A Bold & Cheery Birthday Card

We decided to change things up a bit this week, moving our KCRR and "Inspired By..." challenges to a day earlier than usual. But, before I introduce our new KCRR challenge for the week, I wanted to share with you some recognition I received this past week! One of my cards was chosen as a Weekly Top Pick over at Stamps at Play! What a nice surprise!

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Rose Red

Little Leaves Sizzlits Die

Fancy Fan Embossing Folder

I wanted to combine this challenge with a sketch challenge over at Cardabilities, as well as a colour combo at Dynamic Duos. 

I was so happy to see that Rose Red was one of the colour options at Dynamic Duos this week! When we first randomly chose the three elements for this week's KCRR challenge, I wasn't quite sure what colours I would use with Rose Red. But, Dynamic Duos made it easy for me! I also love the layers in the Cardabilities sketch this week!. So combining all three challenges, here's the end result:

A bold & cheery birthday card! I love the patterns of the DSP and the texture of the fancy fan in this card! The stitched satin ribbon blends so well with the patterns. The flower is created from the Floral Fusion sizzlits die from Stampin Up. This recently came in with my last order and I'm so glad I decided to get it! It adds that extra special touch to this card, with a pearl in the center of the flower. 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to visit Karly's Creations to see what she created with these elements! Join us tomorrow for a new "Inspired By..." challenge! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Family Reunion (ret.)

Paper: Midnight Muse, Rose Red, Whisper White, Subtles DSP, 2012-2014 In-Colour DSP, Floral District DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Little Leaves Sizzlit Die, Floral Fusion Sizzlit Die, Itty Bitty punch pack, Fancy Fan embossing folder

Accessories: Pearl (Michael's), Midnight Muse stitched satin ribbon

Dynamic Duos #49 and Make My Monday {Wedding Tri-Fold Card}

I had a fun night out last night crafting with a bunch of wonderful ladies! I love attending Cassandra's card classes. (She is my upline for Stampin Up). She gives me lots of inspiration and I look forward to her classes every month! We made 3 beautiful cards:

I love the box card! It's such a fun fold. I'm definitely going to try that one again!

For today's post, I'm playing along with Dynamic Duos and Make My Monday. I thought the colour combo this week would be perfect for a wedding card and I love making fancy folded cards (the challenge this week at Make My Monday is "Fancy Folds").

I made one of my favourite folds - the Tri-Fold. I love this fold for special occasions, like weddings and birthdays. It makes such an elegant card! The actual card base is very easy to make. The only time-consuming part is decorating it, as you have to cut the pieces of designer paper just so to fit the panels on the inside of the card. But, it's worth it in the end! I love the result!

 

I placed textured designer paper on the card front and punched out flowers with an antique brad for the central image. Gray striped bakers twine is tied around the card front and tiny tags hang from it - one of them says "Mr. & Mrs." and the other has an elegant design.
Here are photos of different angles:

The great thing about this card is that it folds flat to 4.25" x 5.5" size and fits perfectly in an A2 size envelope.

Thanks for visiting!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Tiny Tags
Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Mocha Morning DSP (ret.), Wedding DSP (Michaels)
Ink: Basic Black
Tools: Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Circle Nestabilities, Blossom punch, Five Petal Flower punch, Tiny Tag punch, Elegant Lines embossing folder
Accessories: Gray Bakers Twine (CTMH), Antique brad

Three Challenges in One

It's been difficult for me to get motivated lately to create papercrafts for the upcoming craft fair. I didn't get quite as many items made on the weekend as I wanted to, but with my hubby gone this week, it gives me lots of time to get caught up. Last night was a good start. I completed two more mini albums and two mother's day cards. I also snuck in a phone call with my hubby, a skype call with my sister, and a phone call with my Mom. It was a good night!

Today's design was created using three different card challenges. Karly and I were brainstorming at work yesterday afternoon which inspired me to create this card:

 

I used a great sketch from Mojo Monday for the layout, a colour combo from Dynamic Duos and a theme from The Pink Elephant.

 

 

 

Our challenge theme this week is to:

"Use 3 Decorative Papers & Your Favorite Embellishment"

 



This sketch was great to work with. And I love that we could choose our own colour to go with Primrose Petals. I chose So Saffron. I think it's a nice pastel contrast against the bright pink. The biggest challenge for me was to use 3 different decorative papers in one card. But, I think I managed to make it work and have it not look too 'busy'. I used neutral colours for the card base and the card front so that the two colours 'popped'. The Primrose Petals cardstock is embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. I like adding a little 'bling' to my cards, so I used pearls as embellishments.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla, More Amore DSP, Floral District DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Tools: Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Circles nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Elegant Bouqet embossing folder

Accessories: Pearls (Michael's)

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)

 

Sweet as Honey

We are over the midweek hump... that much closer to the weekend! It's been a busy week so far. I'm completing a lot of unfinished tasks at work - feels great to cross things off the list!
Last night I cooked a delicious dinner of salmon, garlic quinoa with parmesan, and veggies. The salmon was baked in soy sauce, a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper, and lemon juice. It was not bad.. a little bland. I think next time I'll try a tastier marinade. The quinoa was delicious though! For the recipe, click here. It has to be my favourite quinoa recipe so far!

For today's card, I played along with a colour combo from Dynamic Duos and a fabulous sketch from Paper Players.

 

When I saw the Dynamic Duos colour combos this week, I thought of honeybees! I recently bought a stamp set from Close to My Heart called "Honeycomb" - I love it! I used hexagons in place of the squares in the sketch and added the sentiment "sweet as honey". A strip of black striped designer paper is punched with the scalloped border. I added So Saffron grosgrain ribbon for the 'dessert option'. To complete the card, I stamped a bee from the "Bugs and Hugs" stamp set, fussy cut it, and popped it up using dimensionals.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking! Make sure to stop by tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Bugs and Hugs (CTMH), Honeycomb (CTMH)

Paper: Whisper White, Neutrals DSP

Ink: So Saffron, Staz-on Black

Tools: Scallop Border punch

Accessories: So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (ret.)

 



KCRR #9 {Peek-a-Boo Owl}

Happy Friday!

There may be another dump of snow on the ground this morning, but I'm not going to let that bring me down! Fridays are good days. It's the end of a long week and the beginning of the weekend! And... I get to see my hubby tonight! Hopefully this time he'll stick around for a while :)

It's time for a new card challenge!

We decided to randomly choose 3 items (instead of the usual 2) from our list to make it a little more interesting:

Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Large Oval Punch

2 Colours Only (*neutrals are also welcome)

 

I found these elements to be quite easy to work with! I decided to incorporate the Dynamic Duos colour combo in this card as well (even though the challenge is closed).

 

 

Love these two colours together! What a great reminder that spring is on the way :)

I used Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip as the neutrals along with these two colours. When I see woodgrain, I think of nature, trees, etc. So I used the woodgrain embossed cardstock as a tree trunk. I punched a large hole in it and used the Owl Builder punch to create a cute little owl peeking out of the tree - love it! I simply added a birthday sentiment with Pool Party bakers twine to complete the card.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Visit Karly's Creations to see how she incorporated these three elements in her card :)

 

Also, make sure to stop by tomorrow for a new 'Inspired By...' challenge - it's going to be a good one!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Made For You

Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Whisper White, Basic Black, In-Colour 2011-2013 DSP, Neutrals DSP

Ink: Pool Party

Tools: Owl Builder Punch, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval punch, Scallop Border punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch

Accessories: Pool Party bakers twine



Cute As a Bug!

What a beautiful Sunday it was! In the afternoon, Karly and I took our dogs for a walk. The sun was shining, we had a good chat and the dogs enjoyed a good run! Afterward, we played a couple games of cribbage. The rest of my day consisted of catching up on Grey's and papercrafting.

For today's card I played along with three card challenges: Dynamic Duos, Sweet Sunday Sketch, and Heart 2 Heart Challenges.

This colour combo is great for Spring, and it fits perfectly with the theme from H2H -- Spring Forward! This sketch is also a good one this week - I just love the layout!

This is the first time I'm participating in the Heart 2 Heart challenge, as well as the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge. I discovered Sweet Sunday Sketch blog a little while ago and just love the sketches! I came across the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog just yesterday and while I just started my Close to My Heart products collection, I hope to play along with more challenges in the future! 



While I was crafting last night, I wanted to try out one of the new stamp sets that I got from Close to My Heart. The one I used for this card is called "Bugs and Hugs" (even the name is cute!) I thought it would be perfect for a Spring card! Garden Green is generally not a colour I tend to turn to, but I happen to have the ink and designer paper for this colour - fancy that!  Here's what I came up with:

 

 

Everything came together so nicely in this card! As you can see, I spent time fussy-cutting the grass and the bees. This has to be one of my favourite 'techniques'. I love how fussy cutting adds more detail to a card. I added polka dot designer paper from Stampin Up's Brights and Regals DSP collections for the background and striped DSP for the 'flagged' pieces. The bees and sentiment are popped up to give it some dimension. I added a button with linen thread to embellish the card.

 

 

 

 

Doesn't this make an adorable Spring card?!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment :)

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Bugs & Hugs (CTMH)

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Garden Green, Brights DSP, Regals DSP

Ink: Garden Green, Basic Black, YoYo Yellow marker

Tools: Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles Nestabilities, 1" square punch

Accessories: Daffodil Delight button, Linen Thread







Monochromatic Teal Blues

As we were driving to work yesterday morning, the sky was gorgeous! I knew it was going to be a beautiful day!

It also turned out to be a very productive day! I tackled all the piles of paperwork on my desk at work and am now down to 1 small pile! I love days like that. I came home feeling like I accomplished something. Often my days consist of many incomplete projects. I love being able to complete tasks and move on to the next.
My evening was spent catching up on writing messages to a couple friends and getting my dose of exercise at Zumba Fitness.

I say goodbye to my hubby this morning for a week. :( He gets to go to southern Queen Charlotte Islands for work - lucky guy! We had the opportunity to go there a couple years ago and I absolutely loved it there! It's so beautiful! Here's a couple of my favourite photos from our trip:

Bonanza Beach

 

Sunset on North Beach (view from Toe Hill)

 

 

Today's card was created for Kevin's coworker/friend, Melissa, for her 30th birthday. She loves humming birds, so I thought I'd use the Bloomin Marvelous stamp set, which is becoming one of my favourites!

 

I played along with two card challenges: Dynamic Duos and Retro Sketches.

 

Dynamic Duos has my ultimate favourite colour combo for their challenge this week:

 

 

It is the 52nd challenge at Retro Sketches. This week we get to pick our favourite sketch to re-do!  I chose the following sketch:

 

I thought the flowers in the Blooming Marvelous stamp set would be perfect for this sketch! Here's what I came up with:

 

I randomly stamped the flowers in Island Indigo and Pool Party on the left side of the card. I extended the flowers a bit further than what the sketch suggests, only because I didn't like the white space at the top of the card. I also added stamped leaves in a neutral colour (Crumb Cake). Some of the flowers are popped up to add some dimension.l It's easier to see in this picture:

 





I also popped up the humming bird to make it stand out against the flowers. Island Indigo bakers twine is wrapped around a strip of cardstock and tied in a bow. I added the sentiment "happy Birthday wishes" and rounded the corners of the card base to complete it.

 

 

 

I love how this card turned out! As I said earlier, this colour combo is my absolute favourite! I'll be sad to see these colours retire this summer :(

 

Thanks for visiting! Make sure to stop by tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Blooming Marvelous (Sale-A-Bration); Petite Pairs

Paper: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Whisper White

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Crumb Cake

Tools: Corner Rounder Punch (Creative Memories)

Accesories: Island Indigo bakers twine

Dynamic Duos {Wish Big}

My "Monday" carried over into Tuesday morning when I went to take a shower and discovered there was no hot water. Showers are what wake me up in the mornings, so I braved the freezing cold water and while it wasn't pleasant, it certainly did wake me up! Not a great way to start my morning though! I can tell this is going to be a long week... Tuesday was a long work day, but I made the most of my evening. I came home to a new issue of Papercrafts Magazine in my mailbox! I got the subscription to this magazine as a Christmas present from my Dad - what a great gift!

There are lots of inspiring ideas in this issue! It's all about baby cards and weddings - a perfect Spring issue! I will definitely be using some of the layouts and tips in my upcoming card creations.
To complete my evening I created a couple cards, watched some tv and made a delicious apple crisp, which made the apartment smell so good!

For today's card I played along with the Dynamic Duos colour challenge:

I went all in for this challenge and decided to incorporate the dessert option into my card as well. I don't have any cloud stamps, so I turned to using punches. Here's what I came up with:

It's a very simple card, but so adorable (in my opinion!) I used Basic Black for the card base. The card front represents sky. I used the cupcake builder punch to create the clouds. They are lightly sponged with Tempting Turquoise ink. A hot air balloon is created using a circle punch for the balloon and the cupcake builder punch for the basket.  The balloon is 3D - it pops out of the card, but folds flat so it can go into an envelope (cool technique!). I stamped and cut out the cute little monkey and stuck him in the basket. The sentiment was stamped in Basic Black, but unfortunately, my Basic Black ink is running dry, so it didn't quite stamp as solid as I would have liked. I actually like the faded look, however. I outlined the edges of the word "big" with black marker and I think it works!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Word Play, Fox & Friends (ret.)

Paper: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise marker

Tools: 1-3/4" circle punch, Cupcake Builder punch

Accessories: Early Espresso Bakers Twine