Oh Canada!

Happy Canada Day everyone!  We will be joining in with our city's Canada Day celebrations a little later but in the meantime I came up with this card:

I obviously got some inspiration from the Canadian flag, but I started with the maple leaves.  You'll never believe where they came from! One of the teams at work was having a bake sale for charity and where selling these cute little Canada Day cupcakes and they were decorated with these felt maple leaves.  As I was admiring how cute it was I realized that it was a felt sticker.  Only a small bit of the stem had touched the icing, so I wiped it off and it was good as new!

When I peeled the felt off of the backing I realized it was just clear acetate, and since it was already in the shape if a maple leaf I decided to use it too and coloured it with a red alcohol marker.  Perfect Canada Day embellishments!

Once I had my embellishments I chose cardstock (went with the easy choice of red and white)  and pulled out my Cuttlebug.  I used some new embossing folders I got from Scrapbook Steals, roughed the edges of both panels with a distressing tool.  I added ribbon to the red panel, and added the maple leaves to the white panel.  As a last minute thought I decided to add the heart button with some more white ribbon.  The button came from a pound bag of buttons I bought years and years ago that I never think to use but since I thought the card needed something I thought a button might work.  Once the white panel was assembled I foam taped it over the ribbon.

I didn't want this card to be completely without sentiment, so I added a simple white panel with distressed edges to the middle of the card and added a simple 'thanks sentiment'.

Making this card was fun to make - patriotic with just a touch of fun.  :).   And now I better go get ready to join in the celebrations.  I can't wait to see my son's reactions to the fireworks this year!

Happy Canada Day everyone!!


I used the following products:

Cardstock::  Stampin' Up! Real Red, Whisper White.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  Kindess Matters

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black.

Marker:  Bic Mark Its Rambunctious Red.

Embellishments: Button from stash, white satin ribbon from stash, maple leaf decoration  from a cupcake.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, foam tape.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Lifestyle Crafts Embossing folders Bloom set, Tim Holtz distressing tool.


I am entering into the following challenges:

1. Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes 
2. Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes
3. Simon Says Stamp - Sporty and/or Patriotic
4. Use it Tuesday - Be a Patriot  (button from stash, ribbon from stash, maple leaf cupcake decoration)
5. Hiding in My Craftroom - Freestyle

Woven Ribbon Cardfront - I love ribbon!

As you may have gathered from the name of this blog, I really love ribbon.  If you read my last post (or click here) you know I was lucky enough to be asked to write a tutorial based on this original card.  Of course, to do a tutorial I had to make a new card and this is what I came up with:

I started with the stamp set  "Relax a Bit" from Marks Finest Papers that I won from a Speedy Fox challenge a few weeks back.  I love this stamp set!  I collect teapots so it was the perfect addition to my stamp collection.  I thought that the Authentique 6x6 Gathering collection would go well with this set.  Once I decided on patterns I chose ribbons and card stock to coordinate. 

I cut, scored, and die cut all of the basic pieces, then heat embossed the images I wanted to use on the patterned paper in black.  This is the first time I paper pieced with embossing and I found it really easy to cut everything out as I could almost let the raised image guide my scissors. It also helped me stay in the lines when colouring.  I used my craft knife to cut out the handle of the teapot and the inside of the teabag string.

Once I had all of my elements ready I completed the woven ribbon panel.  I adhered the panel to the card front with Scotch ATG adhesive and glue dots.  Because the ribbon panel is quite heavy it is important to use a strong adhesive.  The die cut piece was foam taped over the top.

I added some faux stitching, adhered the teapot, added some twine, and Prima flowers.  I glued the teabag to the Prima flowers, and foam taped the sentiment at the bottom.  This card took some time to make, but I think it was worth it!

 Since the front had so much going on I kept the inside simple with just a stamped verse.  I love this quote!  This would be a great card for a pick-me-up.

Again, I made this card because Debbie from Friends of Speedy TV asked me to write this tutorial for them.  If  you haven't already, take some time to visit Friends of Speedy TV.  They have a great tutorial section among other fun things.  You won't regret you did!  :)

I used the following  supplies:

Cardstock:  Gina K Pure Luxury 120# Pure Ivory, Stampin' Up!  Very Vanilla.

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers Relax a Bit.

Ink:  Versamark Watermark Ink, Stampin' Up! Black Embossing Powder, Memento Tuxedo Black.

Markers:  Bic Mark Its Sunset Orange, Hot Aqua.  Black felt tip marker.

Ribbon:  American Crafts Premium Satin Ribbon.

Embellishments:  Prima Flowers Mellise Nature Garden,  Stampin' Up!  Basic Jewels Rhinestones.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG, Stampin' Up|!  Sticky Strip, Zots, Quickie Glue Pen, foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Small, heat tool, Fiskars craft knife.


I am entering this card into the following challenges:

1. Pause Dream Enjoy - #22 Use your favourite quote or verse.
2. Papertake Weekly - Bingo! (Ribbon/ Free (Gems)/ Blooms)
3. Allsorts - Any die will do
4. Pile it On - Make your own embellishments
5. Friends of Speedy TV Tutorial Time - Heat Embossing

A Waterfall Memo - Craft Your Passion Challenge #115

Wow, time flies!  Its already my third week guest designing with Craft Your Passion Challenges.  This week the challenge is Flips and Folds.  I immediately thought of a waterfall card.

These cards are really fun, and they look a lot more difficult than they actually are, but with that said its probably been years since I last made one and I had to Google the directions.  I found a helpful tutorial so rather than re-inventing the wheel you can find the tutorial I used here.

Before deciding on papers I chose the stamps to use.  Lucky for me, the sponsor of this week's challenge is Tiddly Inks and on their site I found the stamp set called "Type Me some Flower Wishes".  So cute!  I thought that Lily Bee Designs Memorandum paper set would work well with these images so I chose a few sheets,  then chose various shades of cardstock to coordinate.

I started with a sand coloured base sized at 5.5" by 4.25".  I chose a lighter shade of blue to use as the background, and black to mat the piece.  I dry embossed the blue sheet with my Cuttlebug, then used  the same shades to mat the squares of patterned paper I had cut to size.  Once everything was cut and inked I adhered everything according to the directions.

At this point I sized and printed the images I wanted to use, cut them out, and inked the edges to coordinate with the papers. I adhered them on the squares, and I punched two holes at the bottom of the long strip.  Some black hemp twine was tied through the holes to make a pull.  Lastly I added some rhinestones, and some Basic Grey typewriter key embellishments that I thought worked perfectly.

The typewriter keys were originally paper clips, but I couldn't make them work as they were.  Since I have a pair of Tim Holtz Tonic scissors I thought I would try to snip the clips off and it worked - the scissors cut through the thin metal almost like butter! 

Waterfall cards are so fun to make and fun to receive.  While there are quite a few steps you must follow in order to make the card work, it is definitely worth it to send a loved one such an impressive card.  Now I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!  :)

I used the following products for this card:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Basic Black.  Lily Bee Design Memorandum 6x6 Tiny Tablet.

Digital Stamps:  Tiddy Inks Type Me Some Flowery Images.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Lipstick Red, Charcoal.

Embellishments:  Stampin' Up! Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Basic Grey Decorative paper Clips, Recollections mini brads, black hemp twine from stash.

Adhesives:  Stampin' Up! Sticky Strip, Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive runner, Zots.

Other Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, Tim Holtz Tonic scissors, bone folder, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug embossing folder Seeing Spots.


I am entering into the following challenges:

1. The Pretty Little Ribbon - Lots of Layers
2. The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
3. Speedy Fox - Vintage

Christmas Cards #1 & 2

I've finally gotten a chance to blog a bit so I thought I would share the first of my Christmas cards.  I know it seems early but I figure the earlier I start the better.  We'll see if this worked out in December, lol.

I started with the patterned paper.  Since I'm not quite in a Christmas-y mood yet I chose the patterns that where the least Christmas-y, lol.  I made multiples of these and I didn't have quite enough of the ornament pattern, so I chose the snowflake pattern as well.

Once I chose coordinating cardstock, I made card bases that were 4.5" square so they fit in an A2 envelope to avoid extra postage. I wanted to do something a bit different so I decided to make a cut-out card.  I used my circle dies to cut circles in the centres of the card fronts and the layers, and corner rounded all components.  I adhered the patterned panel to the white, added twine, added some button brads, and adhered the panel to the card front.  I was going to leave the white border plain but decided it needed more so I added some black faux-stitching with the aid of a ruler.

My favourite tool when making Christmas and holiday cards is my snowflake punch, so of course I pulled that out of its hibernation.  I sprayed some white cardstock with shades of  frosty looking spray mists and when it was dry I  punched away.  I adhered three snowflakes to the bottom corner of each card, added some rhinestones and the card front was done.

For the center I just added a square of white and stamped the sentiment in the middle with Versamark then heat embossed with silver.  Quick and easy!

I love how these cards turned out!


I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Whisper White.  Echo Park Season's Greetings 6x6 Paper Pad.

Stamp Set:  Stampin' Up! Christmas Punch

Ink: Versamark Watermark Ink, Stampin' Up! Embossing Powder Silver

Mists:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Frost, Glacier

Embellishments:  We R Memory Keepers Baker's Twine, generic rhinestones from stash.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard circles large and small, black felt tip pen.


I will enter this into the following challenges:

1. The Pretty Little Ribbon - Lots of Layers
2. Deep Ocean - Stitching faux or real
3. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
4. The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
5. Moving Along with the Times - Lets get krafty
6. My Mums Craft Shop - Clean and simple
7. Daring Cardmakers - A hole in one

Royal Celebrations

Welcome to post #50!  When I started this blog 50 posts seemed like an awful big number, lol.  :)  My 50th post deserves a celebration of some sort, don't you think?  Since it is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this weekend I was inspired to make this card:

I started with a lovely paper pad from Authentique - I love these colours!  Totally not something I would have paired on my own but so pretty.  And then i decided to work with a Lost & Found Two stamp set from My Mind's Eye.  Honestly when I got the set I thought to myself that I may never use the crown stamps.  I'm glad I was wrong!

I chose some card stock to go with the paper pad, and since I wanted to make more crumpled flowers I chose several sheet that I liked.  I punched the bird and cage with my tag punch out of one sheet, and cut various sizes of circles out of the remaining of that sheet and the rest of the sheets I had chosen. I had decided already to go with various sizes of circles instead of just one size this time.  I sprayed the circles with water, crumpled them up and set them aside.

I cut and scored my card base, and cut another piece of gray to layer on top that I embossed with my Cuttlebug.  I then cut all of the sizes of paper I wanted and inked them all with either cream or gray ink.  I adhered the embossed piece to the card front with foam squares, and matted the argyle print with yellow and cream.  I added some gray ribbon, some yellow bakers twine to this panel and tied bows.  I had attached the tags to the twine before tying, but secured them down with more foam squares.  The panel was adhered to the embossed piece with more foam squares.

For the sentiment I decided I wanted to layer the stamps, so I first stamped the doily in gray, and sponged a bit of cream ink over the center to help the sentiment stand out.  After using my embossing buddy I embossed the sentiment in black over the doily and embossed the crown images in silver.  I was going to add some glitter at this point, but I decided in the end it wasn't necessary.  I adhered the image panel to a gray mat, added some mini brads and adhered this with foam squares over the ribbon.

At this point I went back to my crumpled circles and carefully opened them up.  Because the paper is thicker than what I usually use for this technique some of the pieces were still damp so I finished the drying with my heat gun.  I've found a tip when doing this - I put all of the pieces in a heat proof ramekin and then point my heat tool in the dish, shielding the top with my hand.  This helps the bits from flying all over my table and the walls of the dish reflect some of the heat so that the pieces dry faster.  Just be careful  because its easy to burn a stray finger, lol.

I assembled the flowers with a white button brad this time, and adhered a rhinestone to the center of each brad.  The flowers were inked with some gray, and I adhered them to the card front.  This card is very layery (the technical term, lol)!

The center was decorated with a matted piece of cream stamped with my favourite birthday sentiment, and a scrap of patterned paper. 

I love this card, the images, the patterns, and the colours.  My favourite part though is the flowers.  I love these flowers so much I think I may do a post just on those. I love making them and I love how they look, not to mention you never have to worry about not having embellishments to specifically match your project.  Stay tuned, such a post may be coming in the future!

I used the following products:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Gray, Very Vanilla,  Crushed Curry.  Authentique 6x6 Collection: Blissful.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  On Your Birthday.  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Rosy "everything" stamp set.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Charcoal, Alabaster.  Stampin' Up! Going Gray. Memories Black.  Versamark Watermark Ink.  Stampin' Up! Embossing Powder Black, Silver.

Ribbon:  We R Memory Keepers Bakers Twine Lemonade, gray satin ribbon from stash.

Embellishments:  Recollections brads, Stampin' Up!  Basic Jewels Rhinestones.

Adhesives:  Scotch ATG, Zots, Foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestablities Standard Circles Large and Small, Cuttlebug Scrollwork embossing folder, We R Memory Keeper brad setter, sponge, Stamp a ma jig.


I will enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Deep Ocean - Swirls 
2. Crafty Cardmakers - Distress it 
3. Party Time Tuesday - Anything goes 
4. The Paper Shelter - Vintage or Shabby Chic
5. The Cuttlebug Spot - Fit for a Queen
6. Really Reasonable Ribbon - Flowers and Ribbon
7. Fussy and Fancy Friday - Swirls and Flourishes
8. Charisma Cardz  - Bling
9. Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
10. Lets Ink It Up -  Use your favourite embellishments (handmade paper flowers)

Welcome baby! Boy or Girl?

I've been saving this post for a while.  I made these cards for my best friend's new baby, and since I made them before the baby's arrival I didn't know whether to make pink or blue.  The solution?  Make both!

 I started with a base of cream Gina K 120# cardstock, and since this would be a baby card I decided I wanted to keep everything light and fresh looking.  I decided to layer with some Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla that had been embossed in my Cuttlebug.  The creams from the two companies are a very close match.

Once I chose some pretty pink and blue satins, and some lovely Prima ribbons to coordinate I decided to stamp my image and sentiment with dark brown ink.  The little ducks were coloured with coordinating markers. The focal image and sentiment was punched with a square label shape and foam taped over the knotted ribbon.

At this point I figured the card was finished, but as I looked at it I felt it needed more.  I had just gotten a package of pearls with my latest Stampin' Up! order so I decided to use them here.  To mimic  bubbles I decided to use various sizes and place them as if they were floating over the card.  I love these pearls!

I kept things simple on the inside with just a simple sentiment and another duck image, this time not coloured in. 

I love how this turned out.  Wondering which one I gave to my friend?  Pink!  As per usual my prediction was wrong, but thats OK because the baby is beautiful!!  :)


I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

1. Fussy and Fancy Friday - New Baby
2. Creative Card Crew - Dimension
3. Ladybug Crafts Ink - Something With Wings
4. The Paper Shelter - Bling it On
5. Moving Along with the Times - Celebrate with no birthdays.
6. Charisma Cardz - No flowers allowed

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Gina K Designs 120# Pure Luxury Pure Ivory, Stampin' Up Very Vanilla.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Petite Pairs, Year Round Fun II

Ink:  Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip.

Markers:  Bic Mark Its Summer Melon, Pink Flamingo, Oceanview Blue.

Ribbon:  Prima Marketing (velvet grosgrain), satin ribbon from my stash.

Pearls:  Stampin' Up! Jewels Basic Pearls.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, foam squares, Glue Dots.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Moroccan Screen Embossing Folder.

So Happy to be Canadian

This card was inspired by this weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly.  Since it is getting close to the Queen's Jubilee, and also the Olympics, their idea was to use either your national colours or the colours of the UK.  I thought this works out well since Prince Charles and his wife Camilla just finished a visit to Canada this week, and they even visited my province. For this reason I decided to go with Canadian colours red and white.

Once I decided on red and white I thought I should probably use a maple leaf image as well, but after searching through my stamps I realized I didn't have one.  And I call myself Canadian!  So I decided to carve my own.  I made three sizes, but only two made it on to this project.  Thats OK, Canada Day is coming soon so I can use the larger one then.

Since my last few cards were birthday cards I decided to make a thank you card this time. I started with a red cardstock base, cut and folded to the A2 size.  I chose some Bazzill dictionary print (which I love!!), and although I usually mat patterns I decided not to for this one as I like the contrast of the gray hue against the red.  I used a distress tool around the edges of the pattern (lightly as the paper is very  thin) and adhered it to the card base.  I added a piece of black ribbon around the middle of the card, making sure the ends were adhered underneath where the main panel would go so that they don't show on the inside of the card.   A second piece of ribbon was tied around the first piece to make the bow.

I decided to make some handmade scrunchy flowers since the thin dictionary paper works so well with this technique. You can read about the first ones I made here.  I used four circles for each flower, and  since I didn't have any jewel brads left I just used simple mini-brads for the flower centers, to which I adhered rhinestones later.  Once put together I sponged the 'petals' with red ink, and sprayed the flowers with red, white, and gold shimmer sprays for sparkle. Adhering the jewels was the last step.

I cut the main focal panel out of white cardstock and stamped a swirly flourish stamp several times on one side.  I stamped three leaves (one medium, two small) on the other side of the panel, turning the stamps each time for interest, and allowing the images to go off the edge.  I chose the sentiment from one of my new My Minds Eye sets, and I thought it worked because it is the same font that is on the dictionary paper.  I chose to stamp it in black to make it stand out from all of the red.  Once the sentiment was added to the center of the panel, I added some Sakura glitter pen to the images, used a distressing tool on all four sides of the panel, and added the flowers with Zots.  The panel was adhered over the ribbon with foam squares.

For the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment on a small piece of white.  The sentiment is actually inside of an oval.  Since the white scrap I used wasn't very big I positioned the stamp so that the sentiment was nestled into the corner and the oval went off the edge of the piece.  Once stamped I added some Sakura glitter pen and distressed the edges with a distressing tool.  I matted the white with more dictionary paper and added this to the inside of the card.

Red and white is not a colour combination I usually turn to, but I'm thinking I should more often.  I also like the idea of keeping things simple by using one bright colour along with black, white, and some neutrals.  This card has given me some ideas for future cards which I am sure you will see soon!  I love how this card turned out, it's patriotic without being obvious about it, and I keep trying to think of someone I need to thank just so I can give it to them!  :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Lets Ink It Up - Bling
2. Creative Craft Challenges - Distressing
3. Party Time Tuesdays - Vintage or Shabby Chic
4. Deep Ocean - Swirls
5. Creative Card Crew - Dimension
6. Papertake Weekly - True Colours
7. Ribbon Carousel - Fancy Flowers

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Whisper White, Bazzill Basics Antique Dictionary Page.

Stamps:  My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy True Blue Stamps, Lost & Found Two Breeze Dream, Lost & Found Two Rosy Everything.  Hand carved maple leaves.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Lipstick Red.  Memories Black.  Smooch Spritz Cherry Ice, Shimmerz Paints Shimmerings Goldie Lox, Babies Breath. Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star pen.

Embellishments:  Recollections Mini Brads, Stampin' Up Jewels Basic Rhinestones, black satin ribbon from stash.

Adhesives:  Tombo Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, Zots, foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, Tonic distressing tool, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Small, We R Memory Keepers brad setter, bone folder.

A Woodsy Birthday

While I occasionally work from sketches I usually start with either papers or stamps.  This time, however, I really wanted to try out  the following sketch Craft Your Passion has as their most current challenge:

 

I really like the layout of this sketch, and I have a masculine birthday coming up so I used the sketch to make the following card:

Once I decided on layout and theme, I looked for papers that I thought would work best.  I decided on My Minds Eye Miss Caroline Collection Dilly Dally 6x6 pad.  I liked the colours and the wood grain, and thought it would work with a woodsy theme.  Once I decided on patterns I choose coordinating cardstock and a Bo Bunny stamp set that would work well.

I decided on gray for the base,, and black as an accent.  I thought I would try out a technique that I had seen but not used before.  On the black piece I decided to use as the focal of the card I stamped my image with white craft ink.  After heat setting the ink I coloured over it with pencil crayons.  I was going to leave the centre of the tree uncoloured, but as I was going for 'tree at night' effect so I decided to colour the inside of the tree with green as well.  The green on the inside of the tree isn't completely visible but I think it blends in a bit better.

I thought it would be fun to use the flashlight from the set, so I cut some yellow from the same paper pad in a triangle that would fit the bottom of the focal point piece.  I temporarily adhered the yellow to the black piece and stamped the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment in Versamark over both pieces.  The section of sentiment over black I heat embossed in white, and the section over yellow I heat embossed in black.  Once the corners were rounded and the edges sponged I foam taped the triangle over the tree.

I wanted to add more detail to the background so I sponged the edges of each pattern with black and adhered them to the black accent piece.  I die cut some rick rack squares from gray and sponged them with white to make them look more distressed.  Once adhered somewhat randomly I added black hemp twine around the middle.  The focal card was adhered with foam squares to the background,  the little flashlight was foam taped in place, and the background was adhered to the card base.  

To follow with the sketch I found some buttons that would coordinate and knotted some brown thread through the centres of each.  I adhered these buttons with Zots to the background and I was done.

This card was fun to put together and I really like the result.  I should work from sketch challenges more often!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Craft Your Passion - Sketch Challenge
2. Catered Crop - Rickety Rack Recipe Swap
3. Creative Craft Challenges - Distressing.
4. Moving Along With the Times - Keeping it Real.
5. The Pink Elephant - Buttons Galore.
6. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Summer Holiday.
7. Really Reasonable Ribbon - Father's day or Masculine with Ribbon or Trim.
8. Creative Card Crew - Dimension.

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Basic Gray, Basic Black.  My Minds Eye Miss Caroline Dilly Dally 6x6 pad.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! On Your Birthday, Bo Bunny Roughin' It.

Ink:  Stampin' Up!  Whisper White, Versamark Watermark Ink, Memories Black.

Embossing Powder:  Stampin' Up!  Basic Black, Martha Stewart Bright White.

Pencil Crayons:  Crayola Green, Brown, Gray.

Other Embellishments:  Buttons, thread, hemp twine all from stash.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, foam squares, Quickie Glue pen, Zots. 

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Quick Kutz Nesting Rick Rack Squares, scissors, paper trimmer, bone folder, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper. 

Flowery Friends with Ribbons

For this card I started with ribbons, lots of ribbons!  I have little wooden stands in my craft space with spools of Prima ribbon on them.  I look at them every day, and it occurred to me that I should see how many I could use on one card. :)

 

I started with a standard size card base made of kraft, and I cut another piece of  cardstock about 1/2 an inch smaller to give enough room to work with.  I chose several colours of ribbons ensuring they were all the same width and cut lengths a bit longer than the long side of the small piece of card.   These strips were adhered to the back of the short side of the card with glue dots.  I attached shorter ribbons to the back of the long side of the card, and wove them with the longer strips of ribbon.  Once done, all ends were attached with glue dots to the back of the card.  This piece was very thick by then so I decided to use more glue dots to attach it to the card front to ensure it was well adhered.

I cut another piece of kraft just slightly smaller than the card front, bigger than the woven piece, and die cut a large circle from it.  I embossed the edge of the circle with the die, and once done distressed the outside edge of the panel with a distressing tool.  A white gel pen was used to add dash lines around the edge of the circle, and the outside edge of the panel.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white.

In order to make the panel look as lush as the ribbon section, I added the last of the lovely silky Champagne ribbon from Ribbon Carousel, and some Prima flowers in soft coordinating colours. The panel was adhered to the ribbon piece with foam squares.

I really splurged on this card.  It was really fun to make and turned out to be so pretty!  :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Really Reasonable Ribbon - Mother's Day or feminine plus ribbon.
2. Stampin' for the Weekend - Layer Upon Layer
3. Speedy Fox - Use 3 of something.
4. Deep Ocean Challenge - What a Wonderful Woman

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake.

Stamps:  Pocket Silhouettes.

Ink:  Versamark Watermark ink pad, Stampin' Up! White Embossing powder, Sakura White Gelly Roll pen.

Embellishments:  Prima Marketing ribbon, Ribbon Carousel Champagne Silky Crushed ribbon, Prima Camille Almanac flowers.

Adhesive:  Glue Dots, foam squares.

Jewelry for your birthday...

Sometimes I know exactly what I want to make, and even if what I end up with doesn't look exactly like what I had in mind, it always has kernels of my original idea.  that is definitely not what happened with this card.  :)

I started with a piece of kraft cardstock and some natural twill ribbon.  I spotted some metal sheets in my sash and decided to try embossing them in my Cuttlebug.  Wat a result1  I love the effect, it reminds me of old fashioned tin ceiling tiles  As such I thought I would age it a bit by sponging on some black Staz-on.

Once this was done i thought I would play with some more ribbon and Glubers.  You can read about my original Gluber flower here.  I chose red, pink and black this time, for no other reason that thats what struck my fancy at the time.  I used various Gluber sizes and added rhinestones to the centre, then kept adding and kept adding!  I'm usually stingy with rhinestones, but this time I felt like splurging. 

Once done I decided the kraft cardstock and twill ribbon I had originally chose wouldn't go with the direction I was heading in.  I chose some black cardstock instead, and instead of adding more ribbon I decided to heat emboss the sentiment on a strip of black cardstock.  I trimmed the end with banner points, and adhered the piece with foam squares.  I of course had to add more rhinestones.  :)

This card turned out so blingy that it almost looks like jewelry!  What do you think?

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Creative Card Crew - Ribbon 
2. Catered Crop - B for Bodacious 
3. Creative Craft Challenges - Anything Goes 
4.  Craft your Passion - Lots of texture
5. Party time Tuesdays - Two or more ribbons
6. Really Reasonable Ribbon - Mother's Day or Feminine plus ribbon
7. Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
8. Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything birthday goes
9. The Cuttlebug Spot - Flowers for Mom
10. Lets Ink it Up - Bling
11. Speedy Fox Challenge - Use 3 of Something

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:   Stampin' Up!  Basic Black

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Petite Pairs.

Ink:  Staz-On Jet Back, Versamark Watermark Ink pad

Metal:  Quick Kuttz Metal Sheets, Stampin' Up!  Silver Embossing Powder.

Other embellishments:  Ribbons from my Stash,Micheals Rhinestone stickers.

Adhesive:  Cosmo Cricket Glubers, Tombo Mono permanent adhesive runner, foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug embossing folder from Paperlace II set, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Sponge.

The wonders of Washi tape

Sometimes no matter how hard I try I just can't sleep.  Other times I will go to bed early because I am so tired, but then I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep because maybe I wasn't as tired as I thought.  When that happens I will sometimes surf the web until I am tired again, or I may make something.  That is what happened when I made this card.

Clean and simple cards are not something that comes to me naturally, I usually have to think about it and if I think about it I usually over-think it and then its not clean and simple anymore.  This clean and simple card was pretty easy though, probably because I was half asleep at the time, lol. 

I had just received an order of washi tape in the mail, so it was on my mind when I got the idea for this card.  I started with Gina K's 120# white cardstock and embossed it with a Tim Holtz Texture fade. Once embossed I randomly added various stripes of washi tape, tearing each end so it was a bit jagged.

I love this stuff!  I've never worked with it before, but since its everywhere I thought I would try it out.   It is so nice, repostionable and pretty.  I will definitely be purchasing more. 

I stamped my sentiment on a strip of white cardstock, trimmed the end to points, adhered it with foam squares, and as an afterthought added some bakers twine I received as a gift with my washi tape order.  I was going to add some ink to the embossed space, but I really don't think it was necessary.

Since this was a simple card I left the inside plain except for the sentiment.

I'm really impressed with what I can do when I'm half-asleep, lol.   My husband said that this was one of the brightest cards I've made in a while.  I decided to take that as a compliment. :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Simon Says Stamp Challenge -  Anything Goes
2. Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Kaleidescope of Colour
3. Creative Craft Challenges -  Anything Goes
4. The Pink Elephant - Springtime
5. Craft Your Passion - Lots of Texture
6. Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Gina K Designs 120# Pure Luxury Pure White.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  Petite Pairs.

Ink:  Memories Black.

Adhesive:  Foam Squares.

Embellishments: Washi tape purchased from Le Box Boutique.  Bakers Twine was a gift with purchase.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Sizzix Tim Holtz Texture Fade Checkerboard.

In a word 'Love'

For this card I wanted to try a technique that I had never tried before which is faux metal.  I watched Kristina Werner do this in one of her you tube videos:

For my card I thought it would be fun to use a new alphabet set I got from Michaels to make metal looking tags that spelled out a word.  Here is what I came up with:

I thought I would go for a look that is more grungy than usual, so I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder on a piece of kraft cardstock.  I made another crumpled paper flower out of the same script paper I used before, this time with 9 circles.  I inked the edges of the flower in gray to coordinate with everything.  A sparkly brad and some prima flowers added just enough sparkle.

Once I followed Kristina's technique with the alphabet stamp set I mentioned I used my nestabilities circles to cut the letters out out, and my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in each. I attached them to the card front with black hemp twine and foam squares.  I love how they turned out, I even love the impression left behind by the dies.  My husband was even impressed (at least thats what he told me, lol).

On the inside of the card I used the same shades of cardstock as on the front and inked them to match and stamped a nice sentiment.

I think any loved one would enjoy receiving this card.  :)


I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

1.  Simon Says Stamp and Show - Show your favourite word
2. Fussy and Fancy Friday - Punches and dies
3. Deep Ocean Challenge - Use punches and dies
4. Ribbon Carousel Challenge - Anything goes
5. Simon Says challenge - Anything goes
6. Moving Along With the Times - Garden or Flowers

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Basic Gray, Whisper White, Crumb cake.  Bazzill Basics Antique Script.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up!  Petite Pairs, Recollections Rubber Stamp Set (alphabet)

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Charcoal, Stampin' Up!  Going Gray.  Versamark Watermark ink.  Stampin' Up! Silver embossing powder. 

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, Glue Dots, foam squares.

Embellishments:  Prima Flowers Melisse Nature Garden, Creative Charms brads, black hemp twine from stash.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, bone folder, tweezers, heat tool, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestablities Standard Circles Small and Large, Sizzix Tim Holtz Texture fade Cracked,  Ranger Inkssentials blending tool, We R Memory Keepers brad setter, Crop-A-Dile

Butterfly birthday wishes

Since my big card making sprint (and buying sprint I must admit)  at Christmas time I've been trying to resist buying new things since I already have a lot of stuff that needs to get used.  In March, however, I did my taxes and since I was lucky enough to get a bit of a refund I decided to restock some things, and splurge on a few other things.  I ordered a bunch of stuff from a few different places a few weeks ago and it all came in around the same time, so I got to play!  Here is the first of many creations to come:

The light is funny in this picture, it kind of looks like I used my flash even though I didn't but hopefully you get the idea.  I keep trying to experiment with different places, times of day, and lighting to get the best picture.  I don't think I've come across the best combination yet but I'll keep trying!

I started with a 6.5 x 6.5 paper pad from Kaiser Craft that I saw Kristina Werner use in one of her videos.  It's so pretty with soft colours, and lovely imagery.  I chose the sheet with  a pale blue background and line drawings of hydrangeas (I think?).  I paired it with a sheet of script paper (I seem to be attracted to anything with type or writing on it lately), and some Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake cardstock.  Crumb Cake is my absolute favourite shade of kraft!

I sponged the patterned papers with charcoal ink, and the white circle with creamy brown ink to coordinate with the kraft.  I used both of my two new Stampin' Up! sets by choosing an image from one, and a sentiment from the other, and heat embossing them in silver.  I decided to use a piece of beautiful ribbon that I purchased with my gift certificate won from Ribbon Carousel several weeks ago.  The ribbon was a bit wider than I needed so I pleated the ribbon with the help of some glue dots, then twisting it a bit before adhering to the back.  To conserve the special ribbon, the knot is a sort of faux- tie that I added after the long piece was adhered.

By the way, I was really impressed with Ribbon Carousel's prices, their shipping costs are really reasonable (always a concern when ordering from Canada) and everything came bundled neatly and in cute little patterned packets.  I actually saved the packaging to use later, lol!  I will definitely be ordering from them again!

I decided on embellishments last, and as I really liked the script pattern I decided to make a paper flower out of it.  I wanted to make a different type of flower than I had before, so I used a technique I have seen Christine Urias use on a Scraptime video.  I have been watching her videos for a while, and since there are over 700 I couldn't find the one showing this technique in order to link here, but I highly suggest looking at her website www.scraptime.ca. She has covered so many things that I am sure you will learn something new!
To make this flower you just need to punch or die cut several circles.  Spray the circles with water and crumple them up.  They look almost like spit balls at this point but not nearly as gross, lol.   Once the little balls dry (or you can dry them with a heat tool), you carefully un-crumple them, stack several, poke a hole in the middle, add a brad, and voila - you have a flower!  I only needed to use three circles to make my flower, although I seem to remember Christine using 6 in her video.  Since I couldn't find the original video I could be making that number up, but I'm sure you could stack as many circles as you wanted to  make your flower as full as you would like.

I used a gem studded brad in the middle of my flower for sparkle, and inked the edges of the petals with more creamy brown ink.  I added a couple of small Prima flowers (also purchased at Ribbon Carousel), and although a lot was going on I felt like the card needed something more, so I added some faux stitching at the top and bottom with my white gel pen.  I really like the look of stitching so I think I may have to search for my sewing machine in the basement soon, but for the time being my gel pen works great for this.

On the inside of the card, I adhered a couple of strips of the patterns inked in charcoal, and a piece of white inked with creamy brown.  I added the companion sentiment to the sentiment on the front by heat embossing it in silver. All done!

I love how pretty this card is!  Now, what to play with next?  Hmmmm......


I will enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Catered Crop - Get krafty. 
2. Fussy and Fancy Friday - Punches and Dies 
3. Pile it On -  Sparkle and Shine
4. Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes + Kraft
5. Creative Card Crew -  Ribbon
6. Ladybug Crafts Ink- Birthday
7. Deep Ocean Challenge - Use punches/dies
8. Ribbon Carousel Challenge - Anything Goes
9. Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
10. Moving Along with the Times - Gardening or Flowers

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Whisper White.  Bazzill Basics Antique Script.  Kaiser Craft Bonjour 6.5 Paper Pad.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Petite Pairs, Kindness Matters.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Creamy Brown, Charcoal.  Versamark Watermark Ink pad. Stampin' Up! Silver Embossing Powder.

Embellishments: Ribbon Carousel Champagne Silky Crushed ribbon, Prima Flowers Camille Almanac, Creative Charms brads.

Adhesive:  Mini Glue Dots, Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner.

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, tweezers, heat tool, Stampin' Up! embossing buddy, sponge We R Memory Keepers brad setting tool.

Believe in yourself

For the first time I placed an order with Gina K designs recently, and it came in last week. I was really excited to get the stuff and I had to play with it right away.

While my first love is Stampin' Up! cardstock, I find their white and cream cardstocks to be a bit flimsy for card bases, so I ordered some 120# cardstock from Gina K in those colours.  I had also ordered the Spellbinders Small Standard circles Nestabilites to go with my Large set.  I placed a large enough order to get the free "Believe in yourself" stamp set so here I used all three.

I started with the base weight white, and decided to use patterned paper from one of my favourite My Mind's Eye 6x6 pads.  I thought black and white with a bit of red would be fun, so after layering the card front I heat embossed the sentiment and added black and red ribbon. 

I stamped the butterfly in red, then die cut the image to ensure I had the right size circle.  I die cut a slightly larger circle from the patterned paper to mat the image.  I decided the butterfly needed to be glittery so I coloured the blank spaces with my Sakura glitter pen and foam taped the circles over the ribbon and I was done. 

 Can you believe I made two cards in a row without any extra inking?  lol :)

 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge:  Black and white with accent colour 
2. Pretty Little Ribbon:  To die for 
3. Stampin' for the Weekend:  Sparkle and Shine 
4. Simon Says Stamp & Show: Anything Goes 
5. Craft Your Passion:  Die cuts and punches 
6. The Paper Shelter:  Wings and things 
7. Fussy and Fancy Friday: Punches and Dies 
8. Pile it On: Sparkle and Shine

 

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:   Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight 120# Pure white, Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Whisper White, My Mind's Eye Meadowlark 6x6 Designer Paper Pad.

Stamps:  Gina K Designs Believe in Yourself.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk ink Lipstick Red, Versamark Watermark ink pad.

Embossing powder:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black.

Pen:  Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star

Ribbon:  Red and Black from my stash.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, foam squares.

Dies:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Small and Large.

Tools:  Paper Trimmer, Cuttlebug, scissors, Stampin' Up! heat tool, embossing buddy.