A Little Summer Time Inspiration

Good Friday morning to you. Hope you've had a wonderful week and are now looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend.

Today is my "DT Inspiration Day" over at Meljen's Designs so I decided to combine a couple of my favourite summer past times into a project to share with you. And here they are...

 

Cherry Almond Preserves with Fun Labels

 

 

For the labels I used 2 Meljen's images. First I chose "Oval Cherry Frame" [which you can find right here]. Next I used "Cherry Mouse Coloured" [which you can find right here]. I used Paint.Net ,[which is a free download], and merged the 2 images together. I only had to colour the frame since the little mouse was pre-coloured! Next I cut the frame [with picture] out following the oval shape, matted it and then adhered them to strips of assorted black & white printed papers that I had in my scrap box. Then I made my jam. This is "Cherry Almond Jam" and it is extremely easy to make. Simply follow the directions found inside a box of Certo, except to add 2 tsps. of pure almond flavouring to the cherries when cooking. It is delicious! [Last year I made 12 jars and ran out! So this year I made 26 jars, so I should have lots to share with family and friends!]. I think the labels will add  a really nice touch to the ones I give away. Here is a close up.

Close up of label

 

Well, that's it for me. I hope you were inspired a bit to maybe try your hand at merging some of your favourite MD images together, or using an MD pre coloured images on your next project, or coming up with your own gift idea. If you are looking for just that right image check out the Meljen's Shop, you're sure to find a few [quite a few actually!], that you'll just love to work with.

hugs,

Nancy

 

*** Happy Birthday ***

Well, here we are, half way thru the work week! Friday can't come quick enough! Getting the school back into ship-shape is hard work! Doesn't help that I'm not getting any younger, lol!

Today, I have a card to share with you that I made using a Tiddly Inks digital stamp. I just bought her last week and just had to get her coloured up. To match these  [3] bright DPs, I used some fun summer coloured Copics to colour her and added a bit of glitter to her lollipops. I did lots of ink distressing around all of the edges. I also added some faux stitching, doodling and hand written sentiment with an ultra fine tipped Sharpie marker, Two different Spellbinder dies were used as well a  pretty border punch. A bit of smocked, embroidered lace along the top and a few buttons along the bottom to finish this card up.

See you Friday with my Meljen's Designs DT inspiration project!

Until then,

hugs,

Nancy

 

Challenges:

 

* Tiddly Inks - Summer Treats

Die Cuttin' Divas - Anything Goes

Inky Chicks - Summer Colors

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Birthday

Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes

* Twist of Faith - Children

C...is for Challenge - Fresh & Bright

* Paper Playtime - Use Patterned paper {3 different}

* Love To Create - Color Challenge

* House Of Cards - Photo Inspiration {Fun Style}



Christmas In July

Hey, so glad you stopped by. I've been wanting to try to create a card with a "Chalkboard" look to it and here is what I came up with...

 

 

I used just plain black cardstock and with Versa Mark watermark ink, inked on my images [the scripture verse,{Just Rite} and scroll work, {sorry can't remember}]. Then I heat embossed them using white detail embossing powder. I added a few lines and coloured in a few areas with a white pencil crayon. Mounted it onto a layer of white cardstock, then another of red cardstock. The DP is by MME, [Christmas, Nol, Navidad]. Added a pretty grosgrain ribbon in the top corner.

I really like the way this turned out and will certainly be trying it again.

Until next time.

hugs,

Nancy

 

Challenges:

Polka Doodles and Studio - Christmas in July

Fairy Tale - Christmas in July

Creative Corner - Christmas in July

Crafty Cats - Christmas in July

Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything Goes

Clearly iStamp - Christmas in July

Crafter's Card Circle - Christmas in July

Totally Gorjuss - Christmas in July

PanPastel UK - Embossing

Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes



***Just a Doodling Away...

Hi there! Over at Meljen's Designs we are hosting a new challenge and we would love for you to show us your "Doodling", along with your favourite Meljen's image. This was a quick and fun project for me.

 

I chose to work with Melissa's "Pre-Colored Image, Pen Pal Mouse". With that little pencil in his hand he seemed to perfect choice for a little doodling! As you can see this card came together quite easily; 3 different colours of cardstock, 1 DP, the pre-colored image and an ultra fine tipped Sharpie Marker to do the doodling with. I got so carried away I even doodled the sentiment!

I do hope you will join in the fun! For a little more doodling inspiration check out what the rest of the MD DT's came up with.

hugs,

Nancy

Challenges:

*Crafty Friends Challenge -  Doodling
Crafty Boots - Animals
Twist of Faith - Borders and Fancy Edges
Southern Girls - Animal Antics
My Heart Pieces -  Favourite  Fruit Colour (Bananas)
 

***Buttons, Bow and Bling!

 

Thanks for stopping by. I love it when you visit! Tonight I have a card to share with you that I made using another one of  those adorable images for Saturated Canary.  I coloured her with my Copics and added glitter here and there and a few white dots with a paint pen. The DPs are from my scrap box. I used a corner punch in a few places and a Memory Box Die to make the pretty heart edging. I added 3 pearls to the flower centers and a couple of buttons to the bottom corner. A pretty hand tied bow and some doodling around the outside edge to finish it up.

Wishing you a wonderful evening and sweet dreams later tonight.

hugs,

Nancy

 

Challenges:

Creative Creations - Anything Goes

* Marker Pop Blog - Lovely Locks

Anything Goes Challenge - Anything Goes

Saturated Canary - Glamour & Glitz

Crafting Musketeer - Ribbon & Pearls

Crafty Sentiments - Bling It On



Time to try something new...

 

Black On Black

 

 

Over at Delicious Doodles they are running a challenge called "Black on Black" and I thought I'd give it a try.

 

 



Flower and sentiment close up

 I used different brands of cardstock, so I did get a bit of a different hue with each layer. I also tore the edges of one layer, die cut a pretty border edge on another layer and folder embossed yet a third layer of the cardstocks. The flower layers were white, but I pressed them into my black ink pad to turn them black. I tucked a bit of silky black ribbon under the edge of the two end flowers. I had these big vintage buttons that worked perfectly as flower centers. The sentiment was done by using another folder embosser on a piece of cardstock and then sanding it a bit to bring out the lettering. To add some eye appeal I placed a row of black gem stones across the top and bottom of my card. Not sure what I think of it. It does have an elegant look to it I guess, but I think I prefer a more colourful card. It was fun to give it a try though!

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs,

Nancy

 

Challenges:

 

Delicious Doodles - Black on Black

Brown Sugar Challenge - Anything Goes

Sister Act Card - Anything Goes

Totally Paper Crafts - Make Your Own Flowers

Dutch Dare - Flower Frenzy

Milk Coffee Challenge - Emboss It

Penny's Paper Craft - Use Black

Time for a new challenge:

Good morning!

Hope you are looking forward to a wonderful day.

Meljen's Designs has a new challenge up today and it is called "Mismatched" - use DPs from 2 different companies. This was a fun challenge and I think I tend to do this a lot already. For this baby card I used Meljen's pre colored digital image "Monkey Toes". The background DP is by Authentique's Essential Collection - Hope. The complimenting DP is by My Mind's Eye, from their The Sweetest Thing Collection - Bluebell. I cut the image and a mat using a Spellbinder die. I distressed all the edges with ink. I found this pretty blue ribbon with little foot prints on it at Michael's and knew it would work perfectly. Added a few floss tied buttons, glitter, faux stitching and a rubber stamped sentiment.

Well, that's my bit of inspiration for you and I'm sure if you head over to the Meljen's blog you'll find lots more by the rest of the DTs. Then it's your turn to create and share it with us Maybe you'll be this week's winner!

hugs,

Nancy

Challenges:
Crafting for all Seasons - Bingo [ buttons/digi/ribbon]
Songbird Challenge - Ribbon
Sweet Stamps - Anything
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything
Paper Take Weekly - Buttons & Bows
Paper Makeup Stamps - Tic/Tac/Toe [die cuts/ribbon/2DPs]
Sketch Saturday - Sketch