A 50th Birthday Card for a Doctor

I often have requests to make customized greeting cards. This time I was asked to make a 50th birthday card for Kevin's aunt. I was given the following specifics to incorporate into the card:

- something medical (as she is a doctor)
- her favourite flower - hydrangeas
- her favourite colour - purple

I always love being presented with challenges - it gets my creative juices flowing!

How am I going to incorporate all 3 items into one card? Well, the first thing I usually do is grab my sketchbook and start brainstorming by sketching some design ideas. As I'm doing this, I google medical related clipart for inspiration.

Here's the sketch of my final design:

A little bit of everything in one card :)

And here's how it came together:

The stethoscope, syringe and doctor bag were all made from scratch using pieces of cardstock. The medical symbol on the doctor bag is a punched out symbol from the Stampin Up Itty Bitty Punch Pack. The same punch was used to create the hydrangea flower. I used the stamp set "Memorable Moments" for the sentiment, popping up the "50th" to give the card some dimension. For some added elegance, I embossed the white background with the "Elegant Lines" embossing folder. 

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

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.)

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

In Memory Of...

Happy Easter!

Today is a day to be joyful and a day to mourn. I think of Kevin's Oma. It will be a difficult day for his family, but I'm so glad they can all be together to celebrate her life. And as Kevin's brother said, it is fitting that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord this weekend. We can be comforted to know that Oma is now with her husband, and with her Heavenly Father.

Today's post is a sympathy card for Kevin's parents. I followed the Deconstructed Sketch this week. It has potential for lots of layers! I also picked the colour combo from The Play Date Cafe, but added one more colour as I had a hard time incorporating just 3 colours in this sketch.

 

 

This is a nice soft and subtle colour combo - perfect for a sympathy card. I used Perfect Plum, So Saffron and Very Vanilla. I saw light green in the inspirational photo, so I decided to add Certainly Celery as the 4th colour. I added strips of designer paper for the top half and embellished the bottom half with Certainly Celery ribbon. The sentiment is stamped in Elegant Eggplant within an oval embossed frame. Stamped flowers and leaves border the frame.

 

 



 

Thanks for visiting. Have a blessed Easter!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Love and Sympathy, Bloomin Marvelous (Sale-A-Bration 2013)

Paper: So Saffron, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Subtles DSP

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Embossed Oval Frame, Bird Builder punch

Accessories, Certainly Celery ribbon (ret.), pearls (Michael's)

A Spring Mother's Day Card

Saturday was a good day. I spent part of the morning doing devotions. I'm doing a topical Bible study, where I pick certain topics, search for related verses in the Bible and keep a journal. Currently I'm studying the topic of 'worrying'. I have a tendency to worry about a lot of things and I need to constantly remind myself that God is in control and he has my whole future in His hands!

I had a pretty productive day -- finished a few loads of laundry, did some housecleaning and made several gift card holders! Here's a picture of them in a few different colours:

I hope to have about 30 or so for the craft show. I also want to make masculine wallet gift card holders!

Last night, my hubby and I went to the aquatic centre for the first time. It was fun! We spent a lot of time in the hot tub, went a few times through the lazy river and relaxed in the sauna. We then went for a coffee date at Timmy's, using up the free coffees that Kevin has been winning through Roll Up the Rim. I, unfortunately, have had terrible luck! I think I've only won once!

I also had time to make today's card! I played along with two challenges: a clean and simple sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and a spring colour combo from Play Date Cafe.

 

I had a couple scraps laying around, one being the negative cut-out from the Little Leaves sizzlit die. I wanted to find a way to use it with this sketch. And when I looked at this colour combo with Play Date Cafe, I saw the Stampin Up colours Elegant Eggplant, Island Indigo, and Certainly Celery. What a nice spring colour combo! Here's my card:

 

 

I like how clean and simple it is. The Island Indigo adds a pop of colour against the Certainly Celery. I love the coordinating polka-dot designer paper in Elegant Eggplant. I think these colours coordinate really well! I would have never thought to put them together!

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Island Indigo, Whisper White

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Little Leaves sizzlit die, Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Border punch, Word Window punch

 



 

Inspired By... A Purple Flower

Hope you are enjoying the weekend so far! Friday night was a crafting night for me since my hubby is out of town for work. While I do love to go out occasionally on the weekends, I also enjoy those weekends where I get to hang out in my comfy clothes, watch a couple movies and create!

Saturday means it's time for another new challenge of:

This week, Karly chose a beautiful nature photo for inspiration:

IB #3

 

I like how this single purple flower is growing amongst all the stones. I thought of how I would incorporate this into a card and this is what I came up with:

I don't use purple very often in my cards, so this photo inspired me to pull out my Elegant Eggplant ink pad and cardstock. I paired it with Wisteria Wonder and Basic Gray. The flower is stamped with a two-step process--one stamp for the inside of the flower and the other to outline it. Of course, me being a perfectionist, I had to pull out my Stamp-a-ma-jig (the best 'tool' ever!) to line it up perfectly. The center of the flower is embellished with small rhinestones. I popped up the flower using dimensionals and bordered it with a doily die. To make the doily stand out against the dark gray background, I cut a large circle  in Whisper White from Circle Nestabilities and put it behind the doily. I think it adds some elegance to the card.  I realized just today that I used the same sentiment as my last card (KCRR #3)... didn't mean to do that! Just goes to show how much I love that stamp! :)

 

 

Make sure to head on over to Karly's blog to see how this photo inspired her! 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Fancy Flower (ret.), Petite Pairs

Paper: Wisteria Wonder (in-colour), Whisper White, Basic Gray, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Circle Nestabilities, Delicate Doilies Sizzlit, 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

 

Thanks for stopping by!