A Day for Kindness

I truly enjoy colouring, but I don't have much time for it at the moment. This weekend, I set aside time to do a little bit for me. I printed a darling little image from A Day for Daisies that I have wanted to colour for ages.

I used some older Basic Grey papers for my colour inspiration. I wanted to make sure that the paper I chose was a little retro juvenile in appearance, and this paper from the Lucille collection was perfect.

This sentiment is from the Friendship Assortment stamp set from Stampendous - a fantastic set! I cut the sentiment using Labels 1, #1 die template (with #1 being the smallest die template). I found that die template #1 from 5x7 Matting Basics A fit this image perfectly, so I used it to cut and emboss. Accidental perfection, I assure you.

I used the following copics to colour the image:
   Hair: E41,71,74,77
   Skin: E11, 50, 51, R02
   Dress: YR01, 02, 61, E15
   Ladybugs: R46, T0, 2, 4, 5, 9
   Sky: B0000, 000, 00, 12, colorless blender
   Grass: YG91, 93, 95, 97

This little banner was created using the Enhanced Banner die template. After I cut the banner I did a reverse emboss using the polka dot die that come in the set by running it through upside down. Then, I sanded the embossed polka dots and sponged it using brown ink. The leaves here are from the Aster Create-a-Flower set.

I think I liked the darling image of the girl and ladybugs before I sponged it, but there was nothing to do for it once it was done except to sponge the entire rest of the the card, which I like the effect of.

Thank-you for stopping by, and I sincerely hope your week is blessed!

stamps; Ladybug Hello (a day for daisies), Friendship Assortment (Stampendous)
ink; pumice stone, frayed burlap, brushed corduroy distress ink (ranger), onyx black (tsukineko)
paper; mini skirt, betty (basic grey), bark, raven (bazzill), x-press it blending cardstock (copic), old olive (SU!)
accessories; S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A, SCD-001 Enhanced Banner, S2-063 Aster create-a-flower, S4-161 Labels 1 (spellbinders), flower (petaloo), button (basic grey), twine (may arts)

For You

I finished this card about a week ago, but needed to write about "The epistemological differences between Qualitative and Quantitative research with focus on the purposes and types of statements in each of the research approaches". Now that my commentary is done, I can post this. Phew!

I'm pulling a lot of random things together from the piles on my desk. It's good because my desk is getting cleaned up, which makes me happy, I'm using up older supplies, which makes me happy, and I'm giving myself an opportunity to process all the information I'm pouring into my brain, which makes me happy. It's all good, I think!

I haven't done many cute images lately, so this darling image was a nice change of pace. I've learned that grown up people like grown up cards, but my kids love the cute cards to give to their friends. It's good to have a balance - my mantra for almost everything!

Panda, our foster tripod gets groomed tomorrow for the first time ever, so I'm really looking forward to it!! I have no doubt he'll love it because he's itchy, his wound is itchy as it heals, he's got gross stuff in his fur and he's oily. His coat will be gorgeous once the mats and gunk are gone, and he's going to love the straight up full body scratch he'll get. And it'll be so much nicer to massage him after he's cleaned up.

Thanks for coming by today.

stamps;digital  image (a day for daisies), sentiment - vintage labels (SU!)
ink; slate adirondack (ranger)
paper; hazel (my mind's eye), canvas white, ash (bazzill), x-press it (copic)
accessories; lg long classic rectangle (spellbinders), silver painty pen (zig), tag punch, silver cord (SU!), silver bells dew drops (the robin's nest), white ribbon (offray), Y00, 21, 23, 26, BG10, 13, 18, BV0000, 000, 00, 02, 04, G21, 40, 46, 82, B0000, 000, 00, 01, colorless blender

Hooked on Digis

I admit it. I adore the immediacy of the internet. I sign in at my public library (6th busiest in North America) and I can download audio books directly onto my ipod or EPUB books into my Adobe Digital Reader and eventually onto an e-reader (don't pop my dream bubble - I would love to have one!).

There are several reasons I love digital images; They come without postage and are relatively inexpensive. I love the immediate gratification of placing my order with any number of digital image companies and my images are in my inbox within the hour and occasionally within 24hours. They don't take up room on my overflowing stamp shelves. A key factor is that it feeds the anal control freak in me that doesn't get to surface very often - I can re-size the images to fit my creative vision. I adore that!

The down side is that I only know how to print in black or tones of black. There's no pink, red, blue or green. I only print on white card stock because my printer sucks and doesn't print in colour anymore, even with brand new cyan, cadmium, and magenta cartridges.

I don't use digital paper designs because I haven't advanced technologically beyond black and white. I don't digi scrapbook either because it's really too technical for me. I find a place of great calm and peace as I copy and paste digi images from my computer files into a word document and then fiddle with the size until it is so perfect, I can hardly stand it!

This darling image is A Special Flower from A Day For Daisies. My colours are all from an older Basic Grey paper, Sultry. I do love that pink and green combination!

This card is very thick and I doubt it would make it safely through the mail. There is something that appeals to me in making a card that is so decadently thick that it has to be delivered by hand with some for real face to face time!

I used my Spiral Blossom 1 die from Spellbinders to create the pink part of this flower. This die cuts a flower so much bigger than I had imagined it would be! My fault, not the die's fault. I cut it, rolled it, became alarmed with it's size, squished it, then cut off the smallest third of the length from the center. Then, I grabbed a mulberry floral embellishment and re-curled the spiral blossom around my pre-made flower. I worked the pink petals a bit to create some additional texture, and let a little sigh of happiness escape from my happy place. I ran a narrow bead of glue around the petal edges and dipped it in glitter. While the final product is bigger than the original die cut flower, it isn't as thick - it's a much flatter flower which works better with my card.

I love this little sentiment. It's from tlc Creations in their word art section. I have several pages of their sentiments printed and ready to go should the urge jump up and grab me. And I can re-size it to fit whatever die I want to use to cut it out! *DIVINE*

As with the flower, I ran a bead of glue around the pink Labels 16 layer and dipped it in my glitter. I coloured my image with copic markers and added a little magic to her background using stardust stickles.

copics used today; E000/01/11/74/77/79, B0000/00/01/02, YG01/05/07/09, RV11/13/17, YR 01/02/04, colorless blender, 100 special black

stamps; a special flower (adfd), sentiment (tlc creations)
paper; sultry (basic grey), slipper dotted swiss, green tea, maltball, white canvas (bazzill), x-press it blending card stock (copic)
accessories; lg classic square nestabilities, label tag trio, spiral blossom 1, eyelet squares, labels 16 (spellbinders), sultry button (basic grey), crystal ultrafine glitter (art institute), mulberry floral embellishments (recollections), old olive striped and pink pirouette taffeta ribbons (SU!), stardust stickles (ranger)

colour create - pink and green
paper crafting journey - floral
my mum's craft shop - flowers
my time to craft - favourite embellishment (ribbon)
cardmadfairy's - ribbon and bows
papertake weekly - happy highlights
stamping with the dragon - anything goes
sew many challenges - circles
whoopsie daisy challenge - let's bling it
AUD sentiments - inspiration challenge (love)
crazy4 challenges - lots of layers (c4c121)

IHP - A Day For Thanks

I started my Master's of Education today and so I think it's a good day. My courses are all online and since I'm not the most tech savvy person, I spent the morning fumbling around on the website and I ended up actually finding all the reading I need to do. Um, it's a lot. I told my dad how much reading I have to do this week alone and he said he'd never get through it in 300 years. The man makes me giggle, and I'm so thankful for him! In theory, my plan is I'll read in the morning, write in the afternoon and decompress in the evening. The theory worked out and so today is a good day.

And to celebrate, I made a card tonight. I combined a couple of challenges and came up with this gem. This sketch is from deconstructing jen #31.

I used stardust stickles on this little fairy's wings and once dry, I applied a thin layer of glossy accents to make them look 'wet' - a splitcoast technique challenge.

This whimsical sentiment is from pretty phrases by paper smooches I do love this set and there are a couple of sentiments in it that work very well for multiple occasions. I stamped it using rich cocoa memento ink.

I coloured this Poppy Fairy using copic markers. I like the colour combination because it looks quite a bit like the flower fairies by Cicely Mary Barker. I do love the whimsy of it.

Copics used today; V91/95/99, YG0000/00/61/91/93/97/99, B0000/000/91, E000/00/11/95/97/99, colourless blender

stamps; pretty phrases (paper smoochesfrom ihp), poppy fairy (a day for daisies)
paper; a beautiful life (mme from ihp), x-press it blending cardstock (copic from ihp), yam, maltball (bazzill)
ink; rich cocoa memento ink (tsukineko from ihp)
accessories; crepe purple ribbon (creative impressions from ihp), stardust stickles, glossy accents (ranger from ihp), copic markers (from ihp)


art impressions - anything goes
papertake weekly - anything goes
house of gilli - anything goes
sparkles forum challenge - anything but a christmas card
ribbon carousel - anything goes
craft you passion - mythical creatures
simply create too - more than 2 layers
simon says stamp - something new (digi image)
fairy tale challenge blog - something new (digi image)
freshly brewed challenge - something new (ditto)
little miss muffet - something new (ditto)