Sometimes you just see a card...

... and you just gotta make it. This one from ScrappieToo that I found on CaseStudyChallenge was so adorable I couldn't pass it up, and it was perfect for a new baby card.

Today's inspiration: http://scrappietoo.blogspot.ca/2014/09/create-smile-september-bloghop.html : Angie Curvers, the very first image in the post.

The littlest critters from Cuddly Salutations was just perfect to be playing in the windows I had cut on the top. However, it wasn't easy to cut them and I wound up having to do it 3 times before I thought it was done right. My trick? Cut out three squares, place them and use a pencil to draw guiding lines on the cardstock. Then use an X-acto knife to cut into the middle, then use your scissors and cut along the lines. The critters themselves and accompanying bubbles were colored with Copic markers.

I decided to bring the pattern papers to the inside of the card as they feature in the background of each window, and used a black gel ink pen (fine Sharpie works too!) to draw the lines.

Other:
* White cardstock
* Black gel ink pen
* Copic markers

CTMH:
* Love Life Set
* Little Reminder Set (retired)
* Cuddly Salutations - Hostess Rewards set
* Barn Red Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Twilight Ink

As it's the new year and I have some exciting news for you... that's coming in the next post!

Fall Babies!!

At the office, my manager is expecting with his wife a new child any day now. This is their second but will be a sibling to their first. So, one of the ladies said we should come up with a baby gift for my manager as well as a card. [update: they gave birth to a beautiful baby boy mid-September]

You know how I feel about Hallmark cards. They're great, but for all the years I've made my own, I just don't feel they're personable enough. Plus I'm getting a reputation for making amazing cards at the office. As I don't have a proper baby welcome set it's always a creative feat to make them.

Today's inspiration is Case Study Challenge 156 : Tasnim Ahmed

I was looking for a simpler card due to time restraints for getting up early the following day and Tasnim's card was so pretty. I popped up the two chicks and dressed up the swirlies. As 156 is all about coloring, the chicks got colored!!

On the inside, I brought the swirls in and added a few hearts.

Michaels:
* White cardstock
* Copics Y11, Y21, Y13, R22, R29, R20, YG63, YG67, BG72, BG75, B24, B21

CTMH:
* Love Life
* Easter Wishes
* Blue and Green Adhesive Sparkles

Nothing like a rainy day for cheery cards!

I procrastinated...

... but then again the baby is still new and the parents are still settling in, so I have some time.

A coworker who travels regularly with my husband on his work trips just had a baby girl last month. We are waiting on them to get settled before we visit, meet their new daughter and wish them the very best. From pictures he has sent me and stories he's told she's quite the little spitfire. If only all girls started this way and didn't pay attention to media expectations... but that's another discussion for another time.

Inspiration: Mojo Monday's MOJO297 as interpreted by Julie Tilman of Poetic Artistry.

I couldn't help but bring out some old CTMH product that I had purchased and never used - Just Blooms in White Daisy. And as always, I couldn't tell you where my ribbon came from but it's so gorgeous I had to add it to the card.

Inside the little chick is paper pieced - she was originally for the front of the card but I couldn't make it work!

Other: 
* Solid cardstock
* Red ribbon

CTMH:
* La Vie En Rose Level 2 Paper Pack
* New Arrival
* Happy Easter
* Just Blooms White Daisy Variety Pack
* Gypsy Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink

It has been amazing to see my city rally after the Flood of 2013... hope you are all safe and dry.

It's always exhilarating...

... to hear that one of your closest friends is in the family way. We first got wind of them visiting Calgary late last month, and they are slated to be here end of this month. I look forward to seeing them but more importantly I got invited to a baby shower so the truth comes out!

Congratulations to them - they are our brother and sister of the heart. I can't go to this baby shower empty handed, so I had to make a card. As to what the gift is, I figure it out later.

Today's inspiration: Case Study #140, interpreted by Amy Wanford.

I used the rock and roll technique on the baby image with the kitten, stamping first in Amethyst ink and rolling the edges in Moonstruck. 

I brought the background image on the front to edge the left side of the cardstock on the inside and stamped the sentiment in Moonstruck.

Other: 
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* New Arrival
* Baby Love
* Hello Tweety
* Amethyst Ink
* Moonstruck Ink
* Honey Ink
* Paradise Baker's Twine
* 2" Scallop Punch
* Opaque Adhesive Pearls
* Itty Bitty Sparkles

It's still raining around here but at least we're getting some moments of sunshine which is better than nothing!

There's nothin like

... hearing about new arrivals in the springtime. :)

Especially if they are your friends that you just saw last year that happened to not spring the news until you were visiting them in Copenhagen ... makes it super exciting when you know their baby is arriving just in time for Spring.

I don't quite remember the inspiration for this one, but they are expecting a baby girl - so the theme is all pink.

I popped up the wings of the butterflies with some foam tape. Originally there was a bowtie on top (and this might have been something from Random Acts of Creativity) but the ribbon I had would have dwarfed all the pieces to this card. So I stamped and cut out the ribbon from flair and added a pearl center. The sentiment is from Paper Lantern.

I always want to bring the theme to inside the card. I know I have said this many times, and I'll say it again - I love how there's always two patterns to both sides of CTMH cardstock. So I flipped over the pink side to reveal a colorful border for the inside of my card, and added some cute bumblebees.


With Feburary comes a new stamp of the month - Home Sweet Home! It's a beautiful set to add to any layouts that evoke memories of Home, or dress up that card for your friend's new home that they have just moved into. This set can be yours for only 5$ with a 50$ minimum purchase.

And finally, this month's Campaign is focused on Studio J. You can purchase any Studio J layout for only 5$ (which is a savings of 1.95$ per layout!) Or even better, there are new Express Collections in Studio J which are 10 ready-made layouts for you to use plus a front and back cover that look professionally designed.

It's a great time to try Studio J if you haven't already! Contact me if you have any questions.


Other:
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* Stella Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Flutter Shapes
* Red/Pink Adhesive Gems
* Baby Love (retired)
* Flair
* Paper Lantern
* Opaque Adhesive Pearls

Feburary is warm so far and I hope it stays that way!

Macs and I...

Due to the fact that the big desktop has now actually made it into the shop, I was trying to figure out how best to edit photos on a Mac. And then how to export it. I know it's sheepish, but I finally figured it out. Can you tell I'm a Windows PC person?

Anyway, I took the bold step of printing out baby photos that I had been sent and converted it directly into a card. I don't do photo cards often, but I thought it was the most fitting for the event.

Isn't baby adorable?? Baby's eyes are closed, but hopefully baby's parents' don't mind me giving them 15 minutes of fame on my blog.  This was actually inspired by a card shown in the Spring/Summer 2012 catalog and I was dying to at least try it out.

The parents opened the card and I got the compliment of "this is going to be framed!" even the grandparents loved it. I'm just glad it was such a big hit :)

CTMH:
* Avonlea Level 2 Paper Pack
* New Arrival
* Itty Bitty Sparkles
* Blue and Green Sparkles
* Topiary Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink

The leaves are slowly changing color... and the designs for the Xmas workshop is almost done!

Summer and more babies...

There has to be something in the water at my workplace. My manager is expecting #4 anytime these days, the Business Analyst on my project is expecting in January and one of my fellow developers' wife is expecting in December. So I suppose I will be planning a few of these "lets get something from the office to show we care" things.

I'm not ready to follow suit however, but I do love kids - right now I spoil my god children as much as I can. They're 4 and < 1.

This was inspired again by the same Case Study (101), this time based off Iwona Palamountain's take on it. I just loved her tag and tried to borrow a few elements from it.

It's more on the simple side, but now and again it's fun to go on the simple side for a change. The shape for the sentiment is from the three sheets of Dimensional Elements shapes that come with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

I carried over the same colors from the sentiment on the front along with the flowers - I admit I love doing this to give the card an all over uniform look.

Michaels, etc:
* Solid color cardstock
* Blue Ribbon

CTMH:
* Cricut Art Philosophy package, Dimensional Elements
* Card Word Puzzle
* Lucky Level 2 Chipboard Assortment (retired)
* Baker's Twine, Paradise
* Florentine Level 2 Paper Pack
* Dreamin Level 2 Paper Pack
* New Arrival
* Sky Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Sunflower Ink

Happy Heritage Day!

All designs are complete!!

It took me a while but I can now unveil the eight designs I have to offer for the card workshop.

Again, to recap each card costs $1.50 and you can make as many of any design as you like - bring your own scissors and adhesive. As well I can take this card workshop on the road to you or create card workshop packages that you can put together on your own time. Please let me know by April 30th what cards strike your fancy and how many; each will come with it's own envelope.

The blog featured in all of these inspirations is Case Study Challenge Blog! It is spearheaded by Chupa of Random Acts of Creativity (who also posts a few Case Studies on her page) and there's a lot of beautiful creations there. Each card also has a matching inside background.

Card #1 is inspired by Teneale Williams' take on  Case Study #67 and features Childhood Portrait.

Card #2 is inspired by Teneale Williams' take on Case Study #80 and features My Peeps.

Card #3 is inspired by Chupa's take on Challenge #84, featuring Fashionista

Card #4 is inspired by one of Chupa's submissions to a magazine that got rejected! But it's still gorgeous. It features Delight.

Card #5 is inspired by the layouts from Challenge #62 featuring Superhero

Card #6 is inspired by Debby Hughes' take on Challenge #76, featuring Enjoy Life. Does the layout look familiar?

Card #7 is inspired by Cristina Kowalczyk's take on Challenge #60, featuring March's Stamp of the Month, Potential.

Card #8 is inspired by a combination of Andrea Ewen and Clare Buswell's take on Challenge #50, featuring Delight and Rosy Regards.

I love them all and I already have recipients in mind for each of them (even though I set out to design cards for a workshop, not make cards for friends and family). Please let me know by April 30th what you would like to do and how many.

Look forward to cardmaking with you!

With Spring comes babies!!

Or wait, maybe I've used that caption before. Anyhow, there's no shortage of babies being expected to show up this year, and my manager is no exception. He's expecting his fourth child!! I'm always amazed at those Moms who seem to juggle life, more than one kid, and business expertly.

To ensure there's enough room for the Web Dev and the Report and Software Dev teams under him to sign a card I think I'm going to need to make a second one... but you'll just have to wait to see what it looks like. Today's inspiration is Mojo Monday: MOJO235 with Scrappin' My Heart Out's take on it.

You can't see in this photo too well, but I cut out two dragonflies with my Art Expression cartridge in my E2 to create a 3-D dragonfly. The first one is glued onto the cardstock flat, and the second one I glued only the middle down, and popped the wings up with foam tape. As well, I couldn't resist painting the little butterfly blue. As you notice the color scheme is neutral, given the fact that I don't know the sex of the baby.

I didn't go too fancy on the inside this time, because there's going to be a lot of signatures on this card. I used a sentiment ('My Baby') from a set purchased at Scrapbooker's Paradise to go all around the edge. This card was a tough one because what you see is round 2! I didn't like the original look which was a stamp on the yellow circle conveniently covered up by the red circle.

Michaels, etc:
* Oh Baby acrylix stamp set - Scrapbooker's Paradise
* Solid color cardstock - Michaels
* Heart and yellow patterned cardstock - Costco

CTMH:
* Baby Love (retired)
* Pair a Phrase (old promo)
* Hope for Japan (old promo)
* Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
* Topiary Ink
* Chocolate Ink
* Cranberry Ink

I'm off to munch on Easter chocolate!

Babies and last Friday off...

Well, this afternoon is the last Friday off I have from my workplace in the last three months. I'm enjoying it, even with the 5 minute snowstorm that wandered in and out of my community. This year it seems all my friends are having kids, and my Baby Love set (retired) is getting quite the workout.

By the way I rolled out a snazzy new blog header. Can you identify the CTMH products featured?

Today's inspiration is from Mojo Monday: MOJO234 with the help of Scrappin' My Heart Out's Debbie Carriere blue roses card.

The diecut is from the package you get alongside the Cricut Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge! It comes with 3 exclusive D-set stamps, three die cut sheets, and of course the cartridge itself. Don't you think the Baker's Twine works well with the blue rhinestones?

The recipients of this card have two cats and love them, so I couldn't resist stamping cats on the inside. To get just the cat and not the associated 'baby' on the stamp, I used post-its to mask out the baby, stamped it on the ink pad, and removed the postit notes before transferring the image.

Michaels, etc:
* Solid cardstock

CTMH
* Lucky Level 2 Paper Packet (retired)
* Baby Love (retired
* Soul Mates
* Fall/Winter 2012 Petite Perks stamp
* Blue and Green Sparkles
* Dimensional Elements - Mixed Shapes
* Baker's Twine Paradise Assortment
* Moonstruck Ink
* Olive Ink
* Smoothie Ink

Hope you're enjoying warm temps like I am,

Haircut leads to more good news

My hairdresser, which I found after several years of failed haircuts (dry, damaged, and generally looked awful) has been making me absolutely gorgeous for the last 5 years. I see him once every four to six months, and although he has total creative license over my hair he always listens to what I have to say.

The man is a genius with scissors.

He told me today, while his scissors was doing it's thing, that he was expecting a little one! Well I just couldn't resist - and out came the stamps. Playing in Mojo Monday's latest challenge, MOJO204 this was the end result:



Thanks Mojo Monday for coming up with such fantastic layouts!

Cardstock:
* Michaels Craft Store

CTMH
* Baby Love
* You And Me set (June fundraiser, retired)
* Chocolate Ink
* Smokey Plum Ink
* Ponderosa Pine Ink
* Itty Bitty Sparkles Rhinestones

No shortage of babies

The previous owner of my cats, and mother to my godson has told me over lunch she was expecting #2. I'm thrilled for her! I know that it's pretty early on still, but I thought I'd do up a card for her now and add it to my stash of ever-growing cards, so when the time comes, I just need to grab it and go.

Today's inspiration is MOJO198 from Mojo Monday.



The inspiration is stitching on the card, but I am still learning the ways of my sewing machine with fabric nevermind paper. I also tried hand stitching but you do not want to know how disasterous that got.

Patterned Cardstock:
* Local craft stores

Punches:
* CM Mini Heart Punch (retired)

CTMH:
* Mayberry Paper (Mayberry Workshop To Go)
* Smoothie cardstock (Mayberry Workshop To Go)
* Smoothie Ink
* Olive Ink
* Baby Love Stamp Set
* Soul Mates Stamp Set

A reason to try something new

Most of my cards were made with the typical 4 1/2 x 5 inch card base that I picked up from Michaels. However, this week's Mojo Monday had me inspired; I had another baby card to make for a coworker who is expecting her first in October and this particular sketch was quite easy.

Plus I was dying to try out the Folded Focus template in the book Wishes.

Today's template is MOJO193 by Mojo Monday.

My take on the sketch:


My favorite part about this card is how the green pops out so lively from the more modest oranges and yellows. It honestly was not planned!

Cardstock:
- Local craft stores

Embellishments (ribbon, eyelet)
- Local craft stores, dollar store finds

CTMH:
- Baby Love Stamp Set (B1368)
- Olive Ink (Z2137
- Desert Sand Ink (Z118)

A new neighbour

I was talking with my neighbour last weekend when it came out that she had welcomed a little boy into the world back in January! We talk when we bump into the backyard but given that weather had to cooperate before that happened, it was May before I found out.

What better occasion than that to create a card?

Today's inspiration is SSC13 from Random Acts of Creativity



The designs for Baby Love (B1368) were so cute I had to use it on the inside, too:



Cardstock & Button Sticker:
Local craft stores

Inside stamp for card:
Oh Baby - local craft store

CTMH:
Wooden Designer Buttons (Z1387)
Natural Hemp (Z280)
A Game Stamp (A1113)
You & Me (D1495) - May Promotion
Enjoy Life (C1439)
Baby Love (B1368)
Moonstruck Ink,
Ponderosa Pine Ink,
Grey Flannel Ink,
Bamboo Ink,
Spring Iris Ink