Mother's Day Contest

Hi Guys ,

I was lucky enough to receive a package of beautiful pearlized card stock from www.paper-garden.ca, and an invitation to join in on the Mother's Day contest. This is the card I made and I used their pink card stock which happened to match my Prismacolor pencil exactly.

It was great to use these colors as the weather here in Toronto finally turned. The sun is shinning and it is warming up. Love this weather.

If you are visiting my blog would you please go to the paper-garden site, and vote for my card. I would really appreciate it .

https://www.paper-garden.ca/pages/mothers-day-2018-cards.html

Thanks so much,

Nicky

 

Happy New Year

 

 

 

Happy New Year !!! Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday with family and friends.
I am excited to join the Dreamerland Crafts design team and to show you this card.
It is hard to see, but I die cut the image and then stamped it again and fussy cut the wedding dress.
I then adhered the top of the dress back on the image and popped up the bottom so that it looked like it was flowing, and glittered the bottom and top of it. I also cut the bow tie and glittered it as well.

The leaves on the flourish are popped up and to embellish, I adhered beige pearls.

The image is coloured with Prismacolour pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Mother's Day Challenge

Hi Everyone,

Spring is finally in the air and Mother's Day is this Sunday. I received some gorgeous pearlized card stock in the prettiest pastel colours from Paper-Garden and was invited to join their Mother's Day challenge. Please go and check out their site for a variety of beautiful card stock.

Paper-Garden Challenge

Please vote for my card on their site and see all of the other great submissions.

I used Neenah Classic for the base and the Happy die cut was the Essie pearlized card stock.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nicky

Christmas Card Contest

Awhile ago I received beautiful card stock from a paper company called  paper-garden.ca. They have the most amazing card stock, you should check them out . They invited me to join their Christmas contest and of course I said yes.  Anyone can join. Just go to their site and link your card.

Both the Neenah Classic white and green card stock are from Paper-Garden . The stamp is from Penny Black. I used Tombow markers and coloured the stamp , spritzed water and stamped. I don't know if you can see but I also glittered the leaves.

I would love to hear from you. Hope you like the card.

Hugs,

Nicky

Here I go again

I know it has been a long time since I blogged, but life just got in the way. I am back  and exited to post again . I have quite a few cards to share with you, and I will start with these 4 cards for today. It finally feels like spring here in Toronto, and what better way to start blogging but with flowers and butterflies.

The 2 cards using the pink and red flowers are from one of my favourite companies called Altenew.
The pink flowers are called painted flowers and are 3 step stamping. The red flower card is called Persian Motif, and I water coloured it. I just love these 2 sets and have a few ideas that I would like to try out with them.

The blue card is a one layer card that I did using a mask, and sponged in with Broken China Distress Ink. The stripe stamp is from Papertrey Ink. The fourth card is using a Penny Black stamp, and I coloured it in with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

I really hope you like the cards and I will blog again in a few days. I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Hugs
Nicky

I'm Baaaaack!!!!!

I know that it has been  a long time since I last blogged, but I am back, more energized and I have lots of cards to share with you.

In the last year, I have renovated my bathrooms, which took much longer than anticipated, spent lots of time this summer with my three gorgeous grand-daughters and my retired wonderful husband, designing cards for, and  teaching my classes.

Here is a card I would like to share with you that is from my "Black and White with a Hint of Colour" class. I used an Impression Obsession lace background stamp, made up the bow shape, and used the retro flowers to add the colour. I used glitter here and there to finish it off.

I also used the Hero Arts Unicorn white ink which I love. I really hope you can see the detail of the lace stamp and how crisp and sharp the white ink shows up.

Hope you like it. I promise to post more cards this week.

I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment.

Hugs
Nicky

My Birthday Crop

Hi everyone,
I would like to share some pictures from my all-day Birthday Crop, that Heidi and Simon, the owners of Pointer Scrapbooking store where I teach, hosted for me. I was so very much spoiled with birthday cake, cup cakes, gorgeous cards and gifts. Thanks so much to everyone who came, and, for all of the cards and gifts. I especially want to thank Heidi and Simon for being such great hosts, and Heidi for making me a fabulous Copic Marker holder. I just love it!  You can see it in the picture along with some of the cards I received.

Thanks again to everyone who showed up and helped make my birthday so very special.

I will post one of my cards in a few days

The samples of my Big Shot and Cuttlebug class are posted at the store. so come on by and check them out. This is going to be a fun-filled technique oriented class. The first class is on Wednesday. I hope to see you there. Register at www.pointerscrapbooking.com

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs

Nicky

Hello again

Hi everyone,

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. To make this short,  I went on a cruise on the Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world (picture a seventeen story floating hotel with more than 10,000 passengers and crew), and then onto Florida to spend some time with my sister. I had a fabulous time.  When I returned home, I baby-sat my two older grand-daughters for a few days, and then renovated my two upstairs bathrooms (that took a month; wow, what a mess), but the end results are amazing. I absolutely just love how it turned out. I then had to get ready for Scrapfest, where I designed and packaged my "make and take"; designed my new classes for April, May and June, and finally, here I am. Time just flew by.

My email has changed to nmanel@bell.net so put me in your address book.

Simon, owner of Pointers Scrapbooking store, has done it again. He's launched the cutest characters from Dreamerland designs, and I just love them. They are exclusive to Pointers, and I am teaching a class called "New Stamps, New Cards" featuring these adorable little girls. So if you are in the Toronto area, I would love to see you.

I'm using the ballerina image on the card I'm posting. I had so much fun designing her, especially because this is the card I gave my oldest granddaughter Maya for her 7th Birthday. She takes ballet and has to wear her long hair in a bun, and it really reminded me of her. I wanted the card to have some dimension so I added ribbon for the tutu. I used Cheerylyn flourish die, and stamped a script over it with pink ink. I am so happy with how she turned out, and Maya just loved it.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear from you, so leave me a message and say hi. I will be back in a few days with more cards.

Hugs,

Nicky

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all had a fabulous day and had a chance to spend time with your loved ones.

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but beside being busy with preparing classes, babysitting and teaching, I have also had trouble with my new laptop. I might have to change my email addy as of the 16th to nmanel@bell.ca and hope that everything goes smoothly.

If you guys are in the Toronto area and would like to attend one or any of my three classes; "Colouring Class", "Share Your Love Class" and "Card Holder and Four Cards Class", and I also give you a template for making a square envelope to match the cards. If you want to register email Heidi at http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/.

The card I posted is embossed with a Cuttlebug Heart Embossing Folder, Hero Arts Large Friends Background stamp with Versa Fine Onyx black ink, and, I used lots of glitter all around the heart. I free-hand drew the heart and made myself a template which I then traced onto the stamped background, and cut it out. I hope you like it.

I would love to hear from you, so let me know that you have stopped by. I am going to post again in a couple of days so stay tuned.

Much love,

Nicky

Happy Tuesday

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a great weekend. I am so happy to have a new laptop. My old one stopped working after only four years. I guess nothing is made to last forever. Now that I have my new computer, I can finally post again. Can you imagine being without a computer for nearly a month?

The card I am posting is another image by Dreamerland crafts sold exclusively at http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/, and it is called Guitar Boy #1109014. I love this image. It is so difficult to find stamps that are geared for boys or men, and this one is so cute and is so quick and easy to colour. I used Prismacolour pencils and odourless mineral spirits to colour, and an embossing folder for the background. I love combining Kraft, baby blue and brown together and I use this combination very often. I put the buttons (die from Papertrey Ink) on at the last minute, but I'm not sure that I'm happy with the way it looks. I didn't really have another embellishment, and since I love the button die, I decided to use it. Even though it is a masculine card, I added a bit of glitter to make it "pop" and I am very happy with how it turned out.

I hope you like the card and thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

New Stamp Line

Hi Bloggers,

It's unreal how fast time flies when you are having fun. Summer just flew by, and, can you believe that Christmas is just two months away?

I have been very busy demonstrating and doing make-'n-takes at Scrapfest in Oshawa two weeks ago, and last week, I helped to both teach and demo at the Creative Festival. I've also been designing my Christmas Magical Card class, Christmas Tag class and I'm almost finished designing my Sparkling Christmas Card class. This has kept me so busy.

I am so excited to share with you, that, the owner of Pointer Scrapbooking, Simon, surprised us with an adorable line of new stamps called Dreamerland Crafts. He collaborated with an amazing illustrator and kept it very hush, hush, even from us teachers. I only got to see the entire line the night before Scrapfest, and, of course I had to run home and make a few cards with these sweet little characters. The stamps are deeply etched and are so easy to stamp with, and they have just enough space to colour. They are machine-cut and are mounted on cling. The indexing is also amazing, as they are coloured. So, if you are colour challenged, just look at the indexing, and you will have a great example of how to colour the image. Can't you tell how excited I am about these stamps.

The store also now carries Odorless Mineral Spirits, a beautiful selection of Prisma Colour pencils, paper stomps and the hand-held sand paper to keep the stomps sharp. I am presently working on a class, teaching you all about colouring and shading using these pencils and mineral spirits.

Here is one of the cards I designed using these adorable stamp named Tender Care. I have used this layout before, but I thought it suited the image. I added a bit of glitter, some ribbon and the two pearls. I had so much fun colouring her. She reminded me of one of my grand-daughters.

If you live in the Toronto area, come into the store and see all fourty-five images. If you can't come in, you can shop online, and Simon and Heidi will be happy to ship your order to you. The website is: http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/

Telephone: 905-940-8900

I am also posting the index, so you could see how fabulous it is.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the stamp.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

It's a girl!!! I am back from CHA

Hi Everyone,

It's another girl, and we are thrilled. She weighed 8 pounds 4 oz. and is absolutely gorgeous. All are doing really well and I am beyond thrilled to have my three little grand-daughters. Her name is Nora Taylor. Don't you just love that name. My daughter-in-law is amazing. She is already wearing her regular clothes; teeny tiny, you would never believe that she just gave birth a week ago.

I would like to thank all of you who emailed me privately asking if the baby was born yet.

I got back from CHA last Friday, exhausted, but had a great time. It was delightful to see old friends and meet some new ones. I was so worried the whole time that my daughter-in-law would give birth, and that I wouldn't be there, but she kept to her word that she would wait for me to get back. She gave birth right on her due date July 24th , two days after I got back. Is she the best or what?

The trends, at CHA, still seem to be lots and lots of flowers in all shapes and sizes. Kraft paper is huge, birds and bird cages are still strong and lots of beautiful patterned papers. My favourite booths were Penny Black, Hero Arts, La Blanche, Rangers, Prima's , and My Favourite Things. We bought merchandise from all of them and hopefully they will be at the store really soon . So check out http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/ to find out when the goodies starts to come in.

It was soooo hot and humid the whole week that we were there, and my hair, well let's just say I had very bad hair days, but I will still post some of the pictures I took. Don't laugh when you see how horrible I look in these pictures.

This was Cheryl's first CHA and I just had to take a picture of her when she first stepped into the convention. The look on her face is priceless, and shows you how excited she was.

The next picture is of Kim owner of My favourite Things and Jodi Morrow one of her very talented Design Team members.

The next one is Jacqueline of La Blanche, an amazing artist and owner of the company. I just loved her and must have spent at least five hours just watching her colour. We became friendly and she gave me one of her fabulous books that she published.

I would like to thank Heidi and Simon for inviting me to join them and allowing me to order all of the stamps I wanted to teach with. We really had a great time. we laughed a lot, worked hard and ordered tons of goodies.

I will post more pictures later on.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

CHA bound

Hi Guys,

Hope you are all enjoying this hot sticky weather. The month of June flew by and it being my birthday month, I was wined, dined, lunched and brunched all month. There are ten of us that celebrate our birthdays in June, and we had a blast.

I am so excited that Heidi and Simon invited all the Pointer teachers to join them at the summer CHA show in Chicago, and we are all able to make it. It should be so much fun. We are leaving on Sunday and returning home on Friday. I hope to come home inspired and full of new ideas.

Simon (Pointers store owner) is making his own line of stamps that are absolutely gorgeous. You can purchase them either wood-mounted or unmounted with cling. They are so deeply etched that your image comes out very crisp and clear. I just love them. So I thought that I would use one of the stamp images to make this card. If you are in the Toronto area, come into the store and check them out, and while you are there check out my sample cards for the next class.

I used Black Onyx Versa Fine ink. I stamped onto craft card stock and then layered it onto embossed layer. I used glitter to frame the layer, and in the center of each flower. I outlined each flower with white Prisma coloured pencil to pop the image t hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know you were here by leaving a comment.

Hugs,

Nicky

3rd Bloggaversary

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe that it's been three years since I started Blogging. Although I don't Blog as often as I would like to, I am still having so much fun sharing ideas, meeting great people, and being inspired by all of you. I can't thank you guys enough for all of your support and loyalty for the last three years.

Recently, I have been teaching a class in water colouring with my Distress Inks, and I wanted to use these inks in a different way. So, I took out my sponges, and sponged Broken China, Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap onto white card stock. I misted the card and got these great water marks all over the card to give it some texture. I then stamped the Hero Arts Envelope pattern in the frayed burlap, and sponged it to distress the edges, added some glitter and a sentiment to finish the card. I am very happy with how the card turned out, but I am not quite sure that all the details will show up on screen.

I used a La Blanc stamp and Hero Arts Envelope pattern .

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Your comments mean a lot to me.

Thanks,

Nicky

Happy Monday

Hi Guys,

I know! I know! I keep promising that I will get better about posting, and I will. It has been a very busy month and a half, and finally, things have quieted down enough so that I could post.

I wanted to share this card with you that I designed for my current class. I used one of my favourite techniques, and then used masking tape and Pebble chalk to colour it. I glittered the edges of the image and embossed the background. I used a McGill punch for the label with the sentiment, and then adhered it all together.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky

You're a Great Friend

Well , I think it's about time that I Blogged, don't you. The last month has been so busy. I've been to Florida with my fabulous daughter and we had a blast. I'm working on my upcoming water colour class with Distressed Inks and Tombow markers. In addition to my favourite pastime, spending as much time with my adorable two granddaughters, soon to be three.

I would like to share a card with you that I designed for my "Black and White with a Splash of Colour" class. I started by creating a template so that I could trace the black line. I cut the rectangle with my Fiskars cutter. I didn't use my Nestabilities as a template 'cause I didn't have the right size. I used an embossing folder for the dots and a Hero Arts sentiment and flowers. I punched the vase (punch bunch), and used Marvy markers to colour the flowers. I then put a bit of glitter on the flowers. Lastly, I attached a turquoise bow on the vase and a bit of chalk on the words.

I hope you like the card and I have a few more to share with you, so stay tuned and I will post again in a few days.

Hope you have a great week.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Nicky

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all showered with lots of love, chocolate and stamping goodies. I bet you are shocked that I am actually blogging, but the last month has been absolutely crazy, what with designing, stamping, cutting and making kits for my classes. Now that I am caught up, I will have more time to catch up with you and blog more often.

What have you guys been up to? How did you celebrate Valentine's Day? I would love to hear from you.

Today, I would like to share a card I made for one of my classes. You could easily change the flower with a heart, and make it as an anniversary card or for Valentine's day. I needed a birthday card, so I stamped the birthday sentiment .

For the card, I used a new Hero Arts background stamp and a PaperTrey Ink polka dot stamp on the strip of red card stock. I have so much ribbon, but I never seem to have the right shade to match, so I cheat and use a strip of card stock and then stamp on it so it looks just like ribbon. A perfect match every time. Does that ever happen to you? The Sentiment is also by Hero Arts. I used Prismatics card stock, Versa Fine black ink and lots of glitter.

To those of you that kept on emailing me with the "knock, knock", it worked 'cause here I am posting. Thanks for not giving up on me. I really will try to be better at posting.

Have a great day.

Nicky

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year! I hope this year brings, all of you, lots of love, health and lots of time to stamp. This is going to be a fabulous year for my family, as I found out that we are going to be grandparents for the third time. My son and daughter-in-law are expecting their third child in July, and I can hardly wait.

One of my New Year resolutions is to post more often and to join some of the sketch challenges. If you have a chance, please let me know if you made any stamping related resolutions.

I have been working with the QuicKutz Fashion Doll die set for the last two months designing a whole wardrobe for these dolls, and I have to tell you that I have been having a blast. It brings back memories of my childhood when I used to play with my paper dolls, designing, cutting, gluing and embellishing them. They make great all-occasion cards and I have been making sets and putting them in clear boxes, and then giving them as gifts to some of my friends. So far everyone has loved them. I have actually been commissioned to make ten sets for a good friend of mine, so that she could give them to her friends for their birthdays.

I am sharing just two of the twenty cards that I designed, with you. I also designed some extra outfits which do not come with the die. I glittered the pink patterned paper and it turned out great. I don't know whether or not you can see it on the screen. I have to warn you that this die set is very addictive and so much fun. This is a great way to use up all of your scraps of patterned paper.

I showed them to some of my students and they insisted that I teach a class, which I am going to do on January 5 and 19. So if you are in the Toronto area come and join us at Pointers (http://www.pointerscrapbooking.com/). I would love to see you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Nicky

P.S. The QuicKutz Fashion Doll die set can be purchased at Pointers.

Season's Greetings

Hi Everyone,

I hope by now all of you are finished shopping, wrapping, baking and cooking. I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a Happy, Healthy, New Year.

I want to share one more Christmas card I made and I sure hope you can see all of the glitter that I used. It made the silver ink look darker, and, so when you look at the card, it looks like I shaded the image with two shades of silver ink.

The images are from Hero Arts,.I used Encore silver ink and Glamour Dust glitter.

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Hugs,

Nicky

Holiday Tags

Brrrrr!!!! It is freezing here in Ontario. There is nothing more beautiful than being inside, sitting beside a roaring fire, drinking a cup of Earl Gray tea and watching these fluffy large snow flakes falling down. Then, reality hits when I have to go out and shovel that fluffy snow (yuck).

The last two months just flew by and I can hardly believe that Christmas is just a couple of weeks away. I finally broke down and bought a Cricut machine, and, I am having so much fun playing with it. I also got the Sure-Cuts-Alot which allows me to download any font from my computer.

I have also been designing cards with the QuicKutz Fashion Dolls and having a blast doing it. I will be teaching a class with them in January. As soon as my samples are ready I will post some of the cards to show you.

Today I am going to share two tags that were a part of my twelve tag class. When I saw the music note patterned paper from Teresa Collins, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, and I was so happy it turned out as I imagined. I used distressed ink around the edges and stamped my sentiment. Then I added the scallop border and green ribbon to finish off the tag.

The next tag features a Penny Black stamp, white Versa Magic ink pad and lots of glitter. I stamped the first tree and then masked it . I then lowered the tree a bit and stamped it so that the trees look like one is in front of the other. These two tags are quick and fairly easy to make.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I would love to hear from you.

Nicky