glitter paper, then added a couple of small gold beads to the centers.

 

 For my second card, I layered a piece of gold mirri paper behind the journaling card.  I cut out a red "joy" using a die from Impression Obsession, actually cut it twice and glued together for extra thickness.  Background papers are scraps from Basic Grey.  To finish off I added so glossy accents to the berries, used my wink of stella clear pen and brushed all the greenery for that bit of extra sparkle. I then added some gold flat back pearls around the wreath.

For the most part these are  quick cards to make.  I have more on the go, so will post those once completed.

Thank you for your visit, hope you have a joyous day!

Pauline

For the cat lover in you

Hello.  Just in for a quick post this evening. Among all the Christmas cards I've been making, I had to stop and make a birthday card for my boss for our group to sign.  She is a cat lover, so how perfect was it for me to make her a cat card! I love cats, but highly allergic to them. My son has two cats so when we go for a visit I have to make sure I have taken my meds and inhaler. 

No stamping involved on this card, just die cutting.  The cat die is from Aliexpress, and the top border punch is from Martha Stewart.

Designer paper is by Three bugs in a Rug - Frisky.  I've had this paper pack for sometime, but think it's rather cute!

I cut out the die three times,  once with white c/s, aqua mist c/s & a green glitter paper. I adhered the aqua and glitter pieces back inside the frame, the added some fun foam to the back to add some dimenstion.

Added the border along the top, then trimmed it with a piece of green glitter paper.

For finishing touches I added a clear rhinestone to each of the cats.

That's it for me for this evening.  Back to working on Christmas cards.  I'm back into overtime for the next 3 weeks as well, so won't have much time for stamping at nights.  I have a small reserve for posting for the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful day,

Pauline

Christmas Glow

Hello everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend.   Did you know that it is only 43 days until Christmas?  How are you Christmas cards coming along?  I'm not doing too bad on mine considering I started late, and trying to get card orders done in between my own cards. But hey, it is what it is, I'm sure I will have all my cards in the mail on time!

My card today is a Penny Black image called Christmas Glow.  It is much larger that what it looks like on the internet.  The tree measures almost 6" from star to bottom of pot, and the width is almost
4 3/4" wide.  My card size ended up being 6 1/8 x 5.

Since the tree is a brush stoke image, I placed the tree in my misti along with some Canson 140lb watercolour paper.  I coloured the image with various memento inks.  Once I was happy with the colouring, I used a paintbrush to move some of the colours around.  I then sponged inks around the image.

The sentiment is embossed in gold on some PTI vellum.  Sentiment is from Penny Black - Peaceful Season. I wrapped the ends of the vellum around my card front and adhered with some tape. I always find vellum never tends to lay flat, so I added a few dots of glue underneath the peace, joy and love to hold it down.

I added a couple of pieces of gold miri paper along the sides. For the string of lights, I used some tombow markers to fill in the lights, then added TH distress glitter to the bulbs.

I'm so glad you stopped by today.  Wishing you a happy day!

Pauline

Man's best friend

Boy, do I have a cute Christmas card to share today!  My heart melts when I see snowman, all shapes and sizes, cute and adorable, no matter what the style I love them all!

Today's card is a Digital image from Sassy Cheryl's.  I tried to look for the image to link, but this one might be discontinued.  I bought a whole bunch of images back in the summer when she was clearing out some of the older images.

After re-sizing and printing, I used copics to colour.  I trimmed down the imaged and layered it onto a piece of dp - Fancy Pants - Bough of Holly.  I used the front and back side of this for my card. Because of the way the red kind of looks distressed, I tried to make the snowman's scarf look the same. I used my clear copic to remove some of the red.  Love the look once it dried.

I added a strip of gold peel-off along the top and bottom of the image just to finish off the edges.  A white gel pen was used to add polka-dots to the snowman's had and the doggies scarf.

"Let it snow" is a die from Aliexpress.  I cut this 2x, once from white glitter paper and the other from white cardstock, then glued together to give it a bit more stability.  Snowflakes were cut from Memory Box dies.  I cut one of the larger ones in half and adhered it to the the right edge.

Using my quickie glue pen I dotted all around the image and then added Tim Holtz distress glitter for that added sparkle.

I need to make a few more of this one, overall it was a quick card.

I hope I have inspired you today.  Have a wonderful day!

Pauline

Winter chirps

I have another Penny Black card to share with you today.  I will be teaching this card in my upcoming class at Paper Pickle. 

I'm using Penny Black - Winter Chirps stamp, as well as Memory Box - Peace die.

After I stamped the image onto some white cardstock, I used prismacolour pencils to colour up this sweet image.  The birds are separate but are included in the stamp set.  So I just lined up to where I thought the birds would sit and stamped them on.

I cut the image out used a circle die from Spellbinders Grande Circles, and then used Spellbinders Grande Decorative Circles to cut the layer behind the image.  I used turquoise shimmer paper for this. The Peace was cut from silver mirra cardstock.

The stripe paper is from Echo Park - dots & stripes foil.  I added a thin piece of mirra c/s down the side for added detail.  To finish off I added silver sequins, a silver bow along with Tim Holtz distress glitter which I added to the berries and leaves in the image.

Well that's it for me for tonight.  Wishing you a Happy Day!

Pauline

Winter sky

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope your week is going well.  I've been working diligently on my card orders, and always looking for cards to make that are elegant, and easy to re-produce.

Today's cards are just that! I'm using Penny Black's 'Winter Sky' stamp, along with a die called Winter Snow script also from Penny Black.

For my first card I sponged the following Distress Oxide inks to make my background: Blueprint sketch, shaded lilac, tumbled glass, cracked pistachio, and evergreen bough.  Once the background was completed I stamped the winter sky using black versafine - I stamped it twice to fill the front of the card.

I then diluted some 'copic' opaque white ink and splattered the background.  I then spritzed the background using some micro pearl powder which was added to my mini spritzer. Added the Winter die cut along the bottom edge and stamped a sentiment from PB - Christmas Sentiments.  Added a little snowflake next to the sentiment. (only because I had a tiny black smudge and it bothered me, so covered it up!)

 

For my second card I used distress inks - ripe persimmon, broken china, tumbled glass & peeled paint.  I took the same steps as the first card except I sprayed it with Hero Arts Metallic Shimmer gold.

 

This is a close up view of the gold shimmer spray - so sparkley.

Hope you have a 'spooktacular' day! Thanks for stopping by.

Pauline

Forest Finds

 Hello! It's Friday tomorrow and the end of another week! This month is flying by so quickly don't you think? I'm back to share another Christmas image. I have had this digital image printed out for quite some time, and just finally got around to colouring it up.  This digital image is called 'Forest Finds' from Power Poppy.  When it was first released last winter I scooped it up right away.  I just love the way Marcella designed this.

Normally I used Primsacolour pencils to colour, but I wanted more vibrant colours than what prismas can offer.  So I pulled out my Copics and coloured this up.

I used an AliExpress die to cut it out, and then layered the image onto another piece of white c/s, otherwise the background paper shows through the holes around the edge and it distracts from the image.

Designer paper is by Bo Bunny - Altitude Collection. I finished off with some glittered enamel dots and Tim Holtz clear distress glitter. I also added a couple pieces of silver peel-offs where the striped paper meets the dark purple.

I am entering my card in Power Poppy's October Power & Spark: You say it's your birthday! The challenge is to use an image that represents the month you were born.  My birthday is in Dec, so I choose this 'winter' image for the challenge.


That's it for me, I've been working on more Christmas cards to share.   See you real soon.  Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits.

Pauline