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)

Card in a Box

I feel like it's been forever since I've written my last blog post! Being away for a couple weeks and then jumping right back into work, my nights have been left to catch up on housework, etc.... After a bit of a break, it feels good to get back into crafting & blogging again! 

Today I want to share with you a fabulous fun-folded card that has been popping up everywhere on Pinterest lately! It's called a "Card in a Box".  Ever since I saw it I've been wanting to try it for myself. I followed this great tutorial on youtube. It really is quite easy to make! In fact, the real challenge for me was decorating it, but once I chose my designer paper and coordinating cardstock, everything kind of fell into place. 

Isn't it so fun?! I chose to make mine into a bright and colourful birthday card, decorating it with pinwheels, butterflies, and clouds. The best part about this card is that it collapses to fit inside a regular A2 sized envelope!! Perfect for mailing! 

I can see this being one of MANY that I plan on making in the future :) 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Pennant Parade

Paper: Melon Mambo, Gumball Green, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP, Neutrals DSP, Brights DSP

Ink: Melon Mambo

Tools: 1" Circle punch, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Scallop Oval punch, Designer Label punch, Scallop Border punch, Pinwheel die, Itty Bitty punch, Cupcake Builder punch, Beautiful Wings embosslit die

Accessories: Grey bakers twine (CTMH), Silver brads

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)

Inspired By... a Rainbow of Butterflies!

Today's the day I get to pick up my sister and brother-in-law from the airport! It'll be so good to see them again (a year is too long!). After enjoying the upcoming weekend just relaxing here in PG, we have planned a camping trip to Lake Louise/Revelstoke/Clearwater area next week - so excited! 

Time for a new inspirational challenge!

This week it was Karly's pick. She chose a bright and colourful photo for inspiration:

How pretty is this?? My first thought was to use the "Beautiful Wings" embossing folder. I picked subtle neutrals for the card front (Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla) so that the colourful butterflies would stand out.

 

My thinking was to closely resemble the final product in the picture above and I think I did just that! I added the simple, but fun sentiment from "Blooming Marvelous" and embellished it with rhinestones to complete the card. I love how bright and cheerful this card is!

 

 

 

What do you think?

 

Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

I'm taking a break from blogging for the next couple weeks as I spend time with my sister and brother-in-law. I look forward to sharing with you when I return!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Blooming Marvelous

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Island Indigo, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Island Indigo

Tools: Beautiful Wings embossing folder

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

KCRR #21 {Thinking of You}

Welcome to another KCRR challenge! We've moved it up a couple days this week as we are both getting ready to go on holidays this weekend (yay!).

For this challenge we decided to randomly choose three items, instead of the usual two:

Spritzing

River Rock

Blossom Petal Punch

 

To be honest, I had a tough time with this one! I guess that's why they call it a challenge :) River Rock is probably my least favourite colour. I find it hard to combine it with other colours. However, I'm glad I had an excuse to use the other two items! My spritzing tool was still in its original package and my blossom petal punch doesn't get much use.

 

I picked a sketch from a card challenge blog that is starting to become one of my favourites for card sketches! It is called Sketchbook Saturday. I love the sketch this week!

 

As you have probably figured out by now, I love layers on my cards :) And this is one is full of them! I chose different shades of blues as a combo with River Rock and I really like the end result!

The butterfly is created using the Blossom Petal punch for the top wings and the Bird Builder punch for the bottom wings. The wings are embossed with Perfect Polka dots. I added pearls to the centre and curled strips of cardstock to make the antenna. I was inspired to create this butterfly when I found this card on Pinterest. What a great idea! I kept the spritzing to a minimal and just spritzed the doily with Night of Navy. It adds that final detailed touch to the design of the card. 

I actually like the colour River Rock in this card. It's so soft and subtle, making it a perfect Thinking of You card.

Thanks for visiting! Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how she incorporated these three elements in her card.

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: You Are Loved
Paper: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Midnight Muse, River Rock, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP
Ink: Midnight Muse, Night of Navy marker
Tools: Blossom Petal punch, Bird Builder punch, Doilies Sizzlit, Spritzing Tool
Accessories: Pearls (Michael's)

A Framelit Easel Card - Celebrating Mom

What a wonderful weekend it is so far! The weather was glorious yesterday!  I got my first suntan of the year :) After doing a bit of shopping and running errands, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a nice long walk with our dog, Keta. I then soaked up the sun while browsing through the new Stampin Up annual catalogue. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon!

I am playing along with two challenges today: Stampin Royalty's challenge is "Celebrating Mom" and the Paper Players has a Mother's Day theme as well.

I wanted to try a framelit easel card for these challenges and found a great video on youtube with simple instructions -- check it out here!
 

The base of the card was super easy to make! I decided to keep it fairly simple. The flower from "Blooming with Kindess" is so pretty on its own! However, I decided to add small butterflies and a rhinestone in the middle of the flower to embellish the card front. I stamped the sentiment "happy mother's day" and cut it into a flag shape. A Rich Razzleberry button acts as the 'stopper' to keep the card front upright. Here's a side view of the card:

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your Sunday. Hope it's sunny and warm where you are!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Blooming with Kindness, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Label Framelits, Beautiful Wings Embosslit die
Accessories: Rich Razzleberry button, White bakers twine, Rhinestone (Michael's)

KCRR16 and PP143 {Wish Big}

Happy Friday!

We had a great time celebrating George's 75th birthday yesterday! He loved the cards, cupcakes and china buffet. I have to say, my productivity level definitely went downhill after the buffet lunch! We all agreed we needed a siesta!
I came home to a box of Stampin Up goodies! That's always a good end to a work day :) However, with the addition of new stamp sets and paper, I'm having a hard time finding a place for all my supplies! My craft corner seems to be shrinking! I think this weekend I definitely have to spend some time organizing and cleaning up, not just the craft room, but the whole apartment. It has been neglected for quite some time!

Amidst the mess, I managed to find a clean spot on my crafting table to create my card for today's KCRR challenge :)

This week we decided to randomly choose three items instead of the regular two items:

Patio Party DSP

Honeycomb Embossing Folder

A Fitting Occasion Stamp Set

 

It took me a little while to figure out the layout of my card and how I was going to incorporate all three of these items into one card, but after some creativing thinking and looking through the card challenges this week, I decided to use the Paper Players sketch.

 

I love this sketch! It will definitely be one that I will turn to more than once when I'm in need of a good layout. Here's my card:

I chose Primrose Petals for the base of my card and embossed the Baja Breeze card front with the honeycomb embossing folder. It's my first time using this embossing folder and I absolutely love it! I stamped a birthday cake with a cake topper in Midnight Muse and sponged the edges of the circle cut-out. A small butterfly is stamped, punched out and popped up to give the card some dimension. I stamped the sentiment "wish big" and cut it in a flag shape. A small rhinestone is added to the cake as an embellishment

 

*I realize now that the butterfly is NOT from A Fitting Occasion stamp set... looks like my stamp sets have gotten a bit mixed up! SO need to organize my crafting space!

 



Thanks for looking! Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how Karly used these three elements in her card.

 

Join us again tomorrow for a new "Inspired By..." challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Make the Cake, Elementary Elegance, Short & Sweet

Paper: Primrose Petals, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Patio Party DSP, Subtles DSP, In-Colour 2013-2014 DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Circles nestabilities, 3/4" Circle punch, 1" Circle punch

Accessories: Rhinestone (Michael's)

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





Monochromatic Pinks and a Triple Challenge

It's a 4-day work week! Crazy how early Easter is this year! But I'm not complaining :) Nice to have a stat holiday in March. I've had quite the productive weekend. Made lots of Mother's Day cards, gift card holders and my latest paper creation -- flower pot cards! I love these!

Definitely making more of these for the upcoming craft show! I found simple instructions on how to make these here.

For today's card I combined a couple challenges. Dynamic Duos has a monchromatic colour combo this week and Friday Mashup has a triple challenge (brayering, sketch, and butterflies).

1. Make a project using the "Sketch".

2. Or Make a project using "Butterflies & Your Brayer".

3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "your Brayer using the Sketch and add some Butterflies"

 

I decided to mash it up and use all three along with the monochromatic pinks. This challenge encouraged me to take out my brayer (it was still in its original package!). I love sponging, but brayering is definitely an easier way to spread ink over a larger surface. I embossed Whisper White cardstock with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and brayered it with Crumb Cake ink. I like how it makes the embossed image stand out.

 

I added Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink designer paper for the background. I completed the card with butterflies and taffeta ribbon. I think it makes the perfect birthday card for a little girl!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Brights DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose

Tools: Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder

Accessories: Regal Rose 1/8" taffeta ribbon, rhinestones (Michael's)

 

Spring is in the Air...

Yesterday, I spent most of the day setting up a personal budget. It's a lot of work, but I'm hoping we can keep it up! It would definitely help us to save for our big road trip in June! I got my spreadsheet template from this website: Christian PF. They have some many useful household budget tools. I found this to be the best I've found so far!

I wanted to share with you a couple of fun adorable greeting cards I made for a customer. Her friend's twins (a boy and a girl) are turning 2 this week and she asked me to make "pirate-style" birthday cards. Here's what I came up with:

 

 

Aren't they adorable?? I just love that owl punch - so many characters can be made with it! I added stamped images from the Open Sea stamp set - perfect for a pirate card! 

So for today's card, I used the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the springy colour combo from Fab Friday. I am so ready for spring! Even though the first day of spring is still a month away, I know it will be here before we know it! The snow has been melting here in Prince George and the temps have been hovering around 0 degrees for quite some time. I can feel spring in the air :)

What a great sketch! And the colour combo is just perfect. These colours go so well together and are perfect for spring. This is my first time participating in the "Fab Friday" challenge. They have some great challenges and I'm looking forward to using them as inspiration in the future!

Easter is quite early this year (March 31st), so I thought I'd create a card for that special occasion. Here is my interpretation of these two challenges:

 

I created a 5"x5" square card with a matching envelope in Wild Wasabi. I like the simplicity of this sketch. It can be used in so many different ways! I added patterned paper in Perfect Plum and Baja Breeze for the background. The butterflies are the central focus of the card. I layered two butterflies and embossed the smaller one with polka dots. Rhinestones embellish it. I added a swirl in the corner and finished it off with the sentiment "Happy Easter".

 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP, Subtles Collection DSP

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Beautiful Butterlfies die, Circles nestabilities

Accessories: Rhinestones

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Introducing "Inspired By..." Challenge

Good morning!
Hope you are having a great weekend so far. Last night was date night with my hubby :) We went to go see the movie "Silver Linings Playbook". I enjoyed it! Of course, it's your typical chick flick, but I found it quirky, funny, and entertaining. I recommend it if you haven't seen it already!

Today I introduce a second challenge that Karly and I put together. We call it:

 

Each week we choose a photo for inspiration. It can be anything from a delicious dessert to a fun, colourful article of clothing to something seen in nature. We use this photo as inspiration when creating a card/project. This week was Karly's pick:

 



IB #1

 

This is a photo of what's called the "Golden Dragon Roll". It's one of Karly's favourite sushi dishes. I have yet to try sushi. I've heard it's delicious! While seafood has not always been my favourite type of food, it's starting to grow on me! Especially since I've moved out west, crab has become one of my favourite seafood dishes! Sushi is next on the list of foods to try :)

 

At first glance, the colours really stand out in this photo. I decided to create my card using the Stampin Up colours Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie. Here is my take on the challenge:

 

 

Doesn't this card remind you of spring? We have been having spring-like temperatures here in Prince George lately, so I thought this card was quite fitting. I just love the pop of orange against the light pastel green! I used tiny tags again - I thought it was the best way to add a sentiment to this layout and they tie perfectly around the striped grosgrain ribbon.

 

 

Take a look at Karly's Creations to see her card based on this photo inspiration! 

 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Just Believe, Tiny Tags

Paper: Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Old Olive marker

Tools: Ovals Nestabilities, Beautiful Wings embosslit

Accessories: Striped Grosgrain Ribbon (ret.), Early Espresso bakers twine, pearls

 

Thanks for looking!