Thursday, February 25, 2010

Two Challenges in One


I was doing a bit of blog browsing yesterday, something I haven't done in while and I came across the Moxie Fab World blog with a great challenge currently happening.

Well I knew I wanted to join in the fun on this blog but at the same time I am also a card challenge contributor (I guess that is what I am - LOL) on the Hazard County Card Challenge blog started by my dear friend Angela. This was the first time I got in on the challenge over at that blog.

I have to say I had a lot of fun incorporating the two challenges together but I am happy with my final product.



To create the image on my card I used the Acetate and Tissue Technique that I found on Splitcoaststampers. The tutorial is great and easy to follow. Next I used the requirements for the Hazard County Challenge which included using the colours purple, mustard, orange and pink - crazy I know but it still worked out well. You should pop over to see what the others have created using the colour combo. Talk about a great job. The next requirement was to use circles or dots on the card and finally use a stamp set never used before in our collection. I used the sets Seeing Spots, Wings of Friendship and Whimsical Words for this card.

The bird and my sentiment were both stamped with Versamark, covered with Detailed Black EP and heat set. The designer paper is Razzleberry Lemonade and I used two ric rac and grosgrain ribbon behind my image. Of course I pulled out my trusty big shot and cut my main image out using the Scallop Circle # 2 die and for the sentiment I used my large Oval Punch.

I hope you will pop over to the other blogs and see what is going on.

Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Spring Time

Okay so we aren't quite as spring yet. We just had a dumping of snow yesterday but the temperatures are nice and mild. I know spring is coming soon and that makes me happy.

I am totally in love with the new Felt pieces that Stampin' Up! has in the Occasions Mini. They are so vibrant and cheerful that I love using them on my cards.

This card is made with Whisper White cardstock and cut to 5.25" square. I layered Chocolate Chip over my base with a layer of Sweet Pea DP on top of this. I then paper pierced my edges for that great dimensional feel. On top of this layer I added another strip of Chocolate Chip and a strip of the Welcome Neighbour DP from the Sale-A-Bration mini. Cute eh?


Finally my top layer, which is popped up with dimensionals, is made by layering some more DP onto a square of Chocolate Chip cardstock, paper pierced again and the Sweet Pea stitched felt, smack dab on top.
Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret :)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Many Moons Ago

Many moons ago, I promised I would share with you a crochet creation I had made for a friend of mine. I gave a sneak peek back then but never did show you the whole thing.

So as you may recall my friend had a little baby boy. This is the baby blanket I crocheted and embroidered for her.

She loved it and her little one has had a few pictures taken on it already (grin)

Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret

Monday, February 15, 2010

You Stole My Heart

What a long weekend! It was probably one of the absolute best weekends I have had in a very long time. Saturday I spent a good portion of my day with my dear friend Angela and we had a great time together. I went home and was able to get a smidge of stamping done.

I took Chris out for the most incredible Valentine's dinner EVER. According to him I've topped them all, so that was a great thing. The beginning stage of the heart album I posted a few weeks ago, I had managed to finish and I gave this to Chris as a Valentine's gift and he loved it.

Then we had family day and we took Taygan out for a few hours free skating at the arena and then we headed off to the Goofie Newfie for a fun afternoon of karoake and having some food. It was a great day and a great way to end our weekend.

Going back to Valentines and giving my man a gift, I also (of course) gave him a card which is what I am sharing with you today.

I took glossy white cardstock and inked the paper with Summer Sun and Only Orange ink using my brayer. This gave it a sunset feel. Next I used my Bo Bunny flexible ruler to draw a curved line on Old Olive cardstock to begin my grassy hill. I then cut slits along the top edge to create my blades of grass. Before attaching this to my sunset matte, I stamped my tree in Chocolate Chip ink to the right of the card. Then I placed my grass down.


I stamped my racoon in Staz On ink on Whisper White cardstock. Then I coloured her in with my Watercolour pencil crayons and blended with my blender pen. Then I cut her out and popped her up on my card front. Next, I stamped my sentiment, You Stole My Heart in Staz On ink on my cardfront.

Finally, I layered my main card onto a matte of Chocolate Chip cardstock which is layered on my Ruby Red card base.

Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret :)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Circle of Friends

One thing I love, which used to be something I completely avoided, is having a great circle of friends. Although I may not see or speak to some of these friends on a regular basis, they are friends who put a smile on my face just by thinking of them. They have that aura about them that makes you know instantly they are the kind of people you will remember your whole life.

I find I make a lot of friend cards probably because I know that they will come in really handy. You would think with the amount of family I have I would make more birthday cards but to be honest, there are so many people that I easily forget birthdays.

Today I am sharing a friend card with you. This new set called Vintage Vogue from the Occasions Mini is super fabulous. I stamped my Friends sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White cardstock. Then, because I loved the shape of the rubber cling mount that it is made from, I layed my stamp over top of my image and made the outline on my cardstock with a pencil. Next I cut out my sentiment and had those beautiful curves from the stamp. To make it stand out though I inked the edges with Regal Rose ink.



Next on a separate piece of White cardstock, I stamped my flourishes in Old Olive ink. I cut this out using my circle scissor plus and layered this on a scallop circle of Chocolate Chip ink. I cut this out using my Scallop Circles #2 BigZ die. I added a bit of paper piercing around the edge of the circle for a bit more dimension and popped up my sentiment on my flourish circle using pop dots.

Finally using pop dots, I attached these layers to my card front. I created the card front by layering Sweet Pea DP onto a layer of Old Olive, which is layered onto the 4.25" square card base made from Pretty in Pink cardstock.

Thank you for stopping by.
Margaret :)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Classy Ornament

Well this is my third Christmas card of the year.

I have seen pleated ribbon many a times on cards and decided I would try it for once. I love the look of it but next time I will the pleats go one way on half the card and the opposite way on the second half.

I used my Tree Trimmings set for this card. It is such a simple yet classy set. I stamped my image in Real Red ink on Whisper White cardstock and sponged some Chocolate Chip ink around the edges to soften it. Then I layered this on some Chocolcate Chip textured cardstock.


I used some of the Christmas designer paper from the Holiday Mini and layered them on Real Red cardstock and then I added my pleated Chocolate satin ribbon. I attached this to my 5.25" square Chocolate Chip textured base and finally popped up my ornament image onto the front of the card.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are enjoying these early Christmas cards.
Margaret :)

Monday, February 8, 2010

Valentines Sweet Treat


Hey all and welcome to another week.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I went skating 3 times and had a blast. My oldest daughter worked on teaching me how to skate backwards and her friend taught me her trick for stopping. I am working on these two things and you never know, maybe by the time the skating season is done, I might actually be able to do them comfortably. LOL

Valentine's Day is coming up on Sunday already and the stores are packed with sweet treats. I was at the dollar store the other week and came across some red heart suckers. I have seen some cards made with suckers and decided I would give it a whirl.


I pulled out my Sweet Pea Designer paper and cut out a square for my top layer. Using my rectangle hole punch I punched out to holes to slide my sucker stick through. I adhered this to a square of Pretty in Pink cardstock and wrapped a bit of pink taffeta ribbon around the card to cover up those holes.

I attached this part of my card to a Real Red textured cardstock base cut 4.25" square and using some bits and pieces of Sweet Pea DP I punched out a couple hearts with my various heart punches. I popped a few of these up and my Sweet Treat card is complete.

Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret :)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Simple Ornament


I can't believe it's Friday already. Where on earth did this week go?

With so many things going on, I forgot to mention that last week Thursday Chris and I went to a Rascall Flatt's concert. It was fantastic!!! We had an absolutely amazing time. The performance was phenomenal and we went hope completely happy.

Okay, so I mentioned already that I am making a Christmas card a week but as you also know I had the whole month of January to catch up on, so today I am sharing another Christmas card.

I'm not sure why, but I have gotten into the habit of making a 4.25" square card, perhaps because I can still make two out of one sheet of cardstock and I like the square look.


My card base is Whisper White with a layer of Bordering Blue that I ran through the Big Shot with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder. I stamped my ornament in Night of Navy ink and punched it out using the Ornament punch. I attached a bit of gold elastic cord to it and tucked the ends in behind the Bordering Blue layer. I stamped a round dot image in Bordering Blue ink and stamped the snowflake over it with Night of Navy ink. I then punched them out using the 3/4" circle pucnch and layered it on Bordering Blue cardstock punched out with the 1" circle punch.

I popped up these little circles as well as the ornament with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
Margaret :)

Blog Banner

Hey all, I will be returning tonight with a card for you but I just wanted to mention that I created myself a blog banner.

Okay, so I finally downloaded Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio onto my computer, now that it is virus free, and decided to play with it right away. I spent about 20 minutes on this banner so it was really quick and simple.

Once I play with the Studio more and learn how to use all it's functions I plan to make a really beautiful banner for my blog. This one is cute but I am sure I can design something fabulous. The other thing I need to figure out is how to get the banner to fill the entire top of the window and not just a portion of it.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts and don't forget to come back tonight.

Margaret :)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Reindeer Dancing

My goal this year is to follow in one of my friends footsteps and make at least one Christmas card a week this year. Karen, who is my former SU upline, did this last year and I just love seeing what she has created.

Although I am technically one month behind already, I did manage to whip up 3 Christmas cards over the weekend. Woohoo!!

This little beauty began with a Regal Rose base. I added a layer of Chocolate Chip with my Whisper White finishing up on top.



Prior to adhering the layers though, I stamped my image from the Wandering Words set in Chocolate Chip ink and wrapped some super retired SU ribbon on the left hand side of the card. I needed to break up the white space on my card and did so quite easily by adding a bit of paper piercing in the bottom right hand corner.

I think this card is super cute and simple.

Thanks for stopping by.
Margaret :)