Friday, Dec. 12/08

I made this gift box last night for a friend. The clear box is from the Dollar Store. It had two large plastic snowflakes in it, so I figured for $1 it was worth buying to get the box, as the clear boxes are a lot more from an on-line supplier! Thrifty or what?? LOL! I bought Dove chocolates- they are square and wrapped in sapphire blue foil, so that determined the colours. The round stamp is from SU, but I omitted the centre verse and stamped a snowflake instead. The large snowflake on the band is by "Stamp N More".



This card I made the other day completing my Christmas cards. The Madonna image is by Paper Inspirations. I stamped it in brown, than brayered over the image with Linen Distress Inks. I used a bit of colour on the hair, cheeks, and Madonna's dress. The verse is a clear stamp by Stampology embossed with Fine Gold EP, and I stamped the background with a Penny Black holly/leaf stamp in Brilliance Gold.

Friday, Dec. 5th

I had lunch today with my stamping friend Marilyn. She gave me a handmade decorated paper box and inside were a few of her beautiful christmas cards and some tags. These certainly won't be mailed - I'm keeping them for inspiration! That was so generous of you Marilyn (hugs!)
It was a nice afternoon with tasty food, great conversation, and a bit of shopping!

Tim Holtz Inspired Tag

Last night I was reading Tim Holtz' blog and saw that he was doing the 12 Days of Christmas Tags again this year. I particularly liked the wintry look of the Day 2 tag, so decided to try it. His blog tutorials are SO easy to follow!!!

http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/

I had to change up a couple of things, though, since I didn't have all the required stuff. Instead of rub-ons, I used a swirl stamp, white craft ink,and EP. Also, I didn't have grungeboard, so I ran a tag through the Cuttlebug Swirl embossing folder and flattened it out a bit with my bone folder before inking. The trees are from Stampin'Up!, and the snowflakes are silver outline stickers.

I was quite pleased with my finished tag (giving myself a pat on the shoulders LOL!)

Wednesday, Dec.3/08

Some more Christmas cards recently finished:
Acetate card:

Nov.11/08

Cards for Christmas. These are latest ones I've made including a "box in a bag" from a tutorial on Splitcoasters -
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/boxinabag/

It's late now and I'm too tired to post all the "recipes" for these cards. Perhaps in a day or two....

Thurs, Nov.6/08

This week was my turn to post the "Weekly Challenge" over on Inkstainers. So I challenged everyone to make round cards. They didn't have to be Christmas ones. I was just getting an early start on my stash.

I used a coffee can for the template, my Quickutz scalloped circle cutters, and the Marvy blue circle punch. The red is Bazzill Bling cardstock on which I stamped a lacy snowflake in Encore metallic ink. The christmas holly paper is run through the Cuttlebug Holly embossing folder (hard to see in the scan. My camera's battery had died!) I stamped the verse on green paper in white craft ink, embossed with white powder, and tied with copper cord. They are small cards and definitely a challenge!

Sharon

Nov.5/08

Well, the Blog Hop was a lot of Fun!!!

Congrats to Heather Jeffers for having all the correct answers.

Sharon

Blog Hop Scavenger Hunt

Today I'm hosting a Blog Hop Scavenger Hunt over at Inkstainers. The questions are out and now I'm just waiting for the answers. Hope the ladies are having fun...I had fun putting it together. I enjoyed reading about what everyone is up to, and seeing their creativity.

Sharon

Sat. Nov.1/08

It was a gorgeous sunny day today with crisp air. Peter and I walked with Penny this morning to a local restaurant for breakfast. We tie her to a tree outside the window - she can see us and stays there quietly, waiting for a little corner of toast when we are finished, her treat for being a 'good girl'. So we had a nice aerobic walk, good breakfast and my kitchen was clean! LOL. Peter worked a bit outside raking leaves, but I decided to stamp since I already had my fresh air.

I used the Spellbinder Shapeabilities Cardinal & Finch die. I did the cardinal's markings with a Black Micron pen, then covered with Stickles red and copper glitter. It is mounted with pop-dots.The pinecone by Hero Arts is stamped with copper ink; snowflake swirl also in copper ink. Verse by Rhonna Farrer is embossed with Christmas Red Tinsel embossing powder. I used the Fiskars Threading Water scallop/circle punch on patterned paper, lined with red cardstock to make the border, and stamped with a small snowflake stamp in Stampin'Up! Purely Pomegranate ink.

Tuesday, Oct.28

Today I took a trip to Antigonish to Lisa's store- her new line of "Creative Cafe" was in and she was having an open house. Her hubby even built a cafe counter with stools. The goodies are in plastic jars lining the shelves, like coffee beans or candies. Wow! Lots of neat things to play with. I bought some of the journalling strips, some felt words/phrases by Creative Cafe; also some new clear stamps by Clearly Inspired, new BoBunny christmas paper,two Cuttlebug folders and some Bazzill. Everything was 20% off, so it wasn't too bad on the 'ole wallet! LOL. This is a drawing of the cafe from the "CC" website so you get an idea of the art bar. Hope I'm not breaking any copyright rules here by posting this!!!!


I got inspired after seeing some of Marilyn's wonderful cards. Here's one I made tonight using a Tin Can Mail/Inkadinkadoo stamp that I bought on sale last year after the holidays. The whole tag is the image on the stamp- I stamped in Timber Brown and sponged SU Olive, Forest Foliage and Caramel inks for the background colour. The other papers are holly-My Mind's Eye; music notes "7 Gysies", and SU Copper embossed with the script Cuttlebug folder. The brads are the sugar coated Doodlebug ones.

Wed.,Oct.22/08

I've been very lax about posting since the summer. Now that the cooler weather is coming, I'll have to start keeping up my blog. Here are some cards I made lately.

Oct. 2/08 Harraseeket Inn, Freeport, Maine

Here are pics of the Peter and I, and Rick and Nancy at the Harraseeket Inn, Freeport, Maine (road trip last weekend). The first ones are of our beautiful room. We had just arrived and checked-in, then went looking for the lounge where the afternoon tea was held, which was included with the cost of the room. Was it ever tasty; little fancy sandwiches, sweets, chocolate dipped strawberries, scones with cream, fresh sliced fruit (honey dew melon, watermelon, grapes, pineapple), and plate of cheeses. A lady was playing the piano adding a nice musical atmosphere. Was she ever talented - most of the time she played without following any sheet music. As you can see, the table was loaded with goodies!

These are pics of Boothbay Harbour, the only time in three days that it wasn't pouring rain, but it was very foggy! The large schooner was moored near where we ate lunch. Peter and I had been to Boothbay Hbr. many years ago. At that time there was an ice cream hut located right on the wharf. Well, it was still there, so we decided to take a break and have a tasty homemade cone and creamy ice cream.

September 1/08

Here's my card for the weekly challenge on Inkstainers. Actually, I incorporated two challenges - Cindy's August 18th to use the Zindorf technique, and Cheryl's August 25th to make a long card 4 x 7".

I used Brilliance inks for a bit of shine, and Bazzill Bling C/S. The outside border is embossed with black EP as well as the bird, which I cut out and mounted with pop-dots. It is coloured with twinkling h20's for more glimmer.

Summer Aug 1/08

Wow, I can't believe how the time has flown since my last posting. We've been enjoying the past few weeks at Chance Harbour. The swimming has been very good with the water warming up early due to the week of hot humid weather early in July. Here are a few pics, but I realize I didn't take any of the actual cottage. That will have to be another time....

First pic - Penny on the point. That was the day after Tropical Storm Cristobal came by Nova Scotia. The water was really rough.

Second pic - our beach to the right of the path.

The third pic is the path through the woods from the front of the cottage to the beach. Lots of birch trees.

Fourth pic -Penny checking out a crab in the seaweed on the rocks. This pic and the fifth one are older pics -

Fifth- Penny going after her fetch bouy. She likes to jump off the rocks.

Sixth - Peter relaxing.

Seven- The beach to the left of the path. That is the point where Penny is standing in the first pic.

Teabag Holder Template June 21/08

I just noticed I haven't posted since just before my vacation in April. Where has the time gone???? I have made a few cards since then - I'll get around to uploading in the next few days.

Anyhow.....several months ago, I received the cutest teabag holder from Diane (aka Diane860) on Inkstainers. Just the other day I made one for Marilyn (redhatmarilyn) and I had requests to post a template.

If you right click on the above template picture, save the pic, then print, it should print out the correct size. I tried it and it worked OK for me; however, the printing is faint and hard to make out. You can double left click on the above pic to enlarge it. Then you can see my own printing a lot easier to follow the directions.

How to put together:

1. Cut out the holder from a piece of C/S ( 5- 7/8" long x 3-3/8" wide); score on the marked lines, and punch out with a tiny hole punch where it is marked for the brads. Cut a piece of ribbon 20" long and lay it across the middle of the holder (it stays in place when the rectangles are glued on) Cut two smaller rectangle layers, and a circle. Stamp the circle how you wish. Glue the circle to one of the rectangles and glue it to the right side of the holder. Glue the other rectangle to the left side.

2. Cut out the pouch and score on the marked lines. Fold on the scores bringing the sides towards the centre. Glue together with the wider tab underneath. This makes the pouch. Punch out through all layers where it is marked for the brads. Fold again across the middle where marked. This will make two pockets for the teabags when attached to the holder. Stamp a message inside if you wish. Attach with brads with the seam towards the holder so it is hidden. The brads are placed with the "heads" on the spine of the teabag holder, and the prongs are inside on the pouch.

After I got my pouch all cut out, I figured it would be easier to just cut it in a rectangle shape and use the circle punch to cut out the half-circle areas. That would make cleaner edges than trying to get my scissors around the small area.

Hope this all makes sense! Any questions, please write to me.

Sharon

Saturday, April 5, 2008-9:30 pm

Today, I started getting out my summer clothes and sorting them to decide what to take to Florida. Peter was doing taxes this afternoon, so I didn't have use of the computer until this evening.

Finally got around to posting the two cards I made on Thursday night. The first card -I recently got a new clear set from "Dollar Clear Stamps", an Ebay seller. It is a tree branch, and there are different leaves, flowers, and other little stamps to change the tree from summer to winter. Also a "two step" birdhouse, and three different phrases. The inks I used are Brilliance so there is a bit of shine to the stamped images, and I made a border using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.

The second card - Sailboat stamp from Inkadinkadoo. I brayered the background using VersaColour Variegated Pad "Icicle" (six shades of blue). I then used SU White with a cotton ball to do the clouds, and Q-tip dipped in the White to do where the sailboat cuts through the waves. The boats are cut and mounted, but the rear sail is left unglued so it gives a 3-D effect as it sticks out a bit. The sails are painted with "Oyster" Twinkling H20's. I drew in the birds with a Micron pigma pen. The phrase is from Inkadinkadoo Brenda Walton "Flower Garden" clear stamps; anchor unknown.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Last night we had another 10 cm's of snow. It is pretty out there with the sparkly snow frosting the branches of the pines in the backyard, but I really want spring to come. The crocusii (sp?) are just starting to poke through the soil which is late according to my gardening journal.

This afternoon, I made a card for Inkstainers Weekly Challenge which was hosted by Heather J. and called "Flower Power". The card had to have flowers and some metal (the power) on it.

I used the Daisy Collage from Blockheads and coloured the daisy petals with twinkling H20's for some bling. The green border is a clear stamp from Inkadinkadoo Brenda Walton "Garden Flowers" set. This layer is mounted with foam sticky squares to pop it out. The green layer is PP. I stamped the yellow c/s layer with Brilliance Sunflower Yellow and used the SU Filigree background stamp. Embellies are the gold metal scalloped corners, Prima flowers, and the bumblebee.

I'm liking square cards lately !

Friday, March 28, 2008

I haven't been in the mood to stamp all week, although I did clean up my workspace on Wednesday afternoon.

Last night I was reading through the tutorials on Splitcoasters and saw the Brayered Sky Technique. So I tried it for a birthday card for my brother in Halifax.
It came out OK, I think, but it needs some more of the light yellow near the horizon at the bottom. Not too bad, though, for my first attempt at this. I used Brilliance Sunflower Yellow,Rocket Red Gold, and Pearlescent Rust inks, so the surface of the image has a slight bit of shine to it. The green area I sponged with Brilliance Olive. The trees (from SU) are stamped with Stazon Black, and I used watercolour pencils to give some dimension to the grass, and base of tree areas. I found some thin leather to tie on the tag which I thought gives a bit of rustic look.The verse is from a UM set I got on Ebay from a rubber stamp maker in Ontario.

My brother loves to go relax at a camp deep in the woods in Southwestern Nova Scotia,near Kejimkujik Provincial Park, so I thought he might like these trees.

Wednesday, March 20, 2008 - 12:11 am

For the weekly challenge on Inkstainers, we were encouraged to try a technique we hadn't done before, and there had to be green on the card. After looking on SplitCoasters, I decided to try "Caught in Crystal" or "Acetate & Tissue" Technique.
Here's the link:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/acetate_tissue/

It wasn't as messy, nor as intimidating as the tutorial, although it takes a couple of hours to thoroughly dry. I really like how the pear turned out! I used Adirondack Alcohol Inks instead of re-inkers (Ginger, Meadow, Pesto, Butterscotch), and also PearlEx Gold dust powder on the main part of the pear. (hard to see in my pic!)

This is definitely a technique I will try again!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Today Peter and I went out for breakfast, then I had a relaxing rest of the day. My housework and laundry were all done yesterday..miracles of miracles. Peter spent the afternoon outside vacuuming out the winter crud from our cars, so I stamped a card with a new stamp from Monica of Hambo Stamps. I think this skunk is too cute! He reminds me of Pippy La Peuw (sp?) from Disney cartoons. The verse inside reads, "It stinks that I missed your special day!" tee hee hee.

Sorry about the pic - the card looks warped! It is actually square.

Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:00am

Here's another baby card done in a different colour.
Sharon

Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 9:11 am

Yesterday I went to visit my friend Wendy for lunch and a craft afternoon. She worked on a scrapbook page for her daughter's memory book, and I made a baby card. I like the way it turned out. The c/s is actually light salmon colour; it looks washed out in the pic. The teddy bear is a new Sizzlet's die I recently ordered on-line. So cute! I punched it out two times -first from SU Caramel c/s and then from Bazzill blue for the bear's shirt. There is fun flock on his paws for dimension. The letter "b" is a punchie from Basic Grey Hip Monograms sheet.

Sunday, March 9, 2008 4:20 pm

Recently, I saw some circle cards in a magazine and thought I would try one. I used a coffee can for the circle template. The background is done smudging chalks with a cottonball on white c/s. I used Stickles on the dragonfly wings to add some shimmer and Krylon Silver pen on the edge all around. Then I masked off 1/4" around all the edges of 5 x 5" mauve Bazzill, stamped the SU Linen background stamp and mounted the dragonfly circle. The silver corners are punched using the Sizzlet Corners die in my Cuttlebug, and I tied on silver cord and added a few beads.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Tonight I made a card for my friend Jeanne in Quebec, though, her birthday is not until the first week of April. Just thought I would get a head start!

I stamped the vintage ladies on polished stone, and then embossed the whole thing with clear EP. The image looks sort of like it's done on a tile. The patterned paper is vintage lace with brooches on it. I don't think the fine details came out in the photograph. The Eiffel Tower is a recent purchase -made by Inkadinkadoo. I embossed it in black detail EP directly on the c/s. Then I inked the stamp again with Versamark only on the banner part, stamped it on glossy c/s, EP'd in fine gold, cut out and mounted it on the tower to give a 3-D effect. The shoe is from a set by SU, and the post card by Inkadinkadoo "Life's Journey".

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 -10:22 am

Inkstainers Weekly Challenge (March 3) Card - We had to make a card with front and back papers, predominant color orange. Let me tell you...it's not easy cutting around those tiny inside corners of the chipboard when making a paper pattern to cover it. I ruined two, and finally said "to heck with it"! The edges are rough, but I wasn't going to try doing another.