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. 

Inspired By... Pastel Spring Colours

Another week gone by, and that much closer to Spring! While Eastern Canada has been experiencing snow storms and cold temps, surprisingly we have been getting Spring-like temperatures, melting the piles of snow away! Although, because it's Prince George we may experience that one last blast of winter, but right now I'm holding on to this lovely weather! 

I thought it would be fitting to choose a Spring-like photo for this week's inspirational photo challenge! 

IB #39

The part of the photo that stood out to me was the colours of the jars in the top right picture. I combined this challenge with a sketch from Sketchbook Saturday.

At first I wasn't sure of this colour combo, but I like the arrangement! I used one of the itty bitty punches for the pink flowers and added rhinestones to embellish them. The large flower, bird and sentiment are popped up to give the card some dimension. 

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

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Morning Meadow (hostess), Gorgeous Grunge

Paper: WIsteria Wonder, So Saffron, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride

Ink: Pool Party, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron, Wisteria Wonder marker

Tools: Distress tool

Accessories: Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon, rhinestones (Michael's)

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

KCRR #12 {Butterfly Prints}

Happy Friday!
Yesterday, Stampin Up made an announcement, introducing a Colour Refresh for the new 2013-2014 catalogue! This means that some colours are being discontinued while others are being brought back. Here's the complete list:

I am SO happy that Island Indigo and Pool Party are here to stay! I absolutely love these colours! And there are so many other great colours that are coming back. A couple that I'm slightly upset about is Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery... Unfortunately, these are being discontinued. However, I think I will get used to Pear Pizzazz as the new 'light green' and Soft Sky as the new 'light blue'. As much as I dislike change, I think it's a good one!

 

Time for...

 

 

This week's randomly chosen items are as follows (we chose three this week!):

 

Butterfly Prints Stamp Set

Monochromatic

Banner

 

This was a good challenge because it encouraged me to take out a stamp set that I haven't used yet! I love monochromatic colours! I chose Wisteria Wonder and Concord Crush/Elegant Eggplant as the colour combo for my card. I still have a DSP paper stack of old In-Colours that I need to use up and this was the perfect opportunity.

 

 

I wasn't sure at first how I would incorporate a banner in this card, but then after seeing some inspiration on pinterest, I decided to make a banner along the bottom half of the card using all different patterned paper in Concord Crush. I stamped the sentiment "happy birthday" from the Curly Cute stamp set and embossed the edges with a cross-stitched design. The butterflies are stamped in Elegant Eggplant, punched out and popped up.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to visit Karly's Creations to see how Karly incorporated these three elements in her card!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Curly Cute

Paper: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, 2010-2012 In-Colour DSP

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Butterfly Punch, Needlepoint Embossing Folder





FM100 {Z-Fold Mother's Day Card}

This week is slowly coming to an end. Looking forward to seeing my hubby tomorrow!
All day yesterday, the weatherman was calling for a big dump of snow in PG. Well, it came true. Woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Ugh. I wish winter would come to an end! Summers are so short here! I really miss the weather in Ontario. Their winters aren't so harsh, the springtime is nice and mild and the summers last longer than 2 months! But, I shouldn't complain... BC is a beautiful province to live in!

While my productivity at work seems to be decreasing as the week goes on, I seem to get quite a bit done in the evenings! Last night, I decided to work on filing our tax return. This is my first year doing our own taxes and I found it so easy! (I used U-File online) While I couldn't quite complete it (because I'm missing one receipt), I got everything else entered in. It feels good to get that almost completed!

Today's card was inspired by Friday Mashup's 100th Challenge!

 

Well..I may have missed the close date/time :( But, I decided to post my card anyway :) I think the biggest challenge was trying to pick one from the long list of challenges! I had a few in mind, but narrowed it down to one - FM#53. The challenge is to make a project with a "special fold", or make a project using the Tic Tac Toe board, or mash it up and do both! I decided to mash it up!

 

I love this challenge! It's so versatile - each card entry could be very different from one to the next. I love the options of the tic tac toe board, and special folded cards are so fun to make! I think this may be one challenge I would turn to multiple times for inspiration.

For the tic tac toe options, I chose flowers, ribbons, and neutrals. The "special fold" I used is the "Z-Fold".

It took me a while to figure out the correct measurements for this fold. I did a lot of pinterest searching and finally combined a couple tutorials to make my own. It's actually quite easy!

Take any colour 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock. I used Basic Gray (as my neutral). This will be your card base. Measure 2" up from the bottom right corner and 2" down from the top left corner. Cut from point to point diagonally, like so:

This will create 2 card bases (you will only need one). Score at 3-7/8" and 7-3/4" to create the 'z-folds'. Here's a couple pictures to illustrate:

Then it's the fun part - decorating! The options are endless for this type of card! I decided to make a Mother's Day card and covered it with designer paper, flowers, and leaves. Here's how it turned out:

 

I just love it! I don't normally use purples, but I'm glad I did for this card. The colour combo of Wisteria Wonder with Basic Gray and Whisper White is just lovely! I added some elegance to the card with the stamped flowers from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and for a little detail, I added a scallop trim border on the top of each fold. 'Bling' is added to each of the flowers and Basic Gray satin ribbon completes the card.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to visit tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Mixed Bunch

Paper: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Gray, Whisper White

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Labels framelits, Blossom punch, Boho Blossom punch, Little Leaves sizzlit, 1/4" circle punch

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's), Basic Gray satin ribbon (ret.)



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!