Blog Candy

Wow, I'm at 3,000 hits already, and to celebrate I'm offering up some blog candy. The prize includes a card made by me, clear stamps, and ribbon. All you have to do are two things: sign my guest book, and tell me how you found my site.

Get Ready

Get ready for tomorrow's blog candy.

Pete's Boutique

Early in the morning I received a telephone call from Carol to say she and Sharon were going to meet at noon for pizza and invited me along. After I was all dressed up and surfing on the computer I received a call from Sharon saying that Carol was held up with putting laundry out on her line, and they would be along shortly to go to Pete's. Okay, I said all cheerful. After I hung up I quickly ran upstairs to change. How silly for me to hear "pizza" when Carol said "Pete's." Carol (left) and Sharon (right) are getting coffee for the road at the Coffee Lodge.

This is why I changed my clothes. This photo makes Pete's "boutique" look bright and clean. NOT. The lights are half lit and it is junky, junky, junky. We are serious shoppers and appreciate each and every item in the "boutique." Pete is an auctioner and what does not sell, he carefully displays around his giant store. There are no prices; we take up what we want and he gives us a deal. This is where I get my black & white photos for altered books, and music sheets for cards, and even silver flatware that I decorate with beads. I purchase silver coffee pots, teapots, and silver flatware to make windchimes. There is so many unique ways to use the treasure we find.

Luck was definately on Carol's side as she beat me to these adorable dessert dishes and plates. Can you believe she got all those for only $10? She doesn't know this, but I held my breath hoping she would decide not to take them. My sister Cathie is going to laugh when she reads this because I am the one who always finds the buys when I'm with my sister, and she misses out. Cathie quickly learned to walk in front of me--LOL.

After we were finished inside, we ventured out back to see what goodies there were. See that turquoise bag in the middle area of the photo? That's what I grabbed for my stamp'n table. After a good wash it would hold my scissors, glue stick, paper piercer, exacto knife, etc.


Just what Sharon & Carol are looking for--that "perfect" door for their outdoor garden. Sharon bought two and Carol bought one. I wanted one too, but my condominium has rules about how high anything can be, and I think I would upset the apple cart by placing a tall old door in my backyard--LOL.

Ribbon, and More Ribbon

TGIF. The weekend is finally here, and the week long festivities over at Splitcoast Stampers is in progress for Fan Club members. Is anyone participating?

I'm a ribbon fanatic, but who isn't these days. There are bloggers who run ribbon shares, and people like me who sign up. The biggest bargain right now is at Hobby Lobby where there are 30 yards of ribbon for $1.99. Each bag has 15 strips with 2 yards, and variety varies with each package. If there is a bargain to be had, I'm right there in line.

These cute little bunnies are surrounded by ribbon; on the bottom, behind the flower and on the right hand side. This card was inspired by Maria's challenge of using ribbon on our card. I'm sure you're familiar with Maria's name, as I enter her challenges each week. Maria has two blog sites: one for Stamp'n Up and one for "other" companies. Click here to see what other stampers have done with ribbon on her Card Inspired site. Everyone has used ribbon in different ways, and just like Maria said, "it's nice to see what different stampers come up with." While visiting Maria's site, check out her link for her Stamp'n Up site for even more inspiration.

The second submission I am making is to Caardvarks. Click here to be directed to details on their ribbon contest. There are many wonderful samples, and once again, there are many variations in the use of ribbon.

Well, it's very late and it's time to go to bed to spend 15 minutes looking through my newest addition of Stamper's Sampler. I'm too tired to read it all, and I'm sure you are like me and when a new magazine is in hand, it is hard not to read it immediately. Enjoy your weekend--and keep safe.

Swing Card Tutorial

Today I would like to provide you with my first tutorial. This interesting card is called the "Swing" card. I encourage you to try your hand at this tutorial because it is so interesting, and isn't as hard as it may seem.

Supplies:

Paper cutter
Stamps
Ink pad and Versa Mark pad
Heat Embosser
Variety of Embossing Powders
Paper cutter with score blade

1 piece of 5 ½ x 6 ¾ cardstock (card base)
2 pieces of 2 ¾ x 3 ¾ cardstock (for centre piece)
2 pieces of 2 ½ x 3 ½ cardstock (for verse)
1 piece of 3 x 4 scrap of paper or cardstock

Place your large piece of cardstock in the paper cutter horizontally. Line up the blade at 2 ¾ inches and make a 1 ¼ inch score starting from the bottom. Repeat again at the top of your cardstock.

Take cardstock out of cutter and turn card around. Once again, line up your blade at the 2 3/4 inch mark, and make a 1 1/4 inch score starting from the bottom. Repeat again at the top of your cardstock.

Your card will now look like this photo.

Place your card into the paper cutter vertically and line it up at the 4 1/4 inch mark. Starting at the bottom score line, cut your cardstock 1 3/8 inches. Repeat on the top score.

Turn your card around and repeat cuts as above.

Place your cardstock back into the paper cutter horizontally, and cut 1 1/4 inches to 4 1/4 inches.

If your lines do not match up exactly to the measurements above, gently cut so that the edges all match up as in the photo.

Take a 3 x 4 scrap of paper or cardstock and cover the centre of the card.

Stamp images randomly over the front of the card, varying between regular ink and Versa mark.

Heat emboss your Versa marked images.

Turn your card over and repeat on the backside.

Adhere a 2 3/4 inch x 3 3/4 inch piece of paper to the centre of your card.

Turn card over and repeat.

Using a variety of coloured cardstock and embossing powders, emboss your images.

Adhere the 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 piece of cardstock on top of your mat cardstock.

Adhere your heat embossed, or stamped, images to your cardstock.

Bend your score lines, and magically the centre part of the card swings.

Splitcoast Stampers

Today I am going to share a small tip, with big results. Are you tired of only having 48 images on a page? Want 90? Here's what you do: Chose "48" as your choice for the number of images on your page. Then, go way up to the address bar and look for the number 48. Carefully delete the number 48, and type in 90 and then "enter." Whalaa, you now have 90 images. If you have any questions regarding this tip, please leave me a note and I will try to help out.

Happiness Always

Good morning all! Today's card was inspired from Splitcoast Stamper's Colour Challenge, using Old Olive, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink.

Pretty in Pink was embossed with my Cuttlebug, and Old Olive was stamped with a Castaway pad. For those of you who are not family with the Castaway pad, it is an amazing pad that bleaches out the image, without the mess of using real bleach. Stamp your image, let it dry, then heat with a hot iron. Coincidentally, the image bleached out in a Pretty in Pink colour. I'd love to say I had that planned, but I won't--LOL.

For the image, I used the flower from the Happy Harmony set. Using the same technique as yesterday's card, I misted my stamp, then coloured with watercolour crayons, and stamped onto glossy cardstock. Once dry, I sprayed the image with a sealer to prevent the image from smudging. Pop up dots were adhered to give the card some added dimension.

Finally, a decorative corner was cut from my Cuttlebug, and adhered with a glue stick. Old Olive ribbon was tied, and finally, "Happiness Always" was stamped directly onto Old Olive cardstock.

Pushing Up Daisies

Good afternoon. Did everyone have a great weekend? Boy was I busy with Sarnia's Bayfest where I volunteered in the beer tent. Big names were brought into town for a four day concert: Toby Keith, Aerosmith, and Def Leppard. On Sunday some of the volunteers got together for a barbecue to celebrate the success of the event. Now it's Monday, and into my weekly routine.

Today's card was made for Maria's challenge where she asked us to make a card with a photo. I was extremely stumped until I saw a photo of daisies. Having just made a few watercolour images on glossy cardstock, I knew that I had to pair the two together. My watercolour inspiration came from Penelope, whose blog I recently discovered. Penelope isn't afraid to experiment, and her cards are gorgeous.

Take a peak at Maria's site for more photo-inspired cards. You won't be disappointed. Maria did a lovely card with a photo of her daughter, and she plans to give them to her one day when she is all grown up. How special.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a great day.

Rock'n Girl Blog

Yahoo, I was nominated twice for the Rock'n Girl Blog. Sarah and Pamela are two bloggers I met on the Stamp Shack. Sarah is a fellow card artist from Nova Scotia who does wonderful creations with, and without stamps. Although I didn't know her while I lived in Nova Scotia, I became good friends with her through the Stamp Shack. Pam is known as Smileycollector on the Stamp Shack and is a talented lady who creates beautiful cards. She is a lover of yard sales, like me, and I enjoy reading about her purchases.

The task at hand is for me to now nominate five blogger girls that I like feel are talented. There are so many wonderful blogs that I visit daily and it isn't easy to pick just five.

Maria is a creative card artist that I have been reading for close to a year now. I am a subscriber to her blog and became on-line friends as a participant of her Tuesday challenges. I have a lot of respect for Maria and she has given me a lot of inspiration. Some of her challenges are just that--challenging. She has me pushing the envelope. Please visit her blogs. She has two: one for Stamp'n Up images and another for all other images. You won't be disappointed.

Stacy has been a penpal of mine for quite some time. We met through the Stamp-Shack. Her work is beautiful, and incorporates card making with a lot of paper, with, and without, stamps. She recently won a prize at the Caardvarks site for her work.

Marja, is a very talented lady from the Netherlands. I met her through the Stamp-Shack and Splitcoast Stampers. Her cards and other projects offer a lot of inspiration. Although her blog isn't in English, the pictures are worth a thousand words.

Michelle is an amazing card artist who is well known to the Fan Club of Splitcoast Stampers. Michelle is part of the Dirty Dozen, and I gather so much inspiration from this woman. I live for the 15th of every month where I can view the newest addition to the Fan Club gallery. Michelle's work rocks! I wouldn't want to be without her blog!

Godelieve is a talented woman from the Netherlands. Anyone who reads blogs and visits Two Peas in a Bucket will recognize her name, as she is a talented artist who dazzles us with her years of experience. She is very creative and uses Ecoline a lot.

I wish I could nominate more than just five bloggers; there are so many wonderful and talented ladies out there. As a subscriber to over 50 blogs, I feel I know my artists well, and the five ladies I nominated truly deserve a round of applause.

Today's cards use, once again, the Tapestry of Life technique. For directions click here. Thank you for all the compliments received on this technique. I didn't realize how many stampers would love this technique, and was humbled by the numerous comments left on message boards where I posted my cards. These two cards were made as templates for a card class I will be teaching. In this first card, I used Cool Carribbean in the background, and paired Magnolia patterned paper and a cranberry colour cardstock. Tapestry background was made using Adirondack's Stream and Cranberry. Ribbon and brads were added to embellish the card. Stamped on the tapestry is a new stamp from Hero Arts. It was stamped in ColorBox Frost White and heat embossed with Ranger's Seafoam White. The verse, "in everything give Thanks", was stamped directly on tapestry.

This second card is layered using Basic Grey, Hunter Green and Gold. Tapestry was made using Hunter Green and Cranberry Crisp. "Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them" was stamped on pink paper, matted, and placed over the image with pop up dots. Ribbon was the only embellishment added to this card.

Now, for your advice. Which card do you think I should teach? Thank you for your help.

Bee Happy

Morning all. This is a happy card because it is for the newest addition to Canada. Friends of ours went to Japan to adopt a baby girl, and oh my goodness, is Elena-Jean precious. Aren't these bumble bees the cutest? I had so much fun colouring them in with Prismacolour pencil crayons, and blending pencil. The background paper is from an unknown source. It came from my pile of scrapbook paper that I have been hoarding for years. By now, you all know how much I love Cool Carribbean, which was added to the bottom of the cardfront. Using my Cuttlebug, I cut out Elena-Jean's name and adhered it with a glue pen. Because I wanted a girly feel to this card, I added a gorgeous wide ribbon and flowers. Doesn't it remind you of a little girls dress?

I would like to thank my readers for stopping by. I am truly humbled when I see a new subscriber. To thank you for stopping by, I will soon be offering some blog candy. Stay tuned.

SCS Challenge Monday

Today I'm displaying a softer side of me; the number of comments have been down so I am taking that as a sign that I need to stop with the shopping bags and bright colours for a while. That said, let me introduce my Tapestry card. Monday's challenge at Splitcoast Stampers was to use the Tapestry technique which you can find here. For this card, I smooshed Perfect Plum as well as VersaMagic's Spring Pansy and Pixy Dust to give an appearance of a sun set. Once dry, I stamped French Flair with ColorBox Frost White and embossed with Seafoam White. The directions for the technique called for clear embossing powder, but my background colours were too pale to show off the stamped image if I used clear. The words, "Thank You" were stamped on white and matted on pink. The larger image was matted onto purple and pink. The corners of the top layer were cut with decorative scissors to allow for brads in each corner. Finally, ribbon was used for the finishing touch. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

Shopping Bags Galore

No shopping bags for me this weekend! Don & I volunteered from 1:00 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, at Sarnia's successful Ribfest. Ribfest is run by the Sarnia Kinsman, an organization that puts money back into the community--in a big way. So, since Don is a Kinsman, and Ribfest is a good cause, I like to help out when I can. Unfortunately, I was so burnt out on Sunday, that I slept until 1:00 p.m., and stayed in my pajamas for the rest of the day. I'm getting old and it is getting harder to work those long hours--LOL.

Anywho, onto my card. Not sure that flowers compliment shopping bags, but I am known to be "different." Bold, punchy, outgoing are words I would use to describe both this card, and me. The brighter the better. Image was coloured with Prismacolour pencil crayons and blended with blending pencil. Background lime green was sent through my Cuttlebug. Bold isn't for everyone so I hope I'm not disappointing my readers by displaying so many bold cards. Oh, image is from MFT, but I think you know that--wink, wink.

How much do I love bold, you ask? My upstairs hallway, and hall that wraps around my 12 steep stairs, are painted in orange and smooshed in terricota. It's not for everyone, and I have heard, "yup, this is so Beth" -- LOL. Anyone else like bold? Leave a comment and tell me your bold and bright story.

Maria's ATC Challenge

This week Maria challenged us to make ATC's. To see examples of her ATC, click here. This was a fun challenge to do as I only made three ATC's in my life, and all were collaged and altered. ATC's are challenging because they are very small at 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.

Did you know artist trading cards have been around longer than baseball cards? I read that tidbit on an altered art blog. ATC's are never to be sold, only traded, and must be 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. Other than that, one has free reigns when laying out the design.

To see what I did with my completed ATC, please read the next post.

Happy Belated Birthday Lucas

My nephew's birthday is this week, so I thought I would turn my ATC's into a personalized birthday card for him. The baseball theme is perfect for him because he is on the all star baseball team in Gulfport, Mississippi. As his two year old sister says, "batter, batter, swing."

Time to Shop Again

Today's challenge over at Caardvarks is to make a card with a clock face. I have several clock stamps as I love clocks and watches. At one time I owned 9 watches.

For this card, I coloured my image with Prismacolour pencil crayons and added a tab to the MFT image, that says, "Time to Shop." Below the image, a clock face was stamped with Real Rust on green paper. Unfortunately, the picture of the card does not show that pop up dots were used to draw up the stamped image.

I hope you're not getting tired of this MFT image. It is such a fun, and versatile, image to use.

Have a great weekend!

Bright Hello

Good morning. Today I'm sending you all a bright hello by way of the Caardvark challenge. Rules were simple: Use 2 circles, 2 patterned papers, 2 ribbons, and 2 stamps. Flower image is from Autumn Leaves, and Hello is from a Stampendous alphabet set. Have yourself a great day!

Good Luck

Today's card challenge at Caardvarks is to make a Good Luck card. Image was stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with Tombow markers and blended with brush and water. As you heard me say many times, I love to paint on my cards. Through a class I took, I learned to outline in a very soft blue and blend outwards. It makes the image pop out, doesn't it?

Looking back at the card as I was editing this, I don't think I like how I have "good luck" sitting on the card. Oh well, I can always change it around.

Have a great day.

Old Fashioned Birthday Wishes

Since today is Tuesday I will be doing several challenges that are posted in blog land. The first challenge today is over at Caardvark's where they challenged us to make a 6 x 6 card. It is not my usual style to make a card with those dimensions so I took my ruler to my stamp drawer to see what I could come up with. Sitting on the top of my stamps was this old fashioned car, along with other old fashioned cars and trucks, that I purchased at a flea market for 50 cents. Masculine cards are a challenge for me, so I thought these sturdy cardboard images would be perfect for the men in my life. Using vintage scrapbook paper, I muddied the paper with a brown ink-pad, and added brads and an old key. "Old Fashioned Birthday Wishes" were typed out on the computer, muddied with a carmel coloured ink-pad, and glued on the card front.

Well, I'm off to the beach with my daughter and then she is treating me to a manicure and pedicure as an early birthday present. I love these girl days together. Hope you enjoy your day too.

Attention Michael's Shoppers

Um, mmm, attention Michael's shoppers, yes the rumours are true -- Michael's is coming to Sarnia this fall and they hope to open by Christmas. I heard this first hand, so rumours are definitely true.

Five Star Challenge

Well, it's another week, and with that comes lots of card challenges. Today's challenge at Caardvark's is to place five embellishments on the card. My five are: Stickles, tab, Cuttlebug decorative corner, ribbon, and K&C Co. purse. Bella images are so versatile and I have so much fun using them. This cute little lady loves purses as much as I do. Perhaps she needs to go shoe shopping too--LOL.

4 Square Challenge

Well it's Sunday, and today I'm going to a big family reunion. Turnout should be 100+. It is a hot and sunny day. Perfect for the beach and games.

Today's Caardvark challenge is to use four squares on your card. That definitely called for my four square stamp from The Artful Stamper, which is located right here in southern Ontario. Several techniques were used with this stamp: top left and bottom two squares were coloured with Tombow markers and blended with brush and water, and the top right square was coloured directly onto the rubber, with a Tombow marker and then spray misted before pressing down the image. Images were stamped on watercolour paper. Pop up dots were used to lift the images from the card front.

I love to paint and use Tombow markers and watercolour pencil crayons. I have watercolour crayons but have yet to use them. If you have any painted cards that you would like showcased, just send me a link and I will post them on my blog with a link back to your blog.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Trifold Caardvark Challenge

How's your weekend going? Boy is it hot and dry in Sarnia. I broke down and turned on the air this evening and went directly to my stamp room to complete a card for today's challenge over at Caardvarks The challenge was to make a trifold card. Using a design from Technique Junkies, I selected papers that matched Basic Grey's new Phoebe line. The Doodle This flower was gold embossed on Cool Carribean and coloured, here and there, with a turquoise Tombow marker. The petals were curled under and attached to the cardstock with a cloth-covered button, and ribbon was tied.



I enjoy challenges because it makes me think outside the box and it makes me raise the bar for myself. Can't wait to see what tomorrow's challenge will be.

Thanks for stopping by.

What Covers Most of the Earth's surface?

Before Don came home from work yesterday, he called me and told me to be ready to "go see something." As usual, he wouldn't tell me what it was all about, so I got prepared for a trip to Home Depot (we're in the middle of renovating). When we were in the van he was dying to give me a clue. I wasn't biting at first, because his clues are absolutely no good to me in any of these "games." Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I said, "sure" so over the course of 15 minutes he gave me clues. One of them was, "it covers most of the earth's mass." I thought, "hugh" and didn't get it. We were inside the store before I guessed what my surprise was. It was 63 watercolour pencil crayons. Then, he asked if I had enough colours and he started to pick out the colours he knew I used a lot (Cool Carribean and other bright colours). We were outside when he said, if you guessed "water" as being what covered most of the earth's surface, you would have guessed watercolour pencil crayons. Isn't he funny? Boy, am I spoiled.

Watch out folks, today you are in for a brightly coloured treat. My inspiration for today's cards came from Caardvarks (is that Canadian Advarks or C-aa-rdvarks--ROFWL). This gorgeous paper and punch out sheet paper, from Bo-Bunny, was earmarked for my scrapbook, but when I opened my drawer and saw the bright colours, I knew right away that I just had to work with this paper. After selecting Big Pieces and my colour scheme, I embossed in a variety of colours. I thought the flourish punch-out resembled a flower stem so I turned my Big Pieces into a whole bunch of brightly-coloured flowers. What do you think--does it look like a flower? To finish off the card I added brads, ribbon and "Wish You The Best" from the Rivet set.



This second card is known as a criss cross card. If you would like a tutorial visit here. My card measures 6 1/2 x 5 inches. Isn't this colourful paper from Bo-Bunny the greatest?! It is double-sided so the card back is as pretty as the front.




FIVE THINGS I LEARNED TODAY:

1. Keep a variety of coloured-cardstock on hand--even if you think you will never use it.

2. It is extremely beneficial to live across the street from a scrapbook store, especially when you need "just one small thing."

3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cool Carribean matches with everything!

4. When you only have a limited amount of embossing powders, stamp your image with coloured ink and emboss with clear powder.

5. Do not glue any pieces down until the very end.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Games Night

It's not often I am thrilled with my card creation, but I am today. I had this stamp for quite some time, along with the minature cards, but I just couldn't come up with a card that pleased me. After playing with my pencil and paper in designing a "map" this is what I came up with. When I showed Don my card he said I should add "You're Invited" which I did. I found a font that seemed suitable and added that finishing touch. Stamp is from Stampendous.

I am submitting this card as my entry to a contest over at Caardvarks. Wish me luck.

You're a Cool Cat

Well it's Thursday--and that means there is a fun-filled evening with friends go'n on. It's wing night--and that means the weekend is almost here. Yahoo! Wasn't it great to have an extra day off this week?

Today's card was made using a stamp from Willowgrove Stamps. I choose this new Basic Grey paper because it looked like a paper from the 60's, and that is just what I needed for this cool cat. The cat was coloured with Prisma colour pencil crayons and mounted on a rectangle of light brown paper, and matted in light green. When I went to type the title, "You're a Cool Cat", Don intervened and taught me how to place my text in a text box, and then taught me how to change the text box's colour. I had fun playing with various fonts and changing the background to a green that matches the green in the paper. To dress things up, I added ribbon and brads. What do you think, is this one cool cat?

Splitcoast Stampers

If you haven't discovered Splitcoast Stampers head on over to www.splitcoaststampers.com. There are so many cards in the gallery and are sure to provide you with inspiration. I am a Fan Club Member. It is a voluntary option where a small donation is made to the site to help cover the costs of running such a large site. As a thank-you for being a Fan Club Member, there is a gallery only visible to members. Wow, the gallery is filled with amazing paper arts and cards, by twelve of the most talented ladies out there. There is an upcoming fun-filled week. Click on this link for more details. I'm going to be participating and hope you will too.

I've Been Tagged

Hey, Sarah tagged me. I have to tell you 7 things about me that you don't know, and then tag 7 bloggers. So, here goes:

1. I used to be left-handed. My dad was stationed in Germany when I was very
young, and it was forbidden to write with your left hand, so a German woman
kept placing my crayons in my right hand, forcing me to learn to write with
the right.
2. I was in army cadets as a teenager (yes, I even fired rifles on the firing
range), and am currently a 2nd Lt. in the Canadian Forces Reserves.
3. I make my own wine.
4. I do pottery -- both on the wheel and slab.
5. I have a Secretarial Arts certificate and am currently working on my Visual
Arts certificate.
6. I have one spoiled dog named Max. He makes me very happy.
7. I live for beer & wing night with my friends.

OK, now I'm tagging:

Stacy
Tami
Kim
Barb
Pam
Kerry
Teresa

TAG, YOU'RE IT!

Big Blossom

Here is a very simple card, using Big Blossom and a stamp from Magenta. Yes, it is the same bird stamp from yesterday's card, except I punched out a circle, using only two birds. I wanted to experiment with Big Blossom, and this is what I came up with. Simple and clean. Unlike my other cards.

For the Birds

This is one of my favourite cards. I love the use of colour, the paper choice, and the overall look. This stamp sat unused for many months, so I decided to try and give it a hip look because the birds look pretty hip themselves. Images are coloured with Prismacolour pencil crayons. Embellishments used are brads and ribbon. Stamp is Magenta.

Hey, it's Canada's birthday so we are enjoying a long weekend. Happy Birthday Canada. For my American readers, I know you're celebrating a birthday too. A BIG Happy Birthday goes out to you too!