Abi Ballerina

Our granddaughter's birthday is quickly approaching and I wanted to do something special for her.  We always tell her she is our favourite little girl and we can do that because she is the only girl, the rest of the grandkids are boys.  I was snooping around the internet and I don't remember how I found it but I stumbled across Wendy Burns' website, saw the fabulous drawings of hers and immediately knew the little ballerina from her Autumn Girls collection was the image I wanted to use.  I adore these drawing of hers and would love to see them in line drawing digi format so I wrote and asked if she did them that way.  She was so sweet and was kind enough to send me the line drawing and I got to work right away.  Her artwork is so cute and although her medium is textiles, I would love to see them in a format cardmakers and scrapbookers could use.  As I was looking through her blog, it didn't take long to realize that even her textile prints would make fabulous digi paper.  She did tell me that one of her sets is made into rubber and available at My Favorite Things and All That Scraps but I want more!

I wanted to keep this card fairly simple so I sized  the image large and used Copics to colour her.  For her dress, I used R85, R83, R81, R00; skin is E11, E00, E000, R22.  When finished, I added some Stardust Stickles to the dress and head band for a little more glam.  The sentiment is from Whimsy's Retro Bottle Cap Sentiments set and the scallop die is Whimsy's Fancy Circle die.  Lastly, I sprinkled some white embossing powder and pink glitter around the edges.  

Challenges:

Addicted to CAS - Birthday

QKR Stampede - Childrens cards or gift tags

Mad for Markers - For the Girls

Sentimental Sundays - Clean & Simple

Creative Creations - For a Child

Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - Pink & Girly with Sparkle

Winter Fun

Time for a new challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and this month's theme is Winter Sports so any winter sport such as hockey, skating, sledding will do... whatever you do in winter!  Among the massive amount of stamps I have, I could not find a single winter sport one but the theme seems to suit this Lili of the Valley stamp called Igloo Bears.  Making snow forts or huts is a winter sport, right?  Or at least it's good fun, especially when you can do it with bears!  I do love those precious LOTV images and just wish I had more time because they are good fun to do up

Quixotic Paperie is this month's sponsor and they are giving the challenge winner a £10 voucher to their shop.

 I used some of my thinning Bo Bunny Snowfall Collection paper (love that paper but can't seem to find it anymore!).  The little viney snowflakes are little snips from Memory Box's Frosty Border and the flowers are a new Joy Craft rolled roses die I just bought.  The pearls are from my stash.  I thought I'd like to try a little experiment - I like the Shabby Embossing powders I see everyone using but I don't have any (they are on order though!) so I mixed a little white, navy and gold together and heated it from the underside.  I added a little in the corners and of course once it is done and the picture is taken, I see a couple little spots of powder I didn't brush off.  Wish there would have been a bit more because it almost looks like snow.  Lastly, a little of the Stickles Dry Fine Stardust glitter on the igloo and done!

Copic Colours:

Igloo:  W3, W1, W0

Bears:  E55, E53, E51

           E35, E33, E31

           E97, E95, E93

           E04, E02, E00

           E15, E13, E11

Challenges:

A Die For a Sketch - Happy Birthday Ladies!  Follow the sketch and use a die

ABC Challenge - Make it Sparkle

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with the option of using two stamps

Stamp & Create - Color challenge

Paperplaytime - Embossing, wet or dry

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I hope you are all well and the signs of spring are everywhere.  We still have a bit of snow but it's melting fast.
This card was published in Issue 11 of Whimsy Stamps Inspiration magazine.  The free version can be viewed here and the printed version, which has additional projects and tutorials can be purchased here.  For this card, I used Marika Collins Casey with ipad (bottom),  Kendall  (top) and Jamie  (mid) digis.  The sentiment is one from Raindrop Echo's Fast Lane digi set.
Haircolours:
Casey:  E59, E99, E97, E51, E50, E08, E19
Kendall:  E39, E35, E33, Y23, Y21
Jamie:  E57, E53, E51, E35, E07, E04

Now, just in case you haven't seen it yet or heard about it, issue 12 of Whimsy Stamps Inspiration free online version is now available online.  Go have a peek... you won't be disappointed.


Challenges:
Bearly Mine - use digi images and papers (if you have them)
Copic Markers Europe - Girls Aloud

Carefree Cosmos

 I am not a gardener, no sireeeee... no way, but I do love flowers.  Just can't grow them but they are so beautiful and I admire those who have a green thumb and have those gorgeous beauties growing in their gardens.  Can't grow 'em so I'll stamp 'em instead!  This is Carefree Cosmos from Technique Tuesday and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it mine!

Copic colours used were RV66, RV63, RV02, RV000 and then I added some dots with Bisque Liquid Pearls.
The snow here is finally melting... this has to be one of the longest winters ever and I am not sorry to see it go.  Have a great week.
Challenges:
Bearly Mine - Spring Flowers
One Crazy Stamper - Black, white and one more
Allsorts - Passion for flowers
Crafts 4 Eternity - April Showers bring spring flowers

Wellington Bear

 

Welcome to my new followers and I hope you enjoy your visit.  Today's card is using a stamp set I've had for a long time and was on my list of 'really want to use'.  It is Docraft's Wellington clear stamp set
#WEL 907100 and I found this little gem on Ebay.  It is quite a large set with four bigger images and several sentiments, including the one I used.

For the bear, I used Copic W5, W3 and W0 and then added W7 for the outer loose hairs.  Once it was coloured, I took a cloth dipped into blender solution and dabbed down on the image to give the fur a little texture.  The footpads are E09, E07, E04 and E02; the nose is E47, E43 and E41.  I had some tiny little black flat back pearls so I added them for eyes and dotted white highlights.  The paper is from the 7 Gypsies Postal collection and I love that paper pad (actually, there's never been a 7 Gypsies collection I haven't liked)!  The buttons are one of Prima's wood button sets.
Challenges:
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
QKR Stampede - For a Child
Paper Pretties - Buttons

Krafty Christmas

 
I didn't realize how long since I posted a card.  I've been busy but I couldn't tell you a thing I've done or how all of a sudden it is past the first week in March.

Are you ready for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'?  This month's theme is Krafty Christmas which means just that... use Kraft paper on your Christmas card.  My Mum's Craft Shop is our sponsor giving  some lucky person a £10 voucher to use in the store.

and Natali from

 

is giving this fabulous selection:

 

 This card is very simple and not a single Copic marker was used anywhere.  It's been a long time since I've made any project with no markers in site... hmmmmm, maybe never!  But, there's a reason for that and the glistening wet-look of the pearls.  They are wet... This month is zipping right by me and my organizational skills went missing and I totally forgot I had a card due.  I'm not a 'spur of the moment' creative type of person so this threw me into a bit of a tizzy but I remembered a card I'd seen a long time ago and always wanted to try.  I wish I knew the designer so I could give her credit because I just loved the card and this is my take on her version.
I used the teardrop stamp from Stampin Up's My Friend set and simply stamped it across the page and added glitter.  The black and white dots are done with Viva Pearl pens and the Paper Smooches Joyful Greetings sentiment was embossed in black.  Don't look too closely because some of those pearl dots are shaped a bit odd but at this late stage of the game, they just weren't going to be redone.

Hope your week is going well and it looks like maybe spring is finally here!

Challenges:
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes

Birthday Dragon

I wish I could breathe fire like this little green guy because I would use it to melt all this freakin' snow we have!  Piles and piles of it and it doesn't look like it will be gone anytime soon.  The latest snowstorm we had blocked and closed roads, stranded people, vehicle pileups... awful stuff and was so bad it even made the national news.  Anyway, enough grumbling about that and on to the card.
This is Whimsy Stamp's Birthday Dragon digi and this image just cracks me up when I look at his puffed-out cheeks!  It was published in the Whimsy Stamp's Inspiration Magazine, Issue 11 which the shorter version can be viewed free here or the full printed version is available at the Whimsy Store.

The paper is Simple Stories Baby Steps and the ribbon from Stampin' Up.  The little flowers were made using the Memory Box Fancy Blossoms die with someStickles glue added.  After everything was coloured, I added the Dry Fine Stickles Diamond glitter to the cake frosting and dragon wings and spine.
Copics: 
Dragon - E81, G24, G21
Tummy - YG63, YG61, YG21, then added a bit of R81
Fire - R17, Y02, YR15
Cake - RV13, RV11, RV10, E55, E53, E50

Challenges:
Bearly Mine - Anything Goes
Cupcake Craft - Mythical Creatures
Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes
Milk Coffee - Go Green

I've been seeing quite a few posts indicating Google Reader and Friend Connect will be ending in the near future (July) but there is also a lot of talk about Bloglovin so I decided to take the plunge and sign up for it.  Although I haven't done much with it yet, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to set up.  You can sign up here and it's very easy... you'll be prompted to import your Google list of blogs you follow.  Plus, there are some neat follow buttons, counters and icons you can use.

My next task when I visit your lovely blogs is to see if you have the Bloglovin button for me to follow you.  If you want to sign up and follow me, you can either click here:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin or use the button on my sidebar.

Snow Taster

Well, I don't know about tasting the stuff but I do know we have a lot of snow here in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada.  It's pile up everywhere... the fields are covered and the ditches are full.  I know spring is just around the corner and it can't get here soon enough for me!
Today is the beginning of another challenge at Christmas and Sweet Stampin' and the theme this next month is No Red or Green.  Our sponsor is Flatfriends and up for grabs is four of their fabulous digis.
No red or green... hmmmm... how about purple?  I love purple and My Mind's Eye has some fabulous papers in their So Sophie - Graceful collection and this seems a little Christmasy to me (especially the gold berry piece) so that's what I chose.  The image is Eat Cake Graphics 4027-G Waldo Bear and the sentiment is also from Holly's shop and is 8191-E Official Snow Taster.  I have some pretty purple glitter paper so I used that for the die cuts.  The snowflake is Impression Obsession's Snowflake die, the corner is Joycraft's 6002/0136 and the circle is Memory Box's Frostyville Wreath.  The buttons were white but turned out to be a pretty good match once they were coloured with Copics.  Finally, I used a Viva Pearl pen for the snowflakes and done!
Copics:  I used E95, E97 and E99 to colour the bear.

Magic & Laughter

I don't know about you but I love the look of white on white because it just seems to say classy and elegant.  This card was very simple to make and it was one published in the Whimsy Inspirations Magazine, Issue 11.
A smaller version of the magazine is available free online or the full version is available in print.  For my card, I used a Marianne Creatable die LR0236 and the flowers are from my stash (possibly Prima).  I really like this die... you cut and emboss with it and end up with such a pretty design with very little work.  The digi sentiment is one from Whimsy designer Raindrop Echo and the set is called Smile Sentiments.  I also want to say a quick thank you to Jenny who steered me in the direction to find this 'card holder'.  I had no idea they are Yankee Candle's Illumina Lids so I asked where she got hers and I then went on an Ebay hunt to find one I wanted.
Challenges:
Bearly Mine - Mother's Day
Mark's Finest Papers - Shaped Cards
One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Clearly Inspired - Die Cuts
Milk Coffee - White on White