Saturday, September 24, 2011

**Don't forget to day is our Garage Sale at SGD! Come and find amazing deals on craft items. Saturday and Sunday only!**

I have to admit I feel so happy each and every time I look at this card. I am not sure what I love more about it..the look and colours or how darn fast it was made lol!

I showed how to make this card at one of our Therapy Thursday sessions. If you haven't been to one yet come and join us at our next one! They are each Thursday at 1pm and we either show you how to use a product we carry or sometimes we just make fun crafts. The ladies that join us are a hoot!!

Okay back to this happy card. I used one of the MFT stamp and die sets called 'You Move Me'. I have to admit when I just looked at it I was completely underwhelmed. Sheila wanted me to try it out on a Thursday as they were new to our store and Sarah was going crazy over them. So of course I had to try it. Cut out my shape..stamped my sentiment in the fun font using black Versafine and voila! Head over heels in love! We actually sold out of them after using them with the ladies on a Thursday but luckily now have more in stock. 
My card base is Patina Bazzill and Sunbeam Bazzill for my yellow layer. I used both sides of the 'Home Tweet Home' paper from My Little Shoe Box. I think I am going to have to grab some more to hoard in my stash lol! The moon and clouds were cut out of white Bazzill using the dies included in the stamp set then stickled. I stamped some stars from the set using Versafine again and added some twine to finish it up. 

At how often this card makes me happy- I think I have to keep it in my craftroom all to myself hee hee!

Off to the Garage Sale I go! Andi  

Thursday, September 22, 2011

HHS Release day is here- yippee!

Welcome to the High Hopes stamps new release hop! If you are already hopping along you would have arrived from Karen's blog. Doesn't she have mad colouring skills!! She blows my mind! If you haven't started yet grab a cuppa and jump over to my good friend Jeanne's blog. I aspire to rock the clean and simple look like Jeanne does instead of all my bling. She really knows how to pull it all together. All stamps are now available to purchase- yippee!

On to today's card. When I first saw this image of Santa as a moon I have to admit I scratched my head. Whenever I am not sure of how I would use an image the first thing I do is challenge myself to colour it up and figure it out. 
I found a great sketch over at the CPS sketch blog and it really helped me get my ideas going. I knew I wanted Santa overlooking something and then I finally found some MME die cuts of trees and knew I had hit the jackpot! I coloured up my Santa Moon- added stickles to his beard. Cause obviously Moon Santa would have a twinkly beard right! I assembled my card and it still needed something so I used the 'Merry Christmas' sentiment from HHS as I just loved the big fun font. 

Soooo..what do you think? I have to admit I love it! I am really happy I played with this image instead of letting my baffled mind shy away from it. I am so pleased with how it turned out and I hope it also got your mind spinning with possibilities.

To continue the hop next up is Anna. Anna is another one who makes the best clean and simple cards. I am always checking out her work and her tutorials- she rocks! In fact I think she may even have a tutorial for you today- love that she does that!
Don't forget to leave a comment at every DT member blogs as we will be awarding new stamps to a lucky commenter. The hop challenge is open until Sat at midnight EST so you have lots of time to enjoy all the HHS creations on your way!

Have a Crafty day! Andi

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

High Hopes Sneak Peeks Day 2


**If you are here for my Gilli challenge card please scroll down, thank you!**


So it is only Wednesday and this is my 5th post of the week- kerazy!!!! I have been giving myself lots of crafty therapy time and it shows in how many cards I have made. Love it!


For today's sneak peek card I used Santa and his list and again went a little crazy with my Christmas stash of paper and accessories.I coloured Santa up with my copic markers then cut him our using one of my nestabilities. I added some silver stretchy cord to my card to help give it a festive feel. Nothing says Christmas like lots of cards with gold and silver stretchy cord hee hee! He could also have been my card for our current 'Home for the Holiday's' challenge. It will be going until Oct so you still have lots of time to join us! 


My sketch today came from the Card Patterns challenge blog- another fave of mine. I am also submitting Santa over at the Twin Touch marker challenge blog. I am curious about these markers and figured I should try to win some to see what they are all about! Pop on over if you want to enter too. 


Want some more eye candy? Oh and don't forget our 'Spread the Word' contest. Pop on over to the HHS challenge blog for all this and more- woot woot!
Cheers, Andi

My Gilli challenge card- let's emboss!


Last night I was partying hard with the Gilli ladies as we were celebrating Gilli's 1st birthday. Anary was giving away amazing goodies! If you missed it don't worry- there is still lots of birthday fun to be had! If you haven't commented on my Gilli house post click here to see it and leave a comment to win. Hop over to the DT blogs to comment on their Gilli homes to win as well. Lots of prizes to be had!

After the wild party and meeting a girl named Tina who gives me a run for my money at being naughty (Hi Tina!!) I needed to rest up and so Cozy Gilli came out with me to help make my challenge card. Anary sent us all on the DT some of the new Authentique papers from a few different lines- Thanks so much Anary! I used sheets from the Journey Line on my card today. After colouring Gilli with my copics and using my new fave hair colour combo (E25, 33, 50) I paper pieced her Snuggli and then ran it through my swiss dots cuttlebug folder. Sheila at SGD has her copics on sale right now at 25% off- time to stock up!  

As I am sketch challenged I used the CPS sketch to make my card and embossed my side panels as well. I actually also cut out Gilli using my rectangle Nestabilities but I didn't have much luck running it through a second time to emboss it. I always chop off part of the paper. Oh well. At least I was able to trim it down and save it. Otherwise I would have hid the mistake with some fancy flower and ribbon placement hee hee!

I am also entering my Gilli card over at the Twin Touch challenge blog. I want to try those markers!!! 

For more Gilli birthday celebrations and also awesome DT embossed samples to get your inspiration flowing visit the House of Gilli blog today!

Cheers! Andi

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Quick Unity KOTM card to share

**If you are looking for my High Hopes post or my Gilli Post please scroll down**

Just wanted to pop on and share a quick card I made today to play along with the Play Date cafe and the Unity KOTM sketch challenge. I am totally lying though- it seriously took me hours. No joke. Let's just say this in card number 12 before I got one I liked hee hee. Mojo didn't want to play nice today but I got the upper hand hee hee. 

I stamped my KOTM image in versamark then embossed it in white embossing powder. I flipped the triangle on the sketch so that I could have the colours showing I wanted to highlight my soft purple paper. 

Well that's all for me tonight- hope you are having a relaxing day! Andi

Day One of High Hopes Stamps Sneaky Peekies!



Not only is it challenge day for HHS but it is also day one of sneak peeks before their new release this Thursday and it is amazing!

Today's challenge is 'Home for the Holidays' and I coloured up my lil mousie with bright colours to match my bright Christmas paper. I love how he is waiting eagerly for Santa to come. I coloured him with my copics and matched him up with the paper from My Mind's Eye. I know it came out a few years ago but I think you can still get it. I bought tons of it and now I am making myself use some of it lol.  I am going to admit something that will probably not surprise you- I usually create my cards the night before a deadline. It just works for me- if I do it earlier I just spin in my chair with no mojo. Except this time...I have ALL MY RELEASE CARDS DONE. All of them! I just loved this release so much and had so much fun colouring them that I went nuts! You will see what I mean when you see them all. I also listened to Sarah McLachlan all day long- her Christmas songs- to get me in the mood. Perfect way to spend a rainy day me thinks!

My card layout today came from my friend Jen's blog- Deconstructing Sketch. I am HOPELESS when it comes to creating without a sketch. My cards all look the same otherwise hee hee. She posts a new one each Thursday so I get fresh inspiration every week. Love that!

If you want to play along with us and win some new HHS rubber hop on over here to the challenge blog. You will also get to see all the DT creations and all of them are with the new release. 

Hope you have a fabulous crafty kinda day! Andi 

Monday, September 19, 2011

Gilli New Release Blog Hop- Gilli has a home!

Welcome to the House of Gilli design team hop! You just came from visiting the House of Gilli blog! Isn’t Gilli’s house a cool place? Now it is my turn to let you into my house!
During this hop leave some love in each place you drop by including this one. One person will be chosen randomly from the comments to win a GC for some Gilli's! So spread the word and come have fun with us!

For my special Gilli home today I coloured it up in what I think of as Cottage colours. I used creams, yellows and blues. My copic colours are - B91, 93, 95, 97, 99..E50, 51, 53..YR20, 21, 23...C0, 2 and of course some glaze and glitter to make my window's shine. I also used some Stampin' Up paper that I received last year and have been hoarding due to it's prettiness. I also used some of my precious SU paper clips and a silver flower. My last touch was some yellow twine to bring more sunshine to Gilli's home. I like to think Gilli would have a warm and welcoming home and I hope I got that across with my colours!
The nice thing is that this hop will last a whole week (09/19-29), so you have time to come for a visit anytime ! We will be waiting! Grab a cuppa tea and hop with me.
Oh I almost forgot…if you would like to have your own “House” read on! This stamp will be sold exclusively from our shop and can be ordered by emailing Anary who is the amazing owner of Gilli stamps. Please email her at gillishop@anary.com
You may be wondering...who am I visiting next? Well- grab a refill if you are like me and need one already then pop on over to Ann's blog.
Cheers! Andi

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Card for a QuinceaƱera....

Today is my day to post over at the SGD blog and I wanted to share the card I made for the QuinceaƱera my oldest attended last Saturday for one of her friends. This is a very special birthday party as it is typically held by Latin American families when their daughter turns 15 to celebrate her leaving her childhood behind and beginning the next phase of her life as a woman.

It is a formal celebration so my daughter got to dress up in her 'fancy' clothes and wear heels. I wanted to make her a fancy shiny card to match her dress and after being inspired by Anja's card on the SGD blog a few week's ago I got busy.

I used the Butterfly kisses embossing folder by Craft Concepts and blinged up the butterflies on the top half of her card to symbolize her entering her womanhood. I hope she liked it!

I hope she liked the card and I am glad I remembered to take a picture of it before it was given away lol!!

Have a crafty day! Andi

Saturday, September 10, 2011

She's getting married!


I am so excited today because one of my close friends is getting married! Tanya is one of my favourite people and this wedding is probably one I will bawl my eyes out at lol. I am extremely blessed to have a met some amazing ladies at work and the six of us became fast friends. We have been there for each other during the good times and the bad and Tanya is one of the best listeners and supporters any of us could ever have. Yep- I am going to cry. 

Tanya's wedding also represents a milestone for me. I started a weight loss journey on May 31st and buying a new dress for her wedding was one of my mini goals on my way to reach my goal weight. Well I am so proud to share that I am down 4 dress sizes now! I actually could even fit in to the next size down but it was tight. Yippee!! I can't wait to get all prettied up and hang out with my group of gals and watch our friend start a new chapter in her life. In my sexy dress of course hee hee! 

I used a stamp set called Wedded Bliss from Flourishes. I have been buying quite a few of their stamps in the last few months as they are great to colour and their solid image ones have been nice too. Plus they include lots of amazing sentiments. I paired it with some of my new 6x6 paper from MME called Lost and Found 2 Blush.  I used black bazzill for the base, some SU pink satin ribbon and sprayed Pearl glimmer mist all over it to give it a beautiful sparkle. Even my hubby loved it!

Well I better go and start getting ready for TK's big day. I hope you have a wonderful day too!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Lady Gilli Easel Card



I am excited to share my second Gilli creation with you all. We were challenged to make a Gilli easel card with flowers. I have to admit I got carried away and totally forgot the flower part. Luckily I still needed to make my 'door stopper' for my easel so I used the Tim Holtz mini paper rosettes die and created the black flower shown here. Really really makes these flowers so fast and easy to create. I added a button from Tessa Ann Designs- one of my guilty pleasures. Notice another one by Lady Gilli herself...she deserved it lol!

I added folds to her dress by using R89 as my darkest colour and marked out where I wanted my folds. From there I worked from dark to light using R85, R83 and R81. I coloured her hair using E25, E29 and E31. This is my newest fave colour combo as I almost always colour brunettes. I have no idea why...probably because it reminds me of chocolate lmbo!!

One of the things I like about the Gilli stamps is that their eyes are just white ovals so that you can make them look in whatever direction you want. One of these days I will do a 'scene' so I can have a few of them looking at each other. If you want to purchase Gilli stamps you can find them at  Stampingscrapping.com and you can see tons of inspiration and challenges over at the House of Gilli blog. The nice thing about their challenges is that you don't need to use a Gilli to win but if you do you get extra chances! So if you don't have a Gilli yet this may be a good way to start your collection.

I am off to teach a class today so I had better get my groove on. Hope you all have a fun productive Wednesday!

Cheers, Andi

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

It's back to school time with High Hopes Stamps

The challenge being issued by this week is to have a 'back to school' theme with your HHS creations. I happen to love school supplies and any paper that reminds me of school paper, graph paper, etc so this was fun!

I used an older image from High Hopes Stamps by the artist Meljen called Mushroom Mouse. I enjoyed her whimsical style and if you do not have any of her stamps from her HHS line now is the time! For the first week of September all MelJen stamps at High Hopes are 20% off! Click here to read more about it and this week's challenge. Oh and also to welcome our two new Guest Divas Heidi and Sarah. Welcome ladies!!!

Now- in looking at my card you may think that the colouring is a bit 'off' for me. Well.....I tried to watercolour it. Yikes. It took me hours longer than expected. Hours. I used to watercolour years ago but haven't touched them since I got my first copic markers. I grabbed 2 packages of the Letraset Aquamarkers to try out and to be honest I have not got to my comfortable place yet. I think I need to watch many more online videos. I just could not get used to the markers being so dry. I wonder if my paper was too thick? I ended up grabbing my old Tombow markers and blowing the dust off them to use in addition to the Aquamarkers. All in all it's not too bad for a first attempt in probably 4 years. My card layout came from Card Positioning systems. I am sooo addicted to their fun layouts. I honestly would be lost without them at times I think!

We have also joined Facebook and we are excited to already have some followers! Come on over and join us and we will be giving away even more free rubbah to celebrate our new group. You can find it here

Well, I am off to take the kid's to school today. They are actually excited about going back and seeing their friends but admit they are already dreading day 2 lol!!!! 

Hope you have a great day, Andi

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Playing with Stamping Bella, Mo Manning and SGD Card kits


How fun is this guy!!!!!

This month's SGD Card kit being released on Sept 7th is all about Mo Manning and Stamping Bella. I had soooo much fun colouring up these images. One thing I also want to mention is that along side of my golfer image is a stitched look that I made using a fantastic new punch by Fiskars called Stitches Border Punch. The lazy crafter in me rejoiced at this super fast and easy tool to use! 


This luscious lady is called Smooches and she cracks me up! I used the card sketches included in the kit to base my card layouts on. The kit also included paper by Kaiser Craft and Echo Park along with lots of card candy to embellish them. 

I want to thank Sarah Kipling for also creating with Smooches and the kit for me this month. I hope she had fun! Remember these kits are limited because once they are gone..that's it. This girl isn't making any more of them hee hee. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone! School starts next week here for the kids so we are loving these last few days and squeezing the last bit of Summer out of it. 

Cheers, Andi

Copic colours used:
Golfer- E000, E00, E11, YG95, YG97, YG99, YG25, YG61, YG63, YG67, E50, E51, E53, RV13, RV25, YR12, YR16, YR18, BG10, C0, C1, E44, E47
Smooches- BG10, 11, 13, 18, E0000, 000, 00, R20, YR12, 14, 16, 18 (I then used my blender pen to add squiggly lines in her hair to add waves), C7, 9. The ground was dotted using W0, 1, 3.