A Mini Getaway and Father's Day Recap

It's been a while since my last post! With the weather warming up and summer just around the corner, it leaves me with less time indoors and less time for crafting. I feel like I've neglected my craft supplies lately! But, all in all, I'm really happy summer is almost here. I've already enjoyed a mini getaway just a couple weekends ago. My hubby and I drove down to Fairmont Hot Springs, BC where we met with some of our siblings and enjoyed a weekend of golfing, relaxing in the hot springs, soaking up the sun by the pool and going for a scenic hike next to beautiful Moraine Lake! It was a great time and well worth the 10 hr drive to get there! Here are some photos my husband took of wildlife along the way:

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Our Father's Day was quiet... It's times like these I wish I was closer to home! We made sure to call home and give our best wishes to our Dad's! I sent a card to each of them, to let them know we are thinking of them.

This one was for my Dad:

I made this one last year with my Dad in mind. He loves the ocean and boats, so I thought a nautical-themed card would be perfect for him. 

I made a nature-themed card for my father-in-law:

I love the Canadian goose stamp in the Wetlands Stampin Up stamp set. The sketchy style of these stamps makes it look like a drawing. I think this is a very fitting card for my father-in-law as he loves the outdoors! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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

Paper Craft Crew #30 {Open Sea}

Wednesday began with a lack of motivation - not a good sign for the beginning of the work day! However, as the day went on I started tackling the piles of paperwork on my desk and gained some motivation. Kind of backwards! Generally, I lose motivation as the day goes on. I got quite a bit accomplished in the afternoon!

One of the first things my husband and I do when we come home from work is check our phone for messages. Well, there was an exciting message yesterday from Kevin's sister and brother-in-law -- we have a new neice! Her name is Nadine. This will be their 4th girl :) Wish we could be there to meet her!

Today's card is inspired by the sketch challenge at Paper Craft Crew. I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it. It has lots of layers - my kind of sketch!

My original intention for this card was to use the Spice Cake designer paper from Stampin Up. However, as I was designing the card, I couldn't quite piece it together using that designer paper. I had a second look through my stacks of paper and came across the Nautical Expedition collection. I paired it with the Open Sea stamp set and this is how it came about:

 

I decided to change it up a bit and make a more masculine card, since my cards lately have included flowers, butterflies, pastel colours, etc. I stamped the ship and the anchor and cut them out. The strip of Night of Navy cardstock is embossed with lines. Bakers twine is wrapped around it and a mini tag sentiment "4 You" is tied to it with the anchor. I added three rhinestones to embellish the card.

 

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

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Open Sea, Tiny Tags

Paper: Basic Gray, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Nautical Expedition DSP (ret.)

Ink: Basic Gray

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Tiny Tag punch

Accessories: Rhinestones, White Bakers Twine

Spring is in the Air...

Yesterday, I spent most of the day setting up a personal budget. It's a lot of work, but I'm hoping we can keep it up! It would definitely help us to save for our big road trip in June! I got my spreadsheet template from this website: Christian PF. They have some many useful household budget tools. I found this to be the best I've found so far!

I wanted to share with you a couple of fun adorable greeting cards I made for a customer. Her friend's twins (a boy and a girl) are turning 2 this week and she asked me to make "pirate-style" birthday cards. Here's what I came up with:

 

 

Aren't they adorable?? I just love that owl punch - so many characters can be made with it! I added stamped images from the Open Sea stamp set - perfect for a pirate card! 

So for today's card, I used the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the springy colour combo from Fab Friday. I am so ready for spring! Even though the first day of spring is still a month away, I know it will be here before we know it! The snow has been melting here in Prince George and the temps have been hovering around 0 degrees for quite some time. I can feel spring in the air :)

What a great sketch! And the colour combo is just perfect. These colours go so well together and are perfect for spring. This is my first time participating in the "Fab Friday" challenge. They have some great challenges and I'm looking forward to using them as inspiration in the future!

Easter is quite early this year (March 31st), so I thought I'd create a card for that special occasion. Here is my interpretation of these two challenges:

 

I created a 5"x5" square card with a matching envelope in Wild Wasabi. I like the simplicity of this sketch. It can be used in so many different ways! I added patterned paper in Perfect Plum and Baja Breeze for the background. The butterflies are the central focus of the card. I layered two butterflies and embossed the smaller one with polka dots. Rhinestones embellish it. I added a swirl in the corner and finished it off with the sentiment "Happy Easter".

 

 

Card Ingredients:

 

Stamps: Everything Eleanor, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP, Subtles Collection DSP

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Beautiful Butterlfies die, Circles nestabilities

Accessories: Rhinestones

 

Thanks for stopping by!