A Moment in Time

Monday Hello

Happy Monday everyone! How was everyone's Mother's Day?  I got the best present ever from my mom....  an overnight visit with Grandma for my kids, so that I could sleep in!!!  She's so wonderful. I forgot what it was like to lay in bed until I got to decide when to get up. My kids also made me the cutest little things too, I just love it when they get out their crayons and scissors and glue and sparkles. 

It looks like Spring has finally decided to stay around here, last week saw everything from snow to hail to rain to sun. Now it's just beautiful and clear!  The only downside to this is that after all of that wetness and now the heat, my lawn is gonna look more like the Amazon by the weekend. 

I thought I'd post this little card today, I mentioned how this week you'd see some cherries, here they are!

I used the cherry images from the newest RBD set Summer Fruit. I then blinged them up a bit with some Stickles.

I used Bazzil Swiss dot cardstock in red and I took my sponge and lightly dabbed it into the white pigment ink and brushed it lightly to get the dots to "pop" a bit more. I love that cardstock!

The ribbon is also RBD, Red satin dot print.

If you haven't been over to Embellish Magazine blog yet Make sure to get over there and enter in the challenge RBD is sponsoring!  I am working on a card that matches the challenge and I'll post it here in a bit.

Here's the color palette, be sure to create your card and then head on over and link it to enter the challenge! You must also incorporate some use of dimension on your card.

There is a gift certificate to be won!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

~D

BBQ skewer invites

As promised, here I am! 

Our house has a bit of a cold going through it but I managed to squeeze a bit of time in the workshop to get these invites done.  Can you tell that the watermelon image is one of my favourites? Be ready for an influx of cherries next week ;)

I liked the idea of adding a BBQ skewer for a bit of interest.

Of course once I got doing the invites I decided to make all of the napkins, plates and cups match too! Just be careful when you do them that you use a waterproof ink like Staz-on or Pallette when you make them. Wouldn't want all of your guests leaving with colored lips and hands would you? I used the newest set from RBD called Summer Fruit but I also used two other popular sets from RBD, Listed (Lines and black details in scallops) and Invitation Station (for the date, time place and RSVP stamps).

I'm sure you'll see a lot of me in the next bit... I'm LOVING this set!!!

Have a great rest of the week!

~D

Curly Tree ETA

Good Beautiful day folks!  I thought I'd pop on and show you my card which was totally inspired by Carly's card over at Paper in Bloom.  

I love how she used the Borderlines set and created her background on a layer using Versamark.... so I HAD to run and pull mine out and use it too. I love how each one of the borders when repeated make such lovely backgrounds.

 I also used the Curly Tree set, which I am happy to announce will be back in stock mid next week!!  I know there are a bunch of you waiting patiently for it to come in so check back around Wednesday :)  (Listed will also be back in stock as well!)

Hope you are all doing well, I've been playing with the new set to be released May first and I can't wait to show it to you!!

Best,

~D

Just for you (and Design Team Call)

What is up with this weather?! I've looked out the window three times in the last hour and each time has been completely different! It is currently snowing sideways!! Yuck.

After a hard last couple of weeks I am officially getting back on track. I have a card here for you today which is done using the newest set from RBD called Sentimental Sayings.

Can you tell I was in a mood to layer? I just couldn't help myself.

In other news, We are holding a Design Team call for RBD for a guest spot for the month of July, 2010. If you are interested in applying for the spot, send your best* work to submissions@renaissancebydesign.com by April 30,2010. All entries will be reviewed and the winner will be notified by May 15th, 2010.  The chosen candidate will receive free product to create with for the month of July as well as have their blog or website and their work featured here, on the .com site as well as the Facebook group.

Happy scrappin' folks, I'm off to create.

*you may use any product or brand to create the sample of your best work. Layouts and cards as well as alterables will be accepted.

Life is GREAT!

Hello all!!  What a great day to wake up to eh? The first few signs of spring are here, little green sprigs of grass popping up, fresh breezes blowing through and birds chirping joyfully. I love spring. I love life.

This March seems to be a lamb and I will take it gladly! We got out with the kids this past weekend and went quadding and played in the mud. We had SO much fun, I love what a little taste of warm weather does for the soul! Here are a couple of pictures of my boys gettin' dirty... I took about 300 that day!

Aren't they cute!? My ears still had mud in them two days later! Haha we had fun though.

on with the crafting.....

This is a card made with the newest set from RBD called Enjoy Life

I'm sure you notice that the butterfly in my card has TWO wings!!! This is a little trick with acetate that I've used many times to create the mirror image of the stamp I have. Perhaps I will crate a tutorial on this in the near future!

Happy Spring everyone!!!! Life is GREAT!!!!

~D

Pretty is...

I don't know if you've seen this event on Facebook but it's called Tell Her She's Beautiful and it begins tomorrow. It is a simple idea, much like the Dove campaign for Real Beauty where we focus on the harmful effects of advertising and media on women, teens and young girls and their self-esteem and self-image. 

This is an event which was created by a man who wants nothing more than for people to take a minute and recognize that every woman is beautiful in their own way.... and for you to tell them you think so. Everybody needs to hear it sometimes. I think this is an amazing and powerful message that should be sent everyday to daughters, mothers and friends alike.

So to all of you self-conscious, beautiful women out there, hold your head high and know, YOU ARE TRULY BEAUTIFUL!... and somebody thinks so, they may just have gotten caught up in their busy lives and have forgotten to say it.  

This card was made with the new Sole to Soul set, I heat embossed the shoe in black, used various shades of Copics and then covered it with irridecent glitter. The velvet ribbon is from my stash, along with the buckle. The little flourish under the sentiment is taken from the other new set from RBD Leave Your Mark.

 I thought it was fitting for sending such a message. I'm going to mail it to my sister in Vancouver whom I see very rarely. I also briefly have thought about going through the phonebook and sending anonymous, uplifting cards. How do you think they would be received?

Cardboard Creativity

Well, today I thought I'd share both a card with you and a little trick that I've been using for years to spice up my cards and gift packaging.

Here is the card, I apologize for the lighting, I like to photograph in natural light but today is just plain ugly outside and the light coming through the window is barely even light!!

I used the tree image from the newest stamp set from RBD Season's Best and inked it and then sponged the edges with a bit darker color.

I then took my glue pen and traced the swirls on the image and covered them in glitter. This tree was just begging for something inside those little swirls so I added three half pearls. I added a glittered star on top, a ribbon and then layered the sentiment. Voila!

I'm enjoying the shabby chic look quite a lot right now (I think because I am doing a lot of homemade wood Christmas gifts this year) and I think it's showing in my cards! 

If you notice the mat behind the focal image you may think it looks familiar.  What this is is what I think a simple solution for homemade "boutiquey" packaging and you can find it in almost EVERY house. What is it?  Well it's cardboard. Yup. Plain, old corrugated box. You'll need a piece the size of a cardfront, or if you're wrapping a gift, a piece that will cover the gift when wrapping.(I also think it looks smart when you wrap a gift in a solid color of paper and then only use a band of this cardboard around it.)

Now we need to separate the layers, all we want is the middle layer!

What I've found is that the easiest way to do this is to wet the cardboard thoroughly and then let it dry. This seems to make it come off in more of a single piece. If it is especially stubborn you may want to do this a few times.

Okay, I'll tell you how I discovered this little trick....   I just left some cardboard boxes out on my deck and it snowed on them a few times. haha I found that the boxes from outside were WAY easier to work with! Happy accident! YAY!

So, take your cardboard piece (a full panel if you are wrapping a gift) and peel off the top layer. If you want some thickness to your project you can stop there. If you want to wrap a gift or die cut this (like I have done above on my card), I recommend doing both sides. I think it adds a very warm and rustic touch, a bit homey and definitely crafty! I'll try to take a picture of some gifts I've wrapped (yes I know it's too early to have done this, but I have!!!) using this technique and post them for you in the next few days! :)

I think bars of soap would look great wrapped in a piece of this tied with raffia and a little welcome message in my guest bath. Hmmm...

Well, happy cardboarding folks, as always I'd love to see what you do with this technique!!!

Happy Cardboarding!!!!

I'll be back soon with some more homemade ornament and decor ideas!

September Release!

Hello hello!  Here I am to unveil the newest set from RBD Happy Halloween. I wanted to design something which could be used both by the scrapbooker and the gift or treat giver. Since I haven't been able to play with this set myself (see previous post about the chaos while I move!) both Tina and Deb have done a beautiful job in using this new set.

Here are a few projects created by our talented guest designer, Deb. Please visit her blog and tell her what a fabulous job she's done! Don't you just LOVE how she incorporated our scrolls into her designs? Fabulous job Deb!

For all of you interested in purchasing this set, the shopping cart access will be restored on September 15th! Don't forget to order all of your bags and tins and alterables for those special goblins this year! Remember, if you spend over $50 CDN you receive FREE shipping within Canada and the US!

Okay! Back to unpacking! I can't wait to ink this set up and post some ideas for this one!!!

Strictly Sentiments

Hello everyone! I almost died today when I realized that we are already in AUGUST! Can you believe it! Where is this summer going!? Pretty soon we'll be packing our little ones back to school

I am here today to introduce the newest set out from RBD called Strictly Sentiments.  I made this set with the hopes of adding more versatility to any other set that you already own.

The simple script sentiments are perfect to add the finishing touch to any card. By adding this set to your collection, you are adding amazing versatility to any of your other graphic stamps! This set has 29 stamps included!!

Don't miss the previous post and leave a comment to win a monogram stamp!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!!

Thank you

Here's number two in my group of three using the patterned paper created with the new set from RBD  Blossom and Wilt.

I cut the paper on a curve for a little interest and paper pierced the corner for some detail.

I added some glitter just like the last one, and finished off with a sentiment (this one is actually from a set to be released in August!)

Hope you had a fabulous week!

Cheers!

~Devon