Summer Time!

Can't believe we already leave tomorrow! Last night I packed some more and made the bed in our 4Runner. Here's where we will be sleeping for the next couple weeks:

It's going to be comfy I think! Just have to be careful not to bonk our heads when we get up in the morning :P


I really wanted to play along the Mojo sketch this week and when Colour Q came out with a fabulous colour combo and Pink Elephant with the perfect theme, I knew exactly how I was going to piece my card together.

"Summer Time Theme"

 

I used Basic Gray in place of Going Gray and Pool Party in place of Soft Sky. I love this colour combo together! For the summer time theme, I wanted to do something 'beachy' since I'm heading down to the California beaches. So, I made a punch art bikini! The fun part is it looks very similar to a bikini I own! Here's how it turned out:

 

 

I thought this would make a perfect birthday card for someone who love the beach. The Island Indigo strip of cardstock is embossed with polka dots and three silver brads are added to embellish the card. I created the bikini with a full heart punch and trimmed it a bit. Bakers twine is added for the bikini strings.

 

 

 



As always thanks for stopping by! And I appreciate all those who take the time to leave comments - they are always encouraging and fun to read! :)

 

**This will be my last post for a couple weeks. I hope to be inspired by the amazing sights we are going to see along the way! I look forward to sharing with you when I get back. I Until then, adios!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Paper: Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP

Ink: Island Indigo

Tools: Circles Nestabilities, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Full Heart punch

Accessories: Silver brads, Pool Party bakers twine

Colour Q #190 {Happy Father's Day}

Saturday's are probably one of my favourite days of the week. It's the day I get to sleep in, craft, clean & organize, catch up with family... This morning I got to have a skype call with my parents who are in Holland visiting family. I wish I was there with them! Sounds like they are having a great time.
I'm hoping I will have a productive day today! I have had a lack of motivation lately. In any case, I plan to clean our apartment, bake zucchini muffins, organize my craft space and enjoy the beautiful weather we are supposed to have!

I wanted to play along with the colour challenge from Colour Q this week. I love these colours together! 

I thought these colours would work well for a Father's Day card. I picked an older sketch from Deconstructed Sketch to use as a guide.

The layers in this card give opportunity to use different coloured designer paper. I used Midnight Muse as the colour for the card base. Baja Breeze covers the card front. It is embossed with the argyle embossing folder (my first time using it and I absolutely love it!). The sentiment becomes the central image in this card. I love how it stands out against the More Mustard and Cajun Craze.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I will be taking the next couple days off from blogging. Stay tuned on Tuesday for a new post! Enjoy your weekend!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: All Holidays

Paper: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, In-Colour 2012-2014 DSP, Regals DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Argyle embossing folder

Sending Many Thanks

What a beautiful sunny warm week it has been in PG! I've been soaking up the sun every chance I get! My hubby and I have been taking walks lately almost everyday after work, enjoying the spring weather. It's nice to spend that quality time together after a busy/long day. Also, our dog, Keta just loves going for walks - it's great exercise for her too!

I'm back into cardmaking again after spending the past couple nights organizing my cardstock and designer series paper. It's so nice to have all my paper organized - makes finding specific colours so much easier!

It's time for a new challenge with...

The selections for this week are:

Love & Sympathy Stamp Set

Square Lattice Embossing Folder

 

These elements are quite easy to work with and can coordinate quite well together. I decided to combine this with two other challenges this week: a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch and a colour combo from Colour Q.

 



I love this colour combo and the dress in the inspiration photo is so pretty! I decided to use just the flower from the Love & Sympathy stamp set. While these colours are very appropriate for a sympathy card, I couldn't find a way to add the sentiment from this stamp set into this sketch. So, I picked a sentiment from a different set and made it into a thank you card.

Instead of Blush Blossom and Sage Shadow, I used Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz/Old Olive. I embossed the flag strip of Calypso Coral cardstock with the square lattice embossing folder. I like how it matches with the Blushing Bride designer paper. The sentiment was stamped in Calypso Coral, punched out with a 1" circle punch and popped up using dimensionals. I added some 'bling' to embellish it.

 



Thanks for visiting!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Love & Sympathy, Petite Pairs
Paper: So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP, 2010-2012 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Calypso Coral, Old Olive marker, Calypso Coral marker
Tools: 1" Circle Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

It's Wednesday, which means we're half-way through the work week and that much closer to the weekend! Looking forward to seeing my hubby again! Yesterday, I did not have the greatest start to my day... I was late for work and realized I forgot my lunch when I got to work. Ugh. However, one highlight to my day... I was chosen as a 'Perfect Princess' at Freshly Made Sketches! To see my original post, click here.

For today's card, I decided to play along with the new Retrosketches challenge and a colour combo challenge with Colour Q. It's a fabulous clean and simple sketch this week and the colours are so soft and subtle - these two challenges worked so well together!

As a bonus, I realized as I was making the card that this would also fit perfectly with the Pink Elephant challenge this week.

 

Our challenge theme this week is to:

"Use 3 Decorative Papers & Your Favorite Embellishment"

 

I actually used 6 decorative papers in my card and one of my favourite embellishments - bakers twine. Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Neutrals DSP, Summer Smooches DSP, 2010-2012 In-Colour DSP, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP, Comfort Cafe DSP

Ink: Soft Suede

Tools: Owl Builder punch

Accessories: Early Espresso Bakers Twine

A Perfect Sketch and a Fabulous Colour Combo

The past few nights have been quite cold in PG, making it take a little longer to warm up during the day. It doesn't feel like Spring is on it's way... I guess, technically, the first day of Spring isn't until March 20th. But, now is the time of year I get cabin fever and really want the seasons to change. I look forward to the snow melting, flowers blooming, opening windows to let the smell of fresh spring air fill the apartment, warmer nights for going on walks... ahh I can't wait!

Today's card combines a perfect sketch challenge from Deconstructed Jen and a fantastic colour combo from Colour Q.

 

I just LOVE this colour combo. I think the colours coordinate so well together. And the sketch is a perfect example of a combination of clean and simple with layers. Here's what I came up with:

 

I love how clean and simple this card is. I added detail by using different patterned designer paper and embossed cardstock. I wanted to deviate away from creating another birthday card, so I chose a fun sentiment from the Stampin Up 'Word Play' stamp set. I simply stamped it in Cherry Cobbler ink, punched it out with the Extra Large Oval punch and sponged the edges. I added rhinestones to complete the card.

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Word Play

Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, 2011-2013 In-Colour DSP, Regals DSP, Floral District DSP

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Extra Large Oval punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

ColourQ #174 & FMS#71 {Be My Valentine}

Can't believe it's already Thursday! Feels like this week has flown by! Last night was a bit of a blur, but overall a good night! After enjoying a delicious dinner of baked trout, lemon and herb quinoa and veggies, I went to my weekly Zumba fitness class. To be honest, I wasn't so eager to go this week. I just wanted a relaxing evening at home. But, I pushed myself to go and I'm glad I did! This second time around was so much easier than the first! I was able to follow the routine quite well this time and got a good work out! I went home to my crafting table and created a Valentine's card, playing along with the Colour Q and Freshly Made Sketches challenges.

The colour combo from Colour Q is perfect for Valentine's. I love how they threw in Early Espresso with the pinks - so pretty! And even though you can use any shape in the sketch, I wanted to stick with the heart. I knew exactly what I was going to use. The More Amore DSP comes with single-sided laser cut sheets in the shape of hearts. I just snipped one of the hearts from the sheet. I saw this idea on someone's blog (can't remember which one, unfortunately) and just loved it! Here's my interpretation on the sketch using the beautiful colour combo:

I didn't have any Raspberry Ripple cardstock (not sure why I don't have this - I'm realizing how much I love this colour!), so I looked through my stacks of DSP and found this beautiful polka dot designer paper in the Orchard Harvest collection. It fits perfectly with this card! I kept my card fairly simple at first, but I didn't like the empty space, so I embossed the card front with Elegant Lines, added small hearts in the top corner and pearls to embellish the card. I also added crochet ribbon and a small rose on the heart. The sentiment and small hearts are popped up using dimensionals.

 Card Ingredients:

Stamps: P.S. I Love You (ret.)
Paper: Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Tools: Heart to Heart punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder
Accessores: Crochet ribbon, Rose ribbon, large eyelet (ret.), pearls (Michael's)

Thanks for looking!

Simply Masculine

Good morning!

It's a chilly one! Thermometer reads -18 deg C this morning. Brrr! In looking at the Sunday forecast for St. Catharines, Ontario (my hometown), they are having spring-like temperatures! Really missing home right now... Although, I shouldn't really complain. We have had a pretty mild winter for the most part.

As I was crafting last night, I decided to combine two different challenges -- The Colour Q challenge and the Retro Sketches challenge.

In looking at the inspirational photo and colour combos, I right away thought 'masculine'. And the sketch, being quite clean and simple, made it easy to come up with a design. Here's my card:

I used Natural Composition DSP for the card base. This designer paper is a great collection - each sheet has an embossed pattern on it and the paper is a little thicker than other designer paper, almost like cardstock. I thought it would be perfect to add a bit of texture to this simple card design.



At first, I wasn't too sure I liked how it turned out. Maybe it's because it is so simple. (I like using lots of layers on my cards). But, every once in a while, simplicity is a nice change. :)

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Loved Ones

Paper: Natural Composition DSP, Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Night of Navy

Accessories: Framelits Die, Daffodil Delight button, Linen Thread, Rhinestones

Thanks for looking! Have a blessed Sunday!