A Birthday Stair Step Card / Carte d'anniversaire en escalier

Il serait temps que je montre cette carte "escalier" faite pour les 30 ans de ma filleule l'année dernière. Il faut dire que j'en avais un peu marre que le dernier post de ce blog date de décembre dernier...


I made this card for the 30th birthday of my goddaughter last year. Better late than never to show it off... I admit I was fed up with this las blog post from December...

Les personnages sont des "digi stamps" de Dustin Pike. 

I used digi stamps from Dustin Pike.

Le fond est  en papier aquarelle sur lequel j'ai vaporisé des Glimmer Mist.
I used watercolor paper for the background. I sprayed several Glimmer Mist on it.

L'arbre est fait avec une "die" ronde festonnée, l'herbe avec une perfo.

A circle scalloped die for the tree and grass punch for the grass.

Encore une fois, je me suis bien amusée même si cette carte a été assez longue à faire.
I had much fun making this card even if it was time consuming.

En ce moment et depuis février, je suis bien occupée par mon Project Life. Ca m'a pris beaucoup de temps au début mais maintenant je suis plutot pas mal organisée donc ca va plus vite. Je ne sais pas encore si je posterai des photos, c'est un projet assez personnel...

I'm currently busy with my Profect Life. It' was even more time consuming at the beginning but now I am pretty well organized (for once!). I don't know yet if I will post photos as it's a very personal project...

Winter Birthday card

Here is birthday card I made for a friend lately...

Une carte d'anniversaire de saison faite récemment pour une amie...

Stamps: Stampendous - Jim Stamp

Ginger man and candy cane

One of the cards I made lately...
Une des cartes que j'ai faites récemment...

Stamps: Hero Arts 'Friend definition' - Aladine 'Bonne année'
Digi stamp: Dustin Pike 'GingerCane'
Glossy Accents - Frosty Lace Stickles - White embossing powder

Pet sympathy card

I made this card quickly yesterday evening for a coworker who told me she has had to put her dog to sleep last weekend. She was of course deeply moved by this. I understand so well...

I used my friend Cuttlebug :) to cut several square shapes. The colored framed is a "Max & Whiskers" paper by Basic Grey and the dog stamp is by Inkadinkado.

I wouldn't have thought I would use this stamp in such circumstances. So sad :(

***
Une petite carte que j'ai faite rapidement hier soir pour une collègue qui a du faire "endormir" son chien le weekend dernier. Evidemment elle en a gros sur le coeur et elle redoutait ce moment. Comme je la comprends...

J'ai coupé plusieurs formes carrées avec mon amie Cuttlebug, en faisant un cadre avec le papier coloré "Max & Whiskers" de Basic Grey. Le tampon du chien est d'Inkadinkado.

Je n'aurais jamais pensé utiliser cette série de tampons pour ce genre de circonstances... :(

Christmas card giveway at Scrapcollector's!

Yenni Natalia (Scrapcollector) is giving away some of the Christmas cards she has created lately and today I won one of her gorgeous cards!

This one:

Yenni Natalia's card at Scrapcollector

Isn't it gorgeous?? She used a Penny Black stamp that she colored with distress inks in a monochromatic way. I love the result. This is very unusual for a snowman but as I said to Yenni, this gives the scene a warm feeling, as if it takes place at the end of a sunny winter day.

Thank you Yenni! I will be happy to give a new home to this cute snowman... Moreover snow is not far over here... and I faaaarrr better like the snow on this card than the one that there will be in the streets!! :-/

Make sure to check Yenni's blog on a regular basis if you don't want to miss her next cards giveways!

Fluffles in action!

This is a birthday card I made for a friend using one of my favorite cat stamps: Fluffles by Stampendous. This fluffly ball is always shown in comic situations or with a comic look upon his face.

Detail of the gift. I've added Frosted Lace Stickles on it + a ribbon and raised it with 3D adhesives.

By the way...I think I'm on the right path to collect all Fluffles stamps...... No comment! :-p

Stamps: Fluffles Gift (Stampendous), Happy Birthday sentiment (Cupcakes by Hero Arts)

Sympathy cards

Here are several cards I made for a coworker. The goal was to make several cards and submit them to my other coworkers who would choose the one we would send her.

This is the first time I made a sympathy card and it's not easy to stay very simple, not too dark and not too cheery as well. They chose this one:

The other ones...

I don't really like this purple one. I think this looks more like a communion card than a sympathy one.

This one was my fav:

Stamps: Silhouette Fern (Hero Arts), Friend definition (Hero Arts), All I have seen (Stampin' Up)

Welcome to Zombie land!

Here is the card I made for my October CCC partner, Linda aka Scrappin-Bari. Whenever there's the choice of a Halloween theme, I'm in! Not sure she has received it yet though but I would like to enter a few Halloween challenges.

I used 2 Kraftin' Kimmie stamps on this card: Haunted House and Mitzi the Mummy, both colored with Promarkers, cut out and glued on the background. I've had much fun cutting out Mitzi's curly hair as you can guess...... LOL.

I've added 3 more pumpkins from the Haunted House stamp in front of the house. The tree is from a Basic Grey clear stamp set and the bats are Cuttlebug die cuts.I made the background using the sponging technique. This is my first try... not too bad but I still have to improve it.

Then, for the inside of the card I used a Stampers Anonymous sign post stamp.

  Thanks for looking!

I enter this card in the following challenges:
Aly's Sunday Sketch
Crafts and Me Challenges
The Creative Cottage Challenges
Stamping Vacation: Occasion Oasis Challenge
Haunted Design House - Simply Sinister
Paper Playtime - Pumpkins or spiderweb
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Boo
Fab'n'Funky Challenges
Double Dutch Challenges - Boo to you
Stampin' for the Weekend - Halloween/Fall
Polka Doodles - Something spooky
Creative Inspirations Challenge blog - Halloween/Fall
My Time To Craft challenge - Ghosties & Ghoulies and Long Legged Beasties

Wedding wishes for Jenny

Jenny, one of the Hero Arts hostesses on Flickr got married on Sunday and Tami, our moderator, suggested us  a special mission: making a wedding card for Jenny and uploading the card on Sunday 10/10/10, the wedding day. Of course,  I was in!

So on Sunday I made this card thinking of her all day. I even had the "Love boat" song in mind (lol!) while dressing up my two owls! Some of you know how much I love Big Owl (remember Tropic'owl?) so I absolutely had to make a married couple! Hope Jenny will love this card.

It took me more time than I thought to add all the little details (indecison doesn't help...) but I really enjoyed making them clothes.

We had to add something new: this is the ribbon I won during Michelle's blog candy. Something old: this is the lace at the bottom of the dress and in the pocket of Mister Owl. It belonged to my grand-mother. And something blue is hidden under the bride's dress... ;-) .... The garter !!

Sorry I skipped something borrowed...

I'll will send the card as soon as Tami will give us Jenny's address.

Congrats on your wedding, Jenny and Jason! Enjoy your honeymoon! Happy married life!

Who's scared of who??

I've received a stamps order just in time to submit another card for the Hero Arts monthly contest. The theme is "Everything fall" and of course I can't help making a card about Halloween!

Here is the one I made using the "large web" cling stamp that I've inked and heat embossed with silver ink and powder:

 

 

I've handdrawn a mouth and bigger eyes to the littles ghosts (Hero Arts "Owl-oween" set) to make them look scared of the big spider (made with a Cuttlebug die)!

Notice the spider has diamonds eyes... He he!

 So now tell me, who is the most scared in there??

;-)

***

Traduction française à venir !

My card for September Card Chain Challenge

Jan, from California, has received it so I can now show yo the card I sent her for the September Card Chain Challenge organized by Deborah.

Between "Fruits & vegetables", "Friendship" and "Pirate" I chose.... Pirate! I had the perfect stamps to match the theme and I had never inked them up yet!

 May I introduce you Lizzie Cutthroat, a character from Kraftin' Kimmie's crew :-)

 

I had to give her some useful accessories...

The barrel and the cannonballs are freebies from Dustin Pike and are perfect for this theme.

And you're not a real pirate without a skull and crossbones!

I made the sign (also a freebie from Dustin Pike) with a piece of kraft cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug after I had printed the word "Ahoy" on.
I found this free image of an island on the Internet, printed it on cream paper and distressed it creasing it and adding Distress Ink.

Thanks for popping in!

***
(Version française de cet article : très prochainement !)

September Card Chain Challenge

Here is the card I received from Lin for the September Card Chain Challenge organized by Deborah.
Lin is the one who made the biggest number of cards in the Hero Arts Flickr pool: more than 500!

She sent me a gorgeous scene with pumpkins, falling leaves and a cute squirrel. Cherry on top: she made a matching ATC!

I really love these warm colors and also this little fence in the background. Talking about background, the one on the ATC is a photo of a quilt made by Lin. This lady is talented with a needle too!

Thank you so much, Lin, your cards are much appreciated, they will brighten the following Fall weeks! :)

***

Voici la carte que j'ai reçue de Lin dans le cadre du challenge organisé chaque mois par Deborah. Lin est celle du groupe Hero Arts sur Flickr qui a réalisé le plus de cartes : plus de 500 !

Elle m'a envoyé cette scène automnale avec citrouilles, feuilles mortes et écureuil et, cerise sur le gâteau, j'ai eu droit à une atc assortie dont le fond est une photo d'un de ses quilts. Elle a l'air doué également avec une aiguille !

J'aime beaucoup ces couleurs chaudes ainsi que la petite barrière en arrière-plan.

Merci beaucoup, Lin, cette carte va ensoleiller ces prochaines semaines d'automne.

Fall is here...

Fall is supposed to be next week but some trees are already loosing their leaves here. I really like this season, it's a shame winter is following! (I hate winter and everything that goes with it : cold, freeze, snow, short days,...brrr!)

Here is a very simple card I made using the "Say hello" Hero Arts clear set to celebrate the season. There will probably be some other ones as I am a Halloween fan!

I wanted this tree with Fall colors and I colored it with Promarkers.

I'll send it to Operation Write Home as I didn't participate to the challenges on the Hero Arts pool on Flickr last weekend so I need to make a few more.

Until next time!

***

Ici, l'automne est déjà là, on dirait. J'aime bien cette ambiance aux tons chauds, sans compter que je suis fan d'Halloween, même si on ne le fête pas en France. Dommage... Et dommage aussi que ce soit suivi par l'hiver que je déteste, ainsi que tout ce qui va avec (le froid, la neige, le verglas, les jours qui raccourcissent,...).

J'ai fait une petite carte avec le set de tampons transparents "Say Hello" de Hero Arts que j'enverrai à l'Opération Write Home, puisque je n'ai pas pu participer le weekend dernier. J'en ferai d'autres d'ici peu normalement.

A la prochaine !

A birthday card for Paola

Here is a little card I made for Paola's birthday:

I used a Whipper Snapper rubber stamp that I colored with Promarkers. I love the characters of this series.

Sorry for the bluish/greyish photos...

I had made an ATC to match the origami bookmark I sent with the card.

 ***

Voici une petite carte d'anniversaire que j'ai envoyée récemment à Paola. J'ai utilisé un tampon "Whipper Snapper" que j'ai coloré avec des Promarkers. J'aime bien leurs personnages.

J'ai envoyé également une ATC et un marque-page en origami.

Results of August Card Chain Challenge

Just a quick post to tell you that Deborah has published all the cards of the August challenge on her blog.
Great batch of gorgeous cards! To visit her blog, click on the picture below:

August and July Card Chain Challenges (CCC)

I'm trying to catch up about what happened during this summer in my little card making and stamping world...

Deborah organizes a monthly challenge called "Card Chain Challenge", well know under the code name "CCC". Everyone wins, you send a card to a partner and you receive one from another partner. Deborah chooses new themes, sketches and color palette every month. I really enjoy participating to this game and it's now the 2nd time I play.

In August, one of the themes were "Dogs" and that's the one I chose, as I'm a pet lover (you know that!). Here is the card I came up with and I sent to Dustypenny (Joy) in the USA:

I don't know if you can guess how much fun I had making this card! As usual, I "saw" it in my mind before making it.
I made the doghouse shape myself and ran the front of the card through the Cuttlebug. Then I put a little bit of Distress Ink to make it darker.
I've found the sign on the internet (a clipart I think, don't remember where), printed it and stamped it with the Designer Wooggrain stamp from Hero Arts. The word "friend" is an Inkadinkado clear stamp set and the dog is an Artemio clear stamp that I colored with Promarkers. I put a little touch of Glossy Accents on his nose and on his heart.

J'essaye de reprendre petit à petit le fil de ce qui s'est passé dans ma petite vie durant l'été concernant les cartes réalisées. 

Deborah organise tous les mois depuis un an un challenge - ou plutôt un échange - connu sous le nom de code "CCC" ("Card Chain Challenge"). A ce jeu, tout le monde gagne : on envoie une carte à une personne inscrite au challenge du mois, on en reçoit une d'une autre participante.

Tous les mois, Deborah choisit de nouveaux thèmes, propose un sketch sur lequel se baser, ou une palette de couleurs. C'est vraiment sympa et c'est la 2e fois que je participe.

En août, un des thèmes proposés était les chiens, thème que j'ai choisi (quand ce ne sont pas les chats ou les chouettes, les chiens me vont bien aussi !). Voici (ci-dessus) la carte envoyée à Dustypenny (Joy) aux USA. 

J'ai fait la forme de la niche moi-même et j'ai passé le devant de la carte à la Cuttlebug. Ensuite, j'ai appliqué un peu de Distress pour foncer la couleur du carton. 

J'ai trouvé la pancarte sur le web (je ne sais plus où), je l'ai retravaillée sous Publisher, imprimée et j'ai appliqué le tampon Designer Woodgrain de Hero Arts. Le mot "friend" (ami) est un tampon transparent de Inkadinkado et le chien est un tampon transparent également d'Artémio, coloré ici avec des Promarkers. J'ai ajouté une touche de Glossy Accents sur la truffe du toutou et sur le petit coeur.

Et voici la carte que j'ai reçue de Vianna, de Floride, qui a choisi le thème de l'amitié :

And here is the card I received from Vianna, from Florida and who chose the friendship theme:

Thank you,Vianna! And thank you Deborah for organizing this challenge! Much appreciated!

Please, come back here by Thursday 2nd. I will post the link to Deborah's article where she will reveal all the cards made by the August participants! Suspens!....

And make sure to sign up to the September challenge. The deadline is Sept. 2nd too. Deborah will also offer a prize to win to celebrate her 1st year blog anniversary!

Merci Vianna !  et merci Deborah pour organiser ce challenge tous les mois ! 

Revenez par ici jeudi 2 septembre, je posterai un lien vers l'article de Deborah qui révèlera toutes les cartes reçues/envoyées pour le challenge d'Août. Suspense...

Et inscrivez-vous au challenge de Septembre. Vous avez jusqu'à jeudi 2 minuit. Et par la même occasion, Deborah fête les 1 an de son blog en offrant un cadeau qui sera tiré au sort parmi les participants !

***

In July, the theme I chose was "Beach/Aquatic". Here is the card I sent to Agniezska in England:

The little mouse in his rubber ring is called "Tubing Miles". It's a stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie designed by Steven Leary that I looove ! (I mean the mouse, not Steven, but then!...).
The sun and sentiment is from Stampendous. I used sandpaper to make the beach.

Lucky me, I received two cards from Cassi for this July challenge! Here they are:

She made a beach themed card and a friendship card. So nice of you, Cassi, thank you so much!

En juillet, j'ai choisi le thème "Plage/Aquatique" et voici la carte que j'ai envoyée à Agniezska en Angleterre.

La petite souris avec son masque, ses palmes et sa bouée est un tampon de Kraftin' Kimmie appelée "Tubing Miles", personnage créé par Steven Leary que j'adore  (la souris, pas Steven Leary, quoique !).

Le soleil et le sentiment est de Stampendous. Et j'ai utilisé du papier de verre pour faire la plage.

En retour, quelle chance ! J'ai reçu non pas une mais 2 cartes de Cassi : une sur le thème de la plage et une sur celui de l'amitié. Merci Cassi !

Kitties love water!*

If you don't know it already, I'm a cat lover. Actually I tend to collect stamps with cats and I must say my collection has (greatly...) increased within two months. I rediscovered Margaret Sherry's drawings that I had cross-stitched 7 or 8 years ago through Penny Black stamps. Obviously I had to order "a few" of them!

Here are two cards I made with these PB stamps so far.

I made this one for a friend of mine - an ex-coworker who found a new job lately after she was made redundant. She's a cat lover too so I thought this kitty in his bath would be great to celebrate her new job with a relaxing glass of Champagne!

I colored it with watercolor pencils. I love this coloring technique more and more, but I'm still far from being comfortable with it and I need to look at what has already been done to apply the colors.

Penny Black Clear Stamps "Bubbly"

I've added a touch of Glossy Accents to give a glossy touch to the bubbles.

This second card is actually the first Penny Black stamp I tried after I received my order. I made it for a friend's birthday who loves both cats and swimming pools!

Penny Black woodmounted rubber  stamp - "Adrift"

For this oneI used watercolor pencils too + Nestabilities + Cuttlebug embossing folders.

Thanks for looking!

***

* Les chats aiment l'eau !

Si vous n'êtes pas déjà au courant, j'adore les chats. En fait, j'ai une grosse tendance à collectionner les tampons sur ce thème... et je dois dire que ma collection a (largement) augmenté en deux mois. J'ai même redécouvert les motifs de Margaret Sherry que je brodais il y a 7 ou 8 ans à travers les tampons Penny Black. Je ne pouvais pas faire autrement que passer une commande de "quelques" tampons... :)

Voici une carte que j'ai faite pour une ancienne collègue, pour fêter le CDI obtenu après un licenciement économique. Elle adore les chats également, donc j'ai pensé que ce minet en train de siroter une coupe de champagne dans son bain serait bien approprié à la situation. J'ai utilisé des crayons aquarellables pour colorer l'image mais je ne suis pas encore très à l'aise avec cette technique. J'ai encore besoin de prendre modèle sur des cartes réalisées par d'autres que moi pour bien appliquer les couleurs, surtout les ombres. Ne sait pas dessiner qui veut ! J'ai ajouté quelques touches de Glossy Accents pour mettre les bulles en valeur.

La 2ème carte est en fait la première que j'ai faite après réception de ma commande. Elle était destinée à une amie qui aime à la fois les chats et faire des longueurs à la piscine !

A bientôt :)

A nurse for my Goddaughter

Here is a card I made yesterday for my goddaughter's birthday. She's a nurse and has just found a new job so I thought she would love this funny little girl with her big glasses and big smile on her face.

'Nurse Gillian' is a digital stamp from Prairie Fairy Designs. I colored it with Promarkers (still learning), except the cheeks where I applied my own blush! In the rush to mail the card in time, I forgot to put some Glossy Accents on her glasses. Oh well...

***

Une petite carte pour l'anniversaire de ma filleule. Elle est infirmière et vient de trouver un nouveau job donc j'ai pensé que cette petite fille marrante lui plairait.
'Nurse Gillian' est un tampon digital de Prairie Fairy Designs. Je l'ai colorié avec des Promarkers (enfin j'apprends...), sauf les joues sur lesquelles j'ai appliqué mon propre blush !
 Et dans la précipitation, j'ai oublié de mettre du Glossy Accents sur les lunettes... Tant pis !

Tropic'owl sunset

To go on with my sum up, here is my first attempt at joining the Hero Arts contest in June. The themes were "Summer fun" or "4th of July". For those who know me a little bit, it was not hard to guess that I chose "Summer fun"!

 As usual, I had this card in mind for a while. I saw this big owl that I love in a bikini on a beach between two palm trees. I had the melon net long before the contest and I had kept it because I knew it would made a small hammock one day. When I was doing some mixed media, I tended to keep everything that could be useful in the making of ATCs or chunky pages.

When I dressed up my owl with the bikini, I thought something was missing. She felt (yes, she's girl, of course!) a bit naked. See her suntan?

The idea of adding a sarong came quickly but I struggled to tie the knot because I wanted it very thin.

The palm trees are hand cut and slightly sponged with Distress Inks. The coconuts are made of cork sponged with ink too. The sand is made of sandpaper, that I used a lot when making mixed media and I added to leaves from the "Three ferns" stamps to make it look a bit more wild.

Making this card was much fun! This big owl is so versatile that you can make lots of different scenes with it. I will have to think what to do with it in another context...

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Hero Art "Big owl", "Three ferns"

***

Pour continuer le résumé des cartes faites au cours de ces 2 derniers mois, celle-ci est ma première tentative de participation au concours du blog Hero Arts en juin. Les thèmes proposés étaient "Eté fun" et le 4 juillet (fête nationale aux USA). Ceux qui me connaissent un peu devinent surement déjà lequel j'ai choisi....
J'avais cette carte en tête depuis un certain temps. En fait, je "vois" mes cartes à l'avance généralement. Je voyais donc cette chouette en bikini avec son paréo entre deux palmiers sur une plage des mers du sud. J'avais gardé un filet de melon dans l'idée d'en faire un hamac un jour. Il a trouvé sa place ici. "Du temps" où je faisais du mixed-média, j'avais une grosse tendance à garder un peu tout et n'importe quoi au cas où ça serve...
Les palmiers sont découpés à la main et tamponnés d'encre Distress. Les noix de coco sont en liège également encrés de Distress. La sable est en papier de verre et j'ai ajouté deux feuilles découpées extraites du motif du tampon "Three ferns" de Hero Arts pour ajouter un peu de verdure.


A bientôt !

Three first cards

To start my sum up, here are the 3 first cards I made in June using some Hero Arts stamps.

For a girl friend's birthday, greatly inspired by some cards from the HA pool on Flickr:

Stamps: Hero Arts "Dandelion frame", Hero Arts "Flutterbies digikit" - Artemio: sentiment
Inks: Ranger Distress inks "Peeled paint", "Shabby shutters", "Tumbled glass"

Another one, for another girl friend's birthday:

Stamps: Hero Arts "Three ferns", "Silhouette fern", "Friend definition", "Happy thoughts" - Florilèges Design "Herbage" - Inkadinkado "Patterned bugs" - Jillibean Soup sentiment
Inks: Ranger Distress inks "Peeled paint", "Shabby shutters", "Frayed burlap" and... I don't  remember!



And the one I made fo my father for Father's Day:

Stamps: Hero Arts "Three ferns", "Friend definition", "Happy thoughts", "Flutterbies digikit" -  Sentiment : Artemio alphabet
Inks: Ranger Distress inks "Peeled paint", "Shabby shutters", "Frayed burlap"

Thanks for looking!

 ***


Voici les 3 premières cartes que j'ai faites courant juin pour des anniversaires et pour la Fête des pères, largement inspirées de cartes vues dans le pool Hero Arts sur Flickr. Pour la plupart, j'ai utilisé des tampons Hero Arts.

A bientôt :)