Bright and Sparkly!

Christmas in pink: I love it! It's girly, it's sweet, it's festive with a touch of green and red and of course... with lots of GLITTER!!!

I put all of them in this card:

I used a distressed patterned paper from Basic Grey with purple, pink and light blue holly, a striped paper, a pink bow, four pink pearls and... an adorable stamp from Lili of the Valley - Make It Festive. I added tons of glitter: in her apron and dress, in the ornaments, in the holly on the table...

I love it! i love the way it shines according on how the light touches it!

This is one of the first cards I've colored with Copics: such detailed stamps are often difficult to color with watercolor pencils for ink sometimes bleed while Copics are just perfect!

I'm going to enter this card into:

Lili of the Valley Challenge # 119 - Bright and Sparkly
and
Cute Card Thursday Challenge # 189 - Baby You're a Firework!

I've just received a new stamp I want to use for Christmas cards... I'd better go and stamp!!

Christmas Critters

Critters are my favorite subject for cards, at Christmas and in any other occasion. They can be funny, serious, sad, joyful, they make you laugh or simply smile even in the saddest times.

Being THE SEASON for cards, Christmas has such a variety of stamps that it's impossible not to fall in love with one of them. I unfortunately fall in love with most of them, so my wish list is always long.

Last year I discovered some stamps with hedgehogs I had to buy and immediately I made cards which sold quickly. This year I took them out and the first card is ready:

This oh-so-cute hedgehog is from Little Claire Designs and it seems it inspires me to make red cards: I had a look at the picture of last year card and it was red, although a bit different.

The patterend paper is from the new Festive Treats paper pad from First Edition Paper. I added tons of glitters in the lights on the tree and in the baubles.

I will enter this card in the following Challenges:

Little Claire Monthly Challenge # 24 where the theme is "Christmas"

and

Jingle Belles "Not A Creature Was Stirring"

Well, it's holiday today in Italy so I'd better go and spend some time with my family!

Can Dinos Bling?

My sweet niece is turning three in a few days. Her latest - and long-lasting - passion are dinos and some weeks ago I bought a set of digi stamps from Doodle Dragon Studios featuring lovely dinos with the idea to make a birthday card for her. I often buy digis or stamp with an idea in mind but most times I end up in buying one... Is it possible that a cardmaker buys cards for friends and relatives?

Fully in my "mass production" mode I found the time to make a birthday card for my niece and make three more for my shop (of for future needs).

This is my card - Girly version:

My niece is in love with dinos but she's also a very girly girl and so I decided to use lots of glitter: balloons are glittered, the gift bow is glittered and the paper (from DCWV) is also glittered. I added a shiny satin pink bow and some pearls.

All this glitter and bling suit perfectly the requirement of Dustin Pike Challenge "All Things Shiny".

But, can dinos be glittery???

In any case, I made also a version for boys, less glittery:

... well, I couldn't help myself and added some bling there too!!!

A Girly Christmas

After trying with Red & Gold for Christmas, I went back to my fav colors: pinks and greens with a touch of red. Most of my Christmas cards this year have these colors. I love the fresh, girly and happy sensations they give to my cards!

This morning I was hopping from blog to blog and I ended in a lovely blog with a lovely card made with a lovely stamp. I immediately followed the link (I apologise but I cannot remember the blog name, I lost it while browsing through the newly discovered store).

The store is Annabelle Stamps an Australian Company which sells cute stamps and craft goods. I already put some of their stamps in my wish list, as soon as I have some funds I'll surely be back to buy some.

Of course, they have a blog Annabelle Stamps Blog and a Challenge and... the theme this week is: "Say it in... Pink, Green and Kraft and... voilà, I made this card:

 I had colored this Jennifer Latte digi stamp from The Stamping Boutique yesterday, while waiting for my daughter's dance lesson. I wanted it to be girly, really girly and pink and... girly! This morning I still had no idea on how to make the card with it but when I saw the Challenge theme I knew it was perfect!

I made the card with green textured cardstock, added a Papermania patterned paper and used some craft paper behind the stamp colored with Copics and embellished with tons of glitters! A luxurious satin bow and a lilac bell add the final touch.

I love how it turned out!

Christmas Owl Card - Version # 2

When I decided to make the card I showed you yesterday for Meljen's Designs Challenge, I had already painted four owls: I'm in the "mass production" mode and I try to make two or three samples of the same card. As I told you, I have a very limited quantity of gold paper and this time I preferred to keep it for future projects.

The painted owls were too cute to remain in my "painted digis stash" and I decided to make two more cards: I kept the same layout but I changed colors a bit. I used a white card, a holly patterned paper, red again to match the owl scarf and hat, a printed sentiment, glitter and again four matching rhinestones.

The impression is of a fresh card with traditional Christmas colors for this cute owl. But I'm already thinking about making a winter card with him, with blues and whites and glitter... maybe soon!

Red & Gold... Is it Christmas yet?

This morning I woke up early as usual and decided to finish a card I have been planning for a few days.

I took the inspiration from this week's Challenge at Meljen's Designs to make another Christmas card.

Well, Christmas... It seems far away but it'll be here in a blink of an eye and the shop and my card stash need to be filled with seasonal goodies as soon as possible.

Red and Gold speak clearly of Christmas, decorations and festive atmosphere but I think they are not "my colors". It's the first time I use such a great part of gold in a card but I think that they look beautiful together.

Here's the card:

Being not a fan of gold, I had troubles in finding a gold paper in my stash. It was in a very old pad of Sizzix Little Sizzles Papers called Classics and of course they were just perfect. There were only a few sheets so I decided not to make more than one sample of this card, so I can save the remaining sheets for other projects that may require gold.

This lovely owl is a digi stamp from Meljen's Designs and I colored it with Copics... yeah... Copics (the red is "more red" than it seems from the picture)! The white part of the hat is glittered with glitter dust while the snow is made with waterfall stickles.

This card was made for Meljen's Designs Challenge # 81 where they request for Red & Gold.

But it's perfect to be entered in a couple of other Christmas Challenges:

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long where they want to see some SPAR-KA-LAY, and I used glitter, stickles, rhinestones and of course gold

and

ABC Christmas Challenge where U is for Unused Stash and both papers and ribbons are so old and never used!!!

The family has now waken up and they need me.

Happy Sunday!

Meljen's Designs Challenge # 80 and some updates...

Well, I know... I promised to post more often than in the summer but somehow three weeks have passed since my last post. I'm sorry.

But...

I was not on holiday... I am working on new cards and paper goods, I've tried new techniques, I've made cards in more than one sample... I'm really a busy bee!

I love fall: I love changing colors, I love that we're back on routine, I love thinking about Christmas which is really just around the corner. This fall we've been blessed with such a wonderful weather: we wore T-shirts until last week. Well, now we are freezing and I don't like it at all... The funny thing about this fall is that it seems we've missed... fall! From summer temperatures we dropped to winter temperatures...

This to say that in this period of the year I'm usually full of energies, inspiration and things to make.

I made several Christmas cards and tags, often in more than one copy, lots of notebooks, girly things and this card:

I know that Mother's Day is so far away (and this is the reason why you probably won't see this card up in the shop now) but I wanted to take part in Meljen's Designs Challenge # 80 and I wanted to use this digi stamp. The request is to "Use a Ribbon" and it wasn't difficult since I love ribbons and bows and I often use them in my cards.

For probably the first time I've decorated the inside of the card too:

I printed several small and bigger whales on two dotted papers: then, I simply had to cut them and decorate them with some glitter.

This little whale is one of my first digis and still one of my favorite, I made several different cards with it and this time I wanted to use the full potential of digi stamps and create two digis from just one image.

My daughter and I use to go to see a dolphin show every summer and she loves it and she loves dolphins so I thought about celebrating this event we do together with this card. They are whales and not dolphins but they remind me of our happy trip.

As for my other "achievements" I can anticipate I made a card with a movable image, discovered the magic of Copics, made tons of Christmas tags and little notebooks...

I'll post about them soon!

It's Another Paper Playtime Challenge!

It seems so long since my last post for Paper Playtime Challenge!

Now we're back into the winter routine with school, dance lessons, swimming and everything else.

Back to  Paper Playtime Challenge # 56, some things have changed in this last month: the last Monday of the month is no more a digi Monday but a Stamping Challenge. Everyone can enter it with a card or project with something stamped on it.

The theme this month is Halloween and here's my card:

This lovely Halloween cat is from Digital Delights and I painted it with my watercolor pencils. A punched moon, some rhinestones and a touch of glitter complete this simple little card.

Don't forget to have a look to the other cards made by DT members!

Aqua, White and Glitter... Wonderful!!!

Ohhh... I'm SO happy!

During the summer I spent many pleasant early morning hours sipping coffee and reading a lovely inspiring blog: Mish Mash. It had been pinned among my favorites for a while but I decided to read it more carefully and I discovered great tricks and techniques, inspiring photos and yummy recipes, tips and crafting projects.

One of the things which inspired me most was what she calls "Mass Production": make several pieces of the same card/tag/project. I never thought I could do that, mainly because I do not have friends or relatives I can sell my cards to, so I don't need to pile up. I don't even send cards so I don't need them for myself, even if I sometimes need a card and don't have one made by myself.

But... I decided I had to try. First of all, I have to let my papers go: I'm always afraid to finish that perfect sheet of paper and avoid using too much BUT, as Michelle says, they keep on selling papers, I can eventually buy some more if I need it. Second, I have to trust myself and be positive I will sell more than one card.

The other day I decided to make a card with a lovely stamped image I had colored few days before: I chose the card, the paper, added glitter, found the sentiment and the embellishment. It was quite easy to finish it and I found it so lovely I decided to make two more. I had stamped several copies of the same image and it was so easy to color them following the finished card. I cut the paper which was still on my table, add sentiments which I had in some copies and punched the snowflake... et voilà, three cards made so easily and quickly!

This lovely stamp is from Lili of the Valley and I colored it with watercolor pencils and added tons of glitter to the igloo to make it shine like snow.

The dotted paper is from Dovecraft (Christmas Fancy Collection) and the wonderful aqua card was bought in Paris: it's such a lovely color! It was hard to use three of them but I love so much the finished card that I think it was worth the effort!

When I saw the three cards on my table I felt so proud of myself and it was really rewarding.

Well, maybe three cards are not properly a "Mass Production" but it's certainly more than one...

I'll enter this card in Lili of the Valley Challenge # 113 which says "Aqua, White and Glitter". What lovely combination!

I enjoyed myself so much in mass producing that I'm still in that mode...

I'm Baaack!

Yes... I know I probably said the same thing back in July but now I should definitely be back on track.

School is starting on Monday, some rain is coming to refresh us a bit, leaves are turning yellow and days are shorter.

So sad summer is over! Although I do love fall I'm sad this wonderful period of the year is over. Although I love the house when it's all silence, I'll miss my daughter's company and chat. Although I love routine, I'll miss these long summer days when you have to invent the day everyday.

And I absolutely don't like cold and adore this wonderfully hot days! I'll miss each of them!

This morning I woke up quite early and I didn't want to spend too much time on my computer so I decided it was time to go back into challenges.

I was a bit tired of challenges, maybe because last spring I tried to enter as many as possible, so happy with the ideas and themes they gave for my cards. I had a list, I checked my favourites everyday... it was a real job!

This morning I decided to check a couple of them and to use a stamp among those I had already colored during the summer.

Then, I made a card. It turned out quite easily and I'm ready to take part in two challenges.

Here's my card:

I chose this lovely Pennyblack stamp which I colored a while ago with my watercolor pencils. I just added some glitter here and there. Then I decided to use some paper leftovers from my stash: the floral glittered paper is from DCWV, the dotted one... well, I don't remember.

It's a fresh spring card... not the ordinary fall/Halloween/Xmas card I use to make in this time of the year.

I will enter it here:

Pennyblack Saturday Challenge # 168: the theme is Delicious, something yummy on our creations! And these cherries are sooo yummy!

And

Cute Card Thursday # 182 where Anything Goes!

I'll also try to list cards on my Etsy Shop once I've linked them to the Challenges so those of you who are interested will find them immediately!