Father's Day #3

A more modern Father's Day card this time.  I simply love this colour combination.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); Neenah
Ink: Copic markers; Aqua Mist (PTI); Cantaloupe (Memento); Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: PTI; MFT

As you can see, not much to this card.  I used some Alpha stamps from MFT to create the DAD banner and then coloured it in with three different shades of Copic markers.

I hope you are all having a great day!

Father's Day #2

I played around with a few more Distress Stains and a simple stamped image from PTI and came up with this.  I tried to go for an ocean mix of colours this time making use of Broken China, Peeled Paint and Antique Linen.

Paper: Cardstock (PTI); Neenah
Ink: Distress Stains; Distress ink; Versamark
Stamps: PTI
Other: Clear Embossing Powder; Copper Nailheads

All my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the tornadoes in the USA right now.  It's hard to even begin to understand why this happens.

Father's Day #1

Ok, so now I am busy making a few Father's Day cards for my friends' market.  This is the first one I came up with after dabbing a few different Distress Stains on my craft sheet and pulling my paper through it.  I ended up really liking this colour combo.

Paper: Cardstock (PTI; Neenah)
Ink: Distress Stains (Chipped Sapphire; Weathered Wood; Broken China; Antique Linen); Adirondack (Denim); Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: PTI
Other: dimensional dots

The background sort of looks like the Milky Way to me. What do you think?

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the lovely comments you are all leaving me, I appreciate them so much!  Wishing you a spectacular day!

Odd Birthday Girl

No, my sister is not odd, but it is going to be her birthday and  I did make her a card with a girl from "Some Odd Girl".

Paper: cardstock: (PTI; Neenah); Designer paper: (MME)
Ink: Memento (Gray Flannel); Inktense pencils; Copics
Stamps: PTI; SOG
Other: Sequins; Stickles; Border die (PTI)

I enjoyed making a card with a curvy edge again.  I think as crafters we land up with endless possibilities because of all the goodies we have that it's really a challenge to remember to use certain long forgotten techniques or tools that are at our fingertips.  That's why browsing and visiting blogs of your favourite artists is helpful, you kind of count on each other to pull something "old" out of the hat every now and then so that your memory can be jogged and you can use that technique or tool again.  And that's why I used the curvy edge, I saw a card somewhere with it and I remembered the PTI die I had.

On a side note, as I am spending more and more time trying to find my art (visual) journaling style, the one thing I have always wanted to do was to try different ways of writing.  I have admired Lori Vliegen's work for some time now, (Elvie Studio), and decided to take one of her online classes on Cursive handwriting (Letter Lab).  You can find the class details HERE. I enjoyed it so much that I did the whole class in one night, I just had to be able to write something THAT night, I was not going to wait.

And today was such a beautiful day here, we sat outside as a family, and I was playing in my one journal and stamped a few flowers, painted them with some watercolours and did a little bit of writing using what Lori had taught, and changing some letters here and  there.

I'm not sure I am finished with it, I may add some colour on the inside of the frame, but I totally loved the lettering with the shadows she showed us how to do.  Thank you so much Lori, you have made me a very happy person.

I still have not found my style, so for now I am learning from the talented artists out there, which sometimes means one's work may look a bit like theirs, but it's the only way to learn I think.  My hope is that soon I can  start pulling little gems from all I have learned and come out on the other side with something that says "oh, this is Brenda's work".

A bit of a long post, so thank you if you made it to the end, and even if you stopped after the card!  Have a wonderful day.

Father's Day Hexie Bird

I'm going through that phase again where I have absolutely no clue what to title my posts!  Just too funny.  I wanted to play with this Hexagon Background stamp by Hero Arts and I wanted to make a Father's Day card and it had to have a bird.  Yep, the limits I set myself.  So, here is my card:

Paper: Cardstock (PTI); Neenah; 
Ink: Hero Arts chalk ink (Latte); Adirondack (Denim)
Stamps: Hero Arts; PTI; Skipping Stones Design
Other: Stampin' Up scalloped edge punch

I hope you all have a great day.

A Rose for Mother's Day

Like I mentioned a while back, I am "mojoless" at the moment.  And here is proof, this is the most CAS card possible:

It can't get any easier can it?  The rose is from PTI and the sentiment from Hero Arts.

I'm also taking another online class, learning how to draw owls, more in a whimsical way, with a fabulous teacher, Juliette Crane.  My plan is to incorporate them in my art journaling, but I am also learning new techniques and how to use different drawing tools I have.  This was my first painting of an owl, EVER!

So this afternoon I am swapping my daughter for an older girl!  Natasha is going to a playdate for the afternoon and that Mom's older daughter is coming over to play in my craft room!  How come am I nervous?!  This very sweet girl happened to see what I was up to with my Art Journaling and you could feel her excitement, it was really palpable, so there was nothing else I could do but extend an offer out to her to come and play!  (Internally I am really hoping that I can learn to be a child again in the short 3 hours we are going to have together).

Have a wonderful weekend and awesome Mother's Day!

Cutting Garden

For this Mother's Day card I used some PTI flowers from their Cutting Garden set.  Another very CAS card with a sentiment from Hero Arts.

It's a grey and rather cold and wet Saturday here.  We went from 30 Celcius yesterday to barely 10 Celcius today, a sure sign that winter is begging to be introduced.

It's also a perfect day to have friends over for dinner so I have been very busy in the kitchen trying out some new dishes.  I've prepared an Asparagus Casserole dish (thanks to a friend in Santa Barbara for the recipe), and I am venturing out a little and making a Butternut and Pearl Barley Risotto, it simply sounded too yum to resist.  Hubby is preparing the Leg of Lamb, (I have some nice sticky Chicken Wings in the slow cooker for anti-lamb people like me), and for desert, well, a very morish Pear and Almond Tart!

So, are you hungry yet?

Have a wonderful day.