ColourQ #174 & FMS#71 {Be My Valentine}

Can't believe it's already Thursday! Feels like this week has flown by! Last night was a bit of a blur, but overall a good night! After enjoying a delicious dinner of baked trout, lemon and herb quinoa and veggies, I went to my weekly Zumba fitness class. To be honest, I wasn't so eager to go this week. I just wanted a relaxing evening at home. But, I pushed myself to go and I'm glad I did! This second time around was so much easier than the first! I was able to follow the routine quite well this time and got a good work out! I went home to my crafting table and created a Valentine's card, playing along with the Colour Q and Freshly Made Sketches challenges.

The colour combo from Colour Q is perfect for Valentine's. I love how they threw in Early Espresso with the pinks - so pretty! And even though you can use any shape in the sketch, I wanted to stick with the heart. I knew exactly what I was going to use. The More Amore DSP comes with single-sided laser cut sheets in the shape of hearts. I just snipped one of the hearts from the sheet. I saw this idea on someone's blog (can't remember which one, unfortunately) and just loved it! Here's my interpretation on the sketch using the beautiful colour combo:

I didn't have any Raspberry Ripple cardstock (not sure why I don't have this - I'm realizing how much I love this colour!), so I looked through my stacks of DSP and found this beautiful polka dot designer paper in the Orchard Harvest collection. It fits perfectly with this card! I kept my card fairly simple at first, but I didn't like the empty space, so I embossed the card front with Elegant Lines, added small hearts in the top corner and pearls to embellish the card. I also added crochet ribbon and a small rose on the heart. The sentiment and small hearts are popped up using dimensionals.

 Card Ingredients:

Stamps: P.S. I Love You (ret.)
Paper: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Tools: Heart to Heart punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder
Accessores: Crochet ribbon, Rose ribbon, large eyelet (ret.), pearls (Michael's)

Thanks for looking!

Birthday Wishes for my Mother

Today is another special day - my Mom's birthday! Here's wishing her a fantastic day! She is an amazing Mom, so sweet and caring. She has such a big heart. I miss her!

    

Because I couldn't be home to celebrate her special day, I sent her a little something to let her know I'm thinking of her.

My mom loves to sew and she is so good at it! I am so grateful for all the hems she's mended, all the holes she's patched and all the alterations she's made. Whatever sewing task it was she was able to do it!
Sooo... I found inspiration on pinterest and decided to CASE a sewing-related card!

Isn't it awesome?? It's the perfect card for my Mom :) I think she's going to love it!
To see the original idea that I found on pinterest, visit Stamped Creations By Heather.

The card itself is a spool of thread (in this case, I wrapped ribbon around it). I embossed the card base with a woodgrain design. The scissors are created using a template that I found on the blog mentioned above. The handles of the scissors are put together by a small silver brad and they actually 'cut' like real scissors! They are clipped on with a small 'library clip'. I then added buttons to a piece of cardstock and pinned them on with a small clothespin. Last, but not least, I added the sentiment "happy birthday" and flagged the edges to complete the card.

To add to this great card, I decorated a greeting card box and filled it with 10 greeting cards. She is often asking me to send her greeting cards to give away to family and friends, so I thought I'd get her started to have some on hand :)

 

The original box is from Close to my Heart. It's meant to be a photo box, but I think it works great for holding greeting cards!

I used a combination of Comfort Cafe DSP and Sycamore Street DSP to decorate the box. The rose is created with the ornament punch and Island Indigo cardstock. The letters are cut using my cricut machine. I added pearls on the front to embellish it.

 

I hope she is pleasantly surprised with this package of goodies in the mail! :)

 

Thanks for visiting!

For the Newlyweds

Today's card was created by combining two card challenges: Dynamic Duos and Mojo Monday. I love both of the challenges this week! One thing I love about Mojo Monday sketches are the multiple layers and the potential for lots of detail. That is usually my type of card! And the Dynamic Duos colour combo this week is so soft and elegant.

When I looked at the colour combo of Soft Suede and Crumb Cake, "wedding" came to mind. So, I decided to create a card for newlyweds:

 

A beautiful piece of designer paper from the Comfort Cafe collection fit perfectly with this theme and colour combo. I wrapped Soft Suede striped ribbon around the card front and layered cardstock in the monochromatic colours. On the top layer I created an embossed look by adding strips of ribbon border in Very Vanilla. The flower is the focus of the card. It is popped up using dimensionals and an antique brad holds the two flowers together. I popped up the sentiment "For the Newlyweds" and added pearls to embellish it.

This card measures 5" x 5" and I made a matching envelope in the coordinating colours. I just love how elegant it looks!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Comfort Cafe DSP
Ink: Soft Suede
Tools: Ribbon Border punch (ret.), Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Blossom punch, Five Petal Flower punch (ret.), Scallop Edge Border punch, Word Window Punch
Accessories: Antique brad, pearls, Soft Suede striped ribbon (ret.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Love You a Latte!

Good morning!

What a great weekend it was! Went by way too quickly (as usual). Feels like it may be a long Monday -- so tired!

Today I'm playing along with The Paper Players challenge. It's another great sketch challenge this week. Simple, yet very versatile! Here is the sketch:

I decided to create a fun Valentine card. I started with choosing the designer paper. More Amore DSP collection has such a great selection of beautiful designs. I then pulled out a retired stamp set that I've loved ever since I bought it - Pun Fun! Here's the card design I came up with:

The Very Vanilla cardstock is embossed with Elegant Lines embossing folder (one of my favourites!) I stamped the "Love you a latte!" image in Real Red and layered it on a large scallop circle, which is popped up using dimensionals. Small rhinestones embellish the stamped image. I added Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon to complete the card.

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Pun Fun (ret.)
Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP
Ink: Real Red
Tools: Circle Nestabilities, Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Elegant Lines embossing folder
Accessories: Rhinestones, Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Celebration!

It's been a great weekend of birthday celebrations! Saturday night, my hubby, Kevin, and I  dressed up and went out for a delicious dinner at Ric's Grill. Kevin had his favourite seafood meal - Alaskan King Crab legs and prawns, and I had a delicious Italian sausage pasta dish. We enjoyed white and red wine and completed our meal with ginger cake and vanilla ice cream. It was scrumptious!

I promised to share the birthday card I made for my hubby's 29th birthday... It's a side-step folded card with an outdoorsy theme - perfect for my hubby! He loves the outdoors!

 

I got this idea from a card I found online and decided to CASE it. To see the original design visit Creative Corner Studio. I added my own touch to this card. The tent on the back 'step' is cut free-hand. I added eyelets and bakers twine to the open door flaps. A sleeping bag sticker is added to the inside of the tent. On the 2nd 'step' i created a campfire and marchmallow stick using punches. On the front 'step' I created a bush with the Little Leaves embosslet die from Stampin up and added the sentiment 'happy birthday'. On the larger side panel I stamped trees to make it look like a forest, added a stamped bunny, and cut a sign post shape using my cricut.

 

If you would like to try out this card fold, click here for some great instructions. I found these instructions were very easy to follow.

 

Some other highlights from Kevin's birthday:

 

Turtle Brownie Ice Cream Cake -- yumm!

I made the pennant banner using the Pennant Punch and cut the letters out using my cricut.

 

I spoiled him this year! Got him a couple merino wool t-shirts, the 75th anniversary edition of "The Hobbit" and a portable JetBoil stove. He was thrilled!

 

Had quite a few phone calls/skype calls today. I think he had a great birthday!

 

 

Card Ingredients for the Side-Step Card:

 

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Forest Friends (ret.), Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Whisper White, Certainly Celery DSP, Always Artichoke DSP, Crumb Cake DSP

Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke

Tools: Bird Builder punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Snowflake punch (ret.), Little Leaves embosslit, Campin' Critters Cricut cartridge

Accessories: Brads (Michaels), Eyelets, Bakers Twine, Sleeping Bag sticker

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 



A Special Birthday and Retro Sketches Challenge

It's a special day today! My hubby turns 29! Wishing him a very Happy Birthday! He is an amazing husband and I don't know what I would do without him! Looking forward to some awesome adventures with him this year!

I will post the card I made for him later today (after he's seen it) :)

Now for a new Retro Sketches challenge!

At first glance, I found this to be quite a challenging sketch. But after looking at the designers' cards, I was inspired! I needed to find a sentiment that would be large enough to fit the white space as shown in the sketch. I had a look through my stamps and came across a hostess set that I absolutely love but have not used enough -- "Carry On". This is what I came up with:

 

I generally make cards the regular A2 size, but wanted to try something different this time! I decided to create a 5" x 5" square card with a matching envelope. I added strips of Summer Smooches designer paper and embossed the Tangerine Tango cardstock with a chevron pattern. The "AND" in the sentiment is popped up using dimensionals. A button, satin ribbon and bakers twine embellish the card.

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Carry On (hostess)
Paper: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Tools: Cupcake Builder punch, Word Window punch
Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, button (Sale-a-Bration), bakers twine, satin ribbon (Sale-a-Bration)

Thanks for visiting! Enjoy your Sunday! 



Birthday Wishes and "Inspired By..." Challenge #2

Today is my Dad's birthday! I miss him so much and wish I could be at home celebrating with him! My Dad is a pretty special person in my life. He is probably the wisest man I know and such a kind, caring and encouraging person. I wish him the best birthday wishes today and many more to come!

 

 

Because I could not be home for his birthday, I sent him a handmade greeting card (of course!). My Dad LOVES to read, so I thought this card would be perfect:
 

 

I saw the idea of stacked books on Pinterest and decided to CASE it. (To see the original design visit Pink Paper Bakery). I added a cute owl to my card. I popped up one of the stacked books and made it look like the owl is sitting on it. I added glasses to the owl and a wing holding the sign "happy birthday". I stuck a gift certificate for Amazon inside the card. I think he's gonna love it!


Now it's time for...


It was my turn to choose the photo and I came across this cute Hobo bag on Etsy:

IB #2

 

I think this bag is adorable! It reminds me of spring time with the bright colours and tree images. This bag was handmade by "Petunias" (check out their shop on Etsy!)

 

In looking at this photo, I see circles, trees, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Basic Grey, and Old Olive. I knew exactly how I was going to design my card!

 

 

I love how it turned out! It's a clean and simple card, but I added some detail. I think I've mentioned it before, but I just love the Sycamore Street DSP from Sale-a-Bration. The colours and designs are so fun! I offset the Pool Party cardstock and distressed it with Stampin Up's new distressing tool. The white cardstock is embossed with the Vine Street embossing folder (Sale-a-Bration item). The tree is created with multiple circles. I cut the tree trunk free hand and added a rhinestone to embellish the tree.

 



To see Karly's creative take on this challenge, hop over to her blog, Karly's Creations!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Paper: Basic Grey, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Old Olive, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP (Sale-a-Bration)

Ink: Island Indigo

Tools: 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, Large Oval punch, Distress Tool

Accessories: Vine Street embossing folder, rhinestone

 

Thanks for stopping by!

KCRR #2 Happy New Baby Girl

Happy Friday!

Welcome to another fun challenge with Karly & Charissa's Random Recipe! This week we chose the following two random items from our long (and growing!) list of supplies/themes/techniques/colours:

Baby Girl

Baja Breeze

 

This was a challenge! For those of you who don't know, the Stampin Up colour "Baja Breeze" is a pastel blue. Usually when I think of "baby girl", I think of pink. So I had to really think about this one! I wanted to make pink the dominant colour on the card. This is what I came up with:

 

KCRR #2



 

The card base is Basic Gray and I think it goes so well with these pastel colours! I chose Baja Breeze designer paper from the Patio Party DSP and the pink striped paper is from the Nursery Nest DSP that I bought on clearance not too long ago. I stamped the baby carriage and sentiment in Basic Gray and cut it out using circles nestabilities. The edges are sponged lightly with Baja Breeze ink and I coloured in part of the baby carriage with Regal Rose marker.

 

The satin pleated ribbon and small rhinestones on the hearts embellish the card so nicely! I think my first baby girl card with Baja Breeze was a success! What do you think?

To see Karly's take on this challenge, visit her blog: Karly's Creations!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Fast & Fun Notes (ret.)
Paper: Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Regal Rose marker
Tools: Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles Nestabilities, 3/4" circle punch, Small Heart punch
Accessories: Blushing Bride pleated satin ribbon (ret.), rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by!



Loads of Love

Last night was a busy night... Did some grocery shopping, cooked a delicious tuna casserole for dinner, went off to Zumba fitness and of course, fit in some papercrafting! It was the first Zumba class of the year and it felt so good to be back at it again! It was a different routine, so I may have been fumbling around trying to follow along, but after a couple more classes, I think I'll have the moves down :) I've been going to Zumba for the past year and a half and I absolutely love it! While I may not be very coordinated and don't have the greatest dance moves, Zumba gives me a great workout, makes me feel energized... and it's fun! Afterwards, it was nice to wind down and spend some quality time with my crafting supplies :)

Freshly Made Sketches came with out a nice clean and simple sketch this week. I'm starting to get used to these clean and simple designs and tried my best to keep my card clean and simple for this challenge. Here's the sketch:

I found this sketch to be very versatile! Just about any image can be used in place of the butterfly. I almost had a hard time making a choice between a few stamp sets! But I decided to pull out a retired stamp set that I hadn't used in awhile - Loads of Love! This stamp set (along with Loads of Love Accessories) is so fun! There are so many different occasions you could use it for. I chose to make another Valentine's card:

I love the pile of hearts in the back of the pick-up! I used a blender pen to colour in the truck and hearts. It's a great technique of making it look somewhat like watercolour. I used More Amore DSP for the card front and embossed a strip of Basic Gray cardstock with the Fancy Fan embossing folder (one of my new favourites!) The scallop edge border gives the card a little bit of detail. I stamped "Loads of Love" on a tag shape and added Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon to embellish it.

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Loads of Love (ret.)
Paper: Pool Party, Primrose Petals (In Colour), Real Red, Basic Gray, Whisper White, More Amore DSP
Ink: Real Red, Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Basic Black marker
Tools: Blender pen, Large Tag Punch, Extra-Large Tag Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Fancy Fan Embossing Folder
Accessories: Primrose Petals Stitched Satin ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!

Perfect Princess and Birthday Shout-Out

While yesterday was a long and somewhat frustrating day at work, on the up side I found out I was one of the chosen winners at Freshly Made Sketches!! This made my day :D

Click here to see my original post and interpretation of this great sketch! Also check out the other top winners at Freshly Made Sketches. There are some beautiful entries!

Now for a birthday shout-out to my nephew, Ryan! He is turning 8 years old today!

I can't believe how grown-up he is! Unfortunately, we don't get to see him often since we live in BC and him and his family are in Ontario. We are sad to miss out on his special day, but we are sending our love!

He is a big Star Wars fan and I wanted to create a card with that theme in mind. I found the perfect card idea on Pinterest and decided to CASE it. Here is my version:

Isn't it great? I'm thinking he's going to love it! To see the original card idea visit Stamped Treasures. I changed mine a bit, but kept the same idea for the Yoda character. I wanted to make the character stand out against the Crumb Cake card base, so I added a Very Vanilla circle behind it. And I love the sentiment stamp from "You're Amazing" stamp set! I thought it fit perfectly with this card.

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: You're Amazing
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Basic Gray, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Tools: Extra-Large Oval punch, Large Oval punch, Word Window punch, Bird Builder punch, Boho Blossom punch, 1/2" circle punch, Crop-a-dile, Circles Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo277 "Wish Big"

Monday means another Mojo Monday card sketch. I have to say this week's sketch was a challenging one, but I was inspired! I wanted to do something bright and cheery. It's been pretty gloomy lately and I'm missing the sunshine! I brought out my birthday stamps and bright colours and here's what I came up with:

Fun, right? Clean and simple is not always my style, but I tried my best to keep it as simple as the sketch. I added Daffodil Delight polka dot designer paper for the background and popped up the panel.



To go with the birthday theme, I add birthday balloons and created a banner by cutting three triangles free-hand, adding bows and rhinestones. The sentiment and tiny cupcake adds a finishing touch.

Sale-a-Bration starts TODAY!! For every $60 CAD you spend, you get 1 free Sale-a-Bration product. Check out the flyer on the side panel of my blog to see what you can earn! Contact me for any questions or if you would like to place an order. 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Patterned Party, Short & Sweet (ret.)

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP,

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, markers

Tools: Boho Blossoms punch

Accessories: Bakers twine, rhinestones, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon (ret.)

Thanks for stopping by!