Inspired By... Polka Dots and Stripes!

I'm starting to get SO excited for our upcoming road trip - it's only one week away! I'll be spending most of my weekend getting things ready... packing, groceries, cleaning... There is still lots to do before we leave!

Time for a new card challenge!

This week it was my turn to pick an inspirational photo. I often turn to Etsy for inspiration. There are so many crafty and creative shops! For today, I chose a fun photo with lots of patterns:

This comes from a shop called Winterpeach Patterns. Someday I would love to sew and make cute little shoes like these!

I was inspired to use these different patterns in my card and I came across a fantastic card sketch for my design from Paper Players.

This sketch gives the perfect opportunity to use different patterned designer paper. I chose similar colours to what's in the inspirational photo and created a fun birthday card:

 

The swirl on the sketch reminded me of the swirl stamp in Everything Eleanor. I embellished the card with small rhinestones, satin Pool Party ribbon and a Pool Party button with bakers twine to complete the design of the card.

 

 

Thanks for visiting! Make sure to stop by Karly's Creations to see how she was inspired by this photo!

 

Come back on Monday for a new blog post!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Made for You, Everything Eleanor

Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Patio Party DSP, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP, Tea Party DSP

Ink: Pool Party, Basic Gray

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's), Pool Party satin ribbon (Sale-a-Bration 2013), Button (Sale-a-Bration 2013), Pool Party bakers twine

KCRR #20 {A Card Without Embellishments)

Welcome to a new KCRR challenge!

This week's elements are:

Just Paper (No Embellishments)
Patterned Occasions Stamp Set

This is actually quite a challenge for me! I love to add embellishments to my cards. It gives it that little something that finishes off the design. However, sometimes clean and simple is nice too! I picked a sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday. This is the first time I'm playing along with their challenges -- they have some great sketch ideas!

I thought it would be perfect for the idea I had in mind. I chose Pool Party as the card base and embossed it with Perfect Polka Dots. The strip of gray chevron designer paper comes from the Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP. A doily is cut using my Big Shot and Doilies sizzlit die. I fussy cut the elephant and popped it up using dimensionals. Fussy-cutting seems to be my most favourite technique lately! I love giving cards a 3-dimensional look.

I was so tempted to add a pearl or rhinestone, but I love how it turned out without using any embellishments. It's nice and simple, but also has a bit of detail and texture.

Thanks for looking! Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see what she has created with these two elements.

Stop by tomorrow for a fun inspirational photo challenge!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Patterned Occasions
Paper: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP
Tools: 1-3/4" Circle punch, Circles Nestabilities, Doilies Sizzlit Die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

A Blimp Birthday Card

Today I'm playing along with two of my favourite card challenges - Mojo Monday and Dynamic Duos.

The Mojo Monday sketch is a nice and simple one this week. I pulled out the Moving Forward stamp set since I haven't used it yet (love this set - so adorable and perfect for kids cards). The blimp is the central image of my card. I fussy-cut it and popped it up to give the card some dimension. The sentiment is also popped up.

One of my favourite parts of this card is the background. I embossed it with the Cloudy Day embossing folder -- it adds some nice texture and coordinates perfectly with the blimp. Striped Midnight Muse DSP covers the bottom half of the card front and Bashful Blue satin ribbon is wrapped around it.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Moving Forward
Paper: Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, 2012-2014 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Midnight Muse
Tools: Cloudy Day Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Accessories: Bashful Blue satin ribbon

Papercraft Storage {Organizing Tools & Embellishments}

Along with enjoying the beautiful weather and doing some shopping, I spent a good part of my weekend organizing my craft area. Now that my paper is all nicely organized, I continued on with my tools and embellishments. This may be a bit of long post, as I wanted to combine tools and embellishments into one. Let's get started...

My ink pads are currently stacked on my crafting table. I have organized the piles by colour, like so:

My ink refills are placed in a box in one of the drawer organizer cubes from Michael's. I generally don't use these all that much, so I have them tucked away.

Someday, I would love to invest in the Stampin Up Colour Caddy. It holds up to 48 ink pads and ink refills can be put on top of the caddy. Even though it does take up some room on the table, it would be so handy!

I use sponging a lot on my papercraft projects, so I recently purchased the pack of 3 large round sponges from Stampin Up. I cut them in 8ths and using my tab punch, punched out tabs in different colours of cardstock and stapled them to the top of each sponge. I stuck them in a clear plastic tub that I bought at Michael's (they come in a pack of 3) and I have it sitting on my desk for easy access.

Moving on to my most favourite tool - punches! I have collected a lot of these over the years and they make papercrafting that much easier! In our apartment, we have ledges in every room. We've filled them with decor, books, etc. and in my crafting area they are perfect for my punches! I have lined them up in piles according to similar shapes. I have a section for the older style punches and a separate section for the newer style. Once we move, I'll have to make a shelf similar to this. It's nice to have them off the crafting table, but still in arms reach.

My sizzix dies are great for the more detailed papercrafting projects. I have them stored away in a 3-drawer organizer cube from Michael's.

Embossing folders are something I turn to quite often. They add that perfect texture to a greeting card or project. I have them stored in a greeting card box that I've recycled/reused. It fits them perfectly!

One day, when I have a bit more room, I'd like to have some type of storage unit with a table top just for my Big Shot, sizzix dies and embossing folders. Kind of a separate little station for any projects that require the Big Shot.

I have a lot of ribbon... more than I know what to do with! I did some research and came up with a fairly good way to organize my ribbon. I found an old pant suit hanger from our closet and hung it from a nail on the wall right beside my crafting table. It fits my spools of ribbon perfectly. For extra ribbon, I bought a basket (with holes in it) and bamboo sticks from the dollar store. You simply put the spools of ribbon on the bamboo stick and put it through the basket and then feed the ribbon through the holes. A picture may better illustrate what I am trying to explain:

 

This works out great! While it does not fit ALL of my ribbon spools (yes, I have more!), it works for the ribbon that I use the most. The rest of my ribbon spools are put in the drawer of one of my organizer cubes and scraps of ribbon are put in a plastic tub

Along with a lot of ribbon, I also have quite a few buttons and brads.They do come in a handy little tub from Stampin Up, however, I wanted to have them all in one place. So I went to the dollar store and picked up plastic storage cubes that are meant for holding nuts, bolts, nails, screws... They fit my small embellishments perfectly!

 

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions/suggestions/comments feel free to leave a comment below!

Colour Q #190 {Happy Father's Day}

Saturday's are probably one of my favourite days of the week. It's the day I get to sleep in, craft, clean & organize, catch up with family... This morning I got to have a skype call with my parents who are in Holland visiting family. I wish I was there with them! Sounds like they are having a great time.
I'm hoping I will have a productive day today! I have had a lack of motivation lately. In any case, I plan to clean our apartment, bake zucchini muffins, organize my craft space and enjoy the beautiful weather we are supposed to have!

I wanted to play along with the colour challenge from Colour Q this week. I love these colours together! 

I thought these colours would work well for a Father's Day card. I picked an older sketch from Deconstructed Sketch to use as a guide.

The layers in this card give opportunity to use different coloured designer paper. I used Midnight Muse as the colour for the card base. Baja Breeze covers the card front. It is embossed with the argyle embossing folder (my first time using it and I absolutely love it!). The sentiment becomes the central image in this card. I love how it stands out against the More Mustard and Cajun Craze.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I will be taking the next couple days off from blogging. Stay tuned on Tuesday for a new post! Enjoy your weekend!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: All Holidays

Paper: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, In-Colour 2012-2014 DSP, Regals DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Argyle embossing folder

Inspired By... Watermelon!

Welcome to another card challenge!

For today's challenge, Karly chose a summery inspiration photo of delicious watermelon.

IB #19

Now this may be delicious to a lot of people, however, I can't say I'm a big fan of watermelon... It definitely isn't my most favourite fruit. But, it does remind me of summer! I was inspired to make some fun punch art and use the colours in the photo as well.
I used the fabulous sketch from Stampin Royalty as the base of my design. This sketch has great layers and I thought it would be perfect for the idea I had in mind.

I used Daffodil Delight polka dot designer paper for the background and layered different patterned Melon Mambo designer paper on top. Organza ribbon is wrapped around the card front and the stamped word "sweet" hangs from it. Here's how it turned out:

 



I found this punch art watermelon idea on Stampin' Connection, designed by Laura Haffke (visit her blog) and absolutely loved it! What another great use for the Petite Pennant Builder punch! I sponged Melon Mambo ink on the top half and Gumball Green on the bottom strip. The seeds are punched from the Lace Ribbon border punch.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Paper: Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP, Brights DSP

Ink: Melon Mambo, Gumball Green

Tools: Petite Pennant Builder punch, Lace Ribbon border punch, Word Window punch, Circles nestabilities

Accessories: Melon Mambo organza ribbon

KCRR #19 and FMS #87 {Love & Laughter}

Can't believe it's already Thursday! Love short work weeks :)

Today we introduce a new KCRR challenge!

The two elements randomly chosen are:

Petite Pennants Builder Punch

Love & Laughter Stamp Set

This actually was more of a challenge then I initially thought. I don't normally use banners on my wedding cards, so I looked on Pinterest for some ideas on different ways to use the Petite Pennant Builder punch and came across this fun card!  I used it as inspiration and created a pennant pattern using Crumb Cake designer paper.

I followed the new sketch by Freshly Made Sketches. I decided to flip the sketch since it worked a bit better with my design.

The card front is embossed with Elegant Lines. The cake from the Love & Laughter stamp set is stamped in Crumb Cake and little flowers with pearls are added to embellish it. I created a shadow behind the oval shape using Soft Suede cardstock. Crochet trim ribbon and roses with pearls embellish the card.

Thanks for visiting! Join us tomorrow with a fun "Inspired By..." challenge!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Love & Laughter

Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Neutrals DSP

Ink: Crumb Cake

Tools: Itty Bitty Shapes punch, Petite Pennant Builder punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Ovals nestabilities

Accessories: Victoria Trim ribbon, Flower Trim ribbon, pearls (Michael's)

Belated Birthday Wishes

Over the weekend there were two birthdays celebrated in our family -- my sister-in-law, Rachel, and my neice, Leah.
Rachel is a mother to 4 beautiful girls and lives near London, ON with her family. She also has a passion for papercrafting/scrapbooking and when we see each other, we often talk about crafting ideas. Here's wishing Rachel a great year ahead!

I handmade this card for her:

Leah turned 9 years old a couple days ago. She lives with her family of 9 in southern Alberta. She is a super sweet young girl and absolutely loves animals. I think one day she will make an excellent veterinarian! Here's wishing Leah a very happy belated birthday!

I thought a card with animals on it would be perfect for her:

Thanks for visiting today! Make sure to come back tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

Card Ingredients for Rachel's birthday card:
Stamps: Elements of Style, Curly Cute
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, International Bazaar DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Beautiful Wings embosslits die
Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

Card Ingredients for Leah's birthday card:
Stamps: Forest Friends (ret), Fabulous Phrases
Paper: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, DSP (ret)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Tools: 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch
Accessories: Brads (Michael's)

A Barkerville Experience and a Graduation Card

It's nice to get back into cardmaking/blogging after a bit of a break. This past weekend was a catch-up weekend for me, for the most part. I spent most of Saturday finalizing our road trip plans, making some changes to our itinerary so we can stay one night in Vegas (can't wait!). I then spent some time sorting through older pictures from 2007/2008 that I still want to scrapbook (I have close to 200 photos from those years that I want to scrapbook!). I look forward to getting back into scrapbooking again and hope to add some variety to my blog posts in the near future.
On the holiday Monday (Victoria Day in Canada), my husband and I decided to take a day trip to a historic town called Barkerville. At first we weren't sure if we should go, as there was rain forecasted for most of the day. However, I'm glad we did! It was cloudy, but didn't rain until we drove home! Barkerville was B.C.'s gold rush town back in the 1860's. It was a really neat experience! They have actors all dressed up walking around town and putting on presentations. We got to experience a court session and a morning prayer service in the Anglican church, watch a blacksmith at work, enjoy the most delicious Chinese food ever, take part in a fun photo shoot and watch an entertaining presentation on gold mining. Also, 'Queen Victoria' was in town for the holiday. We missed the afternoon tea, but got to see her ride in on the stagecoach. Here are a few pictures so you can have an idea of what it was like:

 

 

For today's post I wanted to play along with Mojo Monday's new sketch of the week, as well as a theme challenge with The Pink Elephant.

This week we are challenging you with a

"Graduation Theme"

(You can create a card, layout, or project featuring a "Graduation Theme")

This sketch is simple and versatile! I will probably use it more often. I've been wanting to use a stamp from the "Word Play" stamp set that would be perfect for a graduation card. Here's what I came up with:

 

I chose Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Crumb Cake and Whisper White for the colour combo and I think they go really well together! I used designer paper from the Print Poetry DSP stack and matted it with cardstock. The square lattice embossed strip of Crumb Cake adds some nice texture to the card. The arrow in the sentiment was stamped in Gumball Green and I fussy-cut it out, then popped it up to give the card some dimension. Silver brads and stitched satin ribbon embellish the card.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you also had an enjoyable weekend!

 



Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Word Play

Paper: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Gumball Green

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Scallop Border punch, Corner Rounder punch, Square Lattice embossing folder

Accessories: Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, silver brads (Michael's)