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 Tri-Fold Owl Birthday Card

A couple weeks ago, I posted a fun owl birthday card that I made for my niece (click here to see original post). My initial inspiration came from this adorable card. I loved it so much that I made a second card, this time using the tri-fold. I stuck with the same colour combo, covering each panel with patterned designer paper and randomly placing the punch art owls throughout the card. 

So fun, right? This card is sure to make anyone smile on their birthday! 

I am entering this clean and layered card in The Card Concept challenge this week:

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Remembering Your Birthday

Paper: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Real Red, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Polka Dot Parade DSP, Fresh Prints DSP, Brights DSP, 2013-2015 In-Colour DSP

Ink: Bermuda Bay

Tools: Circles nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Owl Builder punch, Petite Pennant Builder punch, Heart to Heart punch, Little Leaves sizzlit die

Accessories: Bakers twine

A Friday Mashup Win and an Owl Birthday Card

Today is already off to a good start! One of my cards was chosen as the winner of the latest Friday Mashup challenge! What a nice surprise! 

Click here to see my original post

Another reason to celebrate - our neice, Zulea, has a birthday today! 

I thought it would be fun to make her a card with punch art owls. I saw this great sketch from Always Playing With Paper and used it as the base of my card design:

I'm also linking up with Seize the Birthday:

I love the new designer series paper in the Stampin Up Spring Occasions Mini Catalogue and decided to use it on this card. The colour combo of Real Red, Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana look fabulous together! 

How cute are these owls?! They were created using the Owl Builder punch from Stampin Up - probably one of my favourite punches of all time! The cute party hats were created using the Petite Pennant Builders punch (cut off part the bottom portion) and one of the Itty Bitty punches for the pom. And the owl party continues inside the card! 

Here's wishing Zulea a fantastic day! 

This card was inspired by Darlene Design

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Remembering Your Birthday
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Basic Black, Fresh Prints DSP, Brights DSP, 2013-2015 In-Colour DSP
Ink: Bermuda Bay
Tools: Owl Builder punch, Petitie Pennant Builders punch, Itty Bitty punch, Heart to Heart punch, Little Leaves sizzlit die
Accessories: Bakers twine (CTMH)

Inspired By... a Vibrant Colour Combo!

Hello again! 

Welcome to a new inspirational photo challenge! This week was Karly's pick and she chose a bright and cheerful colour combo:

IB #38

To be honest, it was quite challenging for me to figure out how to put these 5 colours together on one card. I would have never thought of putting these colours together! But, after choosing a sketch, it came together so nicely. Deconstructed Sketch had a great sketch this week:

And The Paper Players had a simple theme challenge:

Combine all three of these challenge together and this is what I came up with:

In the end, I absolutely love how it turned out! These colours actually look fabulous together! 

Thanks for stopping by! Drop by Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Hello Again (ret.), Enjoy Every Moment (ret.)

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, 2013-2015 In-Colour DSP, Brights DSP

Ink: Staz On Black, Real Red, Baked Brown Sugar

Tools: Circles nestabiltiies, Scallop Circles nestabilities, Square Lattice embossing folder

Accessories: Baked Brown Sugar ruffled stretch trim, Real Red candy dots

A Productive Saturday and a Special Birthday Card

Good morning! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! My Saturday was quite productive! As I mentioned in my "New Year, New Goals" post, I'm taking on a project of organization in our apartment and in life, in general. So far, I've tackled our laundry room and entry way. On yesterday's list was the kitchen. We have one of those not-so-handy corner cupboards and I simply re-organized the cupboards and put the items that I don't use as much in the corner cupboard so I don't have reach in there as often - things like serving platters and large dishes/pots. I think it's a big improvement! Another project I tackled was the pantry. After removing all items from the pantry, I lined each shelf with a fun patterned adhesive liner and I love how it turned out!

 

 

And voila! An organized pantry with pretty shelves! 

 

 

I spent my evening crafting, making a custom birthday card for a friend. I love the challenges she gives me! Really gets my creativity going! For this request she asked for a red birthday card with an angel on it, making it somewhat discreet. The angel was in memory of a little baby that had recently passed and the initials of her name spelled out A-N-G-E-L - how special and unique!

I started off with a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch and chose the colour Crisp Cantaloupe to go along with Real Red.  

Here's the sketch:

And here's how the card turned out:

I love the layers in this sketch! I first embossed the white background with a diagonal stripes pattern and then layered pieces of Real Red designer paper and Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock. As an added embellishment, I bordered one side of the polka dot DSP with Crisp Cantaloupe ruffled ribbon. The angel was creating using punches and I put a little 'a' on it to represent the baby's name.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a relaxing Sunday!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Fabulous Phrases
Paper: Real Red, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White, Summer Smooches DSP, Brights DSP
Ink: Real Red
Tools: Chevron Border punch, Large Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/4" Circle punch, Spiral Border punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Diagonal Stripes embossing folder
Tools used for Angel: Pennant Builder punch, Butterfly punch (ret), Elegant Lines embossing folder, 1" Circle punch, 3/4" Circle punch, Cricut for the letter 'a'
Accessories: Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffle Stretch Trim, Rhinestones (Michael's)

Inspired By... a Fabulous Outfit!

Welcome to a new challenge with:

For today's inspirational photo, Karly chose a photo of a fabulous outfit - a fun fashionable dress with matching shoes, purses, and cherry jewelry - love it!

It took me a bit to figure out how I would use this picture as inspiration for a card. I knew for sure that I would use Real Red as the main colour and I wanted to somehow incorporate the cherries in my card. I decided to create a really girly birthday card using punch art. Here's what I came up with:

 

I created a dress using Scallop Circle nestabilities, layering polka dot designer paper on top of the white. The scalloped edges are sponged with Real Red ink to make it stand out against the white background.  I wrapped red satin ribbon around the waist -- I thought the ribbon slider would be a perfect resemblance of a belt buckle (I've been meaning to use these for a while now!). The small purse is created using the Tab punch and the smallest oval nestability for the handle (a small oval punch would work as well). The sentiment is stamped and cut into a flag shape. The card front is embossed with Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

 

 





Thanks for visiting! Make sure to hop on over to Karly's Creations to see how this photo inspired her!

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Made For You, Create a Cupcake
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Brights DSP
Ink: Real Red
Tools: Scallop Circles nestabilities, Tab punch (ret.), Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder
Accessories: Ribbon Slider

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

A Valentine for my Sweety

I have to admit, I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to Valentine's Day. I love the conversation heart candies, the cinnamon hearts, the chocolate kisses, the red roses... and it's another occasion to make a fun papercraft project!

One year I made Kevin a tri-fold mini album/card filled with pictures of him and I. It looked something like this:

This year I made something a little different. Some may call it 'cheesy'... but I think it's fun!

 

 

I handmade the mailbox with More Amore designer paper from Stampin Up and filled it with chocolate kisses and...

 



 

...a mini 3x3 album.

 

I wrote 14 things that I love about Kevin on little tags that can be pulled out of the pockets on the top and sides of each page. I put pictures on some of the pages and stamped images on others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the little display I set up for him this morning...

 

 

I filled a bowl with a bag of chips, the best chick-flick movie "The Notebook" (which he has never seen!), 2 wine glasses, a lemon, lime, orange, and Grand Marnier (to make our own margaritas) and of course, chocolate almonds and a toblerone bar! Perfect for a date night sometime this weekend :)

 

Tonight we get to enjoy a delicious dinner out at a local restaurant called North 54. They have the best ceasar salad (according to my hubby)! Looking forward to dressing up and spending some good quality time with my one and only :)

 

Wishing all of you hopeless romantics out there a very Happy Valentine's Day!