CAS challenges

Wow.. I'm on a bit of a roll with the posting of late. Let's see how well I do at keeping it up after Spring Break.

The remainder of last week was nice. On Friday we had a games night at church, which was a great deal of fun. Saturday I went to Crafty Capers to do a Make & Take in the morning, then spent the afternoon at a friend's 50th birthday party. We all went for Chinese food, because that's her favorite. It was a fun afternoon. Then on Sunday we celebrated my cousin's 40th birthday.

Given the plethora of birthdays of late, I had to choose a birthday card for Addicted to CAS: 

I haven`t made a waterfall card in ages. I forgot how much fun they are. And they`re really not that complicated. Clean & simple doesn`t have to be boring! I chose this card for this particular challenge because I think these particular flowers do look very delicate. And the mechanism itself definitely is. 

The other challenge card I have is an Easel Card for The Paper Players:

I decided to make this one into a generic thinking of you card. Those are always good to have on hand. I love easel cards; they look great. And it`s a chance to do another fancy fold that really isn`t very complicated.  

Card Details - All Products Stampin` Up

VC Rocks August Blog Hop - Celebrate Friendship

Alas, it's time for the final VC Rocks Blog Hop of the season. Our theme this month is 'Celebrate Friendship.' It's a very appropriate theme, because one of the many highlights of this group is the relationships we get to form with some terrific stampers. We have a lot of fun. 

The card I made is one I've been holding on to for a few weeks. I made it at a Stamp A Stack. I absolutely adore Awesomely Artistic. I don't own it yet, but it's one the list of sets I'll definitely be purchasing soon. I also love the color combination, Susan, the event organizer, gave us. Blackberry Bliss is one of the best new In Colors to arrive in a long time. Part of me would love it to replace Elegant Eggplant. Part of me would just like to add it to one of the color families, because it's quite a distinct color, and it goes beautifully with many of the current colours. The card also features a bit of Tip Top Tape, which is a wonderful new neutral.

I've been doing a lot of stamping lately. I attended a crop last week and got a great deal of projects done. I will be posting again soon!

Enjoy the rest of  your weekend and please check out the rest of the blog hop! Just go on over to VC Rocks for the links.

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Blackberry Bliss
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Tip Top Taupe
Stamps: Awesomely Artistic
Other: Itty Bitty Accents flower punch, Oval punch, Dazzling Details Glitter

VC Rocks 2014 Blog Hop

Welcome to the first blog hop of the season for VC Rocks!

I love this group of stampers. VC stands for Virtual Convention. We are a  yahoo group that runs from April or May through the summer. The group has an active Yahoo group with discussion, RAKs, swaps, blog hops and challenges! The wonderful thing is that the challenges aren't time limited.... you can do them in any order, at any time during the VC Rocks season.

The theme of our first hop is Rock your Creativity with Stampin’ Up! Tools or Embellishments! I`m playing with a few tools today. My first card is a file folder card. It was these cards that made me fall in love with the Envelope Punch board. It is such a versatile tool! Of course, the envelopes you can make with it are wonderful. But it does so much more! There are so many great ideas for file folder cards as well as boxes and other great items that you can make with this great tool.

My first card also featured another Stampin Up tool I love, which is our punches. Although I`m sad to see the Create a Cupcake stamp set retire, I`m so glad the punch is returning!

My next card also shows how versatile SU`s tools are. The opening for the card is made using the new Scallop Tag Topper punch. I had hoped to write up short tutorial for this card, but I didn`t have time. There are multiple examples on Youtube, however. 

The card also requires a good trimmer, and the one from SU is the best one on the market, in my opinion. And I say that as someone who has tried a LOT of different trimmers in my relatively short crafting life! There is no way I could have hand cut away the cardstock on either side of the punched opening. 

My final card also requires the wonderful SU trimmer, as well as featuring some great punches. The fence post was made using the new hardwood background stamp. To make the individual slats of the fence, I cut along the lines of the image using my trimmer. Again, it would have been a mess had a I tried to hand cut the strips of `wood.`The points on the tops of the fence were made using a 1`` square punch. Note the clouds are made using the Cupcake Punch.

As you can see, Stampin Up sells a lot of tools that are very versatile and easy to use!

`

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Happy Birthday

Cardstock: Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green

DSP: Birthday Basics

Ink: Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Raspberry Ripple, Soft Suede

Stamps: Create a Cupcake, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Yippee Skippee

Tools: Envelope Punch Board, Cupcake Punch

Happy Anniversary

Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla

DSP: Everyday Enchantment

Ink: Calypso Coral, Pistachio Pudding

Stamps: Petal Parade, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Tools: Scallop Tag Topper Punch, SU Trimmer

Thinking of You

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party, Crumb Cake

Stamps: Hardwood

Ink: Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight

Tools: SU Trimmer, Cupcake Punch, Flower Punch, Oval Punch

To check out the other participants' blogs, head on over to VC Rocks! Note the hop officially starts at midnight Pacific on Saturday, May 24th.

Flip fold/swing cards

It wasn't by design that I took such a long break from blogging. Life has just been really busy lately. I've been doing a lot of volunteering. The Women's Centre here in town does free art classes in April and May and I taught an art journalling class a few weeks ago. I'm doing a scrapbooking class this weekend and cardmaking in May. I've been doing a lot of stuff to prepare for that. 

These two cards are NOT in any way connected to what I'l be doing. I made the first one last year in Parksville. We had a template and a great teacher, but I just wasn't comfortable with that much precision cutting. 

I was really excited when Stampin' Up came out with their dies to make these cards. I haven't purchased them yet, but I am going to do so in June. I wanted to practice with them a few times. I still find it a bit tricky to figure out how to get easily apply a layer of patterned paper and get an even mat, but I've found a few tutorials that make it easier. I had trouble this night because the table I was using was a little high for me. 

When I first saw the Petal Parade set I didn't care much for it but I fell in love with all the great samples so it was the first one I got during Sale a Bration. I didn't get the Sweet Sorbet dsp, though my friend did. We may do some trading at some point. 

I have entered the world of high technology... my parents and I are on a family plan for our cell phones & we finally had to get rid of our very, very old flip phones. We are now proud owners of smartphones. I have fallen in love with texting to the point that I don't quite know what I did prior to the time I had it. I also love having a camera on my phone. I can't see giving up my regular camera, but it is sure nice to have the option to just use my phone if it's not a special occasion, or if my main camera is charging. With Easter and my brother/sister in law visiting with their little girl, plus my cousin & her husband coming down to visit for their daughter's fourth birthday, I have got a LOT of photos that need editting! 

Until next time - hopefully Sunday - have a great week! 

Card Details:

Happy Birthday

Cardstock: American Crafts

Patterned Paper: American Crafts

Stamps: Unknown

Sweet Baby - all products Stampin' Up

Cardstock: Whisper White

DSP: Sweet Sorbet

Stamps: Petal Parade, Itty Bitty Banners

Other: Framelits, punches, Silver Glimmer paper, Pistachio Pudding ruffled ribbon

Friday Mashup 149

I have had a good week. I spent a lot of time last Wednesday & Thursday catching up from the snow. I needed to get it all done so I could go visit a friend on Friday. We get together monthly and make cards using CTMH stuff. 

Today, though, I have some cards for you using SU products. I got a couple kits completed from my stash so I could enter some challenges. I really needed some bright, cheery cards because it seems the snow is not quite over. We got a bit more on Saturday afternoon as I was coming home from a bridal shower, as well as intermittently for most of the day today. 

And yesterday, I finally entered the modern age. I got rid of my old - VERY old - Motorola flip phone and got an i-phone. How in the world did I ever manage to resist texting for so long? I absolutely love it. I think it's going to make it much easier to keep in touch with friends & family who live out of town. Luckily, our plan (I'm on a shared family plan with my parents), gives me unlimited texting & no charge on long distance anywhere in the country. 

So today I have decided to resist grousing about the crappy weather and try to think positively about it. Spring has to arrive eventually. Given that, I decided I would finish up a spring card from a kit I had in my stash. I am entering this card for Friday Mash Up 149

1. Create a project that's "Monochromatic".
2. Create a project with "Flowers".
3. or Create a "Monochromatic project with Flowers". 

My hope was that I'd also enter it in the Card Concept challenge, but I missed the deadline somehow. I have really gotten behind on doing challenges again. 

Card Details - All products Stampin Up
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Very  Vanilla
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Sahara Sand
Stamps: Creative Elements

Here comes the sun...

Do do do do....

Yes, it has stopped snowing! Right now it is sunny at 5 degrees Celsius (41F) and it is expected to be decent all week. They're saying anywhere from 5-8C (41-46F). Certainly not my favourite temperatures, but when you've lived her forever, it isn't that bad - especially when it's not raining.

I do hope the snow piles themselves melt slowly, if possible. I hate when the snow gets ugly, so I always wish it can melt in a way that lets it stay pretty for as long as possible.

My car has been dug out, so I am happy. Looks like I should be able to get back to normal starting tomorrow.

Other members of the complex are not so lucky. Sometimes I can clearly see the advantages to being disabled. We'll see how it goes and if they're still stuck by Friday we'll try to get help to dig them out. I'll check in with a group at our church when I'm there tomorrow.

But hey, they cleared a path to the smoker's spot. Oh, that poor car next to it if/when the snow comes off the roof.

In honour of this lovely change in the weather,  Spring themed card I made a while ago. It was a class at the scrapbook store. I can take no credit for the design, that was all Bianca. Of course, everyone's cards looked a little different, depending on where we put our stencil and how we managed with the mists. I wish I had gotten a wee bit more red on mine. The nice thing is that the colours do make the card a wee bit more masculine.

It's ironic that I have gotten rid of all my mists and stencils, and now I'm seeing where I could use them. I bought them originally to use on scrapbook pages, and it was just NOT my thing. But I do like the look on cards. If I do decide to get a few again, I will go into it much more slowly and really consider what colours to buy, as well as which stencils.

The rosette on this card was made by hand. I will NOT be doing THAT again, either. I'm sure I saw a die that will do the work for me. The question is whether I'd ever make enough rosettes to justify the cost.

Simon Says and The Card Concept

It's been one of those weeks where life has been a little to dull for me to find motivation to do any blogging. I think the highlight of it was that my cousin came over Monday & Tuesday to help me reorganize my linen closet. Last night I hung out with my girlfriends at stitch. Today I went to the the esthetician, the butcher and the hairdresser. Yeah... exciting week here.

Beyond that, I've spent much of it trying to put the finishing touches on a Krispy Kreme doughnut sale fundraiser we're having this weekend. I know we're praying that we can get them all sold Friday evening and Saturday so we don't have to be out on Sunday, too. Part of that is the weather, and part of that is the Super Bowl. Normally, the football game wouldn't be a huge draw around here, since we're in Canada, but we're close enough to Seattle that there's more local interest than usual. Even I plan to watch. And I do NOT care for football. AT ALL.

I have two cards to share that actually fit challenges!

The first one is for a new blog I'm really enjoying called The Card Concept. The idea is to do more than just make a card based on the theme provided - it's also about learning to define your style. They define six main styles: 1) Clean and Simple; 2)Clean & Linear; 3)Clean & Graphic; 4)Shabby Chic; 5)Freestyle Collage; 6) Classy & Elegant. I've been looking through my work and it would appear I lean towards the clean & linear. I just don't tend to use a lot of embellishments. I'm not their definition of Clean and Simple, though, because I like layers too much. You can find all the styles defined here. 

I have looked at this card and looked at it, and I've finally decided it's not my normal clean and layered. This time, it's best suited to the freestyle collage. Basically, I figure it fits here because it brings together a diverse elements in the washi, the heat and dry embossing and the stamping. It's got bling and distressing but it's too bright to be vintage/shabby chic. It's a little too random to be clean and layered. I did have a rhinestone on the bottom circle, but it fell off. Just as well, as I like the triangle. In fact, a part of me wants to take off that circle completely. Or move it so it's the center of the pink flower. The card is a modelled after one I saw at my stamper's night. I knew I wanted to enter it for this challenge so I had to make it my own. The thing that was easy about that is when you're using a stamp as random as the splotchy background, as well as something like washi, it's easy to switch things up. I also played around with the location of the flowers, the number of flowers, and the colours.

My next card is for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes, but include twine or string. This card is another one I made at my demo's place. I changed a lot - she only did three flowers and her sentiment was on her tag. I moved the brads and didn't use the chevron ribbon. And I added the freehand stems/vine to connect the random flowers. There's a reason I don't draw very often. It is NOT my forte. All the colouring, as well as the drawing of the stems/vines, was done using an Aqua Painter 

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Flower card

Cardstock - Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Stamps - Mixed Bunch, Gorgeous Grunge 

Ink: Midnight Muse, Strawberry Slush, Summer Starfruit

Other: embossing powder, rhinestones, punches, washi tape, Mosaic Madness embossing folder

Sending Sympathy & Prayers

Cardstock: - Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Pistachio Pudding

DSP: Sweet Sorbet

Stamps: Petite Pairs, Petite Petals

Other: Brads, Twine, Aquapainter

Simon Says challenge.

Ah, Tuesday... the day I get to relax and do nothing. I normally have bible study in the morning, actually, but today I didn't end up going, as I needed a 'sick day'. It's also the day I get my home support, so by the time that's all done, I really don't like to go anywhere in the late afternoon or evening if I can help it.

I got a lot of cards photographed yesterday... ones I'll keep in my 'back pocket,' as it were, in case I'm not feeling creative and want to make sure I do a blog post. I'm hoping I'll be creating regularly though, as I've been working on organizing my Pinterest boards and I have a LOT on inspiration at my fingertips.

Today, a quick card for a few challenges:

I tweaked this card from one at the stamp store. I didn't want a sympathy card - we have a need for masculine birthday cards at church. I also changed the spacing of the image/sentiment, and did my shadowing differently. In keeping with the 'favourite style' challenge at Sweet Stampin, I choose to keep my card very clean and simple. It has all my favourite elements... a clean design, a bit of distressing, and a bit of texture to add visual interest.

I'm entering it in the following:

Simon Says Stamps: Simon Says... Emboss It! 
Sweet Stamping -  Your Favourite Style

I don't have the card details on me right now... the cardstock is all Bazzil; I don't remember what stamp companies the images are from, as I borrowed them.

My 2014 goals

As promised, I am here with my New Year's resolutions, and some cards.

I have written before about my thoughts om resolutions. I'm not a huge fan; they can be things that just serve to demoralize people when they end up not meeting their aims. I think a lot of times that's because people are externally motivated. They take on what they think they should do, rather than what they really feel called to do in their hearts. If you say you're going to lose weight, or give up sugar, or stop drinking pop (one of my issues) to please others, it will not happen - or at the  very least, it is highly likely it won't be sustainable.

So after some time in prayer, I made some decisions. I had gone back and forth as to whether I wanted to do the 'One Little Word' Challenge. I admit that initially I didn't quite get the point. In time, though, I saw how it could work for me and I've decided to take on a word for the year. I started with the word 'roar.' That sat wrong with me because, quite frankly, I couldn't bring myself to grab inspiration from a Katy Perry song, no matter how much some part of it speaks to me. Then I fell back on the word 'brave,' - also a song title, but one by an artist I like more. It still felt wrong, though; I wanted a word that captured both somehow.
I spent some time looking at concordances, thinking about favourite bible verses, studies, past conversations with my pastor,  and sermons that spoke to me, and I found the word. My word. My word is BOLD. That word encompasses where I am at in life. A lot of what I mean by that is pretty personal, so I will leave it there. My other 2014 goals are:

• I'm doing the Goodreads challenge again. I have a lot of books on my shelf calling to me, and I genuinely love to read. I'm aiming for 40 books - I think I can do more, but I know I can do 40. You can find me here

• I'm going to work on my health. I would like to aim for one to two pounds per month, but I'm less concerned about that than just being more mindful in what I eat and how I take care of myself overall.

• I'm going to finish my cousin R's album, do one for my cousin DJ, and get up to date on Jade's. R and J are both almost done; I have a bit of embellishing to do and I need to put the pages in the albums. DJ I haven't started, but I'll use R's as a model so it won't take long.

• I'm going to get MY pages in albums, and I'm going to get our family's negatives and older photos on to CD.

• I'm doing the Christmas Card Challenge (10/month) and the 100 Cards in 100 Days Challenge at Splitcoast. For the 100 cards challenge,  my Stamper's 10 Club cards and the ones I sometimes make on Monday's at the stamp store (the $2 Coffee & A Card), don't count, but Christmas cards made at those places do. 

• I'm considering doing a challenge where I use all my stamps at least once this year. I'm not willing to commit to that one  yet, though. It depends how many sets I have; I want to do an inventory first.

Well that was a lot of chatter. Here's a photo of the cards I finished up last week when my Scrappin' Sisters and I got together on the 2nd. The two single cards are from a fundraiser in the fall that the local stamp store put on for cancer. I wasn't there; I just bought the kits. It was the same weekend the scrapbook store put on their yearly event for Children's Hospital. The other cards were from a day we had here at my place in November or December. I'm friends with a CTMH demo and we had a crop here. We usually have it in her Mom's common room, but she was ill at the time.

Note - yes, the bottom right card is upside down in the photo. It isn't in real life; I just didn't realize what I had done when I put it down to photograph and I don't have time to fix it right now. The two cards are exactly the same save for the fact that I switched the dsp over and used the other side on one.

Challenge objectives

100 in 100  - 8/100
Christmas Card challenge  - 8/10

Last cards of 2013

It has been a wonderful day here - absolutely gorgeous weather. Yes, it was a little windy at times (the garbage can that is situated our parking lot, near my car, blew over and I nearly got smacked by it. I'd still rather have it there than not, though, so no complaints here), but that's nothing compared to the storms that are beating up other parts of the continent. 

I went to the stamp store nearby so I could see if a sample for Monday's coffee & a card was available. It was; it's a lovely card so I will go make it, though I think I'll likely add a few tweaks to it to make it my own. I also wanted to make a list of some patterned paper they have, so I could check whether I had already had it. I've been looking at the paper for ages, and saying I needed to check if I have it. Only when I'd get home, I'd forget what lines it was she has, which makes checking difficult, to say the least. So I finally made a list. 

I found 4 cards from 2013 (I think it was 2013... a couple could be 2012) that I have never blogged that I will share with you today.

This first card almost definitely was made somewhere between January and June of 2012.   I say that because I know it was made at my SU Club. I also know it was made when my friend J. was there, because we talked about who we would each give it to (we didn't want to a mutual friend to get two cards the same). She didn't participate in the Club that ran from Sept 2012 to Jan 2013. She took a year off and rejoined this September. And I know by the colours that it wasn't made this fall. 

This card is another one I can almost pinpoint due to the products used. That paper the butterflies are made with is from Sale A Bration in 2012, I believe. I don't think it was 2011 Sale A Bration, though if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me. One of the things I love about this card is that while the butterflies make it a little more feminine, I know some guys I could get away with sending it to if I wanted to do so. 

 

These last two were definitely made in 2013 - I would go so far as to guess May 2013, before the new catalogue went live. On some level I realize it's ridiculous that I can remember that. But I can recall it was our first time meeting in my demo's new house. Her studio space is gorgeous! And her wonderful hubby created a little ramp so I can get in without having to navigate a big step. With help I probably COULD do a wheelie and make it, but I wouldn't feel as safe as I do with the ramp. 

Anyway... I'm sure it was May, because we were talking about the colour changes, the new catalogue, and retirement related stuff. Also, it was my party that night and I was able to get everything I wanted from the list. This first card, despite how neon it looks, is actually made using Certainly Celery. It was this night that I decided I'd be fine subbing Pear Pizzazz for Certainly Celery. I know lots of people say that when these colour changes happen, the new colours can be very similar to older ones. Normally, I don't agree. In this case, I do. I can barely see the difference between PP and CC. I have NO idea why it looks so bright. I'm sure it didn't when I originally took the photo. I had concerns about the orange background of the table, so I made a point of having a look. It's bizarre.  

I have no idea why the colour is so off on this card.

 This image is so pretty to colour. I almost bought the set, but I have friends who own it, and I know, given that it's a larger stamp, that it'd give me fits. For the number of times I'd use it, I'm  much better off to just ask  my friend A. to bring it over when we crop.

Card Details - All products Stampin' Up
Live, Laugh, Love
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, En Francais
Ink: Basic Black, More Mustard
Other: Scallop border punch, ribbon, Dazzling Details

Just For You
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
DSP: Everyday Enchantment, Naturals Composition Paper
Stamps: Just Believe
Ink: Soft Suede, Versamark
Other: Butterfly punch, brads

For You
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Whisper White
DSP: This & That
Stamps: Elements of Style
Ink: Night of Navy, Basic Black
Other: Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Calypso Coral, Night of Navy & Certainly Celery Markers, blender pen

Day 27

This day was incredibly quiet. The most exciting things to happen were a clogged drain in the bathroom and a trip to the stamp store. I felt horrible having to call maintenance. I had to use the emergency number because nothing else was working. Luckily, one of the guys actually WAS working today - the switchboard was just not working, and the gentleman who was on doesn't actually have an office anyway, so he wouldn't have gotten the call that way regardless. By the time I got back from the store he had it fixed.

Found a couple cute embossing folders and a stamp set. I have been procrastinating on cleaning my room, but tomorrow I have no choice. I will have to bite the bullet. I have friends coming to have a crafty day on January 2nd, so I have to have things to work on while they're here. 

Here's a quick birthday card for the latest challenge at Seize The Birthday - the theme is Anything Goes. My favourite!

And another Christmas card I sent out this year. It was made another one made at a Stamp A Stack last year. I'm really trying to get all my Christmas cards posted no later than January 6th.  

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Birthday Wishes

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Merry Minis

DSP: Everyday Enchantment

Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade 

Other: brads, embossing folder

Merry Christmas

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Gumbal Green, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: Merry Minis

Ink: Gumball Green, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler 

Day 25 & Day 26 Christmas Festivities

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! I know that at least here, even if one doesn't celebrate Christmas, the day off from work in the middle of the week  is much appreciated. Some people even get today (Boxing Day in Canada and the United Kingdom), though I know not everyone does. 

I had a lovely, full day of family activities yesterday. I opened the majority of my presents at my parents' house. Then I prepped devilled eggs to take to my cousins' as part of my contribution to the meal, and had some time to relax before we headed over there. We skyped with my brother & sister in law, which was a lot of fun. Their little girl is getting so big! And very, very, cute. Her Mom was able to get her to laugh for us. She was also very drool-y. I told my brother that could well mean she's going to cut a tooth soon, but he doesn't believe me, because at 3 1/2 months old, he insists she's too young. I've definitely known babies who cut their first tooth at 4 months, so we shall see who is right there. Come on baby E; don't make a liar out of Auntie Tang! LOL.

Dinner was awesome. My cousins from Kelowna visited this year. Their daughter is growing SO fast. She's 3 now, and she's very verbal. It's so neat to be able to have actual conversations with her. And she loves to sing! When they arrived she was singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. We also go to hear Rudolph, Jingle Bells and Frosty, though she had a bit of trouble with that one. Of course, it's not a family gathering for us without a round of Dominoes. I thought I might actually win for once, but my mom was getting tired, so she had my cousin R. take over for her. Well, R won at least 4 rounds in a row, maybe 5, and came back to pass me. As much as I hate losing, it was fun.

Normally I would have gone shopping today, but I didn't. I had already received the two ornaments I collect, as well as Purdy's chocolate, so I had nothing I really HAD to have. The friend I've gone with for the past MANY years had said she wasn't sure she was feeling it this year either, so we mutually agreed to skip our traditional morning power shop. In the end I missed it. I just felt weird and at loose ends.  

I'm certainly not upset with anyone but myself. It was pure laziness on my part. I didn't want to drive out there for 8:00 a.m., be done at 10:00, drive home, then have to drive back out to my parents' for the Annual Open House my mom has for extended family, but I also didn't really want to go to my Mom and Dad's so early. For those wondering why I wouldn't just go shopping at noon... No. Just no. If you try to arrive at the mall I'm thinking of at noon on Boxing Day, you will spend one hour of your shopping time driving around attempting to find a place to park. It is INSANE in there in the afternoon. You have to go first thing in the morning and be done by 11:30 at the latest. From about noon to 3pm the chaos is as close as we get to rivaling Black Friday. Trust me; I have 20 years experience in the art & science of Boxing Day shopping in my town.  

Well that was more chatty than I had intended to be. Since I didn't post yesterday, I have two cards for you. Neither of these were made this year, but both are long gone from my stash. This first one was made and sent a long time ago - probably 2011. It should have been blogged as part of either this post or, more likely,  this one. Either way, I'm sure it was made and given out for Christmas 2010. I recognize it as being part of a batch I did for church using up some non-A2 envelopes I had. I'm no sure why I didn't post it at the time. I still love this set; I use it all the time. It's so much fun to colour. 

I made this snowman card last year at a Stamp a Stack. I used it this year. I have this set as well, so I'll be able to make variations of it again in the future. Next time instead of using the same snowman twice, I'll likely use the skinnier one with the top hat on the right. 

Card Details:
Christmas Rose
Cardstock: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Stamps: Christmas Cardinal
Ink: Stazon Black
DSP: Basic Grey

Merry Christmas
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Old Olive
Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Sassy Salutations
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Silver Glimmer Paper, Markers

December Daily - Day 3

Well, I have been working on a few challenge cards, but none of them are quite done yet. So today I'm posting a Christmas card I made a very long time ago that I never posted. I don't actually even have the card anymore, as I used it for my Mom's birthday card the year I made it. She loves poinsettias. 

 

This card was a make & take at the stamp store in town from at least two years ago - maybe more. It was actually the first year they did their Coffee & and a Card Mondays in the summer, so it likely was 2012.   They were showing us how easy the Stampscapes stamps are to use. That image is all one stamp.  The card is stamped with Staz On using glossy cardstock. Then we coloured it with Tombo marker. We spritzed a window sheet/piece of acetate & put it over top of the image. 

The flower was made with a Sizzix die. I put it together, but the pieces were cut before we arrived. The Cuttlebuging was done for us as well., just to save time.

I'll post another card tomorrow evening. In the morning I'll be having coffee with a friend;  then in the afternoon I am going to prep my cookie dough so I can get to work on my Christmas baking. I'm going to a cookie exchange on Saturday evening. 

Card Details
Cardstock: Bazzill
Stamps: Stampscapes
Other: Acetate, watercolours, brads, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

More Make & Takes

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks. I was part of organizing an event with a group of local youth where they attempted to break a world record for the longest indoor floor hockey game. I'm so proud to say they met their goal! We still have to submit evidence and such to Guinness to make it official, of course. Here's a picture of the young men who took part; you can find out a bit more on our website http://youthstickingtogether.com/

Given the record attempt on the 9th - 11th, the recovery time last week, and finishing off a gift album for a friend who was visiting from Alberta, I didn't get much done in the way of cards. Last Monday I did the local make & take but I was too tired to drive the 30 minutes to the other store to do the one they had. Last week I made this card:

I am a sucker for all things ocean-y so I loved playing with this stamp set.I can see lots of ways to make a similar card with either my Seaside (retired) or By The Tide set. SU actually has a third seashell set, too, By The Seashore, which I'll get at some point as well. It's inevitable. As it is, I rarely buy non-SU stamps and I caved and bought a set with butterflies and shells around the time I made this card. I love the glitter on the popped up shell. 

This card is one I've had for a while. I added the sentiment last week when decided for sure it would be a birthday card. I'm regretting the green for the semtiment; shoudl have gone with Razzleberry. I do love the rest of the card, though. As much as I've said I don't like the flower set Bright Blossoms, it is growing on me.

I made these last two cards today. The card on the left was made at the make & take in Parksville and the flower card was made at the store here in town. ou can't see it clearly in the photo (though maybe if you enlarge it, you can) but the edges of all the patterned paper are sanded. I love that look. I have so many scraps and sentiment stamps that it'll be easy to make a similar card again.

The flower card originally had ribbon. I couldn't make ti work. It felt too busy, what with all the sponging, the layers, and the larger sentiment across the bottom. We all chose our own sentiment and I went with that one because I wanted to use a punch (my trimmer is on the fritz presently; I need to go get one of my old one that I donated to our church and borrow it back for a few weeks). This card uses masking to allow for two different colours of sponging. There's a lighter pink just around the flower. 

 Card Details:

Seashell card:
Cardstock: Coredinations
Stamps: Hero Arts?
Ink: Memento
Other: Twine, Glitter. pencil crayons

Flower Vase Birthday card - all products Stampin' Up
Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry
DSP: Summer Smooches
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry
Other: Tempting Turquoise ribbon

Banner Birthday
Cardstock: American Crafts
DSP: Bella Boulevard
Stamps: Unknown

Flower Card
Stamps; Hero Arts, Making Memories
Cardstock: Bazzill
Ink: Memento, Tim Holtz
Other: Rhinestone (unknown), punch (SU!), markers (Tombow)

VC Rocks July Blog Hop

It's blog hop time!

The gang over at VC Rocks have begun posting their creations for you to see. We are doing things a bit differently with our hops this year. Instead of having us link to each other's blog in our posts, everyone's creations will be linked up via in inlinkz at the VC Rocks site. 

Today I have two cards to share with you. I was only going to share one, but sharing both will force me to do some creating between now and the end of August so I have something to share for our final hop of the year. I've been having trouble being creative right now, because it is just too hot in my apartment! I have been managing to head to the scrapbook store up in Parksville on Fridays, which has been great. My weekly trips ensure I get something done every week, it gets me out of the house and this heat, and I get to visit with some of my friends. I haven't been doing cards, though, lately - I've been working on an 8x8 gift album. I'll share some of my favourite pages from it later.

As I mentioned, we were asked to feature some new items -  be it colours, paper, stamps, or accessories. I haven't purchased any new stamps from the new catalogue. I'll be honest; I don't actually remember waht I ordered in June at our final party of the year. It was probably ink pads. And I couldn't pass up the awesome buy 3, get 1 free DSP deal that is running July 1-31. You'll see cards using some of those papers next month.

But I always wait to buy new stamps until the fall. I like to see the holiday catalogue, and I like to wait and see samples using the new products. That system has served me well; I always find stamps that I didn't appreciate when I was perusing the catalogue. And by the same token, I've saved money by seeing some things inked up and realizing they were not my style.

Enough chatter! Today's cards:

This card features 3 of the new In Colours - Baked Brown Sugar, Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana. We used sponge daubers to apply the ink to the Swallowtail stamp. I love the effect. Still, it's not something I can see myself doing very often. It was nice to play with the big butterfly, and if one of my friends gets it I could definitely see playing with it again. It's not a must have for me, though... it's just too big for my to handle comfortably. 

This card is more clean and simple and a little more my style.  It uses one of my favourite sets, Thoughts and Prayers. Yes, it's an oldie, but it's beautiful and versatile. The 'new' here is the designer paper and a bit of the colouring. The flowers are done in Strawberry Slush and the paper is the new Gingham Garden set. You'll be seeing more of that paper; it's one of the 4 I just got.

See you soon and please check back periodically at VC Rocks this weekend to see new blog hop entries!

Card Details: - All Products SU

Thinking of You Card

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Stamp: Swallowtail, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Pear Pizazz, Baked Brown Sugar

Other: Oval punches

Sharing In Your Sorrow Card

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers

Markers: Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizazz

DSP: Gingham Garden

Other: Pear Pizazz Grosgrain Ribbon

VC Rocks 2013

Welcome to the second VC Rocks Blog Hop of the 2013 season. I missed the first one. I forgot to change over my Yahoo! groups preferences so that group messages would come to my new email address. As a result, I missed the first hop and the beginning of VC.

For those who don't know, VC stands for Virtual Convention. It's a group for people who love all things Stampin Up. I love it because I get to talk to people who love these stamps and accessories as much as I do. We share camaraderie and great card ideas. I joined last year; I found it by fluke because it was mentioned on one of the blogs I follow. We have great card challenges. The challenges and hops really help me keep my mojo kickstarted in the hot summer months.

The theme of this hop is Punches, Big Shot and Simply Scored. Today I have 3 quick cards to share with you that feature use of the Big Shot. I confess I personally don't own a Big Shot; I use the one at the scrapbook store I crop at weekly, or I use the one at the home of the SU demo who holds the stamp club to which I belong.

I actually made all 3 of these cards at club. Normally I stray from my demo's original design somewhat to personalize what I'm creating. I don't think I did this time. On the first two I think I changed up the sentiment; originally they were birthday cards and I wanted a broader sentiment. On the last one, I coloured my flowers a bit differently. One of these first two cards will be an  anniversary for friends of mine who are having their 25th anniversary today.

The first card was done in May, our last time using Bashful Blue.It's not a favourite of mine but it's pretty here. I love that both the cardstock and patterned paper are embossed. It's not quite the same as the embedded embossing technique that uses a stamped image but the effect is similar.

The next two cards were made at our June club gathering, our final one until September. We got to play with lots of new products. The first card features the new Modern Mosaic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I love it! I have got to get this folder, as well as the stamp set/punch bundle, and the matching paper. We also got to try out the new Crisp Cantaloupe ink pad and cardstock. The colour isn't my favourite, but I think it will grow on me. We used the Rock 'n Roll Technique to stamp the flower.

The final card features the new Wildflower Meadow background stamp and Embossing folder. I actually won the stamp at J's Open House a little before the party but I hadn't used it yet. I didn't think I'd be keeping it. I find that because I can't stand up, I don't often get enough pressure to get a good image with a larger stamp like this one. J. showed me a couple tricks that have me thinking I might be able to manage it. We coloured the stamp with markers rather than inking it. That, plus laying the paper over top of the stamp (rather than pressing the stamp down on to the paper) and using a brayer, resulted in quite a good image, especially by my standards. So now I am pondering that I may keep the stamp. I haven't decided.

One thing to note about using the combo of the stamp and the embossing folder - stamp the image first, then line it up in the folder. Someone either didn't hear J when she said that, or forgot, and the result was that it didn't line up properly.

For You card
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla
DSP: Afternoon Tea? Or Epic Day This & That?*
Stamps: Itty Bitty Banners (sentiment); unknown*
Ink: Calypso Coral, Old Olive
Other: Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder; Basic Black 1/4" Stitch Grosgrain Ribbon

Celebrate Today card
Cardstock: Basic Back, Crisp Cantaloupe
Stamps: Blooming With Kindness, Perfectly Penned
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Basic Black
Other: Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder, Whisper White Organza Ribbon

Blank Card
Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush
Markers: Island Indigo, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizazz
Other: Scallop Border Punch


*If you know what stamp set the butterfly and circle are from, and/or you recognize the dsp in the first card, please let me know and I"ll correct my mistakes!

Hope you will head over to VC Rocks and check out the rest of the posters who have linked up projects!

ABC Easter Card Challenge

 I don't always do cards for Easter, but this year I will need at least one. At 14, J. is pretty much past the Easter egg hunt/egg dyeing stage. But I want to do something for her, so I'll give her a card with a little gift card in it for her to go get herself some half price treats. We'll be heading out to the mall together on Easter Monnday, so it will give her something to spend.

I ended up making two cards, just because I was motivated. It was my first time making pocket cards; I quite like them. I think the first one is a wee bit too serious for her so I will likely use it for a friend of mine who has been a huge help to me lately as I've been working through some complicated stuff.

I am entering these cards for two challenge:
 ABC Challenges. Easter cards
Sweet Stampin: Lots of Layers

Card Details:

Cardstock: Top - Pixie Pink; Bottom - Taken With Teal; Both - Barely Banana Whisper White (SU)

Stamps: Faith & Hope (SU)

Ink: Basic Black (SU)

DSP: Top  - Lucy Bird (Imaginisce); Bottom  - Autumn Leaves

Other: Punches, Markers (SU) brads (Making Memories)

ABC Challenge

I am so excited that I was able to get some cards done tonight. I have been wanting to participate at ABC Challenge (All About Cards) and this week is the first time I've been able to do so. This week the theme is Bring on the Flowers. I am a complete pushover for flower stamps. And flower themed patterned paper, apparently (I spent some time today sorting/organizing/tidying my far-too-abundant paper stash, and even I was surprised by how much of it has a flower motif). So this challenge was pretty easy for me, other than narrowing down my choices.

Because my stamps are still in various stages of being unmounted (I swear, I'm only a few more days away from being done with the job), I realized I'd have to go to my stash of kits and pre-stamped images. There I found two cards I want to share tonight. The pieces for these cards came from the same event where I made my card purses, posted here. I made one of each card and took one kit home to do later, so I could add my own sentiments. 

The first card uses one of my favourite flower sets - Mixed Bunch. I love that it comes with the matching punch, and that some of the flowers have really great designs that emboss well, as is the case with this card. I love the white embossing. And I love the pleated ribbon. I'm disappointed I haven't been able to get more people interested in doing a ribbon share. The design for this card is, as you can see, pretty simple. What I like about it is the  soft colours and patterns. 

The second card uses the Bright Blossoms set. It is one I don't own. When I see it in the catalogue, it does nothing for me; for some reason, with this set I am really put off by the fact that the flowers have patterns on them. Tulips do not have dots on them in real life. :) Yet when we use the set in our group, or I see posts online of work others have down with the stamp, I can't deny that it's a cute set. I just have too many other sets that are more my style that I still want to get. Like the first card, I loved the colour combo here. This one is Midnight Muse, Old Olive and Pool Party.I am definitely stocking up on Pool Party before it retires. I love that colour. And I am already falling in love with Midnight Muse. The card my demo designed was a similar layout; she used a different sentiment and it was on the bottom panel. I think she got her ribbon higher, too. I wanted to use the larger sentiment, so it seemed best in the top corner. Before I send this card out I will have to fix the punched border, and I'll likely move the bow over to the left, so as to try to have more of a visual triangle.

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Best Friends Card

Cardstock: Lucky Limeade, Pretty In Pink

Patterned Paper: Twitterpated

Stamps: Mixed Bunch (flower); Garden Whimsy (sentiment)

Other: ribbon, embossing powder

Wish Big Card

Cardstock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse

Stamps: Bright Blossoms, Bring On The Cake

Other: Ribbon, border punch, embossing powder.

LNS 191

Sorry I've not blogged in a couple of weeks again. Life has been very busy, though sadly, not with much that's blog worthy. Some of us have been having an interesting 'How early is too early for Halloween decoration?' debate on Facebook. I'll share my thoughts and what spurred the conversation later this week when I finish putting together some Halloween themed items. 

Today I'm posting some cards for a Late Night Stamper's challenge The theme is dots/stripes. I love both, so it was tough to decide which to choose. Ultimately, I couldn't decide so I did both. The first two will be birthday cards. I made these ages ago as cards for two of the girls from my church to celebrate their accomplishments at dance festival in the spring. I liked them enough that I made two more. Ok, it was more the fact that the scraps and the stamp set were easily accessible and I needed a couple birthday cards in a hurry than any great love for the design. They need bling! I didn't have time, though.

The baby cards are older ones I forgot to post, so I am not technically submitting them for the challenge. We made these at card club  in the spring. I love the set we used, though I resisted the temptation to buy it. That, and realized my friend was buying it so I could just use hers. ;)

In the first version, the main part of the buggy is paper pieced. For those who haven't tried paper piecing, it is super easy! You just stamp your image twice, once on the neutral base (in this case, the white) and once on the coloured cardstock or patterned paper of your choice. They cut out the coloured version and adhere it right over top of the other one. What I as worried about was being able to cut it along the lines properly so it fit just right and it worked without any trouble. And I am NOT a great cutter, so if I can do it, anyone can!

Sorry about the glare on the second card; the only difference between the two is that the second one is coloured with markers.

Card Details - All products Stampin' Up!

Birthday cards:

Cardstock: Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Tangerine Tango

Patterned paper: Cheerful Treat DSP (top); In colour collection pad

Stamps: Mixed Bunch; Perfectly Penned

Baby cards

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, So Saffron

Stamps: Baby Bundle, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Other: Border punch, ribbon, Big Shot embossing folder

Have a wonderful night! See you later this week with some Halloween projects.