Happy Mother's Day

Here's wishing my Mom and Mother-in-law a very Happy Mother's Day! 

It's holidays like these that I wish I could be closer to home. To show each of them that I am thinking of them, I sent a unique pop-up greeting card. Using the card-in-a-box fold, I filled it with tulips and butterflies. Love how it turned out! 

I am entering this card in the theme challenge over at The Pink Elephant. 

"Mother's Day" 

To all the mothers and mothers-to-be, have a Happy Mother's Day! 

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP (ret.), Retro Fresh DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Bird Builder punch, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, Scallop Border punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, 1-1/4" Circle punch
Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

Gift Tag Set with a Fabulous Colour Combo

What a productive weekend it has been! I made several Father's Day cards, mini baby cards, gift tags, birthday cards, gift card holders... I'm well on my way to being ready for the craft fair next weekend! Still hope to complete a few more projects this week. :)

For today's post, I will be sharing a set of gift tags that I made using the fabulous colour combo challenge from The Paper Players.

Isn't it lovely?? I drew inspiration from a card I made a while ago and converted it to a tag. Here's the original card:

 

I love the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set! I may have over-used it already... but it's so pretty! I used Island Indigo designer paper and a scallop border on the one side of the tag and then stamped flowers, popping up one of them to give it some dimension. A humming bird is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and also popped up. I completed it with stitched ribbon.

 

See how easy it is to convert a greeting card to a set of tags? I'm definitely doing this more often with some of my other designs!

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

Gift Tag Ingredients:

Stamps: Bloomin' Marvelous

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry

Tools: Scallop Tag Die, Scallop Border punch

Accessories: Rich Razzleberry stitched ribbon

PP139 Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge {Set of Gift Tags}

Even though the work days seem long, it feels like this week is flying by! Last night I came home feeling exhausted... not sure why. I think my body is telling me that I need more sleep! It took a alot of effort to go to Zumba Fitness. I just wanted to stay home and craft and then go to bed early. But, I'm glad I went. It woke me up a bit and made me feel a little more energized. It's a new session and I think it's going to be a good one! The routines were a bit challenging, but I think after a couple more classes I should be able to catch on!

I played along with the Paper Players challenge for today's post. It's a tic-tac-toe challenge! How fun is that?!

SO many choices! I knew for sure that I wanted to make gift tags and I love using ribbon and pearls on my paper craft projects, so I went with ribbon, a tag and pearls. I love working with sketches, but this time I looked through my past card creations and used one of them for inspiration. I love the colour combo of this card I created back in beginning of February and decided to convert it to a gift tag.

 

It's a fairly simple design as I wanted the stamped flower image to stand out. I added a pearl as an embellishment in the center of the flower and tied Tangerine Tango satin ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag. Stampin Royalty's challenge this week happens to be "Ribbon and Pearls". So I decided to enter this project in their challenge as well. I made a set of 6 identical tags:

 

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Madison Avenue
Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango
Tools: 1/4" Circle Punch, Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Tag Die
Accessories: Pearl (Michael's), Tangerine Tango satin ribbon (Sale-A-Bration)

A Birthday Card for a Sweet 2-Year Old

Since my hubby is out of town for work for a couple days, I hope to take this opportunity to make a lot of papercrafts for the upcoming craft fair. Last night, after cleaning a pile of dishes and organizing a bit more of my crafting supplies, I completed a few more Z-fold cards. Hope to get more done tonight!

Today is a special birthday - our neice, Jocelyn, turns 2 today! I met Jocelyn a couple times, but don't know her very well (one of the reasons I dislike living so far from home! My neices and nephews grow up way too fast!). From what I hear, she is an adorable, funny little girl. Here's wishing her the best 2nd birthday!

For her card, I played along with Sweet Sunday Sketch. I wanted to make it bright and colourful, so I chose Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango - love these colours together! And what better stamp set to use for a cute 2-year old, than "Forest Friends"!

 

I fussy-cut each of the animals and popped them up using dimensionals. I added a matching button with bakers twine to complete the card.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Forest Friends, Happiest Birthday Wishes (hostess)

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Brights DSP, Regals DSP

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Tools: 1" Square Punch, 1-1/4" Square Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch

Accessories: Tangerine Tango button (Sale-A-Bration), White Bakers Twine

Inspired By... a Tulip Field!

Oh how I love weekends! Had a great 9 hr sleep :) Last night I enjoyed a dinner out at Earl's with my hubby. I had Chicken and Field Mushroom Fettucini and Kevin had Dungeness Crab and Asparagus Linguini. They were both delicious! I actually finished my plate! Usually I take home a 'doggy bag', but it was just too yummy :) We went over our trip plans together and we're getting more and more excited about it. It's only 3 months away! I have a feeling it's going to fly by!

Today is supposed to be a gorgeous day! We're expecting a bit warmer weather and sunshine! Hoping to go for a walk later today.

Now for a new challenge....

It was my pick this week and I chose a beautiful photo of tulip fields. This picture was taken by my brother when he was in Holland a number of years ago. I had the opportunity to go to Holland when I was 15 with my parents and my younger sister. It was a fun experience! We didn't get to tour around too much because we had so many relatives to visit, but we still got to see the typical Dutch windmills and cobblestone streets. I would love to go back there again someday, especially when the tulips are blooming!

IB #8

I knew exactly how I was going to incorporate these tulips into my card. I picked an older sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketches and chose the colours that I saw in the photo: Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight. What a fantastic colour combo! Here's what I came up with:

 

I love how it turned out! I created tulips using punch art. The tulip flower is made from three punched-out wings from the Bird Builder punch. They are the perfect shape for a tulip! I free-hand cut the stems and the leaves are also from the Bird Builder punch. A strip of Tangerine Tango designer paper from the Summer Smooches collection covers the bottom half of the card.  I added some detail by creating a scalloped edge border with an embossed stitch design.

 



 

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

Just a reminder....

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Bird Builder punch, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Modern Label punch, Word Window punch, Scallop Border punch, Needlepoint Border Embossing Folder

FMS #72 {Negative Space Technique}

Today's card is inspired by the new Freshly Made Sketch challenge this week. It is a very clean and simple sketch and there is so much that can be done with it. I had a few ideas, but finally narrowed it down to one. Here is the sketch:

I wanted to try a new technique and this sketch was perfect for it! The technique is using negative space. This is very simple and looks really neat in the end! I used the blossom punch to create a window on the edge of the paper. I covered the card front with polka dot Rich Razzleberry designer paper, which can only be seen through the negative space from the blossom punch. I used a bright-coloured designer paper from the Sycamore Street collection and paired it with Pool Party and Rich Razzleberry cardstock.

 

For the center of the flower, I popped up a stamped image from the Mixed Bunch stamp set (one of my favourites!) and added a rhinestone to embellish it. I love the simplicity of this card. I think the designer paper really makes the card - the colours are so vibrant and really stand out.  

 

 

I think I'm going to try this negative space techqnique in a few different ways. I am a big paper scrap saver and I often save the scraps from punching out shapes. They would work great for this technique!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Happiest Birthday Wishes (hostess)

Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry, Sycamore Street DSP

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Tools: Blossom punch, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch

Accessories: Rhinestone (Michael's)

 

Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Wishes for a Special Mother-In-Law!

There have been so many birthdays lately! It seems like every week there is another birthday! I enjoy making cards/projects for each family member's birthday. If I can't be there to celebrate with them, I want to at least let them know I am thinking of them and put a smile on their face :)

Today we celebrate my mother-in-law on her 62nd birthday! She is a very special lady - such a sweet, caring and thoughtful person. She has a big heart! When I married my husband, Kevin, his mother welcomed me into the family like I was her daughter. She made me feel at home everytime we came to visit and still does! I appreciate everything she does for us, even from a distance.

I went to my crafting table and crafted up something nice for her birthday :) Here is the card I made for her:

I love the Blooming with Kindness stamp set. The flower is just so pretty! And the sentiments so elegant! I sometimes find it difficult to coordinate colours with Rich Razzleberry. This time I tried Sahara Sand and I think it's nice and soft against the rich purple. The scallop trim border and embossed background adds to the elegance of the card.

I also sent her a handmade perpetual birthday calendar that I made using Stampin Up cardstock and designer paper. I had it bound by Staples and put ribbon through the binding so that it can be tied at the top and hang from a nail on the wall. Here is a few sample pages from the calendar:

These type of calendars are so handy! We have one hanging in our bathroom. Weird spot for it, I know, but apparently it's a very Dutch thing to do! I grew up in a Dutch family and we always had a calendar like this one hanging in the bathroom. If you think about it, it's quite a handy spot to have it! Every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed, you will always see it :) It's a great reminder for all the many birthdays in our large, growing families. Not sure how else I would keep track!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Blooming With Kindness
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Scallop Trim Border punch, Fancy Fan Embossing Folder
Accessories: Pearl (Michael's)

Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Wishes for Karen!

Today I send my best birthday wishes to my sister-in-law, Karen! She is one of the sweetest, down-to-earth people I know. She and her husband, Jon, live in Alberta and have two adorable kids! We don't get to see them often, but have had the opportunity to visit them a couple times since we've lived in BC. Karen and I have a couple things in common -- we both love sweets and shopping! When I come to visit, I know she will have a candy stash somewhere in her house, and we have the best time shopping together! I hope someday we can live at least in the same province so we can get to know each other better.

Here's a picture from a few years ago (2007), spending an afternoon feeding the swans in Stratford, ON.

 

And a recent picture with her adorable daughter, Emma:

 



To let her know that I'm thinking of her on her special day, I made this card for her:

 

I thought it was a perfect card for her - on occasion she loves to have a good tasty cocktail or a glass of wine. I love the Stampin Up "Happy Hour" stamp set. It has a good variety of stamps and fun sentiments. Using a Stamp-a-ma-jig, I lined up the umbrella just so. I cut out the cocktail glass and popped it up with dimensionals. The designer paper comes from the Summer Smooches DSP. I bordered it with dotted scallop ribbon border in Old Olive. The sentiment reads "Here's to you on your birthday!".

 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Happy Hour

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive

Tools: Delicate Doilies sizzlit, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Circles Nestabilities, 1-3/8" Circle punch

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

KCRR #3 Chevron and Scallop

I can't believe it's already February! These past several months have flown by for me! I'm hoping it continues to speed through the winter months. Winter is not my favourite time of year...I'm a sunshine girl!:)

Friday means it's time for...

This week, we randomly chose from our list (through random.org) the following two items:

Chevron Pattern

Scallop Circle

These must be used in any way, shape, or form in the making of our card/project this week.
I really liked these two items! It really got my creative juices flowing... I didn't quite know what I was going to do until a couple days ago. I saw a great sketch from Deconstructing Jen and ideas started coming to mind. I went through my designer paper and found a few with chevron patterns, but decided to go with my favourite colour, Rich Razzleberry, from the Sycamore Street collection. I always struggle what colour to put with Rich Razzleberry. Generally, I go with So Saffron or Crumb Cake, but this time I wanted to brighten it up a little...

KCRR #3

What do you think? I really love this colour combo! Tangerine Tango coordinates so perfectly! I embossed the card front with the new Vine Street embossing folder from Sale-A-Bration. It matches with the Madison Avenue stamp set quite well. This was my first time using the stamp set and I love it! I punched out circles from different designer paper in the two colours and popped up the large scallop circle to make it stand out. The sentiment "happy birthday wishes" completes the card.

Because it's a 5" x 5" square card, I created a coordinating envelope using the same chevron patterned designer paper.

Now it's time to hop on over to Karly's blog to see what she has created!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Madison Avenue (Sale-A-Bration)

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Sycamore Street DSP, Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango

Tools: Circle Nestabilities, Circle punches, Scallop Circle nestabilities, Vine Street embossing folder



Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to visit tomorrow for an "Inspired By..." challenge!

Introducing Karly & Charissa's Random Recipe!

It's Friday! It's been a busy week of {early} "spring cleaning" at work -- lots of dust, boxes and old files. I must say it looks much cleaner now! However, I am ready for the weekend. Not quite motivated to do house-cleaning though... those Christmas decorations still need to come down. Wasn't that on my to-do list last weekend?

My coworker, Karly, and I do a lot of brainstorming and chatting about crafty projects, challenges, and inspiring ideas. There are SO many card challenges out there on the web (and I'm already addicted to participating in as many challenges as I have time for). We decided to come up with our own!

INTRODUCING...

 

We came up with a long list of stamp sets, embellishments, tools, and techniques and each week we will randomly choose two ingredients (using random.org). These two ingredients will make up part of the card/project recipe and can be used any which way you like.

--> This was inspired by "Naki and Nina's Double Dare Challenge". Check out their blogs: Deesigns by Nina Dee and Notes from Naki.

 

This week the two ingredients are:

 

Tiny Tag Punch

Square Lattice Embossing Folder

 

I just love the tiny tag - it is so cute! And the square lattice pattern is so versatile! Here's my take on our very first challenge:



KCRR #1

 

I used an older sketch from RetroSketches and kept it fairly simple. Usually I tie the tiny tags on bakers twine or linen thread, but this time I wanted to do something a bit different. The tiny tags are held together by a silver brad on a flower (from the Boho Blossoms punch). I embossed a strip of Rich Razzleberry cardstock with the Square Lattice folder and added stitched ribbon as a finishing touch.

 

To see Karly's take on this challenge, visit her blog: Karly's Creations.

 

Feel free to participate! I'd love to see your creations! (Just leave a link to your blog in the comment section below)

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamp Sets: Tiny Tags, Candy Conversations (ret.)

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Crumb Cake,  Whisper White, Floral District DSP

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Tools: 1-1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, Tiny Tag punch, Heart to Heart punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Accessories: Rich Razzleberry stitched ribbon, silver brad, rhinestones

 

Thanks for looking!