ODBDSLC232 - Anything Goes with ODBD Stamps

This week's challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs is Anything Goes, ODBDSLC232. Here is my card:

For my card I have stamped the basket image from Our Daily Bread Designs Basket of Blessings, fussy cut it and then coloured wtih Copic markers (E21, E23, E25, and E27). I've then diecut 13 eggs from ODBD Shabby Rose Paper Collection using ODBD Eggs Dies. The basket and the eggs in the front of the basket are popped up on foam tape.

The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs Basket of Blessings and I've diecut it using ODBD Mini Tags Dies. I've also diecut two pieces using ODBD Beautiful Borders dies and added them to the left side of my card.

Easter is only a few sleeps away - a time when we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. He was the perfect sacrifice, dying on the cross for our sins. But it does not end there. He conquered death - rising from the dead. Those that believe in Him (Jesus), though our earthly bodies die, will go on to live with Jesus forever! This is what we remember and celebrate at Easter.

For more inspiration for this challenge please visit my talented design team sisters:

Gracie, Paula, Diana, Robin, and Chris

To see all the projects created for ODBDSLC232 or to join the challenge click here. You have until 8 pm Sunday, 5 April 2015 EDT to join us (or 8 am Monday , 6 April 2015 AWST). By participating in the challenge, you have a chance to win a $15 ODBD Gift Certificate that can be used towards the purchase of stamps in the “stamps column” in the ODBD store; or to be spotlighted on the ODBD Blog at our next challenge! The random prize winner will be posted on our next challenge post.

Thanks for looking!

ODBDSLC231 - Spring and Easter Inspiration

I hope you have enjoyed the two week long ODBD Shining the Light challenge - Sketch and all the challenges and sales etc. that has been going at Our Daily Bread Designs - celebrating their 7th Anniversary!

This week the challenge is an inspiration challenge, ODBDSLC231. Here is the card I made:

And this is the gorgeous inspiration image:

As you can see I've used the picture on the right as my inspiration adding some eggs and lavender to my card. The scripture I've chosen to use on my card, 1 John 5:12 relates to the scripture in the inspiration image. In John 11:25 Jesus is saying that although you will die (here on earth), if you believe in Him, you will have eternal life with Him in heaven. This is what 1 John 5:12 is also talking about - if you believe in Jesus - you will have eternal life with Him. For 1 John 5:13 says "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life". When I look at the eggs on my card I think of new life. When we become believers in Jesus we are being "born again" - starting a new life in Him. And the lavender on my card reminds me that, once we are believers, we are to "bloom" for Jesus - to live for Him and spread the wonderful news about Jesus to the world. 

For my card I have stamped Our Daily Bread Designs Lavender image three times onto the ODBD Shabby Rose Collection paper. I've then stamped Our Daily Bread Designs Christ the Lord background onto the leftover piece of ODBD Shabby Rose Collection paper. Then stamped the outline of the eggs over the top using Our Daily Bread Designs Basket of Blessings. I've diecut the eggs using ODBD Eggs dies. 

For the scripture panel I stamped the verse from Our Daily Bread Designs The Lord has Risen and then diecut with ODBD Elegant Ovals dies and inked while still in the die. I've actually used the same purple ink for the whole of my card but it turned out quite bright on the white scripture panel and a more blue-purple colour on the ODBD Shabby Rose collection paper. Lastly I added some stick-on half pearls in the top right corner.

For more inspiration for this challenge please visit my talented design team sisters:

Gracie , Paula, Robin, Diana, Chris

To see all the projects created for ODBDSLC231 or to join the challenge click here. You have until 8 pm Sunday, 29 March 2015 EDT to join us (or 8 am Monday , 30 March 2015 AWST). By participating in the challenge, you have a chance to win a $15 ODBD Gift Certificate that can be used towards the purchase of stamps in the “stamps column” in the ODBD store; or to be spotlighted on the ODBD Blog at our next challenge! The random prize winner will be posted on our next challenge post.

Thanks for looking!

ODBD Scripture Blog Hop - March 2015

Our Daily Bread Designs has a special Blog Hop for you today - a Scripture Blog Hop. Here is the card I made using Scripture Collection 2:

Cardstock I have used is Bazzill heavyweight and textured French Vanilla. The gorgeous DP is ODBD Shabby Rose Collection - the newest one to be added to ODBD's paper collection. The DP is diecut with ODBD Flourished Star Pattern die. I've then stamped the DP with the image from Our Daily Bread Designs Miss You in Distress Ink Stormy Sky.

Other diecuts I've used include ODBD Beautiful Borders dies, ODBD Fancy Foliage dies, ODBD Ornamental Crosses dies (for the flowers) and ODBD Doily die.  Most have been inked with Distress Ink Stormy Sky.

I have stamped the Scripture, from Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection 2, onto the smooth side of Bazzill textured French Vanilla with Memento Tuxedo Black. I've then diecut it with ODBD Elegant Ovals dies. This has been added to the card popped up on foam tape.

For more inspiration please visit my talented DT sisters:

 Lori * Chris * Angie * Silke * Robin * Sabrina * Grace * Audrey *

* Cathy * Dawn * Sandee * Gracie *

We would love to have you join us in sharing your projects using an ODBD Scripture. Whether it be cards with fun folds, CAS, cards using techniques, scrapbook pages or home decor items, we would love to see the projects you create using ODBD Scripture stamps.

To enter, simply create your project using ODBD Scripture, then add your permalink to the InLinkz found at the bottom of this post by Saturday, 20 March 2015. Seven random winners will be chosen from all entries to receive a $15 ODBD Gift Certificate to the ODBD Store, to be used toward the purchase of ODBD Stamps found in the "stamps column" of the website. Winners will be posted on the ODBD Blog on Sunday, 21 March 2015, so please be sure to check there to see if you have won.

ODBD products I have used on my card:

Our Daily Bread Designs is also having a sale! From now through Saturday, 21 March 2015 you can SAVE 20% on all Scripture Collection stamp sets! Please see the ODBD Blog for more details.


Also - visit the ODBD Blog on 17th March for ODBD's Anniversary Blog Hop!

Thanks for looking!

EDIT: 30 April 2015 - I've changed the url of this post to try and reduce annoying spam that seems to be targeting this post. Sorry if you had trouble finding this page.

Whimsy Stamps - Dyanne

I never tire of colouring-in Whimsy Stamps - especially all the ones designed by Sylvia Zet - what a talented artist! This stamp is called "Dyanne" (Wee Stamps for Whimsy Stamps) and I've made the card for a friend's daughter who recently had surgery. Here is my card:

The image is a digital stamp but she is available as a rubber stamp on the Whimsy Stamps website (as they no longer sell digi stamps). I printed her onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copic markers.

Copic colours that I used

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04 and R20 (blush)

Hair: Y23, E15, E09, E29

Crown: R81, R83, R85, R89

Clothes and Shoes: B91, B93, B95, B97, B99 (blue) and R81, R83, R85, R89 (pink)

Wings: R81, R89, Y11, V01

Flowers: V01, V12, V25, V28 and Y15 for the centres

Greenery: YG03, G24 and G28

Background (dots): B91, R81, Y11, V01

Ground: N1, N3, N5

Here's an image with the Copic colours I used if you're interested (feel free to pin):

The DP that I've used to make my card is "Lili of the Valley and NitWit Collections by Mary Fran - Bonnets and Bowties" and I've used Bazzill heavyweight cardstock. I've inked the layers with Distress Ink Milled Lavender.

Flowers are from AnnaBelle Stamps (now closed) and Live and Love Crafts. I use a combination of quick dry glue and scrapdots to attach leaves / flowers to my card. For cardstock / paper leaves I use the Helmar 450 quick dry glue.

The two foliage dies I used are ODBD Fancy Foliage dies and Spellbinders Foliage Two dies.

Lastly I added some Stickles (Stardust) to the wings and crown and then placed some liquid pearls over the image - I used Buttercup and Lavender Lace. I also placed some small dots of glossy accents randomly over the background.

My daughters know this little girl and were quite concerned and asked many questions about her surgery. They both wanted to make something for her too - these are the cards they made:

Made by my eldest daughter (6). Image: La La Land Crafts - Sassy Princess Marci

Coloured by my youngest daughter (3). Images: PowerPoppy Countryside Bouquet, Geraniums Take Two and Big Scripts.

Praying that this little girl (and another little boy I know) both recover from their surgery as quickly as possible.

Thanks for looking!

ODBDSLC230 - Sketch

Our Daily Bread Designs has a new challenge this week and it's a sketch challenge, ODBDSLC230. This challenge will run for 2 weeks! Here is my card:

And here is the sketch:

I haven't deviated from the sketch much except that I changed the scalloped circle to a plain circle. I went with contrasting colours for my card (opposite on the colour wheel) as they make each other stand out a little more. So I've used the tangerine (orange and cream) ribbon to bring out the blue flowers. 

To make my card I stamped the image, Our Daily Bread Designs Daisy, onto smooth watercolour card and have coloured the image using Prismacolor pencils. 

Primsmacolor pencil colours that I used are

Flowers: 938 (White), 1023 (Cloud Blue), 904 (Cerulean Blue), 933 (Violet Blue)

Flower Centres: 916 (Canary Yellow), 918 (Orange)

Leaves: 989 (Chartreuse), 1005 (Limepeel), 911 (Olive Green)

Background leaves: as for leaves + 948 (Sepia) and 1077 (colourless) to fade edges out

I've then cut out the image using ODBD Circle Ornament dies and matted using ODBD Matting Circles dies. The DP is Bo Bunny Rose Cafe and I've used Bazzill card. The bees are stamping using Our Daily Bread Designs Zinnia and diecut using ODBD Zinnia and Leaves dies. 

For the tag I have diecut it using ODBD Mini Tags dies and then stamped the sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs Mini Tag Sentiments in Memento Tangelo ink. I've then added some twine. The tag and bees are popped up on foam tape.

For more inspiration for this challenge please visit my talented design team sisters:

Gracie Chavez, Paula Bigelow, Robin Clendenning, Diana Nguyen , Chris Olsen

To see all the projects created for ODBDSLC230 or to join the challenge click here. You have until 8 pm Sunday, 22 March 2015 EDT to join us (or 8 am Monday , 23 March 2015 AWST) (2 weeks). By participating in the challenge, you have a chance to win a $15 ODBD Gift Certificate that can be used towards the purchase of stamps in the “stamps column” in the ODBD store; or to be spotlighted on the ODBD Blog at our next challenge! The random prize winner will be posted on our next challenge post.

Thanks for looking!

Copic Colour Combinations

The most popular posts on my blog are my Copic colour combinations. I'm constantly updating my Copic Journal with more colour combinations so I thought I'd share some more pages that I've been adding in the last year.

You can view my previous Copic Journal pages here:

Copic Journal - R, YG and G combinations

Copic Journal - Colourless Blender

Copic Journal - Skin Colours 1

Copic Journal - Hair Colours 1

Copic Journal - More Colour Combinations - R, YG, G, B, BV, V

I've also started a Copic page that has lots of information (and links to more information) on Copic markers.

Here are some pages I've added to my journal in the last 12 months:

(please see the posts above for other combinations - I have not repeated those pages here)

R, YG and G combinations

Image from Flourishes "Bloomin' Aussie Florals"

B combinations

Image from Our Daily Bread Designs "Butterfly Single"

BV combinations

Image from Our Daily Bread Designs "Butterfly Single"

V combinations

Image from Our Daily Bread Designs "Butterfly Single"

Skin Combinations (my favourite is the * one)

Template from Copic Oz website

Hair combinations (one of my favourites is the top right one)

Templates from Copic Oz website and from Copic Colouring Book

E and YR combinations (good for terracotta pots / clay items etc)

Fairy wing / Two-tone combinations  

(these are not blended but flicked in from either side)

Higher contrast combinations

Image Mo Manning - Tropfish 2

Thanks for looking and be sure to check out my Copic page.

6000 Piece Jigsaw

Wanted to share with you today another "hobby" of mine - jigsaws. My mum introduced me to jigsaws and I'm very glad she did. I love them and find then relaxing, fun and sometimes frustrating but I love seeing them finished at the end. I hadn't got any of my jigsaws out in the last few years and then towards the end of last year I decided to buy a couple from an online store. One of the ones I bought was a 6000 piece jigsaw.

To my mum and I, that was huge! The biggest I'd ever done before was 1500 (or maybe a 2000); my mum has completed a 3000 piece one before - but 6000 is so much bigger! (I found out later you can get 9000, 18000, 24000 and up to 33000 pieces (well that's just crazy)!)

We had a pretty busy end of year so we decided that we wouldn't start the 6000 until after Christmas. I had 2 weeks off work and mum was going to be able to spend time on it too - so we thought - yep, 2 weeks should be plenty. Wrong! Over 2 months later (68 days to be exact) we finally finished it yesterday.

Now, we didn't spend every waking moment on it, so it could've been completed quite a bit quicker but we did spend the first 2 weeks pretty solidly on it and my mum and dad spent a lot of nights working on it too! My mum and I did write down how many hours we spent on it but I've left the piece of paper at my mum's - so I will have to let you know that later.

To put it into perspective for those of you who may not do jigsaws - I can complete a 1500 piece jigsaw, by myself, in 2 days. So that's why we thought 2 weeks should be plenty. But it turns out - its way more complicated than just "4 x harder than a 1500"!

It took us 2 hours just to sort out the pieces into "colours" and to find all the edge pieces. And then the rest of that first day just putting the edge pieces together (and found out later some of them were in the wrong spot)!

To make things a little more tricky this puzzle does not have unique pieces - so some of the pieces will fit perfectly (and I mean perfectly) where they shouldn't go. But sometimes it's hard to tell if the picture fits or not. So there were some frustrating moments but on the whole I really enjoyed this puzzle and I love the picture :-)

So here it is:

The jigsaw is called "Toadstool Cottage" and is by Educa.

Here is a close-up of the chair just in front of the house - so you can see how many pieces there are just for that small section!

It's a bit hard to see from the photo how large it is but it is 61.5" (1.56 m) x 42.5" (1.07 m). We didn't have a table that large but my dad had a piece of chipboard he placed on one of the tables. And I'm grateful my parents have a huge room! This jigsaw wouldn't fit in my house!

It was tricky trying to get photos of the jigsaw too - this is the setup I had to use (camera is not "on" the tripod in the photo - but you get the idea) - chairs, books - tripod at its max!

This is me and my Dad and Mum - the only three people (maybe except for a few pieces by a couple of others) that completed the jigsaw.

And my kids wanted to have a photo too - I'm very happy they didn't run away with any pieces!

I'm not sure how long it's going to sit on "display" (I think my Dad wants the table back...) so maybe not too long. 

My Mum and I decided that this is a "once in 10 years" kind of puzzle. By then my girls will be old enough to help too :-) I do plan to do it again.....one day.

Apples

Just popping in to share a quick card I made using Our Daily Bread Designs Apples stamp set.

I've stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto X-Press It blending card and coloured with Copic markers.

Copic markers used

Apples: R22, R29, R59, C5

Leaves: YG13, G24, G28

Container: E41, E44, E47, E49

Grass: Y23, G24, G28

Ground: C2, C5, C7

For the other layers I've used Bazzill cardstock and the DP is Studio Calico - Elementary Collection - Nibbles. I've used a Sizzix Texturz Plate - hearts on the green card in the background. Most layers have been inked with Distress Ink Festive Berries.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

1. Word Art Wednesday challenge #173 - Anything Goes;

2. Alphabet Challenge Blog - A for Apples; and

3. Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge SC529.

Thanks for looking!

ODBDSLC229 - Pastel Colours

The challenge this week at Our Daily Bread Designs is a Pastel Colour challenge, ODBDSLC229. Here is my card:

And here is the colour palette (choose 3 or more colours).

When I saw the pastel colours I thought of using vellum! For my card I have taken a piece of vellum and stamped the butterfly from Our Daily Bread Designs Butterfly Single using Distress Embossing Ink (you could use any clear sticky ink like VersaMark Watermark etc.) and then embossed using white embossing powder. 

I've then turned the vellum over and coloured the butterflies using my Copic markers (make sure you're colouring on the side that does NOT have embossing powder). Copic marker colours that I've used are: V12, Y13, G12, B12 and R22. Copic markers do not blend on vellum very well and they tend to leave streaky marks. So I coloured always in flicks (not in circles or back and forwards or anything) and I've just flicked the two colours together from opposite ends of the butterflies. The second colour will pick up the first colour that you've laid down so you will need to scribble this off on a scrap piece of paper to ensure your markers do not become contaminated.

When I've attached my vellum piece to the white card I've used a large sheet of double sided adhesive so you won't see the "joins / sides" of the tape if I was to use thin double sided tape.

I've stamped the same butterfly on a piece of white card in Memento Summer Sky ink and diecut using the ODBD Butterfly die. I then added some Stickles Waterfall to the butterfly's body.

The sentiment is stamped in the same blue ink and comes from Our Daily Bread Designs Birthday Doily stamp set.

Lastly I added three icicle sprinkles to the top right corner of the card.

For more inspiration for this challenge please visit my talented design team sisters:

Paula Bigelow, Robin Clendenning, Gracie Chavez , Diana Nguyen, and Chris Oslen

To see all the projects created for ODBDSLC229 or to join the challenge click here. You have until 8 pm Sunday, 8 March 2015 EDT to join us (or 9 am Monday , 9 March 2015 AWST). By participating in the challenge, you have a chance to win a $15 ODBD Gift Certificate that can be used towards the purchase of stamps in the “stamps column” in the ODBD store; or to be spotlighted on the ODBD Blog at our next challenge! The random prize winner will be posted on our next challenge post.

I am entering my project in Word Art Wednesday challenge #172 - Anything Goes.

Thanks for looking!