ENJOYING SOME "ME" TIME

As luck would have it,

I have found myself with some time to craft

and enjoy myself.

Once in a while, I like to use precoloured

digis to create some quick cards that still have

some degree of creativity.

Here I used a digi from Meljens Designs

called 'lovey pup'.

I printed off a few of the digis and created a couple 

of different designs.  Fast, easy and cute.

Having some time for myself, I have been attempting my

Copics once again.  This cross over card has

a hand created chiffon flower and a Copic coloured Tilda.

My friend Jenny is celebrating her birthday this weekend

and we were planning a little overnight trip to

Niagara Falls to take in a show and do a bit of shopping.  

But due to some nasty weather warnings, 

we have decided to cancel our plans.

Here is her card:

  

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

ONCE UPON A TIME ...

... A LITTLE PRINCE WAS BORN

This little mini book is dedicated to my son ... my little prince.

The book has been in the works for well over a year now 

but I finally finished it this morning.

For those who know me, I am NOT computer saavy

in any way.  But through trial and error, I have managed

to teach myself how to scan photos, 

where to find them once they are scanned and

how to edit them for use in this mini book.

The paper pack that I began with was 

'Chic Bebe Boy' by Teresa Collins.

Each page started as a piece of black chipboard and

covered with various D/P's, found in the pack.

The pages are all different lengths and bound using 

my Cinch machine and Zutter coils.

The photos were printed in black and white

to tie into the colour theme of the paper.

One of the best things in creating this book, 

was the flood of memories as I went through

the photos of my little prince.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

PUPPY LOVE

My sweet little LILY is never far from me, no matter where I am 

or where I go.

Here she is, enjoying a snooze in her canopy bed

while I am crafting.

Crafting above ground has certainly worked well for me

as I find myself in my craft room

whenever I have some ME time.

These are a couple of recent creations.

My copics are going to dry up if I don't use them more

so I decided to ink up this stamp (which incidentally I have had

for at least 2 years!) and play with my copics.

I am still learning but the more I play with them, the

more pleased I am with the results.

 Spellbinders and Pink ... what a combo!

When I saw this image on Pinterest, I knew that it would

be perfect for a dog sympathy card.  

Unfortunately, I have needed quite a few of these in the past few months.

When my clients have to say goodbye to their fur children,

it's difficult for me too since some of these puppies have

been coming to me all their lives for grooming

and I have become very attached to them.

 My hopes are that a personally crafted card will let the puppies' humans

know how much I care and that I am thinking of them

during these difficult times.

Thanks for stopping by.

ON A ROLL

As it turns out, there will be another lady coming to

Jenny's birthday lunch tomorrow... Stella, who is celebrating her

81st birthday on the same day as Jenny.  So, I decided to

make each of them the same style cards

but in different colours.

Inspiration for these cards can be found here http://www.card-making-magic.com/doublezigzagcard.html

Both of these gals love flowers so I'm sure they will enjoy these cards.

Hope you are having better weather than us here in

southwestern Ontario ... minus degree temperatures, with

snow and high winds resulting in white out conditions.

Of course these are just regular conditions for you Gail!

http://scrappintimes-gail.blogspot.ca/2013/01/celebrate-what-you-want-to-see-more-of.html

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

CREATING ABOVE GROUND

Since Mom decided to move to a retirement home, the bedroom that we had built for her was calling my name.  Moving my craft room from the basement to the

main floor of our home was to say the least, extremely arduous ... 

but so worth it.

Now I am crafting above the ground and LOVING IT!

Spending time on Pinterest is very addicting but I have been so inspired

by the many incredible ideas that I find there.  The next card is one of those ideas.

It is a zig zag fold card

and the instructions can be found here:  

http://www.card-making-magic.com/doublezigzagcard.html

Modesty aside ... you know when you complete a project and you

just feel so good when you look at it?  Well, that's how I

feel about this card.  My dear friend Jenny is celebrating her

80th birthday next week and we are taking her out for dinner.  

This will be her birthday card.

I ♥ SNOOPY.  And have ever since I was a little girl.  

I have made it a mandate to haul out some of my old and never been inked stamps

and create with them.  In a drawer marked "Snoopy", I have several 

stamps paying homage to him and here is a little card that I 

made with one of them.

And I would like to share an idea with you for my new

method of housing my punches.

I have several edge punches that cannot be stacked or

otherwise stored in an organized way, so I came up with this idea.

These Bygel rails can be purchased at Ikea and I hung them

on the inside of my closet door in my craft craft room.

I drilled a small hole in each punch, where a hook could be placed and the

punch subsequently hung on the rail.  Then I punched a sample of each 

punch and have them hanging with the punches on the door.

Well that's it for now.  

And thank you CURT for lighting a fire under me

to post on my blog again.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

FOR THE NEWLYWEDS

Classic black and white is often my choice for wedding cards.

In my stash of handmade flowers, I had this

white lace flower and decided it 

would be a nice

addition to this wedding card.

An EK Success border punch was used as the background frame

(http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/becca-bit-border-filled-frame/)

as well as the side borders.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

HAVING A RRRRRUFF DAY?

It's always a good feeling when someone let's you know that

they are thinking about you when you are going through a rough time.

This card was made for my buddy Curt.

  (http://curtsplayhouse.blogspot.com)

If you get a chance, please stop by his blog and leave him some

well wishes.

It's such a treat to be able to create a dog card for someone 

who shares my passion for dogs.

Thanks for stopping.

~Bonnie~

A BIRTHDAY TRIO

Got a little carried away on this design ... had to make

one in each colour.  But with several upcoming birthday's, they will

be put to good use.

I am so loving this M/S deep edge punch.  I originally got it to use on

scrapbook layouts but really like using it as a card border.

The image stamp I used is from a set that is one of my originally stamps from

13 years ago.  Boy, we sure have come a long way

since then.  As I look around my craft room and see all of the

punches, embellishments, tools, machines and paper, it's hard to believe

that it all started so long ago with a stamp, stamp pad, embossing powder and

a heat gun.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

MAGICAL BIRTHDAY WISHES

With quite a few birthday's in the upcoming month, I've

been busy creating some cards for some

special people who will be celebrating

their birthday's.

Using Spellbinder's Fancy Tags Three, this card was created for 

a lady who will be celebrating her 80th.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

WHITE WEDDING and RUFFLED SCARF

After five hours of trial and error and many different ideas, 

Carolyn and I created this wedding card.  Creating with a friend is a great

way to spend a few hours, especially when the end results are positive.

The card was commissioned by a friend of Carolyn's and is being taken to

Texas for the wedding ... sure wish I could go with it!

~~~~~~~~

Since Carolyn is such a good enabler, she got me interested

in making these ruffled scarves. They have become quite popular and

consequently retailers have been selling out of the yarn very quickly.

This particular scarf was knitted.  It can be crocheted but the knitted

pattern is a little bit easier.  Anyway, I am pleased with the results and am off 

to try to find more yarn to make more scarves.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

WATERCOLOURED TULIPS

On a recent 'play day', one of my stamping friends came over to try her hand

at using different colouring mediums.  We hauled out the

watercolour crayons, watercolour pencils, Prismacolour pencils, distress inks,

and of course, Copics.

This image (a very old PSX stamp and one of my favourites)

was stamped on w/c paper and was coloured with distress inks.  

While I do love my Copics, I still have some difficulty using them on certain images

and realize that I am not confined to using only Copics as a 

colouring medium.

I am quite pleased with the results and found that the Distress Inks were much

easier to move and blend on the image, than other w/c products.

The yummy pink bow was made with my BPBS and I finally used 

some Spellbinder die sets that I have had for over a year and had

never used them once.  It's amazing what you might find when you start 

going through your craft supplies and realize that you really don't

"NEED" those new things you just found online.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~ 

MORE BEAR HUGS

The other day, I posted a couple of cards that I made using

Fred Bear Gives Comfort by MFT.  I struggled for several days trying to

achieve some success colouring this image, but seemed to get nowhere and I actually

had decided not to use the stamp any more.  Then, I read a comment that

BEATE posted on my blog, about the difficulty in colouring open images that had no

shading to guide you.  I realized that it wasn't just me and decided to give it

another try.  

The first image was stamped onto dark c/s and shaded with a black

Prismacolour pencil.  And while it is acceptable, it still was not the success I was 

hoping for. 

The second image was coloured with Copics,

but only 2 shades.  And I am more pleased with these results.  While it's not perfect, I am not going to beat myself up over it.  Once I put everything together and made this little

tissue holder, I realized that it is perfectly acceptable to send to someone.

(the tissue holder was an idea that I found on

Curt's blog)

http://curtsplayhouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/wednesday-evening-post-for-march-16.html

Here is a close-up shot of FRED, coloured with Copics.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is don't get discouraged if you can't perfect a technique ... keep trying and eventually you will get to a spot where

you can live with the results.

And a BIG thanks to BEATE for her encouragement

and kind comments.

While I was wallowing in self-pity for not being able to succeed in my 

colouring attempts, I decided to break out my very under-used Cricut machine and

create a birthday card.

It's not possible to see in the photos, but the dog head is attached with 

an Action Wobble and wiggles side to side when touched.  The card was created

using 3 different Cricut cartridges and was cased from an idea 

that I found here:

http://liveloveandscrap.blogspot.com/2011/06/scrappy-moms-birthday-celebration-i-dig.html

Well, that's it for now. I have another run of ME days so I hope

to get a few more things crossed off my to-do list...craft things, of course!

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~

POINSETTIAS

One of the many things that I love about this time of the year are poinsettias.

I recently came across a blog that I am totally addicted to.  Kittie is not only 

amazingly talented but very generous in sharing her knowledge through

well written and easy to understand tutorials.

Here is the link to her blog ...   http://kittiekraft.typepad.com/kittiekraft/

I have been having so much fun making these poinsettias 

and thank Kittie so much for her tutorial.  

I would not be having the success I am, without her tutorial.

Since I love red at Christmas, I decided to try some red on red and I really loved how it turned out.

I have a ME week between Christmas and New Year's so I plan 

to try as many of Kittie's tutorials as I can.

I have also been playing with some digital images and came across

these adorable snow people, which I made into cards for some of my neighbours.

(the nice ones!)

Took the image and cut it out with an oval Nestie.  Cut out a shadow mat.

Embossed the background with a snowflake folder. 

 Punched out a border strip.  Used tiny ovals for the greeting.

Added some glitter to the image, around the image oval and to the greeting.

Stuck it all together and there you have it ... fast, easy and sweet little

Christmas cards.

Don't forget to check out Kittie's blog ... you won't be sorry.

Thanks for stopping by.

~Bonnie~