My Bonnett!

Good Morning,

Actually I'm just getting this posted just barely in the morning...for many of you it's already the afternoon.

Another project with Stampin' Up products. They have a corner punch and a border punch that co-ordinate together. I must admit I'm working on getting the hang of the corner punch. I always seem to push it in too far. There's definitely a learning curve on this one. Have some scrap paper to practise on first. I went through about six pieces. lol

The ribbon on the hat is from pattern paper. Stamped the hat image on the pattern paper and then cut it out. Added a pearl to the hat for some jazz. Like it?

May 1st Deborah's shop will be opening. In the meantime you can check her blog out at Fargocat Designs .
She has a few more details up....also be sure to check both her blog and mine on May 1st for chances to win a prize....

I feel like I've been working and working on stuff but haven't been able to share anything. Next Tuesday I will be able to share some things I've been working on for Sketches by Tamara . Every Tuesday will be a new project and challenge. Hope you check it out.

That's all I have to share about stamping today however I'll share a little about news on the radio station.

I was out for my morning walk  today around 9:30 and the sun was shining and it was actually a little warm for walking but I was enjoying it nonetheless. The radio announcer comes on and says you better get out and enjoy the weather today cause come May 1 to October it's going to get bad. lol I realized what they meant was the humidity and heat are going to increase. I've never been known to think that was a bad thing but we shall see. I do know my walks will have to start earlier in the morning.

Hope it is sunny where ever you are.

Yvonne

Make A Wish.....And My News!

Good Afternoon!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. I know I am (especially after my post office trip!). The card and my news are both tied together!

I am thrilled  to announce that I will be the In House Designer for a new blog .. Fargocat Designs.

Fargocat Designs is owned by Deborah Lecreux in Nova Scotia and she has asked me to share some inspiring ideas and projects for her new online store which is opening May 1st. I just received a package in the mail containing some amazing products to design with.  I won't share all the stuff that she will be carrying today but I can tell you she will be carrying the "Ciao" Copic Markers! The price on them will be $3.75 (tax in). They are the ones I've been using on all my projects for the last eight months and love them. I know she has a good selection (I made recommendations on which ones to order first based on color combos I generally use together).  While we were attending the CHA show we found a few new items that neither of us had played with before, but will get a chance to soon.

House Mouse is one of the lines of stamps Deborah will carry and they will be in stock for a May 1st opening.  Which brings me to today's post! In future I will try and share what color of markers I used on the projects. I didn't write it down when I did this card so I can't remember for sure! Pink and browns are always a good color combo. I used circles to make the tabs at the top and bottom edges of the card. A little glitter applied to the icing to make it look more yummy!

I'm looking forward to designing for Fargocat Designs and continuing to share my enthusiasm and love  for paper crafting with you.

Keep checking both my blog and Fargocat Designs for information regarding the grand opening of "Fargocat Shops". There will be some "Blog Candy" up for grabs soon so be sure to check back for details on how to enter.

Enjoy your week-end & I'll see you soon!

Yvonne

Tulips - And Friday Is The Big Day!

Hi!

Just slipping a quick post in tonight. Thought I would share another card I made at craft class.

This card was done with punched images. The tulips and the leaves are actually the wing from a bird punch. Pretty cool. If memory serves me correctly the pattern paper was from a Christmas paper line. All items on this card are from Stampin' Up.

Are you wondering what news I have to share...tomorrow I will post the details.  I do have to head on out to the post office first thing in the morning ...need to submit some taxes... ugh but there is also a parcel waiting for me to pick up too. I love parcels and this one is particularly exciting.

Hope you check in with me tomorrow!

Yvonne

She Looks Spunky!

Hello

It's been afew days since I've posted. Been working on a few things but can share them just yet.

I did color up another one of these cute little fairies. I relly think they are sweet.

My pattern paper was from Costco. The little dew drops are from the "water" collection. So pretty with this paper. I also used a SU border punch onthe stripes. Does't that make a beautiful edging.
I did color the fairy with Copics then cut out and mounted with dimensionals. I wanted some little saying on the front but didn't have a stamp that was suitable. I had rub-ons left over from Stampin' Up and used one fo those.

Must get back to scrapbooking. Hope you're having a crafty afternoon.

Yvonne

Flower Power

Hi There,

TGIF to every one out there!

Today's card is from one I made at a stampin' class I attended. I believe this is a new stamp set from Stampin' Up!. The colors are so pretty. Almost Amethyst and Rose Red. They go great together. It is a two set set. This means you stamp the outline in one color and then use different stamps and can stamp color into the centres. If you look closely we added just a little dazzling diamonds to the flowers too.  The scallop border if from SU. Used the paper piercer along the border too for a little different look.

So stay tuned....hopefully Sunday or Monday I will be sharing some other BIG news with you. Check back you won't want to miss out on this.

In the meantime have a great week-end.

Yvonne

It's A Fairy Day

Good Afternoon,

I seem to be doing more afternoon posts than morning posts lately. Must be due to my walking earlier. First about the card and then I'll ramble about my morning walk.

Isn't my fairly beeuuutiful? I think so anyway. When I was at Hobby Lobby a couple of days ago I found a whole package of fairy's in the discontinued bin. There's four fairies and a few more flowers. They are unmounted and only had to pay $5.99 for the package. Who can't resist something as cute as that.

I'm going to share some wisdom here (I need to heed my own wisdom). Pick your paper before you start coloring with your copics. I must admit I'm used to using SU stuff where everything is color co-ordinated from inks, markers, paper etc. Well I have lots of pretty other paper that I would like to use too...but I find it difficult to color the image first and then try and start matching papers.

So what did I do on this image. Well I colored first and then picked paper. Everything went well until the part with the wings. I ended up coloring them to bluey (is that a word?) a they didn't want to match anything. I did fix the problem...I tried adding more layers of color and when that really didn't fix the problem I added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. it muted the bluey color down to blend more with the green. I tried to find a suitable saying to go on the card but didn't have one so I opted for pearls down the side. You can never go wrong with pearls.

Hope you like the card!

Now if you're still reading I'm going to discuss my walk. If you're not interested (that's okay) I say "See you tomorrow" now.

So I'm out for my walk. I walk in my subdivision and then there is a neighboring one that each home is probably on about an acre. Much more wooded. So I'm motoring along, head set on, listening to a country station, (yeah, I like country)absorbed in my own little world. By the way, no sidewalks - I'm walking on the side of the road. I lift up my head and a deer is standing about 10 feet from me. It's perfectly still. I'm thinking "Another one of those fake deer people put in their yards. Gee it sure looks real but I wonder why somebody would put it on the edge of their property right by the bushes. It still has not moved. I walk just a couple more feet and around the corner of the bush is another smaller deer. He at least moved it's head so I knew it was alive! They never did move....I decided to walk on the other side of the road...didn't want to make animal upset should I come between them and their young. No fear what so ever.

So I really should start taking a camera with me cause the morning before when I was walking their was amazing water drops on the tips of the evergreens and the sun was shining just right so it would have been beautiful.

If you stuck around...glad you did. I'll see you tomorrow.

Nana sends a big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO XAVIER"! He's a year already.

Yvonne

1st Birthday - Cricut Card

Hello There,

Well here is little Xavier's Birthday card. I really struggled with his card - nothing seemed to turn out right when I was doing it.

For starters the base of this card was design with my "Gypsy" (you could use design studio too). I took the rectangle from "George & Basic Shapes and sized it to 4" x 5 1/2 to start. Next I took the cupcake from Doodlecharm and used the shadow icon. I sized the cupcake to 3". Next weld the cupcake to one side of the rectangle. On the gypsy I duplicated the image and then flip the design so I would have the mirror image. Then weld both halves together and you have a shaped card.

Ithen proceeded to create the layers for the cupcake and added stickles and inking for extra dimension.

I used the masking effect on the balloons and free handed the string. Happy Birthday! was stamped and layered using my Nestabilities.

Planting Schoolbook was the font used for the 1st.

I did finally get everything in the mail - packages of goodies for some of you and some family cards. What a line-up at the post office. The 15th is the deadline for taxes here and I think everyone waited till the last minute to mail it out.

So if you do have the Cricut don't be afraid to play around with it...it's the only way to learn all the neat things it can do.

Have a good day!

Yvonne

Boys & Dinosaurs!

Good Afternoon!

Well I've been meaning to post this for a few days now but just didn't have it photographed.

I was still struggling with getting a birthday card made for Xavier. I think it's been a month that I've been working on an idea...and none of them want to turn out the way Nana has it envisioned. Will he care...no, but I do! So today's card is one that didn't make it for him however I do have a little nephew I can send it to.

So to start out the images are from a discontinued SU set called "Dinomite".
The celery background was embossed using one of the new Sizzix releases - animal prints. The brown strip across the card was created using the crimper with a bit of ribbon overtop. The dinosaur was stamped, then cut out and Holly stickles added for the dots. Markers were used to color in the palm trees so they were two-toned. Add a few dimensionals and you're done.

I haven't posted on blogger for a few days and they seem to have changed a few things. For starters, how to upload the photos...took me awhile to figure that one out. Looks like you can add video clips now too. Maybe it was always there but I don't remember it.

Tomorrow I will share Xavier's card. For a hint I used the Cricut on it so you may want to check this out!

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day.

Yvonne

First Plane Ride

Good Morning,

Sunny morning here and the rain last night. Just after supper I was about to go out for a walk and the heavens opened up. Sure glad I was out when that happened.

A little scrapbook page today of Xavier's first plane ride. I should have put in there somewhere "Are we there yet?" but that would have been the sounds Mom & Dad were making! lol

He did great on his plane ride and entertained people around him.

I used the cricut for the lettering and shapes. I also had a boarding pass to attach to the page.

I have been getting lots of cards made but I can't share them with you just yet. I know have to make something I can share with you tomorrow. Such a busy life.

Looks like I'm still going to be on my own for the next few days. DH was supposed to come home Friday but it looks like now I won't see him until the following Wednesday or Thursday. Better get lots done while he's away.

Enjoy your Thursday. I will be spending my evening watching Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice. All the shows I watch come on the same night. I'll have an evening of vegging.

Yvonne

Mojo Monday Challenge 133 & Thumping Technique

Hello,

A little late in the day for my usual postings. I did have the card finished this morning but just didn't get it photographed.

So right to the card. I followed the sketch for Mojo Monday.
I used Always Artichoke for the base (dark green) and celery as the contrasting green. The stamps I used were SU and referred to as two-step stamping. So in this case the leaves are one stamp and the tulip heads are another. Same for the butterfly - body one piece and wings another. I'm only pointing that out so I can explain how I inked the stamps. For the leaves I stamped the image in celery ink and then used my Always Artichoke marker and stroked dark green where I thought I wanted different color. Did the same idea with the tulips - pale plum ink for tulips and perfect plum which is darker over top. The butterfly was stamped in barely banana and then the pumpkin pie marker highlighting certain areas. This technique on Splitcoaststampers is referred to as thumping. Click on the link if you want more detailed directions.
The small green squares were embossed with a Cuttlebug folder as was the strip across the middle. When I did the two green squares I cut the square to size first and then layed it exactly over the area I wanted to show. In this case I was wanting to focus on the birds. Nestabilities used for the ovals and dew drops for the embellishment. I also used SU's slit punch so the card would look like it was fastened when actually it isn't.

Closer look at the stamped image.

Hope you enjoyed todays share.

Well must get back to the cave and see if I can find anything else to work on.

Yvonne

Go Girl Go!

First off I would like to say how proud I am of my DD for having competed in her first 5K race. She's worked hard at it and it payed off!

She knew Mom would be doing some scrapbooking so made sure she took some photos just for me.  She's the crafty sort too so understands how important it is.

The first page I followed a sketch on Imaginisces's blogs. I was going to link the page to their website but didn't realize I needed to use 75% of their product to be able to link the post. Oh well, I had fun playing along anyway.

I like how she took photo's of her shoes, medal and her number. The green strip across the page was crimped in a paper crimper. Just remember if it goes through crooked the first time or you don't like it you can keep re-crimping it until you get it right. I used the cricut for the words and silhouette images. Added a little dragon fly to match the other page.

The pattern paper is from Urban Lily and I actually bought it at a garage sale. I liked the lilies on the page and wanted to soften the look a little so I cut around the flowers so I could slip the photo mat in behind. I had to laugh at the picture of her warming up...on her facebook she said she should have been spending more time on stretching instead of hamming it up. I liked it.

The quote at the bottom says

"All of our dreams can come true - -

if we have the courage to pursue them."

                                  Walt Disney

That's all I've got for today...the scrapbook pages too me all of yesterday. I'm so slow sometimes.

Enjoy your Monday and thanks for stopping by....Yvonne

Winners All Around!

Good Morning!

Hope all of you had a "Happy Easter". A little chocolate for the soul.

I hinted on Saturday that I had some news to share with you...and I do!

I'm very excited to have been one of the ten chosen to be part of the design team for Sketches! {by tamara}

Each Tuesday a new challenge is posted for people to play along with. It rotates through four weeks focusing on different elements. There will be scrapbook and card sketches, a recipe challenge and a journalling challenge throughout the month.

Officially my term will start in May, or rather that's when projects I've worked on will start being featured. I'm looking forward to the challenges and hope you will play along too.

I have been posting sketches on my blog for the last three months and had hoped more people would have played along. I am going to discontinue that for the time being but for the two gals who did play along this month please send me your snail mail address so I can put a little prize in the mail to you. That would be Julie M and Marlene K.

Stick around though I will have some more news by the end of the week or early next week and I have a super scrapbook page to share with you in a separate post.

Thanks to all who participated in the challenges in the last couple of months.

Yvonne

Easter Goodies!

Good Morning All,

Hope if you're travelling this Easter week-end you're at your destination.

Sharing some Easter projects with you this morning. (I'm pretty sure you will have a little chuckle along the way!

"The Card"

I've had this card on the go for about three weeks...I know, do you ever have just one of those projects that won't come together? This was mine. I colored the image with copics and I was okay with that. Then I picked out the pattern paper, (some I got for Christmas) thought they were nice spring colors. Ooops, that means I need to darken up those flowers. Okay, did that. Then I had a brain wave to follow a challenge sketch, then it got bad. I tried and tried and nothing worked. By this point I had already cut the image out with my nestabilities, so I'm now committed to that shape. I won't drag you through anymore of the fine details of moving, looking, positioning, and sighing. A couple of days ago I decided the card had to be finished. So I decided to do the best I could and knew the recipient would appreciate it anyway. So I glued everything on, stepped back had a look, decided it was okay and then went to open it. Yeah...you guessed it. I glued everything on so the card opens from the left not the right. lol I thought about cutting the back off and re-mounting it. Nope...you sometimes just need to know when to stop and cut your losses. lol Just so you know all my projects do not turn out!

The little Easter bags are pretty cute and filled with treats. The inspiration for this project came from Splitcoaststampers. Click the link for directions, however, I changed the sizes for the ones shown below.

My paper size is 7 1/2" x 9". Scored at 1 1/2", 4", 5 1/2" & 8". Score the other direction at 1 1/2" & 5".

After I had cut and scored the project I used Swiss Dots and embossed the paper. The images on the front are from the Easter 2010 Cricut cartridge. I also used my SU border punch on the flap and the green edges on the flap and circle were inked.

I have some exciting news to share within the next day or two so keep checking back. In the meantime Have A Happy Easter!

Yvonne

Just A Little Spring

Good Morning,

Has April brought spring flowers? They certainly have here. My roses are starting to bloom and my Hibiscus are looking great...except for the one I forgot to water. Okay, in my defense I watered it but I didn't notice the water was running right out the bottom. I think it will make it, I hope.

This is a stamp that I just never get tired of using. I've had it for years. The paper was from Costco and actually has butterflies on the background. The punched border was made with a new EK Success border punch. I put little gems in the centre of each flower and a bit of ribbon on the bottom of the image.

How are your Easter plans coming? Mine will be very quiet as DH has to leave today for a week. This is a first at being alone for Easter. I plan on getting in lots of crafty time as I haven't been in my room much.

Must share a little story with you about the weather. The older you get the more you talk about the weather. lol Not really. It has been very pleaseant weather wise here Mid to high 70'sF converted mid to low 20's C. I'm watching the news and the weather report comes on. The weatherperson is telling us to enjoy the great weather we have cause it's not going to last. Of course, I'm thinking, "Oh, it's going to get cold again." They meant it's going to be getting hotter and muggy. lol I've never had a problem with it being hotter, my perspective may change...I'll keep you informed.

Happy Good Friday

Yvonne