How are you?

I'm back, blog-buddies! I bring you card #2. Truth be told, I finished this card a couple of days ago but never got 'round to posting it. I'm sure I had a good excuse reason but it escapes me now. Enough jibber-jabber, and on to the card. You might recognise this as Sketch #66 of Papertake Weekly ... and you'd be spot on. You might also notice a great deal of stitching ...yes, it's an addiction, an affliction and I'm checking into DYSU ward #65 - Sew It. While I recuperate, feel free to look around...

The patterned papers are from HOTP's Soft Nostalgia collection.

Plenty of layering going on here. I used Nellie Snellen's  Multi Frame Die Square Stitching (MFD033) on the pink CS and went ahead and did the stitching. I considered using a darker CS but the contrast was too much against the busy floral background and all the stitching I was planning on doing. It's more subtle this way, not so in-your-face. 

 The sentiment is from WMS's Compact Sentiment ser. I use a smaller die and omitted the stitching. It was not easy, I tell ya!

For a pop of colour, I went for a dark pink satin bow.   

On the inside I saw another opportunity to start stitching...

That's all from me today. I should lie down before I hurt myself. Thanks for swinging by and I'll see y'all tomorrow! Take care ...

Beijinhos!

Get Well Soon

Happy Friday, my friends! Finally! I hope the weekend will bring fairer weather. It rained for most of the day today and was considerably colder than yesterday, which, in turn, made me decidedly despondent. Arguably, the perfect frame of mind to make a get well card! The drip-drip-dripping rain drove me nuts.  I channelled my frustration into making a card that is so sunny and bright it will jolt the sick into wellness. Aaah! Just what the doctor ordered! My prescription:  Sketch #139 by Tuesday Morning Sketches, design inspiration from PCL's Makeover Monday Challenge and colour inspiration from Crop Stop Challenge #65 "Oh so bright!" Sit back and enjoy the warm glow of the sun ...

The patterned paper is from Papermania's Capsule Collection "Sunshine" by Tina Higgins. For layering, I used bright orange CS.

I die cut those little doily shaped thingamabobs with Nellie Snellen's Circle Dots die and adhered a button in the  centre od each. And for added glare, I went for some bright orange satin ribbon.

The sentiment is from Paperminia's Clear Sentiment set. I attached orange eyelets and threaded the ribbon through, diagonally.  

Had to use a bit more of that bright orange CS... no point being subtle!

That's my get well card, with a vengeance. Thanks for stopping by and see you at my next post ... probably later today. Too soon?

Beijinhos!

Easter Delights

Hello there, dear blog friends! Just one more day and it's the weekend. (Our lucky friends in Australia have already crossed over into Friday - not fair!) So far, this has been one loooong, tiresome week for me. To lift my spirit, I grabbed a cup of cappuccino and strolled on over to The Play Date Café. Have you seen the colours for this week's PDCC #125?! Chocolate chocolate chocolate. But wait a minute! PDCC has stealthily introduced it as "Brown", a splash of Brown. Which, I'm told, is not unlike a splash of luscious hot chocolate. Speaking of a splash of colour, I'm guessing that means spots of colour. In which case ... ooops! I may have spilt some chocolate brown on my card... The sketch is from CPS challenge #258 - clean and simple. I gave it a 180º turn. And finally, I'm ready to take my festive offering to the good folks at Just Add Ink #111!

See that big pool of melted Brown? That's plain ol' CS embossed using Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder. (Apparently the Swiss make some of the best Brown. I haven't completed my study on that... )

I layered that extra dark semi-sweet Brown on some black CS. I punched the sides with Xcut Lace Trim Border Punch.

 The focal point?A trio of eggs non-avian eggs, in various shades of Brown - extra dark, milk, even white!  The image and sentiment are from WMS Spring Baskets set, stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa. And then I went to work with my Promarkers and hoisted the lot up with the aid of pop dots. Oh, I also added 3 Brown flat-backed pearls. 

Then I wrapped it all up in some milk Brown polka dot ribbon.  And right on top, you'll find 3 white brads (Hershey's, I reckon!) Before I forget, I used Spellbinders Labels 14 to cut out the image. The outline design is a stamp from WMS Holiday Labels No. 14, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black.

And yes, I did finish the inside, but the battery in my camera went flat. It's recharging and the picture will be up soon.

Update Mar 30: And here's the inside:

Thanks for spending your precious time with me today. I hope to see you back...soon. Why? I'm weaving a basket. Why? For Easter. Why? Why not? Are you intrigued? Or bored? ;-)

Beijinhos!

He has risen!

Hi there, blog-friends! It's been a crazy couple of days here at the commune. Don't know what it is but all the quadrupeds have been restless... still are. Maybe it's the sudden increase in temperature or maybe their excited about Easter, just as I am. Speaking of which, let me show you my latest Easter card. This one is based on Card Patterns sketch #158. I struggled a bit (a fair bit!) with this sketch. It refused to come together. I had plans, big plans but it was being utterly obnoxious (yep, when in doubt blame the card). In the end, I let it be ...

The patterned papers are from HOTP's "Soft Nostalgia" collection.

The stamps are from Verve's "Everlasting Life" set.  I love every  stamp in this set. As always, I used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp, then cut it out with Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles and layered it on Spellbinders Fleur-de-Lis Rectangles. 

I cut the sentiment with a die from Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio set. The cross and swirls got their colour from Promarkers.

And for that doily bit at the botton I used Nellie Snellen's Circle Dots die.  A sheer ribbon bow and a red mulberry paper rose complete this card.

That's another Easter card done. I still have a few more to do. In the meantime, I'm linking this card over at Divas by Design Challenge #24 where the brief is"Stamp Something" and Crafty Sentiments Challenge 27 where the theme is "Easter".

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back real soon with another Easter offering. Until then ...

Beijinhos!

Feel Better Soon

Hi there, dear friends. It's Monday and that means ... (all together now...) ... MojoMonday! Oh yes sireee! Another week has gone and here we are again! I've got a really quick card for you. I whipped this up in literally minutes (remember, every hour is made up of, literally, minutes) My dear dear friend, C, is scheduled to go in for a delicate surgery on Thursday and I want to pass this card to her this evening. I looked at MojoMonday sketch 234, it looked back and I was inspired. Mojo and I, we connect. Talk about that later. For now, let me show you my card:

The patterned papers are by Basic Grey "Helo Luscious".  With my Xcut Border Punch I punched around a square piece of blue CS. Hah! Move over Martha Stewart!  

I used Spellbinders Labels 20 to cut out the sentiment.

The sentiments is from WMS "Say It Loud" set. I stuck some pale green flat back pearls and attached a bow from sheer ribbon.

I very lightly sponged the label with TH's Bundled Sage.  As you can see, its a really simple card. 

I wanted a strong colour for the inside. Encouragement. Perhaps red for someone facing surgery isn't the smartest choice! On the other hand, the chinese believe red to be a lucky colour, auspicious and all that.  All that remains is for me to convince C to get in touch with her inner chinese. 

Thanks for making a pit-stop at my blog. I'll be back later with another card and more pointless musings. Until then, stay safe!

Beijinhos.

Easter Garden

Hellooo, my friends. It's me again, with a dream and a card. I say dream because if I had green thumbs, fingers and toes, my garden would be a-bloom with the magic of spring. Alas, I callously commit cacticide and mercilessly murder marigolds. You wouldn't know this given the mob of birds that invade  my yard (I bribe them grains) and butterflies happily fluttering about (only to realise they've been duped by the birds). Still, I have a fig tree who faithfully (and abundantly) delivers twice a year and a robust rumbustious (drives me nuts, it does!) pomegranate tree (bush?) who yields coconut-sized fruits every autumn. One musn't complain, eh? And one can still dream ... Mine took shape with the help of WMSC #90.

I used patterned papers from an unlikely pack - "Travel Light" by WRMK.  This collection is "packed" with bright sunny papers - get it?! ;-) The central layer reminds me of garden trellis. That's me wishing I had one. 

The flowers and sentiment stamps are from WMS "Spring Baskets" and the basket is from the "Baskets Additions" set.  All stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. Please say you can see the Crystal Stickles on the leaves. The camera isn't picking it up ... I was expecting a bright healthy glow, but nada! Drats!

I went crazy with paper piecing. After some spring cleaning I ended up with a fair bit of scrap paper. These come from Doodlebug - various collections.  I paper pieced everything, even the basket. The centre piece is sitting on cream CS  cut withe Spellbinders Labels 19, lightly sponged with TH's Antique Linen. (Still can't see the Stickles?)

I had to use the garden trellis paper on the inside and another paper pieced bouquet. The latter because I made an extra bunch and it had no where to go.

Let's take another look at the card-front. Plenty of pop-dot action. And far yonder, notice the flat-back pearls at the top corners? (Crystal Stickles on the leaves? No?) You might want to look again at Figures 1, 2 and 3. 

That's my card for today. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I'm especially pleased I did not use any ribbon because that usually happens when I'm running out of ideas!

Since I'm in a generous mood, I'm entering my card in the Tuesday Throwdown #90 "Spring Clean" challenge, DYSU #64 "Plaid" challenge and Raise the Bar #97 "In the Garden" challenge.

And don't forget to swing by Make It Monday #82 - rumour has it they're showing off some great stuff!

Thanks for hanging out with me. Until next time, my friends. Have a blessed Sunday.

Beijinhos!

God's Basket

Good day, blog-buddies. It's Friday ... yippeee! For me that means I need to seriously get down to making  AND sending out my Easter cards. I am sooo beeeehind. Can you believe we're just a fortnight away from the big day?! Heavens! Where has the time gone. I remember thinking at the beginning of Lent "40 days without sweet thangs, how will I survive?" Right now we are a little over 14 days away... Heavens!  Let's get down to business: I've succumbed to line producing my Easter cards. For colours I sought help from The Play Date Café Challenge #124. - Raspberry, Harbour and Honey Mustard.  For the sketch, I channeled Gina K from Stamp TV. I love her simple style. I'm stalking her. I suggest you do too ;-)

The patterned papers are from HOTP's Soft Nostalgia 12x12 pack. I decided to use the blue and yellow for the card and for accent, I went with just the raspberry. I coloured the bow in image in raspberry (sort of) and similar coloured eyelets and ribbon for the sentiment tag.

The image and sentiment are from WMS "Spring Basket" set, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. I used Spellbinders dies - Classic Circles and Eyelet Circles - to cut ou the image and matt piece. And to cut out the sentiment I used Spellbinders Grommet die. I coloured the image with Promarkers. 

Have you noticed that the basket is NOT brown. There's a story to that. The challenge requires the use of certain colours and other colours should be neutral. Is brown neutral? Should my basket be blue harbour or honey mustard? Can't imagine owning a raspberry egg basket. Should I leave it plain? Have I mentioned I over-think stuff? As you can see here, I left it uncoloured for a while. But it just did not look right to me. After I took this photo, I went ahead and coloured it brown, neutral brown, I hope! I did some inking with TH's Antique Linen, neutral linen of course!   

For the inside, I stamped a sentiment of the same stamp set and used some scrap pieces from the same paper pack. 

I'm off to finish 4 more similar cards. Hope you enjoyed this visit. I'll be back with some more Easter cards over the weekend. Have a great weekend end and see you soon!

Beijinhos.

Seven Daisies

Good day, my friends. An early morning post from me. I'll keep this short because the card has a long journey ahead. It's flying all the way to Brisbane ... and hopefully arrive in time for Easter! ;-)  I'm using the sketch from Skipping Stones Design challenge #120 . Its a very simple sketch and I did not fiddle about with it much.  Here it is:

The yellow gingham is from Papermania Capsule Collection by Tina Higgins "Sunshine" pack. The card base measures 5.5" x 3" - not much room for piling on embellis. The greeting is from WMS Spring Basket set. 

I stamped the daisy (by Papermania) with Orange Versacolor onto white CS, coloured in with Promarker , punched out and inked the the edges with TH's Rusty Hinge. Then I stuck them all down with pop dots and adhered an orange gingham bow.

For the inside, I punched a border with Xcut Flower Doily punch. The greeting is from Paula Pascual's Ayy Year Round set. 

Gotta run now. Thanks for dropping in and I'll catch you at my next post. Have a great day,

Beijinhos!

Miss You

Hello there, blog friends. I made a card today for my sister. We won't be spending Easter together this year, which is such a shame. Shouldn't complain, I guess. After all, I had a nice long Easter break with her last year. And that got me thinking about "stuff".. I must warm you, I over-think everything.  At times like these, I seek solace in my cards... gives me something else to think about and analyse to death! (Probably explains why I fail at CAS projects.) So before I drive you up the wall, let me just show you my card.  Today I'm using CPS's sketch #257 and paring it with colours from Colour Throwdown challenge #184. The brief is to use Elegant Eggplant (Aubergine? any kinda purple?), Certainly Celery (pale green? not too keen on celery, tasteless), So Saffron (paella, yum!) and Brocade Blue (err..haven't the foggiest).

After much thought and (agonising) scrutiny of the colours, I've come up with this simple piece:

The patterned papers are from Papermania's Capsule Collection by Tina Higgins. The blue is from the "Aqua" pack and the yellow (read: So Saffron) is from "Sunshine".

The butterfly is from an Accesorize hologram stickers sheet I have in my stash.  The  sentiment is from Personal Impressions Round Tags set, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. I cut it out with Spellbinders Round Eyelet die and lightly sponged with TH's Bundled Sage.

 Finally, I garnished the card with celery ribbon and a celery bow.  

For the inside, I went with Saffron, leaving plenty of room for my "stuff"!

Since my card has a "Thing with Wings", I'm sending it off to Paper Creations Ink challenge #21. And how could I resist Cute Card Thursday challenge #209 "Anything Goes". This card qualifies as "anything", I think.

Ok, that's it - no more thinking or linking. I hope you enjoyed this visit. Thanks for taking the time and I'll see you again, soon.

Beijinhos!