Spellbinders to the rescue!

As you can guess from the dates of my posts, I haven't had much time for crafting since the beginning of the year. Something else always had priority, so when I suddenly needed a card for a colleague leaving for another office, my box of ready made cards was empty and I had to put one together quickly. Spellbinders dies are great for quick cards as they do all the work for you. You just have to cut, assemble, add a few embellishments and a sentiment .. et voilà, the card is done! :D The sentiment is from Lily of the Valley. I've done another card like this but in pink and cream, so I have something ready if the need suddenly arises.

Have a nice beginning of week and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs, Vittoria

Long time no post!

Hello everyone!!!

So sorry it's been so long since I posted here :-( But crazy life often gets in the way, you know!

I finally was able to finish a project, and here is what I came up with.

I had a very feminine birthday card in mind, with soft shades of pink and grey, plus lace, flower and pearls, of course! I used quite a few Spellbinders dies for this card, it's not a secret that I'm crazy about them. Lace and satin ribbon are from my stash and so is the little charm on the bow which says "Made with love" - so cute!

I'm entering this card in the following challenge:

 

Inky chicks challenge

 

 

 

Have a nice evening!

Hugs to all, Vittoria

Cinderella

Hello crafters!
The theme for the current challenge at Saturated Canary is "Movie inspiration" and I was inspired by Cinderella for this card. Same layout and colours of my previous card, these light blues are perfect for Cinderella, which in my case is not a blondie but a brunette!! The digital image I used is "Thank you", absolutely adorable! It was coloured with Copics, what else? :D

Have a nice beginning of week and happy crafting!

Hugs, Vittoria

January blues

Hello there stampers!
I hope you have had a wonderful and creative weekend!
I've finally managed to finish a nice card in a colour combination that I love, love, love: butter and light blue. The focal image was created with a Penny Black stamp "Words like flowers", the newest addition to my collection. As the Penny Black Saturday challenge is "Janaury blues" this month, I decided to stamp it in light brown ink on light blue cardstock and embossed it (hence the glare in the photo, sorry!). The image was then cut out using Spellbinders petit oval nestabilities. Button, ribbon and flowers are from my stash, and so is the sentiment stamp. I also used a Martha Stewart punch to create a decorated border and sponged all the edges with brown ink. The papers I used are digital and love them, I think I will be using them for another card. Stickles were added to the flowers - some bling cannot be missing, can it? ;-)

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - January Blues

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - Anything goes

Have a nice evening and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs, Vittoria

No more shells!

Hello there stampers!
I have a lovely card to share with you today. It was made a while ago when my colleagues and I were attending a course of legal English. Our teachers Jean always told us not to use the verb SHALL when drafting our legal documents as it's old fashioned and no longer used now. So here is the card I came up with for her at the end of the course, playing on the words SHALL/SHELL. The pun and humour were surely appreciated! :D The images I used here are digital stamps, which I coloured with Copics. The designer papers are digital, too. Brads, button and ribbon are from my stash - the card base was made using my favourite cardstock colour: chocolate brown, love it! Some glitter here and there completed the card. I love squared cards, I seem to be addicted to them these days. They look so nice and elegant.

Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon!
Have a nice beginning of week.

Hugs, Vittoria

Happy 2013!

Hello there my friends,
and first of all happy New Year to you all!! I hope 2013 will bring you everything you are longing for!
I have a quick card to share with you today, and it's a winter card.
The stamp I used in one of my favourites from Whipper Snapper Designs, "Shovelling snowman" which was coloured in light blues and greens with Copics. The 3-D snowflakes were made with Spellbinders dies, I guess it's "Snowflake 1". We had more than 30 cm (12 inches) of snow here right before Christmas, and more snow is forecast for tonight, so this card is perfect! The flash of my camera didn't work while I was taking the photo, so the glitter I put on the snowflakes and on the snow do not shows, aargh!! Why do I always struggle with my photos?

Thanks for visiting and have a brilliant beginning of the year! :D
Hugs, Vittoria

Merry Kissmoose!

Hello there stampers!
I have a fun card to share with you today. Some days ago I was reorganizing the file folders on my laptop and came across a Christmas card I made a few years ago combining digital and rubber stamps. As I thought it was pretty nice and I needed a last minute card to put in the mail, I decided to make one quickly. That was truly fun, I love that whimsical Whippersnapperdesigns stamp with the moose and matching greeting, so cute! It's undoubtedly something different, tee hee!! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice and relaxing Boxing Day, those of you who celebrate it, that is!!

Hugs, Vittoria

Biscuit boxes

Hello there crafters!!
How's your holiday season going on? I guess you're all very busy, right? That is part of the fun of Christmas, I guess.
I have a 3-D project to share with you today - 2 biscuit boxes I created for 2 friends. I was looking for something special to hold some chocolate and here is what I came up with. The biscuits were made with some Fimo Light and were coloured with acrylics. After arranging and glueing them on the lid, I added some ribbon and button et voilà.

Have a special, warm and merry Christmas you all!! :D
Love and hugs,
Vittoria

A tag for you

Hello there crafters!
I hope you're all fine and warm! We had more than 30 cm of snow here on Friday, so it's all soft and white around. I have a birthday tag to share with you today. I made it for a friend who wanted something special to add to her birthday gift for a neighbour. I've used a few Spellbinders dies to create the embellishments, like flowers, leaves and the lattice reminding a trellis on which roses grow. I glued some Flower Soft to the leaves to add a winter, snowy touch. Some glitter, pearls and silky ribbon could not be missing on such a vintage tag, right? :D The pin is my creation, too.

Have a nice Sunday and enjoy what is left of this crazy holiday season!
Vittoria

Wedding card

Hello there crafters!
I'm sorry for my long absence but the past months I had this big exam coming up at work and every spare moment was spent studying, no time for crafting at all. That was pure hell and how I imagine hell to be - a dreadful place with no crafting, tee hee!! :D Anyhow, I finished the exam (which I passed, by the way) last Tuesday so I'm back to my craft room, ready to make up for lost time! One of Claudio's co-workers is getting married on 12.12.2012 (funny date, huh?) and he asked me to create a card to go with the wedding gift they had chosen. I made an all-white card, I think they're perfect for weddings, and as I hadn't much time left I decided to use a few of my Spellbinders dies - they're great and quickly did all the work for me! I hope I can dedicate myself to some Christmas cards now - the exam was a real nuisance and I'm late with practically everything, ugh!!

Have a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Vittoria

Project combo

Hello there stampers!
How's life treating you? Absolutely fine, I hope!
I have a double project to share with you today, that is a baby album and a matching card which I made on request for a friend. As focal image I used one of Mo Manning's gorgeous digis - love all her images, they're so much fun to colour with Copics!
I covered the album with some pink embossed paper using a cartonnage technique, mounted my focal image on a Fleur de lis square die cut from Spellbinders and added some mulberry flowers which I coloured to match my project.

Sewing card

Hello there stampers!
I hope you're all having a nice and relaxing Sunday. Rain is forecast here for late in the afternoon, so that's the perfect weather to shut up in the craft room and be creative, right?
The card I'm sharing with you today is a sewing card I made for a lovely lady who is a seamstress, so very appropriate. The dies and stamps are from MFT, gorgeous! I added some ribbon, button, pearl-headed pins, tiny pearls and embroidery thread from my stash. I love the caramel/pink colour combo, so perfect for this card.
Thanks for visiting and have a nice afternoon!
Cheers! Vittoria

Shabby chic card

Hello there crafters!
I have a shabby chic vintage card to share with you today. It was made for the birthday of a dear friend of mine. I don't know why, but in my mind "shabby chic" means a card full of different elements and embellishments. I tried to keep mine not too busy, though. The lovely designer paper with roses I used is very vintage all by itself, the cage (Marianne designs), leaves and butterfly (Martha Stewart) die cuts made the rest. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, while pearls and ribbon are from my stash. I added glitter to the flowers and butterfly wings - some bling is a must on a card like this, right?
I have another card to share with you in the new few days, so stay tuned!! Each and every comment makes me happy. Thank you so much for popping over.

Have a nice Sunday! :D
Hugs, Vittoria

Lighthouse

Hello stampers!
At long last the intense heat has stopped and it's much cooler here today, which makes everybody feel so much better. I guess this also means that somehow summer has come to an end, alas. I have another card to share with you today, and it's a male card this time. I always struggle with male cards, which I find the hardest to make, but that gorgeous lighthouse stamp seemed perfect for the purpose - it surely makes a great focal image, not to mention that I love lighthouses!! I used some cream and brown carstock and just one layer of designer paper. Edges were sponged with vintage photo Distress ink. I coloured my image with Copics and - no easy task - but I resisted the urge to add glitter, pearls or lace, ugh! Now you understand why I find male cards so difficult to put together, I have to exercise some restraint every time! LOL I added some double stitched ribbon, though, trying to keep the card very simple.

Have a nice afternoon!
Hugs, Vittoria

Pansy

Hello there stampers!
I have a new card to share with you today for which I decided to use one of my old PSX stamps, the pansy. Those flower stamps are truly amazing and so much fun to colour, no doubt! I used some cream cardstock, a couple of purple and lilac designer papers (love those colours!) and some Spellbinders ovals for my focal image. The ivory lace is from my stash. I left it as it is, as it's so lovely and romantic, I didn't want to cover it. As the lace has butterflies in it, I decided to add some tiny ones here and there which I had sponged with purple ink and bordered with some glitters. I also added tiny pearls in the middle of each butterfly and a pearl trio in the bottom left corner - the pearls started life out white before I coloured them with Copics to match my card. The card has been made for one of my colleagues who will have her birthday on 2nd September - I hope she will like it!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenges
Simon Says Stamp challenge blog

Have a nice evening! :-)
Hugs, Vittoria

Penny Black August challenges

Hello there stampers!
Are you enjoying a HOT summer, too? It's scorching hot here in the north of Italy, and this damn heat won't leave before the end of the month, phew! Luckily we have our creative activities to keep us busy, right?
I have a Penny Black card to share with you today. I used a couple of my favourite stamps on it, that is CATS! Aren't those images incredibly cute? I coloured them both with Copics, used Spellbinders squares and scalloped squares to cut them out and the new Classic Edgeabilities (ric-rac) for the border. The checkered ribbon is from my stash, while the sentiment is computer generated. I decorated the upper corner with the Whimsy Stamps corner die set. The designer paper is a digital one - I thought those light browns and blues would be perfect for my images.
I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - "Double the Trouble"

Penny Back at All Sorts - "Whiskers and/or wings"

Thanks for stopping by and ... happy stamping!! :0)

Hugs, Vittoria

For a far away friend

Hello there crafters!
And a good afternoon to you. Friday was my last day at work for August, which means I am finally enjoying my summer holidays - can you hear the cheers? LOL Ugh, the last 10 days at work were really tough, and I was truly longing for the break. Today I have a card to share with you which has been made for a dear friend of mine who lives overseas. I've chosen an unusual colour combination this time, that is lilac and aqua. I think they look nice together. I used a few of my nesties for the different layers - pendant fleur de lis, floral ovals and classic ovals. The fake lace was cut with a die from the lace doily accents set - lovely! The aqua flower was once again created with the bitty blossoms biggest die. Ribbon, tulle, pearl and rhinestones are from my stash.
Hope you like how this card has turned out, I surely do. ;-)
Have a nice beginning of week and ... happy stamping!
Love, Vittoria

Green and dark red card

Hello there stampers!
I hope you've had a nice and relaxing weekend - alas, the weekend always flies by much too quickly, don't you think? Anyhow, in spite of the weather which is still VERY hot around here, I have used more autumn-like colours for this card of mine. It was especially created for a friend who had an advancement in her career, and as such I thought I needed a "serious, almost institutional" card, tee hee!! The dark red rose was made using the large Bitty Blossoms Spellbinders die - love that set and the beautiful flowers it can create! The sentiment and leaves were cut using more of my nesties - what would we all crafters do without them? Lace and ribbon are from my own stash.
Thanks for stopping by and ... off to watch the Olympic games now! :D

Love, Vittoria

Asian card

Hi there stampers! :D
I have another card to share with you today which I made for one of my colleagues who loves Japan ans its culture. The geisha image was used as a cameo - I framed it using one of my Floral Ovals nestabilities dies. I love them, they look so great on cards! The tag is a 3-tag punch I've been having for years but which still works great. The gorgeous ribbon was bought at a craft exhibition in Milan - I loved it as soon as I saw it!
Thanks for visiting and have a nice Sunday!
Love, Vittoria

Cherries on a paper dress

Hello there crafters!
Sorry I haven't posted for so long but life (and work!) have been pretty hectic here recently. Moreover, this heat just sucks the life out of me, ugh!! Anyhow, I've just finished to put togehter a card for a lady who is a dressmaker so ....I made a paper dress for her! I chose a cherry theme for the dress as cherries are among my favourite fruits and in season now - I'm eating lots of them! LOL I  hang the dress on a mini wire hanger, mounted it on oval cut out with Floral Ovals nestabilities, added some embellishments et voilà, the card was finished. The dress was quite a challenge to put together but I was very happy with how it turned out in the end.
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this hot, hot summer!!
Love, Vittoria