Family Challenge and Golden Butterflies

Good Morning and happy Thursday, my sister Barb surprised me with a mini care package in the mail and a Family Challenge to use the contents of the care package.

I thought it fitting then to case one of her cards. You can see that card HERE.

I went with a CAS layout. These butterflies come all connected so the alignment of them was easy enough on a piece of cardstock that was the vertical length of the card. I stamped the sentiment in black then add a back panel of gold paper.

The gold paper is interesting and I am not sure it can even be called paper, it is like a small sheet of thin golden elastic ribbon with an adhesive backing.

I added some foam tape to the back of the butterflies before placing back on the outline with wings up. I added some gems to add details to the bodies.

Supplies: Cream cardstock, Designer Paper - Gold, Papertrey Ink - Birthday Bash, Memory Box Leavenworth Butterfly trio, gems.

Barb and Judy are the other participants in this family challenge, be sure to stop by their blogs to see what they have created.

Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #336

Card time.. I finished my course yesterday yay me. So it was back to work today and it was crazy busy. I did get a chance to play along with Tuesday Morning Sketches though.

I tinkered with the sketch a little :), I had a plan of action in mind and I was not to be deterred so it was turned and maybe flipped and created a shabby chic, unisex card. Living near the ocean makes for lots of fun activities on the water and shores, diving, kayaking and such.

I distressed all the edges then added some ink, I finished with a popped up compass and some twine.

Supplies: Cream and brown card stock, Designer Paper - Pion, Papertrey Ink - Birthday Bash, twine.

Thanks for visiting,
Nina

The Challenge #58

The theme for this week's The Challenge it is Masculine inspiration, I can usually put together a masculine card pretty quick but I struggled with this one a bit. I think because I tried to use both colours and a vehicle.

I admit the colours look a bit muted on my card, I really do need to set up a better place to take photo's. Tips and tricks welcome :).

I used too different patterns for the background panel. I then used a script stamp and added blue, turquoise, orange and brown ink to it before stamping. I stamped the vintage car in brown as well as the popped up sentiment. I finished with a little twine and wood grain sequins.

Supplies: Cream and brown cardstock, Designer Paper - October afternoon, The Old Island Stamp company - 1929 MG Midget, Stampendous - Faded Text Background, sequins.

Be sure to stop by Lesley's blog to play along with The Challenge and see what the Design Team has created.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #189

Welcome to a brand new Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge. This week's hostess is Debbie and we are to Make a one layer Christmas Card.

I found this stamp set at a used stamp sale and had not found the opportunity to use it until this card. I used Distress inks for the sky then used watercolour pencils for the rest. The image is covered in Wink of Stella for some shimmer. I finished with the sentiment and some white sequins

Supplies: White cardstock, Papertrey Ink - Winter Hills, sequins.

Stop by the Merry Monday Blog and see all the fabulous inspiration from the Design Team.

Thanks for visiting by,

Nina

Records, Vinyl, Records.

When I was a young I had records that played on a record player. Today people call them vinyl's and they play on a turntable but they still look like records to me :).

My husband asked me to make a card for a friend of his who moonlights as a DJ. The first thing that came to mind was records.

I used various sizes of circle punches to create the records and I added embossed lines to each. The sentiments are simply stamped and matted. I finished with a few little punched music notes. I did add a little foam tape to the bottom record and one of the sentiments.

Supplies: Cream and black card stock, Designer Paper - Authentique, The Stamps of Life - labels2use, punches.

Thanks for visiting,
Nina

Sweet little cupcake

I am taking some training from home this week and today was another 11 hrs and my brain is pretty much fried :).

..and I am pretty sure the mail man thinks I live in lounge wear and shop online all day as he has caught me on two separate days off and today for parcels.

I had to stop my brain from spinning around crazy course material so I put together a very simple CAS card.  I used a stitched die cut for the center panel then added another layer of pink wood grain designer paper. The cupcake is three layers, the base of the cup cake is the wood grain DP. The icing is Glass Bead Glitter Gel with some Gelatos mixed in, I have foam tape between layers.

Supplies: White cardstock, Designer Paper - Simple Stories, Lawn Fawn - Baked with Love, SS die cut, Glass Bead Glitter Gel, Gelatos.

Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

The Challenge #57

The theme for this week's The Challenge it is an image inspiration, I decided to try a one layer card.

I created my own background then used my Zip markers to match some of the colours of the flowers in the inspiration image. Although you can not see the shimmer on the flowers are also covered in Wink of Stella.

Supplies: White card stock, Verve - Lean on Me, Better Together.

Be sure to stop by Lesley's blog to play along with The Challenge and see what the Design Team has created.

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #188

Welcome to a brand new Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge. This week's hostess is Deanne and we are to Make a Christmas Card with your favorite warm beverage on it.

 

Our Canadian dollar is horrid right now, I made the mistake of getting excited about the holiday sale at an online store. The credit card bill was a nasty hit but the kicker was the customs charge that was more than what I saved.. noted :(. So the reason I mention this you ask, this was one of the sets I purchased. I am determined to use each and every set in the near future to sooth the exchange rate blues.

So.. the card :). Where was this gorgeous plaid last week, it has this beautiful glitter strips of green and red running through it. I fussy cut all the little bits of the coffee cup and paper pieced it all together.


Added some layers, then finished with some twine.


Stop by the Merry Monday Blog and see all the wonderful inspiration from the Design Team.


Supplies: White and green card stock, Designer Paper - My Mind's Eye, Verve-Get Together, twine.


Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #334

A quick post this Friday evening, I had a little time to get crafty and unfortunately I needed to create a sympathy card. After a few false starts I like how this turned out.

I am playing along with this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge.

Each layer has a thin frame of black card stock, I popped up the top 2 panels with foam tape, I did the same with the sentiment. The die cut leaves are also embossed, I used some sheer ribbon and finsihed with dots.

Supplies: Cream and black card stock, Designer Paper - Fancy Pants, Hot of the Press, Tiny Words, Memory Box die cut, ribbon, dots.


Thank you for visiting,
Nina

The Challenge #56

The theme for this weeks The Challenge is a colour inspiration, white, teal, orange and navy. I picked up some new colours of distress inks over the holiday season, what are the odds that  they will  be the colours of this challenge.

My husband made some comment about the Olympics when he saw it which had not really crossed my mind until he mentioned it now that's all I see.. :) I don't care though, I like the almost artsy result.

I tried using a nice cardstock that I received for Christmas, it is smooth and thick and should have been perfect. I have not really been one of those carders that struggled with cardstock.. until now. The blending tool would not glide on this cardstock at all. It was full on breaks as soon as it hit the paper, I was able to make it work in the end, more out of stubbornness than anything else but that is where the mix of circles comes into play.

I used the failed attempts to die cut the circles and added a bit more colour, even adding water to enhance the distressed look did not really work, lesson learned :). popped up some of the circles and added some sequins. I finished with a sentiment I head embossed in white on black cardstock.

Supplies: White and black cardstock, SS die cuts, sequins.

Stop by Always Playing with Paper and take a look a The Challenge, the design team had provided some spectacular inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #187

Good Morning and welcome to a new Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge. This week's challenge is hosted by Colleen - Make a Christmas card with plaids on it.

 

 

 

 

I have many many.. many 6x6m paper pads with plaid so you would think it would be easy to pick on and put it to work, but no - I stewed over about 5 pads trying to pick on that would suit the vision I had flowing through my head.

I have this wonderful die that I pulled out, I know last year we saw this used quite a bit but it is a beauty and I think I only jumped into that fray once. I loved how it turned out I really like the fun patterns on the papers.

 

I popped  the snowflake panel up with foam tape and finished with a gem and some twine.

 

Supplies: White and black card stock, Designer paper - , SS Die cut, twine, gem.

 

Merry Mondays Christmas card Challenge is the blog and the Merry Makers have some delightful inspiration for you. Play along with us.

 

Thanks for visiting,

Nina

 

 

Tardis Birthday Wishes

I am back, this time with a card. I changed my mind about the card for Zach (my son) for his birthday.  He loves Dr. Who and I thought I would try my hand at a Tardis card.

I started with an .svg cut files for my Silhouette I found a great one at HERE.

I cut it twice then started to layer. I used a black base then added some dark blue distress ink on around all the blue pieces. The first layer is the panels, the second layer was an outline of the call box which is popped up with foam tape. I added some silver like vellum to the windows, I then added a second layer of the outline also popped up with foam tape. The little sign is placed between both phone box layers as is the Ambulance emblem.


I then added a vertical sentiment, which I stamped a little off center - not on purpose but it then allowed me to do the same with Tartis. I added some extra little Ambulance emblems as embellishments. I had to hand write Police Box, my handwriting is horrid but it was all I had.


I added a background layer of blue with distressed edges and layer of white.


I think it turned out pretty good.


The inside has the quote by Steven Moffat " People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly  timey wimey stuff.”


Supplies: White and blue cardstock, DRS - Birthday Wishes, Tardis - Something to Craft About.


Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

Nordic Adventures - Life on Vancouver Island

We have not had any snow here in Victoria yet this winter, but Mt Washington Alpine Resort is only a few hrs up island. My husband and I both worked through the holidays but managed a nice 2 day weekend vacation to do a little snowshoeing at New Years.

Every year the numbers of snowshoers has increased, this year we saw a record number. The resort is perched on the edge of Strathcona Provincial Park, we love to head up to a lake called Lake Helen MacKenzie. It is a nice active hike.

I though I would share a few pictures from our adventure.We stayed at a resort down in Courtney and there was low cloud cover at the base of the mountain, as soon as we passed through the fog/clouds the top of the mountain was beautiful, crisp and sunny.

The snow glistened like it was covered in diamonds.

The snow was heavy and molded to the trees, so many looked like Dr Seuss had walked through the wonderland with his pen and brush.

As we headed into back-country where the snow was undisturbed it looked like feathers, I tried to get a good picture but the sparkles played with the light.

One of my favorite parts of heading into the park is seeing these guys, I know they are a nuisance to some but they are a joy when you only see them a few times a year. In this case I am pretty sure he is thinking "What you forgot the treats".... We usually take raw trail mix to feed them and we left it in the truck. I had made some energy balls for Mike and I and we shared a couple... suckers :).

You can see the lake in the background.

Mike decided to risk the ice to draw on a section of the untouched snow.

Ahh my sweet man, he is such a great guy. I love you to :)

Me all bulked up with my winter gear and backpack. Even though it was darn cold I usually ditch my toque and gloves not long after we head out. Layers Layers.

Feathery diamonds.

Still trying to catch the elusive closeup of the feathered snow.

Both days we headed up to the lake, first day we were all alone and explored all around the edge of the lake. The second day there was a group of people up there when we arrived so we did a quick turn around. All in all it was a great could of days.

Thanks for stopping by I will try to share a card later today :).

Nina

Gesso and Gelatos

I mentioned in an earlier post about my tip toeing into using Gelatos and some mixed media. Michaels so kindly put out a 50% coupons to use one to husband and one to me and I walked away with some Ranger Texture Paste and some Light Modeling Paste. I also picked up a floral stencil to play with.



For this first card, I used a panel I previously covered in Gesso then put aside to dry, I then put down a thin layer of Gelatos on my craft sheet and blended in a little Texture paste.. so each to blend. Messy though, I excel at messy.

I used a bend of light colours and then let time dry. I used my Wink of Stella to added glimmer to all the remaining white areas. I create a matte of two layers then added in  the sentiment. a CAS look with lots of texture and character.



Supplies: White cardstock, Inspired by Stamping - Sentiment, Gesso, Ranger - Texture Paste, Gelatos, stencil.



These techniques that I am trying I saw in videos on YouTube, just do a search for Faber Castell Gelatos and you will spot a couple of good ones.


Thanks for stopping by,
Nina

Tuesday Morning Sketches #333

Happy Tuesday, I have a quick post this morning to play along with the current Tuesday Morning Sketches Challenge. The Design Team is re-visiting their favorite sketches of 2015 and this week's sketch is one chosen by Jessi.

I started by turning the sketch, I die cut the center circles then stamped the sentiment and flowers. Both circle layers are popped up with foam tape. I added round edges to two corners on the background. I used some shimmery ribbon and added a large bow in place of the heart. I finished with some pearls.

Supplies: White and brown card stock, Designer Paper - Basic Grey, Verve - Kind Words, SS Stitched Circle die cut, ribbon, pearls.

Thanks for visiting,
Nina

The Challenge #55

Here we go, my first posting as a Design Team member for The Challenge. Whoop Whoop I am very excited to join this crafty group of ladies. This week we are playing with a sketch.

I probably should have gone with something pretty and bright for this little crafty celebration, but I needed a Birthday card for my son who turns 22 in a week and my card took a little twist to the grungy masculine side.

I added a little edge of black to each layer, I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of DP and popped the stars up with foam tape. I finished with a spritz of Tuxedo Black Fireworks.

Supplies: White and black card stock, Designer Paper - Carta Bella, Simon Says Stamps - Big Birthday Wishes, Paper Smooches die cuts, sequins.

Jump on over to take a look at what Lesley and the design time have created for The Challenge, join us and play along.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nina

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #186

Hello January, Hello 2016, Hello to a new Merry Monday. I know you are probably done with the holidays, and I don't blame you but this is a perfect time to get a start on your next year's Christmas cards.. 'What' you say?

I am serious, play along with us each week and you will have a nice little stash come next December. What I like the most, a year long stack of cards that will tell a little story. What supply trends were happening during the year, what style of card you preferred and so on.

This week's challenge is white on white with a neutral sentiment. I stamped the sentiment in black then added the gems. I created the center element by using a few stitched die cuts. I started with the base circle and added some texture with an embossing folder.



The second circle I covered in multi media paste and covered in with chucky white glitter. I used the die cut frame as stencil so that the faux stitching was protected. I covered the snowflake in clear Wink of Stella and used a large pearl brad to hold it in place the middle circle is popped up with foam tape to add to the 3D look.

This is the second card that I created, the first one a twin of this had a wee accident. I had put my card in my light box but had not taken a photo yet.

I jumped right into the second card I am sharing today. For that card I wanted a spritz of Tuxedo Black Fireworks. I should know better to play with that on my craft table. Especially with supplies and other cards in close proximity.

Anyway, the nozzle had a partial block, said spritz went rogue all over my all white card.

Supplies: White card stock, My Favorite Things - Hand Lettered Holiday, misc die cuts, gems, large chuck glitter, brad.

Stop by the Merry Monday blog and take a peek at what the Merry Makers have created and get inspired we would love for you to play along.

Thank you for visiting.
Nina