Paint Chips for inspiration

This is an awesome idea for coming up with neat colour combos - thanks Vanilla Joy! :)

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When swine fly?! Ya right ;)

So my poor little monkey was diagnosed with H1N1 and is on antiviral drug Tamiflu and an antibiotic for an ear infection. It started last week with a runny nose (me too) and a bit of a cold. On Sunday/Monday I felt like a I go sideswiped by a Mack truck (my flu) and spent Monday in bed. She was fine... another baby at the sitters was also not 100%, and then they both ended up with fever... and the sniffles worsened, then the ears started hurting and what was supposed to be a healthy baby visit ended up as an H1N1 diagnosis!

SO in the last 6 days she's been almost permanently attached to me so I haven't been able to get much of anything done creatively, let alone laundry from all the the puke - YUCK - not only from the flu, the meds!!!

Anyhow... some points to note from her Peed in how do differentiate between the regular cold, the flu(s) and the H1N1:
- if there's a fever, it's not a cold, it's the flu
- if there's a fever with CHILLS - it's likely a H1N1
- H1N1 can affect people in different ways, from mild to severe. What we hear on the news is very severe, most cases we never hear about EXCEPT when the pharmacy says they are backordered for the meds ;)
- Those people who get sick and are back to regular activities in about 4 days probably had a slight case of H1N1

** What the news doesn't tell you... just becasue you had "a" flu already this season, doesn't mean you won't get it again and if you do get hit a second time, your body's defenses will already be compromised so you'll get a worse case of a flu and if the second time around happens to be H1N1 it will knock you off you feet!!! It's a very unusual and aggressive flu that we haven't seen in a very long time/lotta years and what is unusual is that it unusually seems to affect healthy young people making it pretty scary!

The H1N1 swine flu is a disease that afflicts younger people more-so than normal flus, and can be especially serious for those underlying medical conditions eg. asthma, heart disease or lung disease, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, those under 6 months of age, pregnant women, etc etc are at a much higher risk. If you have a fever and chills - seek medical attention!

So baby is doing well, and back to jumping on the bed singing "no more monkeys" and is enjoying all the hugs and kisses and attention. The other 2 adults living in our home are healthy as ever and both have shared the same living space, kitchen and we all eat together at the same table at the same time. We do however use the dishwasher for all things that come in contact with the mouth with hot water and I use Lysol wipes on most shared surfaces every night. And as an extra precaution, all soft toys have been put into hiding and all the plastics that can be easier sanitized (from puke) are all she's got playing with right now - except the stuffies in her bed ;)

So, the bottom line is, they'll likely diagnose you H1N1 becasue they can't really tell the difference... without blood work which takes about 2 weeks to get the results of (waste of time and money) so once diagnosed, quarantine the infected person for 5 days and if they are younger, have a healthy person care for the child and if you are reading this going WTF?! Reeelaxxx... just eat well, sleep well, wash hands often, keep your hands away from mouh, eyes and nose and be smart & keep healthy!

This is Dr.Nix reporting... over and out ;)

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(P.S. I'm not a real doctor and what I have summarized above is FYI from the MD and my own musings all mixed up and not the opinions of anyone qualified to diagnise or give a medical opinion)

Awesome survivor digi image :)

This one from Sassy Studio is a gotta-have and $1 will be donated to the Cancer Society - just awesome!

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Cards for Men anyone??

I wish I had the bandwidth for making some Cards for Men like this one below - do you?? What an awesome Challenge Blog; I look forward to being inspired!!

(Click on the image to go to the source)

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Paper Ornament Tutorial

Here's PSS's Ornament tutorial. I am so excited to make some of these with my digital cutter and making my Christmas tree baby-friendly this year :) I'll be sure to post about out November Tree Decorating Festivities :) Thanks for the inspiration Betsy!!

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Simply stunning

You absolutely have to click here to see this card in all it's splendour - I just HAD to blog about it!

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Tips & Tricks: Paper storage

I wish I had found these before I spent a mini-fortune on my bulky 12X12 paper shelves ;) I won't say I'd trae them but this would have been nice to find when I was just starting out.

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Tips & Tricks: The birch tree

More white for big kids to play with ... this time with pencil crayons - thanks for *this tutorial* posted by Ellen Hutson & created by Debbie Olson :)

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Watermarks and copyrights

Ever wanted a watermark to protect your images? How about a free copyright? I love what I create and although I blog to inspire, I'd hate to see my creations pop up somewhere else without acknowledgement or permission.

So without further adieu... All content, including designs, concepts, text, and photographs are COPYRIGHT ©2009-2010 Nikki Morrell. Original artwork is shared for your personal inspiration and enjoyment only and may not be used for publication, sale or contests... and honestly now, you can totally make your own ;)

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Sweet Memories

After 12 long days of suffering a dear friend of the family passed away on Thursday. Her family flew in from all over the world to be with her in her last moments, all arriving within 3 days of the doctor's suggestion to say their goodbyes. They did, and she STILL kept on for 9 more days ;) (most had to return home - smile) This was so typical of her lasting and enduring spirit ! Her funeral is today and my dear family all asked if I had a sympathy card they could "order" and of course I said yes BUT then realized, OH NO!! My pretty new stash of sympathy cards are all the same... OMG... I have to make new ones!

May the beautiful memories

that fill your heart

help to also bring you comfort.

Praying for friends to comfort you,

faith to uphold yo

and beautiful memories

to heal your heart.

A special life has passed from our sight

but never from our hearts

See this post.

And another:

Her memory is our keepsake

with which we'll never part

God has her in his keeping

We have her in our hearts.

Well, I googled and searched for just the right words and Bonnie at the Craftiblog had me coming back again and again to her sentiment, so thanks Bonnie, one of the 3 cards has your beautiful sentiment.

• I've used a mish mash of papers and value pack cards and envelopes, and embellies and some silver pigment ink to ink some of the edges, and...


• Plain white ribbon: I coloured the ribbon to match with Copic markers B00, BG10


• The images were from Mo's digital Pencil' called Robin and the Lilacs from Sketching Stamper


• Copic Markers - skin: E51, E00, E11 lips/cheeks: R11, Hair: E31, W35, Cloud/clothes/wings: B00, BG10, Y00... and a little stickles diamond to finish off the halo & wings & the lilacs mainly BV00 and some other purples and pinks for texture,leaves: YG11, YG06 and G17


• The hole punch I used and never blogged about yet was the 2 inch reach - ribbon that punches 2 slits perfect for threading a ribbon through. It's pretty neat and I was thrilled to get a 40% off coupon for this baby at Michael's.

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Holiday Tags - Vinatgge Ornaments

An awesome tag idea from paper-scissors-superheroes :)

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Tips & Tricks: Crayon Resist technique

Wooo hoooo!! I get to play with baby girl's crayons! Which kid uses a white crayon anyway... those are for us BIG kids to play with :)

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Mo's Digi Challenge & Bog Hop!!

Mo's Challenge Team has a new challenge today and is it ever fun!!!

But it doesn't stop there... there's alllsoooo a:

OOoooohhh how exciting!!!!!

Here is a list to keep you headed in the right direction: Lori, Cheryl, Jak, Elaine, Suzanne , Mina , Kerttuke, Mel, Michelle & Rach - Happy Hoppin!!!

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Mmmm yummy :)

Mo's DigiChallenge #2 is is to use colors that remind you of Fall and to use only 2 embellishments; it doesn't have to be a Fall image, just colors that remind you of Fall. So hop over to Mo's store and pick out your favorite... it's as addictive as candy.. ohhh I'm so excited!

Ahhh such a lovely warm card, using Color Throwdown Swatch 64 which includes TURQUOISE - my favvvvvvvvvve colour in the universe... and Mo's AM Sweet Tooth - how yummy!

As you can see, I got a little carried away with blending the teacup so lost the integrity of my 'stone' colour - ack!

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Cuppa tea?

I've used Jeanette Lynton's Halloweenie colour combo, and 365 Card's Day 228 same but different papers for this challenge and a jazzy CP32 sketch with one of Mo's Digital images called Kimono all thrown together, it turned out quite nice :)

I apologise for not listing my paper source, I am honestly trying to use up my old stash so these mystery papers will be popping up quite often going forward :) As well, I am just colouring away with my Copics trying this and that to see what works and what doesn't before my Certification class - woot woot!!! ... so I haven't paid much attention to what colours I've used either.

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Copic Blending and using the colorless blender

This is a little long, but is one type of blending technique that can be used with Copic Markers - thanks Lisa!!

** See 7:08 for the colorless blender/remover demo**

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Santa? What are you doing in my September post??

Todays 365 Card-Day 190 sketch. had me baffled for awhile until I stumbled upon this background paper with SANTA!!! So this one came to me pretty easily after that and is perfect for the Day 227 motion challenge as well. I tore up a tree and some snow, and added my Stickles Diamond bling to follow Santa's path as he flew through the sky!!! How many more sleeps is it to Christmas anyway???

Stats: Christmas card countdown... 49 to go ;)

Buddy Love

Since "Perple" is Bella and Bronte the dog's favorite color, Mo's first challenge is to make a card using the color purple but you must use a Mo Manning image on your creation so hop over to Mo's store and pick out your favorite... it's as addictive as candy :)

This Bella and Bronte image is from the Mo's Digital Pencil is of the little girl in the logo and I just looove Bella's curls !! (I'm a curly girl myself and enjoyed playing hairdresser and giving those juicy curls some highlights and lowlights ;) I have no idea where I got the heart, I think the Dollar store or something. The Sweet Sketch Wednesday Challenge #17 , Stampavie's Animal challenge #63 and in Digital Tuesday Challenge #26 we were required to have a heart somewhere on our project - how fun!

And nooo... youa re not seeing things, I'm reposting this becasue it was so so sooo perfect for the challenge ;)

Again, I "copicized" the paper to give it an accent that matched - how easy-peasie that was :)

And inside details are always a fave of mine - this one's an old QK die I've had for donkey-years ;)

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Google 411 - cool ;)

Or click here :)

Milk and cookies

Ho Ho Hoooo...

I'm checking my list....

not once... but TWICE!

Click on the image above

to see how simple white gel pen scribbles

really make Santa's beard "pop"!

Some Mojo Monday, Scraps from around, brads I thought I would never ever use (except flower centers), Copics, white gel pigment pen, Stickles Diamond and a TheDigiShack image of one of my favoiurite guys :)

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Ohhhh lookie here.... HOW FUN!!

Mo's got a challenge blog,
I'm so darned excited!

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Housewarming

Wouldn't this little card be cute for a housewarming gift? My boss just bought her first home - I think I'll get her some nice white dishtowels to go with this card - sweet, but not too pricey or personal :) The towels were from a 99 cent bin and the tiles are from some paper I've had for about 10 years it seems. I didn't hand-cut the tiles like in my other post today, this is how the paper came - a whole honkin' 12X12 of these tiles... and the 3X3 card and envelope I bought and love how cute they are for these fancy embellies, it sets them off nicely ;)

Also, it's great for 365 cards Day 224 challenge :)

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The friendly dragon

Here' s my take on the card patterns sketch 35, but more importantly, this SPCC challenge reminded me of my faaave book, The Paperbag Princess and inspired me to use this free digi stamp from Doodle Dragon's Blog.

Copics used: B00, Y00, YR07, Y06, C3, G17, G000, YG06, YG11 and BV08 for the "copicized" sticker letters. PLUS - my white gel pen to make that egg just "pop" :)

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Monkey Hug

Ohhh was this pretty Ellie just so fun to colour. Such lumps and bumps and such a vast space to colour - how fun!

I used this digi stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil and the tiles are from some paper I've had for about 10 years it seems. I hand-cut them and arranged them by hand. I like how it turned out. the floral embellies were adhered with a hot glue gun, and some beads sprinkled into the hot-glue in the centers.

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It's raining it's pouring... the old man is snoring

I have always loved this quote and when I saw today's 365 Cards Day 218 challenge, and the Paper Maniac Challenge, I knew just the paper I was going to use.

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,
It's about learning how to dance in the rain

First of all, I bought this pack of neutral cards at Michael's and there is this one yellowy colour I just haaaaated to look at - bleak! But then again there is this beautiful paper pack I have by K&Company called Sea Glass (I also have the album - beautiful!) and this one umbrella paper has always turned me off. So here we are on a yucky rainy day using a yucky coloured card from my neutral value pack and the cute but "neeyah, not today" paper from a beautiful paper stack to make a cute card with an equally challenging ribbon colour that just happens to match. I am going with the flow of the weather, and I'm not in my comfort zone at all - sooo, instead of printing my quote I wrote it by hand! So ta daahhh!!

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Arrigato!

Sa'wee so blurry!

I've used Stamping Bella's Ginger KETTO stamp on Papertrey Ink's WCMD Challenge #1: Japan and made a cute tag that I have every intention of using next weekend on my friend's birthday gift bag. The paper and colours already coordingate with the bag and tissue paper I have. Yippie!

This is me striking a pose to show you my handy dandy finger-point-xacto knife that I raved about on this blog post. I use it to paper piece when I am stamping. What I didn't put in the pic was the yellow and blue copic markers I used on the stamp, and in matting the stamp. I keep tellin' you ladies, when the colours are a bit off, in this case a bit brighter than the paper I was using, I just "Copicized" the paper!! LOL, I loooove my Copics! I took the two colours I had in the stamp & matting and added little embellishments on the paper so TA DAA!! They now coordinate perfectly ;)

Arrigato!

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I

Que Linda Rosalita!!

This Papertrey Ink WCMD Challenge #2: Mexico was so darned fun!!

I used Mo's Digital Pencil's Rosa digi stamp, so perfect for this challenge!

I'm still playing with varieties of skin tones, and adjusting my Copic collection as I go. I think my tanned little Rosalita looks stunning and vibrant :)

I have to tell you I LOVE COPIC MARKERS, have I not mentioned this one million times? You can tell you've blended well when you see your image almost replicated in colour on the back of the paper. I also use my Copics to colour my mish-mash of letter stickers to match what I am doing. My dear frind gives me her "ugly stickers" because I am able to alter them to match whatever I am doing :)

Here's a technique I learned in a class - tearing fibre paper. I use a cotton-tipped swab "wet" to draw a line... I personally like to use my paper cutter to get it "just right" and when I bring the bar down I have a perfectly straight guide to make my "wet line". And yes, that is a Creative Memories straight-cutter... those blades, although pricey ($7 last forever and give a clean, beautiful cut! I've had this cutter since 2000, we're talking almost 10 years!!!

The I carefully tear *away* so the fibres pull away from the project (like bad frizzy hair - haha). I was told not to trim, but I do trim the thickest fibres that are just too long.

I attached my fibre fringe to the back of this card and put another piece of cardstock over it on the back to sandwich it because it is so thin; I wanted it on all four sides to soften this very simple card.

Simply beautiful! / Que linda!

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Soaking Up the Joy

For this Creatalicious Challenge we had to "make a creation with this colour combo pink or plum,with burgundy and green. Also add some sort of lace,ribbon or fibre etc. I combined it with Crafting Life's Pieces Challenge #4 , the Color Create Challenge #28 and this yummy OCC Colour Challenge.

I used Mo's Digital Pencil's Soaking Up the Joy digi stamp, some cardstock, ribbon and a little flower I had in my stash and I don't remember which Copics I used, sorry I was watching TV while colouring away :)

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Copics Coloring Club Kit

Paper Maniac has started a Copics Coloring Club Kit. Wooo hooo! How awesome is that :)

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Singing sweet songs from Heaven

For Carol's Sketch Fun #15 and Copic Colour Challenge #33 I used Mo'sDigital Pencil's image of Robin who I think is the happiest, sweetest little thing since Michael ... makes me wonder if there will be a third little sweetie soon :) I substituted Copic colours G000, Y000 and BV00 for the challenge colours and also used E35, E31, E29, R11, C3 and used some 99cent ribbon from Michael's and some misc cardstock I had around plus I used my black copic 100 to make my mat and Diamond Stickles for this sweetie pie's wings and halo.

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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- NikkiNix