Another Year of Piano

Today is the last day of piano lessons before my kids get the summer break. As I quickly routed around my studio this morning I knew I needed a specific card. Here is one that came together in minutes....
I stamped the aged music scrapblock (CHF) in latte ink from Ranger. I decided that I wanted to stamp just a portion of the large "piano girl" image (SEP from Cornish Heritage Farms). Stamp the sentiments that I had close at reach and then sprayed it with my YGo3 mister filled with green perfect pearls and blender. You should see the pretty shimmer on this card. I decided to deck out the envelope a little too!
My daughter is entering grade 9 piano this year so she will be doing theory over the summer. I love to listen to her "practice". She has been taking piano with our teacher since she was 5 and has a lot of passion when it comes to music. The photo is her receiving an award for the "Adjudicator's Choice in a Canadian Class" at our local piano festival. A little "proud mom" moment.
A little story about the trophy.....my son also takes piano and he had the trophy adorning the mantle last year (this year he chose to write a piano exam instead of doing the festival). The trophies get returned after one year so.....this year my daughter decided it was her turn.....no....they aren't competitive......
My daughter now holds the "year of trophy reign"....we will see what next year brings!

For the benefit of my family and friends here is a short video of Marie at the piano....if you are a papercrafting visitor feel free to skip over this:


The sketch girls are taking a break tomorrow so I am going to enjoy a little long weekend, enjoying father's day with our family....so I will see you next week! Enjoy your weekend!

Sketch Friday!

Happy Friday! I am in Toronto this weekend but I managed to make this card up before leaving. I was very inspired to use a John Wooden quote due to his passing last week. For those of you who don't know who John Wooden was, he was a very good coach and inspirational leader for UCLA for many years.
Lots of pretty Melissa Frances products on this card. The journal tag, rub-on and patterned paper.
I paired it up with this pretty "Vintage Geese" image by Cornish Heritage Farms. The Wooden quote is also a CHF stamp.
Here is a close shot of the image. I did a little coloring with my copics on her apron and also added some ground for the geese.
I also colored my pearls to match her apron.....love doing that!

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

I know it is a quick post today....but the time change is draggin' on me tonight as I am posting so I need to get some shut eye as tomorrow brings a full day of copic card classes here in Toronto!
Little fun surprise here tomorrow....gotta come and see!

Melissa Frances Design Team!

Yeah.....Blogger is up and running again so I can share my news!
I, along with 3 other talented designers, have been asked to join the Melissa Frances International Design Team! I have been using a lot of MF products as you all know how much I love vintage. What an honor to be a part of a fantastic group of ladies!
You can see the formal announcement on the Melissa Frances blog HERE!
Here is a sweet little card I made to celebrate the day! All Melissa Frances paper products, rub-on sentiments, ric rac and that fabulous resin corner piece. I paired up these products with one of my favorite CHF images "Tulip Girl". Colored with my copics!
I am looking forward to sharing lots of Melissa Frances goodness with you!

Happy Monday!!!!

Sketch Friday!

Happy Friday! The eve of the LONG WEEKEND! I head to Alaska this weekend...I am SO looking forward to the scenery and hoping to get some good photos from the plane if it is clear.

Todays sketch is a really cute one....and is perfect for all those "cute" images so I figured the rest of the sketch crew would probably have cute covered....so I did something different.
The theme of this card is "WOOD". My card base is the woodgrain cardstock from Core'dinations Core Impressions line. My wood cabin image is a Stamp of the month from Cornish Heritage Farms and I even did my stamping on some of Creative Imaginations real wood paper. Even the rustic wood buttons fit the theme!
The sentiment is a fabulous rub on from Melissa Frances. The grungeboard heart I covered with the same coffee bean brilliance ink that I stamped in.
Here is a close up of the image, here you can even see the little lady on her porch chair. I inked the center with the coffee bean ink and then I inked the trees and brush with the clover ink I had out from yesterday's card.

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Enjoy your weekend! I know I will enjoy mine!....I get to color all weekend (big smiles)!

Clean and Simple with Fabric

Playing along again with Moxie Fab World's fabric challenge....today I decided to go quite clean and simple. This is some fun Moda fabric cut with my spellbinder shapeabilites and then run through my xyron for adhesive to stick them to my card.
The sentiment is from the "For the Men" set from Cornish Heritage Farms...I loved the kind of homemade looking font and I stamped it in Clover green pigment ink from Ranger.
Finishing touches were the messy stitching along the edge a wee bit of ribbon and an apple green button.

Here is a little close up of the fruit...I did color the stems with my copic markers (G14) was perfect!
Off and running today as there seems to be a lot to do....my lil' guys birthday today!
My baby is 12.....ACK! Where does that time go?

Come back tomorrow for sketch friday!

Sketch Friday!

CERTIFICATION NOTE:
You may have noticed I created a little section of my sidebar to help keep you up to date with the certification classes that I am teaching.
Vancouver's certification (May 30th) is now open to the public! If you have wanted to take this class but haven't had the chance in the past due to the fact that it has filled up...now is your chance! You will find the application form HERE....See you there!

Happy Friday! I haven't had a chance to use this fabulous image from CHF! It is from a set called "Weighty Matters" and it has some fun vintage images as well as sentiments.
I paired it up with some fashionista Graphic 45 paper...love this line!
Here is a close up of the image....I actually did very little coloring...just kind of filled in some color and I wanted her fun hat to "pop". To add to the card I decided to do quite a bit of airbrushing. I airbrushed both YR31 and E33 copic markers around the edges of the circle die and I airbrushed the edges of the card with E33.

Tip:
Airbrushing patterned paper and your image can help tie a color scheme all together. It helps when your image is too much in contrast compared to the patterned paper you chose. It also helps to create a highlight for my main image by remembering to keep my edges darker. I love using my airbrush for this!

Here are my card deets:
Stamps:
Weighty Matters (SEP) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Espresso Adirondack (Ranger)
Paper:
Fashionista (Graphic 45)
Natural (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Air Brush System (Copic)
Sewing Machine
Circle Die (Spellbinders)
Metal Flowers (Tim Holtz)
Edge Distresser (Tonic)

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Copic Winner and a Card

When you are a parent....nothing rings truer than this sentiment...
Something a little different today...I don't always use my copics to color an image (although that is my favorite thing to do with them).
Here is a card where my copics take the lesser role but are needed all the same. I used them to color the edges of my sentiment tag and over the text in the corners of this vintage text stamp.
Here is a close up so that you can see the texture of this card. The back label that I cut with my spellbinder die is made of a plush green fabric that I applied adhesive to the backside.
The main image is a cotton scrap from Crafty's Secrets that adds such a pretty homespun feel to it!
I love all the text in this card and to give it that "book" feel I did the book binding border punch up the side as well.....
Here are all the card deets:
Stamps:
Vintage Text (Scrapblocks), Father Centers (MLM) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Espresso, Watermelon Adirondack (Ranger)
Paper:
Vanilla (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Cotton Scraps (Crafty Secrets)
Green Plush Fabric
Twill Tape
Label Die (Spellbinders)
Book binding punch (EK Success)
Creatopia (Xyron)

...a big congrats to the blog candy giveaway winner that said this:

Stampin Kimber said:
Love the card and your coloring is awesome!!! Congrats to Jenn!!! I had a really great time at the Copic certification class in Calgary, btw you are awesome at public speaking.....well, I ordered my compressor yesterday and just a few more markers....lol...I almost have them all now!!! :) Now to be patient until it arrives....so many things to airbrush.....thanks for such a great giveaway!!!

kimfletcher@shaw.ca

Congrats! If you can e-mail me with your address that would be great! Enjoy your prize!

Friday is blooming!

Welcome here friday! I am so ready for a weekend...and look what is smiling back at me in my yard....TULIPS! I had to pick these ones as I am in love with their ruffled edges....Just a few photos of them and I wanted to share my tulips with you!


Friday's are also for playing along in Taylor's sketch challenge and I was so in love with my tulips that I decided that I needed to go with a "nature inspired" card.
I did the quilting thing for the design of this card....take a beautiful piece of patterned paper (Melissa Frances) and cut it up and then sew it back together....much like quilting.
The dragonfly was a little special touch. It is part of a set by Cornish Heritage Farms in their Sara England line called "emerging dragonfly". Such a pretty one and the sentiment is part of this set too.
I decided to take on the direct to rubber coloring with my copic markers. I colored on various colors that matched my patterned paper and colored my dragonfly. I then misted it with colorless copic blending solution and then stamped on a piece of white card stock. A beautiful watercolor effect is the result!

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow


Wishing you a beautiful weekend....hope flowers are blooming near you!

Friday Flight....

My butterflies have taken flight and so have I! I'm here in Calgary teaching people how to color...yes...LOVE my job!
You will want to read this WHOLE post as I have done some playing and have a cool idea for you copic lovers!
First off....can you see that BRAND NEW scrapblock that is being released today at Cornish Heritage Farms...there are a ton of cool sentiments in there wrapped up in one big stamp (6x6).
I stamped right over my patterned paper in a soft pink and embossed it in clear.
Next....my butterflies! I stamped, colored with copic markers and cut out an extra butterfly to lay over top.....BUT WAIT.....
Do you see that shimmer!!!!!
I was digging through my supplies the other day an stared at the LARGE stack of perfect pearls that I have and wanted a way to use them in a new way.

What I did....I took my E43 various copic refill...added about 2cc's of the color and 2cc's of the copic blender solution and combined them in a spritzer...then took some gold perfect pearls and scooped a little into the spritzer....my own "glimmer mist" in any of the fabulous copic colors I already own (that is quite a few...chuckle).
I sprayed my paper as well as my butterfly and oh does it shimmer!
Here is a visual of the supplies I used. I know Tim Holtz has done this with his water based distress ink refills and perfect pearls so that gave me the idea to try it with my copic refills....fun, fun, fun!
Here are all my card deets:
Stamps:
Life (Scrapblocks), Vintage Butterflies (SEP) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Shell pink pigment ink, Espresso Dye ink (Ranger)
Paper:
Petite Pages (Webster's Pages)
White (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers,Various Ink Refill,Blender Solution
(COPIC)
Spritzer
Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls (Ranger)
Lace
Clear Detail Embossing Powder
Jewels (Melissa Frances)
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Enjoy hopping to my favorite peeps to check out their creations today...they never disappoint!
Have a great weekend!

Birthday Chick

Oh how I love to sit and color with my copics....this little chick with her balloon is really fun!
I stamped the image and then masked off the chick and balloon. I then airbrushed the blue sky. I left the area closest to my image the lightest in order to highlight it.
Then the rub-on....isn't it perfect! It is from Melissa Frances and I love being able to shape rub-ons around my images.
I also love creating those puffy clouds from cotton batting and my label 6 die from spellbinders.

Here is a close up of the image and all the card details:
Stamps:
Spring Chicks and More(Tom Fun Collection)by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Espresso Adirondack (Ranger)
Paper:
White Cardstock (Neenah)
Peyton(Melissa Frances)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Air Brush System (Copic)
Label 6 Die (Spellbinders)
Rub-on sentiment, Lace Trim (Melissa Frances)
Cotton batting, Button, Twine

Enjoy your day! I'm off to color....

Happy Monday

I thought I would post something warm and cheery for a Monday morning. Ah, yes, our family is definitely missing those wonderful beaches in Hawaii. We actually saw some golden retrievers go out on the surf boards doing "paddle surfing". Is there anything that those retrievers can't do....our Lucy (Havanese breed) spends 90% of the day curled up in a ball on the couch....
I had this little scrap of girl friday patterned paper left and had to use it! I love the mixing of really fun patterns in this paper collection. I had to use this "B" somehow as the pattern totally mimicked the pattern in the little girl's swimsuit!
This is another Sara England design for Cornish Heritage Farms. I love these as they are simple line art which gives me a lot of play room with my copics.
Here is the really close shot of the coloring. I went in afterward and added some spica pen highlights to the sand. Here are all the card details:
Stamps:
Best Friends (Sara England) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Rich Cocoa Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Natural Cardstock (Neenah)
Chocolate Box Cardstock (Core'dinations)
Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Clear Spica Pen (Copic)
Chipboard, Tiny Type (Cosmo Cricket)
Twill

Here is a quick picture of the lemon poppyseed cake we enjoyed yesterday. Yummm.

Enjoy your Monday!

Taylored Expressions Challenge #108!

Happy Friday! Seeing that I can't seem to put away my fabric these days I thought I would do a sewing themed card. The material girl collection from Cosmo Cricket is so adorable!
I thought Taylor's sketch looked a little quilt/patchwork like so I went with that look.
The iron image and sentiment are from CHF's Domestic Love set. I stamped the iron in versacraft ink and then just gave it a blast from my heat gun to set the ink before I colored it with my copic markers.
Here is a close shot of the coloring. I even went in with my spica black pen afterwards and highlighted the handle a little. It is hard to capture that shimmer on camera but it looks really sweet in real life!
Here are all my card deets:
Stamps:
Domestic Love (ATC) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Black Versacraft (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket)
Vanilla (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Black, Silver Spica Pen (Copic)
Pinking Shears
Chipboard (Cosmo Cricket)
Cotton Fabric
Ribbon (Offray)
Trinket Pin (Maya Road)
Sewing

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Good Friday

Good Friday is always a day of very mixed emotions. As a christian, it is "good" for the incredible gift I was given.... which is my salvation. The mixed feelings come as I remember the deep cost that was paid for me in order that I may have that salvation.
My heart is very full as I reflect on Good Friday.....I am blessed in every conceivable way.

My card is a light card in reflection of the week that just passed....report cards! I am fortunate to have children that really love school. I am so glad it is, and continues to be, a very enjoyable part of their lives. My daughter comes home with stories of chemistry experiments that they are doing in class....how different chemicals can react violently to water. Let's say I'm glad she does this at school. My son comes home with chatter about math (his favorite subject)...I would say mostly on how it applies to physics. He loves to build things so weights and measurements are something he talks a lot about. Anyway....the love of school is what brought me to todays card.....
I {heart} vintage....and this one came together through the lovely inspiration of the patterned paper I started with. It is called "Esther" by Melissa Frances. The patterned paper was my base and then I stamped on the shipping tag from the office supply store. Now the shipping tag was much yellower than my patterned paper so I did some airbrushing to even out the colors and masked off a faint leaf pattern while I was doing that.
I colored my little girl with my copics and the resin frame comes white and I really needed it to be more of a walnut color. I airbrushed the frame with E44 and then sanded it a bit to bring back some white.
Here is a close shot of the details....I adore this little ruler. I had it in my stash, it is a resin piece from Melissa Frances (in a sewing set).

As you can see I flipped the rectangle and circle elements on the sketch for my card as well as changing their sizes.
Here is the complete detail list:
Stamps:
School Primer (ATC) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Rich Cocoa Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Shipping Tag (Office Supply Store)
Esther (Melissa Frances)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Air Brush System (Copic)
Lace, Rub-on, Resin Pieces (Melissa Frances)
Buttons (Making Memories)
Twine
Leaf Mask (Tim Holtz)

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow



Wishing all your families a very blessed Easter....have a wonderful long weekend!

BBQ!

Love it! It is a bbq sort of day! I thought I would show you this fun card with a little bit of everything on it!
Showing some love to the new Garden Variety line of paper at Cosmo Cricket....love those chipboard pieces!
Chicken and corn sound good for dinner....
The little bbq I colored with my copics and then added small dabs of opaque white for my highlights. The hills got a little definition with some embroidery floss and the chipboard letters were colored to match my card.
Here are all the deets!
Stamps:
Summer Trees (Kim Hughes Collection) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Garden Variety (Cosmo Cricket)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Opaque White (Copic)
Embroidery Floss
Chipboard (Cosmo Cricket)
Tiny Attacher (Tim Holtz)

I'll be back EARLY thursday with my JustRite mega blog hop project! Just finished it today and it totally makes me smile. See you then!

Sweet Ride

This was a really fun card and it reminded me of the "sweet ride" we had in Hawaii when we rented a car for the day to visit the north shore.
This car was stamped (I thought it was perfect for the scene) on the patterned paper and then the transparency was laid over top. Isn't it a cool transparency!
I added some fun elements to make it all my own. The "bling" was actually all clear that I colored with my markers to match (I just airbrushed the "sweet" and individually colored the "arrow").

Do you want to see a little more summer? Some of my favorite "sweet" photos from the north shore!
We stayed at the north shore beach and enjoyed it even when the sun was going down. I love the lighting in this photo.
The kids loved the waves!
Look at the wave in this one! Yikes!

Here are all the fun summer card deets:
Stamps:
The Beach (GM) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Espresso Adirondack (Ranger)
Paper:
Patterned Paper and Transparency (MME)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Air Brush System (Copic)
Garnet Spica Pen (Copic)
Jewels (Glitz)
Rub-on (MME)
Clear Flower (Prima)
Jeweled Brad (American Crafts)

Enjoy your day....Hope it is "SWEET"!

Passport to Creativity take 2

Here is another fun layout I did for Canadian Scrapbooker! These are my boys....my hubby and our son playing some water nerf in Penticton, BC.
I used the same technique as I described below....printing all the photos in black and white then using my waterbrush filled with copic blender to transfer marker colors (scribbled on a transparency) to my photo. That is how I colored the blue of the water in the top photo.
I had some airbrushing fun with this layout as well....After my photos were in place I laid Tim Holtz's flourish mask over top and airbrushed some E15...I also distressed the edges with that as well.
All the stamps are by Cornish Heritage Farms....I particularly love that "boys will be boys" sentiment from the Rummage Bin Line (For the Men set).
The soft blue paper with the polka dots is Melissa Frances, as well as the "water sports" rub on.
I love rub-ons for photos!

Hope you enjoyed a little look into my scrapbooking! Have a great day!

Passport to Creativity

I am so excited that I get to share a scrapbooking page that I worked on for an article called "passport to creativity" for Canadian Scrapbooker! I was chosen along side 2 other fantastic artists from BC to create 3 different layouts for their publication.
There is also some fun questions/answers in there too. It is on magazine stands now.

This layout in particular I really loved....It is of my son in the "Pumpkin Patch" at Grandma and Grandpas' house.
I used a few stamps to create my layout. The background is an awesome scrapblock that I reach for quite often called "vintage text" from Cornish Heritage Farms. I also used the calendar block scrapblock to indicate the month. There is a close shot of that if you scroll down.
The colors on the chipboard from basic grey were not quite right so I went over them with my copic marker.
MY FAVORITE part of this layout? First of all I printed this photo of my son in black and white then I took my waterbrush filled with Copic blender solution and painted my leaves using the palette technique to match my paper and the mood that I wanted to create. I love that my son stands out because he is still in black and white but I could add multiple colors in the leaves behind him. Way cool technique that you have to try!
Here is a close shot of the calendar block stamp and just some simple handwriting with my multiliner pen.

Hope you are enjoying your day....I have another fun layout to share with you too....soon!

Cupcake Picnic

Happy Monday! How about something fun and whimsical for today? Now that we are approaching warmer weather it makes me think about the fun spring and summer things we can do. Everyone loves cupcakes....how about a little cupcake picnic. This is a really fun little table topper that I made in the shape of a cupcake. All Michael Miller fabric.
I bought these adorable cupcakes from "Tracy Cakes" in downtown Abbotsford, BC. Super Sweet! I cut out large scallop circles with my spellbinder dies out of the scrap fabric to make little matching liners for the cupcakes. I used some of the fun stickpins I have from Fancy Pants and made little tags. I stamped the sentiments from Kim Hughes' "Baked with Love" set from Cornish Heritage Farms.
Here is a close up of my fabric cupcake. I stamped the little Kim Hughes cupcake in the centers of the dots on my fabric and then colored them in using the coordinating copic marker. I used my fabric tac adhesive to glue on my large brown ric rac.
The little table and chairs? We used them for our kids when they were little as their coloring table...passed down from Daddy. Hope this puts you in a fun springy creative mood!
Have a great day!