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)

Inspired By... an Outdoor Patio Set

Happy Friday!

Not only does it mean the weekend is almost here, but we have a new inspirational photo challenge to introduce! 

IB #37

This week was my choice and I wanted to pick something that reminds me of spring/summer! It's been a long winter and I've had warmer weather on my mind! I chose this photo of beautiful outdoor furniture from the Pier One website - one of my favourite home decor stores. How nice would this be, to relax by the poolside in this inviting comfy chair on a warm summer day? :)

I love the colours in this photo! I decided to use Island Indigo, Pool Party, Old Olive, and Smokey Slate. I used the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches as a guide for my card design.

I am also linking up with The Friday Mashup challenge:

1. Create a project that's "Monochromatic".
2. Create a project with "Flowers".
3. or Create a "Monochromatic project with Flowers". 

I used the new stamp set Petal Parade from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue, stamping flowers in monochromatic colours randomly to create the background. I then added different elements, popping them up to create some dimension. I love a card with layers!

Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Petal Parade (Sale-a-Bration 2014), Happiest Birthdays

Paper: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Smokey Slate, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Smokey Slate

Tools: Beautiful Wings embosslit, 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Little Leaves Sizzlit die

Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

Inspired By... Colour Coordinated Home Decor

Happy Friday!

I don't know about you, but this week has dragged on! For me it was filled with ups and downs and I'm really looking forward to a relaxing weekend ahead!

Let's kick off the weekend with a new inspirational photo!

It was my pick this week and I chose a home décor photo with the perfect colour combo:

IB #33

I paired it with the new Tall & Skinny sketch by Mojo Monday this week:

I love that Mojo Monday has introduced this new fold for every last Monday of the month! They layers in this sketch are perfect for the multiple colours I wanted to use. Not only was I inspired by the colours in the photo, but also the paintings. I decided to add some floral stamps to my card and made one without a sentiment:

 

 

This card measures 6" x 3.5" (start with a 6" x 7" piece of cardstock and score at 3.5").

The flowers on the middle painting in the photo reminded me of an older stamp set I own - Flower Fancy. I haven't pulled this one out in a long time! I fussy cut the smaller stamped flower and leaves and popped them up to give the card some dimension. I added texture to the card by embossing the Raspberry Ripple piece of cardstock with the Square Lattice pattern. Stitched satin ribbon is wrapped around the card front to embellish it.

 

 

I then created a matching envelope using the following measurements: cut paper into an 8" x 8" square; using a diagonal scoring plate, score at 3-1/8" on opposite sides and 4-1/2" on the other two sides. Finished size is 4-1/2" x 6-1/4".

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to play along and leave a comment below!

 

Also, make sure to stop by Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Flower Fancy (ret.)

Paper: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Brights DSP

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Old Olive

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Corner Rounder punch, Square Lattice embossing folder

Accessories: Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon





Proverbs 3:5

Today's card features another quote from Stampin Up's 'Trust God' stamp set. This stamp set has become one of my favourites. It has so many encouraging quotes that can be used to brighten someone's day or let someone know you are thinking of them.

One of my favourite Bible verses comes from Proverbs -- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight" (vv. 3:5-6). I try to live up to this verse in my daily life but often struggle with it. It's a challenge for me to put my complete trust in God and his plan for my future. I have come to realize that God is bigger than any problem or time of uncertainty that I may face. That gives me a sense of hope and relief, knowing that God is in control.

When I saw this verse in the 'Trust God' stamp set, I knew I just had to add this to my collection. I kept the card design simple with the focus on this verse. Here's how it turned out:

I added some texture by embossing the Old Olive piece of cardstock with my go-to embossing folder - square lattice. The striped Midnight Muse DSP is a nice contrast to the Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive. I added orange bakers twine and buttons to embellish the card.

 

Thanks for stopping by! After taking a long break, we finally have a new KCRR challenge tomorrow! Stay tuned :)

 

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Trust God

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, In-Colour 2011-2013 DSP

Ink: Midnight Muse

Tools: Square Lattice embossing folder

Accessories: Orange bakers twine (CTMH), Pumpkin Pie buttons

KCRR #7 {Elements of Style and...}

Am I ever glad it's Friday! Yesterday was one of those days...By the end of the day I was happy to go home to my puppy who always has a way of cheering me up! Here's hoping today is much better!

I have to get used to a quiet house again! Makes a difference when my hubby isn't home. The last I heard from him was a text as he was boarding the plane from Vancouver to QCI. He will be on a boat all week which means no cell reception.. :( I made a long to-do list for myself, so that should hopefully make the week go by quickly!

Now for today's KCRR Challenge...

The two elements that were randomly chosen are:

Elements of Style Stamp Set

French Filigree Stamp Set

 

At first, I thought 'two stamp sets? how is that going to work?' But, these actually coordinate quite well together! French Filigree makes a great background stamp. I don't use it often enough! Elements of Style has that same type of elegance. Here's what I came up with:

 

KCRR #7

 

French Filigree was stamped in Crumb Cake for the background. I kept the flowers and humming bird as the central focus of the card. They are stamped in Early Espresso. The flowers and leaves are coloured using a blender pen. I love how this 'technique' makes it look like it was painted in watercolour! The humming bird is popped up to give some dimension. I added Early Espresso taffeta ribbon and the sentiment "happy Birthday wishes" with pearls to complete the card.

 

 

 

Make sure to hop over to Karly's Creations to see how she creatively incorporated these two elements in her card!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: French Filigree (ret), Elements of Style, Petite Pairs

Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Ink: Early Espresso, Rose Red, Old Olive, So Saffron marker

Tools: Scallop Circles nestabilities, Circles nestabilities, 1" Circle punch

Accessories: 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, Pearls (Michael's)

Mojo 282 {Going Green}

Tuesday was a long day. It seems this week is dragging on... I was exhausted when I came home from work (the consequence of late nights!) I am truly a night owl, but tonight I may have to hit the pillow a tad earlier than normal!

To beat the winter blues, I have been doing a lot of research lately on top sites to see along the west coast for our road trip in June - I'm SO excited! We plan on staying a couple days in California and one of the things I've found to do there is snorkeling at La Jolla Cove - we can see all kinds of fish including leopard sharks! I think, for me, California will be one of the main highlights of our trip. I just love the sun and beaches and the ocean! June cannot come soon enough!

For today's card, I'm playing along with a few different card challenges, one of them being another great sketch from Mojo Monday.



A couple other card challenge blogs that I've been following have a similar theme this week:

Stampin Up Only Challenges has a "Going Green" challenge this week and Late Night Stamper's theme is "Celebrating St. Patrick's Day".

I decided to incorporate all three challenges into one great card!

 

The outer borders of the card front are embossed with the Tulip Frame embossing folder and sponged lightly with Old Olive ink. I layered designer paper from the "Tea for Two" DSP collection with a piece of Always Artichoke cardstock. A swirl design is stamped in Old Olive for the background. I created a 3-leaf clover using the Small Heart punch. Each 'petal' was folded in half to create a crease in the center and then sponged with Always Artichoke ink. The stem was punched out from the Bird Builder punch. It is placed on a layered scallop circle. The clover took a little practice to find out which heart punch would work best! I tried the Heart to Heart punch, but found that this Small Heart punch had the best shape and a good size for the clover. Finally, I stamped the sentiment "happy st. patrick's day" in Old Olive ink to complete the card.

 

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Everything Eleanor
Paper: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Tea for Two DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Always Artichoke
Tools: Frame Tulip Embossing Folder, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, Small Heart Punch, Bird Builder Punch





Birthday Wishes for a Special Sister-in-Law!

Yesterday was a fairly good Monday. The work day went by fairly quickly... however, we got another dump of snow! About a foot of snow fell and it was a winter wonderland in PG by the end of the day! While it did look quite pretty, I was kind of disappointed... What happened to the early spring they predicted?? Here are a couple photos I took of what is hopefully the last big snowfall before spring:




 


Despite the disappointing snowfall, I came home to a few goodies in the mail! First and foremost, I received my prize from Verve Stamps for the card that was chosen as a winner at Mojo Monday. To see the original post for this card, click here. I got to choose a stamp set of my choice from Verve Stamps and this is what I chose:

 

It is such an adorable stamp set and I can't wait to use it! It will make some cute baby cards!

Another wonderful surprise was a card from my Mom. She is so sweet and I love getting things from her in the mail! It makes me smile and miss her all the more!

 

And finally, I received the new Stampin' Success magazine! I love getting this magazine in the mail. It has many great ideas of how to use Stampin Up's products in unique ways. I often see quite a few things that catch my eye and inspire me to try a new layout or technique.

 

 

Today, I think of my dear sister-in-law, Angie. It's her birthday today! Unfortunately, she is so far away, living in Uganda, Africa, and I wish I could be there to celebrate with her! The closest I could get was a phone call on Saturday morning :) It was great to catch up with her! I miss her so much! She is such a sweet, caring, supportive sister and a wonderful mother to 5 darling kids. I hope she has the best day and that God blesses her with a wonderful year ahead. Love you, Angie!

I sent her a little package in the mail to let her know I'm thinking of her. I filled an envelope with a few goodies and this fun-folded greeting card!

 

This is a cascade card fold. It's created with an 8.5"x11" piece of Old Olive cardstock. I've made cascading cards before in a larger size, but I love this size, just for the fact that I can stick it in a regular A2-size envelope! I decorated it with designer paper from the Twitterpated collection and stamped flowers in Elegant Eggplant, Island Indigo and Pool Party. I added leaves that were cut from the Little Leaves sizzlit and embellished a few of the flowers with rhinestones. The sentiment is stamped in Elegant Eggplant and punched out using the Curly Label punch. Here is a side view of the card:

 



I left a spot on the back of the card to write my card message. I just love this card fold! It's so unique and can be decorated in so many different ways! I hope to make more of them and do a picture tutorial with instructions in a future post. Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow to see my take on the Mojo Monday sketch this week!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Elementary Elegance (ret.), Mixed Bunch
Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Island Indigo, Pool Party
Tools: Blossom punch, 1" Circle punch, 1/4" Circle punch, Little Leaves sizzlit
Accessories: Rhinestones (Michael's)

Rock 'N Roll Birthday Celebration

Happy Friday! It has been a looongg week. Friday took forever to get here! Looking forward to relaxing this weekend and getting some good crafting time in.

So yesterday, as we were driving home from work we got a phone call from someone who found our dog, Keta a couple blocks from where we live, playing with some kids just outside her home. We were SO grateful to those kids for taking care of her! But now is the question... how did she get out of our fenced-in backyard?? We discovered, this is how...

Bad girl... and super sneaky. Looks like we have some dog-proofing to do in our backyard. I'm glad that we live where we do - we have such great neighbours! I don't know what I would do if I lost Keta!

After all that comotion, Kevin and I had the pleasure of visiting with my coworker/friend, Karly and her boyfriend Matt. They prepared a delicious elk roast and deer tenderloin meal for us! This was my first time trying elk and it really was quite good! It didn't taste 'gamey' at all! The deer tenderloin was also delicious! I haven't always been a big fan of deer meat... But apparently the taste is quite different if it was an older buck versus a younger doe.
They sent us home with a bag full of moose meat, deer meat, and elk meat... my hubby was thrilled! (Thanks again Karly!)

Moving on to the card challenge of the day...

Today's random recipe includes these two elements:

Rock 'N Roll Technique
Midnight Muse

 

I struggled with this challenge a bit. While I love Midnight Muse, I don't have many options in my supplies, but I made it work! The rock 'n roll technique is a fun element to add to a card and it's quite simple! First, you pick a solid stamp. I decided to use the retired "Upsy Daisy" stamp, which is one of my favourites. You then stamp it in a lighter colour ink (in my case, I used So Saffron) and 'rock 'n roll' it in a darker ink, such as Pumpkin Pie. I used this technique on both the flowers and the sentiment:

 

 

I love the look of this technique! I added Midnight Muse designer paper, an eyelet border, rhinestones and pleated Pear Pizazz ribbon for some detail on the card. I fussy cut some of the flowers and popped them using dimensionals. The pictures below display this a little better.

 

 

Feel free to play along! Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how she has incorporated these two elements in her card!

 

Come back tomorrow to see a new "Inspired By..." challenge! I'm excited for this one!

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps - Upsy Daisy

Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, In-Colour 2012-2014 DSP

Ink: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Eyelet Border punch

Accessories: Pleated Pear Pizazz ribbon (ret.), Rhinestones (Michael's)





Margaritas and "Inspired By..." Challenge

Oh, how I love the weekends! Last night, I spent some good quality time with my hubby :) We made our own margaritas and watched "The Notebook".

The margaritas turned out sooo delicious! Here are the ingredients:

- 1/8 cup of water
- 90 mL tequila
- 30 mL Grand Marnier
- half an orange, peeled
- half a lime, peeled
- half a lemon, peeled
- thin slice of ginger
- a handful of spinach
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 cups of ice cubes

We blended it for 45 seconds in our wonderful Vitamix....

 

...and voila!

Now for a new card challenge!

 

Karly chose a photo that she took just outside of Prince George as our inspiration for this week:

IB #5

What a gorgeous sunset! As soon as I saw this photo, the lovely stamp set "Lovely as a Tree" came to mind -- one of my favourites! I used the masking technique to create a landscape with a sunset:

 

I LOVE how it turned out! The sky is a vibrant orange/yellow and after looking at it again, it almost seems like the sun is shining a glow on the grass underneath the trees. The sky is created by sponging Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron ink. I sponged Old Olive and Always Artichoke for the grass. The landscape is cut into 3 panels to make it look like window panes and a simple "happy birthday" sentiment is added to complete the card.

Hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, All Holidays (ret.)
Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White
Ink: Staz-On Black ink, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo279: {Tea for Two: Me & You}

A couple days ago was Groundhog Day and Punxsutawny Phil and he made his prediction. He expects an early spring! While the legend of the groundhog may be somewhat hoaky, it gives me hope that spring is on it's way!  It's been quite mild in Prince George lately. Snow is melting, it's raining instead of snowing, and signs of spring are in the air. I know I am probably speaking way too soon, but part of me is getting really excited for a new season. As you can probably tell, I'm not a huge fan of winter. Even though the snow can be quite pretty, by the end of February I'm ready for it to melt and for the spring flowers to bloom:)

The card I created for Mojo Monday this week has a little touch of spring in it. This sketch has a great layout. At first I wasn't too sure what to do with it... what stamp set to use, what type of occasion, what colours... But, after a lot of brainstorming and sketching my ideas out on paper, I knew exactly how I was going to design my card. Here is the sketch:

I love the layers in this layout. It gives lots of opportunity to use coordinating designer paper. I pulled out a designer paper collection that I haven't had a chance to use much: Tea for Two. And the stamp set that I thought of right away was Tea Shoppe. Both have the "tea" theme - perfect! With lots of playing around with paper and embellishments to see what coordinates best together, this is what I came up with:

I love how it turned out! This has easily become one of my favourite cards! After layering the designer paper, I embossed and cut out the oval frame and layered it on the apothecary accent stamped image. The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso, the edges are sponged and the oval is popped up within the embossed frame. I added small roses and leaves to embellish the sentiment. Small pearls are placed in the right corner to complete the card.

 

 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Tea Shoppe, Everything Eleanor

Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Tea for Two DSP, Early Espresso DSP

Ink: Early Espresso

Tools: Extra-Large Oval punch, Little Leaves sizzlit, Oval Frame Embossing Folder

Accessories: Rose ribbon, pearls (Michael's)

 

Thanks for visiting!