Graduation...

... I noticed, quite quickly I didn't have a lot of stamp sets for anything resembling graduation! A coworker of mine graduated today from SAIT and I saw the most amazing card that I had to hijack for this very occasion.

Today's inspiration comes from the winner of Case Study Challenge #92, Arlene from Water Dots.

The numbers are cut out with the Art Philosophy cartridge, and I felt like making my own little "tag" to go on front. The sentiment, which is most appropriate comes from an old campaign set called Pair A Phrase. I love how the gold ribbon gives it a bit of color.

On the inside I continued the statement and thought a firework rocket was appropriate for the occasion. I colored this one with the same paintbrush technique, using ink directly from the pad and working the gradient inwards. I just hope he likes it.

Michaels, etc:
* Solid color cardstock
* Paintbrush
* Ribbon

CTMH:
* Pair a Phrase (retired campaign)
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Dutch Blue Ink
* Cranberry Ink
* Grey Wool Ink
* Opaque Adhesive Pearls, Mocha


This weekend I am off to run 10K in support of cancers below the waist - the Underwear Affair!

Sometimes you just get inspired...

I was browsing through my blogroll when my eye lighted on the following three:

* Papertrey Ink : Make it Monday Challenge #67
* Mojo Monday : Challenge #242 interpreted by Julie Tilman aka MOJO242
* Heart2Heart: Distressing Challenge

and off I was to my crafting supplies to make a card! I sadly don't qualify for the first challenge (Papertrey Ink) as they require you to use at least one PaperTrey item but don't worry - they make beautiful stamps and they're definetly going on my birthday wishlist.

I'm not sure that it's directly obvious here but I tried to sand the blue layer of the butterfly with my nailfile and the purple flourish to expose the white core that is at the heart of all CTMH cardstock. It shows best on the right wing, and I distressed the inside panel with chocolate ink. I had seen this layered technique before with butterflies some time ago and felt like giving it a try. The top is actually vellum embossed with silver embossing powder.

To get that look with the little butterflies, I used the same paintbrush technique that I've done previously, working from where I want it darkest and swept out to the lighter part of the image. The ink used here to "paint" with is Smoothie.

Michaels, etc:
* Solid cardstock (Spice Market)
* Silver embossing powder
* Fiskars Edge Punch

CTMH:
* Pair-A-Phrase (retired)
* Just A Number
* Dreamin Level 2 Paper Pack - retired
* Florentine Level 2 Paper Pack
* Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge
* Cocoa Ink
* Smokey Plum Ink
* Autumn Cardstock Pack
* Smoothie Ink
* Opaque Pearl Adhesives

Have a great weekend!

Retired Stamp Sets...

I always love how all the CTMH products coordinate together in a timeless fashion, no matter how old or retired they are. In this case, I had just purchased Fun Times from a consultant (my upline) who is trying to make room for new sets but it's retired.

I was fiddling around with elements and layout while I talked to the two lovely ladies during my workshop, trying to make everything work out. I also couldn't find the paintbrush I had used prior for one of the cards that was in high demand, so with this card I also realized that paper towel could also work. The final result:

You'll have to pardon the crappy lighting... taking photos at 10:30 at night never leads to great lighting no matter how awesome the camera is. My favorite part of this card is the chevron stripe. CTMH got really clever with their papers lately; they print all the info and CTMH copyright at the top of each patterned paper to make it easy to cut off and then on the other side they print a fun little corresponding border that you can actually use. That stripe behind the frog is from Superhero Level 2 Paper Pack.

I don't know why, when I was taking photos of the inside of this card (at a more appropriate time of day) that I didn't think to take photos of the front. :)  I absolutely love the frog. 

Michaels, etc:
* Solid color cardstock (Spice Market)
* White cardstock

CTMH:
* Superhero Level 2 Paper Pack
* Fun Times (retired)
* Lucky Level 2 chipboard elements (retired)
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Topiary Ink
* Smoothie Ink
* Bitty Adhesive Backed Gems

Hope you all had a fantastic May Long weekend!

Mother's Day Run, Card workshops, etc.

Wow what a busy weekend!

First of all thanks to my first ever card workshop attendees - thank you for coming and for such fun company! I even got to see a few creative spins on my cards, including an idea regarding black and white for one of the cards that I had originally designed.
Here's a few photos I took before we whirlwinded into the fun:

Each girl had their selection of cards written out on the CTMH paper mat I had put down for them.

All the supplies before we dug into them!

I even had time to design a card for a friend's son who's birthday is in November.

The little star is from a retired WOTG, Lucky. The strip is actually the back side of the red, white and blue striped paper, which is from Superhero's Workshop To Go. And I just couldn't resist adding two green rhinestone eyes.

Of course, I continued the same colors on the front on the inside, and there you can see the entire body of the little lizard that was featured in the front. It's so cute I just don't want to give this one away. And the funny thing is - this one I sold to one of my workshop attendees, and then promptly made a second one. I have another card I did, but that will be unveiled next week.

The morning after was the Forzani's Mother's Day Run and Walk 5/10K. I ran it with the hubby; such a gorgeous morning and day and it was a great run. My 5K was a bit slower and the last km the hardest, but worth every moment.

CTMH:

* Fun Times (retired)

* Card Chatter - Birthday

* Cranberry Ink

* Outdoor Denim Ink

* Blue and Green Rhinestone pack

* Lucky chipboard (retired)

* Superhero Level 2 Paper Pack

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

Gifts and Friendship Bouquet

I was lucky to find two ladies who were able to do the workshop with me next weekend, I have another one who's going to reschedule, and at least two other interested ladies. I'm stoked - that's a lot for me since I don't know a lot of people who were going to do this with me.

Card tutorial here: http://stamped-by-hand.blogspot.ca/2012/04/all-designs-are-complete.html

I really appreciate them coming by next week and wanted to express this with a little gift box that happened when I was trying to cut a container for cookies. (The cookies ended up being gifted in a bagalope - tutorial courtesy of Splitcoast Stampers)

I can't seem to find the usual photobox that I normally use to take photos in, but my windowsill seemed to be a great substitute. Cats? Did you steal it? Anyway. It's amazing how all I had to do was cut the box out on Florentine patterned paper with the Art Philosophy cartridge and dress it up with a little scalloped circle element punched out of Dreamin' (retired).

I love how you can mix and match all the different paper packs that CTMH has and it'll all match up effortlessly! It's also the same thickness as cardstock, so it holds up for things like these.

Also I wanted to show you May's Stamp of the Month - Friendship Bouquet! It's a beautiful set of flowers that are perfect for painting and using on ... Mom's Mother's Day card.

This can be yours for only $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase! I can think of a few ways to use this one already. Check out the awesome artwork that the CTMH design team came up with:

Looking forward to the workshop and catching up with a few friends!