A Birthday Card for My Mom

 Raise your hand if you think this is the funniest image ever!  There's something about a bunch of more mature, curvaceous ladies dancing around in tutus that makes me laugh!!!  I've had this stamp set from Artistic Impressions for a bit, but I had to be in the mood to colour, and finally I just went for it.  I used this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday:

(flipped around to fit my image) and Copic markers for colouring.  I used the Fabulous line from Simple Stories (have I mentioned how much I love these papers?  Only about a billion times!) as my colour palette, added some embossed cardstock (new Sizzix folder that came in our goodie bags from Fiesta!) a paper strip punched with my new Fiskar's border punch (yay, finally bought a new border punch!) and some flowers and buttons from my stash.  All that work and I still didn't post it in time for the challenge, boohoo!  But on the up side, my mom loved it!

This is going to be a short post because I have to take advantage of Brenna's nap time to make Jason an anniversary card.  It was our 13th yesterday, and I think with all the hubub around mom's birthday and mother's day, I just didn't get time to make him anything!  Here's what he sent me yesterday:

Pretty cute, huh?  Kind of wish I thought of it first!

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Card #20 - Sweet Sketch Wednesday and Kraftin' Kimmie

My last post showed my fastest card, this post shows my slowest, but you know what? I think this might be my best card EVER!!! Hopefully I don't jinx myself by saying that! It took me about a week to make, so it should be good! I started off by colouring my Kraftin' Kimmie fairy Isabelle with my new Copics (a blog hop prize from Scrap-tures!), then printing out the funny sentiment (from Graphicat Designs) and working with this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday:

I also had the Kraftin' Kimmie challenge in mind, which was monochromatic, but alas, crafty time was at a minimum and I missed the deadline. Anyway, I continued on, using this week's Kraftin' Kimmie challenge: use a pin on your project. I incorporated a Maya Road pin into my design for the inside of the card, see?

This is the first time I've really decorated the inside of a card - this elaborately, anyway. I was inspired to try this by a blog I discovered in the World Card Making Day blog hop: Tara's blog called Inking on the Edge. She has great cards, and always decorated on the inside, check it out! I had a hard time finding patterned papers to match my Copic colours (BG49 and BG53) so I made my own with white cardstock and Broken China Distress Ink, just sponged it on over some background stamping and another Isabelle image. This is going to my friend Jill, whose birthday is on the 9th. Now I just have to remember to get it in the mail on Monday! And good thing I put that pin on the inside, wouldn't want any postal workers to get stabbed, heehee!

Supplies: Bazzill, Creative Memories, Copic X-press and Close to My Heart cardstock, Kraftin' Kimmie, Tim Holtz, and Close to My Heart stamps, Memento and Tim Holtz ink, Spellbinders dies, Prima flowers, My Mind's Eye brad, Maya Road pin, Twinery twine, Graphicat Designs sentiment, Ranger Glossy Accents, unknown button and trim

Copics: Skin - E00, E11 and R20, Hair - Y23, E33, and E35, Clothing & Wings - BG49 & BG53

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Card #16 and Blog Candy Winner!

I promised to draw for the $25 Graphicat gift certificate on Saturday, but I kind of forgot it was Thanksgiving, so alas, I am late, but here it is: Winner, winner, chicken (or turkey) dinner!

My lovely assistant Ailis picked BARBARA out of the hat. Congratulations, Barbara, I will contact you soon with details on how to claim your prize!

So this past week has been full of ups and downs. On the upside, this card was chosen for a top 3 award at Sweet Sketch Wednesdays! Then I found out I won not once, but twice in Graphicat Designs grand opening blog hop!! Then yesterday I found out I won over at Scrapbooker's Anonymous for this layout!!! YAY!

On the downside, Jason had to write a professional forestry exam on Friday, and he was stressing out over it all week (well, for months, really). Once it was done, I thought there would be a big sigh of relief, but no. Now he's stressed out about the results! Guys, eh? He is NOT fun to live with when he's stressed! Then midweek, Brenna got sick, puked all over her crib, then all over me. I think it's some sort of flu bug, and she's still not quite over it. Also not fun! But the worst was when my mom called on Thursday to tell me my dad was in the hospital!!! She took him in because his leg was swollen to twice its normal size, and after running some tests, the doctors found he had blood clots all through his body, most disturbingly in the lungs. So of course we were all very worried, many tears were shed, but he's been in the hospital all weekend and it seems like the blood thinners are doing their job - hopefully he'll be out soon.

Needless to say, it was pretty chaotic around here, but I did manage to make this card for my Mother-in-law's birthday yesterday:

Isn't it hilarious?! Cheered me up a bit! I had to make it very quickly, so although I coloured this Bugaboo image with my Copics, I didn't worry about shading or highlights or anything. I was able to use up some scraps, and I even recycled some Prima packaging for that scalloped printed bit, a tip I saw in a Canadian Scrapbooker magazine! I loved playing along with the Sweet Sketch Wednesday crew so much, that I used this week's sketch so I could play again:

I hope all my Canadian friends had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend! A few years ago, I vowed to my husband that I would never make a turkey - sorry, just not my thing! Somehow, due to circumstances, I ended up in charge of the turkey and stuffing!!! My mom and I teamed up and exceeded everyone's expectations (it was like the blind leading the blind, she doesn't do turkey either!) with only one war wound to speak of (my poor mom dropped the turkey and the drippings splashed all over her bare foot! Burnt her pretty good!) Now onto turkey pot pie!

Supplies: Close to My Heart and Bazzill cardstock, Bugaboo image and sentiment, Prima flowers and packaging, Three Bugs in a Rug patterned paper, Close to My Heart ink and pearls, Copic markers

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Card #15 - Kraftin' Kimmie and Sweet Sketch Wednesday

So while I had all my orange scraps out for this challenge:

and all my card making stuff out for World Card Making Day, I decided to make another card. This one features Andrea Acorn from Kraftin' Kimmie, and I paper pieced her skirt for this week's Kraftin' Kimmie challenge. I also used this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday:

I love the mix of My Mind's Eye papers and stamps on this card, but I had a really hard time with the Copics on her hair and cape. I'm thinking I need to get some more instruction in those areas, but all in all I'm pleased with how this one turned out.

Hopefully this will serve as a reminder to get your orange projects in this month at Creative Accents Challenges! And if you missed our all-Canadian blog hop for World Card Making Day, then here's a reminder to make a comment on this post (and become a follower) so you can have a chance for my BLOG CANDY!!! 25 smackeroos to spend as you please at this store:

It's a brand new online store created by a local gal (well, local to me, anyway) and she's got great stuff you can't get anywhere else. You've got until Saturday, so get on it!

Supplies: My Mind's Eye patterned paper, stamps, and brad, Close to My Heart cardstock, inks, gems, and watercolor pencil, Kraftin' Kimmie stamp, Memento ink, Copic markers, Bazzill cardstock, Ranger Glossy Accents

P.S. - Holy cow, this is my 300th post, I can't even believe it!!!

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Card #12 - Pile It On!

Here's a simple card I made for my brother-in-law Mike's 41st birthday. I realize it looks more like a St. Patrick's Day card, but if you knew Mike, you'd understand. Mike is a self-proclaimed Irishman. This is something I don't really understand. Yes, we have an Irish last name, but I think this branch of the McCleary clan has been in North America for something like 200 years. And yet Mike embraces everything Irish from the history to the literature to the sports, and of course, the beer. (And he's single, so if you're in the lower mainland and know a single Irish girl who likes cops and rugby, let me know, please! Our kids need cousins!) I just printed out this clip art image of a beer mug and a totally appropriate sentiment from Graphicat Designs, then layered them both up on a 5x5 base. What do you think of the bottom layer? It's a mesh bag from avocados! (Thanks to Karen B for that idea!) I sprayed the whole thing with some Perfect Pearls Mist, but you can't see it in the photo, unfortunately.

Anyway, Jason found this T-shirt for Mike in Kamloops:

Dropkick Murphys, apparently a real band that Mike actually listens to! Hopefully he likes his present and card!

Challenges I'm entering this card in:

Pile It On: use lots of layers (that background layer is mesh from an avocado bag!)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: use this sketch:

Graphicat Challenges: Use a sketch, any sketch (the sentiment is also from Graphicat)

Creative Stamp Friends: Card for a man

Supplies: CTMH cardstock and brads, Kaiser, K&Co, and American Crafts patterned paper, Graphicat Designs sentiment, Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist, avocado bag

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