Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Whimsical Wednesday - a Sketch

Happy Wednesday everyone!  If you are looking for My Cricut Cardz Challenge post, then click HERE.  

It is Challenge Day over at Whimsical Wednesday.  Today's challenge is to create a project using a sketch made by our very own Nanne.  Here it is.



Isn't it beautiful?  This was tough for me, any of you who visit my blog regularly, know that I am a very simple crafter, and this is so complex - I guess that's why they call it a challenge, eh?  Having said that, I am really happy with what I created following this gorgeous sketch.  Maybe I should push myself outside the box periodically...  use a few more sketches...  Here it is - 


Cute, huh?  I decided to use the girly penguin from Simply Charmed.  Isn't she adorable?  Her cute little face is from Peachy Keen's Happy Lashes.  I doodled on her with my Sakura Jelly Roll pen and my Stampin Up markers.  The paper is from my stash.  I think that snowflake paper is old Creative Memories paper - not positive, but I think so.  The cardstock is a mish mash of things.  The stamp I used is from Whimsical Designs Snow Much Fun, they are so cute.  


I hope you all come over to Whimsical Designs, see what our amazing DT came up with to inspire you this week, and play along with us, using Nanne's amazing sketch!  See you all again soon :)

A la prochaine...

 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Cricut Cardz Got Cake?

Happy Wednesday all.  The challenge today at Cricut Cardz Challenge with Cardz TV is "You Take the Cake.  We needed to make a birthday card with a cake or cupcakes.  Here is what I came up with:


I used Sweet Treats, chose 2 cupcakes  and welded it all on my Gypsy girl.  The paper is all SU as is the pink ribbon in the background.  The picture is not the best, butthe flower on the mibble cupcake is cream colored, and the rest is all pink and brown.  I used Everyday Sentiments from Whimsical Designs for the stamp.


Pop over to Cardz TV, see what the DT has come up with and play along with us.  We'd love to have you!

A few little challenges for my card:
Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes
Ladybug Crafts - pink and girly
The Ribbon Girls - pink, brown and cream
Card Makin Mamas - happy birthday
Clearly Inspired - shaped cards

A la prochaine...

 

Spring!

Happy Tuesdays everyone!  So I am currently at work, in the middle of a night shift, and have found a few quiet moments to come in and clean up this post.  Warning it is picture heavy, and my pictures are not great - Halifax is grey today, after a snow storm, and taking pictures of this project was torture!

Last Friday, Peachy Keen announced their newest challenge - a 3D project about weather.  I immediately thought, banner!  I have no idea why a banner occurred to me to be a 3D project, because I'm not sure it really is, but for some reason it did.  It has lots of dimension and hangs on a wall... I don't know if it counts or not, but I made it for that challenge, so I am going to enter it and see what happens :)  Here it is:

So, a picture of the full banner - it was VERY tricky to photograph the whole thing, but at least it gives you the idea of how it looks.  I put it between my living room and my dining room.  I love it there.  You can see it from every where.  I think I am going to start making banners for everything.  I am LOVING them :)


So, here is one end of the banner.  Last week I made a cute little card that I loved for BBTB2 challenge.  I decided to re-create it as part of my banner.  I cut the panels from Birthday Bash at 4 inches each.  I thought it looked like a flower...  The duck is from Create a Critter, as is the umbrella.  I used Peachy Keens Critter Faces for the duck, and for the Umbrella,  I used Peachy Keen Boy Mates.


All the letters were cut from Winter Woodland cartridge.  I thought the pink and green were nice and springy.  I pop dotted them off the page to give some dimension, and then pop dotted the little bugs and animals up even higher to make them jump off the page and give it that 3D feel.  The ladybug is cut from CAC and her cute little face is from Peachy Keen Princess Faces. She has a little bling on her antenna, and I think she is ADORABLE!


The little lamb is from CAC - shocking I know.  I stamped her face with Peachy Keens Critter Faces.  I doodled on all the little pieces with my Sakura pens and my Stampin Up markers.  I also used my Stampin Up pastels to do some of the chalking.


The bee is one of my favorite cuts from CAC.  I love her!  I also stamped her face with Peachy Keen Princess Faces.  She has pearls on her antenna.  Cute huh?


The tree on this panel is from Sweethearts, and the tulips are from CAC.  I tried to figure out where to stamp a face on this one, but everything was just a little too small - oh well - them's the breaks :)


I love this rainbow!  She is cut from Simply Charmed, and I don't think she could be cuter!!  Her face is from the Peachy Keen Princess Faces - they really are my go to girly face stamps -they are so cute.


The little butterfly is from CAC.  I put green bling on her antenna, and doodled her up a bit.  I made her green and purple in honour of Fantabulous Cricut, who are celebrating their 100th challenge this week.  We were challenged to make a project in their colors - turquoise, green and purple - and voila!


The final panel has the skunk and sun from CAC.  The Skunks face is from Wide Eyed and Bushy Tailed - I bought that one months ago, but this is the first time I used it.  It is so cute!  The sun's little face is from Peachy Keen Wide Eyed Kids.  

Don't ya just love it??  I DO!!  It is adorable, and my kids love it too!  Yay :)  Thanks for popping by today.  I will have two projects for you tomorrow.  My Cricut Cardz Challenge DT project, and my Whimsical Wednesday DT project, so be sure to come and visit :)

Challenges for my little banner:
Peachy Keen - 3D weather
Fantabulous Cricut -  use green, turquoise and purple somewhere on your project.
Top Tip Tuesdays - stitching real or faux
Crafty Bloggers - springtime
Hiding in my Craftroom - bring on spring
Alphabet Challenge - busy bugs
There's Magic in the Air - critters
Fairy Tale Challenges - spring

A la prochaine...

 

Monday, February 27, 2012

Beautiful Banana Bread

Happy Monday - Today I have a cute little tag and a delicious loaf of banana bread :)  I think this may be the best banana bread I have ever made!  It was really easy, moist and yummy!



I found the recipe HERE.  So simple, so few ingredients :)  I will post the full recipe below the pictures...


So I ended up making 2 loaves, and decided to give one away to a friend.  I felt it needed something, so I made an adorable little tag.  the tag is from Plantin Schoolbook.  The banana is from Create a Critter.  I stamped his cute little face with Peachy Keen Boy Mates faces.


Here is a close up of the little tag.  I hand wrote the "to" and "love".  The "yummo" is from Whimsical Designs Whimsical fun.  Isn't it perfect for this tag?


Here is the recipe:

Banana Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon  baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

  • 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

  • Directions

  •  - Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

  •  - In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

  •  - Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

A few challenges for my tag:
2 Sisters - anything goes
Craft Your Days Away - paper piecing
Cupcake Inspirations - inspiration picture
Crafty Catz - begin with B (banana)
Make it Monday - anything goes

A la prochaine...

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Happy First Birthday

Happy Saturday everyone!  During the next week, my family is involved in 3 birthdays.  2 of our nieces have birthdays, one turns one and the other 15, and next weekend my daughter is going to a girlfriend's birthday.  I have lots of birthday cards to make :)  Here is one I made for my niece who is turning 1.


Isn't she cute?  This little card is a 4x4, the green layer is 3 3/4x3 3/4 and the top layer 3 1/2x3 1/2.  the paper is from my scrap box.  I cut the little girl out of Baby Steps, her face is from Peachy Keen's Wide Eyed Kids.  I doodled on her with my Sakura Jelly Roll pen and my Stampin Up markers.  I po dotted her off the card for a little dimension, and tried some Glossy Accents on the eyes, mouth and white part of the balloon.  I may have gone overboard on the eyes...  I'm not sure I love the look of the glossy accent on this, we'll see if I use it again.  Last but not least, I used a stamp from Whimsical Designs Everyday Sentiments.



My niece is probably too young to like the card, but I hope my sister in law thinks it's cute :)

A few challenges for my little card:
Paper Sundaes - birthday
Robyn's Fetish - pretty in pink
Paper Crafting Journey - make it cute
Cooking With Cricut - birthday with cake, cupcake or balloons (hope 1 balloon counts)
Crafting When We Can - big birthdays - I think the first b-day is pretty important :)


A la prochaine...

 

Friday, February 24, 2012

52 Tags - Week #8 Flowers and Frills

Happy Friday everyone! One of my favorite craft people, Janis of Pause Dream Enjoy, has asked me to come aboard as one of her design team members for her 52 Tags in 2012 Challenge. I lovemaking tags. They come together quickly and are so satisfying when they're done! I am thrilled to be taking part. This weeks challenge is to make tags with flowers and frills. Here is what I came up with:


I cut this tag from Plantin Schoolbook at 4 inches. The flower is from Joys of the Season. I thought it was really frilly too. The paper is mostly SU and Bazzil. I used chalk and ink on the flower and I chalked the edges of the tag too. This chalking thing is slightly out of my comfort zone, but I think it looks pretty. The stamp is from Whimsical Designs Whimsical Fun Vol 1. I doodled around the edge with one of my SU markers, popped a button with some twine on the the empty corner, and used some ribbon from Michaels to string my tag - and voila! Tag is done!


Here is the second tag that I created. I used an old SU set called Branching Out. I just LOVE this stamp set, it is so pretty :)  I was thinking of the apple blossoms in the Annapolis Valley when I created this tag - the moment when the trees are so laden with blossoms and fruit buds that you can hardly see the leaves for all the pink flowers:



The inks are all SU, and the doodling was done with my Sakura Jelly Roll pen. Again the sentiment is from Whimsical Designs Whimsical Fun Volume 1. There are so many beautiful sentiments in that set.



Janis is looking for a couple more people to join her DT. If you are interested, then be sure to contact Janis. All the details are on her blog. I hope you all come to Pause Dream Enjoy, create a beautiful flower tag, and play along with us.  I would love to visit your blogs and see what you all come up with.  You can even link up with us right here on my blog:

Here are a few challenges for my little tags:
Crafts and Me - shades of spring
My Grafico - flowers
Crop Stop - at least 3 flowers (there are hundreds of blossoms on the apple tree tag)
Cute Card Thursday - winged things (there are 2 little butterflies on the apple blossom tag)
Cardz TV - anything goes
Stampin Sisters in Christ - flowers
Sentimental Sundays - let's get sentimental
Paper Pretties - spring
Cards and Things - color challenge

**With all the rumors running around about Google Friends going away and us all losing our followers, I am adding a Networked Blogs gadget, so you can still find me if you want to - or you could always subscribe vi a email :)



A la prochaine...

 

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Venezuelan Diplomatico Wins Top Rum Award


Venezuelan rum got a well-deserved accolade recently when Diplomatico's Reserva Exclusiva was voted the second best of 50 rums at a blind tasting in New York City by a selection committee of 21 journalists, bartenders and aficionados.

Blended by a maestro ronero and aged for 12 years in charred white-oak barrels in a place called Miel in the wilds of Lara State, Ron Diplomatico Exclusiva has a

Whimsical Wednesday with Wings

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Happy Wednesday all! I am feeling better, not great, but better - so hooray!! I am here today with my very first design team project for Whimsical Designs Whimsical Wednesday! Today's project is "Time Flies". We have to create any card or project and include something with wings, or a clock. I am not much of a "time" girl. I don't wear a watch, have very few clocks - but things with wings? Those I love! You may recall, last month, I made a little bag and tag for my son to give at a birthday party, if not the post is HERE. This time I decided to make a girl birthday bag and tag. Here is what I came up with:


The bag is cut from TBBM at 6.4 inches. This was the biggest I could lay it out on my Gypsy on a 12x12 mat. The Butterfly is from Once upon a Princess, cut at 2.5 inches. The bag itself is made out of SU paper, but the rest of the paper is from my scraps box.


Here you can see just the bag without the tag attached. You can also clearly see the beautiful stamp I used from Whimsical Designs Everyday Sentiments. Behind the butterfly, and on the tag, I used some pink twine. As you can see I did some doodling with my black Sakura Jelly Roll pen.


Here you can see the little tag I made to attach to the little bag. It is the shadow of the butterfly. The number 6 is from Birthday Bash. The little bling is from my stash - I have NO clue who made it.


The flip side of the tag. The sentiment is again from Whimsical Designs Everyday Sentiments. I hand wrote the "to" and "from". My one piece of advice? Punch the hole BEFORE writing on the tag. I foolishly didn't and ended up punching a hole right through the "to". I can be so silly :)


Please hop on over to Whimsical Designs, see what the rest of the team has created to inspire you, and play along with us! I can't wait to see what you all come up with! Thanks for visiting today!

A few challenges for my little gift bag:
My Creative Time Throwback Thursday - bugs
Delicious Doodles - pink
Ladybug Crafts Challenge - spring is in the air
Anything Challenge - ABAC
Clear it Out - birthday challenge and use up your bling
Crazy Amigo Challenge - use a tag
Scrappy Moms - "tag" your it
The Stamping Boutique - stitching
Use it Tuesdays - birthday and use your stash - paper and bling
Flutterby Wednesday's - inspiration photo

A la prochaine...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Happy in my Boots

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Happy Tuesday! I am starting to feel better :) I seem to have an hour or so of energy, so instead of doing laundry or cleaning the house, I spent that hour in my craft room. Here is what I came up with today:


Cute huh? The duck and umbrella, are both from Create a Critter - my FAVORITE cartridge! The cutie face is from Peachy Keen Critter Faces and the umbrella's cute little face is from Peachy Keen Boy Mates. I doodles on their faces and on the shapes with my Sakura Jelly Roll pens, and used My SU chalks and SU markers to do the rest of the coloring on them. The patterned paper is also from SU, and the cardstock is all for Michaels. I used my Seeing Spots Cuttlebug folder on the white cardstock. The yellow ribbon is from Michaels. I used Whimsical Designs Whimsical Fun Volume 1. It has some great sentiments on it!


I hope you all like my little card, and thanks for visiting today! Tomorrow is my first Whimsical Designs DT post, so come back, check it out, and play along with us!

A few challenges for my little card:
Paper Playtime - say it with sentiments and pets (a duck is a pet, right?)
Bitten by the Bug 2 - rainboots
Alphabet Challenge - animal antics
Crafty Emma - spots and dots
Paper Play - critters
Paper Crafting Journey - make it cute
Pan Pastel - animals
Outline Mondays - square (my card is 4x4)
There She Goes - animals
Scrap-Creations - critters
More Than Favors - circles

A la prochaine...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Sweet Friends

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Happy Monday! I am fighting the flu and feel miserable, but I decided to try and leave my bed to make a quick card today, I was hoping it would help me feel better. Here it is:


The cute little lollipops are cut from Mini Monsters at 3.5 inches. I used PK Princess Faces for their adorable faces. I chalked them and doodled on them with my black and white Sakura gel pens. The scallop along the bottom edge of the card is punched with my SU scallop edge punch. I also used a SU punch, the word window, to cut out the sentiment. The sentiment is from Whimsical Designs Everyday Sentiments stamp set. You can find it HERE. it is some beautiful sentiments on it.


That's it for today, I am back in bed with a terrible headache :( I will be back Wednesday with my first DT project for Whimsical Designs' Whimsical Wednesdays. Hope to see you all then!

A few challenges:
Peachy Keen - cards for friends
Fantabulous Cricut - use ribbon, lace, fabric (i used ribbon and twine)
Die Cuttin Divas - color - use 2 of red white, pink or black
My Craft Spot - pink and girlie
4 Crafty Chicks - use 2 of something (balloons)
Craft Us Crazy - favorite color (pink)
2 Sisters Challenge - stitching
Pretty Little Ribbon - anything goes with ribbon
Pile it On - sending happiness
Crafty Boots - food glorious food

A la prochaine...

Friday, February 17, 2012

Wedded Bliss

Happy Friday! I have a very simple project to share with all of you today. This is one of the projects I submitted when I applied to the Whimsical Designs DT. We recently had 2 friends getting married, I made the girls personalized cards:


I cut the brides out of Wrap it Up, making one blond and one brunette. I think they are lovely and elegant. The embossing folder is D'vine Swirls and the paper is all Stampin Up. The stamp is from My Pink Stamper - Christmas Wishes. The pearls were bought at my LSS. I tried both the larger and smaller ones. I think I prefer the smaller ones.


The ladies loved their cards and I loved being able to personalize the brides! Thanks for visiting today. I am fighting a cold, but hope to be able to get some creating done in the next day or so, and have new projects on Monday! have a great weekend :)

A few challenges -
By the Cute and Girly - love is in the air
Cupcake Craftroom - new beginnings
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenges - pearls and swirls
Getting Cricky - wedding
That Craft Place - love is all around

A la prochaine...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Exciting News

Morning everyone! If you are looking for my Cricut Cardz post for today, you can see it HERE.

So, I have some exciting news. I have been chosen to be part of the Design Team over at Whimsical Designs and I couldn't be more excited! Stephanie released her first set of stamps back in December, I have had a chance to play with them, and they are just beautiful!


Here is the whole team:
Esther - For the Joy of Creating
GiGi - The Cricut Bug
Heather - The Hunny Pot
Margie - Bella Bug Creations
Michelle - Purple Monkey Moments (that's me!)
Monica - Scraps 2 Treasure
Nanne - Nanne's Creations
Shelly - Cards by Shelly
Sue - Heart and Soul Crafting
Theresa - Binky Blossoms

I am so excited to be a part of this team, and to work with all these wonderful and talented women, and I get to work with Stephanie's AMAZING stamps. You should go check them out HERE, they are STUNNING!

The Colors of Love challenge will continue for another week, so please be sure to come over and play with us :) and be sure to keep your eyes open for my new projects using these wonderful stamps!

A la prochaine...

A Stitch in Time

It is challenge day over at Cricut Cardz Challenge. Today Mary challenged us to use stitching on the card - real or faux. Here is what I came up with:


I have wanted to make monogram cards for a while now. I decided today was the day. This is a 4x4 card. I cut the two squares on it from George and Basic Shapes, the scalloped square is from Winter Woodland and the M is from Paper Lace. The black layer is embossed with D'vine swirls, which is probably my favorite Cuttlebug folder, the Ribbon is from Michael's. I clearly went for the "faux" stitching and used my black Sakura Jelly Roll pen for that. They are simple, but I love how they turned out.


I made a set of four of them. They came together so quickly that I think I'll make more!

So, hop on over to Cardz TV, and check out all the wonderful inspiration from the Design Team, and be sure to play along with us :)

A few challenges:
Robyn's Fetish Challenge - make a square card
Craft Your Days Away - getting stitchy with it
One Stitch at a Time - anything goes

A la prochaine...