Birthday card ....

... Hello!  I hope you're all enjoying your weekend!  I've been having a great time.  Kathryn has had her friend over for the weekend, which is lots of fun for her and me - I get to play in my craft room as they don't want me around!!  A win-win situation.  Sadly, Jonathan is full of cold and not feeling great.

I've been very busy working on various design team cards - you'll get to see them soon, but I did get chance to make a sweet birthday card.

Stamps: Dare 2B Artzy - Owl Miss You; Waltzingmouse - Half Pint Heroes, Crackle Background
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa; Stampin' Up! - Sahara Sand
Dies: Dare 2B Artzy - Owl Die
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copics; Stardust Pens

I think I've mentioned that I love owls!!  Recently I got some Dare 2B Artzy stamps from my local shop, and I found a few more on their website.  This sweet little lady was one of them!  I've used the colours from The Colour Throwdown - CTD#285 and the layout from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#129.  I made the vertical panel by stamping the crackle pattern in sand and cutting to fit the card.  I stamped the branch across the horizontal piece of card, coloured the leaves with Copics and added a touch of sparkle from a Stardust pen.  I coloured the owl with Copics, adding a touch of sparkle to the centre of the flowers and to the edge of her eyes, she has been attached with dimensional tape.  I finished the front with a simple sentiment which I bent slightly to follow the line of the branch.  The inside has been left blank for my own message.  This one is going into my stash.

That's all for now!  See you soon.

Card storage ...

.... Hello!  Earlier this week I mentioned re-purposing a recipe box that I'd made last year to store cards.  I promised a few photos, so here they are:

I removed the previous label, which read "From my kitchen" and stamped the frame on to white card, die cut it with the matching Spellbinder die and added a lock and key.  

Here's a close up of the label - it's very slightly blurred as I had to cover the image with matte media and because the inks aren't permanent, they moved a bit!  Still, overall it's fine.

For the inside I made some labels to cover the numbered index file dividers.  This really makes it much easier to find cards that I've made.  It also revealed some big gaps in my card stash!!  There are no Christmas cards in this box - I keep them in a separate box as, by the end of the year, I hope to have about 140 cards ready for dispatch.  For details of how I made the cover for the lid - check out the Friendly Feature on WMS Blog.

Next month is Jonathan's 50th birthday and we are having a big party for him.  I was originally going to have it based on a Dr Who theme; Jonathan is a big fan.  But when I was talking about invitations, Jonathan suggested a Hawaii Five-O theme.  I set about creating a logo based on the Hawaii Five-O TV show logo and I'm really pleased how well it turned out.  I used Publisher to create the invitation cards, double-sided the printing, cut them to size and then finished off the cards by stamping the surfer dude and an island on the reverse.  Here are views of the front and reverse of the invitation - I've blanked out the details.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - North Shore, My Island
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Island Indigo, Pool Party

The invites measure approx 4" × 5".  The main logo was created in Publisher and I printed it off several times to match it as closely as possible to Island Indigo - it's close!  I added the dashed border to help me when I cut out the cards.  On the reverse I printed all the party details:

Hopefully, by the time of the party spring will have arrived and the tropical Hawaiian theme will not be out of place!!!  For the next few weeks I'm going to be organising food, drinks, tables, chairs, tents and, of course, the cake!  I'll share photos of the party later.  Oh, by the way, here's the Hawaii Five-O logo:

I think I got quite close - the hardest bit was getting an O the right shape and size!  That's all for now - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

52CCT - Pick a previous ....

... Hello!  It's the fifth Saturday of the month, and that means we have a "Pick a Previous" challenge here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  we want you to check out all our previous colour challenges here, select one and make your card; don't forget to tell us which colour combination you used.  Here's my take:

 
Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Festive Flurry, Curly Cute, Delightful Dozen
Inks: SU - Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue; Versamark
Dies: Framelits - Festive Flurry
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue; Gems; Clear Embossing Powder

There's a story behind this card, but more of that later.  I used our April 2013 colours - navy blue, light blue and white.  I used the inlaid die cut technique on this card.  I made the base from navy card and cut a panel of light blue.  I die cut the largest snowflake out of the light blue card and then inlaid the stamped snowflake.  After securing the die in place, I adhered the panel to the card base.  I added a simple sentiment, which I stamped on white card and layered on navy.  I finished the front by adding lots of gems to the snowflake, in light and dark blues.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card, I adhered the pale blue die cut snowflake on to which I stamped the snowflake in pale blue.  I finished by adding a Christmas sentiment.  I also made a small vellum snowflake which I used to decorate the flap on the envelope.

Now, the story behind the card is that this was the second card I made.  I spent most of Thursday morning making this card:

Stamps: Papermania - Bauble Decoration; Waltzingmouse - Compliments of the Season II; Stampin' Up! - Delightful Dozen
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; SU - Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 29 (S5-156) #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Night of Navy; Double sided adhesive paper; Glitter; Copics

I stamped the bauble image onto white card and applied some double sided adhesive and then dipped it in glitter.  I spent ages burnishing the glitter into the card, it was really worth it as the card has a lovely shimmer.  Sadly, when I came back to the card after lunch I discovered bubbles where the adhesive had come away from the card!!!  You can't really see it in the photo above, but you can in the close up below.  I tried to cut a slit into the film and squeeze out the air and get it to restick, here's the result:

So, I made another card and I'm really pleased with it.  For more inspiration cards using previous colour challenge combinations, check out the cards from the rest of the team.  We are joined, for the final time, by our Guest Designer, Scraplady.  Do drop by and visit everyone and leave some comments, we all love comments!!  Looking forward to seeing your cards.

Bohek effect ....

... Morning all!  It's really dull, grey and wet here this morning, so I've the perfect excuse to stay in my craft room and play - at least for a while!  One of my favourite effects in photography is bokeh - where there is a blur on lights in the background of an image.  I've noticed that people are creating a similar effect in stamping.  Here's a card I made trying for the same effect, not entirely successful, but I like it a lot:

Stamps: Winnie & Walter - The Write Stuff: Love Story, The Big, The Bold & You, The Big, The Bold & The Happy, You've Got Love Mail, Big Bang Confetti
Inks: Brilliance - Aurora, Twilight, Peacock; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - London Fog; Stampin' Up! - Real Red
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder; Copics; SU Card - Pink Pirouette; SU Marker - Smoky Slate

I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#129 and the inspiration photo from Winnie & Walter's Playdate - W&WPD#1.  To create the bokeh effect I used the a couple of stamps from Big Bang Confetti, inking them up with Brilliance ink which has a lovely shimmer, and echoes the W&W image.  I stamped the journal style heart on to white card in grey and used words from a couple of sets to create the greeting; I added the kisses by hand. I cut out the heart and added a bit of definition to the edge by running a grey Copic around it.  I didn't want to hide the pretty bokeh panel, so I cut a panel of vellum and stamped the sentiment in Versafine and then heat embossed with clear powder.  I ran the vellum through my Xyron to make it self-adhesive, that way you don't see the adhesive!  I finished by adhering the heart with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut a mat panel of pink and stamped another heart with a greeting.  I've included a close up of the heart to show the pretty colours!

The image on the W&W graphic suggested family to me and, as it's our anniversary next month, I though I'd make a card for Jonathan.  We will be celebrating 13 years of marriage on 22nd April!!  The time has simply flown by.  I know I've posted this card early, and I know that Jonathan will see it, but he's terrible at remembering - so this is a BIG hint!!!  That's all for now.  I suppose I'd better get on with ironing - again!  See Ya!!

Simply the best ....

.... Good morning!  The card I'm sharing this morning is made with the recipe from Less is More - LIM#164.  The recipe has two parts, the first is to make a card that features three of something and the second is to visit at least three other participants (preferably somebody you've not been to before).  Here's the card:

Stamps: CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Wallflower
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Island Indigo
Dies: Spellbinders - Ovals Lg (S4-110) #4&5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Sweet Sorbet; SU Embosslits - Beautiful Wings; SU Card - Island Indigo; Gems

I really wasn't sure what to make for this challenge, there are so many gorgeous cards already displayed on the thumbnails.  Then, yesterday, I found these little butterflies and a large oval of the design paper on my desk - left over from a project I made in January!  I decided to cut an oval frame from the design paper, stamp a sentiment in the middle and added the butterflies and some gems.  The inside has been left blank for a message.  I think the hardest part of this was to make sure that then sentiment was centred and then make sure I didn't get any inky fingerprints on it!!  I do hope the Ladies like this clean, simple card.

I know that according to the calendar spring is here, but yesterday morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow.  This winter there has been 91.3" of snow in Detroit, just 2" short of the record.  I went out to clear the snow and play with my camera.

Here you can see the glow of sunrise on the rooftops opposite the house - such a pretty pink!  And the tyre tracks left on our drive after Jonathan left for work.

We have square paving stones on the path to the front door, and I like the pattern you can see through the snow.  

The sun is well up now - it's lost the pretty pink glow and is really shining - it makes the copper top on the pool house shine.

While I was pushing the snow off the drive, I noticed this pattern on the bricks of my neighbour's house.  The sun was shining on our downstairs windows and reflecting on the wall.  Super pattern!

This is me taking a break from shovelling, well in this case it was really more a case of pushing the snow off the drive.  You can see the half finished drive behind the tree.

It was so cold that all the trees were covered with frost.  I took lots of photos to try and capture the flaky frost - this is the best of the bunch!  You can see the leaf buds there too - hopefully they'll be opening up soon.

Finally, one more of the pattern on the wall.  The sun moves around quite quickly, so the pattern doesn't last long!

That's all for now.  I'm off to the hairdresser this morning to get my hair done.  See you soon.

Best of luck ....

... Good morning!  This morning's card came about because I've been re-organising how I store my cards.  I used to put them into a large box, but it wasn't working.  So I decided to re-purpose the recipe box that I made last year (and didn't actually put any recipes in) into a card storage box.  It's just the right size for all but the largest cards.  I've made little dividers so that I can easily find cards for specific occasions.  One of the sections that I have is for New Home, but it's empty, so this is what I made:

Stamps: Stampendous - House & Home; Waltzingmouse - Compact Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pool Party, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral
Dies: Lil' Inkers - Stitched Rectangles #2 & 5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Island Indigo; Brown Twine

It's been a while since I played along with CASology - CAS#88 and Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#34, and, as luck would have it, they have the same theme LUCKY/LUCK.  Did you see what I did there?  Sorry!  I've used the colours from CAS - Colours and Sketches - CASC&S#66.  My best of luck card is for moving into a new home.  I used the stitched rectangle to die cut a white panel and in the centre I embossed a smaller stitched rectangle.  I adhered the white panel to a dark teal mat, leaving a very narrow border.  I stamped the sentiment in dark teal.  I stamped a couple of house keys onto white card, fussy cut them, tied them together with twine and adhered them to the card with dimensional tape.  On the inside I have a mat layer of dark teal and on the white panel a simple greeting and another house key.

Yesterday morning I was checking through various challenges and saw, to my huge delight, that I'm the Featured Stamper at The Colour Throwdown with my very CAS birthday card - this one here:

I am thrilled to bits.  I love the clean and simply style of card making and I try very hard to achieve good CAS cards, sometimes it works and sometimes not so much!  But I did it with this one.  I think you could have heard my happy dance around the world :))  I think taking the Clean & Simple 3 class has helped a lot!!   That's all for now.  See you soon.

ASM - Holiday ....

... Good evening!!  So it's officially spring now, while we have blue skies and bright sunshine, the temperature still hasn't improved much, we're still below 0°C!!  However, it is time for our new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!  This week it's our Holiday theme - Christmas, New Year, Halloween, Easter, National Holidays - anything, so long as it is a holiday.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Winnie & Walter - The Big, The Bold & The Happy; Waltzingmouse - Nestie Eggs
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Rich Razzleberry, Soft Sky; Memento - Lulu Lavender
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #2 & 3; Die-namics - Highrise Alphabet Uppercase
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Vellum, SU Card - Soft Sky; Copics; Sequins

I need a few more Easter cards for this year, so this time the holiday was easy!  Easter.  I used the colours from this week's Dynamic Duos - DD#95, but had to adapt them a bit for the vellum as I didn't have any that matched exactly and the pastels that I do have were too pale to show.  I've been taking the online class Clean & Simple 3: One Layer Cards.  I've used the Copic colouring on vellum a technique that was demonstrated last week.  It is very easy to do and makes a very dramatic card.  I added a few die cut Easter eggs to the front and some sequins.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale blue, stamped a few more Easter eggs and a simple greeting.

For more inspiration with the Holiday theme, check out the cards from the rest of the team and from our Guest Designer, Anni.  Our sponsor this week is STAMPlorations and the winner will be getting a prize from them. 

That's all for now - I can't wait to see your holiday themed projects.  See you soon!

Steampunk daughter ...

.... Hi, just a quick post to show the scrapbook page that I made yesterday, and finished off last night.  I attended a class run by Valerie Brincheck called Collaging with Die Cut Scrapbook Page.  An all day class and I got to play with lots of Valerie's dies, border punches and stencils!  Here's the page I made:

I don't have the details of all the supplies I used, but I did get to play with lots of Martha Stewart punches - made the pretty edge on the brown paper and the lovely circle paper.  Lots of different die sets and some fabulous papers too.  The photo is one that Jonathan took of Kathryn last year when we attended a steampunk themed photo shoot.  Kathryn loved Natalie's hat and wanted to take it home with her, but we compromised on a photo!  I'm really pleased with this page, it was lots of fun to make and way, way out of my comfort zone!

That's all for now - off to another photo shoot today with the very beautiful Holli!  Sadly, I don't think many of those photos will be safe for this blog!!  Enjoy your day.

A thank you ....

.... Today I've a clean and simple thank you card to share with you.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Funky Feathers; Winnie & Walter - The Big, The Bold & You
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Coastal Cabana, Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand
Dies: WMS - Funky Feathers
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Soft Sky

I've used the soft, subtle colours from Colour Me Card Challenge - CMCC#12 and the layout has been inspired by Marion's card at MUSE - MUSE#59.  This card was also inspired by last week's Less is More - LIM#163 challenge to use either stencilling and/or masking, but this card is rather more than less!!!  I created the mask by die cutting the feathers and then sponging in the different colours.  After I removed the mask I stamped the actual feather using the same colour of ink.  I added a panel across the centre for the sentiment.  At the moment the inside is blank!  The Clean & Simple Card Making 3 class has been concentrating on techniques for one layer cards, and the masking technique is lots of fun.  However, this is not a one layer card!

That's all for today.  Jonathan and I are off to a photo shoot with the wonderfully talented Holli!  See you soon.