Cute Card Thursday - Butterfly Tilda

Hi there!

Well, when I saw today's Cute Card Thursday challenge 'Mirror, Mirror' (to use something shiny on your card), I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I hadn't had a chance to ink up this new Tilda yet but I knew it would be perfect for this challenge as I wanted to use the very fun and shiny Fantasy Film for her butterfly wings!  It's essentially a very simple card as I used a Magnolia background stamp which I airbrushed the sky and grass in.  I stamped on the additional little bees, coloured them in and added some shimmer to their wings.  I coloured Tilda in with my Tombow markers and Distress Inks on watercolour paper and trimmed her out.  The only part that added the extra time was stamping and cutting out her wings on the fantasy film. I used two layers of wings to make sure of some dimension.  The close-up photo gives you a better idea of the film - I briefly waved my heat gun over the film to make it curl and crinkle a little.  I stamped the sentiment (The Stamp Barn) and drew my own banner which I cut out and added to the front of the card.

And there you have it - I think I will also add this to last week's challenge for Just Magnolia which if I recall correctly was 'Pink & Green' - yay, 2 challenges done on one card - gotta love that!!

Hope you are all having a fabulous evening and thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment!  Much appreciated as always!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Going Bananas!!

Hello!

This is my final card of my 'cultural' set and I kept it a fun and whimsical one!  The monkey is a new Alota image I received in the mail - isn't he adorable!!  The banana skins and sentiment are images I received from my dear friend Rachel - thanks so much (I think I might just have to get them now to go with this monkey)!!  The corner leaf stamp is Magnolia which I believe I received last summer in their Summer Club package - this is the first time I've inked it up and I love how it works with this card.  I coloured everything with copics, trimmed all the images out and popped the monkey and sentiment up on pop dots to add some dimension to the card.  The back panel is plain brown kraft cardstock which I distressed the edges and ran through the cb embossing folder 'floral screen'.

This is a quick view of the inside - kept it very simple and just stamped the leaf corner and coloured it in.  The sentiment is from Gina K.  I didn't have very much time to complete this card so given the time restraints I'm quite pleased with the final result!  My boys loved it - they thought it was a very cool card!  :)  

Thanks for coming by and paying me a visit today - I love to see you here and especially love to read your comments!  Please let me know that you've come as I always love to return the favour and visit your blog - it's so thrilling to me to check out new blogs and see new talent!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Hippo Birthday!

Hi there!

Happy Wednesday to you all!  We have beautiful sunshine today, although the air is still quite cool.  It was nice to get out for a walk though this morning with my little guy!  He went off to school this afternoon so I've managed to get some of my own play time in too!  I'm adding this card in to my collection of 'cultural cards' - I'm classifying the hippo here as the 'cultural' bit but it's clearly a very whimsical take on it, lol!!  I love this Gina K Design stamp and I haven't inked it up in ages.  Sometimes I get so stuck into my Magnolias that I forget about all my other gorgeous pieces of rubbah!

It's a very simple card design - I worked through this card with a headache - I think it's the stress creeping up on me for what's coming ahead in the next few days (music recital, softball season starts, charity event Saturday evening, sons' 1st Communion & Confirmation on Sunday) - phew, the list seems endless and I have soooo much to do still!

The hippo was coloured in with my copics and I glued a cute little bow on her tail!!  I love the sentiment and I plan on stamping Happy Birthday on the inside when I finish the card off.  This is not a usual colour combo for me but I have to say I love it!!

Thanks for stopping by today and all your beautiful comments!  Hope you're all enjoying a fabulous day wherever you're visiting from!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Friday Sketchers - African Trio

Hi there!

I am so happy to have gotten into my craft room this afternoon!  I still have 3 cards to finish off for my charity donation and knew the fabulous Friday Sketchers sketch this week would work just great for this image.  I didn't want to colour in the trio of African dancers so I grabbed my Copic Airbrush and played with 3-4 colours airbrushing the image.  I am really happy with the result.  The paper is from the gorgeous BG Marrkech line.  I added hemp, grass and beads for my detailing on the card and the 'flower' in the top left corner was 4 punched circles glued together with a black brad.

I was worried that my mojo would still be on vacation too and would take time returning but I'm happy to say my creative juices are a-flowing!! :O)

The boys don't have any extra-curricular stuff on tonight so hopefully I'll be able to get back downstairs and craft some more!  Thanks for stopping by and leaving a much appreciated comment - I'm so happy to be back blogging!!

Hugs, 

Danielle x

I'm back!!!! Geez, I missed you all!! - And a Blog Award!

HELLO everyone!

I'm back after what has been a fantastic week away in Disneyworld with the family! Mickey Mouse says HI!!! We drove down from Ontario so the trip has been a long one and quite exhausting - now I need another week off just to catch up on some sleep, lol!! We all had the best time and thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic Florida sunshine!!

Well, in honour of all you wonderful blogging friends, I will be putting together some blog candy this week to thank you all for your incredible friendship - so be sure to stay tuned! Once all my unpacking and laundry is done, I will have the chance to focus on my blog and put together a very sweet package!

And I also had some wonderful mail packages arrive whilst I was away - thank you LINDA and RACHEL for your incredible generosity with your images! Can't wait to start creating again!

Hugs,
Danielle x

Edit

I've received this beautiful blog award from my sweet friend Linda. It truly amazes me how many beautiful friendships I'm forming through my blogging world! I love meeting like-minded generous crafters on my blog and am so happy we're able to share our mutual love of stamping and card-making.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award"

Now I have to pass it it onto 8 others so here goes:

I will post my 8 selected blogs a little later - still in the midst of organising myself!

Cute Card Thursday & Just Magnolia Challenges

Happy Friday everyone!

I had to try and get the Just Magnolia first challenge in today before leaving for Florida and I did, phew!  What a fabulous first sketch and the one-off prize is truly incredible - you must check it out!!  I also managed to get the CCT challenge in on this card too 'Floral Fantasy' - so one card and two challenges - way to go!!!

This is one of my new Tilda images and I have to say she is so sweet standing there with a gorgeous basket of flowers.  I used the spring mix flower soft on this card - it adds such wonderful texture!  I took a close-up photo for those who are not familiar with this fabulous product!  Tilda is coloured with Tombow markers on watercolour paper.  Additional embellishments I used include prima flowers, brads, ribbon, CB embossing folder, sewing machine and my paper piercer for the sentiment panel.

Thanks for stopping by today.  This will now be my last post before we head out on our road trip to Florida tomorrow, yay!!!  I'm gonna miss you guys like crazy but we are all bursting with excitement in this house right now!!!  Will see you after the 26th - take care!!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Magnolia Down Under Challenge - Sepia

Hi all!

This is a late posting so consider it my submission for Thursday!!  I coloured this Tilda last night and got round to finishing the card today!  MDUC challenge this week is to create a card in sepia - I loved this as I've never focused a card purely on these tones of brown!  I am so happy with the finished card and I just kept thinking 'Cookies & Cream' the whole time I was in the creating process!  This is a Tilda from the new Spring kit and I coloured her with both Tombow markers and Distress Inks - I loved the bumblebee and felt adding that tiny dot of yellow & black in the card would make it really pop out of the sepia tones.  I distressed the layers of cardstock and then used my nestability Labels 1 for the main focal panel. I twisted some cream organza ribbon behind the panel and then tied two strips of chocolate ribbon either side of Tilda.  Flowers and brown toned pearls add the finishing touches to the card.

Thanks for your visit today and any comments you may leave - always appreciated!! :)

Hugs,

Danielle x

Magnolia vs Stampavie Challenge - Butterfly Tilda

Hello there!

I managed another challenge today - Magnolia vs Stampavie - I haven't done too many of these so I was really happy to be able to get time and do this one - it was a very fun layout!  My Spring Magnolia Stamp Club kit arrived yesterday so of course I had to ink up one of the gorgeous new Tildas and accessory stamps.  What a fun, fun kit - can't wait to ink up more of them!

So, do any of you spot something new I'm using on this card?  YEP, I found the Copic Airbrushing system in my local art store over the weekend and was thrilled - I literally jumped in the air and gave a squeal of delight, lol!!!  So the sky behind Tilda is my first attempt of airbrushing - ooo, what fun it is!!  

A bit of news - my husband was able to get next week off so we made a very spontaneous decision to go to Florida and take the boys to Disneyworld - we leave on Saturday, woohoo!!!!!!! 

We are all so VERY excited - and a bonus is my brother & and his family (who live in the UK) are there right now so we'll get to spend a day together!!!  So, with all this said, my postings are going to be very depleted over the next 7-10 days.

I hope you're all having a fabulous day - we are finally having gorgeous sunshine and temps!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Blog Award x 2!

Hello!

Wow - I've received this beautiful award from two fellow blogging friends, Cheryl and Sharon. Thank you girls so much for this - I am truly touched by your kind words and that you would think of me and my humble little blog!!  It makes me so happy to know that my cards and creations touch and inspire so many peoples lives.  YOU, my blogging pals, are the ones that make this creative journey so worthwhile and I'm just very happy I hopped onto the blogging bandwagon!  Now I need to pass it on to 5 more amazing blogs - Jenny, Joey, Chris, Curt & Judy. These are 5 incredibly talented artists so be sure to check out their blogs!! 

I finally received my Spring Magnolia Club kit in the mail today so get ready to see some new Tildas being inked up, lol!!

Have a great evening everyone - it's gorgeous here - lots of sunshine, so maybe an 'after dinner walk' is on the cards!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Sketch Saturday - Cupcake Passion!

Hello!

Today I'm posting my DT card for The Paper Passion this week.  I received this fabulous Unity stamp with 4 cupcake designs - talk about FUN!!!  I focused on just one of the images and used this fabulous sketch layout from the Sketch Saturday challenge blog.  With so much layering to the sketch I wanted to keep the image a simple focal point.  I stamped and trimmed the image twice and coloured with my copics.  I then trimmed out the icing from the second image and popped it up with dimensionals.  I used my Dimensional Magic (Crystal Lacquer) to create the glaze on the icing.  Once it had dried I used my pink Stickles to add some sparkle.

The papers are LYB 'Love Letters' as well as plain beige, white and hot pink cardstock.  The sentiment is from The Stamp Barn and the polka dot organza ribbon is from The Paper Passion. Three plain dewdrops in the top left hand corner complete the layout.  Here's a close up of the glaze I used for the icing look.

Thanks for stopping by - I love all your visits and reading your comments - thank you!!!  Be sure to pop on over to The Paper Passion blog and check out all the new and exciting events coming up.  We have a fabulous online crop planned for the first weekend in May to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day - loads of prizes and challenges to be had!! 

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Mojo Monday - Tilda with Lilacs

Happy Monday everyone!

Well, I hope you're not too over-stuffed with chocolate and Easter goodies from the long weekend!  I had some time to craft this afternoon and I loved the Mojo Monday sketch for today. I have been asked by a local group of Pathfinders/Guides to come in and give a cardmaking class to a dozen 10 year old girls at the end of April.  I will be focusing the card on Mother's Day so I thought I would take this simple and effective sketch and make it the card for their craft night! It gives them a really pretty image to colour and cut out and a chance to play with a cuttlebug embossing folder.  I'm really looking forward to it.

So the card is pretty straightforward - I used my Distress Inks to colour Tilda and added highlights with my clear Sakura pen and white gel pen.  My trusty staples like the MS border punch and nestabilities add great touches to the card.  I adore this lilac gingham ribbon and the sentiment is stamped and punched out with the SU! word window punch.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a much appreciated comment!  I hope to blog hop a bit later and catch up on some commenting!  Have a great night!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Easter Bunnies!

Hi!

Another quick posting!  I needed to do something really quick & easy to 'easter up' these boxes of chocolates for our friends!  This was super fast and super easy - took me less than 15 minutes to do both!  The bunny is Sunshine Designs which I coloured with Tombow markers then glued some whiskers and a small white pompom for his nose.   For a fast unplanned project I love how they turned out!

I hope my friends will like them - I'll bet they will enjoy the chocolate even more, lol!!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Easter Sunday everyone!

A quickie post today as we have company coming and I have LOTS to do!  It was an early start aswell as the boys got me out of bed at 7.30am to go on their easter egg hunt that the Easter Bunny left for them!  My 3 yr old was so excited that he could collect chocolate eggs - he is one happy boy today!!!

Well, today is just a very simple card that I've done as part of my 'cultural' donation pack.  I created this background using Microglaze which acts as a resist with Vintage Photo Distress Ink applied on top.  The elephant is a SU! image.  The embellishment is simple twine with some beads from my stash.

Just thought I'd share a picture with you of 2 of my boys collecting their eggs!!  Thanks for stopping by and hope you're all enjoying a fantastic Easter Sunday!  Many blessings to you all.

Hugs,

Danielle x

Friday Sketchers - Sitting Tilda

Hi everyone!

Wow - I've had a very productive day today!  I can't believe how much energy sunshine will give you - hee hee!!!  I've cleaned out the garage, washed the car, played basketball with the boys and made the Friday Sketchers challenge card for today!  

It was a fantastic sketch for today from Jacqueline - I will definitely use this one over and over again!  I used a Tilda image that I have had coloured in for a while now.  It's the first time I've done a darker skin tone and I think I did pretty good - I'm happy with the result anyways!  I used my copics to colour and the paper is from my K&Co stash.  I found some swirly stamps that had been tucked in the back of a drawer and I'd forgotten about - they're so pretty too so I'll be keeping them out in full view from now on!  I punched out 3 little flowers from the dp and adhered a rhinestone to each.  I used the scallop border punch and glued a strip of lace on top.  A Prima flower and sentiment 'Just for You' finishes off the card.  I finished off the inside of the card too so I posted a picture of that should you be interested in seeing how I finish off my cards!

Thanks for popping back for another visit.  Have a great evening!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Mojo Monday & Cupcake Craft Challenges

Good Friday morning all!

Well, the sun is shining on a bright blue sky here this morning - at long last!!  I managed to do a couple more challenge cards and I decided to pull out a long neglected favourite stamp of mine this ever so cute Starlight, Starbright bunny from Stamps Happen.  I used the sketch over on Mojo Monday.  I coloured with my Distress Inks and Tombow markers.  I'm not particularly happy with the way the sentiment came out - it's actually horizontal on 2 lines so I inked and stamped a couple of words at a time to make in fit on that size panel.  A bit labour intensive and it was hard to get it looking even, but ah well, it'll have to do!  I think it's a perfect sentiment for the card. I'm putting an edit in here - I keep looking at the card and those dewdrops have come out in the photo looking really red - they are not IRL - they match the pink hues of the card really nicely!!!

This second card I did for the Cupcake Craft challenges - folds.  You had to create a card/project with at least 2 folds in it.  I made this - I'm not even sure what you would call this card - a flower/petal card?  I used a sweet summer Tilda for this card and coloured her with my copics.  For the 'flaps' I used a circle punch which I had trimmed in half then adhered it and doodled around the edges.  Tilda is glued to a length of satin ribbon which slips over the card.  The inside I took a square of violet paper and used up a piece of scrap paper where I adhered some punches leaves and a flower.  The sentiment and words are from The Stamp Barn.  The sentiment reads "A true friend warms you by her presence, trusts you with her secrets and remembers you in her prayers".

Thanks for your visit today - I hope you like what I posted!  My boys are getting VERY excited and counting down the sleeps 'til the Easter Bunny comes - my youngest boy is such a chocaholic he can barely contain his excitement!!  Have a great day all!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Cute Card Thursday - Sarah Kay

Hi there!

What an awesome challenge over on Cute Card Thursday today!  It is to use the colour combo of pink and brown - LOVE this so this was just exceptional fun for me today!! :)  I pulled out this adorable Sarah Kay image that I had received in a RAK from Linda and thought it was about time I should use it.  Perfect colours for a girlie card.

I used my copics to colour in Sarah Kay and I feel I'm improving each and every time I use them.  The papers are from BG Porcelain pad and my flowers are from stash.  I used my curvy rectangle nesties to mount the image on and I also used pop dots to raise her up and give the card some dimension.  I added brown grosgrain ribbon to finish off.

Thanks for stopping by today and leaving a much appreciated comment!  I love your visits so please be sure to let me know you've been so I can reciprocate your kindness!  My little guy is asleep so I may just pop back down to my craft room and play some more! :)

Enjoy your day my friends!

Hugs,

Danielle x

African Music Duo!

Good Wednesday morning all!

A quick post today!  I've made this cultural card as part of a set of 6 I've put together for a silent auction donation of a local charity I volunteer for, Acceso International. We have our annual "Sounds & Tastes of the Americas" fundraiser and a big component of the evening is a silent & live auction.  I've always made and donated a couple of sets of my cards and they always seem to sell well.  This card is pretty straight forward  - the zebra design is a Stamp Barn stamp which I've used as a a background.  The African duo is a stamp I got years ago - I don't even remember the name of the company (sorry!).  I added a splash of red behind the image to pop it out.  And wow, no prima flowers on this card, lol!!  I did a little raffia 'thing' instead!  Clear dewdrops on the other corners finish this card off.

Thanks for stopping by today and leaving your beautiful comments!  Hope you all have a fabulous day.  

Hugs,

Danielle x

New Stamp with Fun Challenge #1 - All Boy Edwin

Hello!

I'm so happy to be back with a card I made for the new Stamp with Fun challenge blog.  What a great sketch layout to start off with too - and I certainly stamped with fun let me tell you!!  I decided to pull out my poor neglected Edwins!!  This is a new Edwin that I hadn't inked up yet and had fun playing around with 'boy' stuff instead of lots of girlie pinks and bling, lol!!  It was a bit more challenging to find co-ordinating 'boy' paper but I think what I've done here works pretty well.  I found that distressing the papers a bit gave the card a bit more of a 'cool dude' feel - what do you think?

I can't go without a flower on my cards and even though this is a boy card I just twisted up some twine and put that in the middle of my Prima flower to add a bit more of a boy feel.  The arrows are a cuttlebug die cut.  I coloured Edwin with my copics and the sentiment was one of those $1.50 polymer sets from Michaels.

Well, I'm gonna keep on playing 'cos the weather is miserable outside - can you believe we had a snow storm this morning!!  I thought we were all done with that - hopefully it won't stick around! Thanks for paying me another visit - I am quite overwhelmed with all the beautiful comments you leave me!!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Magnolia Down Under Challenge - Baby Card

Hello!

I had some time to stamp today and managed to do the Magnolia Down Under challenge this week - A Baby is Born!  Had to really think about this one as I don't have any baby images from Magnolia stamps but I had received this image from sweet Linda and knew it would work perfectly!

I used papers from my K&Co pack and coloured the hobby horse image with my copics.  I added Diamond stickles to the horse's mane and tail to make it sparkle for that special baby girl card!  I sewed the paper panels to add extra detail and used the MS doily punch.  Two prima flowers with matching buttons and twine finish the card.  I used a simple 'baby' sentiment.

I hope you like what I've done for the challenge!  Thanks for coming by and leaving a comment - you know how much I appreciate it!  :)

Hugs,

Danielle x

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Are you ready for your sunglasses??

Happy Sunday morning everyone!

Well, this weeks CCT challenge "citrus colours" definitely took me out of my colour comfort zone!!  Wow, hot pink, lime green & yellow - told you you'd need some sunglasses, lol!!  Fab colour combo as it makes everything so bright & cheery but was it ever difficult for me to come up with something!!  Well, I guess that's what challenges are all about, right?  It's good to step out of your 'zone' sometimes, alebit with trepidation!

So here's my submission!  I'm using my new Tilda with her puppy stamp.  The lovely flower template is one of the goodies that was in my care package from my mum - God bless her!  I kept the layout really simple.  I coloured Tilda with my copics and popped her up on a little bench.  I used a big daisy Prima flower with a crochet flower in the middle - I thought it interpreted the sun nicely!  What do you think?  I ran the flower template through the swiss dots cb embossing folder for some texture.

I hope the cheeriness of this card is a good omen and that it brings some sunshine our way today!  Two days of wind and rain and I desperately want the sun to come back!! Thanks for stopping by today and taking the time to peek at my work and leave a comment - I hope you didn't hurt your eyes, hee hee!!!  :)

Enjoy your Sunday!

Hugs,

Danielle x

Cupcake Tilda!

Happy Saturday everyone!

What a rainy miserable day here again today - perfect for staying put and stamping!!  I've put together the very cute Tilda on top of her cupcake to send out some birthday wishes!  Apologies for the poor quality photo - I blame it on the lack of sunshine, lol!!  The colours show up so much nicer IRL.   I must be in 'purple' mode 'cos I'm doing that colour again.  Actually, it was intentional as this is a birthday card for someone who's favourite colour just happens to be purple!!

I coloured Tilda and her cupcake in with my Distress Inks and popped her up on a nestie circle that I embossed with the Happy Birthday cb folder.  The papers are from BG Porcelain pack and I used the MS punch, Prima flowers and word window punch and sentiment to finish off the card.  Oh yes, I also sewed around the edges to add some extra detailing!

I've taken a picture of the inside of the card too.  Kept it fairly simple just using a strip of MS doily punched cs with a ribbon. 

Hope you like it.  I wish you all a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by!  I hope the sun is shining where you are! 

Hugs,

Danielle x

Friday Sketchers Challenge - Mouse Hugs!

Hello - I'm back again!

I've had such a lovely quiet afternoon to spend in my craft room - all the boys are at school and it's so nice to have a couple of hours of time to decompress!  So I have finally managed to get a challenge card done.  Heidi over at Friday Sketchers came up with todays beautifully simple sketch!  I love it - it's so versatile!  I'm using my new PB stamps - couldn't resist a clear set of stamps in my LSS and I've seen so many being used I've fallen in love with these little cuties! This layout was perfect for using my new nesties curved rectangles too.  I coloured the image in with my Distress Inks (Frayed Burlap, Shabby Shutters, Concord and Tattered Rose).  I realised I've used the same colour combo as my previous card (love green & purple together) - I haven't done this combo in a while and now I'm using it again in the same week, lol!  The middle panel is using the MS doily punch on both sides of the paper - isn't it pretty!  I used my sewing machine, prima flowers and a couple of dew drops to add the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by again today and taking the time to leave a comment!  I need something to smile about today as the weather is really grotty - rainy & windy , ugghh!!

Hugs,

Danielle x

What's Your Love Story?

Hello & Happy Friday!

I have had unexpected things come my way this week which have drastically cut into my crafting time, so many apologies for the lack of posting in the last couple of days!  This is my first altered piece of artwork and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed making it!  It is my DT submission for The Paper Passion this week.

We all have a love story to tell, right?  Whether it be our own, our parents, grandparents or maybe our grandchildren.  I thought this 'Love Story Book' would be such a beautiful handmade gift for the re-telling of someone's love story, an anniversary gift or as a guest signing book for a special anniversary celebration.  I used two pieces of chipboard for the front and back of the book which I covered using papers from the LYB 'Love Letters' set.  The transparencies are also part of the co-ordinating set as are the stamps I've used.  I used plain white paper for the insert of the book and used my Bind-it-All machine to bind it together.  Prima flowers and ribbons were used to finish decorating the front panel.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by today and leaving a comment!  I hope I can get a chance to play with some challenges tomorrow.  I really miss not having my daily dose of card making! Thanks for your beautiful comments, they always mean so much to me!  Hope you have a great day of stamping fun!

Hugs,

Danielle x