A Birthday Wish for an 8 Year Old!

Happy Monday! 

I'm feeling rejuvenated after a relaxing, somewhat productive weekend. It involved a little bit of grocery shopping, some baking, date night with the hubby (saw the most recent comedy called "The Other Woman" - hilarious), a walk at the dog park, a Sunday afternoon nap, and lots of papercrafting! 

Today we celebrate my niece's 8th birthday! Elena is a quiet, sweet little girl who has a beautiful smile and a tender heart. She is the oldest of 4 girls in her family and loves her sisters! 

At first it was a bit of a challenge coming up with a design for her birthday card. But, I thought, I can't go wrong with the owl builder punch! 

I love this colour combo and the patterns in the designer paper. To make it a little more interesting I added a wing to the owl (using half of a scallop circle punch) holding a balloon (created using 1" circle and the small heart in the owl builder punch). Rhinestones embellish the balloon, as well as the sentiment. 

Here's wishing Elena a fun birthday filled with laughter, love, birthday cake, and sunshine! 

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Short & Sweet (ret.)
Paper: Basic Gray, Smokey Slate, So Saffron, Whisper White, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi, Floral District DSP
Ink: Basic Gray
Tools: Owl Builder punch, Little Leaves sizzlits die, Scallop Circle punch, 1" Circle punch, Word Window punch, Circles nestabilities, Scallop Circles nestabilities

Inspired By... the Olympic Rings!

While I haven't been following the Olympics too closely this time around, I've been keeping up with the medal counts and cheering Canada on! (and having a Dutch heritage, the Netherlands too!) Just recently we celebrated two gold - one for women's curling and the other for women's hockey against USA!! And now we are 2nd in medal standing overall! So proud to be Canadian! 

For our inspirational challenge, Karly chose the perfect photo for this week! 

IB #36

I was inspired to use the colours in this photo to make a kid's birthday card. I am playing along with the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and an "Anything Goes" challenge with Seize the Birthday:

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Here's how it turned out:

Lego pieces! I sponged the edges of each cardstock piece as well as the circles. The circles are popped up to give the card some dimension. While this was quite simple to figure out, it was time consuming to put it all together! I simply added the birthday sentiment "wish big" to complete the card.

This card was CASE'd from Ladybug Designs. 

Thanks again for stopping by! 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Short & Sweet

Ink: Basic Black

Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Gumball Green

Tools: 1/2" Circle punch

Wish Big: a Birthday Card for Elise

I can't believe it's been over a week since I've written a blog post! So sorry to all my followers. I think my blog posts are going to be quite sporadic for a little while until I get a little caught up and into a routine again. With the beautiful weather we've been having lately, I've been spending lots of my free time outdoors. It seems we are currently in a heat wave and I'm loving it! Better take advantage before fall/winter hits! I've also been working on building up my stock for the upcoming craft fairs, creating duplicates of my favourite designs. I haven't had much time to take part in card challenges and design new cards - I miss it and hope to get back into that again soon! In the meantime, I've been creating cards for family birthdays...

Today we celebrate our niece's 1st birthday! I was fortunate to meet Elise last Christmas and look forward to seeing her again next weekend when we meet up with their family to go camping. She is the youngest of 7 (big family!) and an adorable little girl.

I used the Freshly Made Sketches challenge last week as the base of my card design.

I chose a monochromatic colour combo (Wisteria Wonder and Elegant Eggplant), polka dot designer paper, and a butterfly stamp and here's how the card came together:

 

A perfect card for a little girl! To match the polka-dotted designer paper, I embossed the Wisteria Wonder cardstock behind the butterfly with polka dots. The butterfly is popped up to give the card some dimension. The card is embellished with ruffled ribbon.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Bugs and Hugs (CTMH), Short & Sweet

Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Specialty Sweet Shop

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Tools: Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Accessories: Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon

Mojo 283 {Madison Avenue}

One day down... Here's hoping this week flies by! I can't wait to see my hubby this weekend. I think Keta misses him too!

For today's card I'm playing along with a great sketch from Mojo Monday and an inspiration photo from The Pink Elephant.

I found this to be one of Mojo's simpler sketches, but I still love it. When I saw the inspiration photo from The Pink Elephant challenge this week, the stamp set "Madison Avenue" immediately came to my mind. The flowers and leaves on the duvet cover is almost identical to the stamps in this set. I love the colour combination of grey and yellow. So, this photo inspired me in more ways than one.

I chose designer paper from the Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP collection for the main piece on the card front.. Even though that DSP collection is meant for Halloween, I find it quite versatile! I found a square piece of polka dot So Saffron DSP in my scraps bin (love it when I can use up my scraps!). I picked out the colours for the flowers/leaves from the photo and incorporated that into my card. The center of the flower is popped up and a rhinestone embellishes it. To add a bit more detail to this simple card, I embossed the bottom with a stitched and scalloped design and tied grey and white striped bakers twine around the white card front. The sentiment "best wishes" completes the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Short & Sweet (ret.)

Paper: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White, Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP, Subtles DSP

Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron

Tools: Circles Nestabilities, Scallop Circles Nestabilities, Word Window punch, Needlepoint Border Embossing Folder

Accessories: Grey Wool bakers twine (CTMH), Rhinestones (Michael's)



Mojo277 "Wish Big"

Monday means another Mojo Monday card sketch. I have to say this week's sketch was a challenging one, but I was inspired! I wanted to do something bright and cheery. It's been pretty gloomy lately and I'm missing the sunshine! I brought out my birthday stamps and bright colours and here's what I came up with:

Fun, right? Clean and simple is not always my style, but I tried my best to keep it as simple as the sketch. I added Daffodil Delight polka dot designer paper for the background and popped up the panel.



To go with the birthday theme, I add birthday balloons and created a banner by cutting three triangles free-hand, adding bows and rhinestones. The sentiment and tiny cupcake adds a finishing touch.

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Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Patterned Party, Short & Sweet (ret.)

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Polka Dot Parade DSP,

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, markers

Tools: Boho Blossoms punch

Accessories: Bakers twine, rhinestones, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon (ret.)

Thanks for stopping by!