Inspired By... Colour Coordinated Home Decor

Happy Friday!

I don't know about you, but this week has dragged on! For me it was filled with ups and downs and I'm really looking forward to a relaxing weekend ahead!

Let's kick off the weekend with a new inspirational photo!

It was my pick this week and I chose a home décor photo with the perfect colour combo:

IB #33

I paired it with the new Tall & Skinny sketch by Mojo Monday this week:

I love that Mojo Monday has introduced this new fold for every last Monday of the month! They layers in this sketch are perfect for the multiple colours I wanted to use. Not only was I inspired by the colours in the photo, but also the paintings. I decided to add some floral stamps to my card and made one without a sentiment:

 

 

This card measures 6" x 3.5" (start with a 6" x 7" piece of cardstock and score at 3.5").

The flowers on the middle painting in the photo reminded me of an older stamp set I own - Flower Fancy. I haven't pulled this one out in a long time! I fussy cut the smaller stamped flower and leaves and popped them up to give the card some dimension. I added texture to the card by embossing the Raspberry Ripple piece of cardstock with the Square Lattice pattern. Stitched satin ribbon is wrapped around the card front to embellish it.

 

 

I then created a matching envelope using the following measurements: cut paper into an 8" x 8" square; using a diagonal scoring plate, score at 3-1/8" on opposite sides and 4-1/2" on the other two sides. Finished size is 4-1/2" x 6-1/4".

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to play along and leave a comment below!

 

Also, make sure to stop by Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Flower Fancy (ret.)

Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Brights DSP

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Corner Rounder punch, Square Lattice embossing folder

Accessories: Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon





KCRR meets Deconstructed Sketch - A Patterned Occasions Baby Card

A 2nd post of the day, a little unusual... but I just had to participate in this week's Deconstructed Sketch challenge! I decided to combine it with our KCRR challenge (posting this a day early :)).

Elements to use this week:

Patterned Occasions Stamp Set

Pistachio Pudding

Ruffled Stretch Trim

Combine it with this fabulous sketch:

And this is the end result:

When we randomly chose Patterned Occasions as one of the elements, I tend to lean to... a baby card! The little elephant in this stamp set is so cute! I wanted to make use of the other stamps, however when Pistachio Pudding is one of the colour elements, it just seemed like the perfect pastel colour for a baby card. And so I went with it... I chose Smokey Slate for the card base and added in Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral. I finally got to make use of the new In-Colour Boutique Details!

And finish it off with a matching envelope...





Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Patterned Occasions, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: 2013-2015 In-Colour DSP paper stack, Smokey Slate, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Ink: Smokey Slate, Calypso Coral
Tools: 1-3/8" Circle punch, Large Scallop Circle punch, Word Window punch
Accessories: Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim, 2013-2015 In-Colour Boutique Details, Rhinestones (Michael's)

30th Birthday Celebration

A couple days ago, we celebrated my hubby's 30th birthday! While he may think he's getting old, he is forever young in my eyes :) He is a wonderful, thoughtful, optimistic, determined, encouraging person; a talented photographer and an avid outdoorsman. Oh ya... and handsome too!

 

Words cannot express how much I love this guy!

 

To celebrate, we enjoyed a delicious dining experience at a local restaurant called the White Goose Bistro. He had his favourite - red wine and seafood, and I tried chicken cordon bleu with roasted potatoes and white wine. So good!

 

Of course, I made him a unique handmade card. I struggled at first with the design of my card, knowing that it had to be special. I decided to stick with the "30" theme and I was very pleased with the result:

 

 

I started with a 5" x 5" square card, then simply drew the '30' and cut it out, leaving the fold at the top of the '30'. I cut 1" strips of designer paper and glued them on the card front, then re-cut the 30 shape. I added a fun banner using bakers twine and the pennant punch. Three candy dots embellish the card.

 

 





 

For his birthday this year, I decided to get him a unique gift, something he would never guess! And I totally surprised him! (this is hard to do, as he usually picks out exactly what he wants or simply buys it himself). I wanted to give him a chance to guess, so I made a gift tag with a hint on it...

 

 

 

You're probably thinking, a shark? really? What could this gift possibly be? haha... this was Kevin's reaction exactly. Well let me explain... usually once a year we like to drive down to Kelowna for a mini weekend getaway. They have an awesome store called "Bones and Stones" and we make sure to stop there every time. They have the most unique house décor items from all over the world. We have added a few stones, etc. to our collections. But one thing Kevin has been eyeing up are the megalodon shark teeth that they sometimes sell there and so I knew this would be the perfect gift.

 

 

To give you an idea, this single tooth is actually 5.09" in length. Here's a better picture of how big these sharks actually were:

 

 

Here's wishing Kevin the best year yet!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Family Reunion (ret.), Pennant Parade, Fundamental Phrases (ret.)

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Well Worn DSP, Regals DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Tools: Petite Pennant Builder punch, 3/4" Circle punch

Accessories: Early Espresso bakers twine, Square Lattice embossing folder, Crumb Cake candy dots

 

Gift Tag:

Paper: Smokey Slate, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: White gel pen

Tools: Oval nestabilities, Petite Pennant Builder punch (for fins), Owl Builder punch (for the eyes), 3/4" Circle punch, 1" Circle punch (for waves)

Accessories: Gray bakers twine (CTMH)



A Harry Potter Punch Art Card

A couple days ago, our nephew Ryan, celebrated his 9th birthday! Ryan is an awesome kid and I wish I lived closer to get to know him better!

 

Can't believe how grown-up he looks in this picture!

To show him that we are thinking of him, I sent a card that I'm sure he will love!

From what I know, Ryan likes Harry Potter, so I thought I'd create the character out of punch art. It was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be! Here's how it turned out:

 

The card front is layered with embossed cardstock and striped designer paper. Most of the Harry Potter character was cut free-hand from pieces of cardstock, but I used punches for the head, hair, glasses, eyes, and hands. After putting it all together, I popped up the Harry Potter character to give the card some dimension. I love how it turned out!

 

 

 



Here's wishing Ryan a great year ahead!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Pennant Parade
Paper: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom (ret.), So Saffron, Whisper White, Regals DSP Stack (ret.)
Ink: Night of Navy
Tools: 1-3/4" Circle punch, Owl Builder punch, Word Window punch, Square Lattice embossing folder

Inspired By... A Summer Garden

Happy Friday!

How 'bout a "High Five for Friday"??

Here are some highlights from this week:

1) My hubby and I enjoyed the most delicious elk roast dinner on Tuesday night. It was so nice to relax with a glass of red wine after a long day! Love random date nights during the week!

2) I had a great Zumba workout on Wednesday night. We just started a new session last week and this week I felt like I was really gettin' a hang of the new routine! We end each class with one of my favourite songs lately: "Say Something" by A Great Big World.

3) Found this beautiful quote the other day. It is a wonderful reminder to be patient, trust in God's plan, and praise Him always.

 
4) My newest niece, Amara, has been in the hospital for the past week due to distressed breathing. She has been showing signs of improvement and finally went home last night!

5) I found a brilliant idea for menu planning on Pinterest! Click on this link for printables. Simply print out a menu plan template, laminate it (or put it in a picture frame) and use dry-erase markers to create your own menu for the week! What a great idea!

Now onto the Inspirational Photo challenge!

This week was Karly's pick and she chose a picture of a summer vegetable garden:

All this greenery makes me long for spring! At first glance, I wasn't sure how I would use this photo as inspiration for my card design... however, I went through my stamp sets and found a few that would work out quite well with the garden theme!

I love how this card came together. I first chose the colour combo: Chocolate Chip, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla. I popped up the stamped images to give the card some dimension and added butterflies embellished with small pearls. My favourite part is the ruffled ribbon underneath the sentiment. It adds the perfect embellishment to the soft, pastel card!

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting! Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how she was inspired by this photo!

 

Come back tomorrow for a post on a Harry Potter punch art card that I made for my nephew's birthday this past week! 

 



Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Simply Sketched, Wetlands, Inspired By Nature
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla
Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Chocolate Chip, Crisp Cantaloupe
Tools: Beautiful Wings embosslits die, blender pens
Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe ruffle stretch trim, pearls (Michael's)

KCRR32 - A Triple Challenge

We are back with a new KCRR challenge today!

 

This week we decided to make it a triple challenge and add a 3rd element to the mix:

Comfort Café DSP

Sycamore Street ribbon & button pack (from Sale-a-Bration)

Apothecary Art Stamp Set 

To be honest, this one was a real challenge for me! Luckily Comfort Café DSP has the colour Pool Party in it, which is one of the colours in the ribbon & button pack. However, I still struggled with what designer paper to use. And then throwing Apothecary Art stamp set in the mix kind of stumped me! I decided to just simply use one of the sentiments in the stamp set.

I chose the latest sketch from Retro Sketches to use as the base of my card design because it was so unique.

I think this sketch actually added to my creative block... I'm not always a big fan of white space and as I was making this card, there was a lot of white space in my design. So I changed it up a couple times, adding more stamped images to it and some embellishments and I just love how it turned out in the end!

 

I think the colour combo Midnight Muse and Sahara Sand look fabulous with the soft pastel Pool Party! To fill some of the white space on the right panel, I added stamped images from the Flowering Flourishes stamp set - one I haven't used that often. I also embellished it with chevrons, pearls and a Pool Party button. I kept the other panel fairly simple and just embellished it with Pool Party ribbon.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Click here to see Karly's take on this challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Apothecary Art, Flowering Flourishes

Paper: Midnight Muse, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Comfort Café DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse, Pool Party

Tools: Corner Rounder punch, Chevron Border punch

Accessories: Sycamore Street ribbon & button pack, pearls (Michael's)

An Apron Greeting Card

Over the Christmas holidays, we celebrated my niece's 14th birthday. Miriam is such a beautiful, fun, unique girl. She has been such a blessing to our family.

 

Here is a most recent photo of Miriam - such a gorgeous girl!

 



One thing Miriam loves to do is cook and bake. So I thought it would be fitting to make an apron card for her! I found a simple tutorial on Paper Crafter's Library and made my own version using Calypso Coral and So Saffron as the main colours. Here's how it turned out:

 

The new ruffle stretch trim from Stampin Up added the perfect touch to the edges of the pockets.

 

 

I stuck a tag in the front pocket with a cupcake and a birthday sentiment on it. For the inside pocket, I created a recipe card using my "From the Kitchen Of" stamp set and wrote a cookie recipe on it for Miriam to try.

 

 

I had a lot of fun making this one and hope to make more like it!

 

Have a great Monday!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: From the Kitchen Of, Create a Cupcake, Gorgeous Grunge

Paper: So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Tea for Two DSP, In-Colour 2013-2014 DSP

Ink: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Real Red

Tools: Small Tag punch, Corner Rounder punch, Scallop Border punch, Cupcake Builder punch, Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack

Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffle Stretch Trim, Calypso Coral Ruffle Ribbon, Pearl (Michael's)





A Productive Saturday and a Special Birthday Card

Good morning! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! My Saturday was quite productive! As I mentioned in my "New Year, New Goals" post, I'm taking on a project of organization in our apartment and in life, in general. So far, I've tackled our laundry room and entry way. On yesterday's list was the kitchen. We have one of those not-so-handy corner cupboards and I simply re-organized the cupboards and put the items that I don't use as much in the corner cupboard so I don't have reach in there as often - things like serving platters and large dishes/pots. I think it's a big improvement! Another project I tackled was the pantry. After removing all items from the pantry, I lined each shelf with a fun patterned adhesive liner and I love how it turned out!

 

 

And voila! An organized pantry with pretty shelves! 

 

 

I spent my evening crafting, making a custom birthday card for a friend. I love the challenges she gives me! Really gets my creativity going! For this request she asked for a red birthday card with an angel on it, making it somewhat discreet. The angel was in memory of a little baby that had recently passed and the initials of her name spelled out A-N-G-E-L - how special and unique!

I started off with a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch and chose the colour Crisp Cantaloupe to go along with Real Red.  

Here's the sketch:

And here's how the card turned out:

I love the layers in this sketch! I first embossed the white background with a diagonal stripes pattern and then layered pieces of Real Red designer paper and Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock. As an added embellishment, I bordered one side of the polka dot DSP with Crisp Cantaloupe ruffled ribbon. The angel was creating using punches and I put a little 'a' on it to represent the baby's name.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a relaxing Sunday!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Fabulous Phrases
Paper: Real Red, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP, Brights DSP
Ink: Real Red
Tools: Chevron Border punch, Large Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Spiral Border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Diagonal Stripes embossing folder
Tools used for Angel: Pennant Builder punch, Butterfly punch (ret), Elegant Lines embossing folder, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Cricut for the letter 'a'
Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffle Stretch Trim, Rhinestones (Michael's)

Inspired By... a Snazzy Outfit!

Happy Friday!

Today is especially happy as I have a new niece! She was born last night and is a healthy bundle of joy!

And...we are back with a new inspirational photo challenge!

This week's photo came from Pinterest (what a great place to look for inspiration!)

I love the colours in this outfit! The pop of aqua blue-green against the yellow looks fabulous! I decided to combine this challenge with an older Deconstructed Sketch that caught my eye:

 

I love the layers in this sketch and thought it would work out well for the colours I pulled from the photo above. I decided to use Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, and Sahara Sand to make a bright and cheerful birthday card!

 

I added some texture to the card by embossing the piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock with the Square Lattice embossing folder. The central image is a simple vase with flowers from the Bright Blossoms stamp set that I recently added to my stamp collection. To embellish the card, I added 3 small rhinestones in one corner and a bright yellow button with some bakers twine in the other.

 

 

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

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Family Reunion
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, 2012-2013 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral
Tools: Square Lattice embossing folder, Circles nestabilities, corner rounder punch
Accessories: Daffodil Delight button, white bakers twine (CTMH), rhinestones (Michael's)