Inky Fingers

Hero Arts Challenge

2012-02-08T19:47:00.007-05:00

This month there are a few themes to choose from for Hero Arts monthly challenge.

I made a happy card for a friend.

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps (Envelope Pattern, Everyday Sayings), Ink (Memento Summer Sky, Versafine Onyx Black), Hero Arts Digital Kit (Doodle Daisy), Paper (K & Company, Neenah Solar White), MFT Die (Fresh Cut Grass), Recollections Flower Brad

I used digital elements and traditional stamping on this card. The background (which is pretty hard to see) is Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamped in light blue ink and the sentiment is from the Everyday Sayings stamp set.

The flower is a digital image from the Doodle Daisy kit. I printed off a bunch of the design on different shades of pink cardstock, cut them out and layered them to create a big bloom. I also used a couple of the petals to make the leaves.

I added ribbon for a stem and made two layers of the grass which was die cut.

There's still plenty of time to join in the challenge and you could win some fabulous prizes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rainbow Goodness

2012-01-27T22:20:00.003-05:00

Today it's all about the rainbow. I made a card that covers two challenges, both of which have a rainbow of colours in their inspiration.

First up is Case Study Challenge (CSC75) with a card from Jennifer Rzasa.

And the next inspiration is from Runway Inspired Challenge.

And here is my take.

I went a little crazy with rainbow colours on this card! Not sure if it makes the card seems too busy.

I black embossed the butterfly (Outlines Rubber Stamps) and coloured it with Copics. I trimmed off a bit of the side of the card, used a border punch and adhered the blue paper behind it. The white edge that you see on the right side is from the inside of the card. I finished off with the sentiment (Cornish Heritage Farms) and some flower gems from Hero Arts.

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!

Acetate Hearts

2012-01-25T12:34:00.001-05:00

Another Valentine card, this time for Virginia's View Challenge over at Lily Pad Cards. It's Virginia's first challenge and she chose this lovely photo to inspire us.

Love the pretty colours on these transparent hearts.

Supplies: Ranger Alcohol Inks (Wild Plum, Red Pepper, Sunset Orange, Watermelon), Versafine Ink (Onyx Black), Spellbinders Dies (Classic Hearts, Standard Circles Large, Standard Circles Small), Hero Arts Layering Papers (Punch, Snow), Hero Arts Stamp (Sparkle Clear: Messages)

I wanted to play with the transparent effect so I coloured some acetate with Alcohol Inks and die cut a few hearts. The large heart was die cut twice and is on the inside of the card peeking out through a die cut window. The only stamping is the XOXO which is from Hero Arts.

The photo of this is not very good, so sorry but it was very hard to get a decent shot because the acetate produces too much shine and glare.

I'm also entering this for the Moxie Fab Cool Tool Die Cut Challenge and the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Case Study (CSC73)

2012-01-17T12:55:00.000-05:00

This weeks Case Study is the uber talented Jennifer Rzasa with this beautiful card.

And I was inspired to create this card.

I kept the idea of using the negative space from die cuts and turned it into a Valentine's Day card. I white embossed an image from Kaiser Crafts Lilac Avenue collection, coloured ontop with various inks and placed them behind the heart windows. I also added some decorative piercing along the sides of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stripes and Spots

2012-01-17T12:32:00.000-05:00

Simon Says challenge this week is to use spots and/or stripes on a project.

I used the dotty flower image from Kaiser Crafts Lilac Avenue stamp set and the background is Hero Arts Envelope Pattern. I made a little patch of grass using a border punch and finished off with a sentiment and some pearls.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hero Hostess Blog Hop!

2012-01-12T09:00:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone and welcome to day 4 of the Hero Hostess Blog Hop! This week has been jam-packed with creativity featuring new releases from the 2012 catalog.

You should be arriving from the uber talented blog of Virginia. If you come across a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report any broken links to Tami.

My first card uses the Starbursts stamp.

Aren't these the happiest little flowers!

I inked them with Versamark and coloured them with PanPastels, which are like chalk. I layered this piece onto a HA Lilac Folded Card which was stamped with the Designer Woodgrain and inked with Soft Shadow Lilac Ink. I added a sentiment from Everyday Sayings and finished off with some twine and pearls.

Next I used Border Messages as the focal point of my card.

The greetings in this set (there are 3) are very large and take up the entire card front.

The sentiment has a debossed look to it because I melted 5 layers of white embossing powder onto cardstock and while the embossing powder was still hot I pressed the stamp into it and let it sit there until cool. When I took away the stamp it left all the wonderful debossed details. Here's a close-up.

For the background I used the rose image from the Two Birds stamp set. This was inked with Soft Pink Shadow Ink on Carnation cardstock.

My final card uses the new Dot Flower Pattern stamp.

I stamped the image with Versamark, coloured them with PanPastels and cut them out in heart shapes.
(the top heart was covered with Glossy Accents).To complete the card I stamped the Envelope Pattern in Soft Sand Shadow Ink on white cardstock and added the sentiment from Celebrate Everyday set.

Here's a look at the inside of the card. The hearts are actually layered on the inside and peek through a heart window. I used the Classic Hearts die set from Spellbinders.

Don't forget that Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

Now your next stop on the hop is the lovely Sarah's blog. I can't wait to see what goodies she's created.

Thanks for stopping by!

Clean & Simple Card Making

2012-01-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

I'm participating in the Clean & Simple Online Class which can be found here. There's still time to register and learn great things from some fabulous designers!

Yesterdays class was to make a CAS card using a sketch. I chose this sketch.

And here is my card.

I went with a monochromatic card, using one of the colours from Hero Arts Pool Mixed Layering Papers. I inked up HA Classic Fabric Design stamp with Colorbox Aqua pigment ink and clear embossed it.

The centre panel was pierced around the edges and the three hearts were punched from paper that I embossed with Antique Verdigris embossing powder.

Overall, I think this turned out to be an elegant and simple card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lucy's Sketches

2012-01-07T12:22:00.002-05:00

I have a couple of cards today for Lucy's Card Sketch Week. I really like her clean and simple designs, very fun to play with.

This is the sketch for Day 3.

And here is my card.

I coloured some vellum with alcohol inks and cut them into strips and added some hearts cut from glossy cardstock, and these were also coloured with alcohol inks.

The next sketch is from day 4.

For this card I inked Hero Arts Starburst Lace with Punch Chalk Ink and added a layered butterfly. The two turquoise layers of the butterfly were embossed with Stampin Up's Square Lattice embossing folder and I put a vellum layer between them.

Thanks for all the inspiration Lucy!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:49:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! I'm popping in to post a quick card I made for the ColourQ challenge of using black, white and any other one colour.

I was inspired by the large, bold pattern and used the new Dot Flower Pattern stamp from Hero Arts.

The flower image was embossed with Turquoise Tapestry embossing powder, it has little specks of gold and black mixed in with the turquoise.

I'm also entering this in Lucy's Sketch Challenge -Day 1.

Lucy is doing a week of sketch challenges, drop by and see if you're inspired to play along.

And I'm also entering this into the Simon Says- Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Favourites of the Year 2011

2011-12-28T13:05:00.001-05:00

Each year in December I write a post about the cards that really inspired me, my faves of the year. As usual it's difficult to whittle down the list but here are some of my favourite creations.

Enjoy these projects made by an amazing group of artists. Yes, all of you are artists that use paper and inks to create works of beauty.

Nicky used such soft colours to make this pretty card.

Love the layered stamping and the soft, wispy grass that Cindy created with this card.

Barb created some wonderful background colours with this beauty.

Jennifer never ceases to amaze me with her creativity. Love her use of fabric on this card.

And I couldn't stop with just one card from Jennifer. This card truly shows her artistic side and why she made it to the final rounds of Gallery Idol. The bicycle created out of wire, the shadow of the bike and the rays of sunshine all combine to make this card fabulous.

Julie makes amazing CAS cards. I just love this simple design.

I love all things leafy and Tina's design with the fern stamp is divine.

Anette's watercolour background and glossy hilights make these flowers magnificent.

Love the vivid colours of this fun design by Lucy. It's a card that is made using digital and traditional elements.

Another card with gorgeous colours! Anna-Karin created a beautiful sunset with this simple design.

Jill has so many amazing cards but I chose this one for it's colourful leaves with a touch of sparkle.

Sarah created a gorgeous background for her quote on this card.

There were a few cards by Trinh that I really liked but I chose this Halloween card because everytime I see it makes me smile big! Such a fun card!

Joy's use of a lot of white space and a few soft colours make this card just lovely.

Kraft never looked better than on this card by Marion.

The stitching, the colours, the scalloped borders, the dragonflies. All make one magnificent card by Heather Maria.

And since we just celebrated Christmas I thought I would end with three holiday cards created by Nona. Her simple design and colourful stamping made these cards a fave.

Thanks to all the artists who have inspired us this year with their creativity! I can't wait to see what projects you come up with in 2012!

Runway Inspired Challenge

2011-12-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

I've made a card for the first challenge at Runway Inspired Challenge. The blog is run by Jennifer Rzasa, who makes absolutely fabulous cards, which can be seen on her personal blog here.

Here's our first inspiration.

Love the happy yellow and the eyelet/lace feel to the dress.

The stamp I used is from Magenta. The image has a stitched look to it and I stamped it three times in yellow to make the border and I set it off with a bit of black paper and some white pearls. I wanted to keep it CAS, just for Jennifer!

Wishing you an inky weekend!

Simon Says...

2011-12-13T15:01:00.001-05:00

This weeks challenge at Simon Says is a photomontage of various Christmas images.

These photos are so pretty and they have a lovely softness to them. I was inspired by the three trees in pale blues and pinks, the sheet music and the poinsettia.

Yes, I made another card with the poinsettia from Penny Black. I can't seem to stop! I embossed it in white and coloured it with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet.

The background was coloured with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and I stamped a music background from Impression Obsession ontop with the same colour.

I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment onto vellum, added some pearls and of course everything was sprayed with Perfect Pearls. 'Tis the season for shimmer!

Wishing you an inky day!

Poinsettia

2011-12-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

Just sharing a couple of simple card designs since my mojo is still on vacation.

I love this big poinsettia stamp from Penny Black called Christmas Pride. I embossed it in white, coloured it with Distress Inks and sprayed it with Perfect Pearls. The background was colored with Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Broken China and sprayed with Perfect Pearls. Yup, everything is a-shimmering! Finally I added the sentiment on a piece of vellum.

Same look, just different colours. The background was coloured with the seasonal Distress Ink Evergreen Bough. I used Antique Linen and Walnut Stain to colour this flower (inspired by Jill Foster's flower colouring found here) and I covered it with Rock Candy Stickles.

Wishing everyone an inky weekend!

Snowflakes

2011-12-09T15:10:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! My mojo is on vacation (has anyone seen it), so the cards I'm showing today have been CASEd from the Scrapbook Centrale video here.

It's a simple design but with a bit of sparkle. The snowflake pieces were inked with Versamark, covered with Iridescent Peacock embossing powder and heat set. The great thing about this ep is that you get different colours from blue to purple to green to copper depending on how long you heat set it.

Click on the closeup for a better view of the sparkly goodness!

And with a few changes you can have a completely different look!

Thanks for stopping by!

Annabelle Sketch Challenge ABSC044

2011-11-24T20:00:00.002-05:00

Well, this is my last project as Guest Designer over at Annabelle Stamps and it happens to be a sketch.

I found this design to be a bit of a challenge but ended up with this card.

I was still feeling inspired to use the non-traditional holiday colours that I used on my Hero Arts projects in the post here. I also covered pretty much everything on the card with a fine mist of Perfect Pearls for a little shimmer. You have to have a bit of sparkle at Christmas, right?

All the stamps I used are from this Ornamental Christmas set.

I'd like to thank Andrea for giving me the opportunity to play along with the "Belles" this month, it has been very fun! And thanks to all the "Belles" for their wonderful inspiration!

Make sure to stop by the blog to check out all the marvelous projects by the Design Team and I hope you're inspired to play along with this sketch.

About our challenges:

•We post our challenges every Friday at 12:00pm AEST (AEDT during Daylight Savings).
•Each challenge runs for a week, and will close on the Thursday 5.00pm so that we can announce and showcase our weekly winners prior to the next challenge.
•Each weeks winner will receive our special blinkie to display on their blog and a special little something. Our last challenge for the month will be a sketch challenge which will attract our main prize of a $15.00 gift voucher for that weeks winner.

How To Play Along :
•Copy and save our challenge banner and include it and a link back to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog blog in your post.
•Please link directly to your entry not just to your blog.
•Please don’t link to postings made prior to the date of our current challenge. All projects submitted must be new.
•A maximum of 7 challenges may be combined including this one.
•You may enter any challenge several times as long as each submission is with a new creation.
•We would love you to use AnnaBelle Stamps and embellishments, but you can play along without using them, it’s all about sharing ideas.

Say It With...Buttons & Bows

2011-11-17T20:00:00.011-05:00

Todays challenge at Annabelle Stamps is to make a card using buttons and bows. I must admit that I have a hard time incorporating these two embellishments on my cards. I so envy crafters who seem to use them with ease.

I used the little bloom from Annabelles All Squared stamp set.

I embossed the card front with the Square Lattice folder from Stampin Up. I punched some circles for little windows and clear embossed the flowers in some happy colours on the inside of the card and each flower got a button centre. I finished off with a sentiment and a double bow.

Stop by the Annabelle Stamps blog to see the projects made by the designers and don't forget to play along and create a card using buttons and bows!

About our challenges:

•We post our challenges every Friday at 12:00pm AEST (AEDT during Daylight Savings).
•Each challenge runs for a week, and will close on the Thursday 5.00pm so that we can announce and showcase our weekly winners prior to the next challenge.
•Each weeks winner will receive our special blinkie to display on their blog and a special little something. Our last challenge for the month will be a sketch challenge which will attract our main prize of a $15.00 gift voucher for that weeks winner.

How To Play Along :
•Copy and save our challenge banner and include it and a link back to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog blog in your post.
•Please link directly to your entry not just to your blog.
•Please don’t link to postings made prior to the date of our current challenge. All projects submitted must be new.
•A maximum of 7 challenges may be combined including this one.
•You may enter any challenge several times as long as each submission is with a new creation.
•We would love you to use AnnaBelle Stamps and embellishments, but you can play along without using them, it’s all about sharing ideas.

Annabelle Stamps Blog Hop

2011-11-14T20:00:00.006-05:00

Welcome to another blog hop hosted by Annabelle Stamps. Todays hop is all about Holly, the Holly Branch stamp set which you can find here.

For my card I combined two of the holly images and stamped a mistletoe.

I used Distress Ink to colour my cardstock and sprayed it with Perfect Pearls for a soft shimmer. I embossed the holly images, colored the leaves with a Spica Glitter Pen and added some pearls. I really like the larger size of the sentiments (which was stamped on vellum), they cover a card front nicely.

Now your next stop on the hop is Andrea.

To keep our hop as fun and simple as possible, click through each of the DT blogs to see what they’ve created using this set. You can comment if you like, and leave your name using the Inlinkz on any of the DT blogs, or on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog.

You don’t have to comment on all of our blogs, just remember to add your name for your chance to win the Blog Hop prize which is the Ornamental Christmas stamp set. The hop will run for 1 week and the winner will be announced next Tuesday!

Hero Arts Monthly Challenge

2011-11-11T12:07:00.000-05:00

I made a couple of Christmas projects for this months challenge at Hero Arts. For both of them I used the colour combo they provided.

Very pretty and untraditional holiday colours.

This card is a mix of traditional stamping and digi. I resized a digital christmas tree image found here (see below), printed it on paper coloured with Spun Sugar Distress Ink sprayed with Perfect Pearls and cut out the ornament shape with my nesties. The background was coloured with Hero Arts Soft Pool ink mixed with water and the image was stamped ontop using Distress Embossing Ink. The Embossing Ink bleaches out and creates a bit of a raised surface.

You can see a video here of this technique by Scrapbooking Made Simple.

My second project is a gift tag.

This tag has two layers. The top one is acetate with the digi tree image printed on it. My snow is mica flakes and the star is glittered in fun pink. The second layer is cardstock coloured with HA Soft Pook Ink and stamped with snowflakes using white pigment ink.

I really enjoyed playing with these non-holiday colours!

Have a great inky weekend!

Say It In Lime, Black and White

2011-11-10T20:00:00.002-05:00

I'm back with another challenge from Annabelle Stamps and this one is all about colours.

I love the lime colour, it's so fresh and it makes me think of spring.

I coloured some white cardstock with Rangers Sea Brights in Citrus and stamped on it with the wee flowers from Annabelle's All Squared stamp set and die cut the butterfly.

I added some gems, antennae and a pipe cleaner body to finish off the butterfly.

Please stop by the Annabelle blog and see what the other designers created and join in the challenge!

About our challenges:
•We post our challenges every Friday at 12:00pm AEST (AEDT during Daylight Savings).
•Each challenge runs for a week, and will close on the Thursday 5.00pm so that we can announce and showcase our weekly winners prior to the next challenge.
•Each weeks winner will receive our special blinkie to display on their blog and a special little something. Our last challenge for the month will be a sketch challenge which will attract our main prize of a $15.00 gift voucher for that weeks winner.

How To Play Along :
•Copy and save our challenge banner and include it and a link back to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog blog in your post.
•Please link directly to your entry not just to your blog.
•Please don’t link to postings made prior to the date of our current challenge. All projects submitted must be new.
•A maximum of 7 challenges may be combined including this one.
•You may enter any challenge several times as long as each submission is with a new creation.
•We would love you to use AnnaBelle Stamps and embellishments, but you can play along without using them, it’s all about sharing ideas.

Say It With...Sentiments

2011-11-03T21:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to a new challenge at AnnaBelle Stamps. It's all about the sentiments.

Still on a Christmas roll I used stamps from the Holly Branch and Ornamental Christmas stamp sets.

I really like the larger sentiments in the Holly Branch set so I used the Merry Christmas sentiment across the card front.

I went with the untraditional holiday colours of turquoise and red. I love these two happy colours together! I made a little window on the card front and have the ornament peeking through from the inside.

It's hard to tell from the photo but the ornament is covered in Glossy Accents for some added shine and I used a bunch of striped hemp twine to add to the Christmasy cheer.

Make sure to stop by the AnnaBelle Stamps blog to see all the lovely creations by the design team.

About our challenges:

•We post our challenges every Friday at 12:00pm AEST (AEDT during Daylight Savings).
•Each challenge runs for a week, and will close on the Thursday 5.00pm so that we can announce and showcase our weekly winners prior to the next challenge.
•Each weeks winner will receive our special blinkie to display on their blog and a special little something. Our last challenge for the month will be a sketch challenge which will attract our main prize of a $15.00 gift voucher for that weeks winner.

How To Play Along :
•Copy and save our challenge banner and include it and a link back to the AnnaBelle Stamps blog blog in your post.
•Please link directly to your entry not just to your blog.
•Please don’t link to postings made prior to the date of our current challenge. All projects submitted must be new.
•A maximum of 7 challenges may be combined including this one.
•You may enter any challenge several times as long as each submission is with a new creation.
•We would love you to use AnnaBelle Stamps and embellishments, but you can play along without using them, it’s all about sharing ideas.

Fun News & AnnaBelle Stamps Blog Hop

2011-10-31T21:00:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I have some fun news to share! I've been asked to be a guest designer this month over at AnnaBelle Stamps. This is an Australian Company starring the wonderful Andrea and sells photopolymer stamps. Check out all their goodies here.

We're starting off today with a blog hop using the Ornamental Christmas stamp set.

There are lots of great stamping possibilites with this set.

I stamped this long and narrow card (8.25" x 3.5") with a row of the small ornaments across the front and added a few gems. I broke out my glitter (love it but oh, so messy) to add a bit of holiday sparkle.
Next stop on the hop is Andrea's blog.

To keep our hop as fun and simple as possible, click through each of the DT blogs to see what they’ve created using this set. You can comment if you like, and leave your name using the Inlinkz on any of the DT blogs, or on the AnnaBelle Stamps blog.

You don’t have to comment on all of our blogs, just remember to add your name for your chance to win the Blog Hop prize which is the Ornamental Christmas stamp set. The hop will run for 1 week and the winner will be announced next Tuesday!

Wishing you an inky day!

Ellen Hutson WCMD

2011-10-03T21:13:00.000-04:00

I made another card for the Classrooms WCMD Challenge. This challenge was to create a Holiday/Christmas card.

The holiday cardmaking bug hasn't hit me yet so I kept this card pretty simple. I white embossed the Penny Black Crystal Wreath and added some gemstones. The Hero Arts snowflakes on the background were stamped with Brilliance Ink in Platinum Planet. I really like this ink because it's very soft but has a touch of shimmer and who doesn't like a little bit of sparkle during the holidays! Oh, and I used Papertrey Inks Linen and Canvas Impression Plates on the card base for some texture.

Thanks for stopping by!

WCMD at the CLASSroom with Ellen Hutson

2011-10-03T10:54:00.000-04:00

There are several challenges over at the CLASSroom to celebrate World Card Making Day. I know WCMD is technically over but the folks at Ellen Hutson were kind enough to have a deadline date of Friday Oct. 7th for projects incase we couldn't do all of our crafting on WCMD. Yeah!!!!

My card is for the colour challenge.

Pretty colours, right?

The focal image, from Judikins, was stamped with Versamark and coloured with PanPastels. The Designer Woodgrain background is from Hero Arts and the yellow strip was embossed with Square Lattice Embossing Folder from Stampin Up.

Thanks for stopping by!

World Cardmaking Day!

2011-10-01T15:35:00.000-04:00

It's World Cardmaking Day today with lots of great activities around the world and around the web.

I had a chance to get a little inky this morning and made two cards.

I played around with Stampin Ups Inspired by Nature set which was stamped onto a background using some Distress Inks and Hero Arts Large Fabric Design and Friend Definition stamps.

For my second card I played around with distressing and collage-type stamping. I think I went a little overboard with the distressing...

I distressed with Tim Holtz inks, a distress tool and added a few sprinkles of water drops.

The postcard image is a digi from River City Rubber Works and is called Antique Leaf Postcard. The rest of the images, the Hydrangea, Butterfly and Sentiment are all from Hero Arts.

I hope you get a little inky celebrating World Card Making Day!

CAS-ual Fridays

2011-09-21T16:52:00.000-04:00

I made a quick card for CAS-ual Fridays mini card challenge. I forgot how fun it is to make smaller cards! The size limit was 4x4, my card is 3.75 x 2.5.

I colored directly on the rubber of Hero Arts Exotic Bloom stamp (with Marvy markers), sprayed it with some water and stamped it on the paper. I added some paper piercing, sentiment and gems.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lily Pad Cards

2011-09-20T19:14:00.002-04:00

I made a card for this weeks challenge at Lily Pad Cards. It's a sketch challenge presented by my all time fave company Hero Arts.

I'm in the fall mood now so I made another card using all Hero Arts stamps.

I flipped the design and embossed the three strips of paper with the Designer Woodgrain stamp and used Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder.

The maple leaf is from the Real Leaves Poetic Prints set. I used Distress Inks directly on the stamp, stamped it on paper and then applied Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint on top. I couldn't get a decent pic showing the crackle, it just kind of looks blurry in the photo. I added the sentiment from To/From Petals set and also pierced some holes on the side of the card.

Thanks for stopping by and have an inky day!

Falling Leaves

2011-09-15T21:04:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad I had a chance to play in the Hero Arts monthly challenge because one of the themes is Autumn and I love creating cards with leaves.

One of the first Hero Arts stamp sets I bought was Real Leaves Poetic Prints because the leaves are so realistic (especially the Maple Leaf) and they recently brought this stamp set back. But of course you can only stamp the image in one size, right. Well Hero Arts has the Maple Leaf in a digi kit called Foliage here and that's what I used to make this card.

I resized the leaves, cut them out and coloured them with Distress Inks. I wanted them to have a swirling/floating to the ground feeling so I used the Magical Background stamp on the card base.

Wishing you an inky day!

Annabelle Part Three

2011-09-12T16:28:00.004-04:00

This is my second post today. For Annabelle Stamps part one and two see below.

The third challenge at Annabelle Stamps is to make a card containing 2 of something that begins with the letter "B" eg. bows, brads, buttons, in honour of Annabelle Stamps 2nd Birthday! My two things that start with "B" are blooms and buttons.

For the blue background I applied some Distress Inks to one of my acrylic blocks, misted it with water and stamped it onto watercolour paper. I stamped a row of hearts in green to be my "grass" and added a couple of flowers. I distressed the edges and mounted the piece onto an embossed card base. All the stamps I used are from the All Squared set.

This was a fun three part challenge! Thanks for stopping by!

Annabelle Stamps Birthday Celebration

2011-09-12T10:19:00.001-04:00

Annabelle Stamps is celebrating its second birthday with three fun challenges and some great prizes. You can check out all the info here.

The first challenge has three parts. Use a new stamp, use die cuts or punched shapes and use bling.

I used Annabelles All Squared stamp set, which is brand new (for me) and I used a circle punch for my hearts and a little bit of bling.

I stamped the hearts with dye ink and covered them with glossy accents for some nice shine and added ribbon in co-ordinating colours.

The second challenge is to make a card using blooms or flowers and once again I used the All Squared stamp set.

The flowers are stamped in black on watercolour paper that I coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I used a second generation stamping slightly offset of the first stamped image to give the flowers some depth and movement and the background stamp is from Hero Arts and can be found here.

Well I'm off to find out what the third challenge is. Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says...

2011-09-02T18:07:00.001-04:00

...there's a lot of celebrating going on this month!

Simon Says is having all sorts of fun to celebrate STAMP-tember with blog hops and prizes! Check it out here.

For this challenge "Anything Goes" so I pulled out some trusty Hero Arts stamps for my card.

I white embossed the Delicate Leaf Cluster image onto Sticky Back Canvas and used different Distress Inks to colour the canvas. For the background I used the Designer Woodgrain stamp, added a banner sentiment and some brads.

Also, Annabelle Stamps is having it's second birthday with lots of challenges and prizes.

You could win some stamps if you drop by the blog and grab a blinkie!

Wishing everyone an inky day!

Case Study Challenge

2011-08-01T12:22:00.002-04:00

This is my first time playing with the Case Study Challenge Blog. This weeks card is a beauty by Dawn Woleslagle.

This is such a fabulous design and it inspired me to make two cards.

The other day I was playing around with some watercolours, Twinkling H2Os and Distress Inks and made some backgrounds and thought they would be perfect for this challenge.

I used Purple Onions Blossoms stamp as the focal image in black along with a sentiment from Hero Arts Thinking of You Sentiments set. The punched border is from Fiskars and I mounted it all on a card base embossed with Papertrey Inks Woodgrain Impression Plate.

The background for this card was done on textured paper and it's alot more shimmery than the first card so the Blossom image stamped out quite a bit lighter.

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you an inky day!

Colouring with White Ink

2011-07-28T09:40:00.000-04:00

I decided to play along with Papertrey Inks challenge this week which is to colour with white ink. Here is my project.

I stamped the Background Basics Text Style onto kraft cardstock with Versamark. Ontop of that I inked a butterfly from the Butterfly Kisses set with Versamagic Chalk Ink and coloured over that with PTI Fresh Snow Ink. I really like the dreamy softness that the white ink gives to the butterfly. I coloured the flower centres with a Stardust Pen, drew in some antenna and added some pearls.

For the bottom part I stamped an image from the Background Basics Retro set with Versamark and added a sentiment from the In Bloom set.

Wishing you an inky day!

Just A Splash...

2011-07-26T17:09:00.000-04:00

...of colour that is. That's what the challenge is over at The Play Date Cafe this week. Make a black and white card with a splash of colour.

For my card I went with a splash of yellow to pop against the black and white.

I inked Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design with Versamark, stamped it on white paper and coloured over that with black Pan Pastels. These are artist quality chalk/pastels that are very pigmented. To see more posts about this product click here. This was mounted onto white cardstock run through the Cuttlebug with Kassie's Brocade embossing folder.

I punched out a Martha Stewart butterfly and covered it with glitter and added my ribbon and Hero Arts sentiment from Classic Messages.

Wishing you an inky day!

Card Camp Finale

2011-07-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

Here's my last project for Card Camp using this weeks colours.

I love how these colours look together.

The flower and sentiment are from Hero Arts To/From Petals stamp set. The flower was inked with a Kaleidacolor pad in Caribbean Sea and the background was done with Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamp in Memento Summer Sky.

It's been a fun four weeks of Card Camp!

Card Camp Week 4

2011-07-21T16:42:00.001-04:00

It's the last week of card camp and with it a new colour combo.

Love these colours together. I used them along with one of Kristina's card sketches as inspiration for my card.

For this card I used one of Papertrey Inks Impression Plates for the background and a Beautiful Blooms die for the flowers. I also ran the flowers through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder.

The light blue panel was stamped with Hero Arts Flourish Background withVersamark and the sentiment is from the To/From Petals set also from Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Camp Week 3

2011-07-12T13:32:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's already week 3 of Card Camp. Time sure flies! Here are this weeks colours.

This was another challenge for me as I don't really use colours in the brown family very often. Thank goodness I got to use some red!

There's not much stamping going on here, just for the sentiment. Instead I decided to play with Papertrey Inks Beautiful Blooms II #3 dies and layer them using this weeks colours. I really like how the flowers pop on the red background!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Camp - Week Two

2011-07-07T19:29:00.000-04:00

Well it's Week Two of Card Camp and here are the colours we have to play with.

Very fun colours but I had a hard time incorporating all of them into my project. I think I was a little over ambitious mixing all these colours and patterns. I find this card a little "busy".

I made a rainbow of scallop borders that I stamped with Hero Arts Envelope Pattern, to add a bit of texture. I used Versamark on the kraft c/s with Hero Arts Antique Flower Background and Distress Inks on the flower and leaf from the Dots n Flowers set, also from Hero Arts. I added some lace (first time using some on a project) and a wavy banner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Camp Part Two

2011-06-30T15:55:00.001-04:00

I really enjoyed playing with the colour combo from Summer Card Camp, such vivid and happy colours.

And here's my second card.

I just love these dotty butterflies from Memory Box. I clear embossed them for some shine and mounted onto a card base stamped with Hero Arts Woodgrain stamp. The greeting is a stamp from the Stampin Up set called So Happy For You.

Wishing all Canadians a happy Canada Day tomorrow!

Summer Card Camp

2011-06-28T14:48:00.001-04:00

I'm enrolled in "Summer Camp" with Jennifer McGuire & Kristina Werner. This is not your average summer camp. It involves papercrafting, getting inky and learning some fun techniques.

Here is this weeks colour combo.

Not colours I would think of putting together but that's what this is all about. Trying new things, and I really had a fun time with these vibrant colours!

I used some pigment ink and a stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamp Company to create my card. I added some paper piercing and used Kassie's Brocade embossing folder on my cardbase.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Card for Dad

2011-06-16T15:49:00.000-04:00

Here's the card I made for my dad for Father's Day. Simple and clean. Nothing fussy for my dad.

For my card base I used Cornish Heritage Farms Weathered Wood Background stamp. Love the crackly goodness of this stamp. I used Twinkling H2O's on watercolour paper for the background for Memory Box's Cattail Birds stamp and I used Fun Flock to make the cattails fuzzy. It adds such fun texture on a card!

Wishing you an inky day!

Least Favourite Colour

2011-05-29T14:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday there was a Scramble Challenge over here at the Hero Arts Flickr site and we had to make a card with our least favourite colour. 90 minutes to make and upload a card seems like a lot of time, it really isn't, but it's a fun way to get the creative juices flowing.

I had a hard time picking a least favourite colour but came up with yellow. It seems to be one of the colours I don't use very often.

I stamped the Definition image onto some yellow vellum and white embossed the flower twice ontop so I could layer my flower. I used one of my favourite Hero Arts stamps, Antique Flower Background with yellow ink and added my sentiment and some pearls.

I really like how this turned out, simple with a touch of elegance. I think I'll be using yellow a little more often.

If you're interested in playing in the next Scramble, it's on Saturday June 11th 2pm EST, 11am PST. I will be hosting this challenge and offering a small prize. The only requirement is that you use at least one Hero Arts stamp or digital image on your project. You can find out more info here.

Hope to see you there!

Balsa Wood Card

2011-04-27T11:44:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. Todays card is for the Hero Arts monthly challenge here which is to make a masculine card as well as follow a sketch.

For my card I decided to make it out of balsa wood, what could be more manly than a wood card, right? This wood comes in different thicknesses and can be found at arts & craft stores.

I ran the wood through my Cuttlebug using Nestabilities Labels Eight die and stamped the plaid background with Distress Ink. I inked up the fern stamp with various colours of Distress Inks and stamped over the plaid. I really like how the wood grain doesn't allow for a perfect stamped image, I think it gives the card a more rustic feel.

The brown paper on the bottom of the card is actually sandpaper that has different speckles of browns and blacks in it. It's hard to see the great texture it adds to the card. I added a sentiment and button and did some more distressing around the edges of the card.

Wishing you an inky day!

Masculine Birthday

2011-04-21T20:01:00.000-04:00

Hero Arts has a great monthly challenge going on here. I chose to make a masculine card for the challenge, although this card is really gender neutral. Good for a male or female recipient.

This card is a mix of digital images and traditional stamping. I used the sentiment from the digi kit Birthday Wishes here to make my background paper. I also enlarged one of the candles from the kit, paper pieced it and covered it with glossy accents and added yellow Stickles for the flame. The card base was stamped with the Envelope Pattern here. It is such a fantastic stamp to use for some added texture and visual interest.

Thanks for stopping by and wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Vinnie Pearce

2011-04-13T19:27:00.000-04:00

Here's another card using Vinnie Pearce's Organic Baby digi kit available at Two Peas here.

There's a lot of muted colours to the elements in this kit so I kept my card nice and soft and used one of the gorgeous Art Papers for this Mother's Day card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles April Challenge

2011-04-07T08:10:00.002-04:00

It's the 7th of the month which means a new challenge starts over here at Tiffany Doodles. This month there's a colour challenge with such a pretty group of colours!

Here's my card to inspire you to play along and win some fabulous digi images.

Since spring is just around the corner and the trees will be blossoming soon I just had to make a flower tree with these soft and calming colours. I used the Line Trees image here to make my card and combined it with some traditional stamping.

Stop by the Tiffany Doodles blog here to see all the design teams cards and be enticed to play along.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow Wednesday but it's Monday!

2011-03-28T06:10:00.001-04:00

I know it's been a long time since I did a Wow Wednesday and ontop of that it's a Monday! I didn't want to wait until Wednesday to post this because I was hoping some of these projects would inspire you to get crafty this week. Enjoy.

Great silhouette image against a pretty painted sky by Trinh here.

Laurie's heart card here is so delightful!

Jennifer always amazes me with her simple designs and use of embroidery floss. You'll be awed by the beauties here and here.

Love Andrea's cards here and here. Clean and simple never looked better.

I like Cristina's clever way of framing an image here.

Debby's happy trees here make me smile.

Who knew paint chips could make such fabulous art here.

Wishing you an inky week!

Blossoming Tree

2011-03-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

Todays card is for the monthly challenge over at Hero Arts. For the background I used Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord. I then inked up Hero Arts Large Fabric Design with white pigment ink and inked up HA Friendship Definition in Broken China and kissed the two together then stamped the Definition image onto my background. It's a very fun technique! Check out a video by Kandis Smith here to see how it's done.

I then printed Hero Arts Scroll Tree digital image found here onto my background. I added some punched vellum flowers and Stardust coloured flowers to the tree with a Cuttlebug embossed grassy hill. I also used a Pergamano piercing tool to go around the edges of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hero Arts Monthly Challenge

2011-03-11T12:08:00.004-05:00

I made a couple of cards for the Hero Arts Monthly challenge here. This month the themes are Birthdays and Stamped Envelopes and the technique is Layered Backgrounds.

Shari Carroll has a layered stamped background technique video here that looked like a lot of fun so I pulled out some inks and stamps and came up with these cards.

There's lots going on with the focal panel. There's some embossing, stamping, swirly ink application and watercolour stamping. I really like how this turned out with the blues and red/orange shades.

This card also has the same techniques going on except with a different stamp.

I loved playing with this technique and getting all inky! Hope you give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vellum & Alcohol Inks Video

2011-03-07T15:51:00.002-05:00

This is my second post of the day. Please scroll down for the Tiffany Doodles post.

I put together a video about vellum and using Alcohol Inks with vellum. I'm still learning and trying to figure all this video stuff out so please bear with me... :)

Here's a couple of cards using the technique in the video.

I've had a couple of questions about how to adhere the vellum to carstock. For overlay cards where there's a piece of vellum the same size as the card base I don't use any adhesive because I use a piece of ribbon and that keeps the vellum in place. For other cards I try to hide the adhesive behind gems, flowers or cardstock. When I can't do that I use Scotch Vellum Tape. It's available at office supply and craft stores.

I hope this inspires you to take out your Alcohol Inks and play with them or if you're new to this maybe you'll buy a few bottles and get all inky.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles March Challenge & Winner

2011-03-07T08:11:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Tiffany Doodles March Challenge which runs for two weeks from March 7th to the 21st. This challenge is a photo inspiration and here's the pic.

And here's the card I was inspired to make.

My jumping off point was to use pink and the Dogwood Digital stamp found here. I coloured the image with Prismacolours and combined it with traditional stamping, some border punching and ribbon.

There are so many wonderful images at the Tiffany Doodles Store here to help you create that perfect card to submit for the March Challenge, and as always there are great prizes to win.

Tiffany also has specials on for the month of March so stop by the store and look around at all the new and wonderful images available.

My final bit of news is to announce the winner of the Tiffany Doodles Blog Hop digi image. Congratulations Lillian Child. Please contact me so I can send you the prize!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles Blog Hop

2011-03-04T08:00:00.017-05:00

Hi everyone and welcome to Tiffany Doodles Spring Blog Hop. This will be a three day event so you have lots of time to visit all the Design Teams blogs.

For a chance to win some digi prizes become a follower of each blog and leave a comment. Every blog will have a winner of one digi image. There will also be one Grand Prize winner of a Ten Dollar Gift Certificate good at the Tiffany Doodles online store.

Here is the image I am giving away to one lucky person.

And here is my card.

I added some punched and layered flowers from background paper that I had coloured with watercolours. I just love these happy colours, perfect to welcome spring!

Just a reminder on March 7th there will be a new two week challenge posted here at Tiffany Doodles. Stop by to submit one of your creations.

To be inspired, visit all the blogs below and leave some lovely comments for you chance to win!

Tiffany Doodles
Tiffany Richards
Cammy Wall
Collette Landwer
Donna Mikasa
Jill Foster
Jodi Ann Lee
Joy Taylor
Karen Baker
Kim Schofield
Lindsay Amrhein
Lisa Summerhays
Pattie Goldman
Shannon Neparko
Simone Naoum
Sue McRae - you are here
Willemien Katerberg

Thanks for stopping by!

First Video

2011-02-24T14:18:00.010-05:00

Well I have plunged into the world of making crafting videos. Eeek! My first one is more of a demo showing Pan Pastels which I had used on this set of cards I made for the Hero Arts Blog Hop in January.

I had some questions about the product I used to get these vivid colours so here's my video to show you.

Here's the card using the Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design.

For the next two cards I used the chalks to colour the Hero Arts Engraved Flower.

The background for both cards was done by a fun "kissing" technique showcased at Hero Arts here.

For more info, the Pan Pastel website is here. There are links there to find retailers around the world.

In the US, Dick Blick carries them here.

In Canada, you can find it at Curry's here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles Bird Releases

2011-02-18T08:00:00.002-05:00

Here is the last reveal from Tiffany Doodles, the Tufted Titmouse. Isn't he a cutie.

This image along with all the other bird images revealed this week are now for sale in the Tiffany Doodles store here.

There's also a special on if you buy all 5 bird sets.

And don't forget you have until February 21st to enter the Valentine's challenge here and win some great prizes!

Wishing you all an inky day!

Tiffany Doodles Sneak Peeks

2011-02-17T10:55:00.004-05:00

Tiffany Doodles is having bird sneak peeks all week. Five different digi birds that will be available on Friday the 18th at Tiffany's digi store here.

Won't these images be perfect for spring cards! Drop by tomorrow when I'll reveal my card with the fifth bird!

Thanks for stopping by!

Winner!

2011-02-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day. Thanks to all of you who stopped by for a chance to win some crafting goodies.

The winner of the blog candy is....

jintyoo7

Please email with your address so I can send out your prize!

Vinnie Pearce Teal Ambition

2011-02-08T11:11:00.005-05:00

There's another digi kit release today from Vinnie Pearce here at Two Peas. It's called Teal Ambition and it is just gorgeous. The colours in this kit are beautiful and I especially love the Art Papers.

Here's a little peak.

I made a card using several elements from the kit and decided I just wanted the bold contrast of the brown and teal to shine on its own, without a sentiment. So the sentiment is on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles February Challenge

2011-02-07T01:00:00.006-05:00

It's time for another new challenge at Tiffany Doodles. This months challenge is in honour of Valentine's Day and there's a lot of great images in the store here to help you get started.

I combined two digital images for my card. I used the Ladybug Grass image and the banner from the Valentine set Be Mine. For the background I used a rubber stamp, Envelope Pattern from Hero Arts, inked with Distress Ink. Don't be afraid to mix digi images with rubber stamps, they work really well together!

Just to let everyone know there are a few changes to the Challenges, they will be two weeks long instead of one month. Stop by the blog here to check it out!

Have a wonderful inky day!

Blog Candy

2011-02-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

Here's a few goodies I have lined up for a little giveaway.

A few stamps, stickers, rub-ons and some ribbon. And who knows, maybe a couple more things will find their way onto the pile.

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me if you celebrate Valentine's Day. Is it just another regular day on the calendar, do you do something special as a family or do you leave the kids at home and make the most out of it with your significant other?

I'll leave the comments open until 11:59 pm EST on February 13th and announce the winner on Valentine's Day.

Good luck!

Vinnie Pearce Dash & Dot Collection

2011-02-01T11:11:00.000-05:00

Great news everyone! After a short hiatus, Vinnie Pearce is back creating gorgeous digi kits here at Two Peas. This new kit is called Dash & Dot and has so many wonderful elements in it.

I came across a tutorial here on how to make an explosion box and thought it would be the perfect project to make with some of Vinnie's pretty patterned papers.

I used 3 different papers for the box,

printed two sizes of the yellow flower and covered them with Glossy Accents

and hid a surprise gift inside! The box could be filled with candy or a love note, perfect for Valentine's Day!

Don't forget to check out Dash & Dot here and I'll be back next Tuesday with another new kit from Vinnie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles Sneak Peek

2011-01-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the last Sneak Peek for some new images that will be available at Tiffany Doodles this Friday, the 28th.

Here's my card using the pretty Nicotiana image.

I coloured the flower with chalks and added a little sparkle in the center with some Stickles.

Here's an added bonus. If you stop by the store this weekend and buy all three Sneak Peeks you'll get 10% off!

Have a wonderful inky day!

Tiffany Doodles Sneak Peeks

2011-01-25T13:07:00.001-05:00

Here's a couple of Sneak Peeks from Tiffany Doodles. Gorgeous flowers with lots of colouring possibilities.

There will be one more Sneak Peek tomorrow and all of the images will be available on Friday, January 28th.

Wow Wednesday

2011-01-19T15:16:00.000-05:00

Here's this weeks group of wonderful eye candy! Enjoy!

How pretty is this pink card here by Susanne!

I love Karen's cards. On the one here she stamped onto ribbon and it looks amazing. The grey card here is perfect with the pops of white and pink.

Laurie followed a sketch and came up with two very similar designs here. Which one is your fave?

The vellum flower here by Jennifer is so delicate in all its wonderful layers.

Two beautiful cards here by Windy using paper roses.

Emily made two Valentine's Day cards here. Love the clean designs of these!

I hope these help you get your creative juices flowing!

Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop

2011-01-12T08:00:00.176-05:00

Welcome to the last stop on day three of the Hero Hostess 2011 Blog Hop! There's still two more days of fabulous projects coming your way using 2011 Hero Arts Stamps.

You should have arrived here from Arlene McClung's Blog. If not, you can start at the beginning of the hop at The Hero Arts Blog where you'll find a list of participants. If you find a broken link, you can always go back to the Hero Arts blog for the master list of blog links HERE. Also, please email tami@heroarts.com and provide the blog address that has the bad link so we can fix it. Thanks!

My first card uses an image from the Delicate Leaf Clusters set. I love all things leafy so I was excited to play with these stamps.

I stamped the Designer Woodgrain with green chalk ink on some light green cardstock and stamped the leaf image ontop with Versamark and clear embossed it. I coloured over this with Pine Needles Distress Ink, sprayed it with Perfect Pearls, ran it through the Cuttlebug and pierced holes around the edge. I adhered this to some distressed text paper and added my embellishments.

For my next project I made a set of cards using the Large Fabric Design stamp.

I love how this stamp can make a quick and elegant card, good for any occasion.

For the backgrounds I stamped the image with Versamark on white cardstock and coloured over it with Pan Pastels, a chalk-like pastel in a pan. This technique gives a beautiful two-tone look.

The dragonflies are from the Hero Arts Digi Kit Winged Friends. I printed them out onto transparency sheets and added glitter glue to them for some subtle sparkle.

My last card is using an image from the Dots and Flowers set. How fun are all these dots!

I coloured some glossy cardstock with Alcohol Inks and embossed the image in white ontop. I ran some white cardstock through the Cuttlebug for the card shape and embossing and finished with my sentiment and embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed all the gorgeous projects made by my fellow Hostesses and that it inspires you to get inky with some new Hero Arts stamps.

Don't forget to leave a comment at each blog for a chance to win some fun prizes and come back tomorrow HERE to view some more crafty goodness, starting with the amazing Linda aka Oz.

Happy stamping!

Tiffany Doodles Sketch Challenge

2011-01-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Tiffany Doodles challenge and this months challenge is a sketch.

Here's my take on it.

I used the Flower Vine and Stripes papers from the new Strawberry Hearts digi paper pack. I love the colour combos in this set! The flowers I used are called Daisy Bloom and I added colour to each with Distress Inks and used clear micro beads for the flower centres.

Make sure to stop by Tiffany's new storefront here. Shopping has never been easier. Also you have until the end of the month to submit your project for the Sketch Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hero Arts Challenge

2011-01-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

This is the second post today, please scroll down for Wow Wednesday links.

There's a new challenge up at Hero Arts with the theme being Inspired by the 2011 Catalog and card insides and the featured technique is masking.

For my first submission I cracked open my new stamp set Delicate Leaf Clusters and inked away. I just love the leafy goodness of this set!

I used some Distress Inks to colour my paper and stamped the Leaf Cluster in white pigment ink and then stamped ontop and slightly off-set with copper pigment ink.

I also inked up the inside a bit

I masked off the inside, leaving an edge open where I double stamped the Plaid Pattern from the card front and added another image from the Leaf Cluster set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow Wednesday

2011-01-05T07:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the first Wow Wednesday of 2011! Enjoy the eye candy.

The quilling on the card here is amazing and I love the quilled piece of art here.

Cristina has been busy making amazing cards. The stripey card here is so fun. The New Year's card here is simple and elegant and the card here is delightfully charming!

Such an elegant card here by Kimberly.

Love the pink dots on the card here.

Fabulous design and colours here by Aga.

Wishing you a week of inky inspiration!

New Releases and Great New Sales from Tiffany Doodles!

2011-01-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

Spring has sprung and Tiffany Doodles has all kinds of exciting ways to celebrate, including a stunning new release in the Granny’s Yard series, the latest release is Cherry Blossoms, available from Friday 1 April. There’s a special offer until 7 April: buy the cherry blossom set plus 2 more flower sets, get 10% off your order.

There’s a further Spring sale in store for the weekend! Buy 3 or more & get 15% off your order! Click on the picture to see all the babies in the Spring Babies Sale!

And there’s more…. we’re having an Easter Egg hunt this weekend in the store, starting Friday – Monday. Find the eggs and you could be the grand prize winner of a Level 3 Membership, a $30 value, to Tiffany Doodles for 1 year that includes 6 freebies, an avg $18 value, PLUS 20 Doodle Soup Rewards points, a $2.50 value. Click here to view the Contest Rules and start playing:

And finally, throughout April, we have a Spring Birds and Flowers April Sale for you!! As well as a Buy 10 Get 20% off sale too!!

See you at Tiffany’s!

Favourites of the Year - Round 3

2010-12-31T01:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome back to round 3 of my favourite cards from this year.

I want to thank all these magnificent crafters for bringing beauty, happiness and inspiration into our worlds with their small pieces of art. Thank you ladies!

Wow, amazing distressing by Natasha

Love these shiny leaves, also by Natasha

Such a pretty softness to this card by Nicky

Fabulous design by Pia

Another gorgeous card by Pia

Love the contrast of colours on this card by popsicletoes

A true beauty by Suzz

Tami's winter scene is wonderful

Gorgeous card by Tomo

Trinh's leaf card is just wonderful

Fantastic use of leaf stamps by Vanessa

Love the fresh and happy feel of this card by Virginia

I hope you enjoyed visiting my favourites of the year and I hope they will inspire you to create beautiful crafty projects!

Happy New Year everyone!

Favourites of the Year - Round 2

2010-12-30T01:00:00.002-05:00

Welcome back to round 2 of my favourite cards from this year.

I want to thank all these magnificent crafters for bringing beauty, happiness and inspiration into our worlds with their small pieces of art. Thank you ladies!

Love the subtle shimmer of this leaf card by Joy

Simple and beautiful by Karen

Love this colourful tree by Kathy

Pure elegance by Kryssi

Lin's winter scene is perfect

Sophisticated elegance by Lucy

Love this flock of butterflies by Mabel

Gorgeous vellum flower by Marisol

Also by Marisol, the same flower but stamped on wood paper

Fabulous design by Mariana

Fantastic colours on this beauty by Mariette

Michelle creates amazing things with the help of a brayer

Please stop by for our final round tomorrow!

Favourites of the Year - Round 1

2010-12-29T01:00:00.004-05:00

Last year I decided to pick my ten favourite cards from the previous year and of course I wanted to do that again this year. The problem. Ten is too few! There were so many projects that made my heart sing and made me smile that I decided to not worry about the number count and just show you my top picks.

I want to thank all these magnificent crafters for bringing beauty, happiness and inspiration into our worlds with their small pieces of art. Thank you ladies!

Gorgeous dragonflies by Aga

A simple beauty by Alice

Love this peacock by Alice

Barb's layered ferns and bold red flowers are beautiful

Perfect distressing by Carole

Love the ferns on this, also by Carole

Heather's multitude of colourful butterflies and wavy sewing are perfection

Fabulous design by Isha

The background colours by Jennifer are magnificent against the black images

Jenny's mass of butterflies are amazing

Jill's red background looks fabulous against the ferns

Another red beauty by Jill

The background is so soft and pretty on this card by Joy

Please stop by tomorrow to see round two!

Embossed Snowflake

2010-12-22T11:14:00.006-05:00

This is my second post for today. Keep scrolling down to see my Wednesday Wonders.

I didn't have a chance to use this beautiful snowflake from BoBunny yet so I wanted to make a quick card and show it off. I love how the snowflake looks embossed in Turquoise Tapestry embossing powder, so pretty. The background is Hero Arts Woodgrain stamp and I used Kassie's Brocade from Cuttlebug to emboss the red cardstock.

I probably won't be posting again before Christmas so I would like to wish everyone all the best during the holidays. Merry Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow Wednesday!

2010-12-22T10:57:00.004-05:00

So sorry I haven't been posting lately but the holiday season is so busy! I have a short list of a few fabulous cards I've spotted lately.

Gorgeous background on this card here by Agata.

Such a simple and charming card here and the pom pom ribbon is a perfect touch.

Fantastic design by Jennifer here.

Cristina made a gorgeous glittery card here and love the little pops of red.

Beautiful card here using Glimmer Mist.

The card here just makes me happy. Love the sunny colours and wonderful texture.

Simple and beautiful design here.

I hope these beauties give you some inspiration!

Another Tiffany Doodles Winner!

2010-12-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

I have drawn another name for the digi image Birdies Housework because judkajudi already has this image. Thanks Judy for letting me know. The new winner is.....

Josephine Cox

Congratulations Josephine!
Please email me so I can send the digi to you.

Tiffany Doodles Digi Winner

2010-12-11T08:03:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment, it was very much appreciated. The winner of the Birdies Housework image is.........

judkajudi

Congratulations Judy!
Please contact me with an email address so I can send out the digi to you!

Hero Arts Blog Hop

2010-12-08T20:23:00.001-05:00

Mark your calendars for Friday, December 10th for a fantastic Blog Hop showcasing NEW stamps from the Hero Arts 2011 catalog. You don't want to miss it! For more info click here.

Wow Wednesday!

2010-12-08T07:29:00.017-05:00

If you are here for the Tiffany Doodles Blog Hop and Christmas Challenge click here.

There are so many beautiful projects out there that I had a hard time narrowing it down but I think you'll agree these are all magnificent!

Michelle never ceases to amaze me and what she can do with an ink pad! Check out this gorgeous scene here.

Simple stamping plus paper piercing equals gorgeous luminaries here.

Wow, Jennifer's background here is amazing!

The gift card holders here by Julee are so festive and the unconventional holiday colours here are so elegant.

Clean and simple design here by Karen.

Simple elegance in red, black and white here.

Jean's design here is so elegant and love the colour palette.

Maureen's card here is a beauty in black and white.

The card here is a simple delight.

Beautiful Christmas card by Amy here.

There's something so charming about the cards here. They make me smile.

Have a great inky day and thanks for stopping by!

Tiffany Doodles Christmas Challenge and Blog Hop

2010-12-07T08:11:00.099-05:00

Here is my first project as Design Team member for Tiffany Doodles. The December challenge is Christmas and runs from Dec. 7-31 with a new challenge starting every month on the 7th!

I had a crazy Dr. Suess kind-of-moment when I combined the two images for this card, Christmas Sleigh and Presents. I used Distress Inks on the gifts and Prismacolors and glitter pens on the sleigh. I put lots of Glossy Accents on the sleigh runner to make it nice and shiny and used Mica Flakes for the snow.

If you're here from the Blog Hop, yippee you're almost at the end of the journey. Only two more blogs left! If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's a Blog Hop that started at Tiffany Doodles. Go check it out!

To win prizes, become a follower of every blog on the list and leave a comment at each blog. The more comments, the more prizes you could win! There will be 3 Grand Prizes of 3 digi images for each winner and every blog will also have a random winner. Check back on Friday at the Tiffany Doodles blog and here to see if you're a lucky winner.

The random winner from my blog will win the Birdies Housework image which I used on this "We've Moved" card.

Now before you head on over to the next blog I just want to remind you of the digi special going on right now, buy 3 get 1 free. Who doesn't love a special! Also, Tiffany is madly working away at a new and improved blog to make your shopping experience so much easier. Keep your eyes peeled for all the great changes! And if you know of anyone who would love to have Tiffany Doodles sponsor a challenge, just click here to find out all the info.

Your next stop on the hop is Willemien's blog. Go check out what wonderful things she's created with her digi images!

Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News!

2010-12-03T08:05:00.013-05:00

I have some fun news to share with you! I've been asked to join the Tiffany Doodles Design Team! If you aren't familiar with this company, Tiffany Doodles offers wonderful digi images to use in all your paper crafting projects.

There are monthly challenges at TD and a new challenge starts on December 7th and runs through until the end of the month. Drop by on Tuesday and see the amazing creations by all the Designers! Also on Tuesday, there will be a three day Blog Hop with prizes so don't forget to visit the entire teams blogs and leave lots of comments.

Would you like to meet the 10 other new Designers? Stop by the blog, you may recognize a couple of names.

Wishing you an inky day!

Wow Wednesday!

2010-12-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Another group of beautiful inspirations!

Fabulous snowflake CAS card here.

Love the wood background on this charming Christmas scene here.

Here is such a fun advent calendar.

Sharon has made some beautiful sparkling cards here and here using Penny Black stamps.

Jennifer's cards have a great clean and crisp look to them. Check out her holiday cards here, here, here and here. There's a mix of more traditional cards and one done in non-traditional black.

The card by Iwona here is gorgeous and elegant in black and burgundy.

Need some inspiration for gift wrapping? Check out these creative beauties here.

Black and yellow in simple elegance here.

Wonderful Christmas card here and this card here was made by using up the scraps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Acetate Tag

2010-11-25T16:46:00.000-05:00

A holiday tag for the Hero Arts Challenge here. The bottom layer of the tag is Distress Inks overstamped with an image sprayed with Perfect Pearls. It has a subtle shimmer to it. The snowflakes and sentiment are stamped onto acetate with the embossed trees and snow done in mica flakes attached ontop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow Wednesday!

2010-11-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

Some inspiration to get you through the week!

There's something so wonderful about the card here. Just an overall beauty to it.

Love the tree card here. Carole has such a great eye for layering and mixing elements on a card.

Karen made a bunch of cards here using just one sheet of paper and the flowers on the card here are so charming.

Lots of inky goodness by Nancy here.

Such a pretty card here with all the shades of yellow.

Fabulous design here. Jennifers use of thread and yarn always amazes me.

Gorgeous and elegant holiday card by Alice here.

Susan is an expert at CAS cards and I love her use of bold colours on the cards here.

Agata used Glossy Accents as a resist on the beauty here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Singing in the Food Court

2010-11-23T08:53:00.000-05:00

This post has nothing to do with crafting but check out the video here to see a choir surprise eaters in a mall food court. It will make you smile and feel good!

Have a great day!

Wow Wednesday!

2010-11-17T08:59:00.001-05:00

I spent Saturday in Montreal taking classes with the fabulous Jennifer McGuire. It was three classes jam-packed with techniques and lots of inky fun! Unfortunately my pics did not turn out but it was so great to meet Jennifer, she's such a sweetie!

Now here's some links to gorgeous papercrafts found around the web.

What a wonderful design on this lovely holiday card! Fantastic job Teresa!

Unconventional colours on this elegant card.

This card is simple yet striking.

How fun are the houses here and here! Both use a Sizzix die.

The colours are amazing on the card here.

Fabulous collection of Christmas cards using Penny Black stamps here.

The elegant card here makes me think of Tiffany's.

One final beauty here. The red flower is gorgeous Joy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow Wednesday!

2010-11-10T11:58:00.002-05:00

Some links to gorgeous papercrafts found around the web.

Michelle can do wonders with ink and a brayer. This card here would be perfect for the guy in your life.

I love the look of letterpress. The holiday gift tags here are simple and beautiful. There's something about letterpress that makes me want to run my hands across it.

This winter scene here is perfect. It makes me think of a cold and crisp winters day when the snow sparkles like thousands of little stars.

Such a charming and simple design on the card here.

Really cool card designs with yarn or string here and here.

Elegant bag by Mariana here.

The birdhouse here is amazing.

This is not a papercraft but the purses here are stunning. The designs and colours are sure to inspire you in your cardmaking.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer McGuire

2010-11-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Who loves all things Jennifer McGuire? I know you're out there! Come on, raise your hands! Don't be shy!

I knew there were tons of loyal followers.

I am so excited because in 4 sleeps I get to meet her! Jennifer is coming to Canada. Woo hoo! Montreal to be exact. It's about 2 hours from here but that's not very far to go to spend a full day learning magnificent things from Jennifer.

I will try to get a couple of pics of the Ink Goddess in action and share them here.

Have a great inky day!

Thinking Inking Snowflakes

2010-11-04T12:36:00.004-04:00

I finally had a chance to play using techniques from Jennifer's Thinking Inking here. It's so much fun to get all inky!

Both cards were white embossed on watercolour paper and Alcohol Inks were applied ontop. They both have a soft shimmer to them from using Pearl and Silver Mixatives.

My fave is this first one. It's so pretty in person with the shimmery background, the glittered snowflake and the sparkly Stickles. The camera really doesn't do it justice.

Wishing everyone a sparkly day!

Wow Wednesdays!

2010-11-03T16:33:00.001-04:00

There are so many talented people out there crafting away in their little corner of the world. They have amazing and beautiful creations and I thought I would share with you some of the ones that have caught my eye. I hope they give you inspiration and I know they will bring a smile to your face!

This one I just laid eyes on a few minutes ago. The exquisite elegance of this card is amazing. Lucy has such a knack making the simple look extraordinary. Take a peek here.

And now at the opposite side of elegance is this cute and charming card by Ayana. Love the happy little critters on this card here.

Love the big butterfly on this card here. It's so delicate and fits with the background wonderfully.

The card here has an image stamped on paper-thin wood. Fabulous!

Pia is a very clever stamper and the Christmas card she made here is amazing!

A real leaf was stamped and embossed on this card here. Fantastic idea!

I'm really liking the colours on this card here, here, here and here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays

2010-10-23T12:39:00.002-04:00

Another card for the Hero Arts monthly challenge here. This is a simple card without a lot of bulk, great for sending out in the mail during the holidays.

The trees were embossed using blue pigment ink and clear embossing powder. I added Stickles to the stars and I really like the texture from the Flower Soft for the snow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Ornament

2010-10-19T11:22:00.001-04:00

This card was made for the monthly challenge of Holiday Cardmaking at Hero Arts. Check it out here.

Lots of embossing on this card with the Swirly Frame and Ornament. The background is from a HA digi kit here. It has the definition of Merry, Happy and Joy on it. Perfect background for all your holiday cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Embellish Magazine

2010-09-28T10:54:00.004-04:00

I was seeing so many beautiful cards made for Embellish Magazines Color Challenge (plus background stamping) that I decided to make one for the challenge too.

This colour combo is not one that I would think to put together but I loved playing with it.

I used alcohol inks to colour some glossy cardstock and white embossed the flower on this. I clear embossed the background on the black paper and used the Cuttlebug to emboss the white card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Clean & Simple

2010-09-26T17:03:00.002-04:00

A card for the Caardvarks Clean & Simple challenge. The tree and sentiment are both embossed on vellum which is overlayed onto cardstock that is stamped with a handwriting stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Falling Leaves

2010-09-24T11:19:00.003-04:00

I love the colours of fall and have a tiny obsession with all things leafy so a leafy card for the Hero Arts Everything Autumn challenge and the Caardvarks Clean & Simple Challenge is a perfect fit.

I stamped the leaves and sentiment on cream coloured vellum and overlayed this onto cardstock stamped with a blue flourish background and added some ribbon. I wanted to keep it simple so the colourful beauty of the leaves is the focus.

Thanks for stopping by!

Apple of My Eye

2010-09-21T11:17:00.001-04:00

Today is the release of Vinnie Pearce's new digi kit, Apple of My Eye, available here. Lots of beautiful things in this kit!

This first project is for my sister. She's having some friends over for dinner as a "thank you" for helping her out and the table will be set with these place cards and little gift bags. So sweet!

For my card I thought I would try something new so I used different shades of brown with just a spot of colour from the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Everything Autumn

2010-09-13T16:02:00.002-04:00

Hero Arts theme for September is Everything Autumn: Harvest, Halloween and Thanksgiving with a technique challenge of Simple Gift Bag. Check out all the info here.

To go along with that theme I made some place cards and gift bags for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in Canada (Oct. 11th). I think these will look festive on the table.

These were made with a Hero Arts digital kit found here and with some traditional stamping. So fun to make! I think I'll put everyones favourite sweet treats into each bag!

Thanks for stopping by!

Operation Write Home

2010-09-10T07:45:00.003-04:00

This weekend Hero Arts is hosting a Birthday Bash to help celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of Operation Write Home. The goal is to make 500 cards this weekend! If you can find the time please help this wonderful organization by making a card or two.

Here are the cards I made, all using the Emboss Resist technique.

Check out the videos here and here to learn more about the techniques.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Emboss Resist

2010-09-04T14:06:00.001-04:00

I was playing around with a couple of new stamps and came up with these cards. Both use the emboss resist technique. I stamped the background with a Sheet Music stamp (Impression Obsession) and then clear embossed the flower (Outlines) ontop and covered it all with Distress Inks.

One in fiery shades

One in shades of blue

Thanks for stopping by!

Etsy Inspired

2010-08-13T13:31:00.006-04:00

The EtsyInspired blog is celebrating their 100th challenge so I thought I would make a card! The inspiration is from Cathy Walters Etsy shop. She makes beautiful pendants and this butterfly one caught my eye. Love the blues and purples!

Here is my card inspired from the pendant.

I used Alcohol Inks in blues and purples to colour some glossy paper and them embossed the butterfly in black on top and added a bit of shimmer with a Stardust Pen. The background was done in Distress Inks and all was mounted on the Big Scalloped Circle die cut. I didn't add a sentiment on the front, instead I stamped it on the inside of the card. I do this quite often to have a cleaner looking front.

Thanks for stopping by!

Journey Back

2010-08-10T11:58:00.005-04:00

I'm sharing a few cards I made using Vinnie Pearce's new digi kit here called The Journey Back Collection. There are so many lovely images in this kit so go take a peek!

I love leaf images and there are quite a few in the collection. I especially love this fern in a ghost-like white colour against the teal shade.

Who can resist butterflies? Vinnie has some beautiful ones in this kit and I used a couple of them on cards.

On this butterfly I thought that the girl image looking up at the night sky would be perfect for a Thinking of You card.

Some more leaves (I just couldn't resist)!

And my final card, soft and serene.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just because...

2010-08-05T11:17:00.001-04:00

There's a new monthly challenge over at Hero Arts called Keeping in Touch and Back to School. Go check out the details here.

I embossed the dandelion image with Zing Embossing Powder in Leaf. I love how the colour pops on the black glossy cardstock. The sentiment is also embossed and I used my new nestie shape Big Scalloped Circles for the card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

White Wedding

2010-07-15T10:50:00.003-04:00

Todays card is for the monthly challenge over at Hero Arts and for the Classy and Elegant challenge at Moxie Fab World. It incorporates bookbinding but on a card.

I just got this new butterfly stamp (so elegant) and thought it would be perfect on a wedding card. The butterfly has 3 layers, with the top one being out of vellum and it's embossed along with the flourish.

Thanks for stopping by!