Stampin' With Markers - technique

Before I get to today's technique I'm going to chit chat!

First - this is my last day of official work at my office job. Yippee! I will have to go back in next week to do my T4 and separation slip. lol Can hardly wait to have LOTS of time to play with all my toys.

Speaking of toys...I think my New Years resolution is "No more buying brads or eyelets!" For Christmas I got a great little storage unit to keep embellishments in and it would also be easy to transport if I was going to a crop. It was purchased at Walmart. They come in two different sizes in the craft section and mine is the smaller size. Anyway, I proceeded to organize my brads & eyelets. I could compete with many craft stores with the amount of embellishments I own.

Onto todays card -

I love the colors on this card as they are non-traditional for winter. I think we might need a little warm color in our lives as I checked the weather this morning and there are blizzard warning for Nova Scotia for this afternoon/evening. Yuck! Back to the card at hand - I get distracted so easily.
The sweater, touque & mitts are from a retired SU set. You will notice the two different colors on the clothes. I used a marker and colored directly onto the stamp to achieve the two-tone look. I used Stampin' Up's markers, but any water-based marker that has a brush tip can be used. Take your marker and color on the stamp using the side of the marker rather than just the tip so you can cover more area quicker. You have to work fairly quickly however, if the ink has started to dry you simply "huff" on your stamp before you put it to the paper.

What is this "huff" you ask? Hold your inked stamp up to your face, take a deep breath and exhale through your mouth pushing the air out onto the stamp. The moisture from your breath will make the ink moist again. It really does work very well.

I also cuttlebugged one piece of cardstock with the snowflake folder and then cut it into three equal pieces. Layered it up onto the pink and then tied a ribbon around each piece for variety. I like how I staggered the columns. I stamped the brrr in black ink and then used a glue pen to place little drops of glue along the letters and then sprinkled dazzling diamonds over the letters for kind of a frosty look. The clothing has little dots of Stickles on the snowflakes and dots. Click on the pictures for a better look at the glitter. (Also take notice - I used one brad!) lol

This will be my last post for 2008-------HAPPY NEW YEAR--------I look forward to sharing my stamping and scrapbooking projects with you next year!

Yvonne

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Our family all made it home for Christmas. My daughter flew in from Toronto on Sunday night. She arrived about 10:30 p.m. and I'm amazed the plane landed as the drive to the airport was terrible. Adam, Stephanie and puppy arrived in time for supper on Christmas Eve. It was great to have everyone home and nobody has to leave until Saturday.
At times yesterday it sounded just like years gone by when the kids were playing with their new toys. Stephanie got a Wii Fit Qfor Christmas and everybody had a turn. Of course there was a little competition between brother and sister to see who could do the best. lol Some things never change except I didn't have to yell down and say "Quit fighting"! They also had the Rock Band game...we did have to ask for that to be turned down once. Good thing they never had drums and guitars growing up.
As it is every year my family spoil me with wonderful things. I did get some crafting things so I'll be putting those to good use. It's getting tougher for them to buy crafty things without doing an inventory first. And DH said if he did an inventory he might need "Prozac" lol
No photos to upload yet today....once the New Year arrives I'll be getting back into my regular blogging and I think to celebrate my retirement I'll be having a blog candy give away. So to all my regular readers please don't give up on me I will be getting back to sharing.
Only 3 more official days of work and counting.
Don't know if I'll get a chance to post again till the New Year as we're helping our son move on the week-end and of course we will be spending New Years with our good friend the "Waltons". It's always a special time to see out the old year and ring in the new year with good friends.

TO ALL OF YOU - - - BEST WISHES FOR A HEALTHY & PROSPEROUS 2009!

Yvonne

More Wedding

Sorry for the no posts! Just can't seem to keep up these days. Still not finished Christmas shopping, obviously no wrapping done, almost have the last Christmas card finished (got delayed writing the Christmas letter)and 8 days of work left. Gee this could be a Christmas carol.
I did try and create something on Sunday but....a couple of months ago somebody asked me if I ever had to throw out cards cause they didn't turn out. My response, "Nope, can usually save them, more ink her a little embellishment or ribbon there and it's fixed." Sunday I through out a project.It wasn't a card but a mini album. After about three hours of trying to get it glued together right I decided to cut my losses and recycle it to my garbage can. So that's what happened to Sunday's post!
Today's post is some more pages of the wedding, I've had these done for a little while, just didn't post them.


The embellishments on the post are done with the cricut.

I do have some news to share with you....I will be designing some cards for a new rubber stamp line. I will share more news of that in the coming days.

I will be back before Christmas to visit with all of you!

Yvonne

Hot Chocolate Treat

I had quite the crafting day yesterday. Made more of those illuminated cards. Made more "Santa Pants" and oh yea, I corrected the scoring directions I had on an earlier post. Good thing I had to go back to get the dimensions!
I did take a break to go out and get some groceries, actually the cats needed more food, and I needed a coffee. Off to Second Cup for a little caffeine and while I'm there I pick up a couple packages of hot chocolate. No, not for me....for giftys. Of course, I now need to make a holder for the hot chocolate packages cause you just can't hand somebody a package of hot chocolate and expect them to be impressed!
I think this turned out pretty cute and a quick inexpensive gift for baby sitters, teachers, friends etc.
I used a half sheet of 12 x 12 chocolate chip cardstock scored at 4" & 8". I cuttlebugged the snowflakes folder on a portion of the white (3.75 x 7.75)cardstock and then stamped my image in craft chocolate chip ink and embossed with iridescent ice. I love the ribbon as it matches so well. The stamp set is SU "Like it a Latte" and I used liquid applique to make the foam puffy and stand out. Sprinkled some dazzling diamond glitter on the liquid applique while it was wet so it has a bit of shimmer to the foam. Ticket punch for the corners and accented with white brads.

On the inside I folded the right side over to make a pouch and cut off some of the cardstock on a diagonal. I then decided that not only could I use it for a hot chocolate holder but I could put a gift card on the other side!

I guess I have to depart as the plow just went by and I can't get out of my driveway to get to work if I move some snow. Hmmm.....is there a downside to not shoveling...not that I can think of. I would really like to stay home and create some more. Well only 16 more days of work!

Have a Crafty Day!

Yvonne

PS - remember if you ask me a question about an item on by blog include an e-mail address so I can respond. When I get your comment it doesn't show an e-mail address. I had a question regarding the New York post, try sanding the edges and then inking.

Lots of Blog Candy

Check out Marie's Blog for a chance to win lots of yummy prizes!

Stampin Inspirations by Maria: Blog 2nd Anniversary Blog Candy!!!

Yvonne

Christmas Ornament

WOW! Can't believe it's been a week since I posted. Don't know where the time has gone. Hubby has been away so I thought I would have more time. Obviously I have a problem with time management. That's not entirely true...I just spent my time in the craft room. (I do have to make some time today for house work, laundry and groceries. I'm out of frozen meals) I haven't had anything new to post but I have been crafting. I was doing my Christmas cards as well as I had 25 cards that were ordered.

Wednesday night I did go out to play. Deborah had us girls over for a crafty night. As always there is a challenge/swap to participate in. The item I received was a microscope slide made into a Christmas ornament. It is so pretty and will look lovely on my tree this year.

I created for the exchange a lantern with a tea light. Unfortunately I was so late in creating it that I didn't have time to take a picture before I had to run out the door Wednesday night. BTW Tuesday night was taken up trying to come up with an idea and having nothing turn out right.

Deborah also made these cute Christmas earrings for each of us there! Thank you Deborah. Julie was unable to attend and doesn't have pierced ears but....if you're reading this Julie....I want you to know that there seems to be a great deal of experience amongst us in ear piercing and some of the gals would like to fine tune their skills. lol

Germaine also gave each of us some fragrant bath salts. I look forward to using them. Thank you!

Saturday I went to the Halifax Shopping Centre VERY early as they were having 20% discount at many of the stores. I got there about 8:45 and picked up some great deals. I now have a start on that Christmas shopping. I left about 11:15 and the mall was really starting to get busy.
Today I'm hoping to put up a few decorations, you know, make it feel more like Christmas. The tree will go up next week-end. I always like to be decorated well before Christmas because as soon as Christmas Day is over I'm itching to take down the tree and clean up the house.
Happy Sunday!

Yvonne

Santa's Pants

Hope all of you had a good week-end. I went over to PEI on Saturday and came back Sunday. Yesterday afternoon I crafted up this pair of pants. I think they are just the cutest. Wouldn't they look great with some candy in them?

First off this wasn't my design. I got the idea from "Diane's Paperart Creations". Diane's directions are located at the above link. The size of her Santa pants are based on 12 x 12 cardstock.
I altered the above directions for a slightly small pair.



Directions for my box:
Cut 2 pieces of red cardstock 4 1/4 x 9". Across the long width score at 2 ", 4 1/4", 6 1/4" & 8 1/2". Next rotate cardstock and score along the bottom at 1". Using scissors, cut the short lines from the bottom to the mid line. Fold on score lines. You will be making this into a box. Fold box so that both ends meet on top and the 1/2" flap will adhere to the inside of the other edge of the box. Use double sided tape on the 1/2" flap to make sure it stay stuck. Repeat for the other piece of red cardstock. Apply glue to the bottom edges. Fold them up making sure the small piece on the end is not last. Press bottom tight together to form box.
Fur Trim:
Cut a strip of white cardstock 1/2" x 11". Attach the strip to the bottom edge of each pant leg, trim to fit around box with seam in center of the side that will be the inside seam of pants. This is important because when assembling, these seams will become the inside seam on the pant legs. Apply adhesive to top of legs from edge to about 1/2" from edge and join together.
Suspenders:
Cut two red strips 1/2" x 8 1/2". I used a white gel pen to make it look like stitching. You could also use a sewing machine, paper piercing or stamp a stitched image along both edges of the suspenders.
Attaching Suspenders:
Add the suspenders to the pants by applying adhesive to the back side of one suspender at the bottom edge. Attach this to the outside of the pant leg, near the waistline's edge at back of pants. Apply adhesive to the opposite end of the suspender on the front side bottom edge. Bend the suspender slightly and attach it to the inside edge of the opposite pant leg. Placement should be near the top of the front pant leg (see photo)
Belt Buckle:
A pre-made belt buckle can be used or you can make your own. A buckle can be made with an ordinary soda pop-top tab. A buckle can be made from a sizzix die cut from heavy duty foil or silver cardstock. Slide buckle onto belt.
Belt:
Cut a length of black ribbon the distance around the pants. apply adhesive to the inside of the black ribbon and press it around the waistline of the pants, wrapping around both boxes just below stitching, finishing with the seam in the back. Align buckle to front center while wrapping the ribbon.
Belt Loops:
Cut two pieces of red cardstock 1/2" x 2". Corner punch one end or you can leave square. Add decorative stitching.Fold strip in 1/2 at 1". Add the belt loop over top edge of pants. I used a brad to secure it in place through the pants.
It's late so I better try and get some sleep.

Yvonne

More Wedding Pages

Week-end is almost here. I will be gone on Sat & Sunday so thought I best get a post in today.
The scalloped edges are done using Stampin' Up's new border punch. I also pierced a hole in each scallop for a little fancier look.
The flourishes, book and lettering are done with the cricut. I think I used the Wedding and the Storybook cartridges.
If the pages seem out of focus that would be me taking a picture with the camera. The original photos are just fine. lol I'm too tired today to go back and re-take the pics.


There are still a couple spots left for Monday's Christmas Card Class. If you're interested e-mail me at ybalmer@hotmail.com. Samples can be seen at the top right hand side of the blog.
Have a good week-end.

Yvonne

New Toy

Alright then, I'll get right to my new toy! I bought the Nestabilities Label sets 1 & 2. lol Pretty self-explanatory on the card. The background is the weathered background stamp from Stampin' UP. Not much to explain on this card.
Some of you wanted to know where I bought my battery operated tealights. Dollar store.

Other big news though....The Cutting Garden has a new owner. They will publish the name in the next day or two so I don't want to mention who it is until it's been announced there. The store will re-open mid-late January in a new location. On a sad note it was my last day yesterday at the Cutting Garden with Catherine. It was so much fun working there. It's fun to be able to visit with people who are really interested in the same things you are!
More news...I'm not finished yet. As of December 31st I will be officially unemployed or I like to think of it as retired! I finally gave notice yesterday at the other two places I was working. Just think of all the time now I'll have for scrapbooking. :) Might have to work a thorough housecleaning in there too.
That's all I've got for today. Later on I may post a scrapbook page. I have a few more of those done from the wedding.

Yvonne

Daughter "B-Day"

I had a fairly productive week-end. Went and saw the new James Bond movie. I'd rate it as just okay. My biggest complaint were the action scenes. They have so many special effects and they switch the angle, the shot, the whatever so quickly that you don't have time to visually focus on anything. My impression of the action scenes was a kid with a video recorder who zooms in then out and tries to capture everything in thirty seconds or less. lol
Today's post is a birthday card for my daughter. She will turn 24 next week. Wow...my baby is growing up.
I wanted to do something different than the usual flower, earth tone cards. So I thought bold. Taken with Teal is never a color that I use but I did have a little pattern paper left with the teal and rose together on it so that's where the start came from.

The cupcake was stamped on watercolor paper and colored in with Twinkling H20's and then I cut around it. Put dazzling diamond glitter over the icing and then used stickles to make some raised up dots. Mounted that onto the pattern paper with dimensionals. The little dragonfly in the corner and been stamped and colored some time ago and the colors matched so I thought it would be cute on the card. The ribbon around the centre I've had for a couple of years. It actually was part of a set that matched the pattern paper. The ribbon is crinkly and stretchy. I cuttlebugged the background with the birthday folder. Had to do it twice cause the paper was too large....can you see where it joins? Added the little circle - punched out the centre and layered it on a dimensional and put a clear acrylic bubble overtop of it. All in all I think it is pretty cute.
I mentioned last week that I had some new toys. Well I bought a score-pal. I used it to score the folds in those illuminated Christmas Cards. I really like it cause it makes everything so accurate and you all know me and my need to be exact. lol Hope to get a chance to try out one of those grid cards soon. Tomorrow I'll post something using the other new toy.
Yvonne

Second Post of the Day - Another Lighted Card

This time I used patterned paper for the backside instead of cardstock. This was "Wassills" line from Basic Grey. The stamps and rest of the paper is from "Stampin' Up". I've included a shot this time from the top down so you can get a better idea of what it looks like.




The plow has finally come by and Kevin is now moving snow from the end of the driveway. This will mean we'll soon get to go and have some coffee. While I'm out I'm going to look for some of those battery tea-lights.
Gotta run.......

Y

Illuminated Card

Saturday morning and I'm in my craft room. Power was out earlier on however there was enough sunlight to stamp. Winter certainly came with a big bang last night. Our side road hasn't been plowed yet so I'm unable to leave the house to go and get my Saturday morning flavoured coffee at "Second Cup" and a cinnamon bun. I maybe going through withdrawal here. However, even with the power being out and our stove is electric my hubby went to the garage found a little camp stove that we used to use, oh so many moons ago, and made coffee. The power has now come back on(obviously as I'm typing this) but no sign of the snowplow. We live right on a corner and the adjecent road to us is plowed but not us.
So in light of our recent snowfall I made this card. The card was inspired by a picture that was forwarded to me by a friend a couple of months ago. I knew I wanted to CASE it but just hadn't gotten around to it yet.
This picture would be the inside. I used 12 x 12 cardstock cut two pieces 5" x 12" and scored both pieces at 3",6" & 9" and then folded accordian style. I made a cardstock template to make the two holes. It's easier to make one accurate template that you can just trace around rather than measuring each time and that way you're not nearly as accurate. Trace and cut out the two holes in the middle section. I stamped on vellum cardstock and then used double sided tape to adhere the vellum on the inside. Stamped my images on white cardstock for either end.

This would be the outside of the card. I used white craft ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. The sparkle doesn't really show up well on the picture. I then folded accordian style again but with the opposite fold and joined the two pieces of cardstock on each end leaving the middle unglued.

When it's put together and standing up there's about a 3" x 3" square centre that you can put a light or a tea light into to illuminate the image. I'm planning on going and getting one of those little tea lights that's battery operated. I'm sure I saw them at the dollar store. I did see them at Michael's last night but they were way to expensive there.

Well I think I'm going to have to try a few more of these in different themes as well. I'm thinking a nice stained glass stamp would be nice for the window. If you have any ideas let me know or better yet share a photo of your card.

Hope everyone is well considering the snow. Enjoy a day of stamping - that's what winter is for.

Yvonne

Winter - Who Needs It?

Happy Snow Day.....Not!
I really dislike winter and yesterday just reaffirmed that. I was teaching a final class with Catherine at the Cutting Garden. It was actually a large event with about 30 people and was being held at the Holiday Inn.
Well it starts to snow in the afternoon and just won't quit. The roads were so yucky I made my DH come and pick me up last night which of course resulted in me going to work very early this morning cause I had to pick up my car.

These are the four other cards that I made a couple of nights ago. Thought I would post them all at once as they are all the same style just a little different layouts.
I like the red and green one as they are different colors. Those are the new "In Colors" from Stampin' Up!. Kiwi Green and Red Riding Hood are the color names.





Looking forward to picking up my mail tonight as I have some new toys arriving. Won't tell you what they are....yet. I'll make something and then I'll share with you.

With the weather yucky you should take a craft day, stay inside and play.

Yvonne

A Rose Is A Rose

Todays post is going to be short & sweet. The rose is colored in with Twinkling
H20's and I played with the cuttlebug again. I like adding the score lines on either side of the sentiment.
I do have four other cards to show you using the same stamp just colored in different and the layout changed slightly. I'll try and get those uploaded for tomorrow.
I couldn't sleep on Sunday night so I got up and crafted for a few hours.

Have a great day.

Yvonne

Baja Breeze & Chocolate Chip

Sunday already. Don't know what happened to the week-end. I did go scrapbooking on Friday night with the gals from the Cutting Garden. Lots of fun and I managed to get two pages completed and a start on another layout. More pages for the wedding album.
Went to the craft fair at Exhibition Park. It was a little different this year. Not nearly as many vendors and no antique tables. They are trying to change it back so the items sold there are handcrafted. I did buy a large tin star with a pine swag at the top. Maybe I'll have to take a photo to share. It's pretty cute....besides that, if I wouldn't have liked it I wouldn't have bought it. lol

Todays card is in the Christmas theme again. I so like making Christmas cards. Same stamp set that I posted a card done in burgundy earlier this month. The stamp set is call Snow Swirled from Stampin' UP.
I used Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip ink and cardstock. The scalloped edge on the Chocolate Chip paper is done with their new scallop edge punch. I just got it and really like it. I just had to add a little bling to the card and the snowflakes and the tree are raised up on dimensionals.
I'm going to head back over to my craft room now and work on some more cards. Maybe I'll have something else to post later.

Yvonne

Same Stamp - Different Cards

No playtime yesterday. Went to Antigonish to see Adam & Stephanie and our friends Pam & Bob. Had to see Pam as it was her "Big Birthday". Won't say anymore as too how many candles she was going to have to blow out. lol Returned back home about 6:30. I don't like driving at night anymore.

Have to be quick posting as I should be getting ready for work.
I made both of these cards on Sunday and I used the same stamp set, Artifacts, that I used on the posted card from a couple days ago. The cardstock and ink are the same on both cards - however, I sharpened the color on one card via the computer after I had uploaded it. Couldn't believe what a difference it made and it is much closer to the actual color on the card. The brighter of the two was edited.


My favorite of these two is the card directly above. I liked how I got the little strip of blue between the clock and the words. I know you can simply cut a little piece of cardstock and glue it overtop...but Iwas looking for something different. I used my Fiskars cutter and made two slits 1/8" apart and then slid the stamped rectangular cardstock through the slit. Pretty esy to do.
Will see you on Friday. I work till late tonight so probably won't get back to the craft room until Thursday evening for creating.
Gotta love these short work weeks!

Yvonne

Snowflake Star

Sunday was such a good crafting day! I completed four cards (I'll have some to show all week) this being one of them. I've also scheduled a Card Class - see class schedule located on the right and also the samples of the three cards we will be doing. To sign up for classes e-mail ybalmer@hotmail.com or 860-3727.

This card has some 3-D work on it. The snowflake is embossed and layered as well as the cute little tag at the bottom. I just love the snowflake embossing folder with this card. I've made some score lines at the bottom to create a banner look.

Well it's late or early depending on how you view 2:38 a.m. I should try and get some sleep.

Good Night
Yvonne

Faux Metal With A Twist!

Good Morning All,

It's been a few days since I've been able to post. Taught my final Cuttlebug class at The Cutting Garden on Thursday and I spent a couple of nights getting the paper ready for the Lotus Book class for this coming week. That will be my last class to teach there. I've met lots of great people by working and teaching at the store and in classes we've certainly had a laugh or two.

Todays card....well I started out wanting to play with the three new colors of alcohol inks,(I had a little shopping theraphy) so I used some household tinfoil and covered a piece of cardstock. I cut the tinfoil about 1/2" larger than the paper I'm covering. Put glue stick on both the tinfoil and paper. Fold the tinfoil around to the back of the paper. I'm now thinking I want this to be a manly type card so I used the Argyle folder for embossing. Oooops I put my tinfoil paper in the wrong direction and I didn't get the right texture on the embossed piece. Okay, line it up in the folder again and see if I can re-emboss it so the image is reverserd. Hey, it worked. I used Rust, Stonewashed & Pitch Black alcohol inks to cover the tinfoil.


Next, deciding what stamp to use. Masculine cards are so much more limiting than femine cards. Artifacts is the Stampin' Up set I used. The stamp looks like part of a clock face. For this part I cut a CD into four pieces (the ones that go in your computer or DVD)and did the Faux Metal technique. This requires putting multiple layers of embossing powder onto the CD and heating. You'll start my using your Versamark pad and covering the CD, then embossing powder (silver), then heat. Apply more versamark, the powder, then heat repeating the process about five times. Once you've heated the last layer have your inked stamp ready (stamp with versamark as the stamp will release from the melted embossing powder easier) and stamp your image onto the CD while the melted embossing powder is hot. It won't damage your rubber stamps but I have not tried it with arcylic. Apply firm pressure as you want it to make a fossil like impression.
At this point I'm thinking.....wonder if I can apply the alcohol inks to my faux metal CD piece. I gave it a try and it worked like a charm.
If you click on the picture you can also see on the navy cardstock I versamarked the stamped image and the silver brads, well they are now a rust color, I alcohol inked them too.
All in all I really liked the way it turned out. If you decide to give this a try yourself send me a picture of your finished product!
Think I'm going to have a little more crafty time today. I'm working on some cards for a Christmas card class.
Happy Crafting,
Yvonne

Soft & Subtle

Well I did get my hair cut. If I get around to taking a photo I'll post it. Had about 6 inches taken off. It is now cut into a bob, however I wish I would have left it just a little longer. On the up side give it a couple of months and it will be exactly where I want it.

A question today for anybody who blogs or just might know the answer. I'm wanting to put a class list on the side of my blog, either a calendar that I can type stuff into or just actually listing the classes. I go to the gadget area but can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Onto today's post. The colors I used are Certainly Celery and Regal Rose. The celery is very soft. I brayered the CB folder with dye based celery ink and then placed my cardstock into the folder and put it through the Cuttlebug. I used vanilla cardstock for that process. The other layers that have been stamped with celery ink are also on vanilla cardstock. The smallest piece on the front just has the leaf stamped and then the edges sponged to soften the look. The remaining vanilla piece I randomly stamped the leaf over the entire piece to create a background. I would ink the stamp and then make 2 -3 stamps before re-inking to get a range of color and depth. Tied a bow around for an embellishment and stamped "Hi There" for a salutation. I'll be popping this is the mail for my daughter. (The last card I sent I forgot to put the postal code on it so I hope she gets it. It has her Halloween treat in it!)

Time to get a little more creative and showcase some techniques. Watch in the coming days.
Enjoy your Wednesday.
Yvonne

Oh, Chocolate Box

Speaking of Chocolate... How was everyones Halloween? I must say we didn't get nearly enough children. Each year I keep track of how many kids come to the door so the next year I have a better idea of how many treats to buy and each year when Halloween comes around I can't remember how many kids came the year before so why do you think I still continue to make little tally ticks on a piece of paper. Well we only had about fifty kids and I think I had treats for about 125 or more. Needless to say I need to get the chocolate out of the house so Kevin loaded up the treats and took them to work today.

Sunday was a great day. Adam & Stephanie came up for a visit. Steph and I went shopping and the guys went shopping. Everybody came home with something except me. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to shop today. Bob and Pam came up later in the day and had supper with us, a little wine and then were picking their daughter Katelin up from the airport.

Enough chit chat and onto todays post. The brown paper used on the card is called "Chocolate Box". It's like the "Black Magic" paper in that it's colored on one side and brown on the other. When you sand off the brown it reveals the color of the paper underneath. In this case the underside was pink. The flower is colored using Twinkling H20's and the butterfly is too. I stamped the butterfly on vellum and then painted on the backside of the image. Two things happen...by coloring on the underside the water on the vellum cardstock makes the wings curl a little thus giving it a nice 3-D effect and the other thing is it creates a much softer finish to the butterfly. I sponged a little ink around the vanilla cardstock just to soften the look.

That's all for today...getting my hair cut this afternoon. Verdict is still out on how short I'll go.

Yvonne

Christmas Swap Cards

Remember I told you I went out with friends on Tuesday night to craft and we had a card exchange. I've finally had a chance to post them.
The first card is mine. I used the Swiss Dots and the Winter Scene folder from Cuttlebug. The rooftop on the houses has Diamond stickles on top. Gives just a bit of glitz. I embossed Seasons Greeting in gold. The remainder of the card was ivory cardstock and gold paper/cardstock. The ovals were cut with the Nestabilities.

The card was done by Kim P. The card base is actually white cardstock but she used a tea dyed ink. Okay, I don't know the exact name of it but it gives a lovely vintage look to it. My point was the ink really changed the look of the cardstock. The pattern background paper is from Basic Grey's new Christmas line "Wassailing",the snowflakes are a cuttlebug die and those lovely branches under the ribbon are a "Marth Stewart" punch, I think. The card is very adorable.

It is Happy Friday & Happy Halloween so have a spooktacular evening!


Yvonne

First Page

Here's another scrapbook page. This will be the first one in the album.

I used the "Storybook" cartridge from Cricut to cut the Happily Every After. The roses were from Jolie, actually extras from another project, so that worked out well.
The paper is from Kimberley Poloson. I have a couple more pieces from the same line that are equally as beautiful. The ribbon up in the corner says "Our Wedding".

Last night I went to Julie's place as she was having a little stamping get together. It was fun to chit chat with everybody. I worked on some more of my Halloween treats. Made some of the spiders too! They really are cute. We had a Christmas card exchange. I will post the card I received tomorrow. It was by Kim P.

Julie made some wonderful pumpkin muffins for treats. All I can say is "YUM".

My car was making funny noises on the way home. Ugh. She's going to the doctor tomorrow. There appears to be something hanging down loose at the front of the car.

That's all for now. Have a nice evening.

Yvonne

Halloween Treat

A fun little project for today. It's best if the chocolate is already at your house to assemble the project immediately. You feel a little more guilty pulling apart the projects you already made to eat the candy rather than it just sitting there with easy access. You're getting the picture, right.

This project is made using SU's scallop punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punch. I also used their paper piercer. Punched out two scallop punches from Tangerine cardstock, two black circles and two white circles. One side has the word "Boo" and the other side has a Halloween related image. The stamp set is also SU but from a long time ago. Glue the circle together and place on the scallop circle. Cut about a 5" piece of ribbon and glue on the inside of each of the scallop punch. Now place a chocolate treat that came from a big bag of chocolate (many of the shapes were unusable in the project....there were eggs and ovals besides the circles)onto the scallop circles with some double-sided tape and make into a sandwich and you're done.

Another alternative to chocolate would be to use the York peppermint patties. Yum!
On another blog I also saw these adorable spiders with the same idea but used the photo corner punch for legs.

The above is a side view just so you get whole picture. Go ahead give them a try.
Tonight I'm going to go stamping with the girls. I'm supposed to take a Christmas card for an exchange. I spent last night playing with a new stamp set but I don't work well under pressure. These gals always have great cards, not just your standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 size. So I may have something to show from the exchange tomorrow if I get one done. We'll see how long I have to work today and if I get some play time in this afternoon.

Enjoy!

Yvonne

The "Groom"

Finally the layout of the groom as promised. He looks so handsome...of course it is my son so I might be just a little biased. I was out with the bride and my daughter getting our hair done that I hardly have any pictures of my son getting ready.

These are groomsmen with Adam. Of course they ham it up for photos. They're all looking pretty good dressed up!

Pattern paper is from Stampin' UP. Cardstock is SU & Brazill. Lettering is with a Sizzix and the bush in the corner is done using the cricket cutter. The brads are Basic Grey.

Today we went for a drive down to Lunenburg. It was a warm day so had the roof down. When we left Lunenburg the GPS said 97 klms to home...after an hour of driving we were 102 klms from home. Should have listened to the GPS. We headed across country to Kentville...hmmm definitely not the shortcut.

I was also asked which cutter I bought....it was the 12" Tonic Tabletop Guillotine. I had thought about getting the 6" base one with the Guillotine blade but for the difference in price I went with the larger cause I cut a lot of 12 x 12 paper. So far I'm very pleased with it. It's also the cutter I've used at The Cutting Garden and have been pleased with the performance.

Speaking of "The Cutting Garden" Catherine (the owner) has announced the store will close the end of November. Another company is taking over the lease...not scrapbook related. If somebody is looking to buy her inventory and set up their own shop give her a call otherwise drop by and see what you need for your own personal stash.

A Halloween treat tomorrow!


Yvonne

Free Standing Pop Up Card

A fancy fold card today. This card is easy and fun to make. The only drawback to this card is there really is no place to write unless you do it on the back of the pop up. Oh well, not everything is practical, sometimes CUTE is okay.
On this card I used the 2 step stamping method. It is so quick. The stamps are designed so the base color was stamped in Regal Rose and the second stamp is an outline of the first. I used Rose Red to overstamp. For the leaves, same idea but I used Certainly Celery and Garden Green. I really like those two together as I don't use Garden Green very often. All stamps used are from Stampin' UP. On the box the solid leaf stamp was inked in Versamark and then randomly stamped.

A side view of the card. You can see how there is a slit cut in the top so the pop up portion can slide into it. I've provided a link for the directions however I did adjust the size of the stand up piece.
There are great directions at Splitcoatstampers. This is the card folded down flat so it can be mailed. You'll notice the different colors of the paper. Same card...top two taken with my camera and the last image scanned.

If you have any questions on the instructions drop me an e-mail.

Hope to get a little stamping in later today and it's also my TV night...ER, Survivor & Grey's Anatomy. Too bad they all fall on the same evening.

Yvonne

"The Bride"

Finally I was able to get the photos uploaded to the computer. Sharing pictures of the bride today and tomorrow will be the groom. Both of these pages are Stephanie getting ready just prior to the ceremony.


The photos beneath are of her, her sister Christine and her mother, Irene. Her dress was gorgeous and tied up the back. The veil she's wearing was the same one I was married in. There is also a lovely cape that she wore which was her moms. There will be pictures of that to follow.

I'm scrap booking the wedding album so I will be sharing plenty of pages with you. Hope you don't get bored.

I did do a little shopping today too....I bought a new cutter. It was either that or repair a window cause I was going to throw the one I had out the window. I cannot stand having my paper crooked. So I bought a guillotine cutter. My other one was a guillotine as well but it didn't have a paper holder on it so when you cut a longer piece the paper would slip towards the bottom.

I have made a couple of cards with it this afternoon and it worked great. Could even slice off just a teeny tiny piece of paper. I'm a happy crafter.:) One of my cards was a fancy fold so that one will show up tomorrow or the next day. Keep watching.

Have a nice evening!

Yvonne

Christmas Ornament

This card was inspired from a sketch posted on the Canadian Cuttlebug Yahoo Group. I tried to save the sketch and then re-post it here but I couldn't get the image large enough and I can't link it for you to see as you have to be a member to the group for access. I changed the card from landscape to portrait but still incorporated all of the features to a degree.

The background is done using the ornaments cuttlebug folder on tinfoil and altered with the alcohol inks. The nestabilities were used for layering and the ornament stamp is from a retired SU set. Holiday Happiness is also a retired SU stamp. Looped grosgrain ribbon to look like a hanger and utilized dimensionals for depth on the card. If you look really close there are two eyelets in the background too.

I think I will make a few more of this card for my Christmas cards.

Spent part of today driving around Chester and Mahone Bay. The fall colors are so pretty but there is definitely a chill in the air. Especially with the top down on the car. Good thing the Miata has heated seats and a good heater.

I'm off to the movies tonight. Not sure what we are seeing yet.

Hope to check in with you tomorrow. I have to take pictures of my scrapbook pages. I got FOUR done this week-end. No housework though! Well you can't do everything.

Yvonne

A Mouse Hello

Finally finished this card for my daughter. I started it probably a week ago. Now I just have to get it into the mail. I don't think she checks my blog so hopefully it will still be a surprise when she gets it in her mailbox.

Stamped the House Mouse in black stazon on watercolor paper. Watercolored it using Twinkling H2O's. The background is Cuttlebugged using the paisley folder and the ovals are done using the Nestabilities. Placed 3 little brads on the side for balance. The paper is Stampin' Up. Certainly Celery and Misty Mauve (retired color). The image is raised up with dimensionals.

Heading back to the scrapbook room - I had a scrapbook page done but decided to change things - so back to the drawing board.

Happy Week-end,
Yvonne

Flying High

TGIF! Looking forward to 5:00. It's been a crazy week. Haven't been home at all except to sleep. Planning on actually cooking a supper tonight. Well, I might not be doing the cooking cause DH will get home before me and he said he'd cook supper. Even better.

Posted a couple scrapbook pages. These two were done a couple of years ago. We had gone on vacation to the Mexican Riveria. They are photos of us out on an excursion. Besides the zip line I repelled into an underwater cave,
climbed this huge ruin, which was the scariest of all the things I did. Even parasailing wasn't as scary. I do have scrapbook pages of those as well so may post a couple in the days to come.

I used Basic Grey pattern paper and my sizzix to create the flowers and the letters. I did a little sewing on the project too. Computer generated journalling on vellum.

Hope you all have a great week-end and maybe I'll get a post or two in on Sat & Sun. I'm way behind on number of posts for October.
Yvonne