Mister Old Fart

Today is my dad's birthday so I made him a hilarious card using one of the Gus birthday images from Bugaboo Stamps.

The saying cracks me up and it's perfect for him, because he is an old fart (said with much love). Today he turns the big 80!!!! Happy Birthday Dad!!! I know you don't read my blog (because you don't have a computer) but hopefully the well wishes will get to you anyway.  :-)

I printed the image onto Choice Snow White and coloured it with copics. I gave his overalls the look of real denim by colouring them first, then dabbing them with denim fabric that I soaked with colourless blending fluid. The effect is pretty subtle, but I love the result. Then I added a coat of clear glaze pen to his glasses and didn't even think that the printer ink might bleed...eek! I'm not used to using digis...sigh...I guess if I really squint hard it just looks like his glasses are tinted or something. It was the last thing I did on the image after the card was all put together, so there was no "re-doing" it. The papers are from my Basic Grey Life of the Party pad...perfect manly colours! I added a sparkly yellow ribbon and some star accents, which I cut out with my stacking stars die-namics. The layout is from the Sweet Stop Sketch blog, SSS101.

I have to say that my dad's been driving my mom crazy the past couple of weeks with the "you only turn 80 once" line. Turns out she's having to throw multiple small parties for him to appease him and as a cover up for the big surprise party we have planned for him in just over a week. Shh...don't tell him!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Snow Day

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC59. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog, The Sweetest Thing.

My love of snowmen continues with this fun snow guy!!! Isn't he adorable with that pot on his head?!? And of course, there were birds in the image too...swoon...so it was a must buy. Happy Snow Day is a digi image from Tiddly Inks and Christy has plenty more sweetness to choose from.

I printed him onto Bella's Bestest Paper then coloured him with copics. I didn't do a whole lot of shading but I still ended up using a pile of copics...sigh...but I guess that's why I bought them, right? I gave him sparkly red buttons with my red Spica glitter pen. For once there's no sewing or piercing on my card. But when it was all assembled it looked too plain, so I doodled a little border around the image...I like it! Oh, and this is my Christmas-card-of-the-week for this week.

I used papers from Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly line and paired them with Prism blush red dark and Prism island mist dark. The sentiment is from Home Sweet Home. I layered a few snowflakes and a button to top it off. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly this card came together. I had visions of fighting with this sketch but it all worked out in the end!

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. You'll find more sketch inspiration if you hop over to the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers.
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Release Day-It's a Party!!!

It's release day at Taylored Expressions and all the fabulous stamps and key ingredients you've seen over the past two days are now available for purchase.

Today we're having a party to celebrate one year since the Whimsical Wishes line was launched. There have been so many wonderful Whimsical Wishes sets designed by the talented Nancy McKinney over the past year and to celebrate we have a gift for you! Taylor is giving away a set of digital images called Whimsical Wishes Throughout the Year with any purchase from Taylored Expressions from now through Monday, March 8th. 

This is a set of four never-before-seen seasonal images and coordinating sentiments. These are open line images ready for you to colour with your favourite medium. And of course we have inspiration for you because today the Baker's Dozen is showcasing the four images from Whimsical Wishes Throughout the Year.

I chose to work with The Wonder of Winter. Those who know me won't be surprised by that choice...there's a bird in the image and it also works into my plan for creating Christmas cards all year long.   :)

I printed the image with my ink jet printer onto Choice Snow White, twice, and coloured it with copic markers (no heat setting required). The image is cut out with square Nestabilities and layered onto a scalloped square. I cut out the cardinal and popped it for dimension. Then I added two coats of clear glaze pen to the balls on the wreath and used my red Spica pen to add just a little sparkle to the cardinal.

To get the sentiment onto the Prism Classic Red layer I masked off what I didn't want to print (by adhering a sheet of regular copy paper over top of the red cardstock leaving the red exposed at the bottom) then ran the red cardstock throuh my printer and cut it to size. The patterned paper is from  SEI and I also used Prism Suede Brown Dark and Prism Frosted Pink. But how about that ribbon...YUM!!! It's carnation pink silk ribbon and it's sooooooo luxurious! It's thin and very easy to work with but still keeps it's form when you fluff the bow...LOVE it!!!

But that's not all...Taylored Expressions is also having an anniversary sale. The first two sets released in the Whimsical Wishes family last year were Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates. Each of these 2 sets are on sale for 25% off through Monday March 8th. Note: since these two sets were originally part of our Giving Tree charitable program they come in sheet form attached to EZ Mount. You will need to trim them out when you receive them.

AND...Nancy's having a little contest on her blog, Card Worthy. Be sure to hop over and wish her Happy Anniversary and play along in her contest for a chance to win a FREE Whimsical Wishes set!!!

In case you're looking for the new products, here are the links to the TE store:
You're My Hero stamp set
Rock Star Key Ingredients
Rock Star Copic Kit
Easter Blessings stamp set
Favourite Peeps stamp set
Easter Key Ingredients
Easter Copic kit
Spring Sampler
Eggstra Special Image Sheet Download

Or you can click on the Fresh Out of the Oven tab to see these new products and several others, like the brand new Spellbinders dies that were just released at CHA...nested eggs, big scalloped Nestabilities, Labels 10, 11, 12, & 13, along with the Basic Grey Kioshi and Green at Heart paper and embellishments.

If you're still with me after all that information, then you certainly deserve to see the rest of the Baker's Dozen  creations using Whimsical Wishes Throughout the Year.

Alex Maldonado

Amy Sheffer (guest designer extraordinaire!)

Carolina Butching

Charmaine Ikach

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jeanie Witmer

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Nancy McKinney (stamp designer extraordinaire!)

Sankari Wegman

and Taylor Van Bruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Scoring

ETA: OMG!!! That was an exciting game!!! A total nail biter right down to the clincher in overtime. I'm so happy for Team Canada...Wooo Hooo...14 gold medals for Canada in these Winter Olympics!!! But I have to say, if there was a tournament MVP it would be the US goalie Ryan Miller, IMHO...he was so consistent the entire time, like a wall in front of the net!  Phew...I can breathe again.....    :)

Or at least I hope it'll be Sweet Sunday Scoring for Team Canada in the gold medal hockey game today!!! I'm already getting nervous for the game and it's still 4 hours away! I think that regardless of who wins (of course I'm cheering for Canada, but if Canada wasn't in the game I'd be cheering for the USA) it's going to be one of the most amazing games ever, and best of all, both countries will be adding one last medal to their medal counts!

I couldn't let today slide by without making one last Canadian card, and my friend Nancy designed a few more Canadian images so I decided to use the Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC58, again. The mitts and hat are covered with Rockstar Red Sparkly Fluff. If you'd like these images simply visit Nancy's blog, Card Worthy, and you can email her for the file. Thank you Nancy!!!

So dinner's in the crock pot and my Olympic mittens are on the couch waiting for me...tick tock tick tock...now we wait! In fact, I'm sure two great nations are waiting not so patiently for this game...talk about excitement to top off the Winter Olympics!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

True North Strong and Free

My super talented designer friend Nancy McKinney at Card Worthy created some fun Canadian digi images and she's giving them away on her blog!!! So if you're feeling a little patriotic, like I am, then pop over and grab the freebies! This is just three of the images/sentiments in the PDF download. I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge, MTSC62, for the layout.

Canada had an amazing day at the Olympics yesterday with four medals, two in the women's bobsled!!! Wooo Hoooo!!! Then our men's hockey team looked like someone lit a fire under they're butts in the game again Russia, with a 7-3 win. The Canada-Russia hockey rivalry goes back decades and this is the first time Canada has beaten Russia in hockey at the Olympics in fifty years!!! Go Team!!! I'm just thankful to CNBC that they're broadcasting the games here in the US because I'll be glued to my tv again Friday night for the semi-final game. I'm keeping my fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed that the finals on Sunday will be a re-match of Canada vs USA. And the Canadian women's hockey team plays for gold tonight against the USA. Go Canada Go!!! And I can't forget about the women's figure skating free skate tonight...I'm rooting for Joannie Rochette all the way. She's so inspiring to be able to skate such a wonderful program so recently after the death of her mother...that is Olympic strength!!! Gosh...I'm gonna need multiple tv's going at once! I can't DVR anything either because I'm taping Grey's and my other regular shows...perhaps I'll get my excercise tonight running from room to room watching different tvs!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen