Moving on Up

I had run out of things to make cards for. I have no upcoming birthdays to make a card for, there are no other events happening with my family or friends that requires a card for the occassion, so I was going to make a few blank cards and just keep them in case of emergency.

However, just my luck I got a great excuse to make a card. A friend of mine just got an awesomely awesome promotion at work. She moving up in the world and I'm so happy for her because I know how hard she works and how much it really means to her especially after a bit of at trying year. So a Congratulations card was in order

I have seen all kinds of cards people have made using flowers out of paper. I think it was from a PTI challenge but I'm not entirely sure on that. I decided to try my hand at making them. I had a bunch of scrap paper that had a bit of a shimmer to it so I thought that would be perfect for the flower. Once I had chosen that it basically led to the card having a purple theme.

I think it turned out really nicely. I like the layout and the colour scheme and the flower didn't turn out too badly either.

Paper: Recollections cardstock

Stamps & Ink: Inkadinkado Congratulations; SU Elegant Eggplant

Other: Dashes Dots and Checks purple velveteen ribbon; Recollections Bright Mini Cirlces Brad; SU Scallop Border and Circle Punch

It's that time of year....Birthday invites

I'm busy brainstorming about birthday invites for kid #2. Her 2nd birthday is coming up in about a month. I need to get on the invite bus and start working on these things. I have a pretty good idea what is going to be going on in terms of stamps, paper choices etc, my problem as always is what kind of silly poem to put on the invite to tell everyone that its her party and she's turning two.

The theme is going to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The kid loves this song. When I say Loves, I really mean LOOOOOOOOOVES this song. She sings it probably 700 times a day. The hard part, try to rhyme star with two. It just doesn't work.

If anyone has any suggestions, help a girl out :)

Deja Vu

About a week ago I sat down to make a birthday card for my BIL. I knew I was going to have to use cupcakes because its really the only birthday like stamps that I have. So I just needed to come up with a design. I had remembered seeing an awesome birthday card last fall sometime that had four small cupcakes on squares. So that's what I decided to do.

I love the American Crafts Paper. So that's what I set out to use. Once I picked the paper I found the contrasting colours to layer. Of course I ended up going with Orange and Red again, as they are my go to masculine birthday card colours (I really need to break out of that rut). I also decided I wanted to use a little ribbon accent across the bottom. I have had this AC ribbon FOREVER and have never really been able to use it, but I think it goes perfectly with this card.


So I look at the finished product. I keep looking at it and thinking I've seen this card before having massive Deja Vu. And well I went on a search to find it. I knew I had seen it and I found it. I basically stole this design from my awesome friend Emily over at Art From the Heart. She makes the best cards, so Emily if you read this sorry for stealing your design but take it as a compliment :) I have no creative ability at all and you clearly do. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Paper: American Crafts Giddy; Canson Red; PC Primary Orange
Stamps: Inkadinkado Birthday Cupcakes
Other: Martha Stewart Markers, American Crafts Ribbon

One Track Mind (a late valentine post)

Sorry this is a few days late. I can't lie, I didn't have a busy weekend, the exact opposite actually. I had my entire weekend free. The kiddies went off on a mini vacay with their dad to visit Grandpa and Grandma and I was left alone in sheer quiet bliss. I got so lazy I couldn't even drag my butt downstairs to get on the computer to post my Valentine cards.

So here they are. I made them days apart (actually two were made two weeks apart). So I didn't even realize until I had them all lined up to take pictures that I clearly have a one track mind. This time it was all about ribbon and bows running along the botton 1/3 of the card. Everyone got a bow on their card this year.

I didn't take note of the papers or anything when I made these and well now I can't be bothered to go back and figure it out. What I do know is Card #1 used Verve's Hundred Hearts set, Card #2 was some random heart stamp I had that probably came from the bargain bin at Michael's, and Card #3 used Pink Cat Studios Sweet Treats. The first card was for the husband, the last two were for the kiddies.

Cooking up some Cupcakes

I always find it really difficult to make masculine cards. I'm not sure if its just because I'm a girl, my kids are girls and I'm surrounded by pink all day long, or what. I have a hard time picking out colours, sentiments, you name it. Its always a big conundrum for me.

I need to make two birthday cards this month, that both have to be masculine. So I decided to do sketch #53 in my Joy of Cardmaking book. Its a fairly simple sketch that I thought could easily be done with solid colours. Solids are the easiest for me to go with when I have to make a non-girly card.

So I decided to go with bright happy colours. I chose yellow as the base of the card and layered it with orange. I decided that I couldn't do the entire thing out of solids because it just didn't look right so I threw in a striped paper as well.

The only non-girly birthday stamps that I have that don't involve flowers, fairies or princesses paraphernalia are cupcakes, so that's what I had to go with. I decided just to stamp out three simple little cupcakes and colour them in colours that complimented the striped paper.

I think it turned out alright. I'm not particularly happy with the white backgrounds of the squares (there is a hint of yellow behind them) but I tried a few other colours and they just didn't look right either, so white was the one that looked the best of the worst.

I was also going to have my first go at sewing on a card for this one, but got lazy and didn't feel like dragging my butt up to the sewing machine, or fooling around with the tension. So it stayed simple as simple could be.

Excuse the picture as always. Taken in the basement on the floor. Its the best I could do today :)

Paper: Starfish & Dreams Spiked Punch, Paper Co Festive Orange & Sunny Yellow

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Birthday Cupcakes; SU Big Bold Birthday

Other: Martha Stewart Markers Tropical Sun; Daffodil; Lovebird; Cornflower meadow

A Trusted Old Friend

I have a friend who is about to pop any second. Her due date was last Thursday and she still has no signs of going into labour. She's scheduled for an induction on Friday, but you just never know if baby will show up sooner. I'm such a horrible procrastinator that I left making a congratulations/welcome new baby card until after her due date, but I thought I have to get it done before her induction date.

I decided to go back to an old stamp set that I haven't used in ages. SU's A New Little Someone. I love this set, but I haven't had the chance to use to for almost two years now. None of my friends have had a baby in that time. I figured it was time to pull out the bunny and put it to work.

As per a post I made a long time ago, I followed a sketch in my Paper Crafts Joy of Cardmaking book. Its Recipe 42 on page 102 of the book.

I know that the baby is going to be a girl so I wanted to go with something that was pink, but also wanted to add in a few other colours. So I chose a striped paper that had some other muted pastels in it. I used the colours from the striped paper to choose the colours for the bunny as well as the other accent papers. Of course I have no idea what any of the papers are because I always forget to write them down or the paper doesn't have the info on the paper itself as it was some part of a block of paper, so your guess is as good as mine.

I also decided to give the bunny a little 3D effect. I think it kind of sucks, but what can you do. I'm not sure I chose the right parts to make 3D, but I've learned for next time.

I also think my colouring technique still really sucks. I'm not sure its all me though, I'm sure part if it is the markers I'm using, since I kind of cheaped out on them, but I can't justify spending more money on markers nor do I have the time to learn how to perfect the colouring technique required to use ones like copics. So this is what you get.

I think it turned out alright.

Back in the swing of things

Since christmas I haven't had much time, or I just haven't been around to do any cardmaking. Of course Christmas and new years is always crazy and hectic with family stuff, and then we were away in Hawaii for a few weeks. But I'm back and I've been doing a little cardmaking. I just need to take some pictures. February appears to be a fairly busy month for my little hobby. I have a couple of birthdays, of course Valentine's day, a friend who is due to have her baby any second (not only do I need to make a card but I need to get the old sewing machine out and get on my little sewing project for her), and then I have to come up with and design a birthday invite for Kid #2's second birthday.

Things have been dead on my blog for a long time, but hopefully I won't get super lazy and I will actually have some things to post.