Miss You

I used Paper Smooches stamps and the Embellish Paint or Mist Color Trends Challenge to make this card for my husband who was recently away on a business trip. It was his first trip away in three years but at least it was only two days as opposed to the two weeks he was used to in a previous job. This card was tucked into hubby's bag and he opened it for a smile when he missed us.

At first, I was going to paint with my Jenni Bowlin paint dabbers but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into my design. Then I realized I had to mist but didn't know how without any mists. Then I remembered I had Blopens. Do you remember those? Yup, that's what I used for the misted background! I love how it looks but I don't think Blopens are going to cut it in the long-term. :Þ Anyway, the crazy-cute rabbit is from A Little Lovin, the h-ear accessory is from Hang Ups and the sentiment is from Sentiment Sampler. How could you not giggle when you look at that rabbit? I love Paper Smooches stamps!

As I mentioned, my husband was away on a business trip the two days before my birthday so he didn't get a chance to make me a card. He also doesn't usually leave things 'til the last minute but life has been exceptionally insane ever since the move which I'm sure you can understand, especially since we're closing on the condo this week. Some of you may have been surprised after my last post when you didn't see a card from my husband because you all know he makes me cards, right?! I'll never forget when Lydia Fiedler featured THIS card on Splitcoaststampers' Facebook Page and it got more than 1,400 views which is waaay more than I ever get on mine. You can only imagine the eye-rolling he got from me when he continued to brag about it. LOL He felt really bad about not making me a card for my birthday because he takes great pride in making me cards. He also knows how much it means to me but even though I was sad, I understood his feelings and intentions. He will be making me a card so stay tuned. ;)

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury ivory cardstock; Discount Cardstock Posh Grass Green Dungaree; Paper Smooches A Little Lovin, Hang Ups & Sentiment Sampler; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Basic Gray ink; Blopen in brown; Copics; Gary M. Burlin & Co. silver glitter glue; My Favorite Things Fresh Cut Grass die; Stampin' Dimensionals

An Update + Embellish Stripes Color Trends Challenge

I'm back. Sort of. Not really. I haven't been too happy lately which is a bummer since it was a dream of mine to be in a house for a very long time. I don't know when the day will come when I'll feel truly happy here. I hope it comes soon. Exhaustion and stress has taken a toll on my mojo. I have no desire to craft, nor does it appeal to me. Sometimes I just feel like crying when I sit down with my stamps because I can't even bear to ink them up. I never imagined I would ever feel this way about crafting. I sure hope it's not gone forever. I haven't made anything in two whole weeks. In fact, my last two posts were things I made days before I moved! Well, this one was forced so it isn't the greatest thing I've ever made but I needed to push myself. I have design team commitments looming and something must be done about this terrible zone I'm in. Sigh.

Happy. Fun. Lucky. I know it's only three things but I could sure use some of that! I haven't played in the Embellish Color Trends Challenge for months which is a total bummer because I love their challenges. I liked the colours and the stripes theme so I used them to ink up Unity's August Kit of the Month, What I Know, for the first time. Sadly, I have a lot of wonderful new stamps that haven't seen ink due to this move! My card has rows of arrows, rays around the sentiment, stripes on the twine and, if you connect the dots of the two gemstones, you get a line. Rows, rays and lines are stripes, right? I know, that may be pushing it. LOL Well, it's all I've got right now.

I really appreciate all the emails everyone has sent me checking up on me and wishing me well. Thank you! I'm hanging in here as best as I can and it helps a lot to have caring and thoughtful friends like you. I plan to be back soon. :)

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft & 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Unity August 2011 Kit of the Month - What I Know; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Tim Holtz for Ranger Faded Jeans distress ink; SU Riding Hood Red ink; Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large; QuicKutz Epic Six; McGill 1 11/16" circle punch; The Twinery baker's twine in Charcoal; SU Basic Rhinestones; Stampin' Dimensionals; We R Memory Keepers corner chomper

Jane's Doodles {Garden Friends}

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and family at home and around the world! I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

Today, I have a couple of new cards to show you using the Jane's Doodles set Garden Friends. This set is loaded with cute animals, flowers and sentiments so versatile for a host of occasions. I made this first card before the blog hop last week, saved it for my DT post today and I chuckled to myself when I saw that Jennifer McGuire had the same idea of putting the flower in the turtle's mouth!

My flower stem is turned upward and of course the rest of the card design is completely different. I stamped the turtle once on the card base and stamped the flower in his mouth using a mask of the turtle but that didn't matter because I decided to stamp him again, fussy cut him and pop him on for some dimension. The sentiment perfectly follows the curve of his shell. Then I trimmed a thin frame out of kraft cardstock and stitched it on to the card.

For my second card, I'm playing along in the Embellish Rainbow Color Trends Challenge. It uses the frog from Garden Friends in a rainbow of colours. I created a mask for him and stamped him in a pile starting from the bottom up (just like this card HERE). To enhance the rainbow effect of the stamped frogs, I stamped the sentiment in black and then cut thin strips of coloured cardstock, rounding various corners to create a pattern that highlights both the sentiment and the frogs.

To my American friends and family, I hope you enjoy your Independence Day celebrations this weekend, too! I'm sure there will be a lot of great blog posts for me to read next week!!

Sources for I Turtlely Love You: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft & 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Jane's Doodles Garden Friends; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Riding Hood Red ink; Copics; Gutermann red thread; sewing machine; Stampin' Dimensionals

Sources for Hoppy Birthday: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Real Red, Tangerine Tango & Wild Wasabi cardstock; Discount Cardstock gold & grape cardstock; Paper Reflections blue cardstock; Jane's Doodles Garden Friends; SU Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Wild Wasabi, Ballet Blue & Lavender Lace inks; Memories Black ink; Fiskars Nostalgia corner rounder

I am a brave girl

I made this card on Monday but waited to post it and you'll find out why at the end of this post. Once again, I used the colours from the Embellish Decorative Trim Color Trends Challenge. This card uses some gorgeous Melody Ross stamps from the set She Did It Anyway. I also used the same crochet trim and twine as yesterday's card except this time it's front and centre. This being my second entry, I used three greens instead of a yellow. The ink for the birds matches the darkest cardstock. The lighter cardstock and the twine are the other two greens for the challenge. The sentiment is inked in black and the card base is ivory. The entire panel of green cardstock with embellishments and sentiment is popped with foam adhesive.

My weekend was pretty uneventful on a personal level but I did get two pieces of bad news, one of which I'll tell you about today. The first call was from my best friend who lives in Montreal. She'd been travelling back and forth from Montreal, Quebec to Woodstock, Ontario to take care of her ailing father who'd been diagnosed with leukemia many months ago. Her older sister has a disability and her younger brother lives in Greece so they obviously weren't able to take him to treatments. My friend ended up having to either drive or fly to Ontario at least a couple of times a month. She has a three-year-old son and a ten-year-old stepson to care for, as well as a full-time job with a lot of overtime. In the middle of all those treatments, her father wanted to go back to Greece to see his family and friends there so my friend flew there with her three-year-old son.

As you can imagine, this is a lot of stress. I honestly wouldn't be able to handle it myself and I don't know how she functions on a daily basis with all that she has to deal with in life. My friend told me on Saturday that her father's cancer is acute now and the doctors have told them that they're stopping treatment because it will no longer prolong his life. He has about two-to-three months to live now and my friend has to take her parents back to Greece where her father wants to die. We both just cried over the phone. I'm extremely grateful that we have compassionate leave here in Canada so that my friend can spend the last two months with her father without losing her job and also have part of her salary. Our conversation ended with me telling her what a great daughter she is and how lucky her father is to have her. She's leaving today to fly to Greece with her parents and I'm sending her this card to give her strength.

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury ivory cardstock; SU Certainly Celery & Old Olive cardstock; Unity+Melody Ross She Did It Anyway; SU Old Olive ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Scor-Tape; SU Victoria 5/8" crochet trim; The Twinery Honeydew baker's twine; Stampin' Dimensionals

Wishing You Everything Good

This card combines a couple of challenges: the Embellish Decorative Trim Color Trends Challenge and the Hero Arts April Contest. I've had this Hero Arts background, A Village, for a few months now and really needed to use it. I think I'll be sending this card to friends of ours who recently moved from Toronto to Milano, Italia. A Village reminds me of Italy and that's why I bought it! I just got some new star dies that were perfect for one of the Hero Arts April Contest sketches but I had to use the sketch vertically as opposed to horizontally to fit the stamp so I hope that's okay. As for the colours, I interpreted the middle colour as yellow even though it has a hint of green in it. I thought the sentiment looked better on an angle, too. I know this isn't the style of card you usually see on my blog but it was fun to try something new and different.

I'm celebrating my second blogoversary this month with quite a few giveaways! Be sure to keep an eye on my blog for further details. All comments this month will give you a chance to win so be sure to comment on every post! You would anyway, right? ;) In the meantime, here's one of my giveaways to get you excited: three pretty little spools of American Crafts ribbon.

Sources: SU So Saffron, Old Olive & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Hero Arts A Village; Hero Arts Essential Messages; SU Old Olive ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Papertrey Ink Star Die Collection; Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse felt; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Victoria 5/8" crochet trim; The Twinery Honeydew baker's twine; Gutermann thread; sewing machine; Basic Grey button; EK Success 3/4" circle punch; Glue Dots minis; Scor-Tape

Boys Will Be Boys

I'm excited that I finally get to post this card! About a week ago, Unity Stamp Company had a Facebook request for cards made with the stamp set Boys Will Be Boys. I was lucky enough to own this set and only one of the sentiments had seen ink so I was happy for a reason to use it.

Using the colours from the Embellish Masculine Color Trends Challenge, I stamped a background with the polka dot beetle/bug. After choosing a sentiment, I cut a vertical strip of gray cardstock to provide a nice contrast to the sentiment. I added some charcoal twine from The Twinery, then adhered the double-layered sentiment with foam tape.

Normally, masculine cards are really hard for me to make but this one turned out to be extremely easy and fun. I have a few little boy birthday cards to make so this set will be getting a lot of use. I already have some ideas about how to work the rest of the stamps in this set so maybe easy masculine cards has more to do with having the right stamps than anything. ;)

Sources: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Basic Gray cardstock; Unity+Echo Park Boys Will Be Boys; SU Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red & Basic Gray inks; SU paper piercer; Anchor cross stitch needle; Marvy-Uchida 1/8" long reach circle punch; The Twinery Charcoal baker's twine; Stampin' Dimensionals

for YOU

After being too busy to play in the last two Embellish challenges, I'm happy to be back for the Embellish Color Trends Challenge with Music. Initially, I was bummed because I didn't think I had the right colours or even anything close to what was shown. Then I dug deep in my stash and found the exact colours which made me extremely happy. After all, how could I not play along when the twist involves music? :)

This, of course, gave me the chance to use my Notes background from Local King Rubber Stamp which I've neglected way too much. I do have a couple of others I've had my eye on for a while but until I prove to myself that I'm going to make good use of it, that's not going to happen. Anyway, lucky for me, the second colour looks like kraft and Angela had sent me a huge stack of Mat Stack 4 die cuts way back and one of them matched the first colour. I'm not a fan of pink or purple (although that seems to be changing along with everything else) I found a few small pieces of cardstock in a giant pack of scraps I bought from Michaels about a year ago.

I didn't want the sentiment to appear too light or too dark so I inked the letters first with brown, then again with kraft to lighten it. I used a few new things in my arsenal for this card: MFT's banner day die which I ordered when I won the Embellish felt challenge, The Twinery's Honeydew baker's twine which I discovered is a perfect match for PTI's Spring Moss and my new Hero Arts set Typewriter Letters which was another prize choice. All yummy stuff! Even so, I can't say that this layout came together easily but I tried something new with the banner and the musical panels in the background. What do you think?

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft cardstock; SU Whisper White cardstock; Papertrey Ink Spring Moss cardstock die cut with Mat Stack 4 die (thanks to Ang); Paper Reflections pink and purple cardstock; Local King Rubber Stamp Notes background; Hero Arts Typewriter Letters; SU Crumb Cake ink; Hero Arts Snow chalk ink; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; My Favorite Things Banner Day Die; QuicKutz Epic Six; The Twinery baker's twine in Honeydew; staples & stapler; Stampin' Dimensionals

The Very First

This title is very appropriate since this is my first ever scrapbook layout and it features a portrait of my niece on her first birthday. The Embellish Scrapbook Color Challenge urged me to create something because I've always wanted to try scrapbooking but didn't know where to begin. I'm a huge admirer of those who can scrap their memories consistently and it's something I would love to do. Maybe there will be no turning back after this. ;)

I wasn't sure how to photograph this because it's so big compared to a card. LOL I wasn't sure how much to add and there seems to be so much open space but in the end I decided to keep it simple but with interesting little details, much like my cards. I recently acquired Unity's November 2009 Store Kit - Believe in Fairytales from Eclectic Paperie and thought the sentiment and journaling box were perfect for this layout. I can't even tell you how long I'd been eyeing this beautiful kit so I finally decided to buy it. I can't wait to use it more!

I love the Unity set Bella Fiori and wanted to use it again so I stamped just the tops of the round flowers, punched them out and added them to the scalloped flowers I punched out of American Crafts Love Bug paper. Yup, I used patterned paper, too! I bet you're ready to fall over right now. LOL I made the button and twine flowers embellishments last and decided I wanted a curvy pattern before adhering everything in place.

I left the journaling box empty because I want my sister to be able to fill it in after I make her an entire album of pages for her daughter. Did I just say an entire album? LOL I guess I have to do it now! You'll hold me to that, right? :D

Sources: SU textured Very Vanilla cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured cardstock in two shades of pink; SU Early Espresso cardstock; AC Romance Collection - Love Bug; Unity Bella Fiori; Unity November 2009 Store Kit - Believe in Fairytales; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Pink Pirouette, Pink Passion & Rose Red inks; SU 1/2" circle, 3/4 circle, 1-3/8" circle & 1-3/4" scallop circle punches; Forever in Time buttons; The Twinery baker's twine in Cappuccino; Stampin' Dimensionals

Christmas Time Memories

I used more of my new Unity stamps to make this card for the Embellish Holidays Color Challenge. This card features a couple of ornaments and a sentiment from Embellished Season. I love the big ornaments in this set!

I used one of the larger swirly ones to create a beautiful pink background. Then I embroidered along the stem of the featured ornament with some green twine and added sparkles to the leaves. I replaced the hanger with wire and attached some brown twine to hang the ornament. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment directly on the card base and popped the word shine that was stamped in red.

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Unity Embellished Season; SU Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler & Wild Wasabi inks; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Lewiscraft 24-gauge stainless steel wire; The Twinery baker's twine in Cappuccino & Peapod; PSX Diamond Sparkles; Stampin' Dimensionals

For You

Today's projects combine the Embellish Bags Color Challenge and the Moxie Fab World Challenge: Diggin' on Damask. I made a card and a bag! LOL This is the first time I've made something using a template so it was a true challenge! I couldn't resist using the damask image from Unity's July KOTM to create a background for the card and patterned paper for my bag.

The bag was made using this simple tutorial. I didn't have a tab punch so I used the scallop oval punch and decorated it with rhinestones to match the bottom of the bag. The sentiment is from Unity's September KOTM. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

I hope your week has started off well! I'm rather exhausted from the time change since my two-year-old hasn't mastered the concept of sleeping in and decided to skip his nap. Sigh. :)

Sources: SU Basic Gray & Whisper White cardstock; GinaK pure luxury Black Onyx cardstock; Unity July Kit of the Month - Happily Ever After; Unity September Kit of the Month - When I Am With You; SU Rose Red & Pink Pirouette inks; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU scallop oval, scallop circle & scallop border punches; standard hand-held circle punch; SU Basic Rhinestones; SU Pink Pirouette 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon; stapler and staple; The Twinery baker's twine in Pink Sorbet; Stampin' Dimensionals

Happenings of the Heart

I'm still in a bit of shock over this. WOW. At first I screamed but then I couldn't find any words to describe the joy. It's truly an honour. And I feel overjoyed. Totally.

I've been making a lot of wish lists this week, not just for me but for the family. It's not only Christmas stuff but things I want to order this month. I learned a lot about budgeting from my husband so now I'm pretty good about being, well, good about my spending. It's hard but well worth the effort! I've been looking at a lot of the new Verve sets (drooling over their new dies) and I'm excited about the new Wplus9 releases (the wait is killing me). I've been contemplating first time orders from Simon Says Stamp (for coveted Hero Arts and Tim Holtz products) and Waltzingmouse (some background sets and Half Pint Heroes are calling out to me). Then of course there's a whole pile of nesties that I want, er, need. I only have four sets so it may be time to add to that collection.

Tomorrow, there will be a prehistoric (hint, hint) Pink Cat Studio digi release that will have you wanting to squeeze something cute. ;) See you then!

YOU are loved

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Today's card is for the Embellish Vintage Color Challenge. I'm not very familiar with the vintage style of cardmaking but I loved the colour combination so I had to give it a try. I knew this was going to be a rather clean card given my usual style and I was happy for the sparkly die cut that Angela included in my birthday RAK because it was perfect for this card!

I started with the sparkly die cut and layered everything around it. The love script in the background is Local King Rubber Stamp, as is the music notes background on the butterfly. The lace frame behind the sparkly die cut and the sentiment are from Unity. I even sponged, distressed and stitched the background panel. That's not something you see too often on my cards, especially not together! LOL This card proved to be a challenge but it gave me the chance to work outside my comfort zone and create something I'm happy with. Those are the best kinds of challenges! When the card was finished, my husband said, "It looks very old-movie-ish but I like it." I guess that makes it vintage. ;)

Sources: GinaK pure luxury Kraft cardstock; SU Naturals Ivory, So Saffron & Wild Wasabi cardstock; Best Creations glitter cardstock; Local King Rubber Stamp Words background & Notes background; Unity July 2010 Kit of the Month - Happily Ever After; Unity October 2010 Kit of the Month - Take Time To Laugh; PTI Butterfly Dreams; Memories Artprint Brown ink; SU Crumb Cake & Wild Wasabi inks; PTI Butterfly die & Mat Stack 4 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Scallop Trim Border; Basic Grey button; The Twinery baker's twine in Peapod; Gutermann green thread; sewing machine; Glue Dots minis; SU Stampin' Dimensionals

Embellish Felt Color Challenge

The previous Embellish Color Challenge threw me for a loop and I couldn't put the colours together but HOORAY for Meg who won! When I saw that the current Embellish Color Challenge (shown at left) involved felt, I just couldn't resist. But have you seen the colours? I'm going to admit that I've been working on this challenge for days. Yes, days. This card evolved many times before I finally came up with something that worked and didn't look tacky. It's a very unusual colour combination with strong colours and if I wasn't careful I ended up with something for the recycling bin! LOL

I'm glad I kept trying though. Challenges are good because, well, they challenge me and I was really determined not to give up on this one. I ended up creating one of my favourite types of butterflies, with twine bodies as seen in my cards here and here. Since I had two of the required colours in felt, I used those for the butterflies. Then I used some of the buttons Meg sent me as a birthday gift to increase the colour quotient within each butterfly. Thanks, Meg!

The layout was calculated so that the yellow butterfly, pink butterfly and brown sentiment frame go from lightest to darkest on a diagonal. All the dark colours (the two pink butterflies and the brown frame) are grouped together, while the lightest colour (yellow butterfly) and darkest colour (brown frame) are furthest from each other and at opposite ends of the card. The dotted lines that anchor the butterflies were stamped in each of the three bright colours. I heat embossed the sentiment in sparkly white tinsel to complement the card base.

Well, I'm really happy that I was able to complete this challenge with some satisfaction and create something CAS in my own style. Will you be playing along? :)

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; SU Early Espresso cardstock; PTI Top Ten; PTI Fillable Frames #4; PTI Butterfly Dreams; Vivid Red ink; SU Summer Sun & Pink Passion inks; SU Whisper White ink; PSX Snowflake embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; PTI Butterfly die; PTI Fillable Frames #4 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; PTI wool felt in Harvest Gold & Raspberry Fizz; PTI buttons in Sweet Blush & Pure Poppy; The Twinery baker's twine in Lemon Drop & Pink Sherbet; Stampin' Dimensionals