Unidentified Image Swap ~ November 2014

   Hello there , my wonderful friends in blogland...

it is the 10th of the month and ,as such, we can now reveal the image that Barb sent to us peeps 

in the Unidentified Image Swap (round 17th) on SCS , that she started a while back.

She sent us partecipant this ohhh soooo cuteee image from Whipper Snapper :

"Bristol & Friends"

Like Barb, I too love, love, loveeeee anything from WS stamping company , so it was not a total surprise to find  adorable WS images for this round. ♥ :)

 

For my card I added Pacific Point card stock (SU) as my base , plus white card stock ,

My Mind's Eyes designer papers , ribbon from Michael , punched out snowflakes, blue gems brads, Spellbinders circle dies and glitter. Images are colored with Copics.

I purposely left out a sentiment , thus allowing the recipients to add their own choices of

either a winter theme sentiment, winter Birthday, Thank you from a group etc...

The possibilities are endless...

   Fun image...great choice Barb!

      ♥ Thank you all for your visit, 

and for any comment you may leave... ♥

~ xox ~

Past and Present duels ...

       Hello friends in blogland,
today I am posting a card with a THANK YOU theme  as proposed for this month's duel.
Yes, I am part of  a 'dueling group' with two teams: " The Divas and The Dazzlers" ♥
Each team partners up with the opposite one, and each month the designated hostesses from each team send an individual kit to each partecipant in their groups.
This month's hostess are April , for us Dazzlers, and Kadie for the Divas.
The wonderful kit received this month was full of so many items that I have plenty left to actually make several cards -eventually- when Life decides to slow down in my neck of the wood....lol

Amongst the kit there was a cute adorned circle (nestie?) which I cut up in half to add a more ornate
look around the Spellbinder shape I chose. Also the white flower and the white twine included,were colored (with Copic) in the same shade as the scroll in the sentiment...(although the lighting makes them look much more brighter in these pictures!) Both flowers and the scroll were sprinkled with Diamond glitter...too bad it doesn't show well how truly pretty sparkly it turned out in real life! :(
I gave all the layers a rough edge as well, sort of a shabby -chic look. ♥

   Thanks for this months great theme   April and Kadie!!

Dazzlers Kit Contents for November :
• Recollections and Prima flowers, misc sizes/shapes
• Favorite Findings and Basic Grey buttons
• Offray Twill ribbon (tan stitched)
• Craftsmart sheer ribbon (from Germany) – mint blue
• Kaiser mini pearls
• Recollections paper rope – white
• Recollections Fall Foliage paper doilies – beige
• DSP from SU! ~ Le Jardin (in yellow, green, beige, blues)
• Kraft cardstock, PTI
• Images: Thank you (Flourish) from Inkadinkadoo and Thank you (cursive) from Michaels $1.50 bin


*** Please note: I also have a SECOND card today...
           my very late dueling one for last October!
( I am still behind with September month....*sigh*...I will remedy that soon!)

For the month of October Terry aka my WPS (wink) and LJ were the dueling hostess

and both decided on a Halloween theme...Terry sent a kit full of great designer papers and I had a hard time chosing....lol....however I decided to go a lil plainer than usual  and, overall, I truly like 

the simple approach and how this Halloween card turned out. I will save the leftovers for another card or two-for next year.              

♥ THANK YOU TERRY! ♥



Dazzlers Kit Contents for October : 
*Image - Haunted Forest (Stampin' Up!)
*Papers - Boo! (Flair Designs), Jeepers Creepers (Heidi Grace Designs), Halloween Words (the Paper Studio), Sugar Rush (Heidi Grace Designs), Web
*Embellishments: Candi Dots (Craftworkcards), Ribbon (miscellaneous from Michaels), mini brads (Recollection)

 **We are supposed to mention also which was/is our favorite candy....well for me anything with dark chocolate has my vote but I fondly remember the 'wars' my son and I used to have with each other by hiding the Peanut Butter Cups around each Halloween time... I was able to only win once...clearly he had better hiding spot than me...or a better nose to find MY treats....lol *grin*

Thank YOU to all of you who endured this long post....lol...

I hope you enjoyed what you saw! ;)

Unidentified Image Swap - October 2014

Wow...I am actually posting on Blogland after a quiet spell, AND actually am on TIME for the reveal of the latest Unidentified 'image' - now identified!! :)

Lela was the hostess for this last round of the swap and sent us partecipants a cute ,sweet image from

Stampenduous called "Box of Fluffles".

With it I decided to make a tent card with a Holiday motif.

Designer papers are from my Christmas stash , the ribbon from SU and pearls from Michael's .

I used circle Spellbinders and a couple punches from SU as well as a sentiment.

Image was colored using Copics. 

♥ Thanks for visiting 

and blessings to all! ♥

Calendar Girls : August theme

  Hello my friends in Blogland ♥
I am late (what else is new?)  to post my August Calendar Girls' card ...actually, truth be known ,I hardly have been home as hubby and I (and usually one or two of our grandkids tagging along too) have been enjoying this amazing weather while camping not too far for home...
School is not in session here in British Columbia yet, as our Government and the BCTF 
(teacher's assc.) are still at an impass with barganing.We are now entering the third week of strike
into the new school year already *sigh*
Anyways, it was nice to enjoy such gorgeous weather while in limbo...

I was actually the hostess for the month of August and this was my challenge for my peeps : 
~ " Hello Calendar Girls ♥
for the month of August, I would like to challenge everyone to embrace the PUNCH ART tecnique...yup, dust off your punches Ladies!
PLease feel free to use a stamped sentiment of your choice , but the main focus is being creative, using punches ."

The idea for my card came from this
awesome blog ...I had a hard time to chose amongst so many cute 'punched cards' :

 http://jackietopa.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55205719e8833017c381f3fbc970b-pi

Above are all the punches I used to create my card ( I noticed just now that I forgot to add the oval punch -for the sentiment- )

Besides are the pieces cut out from my stack of leftover cardstock and d/p

 

I totally LOVE the art of making cards using punches and I hope I was able to have other crafters embracing such tecnique without fear, even if for a day ♥

For my card , aside the punches, I used a foliage
embossing folder and colored the leaves and branches, sponged the sky, and drew part of a tree bark to complete the scene. I also added a cute lil sentiment that I thought would go well with this 4 3/4 by 6.5 card ...

I hope my friends (Calendar Girls) had fun creating with punches...I know I did! ;o)

                    ♥    Thanks for stopping by and BLESSINGS TO ALL!!  ♥

AUGUST duel

Hello Blogland Friends ♥

I am finally posting the dueling card for the month of August and yeahhh.....with this I am actually now all caught up! ( Posted my July's duel card right on the 15th of this month though! lol)

This month's hostesses are Carol (for the Divas)  and Melina for us Dazzlers. They came up with a GREAT theme....

                         here it is in Melina's own words :

" Friends are the Family You Pick Yourself
We are so happy to call you all our friends. 
We've been dueling for 4 years now!
My image, the mouse and turtle, just went right along with the theme I thought. Friends of a different kind helping each other out! We darlings are all different but it works! I'm so glad it does!


KIT CONTENTS:
Image: Whimsy Stamps "I Will Carry You"
Paper: Recollections & Sassafras
Ribbon: Michael's
Buttons: My Favorite Things
Pearls and Brads: from my stash
Pair of dry embossed clouds

** I only added SU card stock (Barely Banana, plus white and blue c/s from my remnants c/s stash), the inside sentiment and dimentionals to pop up the cute immie which was colored with Copics and SU markers **

On the inside of my card I added this sweet sentiment from 

Art Impressions. 

I thought that it goes so well with the sweet image 

that Melina sent.

 I love the pair of clouds included in the kit and , just for a wee twist, used the opposite embossed side 

 on my card...

Thank YOU Melina for such 

a fun kit to use...

I hope I did it justice ;o) 

Until next time....

♥ BLESSINGS TO ALL♥

*July's Dueling Darlings : Birds Of a Feather *

 Hello Everyone...
well, I am finally posting my Dueling card for LAST month!!
 (will hopefully also post this month's card later on today....)

This fun kit was sent to us Darlings by Jeanette -aka Forest Ranger in SCS-
( Kelly was the hostess for the Divas )
This is Jeanette's suggested challenge, in her own words  :

"  Through the years, through thick and thin, we've blessed each other in many ways and all these years later, we're still together – like a flock!

And here’s the challenge – Since we are celebrating 4 years together, you must have 4 of SOMETHING on your card - 4 flowers, 4 brads, 4 gems, 4 different designer papers, etc! Those 4 things must be the same ELEMENT (in other words, 4 different gems are okay but not 1 paper, 1 ribbon, 1 brad, 1 button = 4)."

This above is the finished inside of my card... and below a close up of the fun image...
Gotta love Penny Black feathered chicks....;o)
All of what you see in the card was part of the great kit received, I only added the card base!
Was able to use 4 flowers and the 4 blue brads that Jeanette sent in the kit...but kept the background
to a minimum so not to overpower this fun and funky image....♥

Kit's contents:

Image – Penny Black Chicky Work Out stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black
(notice there are 4 chicks in the image.)

Sentiment – Great Impressions stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black

Designer Papers (4 of them) – from Paper Studio

• Happy All Over – Floral
• Poteeka Stripe
• Small Polka Dot – Pink/Cream
• Texture Yellow
• Accessories :

• Paper Studio – Gemstones (there are 4 of these)
• Ribbon Boutique – Ruffled Ribbon
• Sew-Ology – a piece of an actual tape measure
• Spare Parts - Brads
• Spare Parts – Clear Starburst Brad
• Spare Parts – Flowers (two kinds; 4+ of these)

Hopefully Jeanette and all the Darlings like the card's end results! ♥

Here are a couple more birds' images, colored with Copics by my youngest GS while we were camping...he did such a great job! I should have made my card with his colored image!♥ 
*Also, the second immie was one I received from the Unidentify's swap...

         Have a  most wonderful day you all! *TGIF!! ♥

Unidentified Image Swap ~ round 15 ~

 

   Hello Peeps ♥
finally able to post another card...yeahh!!
This one is for the Unidentified Image Swap and our hostess for this 15th round is Heather.
She sent us all this adorable image from Whipper Snapper , one of my favorite stamping company.

Above the cute image I added a little sentiment from Pure Innocence (You're So Tweet, from MFT) 
and a second one from same set , on the inside of the card.
All of my card stock is from SU as well as the ribbon.
Designer paper is from My Little Shoebox :' Keepsake - MusicTo My Ears' and the flower
is from my stash. Image is colored with Copics and purposedly roughed up w/SU Tangerine 
at the edge of the oval shape cut up w/ scalloped nesties.

 

 For the  details below, I must thank Barb, since I copied and pasted hers!
( I can't find my sheet deets that Heather sent...) ♥

Image/Sentiment:  Whipper Snapper Designs Bird Buddies
Cardstock:  Xpress It Blending White
 Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black


 Thank YOU for visiting! ~Have a most blessed day!~ ♥

Sisterhood of the Travelling Cards ~ May/June theme

    Hello Everyone in blogland ,

this is the recent handcrafted project for the SOTC group. 

Gael was the hostess for May/June months and she specifically didn't want any 

stereotypical man's card.

I hope I did it right!

Here's the theme in her own words:

~MAY/JUNE Theme hosted by Mamadwawa~
Have you ever noticed that the majority of masculine-labeled cards are either football/baseball, hunting/fishing, golf, tools, Nascar? Not one of those themes would be appropriate for The Man in my house. Therefore, your challenge is to create a man's card that has NONE of those stereotypical things that first spring to mind. Also, you must use at least one non-earth tone somewhere on your card. (In other words, something bright)

 For these cards I used a Stampandous clear stamp : Cling Typewriter Note CRP158 ,
embossing folder 'houndstooth', designer paper from Kaiser 'Devonshire Collections',
orange/white candyfloss and matching buttons. Cut out image is prompted up w/dimentionals.
Card stock ,sentiment and punch are from SU.                                       Tecniques used here : dry embossing and fussy cutting.

                Well, what do you think? Bright enough? eheeh  :o)
                     Hopefully the SOTC gals will like them.
                   Thank you for stopping by my friends! 
                         ♥ Have a great and blessed day! ♥

~* Calendar Girls time THREE! *~

TA-DAAAAAAAAAAA!!...It is time to reveal the latest Calendar Girls' Challenge...but first 

please allow me to catch up with April and May themes....(yes I am later than late but , hopefully,

you'll like these cards well enough to forgive me! ♥ *wink* )

Long post today, please be aware...lol

                                                                   APRIL CARD :
This first card was made a couple wks ago (as well as the second card that folows) but,since I was already late for the CG posts, I wanted to wait and add it together with the latest upload, aka card # 3.
 The hostess for last April was my good friend Carol and -in her words- this is what her theme was: 

"What I would like you to do this month is create a card or project 

using the color that would describe your mom...."

My Mom's favorite color is pink and , with that in mind I had no problem deciding what I wanted to do for this challenge. Mom also LOVESSS roses...I mean she really likes them A LOT!

Therefore I wanted to use an older SU stamp *Stipple Rose* (2002) It is sooo pretty and sooo
versatile too...*I really {{♥}}older style SU stamps!* I also used some pretty SU designer paper 
that, I thought goes very well with said stamp. A little lace and a trio of lil bows, some pearls and a hint of glittah! Mom really likes this card...it was a good 'pick-me up' of sort ,after what she's been through lately...yes I gave it to her after snapping pictures this afternoon while trying out my new camera just purchased via Bidding Wars -yes...another camera!...AND four diff. lenses came with it too! wooott I scored BIG! lol (some of ya may know how addicted I am to Bidding Wars....lol)

  

On the inside of the card I added a string of flowers by finally used another of my punches 

that had never seen paper before. Mini pink pearls and a cute sentiments completes this project.

The Stipple Rose colored image (w/ SU pastels and Copics) ,was fussy cut 

and prompted up with dimentionals.

I really like how this card turned out...and I am thrilled that Mom loves it just as much ♥
I can tell from the way she 'petted' it ...lol :o)

 

                                                                        MAY CARD :
On to card number two: The second challenge was hosted by April, for the month of May.
This is what she asked us CG to do - in her own words : 
  " I always like to honor my father this month.
So, to celebrate him (and fathers every where) let us make a masculine celebratory card with any SCS sketch that ends in 25 (the year he was born).
Please let us know which sketch you used and a memory of a special man in your life!"
Links:
Sketch Challenge 425 {2/27/13}
Sketch Challenge 325
Sketch Challenge 225
Sketch Challenge 125
Sketch Challenge 2

 I chose Sketch 325. Loved the cards I saw in the gallery using this sketch and I am sure I will be using it again and again. My Dad loves nature and anything outdoorsy...loved both hunting and
gathering what nature had to offer naturally- such as wild asparagus (and yes there were snakes too!) ,
hazelnuts , walnuts and chestnuts...(last time I went chestnut picking with my fathers, I noticed

a few 'cakes' ....Dad told me they wee left from bears...well!!...you never saw anyone leaving that field so fast! I can still remember Dad's laughter echoing in my head..♥ 
With that in mind, I dusted off  SU Noble Deer (2004) and wanted to try something different with the chosen image so I tried the *bleach tecnique* on a piece of craft c/s. Kind of liked the results but felt it needed something more...so I tried to use a light brown tip and casually contoured the washed out image. I like to see animals having at least eyes....lol 

Anyways, not sure if this was worth doing or if I blotched it all together, but at least I gave it a try... Tomorrow I am going to visit my Dad and this card too will find it's place...♥

   On the inside of this masculine card I added the exact sentiment I used on Mom's card...

(mmm ... just notice that this pict is a tad blurry..sorry gals, this chick is not going 

to take a new one..I am done for the day....lol) I really love the designer paper 

I chose for Dad's card and truly enjoyed trying this sketch.

 JUNE CARD :

 Now off to the third and last card...if you are still with me, thanks for your endurance 

in following this long post to the end...lol *smile*

Debbie is this month's hostess and her challenge is as follow : 

Since we are the CALENDAR Girls I was thinking we should make cards that reflect the months 
of the year or days of the week. I found these sayings about a few of the months:
Slow as Molasses in January
January Brings a New Year
Beware the Ides of March (William Shakespeare "Julius Caesar")
March, In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb
April Showers Bring May Flowers
June is Bustin' Out All Over (Oscar Hammerstein)
July Fireflies Bring August Skies
September Leaves Gives Chance for October Scares
And here are some yearly days of the week.:
Fat Tuesday
Black Friday
Good Friday
Palm Sunday
So the challenge is to make a card that reflects your interpretation of one 
of the above sayings about the months or one of the four listed days.

 Ohh I wanted to ink this image for sooo longgggg as it sat forevah ,just waiting for me to ink it up!
       DID YOU GUESS WHICH DAY I PICKED? ...LOL....YUP! *FAT TUESDAY* :)

After a couple of  'pensive' kind of cards , this morning I took a different approach for this fun challenge and went happily to 'work' at it... I used Art Impressions : Yoga Yolanda -set 4209-

This plump lady cracks me up..it sooooo reminds me of myself when I try to exercise!

However I know I could NOT do that pose at all...yikes! lol

I just used paper from my stash and some leftover d/p from my friend Darlene's latest DDD kit.

The image was colored with a combo of SU pastels and Copics while the main sentiment was stamped directly on the card's front panel.Yolanda was fussy cut and mounted without  using dimentionals this time around.

After reading the quote that you see below, I finished the inside to resemble an envelope, and added a second sentiment too .
           " When you look outside you,you'll see the hope in the envelope of fear- but when you look inside you, you'll find hope in the envelope of faith." (Unknown)

No matter what size or look we may sport on the outside, our inside is what counts the most ,therefore....                * DO . APPRECIATE . WHAT . IS *

* Below, my trio of cards for APRIL, MAY and JUNE Calendar Girls challenges.

THANK YOU to all the lovely hostesses: CAROL , APRIL , DEBBIE  *

and THANK YOU ALL for you patience! Much much appreciated!

♥ BLESSINGS TO ALL ♥

~SOTC~

 Well, my dear Blogland Peeps , I am finally posting my latest cards made a while back for the SOTC group.

(Sisterhood Of the Travelling Cards)

My good friend Carol was the hostess for the months of March-April and this is what she requested from us :

 " The theme for this round is going to be :: Unique :: Special :: You ! "
 
"God made us after His own image, however, we don't all think, 

act or look alike. Of course, we all love paper crafting though! 

So that being said, I would like to have you make cards unique to YOU! 

I would love you to use your favorite shape, color scheme, embellishment, layout ...what ever you really like to use in paper crafting. 

I can't wait to see what each of you create! "
 

"

 For my cards I focused mainly on my most favorite colors in card stock and designer papers...

I absolutley adore this SU d/p...and hoarded it like for evah!...but now, sadly, I am down to just ONE 12x12 sheet left of this particular design! *sigh sigh* :(

Other  personal favorites are: dry embossing tecnique, the use of either ovals or circle dies, and the

punch art tecnique. I also love using pearls to accessorize (amongst manyyyyyy other loved options *smile*) 

and I often like to pop up my main image too. ♥

 Hopefully the SOTC recipients liked receiving this card...am thrilled that I could finally use the bird punch again as it is often left 'abandoned' like so many other punches.

 Also , the bird's feet were purposely NOT used here....lol   ;o)

     ♥ Thank YOU for visiting!! Wishing you a BLESSED day! ♥

June Duel~~~♥

  Hello Friendly Bloggers,

Are you ready? It's DUEL TIME! ♥

This months's lovely hostess are : Darlene ,for us Dazzlers ,and Terri for the Divas...

The theme they both challenged us this month is : GARDENING

      Us Dazzlers received a wonderful kit full of great choices and a super image. 

♥ THANK YOU DARLENE! ♥

Image: Gardening Shelf by Stamps Happen stamped w/ Marvy Matchables Black Ink 

(by Uchida on Conqueror Diamond White Cardstock)

Designer Paper; K & Company -Lemon Citron Pack-

Embellishments: Paper Studio Gemstones, Ribbon, Ribbon Boutique Silk Plaid Ribbon, K & Company Dimensional Flower, Recollections Blue Flowers, CraftWorkCards Candi Dots, 

Creative Impressions Dragonfly Brad, Spare Parts Glitter Lady Bug and Garden Tool Brads

For my card I added: card stock, some diff. sized pearls, nesties and dimentionals.

Image was colored using Copics and SU markers.

 Above: The finished inside of  the card and below a close up of the completed image. 

The gardening gloves and the pink seed packet were fussy cut ,then propped with dimentionals 

on top of the nesties. A couple of garden related sentiments were used both in and out of the card.

As an extra step, Darlene asks us to add some gardening tips : well, I used to save all egg shells (both fresh or boiled), plus the coffee grounds and add them to the dirt...it makes for good compost. Also if/when you have leftover milk to discard use it for the geraniums...for as long as I can remember I was told it's really good for those kind of plants...♥

                                                            

Happy Gardening Everyone and God's  Bless!!

~ Unidentified Image # 14 ~

 ~ Hello Peeps and blogland friends...
Not much time to be creative or to even feel creative lately...but I am trying the best I can, to do what I can with the crumbs of time I seem to have lately....way too much has been  happening, one thing after another...hopefully this 'madness' will end soon...I sure could use some 'don't worry time' both from the job (there may well be a full fledge strike going on starting next week!)  and also in my personal life some 'stuff' ' is keeping me very concerned indeed...I could use a total escape from reality....LOL....or learn to bury my head in the sand...
(it ain't gonna happen!)....

Well, I am finally posting the card (s) I made for the 14th round of the Unidentified Image Swap. These were due to post 2 days ago...but here I am now...not too late, in comparison of another commitment or two, not yet even started! *sigh*

This round's lovely hostess was Kadie and she sent us all partecipants a very sweet, adorable stamped image to play with, from Pink Cat Studio * love it! *  

                                 ♥ Thank YOU Kadie ♥   
 

 This is the inside of my card...I chose to use a sentiment I had , that accompanies the image of the 'crayoned' sun I added...

 Stamps: Crayon Cuties -SU 2002-  &
                    Be Happy Sentiments -
                        by Amy R stamps

Close Up of the sweet image




Card Deets:
Stamped Image : 
Lily Stamp -by Pink Cat Studio
Card Stock : by SU
Designer Paper : Me and My Bright Idea Specialty D/P , plus  others from my stash.
Ink: Copics, SU Pastels 
Accessories: Inverted Scalloped circles nesties, orange buttons from my stash, blue and white floss by American Crafts , dimentionals, Crystal effect.


          Thank you ALL for taking time to stop by....
your comments  are greatly appreciated...Thanks! ♥

                    SENDING MANY BLESSINGS YOUR WAY!