Looking Ahead

  Mother's Day Tea

 

I'm getting an early start on my cards for Spring holidays. 

I think this little girl playing dress-up is perfect for a Mother's Day card. The image is called "Tea Party" and she's available at Mo's Digital Pencil.

 

She's colored with Copics, partially cut out using my favorite 'Out-of-the-Box' technique with Nesties, then mounted on two more Nestie ovals. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey's Lemonade collection. The CS is SU!'s Kiwi Kiss, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, and Pixie Pink. The color combination is unusual, but I love it for springtime!

I added ribbon roses and leaves, narrow satin picot-edged ribbon, pearls, and a dainty lace trim.

Glad you stopped by!

Elaine

 

Change of Pace

Sending you Flowers!

I haven't done many floral cards lately. My customers love them, so I decided I had to get some done. I have been held captive (and been captivated by!) by Mo's fabulous images for some time now...I hated to tear myself away! 

With that said, I've found some really great digital floral images that I've been wanting to color. The rose and crocus are from Delicious Doodles, an English company. They have some really lovely florals. There's a vase of roses that would be perfect for Mother's Day.

The rose is colored with Copics, cut out and mounted on an embossed Nestie circle. The leaves are a Cuttlebug die, that I veined with an embossing stylus. The main panel is embossed using the Swiss Dots follder. The gold paper accents are also Nesties. The saying is from and old SU! set called Great Greetings. The Guava, Wasabi, and Garden Green papers are also SU!.

I layered some pretty trim on the grosgrain ribbon and finished it off with some tiny pearls and gold cabochons.

In Flanders Field

I love this poppy image, but, unfortunately, I don't know where it came from as the company name is not in the file name. It was a joy to color with Copics, and is so pretty IRL.

I used the Narrow Oval and Fleur-de-lis Nesties on gold metallic paper and used mounting tape to adhere it to a panel embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The slits for the velvet ribbon were made with a Martha Stewart punch. With a few gold cabochons, it was done.


Is it Spring Yet! 

 It was snowing off and on here while I was making this card, and it has me yearning for warmer weather! Here in New Hampshire it will be some time before it feels like Spring.

This crocus image is also from Delicious Doodles. I've colored the flowers with my Copics and Prismacolor pencils. If I want a very realistic flower, I'll actually go on line and do a Google Image search for the one I'm working with. It's easier to get a really good color match that way.  I do that quite a bit for animals, butterflies, and birds, too.
I've used my Cuttlebug to emboss the main panel and also to cut out the Nestie label dies and gold fleur-de-lis elements. The card stock is lavender and lilac from SU! and, of course, the white CS is PTI. The sentiment is also from the SU! set "Warm Words". It's stamped on the large oval punch from SU! and mounted on a Nestie tag. The gold cording and gold cabochons are the finishing touches

Thanks for dropping by! 
Elaine

Mo's Challenge # 20

The Sketch

Dawn Burnworth, our hostess this month, has come up with an interesting sketch for us this week.

 

 

 

I immediately thought of "Paul Texting" when I saw it!

It's always hard to make cards for teen-aged boys, but you can find some great images for teens at Mo's Digital Pencil. 

I've colored him with Copics and mounted the PTI white onto a slightly larger Yo-Yo Yellow CS panel. The 3 1/4 inch squares behind the panel are Basic Grey and Making Memories DP. The turquoise panel was embossed using my Cuttlebug and the diamond plate embossing folder. It's all mounted on a Brilliant Blue 5" x 7"  card.

The vertical "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from  StacyStamps (Don't know it they're still in business.), and "Dude" was spelled out using Just Right stamps.

I added some coordinating buttons from Basic Grey, securing them with colored hemp.

Give Me Patience!

Working With Kids

I work as an educational paraprofessional for seventh and eighth grade students at our local school. I love my job and love working with junior high kids, but sometimes my patience can wear very thin. I've even been known to raise my voice on occasion. LOL! School's out for vacation this week, and I think the whole staff is grateful for the break. 

This image from Mo's Digital Pencil is called "Patience". I wish I had half the patience of this unhappy cat!

As usual, I've colored the image with Copics. The flowers and leaves were made with an assortment of leftover die cuts and punches. I really love making flowers...I guess it goes back to my life as a floral designer. I did that for years until I had children and still like to putter at it from time to time.

The DP is Urban Prairie from Basic Grey. It's one of my all-time favorite BG collections. The card stock is all from Stampin' Up!, except for the white PTI.

I really enjoyed making this card and hope you like it. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Elaine

More Mummu

Keep Peddling!

I've had this image from Mo's Digital Pencil for months, and don't know why I never colored it before! I think it looks like summer, so I paired it with daisies and forget-me-nots. The daisies and leaves were made with  Shapeabilities dies. I added Flower Soft to the centers. The forget-me-nots were made using the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch. Tiny pearls were used for the centers of those.

Mummu is colored with Copics and Prismacolor pencils. I used a multiliner pen to add the faux stitching and snipped the Martha Stewart lace border so that I could adhere it around the Nestie oval with tacky tape. The bicycle DP is from Basic Grey and the Real Red and Pacific Point blue is by SU!

Thanks for dropping by!
Elaine

Mo's Challenge #19

Clean and Simple! Uh-oh!

Dawn's challenge for us this week was a difficult one for me....I don't do C.A.S. cards easily. I always want to add layers, flowers, charms, or fancy punched edges!

None of that would fly with this challenge, though...it had to be no layers and only one ribbon.  I chose to use Mo's "Secret Garden" because it can be printed large enough to cover most of a 5" by 7" card. I love this image, but I have to say that it's not the easiest to color. I used twelve shades of green Copics and at least another dozen assorted colors! 

The faux stitching around the the sides was done with a Micro-liner pen. The 'happiness' stamp from SU!'s Warm Words and gingham ribbon finish it off.

I did have a problem with the Copics bleeding through my PTI white because I tend to do a lot of blending, so I ended up having to layer it onto another card.

Here's my finished card. I think the miniature twig chair goes well with the garden theme. I love tiny chairs!

Here's a close-up view

Asian Fusion

Chinese and Japanese

I know I've mixed nationalities on this card...I've used Mo's image of the little Japaneses girl, with Japanese origami paper, a Chinese coin and French fleur-de-lis die cuts, but it all seems to fit together somehow!

I love this image and wish I had more reasons to use it, but, unfortunately, Asian themes aren't too popular here in New Hampshire. I enjoy  making a card like this on occasion, though, even if I can't sell them around here! I couldn't get any really good pictures....it's been cloudy today.

She is colored with Copics and cut out using Nesties. I sponged lightly around  the image with Wild Wasabi, which I thought was appropriate. The Night of Navy, Real Red, and Marigold Morning CS is from SU!. The origami paper is from an online store, California Paper Company. 

The yellow flower was made using a Martha Stewart layering daisy punch, and the red ones were made of negative cut-outs from the die cuts. I placed pearls in the centers and used a few more pearls here and there to finish off the cluster. The Chinese coin was given to me by a friend.

The sentiment is part of a $1.00 stamp from Mikes.

This little Chinese beauty is from my collection of porcelain dolls. She is Lian Ying (San Fransisco) from the series, "American Diary Dolls" by artist, Linda Mason. The dolls represent different sections of  the U.S.A and different periods of our history. You'll be seeing others in the collection from time to time.

Thanks for visiting!

Elaine

Mo's Combined Blog Hop!

The winner has been chosen!

It is comment #117, Anki! 

Congratulations!

 Please contact Mo to claim the image, "Mummu and Me"

 A huge "Thank You" to all of you who left such wonderful comments!

Mummu Rocks!

Welcome to my blog! This is the first Blog Hop I've ever been involved in, so I'm excited and a bit nervous. This Hop is in celebration of two milestones for Mo...passing 1,000 members in her PCP group and the six month anniversary of her start in creating digital images for stamping and scrapping. With her wonderful talent and kind and giving attitude, I know her appeal will continue to grow exponentially!
There are special prizes from Mo for the lucky participants who gather the letters from each blog and guess the correct phrase they spell out. 

Winners will be chosen at random from all the correct entries. Just submit the final phrase to Mo by email.  There are lots of prizes...gift certificates, Stampavie stamp sets, Mo's coffee mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, and more. Each of us will also award the image that we've used to one lucky person who comments on our blog.
Jak Heath is the first stop on the hop.

For this Hop, both teams were asked to use their favorite image from Mo. I found it difficult to choose, because I love them all, but settled on a Mummu image because "Mummu Dancing" was the very first one that caught my eye six months ago. The images just exude her sweetness and love of life. I want to be just like her when I grow up! 

The image I used is called "Mummu and Me" Isn't it full of joy?!

I printed her on PTI white, colored her with Copics, cut it out using the Large Label die from Shape-abilities, and sponged the edges with Creamy Caramel ink. I used mounting tape to secure it to the Basic Grey DP. It's finished  with yellow gingham ribbon, Basic Grey buttons, ribbon roses, and the Martha Stewart branch punch. Two punches from SU! make up the tag. The word is from Warm Words, a Stampin' Up set, and the Pumpkin Pie  and Garden Green CS is also SU!

Inside it says, "Happiness is contagious...I caught it from you!"

Just a reminder....I will be choosing someone who will win this wonderful image from Mo's Digital Pencil. I will assign consecutive numbers to each comment on this post, put them all in a basket, and pull out a random number. You will then have 3 days to reply and claim your prize!


This Grandma's Rockin' not Rocking!

 

 The little rocking chair is another in my collection of miniature chairs. It's one of my absolute favorites! It  is a handmade antique replica of a scroll-arm rocking chair and is so perfectly made to scale that, if it were photographed with nothing else, you might not realize that it's not full sized.

Next stop on the Hop is Sandy Hulsart !

S

Have fun and good luck! 

Here is the entire blog list if you get lost. 

Jak

Elaine H.

Mina
Lori B.
Dawn B.
Elaine L.
Sandy H.
Peggy M.
Rosette
Cathy
Michelle/Shell
Caryn
Sheila
Kerttu
Cheryl R.
Lisa C.
Lydia
Suzanne
Denise
PaperCraftPlanet Group

Mo's Challenge #18

A Tisket, A Tasket....

...My little cupid basket! The challenge Dawn has for us this week was to use pink, white, and red with a heart! I didn't need any more Valentine cards, so I decided to try out this little basket using Mo's sweet little cupid, available at Mo's. It's made with a 6 inch square piece of card stock. You can find the tutorial for the basic basket here. The handle was made using a Martha Stewart wide lace punch secured to the basket with small brads. I tied a sheer bow and some pearls to the handle, and decorated it with a red ribbon rose and small gold heart. The image is colored with Copics and Prismacolor pencils, with a touch of shine on the wings from a Spica pen. The word is from the SU! set "Warm Words" I stamped it in VersaMark ink and embossed it in gold.

You can never have too much frou-frou on something like this, so I trimmed along the top of the inside with lace. I put a lace trimmed heart and ribbon rose on the back, too. This will be filled with some chocolate kisses as a little token for our granddaughter on Valentine's Day.

Let's see what you come up with this week. It doesn't have to be a Valentine...the challenge theme would be perfect for an anniversary, wedding, birthday, or baby card, too!.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!

Mo's Girls

Someone on SCS posted a question asking what our favorite girl images are. Of course I had to say that mine are Mo's! She captures the essence of the female sex beautifully, from infancy to old age! In fact, the very first of her images to catch my eye was Mumu dancing. I was in love the moment I saw her...she exhibits such expressive joy and sweetness! As with all of Mo's images, I smile whenever I see her.

 

This is one of her newest images, "Between". It's a perfect picture of that age between childhood and becoming a young woman. We dreamed of what we would be when we grew up and what the future held for us. This little girl is so evocative of all that.

She's colored with Copics and Prismas. The colors come right from the Basic Grey DP. It's an unusual combination, but I love it! ( My wedding bouquet was of roses in a wonderful shade of orange, purple statice, white stephanotis, and English ivy!) I used my favorite "out-of-the-box" technique. I use it often because I don't worry too much about the size of the image when I print, then have to fit it to the die I want to use. I used mounting tape to pop the main image off the card and

 finished it off with grosgrain ribbon, Primas, and a charm.

Mo's Challenge # 17

"Wood" You be Mine?

This is my DT card for Mo's Challenge this week.

 Dawn Burnworth, our hostess for  February, came up with an interesting challenge. We were to incorporate wood and/or would into our card or project. I've been wanting to make a card using Mo's Pinocchio image, and he's just perfect for this challenge!
I colored him using Copics, and chose browns that would look close to skin tones, but still resemble wood.  I did the "Out-of-the-Box" technique using a large label die from Stampabilities. I sponged around the image with Close to Cocoa. I love how his nose is "growing" out of the frame!
I used a Cuttlebug die to the make hearts. They are made from lightweight cardboard  layered with Basic Grey DP, and topped with a small punched heart. The sentiment is hand-written on another Stampabilitie die. (I really don't like my writing, but I didn't want to go to the computer just for that, so I guess it looks okay.) Inside it says, "...I'd love it if you 'wood' be my Valentine".

The background is SU!s Creamy Caramel, stamped with a wooden plank image from an unmounted wheel. I used Close to Cocoa and Dusty Durango, a brown Multiliner pen to define the boards, and a gray one to make the nails. I mounted it on Bazzill textured paper in Mocha, then onto a Real Red card base.

In keeping with the wood theme, Pinocchio is pictured with little wooden apples and a jointed wooden bear. And now we "wood" like to see what you can do!

Valentines for Boys!

Too Big for "Kid Stuff"

(Darn it!)

I made these Valentines for our two young grandsons. They are ten and nine and, unfortunately, too old (they say!) for little boy themes. I think this image from Mo's Digital Pencil fits the bill nicely.

 

This one is a spinner card. The guitar spins around when you tilt the card back and forth. These are just so much fun to make, and kids love them! You can find the directions here on the Splitcoast Stampers site. I made mine 5" by 7" and adapted the measurements. 

I used Basic Grey DP, Stampin! Up Ruby Red and Ballet Blue CS, and Paper Trey Ink white. I colored the air guitarist with Copics, cut the image out with my narrow oval Nestibilities, and sponged around it with red ink. The guitar is a Google image, also colored with Copics and a Spica pen. I mounted it on punched ovals for more stability. The sentiment is part of a $1.00 stamp from Michaels that said, "You Rock My World". The hearts were made of DP mounted on light weight cardboard (from a cereal box!) and cut out with a Cuttlebug die. I adhered the "love" ribbon with tacky tape so that it would show through SU!'s Word Window punch.

This one uses some of the same elements, but the CS is Real Red and Buckaroo Blue. I added some glittery foam hearts, Martha Stewart punch border, and some brads, I cut the image out by hand using the "out-of-the-box" technique.