Caardvarks Challenge

Happy Sunday,

I know I told you I would be back Monday with an interactive card...and I will be...but I decided I wanted to do a card for Caardvarks Challenge. The challenge here was pretty simple - any stamped colored in image.

I really like the way the card turned out. Lots of layers. I used Co-ordination cardstock. Cuttlebugged the light purple with swiss dots folder. I've had some beautiful stamped vellum for years. Stampin' Up manufactured it years ago. If you could see the image clearly it has dragonflies, butterflies & ladybugs on it. The stamps are all from Stampin' Up. The images are from the set "God's Beauty". I really do like this set. Makes such classy cards. All images were stamped on white cardstock and colored in with copics and cut out. The flower centres and dots on butterfly have Tiara stickles and the salutation is gold embossed. The layers are raised up with dimensionals. I've shown an extra pictures so you can see the depth. A little white organza ribbon to finish it off.




That's all. Enjoy your Sunday.

Yvonne

Brayer or Sponges???

Good Morning,

A short update on yesterdays adventure. We went to the Texas Renassaince Festival. It was very interesting. Lots of great period costumes. Both from the workers and attendees. Some of the costumes were a little more riska than others but I won't go into detail here. We did watch some jousting and there were juggling acts, belly dancing. Oh and it covered a huge area. I must admit that I'm not quite used to the crowds. It was very slow travelling just to get there. I have no idea the number of people who come out to this event but it is huge.

So todays card I made the night before I left Nova Scotia. I was out for supper at a friends house, Alison, and we did a crafty project after supper. When I do a multicolored background on my glossy cardstock I usually use a brayer. She used sponges. Easier to control where the color goes and you can use any color combination you want, just not what is limited to a multi-colored pad. I can't remember exactly what colors were used but it was about five. It worked great and very easy to blend. The moon was masked out with a circle. A quick card but still classy looking.

It's the week-end now, nothing planned, maybe I will take a trip to the craft store today.

See you Monday. Just a hint...it's going to be an interactive card.

Yvonne

Paisley Page

Good Morning,

Yesterday I enjoyed the US Thanksgiving. Just the two of us but I actually cooked a turkey and all the trimmings. I actually think it was about the best tasting bird I've ever cooked. Lots of flavor. Even made an apple pie from scratch. Do you know how hard it is to find a recipe for the apple filling. I looked through my cookbooks, or some of them and couldn't find my recipe so I headed online. I ended up with one that had way to much cinnamon. It was still good but not the way I remember it. Guess Christmas is coming and I can try again. lol

My scrapbook page today is of course little Xavier. It sort of goes with page I did a few days ago. The picture in the top right hand corner is my DS when he was about 5 months old. Xavier is about 6 1/2 months in this picture but he is wearing the same vest and moccasins that his Daddy wore.

The paper was from Costco. Double sided pattern paper, no cardstock used. Covered pieces of chipboard and sanded the edges with matching paper. The square fame under DS was sanded on the edges as well. The whole page has a distressed feel to it. Tied pieces of hemp between the two pieces of red paper.

Today I'm not shopping any Black Friday sales. I'm hoping everybody is shopping and we are going to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Looks like it will be fun and it's not very far away from our place. I'll let you know how it went!

Enjoy your Friday.

Yvonne

Ornaments

Goodness! Can't believe it is Wednesday.

I've had stuff to share but not the time to share it. I've been busy trying to find a car so I won't be housebound. Yes, I know I'm in a large centre but they do not have public transit. If I could hop a bus to get to the mall I would, but I can't. So after two days of driving to dealerships, searching the Internet for the last month I ended up with a VW Eos. It wasn't on my list when I left the house yesterday morning but the deal was right and I liked the car. It's a convertible - that was my requirement. lol

Today's card I completed on the week-end and actually made four. Got to get those Christmas cards done. Did you know it is the 25th of November and that makes it ONE month till Christmas. I don't even want to think about it yet but I can't keep pretending forever that it's not coming.

The cutout ornaments on the card are from a retired SU set called "ornamassortment". I had bought it but never really used it as I found it difficult to color in. I used the copics to color in this time and it worked very well. If you look closely I also used Diamond stickles to embellish the ornaments. I sometimes have trouble with the stickles making sure it doesn't look to globby. Is that a word? Anyway when drawing the little lines on the ornaments I kept the tip right to the paper and moved slowly and that seemed to help. The ornament paper was bought at Hobby Lobby a few days ago. Cuttlebugged the green paper behind the ornaments. Anything that has a gold edging to it was done with a gold Krylon pen. Dimensionals were added behind the green cardstock for the saying and the cuttlebugged piece. Three of the four cards got gold ribbon and the other has three gold dew drops in place of the ribbon. I think I preferred the ribbon. Makes me think about unwrapping presents or wrapping. lol

I'll share a scrapbook page tomorrow.

Yvonne

Snow Globe Christmas

Good Afternoon,

A little late in posting this morning. Had to wait for the camera battery to re-charge.

I've included four different cards today all using the same stamps and basic idea, but each one just modified a little.

To make the snowglobe it is very simple. I used the largest circle from the nestabilities to create the globe. For the light blue paper I started with approximately a piece of paper 4 1/4 x 8 1/2. You then want to fold this is half. Place your nestability on your folded cardstock with the nestability slightly extended past the fold. Cut one more circle from co-ordinating cardstock for the base. Now cut this circle in half to make the base for the card.


This card it is hard to see but I also cut a piece of transparency the same size as the globe and stamped it with white stazon snowflakes. All images are glued under the transparency with the exception of the "North Pole" sign. Considering the extra work involved using the transparency I probably won't make anymore this way. The WOW factor isn't there. I would use the transparency if I was going to turn it into a shaker card. (There's another project for me!)

This sample I inked the edges of the globe to give it some depth. Also the background is cuttlebugged using the snowflake folder. Dazzling Diamonds on the ice flow (same technique on all four cards).

Blue snowflakes stamped in the background. Oval punches used for the wording and dimensionals for depth.

Similiar to card above but sponged color on edges and used marker to color in words and hat to get the two-tone effect.

That's all for today. Let me know which card you like best.

Yvonne

Like Father, Like Son!

Good Morning,

As promised a scrapbook page today. I think it is so cute. New Years 2007 I snapped this photo of my husband and son. My sons wife, Steph took a pic of Xavier with his little touque rolled up just like Grampa. I couldn't resist doing a scrapbook page with it.

I used my cricut to cut out the block with the letter "B", the large words and the tag with "priceless". A scrapbooking program for the text. A stamp for the touque that is over the "B's" and then I put crystal effects on it to raise it & make it glossy. Chipboard pieces are covered with scraps of pattern paper. The brads are altered with distress "Straw" colored embossing powder.



Uneventful day yesterday, almost. We went to buy a new Barbeque cause we now have natural gas hook up for it but the old barbeque can't be converted. Well we buy the barbeque and then it won't fit in the car. When that happens start taking pieces out of the box and see if you can make it fit. Sure enough we got it in. On hindsight though the $60.00 delivery fee might not have been so bad as it would have come assembled then. lol

Side note for my Nova Scotia friends as I type this we are only 4 degrees warmer this morning. Better find the sweatshirt to go walking.

Yvonne

Asian Flair

Good Morning All You Bloggers!

Talk about the card first and then a story update!

This is another card I did at Terri Mill's class. I thought it was very pretty and exceptionally quick. The color of the cardstock is Razzleberry and the pattern paper is Razzleberry Lemonade. What do you think of the lattice work. Used black & razzleberry cardstock with the lattice die from Stampin' Up. The two are offset so the black shadows the razzleberry but apparently my photography skills could be better. The lady is from the set "Dream Garden" and is black embossed. Popdots to give some dimension and you're finished.



Spent Friday & Saturday shopping. I bought a bed-in-a-bag for the bedroom. First try I got it home and it was missing the bedskirt. Back to the store Saturday. There were some great deals. Won't bore you with details but aside from getting it at 50% off they also had a promo for every $50.00 spent you got $10.00 coupon for this week. Yea, I know...I've picked out the shoes I want. lol

My goal Saturday was to make it to some outlet stores that are just 20 minutes from the house. On the way there I stopped at a Hobby Lobby. WOW! Never been in one before. Just not crafts. Home Decor too! There was lots of things but I came out of there with just two pieces of pattern paper and brads. I was thinking Christmas cards. There was a Michaels just down the road from there but I didn't stop...I was so good. Ooops there's another Kohls store...that was the chain I bought the bedspread at. Stopped just for a look and that is where I found the shoes that I want. Spent an hour trying to decide to buy them now or wait to use my coupon. My good sense prevailed and I'll drive back out this week. Oh a Bed, Bath & Beyond within walking distance, must take a peak. Okay finished there, now I'm too tired to keep heading to the outlet stores and I still have to stop at the grocery store. Oh well, another day. lol I can remember the old days when I could power shop for 12 hours and then still pick up a major grocery order before heading back home which was a two hour drive. Maybe I need to train better.

That about covers the week-end. I am working on a scrapbook page too. Maybe tomorrow I'll have it finished.

Enjoy.

Yvonne

The Three Snowman

Good Evening,

Friday night already. Well I've had quite the week. Between computers and card classes I've kept quite busy.

I believe I had mentioned I was going to go to a card class offered by a Stampin' Up demo, Terri Mills. I found her through the Stampin' Up Demo locator. The locator listed ten different people within a 5 mile radias but Terri was the only one who had anything listed for classes on her website. The class was fantastic. Made eight different cards & envelopes for $20.00. Price was great. Everything was very organized. Stations were set up, you received your package of precut items (and I might add everything was cut precisely, no need to trim) and worked your way through the stations. Used the big shot for die cutting and embossing, new tips on shimmer paint, used stencils just to cover a few of the ideas. I'll share more of them as I post the cards from the class. If you're in the Woodlands area and are looking for classes she is one to check out.

A little about the actual card now. Everything used is from Stampin' Up. A nice big snowflake punch. I love how the ribbon was used for the scarves. I think the name of the stamp set was Christmas Punch but there are numerous snowman stamps that you could use. I think I have one that has long since been retired that would work well. Just have to find it in my boxes of still packed stamps. No major techniques on this one but very cute! Lots of layers to give the extra "WOW" factor. You know me, I like layers! So Wednesday was a very good day.


Thursday was not so good. I took a class at a local scrapbook store and was very disappointed. I did not complete any of the four cards. I brought everything home unglued so I could try and trim the pieces so they would fit properly. Probably won't take more classes. Also I got my computer back but it still seems to be having some glitches and for the price I paid to have it fixed it should be new!

Enjoy your week-end.

Yvonne

What to call it? Accordian, Z, Easel Card

Good Morning,

Uneventful day yesterday. A computer guy came and checked out my desktop, after 2 hours of not being able to get all the viruses out he's took it home to either wipe the hard drive or try a couple other things on it. It won't be back for a couple of days.

Heading out the morning to a card class. A local SU demo runs classes in her home so though I would check it out. I'll let you know how it goes and share my projects.

So what would you call todays card? I don't know either! lol It is very easy to make though. Looks harder than it is. Are you ready, here's the directions.

Base is 11 x 4 1/2" scored at 5 1/2 and 2 3/4". Now (I use my Fiskars cutter but you can use and exacto knife too), you need to create a window, my window has a 3/4" border. From the 2 3/4" score line place your paper in the cutter 3/4" and cut down 2 1/4", rotate and make sure you keep the 3/4" on all sides. Start with some cheap paper and make a template first so you understand how it all goes together and then get out your favorite paper. That's how I usually do mine when I'm working with a design I haven't done before. Now that you have cut the window, fold the window portion back to the spine. I placed pattern paper on the portion that folded back. It was cut 4" x 2 1/2" and then I cut out the centre leavng 1/2" border. Fits in there perfect. Don't throw away that little piece you just cut out. I used that piece for the photo corners you see in the centre. I used the small photo corner from SU's punch (it has two different sizes of photo corners on one punch). Punch out three of them. The diamond in the centre of the card. Celery - 2 3/4" square and the dark green color is 2 1/2" square glued together. When putting your glue down just watch the you don't get glue in the top and bottom right hand corners as there is a small part of the square that will show through to the inside of the card. Embelish the lower left hand corner of card. I used my scallop punch with a raised up image. If you don't put an image there make sure you have enough scrap pattern paper to punch out an additional photo corner. Also when I folded back the window frame I DID NOT glue it down. It raises up slightly just to create a little more depth on the card. Also the scallop circle was only glued to the very front of the card so again take care where you are putting your glue.

For the inside pattern paper 5 1/4" x 4" and then I put additional layers of cardstock as the pattern paper was dark and I wouldn't be able to write on it. So my layers there are 2 5/8" x 4 1/8" (dark green) 2 1/2" x 4" (celery).

Rudolph's nose has crystal effects on it and quite a bit so it is nice and raised. I colored in the stamp with my markers so I could two-tone it. Chocolate Chip Brown for the reindeer and Always Artichoke for the words around the deer. Colored the nose in with Really Red.


Let me know what you think of this card. If you make a card of this design send me a pic and I'll put it up on the blog. Like to see others work. You can send it to ybalmer@hotmail.com or you can always leave comments in the comments section. If you're reading from a subscription to my blog you're probably not even seeing the blog itself. You have to click on the name of the post to get to the my actual blog. Even the article looks differnt there as there are not ads and it's prettier. lol At the bottom of each post is a comments section. I've added this little bit of info as I know some of you were unaware of this.

Off to card class - enjoy your day.

Yvonne

Embossing on Pattern Paper

Good Morning,

The sun is shining and it looks like a nice day. Yesterday was overcast and dull.

Didn't get around to post yesterday as my desktop computer is having issues. After I start it I get a black screen with a white cursor. It goes all through the process but windows doesn't want to load. I've got an e-mail into Geeks on Wheels but nobody has returned my call so I think I maybe moving onto somebody new. I did figure out how to upload using my laptop without uploading all the pics I have on my camera card.

I made this card yesterday. Dug out a very old retired Stampin' Up set. I always did like this set though. There's another image of a little child with a snowman too. I colored the image first with Copics and then I had to start looking for paper that would match. The bright blue is a retired color from SU and the red pattern paper I've had for years. I was trying to figure out what to do with the background and then decided I would try embossing on the pattern paper. After the image was embossed I sanded it off so it would stand out a little more. Everything still looked a little flat so I cut the pattern paper in two and slipped a piece of the blue inbetween to make it look like more layers and it breaks up the front of the card. The card is a 5 1/2" square. Merry is from a differnt stamp set and the cocoa cup is also from the snowman set. Nestabilites used to cut out the circle and layer up the image. Notice his little hat and marshmellows - I used Puffy Fabric paint I got from Michaels. I used to use liquid applique but it can be hard to find. The puffy fabric paint comes in a huge bottle and you just squeeze it out. I let it drive for 10 - 15 minutes and then use my heat tool to puff it up. Looks so cute!



Yesterday I signed up to take a card class on Thursday morning at the local scrapbook store. I will share them with you once I've completed them. Also found a hair salon yesterday. Nothing exciting done. Just colored and a bang trim. My driving around was fairly uneventful yesterday. Missed a couple of turnoffs but won't make the same mistake twice. You learn through your mistakes! Remember that when you are crafting, there are no mistakes just learning experiences. I've had a lot of learning experiences in my crafting life. lol

One more bit of exciting news. My Grandbaby is crawling. Only 6 1/2 months. I know, I'm so proud! lol

Have a Great Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow.

Yvonne

A "Beary" Christmas

It's TGIF. What could be better than that?

So finished my version of the "Easel Card" aka Halloween card posted a couple of days ago.

I used Stampin' Up cardstock and pattern paper. The bear stamp is from Stamp City. It was colored in with Copics. Using your watercolor crayons you could create a similiar effect. Just remember to stamp it on watercolor paper if you are going to be using a lot of water with your crayons. That's the beauty of copics is that you can go over and over the same area with the markes without effecting the quality of the paper. I did use the ornaments cuttlebug folder on the celery background. The bear has pop dots under him and the "Holiday Hello" in the corner - the centre has a Making Memories clear bubble over the words. If you have crystal effects you could create a similiar look.

Side view isn't a great shot but you get the idea.

Just a short chit chat today. Went yesterday to the Motor Vehicles to exchange my Nova Scotia license (sniff) for my Texan license. I just want you to know the government agency here is just as friendly as all those motor vehicle offices in Canada. lol You all know what I mean. Would it hurt them to smile, just once?

I probably won't post again until Monday but I do have it already done and it is another interesting fold. Most of the cards for the next month will all be of the Christmas variety.

Not sure what my plans for the week-end are but I'll let you know on Monday. Have an enjoyable week-end.

Yvonne

Boo - a little late!

Happy Wednesday Folks,

It's going to be another sunny day here in the mid twentys. almost makes it hard to craft...not really. lol

First off my cell phone story. I gave up my Canadian cell phone and need to get another one here. I'm trying to find a carrier that will give me free long distance back to Canada. Almost all of the companies that I check into give free long distance nationally and to Mexico. I finally find one company that has long distance to Canada included in the plan. I won't mention the specific carrier. I go in sign up, get the phone and head home. The next day the movers are delivering stuff and DH is trying to get a hold of me as no house phone yet. I keep losing his connection in the house. Don't really think much of it as I was a little pre-occupied. The next day I'm wanting to call my DD. We always have a long chit chat. So a couple of things are going on this night. There's quite a storm happening. I believe we may have even had flooding and tornado watches out for the evening. Surprising enough I didn't get to fussed about it. So I ring her up from my kitchen and after about 30 seconds the call is dropped. Hmmm....I check the bars on my phone and I don't have any. I run around the house and in certain areas I might get one bar but it comes and goes. Turns out if I sit on the roof I might get reception. So I go out to my front step to call her back. I get one bar if I tilt my head the right direction. So we're having our chit chat. Important stuff you know...Survivor, Amazing Race, what we ate for supper.
Now I will get off topic for just a minute...I maybe living in the Houston area but we are in a quiet little subdivision off of a state reserve. So earlier in the day I saw a squirell in the backyard. No big deal, seen lots of squirells. Later in the afternoon coming home from shopping there is a deer at the end of the street. Seen lots of deer too and in town (Alberta) but we had our share of deer in our subdivision in Antigonish (NS)too. Here's what I wasn't prepared for. Back to the part about it being 10:00 at night sitting on my front step talking to the DD this racoon came scooting around the corner looked up at me and I swear at that point the DD didn't need a cell phone connection to hear me. I'm not sure who was more surprised me or the racoon. Needless to say he ran off and my DD wanted to know if I had stepped on the poor thing as she was sure by the screach that it had to be a wounded animal.lol At the end of the day I've taken my cell phone back and am still looking for another provider.

CARD INFO

Now for what all you crafters have been really waiting for a little info about todays card. First off, I didn't make this card. It was given to me by a good friend, Ann. Okay, I had to beg for it a little bit but she did give it to me anyway.
I thought it was such a unique fold. There are about 5 different layers on this card, lot of cut out work. The window is cut out and then popped up for a little more depth. The bats and skelton are all cut out. This card is a regular 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. You can close it up and mail it in a regular envelope. The front part is scored at 2 3/4" and folded in half so it will stand. You stamp and decorate it anyway you want but so it will stand notice the tab at the very top of the card where the little gem brad is. It's designed so the front of the card can slide under the tab so the card will stay standing up. So cute. I'm going to try one of these in the next couple of days. If I could just find my Christmas stamps maybe I would try it with one of them. (All my stamps are still in boxes until I get shelves for them. ugh)
Thanks again Ann for the great card.



Found the mop, darn, guess I'm off to wash floors now. Enjoy your day.

Yvonne

I'm Back - House Mouse Christmas

Hello Everyone,

I officially moved into our new home a week ago. Things are unpacked and put away (except the garage, not my domain). Over the next few days I'll share little tidbits of our moving in with you as well as a new project each time. So for the bloggers that only want the scoop on the project just scroll down to the pictures and for all others read from the top down.

Last Monday (October 26th) was the date the movers were to deliver furniture. Wouldn't you know it - no rain for days and the day we want our furniture it rains, and rains and rains. Not just a drizzle either. They unloaded a few boxes that days and finished up on Tuesday. Most of what they unloaded the first day was garage stuff. Too bad as it would have been nice to have organized some stuff before more boxes arrived. Have you ever noticed when you are moving that it doesn't matter how organized you have your cupboards, closets, drawers or whatever they can still manage to take something from a downstairs bathroom and put it in a box with the good china? Maybe they do that in an attempt to make sure you unpack all boxes between moves.

I also unpacked my craft room last. As many of you know I had my craft room located in the attached garage at my last location. Mistake. Not only was my craft stuff in there but also boots, coats, shoes, fitness equipment, typical garage stuff - like flashlights, Canadian Tire Money, and anything else that didn't seem to have a home somewhere else. When they labelled the boxes it all was labelled "Craft Room". My craft room was full of boxes here that weren't my craft room stuff. Won't make that mistake twice!

That's all I'll share of those stories today but I will get to today's project.This is a House Mouse stamp. I had stamped off a few images of it before I left. Thanks Skylar for the use of your stamp. My goal was to color a bunch of them in while I was between houses. I packed my Copics and everything with me. Well I only got two images colored in.
So the images was colored with Copics. All the berries have Crystal Effects on them. Gives that nice raised up glossy look to them. The holly leaves have Dazzling Diamond glitter on them. Used my scallop nestabilities to create the window effect on the card. In two of the corners I cut out holly images using the Cricut, applied Dazzling Diamonds to them as well and then put a red Dew Drop with each holly leaf. didn't glue down the corners of the leaf to give the card a little more dimension.



That's all I've got for today. Will have a special project to share tomorrow. It's a Halloween card but a neat design. I didn't make it but want to try something similar with different stamps.
Be sure to check back!

Yvonne