A Special Birthday and a New KCRR Challenge!

Today I wish my wonderful sister, Esther, a very Happy Birthday! She is one of the most important people in my life and I don't know what I would do without her! Even though we are 5 years apart, we have managed to keep a close sister/friend relationship and I am so grateful for that. Living on opposite sides of the country, I miss her a lot and look forward to the day when we can live closer together! That being said, she and her husband, Tim, are flying for a visit tomorrow!! I cannot wait to see them!!

I will share the birthday card I made for her at a later date!
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Now onto this week's KCRR challenge!

 

The chosen items for this week are:

 

Baby Girl

Small Heart Punch

 

This is a perfect combination! I wanted to use the new In-Colours from Stampin Up (I just love them this year!), as well as the adorable baby stamp set called "Little Additions". I used an older sketch from My Favourite Things and this is what I came up with:

 

 

My favourite part is the ruffled ribbon! I used Crisp Cantaloupe and Baked Brown Sugar (don't these colours sound tasty??) and layered cardstock and designer paper to create the layout. The small heart is popped up using dimensionals and a rhinestone is added to embellish it. I've also distressed the edges of the cardstock and sponged them with ink.

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting! Don't forget to stop by Karly's Creations to see how she used these two elements in her card!

 

Come back tomorrow for a new "Inspired By..." challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Little Additions

Paper: Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White

Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe

Tools: Small Heart Punch, Distress Tool, Word Window punch

Accessories: Ruffled Ribbon, Rhinestone (Michaels)





So Worth the Wait x2

Monday was one crazy busy day! So glad it's over! However, I have a feeling this whole week is going to be super busy. That just means my vacation next week will feel all the more rewarding!

I had a request from a friend to make a 'congratulations' card for twin baby girls. It took me a bit to think of a design, and then I remembered a card I made a while ago using the cute little pig from Button Buddies and the sentiment "So Worth the Wait" from Word Play. Click here for the original post. I decided to remake this card, adding another piggy for the twin girls. I used similar designer paper and the same colour combo.

As I did in my original design, I added little bows to each piggy. And instead of buttons, I added candy dots to embellish the card. (I love that Stampin Up came out with these new candy dots! I know I will be using them a lot!)

 

I added a strip of DSP on the inside of the card for an added touch. I love the idea of decorating the inside of the card and I think I may do this more often, even if it is just as simple as adding a strip of DSP.

 

 

 







Since this is a 5" x 5" greeting card, I needed to make an envelope for it. So, being that I love to match things, I used the same DSP that is on the card for the envelope as well.

 

This is one of my favourite baby cards!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Button Buddies, Word Play

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Nursery Nest DSP

Ink: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip

Tools: Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Distress tool

Accessories: Blushing Bride candy dots, Early Espresso bakers twine

Freestyle Collage

It's been an uneventful weekend, but it was so nice to relax and just hang out at home. Here's hoping this work week flies by! We look forward to a visit with my sister and her husband. They fly in on Thursday - can't wait!

For today's card, I'm going to share one that I made a couple weeks ago. It's a birthday card that was inspired by a design I saw in the latest Papercrafts Magazine. In this issue they described a cardmaking technique called freestyle collage. I absolutely love this type of design/technique. You simply gather all types of patterned paper, die-cuts, stamped images, and embellishments and piece them together in an asymmetrical way.

Here's what I came up with:

 

 

 

Hope you also feel inspired to try out the freestyle collage technique. Thanks for visiting!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Memorable Moments, Blooming Marvelous

Paper: Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Whisper White, In-Colour 2012-2013 DSP, Attic Boutique DSP

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party

Tools: Delicate Doilies Sizzlit Die, Beautiful Wings Sizzlit Die

Accessories: Pool Party buttons, Island Indigo bakers twine, Rhinestones (Michael's)



 

A Birthday Shout-Out and a New Inspiration Challenge!

Happy Friday!

Today we celebrate a special birthday! Our niece, Reese, turns 6 today! She is an adorable, goofy, sweet girl and is growing up so fast! I miss her!

Here's wishing her the best day! This is the card I sent her to let her know we are thinking of her:

 

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Onto a new Inspirational challenge!

 

This week was my pick and I chose a photo of 4 floral prints that I found on Etsy:

Click here to see the shop on Etsy!

I love the colour combo of gray and pastel yellow! Not only did I get inspiration from the colours, I also used the 4 square shapes in my card. A week ago, Deconstructed Sketch posted a fabulous sketch challenge. Even though I'm a week late, I still wanted to play along!

And here's my card...

 

I love how this card turned out! To make it interesting, I added something to each punched out square of designer paper. I've distressed the edges of the card front as well as the larger yellow square and added a simple birthday sentiment to complete the card.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Tiny Tags, Loved Ones

Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron

Tools: 1" square punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Owl Builder punch

Accessories: Arrow clip, Pearl, Basic Gray striped grosgrain ribbon (ret)

KCRR #25 {Precious Little One}

Welcome to another KCRR challenge!

Today's chosen items are:

Button Buddies Stamp Set

Bashful Blue

 

The first thing that came to mind was "baby boy card". Button Buddies is such a great all occasion stamp set! I decided to use the baby rattle stamp and chose So Saffron and Night of Navy to go with the Bashful Blue. I picked an older sketch from Mojo Monday as a guideline for my design:



 

The sentiment may be a little hard to see in this photo. It says "precious little one". The rattle is popped up using dimensionals and bakers twine is added to embellish it. I've also embellished each circle with a rhinestone.

 

 

 



Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to come back tomorrow for a new "Inspired By..." challenge!

 

Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how she used these two elements in her card!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Button Buddies, To the Moon (Verve Stamps)

Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, So Saffron, Whisper White, Regals DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Night of Navy

Tools: 1/2" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch

Accessories: White bakers twine, rhinestones (Michael's)

A Masculine Birthday Card

Today we celebrate our brother, Jordan on his 31st Birthday! Jordan is a smart geologist, currently working on getting his PhD. He loves all things rocks and gems. Last year, for his 30th birthday, I made a card in the shape of a rock and on the inside put little 'gems' (rhinestones). Unfortunately, I can't find the picture of it! This year, I had a bit of a tough time thinking of a new design, but knowing that he also loves nature, I pulled out my "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set and made this card:

Masculine cards are not always the easiest to design, but I just love how this one turned out! I used a past sketch from "My Favourite Things" as a guide.

I first coloured the stamp with Chocolate Chip and Old Olive markers, stamped it and cut the image into 3 panels. The background is embossed with a square lattice pattern and cardstock and DSP is layered on top of it. I completed the card with a simple birthday sentiment.

Thanks for visiting! Stop by tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, All Holidays (ret.)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Tools: Square Lattice embossing folder

A Simple Thank You Card

Another great weekend has come and gone. One of the highlights was a sunny afternoon at the beach/lake! We took a drive to Purden Lake (about an hour east of PG). It's a beautiful lake! However, there isn't much of a sandy beach. I guess I was spoiled back in Ontario where you can find a nice sandy beach just minutes from home!

We thought we'd take Keta along... let's just say she was not a big fan of learning how to swim. Here she is holding onto Kevin for dear life!

 

And doing a panic swim back to shore:

 



I also had a chance to make several cards on the weekend and today I'm going to share a simple thank you card that has become one of my favourites:

I love this layout! I keep a binder of past sketches from different card challenge sites (It's a great reference when I come across a creative block and need some inspiration). I chose an older sketch from Mojo Monday for this card.

 

I picked a piece of designer paper from the Spice Cake DSP collection and chose my colour combo based on that. The Triple Treat Flower stamp works really well as the central image in this card. I made it 3D by popping up each layer of the flower. The background is speckled using the Spritzer and an Early Espresso marker.

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Triple Treat Flower, Fundamental Phrases
Paper: Pool Party, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Pool Party, More Mustard
Tools: Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles Nestabilities, Corner Rounder punch, Fancy Flower punch, Five Petal Flower punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Scallop Edged Border punch

IB #23 {Cute as a Bug}

After a long week of being stuck in the office while the sun is shining and temps are hot, it'll be nice to spend some time outside this weekend! Looking forward to an afternoon at the beach, lounging in the backyard, and long walks with my hubby and Keta. Best to take advantage of the hot weather while it's here!

Today's "Inspired By..." challenge introduces a beautiful nature photo that Karly took. Gorgeous purple flowers with a cute little lady bug!

 

I thought of the grasses stamp in the "Inspired By Nature" stamp set. I love the purple flowers in this picture so I picked Perfect Plum and paired it with Old Olive and Crumb Cake. To help me with my design, I turned to Freshly Made Sketches. They have a great sketch this week!

 

The little ladybug was stamped, cut out and popped up. I love the pop of red in this card! I stamped the sentiment in Real Red as well, to make it stand out. The edges of each piece of cardstock and DSP are sponged with ink to soften the look. A button is added to embellish the card.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to visit Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Inspired By Nature, Bugs & Hugs (CTMH), sentiment - unknown

Paper: Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Whisper White, Subtles DSP

Accessories: Old Olive button, Green bakers twine

KCRR #23 & RetroSketches #72

I'm excited to share today's card with you! It's one of my favourites! I used 3 elements from our new KCRR challenge and a fabulous sketch from Retro Sketches!

Markers

Mixed Bunch Stamp Set

Regal Rose

 

 

 

This is my kind of sketch! It gives an opportunity to use lots of embellishments. I used a combination of Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Early Espresso and Whisper White and here's how it turned out:

 

 

I find it quite challenging to use markers on my cards, but it worked out quite well with this design! I used Early Espresso and Regal Rose markers on the stamp from Flowering Flourishes, as well as the sentiment. The butterfly was created using one of the flower stamps from Mixed Bunch. I used the Rock 'n Roll technique and simply cut out two of the petals. Pearls and linen thread are added to embellish it.

 

 

What do you think?

 

Make sure to drop by Karly's Creations to see what she's created with these 3 elements.

Join us tomorrow with a new "Inspired By..." challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Petite Pairs, Flowering Flourishes

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Whisper White

Ink: Early Espresso, Regal Rose

Tools: Blossom Punch, Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Apothecary Accents framelits

Accessories: Pearls (Michaels), Linen Thread, Regal Rose 1/4" taffeta ribbon, Early Espresso 1/4" taffeta ribbon, Blushing Bride buttons





Mini Overalls

I had so much fun making the mini onesies, I had to continue with the 'mini' theme. I found some inspiration on another papercrafter's blog (click here) and just had to CASE it! Here's my version:

I punched out part of the owl from the Twitterpated DSP collection and the Nursery Nest DSP collection. Both DSP have soft and subtle colours - perfect for baby cards! I free hand cut the straps and added mini brads as buttons. Cut a small slit in the bottom for the pant legs and you have adorable mini overalls!

I created the same background as my card with the mini onesies using the Clouds embossing folder and grey striped bakers twine is used for the 'clothes line'.

 

Thanks for dropping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Short & Sweet

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Basic Gray, Twitterpated DSP, Nursery Nest DSP

Ink: Basic Gray

Tools: Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, Owl Builder punch, Clouds embossing folder

Accessories: Grey striped bakers twine (CTMH), mini brads (Michael's), rhinestones (Michael's)