Embossing Gilli's House

Today it's my turn to play along with our current challenge- Embossing! I still had Gilli's house on my craft table from the last challenge (that tells you the state of my craft room hee hee) and I got this sweet and simple card idea as soon as I picked it up!

I tried this card idea on a A2 size card (4.25x5.50) but it didn't work at all. Something seemed off and I realized that with the shape of Gilli's house she needed a square card- with rounded corners obviously ;). It worked perfectly!

When using embossing powder it is important to prime your paper first so that you don't have a million little bits of  your embossing powder everywhere to take away from the clean look of the card. I used a little pouch called an embossing buddy and wiped it all over my card. Be warned if you are using coloured cardstock it can leave a white powdery film on your paper so use a gentle touch. This eliminates the static of the paper and releases the embossing powder except where you want it to stay. For my ink I prefer to use Versamark watermark ink in clear. I ink up my stamp and firmly press it to the paper. I then use some detail embossing powder and pour it over my paper. Don't worry about how much you use as you can pour almost all of it back into your container. When you pick up your card the powder should only stay where you have put the ink. I give a light tap to my paper to further release any random bits that may be trying to sneak onto my card. You take your embossing gun to heat the powder and then watch the magic happen! All these years and I still enjoy watching that powder melt lol!

I added a sentiment as this card is intended for someone moving into their new home- it certainly would be a special day! I added a touch of ribbon and then whimsy hit me and I cut out some cloud shapes. I ran it through my Xyron sticker maker to add adhesive then I added white fluff and glitter to my clouds to make it pop out from the white card base. 

I hope you are having fun with our embossing challenge- I sure did!

Cheers- Andrea

Ribbon and sparkle challenge- Gilli's house!

Andrea here to play along with our current House of Gilli challenge! This time I used Gilli's house to create with. I love house stamps- I collect them actually- as I can use lots of 'congrats on your new home' kind of cards. Or like this one- Welcome Home. Lots of fun ways that Gilli's house can help you create that special card for someone! To play along with our current challenge I used crystals on my card to add some bling and my ribbon is actually super shiny and sparkly! Perfect!

I hope you are having a great week and get some time to come play along with the HOG current challenge!

Cheers, Andrea

Lady Gilli and her large beautiful flower

Time for another Gilli stamps challenge and this one is an easy one for me..Flowers. I tend to use flowers on most of my cards and I own large buckets upon buckets of paper flowers that are just begging to be used.

On this card I tried something different. I am working on one of Suzanne Dean's copic classes at her copic site- Color Me Creative- and in class five we do Hispanic skin tones. This site is filled with classes you can take, lots of fun groups to join and just in general some awesome people to chat with. Back to my colouring of skin tones her class inspired me to do some internet searches for other colour combos for skin tones. I mean- we are all different- why keep using the same copic colours :) 

This is my first attempt outside of my standard colour combinations and while it still needs more work and practice I think it turned out okay. I really enjoyed breaking my routine and thinking of all my friends of different ethnic backgrounds and how much nicer it would be to give them a card with a girl coloured more to match their own skin tones. I am going to keep practicing and have fun trying new colour combos! 

To highlight my sassy Lady Gilli I added a big flower to set a festive air to the card. I then matched my papers to her dress and shoes and of course added some sparkle too. Lady Gilli always needs to sparkle! hee hee. 

I hope you play along with us over at House of Gilli and add flowers to your creations too!

Cheers, Andrea

A portrait of Lady Gilli

I'm back again today with a card featuring Lady Gilli for the current challenge at the House of Gilli blog! Our current challenge is to use white and only one other colour on your card. Thankfully we are also allowed to use our skin and hair colours as usual but other than that it must be white and one colour- in my case pink!

I actually coloured Lady Gilli in fully but I wasn't fond of how I coloured the pleats in her dress. I really liked everything else though and I was bummed at the thought of throwing it out and starting over. After a few minutes of sulking (hee hee) I got the idea to just frame her face and make her into a portrait. I think it turned out great and I got to keep the part of the image I really liked my  colouring on. Keep that in mind next time you make a booboo on your card too. Maybe you can salvage part of the image like I did today and take your card into a whole other direction. 

I then wanted the card base to really stand out so I used a Baroque embossing folder to make my white card base pop! I added a frame behind Lady Gilli and decorated it with crystals as I would imagine a ritzy frame would look like on her dresser lol. Some butterflies and a bow finished it off. Voila!

So come and play along with us at H.O.G. Scroll down below this post and you can also see more lovely inspiration from my fellow DT members. 

Cheers! Andrea

Cozy Gilli has her Spring Snuggi on!

First let me apologize for my late post today. Things got crazy hectic all of a sudden at my house and taking a picture of my card and posting completely slipped my head. When it rains it pours...and in this case it was literally. Yep it started raining in my living room in my brand new home- the shower in my bedroom apparently leaked and it came through the ceiling. So I hope you can understand why pretty much everything else left my mind lol!!! Thankfully the builder has been called and she will get it fixed and the damage repaired. 

On to my card. My fave Gilli is Cozy Gilli due to my daughters love of their Snuggi's. Yep they both have one and they even bought each other theirs as their mom refused to buy it hee hee! I love seeing them all snuggled in with it watching tv late at night or early Saturday mornings. So in honour of our current colours of Spring challenge that I am hosting my Snuggi has been paper pieced in nice pastel Spring colours. 

Has this ever happened to you? When I was almost done my card and was cutting out my image with a nestability the unthinkable occurred. My sweet Gilli had a dent in the paper right by her face! Apparently a paper scrap was stuck to the plates of my die cutting machine and totally dented it. AAAaaaHHHHhhh!!! After I sat in my chair spinning around and sweating for a few minutes I cut out a sentiment from the MME paper I used on my creation and used it to cover up the dent. Phew!!! I would love to hear your fave way to cover up mistakes and unplanned 'surprises' on your crafty creations. Please leave me a comment below and don't forget to make a card with Spring colours to play along with House of Gilli. We would love to have you!

Cheers, Andi

Lil Gilli Girly is great in Green!

Andrea here! I had a bit of a creative holiday so it has been awhile since I  have shared one of my Gilli creations. I am happy to say I am back after moving into a new house and ready to play along with our challenges here at House of Gilli!

Wini is our current hostess with the mostest and she has asked us to go Green! I dug out my Lil Gilli Girly to make a sweet 4x4 card to match her cute little size. I coloured her up with my copies to match my papers and kept the embellishments to a minimum for 2 good reasons:

-this lovely card is for a gift bag I am putting together for one of my friends and I wanted the focus to be on the image not the bling

-I still can't find most of my stuff in my new crafting space at the new house LOL!!!!!! My lovely friends helped me unpack and now I just have to figure out where they put it all hee hee!

I hope you get a chance to play along with us as well- we would love to have you join us!

Cheers, Andi

Lady Gilli is feeling the love

Andrea here today sharing my challenge card for our current theme- Love. 

I inked up the ever so sophisticated Lady Gilli for my card and used my copics on her hair and skin. I then paper pieced her dress to give her a fun flirty look. I imagined her getting ready to go out for Valentine's Day and wanting that sexy but cute look that I am personally always striving for tee hee!!

What ideas do you have to play along with our current challenge? Come and join us for your chance at a Gilli goody bag!

Cheers- Andi

Cozy Gilli is enjoying Winter

Andrea here with my Winter Challenge card. I inked up my fave Cozy Gilli and her snuggly for my inspiration as I just adore being wrapped up in something warm with a hot cuppa tea in one card. I coloured Gilli with my copies and I tried blonde hair for a change from my usual brown hair. I used Y23, YR21 and YR23. Not too bad! I will have to use this colour combo again. 

I hope this helps get your inspiration going for our current challenge. If you don't feel like making a card for that cold icy stuff that floats down from the sky think warm like I did! 

Don't forget to link up your challenge cards so that you can have a chance to win some yummy Gilli stamps of your own!

Cheers, Andi

Gilli Valentine Card

Hello! Happy New Year!

Andi here with my entry for the anything goes challenge. I love making Valentine's day cards and here is the first one I have made for the year so far. I used Lil Gilli Girly for my card and coloured her up with my copies. I used some of my MME valentine's day papers and hearts everywhere! I love using pink and red together and wore it frequently as a colour combo when I was younger. I still remember how upset and depressed I was when I was told you couldn't wear those two colours together as they 'clashed'. I think those rules may have gone out the window as I frequently see that colour combo all the time now! I gave Lil Gilli a blue outfit to help the image 'pop' on the card- I hope you like it!

Don't forget there is still lots of time to play along with our ANYTHING GOES challenge so link up to win some yummy Gilli stamps!

Hugs, Andi xo

Challenge 23- Blue and glittery

Andi here and it is time to start our newest challenge- let's make it blue and sparkly!

I made a gift tag this time using the Gilli House stamp and some of the new Echo Park Winter  papers. I also added bling anywhere I could including in my die cuts. I wanted to get a snow feel to my tag so I added some 'Snow Tex' to my tag to give it a frosty look. I used my copics in the B90's for my blues and E40's for my cream elements on my home. 

What does this challenge inspire you to make that is blue and sparkly all over? We can't wait to see! Play along and maybe it is your turn to win some lovely Gilli goodies to play with. 

Cheers! Andi

Cozy Gilli in Red and Gold

Hi! Andi here today with your Red and Gold inspiration for our current challenge hosted by Ann. 

I used my fave Gilli- Cozy Gilli- for the current challenge as I was feeling a bit under the weather when I was crafting and seeing her with her Snuggi on and her warm cup of tea made me want to be her lol! So she was perfect to get me to forget about my own sicky ickies and colour happily away. 

I hope you get a chance to craft today as well and if you can play along with us- you don't have to use a Gilli stamp but you get extra points if you do! So dig out that Red and Gold and get crafty!!

Cheers, Andi

Lady Gilli flourish card

*Please click on the picture for a closer view*

Andi here to share my card for our current challenge hosted by Melanie- flourishes! Now I have to admit I feel like I cheated as I chose paper that had flourishes hee hee. You can see them in the bottom left of the card and also below my sweet flying bird. I am obviously in need of some flourish dies ;). 

I used the lovely Lady Gilli on my card tonight and gave her a satin evening dress to go with my elegant card. I coloured her dress using the following copic colours- BG70, 72, 75, 78. I then added some crystal lacquer I had on hand to give it that satin sheen I just love. I had a satin shirt in the early 90's..it was in style then to be fair...and I just loved the way it felt against my skin and I like to imagine she is also enjoying the smooth silkiness of her evening dress. 

Well that's all for me today. I hope this helps to inspire you along with the other DT eye candy we have posted so that you play along with our current challenge. We would love for you to join us!!

Cheers, Andi 

My Monochromatic Gilli

Good day everyone! Andi here to share my inspiration card for the current challenge. I used my adorable Angel Gilli that sweet Anary had stamped for me and included in my DT kit when I first started. I have to admit I haven't done many cards in this style so to keep it simple I only used my copics from the E colour family. 

Her wings are 40, 41, 43

Hair is 29, 35, 37

Face 0000, 000, 00, 11 and 91 for the cheeks

Her dress was colored using E's I hadn't used before so I felt good finally being able to justify buying them tee hee! They were 70, 71, 74, 77. They look almost purple don't you think?

I outlined her in E 50 to give her an angelic glow

What co ours do you think you will use to play along with our monochromatic challenge?

Happy crafting, Andi

Eeek- I forgot to share my Gilli card for the recycling challenge!

Andrea here and I can't believe I forgot to share my Gilli card for the recycled challenge- please forgive my addled brain lately lol. 

I had actually made this card up previously for the fall colour challenge but after seeing how it fit in with the recycling challenge it worked perfect here too! I had these leftover card pieces from a different card I had made and coloured up my cute!! Lil Gilli girly stamp. She is so sweet and petite! I also re-used the button on my card from another craft that I was tossing out. Can't throw away a perfectly good button!

I hope you had fun playing along with the recycling challenge and are now crafting to play along with our current Monochromatic challenge. 

happy crafting everyone! Hugs...Andi

Lady Gilli is ready for Halloween

I had soooo much fun getting Lady Gilli ready for Halloween and our current challenge of choosing any 3 of the colours purple, orange, green, black and white. Or if you are like me- all of them hee hee. First thing we did is colour her hair a fun shade of purple. Who wouldn't like to try purple hair- even for just one day. Fun! I then paper pieced her dress from some Authentique Halloween paper then covered the dress in glitter to give the web look some sparkle. 

My background paper is from a DCWV pack I grabbed a few year's back and keep using over and over again. I added a punched fence and some spooky bats to complete the card. Sooo...have you felt someone staring at you while you read this post? Me too...I think I see some strange eyes coming from the house on my card...weird ;). 

Hope you have some crafty time to play along with us and our challenge. We would love to see your creations! Cheers, Andi

Gilli and snuggled up and embossed

We had such a party last night! That Gilli and Anary sure know how to keep things exciting! If you missed it don't worry- we still have lots of birthday fun going on this week. Don't forget to visit each of the DT member's blogs and leave a comment on their Gilli House post for your chance to win!

After the party I needed to get comfy and finish my card for today. Cozy Gilli was happy to join me as long as I let her sip on her tea while I crafted. Anary sent me a nice package of Authentique paper when I started and I am using some today. I paper pieced Gilli's snuggli and then ran it through my swiss dots embossing folder to give it a fun look. I coloured her up with my copics and added glaze to her ribbon, cup and her eyes. Doesn't she look so relaxed!

I hope you play along with us and our Embossing challenge. And if you haven't done the hop yet- grab a cup of tea and your snuggli and get started!

Cheers, Andi

An Easel card with Lady Gilli

Hello from Canada! Andi here with another Gilli easel card to help inspire you with our current challenge.

I used Lady Gilli on my card and I have to admit I loved colouring her. She is so much fun with her elegant dress but most importantly with her long gloves and tiara. I want one too! I added folds in her dress using R89 as my darkest colour for the fold and then used R85, R83 and R81 to help give it a shiny multi-tone look.

I have a funny confession to make- I am not all that skilled at easel cards hee hee. I made this one but no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't stay tucked behind my flower stopper on the bottom panel. It kept just folding flat. So I grabbed my bottle of glue and just glued it in place hee hee! Now to figure out how to mail it like that ;). So if the easel challenge has been too intimidating to try yet just think of me and my tricky gluing and that should give you some more encouragement to play along. If I can do it so can you lol!!!!

I am off to teach a copic class today. Gives me another excuse to play with my new Gilli stamps lol! Yep let's all get our Gilli on today!

Cheers, Andi

My First Gilli post- yippee!!!

Hi! I am so excited to be sharing my first Gilli creation here with you as a new DT member. My name is Andrea but I frequently also go by Andi. Feel free to call me which ever name you like! I live in Ontario Canada and love to share Canadian trivia while also learning more about the other many beautiful places around the world. I do use the word 'eh' a lot- I didn't know it until I went to Ireland and they teased me for it hee hee. I have been married for 16 years to my true love Jason and together we have two girls who seriously make us laugh all day long. They support me in my hobby as it keeps me busy and keeps the tv free for them to choose all the shows hee hee! I love to joke around so please don't ever take me seriously. ;)

A quick story. I met Anary in Chicago with my friend Suzanne Dean and Anary had the cutest shirt on featuring a Gilli image. I fell in love not only with the Gilli stamps and their fun, whimsical style but also with sweet Anary herself. Honestly- what a wonderful lady! That meeting lead to me joining the DT and getting an awesome Gilli package in the mail which included not only some stamps but also more Gilli images stamped on Cryogen paper. At least I think that is how it is spelled lol!

I had honestly never used this kind of paper before but right after getting my package I had a copic class with my friend Suzanne also on our DT (highly recommend taking it if she is ever in your area) and she introduced me to it as well as a whole new way of colouring with my copics. Which actually is how I coloured the Fairy 2 Gilli image I am sharing  today. I used my new techniques and even though it felt like I was learning to write my name using my opposite hand I am quite pleased with how she turned out. I added stickles to her wings and followed the current sketch to build my card. I did change the sketch up a bit as I moved the embellishments on the sketch from the bottom to her holding a flower. There is actually a very good reason why I did this. To find out why she is holding a flower hop over to my blog and have a giggle.

I hope you like my first Gilli creation and I am looking forward to sharing more with you. Please feel free to join us using this sketch and make sure to link it up so we can see it too!

Cheers..Andi