Happy Fathers' Day

I cannot believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Life has been gearing up for summer, and now with two little people in our house, we've been busier than ever.

This first card has been made for months. I had it ready to go, and decided that it would be perfect for my dad for Fathers' Day.

I had to scan this card in, as the battery on my camera was dead, and I wanted to get a record of it before I pass it off to dad tomorrow.

The image is from SU's Lovely as a Tree. It is probably one of my favourite sets. I stamped it twice to have it go across the card stock. Then, I used (I think) Scattered Straw, Marigold and Mustard distress inks for the sky and Moss for the grass. It's been so long, I have forgotten the colours I used. Then, I gave it a spray of copper Perfect Pearls.  I wasn't crazy about the blob on the right, but it is much less noticable in person, and it's grown on me.

The sentiment is computer generated and traced with a Versamark pen then embossed with copper.

The mats are pieces of copper as well.

This next card I whipped up today for my husband's first Fathers' Day. It's relatively simple, and I love the way it turned out.

The card is a 6 inch square with sticky backed cork as the second layer and denim print paper as the top. The sentiment layer was done the same way and then four brass brads were added to finish it off. Inside is a poem that I wrote for my husband.

I am putting both of these cards as my submission for the SCS Ways to use it challenge- WT379- MAN UP. 

Thanks for stopping by. I've been working on a few things, and hope to have them posted soon.

Green...

The theme for the Ways to Use it challenge today is green. I really like green, but for whatever reason, it's not typically a colour I go to when I make cards (other than Christmas).

But, my New Year's resolution to myself was two-fold. 1) Ink every single stamp I have and 2) Organize my stamps and purge the ones I don't use, bought on impulse or don't like any more. Of course, this resolution was made in January, before we had two kids. I have been able to sneak to my crafting space once in a while and create. Usually, I grab a box and stamp the images then colour and assemble later.

This card was made a couple of weeks ago- I've had the stamp for a couple of years, and haven't used it. My niece's birthday is coming up in June, and she LOVES green.

It was a pretty easy card to pull together. The image was stamped with Momento black and coloured with Copics. The five was cut out with my Cricut and embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. It was layered on green papers that I had in my stash.

Yellow butterflies

I had a little time for crafting during quiet time this morning- a quick check of the SCS Free For All challenge netted a new card dimension I'd never tried (the finished size is 3.5 inches wide by 6 inches tall). I think my Christmas cards this year will be that size- it's perfect!
Last weekend, I also checked on the Less is More challenge- which was to use yellow. I had an idea perking in my brain all week, and finally had a chance to execute it.
The card stock was cut at 6 inches by 7 inches, and folded to create a final size of 3.5 inches by 6 inches.
I punched a three inch circle out of the middle of the yellow, put an embossed piece of white stock behind it and added the punched butterflies (EK Success three step punch) onto the card with foam tape. The ribbon was knotted and adhered to the card. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday.
It was really a fast card to make- probably less than 10 minutes once all was said and done.

Thanks for looking.

Distressed sketch

Yesterday, I had a bit of play time and used up some papers that came in a magazine. I have also decided to try to ink up all the stamps I own and create something with each and every one. Then, I will decide if they are destined for the keep pile, or if I will be getting rid of them. I stamped a stack of images on Monday while the kids were having quiet time and have been using them through the week.

I stamped the Young Vermillion in Momento Black on bristol cardstock and coloured it with Copics. The branch wasn't quiet long enough, so I extended it a bit. I sponged on the background with distress inks (Stormy Sky) and did the same thing with the sentiment.

I am finding stamping a bunch of images when the kids are down then dealing with them (the images) later is a much better process right now.

On to the card!

I am entering this card in the SCS Wednesday Sketch challenge (SC383) and the Thursday Ways to Use It challenge (WT373).

Thanks for looking.

Less is more...

I haven't had the time to play with the Less is More challenge for a couple of weeks, but check it every week- this Saturday's offering sparked my creativity and I knocked several cards out in less than an hour. This week's challenge is a sketch- So simple and the possibilities are endless.

This first card is done with a stamp I got in the dollar bin at Joann during a recent trip south of the border. I coloured it with silver and pink JellyRoll pens, layered it on some black cardstock and added a rhinestone to the centre.

This card will be used for my brother's birthday at the end of the month. I have very few masculine cards in my stash and it's not something I am really comfortable with, but I need to get working on some guy cards. The inspiration for this card came from the ART- just do it! blog. I stamped the image in black and sponged some green distress inks (Iced Spruce, Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles) on the leaves. I coloured the trunk of the SU Lovely as a Tree stamp with the Tea Dye distress ink marker. I haven't added any sentiments on the cards, because I prefer to do it when I have a recipient in mind. I'll be back with a couple more cards later in the week. Thanks for looking!

... And then she was three

Our daughter has been with us for three weeks, as of tomorrow. On Wednesday, she turns three. It's been an amazing adventure getting to know her and watching her blossom and grow in the short time she's been with us. I can't wait to see what the future brings. It's hard to believe that we have fallen in love with her so fast and so totally. She's filled our lives with laughter, love, hugs and joy. We are so lucky to be able to parent her and her brother.

This is the card I've created for our little miss. I stamped the House Mouse image on bristol cardstock and coloured it with Copics. I layered it with the circles I cut out with punches and used an extra number three from her party invitations, coloured it with Concord Grape distress inks and embossed it with UTEE to make it more dimensional and to add a little sparkle. This card is being used for the House Mouse Challenge HMFMC118House Mouse and Friends challenge Anything Goes and also the Splitcoast Stampers' Sketch Challenge # 380Splitcoast Stampers' Sketch Challenge # 380 Thanks for looking!

Party time!

This month is party month at our house- Mr. Munch will be turning one this week, and Angel Girl will be turning three next week. Before our girlie was placed with us, I made both of their birthday party invitations- I am so glad I am a planner and (somewhat) organized. There's no way I would have been able to make these in the last two weeks- it's been super busy with two little ones in the house.

This is the card for M- It was really simple to make. The train paper came from a paper stack I picked up in the US, and layered on the blue card. The one was cut out on my Cricut and the sentiment is from SU and stamped in black. The party details were printed on regular paper and glued to the back, postcard style.

L's card was also made with the cricut, from the wild card cartridge. The paper is recollections from Michaels. The three was also cut out on the cricut. I cut off the candle that was on top of the cupcake and replaced it with the three. The party info is inside the card. We're having a decorate your own cupcake party for her. I can't wait. I think she'll have fun.

Can't wait for the parties!

Mousey birthday

Recently, I was looking for a stamp that I swore I had. Going through all of my stamps resulted in finding out that I actually thought I bought the stamp, but didn't. Darn it. Thankfully, when husband, son and I went to the US for a weekend away, I was in Hobby Lobby and found it in the clearance bin. SCORE! I snapped it up without a second thought.

Our son is turning one this week. I thought this stamp would be the perfect one to mark his first birthday.

I am entering this card in the House Mouse & Friends challenge HMFMC117, Something Sweet.

 The image was stamped in momento black on bristol paper and coloured with copics. I added a little distress stickles on the top of the cupcake to make it sparkle a little. The image and mat were cut out with a nestabilities die and layered on a piece of patterned paper and placed on top of a blue card.

Happy first birthday, Mr. Munch. Mommy and Daddy love you!

One Mothers' Day card down...

Thanks to the Less is More challenge this week for helping me get the card done for my Mother in Law for Mothers' Day. This week, we were challenged to incorporate a hand-drawn component to the card.

It's been a while since I've been able to play- we're in the process of learning to parent a toddler (and her infant brother)- it's been a little busy around here, not much time for creating, but it's been lots of fun.
When I saw the challenge this weekend, I had an idea pop immediately to mind.

I must admit- I nearly didn't enter the challenge because I am not able to draw more than a straight line (and even then, I need a ruler, as demonstrated by the drawn frame around the text.

For this card, I stamped the La Blanche rose in the corner with Momento black ink and stamped another to create a mask. Then I cut out a frame with a Nestabilities die and laid it over the 4.25 by 5.5 inch card stock and stamped En Francais from SU in the frame using Momento's London Fog ink.
Keeping the frame in place, I sponged on Scattered Straw Distress ink, hated it, and added Weathered wood on top. I drew the frame with a spica pen. The rose was coloured with Copics.

I always find so much inspiration from the Less is More blog and love to follow it each week, even if I don't have time to play. I hope my feeble attempt meet the challenge guidelines. 

Happy birthday!

This past weekend, one of my friends celebrated a milestone birthday. We've been friends since Grade 7, and have seen each other through many ups and downs. I wanted to make her a card for her birthday, and went to one of my fallback stamps- one that I seem to reach for on a regular basis.

It's just such a happy image, and one that has special sentiment for us, as we've shared more than our fair share of chocolate cake over the years. This housemouse stamp was coloured with copics and then layered on a piece of chocolate brown card stock. It needed a little lift, so I added some patterned card stock behind the image and punched a flower from the same papers. The yellow behind the stamped image is slightly metallic and adds a little bling to the card.

One card, two challenges

I had a few minutes to create a quick card- this one took less than five minutes (including having to restamp three times because I didn't like the way it looked). This is my entry into the Less is More weekly challenge, neutral colours, and the Splitcoast Stampers Saturday inspiration challenge, which is Superfine Bakery.
For this card, I used cream card stock and layered it onto a dark brown base. Not sure why the card looks pink in the photo. The image and sentiment are stamped in Momento ink rich cocoa. I distressed the edges of the cream card with some of the same ink and added three brown brads to the corner to finish it off.

I am pleased with how this one turned out, given that I had the idea pop into my head and it turned out exactly the way I wanted, in the amount of time I had to play!

Thank you

This has been a crazy month- my husband and I got a call on Jan 16 saying we had been matched to adopt a brother and sister- he is 10 months old, and she is nearly three. Our son was placed with us on February 3, and it's been a crazy ride ever since- going from no children to having an infant in the house has turned our world upside down- in the best possible way imaginable. It's incredible to watch him grow and develop each day, and the changes are amazing. He's moving along the furniture, crawling all over the house and is eager to start walking.
We met our daughter for the first time on Friday, and will be doing weekly visits with her to get her used to us and her brother before we start daily visits in April. We are hoping she's going to be home for her birthday close to the end of April.

I was thrilled to see the theme of Don't Scrap It. I'd had an idea for some thank you cards for a while, and this challenge fit it to a tee.

The card is 4.25x5.5 inches- with a piece of white cut 1/4 inch smaller and layered on top. The monkey was stamped on a scrap piece of bristol paper and coloured with copics. The blue is the same shade as the base layer and cut with a spellbinders die. It was adhered to the card with foam tape.

The thank you sentiment is stamped on the inside of the card.

I am hoping to have more time to stamp in the coming weeks, but with the addition of a toddler to our family, I think my fun stamping time will be reserved for after bed... or I could teach her early!

Quickie card

I've had this card made for a while, but haven't had time to post it.

Quite a while ago, my husband and I started the process to adopt. Our homestudy was approved in August 2011, and we were officially waiting.

On January 16, our worker called me at work to tell me that we had been matched with two little people- a boy, 9 months, and a girl, just under three.

On January 17, she came to our house for a disclosure meeting- which is intended to give us more information about the children and their histories. There was no doubt in our minds that these kids were meant to be part of our family.

January 17 is also my dad's birthday. My last post was the card that I made for his birthday. My parents came to our house on the 17th for dad's birthday dinner, and we told them what was going on.

My intention was to come home from work early and make a card. Fortunately, I already had an idea bouncing around in my head. Unfortunately, they were here when I got home, so I had to make the card in record time. I think I banged it out in about five or 10 minutes.

I put it in a pile of cards I made, and told my parents they could go through them. When they got to this one, I got them to open it. Inside, I had written "Hopefully soon, two little monkeys will be joining the zoo."

It took my mom a few minutes, she was looking at me saying "Monkeys? Why on earth do you want monkeys?" (I am a huge animal lover, and we have two dogs and four cats, so apparently it wouldn't be much of a stretch for me to want monkeys, I guess). The icing on the cake was when she commented that monkeys throw poo at each other.

While she was processing the message in the card, my husband was pulling up the photos of the kids that our social worker sent us. My parents were immediately in love, and were over the moon excited.

I am entering this card into the Ways to Use it challenge on Splitcoast Stampers (groundhog day)

The die cuts were cut out using a sizzix die, and the flower is (I think) Penny Black.

I'll have a couple of more cards to post in the coming days, but for now, I need to go spend some time with our little man- today is his first day in our home! 

Try it Tuesday

I have decided that I am going to try a new technique each Tuesday. There is a wealth of information and resources on Splitcoast Stampers, and it's about time I checked it out. So, each week, I am going to pick a technique to try out. It'll either be from SCC, a stamping magazine, or inspiration from a stamping friend. This technique came to me via my friend M.

This week, it's a quarter fold card. It's unique, and could be used to hold a simple wish for someone, a small gift or gift card.

 The finished size for this card is 4x4. To make it, I took two pieces of paper 8 inches by 4 inches each and scored them at 2 and 6 inches. I taped the back of one to the centre of the other to make a plus sign (see image below). The four flaps are closed like a box. Decorate the fronts of each piece. For this card, I wanted to decorate the front of it as well. To decorate, I cut the green pieces at 1.5 inches and the brown pieces were embossed in a Tim Holtz folder and highlighted it with vintage photo distress inks. The bird (Nature Walk, SU) was attached with foam tape.

The centre was decorated with Bo Bunny paper (top and bottom flaps) and cream cardstock. The flap pieces were cut at 1.5 inches by 3.75 inches. The trees are from the SU set Lovely as a Tree.

It would be easy to increase the size of this card, as long as the card is increased equally. A 5x5 card would need a 10x5 strip of paper -scoring would be at 2.5 inches from both ends. A 6x6 would have to be 6x12 - scoring would be at 3 inches from both ends of the paper.

Reflection...

Over the Christmas holiday, my friend M sent me a picture of a card she did, with the word puzzle in the subject line and the instructions not to google it to see how she did it. She sent me a card with the reflection of the Lovely Trees set from Stampin' Up. When we got back to work, she told me how she did it, and I had to try it myself.

This is my second entry for the Less is More one layer bird card challenge.

For this card, I used the bird stamp from the SU Nature Walk set. I stamped the bird on the cardstock, then stamped it again on a sheet of acetate. Then, I lined up the acetate image with the cardstock image and rubbed the acetate to transfer the bird onto the card stock.

I coloured the grass with shabby shutters and crushed olive distress ink. The water is broken china distress ink and the sky is stormy sky distress ink.

The birds were coloured with copics- E31 and E33 for the reflection and Y21 for the legs and beak. The top bird was coloured with E33 and E35 and Y26 for the legs and beak.

A tutorial for the reflection technique can be found here. 

I am really pleased with how this card turned out. I have to say, it's one of my favourites so far this year.

Bird is the word

This week's challenge at the Less is  More blog is a one layer card using birds.

Some days, CAS cards are no problem for me- others, it seems next to impossible. I checked out the LIM blog yesterday morning while I was waiting for the dogs to come in from their morning constitutional, and immediately had a couple of ideas, but I needed to get chores done first. I also wanted to go to Michaels yesterday to see if they had any new spring stamps out. I hit it lucky in the $1.50 bins. I picked up a new bird stamp, along with a couple of others that I can't wait to use.

I really like the look of a coloured focal point on cards, and I took a little inspiration from Chrissie's so happy for you card. For the coloured oval, I used Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Scattered Straw distress ink. The bird and sentiment were stamped in Archival black ink. To give the image a little dimension, I outlined the oval with N0 copic marker.

I have another card to fit this theme, but I'll have to post it later.

More new toys...

Yet another post-Christmas treat to myself- I have had my eye on this set from Flourishes for several months, and now, it's mine! I whipped up two different cards with it

 This first one was stamped on bristol card stock with black Momento ink and I lightly coloured it with Copics and placed the image behind the cardstock cutout with a Nestabilities die.

I much prefer this one. I love the vintage look of it. Again, it was stamped on bristol card and the outline was coloured with copics. The sentiment in both the pictures is a sticker, coloured with dark brown copics.

Shades of purple

When I got up this morning, I checked the Less is More challenge blog, as I usually do on Saturday mornings. I was surprised to see that the challenge for today is Predominantly Purple.

 It was particularly fitting, as I had planned to post this card later in the week, once I'd done the LIM challenge. I made this card for my dear friend Gail for her birthday.

I don't usually use purple, but my nieces were visiting over Christmas and they LOVE purple and pink. I have very little of those colours in my stash, so I hauled out what I had, and we played.

I taught my older niece how to use alcohol inks while she was here- she had a blast mashing the colours together to see what she could come up with. While she was playing, I made the card.

I used shades of purple alcohol ink for the background and stamped the image with staz-on. It was then layered on a light purple background that I ran through the herringbone embossing folder and placed it on a darker purple. The envelope was stamped with dusty concord distress ink.

Now that the snow is starting to fall here, I think I need to make some spring cards. My parents will be opening the greenhouse in a few months, and I need to get my stock built up for their clients.

The beauty of bling

I have an appreciation for beautiful stamps- stamps that can either be left as is, or coloured. I have had my eye on a Flourishes stamp set for quite some time, and with the after Christmas sale at my favourite store, it is mine!

I also like checking out the Flourishes blog for ideas, and this week, a new challenge was posted. I've never played along with the Bring Back Beautiful challenge, but it inspired me to create a card for my stash. The challenge... the beauty of bling.

The image was stamped with Momento black ink and coloured with copics.

The background paper was created with spray webbing sprayed onto white cardstock. I am pretty sure there's a lifetime supply of background paper there for me... one can will make a lot. I layered the snowman print onto silver mirror card and added two rhinestones for his buttons. The sentiment is a sticker, placed on black card and adhered to the card with foam tape.

We have very little snow, and warm temps this winter- very strange for this part of the world... this card makes me feel like it's actually winter!

Branching out

This Christmas, I branched out making different boxes to hold presents. My husband recently started to make turned pens, and we gave a few to friends and family, so they needed boxes (lots of tutorials here), I made pizza boxes to hold gift cards (tutorial here) and finally, I made this box for a good friend. 

I came across a really cute card at Curt's World, and remembered that I had the same stamp, so I decided to play. The inspiration was the first card on Curt's blog. 

Here's the details:

I made the box. Then, I cut a piece of white cardstock the same size as the top. I stamped the trees (Lovely as a Tree, SU) and sponged on some blue distress ink (I think Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans (I really need to start writing this down). Then, I tore a piece of white cardstock to make the snowbank and sprayed it with glimmer mist. I layered a sheet of acetate on top to create the window and added the cross bars to make it look more window-like. The curtains are made with a 3 inch circle cut in half and adhered together and then the valance is a piece that was punched with a MS punch. The elf was stamped, cut out and coloured with copics then adhered behind the window to make it look like he was checking up on everyone. I have a santa stamp, too, that I may use next year. 

Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

December was a busy month, with preparations for Christmas, work parties and events for our clients, and just general busy-ness.

Now, it's the new year, and time for a fresh start. I love the possibilities of the new  year- so much potential, and who knows where the year will take us?

I have a few crafty resolutions, including:

Try to update my blog at least once per week.

Get crafty at least once or twice a week- one of my non-crafty resolutions is to try to avoid snacking at night, and this might help with that, too!

Use what I have, including designer paper, stamps that haven't made it out of their packaging and other misc items. 

I also want to stamp each image I have to create an index of sorts.

Now, onto crafty goodness! 

The House Mouse and Friends blog had a new challenge posted this week, and I've really enjoyed playing along the last couple of months- the challenge this time around is to celebrate anything new... and I am celebrating a NEW STAMP!

My friend M and I headed to our fave store for some post-Christmas bargains, and I came home with not one, but two HM stamps... This little guy got inked about 10 minutes after I got home. 

The image was stamped with Momento black ink and coloured with Copics. I love the background paper- it's La banquise paper, called Vent Polaire. I cut the card blank at 5 inches square, and cut the silver mirror stock at the same. the Vent Polaire paper was cut at 4.75 and the House Mouse image was cut at approx 3 inches, with the silver backing 1/4 of an inch bigger. The sentiment is a sticker. 

My mother in law is here for a visit, and this little guy will make his way home with her next week. 

I've been busy in the craft area this week- there will be more coming shortly!