Friday Funday: A New Inspired By...

Hello there! Happy Friday! :) Of course, Friday means a new Inspired By… challenge! I also wanted to play along with the Paper Players sketch this week:

I was so intrigued by the tag in the sketch, I just had to play along! This was was Charissa's pick for Inspired By… and she chose a fabulously decorated room:

I drew so many colours out of this photo, and combined with the sketch, I ended up with this:

I like the way it turned out! And, as an added bonus, it came together SO quickly! My favourite type of card :) *lol* I added a few black accents, a colour I find challenging to add to cards sometimes! When you pull the tag out, you get the greeting:

(Don't let the gross green in my kitchen distract you from the card *lol* - it was the best place I could find for the photos!) This card is destined for my friend Alex's birthday dinner tonight :) Perfect timing!

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to pop over to Charissa's blog to see how this photo inspired her! :) Have a great weekend!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue (ret), Friendly Phrases
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, More Mustard (ret), Old Olive, Crumb Cake (light spritzing)
Tools: Sizzex Tags Die
Accessories: Linen Thread, Pearls

Inspired by... David's Tea!

Good morning! I am back again today with a new Inspired by... challenge. I also wanted to play along with Paper Craft Crew and The Paper Players:

This week's photo was selected by Charissa, a selection of David's Tea mugs!

Fun hey? Here's how my card turned out, putting aaaaall these elements together:

I think it showcases the new sweater weather paper very nicely! What do you think? Don't forget to hop over to Charissa's blog, Snippets by Design, to see how this photo inspired her! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Nature Walk (ret), Tiny Tags
Paper: Sweater Weather DSP, Baked Brown Sugar, Island Indigo, More Mustard (ret), Very Vanilla
Tools: Ovals Nestabilities, Jewellery Tag Punch, Woodgrain Embossing Folder
Accessories: Vintage Button, Pearls, Baker's Twine

Inspired By... Gentle Colours!

Good morning! Yay Friday! It's definitely the best part of the week :) Friday means a new Inspired By... Challenge, and I wanted to play along to The Paper Players:

This week's photo was selected by Charissa. A lovely set of prints she saw on Etsy:

I love these colours together! So soft. I turned them into a sympathy card for a friend:

I struggled with the layout a little bit. I ended up adding the stamp from Flowering Flourishes and the tulip border as an after-thought. I think it turned out pretty nice, and my friend liked it!

Don't forget to pop over to Charissa's blog, Snippets by Design, to see how the photo inspired her! :)

Supplies used:
Stamps: Flowering Flourishes, Loving Thoughts
Paper: So Saffron, Basic Grey, Micheal's Grey
Ink: Basic Grey, So Saffron, More Mustard (for the pansy)
Tools: Butterfly Punch (ret, for the pansy), Circles Nestabilities, Tulip Border Embossing Folder
Accessories: Antique Brad

Birthday Wishes for my Wonderful Mom!

Hi again! Time for post #2 and a little bragging about what a fantastic mom I have! She really is the greatest mom a girl could ask for. She dedicated her life to raising me and my 4 brothers and little sister and for that, we are forever grateful! It's nice now that we are older, we can give back just a smidgen of what she gave to us all these years :) Below is my favourite pic of my mom and I on the Stanley Park train :) and also a couple pics from my convocation two years ago and a shot from a mother-daughter photo shoot we had last fall:

I know it is safe to post this card a few days before my mom's birthday (it is on Saturday) as I know she does not read my blog and isn't on Facebook! *lol* The card I made fit two challenges perfectly, Colour Q and The Paper Players:

My mom is an avid lover of the ocean. She grew up in Victoria, BC. I remember as a child that every chance we could, we went to Vancouver Island to visit relatives and comb the beaches. I have seen the island from the most northern point accessible by vehicle right to the most southern point, as well as east to west :) It really is a beautiful place to explore! Keeping all things ocean in mind, I made this card for her special day:

Love it! And so will she I am sure :) Since my stampin' stash doesn't contain any certainly celery or soft sky, I substituted pear pizzazz and pool party. I used a window sheet to emboss the coral, giving it that nifty transparent look. Shells and seahorses are so ocean-y, that I can practically smell the salt water waves from here. I made the second tier of the stair-step (instructions from this lovely lady's blog) card into green and gray waves. This reflects the ever changing look of the ocean. And the large panel on the last tier of the card was perfectly made into a lighthouse. Mom LOVES lighthouses and I know she will love this too.

Here's a view of the stair-step:

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Supplies used:

Stamps: By the Tide, Uncharted Territory (ret), Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Pool Party, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz, Michael's Gray

Ink: Basic Grey, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Tools: Scoring Board, Cloudy Day Embossing Folder, 3/4" Circle Punch (mask), Cropadile

Accessories: Blender Pen, Linen Thread, Dimensionals

Inspired by... A Bright Tea Cozy!

Good morning and happy LONG WEEKEND Friday!! Woohoo... I would have to say, this is the best type of Friday :) I am getting more and more excited about our little camping trip this weekend, I really love camping! I got a new fishing rod last year and I hope to break it in by catching lots of fish this weekend (I only caught one with it last year :( then that sneaky fish took my lure!) My favourite thing about camping is getting out into the BC wilderness and exploring places that I have never been before and seeing all the neat things only the backwoods can bring. For example, last year, we had a bear running right beside the jeep and then we say a beautiful young moose in perfect view. I look forward to seeing many more cool things this year! :) Now, onto the challenges! Friday means a new Inspired by... challenge, and I also wanted to play along with The Paper Players and Retrosketches (right under the wire before they close):

This week's photo was selected by Charissa, a bright tea cozy!

I was inspired to use the bright green (gumball in my opinion) and of course, a "tea" theme. I automatically thought of using Tea Shoppe, but then decided to branch out of my comfort zone and pull out a stamp set I haven't used in a while, Morning Cup. It is such a cute little set, I should use it more! Here's how the combination of everything came out:

Cute, hey? It would be perfect to send to the coffee or tea drinker as a "get well" note. I tried to colour in the coffee pot with my blender pen... and I did.... but unfortunately, that pen is pretty much dead and the colour did not blend as well as I had hoped. The base was so bad, I decided to colour it in with my midnight muse marker. Overall, I am happy enough with the look.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to pop over to Charissa's blog, Snippets by Design, to see how this photo inspired her!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Morning Cup
Paper: Whisper White, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Print Poetry DSP
Ink: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple
Tools: Owl Builder Punch
Accessories: Blender Pen, Markers, Dimensionals

Happy 75th Birthday Wishes

Good morning! Happy Thursday! Today is my Friday, as I have tomorrow off to travel to Victoria, BC for my grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. It takes about 12 hours to get to my grandmother's, including a ferry ride :) It's a long drive, but worth it to see all the family members. Maybe I'll see a few critters along the way too! Before I get to the challenge today, I just want to mention a few shout-outs my cards received:

My grateful butterfly card made me a featured artisan with the Paper Craft Crew:

And my purple wedding card was a pick over at Pals Paper Arts:

Awesome! I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to check out my blog :) Now, onto the challenge! I really loved the sketch over at The Paper Players this week:

I had a reason to create a masculine birthday card as a co-worker is having an important birthday today! He is turning 75 years young. I did a quick google search for ideas and was inspired by the talented Mary Fish's masculine birthday card seen here. Here's my take:

The colours are lovely! I am really going to miss more mustard when it goes, it is the perfect accent colour. On the plus side, I am SO happy island indigo made it into the collections :)

The core'dinations cardstock with the woodgrain texture fits perfectly and I finally got to break out my alphabet bigz!!! I finally took the plunge and ordered them when Stampin' Up! had their "free shipping" promotion, and I think the options with these dies are limitless! They are a great size and font and I hope to use them often.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:

Stamps: On Your Birthday (ret)

Paper: Island Indigo, Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso Core'dinations, Orchard Harvest DSP (ret)

Ink: Island Indigo

Tools: Alphabet Bigz Dies, 1-1/4" Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Accessories: Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

One Layer: Experiment 2

Good morning! I hope today finds you well :) I had a nice evening. I went to my mom's for BBQ dinner - delicious hamburgers and homemade coleslaw. Yum! But on the downside, I saw the year's first mosquito buzzing around while we were playing board games after dinner - yuck! That is probably the major downfall to living outside the city, so many mosquitos! Anyways, onto today's challenges. I wanted to experiment again with making one layer cards with The Paper Players and play along with Stampin' Royalty's challenge:

This combination was perfect for me last night! I didn't get home till late and still had to make a potato salad for a staff BBQ today, so it was great to have a quick card to make. Here's how the card turned out:

*lol* I must say that this card had to grow on me... I was not the biggest fan at first. I added the marker line and paper piercing as an after thought to give the main image some definition. That plus the few little pearls around the sentiment really add an interest factor, in my opinion. I think the elegant saying from Apothecary Art fit really well here:

The emboss resist technique is one of my favourites, I think I may use it again soon! *wink* Thanks for looking today, and don't forget to stop by tomorrow for a new KCRR challenge!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Because I Care (ret), Apothecary Art
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Versamark
Accessories: Paper Peircing Pack, Summer Starfruit Marker, White Embossing Powder, Pearls

CAS One Layer Card

Hello there! I hope you are doing well. This is going to be a quick post as its already 9:30 and Matt and I have a lot of things left to do before he leaves town for a few days tomorrow.

First, I had a few shout-outs for my cards last week:

I was a featured artisan with Paper Craft Crew with my monochromatic get well soon card:

And I was "A Cut Above" with the Paper Players and my CAS butterfly card:

Now, onto the challenges! I wanted to play along with a few challenges that I thought worked well together, The Paper Players, The Play Date Cafe, and Addicted to CAS:

Hmmm... Now, I had never made a one layer card before, so this was kind of an experiment. I thought flowers would be a good place to start, and the colours from the Cafe were great for flowers, so the pieces naturally fell together into this:

It's a cute little card, I think. The sentiment and flower stamp are a few stamps that I bought from a lady who was selling all her crafting supplies, so I am not even sure which sets they are from, but I like them none-the-less.

I added the double sets of scored lines and the rounded corners for extra details on this super CAS card :)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Flower and Sentiment (ret - unknown sets)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Basic Grey
Tools: Scoring Board, Corner Rounder (CTMH)
Accessories: Melon Mambo & Daffodil Delight Markers