Serena

Hello everyone, I hope you've enjoyed your weekend.  Here it's turned cool and wet, once the house is clean I'm going to play in my craft cave :)

You may have seen this card on Facebook already, I used a favorite stamp by Chocolate Baroque - Serena and added embellishment die cuts by Crealies Flower 13 along with the set of 3 that match  that seem to be discontinued and Creative Expressions (branches).   I thought maybe I went a little overboard on the branches, but couldn't pull them off once they were glued, so I added some white paint to break up the blob of brown.

I started with Tom Bow water colour markers on the image and and then used Prisma pencils on her hair.  I didn't  like how green it was turning out so I used a white Wink of Stella marker and white dots with an acrylic pen which softened the colour to a lighter shade and created a different effect.

I've changed computers and no longer have the free copy of Picasa for adding soft edges and words to my photos.   Does anyone know of a free and SAFE to download software for photo editing or know where I can still find Picasa?  I've seen some links but don't trust them.    I had a trial of Photoshop but it's way too complicated for what I want/need.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day
Shirley

Beauty

Hello creative people, I hope you are doing well.  It's a rainy Sunday here in Ontario, it's been a 'wetter than normal' spring.    The gardens are looking lush :)

I finally found time to play in my craft 'studio' and created a couple of cards.  Below is one of them using beautiful Chocolate Baroque stamps.

Life is quite busy, that won't change for a while, but it will be more normal and settled this Fall.

The background was created using Distress Inks, white highlighter Pen, white acrylic paint and stencils including the script.  I also added some fabulous Crystal Clear glitter by Papericious :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day
Shirley

CAS Sympathy Cards

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. 

We are still enjoying mild weather and sunny days, it's fantastic for this time of year.   I worked in the gardens yesterday morning, it felt wonderful.

I created a few CAS style sympathy cards that unfortunately we needed recently.

I used solid shape stamps by Impression Obsession.  I inked them up, spritzed water or used a stencil to create a pattern and then over stamped with flowers by Chocolate Baroque.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
Shirley

Steampunk Valentine

Hello everyone, I hope all is well.  It's still dreary here and I've been fighting a wicked cold but getting better.

I have a Valentine card to show today, using a cool Steampunk heart by Chocolate Baroque.

Stamps by Chocolate Baroque:  Punky Hearts, Eccentric Edwardian (lettering). 

The Gear die cuts are by Memory Box & metal cogs are by Tim Holtz.   I used a Heart stencil by Tim Holtz with textured paste in the background.  The I Love You die was a freebie and I'm not sure who it's by.

I used Neocolour crayons and a little metallic powder in the background and 'fancy cut' the heart and popped it up.  I added glitter glue around the edges.

Thanks for stopping by
Shirley

Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the season. 

We had more snow yesterday, we have lots and it's certainly a winter wonderland.

The background of this card started with clear goosebumps and brushos powders (spritzed with water).  I over stamped with images from Chocolate Baroque including the large sentiment.  I also used a dotty stencil and white acrylic paint.   The snowflake die cuts are from Joy Crafts. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Playing with Brushos again

Hello and Happy Weekend, I hope all is well.

I was recently playing with Brushos again and created a couple of easy Christmas cards and matching tags.

First I sprayed clear Goosebumps and dried with my heat gun.  Next I embossed the main images with white before sprinkling the Brusho powders and spritzing with water.  I also stamped the flourish in the background after drying.

Chocolate Baroque stamps above:  Winter Birds and Snowflake Flourish

The tags above were created from left over background. 

And below is the 2nd card that is pretty much the same.  These are flat for easy mailing.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by
Shirley

CB Colour Challenge #28

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. 

After I made this quick card I realized that it matches the colours for the current challenge at Chocolate Baroque's Colour Challenge #28 so I will join in the fun.   These are favorite colours and I'm sure they were stuck in my head after seeing the beautiful samples at the challenge blog.

I used the resist embossing technique for the first time in a long while.   I embossed the tree and words from the fabulous Steampunk Christmas with white powder.     Next I sprinkled Brusho powders, spritzed with water, let them blend and then sprayed a little turquoise Dylusions ink.    I also stamped with a snowflake from Reindeer Landscape in the background.

Below is the beautiful colour sample (created by Miranda) for the current Challenge which ends on November 15th.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Christmas 'Tag Cards' with Crealies

Hello creative people, I hope you are doing well today.  Don't fall off your chair because I've posted two days in a row.

I had the pleasure to Guest Design for Crealies again.  I created a couple of cards using one of the new gorgeous tag die sets, along with other beautiful dies and stamps.  These designs were shown at the Crealies blog yesterday.

I used  Tag & Label die set - No 7 to create a lovely shaped card.    I scored and folded navy card stock and taped (with removable tape) the left cutting side of the one of the larger dies slightly over the fold so that I ended up with a lovely shaped folded card.

I used the beautiful Christmas Angel of Light by Chocolate Baroque as the main image:  

I left the inside panel blank to write Christmas Greetings.

The angel on the front tag panel was stamped with a navy blue dye ink and coloured with Distress Inks using my craft mat, a brush and water.   I also stamped with Bits & Pieces stamp No.37 above and below the angel.

I used Uno No 13 and Set of 3 No 13 die sets to create the layered Poinsettias.   I die cut them from white card stock, coloured the layers with Distress Inks using a finger dauber and molded the backs with a stylus on a foam mat.  I also added glitter here and there.

I created a second card (below) with the same tag die set along with other dies and stamps.  The Bits & Pieces stamps are fantastic for creating backgrounds, I have many of them :)

I used the same technique to create the folded card above.  I coloured the background  with Distress Inks and water on my craft mat and stamped it with Bits & Pieces stamp No.37  and Bits & Pieces stamp No 48.
 
Uno No 13 and Set of 3 No 13 die sets were used again to create the layered Poinsettias and I also stamped them with Bits & Pieces stamp No 53 to create 'texture' (difficult to see in the photograph).    I used Duo Die 31 and Duo Die 31A to create the leaves.

And below are pictures of the Crealie Dies used:

 
   
  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Christmas in Pinks and Orange

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying Fall.  I'm so happy that it's here after a long hot, humid and dry summer.   Suddenly one day it's fall and ahhhhhh it feels so good.    I'm still quite busy and have not had much time in my craft room or for blogging.

I have more Christmas cards to show.  I worked on these one afternoon when it was over 100 outside and I could not be out.  

I created one large 'non traditional' background and then cut it down to create easy, flat cards.   I used various stamps in the background and die cuts.  I've showed a couple of these cards in a previous post, but have grouped the flat designs below.    These cards are easier for mailing vs the dimensional designs with flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Dreaming of Christmas

Hello everyone,I hope you are doing well.

I have another Christmas card to show today featuring the beautiful stamp by Chocolate Baroque - Serena, who appears to be dreaming about Christmas.  

I'm not dreaming about Christmas yet, it's a beautiful late summer day, much cooler which makes me feel more energetic.    Unfortunately it's going to get hot again over the next week.

I coloured Serena with Distress inks (on my craft sheet using brush & water) and Prisma pencils.  I also added highlights with a white pen.   The die cuts are Poinsettias (coloured with inks and over painted with clear Wink of Stella)and frame by Spellbinder.

 
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Christmas in Pink and Blue

Hello everyone, I have more Christmas cards to show.  These are my pink and blue batch :)

I started by creating one large background using Distress Inks on my craft mat spritzed with water and glimmermist.  I cut the large sheet into four pieces and added the poinsettias using a Tim Holtz stencil.    The stamps are all by Chocolate Baroque.

And here are the other three that are very similar.   While I don't mind spending time on one card, these are quicker to create.  They are also flat to make it easier (and less expensive) for mailing.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Friends

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.

I have a design to show today that I made a while ago using stamps by Chocolate Baroque and die cut flowers.

I used Baroque Orchids in the background, stamped, watercoloured (at little) and highlighted with a white pen.   The die cut flowers (Heartfelt Creations Tattered Blossoms) were stamped with a fragment from the Textured Fragment set.  The sentiment is from the Amazing Birthday set which I can no longer find at their website.  I also added a little Berry Sprig die cut by Memory Box.

Thanks for stopping by. 
Have a great day,
Shirley

Crackling Rose

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great summer.

It's been very hot and dry here, the worst drought that I can recall.  But last night the skies opened up and we received a heavy down pour for an hour.  I've been worried about the trees that are stressed and dying, so I was so happy that the rain will gave them some relief.   Most homeowners in our area don't seem to realize that young(ish) trees need water to survive.    

My card today features the beautiful Crackling Rose stamp by Chocolate Baroque.   After seeing many flower & rose designs at Miranda's blog, I could no longer resist and ended up buying this one.  

I used Distress Inks and water in the background and when dry stamped the Crackle Rose with Memento ink.   After colouring the Rose with Prisma pencils I added some paint using a stencil around the border.

The background was much larger, but I wasn't happy with how it turned out, too much pink for me I suppose.  But I spent a lot of relaxing time colouring so I trimmed a lot of the background away.  It looks better but still a lot of pink !

Well that's all for today, have a wonderful weekend.
Shirley

Friendship gives Wings to the Heart

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.     We are experiencing drought and heat but today is a little cooler.    

I have a card to show today using beautiful stamps by Designs by Ryn.  The quote is by Chocolate Baroque.

The background is Distress Inks and a lovely stencil with vines, but it doesn't have the name on it, I can't recall what company it's by.

Designs by Ryn stamps:  Leafy Branch, Streamertail Hummingbird, and Flower Lace (background of bottom).   I used a stencil with small circles and white acrylic paint here and there.  I coloured the bird with Distress Inks and highlighted with a white pen.

Chocolate Baroque stamp:  Quote is from Pretty Poppies set.

Thanks for stopping by and if you live in Canada or the USA, enjoy the upcoming long weekend :)
Shirley

Fabulous Flapper

Hello and Happy Mother's Day.

It's sunny and cool here but we've had some great spring weather and are enjoying time outside.     I also had some time in my craft room yesterday and created this card.   I bought the Art Deco Spellbinder die as I thought it would go great with my Fabulous Flappers set from Chocolate Baroque.

I used Distress Inks and Gold Glimmermist for the smaller background and stamped the pretty flapper girl and flowers from Fabulous Flappers with Majestic Blue Versafine ink.     I coloured the images with Distress Inks and highlighted with a white pen, added liquid pearls to the flowers and half pearls around the border.  I also added Diamond Stickles here & there but you can't see it in the photo.

Dies:   Art Deco border is Spellbinder S6-075 Astoria Decorative Accent and the label around the small background, is Astoria Labels S5-250.

The folded card stock is dark navy not black.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Whimsical Flowers

Hello everyone I hope you are having a great weekend.  Here it's raining and cool but we enjoyed some pleasant sunshine the last couple of days.

I have a whimsical card to show today:

The background is a 'mess' of Dylusions spray inks, stenciling and stamps from Chocolate Baroque's Spring Foliage Set.

I used Heartfelt Creations - Stripped Sun Kissed Fleur stamps and matching Dies for the flowers.  I molded them and pinched the ends.   I doodled the stems and leaves to create a whimsical look.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week,
Shirley

Crealie Flowers, Damask background and Ryn's Waterdroplets

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.

I've had a lot going on and when my energy is gone so is my mojo for creating but I enjoyed some time in my craft room yesterday afternoon. 

I used favourite colours, Crealie dies, stamps by Chocolate Baroque and the amazing water droplets by Designs by Ryn to create the card below.  

I started with Distress Inks (Violet and Citron) on an Acrylic plate and spritzed with water to create the background.  I also sprinkled a little Brusho powders, spritzed more water and let it run over the inks.    I over stamped with using the same inks and a couple of stamps from Chocolate Baroque's Dusky Damask set.

I stamped Designs by Ryn's water droplets from the unmounted Textures Sheet with Cobalt Versafine ink. 
I removed some of the ink from the water droplets by dabbing water over top with a brush and blotted with paper towel.  Next I added some colour back, dried with a heat gun and highlighted with a white pen.

It's so much fun to create the flowers using white cardstock.  I used the following Crealie Dies:  Uno No 17 Flower 11, Set of 3 No 17 Flower 11, Duo Set No 20 Swirls, and Double Fun No 12.  Using finger daubers and Distress Inks I coloured and then molded them using a stylus and foam mat.

The matting is navy blue and not black as appears in the photo.

Thanks for stopping by.
Have a great week,
Shirley