Happy Bear-Day to a Brother-in-Law!

A couple weeks ago, my brother-in-law and two nephews came to PG for a visit to go bear hunting with my hubby. They had a great time! A week later, Julian celebrated a birthday. I decided to continue with the bear theme and create a card with black bear punch art. I found a great punch art image on Pinterest and decided to CASE it, making some slight changes. 

I love this bear! It's perfect. And so easy to make! 

Inside I wrote a pretty funny bear-day message, using bear puns. He should get a kick out of that! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Loved Ones

Paper: Always Artichoke, Basic Black, Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White

Ink: Black Staz-On

Tools: Ovals Nestabiltiies, 1-3/8" Circle punch, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Small Oval punch, Owl Builder punch (for the eyes)

Inspired By... Shades of Pink!

Not only is it the Friday before the long weekend, but it is also the day we introduce a new "Inspired By..." challenge! 

Today's Inspired By... photo was chosen by Karly - a creative photo found on Pinterest:

I love the monochromatic pinks in this photo. I decided to use that as the inspiration for my card. I chose an older sketch from "Seize the Sketch" (a new sketch challenge blog that has become one of my favourite go-to's for inspiration).

I love the hexagon shape trend that I've seen in papercraft projects lately and wanted to give it a try for myself. Here's how it all came together:

 

I stamped the hexagons in shades of darker pink to lighter pink. Each hexagon is cut free-hand, but I just recently ordered the new hexagon punch from Stampin Up which will make this so much easier! Strips of Raspberry Ripple cardstock are placed on top of the hexagon design. I then added a birthday sentiment and embellished the card with small embossed butterflies, a flower and rhinestone. I love the end result - this has become one of my favourite designs! I may try this one a few times using different colour combos. 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to play along! Post a link to your blog below - I'd love to see what you create! 

And don't forget to head on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Honeycomb (CTMH), Loved Ones
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette
Tools: Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, Itty Bitty Shapes flower punch
Accessories: Rhinestone

Mojo #290 {A Simple Father's Day Card}

I spent some time looking over the Stampin Up retired lists that came out yesterday. Lots of stamp sets are retiring! For a full list, click here. Also, a number of accessories/embellishments are also retiring. - click here to see this list. I've already gone through, crossing off what I already have and highlighting the items that I want to get before they are gone! I also had a sneak peek at the new catalogue - some great new stamp sets and embellishments! Can't wait to share some of these new products with you!

For today's card, I decided to make a simple Father's Day card using a great sketch from Mojo Monday.

I love the four squares in this sketch. I wanted to use a stamp set with small characters/images in it. I came across "A Fitting Occasion" and thought it would be perfect!

I chose the tie stamp and stamped it in all four squares in Night of Navy. I used Well Worn DSP for the bottom half of the card and wrapped Soft Suede taffeta ribbon around it. I stamped and fussy-cut the letters that spell "DAD". They are popped up using dimensionals.

I love how the designer paper and the argyle design in the letters match so nicely! At first I thought this card was too simple, but I actually really like it!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: A Fitting Occasion, Loved Ones

Paper: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Well Worn DSP

Ink: Night of Navy, Soft Suede

Tools: 1" Square Punch

Accessories: Soft Suede taffeta ribbon

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!