Happy Stamper Inkorporated

Christmas Money Card

2011-12-18T20:34:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has taken me this long to post something. I don't know how you working women do it? I started working last may, and although I have found time to make cards, I just haven't found the time to post them. Hopefully things will change in the new year, especially as my job will be coming to an end.

Here is a Christmas card I was asked to make for a friend who is giving money to her sister as a gift. The first picture is the card closed, and the second is open showing the inside.

Mother's Day Card & Gift Box

2011-05-14T13:46:00.001-04:00

I'm a little slow at posting, but this is what I made for my mil for Mother's Day. The first is her card, and below that is the 2-4-7-10 box that I made for her. We used the box for a pair of earrings we got for her. It was such a nice way to wrap up something so tiny. These boxes are made out of a single sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, and are extremely easy to make.

I used pearl embossing powder and Versamark ink for the butterfly, and for the sentiment I used a mauve pigment ink with the pearl eb powder. The flowers were made with the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch.

Front

Back

Bridal Shower Invitation

2011-05-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

My niece is in her friend's wedding and is hosting a bridal shower for her so she asked me to make the invitations. The bride chose a tangerine orange for her main colour, so this is the invitation I came up with.

Bridal Shower Thank You Card

2011-05-14T13:34:00.001-04:00

These are the thank you cards for the bridal shower.

Wedding Favours

2011-05-14T13:12:00.002-04:00

My niece's friend is getting married so she bought 50 boxes of chocolates to give as favours, but she didn't know how to dress them up and put a thankyou tag on them. That became my job, and this is the final result. The tag sentiment is, "Sweets to end the sweetest day. Enjoy!" It also has their names and wedding date on it.

Sympathy Cards

2011-05-07T21:16:00.005-04:00

I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend who lost his mother. I made a card and then decided it was much too froo-froo for he and his wife. They are a couple who loves the country and being outdoors, and recently bought their first home on a beautiful piece of property with woods and a stream. I decided to make another card that suited them a little more. Can you tell which card I decided to send to them?

I masked and sponged the oval and moon, then stamped
the tree using my Lovely As a Tree stamp by SU.

I stamped the roses (Judi-kins) and coloured them with pencil crayons and gamsol, then sponged ink on the edges. I layered plain cs with a sheet of HOTP printed vellum.

Spring Birthday Card

2011-05-07T21:00:00.001-04:00

I was asked by a friend to make a birthday card for her to send to her sil, something pretty with bling. I thought it would be nice to use some bright spring colours. This pp from Hot Off The Press was perfect for that. The rest is from my dollar store. Sentiment is computer generated. TFL!

Baby Bootie Tutorial

2011-04-15T23:16:00.000-04:00

I figured I better get this posted tonight since I have a busy weekend ahead. Here is the tutorial for the baby bootie shower favours below. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory. They are very simple and easy to make. I got everything I needed for them in the dollar store.

Supplies: Jumbo cotton balls (2 per bootie), plastic shot size cups (2 per bootie), cocktail size napkins, ribbon in a matching colour, and scissors.

**For the ribbon, you will need approximately a 12"-14" length per bootie, depending on type of ribbon. Wider ribbons will take a little longer piece.

Spread out the napkin and set one cup and 2 cotton balls on top in the centre.

Bring up the back corner and tuck it into the cup.

Bring up the front corner around the cotton balls and tuck it into the cup.

Snip off a little bit of each tip, but not too much. This helps it be less bulky when tucked into the cup. The top cup fits better by doing this.

Bring up the left side and tuck it into the cup.

Bring up the right side and tuck it into the cup, smoothing it out as you tuck it in.

Place the second cup in the bootie, leaving a little bit at the top the width of your ribbon.

Tie your ribbon around the top of the cup with a bow. Fill the cup with candies or items of your choice.

If you make these, please comment and post a link for me to see what you did!

Baby Shower Favours - And Lots of Them!

2011-04-15T22:03:00.003-04:00

Finally, the last item I worked on for my niece's baby shower, and it's not a card! It's the favours which were baby booties. I made them out of napkins, plastic cups, ribbon, and cotton balls, then filled them with rainbow mints. I had to make 120 of them so it is a good thing they were very cheap and easy to make. They really didn't take alot of work at all. I will post a tutorial tomorrow if I can. We decorated with a spring/ducky theme so we used lots of colours!

This is half of what I made!

Baby Shower Card

2011-04-07T08:54:00.000-04:00

This is the card I made to go with my niece's baby shower gift. Image is from TPC Studio and sentiment is from Kolette Hall. Swiss dots CB embossing folder was also used. The square was made with my Marchy Uchida punch.

130 Thank You's!

2011-04-06T21:46:00.000-04:00

Are you starting to see why I have been so busy and unable to post for awhile? This is just part of what I've been working on since the end of January! Some really cute baby shower favours and a tutorial for them will be posted as soon as I get the next chance.

This is 130 baby shower thank you cards:

Baby Shower Thank You

2011-04-06T19:31:00.001-04:00

This is the thank you card that I made for my niece to give after her baby shower. Actually this is one of 130 thank you cards I made for my niece! Because I had to make so many, I kept the design clean and simple. The image is from TPC Studio, and is cut and embossed with a circle Spellbinder die so the yellow ring looks raised up. I had no idea how hard it would be to find a yellow ink! This is a little dark for my liking, but it was all that I could find. Here in Canada our choices are pretty limited unfortunately. There is a double embossed line across the card and under the ducky. The border was punched with the MS lace border punch and the sentiment was done with a Penny Black stamp. TFL

Baby oh Baby!

2011-04-02T20:27:00.003-04:00

I finally can start posting what I have been working on for the past couple of months! I have been a busy girl and have lots of exciting things to post, including my first tutorial.

First: It's a Miracle!

My niece was diagnosed about a year and a half ago with breast cancer, and before she started her treatments the doctors informed her that the chemotherapy would destroy her eggs, and any future hopes of having a family. She and her fiance took steps to try and save some eggs before the treatments began, but it just wasn't meant to be. Sometimes God has miracles in mind instead, and 5 months after my niece's last chemo treatment she and her fiance defied the odds and found out they were expecting their first child!!! She is due next month and everything seems to be going extremely well with her pregnancy. Tomorrow we are having a humongous baby shower for her. It's going to be a wonderful celebration of life as both my niece and her baby are cancer survivors! I was given the special honours of making the invitations, thank you cards, and favours for the shower. I've had so much fun making them, and I can finally share them with you.

Here is the invitation:
Front and Back Views (Sorry but I had to delete some private information.)
The back pocket contains a map with directions, and a card with her registry informaiton.
The theme for the shower is duckies with all the spring colours.

Black Magic Technique

2011-04-02T19:06:00.001-04:00

I finally had a chance to try the black magic technique. I stamped the butterfly with white ink, dried it with my heat gun, then coloured it with pencil crayons. I outlined it a little too much with the white gel pen because it just wasn't working right, but for my first attempt I guess it will have to do. Image is from Studio G, sentiment is a CB die cut. TFL!

70th Birthday

2011-03-23T10:54:00.000-04:00

A friend asked me to make a card for her mom's 70th birthday. I had been wanting to break in my new Penny Black Floral Gallery stamp set so I used the iris one to match my purple cs/pp. I coloured the image with pencil crayons and gamsol. TFL

Sweet 16!

2011-03-23T10:48:00.000-04:00

My daughter just turned 16 and is anxious to start driving. So, of course I had to include a fancy sports car on her card! Image is computer generated and is from Printmaster.

Finally, Some Birthday Cards!

2011-02-07T15:53:00.001-05:00

My son and daughter just celebrated birthdays in January and these are the cards I made for them. My kids each bought me flower soft in different colours for Christmas so I had to use that on my daughter's card. My son is really into penguins so I used a computer graphic from my Printmaster program, added a computer generated greeting and some diamond glaze, and layered it on different coloured cs for his card. For some reason the camera makes it look like the diamond glaze on the balloons didn't line up properly, but it actually did irl. TFL!

Info For Vanessa

2011-01-26T22:47:00.003-05:00

Vanessa, if you send me a an email privately, I can answer your question and send you a template for the card you asked about.
Happy Stamper

Update/Good News

2011-01-23T22:55:00.003-05:00

I just thought I'd make a quick post as it's been awhile. I've been busy creating still, but just haven't gotten anything ready to post yet. I do have a couple of items left over from Christmas and a couple of birthday cards that I will post once I get my pics taken and organized. I also have a birthday and engagement card to make for this week.

In the meantime, I have been the recipient of wonderful news. I have another great niece or nephew on the way! Yep, it's very exciting as my niece is expecting her first baby. This is actually a miracle in my books as my niece is a recent breast cancer survivor and was told by her doctors that she wouldn't be able to have children after her chemo. We are thankful that the doctors were actually wrong in this case! It was only 5 months after her chemo was finished that she actually found out she was expecting so we are praying for a happy and healthy baby. While we wait for the baby to arrive in May, I get to help plan a BIG baby shower. We are having one huge shower combining all sides of the happy couple's families. This means I have 135 favours to make, 110 invitations, and 110 thank you cards!!!! I have my designs all figured out (which are really cute so stay tuned!) so it is just a matter of getting to the work. Now that my craft room is cleaned, purged, sorted, and organized I am ready to start making them tomorrow.

Merry CHRISTmas!

2010-12-24T10:46:00.002-05:00

We rejoice in the privilege of proclaiming once again the good news, "the Saviour has been born!" He is "God with us!" I hope you know him - really know him. Not just the historic facts about Jesus, but that you know him as your Saviour and Lord of your life. That makes Christmas greater than all the other things that make Christmas fun.

May you all have a Blessed Christmas as we celebrate the reason for the season!

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,
Happy Stamper
Dorie Ellen

Lastly...The Christmas Tags

2010-12-24T10:38:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry it took me so long to get the rest of my cards and these tags posted. As you know Christmas time is busy enough, but I've also had 12 appointments in 17 days, plus I've been sick now for the past week with my asthma. It's been hard sitting at my computer without coughing. However, I finally got to it so I guess it's better late than never!

As I work I often cut out a shape or make something to put on a card that I don't end up using. I put all those shapes and items into a large envelope and hold onto them for future use. This time, they came in handy as I used them to make my Christmas tags. As you can see I don't like to waste anything! It feels good putting them to good use too, and not having them sit in the envelope until next year.

The Last Card - A Gift Card Holder

2010-12-24T10:34:00.003-05:00

My daughter bought a friend a gift card for Christmas, so I made this gift card holder for her to go with her gift. The pp is from a Wal-Mart pad of Christmas pp and the reindeer was from the dollar store. It is raised up on 3D foam squares and holds the flap in place when closed.

5 More Christmas Cards

2010-12-24T10:24:00.002-05:00

This time I used the SU snowflake stamp embossed in white on the red. I added a rhinestone and sentiment and done!
Again, I made some poinsettias using my McGill flower punch and hand embossing. The bg stamp is by Heidi Grace. The white paper is handmade Japanese paper and actually has a bit of a shine to it irl.
This stamp is by Recollections and was embossed with the Agean silver EB powder. I love the glittery look of this powder. It has nice texture to it too. Holly is by Heidi Grace, and it as well as the sentiment are stamped using regular silver EB powder.
I embossed the snowglobe (Studio G) in silver, then inked some colour on it. The glass part of the globe was covered in Diamond Glaze and has a raised smooth glassy texture to it, although it doesn't show up well in the pic.
This card was made using my Love as a Tree stamp by SU. I used the same green all the way around but stamped it off a couple of times before re-inking as I worked my way around the card. I masked the centre to make sure I left room for the sentiment. I added some red stickles to finish it off.

Nearing the End of My Christmas Cards

2010-12-24T10:13:00.002-05:00

To make this card I sponged the snowman with ink through a stencil, then embossed it with clear EB powder. I also sponged a bit of blue ink under the diamond stickles for the snow.
Embossing, a couple of punches, and some dollar store images were used here. Images were coloured using a blender pen and some ink.
My spellbinders scalloped circles and SU EB folder were used to make this wreath and the one below. Finished them off with some straight embossing around the outer edge. I love the shiny papers for cards like these.

My McGill flower punch was used to make the poinsettias, and the leaves were cut out by hand. I also hand embossed the veins on the petals and leaves. My MS scroll border punch set finished off this simple card.

Shiny Silver Poinsettias x Two

2010-12-03T20:28:00.003-05:00

I've had so much fun using this poinsettia stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps this year. This time I stamped it on shiny ivory cs (Bazzill) with Versamark, and then embossed it with Aegean Silver EB powder. I love the glittery embossing powders. I will definitely be buying more of them in the future! I layered it on shiny silver and red cardstock, also by Bazzill. I used my Martha Stewart scroll border punch set for the bottom card just for something different. The ivory square looked a little plain to me, so I embossed a square around the outer edge to break up the blank space a little bit.

EverGREEN or EverGOLD?

2010-12-03T20:22:00.003-05:00

I'm getting near the end of my Christmas cards I think. Not too many more to make, and I've already started making some tags which I will have to post soon.

For this card I used my Lovely as a Tree stamp from SU and used Versamark ink with Sticky Stuff, then heated it up and poured on the gold glitter. I inked the edges and then matted it with some shiny gold mirror cs to match. I embossed the snowflake with gold eb powder about 3 or 4 times to give it a nice gold metal appearance. Simple and sweet!

Vintage Christmas Music Card

2010-12-03T20:09:00.004-05:00

Have you ever made a mistake, and then discovered something you actually liked better while trying to fix it? Well, that's what happened when I made this card! I embossed the top layer with my SU folder, only to discover I had embossed the wrong side. It was a problem because I had already torn the edge on the angle that I needed so I couldn't turn it around. So...what to do? I didn't really like the debossed look, so I added a couple of shims, and ran the cs through again to see if I could get rid of the embossing. It didn't disappear when it flattened it out, but instead left a nice vintage look with just the right amount of texture on my cs. I actually thought the appearance fit this card better than the raised embossing would have.

I found free sheet music on the web and copied it, then resized it to fit my card. Then I inked the edges to distress it a little bit. I also embossed the corner of the tag with gold eb powder. I finished it off with a Heidi Grace sentiment, my Martha Stewart leaf punch and an old button. TFL

Ovals and Poinsettias

2010-12-03T20:05:00.002-05:00

I used a total of 3 layers and cut ovals in two of them for this Christmas card. Sentiment is stamped on the bottom layer, and the top layer is embossed with my SU folder. Each layer got smaller in size but the oval I cut got bigger. I added a little bit of gold glitter to the star/cross.

Holly and the Ivy

2010-12-03T20:02:00.002-05:00

This is as simple as it gets...just ink, glue pen, and a little bit of glitter! This stamp is from Recollections, sentiment stamp is Inkadinkado.

4 More Poinsettia Cards

2010-11-19T20:34:00.002-05:00

I'm really into poinsettias for some reason this year. I've been having lots of fun embossing them as well as cutting them out as I've done here (stamp - Whispers), this time in gold. For the final touch I added a little pewter stickles for the centres. I used my MS scroll punch for the rectangle, and the bg is from Terri Conrad Designs (Winter Wonderland collection). I just bought lots more of this green cs by Bazzill as it is my favourite colour to match with red for Christmas cards. It is such a neutral green it seems to match with everything.
This is my Northwoods poinsettia stamp and I used red ink with clear EB powder to wash it out a little bit. I layered it on the deep red cs to help bring your eye into the centre.
I'm nearing the end of my favourite Christmas (holly) pp from Provo craft that I bought a couple of years ago. I sure am glad I bought so much when I did! Again I have used my MS scroll punch set (it's new so I'm still having fun with it!), and the flower is Prima. CS is Bazzill and the stamp is Studio G.
The picture doesn't show it well, but I've stamped the flourishes and embossed them with gold on shiny ivory cs. The bg layer is shiny gold cs, also from Bazzill. The flourishes and holly stamps are Heidi Grace, and the sentiment is Studio G. The red is from a scrap that I had.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

2010-11-19T20:21:00.003-05:00

How lovely are your branches...! Sorry, but this card puts a song in my head! I resized some free Christmas music I found on the web, and printed it off in sepia to make my own pp. The tree (Lovely as a Tree - SU) is embossed with bronze EB powder, and bronze glitter was added to spice it up a bit. I just added a Prima flower and a couple of distressed layers to finish it off. The bottom layer isn't very noticeable, but is actually handmade Japanese paper my fil gave me. He used to do calligraphy and had a huge pile of handmade papers leftover that he passed on to me.

Glossy Holly

2010-11-19T20:11:00.002-05:00

I learned this technique at a SU class. The holly and sentiment are stamped with white EB powder on glossy cs (same as below), and then I sponged green ink all over it. The EB folder is also SU and the poinsettia is Prima. Plaid pp is from a pad of Christmas paper that I bought at Wal-Mart.

Thinking of You/Get Well

2010-11-19T20:07:00.002-05:00

A friend at church is recovering from heart surgery so this card is on it's way to her. On the inside it says, "Wishing you a speedy recovery." Those CB embossing folders sure come in handy for this kind of card. The sentiment is embossed with clear embossing powder.

Pink & Grey Poinsettia

2010-11-18T15:02:00.002-05:00

I am really enjoying all that I can do with this new poinsettia stamp. This time I embossed it in white on glossy cs, and then sponged red ink over it. This is a pretty easy technique. I just added an embossed sentiment, a ribbon bow, and some glitter and I was done!

Bowling Birthday Card

2010-11-18T14:23:00.003-05:00

My father just had his 82nd birthday and although he is starting to show his age a little bit, he still bowls in a 5-pin bowling league for seniors. Because an 82 year old has everything he needs, we decided for his birthday present to take him bowling. My kids enjoyed spending time with their Grandpa, and Grandpa had a chance to show off some of his bowling skills!

So of course I had to make a bowling themed card! I printed a free clip art bowling pin, cut it out and then used it to trace the image onto cs. I cut five pins out, added the red cs rings, and then popped them off the page using 3D foam squares. The ball is popped just a little higher than the pins for dimension. Inside I put a gift card (for free bowling with our family) that I just made up myself on the computer using my Printmaster program. TFL

Festive Christmas Cards

2010-11-02T13:34:00.004-04:00

Can you tell I love making CAS cards? This one was so easy to make. I punched 5 star shaped flowers with my McGill flower punch and then embossed them to look like poinsettias. I added a couple of MS's punches, a strip of green cs on the inside layer, the sentiment and done!
Gold, ivory and green are one of my favourite colour combos for Christmas. I also love this poinsettia EB folder from SU when it's used with shiny cs like this ivory from Bazill. The gold on the sentiment circle was done using a gold leaf broad tip marker with a slit down the centre of the tip. I highlighted the star with my diamond glitter Jelly Roll pen and finished off the holly berries with red Stickles. TFL
I just love this Holly pp from Provo Craft. It is an old one that I've had for awhile and still had a little bit left. I stamped the Christmas flourish on the side with vintage photo dristress ink, and sponged the edges everywhere with it as well to give the card a little bit of a vintage look.
Silver and red together (especially with white, although this card doesn't have white) are another one of my favourite colour combinations for Christmas cards. The colours alone scream elegance. I stamped the poinsettia on the corner, embossed it with silver EB powder, and then cut it out around the edge. There is a layer of shiny silver cs on the inside for contrast. I stamped silver snowflakes on the present for a festive look and raised it up with 3D foam squares. I finished the poinsettia off with a little bit of silver and red glitter.
I didn't realize it until now, but this card has several different elements that represent Christmas. There are ornaments, snowflakes, a poinsettia and a Christmas tree covered in glitter! It's not very often that I am able to match pp from two different companies, but for this card I did. The snowflake pp is from Terri Conrad Designs' Winter Wonderland collection, and the ornament pp is from Scenic Route's Garland collection.

2 Different Poinsettia Cards

2010-10-30T12:27:00.003-04:00

This card is my absolute favourite so far this year. I got the idea to make the poinsettia from my lss where I bought the stamp. I embossed the image on green, and then ivory cs using gold EB powder, cut each one out and layered them with 3D squares. I added a little gold and red glitter as well. The border is the MS scroll punch set. The ivory bg is embossed with the poinsettia and clear EB powder. It doesn't show up well in the picture but adds to the texture of the card.
I made this poinsettia the same way only using silver EB powder. I also embossed some scrolls with clear EB powder for this bg. It shows up a little better in this pic. Sentiment is embossed with silver EB powder.

I have several more cards coming, but still need to take pictures of them, so stay tuned or check back in over the next week or so. Thanks for visiting my blog. I appreciate all the comments. They are very encouraging!

4 Different Christmas Tree Cards

2010-10-30T12:16:00.002-04:00

Here are some more Christmas cards, posted all at once to save time.SU Lovely as a Tree with sparkly EB powder. Sentiment is by Heidi Grace, and flower punch is McGill. Flowers are embossed to look more like poinsettias. CB swiss dots folder was also used for the background, and MS scroll border punch was used to highlight the image.
SU Patterned Pines embossed with sparkly silver EB powder. Sentiment is by Inkadinkado and is embossed with silver EB powder.
Same as above. Unfortunately silver on silver doesn't show up as well in a photo.
I used my versamark pen and sparkly silver EB powder to make the border. Studio G image is embossed with sparkly silver EB powder on Bazzill shiny green cs and then cut out and glued on.

6 Different Christmas Cards

2010-10-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd just post a bunch of cards at once to save some time. For this card I made my own poinsettias by embossing star-shaped flowers I punched out (by McGill). Leaves are thanks to MS. PP is by Making Memories, FA LA LA set.
I used pp scraps for this one so I don't know what company they are from. The image is Lovely as a Tree by SU and is stamped in pale green ink and covered with white glitter.
I made the poinsettias using a flower die from CB. The silver border is shiny cs from Bazzill and adds some extra texture, but unfortunately that isn't so visible in a photo.
Dollar store image, Agean silver sparkly EB powder, and shiny cs from Bazzill and voila! A clean and simple Christmas card. The stocking rectangles are raised off the page with 3D foam squares.
JOY is covered with Diamon Glaze for some extra texture. Branches are covered with Agean silver sparkly EB powder. Sentiment is embossed with silver EB powder. The border is silver mirror cs for some extra glam.
To make this card I used a small stamp from my Lovely as a Tree SU set to stamp inside a masked oval. I added some glitter and that's it...easy as pie!

Snowflakes Everywhere

2010-10-30T11:55:00.002-04:00

I made my own pp using 3 different snowflake stamps - one is SU, the other two are just dollar store stamps. I combined 3 colours as well - Colourbox Pheasant Gold and silver, and Agean silver sparkly EB powder for some texture. The snowflakes accenting the image are covered with silver glitter.

Christmas Joy

2010-10-30T11:51:00.002-04:00

This card starts off another big bunch of Christmas cards that I've made and need to post. I've got about 20 of them on their way, each one different.

I used the sparkling Agean silver EB powder on the branch image, and plain silver embossing on the sentiment. The silver border is a shiny cs by Bazzill. TFL

Snowman in the Window

2010-10-16T11:07:00.003-04:00

This card was made using my new Studio G stamps that I got from a good friend. I think I'm going to probably be using these a lot as they are so cute and easy to work with. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but I added some clear glitter to the snow and the hat on the snowman. The snowman, by the way, is stamped on the inside. This is my first window card and I'm not too sure if it's something I will try again. Maybe...who knows! I'm not quite sure I know the best way to do it. I might have to look around and find an easier way. I just seemed to find it hard to line it all up well.

Snowflake Trio

2010-10-16T11:04:00.003-04:00

Can you tell this card took no time at all to make? I used my Judikins Aegean silver EB powder (for sparkle of course) and my SU snowflake stamp and voila! A clean and simple card. The sentiment is an Inkadinkado stamp and is embossed with silver EB powder to match. It doesn't get any easier than that!

Christmas Snowflake

2010-10-16T11:00:00.003-04:00

And again with the sparkles! The SU snowflake (from Patterned Pines set) was stamped with Versamark and then embossed with Judikins Aegean Silver EB powder. I love this stuff! The border was stamped with my MS scroll set, and the poinsettia was made using two CB flowers glued together. Pearls of course are one of my favourite embellies! The CB swiss dots folder makes a perfect snowy background don't you think?

Snow, Snow, Snow!

2010-10-16T10:57:00.001-04:00

These stamps were a rak I got from a wonderful online friend recently. I just had to start using them on my Christmas cards right away. I used my glue pen and some silver glitter to highlight the snow, and added the rhinestones to match. TFL!

Vintage Christmas

2010-10-16T10:15:00.003-04:00

For this card I got completely away from the glitter and the trees and decided to use up some of the pp I have in my stash. This is called Poinsettia Stripe and is from Making Memories FA La La collection. I've had some wonderful vintage looking embellishments that I got from the dollar store that I've been wanting to use as well. I thought this tree went perfect with this pp. The stamp set is Heidi Grace, and everything is inked with tea stain distress ink. TFL!

Silver Tree

2010-10-16T10:10:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I tried the tree idea again only changing the colours around. I think I like this one better, but it still needs improvement. The green is a little blah for me. I like the colour scheme, but think that maybe I should have used some shiny cs instead.

Poinsettia Trio

2010-10-16T10:05:00.002-04:00

For this Christmas card I stamped my SU Lovely As A Tree with Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. Then using my glue pen I added glitter for some extra snowy sparkle. I stamped it on vellum, but unfortunately the look isn't quite what I was hoping for. I think next time I would use a shiny white cs. My MS scroll border punch set came in handy to give the edges some flare. The poinsettias were made using two CB flowers glued together. The MS leaf punch was used as well.

Poinsettia

2010-10-16T09:58:00.003-04:00

Do you ever lay in bed and as you're falling asleep ideas for cards pop into your head? This was one of those ideas. Of course it looks somewhat different than what I had in mind, but at least the idea got me started on the creative process!

I stamped the holly along the edge with Judikins aegean silver EB powder. It gives it a nice sparkly look and is my newest and most favourite EB powder at the moment! I used red stickles for the berries, and once everything was dry I cut the edge out by hand. None of the poinsettias I had in my stash seemed to fit or match, so I made this one by hand. The petals were scraps from the centres of some CB flowers I had made, and the leaves were just cut in duplicate by hand. I embossed everything to give it dimension.

Unto Us A Child Is Born

2010-10-16T08:46:00.001-04:00

HERE COMES CHRISTMAS!!! I have started making my Christmas cards, and have about 11 made so far that I will be posting over the next few days. I really like the MS corner punch sets that allow you to go all the way around a rectangle or square. This punch set is the scroll set and is one of my favourites. The flowers are Prima, and the background is embossed with my SU poinsettia folder. The star is highlighted with my diamond glitter Gelly Roll pen.

Christmas Penguins

2010-10-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

I made this card for my youngest son who just loves penguins. Shhh...don't tell him though as he won't get it for a couple of months yet. The penguins are stamped, then coloured with pencil crayons and gamsol. The white on the hat has white glitter to brighten it up a bit and give it some texture. The penguins are also raised up with 3D foam tape. The lights are coloured with the pencil crayons and gamsol as well, but are finished off with diamond glaze to give them a 3D look. I'm really happy with how that part turned out as it is raised off the page in the shape of a Christmas light and looks pretty good.

Holly Trio

2010-10-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

This is just a simple card thanks to my SU Poinsettia EB folder, my MS punch set, and a little Stickles glitter!

Evergreen

2010-10-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

I have become quite fond of glitter this year so you will be seeing alot of it on my cards this Christmas season! This card was made using the SU Lovely as a Tree set. I stamped it with Versamark, and then used sticky embossing powder and fine glitter. The edges are sponged with tea stained Ranger Distress ink. The pp was a rak. I decided to keep this one simple without a sentiment as I think the image and colours speak for themselves. I do have a small "Peace on Earth" stamp I may still decide to use in the upper corner.

Anniversary Card to Last for 10 Years!

2010-10-15T18:30:00.005-04:00

Front

My friend asked me to make a special anniversary card for her hubby that she could use for the next 10 years! She just filled up a card she has used for the last 10 years, and wanted another one in which she could continue to write special thoughts each year for the next 10 years. I made it with 10 different sections to write in, one for each year. Each section is either stamped or embossed with a CB folder. The flowers are coloured with pencil crayons and gamsol and the centres have white glitter, but unfortunately it isn't too visible in the picture. The background is stamped using Versamark.

Inside - this pic shows 6 of the sections
(The centre bottom embossing says "With Love", but it doesn't show up well in the picture.)

Back - shows four more sections to write in.
(The section on the bottom right is embossed with flowers.)

Birthday Hydrangea

2010-10-15T18:25:00.003-04:00

The other day I happened to pick up the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch on sale in Wal-Mart. Of course I had to try it out, and this is what I came up with. I'm loving the textured cs I picked up in the dollar store. The green background cs is a sample of it. The colours are wonderful, and so cheap too! The leaves were cut out by hand and embossed to give them a bit of a 3D appearance. TFL!

A Birthday Wish

2010-10-15T18:21:00.003-04:00

I made this for my friend who asked me to make a bunch of cards for her. I had to try out a new CB embossing folder I recently got. I like how clean and simple cards are with these little folders. They are great when you don't have lots of time to work on a card.

Wedding Table Set - Placecards and More

2010-10-09T17:21:00.002-04:00

A close friend's son got married last month, and I was asked to make some items for the wedding tables. The tables were covered with black and white damask table cloths and had a vase of red flowers in the centre of each one. This is a sample of the placecard I made to match. What's with the fish name you ask? Well, the groom is an avid fisherman, so they decided to give each of the tables a fish name instead of a number. The placecards were pretty time consuming given all the layers on the flowers plus all the layers of the card, and I had to make 128 of them! Thankfully it wasn't a very big wedding reception.

Here is a close-up of of the menu. Sounds like a yummy meal doesn't it?

This picture shows you how many menus I had to make. There are 17 of them there which means lots and lots of layers, especially including the layers on the flowers too!

And of course...a sample of the table number, uhh I mean fish!

This picture shows how I did 17 different fish, each one printed by computer, but painstakingly cut out by hand and then mounted with 3D foam tape. Each card is the same on both sides, so technically I had to do 34 of them altogether.

Monochromatic Thankyou

2010-10-07T20:46:00.002-04:00

This is just a simple thank you card that I made for a friend who treated me to a "ladies only" weekend at her family cottage. We had such a wonderful and relaxing time. I found some wonderful textured cs in the dollar store and just loved this colour so I had to use it. The sentiment is embossed in white to stand out over the pink. It's not like me to not put any butterflies or flowers on a card, but this just seemed to be fine without them. Sometimes, simple is nice too!

51 Years, Wow!

2010-10-04T18:47:00.003-04:00

My in-laws celebrated their 51st anniversary yesterday, which to me is an amazing feat. We invited them over for dinner as we often do on a Sunday, only this time we used all the good china and silverware and tried to make it a little more special than usual. I made this card for them using the SCS300 sketch challenge. The papers are a real mix - Anna Griffin, MME, K&Co, and even one from the dollar store. I had to try out my new MS combo scroll punch set as well. TFL!

Pink, Purple & Green, But Still Out of the Blue!

2010-09-29T10:40:00.002-04:00

I bought these stickers a long time ago, and had only used a couple out of the package. Somehow, the idea struck me to pull them out again and use them. I was pretty happy with the result. Funny how an idea just hits you out of the blue like that! The embellie and the cs are all from the dollar store. The flowers are coloured with pencil crayons and gamsol. TFL

Butterflies and a Rose

2010-09-25T14:18:00.002-04:00

I made this card just for fun and ended up using it for a bridal shower. I had some wrapping paper that surprisingly matched it quite well. The butterflies are embossed with the CB textiles folder, and the image is coloured with pencil crayons and gamsol. TFL!

Hershey - Our New Puppy!

2010-09-14T15:56:00.003-04:00

Introducing Hershey, our new Shih Tzu puppy. This picture was taken the day we brought her home when she was 7 1/2 weeks old. She was only 2 1/2 pounds and will grow to be about 14-16 pounds. Our four kids as well as myself were just ecstatic to have a new dog. My DH is happy too, just not as excited as the rest of us as he didn't grow up with a dog. He is gradually becoming quite fond of her though.
Here I am with our new little rascal! The pictures make her look black and white, but she is actually tri-colour. Her face mask and the tips of her ears are black, but the coloured patches are brown with black streaks. One side has more colour than the other. The white side has a big brown spot on it and it looks like a Hershey kiss or a chocolate chip.
The Shih tzu is a very social breed as it was originally bred to be a lap dog for Tibetan/Chinese royalty. They typically love everyone and have to be near you all the time as this picture clearly shows. Hershey's new favourite spot is right at my feet where I work!

We definitely picked a smart one. It took me only 3 days to teach Hershey to sit, stay, come, shake a paw, lay down, and speak! My daughter has since taught her to sit pretty. It's amazing how quickly they learn when they are so young. Now if we can get her totally toilet trained we'll be all set!

Finally - A Chance to Post Some Cards!

2010-09-14T15:16:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it has been more than a month since I have had the time to post something! I'm going to make up for lost time though, because I have lots of items to post over the next few days. I have been a very busy girl!

This card, to start with is a spring card I whipped up quickly for a party my son went to back in the summer. He needed a card for his friend's birthday. Nothing fancy, just a quick and simple card. Gotta love those once in awhile!

Thank You for Some Kind Friends

2010-08-07T12:34:00.003-04:00

A pastor of mine once said, "God gives you what someone else needs, and gives someone else what you need". Some Christian friends recently proved that to be true. We haven't seen or spoken to them in a long while and yet, out of the blue, they provided an answer to prayer for us and they didn't even know that we had been praying for it! Certainly God had something to do with that!

So I made this thank you card for our very kind friends. I stamped the images with permanent ink, and then coloured them with pencil crayons and gamsol. Simple, but it allowed me to have enough room inside to write a nice note of thanks.

Light Purple Congratulations

2010-07-31T10:31:00.002-04:00

This is the last of the cards I made playing with the handmade roses. I think I've done enough of these for awhile now. I kinda liked how this one turned out so I guess that's why I feel I can stop now. It's time to move on to other things. I'm working on some ideas for wedding placecards and table numbers, but I have a couple of other cards I've made I'll be posting first. TFL

New Job Card

2010-07-30T21:36:00.002-04:00

A friend asked me to make a card for her bil who just got hired to start up a new mine in the Canadian north. My Lovely as a Tree set from SU and the bear stamp I got from the Michael's $1.50 bin came in handy for this one. I sponged a bit of colour on the background to complete it. I put "congratulations on your new job" on the inside.

Blog Background

2010-07-29T22:30:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the look of my blog. I just discovered that my background has been deleted and I haven't been able to figure out yet how to fix it. Has anyone else had this problem? If you have any tips to help me please let me know. Please bear with me as I try to get this resolved.

Generic (or Masculine) Birthday Cards

2010-07-12T17:48:00.003-04:00

Made these cards for my DH and DS. They celebrated their birthdays on the weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday. My DS turned 19! It is hard to believe how old he is getting to be...so fast!

The top card was made using dollar store stamps, and the candle on the bottom one is from Inkadinkado. The sentiment stamp is an unknown wood-mounted stamp that came in a kit. I used regular cheap old markers for the colouring!

Thinking of You

2010-07-12T17:33:00.002-04:00

Had to try out the new i-cling rubber stamp set from Studio G that I got for my birthday. CS is Cricut Rainbow (this pink is one of my favourites) and glitter is Diamond Stickles. TFL

White Wedding

2010-07-10T14:30:00.002-04:00

This was the last wedding card I was going to post for awhile, but I ended up making one more the other day. I just have to finish taking some pics so I can post it. I get these ideas in my head, and I just have to try them out while they're on my mind! However, I promise...I do have a couple of different cards I will also post. We have a couple of guy birthdays in the family this weekend so I will post some masculine cards soon as well.

For this card I wanted to go all white so I used my CB flowers die, and my Spellbinders Fancy Tags die and made another simple card. I added some pearls and embossing and I was done, as simple as that! TFL

Roses, Wedding and Contrast!

2010-07-07T18:33:00.003-04:00

Trust me, only one or two more wedding cards to post and then I will move on to some masculine birthday cards...I promise! My DH and DS both have birthdays this weekend so I have to make a couple of cards for them and will post when I'm done.

This wedding card was made using a stamp set by Artemio. I embossed everything in silver and then cut along the top edge. I tacked on the shiny silver cardstock behind it for some contrast. The card opens on the right side. I think it could have used a little bit of clear glitter on the roses just to finish it off. Might just do that if I get the chance. TFL

Another Simple Wedding Card

2010-07-06T10:19:00.003-04:00

For this card I used the wavy edge of a stencil template to cut and emboss the front side. I used a rose stamp from Inkadinkado, some Versamark ink, and some silver embossing powder for the image and sentiment. Then I added a little silver to the side on the inside so it would be seen on the front and voila...done!

Simple Congratulations

2010-07-06T10:09:00.001-04:00

Made this simple congratulations card using silver embossing and a Fiskars border embossing punch. Doesn't get much easier than that.

Embossed Wedding Card

2010-07-04T13:39:00.003-04:00

Another wedding card...this time with lots of roses and embossing. The centre strip has roses embossed in white, the base has roses stamped in a whitish pink colour (gives it a watermark look to it), and the edges of the centre strip were embossed and punched with a Fiskars border punch that also embosses. The sentiment and the shiny thin strips are stickers. Unfortunately you have to look really close to see all the details as they just aren't very visible in the picture.

Graduation Card

2010-07-03T11:08:00.002-04:00

My niece just graduated from highschool and we are celebrating tonight. This is the card I made for her using her school colours. The centre panel is raised with 3D foam tape, and the 3 caps at the bottom are punched out.

Embossed Rose Wedding Card

2010-07-02T12:04:00.002-04:00

And another wedding card....TFL!

Easel Wedding Card

2010-07-02T11:51:00.002-04:00

Here's another wedding card that I made, this time an easel card. Someone asked me to make a wedding card for them to buy for an upcoming wedding, and so I have really gotten into making wedding cards lately. With all that I have made, and all that I have yet to post, she is going to have a big selection to choose from.

Tri-Shutter Wedding Card with Handmade Japanese Paper

2010-07-02T11:37:00.002-04:00

My fil recently gave me a stack of handmade Japanese paper that he had to use for his calligraphy, but he no longer wants or needs. Jackpot for me! Of course it is gorgeous paper, and something I really wanted to try using for a wedding card. I decided to try it out on a tri-shutter card. I love the soft texture with the pearls, felt, and silver embossing.

Graduation Card

2010-06-30T13:25:00.002-04:00

I made this card for a friend's graduation from the PSW course. I'm very proud of her for going back to school and getting her certificate. I cased the idea from this wonderful card on SCS. TFL

Birthday - 10 year old boy.

2010-06-27T13:46:00.003-04:00

My son needed a card for his friend's 10th birthday. Gotta love the CB folders for a quick and easy card! I embossed Core'dinations black magic cs and then sanded the raised edges. The oval is raised off the page with 3D foam squares.

Dry Embossing on Vellum

2010-06-26T11:09:00.002-04:00

Trying some different things I haven't done in awhile. This time - dry embossing on vellum using a brass stencil I got in the dollar store. There is an embossed rectangle around the roses but it doesn't show up very well because the colours are so light.

Masculine Birthday - Easel Card

2010-06-22T15:59:00.002-04:00

My second easel card. These are so easy and fun to make. Made this for my fil.

Father's Day #3

2010-06-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Of course I had to make a card for my hubby who happens to be the best father in the world! This is my first time making a card with the grunge technique. I've distressed the edges on cards before, but not quite to this extent. I'm pretty happy with the results which means I will probably be trying this technique again sometime.

Father's Day #2

2010-06-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

This Father's Day card will go to my father-in-law. I used pencil crayons and gamsol, as well as chalk to colour the image. This image is from the Lovely As a Tree set from SU and comes in very handy for masculine cards. The white cs in the bg has been embossed with a plaid stripe pattern, but doesn't show up too well in the picture.

Father's Day #1

2010-06-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

This is a clean and simple Father's Day card that I made for my Dad. A couple of stamps and 3 layers of cs and voila...done!

Wedding Card

2010-06-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was asked to make a wedding card for someone and have decided to make several for her to choose from. This is the second one so far, but I'm sure there will be a few more to come! The roses were coloured using pencil crayons and gamsol. I finished the blooms off with a fine white glitter.

This post and the last couple of days were all scheduled posts so that I have a new post every day for awhile. I've still got 3 Father's Day cards to post over the next 3 days, so stay tuned!

More Roses

2010-06-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know why, but for some reason I am really enjoying making clean and simple cards lately. I coloured the image on this card with pencil crayons and gamsol, then finished it off with fine pink glitter. Aren't sparkles just the perfect finishing touch?

Smoosh Technique

2010-06-10T21:36:00.003-04:00

I've been trying a couple of different techniques, and for this card I attempted the Smoosh Technique. I cut an oval out of white cs, then cut another oval the same size out of a transparency. I stamped the roses on the transparency with permanent ink. Once dry, I smeared the white oval with diamond stickles and placed the transparency over it smooshing the stickles! The diamond stickles is very sparkly under the transparency and unlike glitter, you don't have to worry about it flaking off. I completed it by matting it and gluing the silver cording around the edge. TFL!

Rose Tutorial

2010-06-03T14:29:00.003-04:00

This picture shows the supplies I used. You can use any flower shaped punch or die cut similar to mine. If you have 3 different sizes it's easier, but I only had two. You could probably even get away with just one, and cut the edges to make the flowers 3 different sizes. I'm using a small dollar store punch, but you can make them whatever size your punches are. I showed the big pink punch because I used it to punch my smallest flower.
This picture shows how many flowers I punched and the sizes. As you can see, because I only had 2 different sized punches I used my scissors to cut the edges to make the one flower slightly smaller than the 2 bigger ones. The next step was to ink the edges. I inked both sides so the pink can be seen when the petals are bent up.

Then I bent the petals up on each one. The smaller the flower, the more I bent the petals up. You can see how the smallest flower looks pretty crumpled in.

The final step is to assemble and glue the flowers starting with the biggest on the bottom and ending with the smallest on top. The pearl is the finishing touch. Re-bend the petals as needed. The picture makes the smallest flower look flat, but it is really quite bent. It must look flat because I took the picture straight on.

As you can see the roses are pretty easy to make. You can use coloured cardstock or just white cardstock and ink it to match the ink on the card. If you have a leaf punch you can add leaves as I did in my card below. I inked them to match as well. I'm guessing if you make a bigger rose, you may need to add an extra layer or two to fill the flower out. The finished size of my flower is only about a 1/2" in diameter.

Clean and Simple Roses!

2010-06-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

I continued to have fun making flowers the other night, and decided to try my hand at making a rose. Our town is called the Rose City and we celebrate a Rose Festival in June. That, as well as the fact that my sister's middle name is Rose and her birthday is in June, inspired me to make her this rose birthday card. She is also a cardmaker/scrapbooker so I think she will appreciate the fact that the roses are handmade. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, and really like that it was simple and easy to do. I definitely consider it one of my favourites that I've made lately. TFL

Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers!

2010-06-02T14:47:00.003-04:00

The other night I was in the mood to play around with making flowers...can you tell? I used several of the punches I had and just went crazy making as many different kinds of flowers as I could come up with. Then I spent 3 days trying to figure out how to place many of them on a card and this is what I came up with. I really wanted to try it with a monocramatic scheme.

This card was going to be for my sister who is having a birthday soon, but I ended up making another card I liked even more (which I will post tomorrow hopefully). It has flowers, but not nearly as many! I was inspired to make a card using roses since Rose is one of her middle names. Check back in and you'll see a card I can certainly say I'm going to include among my favourites.

Bridal Shower Cards

2010-06-01T16:14:00.003-04:00

I don't know about you, but sometimes I just don't like the final results of a card and so I keep on until I get one I'm happy with. I went to a bridal shower recently and made several gift cards because I just wasn't happy with the final results of each one I made. Obviously these are the cards I didn't use, but if you look below you will see the one I finally went with.

Note: The top card actually has an embossed square all the way around, but unfortunately the light in the picture only picked up the line on the top and bottom.

Anniversary - Laura's Sketch 52

2010-05-22T18:14:00.006-04:00

My husband and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on Thursday so I made this card for him using Laura's Sketch 52 at 2 Sketches 4 You. I almost forgot to post it in time. The stamps are Studio G and were from a rak I won at Cuppas and Cards. TFL

Card Details: Stamps - Studio G; Ribbon - Offray; Metal corners - dollar store; Spellbinders Circle/Scalloped Nesties; CS - Recollections; Ink - Memories black, Walnut Distress (Tim Holtz).

50th Anniversary Cards

2010-05-19T13:05:00.005-04:00

Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge asked us to make a card with a large oval. These two cards are quite similar, but still are quite different. I made them for a friend to choose from to give her parents who are celebrating their 50th anniversary. I think that being together for 50 years is truly something special to celebrate given that nowadays 1/3 marriages ends in divorce. So I tried to make the cards look as special as I could. The cardstock I used is a mix between shiny gold, metalic gold, and metalic ivory. Pearls and roses to me are elegant and timeless so I thought they would be perfect for a 50th anniversary card.

Card Details: Rose Stamp - Judikins, 50th stamp - unknown; Spellbinders Fancy Tags die; Oval Curvy Cutter; MS leaf, Fiskars, and Marvy punches; Kaiser Scrapbook pearls; Bazill and Recollections cs; Versamark ink; and Ranger Fine Gold EB powder.

Bridal Shower

2010-05-18T14:39:00.003-04:00

My friend's son is all grown up and getting married, and this past Sunday was the bridal shower for his fiance. I made this card to go with the gift I bought. I like the whole thing, but almost think it would have been fine with just the centre card, especially since it was a gift card. TFL

Card Details: Vellum - HOTP; Punches - Fiskars, Dollar Store, MS Lace Border Punch; Pearls - Recollection; Stamps - Inkadinkado; Ink - Versamark; EB Powder - Ranger Seafoam White.

Centre Step Fold Card

2010-05-08T11:06:00.003-04:00

Well Nyoka, I finally did it! Thanks so much for the instructions. I have finally made a centre step fold card! And I must say I really liked making this kind of a card. It's actually easier for me to make a card covering lots of smaller panels than one big panel. I don't know why, it just is. Maybe because it makes it easier to place matching patterned papers. I guess I'll have to try a side step card next!

Card Details: Heidi Grace pps; Hero Arts bling; Memories ink, Offray ribbon, Fiskars border punch; Inkadinkado - sentiment stamp; Cake stamp - unknown; embellie - dollar store.

Mother's Day Card

2010-05-07T09:40:00.003-04:00

I finally got around to making a Mother's Day card for my mil. This style of card is one of my favourites because there are so many panels to cover and have fun with. I hope my mil doesn't mind that I cheaped out on it though. The pp and glitter are from the dollar store, the pearl on the front was from an old necklace of my daughter's that she was going to throw away, and the wide ribbon was from a rak. Not bad eh?

Card Details: Stamps - Say It With Stamps (sentiment), Artemio (roses, leaves), Studio G (enjoy); MS butterfly punch; Versamark and Colourbox ink; Ranger Seafoam White EB powder; Recollections CS; pp and glitter - dollar store; ribbon - rak (wide), Ruban (blue), Oval Curvy Cutter, tag punch - unknown.

Thank You Card

2010-05-03T19:38:00.004-04:00

I made this clean and simple card for a neighbour who did something nice for my youngest DS. I used the CB thank you die cut, and embossed the flowers with Spellbinders Impressibilities. I brushed Liquid Pearls on the embossed area to help it stand out, then distressed the edges, and voila...done! CS is Recollections (white) and Cricut Rainbow (blue). TFL

Sooo Disappointed

2010-04-29T13:03:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I won't be posting any more pictures of our robin family. We were gone to my daughter's track meet yesterday, and just as we arrived home my oldest son was watching the female carry away the last of the eggs. I'm not sure what she did with them, but one of them dropped and broke in the driveway. The man delivering my youngest son's papers had dropped the bundle right under her nest so I'm thinking the thud and commotion may have terrified the poor thing.

I am so disappointed as I was really looking forward to watching the eggs hatch one by one. Nature can be very entertaining and interesting, but it can be sad too.

Mating Season!

2010-04-27T18:59:00.006-04:00

IT'S MATING SEASON!
Days 1-3: A robin spent 3 days building a nest in the planter next to
my front door (on the left side). Notice how close it is to the door?

The completed nest. I just have to stand in my doorway
and reach my hand out with my camera to take a picture!

Day 4 - Just before noon we watched through the window as the robin laid her first egg.

Day 5 - 2 eggs! Same again...she laid it right around noon time.

Day 6 - 3 eggs, same time of day!

Day 7 - 4 eggs! Again, same time of day!

Here is momma robin sitting on her eggs.
I'm only about 4 feet away from her!
I guess it's going to be awhile before I can replace my planter!

So, now the waiting begins! It takes about 12 days or so before the chicks hatch. Then it will take another 13-16 days for them to leave the nest. I will be posting more pics as I can, so keep checking in. In the meantime, we continue to use our side entrance as much as possible to keep from disturbing her. She sits on the nest for close to an hour, then takes off for a short time, and then returns again. After all the work she's done so far, she now has lots of sitting time! Although, I've read that as the chicks hatch, she will start building a new nest for another clutch. She will do this again probably one more time after that until August. So I guess it's good for her to sit as long as she can, when she can! The male robin helped a little bit with the nest building, and will eventually help with some of the feeding, but so far he has been best at keeping guard! He likes to stay close and keep an eye on things.