Monday 30 January 2012

Sketch Birthday Card

This week's challenge at the Less Is More blog, is to create a CAS card using their sketch. And a few rules:

"We would like the card to be
  • rectangular
  • in landscape orientation
  • with the band remaining in a vertical position 
As it's a very simple sketch,  we would like it to remain as is without any rotation of either the card or the vertical band."
 This is another card, where I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I saw the sketch. Here is my card for my Masculine Card Monday:




Exactly as the sketch!  Tree and grass dies by MFT. Word stamp by Gina K. Cloud stamp by Hero Arts.  I found in on clearance and just KNEW it would come in handy. I also used a 4 x 6" card, rather than an A2 and a rainbow ink for the sentiment. The card is a textured, and a very pale grey. Nice for a change!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Felt Snowman Trio

I had to dig out my studio, so I spent Friday evening doing just that.  There wasn't a square inch of area that wasn't covered with STUFF, and it was driving me crazy.

In tidying up one pile, I came across 3 felt snowman stickers. And I remembered the latest sketch at the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog. 



The blue snowflake paper was in the same pile, so this card came together really quickly! (Sorry for the blurry photo above - I was using my phone as we were in a hurry to get out the door).

The sentiment is by Papertrey Ink. I finally caved and placed an order with them as I love their stuff  but not their shipping costs. However -- sometimes you just have to swallow the shipping. Then to my surprise, they refunded me $10 on the amount. Yeah!

Since Jasper ate my favourite Merry Christmas stamp, I thought it was time to find a new one. This set comes with a Merry Christmas as well as the Happy Holidays.

One more card for my 2012 Christmas Card stash!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday 26 January 2012

Butterfly Aperture Card

Here is the challenge this week at the Less Is More challenge blog: 
Onto this week and it's theme time, we have chosen

"Cut it Out"

For this we would like to see some kind of hole or aperture in your card!


Hmmm.

Sitting on my stamping area was the pretty white embossed square card, tied with green seam binding. It was a sample I made for our daughters invitations when I thought they were going with green. I LOVE the Stampin' Up colour Pear Pizzazz. Love it.  Anyhow - I decided to use it to make my card for the challenge!


I used a Martha Stewart anywhere punch to punch a butterfly shape out of the folded card, then a scrap of music printed tissue (Tim Holtz) to back the window.



I cut panels of Pear Pizzazz and white textured card stock and mounted them inside the card. 


I stamped a music score inside the card in Momento Bamboo ink, inked the punched out butterfly with the same ink, and added 3 flat stickers  to the center before popping it up with foam tape.

The word stamp is by Gina K.
***EDITED to add, that this card also qualifies for the challenge at Flutter By Wednesday's blog, which is to use embossing on your card as well as a butterfly, angel or fairy.

I'm probably not going to post much in the next couple of days. I'm not getting into my studio hardly at all - I've had this card done since Sunday - because I'm busy with appointments, errands and other things related to the upcoming wedding.

Oh, and VET visits. But I think we have our Brandi girl on the road to recovery now. The vet wanted her off her pain medicine (arthritis) since it was starting to affect her kidneys. She also wanted her on a special food - and I am NOT a fan of the foods that is for sale at veterinarians. However, wanting to do what was best for Brandi we gave it a shot. Not only did Brandi refuse to eat it after the 3rd day, it upset her stomach. Badly.

The pain medicine must be very powerful, as a week off of it and she had deteriorated so much it was like she'd aged 3 years that week. She was wobbly at her back end, and in obvious pain. The new meds were doing nothing to help her and she could barely make it up the stairs. In fact, she couldn't make it up in one go, she needed to stop and regroup before she could continue the rest of the way up.

Tuesday, the vet agreed that she needed to go back on the Metacam, at a much smaller dosage, and we will supplement with another pain med. Today Brandi can go up the stairs without needing to stop, and her wobbles have all but disappeared. 

Now we work on the food issue.  Ahhhh the joys!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Heather's Loom Knit Hat

It's time for another Warm & Wooly Wednesday here on my blog ... and today's share is the hat I made for our eldest daughter for Christmas:


I used a bright green soft organic cotton twisted with a blue/green acrylic yarn. It turned out so pretty!


The top of the hat is tapered (by moving the loop on every third peg to the peg on the right) and I added a crochet flower to the hat for a fun accent. The green textured button came from Michaels.

Remember the Infinity Scarf I started earlier this month? Here is a peek at it on the loom - it's coming along nicely! Hopefully I'll be able to share the finished project next week.


Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Black and White Butterfly Card

I decided to do the sketch from the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog this week, in black and white.  Since I had that pretty paper stack out anyhow.  :-)

Here is my card, followed by the sketch:



Like I did for yesterday's card, I used 3 different sparkly patterns from the paper stack (by MME) and they were all scraps! The scalloped border was cut with a My Favorite Things die, and the butterfly & circle punches are by Stampin' Up.


I added some flat silver stickers (Stampendous) to the center of the butterfly, which was popped up onto the circle with foam tape. The circle was also popped up. Ahhhh, foam tape. 


The papers were repeated inside, and the top white panel has a pearlized line running across the bottom. I will add the verse or stamped words to the inside when I know who is receiving this card. Because there is no sentiment on the front, it can be used for several different occasions. The card itself is 5 x 6.5" so it's a nice big size.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday 23 January 2012

Black and White Birthday Card

The challenge at the CAS-ual Friday's  blog this week is:

CFC36: Create a Clean And Simple Project that is only black and white.
*no other colors will be allowed-not even a speck*

While I do have a card to share for my "Masculine Card Monday",  I'm going to save it for next week. Last week I missed the deadline for the CAS-ual Friday's challenge and I don't want to do it again this week. Here is my first card for the 'Black And White' challenge.


When I read the challenge I immediately thought about this wonderful paper stack by My Minds Eye. It is full of black and white SPARKLY printed paper! 

It also seems to be a never-ending paper stack as I have made many cards with it and barely made a dent in the stack. I made 3 cards yesterday - all of them using just scraps from the paper stack.


 This card is 5 x 6.5", and uses 3 different black and white patterns. The label, oval and scalloped border dies are all by MFT, and the word stamp is by Gina K. It's hard to tell from the photos, but I used foam tape to pop up both the oval and the label cuts.

I didn't add a flower or any other embellishment, since the card is supposed to be CAS (I'm pushing the envelope a little on this one) and with all the sparkle I thought it might be over the top if I added anything else.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunday 22 January 2012

Doily Christmas

Even though I am tired of Christmas by now, I made several Christmas cards using bits and pieces that were left on my stamping area. I wanted to get it cleaned up and the Christmas stuff put AWAY for a few months so I will be sharing these over the next few weeks. Slowly - no one needs to look at Christmas card after Christmas card at this point in the year! This one is going into my stash for next year.


The doily (MFT die) was a test cut,  the snowflake with the gem was sitting there waiting to be used on something since it didn't work out for the card it was created for, and the striped and blue swirly paper scraps seemed to work well together.


The word stamp is by Hero Arts - it came in a set of three.  I added touches of glitter glue, since I find it very hard to do a Christmas card without BLING. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Saturday 21 January 2012

Row of Birdhouses Card


There is a new sketch at the Clean and Simple stamping blog, but I didn't have a chance to get anywhere near my studio yesterday. I may not get in there until next week, so today's share is an older card from my files.

I loved these Art Impression stamps when they were first released (years ago) and have a little collection that I still like to pull out and use. This one was coloured with pencils with light touches of glitter glue. I used foam tape to pop up the layered panel onto a confetti A2 card.


Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday 19 January 2012

Two Sketch Cards

I liked Friday's sketch at the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog, and actually had a chance to play in my studio yesterday.

Here is my card, followed by the sketch (FTL178):



I wanted a CAS card to send to the little boy in Sri Lanka that we sponsor through World Vision and this sketch was perfect. Also, since I missed my 'Masculine Card Monday' this week, I'm happy to have a masculine card to share with you. You could easily swap out the sentiment for the fellows in your life.


The tree is a My Favourite Things die, the scalloped border die is by Papertrey Ink, and Sizzix makes the Hello die.  It actually cut's as Hello Friend, but I trimmed the 'friend' part off. I still have some scraps of that wonderful polka dotted kraft paper from Jillibean Soup. and I like the fun look it gives the tree.

When I checked out this weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays, it is to use scallops on a CAS project. So I'm entering this card in that challenge too! (CFC35).  **EDITED.  Well, the challenge closed yesterday, so I guess I missed that one.

Then I realized there was NO stamping on my card. None. And one of my New Years Resolutions is to stamp more. So ... I quickly made another card using the sketch.

All stamped.  :-)


I quickly checked this weeks challenge at the Less Is More challenge blog and - it was for a One Layer Card.  What? Could I be lucky enough that this card would work for that too? No -- on a closer look, the card was to have a bird on it. Bird not butterfly. Ahhh well -- I really wanted to use this butterfly so I'm happy with the card.  I'll be able to write a quick note on it when I send Sue her February 1st package.

Butterfly and words by Gina K, I don' t know who makes the border stamp.

I also started what I hope will be an Infinity Scarf on the Baby Afghan loom I shared yesterday. It's amazing how a stitch here and a stitch there comes together into a whole row, and then another and another. It feels good to be knitting again!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

New Loom!

My daughter gave me this loom for Christmas - it's a regular gauge Baby Afghan Loom from DA Looms. I have been itching to try it out since I opened it, and I decided to make something - anything - as knitting a row here and there will help keep me calm and focused in the busy weeks ahead.


The yarn came from a little yarn shop in Canmore (Knit and Caboodle) so I'm going to look through my patterns and see what I can come up with.


I'll keep you posted on my progress on another of my "Warm And Wooly Wednesdays".

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monday 16 January 2012

Wedding Invitations

Well it's just been a week since the wedding date was chosen, and the invitations went out in the mail today. I did get all 27 finished on Friday, but wanted our daughter to check them before I stuffed the envelopes. They came by on Saturday night to finalize some more plans and to address the invitations.

Now my daughter and I have very different taste, and we are doing this wedding on a budget. She wanted something SIMPLE with nothing - NOTHING - fancy or fussy on the invitations. In her mind, fancy includes foam tape, and you know how much I like to use my foam tape!

However, they liked the whimsical bride and groom cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge, so I was able to cut them out using my Cricut. Easy Peasy.


Getting the fine cuts off the new mat though, NOT so easy!


However, with some perseverance and a Cricut Spatula that I kept cleaning with baby wipes - I had success.


In the interest of keeping costs down, we decided to use things from my stash ... and because we were only making 27 invitations, we were able to do just that! Hmmm, does that mean I have a ton of stuff to choose from?  ;-)    They chose the background papers, ribbon and design, and the embossed invitations themselves were cut down using extra's from our eldest daughter's wedding. I cut them to 5" square so they would fit in my wonderful 5.5" envelopes. 

 

The ribbon is knotted, because inside they wanted it to read K*** and N*** are tying the knot. I computer printed the inside panel using their choice of fonts, on textured white card stock and attached them inside the invitations.

We have the venue, the menu, the officiant, and the photographer booked. My daughter bought her wedding dress yesterday, and I found my dress last week. The flights are booked for out-of-town guests, and lots of other little details have also been looked after. It's amazing what we have been able to accomplish in one short week.

The bride-to-be doesn't mind if I make wine bottle hanging tags, and I have them all figured out in my head. But we have to wait to find out of the venue will allow wine bottles on the table before I start. 

I wonder if I'll be able to use foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by today.


Friday 13 January 2012

Snow Bird Card

The wedding plans are really coming along, and I hope to finish up the invitations today. While the (simple) hand made invitations are really a formality, they are still important to all of us so we are going ahead with them. Everyone on the guest list has been contacted by telephone, a handful by email, and only a few have previous plans for that day. With any luck, our daughter will find her wedding dress at the (very conveniently timed) Bridal Fair this weekend, but in a pinch she could wear my dress as it fits her beautifully.

Today, for my Fancy Card Friday - I have the card I sent to Sue for January 1st.  (For my new followers, Sue lives in a different city than I do, and the first of each month we pop something in the mail to each other.)

I wanted to make a shaped card, and use this sweet bird die so came up with the 'Snow Bird' idea"


LOL - the card isn't as tiny as it looks in the above photo. The envelope is 5.5" square, and the card fits easily in it but not a ton of room to spare. The snowflake is a Sizzix die and it a little too big to fit on an A2 card, so that will give you an idea of the size.






Dies, crumpled tissue paper, stamps, glitter, Nestabilities, buttons, embossing folders, inks, satin ribbon and foam tape all played a part in coming up with this. It was a blast to make, and I'm so glad I had it finished and in the mail before the wedding date was announced!

Thanks for stopping by today - have a great weekend.

Tuesday 10 January 2012

There's Going To Be A Wedding!!!

Not just a wedding, but a wedding in a month.  Our daughter and her  new fiance don't want to spend a year planning and thinking about a wedding - they'd rather be married for that year. So - that's one month to put together a full wedding for 50 people, and after starting our plans yesterday morning we are well on our way. However, I am going to put pretty much anything non-wedding related aside for now. I will pop into the blog to post things every once in a while as time allows, but if you don't see me it's just because I'm a little busy. Just a little.

Meanwhile, since it was done - here is my card for the Less Is More challenge this week, which is to use the colour PURPLE on your CAS card. While the colour looks fairly pink in these pictures - it really IS purple.


This is a larger card, 5 x 6.5".  The purple patterned paper was in my scrap bin and I thought it would be a good time to use it.


I used my Nesties label dies to cut the fancy labels, and the word is by MFT - stamped in eggplant dye ink. The butterfly punches are by Martha Stewart and since there was already lots of foam tape I didn't want to add gems to the butterfly. Instead I added dots with my Sakura gel pen and it shimmers and shines in the light.

Thanks for stopping by today - wish me luck with the planning and creating!

Monday 9 January 2012

Chipboard Deer Birthday Card

Pinterest.

Love.

What a Beautiful, Inspiring, Fun and Interesting way to WASTE TIME ON THE COMPUTER.

I received my invitation to the site before the holidays, but didn't have time to even look at it. Then I couldn't figure out how to pin things onto my own boards. Ha! I have it figured out now and I'm making up for lost time. I don't think I would have gotten off the computer last night, had I not been falling asleep sitting up. Crazyness.  It's wonderful.

Our soon to be Son-In-Law's birthday is coming up, so today's Masculine Card Monday share is his birthday card.


The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays (CFC34), is to use CHIPBOARD on your Clean And Simple card. I had this deer in my Christmas chipboard pack and thought it would make a great embellishment for a man that enjoys a break from his urban life to be in the mountains.


The pictures look yellowish, because the card base (5x7) really is yellowish.  The top layer is Antique Linen (PTI), punched with the ticket corner (Stampin' Up) and edges inked. The words (Hero Arts) are copper embossed and then a piece of twine was added to up the masculine factor.


The patterned paper panel is by the same line (Northcountry)  and is added to another piece of Antique Linen with a torn bottom edge. The pattern on the deer is the same as the patterned paper, on a smaller scale.

Here is a look at the inside, and you can see all the layers of foam tape on the front of the card. I love my foam tape!


Now, I'm sure I can squeeze in a few more minutes on Pinterest before I have to take the dogs for their walk.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunday 8 January 2012

Christmas Card Challenge 2012 - January Cards

Once again I signed up to make 5 Christmas cards a month for the Christmas Card Challenge 2012 at Splitcoast.  Here are my 5 cards for this month.


The background paper panels are very sparkly - sorry for the bad lighting with an early morning photo. But the sparkle is SO pretty!


The trees themselves are cut out of a really heavy green pearlized card stock - and they shimmer and shine when the card is turned.




The sweet little label die is by Verve, and the word stamp is by Stampin' Up .  I tried drizzling glue onto two of the trees, and covering with Martha Stewart glitter. I don't really like the effect, so won't be doing more of them. But they are OK for these two cards.


Finally, a big sparkly snowman to finish off my 5th card.  The die is by Sizzix and it comes as a set with the die and a swirly embossing folder in the snowman shape. I didn't use the folder for this guy though, since the paper itself is sparkly and was so heavy it would probably just crack if I embossed it.


He was cut from heavy REALLY sparkly white card stock, and then I stamped a Peachy Keen snowman face with Momento black ink. Colour added with Copics. I cut just his hat from black card stock and wrapped it with bakers twine (SU) before attaching, and then added little brass embellishments with brads to resemble buttons. The branch is a (fabulous) Memory Box die from Impress.   Background paper by Prima, and the finished card is 5 x 6.5".

Thanks for stopping by today!