You're Sweet!

Me, oh, my! It's been pure torture not having any crafting time the past two days. Normally I will craft while my son is napping and he usually naps for about two hours and wakes up happy. The past few days he's been taking extremely short naps and waking up hysterical and very upset so I've had very little time to do much let alone craft. He's finally napping well again today so I have a quick card to show you. Yay!

This is for the CAS73 Challenge, Jen's Signature Line Colors which are similar to Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie. Did someone say pie? ;) I used Betty Baked a Pie which is a Pink Cat Studio digi that was released last Thanksgiving. Isn't she the cutest? I love her and find her suitable for many different occasions, not just Thankgsiving! After all, we love to eat pie all year-round, right? Yum. :) {You can see a few more of my samples here and here.} The sentiment is from Sweet Treats. I coloured in Betty, popped her on to the card, attached two strips at the left and rounded a corner on the right. That's it!

See you tomorrow for a very exciting new Pink Cat Studio digi release! Tomorrow is also the day I announce the winner of my blogoversary candy who will receive the bundle of ribbon shown on my sidebar as well as PCS goodies of their choice!!

Sources: SU Bashful Blue & Certainly Celery cardstock; AC textured orange cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Itty Bitty Betty Baked a Pie; Pink Cat Studio Sweet Treats; Memories Black ink; Copics; SU 1-3/8" circle punch; Glue Dots pop up relief

True Friend

I hope you all had a great weekend! I wanted to craft yesterday but it was dreary and rainy so we ran all our errands and I didn't have any time for myself. This morning was quite the opposite and my husband took our son for a bike ride so I was able to get some crafting done. :D

This card is for Etsy Inspired Challenge #94 which is to be inspired by the Etsy shop Sand Box Studio. Last night I was staring at my "E" sticky note pad and wondering if a card made with those colours would look good. They seemed a little extreme. Then I saw this bag in the Sand Box Studio shop and BAM! that was all the inspiration I needed. What an awesome bag!

I love bags, especially reusable ones for shopping, and I can never have enough of them. ;) I only used a teeny bit of purple (unlike the note pad), and added bright yellow and dark brown just like on the bag. The dark brown is most likely black but I decided on dark brown to keep it earthy. Since there was an owl, I just had to use my new Unity set again. See? Endless inspiration!

There is a tiny bit of purple in the dp and that moon is my way of dragging myself out of a dp rut. LOL The larger owl's pink heart wing is popped as are the owls themselves. I used a spooky Halloween tree die to create the branch the owls are standing on. I just cut some of the branches off and turned it 90 degrees. I'm not sure why I never thought to try that before! Since I love that little row of leaves from Fly Free, I had to use it at the bottom of this card to complete the scene. This may be another one of those cards I can't bear to give away... but I will... to a really awesome friend. ;)

Sources: SU Ruby Red cardstock; AC textured cardstock; Basic Grey Indian Summer Acorn dp; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; QuicKutz house & tree die; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU 1-3/8" circle punch; Forever in Time pop-dots

Today, I Thought of You... My 25 Followers!

Happy Friday, everyone! Are you all gearing up for the weekend before the long weekend? I'm sure you've all heard about the craziness going on here for the G20 Toronto Summit this weekend. It's pretty much a ghost town here in the downtown core. Since it appears that most people left town to avoid the chaos, I just can't imagine anything happening so hopefully it'll be a quiet and peaceful weekend. I could sure use it!

Today I'm showing you a card made with Fly Free, my first set from Unity. What I love most about the set is that the large images and sentiments are so easy to pair up. I don't think I could go wrong making anything with this set! I think it's going to be a lasting source of inspiration. I stamped the leaves/butterfly section of the tree in Kiwi Kiss and the trunk in brown. I stamped the top part of the tree again in teal and brown and selected different butterflies to attach to the tree for some dimension. After I stamped the two-piece sentiment, I added Diamond Stickles to the white dots on today for a bit of sparkle. Lastly, I sponged the edges first with Summer Sun followed by Kiwi Kiss.

Thanks to Smita Kakhotia, I reached 25 Followers today which means my July 1st blog candy will include Pink Cat Studio goodies!!! The rules for the drawing of the prize can be found in the original post or this reminder post. Now, I must note that there are some beautiful comments from ladies who have not added themselves as a Follower and since I'm a stickler for rules, if you're one of those ladies and you are chosen I will have to choose someone else for the prize. Please make sure that if you've left a comment for the drawing that you've also added yourself to my sidebar. Thanks so much to all of you who read my posts and have made blogging so much fun for me this past year! :D

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; SU Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun & Taken With Teal inks; Memories Artprint Brown ink; Ranger Diamond Stickles; SU crystal effects (to adhere butterflies)

Pink Cat Studio ~ Jun 24th Digi Release!

Welcome to a perfect summer release from Pink Cat Studio! These images just take my breath away and I can imagine using them for everything which is pretty much what I say every week. LOL I'm not lying though. Just look. Here I combined Owl on the Moon with my new Unity stamps and the CAS72 challenge.

My son loves it so much that he kept hooting at it and...

...he ended up bending the owl's left ear as he pulled the card, quick as lightning, completely off the table while I was photographing it! If you see a crease in the close up photos you'll know why!! I can't help but laugh every time I look at this picture with his blurry little hand flying at my card. LOL

I'm not sure what I love most about this card - the owl, the composition or the bling - but it really makes me happy. I'll probably keep it forever or at least until the little guy gets hold of it again and destroys it. :)

Here are some older cards I made with the Billy and Lily images released today. My snorkelling Billy cards were made by frankensteining Billy with Lily before there was a snorkelling Billy digi, but now I won't have to do that anymore thanks to this week's awesome release! He's been quite popular with my customers. ;)

As noted above, Lily with her inflatable ring is free today with any purchase from the Pink Cat Studio rubber or digi stores!! As always, thanks for enjoying this week's release with me. For more eye candy, be sure to visit the other DT blogs on my sidebar. Have a wonderful day!

Sources: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Owl on Moon; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; Memories ArtPrint Brown ink; Vivid Red ink; SU Summer Sun & Taken With Teal inks; Copics; Forever in Time gemstones; Forever in Time pop-dots

Enjoy It

Okay, I admit it. I have a new addiction and its name is Unity! This is my very first Unity stamp set and I'm already head-over-heels in love with it. It's so beautiful. I got it in the mail on Monday which means four days is the fastest any U.S. company has shipped me stamps. Thank you, Unity!! I dreamt about this set all night long so I just had to ink it up this morning. Isn't it beautiful? Sigh. It makes me so happy. :)

Oh, and guess what? I discovered that the Unity kits fit nicely inside the plastic boxes Papertrey Ink ships their stamp sets in! Even better, Unity has already printed their cover sheet in the perfect size for folding straight into the box. Yeehaw.

Sources: SU Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; Vivid Red & ButterScotch inks; SU Summer Sun, Garden Green, Brilliant Blue & Elegant Eggplant inks; Memento Rich Cocoa & Tuxedo Black inks; Forever in Time pop-dots

Blog Candy Reminder

There are only 10 days until my blog candy draw and I wanted to remind you all that you can make the prize even greater. As stated in my original post here, I only need 25 Followers to add some Pink Cat Studio goodies! As of today, I have 21 Followers which means I only need four more for that to happen and I know you all want PCS stamps in addition to all that ribbon!! All you have to do is tell some friends. ;)

From the original post: I wanted to share some joy! I don't know why I have so much ribbon seeing that I hardly ever use ribbon on my cards. I got a hoard of ribbon from the sweet owner of Clippopotamus and a lot of it will never be used but I know that someone out there in crafty blogland will figure out a way to use it! So in honour of seriously blogging for one year and winning a guest designer spot with Splitcoaststampers' CAS Summer 2010 design team, I'd like to offer you a chance to win all this ribbon! There are 24 loose strands, some of which are several feet long, plus five brand new spools. All you have to do is become a follower of my blog (add yourself to the link on my sidebar) and enter a comment at the bottom of this post.

If I reach more than 25 followers by the time I randomly select a winner on July 1st (Canada Day), I'll throw in some Pink Cat Studio goodies of your choice with a value up to $15. (This means you can select one large rubber set, two mini rubber sets or three digital images with a total of not more than $15.) If I reach 50 followers, I'll throw in double the amount of Pink Cat Studio goodies. (Same rules apply.) Sound good? What are you waiting for then?! Become a follower, leave a comment, then tell all your crafty friends so they can share the joy! :D

In order to qualify for the random draw on July 1st, please remember to leave a comment in the original post here and don't forget to add yourself to my Followers link on the sidebar. Thanks for playing and good luck to everyone!! :D

Things I Love About You, Baba

This is the Father's Day card I made for my son to give to his Dad. Please see this post for the significance of Baba. Lately my son has started saying Babby and we're not sure if he's trying to say Daddy but he'll often say, "Babby? Bobby? Babby?" Just hearing his little voice makes us smile and when he says it repeatedly, it just makes us laugh because it's so darn cute! Speaking of cute, I normally make that sort of card for my husband but I lost my mojo after making three other Father's Day cards. Sigh. I probably should've made my husband's card first, eh??? I had way too many ideas running through the old brain and ended up making this rather odd-looking card. I crumpled up the torn paper before attaching it to the twill. Then I sewed the cord together at one end and separated at the other on purpose to create visual interest. I haven't a clue what my sewing machine was thinking! ;) This card didn't turn out as well as I had hoped and I didn't have the time nor energy to make another. Oh well. My son traced his hand on the inside so I know my husband will like that part at least. LOL ;)

Sources: SU Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured cardstock; PTI Top Ten & Top Ten Additions; PTI Outlines Alphabet; SU Kiwi Kiss & Taken With Teal inks; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One; QuicKutz Epic Six; random twill ribbon; Darice hemp cord; SU tearing edge; Gutermann cream thread; sewing machine; SU 1-3/8" circle punch

OLW9: Good Times

This card is for Susan Raihala's One-Layer Wednesday 9: Flourishes and it's also my second card for WPlus9's Color Cue {5) Challenge.

I mentioned in this post that I accidentally chose the colours from the WPlus9 challenge but now I'm totally obsessed with this colour combination! This card uses three new stamps: (a) A Bit of Burlap, my first from Ippity, (b) Scooter by Imaginisce that I've had for a while but hadn't inked up yet, and (c) Polka Dot Basics II that I haven't found a use for 'til now. I did a bit of masking where the scooter is but the rest was pretty random. I don't know if you can tell but this card was a lot of fun to make! :)

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory; Ippity A Bit of Burlap; Imaginisce Scooter; PTI Background Basics: Text Style II; PTI Polka Dot Basics II; PTI Fancy Flourishes; HOTP Tiny Words & Images; SU Kiwi Kiss & Taken With Teal inks; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Vivid ButterScotch ink

Happy Father's Day³

This Father's Day card is for my Dad. Every summer, my Dad tends to a huge flower, fruit and vegetable garden and there are usually enough melons harvested in the fall to last through the entire winter. He's now 81 and still working away happily on his garden. It's amazing! Most of the flowers in my Dad's garden are purple or yellow and this is the reason I wasn't afraid to create a pretty floral card for my Dad who's coming over tomorrow for dinner. The huge flower is made from the two sizes of hearts punched from Heart Prints, then crumpled to make it look more realistic. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the end of your week!!

Sources: Bazzill Basics textured yellow cardstock; Provo Craft Slab IV dp; PTI Heart Prints; PTI Fancy Florishes; PTI Background Basics: Text Style II; Verve Father's Day; SU Elegant Eggplant, Garden Green & Summer Sun inks; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; EK Success medium & large heart punches; Forever in Time button; Offray ribbon; Glue Dots pop up relief

Pink Cat Studio ~ Jun 17th Digi Release!

It's another Pink Cat Studio digi release and this week's images are going to have you running to the PCS Digi Store... hopefully! ;) Check out Billy and Lily in their raincoats and umbrellas. They're adorable and perfect as we leave spring behind and head into summer. Not only that, can anyone resist the kids in their rock 'n roll gear? I can see these images being used for so many occasions... except maybe Christmas. On second thought, they could totally be used for Christmas cards! Just imagine giving someone Guitar Hero, Rock Band, a guitar or music lessons as a gift!! Oohhh, okay, I better stop. LOL

For my sample this week, I chose Lily the Rockstar because she's so stinkin' cute and the guitar is one of those instruments I really want to learn how to play. I've been in a dp rut for a long time now and really wanted to use up some of this gorgeous Basic Grey paper so I based my colouring around it. The challenge was to keep my card CAS while highlighting Lily and the awesome sentiment You Rock! I remembered this Halloween card by Amy Rysavy and thought it was the most original idea. I'd never seen anyone else do it so here I am revamping it for Lily the Rockstar. After I tore up the paper, I brushed my Pink Pirouette ink pad against the torn edges. Then took my white gel pen and added a border along the edge for definition. Finally, I added some rhinestones and I was done!

Truth be told, if you have Dress Up Billy, Dress Up Lily and Lily and Billy Accessories, you may think...why purchase these? Melissa has redesigned them so they're slightly different plus easier to use if you're constantly creating rainy or sunny day and rockstar kids. Now you don't have to stamp and cut out four different pieces each time...unless you want to, of course! Plus if you make a purchase today, you get fabulous Lily and Tweet Holding Flowers free!

Thanks so much for stopping by! For more inspiration, be sure to check out the rest of the DT blogs on my sidebar. Have a great day and see you again soon!

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Basic Grey Urban Prairie Petticoat dp; Pink Cat Studio Lily Rockstar; SU Pink Pirouette ink; Copics; Uniball Signo Broad white gel pen; Forever in Time gemstones; X-acto knife

Happy Birthday, Girl

This is my card for this week's Splitcoaststampers' CAS71 Challenge, Things That Fly. With so many options, my first instinct was to pull out Butterfly Dreams again. I hope you don't get tired of seeing me use it! The last few times I used the set, I was thinking about how I could use the uber plain outline butterfly. Today it dawned on me that I could use Background Basics: Text Style II on it. Duh. Boy, do I love it! What I love even more is that the word butterfly appears in the text so I tried to make sure it showed up in the bottom right wing of each butterfly.

I was shopping at DeSerres on Sunday and bought a new package of hemp cord in bright citrusy colours, the ones you see on these butterflies. I think I may be subconsciously psychic because I also happened to use the colours from WPlus9's Color Cue {5} Challenge. As much as I'd love to, I don't blogroll every day so I had no idea that these were the current colours until I saw Maile Belles' post this evening. It's also possible that receiving Susan Raihala's blog candy and this incredible thank you card from her yesterday put those same colours in my head! In my one year of serious blogging (see my blog candy giveaway at the bottom of this post) I've always wanted to do a colour challenge but never did because I didn't have the right colours and/or I couldn't figure out how to use them. Well, coincidences like this are nice but I'm sure they don't happen very often! ;)

This card is actually 5"X5" with the butterflies hanging off the edge. I cut the base as 4.25"X10" and scored it at 5". The green butterfly was placed in the middle and the other two right next to it so that they hang off exactly to measure a 5" card width. This is the first time I used pop dots and I'm not sure I like them because the butterflies don't sit parallel to the base. I suppose it's okay because these are butterflies and it gives them a bit of movement but I think I prefer the flat spongy dimensionals.

Sources: SU Chocolate Chip cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; AC textured green and orange cardstock; Bazzill Basics aqua cardstock; PTI Butterfly Dreams; PTI Background Basics: Text Style II; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Taken With Teal & Kiwi Kiss inks; Vivid ButterScotch ink; PTI Butterfly die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Darice hemp cord; Pop Dots; Fiskars Nostalgia corner edger

Wedding Wishes for Jason & Moe

The friend who ordered this wedding card also requested a cute version for his friends Jason and Moe. I had to clarify whether Moe was a guy or girl because I've never known a Moe to be a girl. True enough it was a girl but these days you never know, right? Better to get it right the first time! I have to admit that making this card was extremely difficult for me. I wanted it to be both cute and elegant. I had the car sitting around for almost a week trying to figure out the layout. I almost didn't personalize this card because I didn't know how to fit it in with the car. I created so many mock versions that it gave me a headache. I decided to leave it for a few days, hence the cards for my friend's Dad, and that worked well.

Once I returned to the card it was easy. I wish you could see how gorgeously sparkly the car is. I wanted it to be a white limo so I used watermark ink and heat embossed sparkly embossing tinsel on top. In the close up photos you can see all the multi-coloured specks. It's so pretty and the photos do not do it justice at all!

The teal background gives the card its masculine element and the pink on the car makes it feminine. I thought the kraft banner with the bride and groom's names gave the card a nice modern feel.

The stitching is only done on the kraft cardstock and doesn't bind the banner to the card itself because I personally don't like seeing stitching on the inside of a card. Occasionally there's no avoiding it but I usually try to think about my stitching beforehand. :)

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured cardstock; SU Kraft cardstock; PTI Outlines Alphabet; PTI Enjoy the Ride; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Taken With Teal ink; Versamark Watermark ink; PSX Sparkle embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; Copics; QuicKutz retro diamonds embossing folder; PTI Enjoy the Ride die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Forever in Time pink buttons; Generations dimension squares; Gutermann pink and white thread; sewing machine; X-acto knife

Happy Birthday, Baba & BLOG CANDY!

On Friday, I posted a Father's Day card I made for my best friend Elen. Today's card is the 72nd birthday card I made for her Dad. Elen loved these two snorkelling cards I made here and here. The challenge was making another snorkelling Billy card that was different from the other two! I used the same colour scheme as Friday's card so that the two cards would look really nice displayed side-by-side. That and the fact that I loved that colour combination so much, I just had to do it again! ;)

I don't know why I never thought about cutting multiple layers of cardstock with a nestie but it was a lot of fun and I'll most certainly be doing it again. I love the effect it creates. Elen wanted the card to say Happy 72nd Birthday, Baba but I didn't have any small number stamps and I didn't think it would look good for me to write it in. Besides, I don't even have a brown pen or marker. I used the letters from Happy Birthday to create the word Baba. Baba means Dad in many languages including Bangla, East African, Greek, Spanish, Kikuyu, Kiswahili, Malay, Chinese, Swahili and Turkish.

My son even calls his Dad baba which is cute because we didn't even teach him that. He couldn't pronounce the letter D so Dada automatically became Baba. It's also funny because while I'm Chinese and it makes sense for my son to use the Chinese word for Dad, my husband is a mix of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German! My husband thinks it's so sweet and doesn't ever want to be called Dad, just Baba. :)

And now my giveaway...

I wanted to share some joy! I don't know why I have so much ribbon seeing that I hardly ever use ribbon on my cards. I got a hoard of ribbon from the sweet owner of Clippopotamus and a lot of it will never be used but I know that someone out there in crafty blogland will figure out a way to use it! So in honour of seriously blogging for one year and winning a guest designer spot with Splitcoaststampers' CAS Summer 2010 design team, I'd like to offer you a chance to win all this ribbon! There are 24 loose strands, some of which are several feet long, plus five brand new spools. All you have to do is become a follower of my blog (add yourself to the link on my sidebar) and enter a comment at the bottom of this post.

If I reach more than 25 followers by the time I randomly select a winner on July 1st (Canada Day), I'll throw in some Pink Cat Studio goodies of your choice with a value up to $15. (This means you can select one large rubber set, two mini rubber sets or three digital images with a total of not more than $15.) If I reach 50 followers, I'll throw in double the amount of Pink Cat Studio goodies. (Same rules apply.) Sound good? What are you waiting for then?! Become a follower, leave a comment, then tell all your crafty friends so they can share the joy! :D

Sources: SU Certainly Celery, Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Dress Up Billy; Pink Cat Studio Lily at the Beach; PTI Top Ten; PTI Birthday Basics; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Always Artichoke ink; Copics; SU tearing edge; SU crystal effects; Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large; QuicKutz Epic Six; Forever in Time pop-dots

Happy Father's Day²

It's Friday! Hip Hip Hooray!! Thanks to everyone for sending their sleep fairies! While my son still did not sleep well, I feel more rested myself and that's a good thing. Now, if I can sneak in a nap today I'll be good as new. ;) So on to my card, shall we?

My best friend Elen in Montreal asked me to make two cards for her Dad. He's currently being treated for a rare form of leukemia here in Ontario and she wanted him to have some very special cards for Father's Day and his birthday in July. Elen's Dad lives in Greece for half the year and loves to walk on the beach and swim in the ocean on the island of Rhodes. For her Father's Day card she chose this wedding card as the sample. I used a combination of colours I've never used before and I loved it so much that I decided to make Elen's second card in the same colours. I switched the main elements of the card around a bit by using a different nestie and adding ribbon. Instead of tearing kraft paper for sand, I decided to use the same sand and waves image as in this beach card. Thanks for looking and I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Sources: Bazzill Basics textured cardstock; SU Naturals Ivory, Certainly Celery & Kraft cardstock; Taylored Expressions Beach Bum; PTI Background Basics: Retro; Verve Dad's Day; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Taken With Teal ink; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon; Forever in Time pop-dots

Pink Cat Studio ~ Jun 10th Digi Release!

Welcome to another Pink Cat Studio digi release featuring yet more additions to the Dots & Delights Collection of sweet and elegant images! Today's freebie with any purchase is none other than Snorkeling Lily. It's one of my favourite and most used images from the Lily at the Beach rubber set. I've made two cards (here and here) where I've substituted Billy's head in. Could a Billy version be next? You'll have to wait and see! ;)

I decided to feature these adorable love birds in a truly CAS style. Basically, I picked three colours for this card. After using three shades of green on the leaves, I decided not to blend them because I thought they looked alive. I did hem and haw a bit over that decision because I always try to blend when colouring with my Copic markers. I don't have a lot of confidence in using gemstones but I thought they would look nice in this tree. I used five green gemstones at the centres of the leaf clusters and one yellow one on the odd branch to match the fiery love birds. I wanted to use a sentiment that would work for several different occasions so I pulled two words from Heart Prints and created my own sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by to enjoy this release with me! More inspiration can be found on the PCS DT blogs whose links are on my side bar. If you'd prefer to start shopping right away, just click here to head straight to the Pink Cat Studio Digi Store. Have a wonderful day!

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Love Birds on Swing; PTI Heart Prints; SU Summer Sun ink; Vivid ButterScotch ink; Copics; Forever in Time gemstones; SU 1-3/8" circle punch