Oh Happy Day - SC81

Happy middle of June=only a few itty bitty days of school left!  Yay!  Who am I kidding?  No school means more kids home, which means no time for cardmaking!  But still.... it'll be nice.  No more keeping up with homework, signing agendas, alarm clocks and the like!  Oh happy day!

Which brings me to the reason you are here!  The middle of a month marks a new challenge at Stampin' Celebration!  Check out our versatile sketch!  I love it!

I originally was going to use it for a scrapbook layout, which you can see other DT members did, but ended up going with a pretty card!  I love this colour combo of Garden Green, Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral.... with a little Gold thrown in there.... although I cheated with the stitching and used More Mustard as I had no Gold stitching in my MDS.  Here... see what I did!

I'm quite in love with the end result and can hardly wait to see these for real!  I have plans to make an actual card with physical product like this as well!  Who knows... I may even pull out my sewing machine for the stitching!

Hope you enjoyed taking a look here... don't forget to click on over to Stampin' Celebration to check out the challenge and what the other inspiring design team ladies have created!  You have two weeks for this sketch challenge... hope to see you in the gallery!

xo Anita

Bugs and Kisses-HSSCC#185

Happy Victoria Day if you are a Canadian!  Today is a holiday, and so in honor of that, and in light of the fact that I am soooo nursing a ginormous head cold at the moment... I am gonna be super quick!  I had a teeny chance to play in my craft room this weekend and I played along at Hand Stamped Sentiments!  It's been such a long while since I played along at any challenge... I had a hard time getting going!  All this beautiful weather has not allowed me much time to "play"!  But I don't want to complain about the gorgeous weather either, so....

Here's my card for Hand Stamped Sentiments cool and fun color challenge!

Love this set from SU! for all my little itty bitty nieces and nephews birthdays... it's long retired, but I never let that worry me!

 

There's the colours the challenge called for... aren't they just so fun?  Love' em!  OK, I'll be back in a sec with one more card!

xo Anita

Nautical Inspiration! SC78I

Happy Thursday to you all!  And... it is May!  Just like that!  I love the month of May... soft spring mornings... hints of summer... the end of the school year is nearer!  Ahhh....

And because it's the first of May, the girls and I from Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge have a new challenge for you!  And what better to get you in the mood for those hints of summer... than this inspiration photo!  Love it!

And it's perfect because it seems like the whole nautical thing is 'in' right now!  For once I can say I am 'on trend'!  haha

Take a look at the card I made using this inspiration board as a starting point!  I used it for the elderly men's birthdays in my church last month.  

I really love this stamp.  What I love even more is that it's great for colouring.  I find watercolouring so relaxing.  I made about 6 or 7 of these cards, and it didn't take me long at all!  Love that!

So make sure you click on over to the Stampin' Celebration website, and check out the other design team member's awesome stuff!  Those ladies never cease to inspire me!  Be sure to get creative, link up your card or whatever it is you make, and we'll come by to check out your project and leave you some love!  

There have been a few changes to our challenge again.  Our challenges will no longer run for the whole month, but rather, we will have two separate challenges.  The first half of the month will be an inspiration challenge and the second half of the month will be the sketch challenge!  So, that means more chances for you to win, since we will be choosing a Pick of the Party twice a month now!  Great, right?  So what are you waiting for?  Get creating!

We'll see you later!  I know I said to come back today for a spring-y card... and it's not really a spring-y card.... so be sure to come back tomorrow for that!

xo Anita

CMCC#18-Celebrate!

Welcome to my last post as Colour Me..! guest designer. (sniff, sniff)  I have had so much fun this last month and hope I was able really inspire you to play along with the challenges!  I love challenges for stretching your creative mind.... making you do things you wouldn't normally do... in a good way!

Thank you very much Hayley and Tara for inviting me to be your guest designer for the month of April!  I'll definitely be back to play along!  I always love the colour combos you inspire us with!  And thanks for all the 'love' and positive comments from the rest of the Colour Me...! ladies as well!  We'll see y'all around!

Ok, now on to business!  It's the fifth week in April, so 'Anything Goes' at Colour Me...!  Choose up to five colours to make a project with, link it up, and list your colours in your post.

For this week, I chose some colours right off of the Colour Coach.  I used Wild Wasabi, So Saffron and Perfect Plum.  I also used Very Vanilla as a neutral. 

This card came together very easily... which was just what I needed.  I think I'm going to find some other pretty colour combos and make a few more of these!  Who wouldn't want to receive one of these spring-y cards in the mail?  I know I would!

OK, that's it for me.  Come back tomorrow to see another spring-y card!

xo Anita

CMCC#17-Happy Birthday

Good morning everybody!  Hopefully your week is going great!  Ours is an exciting one... my husband's 'baby' sister is getting married at the end of it, so those plans are pretty much taking over our lives at the moment!  I'll be grateful when it's all over and we can breathe again!  But in the meantime it is actually pretty exciting!  This is our last sibling to get married, and pretty much the only wedding that my daughters will really remember, so we're trying to make sure it gets enjoyed as much as possible!  And by that I mean new EVERYTHING, hair appointments, limo rides... the works!)  Which reminds me... I have to make them a card still... and for that matter figure out what gift they'll get!  Oops!

But in the meantime, the girls and I at Colour Me...! have another challenge for you!  This one is so much fun!  I just love these colours!  I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Here's what I came up with!

I used my Mosaic Madness stamp set and my SAMJ (obviously!) I could never have managed to do all that lining up with goofing up somewhere along the line!  So this is what I did... the top row, which is partly off the card, I double stamped with Pacific Point.  The next row I just stamped regular, which resulted in a little less intense colour.  Then Tempting Turquoise, Bermuda Bay, and Coastal Cabana.  The next row I stamped Coastal Cabana off once before stamping on the card, and the very last row, which is partly off the card and so light you can barely see it on here, I stamped off twice before stamping on the card!  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... I should be, I took forever doing it, making sure I would not goof up!!!  The die cut is from Memory Box... the Happy Birthday Tidings... I just cut all the little leaves and flowers and birds off to get just the words.  I stacked five of them on top of each other, coloured the top one black, used my clear Wink of Stella pen, and topped that with a coat of Glossy Accents!  I just love the shiny, wet look that resulted!

OK, click over to the Colour Me...! challenge blog to check out all the details and other FABULOUS cards from the other design team members!  I can hardly believe my time as Featured Designer is almost up... I'm so glad there are 5 weeks for April!  Yay!

CMCC#16-Wonderful You

Hi!  I'm back again with my Colour Me...! card.  We've got a subtle colour challenge for you this week!  Check it out!

Here's my card!

It's a pretty straightforward card really... I used the Inspired by Nature stamp set and stamped the flower full strength and the grass by stamping off once first.  I also used my little clear buttons from SU! (I seriously don't think I have EVER used them!  No lie!)  I punched a little heart out of cardstock and used some Glossy Accents to adhere them to the button and to the card itself!  Pretty cool, huh?!

OK, so go check out all the other talent on the Colour Me...! blog and play along with us this week!  I promise you'll love it!

Happy Birthday! CMCC #15

Welcome everybody!  Today I have another colour challenge from Colour Me...!  This is my second week guest designing for them, and I just love the colour combo they have chosen for this week!  So fresh and fun!  It reminds me of our week in Mexico last November!  Ahhhh....

At first I had in mind to design something in MDS using pictures from our Mexico trip... but I'm a little too busy designing something VERY COOL for my hubby's youngest sister's wedding.  And that is coming up in just over two weeks, so I am totally focusing on that in MDS.... and on nothing other!  Rest assured... I will show you when I can!

So instead of warm tropical vacations I have a bright flowery card for you instead.  Take a peek!

Isn't it a bright and cheerful card?  I only used the two colours from the palette, but I also did some second generation stamping to give a little background and depth to the flowers.  I also used the Vines EF from SU! on the Daffodil Delight panel, but you really actually don't see it much.  Oh well... it adds a little interest, doesn't it?  I agonized over what colour to stamp the sentiment in. Bermuda Bay... Black... Bermuda Bay... Black... and in the end I stamped it in Black because it drew my eye better than the Bermuda Bay, which just made it sort of blend in with all the flowers!  So there you have it!  A quick and easy card, but a beautiful one nonetheless!

I hope you'll click on over to the Colour Me...!  challenge blog, check out everyone else's beautiful projects, and then make some time to play along yourself!  You can find all the details here!

Thoughts of You - JUGS232, PP187

Today I played along with the gals over at Just Us Girls and also The Paper Players!  JUGS had an awesome colour challenge perfect for spring, and to combine with the clean and simple challenge from the Paper Players!  

I love my finished card.  The colour combo I used of Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight and Pool Party was just beautiful!  So fresh and fun!  I made my own background paper by randomly stamping stamps from the Petal Parade stamp set.  I had a card saved in my files where someone did that, and I loved the idea.  I am trying to get more mileage out of the (many) stamp sets I have!  I have no idea who to credit though, as the picture wasn't watermarked.

I finished off with a sentiment from Loving Thoughts on a white banner, and anchored that down with the mosaic punch, a linen thread bow, and a couple butterfly punches.  I topped those butterflies with a little 'bling for spring' and called it a card!

Seeya later!  xo Anita

You're How Old? FMS127

Hi again!  This is my second post today, so I'll be quick!  I wanted to show a quick and easy card I made using the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches!  I used washi tape for the horizontal panel, and a stamp and matching die cut for the vertical one!  Lots of white space is certainly out of my comfort zone, but I LOVE the finished result so much, I made three of 'em using other washi tape I had.  Take a quick peek!

I think this one using the brushed gold cardstock and gold ink is my favourite!  So simple and easy, but so beautiful!

Here's the sketch I used!

And here's the other two cards I made using the same sketch... now I have a few on hand!

Just by changing the colour combo it is so easy to change the entire look, making it perfect for an adult, a little girl, or whoever you please!

OK, seeya later!  My in-laws are taking our two oldest girls and two other cousins to Vancouver Island next week for a couple days, so hopefully I'll be able to get in my stamp room while it's a little quieter around here!  We'll see!

xo Anita

SCIC#76 Sketch Inspiration

Ahhh... how I love Spring Break!  Today is of course still Saturday, but in my mind I am now officially on my two week Spring Break!  No school till March 31!  Yay!

Today also marks the new sketch inspiration at Stampin' Celebration!  See what I made!

I felt like some spring colours, and went with a bright, fun combo I've never used before!  The card base is Strawberry Slush and the embossed white panel is matted with Smoky Slate. LOVE!  Some Coastal Cabana and Crushed Curry ribbons, finished off with a couple Bermuda Bay flowers!  I seriously whipped this card up in 20 minutes from start to finish!  

Here is the sketch.  You can check it out and all the other DT members inspiring samples over at Stampin' Celebration!

Speaking of DT members... we are thrilled to have two very talented ladies join our team.  Let's give a warm welcome to Heather North and Lynda Day.  Definitely go check out their blogs by clicking their names.... they've got talent!

OK, so now it's your turn to get your creative juices flowing, and play along with our challenge!  You can either use the sketch, or the photo inspiration from the 1st of the month, or even a combo of the two!  Let's see whatcha got!  Bring it on... cards, 3D projects, scrapbooking, digital, hybrid.... whatevah!  Have fun!

Oh, we do have a couple changes to the challenge... you'll get sneak peeks of the challenge and projects the day before a new one comes up and the challenge is also open for a few days longer than before.  So... get creating and link up your stuff before the end of the day on the 27th!  We love to see your stuff!

Happy Birthday to You!

So... no more rain... we didn't get that much after all... certainly not enough to melt all our snow.  But we did get ALOT of sunshine and awesome warm temperatures which took care of almost all the snow anyway... so we're all happy here!

I've got another birthday card to show you today!  I really love this one.  It's perfect for that man in your life!  Take a look!

I used Brushed Gold cardstock  and also used Gold EP.  And the other 'golden' idea I had was to colour some rhinestones with my gold Sharpie! Oh, I also used my colour spritzer tool with my gold Sharpie... it worked perfectly!

Here you can see a bit more of the detail.  I really have to do heat embossing more often, it can pack a real punch!  The part of the First Edition DSP I used was all about kangaroos... which is perfect, because my husbands family is from Australia!  I know my father-in-law will really like that!

On this last one I coloured pearls with my gold Sharpie... and I think I like it better than the rhinestones.

Here's one more card that I made... totally different, but using the same stamp set.

This one is really bright and fun in real life.  Well... hope you've enjoyed my cards today.  We'll see you tomorrow!

xo Anita

His and Hers Birthday Cards!

Good morning!  Over the weekend here we had some snow... quite a dumping for us... but compared to what the eastern parts of the country have gotten, it was pretty paltry I guess!  My crocuses and daffodils looked VERY CHILLY poking their heads through the snow!  In any event the rain has begun and  the snow should be gone by tonight... tomorrow for sure.  By Friday we will hopefully have about 12 degrees (Celsius!)  Nice!

So, while we wait for that to happen, I'll show you a couple other cards are CASEd.  I made both boy and girl versions of this one.  I used some washi tape on these.. and I can't remember exactly, but I think the solid blue one is from the $ store!  It matched Pacific Point EXACTLY!

This one is actually exactly the same, although I changed the sentiment on it.

Washi tape definitely makes cards pretty quick and easy when you use it!  It sort of felt like I was cheating somehow!  I also used my colour spritzer tool (retired!) to add some subtle interest to the white background.  Instead of the Mosaic Punch, I used the Elegant Butterfly Punch with Gingham Garden DSP.  The washi tape co-ordinates perfectly with it of course!  And to finish it off, I coloured some pearls with a pink Sharpie!  Perfect!

OK, I'll see you tomorrow hopefully with some more card inspiration!

xo Anita

I'm Back!

Yes... after a few weeks hiatus... I am back!  It actually felt sort of nice to just focus on a few other things for awhile.  I was doing some crafting, but not a ton... mostly design team projects.  I do have a lot of cards to show ya'll... ones that I made during the Christmas break of all things!  And the last few days I've finally had some time to really get back into it again, so there are a few more recent ones.  I won't show them all in one post... my computer would probably crash!

Let's get started!

I STILL had some Sweet Pea Stitched Felt Accents from a couple years ago.  I decided to stop hoarding that now was as good a time as any to make some pretty cards and use up some retired cardstock at the same time!  They're pretty simple cards.  Some of them are personalized with a monogram for some of my nieces birthdays.  They all use pretty much the same colour combo and  I used a variety of current and retired supplies, which is pretty much the norm for me anyway!

Check them out!

This one I cased from somewhere, something... but seriously, I made this in the Christmas break, so I couldn't tell you anymore who or what!  To be honest I can't even remember what punch I used for those leaves!  (although it must have been the Build a Blossom punch!) 

This one was for my niece, Anna, who turned three a few weeks ago!  You might think this isn't a very fun card for a three year old... but she's a real little lady!

You can see I'm using up some of my Old Olive grosgrain ribbon too!  That stuff just seems to last forever!  I used my Cloudy Day EF on this one, and it was VERY cute when all was said and done!

 

Surprise!  (for me!)  This one was for my daughter Carlye who turned 9 in January, but I forgot I even had this till right now.  I totally gave her a way different birthday card!   And there are no other nieces whose names begin with "C".  Oh well, there's always next year!

And this last one was sent off to Katie, another niece, who celebrated a birthday at the beginning of January!

Don't you just love the way they all turned out?  I was pretty pleased with my morning's work!  Yes, these all took me just one morning to make!  That's what happens when you use the same group of supplies to make a lot of different cards... you get efficient!

OK, that's all for me for right now!  I'm going to try to get some more cards up here for you... because believe me... there are plenty!  Seeyou later!

xo Anita

Wonderful You - JUGS#222, CMCC#2

Mr. Brown came to the door yesterday with a big ol' box of goodies for me... so I sat down to play this morning.  I turned to the JUGS sketch challenge and used the fun colour combo at Colour Me...!

I used the Happy Watercolor stamp set and the Decorative Dots Folder from my box of new goodies and then the Loving Thoughts stamp set from the SU! catalogue.  Oh, I also used my new triangle punch for something.... can you tell what?  I flagged the ends of my sentiment banner with it!  This works even slicker (is that a word?) than the square punch does!  Perfect!

Check it out!

I used my embossing folder on a piece of vellum!  Love that look!  For my sentiment, I heat embossed with white powder on a Marina Mist banner!  I also scored and folded the banner so that the middle part would be popped up a bit off of the card!  Really pretty!  The colours on here are not nearly as vibrant as they are in real life... unfortunately it was a rainy day, so my lighting wasn't the greatest and I had to use the flash:(  

My card turned out just beautiful, and I can't wait to see who I will send it to!

Seeyou later!  xo Anita

Happy Birthday... again!

Hello!  A few more cards again using that same birthday stamp as yesterday.  It's such a cute stamp image... and would totally be suitable for anyone's birthday... a child, man or woman!

Have a great day today!  xo Anita

Happy Birthday!

 Hi there everyone! Happy Wednesday to you all!

I hope you are not getting bored with these cards... I'll be back to having time to make cards again soon... hopefully!  Although, we all do know what December can be like!  Eeek!

Seeyou tomorrow!  xo Anita

Congratulations!

Happy Monday!  You came back for more cards!  Yay!  I'll be quick and to the point... Monday's always a busy day anyway, let's get it started!

These two cards use the 'congratulations' stamp from the Occasions stamp set from the Everyday Occasions Card Kit.  They're so pretty, aren't they?

xo Anita

Helloooo???

Gaaahh!  It's been one of those weeks again... I was busy, busy, busy with... you know... various!  None of it crafty or of the card making variety either!  Sooooo.... I got out that handy, dandy Everyday Occasions Cardmaking Kit that I originally thought I would not need.... and managed to make a card here and there in between all my wifely, motherly, school-related duties this week!  

Now... next week looks like it will be a non-crafty week too.... so, I plan to show you the cards from this kit over the next few days!  I know.... you may think it boring... but please hang in there!   

Here's a few to get us started!

These little notecards are just perfect for a quick little "hello" or "thanks".  The "happy birthday" one is adorable, no?  Be sure to come back next week to see some more of these.... and hopefully I will be back soon with my "regular programming"!!!

Thanks for stopping in!

xo Anita