KCRR Meets Dynamic Duos

Hello there! It's nice to be back in blogger world! I had a break since last Friday, and after today's post and two tomorrow, I'll be on holidays until Monday! Woot woot! :) I am headed to the beautiful capital of BC, Victoria, to visit my mom for her birthday. I have been super busy the last few days preparing to go away. I don't like to leave a messy house, so I have been cleaning & organizing like crazy. This includes my car (aka travelling house *lol*) I also got around to tending to my parent's lawn at there home here... oh boy was it a mess! Since my parents are frequent travellers, they decided to hire a lawn company to tend to the grass this year (usually I mow it, but since I don't live there anymore, they decided to give me a break). Unfortunately, the lawn company has yet to show-up and this is what I am left with:

Over a foot tall THICK grass!! Gross!!! It was not fun to cut... and extra unfortunately, the lawn mower broke half-way through the cutting! *sigh* Hopefully the lawn company does show up to fix this mess... Anyways, I digress, onto the challenges! Charissa and I decided to play with KCRR a couple days early this week to accommodate my vacation, and I wanted to play along with the Dynamic Duos as well:

 

The selections for KCRR this week were: using the spritzer tool, river rock, and a third option this week, the blossom petal builder punch. Hmm what interesting selections! Now, I am not the biggest fan of river rock, but paired with the bold colours from Dynamic Duos, I think it looks nice! Here's what I came up with:

The spritzing is hard to see, as I used the river rock marker on top of the dark raspberry ripple petals. Here's a close up...

Overall, I am pleased with this card :) it will be my parent's anniversary card (which happens to fall on the same day as my mom's birthday, fancy that :) )

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to pop over to Charissa's blog, Snippets by Design, to see what she created with our KCRR elements. Tomorrow will be the new Inspired by... challenge, then it'll be a three week break as Charissa will be on vacation for two weeks and then I am gone again for a week! :)

Supplies used:
Stamps: Memorable Moments
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Raspberry Ripple, River Rock, Very Vanilla
Ink: Raspberry Ripple
Tools: Blossom Petal Builder Punch, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Colour Spritzer
Accessories: Raspberry Ripple & River Rock Markers, Lace Ribbon, Linen Thread, Pearls

Make My Monday on Thursday

Good morning! Well, I think I have finally caught the cold that has been going around the office lately :( I suppose it was inevitable, but I was really hoping it left me alone! *lol* time to jack up my consumption of vitamin C and fluids, fluids, fluids!

Onto today's challenge! I was intrigued by Make My Monday's theme this week, which was to make your own background. And, I was posed with the challenge to make a birthday card for my Nana,who is turning 90 in May. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make a special card for her. Here's how the final product turned out:

I really like the way it turned out! It's special, but not overkill :) The background was made by sponging baja breeze (I am sad this is retiring!!), regal rose (also retiring, but I am not too upset about this colour) and rose red. Then I sponged versamark around the edges with pewter embossing powder. I added a double baja breeze bow and a snippet of crochet trim and a couple pearls to finish off the look (convenient because my Nana's name is Pearl :) )

I wanted the sentiment to pop against the background, so I added it in white with the dark midnight muse ink (same ink as the music notes, but the notes were stamped off once). I think I achieved the desired effect :)

What do you think? Is it "special" enough for a 90th birthday? (that's a pretty huge event). Thanks for looking and I love to read your comments!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Universal Backgrounds (CTMH)
Paper: Midnight Muse, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Midnight Muse, Versamark
Tools: Labels Framelits
Accessories: Seam Binding Ribbon, Crochet Trim, Pearls, Pewter Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Silver Anniversary: Faux Patina

I hope today finds you well :) I have had this idea for a 25th anniversary card in my mind for a few months now, and it feels great to finally get it out on paper. We tried the faux patina technique  in a card class with my upline, and I loved it! Since then, I have used it a few more times to make birthday and thank-you cards, but I thought it would look extra special for a beautiful 25th anniversary. Now, no one I know will be celebrating a 25th anniversary soon, but it is never a bad idea to have a variety of cards in stock because you never know when you'll get that odd request for a special card :)

The faux patina technique is a time consuming, but not a challenging, technique. There are a few steps involved:

First, ink up the embossing folder you want to use, I am using lacey brocade & midnight muse ink. To do this, rub the ink pad all over the embossing folder and run your paper through the big shot.

Next, sponge the colours you are using all over the embossed page. I am using baja breeze & basic grey (lightly applied).

Then we heat emboss! Make sure to use your embossing buddy prior to applying the versamark. I dabbed the versamark all over the page, then covered the page with silver embossing powder. If I think that there will be too much silver, or not enough of the sponged colours are showing, I wipe some of the embossing powder off with a paint brush before heating.

Viola! The background is complete :) See, not hard at all :)

In order to make a more vintage look, try other colours! I have used early espresso on the embossing folder, sponged with marina mist & wild wasabi, and used gold embossing powder.

Thanks for looking and leave me a comment if you have any questions! :)

Supplies used:
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Apothecary Art
Ink: Midnight Muse, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Brushed Silver Cardstock, Baja Breeze
Tools: Labels Framelits
Accessories: Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Tim Holtz Sponges, Silver Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Victoria Crochet Trim, 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Hat Pin & Jewels from Pretties Kit (ret), Baja Breeze & Basic Grey Markers, Dimensionals