Tuesday Morning Sketches #324

We have a new sketch for you for Tuesday Morning Sketches, we are sponsored this week by All Dressed Up.

I tried for a CAS card, did not quite turn out that way. I printed and coloured the Birthday Monkey then created a frame with die cuts. I added some buttons and vellum leaves and finished with a popped up sentiment.

Supplies: White card stock, Designer Paper and Birthday Monday - All Dressed Up, misc punch and die cuts.

The design team has created some fabulous cards, stop by the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to take a look.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Lemon a little.

I had to share a couple of picture of my crazy little lemon tree. I got it in my head about 3 years ago that I wanted a lemon tree, not sure why - caulk it up to me being just this side my own brand of crazy :)

Anyway found one at Canadian Tire of all places for $18. It resided in it little plant pot till this summer when it was just a wee bit top heavy. Currently it is still under 2 feet high.

My plan for the fall was to gift it with a new plant pot but I had wanted to wait until it had ripened its 15 little lemons. Those silly things take like 6 months to get all yellow and edible. Anyhoo, as the summer heat cooled and it was time to
transition back onto the house. I chanced the transplant anyway. New soil bigger pot and wheels :). I do believe it is traumatized.. not...

A month later, this is what I see. The almost ripe lemon has been that way since June, the green bits receded millimeter by millimeter like every other month. There are around 14 other small lemons that really look like limes, but I have a full on bloom happening. The house does smell heavenly though. I have no idea how such a little tree can hold all the weight, that lemon is the size or an orange.

I use my little paint brush daily, fluttering like a little bee. Not sure if this little bugger should be pollinating itself but it has worked every year. It seems happy enough making its little seasonal trek from indoors to out and back inside again. 

Though I would share :),
Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #177

Our challenge for Merry Monday is hosted by Wendy, the theme is to Make a Christmas card with Christmas lights and glitter. 

It was a small celebration when I finished this card with minor glitter drama :).

I used a simple design for my card, I also cut out a white panel and added the sentiment and popped it up with foam tape. I heat embossed the light bulb and used mod podge to add a nice thick layer of glitter, it is also popped up with foam tape. I finished with some twine.

Supplies: White cardstock, Designer Paper - Echo Park, The Stamps of Life - lights4christmas, Stitched die cut glitter, twine.

Stop by the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge blog to play along.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

A walk in the park

I am back.. after a nice big breakfast this morning my husband and I decided to explore one of the local parks. I will share a few photos a little later in the post.


First of all though, as I was going through the comments for this week Merry Monday's challenge I found a link to a new to me challenge.

This is the little note card I came up with using the super cute image from the challenge. My colouring is not blended the best, my printer ate the last of my watercolour paper so I had to use some that piles if you blend too much :(

First of all I printed the image off and fussy cut the pumpkin, coloured it and added a touch of Wink of Stella added a bit of foam tape and put it aside.

I then started layering from the bottom up using a mix of die cuts and punches for all these squares, I added a touch of twine and gems before added some foam tape to the back of the center panel then put it all together.

Supplies: White and brown card stock, Designer Paper - Authentique, Gerda Steiner Designs - Hedgehog, twine, misc punches and die cuts, gems.

Now as promised here are a few pictures from our walk this morning. The sun was playing hide and seek in the clouds, for Oct it is still warm out and I am not even sure we have had our first frost yet.

I love these types of trails, thin and not really groomed. In the hr and bit we were out we only encountered about 6 people, love it!

I have at least 10 different photos of fungus and interesting mushrooms from along the way, these were all over a tree that unfortunately has insects snacking away on it. A bear or other large critter had feasted in areas removing bark to get to the bug (probably termites).

There are areas in the park that will have small flooded areas when we get lots of rain so there are these small raised walkways.

Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

Like a little rustic Realtree for your wedding.

A quick post for this beautiful Sunday morning, we has a dinner guest over for dinner last night, one of my husbands friends that enjoys the owning of copious amount of nature like camouflage, I swear these boys have as much camo as I have stamp supplies :).

Some how this card came up... not by me. My husband then proceeded to navigate through my blog back 5 month on the hunt for this picture but in the end we realized I never actually posted it. I think it was Aug when I made this one.

Have you ever seen the one page invitations that have a rustic look, you can see something similar HERE. A co-worker asked if I could make a card that would have the same style for her cousins wedding.

I found some random images on Pinterest, for Realtree print and for this buck and doe. I printed off camouflage and found some wood grain DP and used my stitched rectangles, then I inked and roughed up the edges before adding a brown card stock border. I imported the deer image into my Silhouette and was able to get a good outline than cut out nicely and I popped up with foam tape for a 3D look. The Congratulations is printed off from Word. I finished with some rough twine and a star button. 

Supplies: Cream and brown cardstock, Camouflage image and deer - Pinterest. twine, button, Simon Says Stamps - Stitched Rectangles.

Thanks for taking a look today,
Nina

I see you!

I am going to pull the creative card for this one, I love papers in this 6x6 paper pad but the resulting card is artsy, odd and maybe just creepy with the eye and trees.

My sister said it was cool but I still kind of tilt my head a bit when I look at it.

I do like the layers though, the tree is a die cut and then backed with solid white and popped up with foam tape. I used lots of layers letting the paper do the talking then I finished with some twine.

It Friday, maybe do a second viewing after a glass of wine... or two :).

Supplies: White and black card stock, Designer Paper - Basic Grey, twine, misc die cuts.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Birthday 1, 2, 3

The card I am sharing is also from a challenge I did not post too, this time for The Challenge over on Lesley's blog.

Simple enough layout, the sentiment is popped up with foam tape and I added a little twine. Obviously this was a CAS layout choice :).

Supplies: Cream cardstock, Designer Paper - Carta Bella, the stamps of life - sentiments4circles, twine, misc die cuts

Thanks for stopping by,

Nina

Fall fog and stunning sunsets

Look at me with a second post for today.  No card but I wanted to share some pictures I took.

The first is what it looked like outside the window of the boardroom I was in for most of the day. It is actually what we have seen for most of the week here in Victoria. You can barely see the autumn leaves in the back ground but up close the colours are stunning.

It cleared enough last night around sunset for me to get these beautiful shots as I was out walking with a friend. There is a large crane lurking around the edges but not really visible.

I love the benches near the light stands

Thanks for visiting :).

Nina

You are a treasure!

I have an issue, I am addicted to supplies... anyone with me? I was in bed last night watching card making video (always great to get your creative ideas flowing), anyway the video poster was using Zig Clean color markers.. Hello Amazon. Bad Nina.

Now it will be a few weeks before those puppies are here.. the one thing I actually like about online shopping is there is no instant gratification. You buy then you forget then whoot looky what arrived in the mail. The downfall is that that BUY button does not allow for himming and hawing, once done.. it is so done.

Have you ever loaded up a cart, shopping your little heart out.. then close the browser page on purpose. You get that rush of shopping but it does not cost a thing, there has been the odd time though when I said to myself I thought I brought that... :).

Enough, of my impulsive shopping. I have a card, it is from a couple weeks ago and I think it was for a sketch for Freshly Made Sketches. My sister was visiting though and I never did get around to posting it. I really need to get active with challenges again, I miss them.

So the layout is simple, I heat embossed the button stamp and used a brown/gold glittery embossing powder then added some twine. I finished with the sentiment and  old sequins. The camera did not deal with the glittery bits very well and the image makes it look granular.

Supplies: Cream and brown cardstock, Designer Paper - Kaiser Kraft, Verve-Sunny Days, sequins, twine, misc die cuts.

Love that you stopped by,
Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #323

We have a new sketch for you for Tuesday Morning Sketches. We are sponsored this week by Di's Digis.

What great sketch, I had no trouble at all putting this card together. I heat embossed the sentiment then fussy cut it and popped it up with foam tape. The panels are and paper elements are all from the same 6 x 6 paper pad.  I added some twine and wood grain sequins in place of flowers then used black and brown gems along the sides.

Supplies: Cream and black card stock, Designer Papers - Authentique, the stamps of life - sentiments4circles,  twine, gems,sequins, misc diecuts.

The design team has created some lovely cards, stop by the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to take a look.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #176

Good Morning and Merry Monday, we have a new challenge for you today. Sue is our hostess and she want us to Make a Christmas card with a frame on it.

I have made a handful of cards this year with "frames", but do you think I could get it all together for this challenge... after the fourth try sure. My ideas were sound but they just did not work as expected till this card... wheew.

I used stitched rectangles and hills to creature a wintry landscape, critters were just not working for me so in the end I added a strip of paper with adorable bunnies. I added the sentiment and finished with a small sheet of plastic to create a window.

Supplies: White card stock, Design Paper - Lawn Fawn, Papertrey Ink - Signature Christmas, misc diecuts.

Take a look at the challenge blog, the Merry Monday Design team has created some amazing cards for inspiration and we would love for you to play along.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #322

We have a new sketch for you for Tuesday Morning Sketches. We are sponsored this week by our own Melissa.

I tried a simple layout with my card, in place of the doily I used a stencil and embossing paste that I sprinkled with glitter. I then used some misc die cuts for the other elements. I popped the sentiment up with foam tape then treaded some twine under it. I finished with some dots that match the glitter.

Supplies: Cream card stock, Designer Papers - Carta Bella, twine, glitter, misc diecuts.

The design team has created some fantastic cards, stop by the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to take a look.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #175

Merry Monday everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks, I am the hostess for this weeks challenge and I would like you to Make a Christmas card with a moose on it.

My card has a bit of a Canadian theme this week, a moose and a gaggle of flying Canadian geese. 

For my focal panel I stamped the trees and geese then added a hilly layer popped up with foam tape. I used my Silhouette to cut two moose then used foam tape between them for a 3D look. 

I used my Wink of Stella to add a shimmer over the panel to give the impression of snow, the panel is popped up with foam tape. I finished with the sentiment and some twine.

Supplies: Cream and brown card stock, Designer Paper - Echo Park, Poppy Stamps- Trees, Magenta - Geese, Cornish Heritage Farms - Vintage Christmas, misc die cuts, twine.

Head over the Merry Monday Blog, the design team had made some amazing cards for this challenge. We would love for you to play along with us.

Thank you for visiting,
Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #321

We have a new sketch for you for Tuesday Morning Sketches. We are sponsored this week by Digital Delights.

I turned the sketch for my card and I though this fun paper would be perfect for the image I chose which came pre-coloured. I printed off the image then framed it with a shape from Spellbinders. I finished with a button and some twine.

Supplies: White and brown card stock, Designer Papers, - The Paper Loft, Digital Delights - Scarecrow Willie, button, twine.

The design team has created some lovely cards, stop by the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog to take a look.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #174

Good Morning and Merry Monday, we have a new challenge for you today. Lori is our hostess and she want us to Make a Christmas card with a coffee theme.

When I did my whirl wind tour of the lower mainland craft stores a few months ago I found a couple of stamps sets by taylored expressions that I have been wanting to open and play with.

I pulled out some fun cheery papers and started layering, the stamps set comes with die cuts so I had fun piecing together the coffee cup. The black twine is covering up a little boo boo, when I stamped the steam it just did not do a good impression so I pulled out the glue and twine and voila.

I popped the sentiment up and added some twine to match the papers and done.

Supplies: White  and red card stock, Design Paper - Doodlebug Design, Papertrey Ink - Signature Christmas, tailored expressions - Joe to go , twine.

Take a look at the challenge blog, the Merry Monday Design team has created some amazing cards for inspiration and we would love for you to play along.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Adventures and World Cardmaking Day

I have my sister visiting me this week and yesterday we heading out for an adventure up-island.  Our first stop was Coombs to see the goat on the roof of the market and explore all the hidden treasures.

The goats unfortunately were bum deep in the food trough and no amount of baaa encouragement from my sister made them come visit. I think some of the smaller little shops has wrapped it up for fall too but we did find some wonderful food stuffs in the market.

Then it was off to the Dutch store with the big sign flashing licorice, seriously it could have just been flashing my name and it has the same effect :)..

Crafty Capers was next on the tour, who can't visit a store with card making supplies on a day for celebrating said hobby :).

While on our travels we even received a warm invitation for tea with crafty genius Lesley and had a lovely visit before we zoomed off for the next craft store Treasured Memories. I was actually pretty responsible about my supply shopping. One item I picked up was this wonderful paper that I created as WCMD card.

I was zonked by the time I was finished so I am late with the card posting and somehow in all our travels between the two of us we did not get a simple picture...

I went with a simple design, I used my stitched rectangles then added a simple sentiment, some dots and twine.

Supplies: White and brown cardstock, Authentique, Hero Arts - Autumn, misc die cuts, twine, gems.

Thanks for visiting,
Nina

Silver dots and die cut thanks

I love this pretty paper, the card did not turn out quite as I had hoped though and I used the good stuff for glue. 

I used stitched rectangles then popped up the center panel, I fussy cut one of the DP flowers then added the sentiment. I finished with pretty silver glittery dots.

Supplies: White and black card stock, Designer Paper - Fab Scraps, misc dies cuts, dots.

So glad you came visiting,

Nina

Just Hello

We have been going through alot of changes at work, some of those changes involve fabulous little perks. As I type I am walking on a FitWork WalkStation, the sun is out and it is a stunning day but time is premium these days and if I need to sacrifice a little outdoor time to blog so be it. Hard as heck to type and walk though not one of my greatest skills I am discovering :).

Anyway, I have a card to share. Sometimes I just want to say Hello, how about you. I saw this fun DP and create quick and simple card.

Supplies: White and blue card stock, Designer Paper - Simple Stores, Simon Says - Flip Flop Season, twine, sequins.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina