Little Boy B-day Card

I had to take a quick break from my December Daily album to do up a card for my friend's little boy. He doesn't know me from a hole in the ground, but we share the same birthday (December 27, mark your calendars, kids!) so I feel connected to him that way. He's going to be three, so I thought the bright colours from PPC and this image from Some Odd Girl would be perfect for him. I also used a sketch from Lord Have Mercy and adapted it a bit to fit the image. Some Odd Girl's challenge is to use 2 different types of bling, which I thought would be hard on a boy card, but I used some sparkly mist, silver embossing powder, and even some Perfect Pearls. Anyway, I really like how it turned out - I just may have to make another to keep in my stash!

Supplies: Close to My Heart cardstock, patterned paper, and watercolor pencils, Copic markers, Some Odd Girl image, Tim Holtz Grungeboard, Distress Ink, and Perfect Pearls, Tsukineko mist, silver ink and silver embossing powder

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B-Day Card for my Man!

When I saw the colours for Design Dollies this week (Black, White, Grey and a pop of Orange), I thought they would be great for a masculine card, and seeing Jason's birthday is on the 6th, now I have a bit of a headstart. I really like the clean lines of this card, don't you? I was going to put it in for the Design Dollies elements challenge, too (which is clean and simple with brads and beads) but I don't have many beads, and definitely none that would go with this card.

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Black, Noted Backgrounds and A Little Everything My Acrylix stamp sets, and Irresistables bracket

Other: Cosmo Cricket blackboard asterisk, unknown chipboard button and heart, Creative Memories grey and black cardstock

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Mistletoe Cards

Just a quick post this morning. Here are the 12 cards I made with the Mistletoe Workshop-on-the-Go kit available from Close to My Heart. The technique featured is rock 'n' roll stamping, which I have played around with before, but rediscovered while making these cards. I really like how everything is included in the kit and I still have tons leftover for layouts. I am totally in love with the stamp set as well - I think I will get a lot of use out of it! We have a local hockey tourney this weekend, which means lots of volunteer hours. It is also -20 with several inches of snow on the ground. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Papercraft Star 19 and Make It Crafty

I made this card yesterday for the Papercraft Star challenge, which is to make something inspired by a Martha Stewart photo. The inspiration photo has lots of pale greens and light browns in it, which is what really drew my eye. I also used a sketch from Make It Crafty along with their theme, which is vintage. Every piece of paper used on this card was dyed using Tim Holtz Distress Inks, and I also used some Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls on the bird and swirl to give it a nice patina. I had to take two photos, because the card looks really different depending on the angle you look at it. I showed it tomy daughter this morning and said, "Don't you just love the jeweled flowers?" and she said, "Oh yes! It gives it just the right touch!" She was dressed up as a princess for school, so she must've been practicing her princess talk!

Supplies: CTMH cardstock in Colonial White, Tim Holtz stamp set, Perfect Pearls, and Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Walnut Stain, and Tea Dye, Prima flower centers, unknown ribbon

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A Hallowe'en Kaylee card!

So I'm gonna let everyone in on a little secret here, so SHHHH! I am not a Hallowe'en lover! I know, bah humbug! It's not so much the dress-up part, that part is kind of fun (although I just finished reading a book where the main character dressed her baby up and went trick-or-treating with her so the parents could get free candy, which I think is totally ridiculous!) I think part of my attitude comes from my parents, who are Australian, and I don't think they ever heard of Hallowe'en until they moved to Canada. And then they were so religious, I had to listen to my dad go on about it being a Pagan tradition, devil worship, and so on, then my mom would have to talk him into letting us kids go out and have fun. So I guess my Hallowe'en experience was always tainted with parental arguments. However, I think my real issue with Hallowe'en is the amount of CARAP that gets handed out!!! I mean, seriously, have you ever read the list of ingredients on some of that candy? I try to feed my kids healthily and teach them good habits all year long, and then Hallowe'en comes along and it's like, "Hey, let's pump our kids up full of chemicals and dyes and see how crazy they go!" What we've done the last few years is keep the candy out of reach and give them a piece or two a day, but the problem with that is Jason and I eat it! (We're total hypocrites, I know, but I only eat the chocolate at least, Jason will eat any of it!) So that's my rant for the day. Hope ya liked it, tee hee! If anyone has any ideas of what to do with the mountains of candy that nobody (especially my hips) really needs, I'd LOVE to hear it!!!

Anyhoo, that said, here is a card I made, and I think I'll give it to Ailis because she just loves this Some Odd Girl image called 50's Kaylee. I coloured most of her with Copics, and then paper pieced her dress and shoes. I used some patterned paper I won as blog candy a while back and the September Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart called Thriller for the sentiment and swirls. I used a sketch from Mercy Kerrin, which unfortunately I missed the deadline for, and I used the colours for the Some Odd Girl challenge and Dutch Dare challenge. Thanks for looking!

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Early Christmas Card

Here's a card I whipped up for Papercraft Star #16 challenge, which is a sketch (I rotated it) and for Design Dollies elements challenge, which is a Christmas theme. I used a freebie image from Bugaboo stamps (I love her, she is SUCH a lush!!!), coloured her hair, skin, star, drink, and baggy panty hose with Copics, and the rest of the image with CTMH markers. Oh, shoot, I just realized I forgot to put gems on her earrings! Darn it, I'm going to do that right now... okay, so picture her with red gems for earrings, and red lips. Now she looks HOT, right? Inside, I wrote, "Blah, blah, blah!" because this is a card for a friend who doesn't really do Christmas, and she's a lush, too, heehee! Alrighty, the in-laws are coming for Thanksgiving, and I should be mopping the floor or something equally entertaining instead of blogging a half-finished card. Sigh. To all my lovelies out there in blog land have a great weekend, and hopefully I'll manage to get some crafty time to myself over the next few days, or I'll go maaaaaaad!

Suppies (all CTMH): White Daisy and Tulip cardstock, Jingle patterned paper, Exclusive Inks markers in Tulip, Juniper, and Black, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Tulip, Petite Perks stamp set (sentiment), White Daisy organdy ribbon

Other: Bugaboo stamps image, Copic markers

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Easel Card!

This is my first easel card EVER, and I'm sooooo excited!!! I got to use a BRAND NEW image from Some Odd Girl, she's called 50's Kaylee, and I chose her especially because it's my mother-in-law's birthday on the 9th. It's totally her, she's always reminiscing about her childhood in the 50's. I didn't know what to put for a sentiment besides Happy Birthday, so I googled "popular sayings from the 50's" and "neat-o" was one that suited this card the best. When I showed Jason, he said, "Oh, she actually says that!" (Inside it says "It's Your Birthday!") I played with my Copics some more, and I think I managed to get her hair and skin to look pretty good. The dress and shoes are done with a watercolor pencil and blending pen. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Some Odd Girl digi stamp, Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, CTMH and Bazzill cardstock, TLC stickers, CTMH watercolour pencil, unknown ribbon

Copics: skin - E000, E00, and R20
hair - Y23, YR23, and E35
dress - E21

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Double Whammy!

Yesterday, the Purolator guy showed up with my Close to My Heart order, then when I picked up my mail, my Copics were in my box!!! (Insert happy dance here!) So of course, I had to play right away, and this is what I came up with - my very first Copic creation! I used a coloring tutorial from Suzanne Dean to figure out how to do the skin and hair, and then I colored the puppy and Tobie's pants and shoes with my E35 marker. Then I just paper pieced his shirt and pants cuffs, trimmed him out and assembled the card. I used a Some Odd Girl image, and this card will go in for their monochromatic challenge this week (works out perfectly for me seeing I only have one real color of Copic!) I don't know, I'm pretty stoked with how he turned out! I know I need some work with these markers, but I'm really pleased with how he turned out! However, I am open to constructive criticism, if anybody has tips on how to make him better next time.

Supplies: Cardstock, (back of) patterned paper, hemp, Chocolate ink, and Say it in Style stamp set from Close to My Heart, Eooo, E00, E11, E21, E35, R20, Y23, and YR23 Copics, buttons from my stash, and My Mind's Eye patterned paper

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Quilted Birthday Card

This is my first foray into the world of quilting, and I must say, I'm glad I wasn't using fabric! Yikes, what a mess that would be! I needed to make a birthday card for my brother-in-law, so I looked through mags until I found this quilting idea in the summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today. You have to sew 1"x6" strips of patterned paper together, then turn the block 90 degrees and cut it into 1" strips, which you then sew together randomly. I wanted to use the Design Dollies colours this week, so I rummaged through my scraps to find strips of Red, Green, Blue, and Orange. I also had this chipboard piece that came in the mail from Mel in Australia, and the peachy orange and pale blue coordinated perfectly with the patterned papers. And then the problems began: what to put on the chipboard piece and where, I won't bore you with the details. But finally I settled for a cupcake in the middle. Huh. So, although I don't completely love this card, I did enjoy trying a new technique, so it wasn't a total loss, and really, Mike's never going to know what an almost-disaster this was! He should be happy to be getting a card at all, because I think he missed out last year, woops!

Supplies: Prism cardstock, Crate Paper, unknown, and CTMH patterned paper, CTMH Moonstruck ink, Good Times stamp set, and Clear Detail embossing powder, Versamark Ink, unknown chipboard

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Cute Baby Card

I know I said I was going to stay away from the cards for a while, but my best friend had a baby boy almost a month ago, and I still haven't even sent her a card! Bad, yeah, I know! I blame her for having him a couple of weeks early, hee hee! So this is what I came up with. Kinda plain, but I think it's still cute. I love this Ms. On the Go stamp set, but it's not very realistic, at least not in my case. I mean, Brenna's almost seven months old, and there's no way I'm going to be prancing around in a short dress and heels! Don't you just love her earrings? I used liquid glass and prisma glitter. I used the colours from Picture Perfect Creations, and I also used a sketch from Our Creative Corner. It's their last sketch until the new year, boohoo!

Supplies (all CTMH): Cardstock and patterned paper from Emporium Level 2 paper pack, Ms. On the Go My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Black, Exclusive Inks markers in Parchment and Cocoa, Watercolor Pencils, Liquid Glass, Prisma Glitter

Other: unknown chipboard photo corner

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Argh! I give up!!!!

I love the colours for Design Dollies colour challenge for this week: black, white, green and pink. I have tons of pink and green scraps from Ailis's baby album, so I thought I could whip up a beautiful card. Boy, was I wrong! These cards turned out nothing like I had envisioned, and I am soooooo frustrated that I think I'm going to skip card making for the time being (at least until my Copics come in and I can play with the digi stamps again!) I used a pattern from CTMH's card pattern book, Wishes, for the first card, and after deciding it was kind of blah, I used Mojo Monday's sketch for the second card. Still kinda blah! So I decided to throw in a funny photo that I took a couple of days ago to brighten your day. Jason was playing with Brenna after a feed, and this was a result of her favourite game, 3-2-1-BLASTOFF! Enjoy, everyone!

Supplies (card 1): CTMH White Daisy cardstock base and Black cardstock, unknown pink and green cardstock, Jolee's Boutique sticker, Basic Grey rub-on

Supplies (card 2): CTMH White Daisy cardstock base, stamp pad and embossing powder, Chocolate Alphabet (small) My Acrylix stamp set, Doodlebug Designs patterned paper and sugar-coated cardstock, Maya Road chipboard paisley, unknown pink patterned paper, ribbon and lace, white acrylic paint, MAMBI glitter sticker, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist

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Little Princess

Hey, here's some cool news! I was chosen as a fave over at Some Odd Girl for my last card! YOW!!! So I thought I might try something similar for this card. I used sketch 78 from Card Patterns (flipped upside down) and the colours from Just Us Girls (lime, hot pink, and teal). I love these colours, and I almost cut into my new papers from Cosmo Cricket's Delovely line, but I just couldn't do it! Instead, I used up some scraps from Close to My Heart's Whoops-A-Daisy. This pack is nearly finished, and I will be sad to see it go. Anyhoo, I paper pieced this little princess's dress, shoes, and even the wand and crown, so I will enter her into the Simon Says Stamp challenge for this week (which is paper piecing, go figure!). I think this will make a cute birthday card for a little girl.

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock and card base, other cardstock and patterned paper from Whoops-a-Daisy Level 2 paper pack, Little Princess My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Black, Exclusive Inks marker in Parchment, Prisma Glitter, Liquid Glass, White Daisy organdy ribbon, watercolour pencils, blending pen

Other: Sugar Coated cardstock by Doodlebug, unknown button and gem

Post Script: Aw man, I just went over to JUGS to link up and I missed the deadline! Don't ya hate it when that happens?

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Fiver!

This here is a birthday card for my friend Jill. She looooooves cowboys! Her birthday's not until November, but hey, at least I'm ahead of the game. I've been holding onto this postcard with the cowboy for at least 13 years, and now I know why! And the card qualifies for 5 challenges! That's gotta be a record for me. The challenges are:

1. Design Dollies: colours this week are Royal Blue, Teal/Aqua, and Orange
2. Some Odd Girl: ribbons and rub-ons
3. JUGS: cowboy-inspired
4. Our Creative Corner: use sketch 28

5. Pile it on: OK, I just realized that my card doesn't meet the requirements for this challenge, but I've already linked up to all the other sites with this title on my post. So I guess it's not a fiver, but still, the effort was there.

So, I hope Jill's not reading this blog, otherwise the surprise will be ruined. And I hope her husband's not too jealous of the handsome cowboy I'm sending her!

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, Splendour level 2 patterned paper

Other: Cosmo Cricket rub-on, unknown ribbon, postcard

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Threefer!

Is that even a word, "threefer"? What I meant was three challenges in one, like two-for-one, only with three, get it? OK, I should probably be going to bed, 'cause I'm gettin' a little goofy! I was away on a little holiday last week, so when I came home yesterday with some new goodies, I was just rarin' to go. I love this stamp set from Tim Holtz with the bird, swirl and handwriting (which you can just barely see in the background there), don't you? I think I'll be using it a lot. Anyhoo, my 3 three challenges are these:

CPS 179 Part 1: a sketch, never tried one of their sketches before, but I love it. Of course, I had to flip it around a little and change it up some, but the idea is still there.

Design Dollies: colours this week are yellow, white, and kraft. LOVE it, may use it again for a layout, stay tuned!

Stampin' Royalty: make your own background paper. I used two different background stamps to make two different backgrounds. Must get more background stamps, very versatile things, they are!

And there you have it, a nice little birthday card for my Auntie Judy, whose birthday I missed by about 3 weeks, more like 4 by the time it gets to her. Oops!

Supplies (all Close to My Heart): card base, White Daisy cardstock, ribbon slide, and flower brads, Intrinsic Backgrounds My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Creme Brulee, Desert Sand, and Cocoa

Other: Tim Holtz Urban Grunge stamp set and Tea Dye Distress Ink, unknown ribbon and paper flowers, staples

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Design Dollies Elements Challenge

The Elements Challenge over at Design Dollies is a recipe this week: baby blue, ink, masking, word print paper, and stripes. Whoah, talk about a challenge! I started with the mask, which you can just see on the blue paper. It's a fleur de lis, and I couldn't get it all in, but it's really pretty. Then I got out the word print paper. I wanted a vintagey feel, so I searched high and low until I found this old postcard with the mannequin on it and cut that out. Then stripes...Would you believe that anything with stripes that I had on hand did not go with this doll or this mask or this paper? Then I looked through the whole stash of stuff I got for my Design Dollies prize pack, and saw this yellow and white striped paper clip. Isn't it awesome? That's when the yellow was introduced, so then I needed more yellow, hence the flowers. The bee and the dollar store slide frame thingey? They were totally random, and the bee rub-on was so frustrating. I went through a ladybug and another bee until I got it on there, and I still messed it up, so that's why it's half covered, shhhhhh! The word bubble sticker is actually from a package intended for baby pages. I didn't think I'd ever use 'em, so I gave 'em to my daughter, but now I think I'll steal them back! I don't know who's going to get this card, but I hope they damn well appreciate all the trouble and time I went to!

Supplies: CTMH card base, blue cardstock, and pink patterned paper, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Screen, K&Co black patterned paper, 7 Gypsies brads, Uniek sticker, Tulip rub-on, unknown flowers and paper clip, doll cut from postcard

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My First Tri-Fold Card!

I watched a YouTube video by Splitcoast Stampers on how to make this cool card for my friend's birthday. The one in the video had more embellishments, but I think this one turned out pretty good for my first try. The hardest part was getting the papers the right size. Don't you just love the Twitterpated papers and the chipboard buttons?

Supplies (all CTMH): paper from Twitterpated Level 2 paper pack, Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Chocolate, A Little Bit of Everything My Acrylix stamp set, Natural Hemp, and Organic Dimensional Elements

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Card for SPCC #49

I went to Smithers last weekend, and they actually have a scrapbooking store, so I bought some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. It was funny, we were just coming to the end of our trip, everyone else had bought themselves a treat except for poor li'l Mama, and so I dragged the whole troop into this store so I could "browse". Well, let me tell ya, it was the quickest browse ever, because I had the husband harping on me ("Here's some hockey paper, buy this so we can get outta here!") and my daughter making all sorts of suggestions ("Mommy, they have some pretty paper here!") and the baby wanted to be fed and my son wanted ice cream at DQ. I grabbed the Glimmer Mist and the ladies at the store actually complimented my husband ("Usually the men don't come in here!") and got the heck out before the you-know-what hit the fan! This is the first project I made with the Glimmer Mist, and it was a lot of fun! The colours for the SPCC colour challenge this week are: Green Galore, Only Orange, and Bermuda Bay, so I used as close as I had for this card. To make the flowers, I just misted some cardstock with water, crumpled 'em up and stuck 'em on there, and I had a leftover scrap of glitter paper that I thought would make some great grass. Ta dah, there you have it, a happy little card!

Supplies: Close to My Heart White Daisy card base, For Every Occasion My Acrylix stamp set, and Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Crystal Blue, Creative Memories orange cardstock, Versamark Ink, unknown clear embossing powder and twine, Doodlebug Designs lime green sugar coated cardstock, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Blue

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Shhhh, this card's a secret!

It's my 11th anniversary on Saturday, and so I decided to try a different style of card. I saw this type on Vicki Wizniuk's blog, and decided to give it a try, and I love it! First, I random stamped some White Daisy cardstock, and it looks really cool, so I'll have to think of a way to use up the remnants. I used Black textured cardstock from Close to My Heart, which is a lighter colour on the other side, which is why it is greyish on the inside. I cut the card base first, before I realized it would be grey on the inside, but I like that too. So now I just have to write something on the inside to my hubby. That will actually be the hard part!

I used turquoise, yellow and black as my colours to go with the Design Dollies colour challenge for this week. Thanks for the inspiration, Dollies!

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy and Black Textured cardstock, Hearthrob My Acrylix stamp set, Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Twilight, Creme Brulee, and Black

Other: trim by Bazzill

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First Ever Stitching on a Project!

I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my parents, and I've hardly had time to even look at it, but after I started making this card, I decided it needed some stitching on it. I started playing around with scraps, and then I went for it. Can you see it around the edge? The ribbon was a bit tricky, and it ended up a bit crooked, but still, I'm pretty stoked! Can't wait to stitch on more projects! I wonder if I'll ever use the machine to sew fabric? The cool jeweled flower is a bit that broke off of one of Ailis's hair doo-dads, and it's been floating around my house forever. It fit perfectly inside the rhinestone circle frame, which fit perfectly on a round chipboard piece I've had and forgotten about for at least 3 years! Don't you just love using up scraps?

As on the last post, I was playing with using bright colours with Kraft cardstock for a Design Dollies challenge. I also used a card pattern from the Card Patterns Sketch blog (#61), but I think I missed the deadline for that one. It was a nice simple sketch, just what I like.

Supplies (CTMH): Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Smokey Plum, Say It In Style My Acrylix stamp set, rhinestone circle frame

Other: unknown card base, pink and Kraft cardstock, orange paper, ribbon and chipboard piece, jeweled flower from hair thingey

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JUGS and Sweet Stop Card

Finally I get to take part in a challenge! Feels like it's been forever! The challenge at Just Us Girls this week was to use pink, green, and lavender to make a birthday card. I also used the sketch from Sweet Stop, and a button and bow to complete the challenge. What do you think? I love the rhinestone square, and the butterfly inside is actually cut from a girl's clothing tag. The button and bow combo are inspired by Deanne at Three Trees (paper) Creations. If you haven't seen her cards, they are awesome, and nobody does the bow/button thing like her! It took me forever to do it, so hopefully it stays together!

Supplies (all CTMH): White Daisy cardstock, patterned paper from Life's Delights Level 2 paper pack, White Daisy embossing powder, Say it in Style and For Every Occasion My Acrylix stamp sets, White Daisy organdy ribbon

Other: unknown button, Basic Grey fibre, butterfly cut from clothing tag

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