High Tops for Andrew

We had a family BBQ in Windsor yesterday and although Windsor is only an hour away from Chatham, we don't see the family really often. This BBQ is a gathering of my husbands side of the family and my father in laws extended family and we always come with prezzies for Mark's little nephews who both celebrate birthdays in July. Little Andrew just turned two and we got him a tee ball set and I colored up these Stamping Bella high tops for him. More for his mom really, because at two I don't think he really cares all that much about the card. This stamp is one of my very favorites! It's easy and quick to color and you can use it for boys or girls and a variety of age groups. A good investment!

Thanks for stopping in, I'll be back tomorrow with Jake's card.

Springtini!

I had a wonderful day off today...played with my copics all morning and the hubs even took me out to lunch. Let's see, we have been married 20 years and the last time he took me to lunch was....hmmmmm.....NEVER! Honestly, I don't think we have EVER gone out to lunch on a weekday. It's not really as bad as it sounds though because we have lunch together just about every day. You see, we both work at the same place and our house is five minutes from the office (if you make both green lights...7 if you hit reds) and we both come home for lunch so we have lunch together every day! And I love coming home for lunch. It's a nice relaxing break in the middle of the day.

Today's card is Stamping Bella's Springtini. I've had it like FOREVER and finally got around to colouring it up. Then I had a martini to celebrate!

Thanks for stopping by

Where's Linda?

I know it's been a few days, but I was still flying high over my Paula visit. I think I've finally come back down to earth. And if you want all the deets on our play day, you must check out Paula's blog here, it's a great read and full of fab pics that capture our day. I don't even remember those pics being taken! I'm gonna be kind to myself and blame it on being engrossed in the hobby rather than the three White Wine Sangrias that I had!

Okay, on to todays card! I have a wedding shower to go to on Saturday. My pod-mate at work, Matt, is marrying our front desk receptionist Tanya and the pod girls have been invited to the shower. We all chipped in on a gift and I'm not gonna spill the beans here because I know Tanya reads my blog! If your reading Tanya...gotcha!...you'll have to wait till Saturday. But, I can't keep everything a secret so here is the card I made for her. The wedding colors are pink and chocolate brown and I tried to stay within that scheme somewhat! Isn't she cute. One of my favourite Chichi's! (but I love them all) And Paula, recognize that paper? ;) I love it! I love them all!

Of course the card has lots of glitter, and I added Ranger glossy accents on the puddle and raindrops. I tried to get a close up so you can see it. Soooooo cute IRL!

Well, nice long weekend for me. I'm off tomorrow, and Monday is a holiday here in the Great White North. Except for the shower I have no other plans for the weekend so hopefully I'll get some colouring done!

Thanks for stopping by! Linda.

How do you spell FUN?

I spell it Paula, Dana, Mary and Mary!

Yup, yesterday THE most talented card artist in the whole wide world and Elzybells DT member, Paula, made the trip across the border with her friends to visit me and my LSS Paper Pickle! Honestly, I cannot recall having so much fun. These ladies are just the nicest and most friendly people on earth! Paula is soooooooooo talented and her cards are just jaw-dropping stunning IRL!!!

They arrived at my place just after 12 and we headed to Pickle. There we me up with my BFF stamping buds Pauline and Lynn and while the three of us chatted, we let the 'Americans' go nuts. After the immediate rush of paper, rubber and ink we headed next door to Bride and Joy and I got some really fun stuff for my upcoming Martini party to celebrate the new kitchen. For those who are waiting, date has not been set yet!

Then we headed back to my place to share stamps, knowledge and just plain chit chat. Paula gave us a lesson on how she creates with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and I gave them a copic demo. I have experimented with pencils and gamsol in the past but never with much success. Paula made it look so easy! I think I got some really great tips and may be ready to give it another try.

Since the kitchen is still so new and exciting after the reno I was pumped to make something yummy for the girls. We dined on chicken kabobs, athenian salad, cucumber salad, pineapple rice and white wine sangria! Oh man, that sangria was good (my personal fav)! Since the kitchen table was overflowing with ink and rubber I thought it would be best to dine alfresco. I sweet talked the hub into taking a pic of the group of us, but only after I sweet talked him into bbq'ing our kabobs! What a good sport, so tolerant of my hobbies and will act as sous chef and photographer to boot! I think I'll keep him!

Well, that was my exciting Saturday. Hope yours was just as much fun! Thanks for stopping in!

More embossed vellum

I loved that little baby in the beanstalk so much I just had to make another card with the embossed vellum. This one is a Lockhart image and I love these little stamps! Coloured it up with my copics, and added just a hint of glitter with my spica pens and glossed up the bowl with Ranger glossy accents.

Here is a closeup where you can see the spica...and if you look closely, you will see where it bled on me! And now that I'm looking at the pictures, I notice that I didn't add any shading to ground that bowl! OMG...I may just have to go back and do that.

Well, I have another Friday off tomorrow. YAY FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last few years I have been using some of my vacation days to take every Friday off during July and August. I absolutely LOVE it. But it sure makes for a grumpy Linda come September when I am back to 5 days a week. And I have a HUGE day planned on Saturday...only two more sleeps! I'll tell ya all about it later...i don't wanna do anything that might jinx it!

Thanks for stopping in!

Jack in the Beanstalk, or not?

I don't have any clue why I coloured this 'flower' green, except that I knew I wanted to put a little boy in it and i didn't want a pink flower! He kinda looks like Jack in the Beanstalk, but I don't care! I LOVE HIM!

He is one of the Stamping Bella Chichi's and if you don't know by now I love those little stamps! I've never been fussy for fairies, but the faces on these little gems have stole my heart. Not to mention the shoes! Have you seen the adorable shoes that these little fairies wear! OMG! I WANT some of those shoes in my collection. I coloured him up with my copics and used my air brush for the very first time to add the blue. It's not an easy thing to get used to and takes a bit of practice. This was also the first time I used the copic Manga drawing pad that I bought at Em's. I've been using Papertrey with my copics and I really like the results but I'm always game to try something new (especially when it comes to paper). I found it will also take some getting used to because you have to be careful to not oversaturate or it will bleed on you, but it does seem to use less ink than the papertrey and that is a bonus and I do really like how the colours blend so I'm gonna keep forging ahead with this paper and see how it goes.

For the vellum, OMG...I saw a card on Linda Duke's blog and have had the image in my head for quite some time but was waiting for just the right image to use it on. Sorry, I didn't bookmark the card, you will just have to browse thru her blog to find it. I guarantee you, it will a treat if you do. Her cards are very feminine and romantic. Back to the vellum, I cut the edges with one of my Martha Stewart punches and then ran the piece thru my Big Shot with the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder! Isn't it beautiful!

Thank you Linda Duke for the inspiration!

year one, DONE!

I don't know about you, but that pretty much summed up my thoughts when my twins turned a year old! The inspiration for the card came from this party invitation that I saw in Bride & Joy. And for anyone planning a wedding, having a baby, or just wanting a neat little gift for any occasion you should check out the Bride & Joy website because they have just gone online! They have THE most adorable invitations I have ever seen. My inspiration invitation is from an Amy Smyth line and I got the Amy Smyth cupcake stamp at Pickle...where else! Coloured it up with my copics...what else! The letters were done with my quickutz which have been collecting dust and the polka dots are Papertrey.

Another card, DONE!

Something Pretty for Ya!

I sense that nobody liked my Creepy Clowns but that's okay. So I thought I would give you something pretty to gaze on! This card is yes, another one for my mother to give to my brother and his wife for their anniversary. Personally, I don't send anniversary cards unless it is a milestone anniversary. Then I usually forget (heck, I have trouble remembering my own), and the date passes and I wait till the next milestone! Now, I do try really hard to remember birthdays, but I'm not 100% perfect at that either. I blame it all on having those twins 18 years ago. I think they sucked a few million brain cells out of me! And we all know that once we have lost a brain cell, it is gone forever. So for any new moms who might be reading this, it is perfectly NORMAL to suddenly feel like you lost a piece of your brain after that baby is born. It's okay...it will recover....for a while....then that little baby will turn 18 and you'll suddenly start to lose them again when they start staying out till all hours of the night and you worry yet again!

Enough blabbering...on with the card. I stamped the Hero Arts Long Stem Blossom in Ranger Adirondak Lettuce, then added extra colour to the leaves with my copics. Coloured the flowers red, added detail with my BS copic black and added some Inkadinkado viney flowers with Memento Rhubarb and Ranger Willow. The little Hero Arts Bird was embossed in gold, then filled in with Tombow, cut out, shaped and added with a pop dot.

Enjoy!