~ happy easter

 ~ happy easter 

here are the goodies I am giving out

to my peeps who come today for easter dinner

they are *carrots* 

made with orange jelly bellies

and I made the tags in photoshop

expensive to use jelly bellies all in one colour

but so worth it don't you think

happy easter 

cheryl

~ have a wonderful day...quilled flower ~

~ hello ~

thanks for stopping by today

this card fits right into the 

less is more category

the stem of the flower says

have a wonderful day have a wonderful day

which I used photo shop to create

{gotta love that program}

and now you all

~ have a wonderful day ~

cheryl

~ mr. & mrs. {quilled birds}

Well it looks like I am on a roll this week....making cards and posting them too. This is the last one I have ready so I better get back at it soon. These long legged birds were inspired from a quilled wall hanging I saw online on an etsy shop called It's Lorraine. I loved the long legs on the birds and knew they would be perfect as a bride and groom.

I saw her shop a long time ago and just ended up making my card recently {but she does still have the wall hanging up on her site if you want to check it out}. Mrs. Bird is very cute but I love the hat and tails on Mr.Bird. I used photo shop to add the swirl and text to my card. I think the polka-dot ribbon is adorable. 

Thanks again
Cheryl

Happy Birthday....Dad

Last week was my dad's 70th Birthday so of course I had to make him a memory card. I have been making them for my immediate family for many years now so I can't stop the tradition. Sometimes the hardest part is picking out the picture but cards for guys are a little more of a challenge as well because I like to use ribbon a lot and bows just don't cut in on cards for men.

Sooo....it was a great opportunity for me to pull out the Washi Tape my brother brought back for me on his recent trip to Japan. Remember this post? I struggled a bit on where to put it...as a border, on the picture itself, one strip, two strips. But I decided just a small strip to anchor the buttons and words was all that was needed. Of course I edited the picture with photo shop to add some fun details...and if you haven't noticed yet I love the colour green...specifically apple green and any shades of it.

Enjoy your day
Cheryl

Happy Birthday Lori...Memory Card Tutorial

Hello everyone
I am in Ottawa right now for my sisters birthday trip and have just given her the card I made so now I can share it with you. I had this post ready to go so I just had to publish it so here it goes.

The process I go through when making a memory card is usually the same for each one I make and it goes kind of like this:

• Choose the picture - I always start with the picture and rarely (if ever) make the card first. If I have access to lots of pictures of my subject...like my sister (since she was first born there are OODLES of her), I search through my stash for just the right one. It has to be clear and I like the picture to be closer into the face rather than a long distance shot. I like to be able to see the person's face clearly but that is not always possible. I love to use old pictures like with my sister's card but not everyone has them. With Anna's card it was a recent picture but I changed it to black and white which I think works really well.

• Photoshop -  next I digitally edit the picture and decide on if I will print it in black and white or colour. I more often then not choose black and white but for this card I chose to keep the colour of the original since I  had an idea of a colour scheme from the picture. I crop the picture and play around with brushes and borders until I have the picture the way  I want it. Sometimes I put words on the picture like this one. I then print the picture out on hp satin photo paper....for some reason I do not like glossy. It just doesn't look how I want it to and you can sometimes see streaks.

  

• Choose colour scheme - I dig through my stash of paper to find just the right ones to use. Then I hunt through my piles of ribbon and embellishments for ones that will work with my idea. With this card I was thinking shabby chic meets french provincial and this is what I came up with. Probably nothing like either one of those styles but still works in the end.

• Assemble -  then I start to assemble and play around with composition etc. and work out any printing I need to do on my computer. When I am putting it together I often change the material and or paper used. If you look at the finished card and the picture of materials used there are a few changes....I didn't use the wider, pinker ribbon and replaced the thin off white satin ribbon with a hemp string. Also the paper is from the same series but the flowers are smaller. These ones were too big so they took away from the picture. In the end the look is what I was going for.

• Take pictures - I take lots of them as you may have noticed from reading my blog. My favourite place to take them is on my mantle. I have a cute little wooden bird house there and the mantle is white so it is a good neutral for the shots.  I always take a straight on shot then sideways and close ups....it has been working for me so far I think.

and the process is all worth it when you  give a special, handmade card and especially so if it has their picture on it. Thanks for checking out my post today
Cheryl

Happy Birthdays

yesterday...Sept 9th, was the birthday of two special people in my life. Once is my sister Lori, who celebrated her 50th and the other was the owner of the store I work at, Anna, who  celebrated her 40th so I had 2 very special cards to make.

I can only show you Anna's card because I am going to give my sister her card on our trip to Montreal to next week in celebration of her birthday.

 

 
 

Lori if you are reading this you now know that store bought card was only a deek out....I hope you both had wonderful birthdays
Cheryl

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Hello everyone
Making the digital paper recently reminded me that I wanted to try making some thank you cards with photo shop...and I am glad I took the plunge. Even though I am still a novice, I really loved the process am happy with how they turned out.Here is a look at some of the cards I have done so far and now that I have started the ideas just keep coming.

supplies used

• white linen card stock (envelopments)
• Photo shop express 5.0
• computer

Thanks Cheryl

Digital Paper

Good morning...
what do you do when you don't have the right patterned paper for the job....why make it your self. I was in the middle of making a father's day card and was stumped at finishing it because I didn't have (if you can believe it) the right paper for the job. I didn't have time to run to the store so I thought I would fool around with photo shop and see what I could come up with. I had a my card sentiment cut out in a circle and the little dude I quilled to put on the card was in yellow and blue so this is what I came up with. I printed them out on envelopments white and white linen paper and they turned out great. The one on the left was my first attemp and I liked it but when I cut it to use on the card the pattern was too big so I did a second one. I ended up using both and will show you the card soon. I think I will be doing more of this in the futrue.....

Enjoy your day

Cheryl