Sugar Nellie has arrived

Hi everyone!

Have you seen the Sugar Nellie stamps yet? OMG, they are just the cutest things ever! They come from Scotland and I ordered myself a few. I even got Pickle on board and they will be carrying some in the store as well but they have not arrived yet. Speaking of Pickle...if you haven't been in lately you should make a trip because this week they just got in some Stampavie! I snagged myself a few and now I just gotta find the time to colour them.

Back to the card. This little guy is called Porridge and he is from the Home Grown line. Now I'm not too sure who will be the recipient of a pig card, but then I passed by my son's room and it's highly likely that this card could be his one day! Can you say Oscar Maddison! I coloured this guy up with my pencil crayons and gamsol and check out those little buttons. They are fancy pants and I picked them up last week during Pickle's anniversary sale. Finally, the paper is Memory Box, Twiggy...another perfect match!

One more bit of Pickle news, the girls are at CHA this week and will be posting updates on their blog so be sure to check that out too! I can't wait until they get back...they get so excited!

Ooops!

Remember those Thinking of You cards in the last post. Well, I initially screwed up and made her Thank You cards instead! Oops!

Not a problem though, one can always use thank you cards in the stash. These were done with SU Spring Solitude set which I just HAD to have when I saw all these fab cards on blogs and galleries. So I picked up this set on Ebay. When you gotta have it, you can always find it on Ebay. It sat uninked for the longest time until I had this request for the presumed Thank You notes. I stamped the bird and branch in versamagic chalk ink and added some detail with my pencils. The open flowers also got some additional glitter in the centers. Paper is SU and ribbon is something I pulled from my stash.

Enjoy!

Thinking of You Hydrangeas

ETA (for Linda): The glitter on this card was done with stickles!
Hi Everyone...don't know what the weather is like where you live but it sucks here. I think we have been hit by snow about three times this week. I'm sure there are some folks who are just loving it, but me, not so much! The ONLY good thing about it is that the drift out my back door is providing a really nice spot for me to chill my wine! LOL!

Today was spent making some Thinking of You cards that a friend asked for. I thought I'd use my Kitchen Sink Hydrangea set which hasn't seen any ink yet and thought it would be quick and easy...like how much time can it take to just layer colours and stamp. Well it was a bit more time consuming than I thought! I must have spent a good part of the morning just dinking around with colour combos until I found one that appealed to me...then of course there was the assembly. Assembly is not my forte! I really just like to colour and I could be happy just passing them on to someone else to come up with a fantastic layout. But I persevered and this was the fruit of my labour.

Since it took me sooooo long to get the colour combo I think I'd better get it down in writing! For the flower I used Memento Angel Pink, SU River Rock, Adirondak Lettuce and finally Adirondak Pesto. The leaves were done with Adirondak Willow, Lettuce and SU Old Olive. The stem was hand drawn with my copic marker in YG21 and detailed with my pencils. I also used pencils on the leaves to add a bit more depth. The punch is Martha Stewart and the sentiment is Papertrey.

A couple other combo's I came up with for the flowers are as follows:

For a greener flower:
1) Adirondak willow, stamped off once
2) Adirondak willow again
3) Adirondak lettuce
4) Adirondak pesto

A nice purple combo (even tho I'm not a purple fan, I did like this one a lot):
1) SU Pale Plum stamped off once
2) SU Pale Plum again
3) SU Perfect plum
4) Adirondak espresso

Enjoy!

Manly Card #2

Here is the second (and final for now) of the manly cards. My MOM totally gushed over this one when she got her hands on it.

No stamping on this one, I used Peel Off stickers. I think these might have been Magenta ones but I'm not sure. A while back I took a class at Pickle that was instructed by their Sakura rep. The techniques were centered around the use of Gelly Roll, Glaze and Souffle pens. On this card I stuck the Peel Off onto a smooth watercolor paper. Added a small amount of the Gelly Roll pen and then using a Koi watercolor brush, pulled out the ink. There is a LOT of pigment in these pens so a little goes a long way. The whole think has a nice subtle glitter and the Peel Off's have a shinny and matte appearance that plain old embossing powder won't give you. Finished it off with some Penny Black designer paper and large eyelets that were set with my crop-a-dile!

Enjoy!

Felted Hats

I know, I KNOW this is not a card, but don't we card makers like to do ALL kinds of crafty and creative stuff! I know I do. I just can't sit still and always have to be doing something and have to keep a mix in there so I don't get bored (I think that is a Gemini thing! LOL!). So when I haven't been stamping I have been making felted hats.

For those who have never done this, you can equate it to shrink plastic. You knit or crochet your project...and don't be scared, it will be VERY LARGE...then you put it in a zippered pillow protector and put it in an agitating washer with warm to hot water. Now, recently my washer died and I replaced it with a front loader and you do need agitation so I took my hats over to my BFF's Kathy's house to shrink them up. It is like FREAKING MAGIC I TELL YA! You take that hat out after 10 minutes and you will be simply amazed at what happens to it....way toooooo cool!

So to get an idea of what happens, here is what the hat looks like before felting















And here is what it looks like after!















Are you shocked! I was! Both of these pics were taken with the hat on the same paper towel holder.

The first one I made I over felted it so ended up giving it to a friend (who has a smaller head). The second one I did I was a bit more careful with the felting (used warm water instead of hot, and checked the progress more frequently). These pics are my second attempt. They crochet up REALLY fast and would make great gifts. The pattern I used is Fiber Trends, AC-11, Crocheted Felt Hats and there are three versions. This is the medium brim version. For knitters out there, I think there is also a knitted version.

Here is to keeping my ears warm on my daily walk to Tim Horton's!

Finally...A Manly card

I know, I've promised this for about a week now and finally I'm getting to it. I have two to post, both I did quite a while ago and have had them buried in my stash. This first one is using a technique I learned while taking a class at Pickle...YES. I know, I teach there, but hey I can take classes too! Everyone has something they can share and I certainly don't pretend to know it all!.

So for this card, I stamped the main image in Walnut Distress Ink and then I picked up some embossing powder in my fingers and sprinkled it here and there...I didn't drown the entire image. When I shook off the excess I sort of turned the whole thing quickle upside down so EP wouldn't stick everywhere. Then, I stamped the distress background in Tea Dye (sorry...not sure who that image is from!). Finally I took some sponges and distress ink and added colour to the globe and distressed the edges.

Finished it off with a sentiment that was embossed and stamped with a Spellbinders label die and distressed those edges some more. There you have it! A very masculine card! This one will be going to one of my uncles and I'm sure he will love it!

Enjoy!
Linda.

Class Cards

I know, I know....I'm pushing those manly cards off another day but since I saw my class cards posted on Pickle's blog, I thought I could put them out here too. I didn't want to take away Kim's thunder! LOL!

So here they are, I am doing cards for kids in the upcoming class, although that adorable Stamping Bella Poppy Bittybloom could be for any girl that is still kid at heart! I'm super pleased with how these turned out so I'm really excited for classes to begin.

So I present to you...

Poppy Bittybloom



















and Magenta Lion



















Hope to see you in class!

Oh Baby!

Someone is having a baby...NOOOOOOOOO....it isn't me, and thankfully not one of my boys either! Actually, nobody I know is having a baby, but someone somewhere is and this card is for them!

Sorry, I just had to sneak this one in before showing the manly cards. This is one of my BFF Pauline's stamps. I thought it was so stinkin' cute I just had to colour it up. Now like I said, I don't have a particular recipient for this card, but I'll just hang on to it because it will come in handy when I need it. (Tanya and Matt...it could be you!)

This one was stamped in Black Versafine and coloured with pencils and gamsol. The paper is from a Basic Grey 6x6 pack and it was a perfect match!

Enjoy!

The Day Job

It's funny how the last two weeks when I wasn't at work I was able to stay up until midnight, or maybe 1am and sit and colour and putz and enjoy the quiet evenings. Well all that has changed! Back to the day job today and I tell ya, I am TOTALLY FREAKING MENTALLY EXHAUSTED! All I want to do is go to bed, but I'm gonna have a cup of tea, THEN, I'll go to bed.

I just came home from walking the pooch and testing out my new GPS on pedestrian mode. I admit, I'm a gadget freak, you name it, if it is handheld, I've got it. I continually tell the hubs if the iPhone was affordable in Canada I would have one. Now, do I need one? NOOOOOO...I have cell which is rarely used (except when I took a pic of the side by side Ferraris when I was in Houston to send to my son!)...I have an iPod, which has been shelved for my Touch (which I LOVE!) The only thing I would want the iPhone for is to have email without a wireless connection (I like access to my email at all times)...I could have that with a blackberry I guess...but it isn't an apple...and i LOVE my Touch!


Okay, enough blabbering about my passion for handheld gadgets. This is a card I made during my last two weeks of no-day-job bliss! It is a Penny Black brushstroke image and I coloured it with my SU markers, spritzed with water and stamped. Then took my pencils to it to add a bit more depth. I've been on a card making marathon the past few days trying to get ahead of my mom's requests. At the moment, I think I have about three months under my belt so that is good because when Dave starts touring in April, I'll quickly get behind!

Coming up in the next few posts, class cards for Pickle and a couple more 'manly' cards!

Stay tuned!

Peony Bittybloom

Hi everyone! I really should be working on cards for my mom and get a head start on those BUT I've had these little Stamping Bella bittyblooms sitting on my desk for a while now that haven't gotten any love yet and I just felt the need to colour one up. It always seems that when I am in a stamping slump colouring one of Emily's stamps always gets me back in the mood. I adore these little girls. I would have to say that Stellas and Chichis are my fav of the Bella line of stamps.

This one in particular looks like she is wearing an organza dress so naturally I had to add the sheer ribbon to compliment it. I used mini glue dots to hold the ribbon waves in place and added a tiny pearl on her belt. I coloured her up with my copics, but used Pencils for the grass.

Today is my last official vacation day before heading back to the day job on Monday. I am so enjoying my time at home, the thought of retirement looms heavy on my mind but with two boys still at home and heading to University in the fall I have a few working years left in me. So I'm going to spend the day in my new flannel lounge pants that my SIL got me for xmas and just putter around, clean up the house a bit, organizing my dresser drawers and cook something good for supper.