To Have and to Hold

Here’s another wedding card I made for a friend. 

The colours of the wedding are chocolate and teal, so I kept those colours in the card.  I love the simplicity of this card. 

 

 

I used SU Very Vanilla for the base, and some more BoBunny double-sided dp (it’s actually Valentine paper, with red and pink on the other side!), and some pool satin ribbon I picked up last year in Chicago.  The ribbon is thin, so I added a second layer.  I made the label with my Nesties and stamped the main image of the To Have and To Hold SU set in chocolate chip ink. I coloured the bride’s flowers and the groom’s bowtie with one of my MS markers, but realized it was too teal.  A quick swipe of my white gel pen muted the colour to match the ribbon perfectly!  I highlight the lines with a grey marker; it’s such a simple thing, but it really makes a difference!

 

 

 

I left the inside blank, but I did stamp the two hearts on the inside.  You can see here how I popped up the main image with some foam tape.

 

I used the sketch from my new Paper Crafts “Card Ideas for Paper Crafters” magazine.  Typically I use sketches from my favourite blogs/websites, but this mag had so many incredible sketches that I just had to pick it up!  I’ve made a few cards already and I’ll be sharing them with you over the next little while.  Sketches are a great way to jump-start your creativity.  Sometimes I can envision the paper and the stamp set just from looking at the sketch.

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

Technorati Tags: Stampin Up,Wedding card,To have and to hold,Paper Crafts,Paper Crafts Mag,A Paper Buffet

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Floating Birthday Balloons- CPS 211

While I’ve often worked with clear cardstock as an element of a card (my snow globe card, or my beaded Valentine card) but I had yet to make a card with clear cardstock as the base of the card.

The CPS 211 sketch caught my eye, and I was inspired by one of the design team card (Carla’s), which used clear cardstock as the base.  I figured now was as good a time as any!

I dug through my paper stash to find some clear cardstock I had left over from the snow globe cards, and cut it to a 5.5” square.  I decided on a birthday card, and brought out the My Mind’s Eye Fine and Dandy paper. 

I made the background the star pattern; I wanted something that would stand out as a background. I cut a square of Chocolate Chip cardstock with my Nestibilities square die and a piece of Whisper White in a smaller square for the inside greeting panel.  I placed this in the centre of my star background.  Working from the inside out, it’s easier to make sure the panel on the front of the card is completely aligned with the inside panel.  I also chose to stamp the ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiment on the star paper; I had thought of using Staz-On ink on the clear cardstock, but I only have it in black and really wanted to stay coordinated; I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink.

Moving to the outside, I choose the teal polka dot paper as my main panel with a Chocolate Chip border and knew I would use the SU Birthday Whimsy balloons.  I love how these balloons look when cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

Matching the colours in the star paper, I stamped the balloons in SU Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron and Baja Breeze. I cut the balloons out and added some string, and layered them with different types of dimensionals.  I tied some Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon into a bow and placed it over the strings.

I cut another square, using my Nestibilities small square die, in Chocolate Chip CS to put on the back of the front panel; that way, you can’t see the adhesive when you open the card. 

While I love the effect, I can say that clear cardstock is NOT my favourite medium.  It doesn’t fold as crisply, so it’s a bit difficult to hold the card down while you adhere the panels to make sure they’re in alignment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the great thing about the clear cardstock is that it offers a bit of a surprise to the recipient of the card.  The card looks ‘normal’ when it’s laying flat, but when they open it…ta-da!  I’ve listed this card in the A Paper Buffet Etsy shop. You can see more great sketches at the CPS blog, it’s one of my go-to places for inspiration.

 

Happy Sunday!

 

Technorati Tags: CPS 211,Card Positioning Systems,sketches,handmade cards,SU,Stampin' Up,My Mind's Eye,A Paper Buffet Etsy

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I love orange!

and grey, and ribbon, and when you put them together, you get…

I used the Fall-to-Layout 43 for this one, from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog. It was modified a bit, but that’s what sketches are for, right?

I stamped my favourite GinaK designs Retro Boutique and then paper pieced the dress with my other new obsession, Basic Grey paper.  I tied some orange ribbon on the dress, and added a little bling with a stick-on rhinestone.

 

 

 

 

 

A simple Happy Birthday sentiment from the same set is on the inside, and a matching strip of BG paper.

 

I have used this stamp set over and over and each card has such a different feel, it’s wonderful!

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: Basic Grey,handmade cards,GinaK Designs,A Paper Buffet,Clean and Simple Stamping

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I Love sketches!

And I just love the Fall-to-Layouts on the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog.  How did I not find these earlier??

I came across a card at my fellow  TCC DT Colleen’s blog the other day where she mentioned the CAS blog and it was just the right amount of inspiration for the birthday cards I needed to make to drop off at the hair salon.

I made 3 cards, but will share them with you one at a time…only because I don’t know how much stamping/blog time I’ll have this week.  My best customer  Mom called telling me that a very good friend of our family is turning 80 this year and there’s a surprise birthday party for him.  Unfortunately both my sister and I live out of town and won’t be able to attend.  My mom wants something flashy and I have just THE thing; so I’ll be working on that and some other projects this week.

Now to the card; I think I will use this layout over and over again.  I’m totally obsessed with the colour orange, and buttons, and distressing, so this is one of my favourite cards :)

I used the Fall-To-Layout (FTL)52 for this first card.  I NEED to go buy more Kraft paper, I just love this stuff! {yes, I know, I love a lot of things ;)}

I used Kraft for the card base, Chocolate Chip for the scalloped piece, with my SU scallop edge punch {anyone know how to sharpen that thing? I’ve only used it a few times, and it doesn’t always make a sharp cut}, Pumpkin Pie for the layering and ink, Very Vanilla for the image and sentiment panel and my fav Birthday Whimsy stamp set.  The button is from some blog candy I won a while back, and then some string I had in my stash.  I distressed with my Tim Holtz distressing tool, with some new Tim Holtz Tea Stain distressing ink {it’s very subtle, I’m still playing with it and applicators}.

I’m trying to remember to decorate the inside of the card, and I think I skip this step because I get stumped.  I do recall someone saying, just mimic the front and it will all fit.  So I layered the coloured cardstock over the Very Vanilla, used the scallop punch again and stamped another present in Pumpkin Pie.

I’m going to go back to relaxing on the couch.  I walked/ran a 2km course this morning in memory of my friend’s step mom who lost her battle to cancer in May.  We had a great turn out {79 people raised $12 000, which is incredible!} and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year.

Happy Sunday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: handmade cards,birthday cards,Stampin UP,Birthday whimsy,Tim Holtz,distressing,A Paper Buffet,Clean and Simple Stamping

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Sketchy part deux

One more quick sketch, this one is from i heart 2 stamp;  I really liked this sketch and took the Yellow theme from Stamp Simply #85 Let the Sun Shine.  (yes, I know, I’m finding sketches and challenges from ALL over!)  This card came together quite quickly, and I’m happy with how it turned out.  Me, a self-proclaimed non-lover of ‘yellow’…who would’ve thought?

Paper is SU Sale-A-Bration, white ribbon is from Michaels, So Saffron ribbon, and the cardstock is Bazzil.  I’m still thrilled that it matches perfectly to the SU DP!  Image and sentiment are both SU; I used So Saffron and Barely Banana.

It’s another sunny day and I’m going to go pick up some supplies at Michaels (sign up for their e-newsletter for a 20% off your entire order coupon!).

Happy Sunday!

Ciao for now,

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Sketchy

Sketches are my blueprints.  They allow me to get out of my comfort zone and grow.  I haven’t been great at keeping up with playing along for the last little while, but I’m hoping things will change.

I have quite a few cards I want to make over the next few days, and turned to some sketches for some inspiration.

I  wanted to make a Congratulations card for my friend H, who called me this week to tell me she was engaged! How exciting!! Both her and her fiancé are pilots, so earlier in the week I picked up my first EK punch- an airplane.

I used Taylor’s sketch for this card, and it also qualifies for the  A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 49- blue and green.

I flipped the sketch and did change it a little bit, the airplanes just didn’t look right grouped in the left corner, so I used some more on the inside. Cardstock is Bazzil, Ribbon is American Crafts stamp is SU and the DP is from my stash.

 

I needed some birthday cards and thank you cards, and turned to the WSC sketch which is hosted by Jen Balcer this weekend.

 

I used my paper from my $1.50 Michaels loot to make this card, and I really liked the layout.  I liked it so much, I made another as a thank you card, and then made 4 more to add to my Etsy store and to the hair salon here in town where I sell my cards. Both sentiments are SU.

Next up was a MojoMonday sketch for my mom’s Mother’s Day card.  She saw another card I made with the SU Fifth Ave rose stamp and loved it, so I knew I wanted to use that for her card.

This card took more work to put together, and I really wasn’t sure if the rose was such a good idea because it was so large.  Overall, I am happy with how this one turned out.  The card base is SU Sahara Sand, DP is double sided S.E.I Chocolate Nougat, Bazzil Raspberry Dream, and Bazzil Grey ( I’m sure it has some fancy name, but I can’t remember).  The ribbon is SU Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon and the sentiment is from Stampendous Sunny Flowers set.  If you click on the picture, I softened the edges of the rose (stamped in SU Basic Gray) with my blender pen. 

I made one more card, but surprisingly didn’t follow a sketch for this one.  While making my Godson’s Christening card a few weeks ago, I realized I really liked the way white ink looks on SU Sahara Sand, and went from there.   Another birthday card using SU Birthday Whimsy set, it’s definitely one of my favourite sets of all time.

I stamped the present in white ink on Sahara Sand to create my own dp, and stamped the cake in SU Chocolate Chip.  It’s making me crave some chocolate cake!

 

I struggle making neutral cards, and simple cards as well.  But I really like the clean lines of this one and didn’t feel it needed any embellishments.

 

It’s a sunny Saturday here and I’m off this afternoon to watch my friend D in a charity wheelchair basketball tournament.

Make sure to check out all the sites above for some great sketches!

Happy Saturday!

Ciao for now,

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At $1.50…they don’t count

That’s what I told myself today.  I walked into Michaels on my way home from work, armed with my40% coupon to buy a specific punch for a special card (more on that later).  I walked by this display and found all this wonderful coordinating stuff!

Each item was only $1.50.  Therefore, it doesn’t count. I didn’t really spend all that much.  They had much more, but I limited myself to this haul here.  I couldn’t wait to rip open my new finds, and so after 8.5 hours on the road, in a terrible rain storm that created about 3 ft of visibility, I somehow found my second wind and sat down at my craft table.  I needed some thank you and birthday cards for a customer order; both Thank you stamps are SU and the ‘Happy Birthday’ stamp is GinaK.

I loved this weekend’s WSC78 sketch hosted by Sharon at Paperfections; I missed the deadline, but decided to play anyways.

I used the scraps of my beloved Yellow Bicycle paper and created two thank you cards:

I’m loving the buttons lately; I’ve been envious of everyone using buttons over the past few weeks, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Then I used MojoMonday sketch 82 for my next two cards and used the paper from my $1.50 haul

 

I wasn’t paying attention when I stamped the “Happy Birthday” for this next card, so it’s slightly different

(sorry, the picture is a little blurry)

I took these pictures outside, we still have some daylight, and the sky has cleared from our torrential downpour that I had to drive through this morning.  Mother Nature sure is fickle!

I know it’s TwilightTuesday (check it out at TwilightTuesday.com), but I’ll be making my TTIC card tomorrow, (and that special card with that specific punch--- hopefully, tomorrow I only have  5 hours on the road, but about 4.5 hours of paperwork…) I just don’t have it in me after 4 cards.

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

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