A Mid-Summer Update and a Dinosaur Card-in-a-Box

Another month and a half has flown by! Summer is a busy time and seems to leave less time for crafting and more time for traveling and spending time outdoors. It's been a great summer so far. Just last month my parents came for a visit and we all went camping on beautiful Vancouver Island, touring around parts of Victoria - what an awesome trip! We've had some hot days here in Prince George, which I am not complaining about. I love the summer heat! However, along with the dry heat we've had some serious forest fires throughout B.C., which are still raging in some parts of B.C. One morning, not too long ago, there was a fire fairly close to Prince George, covering the city with thick smoke and a red haze, making it seem like night time until 10AM! 

A lot of changes will be coming up for my hubby and I. Not only are we expecting our first child in January, but we are also moving back to our home province of Ontario!! It's going to be a bitter-sweet move, as we have grown to love the beautiful scenery of BC, but we are stoked to be moving closer to family and friends, especially with a little one on the way! 

I have been crafting on occasion this summer, making birthday cards for family members, but also completing orders for friends and Etsy customers. Just recently, a friend asked me to make a pop-up baby shower card for her nephew's baby shower. She makes adorable baby items and needed a card to go along with her gift. I may have mentioned TC Creations before... Here's the picture of a blanket she made to use as inspiration:

I had to put my thinking cap on for this one! Since I have no dinosaur stamps, I thought it would be fun to make punch art characters. I did some Pinterest searching and found some great ideas. I created the characters using papercrafting blogs as inspiration and adding my own personal touch. Here's the finished product:

Adorable, right!? I just love how it turned out! The green dinosaur was inspired by Song of My Heart Stampers, the adorable baby dino was inspired by KB Papercraft, and the stegosaurus was inspired by Stamps 'n Jewels. I had to play with the sizing of each dinosaur by using smaller punched out shapes so that it would fit in the card-in-a-box. It was challenging, but so worth it! Each panel was layered with Early Espresso cardstock and Tempting Turquoise DSP. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to blog more often as time permits. I really miss it and can't wait to spend more time participating in card challenges and sharing my creations with you! 

Horse Punch Art

One of my many nieces, Leah, celebrated her 10th birthday last week. Leah is a beautiful girl, inside and out. She has a big heart and a love for her family and for animals. One animal she absolutely adores right now is her horse. So I knew I had to incorporate this in her birthday card this year! I found this adorable horse punch art card on Pinterest and decided to CASE it, changing the colours a bit to resemble her horse.

I used Stampin Up's core'dinations cardstock in Early Espresso and the woodgrain embossing folder to create the background. Using an xacto knife, I cut out a square piece from the center. To create the horse, I used the Owl Builder punch for the head and eyes, the wings from the Bird Builder punch for the ears, the Boho Blossoms punch for the tuft of hair on the head, and the Small Oval punch for the hooves. I love how cute this character is! 

Here's wishing Leah a very Happy (belated) Birthday!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso Core'dinations Cardstock, Sahara Sand, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery

Ink: Rose Red

Tools: Owl Builder punch, Bird Builder punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Small Oval punch, Itty Bitty punch, Woodgrain embossing folder

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

A Masculine Birthday Card

We celebrated another brother's birthday this past week! My older brother, Jason turned 30 something!

I always find it somewhat challenging to create masculine birthday cards. I started off with a unique layout - sketching my own by combining different layouts that I saw on Pinterest. Then I chose the colours. Brown and blue generally come to mind. This time I threw in a brighter accent colour. I added a mixture of texture, patterns and punched out images. Here's how it all came together:

Here's wishing Jason a great year ahead!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Happiest Birthday

Paper: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Well Worn DSP, Sweater Weather DSP, 2012-2014 In-Colour DSP, Neutrals DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Chevron punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1" Circle punch

Accessories: Tangerine Tango Candy Dots

A Super Mario Birthday Card

Just this past week, my brother-in-law, Victor, celebrated a birthday. From what I hear, one of his favourite past times was to play video games, in particular Super Mario. So I thought, wouldn't it be fun to create a punch art card with this video game character on it :)
I was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest (unfortunately the website link no longer exists) and made one of my own using punches and pieces of cardstock. 

I think it quite closely resembles Super Mario! It was a challenge trying to figure out which size punches / nestabilities would work for each part of the face, but I love how it turned out! I kept the remainder of the card super simple and just embossed the card front with an argyle design. 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow I will share a second birthday card made for another brother's birthday this past week. 

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Blush Blossom, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Real Red (for sponging), Real Red marker

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Ovals nestabilities, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Scallop Circle punch, Small Oval punch, Argyle embossing folder

A Unique Birthday Card for a Talented Cabinet Maker

Today I'm going to share with you a unique birthday card that took a lot of brainstorming and creativity. We celebrate our brother-in-law's 37th birthday today! He is currently on vacation and probably enjoying every minute of it! Happy Birthday Mark! 

Mark is a cabinet maker and is very good at what he does. I thought it would be fitting to make a card that resembles his handiwork:

Neat, right? I thought of the gate fold while making this card, and that's how I created the cabinet doors. I started with a 7" x 5" piece of Early Espresso cardstock. To make the cabinet doors, I measured in from the 7" long side of the cardstock and scored at 1-3/8". I decided on 2" height for the top cabinets and 3" height for the bottom cabinets. I cut up to the 1-3/8" score mark and folded the 'flaps' or 'cabinet doors'. The middle section 'flaps' were cut off and discarded. The final card size ends up being 7" x 2.75". I then took the time to decorate it. The counter is simply a Very Vanilla piece of cardstock that was spritzed with Early Espresso marker (using the Spritzer tool). The 'back splash' is a piece of designer paper from the Well Worn series - it was perfect and exactly what I had in mind! For the top cabinet doors, I cut out the center using an xacto knife and glued window sheets to the doors (it's a bit hard to see in the pictures). I free-hand cut wine glasses. The bowl is simply the Small Oval punch cut in half and the plates were created using the Word Window punch. For the bottom cabinet doors, I created a 3-D layered look by using dimensionals to pop up the top layer. To finish it off, I stamped and cut out a small vase with flowers and placed it on the counter. 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed this little ounce of creativity! 

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

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Bright Blossoms

Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Well Worn DSP (ret.), Window Sheets

Ink: Early Espresso marker, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight

Tools: Spritzer tool, Small Oval punch, Word Window punch

KCRR & Mojo Monday: A Father's Day Card

Before I jump into our new KCRR challenge this week, I must share an honourable mention I received for one of my cards last week!

Last week I played along with the Muse Challenge (click here for the original post)...

Moving on to KCRR...

Mocha Morning DSP

Baked Brown Sugar

Needle Point Embossing Folder

The random picks lately seem to work so well together! And this is no exception. One of the new in-colours, Baked Brown Sugar, matches quite well with the retired Mocha Morning designer paper. And it's simple enough to add the texture with the needle point embossing folder! I followed a sketch by Mojo Monday and decided to make a masculine card. With Father's Day down the road (ok, maybe quite a ways down the road), why not start early?

Mocha Morning DSP may not be my favourite, but some of the designs work quite well for a masculine greeting card.

 

 

 

This is probably one of the most clean and simple cards I've made! I really like how it turned out!

 

Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how she used these three elements in her card, and come back tomorrow for a new inspirational photo challenge!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 



Card Ingredients:
Stamps: All Holidays (ret.)
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Paper: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Mocha Morning DSP
Tools: Tags Die, Needlepoint Embossing Folder, Circles Nestabilities, Cupcake Builder Punch

Inspired By... Beautiful Home Decor

Happy Friday!

It's almost the start of a long weekend here in B.C. (Family Day on Monday)!  We plan on traveling from one cold place to another to visit with family and enjoy a fun weekend at the West Edmonton mall! This has been one place I have always wanted to go to! Waterpark, TONS of shopping... what's not to like?

But before we start the weekend, we must introduce a new inspirational photo challenge!

It was Karly's pick this week and she chose a photo of beautiful home décor:

IB #34

I wanted to tie this in with another card challenge and came across the Muse Challenge. I love the design in the Muse card this week - lots of layers and different patterns!

I picked out the following colours from the photo: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso and Whisper White and came up with this design:

 

Baja Breeze is still one of my favourite blues, but since it's retired, I'm sadly running out... :( I love how it combines so well with Early Espresso, as in the photo. The detailed designer paper, delicate doily and embossed elegant lines make for a pretty birthday card, I think!

 

 

 



Thanks for stopping by! I will be back next week with a fun folded card made for my nephew, a true hockey fan!

 

In the meantime, hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Paper: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Festive Prints DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Tools: Elegant Lines embossing folder, Delicate Doilies die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits die

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

Craft Fair #2 and a Christmas Card

After MIA for a little over a week, I'm back with a new post!
It was a busy week of evenings filled with preparing for the D.P. Todd Craft Fair, but it was well worth it! The weekend was a great success! This was my first year doing this particular craft fair and I really enjoyed it. There was a great selection of vendors, from woodworking to baby bibs to delicious baked goods! There was a cupcake vendor on one side of my booth and jams and jellies on the other -- sitting next to the cupcakes was especially dangerous! My most favourite was the Salted Mocha Caramel cupcake - yum!

Here's a picture of my booth, much the same set up as the last craft fair:

This week will be another busy one as I keep on crafting for Thursday night's fair: "Ultimate Shopping Experience & Pampering Night". This will be a bit of a different atmosphere than most craft fairs. It's a ladies night, with a more interactive shopping experience - looking forward to it!

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I thought I would start sharing some Christmas cards I've been working on lately, since Christmas will be here before we know it!

Here is my latest and one of my favourites:

 

I used Early Espresso Co'ordinations cardstock for the card front. I love the distressed look it gives when it is embossed. The stamped image is from "Welcome Christmas", a retired stamp set that I snagged when it was on clearance (bonus!). I love this stamp set. The images are so adorable! My favourite part of this card is the Cherry Cobbler striped ribbon with the jingle bells and tags tied to it. The jingle bells add the perfect touch!

 

 

Thanks for looking! Hope this inspires you to get an early start on your Christmas cards! :)

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Welcome Christmas (ret.); Tiny Tags

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso co'ordinations

Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler

Tools: Jewelry Tag punch, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler striped grosgrain ribbon (ret.), linen thread, jingle bells (Michael's)

 

 

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)

FM103 & SSSC181 {Thank You Teacher}

Unfortunately, it's back to work this morning! It was a quiet Easter weekend without my hubby. Wish I could have been in Ontario to celebrate Easter with family. But, I managed to have a nice relaxing weekend and got quite a few things done. Saturday was spring-cleaning day... I vaccuumed and mopped the floors and did a pile of laundry. Unfortunately, the floors won't stay clean for long -- nice spring weather leads to snow melting and a muddy dog! A skype call with my Dad brightened my Saturday. Sunday afternoon after a nice Easter morning church service, I took a walk with Keta. It was so warm out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Here's a pic of me and my puppy :)

Another highlight to my weekend -- one of my cards was chosen as a top pick for two different challenges! Click here for the original post. This card was chosen as a Mashup Glamette for the Friday Mashup (FM102) challenge and an honourable mention at Dynamic Duos!

 

For today's card, I'm participating in two challenges -- a new mashup challenge with Friday Mashup and a sketch challenge from Sweet Sunday Sketch.

The Friday Mashup challenge this week is to create a project using 'lined paper' or create a project that has a distressed appearance or mash it up! I decided to mash it up. I had the perfect idea in mind. When I think of lined paper, I think of school, so I thought of making a thank you card for a teacher. And this sketch was the perfect layout!

 

I used bright designer paper from the Summer Smooches collection. I then distressed some lined paper by sponging the edges with Early Espresso ink and ripping one of the corners. I then placed this on cardstock and punched one of the edges with the Spiral Border punch. I also distressed the edges of this cardstock using the new distressing tool from Stampin Up.

I created an apple core using using the punch art technique and added a small paperclip as a finishing touch.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 



Card Ingredients

Stamps: Curly Cute

Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Real Red, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Real Red, Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distressing Ink (Antique)

Tools: Spiral Border punch, Tab punch, Ribbon Border punch, Fancy Flower punch

Accessories: Paperclip

KCRR#11 and Mojo286 {Nautical Father's Day}

It's the long weekend! Yesterday did not 'fly by' as I thought it would. It was pretty quiet at work. Karly and I were anxiously waiting for 4:30PM to come around! And when it did, we were outta there! I picked up my hubby from work and we enjoyed a nice dinner out at Mr. Mike's. It was good to catch up over dinner with no distractions. I came home to a surprise in the mail from my younger sister, Esther! She sent me a t-shirt, candy and a sweet card - so thoughtful!

 
Time for a new challenge!

The items randomly chosen for this week's KCRR challenge are:

Nautical

Sahara Sand

 

I see another masculine card in order! The one stamp set Stampin Up has that is nautical is "Open Sea". I love this stamp set! It's so perfect for masculine cards. Sahara Sand is not a neutral that I turn to often, so this was a nice change. I used it for the card base and Nautical DSP (ret.) for the background. I followed the new sketch by Mojo Monday and decided to make a 5" x 5" square card.

 

 

 

 

The strip of Very Vanilla cardstock was stamped with the background stamp in the "Open Sea" set. I then crumpled up the paper and sponged it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, to make it look like 'old' paper. The bottom edge is punched out with the Spiral Border punch (ret). The stamped compass is bordered with Early Espresso cardstock and popped up to give it some dimension. I fussy-cut the stamped anchor image and stamped the sentiment "happy father's day" and hung both from linen thread.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see her card for this challenge!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Open Sea, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Nautical DSP (ret.)

Ink: Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen

Tools: 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Modern Label punch, Spiral Border punch (ret)

Accessories: Linen Thread