It's a Polka-dot Kind of Day

Good Morning! Hope everyone is well. We are starting week 3 of home schooling and working from home.

My work is of course making cards using gorgeous images and today's is from Sherry West Art. Meet Poppi Pokkadott:

Isn't she just a sweetheart!

What I Did:

I resized and printed Poppi onto stamping card and colored her with alcohol markers. She was the fussy cut. I made a 5x7in card base and matted this with black card and some digital design paper. The frame was also a digital design. I resized and printed on white card. I then used a craft knife to cut around the ladybugs so that Poppi would fit under them. Once she was adhered in place I matted the frame with back card and added this to the center of my card.

What I Used:

Digital Stamp: Sherry West: Poppi Pokkadott 
Stamping Card: X-Press It
Alcohol Markers: Copic
White Cardstock for card base: Core'Dinations Premium Heavy Weight
Black Cardstock: Linda Chapman
Digital Design Paper: Mein Lila Park printables
Digital Design Frame: Free Clip art
Glue: Zip Dry

Thanks for stopping by you can see my teamies inspiration over on our Facebook group and you can buy the digital stamp in Sherry's Etsy store

Hats of to Easels

Good afternoon, well the weather has been great today, a lovely day to have been out and about but that's not possible so Mollie and I walked the dogs around the subdivision getting them and us some well needed fresh air.

I have been seeing gorgeous hat cards all over Facebook so I googled and found Ann Melvin from Positively Papercraft has done some great You Tube tutorials so I followed them and today's blog post is to show how they turned out.

What I Did:

Instead of listing how I made the card here is Ann's You Tube video after all the credit goes to her. I made the cards as a pick me up for my neighbors so I typed out the sentiment on my PC.

What I Used:

2 Pieces of letter sized purple cardstock: Create and Craft

Patterned cardstock: KanBan 

Circle Dies: Tonic Studios Nesting Circles

Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts: various 

Ribbon: from my stash

Gems: from my stash

I did make 2 of them but gave one away before photographing it but they were both in shades of purple.

Thanks for stopping by and if you love what you see let me know in the comments.

Easter Blessings

Good Morning! Well we are now under an enforced stay at home order which is what we have been doing anyway. Just making trips to get essentials. It means that Mollie can't play with her friends now which is the heartbreaking part of all this - kids should have to suffer like this.

Anyway on to happier things. I have been asked to join Polkadoodles Digi Choosday design team, initially as a guest design member but hopefully this will lead to more. Polkadoodles is a UK craft company who, along with selling lots of other craft supplies, design the most adorable stamps both in physical and digital versions. They have a weekly challenge yes as you've guessed starting on a Choosday (Tuesday) which you can find on the Digi Choosday Blog 

As all these images used by the digi choosday team are digital you should still be able to purchase and join us during this time of uncertainty so come and join us!

My inspiration for the latest challenge is using Fuzzy Puff's Earlie Dandelion. What a cutie:

What I Did:

I resized and printed her onto stamping card. She was the colored with alcohol markers and then fussy cut.

I chose to use an 8x8in card base and matted this with pink card. I then used a papers that are currently free over at Polkadoodles. I used a polka-dot to mat my card and then 3 different colored egg design papers cut with circle dies as further mats. My image was placed on these with foam tape. I used my electronic die cutter to cut the words Easter Blessings both in letters and as an offset so I could use the colors of my card.

A few enamel dots just finished the design.

What I Used:

 Digital Image: Polkadoodles Fuzzy Puffs Earlie Dandelion
Digital Papers: Polkadoodles: Tatty Twinkles Easter Digital Craft Download
Stamping Card: X-press It
Alcohol Markers: Copic
8x8in Card Base - Craft UK
Pink Card and Green Cardstock: Core'Dinations
Enamel Dots: Gina Marie Designs

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

Spread Happiness!

Good afternoon, I hope everyone is staying well! We had snow again over night, woke to a blanket of the stuff but with the sun out this afternoon it has soon disappeared.

I have been coloring up some of Sherry West's gorgeous images over the last few weeks, she loves what I do with them so has invited me to join her new design team so today's make is my first inspiration as part of the team.

Meet Princess Petunia Penelope Posey Poppi Posh Piglet - Yes she has such a great name that she is called Peppy Piggie for short!

What I Did:

I resized and printed the cute image on stamping card and colored the princess with alcohol markers.

I then matted a 7x5in card base with burgundy cardstock and a delicate floral digital paper. My Images was then matted with same cardstock and I worked out where I was going to position it so I could fit my sentiment onto the card. This was then stamped in black ink and my imaged adhered in place with foam tape.

What I Used:

Digital Image: Sherry West Art: Peppy Piggie

Stamping Card: Xpress-It

Alcohol Markers: Copic

White cardstock for Base: Core'dinations Premier Card

Burgundy Cardstock: Core'dinations

Digital Design Paper: Polkadoodles

Sentiment Stamp: Honey Bee Stamps: Happiness

Ink: Versafine 

Glue: Zipdry

Foam tape: from my stash

Thanks for stopping by, you can see all of Sherry's images on her Etsy Store and for more inspiration check out her Facebook Group.

Hello!

Good afternoon, how is everyone doing? Social distancing is 2 words that I never thought I would be using given my previous occupation as a nurse! Life is hard currently but we are all trying to make the best of it. Kev has worked from home this week, Mollie has been keeping up with school work as well as enjoying being at home. The dogs just think everyone is here to play with them and me? well i'm spending as much time as I can in my craft room.

today I'm sharing with you a sweet card I made with an image that has been sitting on my desk begging to be colored. She is from Sherry West and is called You Light Up My Heart.

What I Did:

I resized and printed the image onto stamping card she was then colored with alcohol markers and die cut into an oval. picking out colors from the image I chose a yellow cardstock and a pretty flowered design paper. These were both matted on to my 5x7in card base. I die cut a further oval in the yellow card and matted my sweet image with it before adding her to my card. I used coordinating ribbon for a bow to add to the top of the Oval. Finally I die cut the word hello 3 times from dark blue card, adhered these together and added to the card.

What I Used:
Digital Image: Sherry West: You Light Up My Heart
Markers: Copic (sorry I didn't list colors)
White Card for Base: Core'Dinations Premium Cardstock
Yellow Card: Core'Dinations color core
Design Paper: Lili Of The Valley (Retired)
Die Cut: Hero Arts: Stamp and Cut Hello
Ribbon from my stash
Glue: ZipDry

Thanks for stopping by and if you love what you see please let me know in the comments

Spring and Birthdays

Good morning! Spring is almost upon us, the bulbs in the garden are starting to sprout and I'm hoping we are done with the snow, you can never tell in Michigan!

Challenge 10 starts today over at Jan Mahew Digital Stamp Challenge and this is the last one I will be joining as a guest design team member. I have enjoyed working with the images but I ave some exciting new coming up so watch this space!

As the lovely Jan provided me with a few sets this month I have made 2 cards for this challenge.
The first one is using Early Spring Nest, a gorgeous floral set:

What I Did:

 As always the images come colored or as line art, for this card I resized the line and added one of the sentiments that are included. It was then printed on stamping card. I colored the image with alcohol markers. I matted a 7x5in white card base with purple card to coordinate with the colors in my image and then added my colored design. As the nest was quite detailed I didn't want to add too much to the card so a few enamel dots just helped to pull the purple from the mat and the image.

My next card is using the super cute Birthday Buddies:

What I Did:
This stamp set also come with pre-colored and Line art images so I decided to use a pre-colored one. I resized the buddies and added the birthday cake to my composition. The sentiment was also in the set and I positioned this so it fir within the design. I then printed this onto stamping card using high quality so I didn't lose any for the colored definition. I did color around the image with warm grey alcohol markers to ground it.
I matted a 7x5in card base with blue card and added my design. A few sparkly glitter dots finished the card - who doesn't love glitter on their birthday!

What I Used:
Spring card
Digital Stamp: Jan Mahew Early Spring Nest
Stamping Card: X-press It
Copic Markers
White Card Base: Core'Dinations Premium Cardstock
Purple Card: Create and Craft
Enamel Dots: Gina Marie Designs

Birthday Card
Digital Stamp: Jan Mahew Birthday Buddies.
Stamping Card: X-press It
Copic Markers
White Card Base: Core'Dinations Premium cardstock
Blue Card: Create and Craft
Glitter Dots: Gina Marie Designs

This Challenge runs for 2 weeks starting today, it is always anything goes so if you make any crafts come and join us!

Next Month Jan is moving to Monthly challenges starting the first Monday of the month, there will be 2 prizes up for grabs - both will be randomly chosen but one of them will only be for those that Use Jan's images and guess what if you enter and win the current challenge you win gift card to Jan's
store so could have the images to use!

Kawaii New Release

Good Afternoon! We are had a mixed bag of weather this week - was gorgeous at the beginning of the week that saw the snow shrinking back, then we've had snow, rain and sunshine since!

My designs today are using the gorgeous new Kawaii releases from Stamper's Delights. I am so in love with this genre that they are doing and get excited for what comes next!

We have 2 sets being released today. The first is a great set for all your Easter makes. Meet Bunny Love:

What I Did:

Bunny Love:

Using my graphics program I arranged the main character and a bunny gang and printed them onto stamping card. I did add the sentiment to this but changed my mind later.
The images were colored with alcohol markers and you can see this on my You Tube channel.
I used an 8x8in card base and matted this with blue card and a green Easter digital design paper. I then matted my image and a cute floral design paper with the same blue card and arranged these on my base.
My sentiment was recolored before printing, matting and placing in the center of my card using foam dots.

The second digital stamp set is continuing the Zodiac theme: Aries

What I Did:

Aries

This little guy was resized and printed on to stamping card. After I had colored him with alcohol markers I cut him out using my scan n cut, I also added a mat to him but increasing his size on the scan n cut and cutting it out in green cardstock.

I matted my card with the same green cardstock, I then printed the Aries multiple times on some design paper and added this to my card base.

Stars were die cut from the green card and arranged over the card before adding my image raised on foam tape.

What I Used:

Bunny Love:

Stamper's Delights Kawaii Bunny Love digital stamp collection

Stamping Card: X-press It

Copic Markers

Blue cardstock: from my stash

Digital Design Paper: Polkadoodles Easter Collection 

8x8in Card Base: Craft UK

Zipdry glue

Foam Tape

Aries

Stamper's Delights Kawaii Aries digital Stamp Collection
Stamping Card: X-press It
Copic Markers
Green Cardstock: Core'Dinations
Star Die: Tattered Lace Tuck in Star dies
Design paper: Lili of The Valley (retired)
Scan N Cut
Zipdry Glue
Foam Tape

I have an amazing new bunch of teamies who have also done amazing designs with these images you can check them out on the Inspirational blog.

Head on over to the Stamper's Delights Store to see all of this weeks thrifty offers.

We also have a monthly challenge where you can enter any makes you do

Why not stop by the Stamper's Delight Facebook page for regular news on and inspiration from my Teamies you can also enter the progressive challenge there, no blog needed and receive freebies! 

Thanks for Stopping by and if you like what you see, please let me know in the comments.

Marigolds and Echinacea

Good afternoon, weather is miserable today, we've had rain snow and then a mix of both it's wet, cold and dull!

So I thought I'd brighten things up with some cheery flowers. I have used Susan's Garden dies again to make Marigolds and Echinacea flowers:

What I Did:

I Started with an 8x8in card base and matted this with a coral colored card. I then cut a second layer in a very pale peach cardstock and die cut a pattern into the top left of this using a plate die. This was adhered to my card base an put to one side while I made the flowers.

I Die cut the Marigold flowers from yellow cardstock and colored them with alcohol markers to give the deep red that the real flowers have. I die cut the stem and leaves from green cardstock and shaded these with a darker green ink to give a realistic affect. Both were shaped using flower building tools. I then Die cut the Echinacea flower from white cardstock, cutting an extra of the smaller flower head. I colored 2 of the petal shapes with an peach alcohol marker so it complemented my card base and the marigolds. The 3rd petal shape was part colored with the same color but then green added to the center of it. All of these were then shaped with my flower building tools

I started my flower arrangement by gluing the stems in place before building up the flowers. The marigold petals were layered to give a full flower and center tiny petals filled them completely. The Echinacea were layered and the center filled with tiny brown flower shapes to form a cone  just like the real flower (Echinacea are often better known as Cone Flowers). I added some fake pollen to this to give it the fluffy texture that they have. The bud was made by bringing all the petals together and gently rolling the middle. This was then added to the bud stem.

I added leaves to both types of flowers and set aside to dry.

The sentiment was die cut using the same card I matted my card with, I added Stick It die adhesive to this before running through my die cutter so I could adhere it without any glue visible.

I finished the card with some Nuvo drops and a bow which both coordinated perfectly with the colors I had used.

What I Used:

Susan's Garden Notes: Elizabeth Crafts Marigold Dies

Susan's Garden Notes: Elizabeth Crafts Flower Shaping Tool Kit

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Echinacea Dies

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Stems and Ladybug Dies

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Pollen

Top Flight: White Cardstock (for flowers)

Core'Dinations Green and Yellow Cardstock

Copic Markers

Tim Holtz: Distress Ink

Crafts UK: White 8x8in Card Base

Coral Cardstock: Unknown

Pale Peach Cardstock: Unknown

Crafter's Companion: Grand Swirls Plate Die

Crafter's Companion: Expressions Inner Page Die Beautiful

American Crafts: Ribbon: 

Tonic: Nuvo Drops Bubblegum Blush

Thank you for stopping by, and if you like what you see please let me know by leaving some love in the comments

Thank You Blocks!

Good Morning and welcome March! We have had sunshine over the weekend with some almost spring like weather - lets hope it continues!

Challenge 9 starts over at Jan's Digital Stamps Challenge today and my inspiration is using one of her new collections, Block Sentiments. This is a great set with a number of sentiments all available in pre-colored bright or pastel and line art. My card is using the pastel pre-colored thank you:

What I Did:

I resized and printed 2 copies of the image, fussy cut one of them and cut alternate letters from the other one. I then cut a panel from the front of an 8x8in card base. I discarded this just keeping the top part (still attached to the card) and 2in from the bottom, making sure my Thank You image would fit between these. I matted both of these with blue card and coordinating design paper. I then applied glue to the top and bottom of my image, First adhering it to the bottom section of the card front and then adding it to the remaining top section of the card.
I realized at this point that the image wasn't sturdy enough to hold up so I added some of the cut away cardstock to the back of the Thank You to strengthen it. I added the letters I had cut individually on top of the ones on the image with foam pads to add further dimension.
To finish the card I added the same blue card to the inside so it gave contrast where it showed through either side of the image.

What I Used:
Jan Mahew Image: Block Sentiments Thank You
White printing card: Core'Dinations
White Card Base: Craft UK
Blue cardstock: Core'Dinations
Design Paper: Trim Crafts

The challenge runs for 2 weeks starting today, It is always Anything goes so if you make any crafts come and join us!

Thanks for stopping by.