For You With Love

Good Tuesday morning to everyone. So far it's a sun- shiny day here in SW Ontario.

Today I have a couple of cards to show you, since challenge deadlines are drawing near.

The first is pictured above. I used this sweet image by Meljen's Designs (one of my prize picks). I coloured it with Copics. I used a fair bit of folder (dry) embossing and added a few die cut branches, gems, heart brads, diamond gems & riibbon. The sentiment is a rubber stamp by Stampin' up.

I hope to enter this card in the challenges at:

Meljen's Designs - "Hearts"

Stamptacular Sunday - "Diamonds and / or Pearls"

Sentimental Sundays - "Dry Embossing"

WISHING YOU THE BEST

This second card is for the challenge " All of My Favourite Things", over at Mo's Digital Pencil Too.

I love designer paper, circle sentiments, copics, Mo's wonderful images, dogs, colour, stitching, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies & little boys (I have 2 terrific grandsons), so I brought them all together to make this card.

So that's it for today.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenge at:

Mo's Digital Pencil Too

Blue, Cream & Brown

Hope this post finds you all enjoying your day. I arrived home to find that the mailman had delivered  my blog candy prize from Bev Code at Scapbook Challenges. I love getting parcels in the mail & Bev's candy is wonderful! Can't wait to use it.

My first card for today is another attempt at "Vintage". I love these great free digitals. They offer a lot of pre-shading which makes the colouring of the image that much easier. Since the challenge this week at Sugar Creek Hollow is to use "Blue, Cream & Brown", I decided to go with those colours. The designer papers are actually leftover christmas papers. I cut the mat for the image using a Nestie Die. I inked the edges of everything, even the flowers. The ribbon I purchased at our wonderful local papercraft store, "The Paper Pickle", (Kim sells ribbon cut in metre lengths & carries a fanastic selection). The hearts, brads & flowers are from my stash.

Well, that's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Sugar Creek Hollow - "Blue, Cream & Brown"

Kaboodle Doodles - "Make It Girly"

Birthday Wishes

Hello everyone, hope you're enjoying your Sunday.

Today  I have another card for the progressive challenge over at CDAC. This image was created by "Firecracker Designs". I used copics to colour the digital image & actually kept the card fairly basic This image seems to have a "masculine feel" to it so I skipped a lot of embellishment & simply added a tied ribbon & a few gems. The sentiment is another digital image (freebie) that I found online. I'm terrible at remembering who the generous Artists are who give these great images away. I'd love to hear any suggestions as to how to set up a system of keeping the Artist's name with their image. I would like to be able to give "credit to whom it is due".

Anyway that's it for today.

hugs,

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenge at:

CDACPC10

Eat More Calories

Happy Friday to you. Hope you're looking forward to the weekend...I know I am!

My card for today is for the challenge over at CDAC. They have this great progressive challenge going on. Every 2 weeks you get a set of free digital images by different artists & you have to make at least 1 project using 1 of the images to get the next set free. (If you didn't join at the beginning of the 6 session challenge you can buy in at anytime for just $1.00. How fun is that!). At the end of the 6 sessions there is a Grand Prize. This time it is over 100 Rubber & Clear Stamps. Just image the fun you could have with all those stamps.

Anyway, for my card I chose the image aby Bugaboo Digi Stamps. I coloured it with Copics. My dp's are from my leftover box of scrap paper. The sentiment is another freebie I found online.

Thanks for all the kind comments.

hugs,

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenge at:

CDAC

Sweet Memories

I love the vintage, shabby chic look, but I have a hard time creating it ( my cards tend to have more of the "cute" look). Here is my attempt at Vintage. The image is a freebie that I found on line, which I coloured with Copics. The papers are all from my leftover scrapbox. I layered Prima flowers & added a brad for the centers. The leaves were cut from a Spellbinder's die, as were the image & it's matting. I added some self sticking pearls, ribbon & a sentiment tag. All edges & flowers were distressed with Tim Holtz's ink.

Well that's it.

Hope your day is wonderful.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Sugar Creek Hollow - "Go Girly"

Kaboodle Doodles - "Thank You"

Love is Sweet

Good morning, hope your day is going well. Mornings are always busy for me, getting grandkids up & to school, but things settle down after that, at least until it's time to go to work, lol.

For my card today I used this cute little Valentine bear by Meljen's Designs.  After colouring him with Copics I added a bit of glitter glue to the frosting on the cookie.. The sketch is fairly simple. I used Kraft cardstock for my matting. The Dp is from my leftover stash. I folder embossed the scalloped nestie circle & the horizontal piece of pink cardstock. Some pretty polka dotted ribbon to finish it off.

Thanks for popping in to take a peek.

Enjoy your day.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Meljen's Designs - Use Red, Pink & Kraft

Simply Create Too - "Love is in the Air"

For You With Love

Happy Monday to you all. Hope your day is going well.

Today's card features a sweet digital image by Mo Manning. Isn't she a cutie! I coloured her with Copics & used a little bit of silver gel pen on the pot to give it a bit of a shine. All of the Dps are by My Mind's Eye (Kraft Funday Happy Days - 6"x6" pack). Sentiment is a rubber stamp. I used 2 Sizzix Spellbinder Dies (one to cut the leaves, the other to cut the flower). Added a single brad to the flower center. I also did some "faux stitching around the different layers.

Thank you for all the kind, encouraging comments.

hugs,

Nancy 

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Mo's digital pencil too - "Stitching - Real of Faux"

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - "Seeing Spots"

Sentimental Sundays - "Die Cuts"

Let It Snow

Well it did snow but, the weather station is saying warm temperatures & rain are on their way. That's OK by me. Don't get me wrong, snow is pretty to look at but who really wants to shovel or drive in the stuff.

One of the places I like to see snow is on cards and that's the challenge over at Kaboodle Doodles. Snow, snowflakes or snowmen are what they're looking for. I decided on the snowflakes. I cut mine out of a recycled pop can, using a Sizzix die, folder embossed them & punched 2 holes to make them look like buttons. The rest of the card is pretty basic. I folder embossed all the cardstock paper I used & followed the sketch for the challeng over at Prickley Pear.

Well, that's it for today. Hope your Saturday is going well. Until next time.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenges at: Kaboodle Doodles & Prickley Pear

A New Year

Well, it's finally looking like a typical January day here in SW Ontario. It started snowing earlier this morning & we now have enough that the snowplows are out in full force. Guess we can't complain considering that January is more than half over.

My card for today is for the challenge over at My Mind's Eye. Every month they give a sketch & a theme to follow. Here is my take on both. The theme is "A New Year" & I think every time a birthday rolls around it's a good time to reflect on your life thus far & see where you can make improvments. So in a sense it's a second chance; new start; a new year, I think you get the picture.
I basically followed the sketch. .All of the DP's I used are from MME, one of which I folder embossed & ran an ink pad across to make the words stand out. The flowers, brads, eyelet & ric rac are from my stash, The twine is Jillibean. I added a bit of "faux stitching" & distressed all the edges with ink. And viola, all done.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenge at:

My Mind's Eye

Happy Birthday

WooWhoo! I won! Times 2!! My one card was picked from last week's challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow & my 2nd card was picked from the challenge at Meljen's Designs. This has been a very exciting week for me.

My card for today features this cute little "Tea Cup Mouse" by Meljen's Designs. It was so much fun to colour. As ususal I used my Copic markers. My dp is by My Mind's Eye. I just purchased this 6x6 pad today at our local papercafting store, The Paper Pickle. The star was cut using a Sizzix die. I hand cut the banner flags. I also folder embossed the banner & star. (I'm just in love with those folder embossers, they change plain ordinary cardstock into something beautiful). The sentiment is a digital freebie from someone who loves to share their talent with other crafters. The twine is from Jillibean. I distressed some of the edges with Tim Holtz's "Brushed Corduroy" ink.

Hope your day is going well.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenge at:

Meljen's Designs

Turn Your Eyes

I love looking at the cards other people have made. They give me such inspiration & fresh ideas. Such is the case with this card. A lady named Linda, (you can see her card here http://handstoworkhearttolove.blogspot.com ) made this beautiful card using toilet paper! Yes toilet paper and well, I just had to try it. Guess what, it was just as easy as she said it would be. I will most certainly do this again.

I used 10 sheets of toilet paper, wet them, folded them in half and gently pressed out the excess water. Then I unfolded it, placed it in an embossing folder,wrapped the folder with a bit more toilet paper & sent the folder through my Grand Caliber. (When you do this quite a bit of water comes out). Then I removed the toilet paper that was wrapped around the folder & discarded it. I carefully removed the embossed toilet paper & let it dry. When it was completely dry I distressed it with Tim Holtz"s Tea Dyed Ink. I used this transformed toilet paper for the base of my card.

For the rest of my card I embossed the printed Hymn Page & then hand cut around the embossing.I distressed everything with the tea dye ink, even the flower. Added a few tiny gems, a couple of eyelets & a bit of ribbon to finish it off. Hope you like it.

Guess that's it for today. Hope your day is wonderful.

Nancy

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Sugar Creek Hollow - "Embossing"

Triple the Scraps - "Hymn & Scripture"

Sitting here thinking...

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful Sunday afternoon, well, at least it is beautful where I live. It is quite cold outside but the sun is shining causing the snow to just glisten. Very pretty.

My card for today features one of my favourite digital images by one of my favourite artists, Maureen Manning. The image is titled "Before the Fall" & you can get it at Mo's shop, along with a host of other great images. I just love colouring this little Humpety Dumpety. This time I used coloured pencils to add the colour to this black & white image. I used a sketch for this card that is fairly simple & used mostly cardstock. The printed paper is by Echo Park. I folder embossed all of the paper I used, even the dp, using 4 different patterns. It really seemed to add a lot of character to what could otherwise have been a pretty bland card.  The sentiment I chose for the card front could lend itself to a few different occasions: birthday; anniversary; miss you; ... etc. A single brad & bit of ribbon helped to finish this off.
I plan on entering this card in the challenges at:

Mo's Digital Pencil too: "Clean & Simple"
Sentimental Sundays: "Ribbon & Sentiment"
Sugar Creek Hollow: "Embossing"
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: "Texture"

Thanks for stopping by & for all of the encouraging comments.
Have a wonderful day.

Nancy

Celebrate

Over at Kaboodle Doodles the challenge this week is to use "Fireworks". I found this a tough one. I knew I had some fireworks paper somewhere, but couldn't find it. Just as I was about to give up & go with a different idea I found the paper, "Sparklers" by KI ( I used both sides of the paper on this card). I kept the card pretty simple, just some background dp & I punched out the sparkers using 2 different sized circle punches. I raised them all with foam dots, the smaller ones have a double thickness of foam. Sentiment was printed using my computer.

Well, we finally got snow here in Southwestern Ontario. Woke up to the white stuff this morning. It actually looks quite pretty outside. Lots of cardinals, chickadees & sparrows at the birdfeeder.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Nancy 

Just for You

My card for today was made using the sketch for the challenge at Fetch a Sketch. I pretty much used the sketch just as it was given. I think it created a card suitable for a lot of different occasions. The dps are all from the "lime twist" collection by My Mind's Eye. The digital image was a freebie I found at a site called "Free Digital Images" http://freedigitalstamps.blogspot.com.  (Every day they have a list of freebies that are available). The brads are by Making Memories. Just a bit of glitter glue on the flower centers & bee's wings to finish this off.

Hope you are looking forward to the weekend as much as I am... it's been a very busy week for me.

Thanks for stopping by & for all the nice comments.

Nancy

Save Some Trees

Today's card is for the "Save Some Trees"challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow.  They encouraged us to use coffee filters, paper towels, etc. in our papercraft project. After a bit of thought I decided on the coffee filter. I chose the basket size filter, randomly coloured it with my Copics in shades of green, rose & beige. Then I sprayed water over the entire filter. I was hoping to get more of a "tye-dyed" effect but I think because Copics are alcohol based rather than water based the colours didn't run as much as I would have liked. Anyway, after I dried the filter with my heat gun, I randomly stamped it with a flourish stamp in "Tea Dyed" ink by Tim Holtz. As I stamped I sprinkled it using a bronze embossing powder. Then I heat embossed the entire filter. I think it turned out very pretty. In order to make the filter paper the main focus I kept the rest of my card fairly simple. A few cardstock cut flourishes, several dimensional flowers, a bow & a sentiment to finish it off.

Entering this in the "Save Some Trees" challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow 

Hope your day is going well and thank you for stopping by.

Nancy

Winter Wishes

Today's card is an Easel Card. It has lots of sparkle to brighten up those drab winter days. The cute little snowman image is from Magnolia Stamps. I coloured him with Copic Markers. The sentiment (which I printed twice, one small, one big) is a digital freebie. The glittery snowflake paper is from Michael's; the striped paper is "'lil prince" by Bo Bunny. The snowflakes were cut using a Sizzix die & then embossed with an embossing folder. I also glided my white ink pad over them , sprinkled with a glittery embossing powder & then heat embossed them. A pretty blue gem stone in the

center of each for even more bling.  

Entering this card in the challenges at:

Sentimental Sundays ( Snow, Blue & Glitter)

Stamptacular Sunday (Sketch)

Thanks for stopping by and for the kind comments.

Have a terrific day.

Nancy

The Best People...

Some of  the best people are born in January and one of them happens to be my husband. This is the card I made for him. As you can see it is a fold over card. These are just perfect to hold gift cards, which is what my husband wanted. The papers are all from my scrapbox. The sentiment was a free digital that I found on line, sorry I can't remember who the generous person was. The snowflake is from a Martha Stewart punch, which I then inked & heat embossed to make it shiny. Added a few gems & a bit of ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nancy

Warm Winter Wishes

Well, I can honestly say "Warm Winter Wishes" since it is the 7th of January and here in Southwestern Ontario we haven't had much in the way of snow, in fact it's been sunny with above average temperatures. Love it!
My card today features a couple of cute free digital images from Meljen's Designs. I used Copics to colour them with. I printed the star one several times & then just cut them out. Papers are from my scrap box. For the snowflake printed paper I actually folder embossed white cardstock, gently ran a white ink pad over it & then heat embossed it. I added a couple of eyelets, a bit of ribbon & some "faux" stitching to finish it off.
Entering this in the "Use Stars" challenge over at Meljen's Designs.
Hope you have a wonderful day,
Nancy

Sing Praise - HSCRC12

This is a card I made for Patter Cross' Hymn & Scripture Challenge. Every other Sunday Patter gives a new hymn as the theme for the challenge. This week's is "Amazing Grace" by John Newton. Besides being inspired by the lyrics, Patter would like you to include a scripture verse on your project which also speaks to you. Well, I know this hymn by heart because I love it & we've sung it for years at church. But, what I didn't know was that the verse that speaks so much to me doesn't seem to be in the original version.  Oh well, I made my project with that verse in mind, so here it is.
The words are: When we've been there ten thousand years,
                         Bright shining as the sun;
                         We've no less days to sing God's praise,
                         Than when we'd first begun.
I just love singing praise to God ( though I am quite sure to those around me it sounds more like a "joyful noise", lol). Praise just seems to be the natural response to God & His abundant amazing grace - no wonder we'll be singing for ever. Thus my scripture verse, which is the inside of my card; "Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever." Psalm 145: 21
My card is 6x6. The papers are from my scrapbox (gotta' use some of this stuff up!). The cardinal was cut out of a recycled pop can using a Prickely Pear die. I then folder embossing it, inked it & finally heat embossed it. The branches were cut from a Nestie die. All edges were  distressed using a Tim Holtz Distress Ink & a blending tool. All printing was done on my computer. Added a few gems & a bit of JillyBean twisted twine. I think I'll enter this in the challenge over at Simply Create Too (Lots of Layers).
Thanks for stopping by to take a look.
Hope your day is going great.
Nancy

What's Red & White with one more Colour?

My Cross-Over Easel Card!

I love Cross-Over Cards. They are so fun & easy to make. But, I don't like that they don't stand up - they just lay there, so I always add a backing (like on the back of a picture frame) so that they will stand. This card is pretty simple, just cardstock & some red plaid dp (Designer Paper)  by Stampin'up. I used a scalloped rectangular Nestie Die to cut out the stamped sentiment & the area on which to add a personal greeting and a Flower Nestie to cut out the layered flower.  I also used an embossing folder on the flower. A bit of ribbon, a trimmed doily & a heart shaped brad to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Nancy

Challenges Entered:

One Crazy Stamper (Red/White with 1 other colour)

Sentimental Sundays (Anything),

Stamptacular Sunday (use a Doily).



A New Year and a New Blog!

For many years I have been posting cards (and layouts) in online galleries, and more recently as a weekly feature at A {Little} Dab of Glue.  Although I have appreciated being able to have my work viewed through these galleries I have always toyed with idea of having my own blog. After being encouraged by many family members & friends to take the leap I decided that this should be one of my New Year's Resolutions. So welcome to  2012 and the birth of "Colouring within the Lines". I hope that both are filled with encouragement for you.

My first post is an easy one. The challenge over at Mo's Digital Pencil Too is to pick your favourite card from the past year, using one of Mo's beautiful images of course. With this card I actually used 2 of her images & printed them on tags which I then used on my card. I coloured the images with Copics. My papers & the chipboard tags are My Mind's Eye.

'Life is an Adventure'

Thank you for taking the time to take a peek at my work.

Nancy