Asian Elegance *TWO cards*

Amongst the many swaps I'm partecipating in , one of them is the 'Asian Elegance card swap' hosted by Fran (better known as philsmom on SCS).
I always loved Asian themed cards -so much so that I've been hosting the 'Asian Flair' swap annually and received gorgeous cards in the process...so when I saw Fran's swap
I gladly took the opportunity to be on the partecipating end and took two spots, hence you'll be treated to two cards today .....*wink*

The first one was made using one of my favorite Asian stamp set : ' Dream Garden ' from SU...this is only the second time I used this pretty silhuette  of a Geisha  girl chosing to use the wet embossing tecnique with  a hint of  sponging  in between the design and around each white circle nesties.                                                

                                                                                           

Below is the inside of the card where I used SU 'Kanji' for the symbol and sentiment.

 1st Card Deet:
Versamark, Burgundy Embossing Powder, So Saffron inkpad, Cranberry Crisp inkpad, circle nesties,lacey nestie,beaded circle nestie,gold organdy ribbon, Provo Craft CB Asian pkg folder, blender pen, black gems,bravo burgundy & basic black card stock,
DCWV d/p 'The Far East Stack' .


                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥♥♥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For my second card,  I used another SU set called ' Asian Artistry'.
Although I had this set for quite sometimes, it is the first chance I finally got to use it.
This is another wet embossed card, perhaps with a lil more elegant tone to it with a mixture of silver, black and grey over a very pretty flowery background that has
the feel of real fabric.
I also added a touch of color to make the black embossed panel pop....

        Below is the inside of the card  showing a pretty inked quote from same set...

 2nd Card Deet:
Versamark, silver embossing powder, Prismacolor colored pencils, silver cord, punched black trim, dot sparklers (bird's eye), basic grey and basic black card stock, light blue pearls, DCWV d/p 'The Far East Stack'  plus a gorgeous silvery fabric like d/p .

There you have it my friends....what do you think?

Personally, I am very happy with both results and , hopefully, Fran is going to

like them as well...

 ♥ Thanks for stopping by! ♥

Calendar Girls- Celebrate YOUR Birthday!

Yeahhh! It's that time of the month for the Calendar Girls to reveal their challenge...

Who are the Calendar Girls? ♥ You can check them out here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/blogging-groups-f290/calendar-girls-blog-group-full-10-members-t512917.html

Read what our Miss April had in mind for the month of March....

here are her own word for this month'schallenge :

"...{In another thread, we were talking about what kind of challenges we like best and that is where I got this idea}
I want you to make a birthday card based on your date of birth. I would love you to use two parts of your birthdate and use the corresponding color and sketch challenges available on the forums.
So, my birthday is 3-8-67.....either 3, 8, or 67 would be the color challenge and either of the two remaining would be the sketch challenge.
My choices could be: 3/8, 3/67, 8/67; or the reverse of these

combos for color/sketch or sketch/color.....Clear as mud, right?? Use two parts of your birthdate and the corresponding challenge to make a birthday card!
April... "

Well my birthday is 30/11/1951. With that in mind, I scooted to the sites and selected challenge CC30 (my birth-date) and SC51 (the year I was born) Yes...I do not mind revealing my age at all......what would be the point?? ehehe  So this is the sketch I cased and the colors for CC30 are Bravo Burgundy and Cream Caramel. Luckily I had some card stock sheets left!            Thank YOU for such a FUN challenge miss April! or should I say miss March - aka April?? ;o)   Are you confused yet? ehhehee lol

Thank YOU for stopping by and visit...I love it when you do ♥

Please check out the other wonderfully creative Calendar Girls' blogs...

You can find them here:

April (SCS - Aprilo) April's Alley
          Barb (SCS - barbaralynn) Barb's Inkin' into Retirement
Carol (SCS - momcgw) Lost in my craft room
Debbie (SCS - djones) The Ink Igloo
Jeanette (SCS - Forest Ranger) Cre8tive Play
Kelly (SCS - MiamiKel4) Sandcastle Stamper
Michelle (SCS - pattem) Ink'n General
                 Paola (SCS - Sama) That's Amore    **you are here**
Tami (SCS - BlueInks) BlueInks Design
Terry (SCS - terry0926) It's Totally Terry

Card Deets :

Stamps: Hello Blossom (SU) , Curly Cute (SU)

Ink: SU Markers, Cool Caribbean

Card Stock: Bravo Burgundy, Cream Caramel

Designer Paper : K & Company

Accessories : buttons, baker's twine, satiny ribbon, butterfly punch

* Ruby *

The challenge for the Stamping Addict group this month - the new group I recently joined on Splitcoast Stampers - is to case  one card from Marilyn's  blog.
Wow....where to start??? Take a look at her awesome blog...so well made and full of wonderful paper art creation! Check out how utterly incredible her coloring is
...she's so multitalented! When I grow up I wanna color just like her ! ♥

For my case I chose this beautiful card of hers :
 http://onestampingfool.blogspot.ca/2011/12/ruby.html

I {{{{{{ heart }}}}}} Mo Manning stamps! ♥I am a sucker for any and all of Mo Mannings images, and it so happen that I had a brand new Ruby rubbah just waiting to be inked for the first time...so the choice was easier to make than I thought......
*wink & smile*

I stamped my sentiment on the inside of my card, still leaving plenty of room for
some personal writing .  (this card measures 5.5 x 5.5)

                                          ♥ Gotta love Dr. Seuss! ♥

I kept the image as well as the layout ,in a monochromatic tone , using mainly brown and shades of pink

I hope you all  friendly peeps like my interpretation of one of Marilyn original beauty.

I sure had fun creating this Ruby card!
This lil girl immie reminds me a LOT of my youngest grandaughter who LOVESSS to wear any kind of fun and funky  jewellery ,
including my own , everytime she sees me
♥  I'll save this card for her next visit...

♥ Have a blessed Sunday evening my stamping Friends ♥

Card Deets:
Stamp: Ruby -by Mo Manning
Ink: Archival Onix Black ; Archival Vintage Sepia ; SU markers
Other: Deluxe Natural Chalks
C/S : Chocolate Brown textured
D/P : Specialty Pack by Making Memories ; SU
Accessories: Oval Nesties , Sizzix , seld adhesive candy dots (brown & raspberry) ,
liquid pearls , stickles , dimentionals , hair spray

Wanna Cuppa ? ♥

Hello Friends...
here's a quick card for ya that I made for a coffee swap hosted by my stamping friend Roxane (SCS: 2cutecats)
I bought this stamp  afew weeks ago mostly because I love the 'relax' sentiment that went along with it.
I also enjoyed putting together this color combo...I'd never thought orange and light blue would marry so well together.....♥

Here's a peek of the fun sentiment INside the card....simple and cute...

I paper pieced the mug and propped it up for more depth....
and have an earlier than usual physio apptm. in the morning...
Sweet dreams to all....*Blessings!!*  ♥

                                                        

Cute Monkeys

Good Evening Friends,
my post tonight is of a simple, cute card I created a while back for a stamping friend's
Special Day.  Of course it did not arrive on time for her Birthday ,but only because I have been for evah procrastinating ....*insertrollingmyeyeshere*....
I believe this to be my first Changito's card...I love the happy image it shows.
In my world, there is ALWAYS room for a bit of cake indulgence....
no matter what the occasion...lol

I think that my intended surprise worked  -regardless of the bad timing-  and that my friend enjoyed her Changito's card as wells as her wee giftie. I really enjoyed making this fun card for her ♥

Card Deets:
Stamps: Changito, Curvey Verses,
Warmest Regards . 
Ink: Versamark Onix Black,
Chocolate Chips, Baja Breeze,
Marigold Morning, Yo Yo Yellow.
Card Stock: Tangerine Tango
Designer Paper: 'Recess' from Basic Grey
Accessories: Oval Nesties,MS border punch, blings, barely banana grosgrain ribbon, twine, pink stickles
Tecnique:
sponging, distressing,  punching

well my peeps, after staring at this lil glittery cake immie I just realized that I have a couple slices left of blueberry pie in the fridge...♥ lol
mmmmm...and, topped with greek vanilla yougourt it will do just nicely for dessert
tonight while enjoying NCIS Mark Harmon...need I say more?....lol *wink*

Hope you enjoyed my first Changito card!  Please check back soon...
I'll  have another fun card ready for you. 



    
     ♥ Blessings To All ♥ G' Night & Sweet Dreams ♥

Another Mystery Revealed

Hello Blogland's Friends

Today I am posting a card made for the Mystery Image Challenge round 9.

The creator of this fun swap is noneother than Jeanette aka Forest Ranger on SCS.

This swap consists of receiving mystery images from each partecipating hostesses and we (the receivers) must keep such images a secret until revealing day, which is always on the 18th of every other month.

Linda (gimmeahaller) is our hostess for this round, and she sent us fabby images from MFT-WTG Get’s Cozy with Cocoa as well as the perfect circled d/p I used here on my card.
Thanks Linda ♥

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was quite upset at myself for trying to do something different and ending ruining the

coloring part of my immies...didn't realize that the lil stamp flower on the sweater would cause such a problem once colored around w/chalks and hair spray was applied to set it. Well...everything smeared and I was in  a panic! :o(

I even offered to graciously bow out of such fun swap, but my friendly peeps wanted no part of it...I hope they are ok receiving something I am not 100% happy with even with the fixing I tried to do.....mmm, well........I'm trying to convince myself that it adds some 'character'  :/

My Added Details:
Stamps: Fresh Cuts (SU); Baby's Cold Outside (MFT sentiment)
Ink: chocolate chips, summer sun ,certainly celery markers
Others: SU Chalking Pastels
C/S: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chips, Real Red
Accessories: red pebbles, crystal effect, stickles, hair spray, dimentionals, Circle nesties, Blossom nestie

THANKS FOR VISITING!!!

Hopefully I'll do better next post....LOL

♥ HAVE A GREAT DAY YA ALL ♥

Happy St. Patrick Day!

Hello Friends,
it is dueling time again! ♥ This month the Divas and the Dazzlers shared a 'green battle'
in celebrating Saint Patrick's Day as per the hostess wishes (Barb hosted the Divas and Michelle us Dazzlers) Michelle sent us a great green kit full of awesome d/p and embellishments.
I received mine less then twelve hrs ago and, since sleep failed me ,
I decided to stop tossing and turning and get creative right in the middle of the night. ♥
Michelle also asked us to share if we celebrate and do something special on St. Pat's Day.
Well, we don't really celebrate it, but I do usually wear something green ♥
However,since my lil granddaughters will come and spend time with me today ( they went to a
St. Pat's school dance party last night) I am sure they are going to be excited to share what they did at the party.... Who knows? We may even make green shamrocks sugar cookies together as well as a couple more 'green' cards!! ♥

Michelle's wonderful kit contained the following:

3 - 6x6 pieces of patterned paper....Basic Grey Origins.... sugar pea

Echo Park This and That...dots and plaid

Reminisce...ShamRock

Ribbon and cording....American Crafts

Brads...................American Crafts

Glitter Shamrock....die cut from glitter paper

Pebblesinc......Button candy dots

Irish Blessing poem is computer generated and printed on SU! Whisper White and Cream

 To the above, I added basic black c/s from SU!, front sentiment from SU set 'All Year Cheers III',

Nesties from Label 8 and Beaded Circle, scalloped punch, dimentionals, glue dots.

Front sentiment was stamped w/ Versamark Onix Black and sponged w/Green Galore

and So Saffron. Card dimention is 5.5 x5.5 square.

Please excuse the pictures.Unfortunatly they're not the best, being taken hastily as well as not in natural daylight, in order to post ;o)

Well, my dear peeps, I think it's time I put my laptop to rest, as well as my ol bones too.

I'll leave ya  with a couple of 'Irish' links for you to enjoy :

http://www.st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.html
http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/irish_blessings_and_sayings.htm

For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way-
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day ...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everyone!

 ♥ God Bless ♥

                        

Black and White Simple Elegance

Hello girls,
tonight I'm posting one of the two wedding cards I made for a recent wedding...
Both were made for my collegues to chose from, since we all were going to sign in.
The other card was the one chosen by the group - some of you may have already seen it here :
http://www.paola-sama.blogspot.com/2012/03/wedding-card-punch-art.html

This card was fun and easy to make, partly due to its luscious designer papers which I absolutly love. it is from  'DCWV- Glittered Alphabet Premium Stack'....It is glittery, fun and somber at the same time .The light grey diamond shaped background is hard to see here....it's very faint in fact, but it sure adds a hint of elegance both on card front and on the inside too. The stamped bride and groom silhuette was first clear embossed, cut out and placed over a nestied heart cut out from same d/p ,then propped w/dimentional. Lots of  'diamonds' were placed all around the heart for a  'blingy' effect......

The inside was embellished using dry embossed tecnique, black glitter and a hint of black lattice

 border from a MS punch. Sentiment is from SU!....

Close up of the heart encased silhuette and , below, embossed envelope to match

the inside of the card.

Thanks again for stopping by, I love it when you visits...

♥  God Bless friendly bloggers! ♥

Faith Card ~~~

Hello BlogLand Friends,

I made these cards over a week ago, for the monthly SOTC stamping group on SCS

(Sisterhood od the Travelling Cards)

These gate fold cards cover the February theme , hosted by our beautiful

*inside and  out*  hostess Kelly - aka MiamiKel4 on SCS -

 Kelly theme's request to us is as follow:

"....My challenge to you this month is to create a Faith based, spiritual card!

Your card can be created using faith based images, or scriptures, or both! Or anything that best exemplifies what blessings, God's love, peace in the heart, faith, etc means to you that you'd like to share with us!...."

I love this theme ! It also gave me a chance to ink part of a faith-based stamp set

I had like  forevah , in fact I need to make more  'feel good inside ' faith based cards...

BTW-the cut out praying hands immie serves well to keep the 'gate' from opening....

another stamped praying hand immie (in versamark) is found on the inside...

Thanks for such inspirational challenge opportunity Kells! ♥

Card Deets:
Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms 'Scripture Essentials I'
              Close to my Heart 'Faith B1201'(cut out hands)
Ink: Versamarck Onix Black
C/S from SU ; D/P from K & Company 'Black Ivory Fusion'
Accessories: Spellbinders nesties Level 20, Sizzix leaves, stickles, pearls,
handmade paper rosettes using matching d/p

Packaged and ready to go....mmmm truth be known these cards were ready to go

seeeeeveral days ago...but sometimes Life gets in the way.... :/

Hopefully the hostess and the recipients will enjoy them, once received...

Blessing to you all my friendly stampers and visitors!

♥  Thanks for stopping by...♥

♥ Wedding Card~ Punch Art ♥

Hello Friends in Blogland,

I was recently asked to make a wedding card for the upcoming nuptial of one of my collegue (Val)
 - to share with other invited collegues - and this is one of the two choices I made.

I took in consideration that her wedding dress color is amethist/light blue and that she loves daisies;
so much in fact that she used them on her wedding invites as well....

Luckily I had some leftover SU textured amethist c/s which I paired up with a

beautiful dotted white c/s as the base of this card. The designer paper 

 is from SU 'Specialty Paper Bride' . It was used for both daisies , the lovebirds and my lil handmade rolled rose , plus the inside of the card too. Love such beautiful  and shimmery looking d/p!

Close up of  front and inside of card

There are four overlapped layers for each daisy.

Too bad that it doesn't show too well how glittery it is around

the diamond shape and the smallest nestie edge,below.

I used a new sentiment stamp for the inside. It is 'Best Wishes Wedding'  from Paper Parachute, inked in Almost Amethist from SU. Unfortunatly it was not inked quite straight, but I had no time to make a new inside panel ...oh well...it adds some character....lol

Other items used to make this card, besides the ones already mentioned, are:

CB folders: Swiss Dots, Victoria, Just my Type.

Punches: MS heart border punch , SU two steps bird punch

Sizzix : Daisies #2 , sizzlets alphabet letters

Several nesties from Spellbinder, white satin ribbon, pearls, beads, glitter, dimentionals.

This is it for now....I will be posting the other wedding card at another time....

Sending blessings and love to ya all...thanks fo visiting!

♥ Pretty in Pink ♥

Hello friends,

I decided to do some 'catching up' tonight and post one of the many cards made a while back but never yet uploaded...

this one ,in fact, was made last November and sent all the way to

Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates for the birth of one of our friend's lil daughter.

For this pink cutie I used an old SU stamping set 'Pretty Princess' (2004), SU markers, lots of Spellbinders' nesties, pretty pink satiny ribbon, 'Girls are Weird' Sizzlets dies (for her name), baubles, stickles, flowers from Jolee, dimentionals.

{Inside the card, I also added a decorated square tag with a written personal message}

I really like the soft pink and ivory combo of this lil girl's card and its overall appearance...apparently it was appreciated too by the baby's parents.♥

oh...did I ever tell ya that I was offered a chance to go to work in Abu Dhabi a few years ago??....true true! *wink & smile*....

♥ Thanks for visiting ♥ 
♥ Many Blessings to you all! ♥

I was blessed with a Blog Award...time three! ♥

My stamping friends Tami ( http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/ )

 Terry ( http://itstotallyterry.blogspot.com/ )

and  Athina (http://stellarooandfenatoo.blogspot.com/)

surprise me with the Liebster Blog Award a few days from each others...

woww!....so totally unexpected!

Feeling so grateful to be blessed not once,

or twice but three times!! wowww...

♥ Thank YOU : Tami * Terry * Athina - for thinking of me ♥

   The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is

to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers.
In the spirit of good fun, I am passing this award on to five other bloggers. Please stop by and encourage them by leaving a little love on their creations.

For the five blogs that I am presenting this award to, please.....

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to their blog.

2. Reveal your five blog picks for the award and let them know.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare - other bloggers.

5. finally the best rule of all....have fun and spread the love!

It took me a couple days to think of blogger's friends whom to pass on this award to, it was hard to chose , as some have been already awarded and others passed the 200 followers mark...sooooo I did a bit of checking (aka snooping...lol) and these are the creative friends I am very excited to pass on this blog award to :

Susan : http://pinkflannelpajamas.blogspot.com/

Nancy : http://bitsbynancy.blogspot.com/

Sam Swindle : http://cardsbysam.blogspot.com/

Imke : http://craftingcreationsbyimke.blogspot.com/

Linda Hart: http://hartstamping.blogspot.com/

♥ Congratulations Ladies! ♥