Flower Power

I created this card at our play day using a technique shown here. (Jennifer McGuire does some amazing stuff!) The script is Rosewood French Script, stamped repeatedly in Memories Artprint Brown. Then I stamped and embossed Hero Arts "Floating Flowers" in clear over the script. With a dye ink I added colour to the open areas of the Hero Arts stamp. The flower is from Technique Tuesday "Pocket Full of Posies" stamped in the same dye ink and added blue accents with a Copic. I think will add dimensional product of some sort to the stamens, likely Glossy Accents. This is more my style, quick and easy

March Card Challenge

I chose this sketch for our March card challenge and as I said in my previous post, Donna & I found it more challenging than we thought it would be to follow a sketch.



Cassie joined our card challenge this month and her card used some beautiful paper that has a hand-made look. A Nestibility die was used for the layered medallion. She added a bit of bright ribbon, dollar store paper flowers and a gem to finish her card. Cassie did realize she had cut her smaller squares a bit too small and remade her card but gave it away before I could get a copy.



Donna's card features a cute stamped puppy from Inkadinkadoo. The puppy is layered onto Nestibility frames. She then added a beautiful ribbon and some doggie themed brads to complete the layout.




I tried hard to avoid the black & white featured in the sketch but in the end just couldn't resist. There is a sentiment stamped on the Nestibility frame but it is simply the wrong colour and I will restamp in a darker colour. I added some dollar store paper flowers with gem centres and a piece of ribbon.



Darlene used her Fiskars Shapeboss to add dimension to her card. The flowers and film strip are dry embossed and glittered. She used her Cricuit to cut the tag and stamped the lady on the tag. Darlene chose to round the corners of her upper squares and managed to create a perfect copy of the sketch in an A2 size. On the inside of the card she has stamped "Out of the way of a woman working." and unfortunately I don't know who makes that stamp.



And once again Lauri has created a stunning card. Lauri has used inks from Stampin' Up to create a perfectly coordinated card. The grass stamp is from Stampin' Up and she didn't mention where the sentiment stamp is from. The sentiment is layered onto blue cardstock, roughed up with a distressing tool and the edges softened with dark blue ink. Lauri created a large stamped image that she cut to replicated the sketch.





Darlene has chosen this month's challenge. Since she enjoyed the sketch challenge we will be making our cards based on this sketch for April.

Card Challenges

Donna & I have talked for awhile about getting together for what we call play days. During the winter months we decided to meet at the store with our friend Darlene to make cards and generally chat about where ever our conversations lead us. One thing for sure there is always lots of laughter. The idea of a card challenge was born one night while Donna was talking to her cousin, Lauri. Unfortunately Lauri lives much too far from us to join us on play day but she always sends a card to Donna for our challenges. Donna chose our first challenge of red and white cards in honour of Valentine's day.



My card relied heavily on some gorgeous paper that looks handmade. The sentiment is a Cuttlebug die. The scalloped layering elements are Nestibility dies. The all over background is Hero Arts, Four Leaf Grid.



Lauri's card blew us away. She stamped the flowers on vellum and added a bit of colour to the reverse for interest. The Nestibility tag is stamped, distressed and attached with a leather strapping. The beauiful silver charm was the perfect finishing touch. (Sorry Lauri I misplaced your notes on the stamps used for this card)



Donna is an animal lover and she has always been fond of these Rosewood Teddies. She added black gems for the eyes and nose. She then added red flock to the pads of their feets. The red layering piece has been run through the Cuttlebug folder, Heart Blocks. The sentiment is Rosewood.



Darlene is a glitter girl. The double heart is a Rosewood stamp. The "ink well"(upper left), "just a note"(lower right), "hi there" and the centre band are all Cuttlebug folders. The raised parts of the Cuttlebug embossed images are hit with glue and embellished with glitter. Darlene's card is a gate fold of sorts, "hi there" creates a tab to open the card.


It was a lot of fun to see how everyone interpreted the requirements of the challenge. For March Liz chose a card sketch, seen here. As soon as Donna gets Lauri's card, I will show you the cards we came up with.

Time is Running Out

The deadline for our Blog Candy draw is approaching quickly. Remember you can submit any card of your choosing but it must have at least 1 Rosewood stamp. Please send your entries to frogswhiskersink@gmail.com by March 31. I will get a photo tomorrow of the candy we will be sending the lucky winner.(Approx. retail value of $100 of Rosewood stamps.)

Spring Weather

The weather the last few days makes me believe spring (summer?) is coming. The girls & I did some yard work today in short sleeves. The girls had shorts on but I wasn't quite ready for that.

I hope where ever you are, you have been able to get out enjoy the beautiful days.

Getting Better

All is slowly returning to normal. Although there were a few nerve racking days last week, everything turned out to be better than expected.

Donna & I took a class on the use of Copic markers this past weekend. I personally love them, Donna not so much. The ability to layer on good strong colour appeals to us both, but Donna doesn't feel they give her enough control to keep within the lines.



I am truly amazed at how important paper is however. In the picture of the monkey and the cupcake you can see how much the ink feathered outside the lines of the image. Our instructor suggested that I stay a little farther away from the edges of the image to help solve this problem. The cute little bear was on different paper and I didn't have any problems with feathering. Our instructor, used digital images for our class, he little bear is from Squigglefly and the cupcake and monkey image is from Paper Romance.

Getting Back to Normal

Thankfully the emergency call last week has a clearer picture now and all isn't as bleak as we thought it might be.

Well I can't find the pictures of the card, I intended to show you. In it's place I have shared a card that I made a little while ago. The little bird is a sticker on a cardboard diecut. Some gorgeous cordinating paper, a stamped "Thank You" applied with a few pop dots and you're done. This is a 6" square card. The standard size cards are great, but I love the scale of a square card for a change.

Time Stood Still

Have you ever gotten one of those calls that stops you in your tracks? I got one of those calls last week and it was a call that is going to change what we at FWI will be doing for the foreseeable future. We will continue to provide the excellent service you have come to expect from FWI and we hope that as we go forward the changes we are making will be nearly invisible to you. We thank you for your patience as we figure out how best to proceed.

Blog Candy - UPDATE

March is National Craft Month and we want to celebrate with blog candy. Send us pictures of your project(s) and we will enter you in a draw for Rosewood stamps and goodies. There is only one rule you must use at least 1 Rosewood stamp. Contest closes March 31, 2010.

We can't wait to see what you can create. This is going to be such fun!


I have gotten some great feedback, I will be adding Mr. Linky and for those who don't have a blog please send your entries to frogswhiskersink@gmail.com. I will post them on the our blog for you.