A Bit Sad...

After watching her stamps for a while, last February I decided to treat myself with one of her images. Last week, I finally had an idea on how to use this stamp on a card and I created this:

I am talking about Dearie Dolls digi stamps: lovely dolls, bunnies, girls...

Just after Easter Sunday, I decided I had some time to spend browsing through her store and treat myself with some new digis...

But...

Both shops were disapeared from the web.

I contacted Mary Ellen, the creator, and she confirmed that her shops are closed now but hopefully they'll re-open soon.

The girl on the card reminds me of my daughter and I chose it with her. She loves to cook with me or with her dad and this image is just perfect for her.

When I bought it I already had in mind the way I'd have colored her dress: red and white! Then I decided to go for a new kraft paper in order to be able to enter my card in a Challenge I love but I had never entered before, That's Crafty Challenge # 60 down at The Spotted Chick blog.

I used a Doodlebug paper from the Sweet Cakes Collection (I love it, it's been terrible to use it for my card but I can't keep it forever without purpose, right?), a red ribbon and a fork charm I bought the other day for this card (I also wanted a spoon charm but I couldn't find it!).

Well, I love it and I hope Dearie Dolls will be back soon!

Great News &... Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Here in Italy Easter Sunday is almost over, we have eaten and celebrated and we are now heading towards a relaxing night in front of the tv!

But before that, I want to share some great news: I've been chosen as one of the new DT members at Broken Box Stock!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the email!

I love their Toodles, they are so cute!!! I had already created some cards and papercrafts using their digis so I had some pictures of my creations ready to send them and... yes, they liked them!

Today, my first card has been featured on Broken Box Stock Blog and it's this one:

I used the lovely April Showers Toodle digi stamp which you can buy here: there is a black and white version and a colored version too, ready for you to use.

I colored my toodle with Copics and glitters, I mounted the umbrella with 3D dots and used some DCWV papers from the Winter Combo collection. A pink felt heart, a button and a satin ribbon add a super sweet touch!

So easy to work with these adorable Toodles!

Stay tuned, I'm working on a lot of new projects!

TSG Challenge #150 - Metal Embellishments

I'm so happy I'm back to There She Goes Challenges: these last weeks I planned to enter a card but I never managed to finish it in time.

This week I'm ready with this card:

I've used an image from Puppy Love set. The idea came to me when I read metal embellishment as theme and thought about a bone charm I was sure I had somewhere in my stash. Well, maybe I dreamt about it but the card was already in my mind so I decided to change the one charm with a little gold heart.

Papers are from First Edition Animal Antics Paper Pad, then I added some bright yellow paper from DCWV, a ribbon (I'm sorry but I have no clue of the brand), a couple of pearls and of course some glitter in the dogs' collars.

These little puppies are so cute!

This card is for There She Goes Challenge #150 - Metal Embellishments.

Orange + Turquoise... It's Summer!

Last week we had a great weather: it was warm, sunny, it seemed like summer!

But...

I was at home with my sick daughter...

When I saw the Challenge theme at Sparkle Creations, I opened the window, took a deep breath and imagined to be here:

Although orange + turquoise are not my favorite colors, they definitely talked about summer and the picture given for inspiration was perfect!

Luckily enough, I treated myself with two stamps from their collection and one of the two fitted all the boxes for this challenge.

This is my card:

I used Swimming Lucy and colored her with Copics. The background paper is from Echo Park Country Drive Collection, plus I added a ric rac found in a magazine, rhinestones and a clock I made from a post-it found at Muji with a brad and two arrows cut from paper.

I will enter this card in: Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Challenge # 76.

Cards for Emily - Part 2

Here's my card for "A Card for Emily" project promoted by Dustin Pike:

Instead of using a Daisy and Buttercup image, I chose a frog image I had just bought from Doodle Dragon Studios: it's in the March 2011 collection and I love it!

I still have to write my message for Emily, it's difficult to write something after the wonderful words my daughter used in her card!

Again, if you want to send a card to Emily, read full instuctions here.

Cards for Emily - Part 1

A few days ago I read about "A Card for Emily"on Dustin Pike blog.

Emily is a 7 year-old girl who is fighting leukemia and Dustin let us choose one of his Daisy and Buttercup images to make a card to be sent to her.

I asked my daughter if she would like to make a card for this little girl and she made this:

She used the Daisy and Buttercup image from Dustin Pike, colored it with colored pencils and glitter and embellished the card with paper flowers, rhinestones and a pretty pink satin bow.

She also wrote a very moving message inside the card, which I translated into English hoping to be able to keep the same atmosphere. I suggested her not to write about illness or recovering and she really wrote THE perfect message.

I'm finishing my card and I'll post it as soon as ready.

If you want to send a card to Emily, you can read about it here.

Thanks, Dustin!

Tags!

Last month, while buried under snow, I took out my stash of unused stamps and decided I had to do something with them.

Some of them are very tiny and, although I love them, I found it difficult to put them into good use. I thought about making some tags, "tiny tags".

I made some samples and I loved both the creative process and the final results.

When I saw this week's theme at There She Goes Challenge # 146 I thought I could make some tiny tags with one of their stamps I bought last month.

And here's what I've created:

What I love most of these tiny tags is seeing them altogether!

I decided to use the Bee Happy stamp set: I took some ready made white tags with strings, I added some light green patterned paper as grass, I stamped the flower stem with green ink and glued the flowers and the bees, which I had colored with Copics, with 3D dots so they pop out of the tag.

Unfortunately, these tags are quite small and I couldn't use the sentiments in the set, so I decided to print some "with love" sentiments, cut them as a little flags and glued them to the tags.

And I'm ready to enter There She Goes Challenge # 146 - TAGS!

Enjoy your week-end!

Spring Is In The Air!

I can't believe spring will be here in a couple of weeks!

Last week we had some warm, bright sunny days: heavy down coats back in the wardrobe, snow boots away, light coats out together with silk scarves and sunglasses!

But... no, not again... we had a few dark rainy days... what a sadness!

So I thought about bringing some spring in my craftroom creating these pretty clothespins:

Since I discovered these clothespins in a shop, I've made a series for every season and these pretty flowers from Birdie Brown were just perfect for the spring version!

With glitter here and there and a light green organza ribbon they instantly brought some cheer on my craft room table!

By the way, I'm a very happy winner of There She Goes Challenge # 145!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I read my name! And this helped me in a dark rainy day dedicated to cleaning the house...

This week the Challenge is about TAGS and I'm already creating some to enter it!

Meanwhile, I've just spent my $5 coupon on a new set of Torico's stamp!

A New Challenge!

I know, I know... I'm a really lazy blogger! I promised myself I would have been more active on the blog with the new year but time flies so fast...

Anyway, I'm so excited because I made a card yesterday which I really like!

In January, I treated myself with some stamps from There She Goes: I'm a fan of Torico, one of their designers, so I decided I should have some of their stamps.

They finally arrived and I love them! The lines are so thin and perfect and the sheets have many stamps and sentiments, very versatile!

Yesterday, they posted their weekly challenge and this was the sketch to follow:

This is my card:

This stamp is Float My Boat by Torico and I colored it with Copics. I made the bunting with the flags of the stamp sheet and glued them with 3D dots.

I wanted to keep the color scheme simple and "clean" so I used this striped paper from Pink Petticoat and I added no glitter... I still think that the stars on the bunting would have been very cute with some glitter...

I'm entering There She Goes Sketch Challenge # 145 and... I start dreaming about summer!

Buried under Snow...

These last 10 days have one thing in common: SNOW!

In our region it doesn't snow too much, I remember years without snow for the whole winter. These past few years were quite snowy and this is probably the snowiest of all!

It all started on Tuesday Jan. 31: it began slowly but, after weeks of warm weather, we were quite happy to see snow. It ended after 48 hours: cars buried under tons of snow, school closed for several days, everything was a real chaos!

It stopped for a while but than again, the whole weekend was spent looking out of the windows: it seems that the last heavy snowfall here was back in 1985 and I don't remember it.

Well, this morning I opened my email and read that it was suggested to collect kids from school at 11.30 because from 12.00 a snowstorm will start for another 36 hours... no, not again!

My sister had a baby last week: she lives in Milan but the conditions of roads and trains is so poor that I haven't managed to meet my nephew yet and it seems that this weekend it'll be impossible to go there...

Luckily enough, the last two days were sunny so the postman delivered some of my orders, amongst which four sets of new stamps from Torico I ordered from There She Goes stamps! I was looking forward to seeing them and now I think I'll work with them during the weekend!

Talking about Torico, as a daily reader of her blog, I discovered that she is sponsoring a challenge and I created this:

I love these pears and they were perfect for this little magnetic notepad, useful in the kitchen, near the telephone or wherever you need to jot down notes.

I've put in on a new metal shelf I bought from Ikea for my craft table and it looks so pretty!

Maybe I'll keep it for me...

The image is a freebie from Birdie Brown on Etsy and I'm entering the following Challenges:

DYSU Challenge # 58 - LOVE

and

Delightful Sketches Weekly Challenge - LOVE

and

Sarah Hurley Challenge # 59 - LOVE IS ALL AROUND

Well... I think that right now I could say that Snow is all around rather then love but in a few days it'll be Valentine day so let's celebrate!