Hello There!

I made this card on a base of Crushed Curry, which was a previous In Color, then retired and is now back in the Regals collection.  The ribbon is non SU! but matched perfectly. 

MDSM19

Hi everyone!  I feel like I am emerging from underneath something here!  Why ever did I think that summer vacation would mean I would have more time for my "fun work"???  I have been cleaning and organizing and chucking and keeping for the last three days.... and now while I wait for my youngest to be done her nap so I can do grocery shopping, I am finally on this black box!  Although, I must admit, all the things I have been doing in this house the last few days, have been sorely neglected the last while, so it feels good to be doing them now!

Anyway, on to what you are here for... I played along with the ladies over on MDS Monday for Heidi's challenge.  It's a fun sketch and worked perfectly for the pictures and event I wanted to scrap.  Our trip to the Vancouver Aquarium... or rather the subsequent playing on the beach and playground!

Here's the sketch...

To incorporate this layout into all three of my girls' albums I simply imported the layout into each of their albums and then changed the pictures according to whose album it was.  Gone are the days of me making three of virtually the same layout and taking forever doing it!  Love. it. so. much.

Here's my scrapbook page... I'll show you the one with pictures of SarahLynn on it.

I chose to use labels as my "shape" on the side of the page.  They reminded me of tickets (and the first one is!) and, you can't see it in these pictures, but this playground was in the shape of a boat, so I figured tickets were the right choice here.  We had a lot of fun watching the real boats and barges in the Vancouver Harbour that day.  The girls collected seashells (albeit dirty, broken ones!) and tried skipping rocks.  It was a beautiful spring day spent with family!  Good times!

Don't forget to click on over to the MDS Monday blog to check out what everyone else has made.  There are some gorgeous samples to look at.  Get inspired to play along yourself!

Welcome, Little One!

CASEd this card from Carrie Gaskin.  A little embossing on this one as well.

Celebrate Today

Ahem, some fussy cutting on this one!  Not my favourite activity!  Cute card nonetheless!

Happy New Baby

I created this card for SarahLynn's birth announcements.  Yes, I made over 90 of these.... why do you ask?  They were actually not a lot of work.  I did everything in batches... and for two weeks the kitchen island had all the supplies on it while I worked in snippets here and there.  A pile of ribbon cut a 6", a pile of the top note dies, a pile of punched circles, etc... interesting... it certainly was fun!  Needless to say, we did not have a Christmas card sent out that year!

(I think the ribbon might be contraband!)

Masculine Best Wishes

This card has a lot of layers and small details... all worth the extra time.  Sponging, paper piercing, curling the edges, the brads, etc.... all come together to create a gorgeous card.... for a man, no less!

Ice Cream Parlour Birthday

A cute and fun card for a kids' birthday.  Made a few more of these with variations of different DSP and stamps from the Animal Stories stamp set.  Bright and fun!

SCIC67 - Mid-month Sketch Inspiration

I finished another layout for my girls' scrapbooks.  This one is from this spring when we visited the Vancouver Aquarium with some family!  I used the sketch from the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge as my starting off point.  Isn't it great?

I found a template in the Downtown Grunge Photobook that I used as the base of my page.  From there I added a few things from various downloads.  The blue strip of 'water' in the background is actually from the Lemonade Stand kit (recolored to Pacific Point) as are the 'wavy' stitches on top of it.  The ribbons on the bottom are from all different downloads.  I found that the Pacific Point taffeta ribbon was actually a different color than the paper, so I recolored it again to Pacific Point to make it a little more vibrant.  The red color is matched from the inside of the kayak!

In order to get the same shade of that red every time... I finally got smart and after I 'picked' it I saved it to my favourites so I could get the exact colour every time!  I'm sure I am the only one who hadn't thought of that yet!  

Thanks for looking!  I had a lot of fun doing this layout.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!  Happy scrapping!

DD57, FMS91 - Inspired By Nature... Again!

Today's card features the Inspired By Nature (retired) stamp set from SU!  I played along with the Dynamic Duos  classy colour combo for this week's challenge, and paired it up with the sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches.  Putting them together was easy.  I also added the Dynamic Duos 'dessert option' of a 'plant theme'.

Take a look at my card...

Stamps:  Inspired By Nature

Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz

Other Supplies:  Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Thanks for looking!  Leave me a comment, letting me know what you think about my card.  I love hearing from you!

Extreme Birthday

Easy peasy card.  I churned a few of these out when I needed to get a bunch made for various nephews birthdays!  I should like to try these in girlie colours.  I think it would be great!

Happy Day To You

Super easy card again using the oh-so-useful postage stamp punch and square punch.  This picture doesn't really do the card justice at all.  It is definitely a CAS card with BIG impact!  It is absolutely beautiful in real life.

FM114, CCMC256

Today's card features a new-to-me technique.  The brick wall!  I've seen this technique before, but never really felt like trying it... too lazy I guess!  I was spurred on to try it at The Friday Mashup!  Their challenge this week was a sketch or the brick wall technique... or a mashup of both!  I went with the colour challenge at Create With Connie and Mary.  It's really beautiful!

 

I chose to mashup my challenge and do the sketch along with the brick wall technique.  It turned out perfectly using my CCMC colour combo as well.

Since I don't know yet what I will be using this card for, I went with no sentiment, instead opting to use a row of pearls.  I stamped my main image on First Edition DSP, and after cutting my 'bricks', I sponged them all with Early Espresso ink, mounted them on Very Vanilla, which I adhered to some Island Indigo DSP for a tiny border, and then finally adhered to Early Espresso CS.  I used my Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch for a tiny peek of Island Indigo at the bottom.  Using my Early Espresso and Summer Starfruit markers to colour my image was a cinch and couldn't have worked out any nicer.  I love the look of it stamped on the First Edition.

Thanks for taking the time to look!  Leave me a comment.... I read and appreciate each and every one of them!  Have a great day!

For You

Hi Mom!  Another gorgeous card for today!

MDSM #18-Let's Emboss!

I finally was able to get a little scrapbooking in this weekend.  I'm so glad school is almost out... everything will get a little more relaxed, and I'll hopefully be able to squeeze in a little more creating time!

I played along with the card sketch challenge (including faux embossing) at MDS Monday.  I love my chevron embossing folder in real life... so I figured I would try it on a digi scrap layout too!  It sort of reminded me of crimped hair... and since this layout was about Carlye's curly hair... I went with it!

Here's the sketch...

Here's my layout!

Funny story about this 'girly's curlies'.  When she was a baby... she had VERY curly hair.  Up until a year or so ago, it was still very curly, but it was getting too long and tangly, so we had her hair trimmed.... and that was the end of the curls.  Carlye was not sorry to say good bye to the tangled mess, but now and then she still wants to be 'pretty', so we get the 'pink curlies' out.  Her cousin Nathan used to call her.... Curly Carlye Krul... and in Dutch (our background) the name 'Krul' means 'curl'!  So Curly Carlye Krul it was!  

So, anyway... thanks for looking!  Enjoy your week.  Don't forget to check out all the beautiful projects the Design Team created...get inspired to make something yourself!

Fresh Vintage Birthday

Another Dawn Olchefske CASE maybe?  I think it was from her.  This was another card I gifted to my mom (in-law).  I did use an old greeting stamp from PSX I had from way back in the day when I first started stamping... like 10 years ago?  It was in my girls' craft box, but then I took ownership of it again, when I saw them use it on something, and I realized what a pretty stamp it still was!  Sorry girlies!

Color Throwdown #246, The Paper Players #150

My card today is for two challenges.  Click on over to the Color Throwdown blog to see their awesome colour challenge #246, and then check out The Paper Players and their Bring on the Bling challenge #150.  

                         

 Honestly, I really find it a challenge to do two challenges at once.  I get sort of involved with the one and then the other isn't really working out, I forget something, or the whole card just isn't turning into what I have pictured in my head.  It's sort of stressful actually!  But with this card, I didn't have that at all!  At first the colours were giving me fits and I felt like scrapping the whole card, but suddenly I just seemed to pull it all together.  Then I looked at it and I loved it, but it still seemed to need just a little... you know.... something.  Pearls!  And then I remembered this challenge!  Couldn't have been more perfect really!  So that was that... and I love when that happens... and this card is just so gorgeous, I am entirely pleased with the way it all came together.

Here's the finished product, which I will give to a very special lady whose birthday is on Friday.  I hope she likes it.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and let me know what you think about my card.  Have a great day!

Postage Stamp Birthday!

The card for today was so fun to make.  And super easy too.  Hello?  Postage stamp punch, anyone?  This card was another in the set of cards that I CASED from Dawn Olchefske.  I used up a ton of teeny weeny pieces of paper making this card!

Freshly Made Sketches #90

I had some time to make a card this morning, and my starting point was this great sketch I found on the Freshly Made Sketches blog.  That, paired with a beautiful colour combination I spotted on page 105 in the new SU! catalogue, made my card come together surprisingly easy!

Here's the sketch for this week!

 

I started my card with a base of Summer Starfruit, did some very subtle spritzing on the background (so subtle in fact, that now that I see the picture, I see you don't even notice it... but it is there!) and layered some Comfort Cafe DSP and Night of Navy CS.  I stamped my vintage bicycle in embossing ink and used some Pool Party embossing powder to add a little zing.  In retrospect I wish I would have done that part a little different because the Pool Party is a little light against the white doily, but it still looks VERY pretty in real.  I finished with some Pumpkin Pie ribbon and a couple of Pool Party buttons and VOILA! a really, really nice card in not too much time at all!  The colour combo is stunning in real life.  I think I will try it on one of my next scrapbook layouts.

Here's my card...

Thanks for taking the time to look.  Have a fabulous Friday... and hopefully a restful weekend.  My husband is taking part in a local Father's Day Fishing Derby with our oldest daughter, so I am home with the two youngest.... and plan on making lots of cards and doing some scrapbooking... maybe  of the fishing derby photos!  We'll see if they catch anything!

Everyday Enchantment

Another Dawn Olchefske CASE.  This card is absolutely gorgeous in real life.  I made this for my mom (in-law) for her birthday. (Not her birthday card, but in a set of cards that I gifted to her!)

Celebrate, It's Your Day!

I CASEd this card from Dawn Olchefske.  I had it saved in my folder for a long time before I ever got around to making it, so don't have a direct link, but with some searching on her blog, you could probably find it!

Love this card... and I was done in a snap too!  For the flower over the bow, I simply cut my Lace Ribbon Border Punch up to get individual flowers.  For my flagged banner ends, I used my square punch.

Dynamic Duos #56

I made this card using the colour challenge from the Dynamic Duos blog.  It’s a beautiful, classy combo.  I decided to create a thank you card using it, and it turned out so gorgeous and elegant.  I am in love with the final result.

Here’s the challenge…

                               

 

Here’s my card.  I used a few things that I hadn’t even had a chance to try out yet, so this card was a lot of fun to do.  With school almost out, I will hopefully have more time to sit down in my ‘office’ and ‘work’, and give all my goodies a good workout!  I CASEd this card from the new catalogue.  The general layout was the same, I just turned it on it’s side, changed the embossing folder, stamped sentiment, colours, and embellishments… and had my card!  Put like that, the end result really looks absolutely nothing like what I was originally inspired by, but nonetheless, that is how it came to be!

So... here's my card...

I absolutely love it.  When I told my husband to 'look at the card I made'... he looked... and then looked again!  That's something!  He's so used to 'looking', but this time he really 'looked'!

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and take a 'look' of your own!

Happy Day To You

Another fun, easy card to make using the very first stamp set I ever bought from Stampin' Up!... Fun & Fast Notes.  My goal is to go through my (many!) stamp sets and use all the stamps there are to use!  With so many stamp sets, it's easy to forget about some and use my favourites.  That's my goal anyway, we'll see what happens with it!

Friday Mashup... On Tuesday!

I really wanted to play along with the Friday Mashup this week.  I've been meaning to do something with hexagons, but my crafting time is pretty short these days, so I quickly sat down this morning and created this fun card, while my youngest was napping.  I CASEd the layout from Ilina Crouse, a fellow demo.  I wanted to include those hexagons, and make it girly, so I changed it up a little to suit my needs, and it worked out perfectly.

Here's the challenge from Erica over on the Friday Mashup....

1. Create a project using "Hexagons".
2. Create a "Girly project".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Girly project using Hexagons".

 

 

Here's the card I made...

I used Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, and Bashful Blue for this card.  I got my colour combo off of my Colour Coach (the retired one)  I embossed the background DSP after adhering them together.  They definitely get a little 'distressed' looking after you run them through the embossing folder.  I like it though!  I used my SAMJ to get the clouds and strings and streamers 'just right'.  The button with the twine bow is the finishing touch.  My niece will be getting this card in the mail.  She's turning 15 in a couple weeks!  I can't believe it.

Thanks for looking!  Don't forget to click on over to the Friday Mashup blog, check out what everyone has made, and maybe even play along yourself!

Bunch of Baby Cards

This card was a CASE from my upline Carrie Gaskin.  I loved it so much when I was done, I made it in a few more colours for my sister who had ordered a bunch of baby cards.  A little labour intensive and definitely not CAS, but a beautiful card worth the work, when all is said and done.

 

These cards are again made with all SU! products except for the odd button or ribbon!  And depending on the post office... those buttons or pearls may make them non-mailable!

SCIC #67

I've been busy doing some more scrapbooking!  I can't believe I am almost 'caught up'!  It worries me a little... not to be caught up, but that I might run out of things to scrapbook!  I'll just have to make sure we start taking MORE PICTURES!

Anyhoo... enough gabbing.... on to what you are here for!  There was an awesome inspiration picture over on the Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge blog, and of course I played along.  I simply cannot resist.  Click on over to see the challenge for the month of June and what the awesomely talented design team has made to get you going.  Maybe you'll be inspired to play along yourself!  It's so fun!

Here's the inspiration photo...

I was definitely loving the argyle pattern, and recolored a Frosty Day DSP to a gray color for my background.  Of course after all was said and done, I remembered that I had a background stamp in an argyle pattern as well, and would have certainly used that, but too late... I didn't want to start over!  There's always another layout!

I did go with the colour scheme of grays and yellows and based my general layout on the 'sunshine when skies are gray' theme using some adorable pictures of my two year old with one of her sunny smiles!  She's such a happy little girl.  Just listening to her laugh can seriously make you laugh yourself... but she's not perfect... she's two after all, and we all know what that can mean!

So here's my layout...

Thanks for looking!  Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to click on over to the SCIC blog and maybe even get inspired yourself.

Have a fabulous week!

Happiest Birthday

 Love this card.  It is so pretty and feminine.  A little more work, but the reward is good. 

3 Card Set

These have got to be the cutest little cards in the West.  The finished size is... I cannot remember!  Maybe 3x4 or so?  Making a little set of cards like this is a great way to use up little pieces and strips of leftover paper.

For the first one I used the Cheep Talk stamp set and my SAMJ to get the perfect placement of flowers on those branches.

This one below uses the Bugs and Kisses stamp set.  Used the SAMJ on this one too.

And for the third one I used the Cheep Talk set again.  And the SAMJ!

For all three cards I used a base of Bermuda Bay which was one of the In Colours then, and is now back in the SU! Brights collection!  Love it!

One Sheet Mini Book

Today I have a little mini book I've made.  The finished size is a little bigger than 3x3.  The directions to make this can be found on Dawn Griffith's blog here.  She has a short video explaining how it's done.  It's pretty easy.... and so pretty!

I changed up the colours and a few other little details.  This is mostly SU! product, but the ribbon is non-SU! and the punch is from EK Success, a 3" scallop circle punch.

It's such a neat little book for just about anything and now that I am seeing it again I think I will make a few more!

MDSM17

Finally got around to finishing this layout and posting it here.  Like, I said, the month of June is getting in the way... of my fun work, that is!  In any event... here we are.  I played along again with all the great talent over at MDS Monday for the MDSM17 challenge.

Here's the challenge sketch... which included the challenge to attach your text to a shape!  Would you believe I didn't even know you could do that?  When I journal within a circle, I actually go back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth checking and changing words until I have it all perfectly centered and just the way I want it!  Yeah, I know, right?

                                      

Here's my layout...

I have to admit... this layout drove me a bit nuts.  Not only am I in the dark about the text in the shape thing, but did you know that when you mirror a punch and then fill it with text, your text will be mirrored?  Um, hello?  Who thought this up?  So, after doing my expert back and forth thing, trying all sorts of tricks (to no avail, btw!) I discovered that if you sign in to your program as an administrator, you can EDIT PUNCHES... including making your own, and then saving them under Users.  So that's what I did in the end.  I opened the Oval Bubble Punch and switched the little pointy thing to the other side, saved it under my own name... and now my dad can do the talking!  Maybe I am the only one who did not know about this "mirrored image" business... but, seriously?!?!  

I really wanted to use some new in colours, but only have cardstock, no DSP or embellishments (yet!) so I did the run-around.  I filled a 12x12 layout with a DSP layer, recolored it using the colour picker, (I used Melon Mambo to get Strawberry Slush) then exported it to my pictures as a .jpeg file.  THEN... I put my flag punch on my layout and chose to fill it with a photo, using my MM turned Strawberry Slush photo!  

I absolutely love this colour combo of Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, and Strawberry Slush.  It's so fresh and vibrant and tropical-looking!  I also love this picture of my dad and my youngest girlie... she is listening so carefully (and adding her two cents when it suits!) and she loves to have stories read to her, which is one of my dad's main jobs around here when he and my mom visit!  

Thanks for another great challenge, MDS Monday ladies... have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday!

I haven't been on here for A WEEK!!!  June is a busy, busy month here, what with school winding down, sports days, year end shows, recitals and if I am not going with one of my kids on a school trip, I am driving for a different one!  So, hopefully I'll get a chance to do some "fun work" over the next few weeks and keep up with cards and scrapping. 

I CASED this card from Mary Fish, a fellow SU! demo.  It uses the new (then!) in colours and a sentiment from the Create-A-Cupcake stamp set.

I made this card back in my early days as a SU! demo, so there's still a little contraband on here!  The ribbon just matched the Calypso Coral so perfectly, I HAD to!  

It was such an easy and quick card to make, despite all the little circles... that's what punches are for!  The hardest part was figuring out where to score my card folds!  Cute card, no?