Monday, May 31, 2010

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge Week #26 - Use fabric or felt

Sparkle's Challenge this week is to use fabric or felt on your card.

I have been looking forward to this challenge as I have been collecting fabric for cardmaking/ scrapbooking for some time now and need to remind myself to use it more often. Be warned if you haven't done it already - setting foot in a quilt shoppe or fabric store with card making in mind can be a dangerous thing! That being said - it need not be expensive as you can ask them to cut as small as 1/4 metre or simply buy fat quarters from the quilt shop. I often share fat quarters or 1/4 or 1/2 metres with a friend. The only "problem" is that it is just one more thing to collect for the obsession of mine and I need to find storage space for all of it!
I managed to post my pictures in reverse so the inside of my card shows first. I simply cut out a strip of fabric the same size as the ones I used on the front panel, frayed the edges and stitched it to the cardstock. My favorite part is that it looks imperfect - but I also love the colors I used on this one. I don't often use much yellow, but in this instance it was the perfect color to go with the fabric and the image.
I had been on the lookout for this Ura and Wee stamp for some time. When I finally got my hands on it a couple of months ago, life had become really busy and I didn't get time to ink it up until this past week. I will be making a few of these ones!
Can't wait to see what you make with that stash of fabric or felt! If you don't have any - it's easy to find....you might just have some fun shopping or, have a looky around your house, you may just have some lurking or hiding.....
Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: Whiff of Joy, sentiment - Hero Arts
cardstock: CTMH - ponderosa pine, honey & cranberry
embellishments: star buttons from the quilt shoppe, fabric from Fabricland, machine stitching, Bella bling, stickles on the star
copics: E29, G28, G29, R27, R29, Y26, E02 C0, C00

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Paper Sundaes Color Challenge - Kraft & Blue

Happy Sundae! Thanks for stopping by - sure hope you are having a fantastic Sunday!

This week's challenge at Paper Sundaes is a color challenge - use Kraft and blue. Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp. They have such a fantastic variety of things available including the cutie pie I used on my card. She is one of the newest stamps from Sarah Kay. I just love everything about this adorable image!



My Dad's Aunt, that would make her my Great Aunt I guess, turned 100 a couple of days ago. I hmmed a hawwd and decided not to put a big, loud fancy 100 on her card - I'm sure that every other card she received had it plastered all over it. I may be alone here, but I'm not a big fan of announcing which particular birthday people are celebrating (unless you are under 21 perhaps!) How about you?



Be sure to stop by and visit my fellow DT members and check out their creations. Hope you can play along this week!


Shanna :)


copics used:

B91, B93, R83, R85, RV10, Y21, YG63, E44, E47, N2, C3, E00, E31


p.s. I'll be back on Monday with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge - if you have time to play today; however, feel free to check out the blogs of my fellow DT members on my sidebar as the challenge has been posted.


Monday, May 24, 2010

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #25 - Sentiment Only

Good morning!
I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend! It's Victoria Day here, so no work and no school! Hooray for a holiday! Sparkle's Challenge this week is to use a sentiment only. I decided to go with traditional colors since I wanted to incorporate this paper I made ages ago using re-inkers and shaving cream. If I recall correctly, we also added some glitter. It was a great deal of fun to make. Other than that, my card is very straightforward. Don't forget to stop by the blogs of my fellow DT members and check out their fantastic creations - they are all linked on my sidebar.

Sure hope you can join us this week - you know you want a head start on those holiday cards!

I am hoping to get back into the garden today though it is raining right now. I also need to get the laundry finished and put away and the house in decent order as I am out of town again this week - thankfully only for two days this time. What are you up to today?

Cheers,
Shanna :)

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Paper Sundaes Challenge - Written Inspiration

Happy Sundae! So glad you stopped by to visit! Sure hope you are all enjoying your weekend! This week, the challenge at Paper Sundaes is to take your inspiration from a book or poem....this was difficult for me as I have so many favorites!


However, one of my favorite childhood stories was "The Veleveteen Rabbit" and adorable Bonnie from Spesch Designer Stamps (this week's sponsor) was just perfect for this! Isn't she just the cutest?




I pulled out my Basic Grey Lemonade Paper pack and matched up some copics to color this lil' darlin. I also had some fun with my spritzer tool from SU!
I used this week's fantastic sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesdays it worked perfectly for my card! It was just what I need as my Mojo has been hiding of late!


I wasn't sure about the ribbon - solid ribbon wasn't working as it covered up up too much of the fun pattern on the paper strip, but I always have a hard time using organdy. It seemed to work in this case as it let the pattern show through. I may have gotten a little carried away with the bling, but my card just needed something at the top and that seemed like the solution.


I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend! I'll be slogging in the garden....at some point I will show before and after photos of the landscaping that began last June and continues......


Cheers,

Shanna :)

What I used:

stamps: Spesch Designer Stamps
papers: Basic Grey, Bazzill
embellishments: Kaiser bling, organdy ribbon
copics: Y11, Y13, E00, E53, E55, E57, G21, G24, RV32, RV34



Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Chef's Recipe Album

Friday is soon right??? Oh my goodness, so much to do, not enough time to do it.... I won't dwell on it, but geee, I've been busy! Long weekend, here we come!!!
I thought I'd share this project with you. This is the original album that I made for my sister's Bridal shower gift when she got married in January 2009. The original idea was not mine - When I was married, my cousin Charlene had a Pampered Chef Bridal shower for me and asked all the attendees to bring their favorite recipe - she then took them all and put them in a photo album. I have found this little album so useful! When my sister's shower came around, I decided to use the idea and take it a step or two further.
First off, I had to decorate the ablum. I couldn't leave it plain, I'm a papercrafter!!! Secondly, I decided to take photos of each guest with the Bride and place it in the album with that guest's recipe.

I was so pleased with how it turned out and my sister and her hubby have enjoyed it as well. Here is a photo of one of the inside pages. That is my little sis and I. We took advantage of those little slots in between to add a favorite quote or "words of wisdom." We had a little table set up at the shower for everyone to work on these and add them to the book.

My little brother is getting marrried on June 5th and I made another one of these for him and his wife. I will share those photos another day. I had not originally taken photos of this one as I was not yet blogging, but when I went home for my future sister-in-law's Bridal shower, I asked my sis if I could have a look at hers since I couldn't remember exactly what I had done with it. I so wish I had remembered about the wooden spoon! That was one of my favorite parts and I forgot about it for the newest version of this project. Oh well! The chef on this original version didn't get colored since this was made PRE-copic! (I rarely colored anything pre-copic.) The newer version has a little more color.
I used a spray called "Super Seal" Aerosol Acrylic Sealant Spray to help protect the project - and I must say I love how it works. (It doesn't feel sticky but leaves a protective layer. Nothing ran or bled and colors were not altered.) It is a recipe album after all and will spend some time (I hope) in the kitchen. What I love about it is that you can easily slide things in and out, so sometimes I slide out the recipe and stick it on the fridge with a magnet which avoids spilling on the pretty album in the first place!
Best go work on the list of things to do! Have a great week!
Shanna :)



Sunday, May 16, 2010

Paper Sundaes & Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge

Happy Sundae! Thanks for stopping by! I haven't been around much because I worked out of town this week, came home with a cold and am just getting back into the swing of things.

This week, I decided to do something different and combine Paper Sundaes with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge. Since both teams post on Sundays, I usually post my Christmas Card on Mondays, but this week I was able to make them one.

The challenge at Paper Sundaes this week is to make an Easel Card. I love these and couldn't believe how easy they were to make once I tried once back before Christmas. Our sponsor is Magnolia-licious!

Sparkle's Challenge this week is to use Snowmen. Lucky me, I had this adorable Magnolia snowman in my stash of stamped images just waiting for me to color him! (Thanks Danderella!)



After several attempts at photographing this, I decided to head out to the garden for better lighting. I had some fun with my new embossing folders - I know, they've been around forever, but I only got my Bug awhile ago and haven't had much opportunity to play! I sure hope you will have a chance to play along with one or both challenges this week!

Shanna :)


What I used:

stamps: Magnolia, SU, Hero Arts
papers: MME, CTMH Spring Iris, Kiwi, Petal
embellishments: snowflakes embossing folder, diamond stickles, misc buttos, CTMH ribbon, MME rub-ons
copics: V0000, V91, V93, V95, V15, C00, BV04

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #23

Happy Monday! Glad you could stop by today. This week's challenge at Sparkle's Christmas Card Challeng Blog is a sketch! Here is what I came up with. Sure hope you can join us!

Can you believe the only thing I stamped on this card was the sentiment! All the papers are from my DCWV-The holiday collection and I cut the snowman out from the corner of one of the pages. This one came together so quickly, I think I'll make another!


Sorry to say that I won't be around much this week as I'm on the road again. Here's hoping I'll be able to do some visiting on Friday. :)

Cheers,

Shanna :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Sundae! This week's challenge at Paper Sundaes is a Sketch! We sure hope you will come and join us! Our sponsor this week is Kraftin Kimmie Stamps!
I have been away from home a lot the last while and am heading out of town this week for four days - as a result, I was not able to complete my card for this Sunday's sketch. So instead of posting a card, I thought I would share some of the photos that I took last weekend while visiting my family in Southern Ontario. Spring is in full bloom down there - my lonely garden has only a few tulips and two daffodils so far - nothing worthy of photographing!

This hyacinth had such a lovely scent - even my boys wanted a sniff!





We managed to catch a bumble bee busy gathering pollen...

Happy Mother's Day!
Shanna :)

Friday, May 7, 2010

I'll love you forever......

Happy Friday everyone!


Just a quickie post today as I had promised to share the layout I made with the fun National Scarpbooking Kit "Miracle" from Close to My Heart. For those of you who are local, I do have an order going in this weekend.
I apoligize once again for the photos, I tried three different times to photograph this one, and just had so much difficulty. You get the general idea..... the photos are from our family photo shoot in November. I am so happy to get a good shot of hubby and myself - very rare!
The papers are all from the kit, but I couldn't resist using some of my fave CTMH stamp sets to add some stuff. I used both Grown with Love (D1372) and Love You Forever (C1398). The kit comes with a great assortment of embellies including ribbon, buttons, metal tags etc, much more than what you see here and there are enough papers to make two layouts.


Have a great weekend! I am hoping to be back soon to share some of the photos I took while away last weekend - everything is green and in full bloom in Southern Ontario - so I had some fun with my camera. :)
Cheers,
Shanna



Monday, May 3, 2010

Bows, bows, bows!

Sparkle's Christmas card challenge this week is Bows!
Since I had these little cuties, I decided to make some mini cards. Sorry for the yellowish quality of my photo - it is late and I cannot wait for daylight as I have a very early flight in the morning - I have to be at the airport with my boys at 5 am - yikes. This is a scheduled post though, so by the time you read this on Monday I'll be heading back home.


Be sure to visit my fellow DT members blogs - on my sidebar. Hope you can play along this week, can't wait to see what you are making!

EDIT May 6 8:45 pm - I finally managed to get some better photos of my mini bow cards! We arrived home safe and sound, but very tired. Work is extremely busy as well. So, I have not been able to do any blogging at all. I am hoping to do some catching up tonight or tomorrow - we shall see how things go!

I do have a layout to share made using the current National Scrapbooking Day promo from CTMH, so I'll be back soon- perhaps tonight or perhaps tommorrow.

Cheers,


Shanna :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Paper Sundaes Challenge # 15 - Color Challenge - Red, Yellow and Green

Happy Sundae! So glad you stopped by! This week's Challenge at Paper Sundaes is a Color Challenge - use Red, Yellow & Green.



I must admit that this color combo stumped me at first - but I soon realized all I had to do is dive into my paper stash for inspiration! I found this fun Cosmo Cricket paper and my card came together easily from there.
Would you believe I didn't actually plan to use those clothespins - I was hunting for buttons in the right hue and happened upon these in my jar of buttons, forgot I even had them! I may just have to make another of these!

Have a great day!

Shanna :)



What I used:
stamps: Belles & Whistles, CTMH
papers: Cosmo Cricket
embellishments: mini clothespins, Basic Grey buttons, misc ribbon
copics: Y21, Y26,G12, R27, G29, YG93, E55, E57, E00, YR0000