ADFD New Releases - Birdwatching & Spring

Another fabulous set of images released today by ADFD.  They are super sweet and you will just love them. Here's a peek at the new images:

For this weeks release, I used one of the birdhouse images.  I don't know what it is, but I just adore birdhouse images.  I don't particularly like having one in my yard because I have two cats and that just means dead birds in my yard - not good.  So, I'll stick to pictures of birdhouses. :)  Here's the card I made for this week's release:

Supplies: Birdhouse image (A Day for Daisies), sentiment (Create With TLC)
Papers:  Recollections cardstock, Wausau Exact Index 110# cardstock, digital patterned papers (Summertime Designs)
Tools & Embellishments:  Scalloped Scallop edge punch (EK Success), Medallion Chain edge punch (EK Success), Zig glue pen, edge distressing tool (Heidi Swapp), bakers twine (Divine Twine), glitter (Craft Decor), pencil crayons (Crayola, Roseart), oms, copics (R35), button (Steam Trunk Craft Works)

To make the background on the image, I wanted to have sky & clouds.  Its a technique that is very easy to do with ink but I didn't feel like pulling out my ink and finding a sponge so I used my light blue pencil crayon & oms.  I cut a scrap piece of cardstock in a cloud shape.  I held the shape down on the image and then coloured along the edge of the cloud - colouring on the image and the cloud shape both.  Then I took my blending stump with oms on it and blended the blue pencil crayon.  Once it was blended, I took away the cloud shape and that left the subtle cloud shapes.  The only other "special" thing I did with the card is took my  new Medallion Chain edge punch and punched one of the shapes on a small piece of patterned paper.  I then cut the individual shape away from the rest of the "chain".  I used my Zig glue pen and glitter on the edge of the image.  Other than that, its a pretty basic card.

I hope you liked it.  Don't forget to check out the challenge still going on at the ADFD blog - there's still time. The new images are available in the ADFD shop now, so go on over and check out the new store.  You'll love the new set up.

That's my card for this week.  Unfortunately, I have some sad news.  I've had to make the sad decision to give up my spot on the ADFD design team.  I've really enjoyed working with all the girls on the team and, of course, Tammy.  I will still love ADFD images and will probably spend way too much money on the new images as they come out.  Its getting to be the time that I'll have to go back to work so I don't think I will have the time to devote to the DT commitments.  I'm truly grateful to Tammy for giving me my first position on a DT.  Its been a great experience. :)

That's all for today.

Cat

ADFD New Release & A New Challenge

Hi everyone!  Its time again for another great new release from A Day for Daisies and another new challenge starts today on the blog.  The challenge this time is to Go Green!  It will be a lot of fun, so hop over to the blog and join the activities.  You will get a chance to win a great image from ADFD and there is an awesome freebie this time to get you going.

Here's a little sneak peek of what in new in store today at the ADFD store:

I also want to congratulate Wendy C.  She is the winner of our last challenge.  Way to go Wendy!

So, here's the card I made for this new release and challenge.  I love love love peacock images.  They give you the chance to use so many beautiful colours and just dress them up however you like.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Peacock Fairy (A Day For Daisies)
Papers:  patterned paper (Amy Buttler Belle collection - K&Company), cardstock (Recollections, Bazzil, Wausau Exact Index 110#)
Tools & Embellishments:  Pencil crayons (Roseart, Crayola), oms, glitter (Jones Tones), glue pen (Zig), Floral Vine deep edge punch (Martha Stewart), Leave it to Weaver edge punch (Fiskars), striped grosgrain ribbon (Michaels)

That's it for now.  I'll be back later with a couple different posts. :)

Cat  

ADFD New Release Cards

I'm a blogging fool this week. :)  I think I've made 4 or 5 posts this week.  Well, here I am again to show you the card I made with this week's new release from A Day for Daisies.  This new release is, without doubt, one of the cutest Tammy has put out.  Here's a peek of what she has for you in the store today:

Aren't they adorable?  You can get them in the new ADFD shop.  AND, just for the grand re-opening of the store, there is 10% off all digital stamps now till March 14!  How great is that?  Also, don't forget about the challenge going on at the ADFD blog.  You could win an image from ADFD and there is a free image so you can play along (if you don't already have soooo many of Tammy's creations already like me.).

So without any further dilly-dallying, here is the card I made for this week:

Supplies:
Stamps:  Little Fish Child 2 (A Day for Daisies), Pretty Sea Shells Collection (A Day for Daisies)
Papers:  patterned papers (unknown), blue cardstock (Stampin Up), white cardstock (Wausau Exact Index 110#), craft cardstock (The Paper Company)
Tools & Embellishments:  CraftRobo, Silhouette fern cutting file, Dimensional Magic (Plaid - Mod Podge), white Liquid Pearls, Stardust Stickles, copics, Scalloped Scallop edge punch (EK Success), Quick Dry Tacky Glue (Aileen's)

The ruffled flowers that are so much the craze these days inspired me to create the large scallop shell that the baby mermaid sits in.  I used a scallop edge punch along a strip of paper (2" wide), then fan folded it at each scallop.  I opened it to create a 1/2 circle and glued that to a piece of scrap cardstock so it would keep its shape.  It was quick and a lot easier than it looks.  The trick is using a glue that will dry quickly so that it doesn't pull apart.  I like the Aileen's quick dry tacky glue, but you could use a glue gun too.

Well, that's all for now.  I'll be back again soon with something else.

Cat

Playing catch up! ADFD cards

Well, lets just say I still alive.  I've had a few things going on, but the one that's really put me off my stride in posting is my printer deciding it doesn't want to work anymore.  It would work for a little bit when I printed off test pages, and then when I wanted to print off my images to make cards, it wouldn't print.  So, I had no images to play with.  Its all worked out now and its life has been spared - for now.  So I'm going to post a couple cards here right away.  I've also decided that I'm not going to go into full detail on my cards anymore unless I use some really specific or complicated technique on my cards - which is usually not the case.  It was taking so much time to write up complete instructions that I was getting to the point that I didn't want to post. So, from now on, I will be just posting the supplies I used under the cards.

Here is a card from the new release for Feb 25/11.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Vintage School Girl (A Day For Daisies), sentiment (Create with TLC)
Paper:  Tempting Turquoise cardstock (SU!), black cardstock (SU!), white cardstock (Wausau Exact Index 110#), digital patterned paper (Energy kit - Summertime Designs)
Tools & Embellishments:  Corner punch (unknown manufacturer), rhinestones (Walmart), ribbon (Dollar Store), Photoshop shape, CraftRobo, Matte Medium (Liquitex), black embossing powder (Stampendous), white embossing powder (Stampendous)

There are only a few things that I did on this card out of the ordinary.  The image itself is digitally paper pieced with digital papers from Summertime Designs.  For the frame,  I used the shape from Photoshop and cut it out 4 times with my CraftRobo and glued them together so they would be the thickness of chipboard.  I then used black ink and black embossing powder on the shape.

TIP:  If you don't have any chipboard and want a piece the thickness of chipboard, cut/punch 4 or 5 pieces the same out of cardstock and glue them on top of each other and the piece will be almost exactly like chipboard.  You can then finish it with patterned paper or other techniques as you would with chipboard.

The second technique I used is something I found recently on Mel Stampz blog.  Its a technique & product used on your paper so that you can emboss images/sentiments printed off on your printer.  I never had luck embossing things, even trying to dump the powder on as it was coming out of the printer.  It just absorbed into the paper to quickly.  So, what you do is brush a light coat of matte medium onto your paper, let it thoroughly dry and then run it through the printer.  The matte medium prevents the ink from soaking into the paper.  You still have to work quickly to get the powder on the printout, but at least it gives you a couple seconds.  I have found that you do need to use high print quality settings and it doesn't always work for light colours.  To get the white on a black background (because you can't print in white), I just printed with black and then dumped white embossing powder on it.  Since it was black cardstock, the black ink doesn't show and just the white embossing shows up.

My next card is from this past Friday's new release.  These images are so sweet.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Butterfly Pony (A Day For Daisies), sentiment (Create with TLC)
Papers:  patterned paper (DCWV), light blue cardstock (Recollections)
Tools & Embellishments:  Floral Lace edge punch (Martha Stewart), rhinestone sticker (Michaels), ribbon (Michaels), waterfall glitter glue (Stickles), star dust glitter glue (Stickles), pencil crayons (Crayola, Roseart), oms

Have a great day everyone!
Cat

A Day For Daisies First Ever BLOG HOP!!!

Hey everyone.  Its the ADFD first ever blog hop.  We're going to send you along an exciting trail to see some great works from the design team.  You have a week to work your way through all the blogs, so take your time and visit (& comment) along the way. :)

Make sure you leave a comment at each stop.  Anyone who leaves a comment at all the participant stops will be entered to win a set of images from the new releases today!  Yay! And they are fantastic as usual.  There are three sets to choose from.  Here's a peek of this week's new images:

Aren't they great!?  Don't forget that today also marks the start of a new challenge on the ADFD  blog - Very Vintage.  This is the card I made with the Vintage Rose Blooming image (available now in the ADFD shop).

Supplies:
Stamps:   Vintage Rose Blooming (A Day For Daisies), Hanging by a Thread set (stitching around edge - Technique Tuesday), How Do I Love Thee digital paper (CatScrapFever Designs)
Papers:  Recollections cardstock, Domtar coated 200# ivory cardstock (base), Matte finish brochure paper (Staples), Wausau Exact Index 110# (main image printed on this)
Tools & Embellishments:  CraftRobo, rhinestone corner sticker (Dollar Store), gold glitter glue (Studio G), homemade glimmer mist (DecoArts paint - Rich Espresso), crotchet ribbon (Dollar Store), ivory satin ribbon (Michaels), white Liquid Pearls, pencil crayons (Martha Stewart), oms, heat gun, black Stazon ink

The card itself is fairly simple in design.   However, the little embellishments are where all the work was.  I made the little roses out of scrap cardstock.  I researched about 50 different ways they were done on different tutorials and you-tube videos.  Once I figured I knew what I needed to do I created a cut file and cut them with my CraftRobo.  I sprayed some of my homemade glimmer mist onto a piece of sponge and sponged the edges of all the flower pieces, let them try, and then assembled the flowers. They really are easy and once I get my craft room cleaned up, I want to do up a little video tutorial to show you how easy they are.  The corner pieces were also cut on my CraftRobo.  (I found the cut file on ukscrappers.com.  They have thousands of free files there if you have a CraftRobo/Wishblade/Silhoulette.  Its a great resource for cutting files.)  Once cut from cream cardstock, I put gold glitter glue all over.  I was impatient and used my heat gun to dry the glitter glue and it made the glitter glue bubble which was kind of a happy mishap because it gave it a really cool texture that you can't see in the picture.  I hand cut the main image out after I coloured it using my Martha Stewart pencil crayons and oms. Again, I could have used my CraftRobo, but I already had the image printed, so I didn't want to reprint it with the cut&print feature on my CR because it uses more paper and I don't like to waste paper - even if it is fairly inexpensive.  The Nestability shapes were cut on my CR and I used my "faux nestability" templates to emboss the edges to make them look even more like the real thing.  I used my How Do I Love Thee valentine paper for the top layer just because it has a nice vintage look to it and it worked well with my colour scheme.  I used the sponge again with my homemade glimmer mist around the edges to give it a little distressed look and some glimmer.  I put small pearls on the scallops using white Liquid Pearls.

TIP:  To get the Liquid Pearls to dome properly without the little "horns", I flicked the backside of the paper gently and that gets rid of those pesky little "horns".

Once the Liquid Pearls was dry, I used pop dots to adhere the image to the centre of the nestability shapes, and pop-dotted the focal piece to the cardfront.

I should mention that I also used the sponge and glimmer mist around the edges of the "stitched" cardstock as well.  I love this colour of homemade glimmer mist - Rich Espresso.   The "stitching" was done with a stamp and black stazon ink.

If you're following along the path of the blog hop, you should have arrived here from the talented Candy's blog.  The next stop on the hop is the amazing Jen's blog.  Don't forget to leave your comments along the way to be entered for the grand prize. :)  If you miss a stop or get lost, you can head back to the ADFD blog and the list of participants for the blog hop will be posted there.

Have fun everyone!

Cat

ADFD New Release 02/11/11

Hi everyone!  Its time again for another great release from ADFD.  This week's images are, as usual, very pretty. You just can't go wrong with them.  Here's a peek at the new release:

The card I made this week is in my usual style: simple and straight forward.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Daddy's Little Princess (A Day For Daisies), birthday sentiment (Michaels clear stamp)
Papers:  Recollections cardstock, Wausau Exact Index 110#, Energy digital paper collection (Summertime Designs), Staples matte finish brochure paper
Tools & Embellisments:  Prisma pencil crayons, oms, ribbon (dollar store), coral craft ink (unknown - dollar store), paper crimper (Fiskars), edge distresser tool (Heidi Swapp)

I really like using digital papers these days.  There are thousands of talented designers out there and they put out some beautiful work.  What I love about digital papers is that I never run out of a cherished design because as long as I have paper and ink to print with, I have another piece of that gorgeous paper. It really isn't as expensive as you think.  How much do you pay for a piece of patterned paper at the craft store? Usually, anywhere from $0.50 to $1.99 for name brand designer papers (plus your time and gas running around to the craft stores).  Even if you pay for a digital paper (because there are thousands of beautiful free ones), plus the cost of of paper and ink, you will end up paying anywhere from $0.45 to $0.75 for a sheet of letter size paper.  I don't think that is all that much. So anyway, I'm not going to go on about the benefits of digital. I'm digressing from my topic today.

Like I said, this card is pretty simple and straight forward.  I printed my patterned paper out, cut it down to size to cover my card front, then tore it in half.  I used a coral colour chalk ink and sponged around the edges to distress it a little more.  For the ribbon treatment, I adhered my ribbon to a piece of cardstock, then I ran it through my crimper.  Make sure the ribbon is well adhered to the cardstock, because it will pull away from the cardstock as I learned in my first attempt.  I used Sobo white glue the second time and let it dry for about an hour before running through the crimper.  I used my edge distress tool on all the edges and then assembled my card. Pretty easy.

I hope you pop over to the ADFD store and check out these images as well as all the other fabulous images Tammy has in the shop.  And don't forget, there is still another week to get in on the challenge over at the ADFD blog.  You could win yourself an image from the store, plus there is a free image for you on the blog just for playing along in the challenge.

Have a great weekend everyone!  Talk to you later...

Cat

ADFD - New Release & a New Challenge

Its that time again.  ADFD has released some more awesome images.  With spring (hopefully) around the corner, the images are perfect for getting ready for gardening, flowers, and warner weather in general.  Here's a peek at what is up for new images this week:

I'm still in the Valentine mode, so I wanted to incorporate some of these images into some of the cards I needed to make to send to family & friends for Valentine's Day.  Then all of a sudden, two cosmic forces came together:  this week's stamp releases and a new movie release.  There is a new movie being released called "Gnomeo & Juliette".  Fabulous!  Just the quote I needed to get my idea off the ground.  Here it is:

Supplies:
Stamps:  Daisy Gnome, Mushroom Gnome, Potted Gerber Daisies (A Day for Daisies)
Papers:  Recollections cardstock (red & pink), Wausau Exact Index 110# (white), Bazzil (yellow),  Angel Mother digital paper collection (Summertime Designs - printed on brochure paper), matte finish brochure paper (Staples)
Tools & Embellishements:  CraftRobo, Doily edge punch (Martha Stewart),  Edwardian Script font (sentiment), ribbon (Michaels), copics, Lace Heart edge punch (Martha Stewart)

I used my CraftRobo to cut the circle, scalloped circle, and oval shapes.  I created my "faux" nestie templates to make the embossed rims around the circle and scalloped circle.  The main image is coloured with my copics.  The little boy gnome's wheelbarrow originally had mushrooms in it, but I thought he should be hauling a load of hearts to his sweetie for Valentine's.  I used the lace heart edge punch to get all the little hearts since I didn't have a single punch small enough.  Other than that the card is very straight forward.  You can get any of the new released images in the ADFD shop along with all the other fabulous images for sale there.

The next card is one I created for the new challenge running Challenge #11 - "Heavy Metal Rocks".  The challenge is to use "metal" in your creations.  The image I chose for my card is an image that was offered as a freebie a while ago.  Its such a sweet image and I have plans to use it again when Stampede rolls around here in Calgary.  Here is the card I created for the challenge:

Supplies:
Stamps:  My Little Cowboy (A Day For Daisies)
Papers:  Stampin' Up (black cardstock),  Angel Mother digital paper collection (Summertime Designs - printed on brochure paper), brushed gold cardstock (Dollar Store), shiny gold cardstock (Dollar Store), matte finish brochure paper (Staples)
Tools & Embellishments:  Scroll Lace edge punch (Martha Stewart), Sheriff's badge image (coloring-pages-kids.com), flat back pearls (Dollar Store), embossing stylus, copic markers, black sharpie marker

The hardest thing to create on this card was the sheriff's badge.  I found a free colouring page and printed it off in mirror image.  Then I taped it to the back of my shiny gold cardstock, and followed the lines on the image with my stylus so that it would emboss the image through to the front of the cardstock.  Once, I had the image completely embossed, I cut it out, then I traced over the lettering with a thin black sharpie.  The image is matted with a scrap of black SU! cardstock, and then with a piece of brushed gold cardstock.  I seem to be on this theme of simple cards lately and this one fits into that category.

I hope you join in on the challenge.  Its a lot of fun and as usual, Tammy has a great free image for you to play along.  You can also win an image of your choice from the store for playing, so join in.

Talk to you later...

Cat

ADFD - Very Special New Release Image

It's new release time again at A Day for Daisies and this one is very special to me.  The DT was asked to send Tammy their favourite picture, so I sent one of my wedding pictures.  Its a picture of me and my husband kissing after we were announced husband & wife.  Tammy took the picture and made a digital stamp from it.  How cool is that!  I think its beautiful!  So here's the card I created with "my" new stamp:

Supplies:
Stamps:  My Story Begins and Ends With You (A Day for Daisies), Sentiment & floral flourish (unknown - clear stamp set)
Papers:  Recollections card stock (red & brown), Wausau Exact Index 110# (white), patterned paper (CatScrapFever Designs), Staples matte finish brochure paper
Tools & Embellishments:  Fleur De Lis pennant dies, Renaissance Hearts border dies, Fancy tags dies (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, Walnut Stain distress ink (Tim Holtz), Red & Star Dust stickles, rhinestones, crayola markers (red & brown - to ink the stamp), PSPX 

So first, I didn't have the paper I wanted for this.  I couldn't find anything in the stores near me close to what I wanted, so I had to design it myself.  I use PSPX to do 95% of my graphics work and I used it to design the paper.  The paper was done using a bunch of stock brushes on the background layer.  Then I typed the poem "How Do I Love Thee" over and over on the top layer of the paper.  I used a couple different blending layer options to get the paper to look the way I wanted and it was done.  I really like it.  I printed it out on matte finish brochure paper.  I like the look of matte finish papers for this type of thing rather than glossy or semi-gloss.  However, I do prefer to have my photos printed on glossy.  Once I got all the layers for the card cut, and the patterned paper edges distressed with ink, I cut the shapes with my Spellbinder dies.  The frame for the image is two dies glued together.  I cut one large shape from the Fleur de Lis die set and then 2 of the next largest die.  I glued the two smaller shapes to the top & bottom of the large shape - making sure they were the same height and centred.  Then I glued rhinestones in the centre design on the top and bottom of the die cuts. For the sentiment, I first stamped the flower in red, cleaned the stamp, inked the sentiment, lined it up and stamped.  Then I cut it out with the Fancy tag die making sure the sentiment was centred.  Then I cut off the curly queues on it and sanded down the edged to smooth off the scissor marks.  I cut the same shape again in brown and layered the white onto the brown tag.  For the heart  border, I cut the red with the bottom border die, then with brown cut the top layer.  I had to trim the bottom layer since the die doesn't cut the entire shape out (I guess its meant to just go along the bottom edge of the paper).

Next was to work on the image.  This was actually fairly simple.  I used a couple filters in PSPX to make it look like a cartoon (Posterize & Pencil lines filters), then I lowered the opacity to about 40%.  I layered the new stamp over top of my photo and deleted any of the original photo that didn't fit inside the stamp.  Then I printed it out onto my white cardstock.  I used stickles on the image for the flowers in my hair and what looks like "confetti" floating down.  I think this image is so cool.

Tip:  remember to make a duplicate of your digital photos before you work on them.  If you make a mistake and have saved the image, you still have the original as back up.  Never use your original and always back up your photos.

So that's it for this one.  Remember that there is still time left on the challenge, so get your entry in.  You could win yourself an image of your choice from the store.

Take care.

Cat

A New Challenge & A New Release at ADFD

This week starts another new challenge on the A Day For Daisies blog.  The new challenge is "Organic Soul" - use something organic in your creation.  You can use pressed flowers, handmade paper, pieces of twigs... Whatever you want.  There is also another great new release of images this week and they are, as usual, simply great.  Here's a peek at the new images:

You can find these images in the ADFD shop.  Remember, there is a freebie on the blog for you to play along with the challenge.  So check it out. :)

I'm always delighted with the images Tammy puts out week after week. They're so easy to create with.  The card I made this week just sort of popped into my head when I saw the images.  Here's a look at the card I made with one of the new images:

Supplies:
Stamps:  Making Friends (A Day For Daisies)
Papers:  patterned paper (DCWV), Recollections cardstock, Wausau Exact Index 110# cardstock
Tools & Embellishments:  Copics, 3-in-1 Classic Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), glitter (Craft Decor & Glitter Ritz), Lace corner punch (Dollar Store), pressed flowers (Recollections), ribbon (Michaels), Tulip large edge punch (EK Success), Zig glue pen, Zip Dry glue

Again, another straight forward card.  The dried flowers are a little tricky to work with.  If you decided to use dried flowers or leaves, remember they are quite brittle.  You will need to use a pair of tweezers to handle them since they are so fragile.  I used my Zig glue pen to put small dots of glue down where I wanted the little fern and then used Zip Dry to attached the other flowers.

I hope you join in on the challenge.  Not only do you get a free image to play along with, but you could win another image of your choice from the shop.  Its going to be fun. :)

Thanks for stopping by today.

Talk to you later...

Cat

Fairies Play Here - Version 2

I really love this release from ADFD.  I have these pictures of my niece when she was 5 years old wearing wings, a crown, and holding a "magic wand".  She looked so cute and I couldn't help but make another scrapbook page of these photos with a couple images from this new release.  Here's my layout:

Supplies
Stamps:  Fairy Mushroom, Quiet Fairy (A Day for Daisies)
Cardstock:  DCWV, Recollections, Wausau Exact Index 110#, Domtar Cougar
Tools & Embellishments:  star dust stickles, rhinestones, small scallop decorative edge scissor (Fiskars), frond punch (Martha Stewart), French Script font (title), Craft Robo, Marvy markers, Crayola markers, iridescent medium (Windsor & Newton), ric rac ribbon (Dollar Store)

I've been wanting to make some of the large quilled flowers that are cut from circles.  They look so pretty.  I decided to cut some with my deco scissors for a little bit of a different look.  To make the flower, you cut a sprial from a circle. You can use a quilling tool or just roll the sprial to the centre and then glue in place.  I glued a rhinestone into the centre of each flower.  You have to use a good strong adhesive with these.  I used Aileen's fast grab tacky glue.  It works really well.  The big green leave are hand cut from scraps of green cardstock, and the smaller ones are punch outs.  These flowers and leaves are a really good way to use up those smaller scrap pieces.  The largest flower is about 1" across and the starting circle I cut was about 2.5" across. You don't even need to be all the accurate cutting since a little deviation here and there gives the flower some "petal" shapes. Here's a close up of some of the flowers:

I've been trying to use my Craft Robo more than I have lately.  Its a great tool and I'm always impressed with how nicely (and easily) it is to create with it.  I used it this time to create the frame which is pretty straight forward, and I also used it to create the title.  I love the matting & the print & cut features in the RoboMaster software.  I printed the title, then used the mat feature a couple of times, making a larger mat each time for the different layers.  Here's a close up of the title:

And finally, the images that inspired me to make this scrapbook page:  the Fairy Mushroom & Quiet Fairy images.  I combined the two images, then imported the jpg into my RoboMaster software and used the autotrace feature with a little bit of a margin to create the cutting line around the image.  This is SOOOOO much easier than hand cutting all those little crevices. Plus its always exactly the same distance from the lines all the way around. Here's a close up so you can see some detail:

I used my Marvy markers on the mushroom because I had a marker colour called mushroom, so that worked. I then sponged some iridescent medium over it when the marker ink was dry, but that seemed to wash it out, so I took some Momento rich cocoa ink and sponged that on to give it a little texture.  I used Crayola markers to colour the little fairy, and once the ink was dry I put stickles on her wings because all fairy wings sparkle.

A couple other things I did was I cut the big scalloped circle on my CraftRobo with a font called 09KutUps. Its a font with shapes with some similar to Nestabilities that you can cut directly from any cutting machine that will cut true type fonts.  Secondly, I wanted it to look like there was "fairy dust" coming off the wand in the first picture, so I drew some swirls on the cardstock very lightly with pencil.  Then I used my star dust stickles and went around the lines with little dots.  Once the stickles were dry, I erased the pencil lines, then I glued little flower shaped rhinestones in amongst the swirls.

Well that's it for now.  Its pretty late here, or I should say, its pretty early here (3:40 am).  I'm having another one of those nights were I can't sleep, so I thought I would post this layout.  Hubby doesn't have to go into work until later in the afternoon, so I'll be able to sleep a little later.

Take care & thanks for stopping by...

Cat

ADFD - New Release - Fairy Dress

Hi again!  It's another new release at ADFD.  This time around, there are some pretty special images.  They appeal to the little kid in me and the way I use to play dress up when I was small.  They're so sweet and whimsical.  I know you'll just love them too.

I've started to develop a really strong liking for kraft card stock lately.  I really didn't like it at first.  I got a couple pieces of Stampin' Up kraft cardstock last year, just to see if I liked it and I didn't - at all.  So, I just never bought any because I thought I wouldn't like it.  Then, for my Christmas cards last year, I thought that kraft and teal would look great together (which they do) but I didn't want to order anything from Stampin' Up, so I kept my eye out around the stores whenever I was out shopping.  I happened to stop into Zellers one day for something and thought I would take a quick browse through the craft section.  I've gotten some really good deals on punches and stamps on lines they were discontinuing, so I was hoping I would find some more of those good deals.  I happen to find a pack of Kraft cardstock on the shelf that had the corner opened so I felt it and it felt like brown card board.  This is exactly what I wanted.  I know a lot of people turn their nose up at buying inexpensive/no-name cardstock.  Well not me.  I'm not a craft snob. I use everything and anything as long it works and I like it.  So, I've been using this on all most all my projects lately.  And this next card has it too.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Fairy Dress (A Day for Daisies)
Papers:  Kraft cardstock (The Paper Company), red & yellow cardstock (Recollections), white card base (Staples 110#)
Tools & Embellishments:  CraftRobo (Nestability shapes & oval), red pearlescent fabric paint (Tulip), lemon yellow Liquid Pearls, large Hydrangea & Hydrangea trio punches (Martha Stewart), embossing stylus, ribbon (Dollar Store), Edwardian Script font (sentiment), pop dots, Star Dust Stickles, artists chalks (Loew Cornell), eyeshadow applicators (Dollar Store), liquid glue (Zip Dry)

This card is fairly straight forward.  I cut the Nestability shapes with my CraftRobo.  I then used the print and cut feature to print the stamp image and then cut the oval around it.  I coloured the image with artists chalk, and then coated the wings with stickles.  I attached the image to the Nestability shapes with pop dots.  I used my Liquid Pearls on the top & bottom scallops of the Nestability shapes.  Then I punched several of the hydrangea trio punches from yellow and one from red, and one large hydrangea from red.  I used an embossing stylus on the petals by going over them on top of a piece of fun foam so that they would curl.  Once they were the shape I wanted, I glued them together with Zip Dry.  I used red pearlescent fabric paint on the centre of the yellow flowers, and yellow Liquid Pearls on the centre of the red flower.  While the liquid pearls were drying, I cut my kraft cardstock and ran it through the printer to print the sentiment.  I usually use Paintshop Pro for all my digital work, and like to create my own word art, so I did that for the sentiment.  I cut my length of ribbon and tied my bow.  It took me several tries to get it the right shape.

Tip:  I ran a straight piece of ribbon through the knot before I tightened it so that I could slide the bow back and forth once the ribbon was adhered  to get the positioning just where I wanted it.

I glued everything together, and, voilà, my card was done.  I am really liking this colour combination.  And, I'm sure you will see a few more projects from me using kraft cardstock.  It is my new best friend in my supplies.

Don't forget that the ADFD challenge is still going on.  You could win a free ADFD image, plus, there is a free image to get you started if you don't already have any of ADFD images.  If you want to check out the store, there are tons of beautiful digi stamps to choose from.   Any ADFD image will be accepted in the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Looking forward to seeing you again...

Cat

New Release and a New Challenge at ADFD

Its time again for a new release and a new challenge over at ADFD.  This week's new images are spectacular.  Here's a sneak peek of them, and you can purchase any one of them (or all) at the ADFD store.

Don't forget the $2.00 release image.  This week is it the ballerina slippers and is a super deal for $2.00

We are also starting a new challenge at ADFD - Challenge #9 - "A Fresh Coat of Paint".  So get creative, get messy. Its a lot of fun.  And congratulations to the winner of our last Challenge:  Sabina.  You can see her entry here.

This week I got to play with some acrylic scrapbooking paints that I've had in my stash for a very long time.  In fact, I've had them so long (and not used them) they were drying out and came out about the consistency of toothpaste.  I was annoyed with myself for not using them since they're such pretty colours and letting them get to this state, I tried to look on the bright side.  Now instead of just coating my paper with colour, they were also going to give it some texture. :)  First I'll show you my card, then I tell you how I made it.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Delicate Dancer (A Day for Daisies), You've Got Flair sentiment (You've Got Flair set, Close to My Heart)

Papers:  cardstock (Recollections & Bazzil), watercolour paper (Canson 100#)

Tools & Embellishments:  scrapbooking paints (Making Memories - Anthology collection), plastic stencil (Pebbles - Fancy Frills set), fancy tags shapeabilities dies (Spellbinders), ribbon (Michaels), classic ink (SU - Night of Navy), Stickles, paper flower (unknown), brad (Michaels), Iridescent medium (Windsor & Newton), sponges, rhinestone (Recollections), watercolour paints (Loew Cornell), Twinkling H20s

So, to make the background paper, I took a piece of grey cardstock and painted some of the green shade of paint in streaks on it leaving some of the grey showing through.  Then I took a stencil and put that in the corner and used some of the blue paint and stencilled the shape.  Since the paint is really thick, the stencil really stands up off the page and the streaks make the paper look aged.  Once the paint was dry, I took a few drops of Night of Navy ink and mixed that with some iridescent medium and sponged it on the part of the card front opposite the stencil.  I let that dry and then sponged over the entire card front with the iridescent medium again. To use up the left over ink mixture, I sponged it on the petals of the paper flower.  While all that was drying, I cut my tag with my Spellbinder die and stamped the sentiment with Night of Navy classic ink.  I had to stamp each word separately and mask the other words since the sentiment wouldn't fit the way it is and I only had room to put it on the left side of the tag.

For the focal image, I printed it on watercolour paper and used regular watercolour paints on her body and the bodice of her dress.  For the skirt, I used my long neglected Twinkling H20s.  Once the image was dry, I put dark blue stickles on all the flowers.  I decided since my background was kind of aged looking that I would take my distressing tool to the edges of it and the edges of the main image.  

I matted the ballerina on dark blue Bazzil cardstock, ran some navy blue satin ribbon through the tag and attached  it all to the card front.  The main image is adhered with pop-dots.

I had a lot of fun making this card.  I got really messy and used some products I hadn't used yet.  My only problem with the process is that I just got a set of gel nails the day before I made this card.  Now my nice pretty french manicure is stained Night of Navy blue.  Most of it came off in the shower and the shampoo really takes ink off your fingers well, so its all good.  I had fun and that's the most important part.

I really hope you all join in and get messy with your paints for this new challenge.

Talk to you later...

Cat

A Day for Daisies New Release

Hi everyone!  We have a new release at ADFD and they are spectacular.  They're so inspiring that I actually made two projects with them.  I'm actually going to make two separate posts because the second one has a surprise for you too.

So this new release is all about the beach.  I know I'm ready for some nice warm weather here in Calgary.  Its -20C here and even colder with the wind chill.  I don't know how it works with all you other ladies out there, but my husband isn't what I would call the romantic sort.  And I guess I've let him off pretty easy over the years in regards to buying me gifts.  I usually buy what I want and tell him what "he got me".  I'm also not a really big jewelry wearer either, but I do like to gussy it up once in a while and wear a necklace or some earings.  So, needless to say, I didn't get any jewelry for Christmas this year.  I decided to make my own and here is what I made using the new release images Pretty Sea Shells collection:

  

Supplies:
Images:  Pretty Sea Shells collection (A Day for Daisies)
Tools & Embellishments:  Inkjet Shrinky Dink, Bic Mark It markers, Sharpie markers, shell beads, glass beads, jewelry findings & chain, earing shepherd hooks, jewelers pliers, jewelers wire snips

I've had the square beads for a really long time and didn't know what to do with them.  They're made from shells and I paid quite a bit of money for them.  I bought them online about 5 years ago when I was really into jewelry making.  I didn't want to really use them on just anything, so I've held onto them.  Once I saw the new images, I knew that they would be great with these images.

I printed the images onto the shrinky dink, then coloured them with my Bic & Sharpie markers.  I didn't use copics because I find that they don't work that well on plastic for me and I can't get the intensity of colour with them as I can with Bics or Sharpies (however, in this case the colour was a little too dark).  After I finished colouring, I cut the images out.  I should note here that I printed the images 2" on the largest side, and once I heated the shrinky dink, the pieces shrunk down to about 3/4".  If you haven't used shrinky dink before and want to try this, you have to remember to punch a hole BEFORE you shrink them.  The plastic ends up being quite thick and brittle, so you won't be able to pierce a hole afterward.  When I was cutting out the images, I added a little extra at the top of the image and used my 1/8" hole punch.  This left a pretty small hole - just big enough for the head pins to fit through.  Once the shrinky dink was cooled down, I used my jewelry making tools and supplies and created these earrings.  I wore them out yesterday and got a couple compliments on them.  That was fun.

Check out the next post for my second project.  I have a little surprise for you. :)

Cat

A Day for Daisies New Release - Version 2

Hopefully, the order of these posts comes out the way I want them.
I've had the same wallpaper on my computer desktop since I bought the computer.  Its a lovely forest scene, but I was getting bored with it.  So I thought I would make a new one for myself and incorporate a calendar because I'm always clicking on the time thingy (technical term) on the task bar to get the calendar up.  I know its not that big of a deal, but it is an annoyance to me.  And since its been so cold, and usually its pretty cold throughout January here in Calgary, I wanted something that would remind me that warmer weather will eventually come back.  And the image I used is so pretty and serene, I had to use it.  Here is the second project I created with the ADFD new release image At the Sea with Sister.

Supplies:
Images:  At the Sea with Sister (A Day for Daisies)
Papers:  Digital background paper (Corina Nielsen - Memory Makers)
Tools & Embellishments:  digital elements by Cuddlebeez & Becky Young Designs, Corel PaintShop Pro X

I imported the calendar grid from Microsoft Word into my graphics program, and then created the aged paper using various brushes and textures to make it look aged and worn.  It was really fun to use my graphics program.  I don't do that much digital work for crafting anymore other than resizing and printing my digi stamps these days, so it was fun to get back to my "roots" so to speak.

I really hope you like the desktop wall paper.  As a little bonus, if you want it for your own computer, you can download the full size version (1024 x 768) here.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a safe and wonderful New Year!

Cat

ADFD New Release

Its that time again!  Another release from A Day For Daisies.  That girl keeps putting out some amazing stuff doesn't she?  I really love this image.  But then again, how can I not; it has a cat in it...  The image is called Tiger and is available here in the store.    Here's the card I made this week with the new release:

  

Supplies:
Image:  Tiger (A Day for Daisies)
Paper:  Bazzil cardstock, Recollections cardstock, Patterned paper (unknown), Wausau Exact Index 110#
Tools & Embellishments:  Ribbon (unknown), Craft Robo, Tulip corner punch (unknown), Paper flowers (unknown), rhinestones (unknown), Curlz MT font

Well, that's it for now.  Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!

Talk to you later...

Cat

New Release & New Challenge at ADFD

Today is a good day at ADFD.  There are two new events going on:  a new release with some gorgeous images, and a new challenge.  The new challenge is Tinsel & Tags.  This challenge is really great for this time of year since, in my experience, this is the time that I use a lot of tags.  I really liked the process of planning and making all the elements for tag.  Here's my tag for the challenge:

Supplies:
Image:  Tina, Trina, & Tim:  A Day for Daisies digital stamp
Paper:  Cougar smooth white 130# card stock (base), brown kraft mailing wrapping paper, patterned paper (K&Company), DCWV card stock, Recollections card stock
Tools & Embellishments:  MS branch punch, Family Treasures corner punch, 1/8" circle punch, small corner rounder (EK Success), Ribbon (Michaels), chip board shape (Making Memories), Brads (Michaels), Scalloped Daisy border punch (Fiskars), EZ Cutter knife & oval template, gold gel pen, black gel pen, Tim Holtz distress inks (fired brick, bundles sage, walnut stain), iridescent medium (Windsor & Newton), Embossing pen (Making Memories), red & gold glitter embossing powder (Stampendous), red Stickles, Prisma pencil crayons, oms, mini tinsel pompoms (Dollar Store), Create-a-shade pearl paint (Close to my Heart)

I wanted the chipboard piece to shimmer, so I used the Create-a-shade pearl paint by CTMH.  It gave it a nice shimmery silver finish.  I popped the coloured image onto this, then I added the tinsel pompoms as the furry trim to the sock.  I bought some iridescent medium about 2 weeks ago and I am loving that stuff.  I've been using it on everything, so I had to use it on this project too.  For the background of the tag, I had some brown paper left over from wrapping up parcels I was sending through the mail.  I took a piece larger than my tag and crumpled it up a few times so that I would get it really wrinkled.  I adhered it to my tag and cut off the excess. Then I used the walnut stain distress ink and went around the edge of the tag.  Next, I mixed some iridescent medium with water & a couple drops of fired brick distress ink in one container, and in the other I changed the ink to bundled sage.  This made some nice "glimmer mist" that I painted onto my tag.  I put red on the top half and green on the bottom half.  I used my heat gun to dry the paper since I'm too impatient to let it sit long enough to air dry.  Then I took my embossing pen and drew swirlies on the top halve and covered it with green glitter embossing powder, then I did the same on the bottom half with red glitter embossing powder.  The tree on the tag isn't hard to make.  I took some scrap green cardstock and just punched about 30 branches with my MS branch punch.  I also cut a triangle out of the same scrap cardstock.  Then, starting at the bottom, I glued the branches onto the triangle, working across then up the triangle, making sure my little branches hung over the edges a little bit.  I did two layers like this because I didn't want the base to show through.  One that was done, I put little red stickle baubles all over the tree and used a star shaped brad with the prongs cut off and used pop dots to adhere it to the tag.  I didn't have a small enough stamp and I really didn't want to fuss with the computer and printing for the sentiment, so I just cut a piece of scrap white cardstock with my EZ Cutter knife & oval template and hand wrote the sentiment.  I used a gold gel pen to go around the edge of the oval, then I used the red homemade "glimmer mist" and painted over top of it to give it some sparkle.  Once it was dry I attached it to the tag with pop dots.

Wow!  That seems like a lot of steps, but really it wasn't that bad.  I think all in all it took maybe about an hour to make the tag.  I'm not excited about the way it looks in the picture, but in real life, it is very pretty and shimmery and I think a pretty good start for my first "Tim Holtz style" tag.

My next project is a scrapbook page using one of the new release images.  These new images pulled at my heart because we have a little dog that is pure joy for us.  She is so sweet natured and affectionate and we just love her to death.  Here is my layout:

Supplies:
Image:  Family Pet (or Good Dog) - A Day for Daisies digital stamp
Papers:  Pets paper stack (Imagine That), Exact Index 110# white cardstock (Wausau), corregated cardboard, matte photo paper (Kodak)
Tools & Embellishements:  Dog theme stickers (Dollar Store), Ribbon (Dollar store), Brad (Michaels), Letter stickers (Paperbilities), Floral vine deep edge punch (Martha Stewart), Iridescent medium (Windsor & Newton), Red brick distress ink (Tim Holtz)

For the layout, I wanted to get as many cute pictures of our little baby as I could fit in the middle of the heart, so I made a collage of her pictures and printed it out on 8 1/2 x 11 matte photo paper.  To make the heart frame, I cut a piece of cardboard to the size and shape I wanted (about 7"x8") and then ripped off as much of the top layer of paper to reveal the corregated paper underneath.  Then I took the homemade glimmer mist in red and sponged that onto the heart frame. (here's a close up pic)

While the cardboard was still damp, I distressed it a bit more by rolling up some of the edged and tearing it a little bit as you can see in the picture above, but here's another close up pic:

I glued the frame onto the printout in the spot that got as many of the pictures I really wanted.  I then trimmed away the excess photo.  I took about 12" of grosgrain ribbon and tied a bow in the middle of it and added a brad by bending the prongs and putting them through the knot in the centre of the bow.  I cut off the bits of the prongs that stuck out past the knot.  I used Aileen's fast grab tacky glue to glue the ribbon to the frame.  I like this glue because it really does live up to its name.  Since I was folding the ribbon over and scrunching it up, I needed a glue that would hold it in place and this glue is one of the best I've found for this (other than glue dots which I'm out of right now).

To make the lacy mat for the background, I took a piece of 9" x 9" paper and puched around it with the MS floral vine deep edge punch.  I wish there was a corner punch for this punch, or if there is one I haven't seen it in the stores around here, so I just went to the edge and just let whatever happened to the corners happen.

For the Good Boy image, I first coloured it digitally in my Paintshop Pro program, then I printed it out 3 times. I cut the various layers of the image and used pop dots to make the image 3D, kind of like making a paper tole image with it.  Here's a close up of that detail:

The title for the layout was done with letter stickers I've had in my stash forever.  I think I bought the package when I first started scrapbooking about 6 years ago.  I've only used them on this layout and one other layout. They're usually not my style, and I usually use my CraftRobo to create titles for my pages, but the colours seemed to go with my layout and they're convenient.

So other than the couple of doggie dollar store stickers I added, that's it for my layout.  I had fun creating all the different elements I did for this layout.  And, of course, I love doing layouts about my little doggie.  She takes such cute pictures.

Thats it for today.  Talk to you later...

Cat

ADFD New Release - Tiny Brother

I have another adorable image to show you from A Day For Daisies new release this week.  Its called Tiny Brother.  Its such a sweet image and really shows the beauty of pregnancy and the curiosity and caring an older sibling has when a new baby is expected into the family.  I really hope you get a chance to take a look at (and perhaps pick up a couple) of the new images Tammy released today.  I think you'll love them just as much as I do.  Here's my card made with the new image:

Supplies:
Image:  Tiny Brother - A Day For Daisies digital stamps
Paper:  K&Company, Recollections, Other unknown, Wausau Exact Index 110#
Tools & Embellishments:  Crayola, Prisma, & Roseart colouring pencils, oms, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis die, Offray ribbon, Martha Steward Doily edge punch.

Thanks for stopping by...

Cat

New Released Images & a New Challenge at ADFD

Just when I thought Tammy's images couldn't get any cuter, she releases some more fantastic digi stamps.  The image I chose to work with for this release is sooooo cute.  There is something about babies that just melts my heart.  Its probably because I don't have any human babies of my own, that I just adore little baby pictures. Here's the card I made with the Tub Time image available now in the ADFD store.

Supplies:
Image:  Tub Time - A Day For Daisies digital stamps
Paper:  SU! tempting turqoise card stock, patterned paper (unknown)
Tools & Embellishments:  Copics, Ribbon (Michaels), Glitter thread, quilling tool & quilling paper, Marvy Uchida Southwest corner punch, Fiskars corrugated wave paper crimper, Fiskars wave edge scissors, Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Here are a couple close up photos of the detail on the bubbles and the little fish.

The next card was made for the current ADFD challenge.  You all should head on over to the challenge page for ADFD (here).  Tammy has a really super cute image for you so you can play along.  The challenge this week is "All About the Wrapping" - in other words, you need to incorporate wrapping paper somewhere in your design.  I have this beautiful purple foil wrapping paper that I've been hording for the last couple years. Its so pretty that I haven't wanted to use too much of it because I wanted it to last. So I decided to use it for the background on my challenge card.  I think you'll agree that its gorgeous paper.

Supplies:
Image:  Dressed up for Christmas  - A Day For Daisies digital stamps
Paper:  Wausau Exact Index 110#, SU Elegant eggplant
Tools & Embellishments:  Copics, Ribbon (Michaels), ribbon (Michaels), purple & gold stickles, EK Success Venetian Corner Punch, Glittertex mica flakes

So, hopefully, we'll see your entries into this week's challenge.  Its a lot of fun and as always, Tammy will have a little something special for one lucky person as a reward at the end of the challenge.  Check out the new images too!  You'll love them.

Talk to you later...

Cat