Monday 30 September 2013

Owl Punch Art: Pumpkin & Pirate Halloween Costumes

After abandoning my blog for a couple weeks, I'm back with a new post!

Last weekend we kicked off the fall season with a camping trip in Jasper, Alberta. It was fun to catch up with family, see some wildlife and beautiful scenery, enjoy the great outdoors, and cozy up around the campfire (it was a bit chilly!). I feel so blessed to have the opportunities to see so many awesome sights in western Canada! God's creation is amazing!

With camping/holiday season behind us, I can now focus on preparing for the upcoming craft fairs. A lot of my free time lately has been devoted to cardmaking, but I continue to enjoy it! Papercraft ideas seem to be endless - so many techniques, punch art, and designs I want to try!

For part of the weekend I focused on Halloween cards. These are so fun to make! I hope to share them throughout the next couple weeks. Today's card features adorable punch art using the owl builder punch, which was inspired by this blog post.

 
How cute are these little guys? I love that Owl Builder punch - so fun to use and so versatile! I used the new sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge as the base design for my card.
 
 
Layers of cardstock and designer paper in Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray and Basic Black cover the card front. The pumpkin owl was simply created using the Owl Builder punch, 1" Circle punch for the pumpkin and Scallop Circle punch for the wings. The pirate owl is created using the Owl Builder punch and Halloween designer paper. The hat is the Owl Builder punch cut in half (genius, right?). (I made similar pirate owls for a couple birthday cards a while back -- click here to see the original post).
 

 
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Soft Suede, Neutrals DSP, Howlstooth & Scarinbone DSP, Witches' Brew DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Staz-On Black
Tools: Owl Builder punch, 1" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch

Thursday 12 September 2013

Wish Big: a Birthday Card for Elise

I can't believe it's been over a week since I've written a blog post! So sorry to all my followers. I think my blog posts are going to be quite sporadic for a little while until I get a little caught up and into a routine again. With the beautiful weather we've been having lately, I've been spending lots of my free time outdoors. It seems we are currently in a heat wave and I'm loving it! Better take advantage before fall/winter hits! I've also been working on building up my stock for the upcoming craft fairs, creating duplicates of my favourite designs. I haven't had much time to take part in card challenges and design new cards - I miss it and hope to get back into that again soon! In the meantime, I've been creating cards for family birthdays...

Today we celebrate our niece's 1st birthday! I was fortunate to meet Elise last Christmas and look forward to seeing her again next weekend when we meet up with their family to go camping. She is the youngest of 7 (big family!) and an adorable little girl.

I used the Freshly Made Sketches challenge last week as the base of my card design.

I chose a monochromatic colour combo (Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant), polka dot designer paper, and a butterfly stamp and here's how the card came together:

 
A perfect card for a little girl! To match the polka-dotted designer paper, I embossed the Wisteria Wonder cardstock behind the butterfly with polka dots. The butterfly is popped up to give the card some dimension. The card is embellished with ruffled ribbon.
 

 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Bugs and Hugs (CTMH), Short & Sweet
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Specialty Sweet Shop
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Tools: Polka Dots Embossing Folder
Accessories: Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon

Wednesday 4 September 2013

A Matching Wedding Card

Yesterday I promised to share with you a wedding card that I made to go along with the bridal shower card (to see this post, click here). I used the same colours (lime green, black and purple) and created a tri-fold card.




I love this fold! It's fun to decorate and looks fantastic in the end! I used Lucky Limeade DSP to cover the inside panels and the two outer panels were embossed with Elegant Lines embossing folder (I often turn to this embossing folder for wedding cards). Candy dots embellish the inside panels and rhinestones adds that extra detail to the embossed cardstock.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Bloomin Marvelous, Petite Pairs
Paper: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Lucky Limeade
Tools: Delicate Doilies die, Circles nestabilities, Elegant Lines embossing folder
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant candy dots, rhinestones (Michael's), purple grosgrain ribbon (Michael's), Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon (ret.)

Tuesday 3 September 2013

End of Summer and a Bridal Shower Card

Another road trip has come and gone and the summer is quickly coming to an end. But what a fantastic summer it has been! I've enjoyed many adventures with Kevin and family, from a road trip down to California, to a visit with my sister and brother-in-law, and several mini vacations in between. So many awesome memories that I will never forget! Looking forward to scrapbooking the thousands of beautiful photos!

Here are a few photos of our weekend in sunny Okanagan:

Kal Beach on Kalamalka Lake

Sitting on the pier enjoying the sunshine :)

Sun peaking through the trees on our campsite
 
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A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me to make a bridal shower card with the bride's wedding colours: lime green, black, and purple. Well, I have to say, this was a bit of a challenge for me! Bridal shower cards are not always the easiest to make, but I did some brainstorming and Pinterest-browsing and came up with this design:
 


It took a while for this card to grow on me, but now I really like it! I created a square 5" x 5" card and used Lucky Limeade, Basic Black and Elegant Eggplant for the colour combo. I hung a couple banners from the 'clothes line', one with the stamped sentiment "bridal shower" and the other with a heart clip embellishment. I stamped an umbrella from the "Rain or Shine" stamp set and added small flowers in purple with pearls in the middle of each flower. The sentiment "celebrate" is stamped on a decorative image that is clipped on with a mini clothes pin.

 
As you can see, I've also added some detail to the inside of the card. Here's a closer look:


 
And finally, a handmade envelope to go with the card:
 
 
 
Tomorrow I will share with you the wedding card I made in the same colours!
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, Rain or Shine
Paper: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Black Staz-On, Lucky Limeade
Tools: Itty Bitty punch, Distress tool
Accessories: Cute Clip, Pearls (Michael's), Mini Clothespin, Black bakers twine (CTMH), Hemp twine