mmmmm strawberries!

Summer is by far my favourite season.  I love the summer flowers, days at the beach, and oh, those summer nights! (shameless reference to the best musical of all time…)

One of the great things about summer is the food! Sweet peaches and cream corn, fresh peas picked off vines taller than you, and the strawberries!

We’ve been blessed with an early growing season, so the berries are plentiful (we still have to wait for the corn and tree fruits).  I’ve been a little hooked on strawberries (and watermelon, but that’s another post); I’ve been making crepes in my new crepe pan nearly every weekend and going through a quart of Ontario strawberries each week.

Ontario strawberries are small, irregular shaped and a gorgeous red colour.  None of those genetically-modified-perfectly-shaped-greenhouse berries that seem just a little too picture-perfect for me.

I think the Ontario strawberries are photo worthy…don’t you agree?

 

I’m hooked on Strawberry Crepes…I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

What’s your favourite strawberry recipe?  Share below or send me a link!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: strawberries,Ontario produce,crepes,recipes,macro photography

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My favourite flower

Hydrangea. That is my favourite flower. I have a blue Hydrangea blossom tattooed on the inside of my right ankle. I love the blue Hydrangea the most, but the white is so pure an innocent; the pink so fun and flirty; and the deep purple so royal.

As part of my photography classes’ final assignment (weeks ago) we had to take pictures of something blue. I went on a walk about in the city and found my favourite flower, lining the sidewalk outside of a downtown florist.

Here’s the same photo edited in PSE.

I’ve been thinking about taking some of my photos and creating some photo cards to sell. What do you think?

Happy Monday,

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: hydrangea,photography,flowers,blue,photo cards,A Paper Buffet

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Ketchup

Hello strangers!

This is my sad attempt at catching up for neglecting my little piece of the blog-universe.  Work has been crazy, what with staff summer vacations, the G20 summit in Toronto and general all around craziness that is working in health care/insurance. 

I started my learn to row session here at the local rowing club, and am really enjoying it.  It’s a pricey sport, so I haven’t decided if I’m going to continue…and you typically sign up with a group that way you can go out in a 4-person boat, so it depends on when they would want to row, and…of course…work.

In my somewhat spare time, I’ve been addicted to watching the World Cup soccer games.  I played soccer for 8 years when I was a kid, and forgot how much I loved it.  I think next summer I’ll sign up for a rec league.  I was cheering for Italy, but they *cough* were eliminated *wipes tears*.   So I need to pick a new team to cheer for now.

Needless to say, I haven’t had much time to play with paper…and when I do, after the cutting and gluing and rhinestone adding; photography, editing and listing; twittering and facebooking…I really didn’t feel like blogging.

So here’s some things that I’ve made in the past little while:

I simply adore these colours! DP is Basic Grey (sorry, I must’ve thrown out the name of the paper); card base is SU Very Vanilla.  The stamp is from my stash, and is stamped in SU Old Olive.  Ribbon is SU So Saffron, and some paper flowers and a rhinestone brad.  I distressed all the edges and used some TH Frayed Burlap distressing ink.

A simple batch of mini note cards- they measure 3x3 and I used up the last of some awesome paper. I really love these colours together! Card base is Bazzil Truffle, I believe. It’s much more rich than SU Chocolate Chip…if paper can be rich.

I used some of my favourite Japanese handmade paper for this bridal shower card.  I’ve played a bit with this layout, as you can see from the birthday card above; it’s definitely a keeper!  Stamp set is SU Bloom with Happiness.

I’ve got a few custom orders to work on, some birthday cards and another project I hope to share with you soon, AND there’s a soccer game on this afternoon….so I better get moving!

Happy Saturday!

Ciao for now,

ps- all of the cards mentioned are available in my Etsy store!

Technorati Tags: A Paper Buffet,Etsy,handmade cards,birthday cards,bridal shower,note cards,mini cards,SU,Stampin Up,Bazzil,Basic Grey

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Texting part 2

Here’s another wedding card using the same Text paper and stamp set from yesterday; I think I like this card even better!

The layout of this card is very similar to yesterdays, but I didn’t add as many layers, and used the card base as the background. I really like the feel of the Kraft paper and the text, it feels very ‘shabby chic"’ and I think is very different from some other of my cards…but I love it! I don’t know if I’ll be able to recreate this feeling, or if it was just a fluke, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.

The great thing is that two cards will ever be alike because of the text on the paper.

It’s always more special to have something that’s one of a kind :)

This card is available in my Etsy store , which of course is the site to find all sorts of OOAK items!

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: A Paper Buffet,wedding cards,to have and To Hold,Stampin UP,Etsy,handmade,OOAK

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Texting

And not the cell phone kind…although I am a fan of that too.

I’ve always been envious of the effect that text, whether it be a stamp or a page ripped out of a book can add to a card.  I didn’t really think I could adapt it easily into my ‘style’ (which seems to change daily), but I guess it’s all about finding the right text.

I spotted this text-paper at my LSS and loved it immediately. Coincidently, all the text is about love, and I was due to make some wedding cards for the summer.  With a few coordinating pink papers and ribbons, I’m very happy with how the cards turned out.

Here’s the first one I have to share:

Isn’t that paper great?? the entire 12x12 is set up like a dictionary of various words and their meanings, with sayings in between some of the verses.

“Multiply it by infinity. Take it to the depths of forever and you’ll still only have a glimpse of how much I love you”

*swoon*

 

 

 

I used the SU stamp set “To Have and to Hold”, which is my go-to set for wedding cards, I just love it!  The main image of the bride and groom is larger, but I liked the way the small circle looked and the text was highlighted instead of the image.  All the paper is double sided, so the punched flowers show the reverse sides of the DP.  Some satin SU Pretty in Pink ribbon, rhinestones and some pink colouring on the bride’s flowers and it all came together quite nicely!

You can find this card at A Paper Buffet, it’s perfect for the summer wedding season!

Tomorrow I’ll share another card featuring the same paper, with some slight variations.

Happy Monday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: handmade cards,wedding card,bride,wedding,SU,Stampin Up,To Have and To Hold,pink,A Paper Buffet

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Father’s Day cards with Stampendous; Part 3

Hey friends,

sorry for the delay on more Father’s day cards, that darn job of mine keeps getting in the way;)

Here’s another card I made with the Father’s Day set from Stampendous, “Thanks Dad”.

This card uses the sentiment as the focal point, instead of the tie image that the set includes.

I really love this “Dude” paper from Paper Loft!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I roughed up the edges with a Tim Holtz paper distresser, then inked the edges with some SU Chocolate Chip.

 

 

 

I used SU Very Vanilla for the sentiment and found some BG buttons that matched the colour scheme perfectly, and ties into the circle pattern on the paper.

 

 

I’ve left the inside blank, and distressed the edges of the paper to match the front of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This card is currently available at A Paper Buffet.

Happy Thursday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: Stampendous,Thanks Dad,Father's Day,handmade cards,Father's Day cards,SU,Stampin Up,Basic Grey,A Paper Buffet

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Father’s Day cards with Stampendous; Part 2

Here’s another Father’s day card made with the Stampendous Thanks Dad set:

I used the Man of the House paper again, and the same paper piecing technique on the tie. Card base is Old Olive and….well, one of the blues, lol.  I didn’t look at the label, I just saw that it would match, so I’m not exactly sure, but I think it might be Brocade Blue.

I just love this paper!

I used the WRMK eyelets again and added some orange.

 

 

 

I stamped the sentiment on the inside, and this shot shows all the layering on the front.

 

 

 

 

 

This card is available at A Paper Buffet.

Happy Thursday!

Technorati Tags: Father's Day,Dad,handmade cards,A Paper Buffet,Stampendous,SU,Stampin Up,Happy Father's Day

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