Almost a year later...

.. I can't remember what the inspiration was, but I can definetly say a lot of the stamps and card stock were from the previous catalog. These were birthday cards that were for my brother and sister in law.

First card - for my sweet sister in law in CA!! I couldn't imagine adding a sweeter person to the large family of siblings I am part of either by blood or by marriage.

Only because I spent so much time with the Give A Lift stamp set and La Belle Vie is my favorite paper pack of all time is why I still know the name of the set! I used a plain paintbrush (dollar stores or your local craft stores will carry these) and a bunch of CTMH water based ink pads. Coloring with the pigment inks gives you a deeper color and it's easier to paint with.

Whoops, looks like I never quite took this photo in the correct orientation! I brought a strip of the same patterned cardstock inside and added some floral flourishes.

Second Card - for my little bro in CA. With the deep freeze that shows up from time to time, he was the smarter one and moved down to where it was warmer!

Another set that I spent a lot of time with for my Spring 2014 workshop - Robot Family with Timber Level 2 Paper Pack! I love these little robots and what's even better; husband loves robots, so I will be using this set over and over again :) and even better - the gears are from the Artiste CTMH Cricut cartridge! I can't get enough of how much I love CTMH and how it's held up so well over the years.

Gears are from the same stamp set - they're super cool! And how cheesy is the sentiment? I just had to use it - my little brother is an engineer so totally relevant. And P.S - the red gears were left over from the cuts I did originally for his wedding banquet invites. Waste not, want not.

Are you gearing up for Xmas yet? I certainly am!

First Class Birthday

I am back from a fabulous holiday in beautiful Malta, on the Mediterranean Coast. It was warm, the food was fantastic, the company was awesome, and I'm left wondering if I want to move or not :) If you do go and see one thing, go see Comino - the waters are just unreal but prepare for a large amount of tourists! And this photo is just from my iPhone... so you can imagine photos do not do this place justice.

 Comino & Blue Lagoon - an island belonging to the Maltese Archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea

My brother in law is a huge fan of planes... which means, I use a specific set: Horizons over and over again. I'm hoping to expand my collection of plane stamp sets eventually. However, this time I had accidentally double ordered a set for a customer of mine that included a first class fun tag - just perfect for the same flight theme.

Inspiration: http://stempelwiese.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/geburtstagskarte-stampin-up-rosette-sonnenblume-031012.jpg

I hauled out an old set of the Level 2 Assortment from Lucky to finish this off. After all, doesn't everyone dream of flying first class one day? I wanted to play a bit more with distressing, so I crumpled up some paper towel and went to town with Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta and Outdoor Denim.

On the inside, I used one of the borders that you can cut off the 12 x 12 patterns from Skylark. Some left over goodies from my workshops that went awesome!

Other:
* Cream Cardstock

CTMH:
* True To Life Stamp Set
* You Are My Happy Sentiments Set - retired Constant Campaign
* Card Chatter Birthday Set - retired
* Horizon Set - retired
* Dreams Come True - retired
* Skylark Level 2 Paper Pack
* Barn Red Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Autumn Terracotta Ink
* Goldrush Ink
* Lucky Level 2 Chipboard Assortment
* Designer Ribbon Blue Collection - retired
* Blue / Green Epoxy Adhesive Bubbles

Where did the heat go?

Foxes and a little girl's birthday...

I admit it. I'm guilty of buying stamp sets that I fall in love with. Which means occasionally I have all these sets that I've never used just floating around somewhere. The Feburary 2014 SOTM was no exception. But, I finally found a use!

Inspiration: Case Study 157 : Jean Martin

On the front of the card is a scrap from La Belle Vie, a retired paper pack that I was sad to see go. It's French inspired and thought it would be super elegant for the little birthday girl. I just had to use the foxes - she's intelligent and very sassy :) when she's not scared of the people around her. I also popped up the flower on the bottom fox with puff tape and used a bit of bling to make it stand out.

On the inside is a quote from You Are My Happy, an older constant campaign (another set I didn't know what to do with until now!). I brought the fox inside along with a strip of the same paper from the front. I love being able to do that.

Other:
* Pink adhesive flower sparkle

CTMH:
* La Belle Vie Level 2 Paper Pack - retired
* You are My Happy Sentiments - retired
* Wild About Love - Feb 2014 CC - retired
* Card Chatter - Birthday - retired
* Bronze Shimmer Trim
* Gypsy Ink
* Smoothie Ink
* Twilight Ink
* Foam Adhesive

Hope you are enjoying the respite from the heat!

Blue and Feminine...

My best friend's birthday was back in April and her favorite color is blue, plus she enjoys travelling and the sea. So I finally cracked out the sea wood shapes that I'd bought some time ago from CTMH but had no idea what to do with them.

My inspiration was Mojo Monday and it popped up from viewing several designers: MOJO290

I went with clean lines and beachy, relaxed feel. I kept to a specific palette and wanted the sea shapes to pop right out as orange against blue.

I didn't go too fancy on the inside but I stamped the entire card with one color which I'd never done before. Usually I like to use a combination of colors and occasionally stamp sets. It worked out well contrasted with the other pieces and cardstock colors.

Other:
* White cardstock

CTMH: 
* Lucky Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Jardin
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Seaside Wood Shapes
* Blue Adhesive rhinestones
* Blue Designer Ribbon (retired)

Looks like we'll get a hint of summer at 25 tomorrow before it hits 11... if nothing else, the weather around here is never boring.

Happy Crafting!!

And the birthdays start again...

With both my brothers having birthdays in January I had to break out all my crafts again, even though they were all put away for the holidays.

However a swift inspiration kick in the back is always welcome and the new Spring/Summer catalogs arrived! They will debut Feb 1st but I will include one new catalog with any order in January.

My inspiration for today had to include planes, as my brother-in-law was once a pilot and still adores them : Mojo Monday : MOJO275

I thought I'd let the paper from Dreamin Level 2 (retired) carry the oomph of this card as it is so beautiful. However I was needing a distress tool and as it turns out, my foot file did the trick. Mind you I think I'll have to include the distress files in my next order. It exposes the white core that is at the center of all CTMH papers for a nice look.

I carried the paper and distressing through to the inside of the card and added a few flourishes, including distressing the middle panel's edges with Pacifica.

My Stash:
* Solid color cardstock
* Blue flower rhinestones

CTMH:
* Dreamin Level 2 Paper Pack
* Horizon
* Just A Number
* Love Life
* Olive Ink
* Pacifica Ink

Finally I should mention the stamp of the month for January - Happy Valentine's before it's too late - it's a beautiful set of roses that would work wonders on any layout or card.

This set is only 5$ with a minimum order of $50 CAD and don't forget about the latest promotion - a Valentine's Day kit for $10 with a minimum purchase of $35.00. 

Stay warm, it's cold outside!

Just couldn't resist...

... playing with the new paper packs in the newest CTMH catalogue! Especially because my mother-in-law's birthday is coming up and what better choice than La Belle Vie?

My inspiration is Clean and Simple 117 from Clean & Simple Stamping. I really loved her choice of butterflies and string which I originally discovered on Pinterest.

The biggest butterfly in that trio on the front is actually the backside of the background paper! I cut out three different butterflies with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge in three different sizes and then the middle is glued down, and the wings are popped up with foam tape.

Because I wanted butterflies on the inside, I chose to use the butterflies from a special promotional double sided set called It's Your Day that is on sale for 5$ more when you spend $35! The promotion runs from August 15th - Sept 30th and has a lot of versatile images! It's National Stamping Month in September and what better way to celebrate?

My sister in law has left for home, sadly, but that means I will be posting on my regular schedule once again. Out of all the adventures we had, I think street poling was the most fun.

Michaels, etc:
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge
* La Belle Vie Paper Pack Level 2
* Opaque Adhesive Pearls
* It's Your Day
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Smoky Plum
* White Daisy

My goodness September long is coming up next weekend ... hope you all have grand plans!

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!

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!

Recycling...

Leftover from the husband's Christmas gift (a huge driving wheel for the PS3) was this box with white insides. I had read some time ago on a food blog that instead of buying a whitebox to photograph in - you could just make your own! So, I turned that box into my white box. The best time of day to take pictures is around noon-2:00 PM.

I am planning to bring down all birthday cards with me between March to August when I go to Denmark, but I haven't done anything yet for a close family friend or my mother in law. This one is for the close family friend.

Today's inspiration: Mojo Monday's MOJO277 and in particular, Sarah Bigelow of Sarah's Creations. I love her flourish around the circle.

I don't often think of white when I'm cutting out embellishments, but I was definetly inspired by Sarah's use of white and it just went so well with this card. All of CTMH's patterned paper can be mixed and still produce beautiful results: this one is a mix of Wonderland and Lucky (retired).

To color in the owl on the front and the little compass on the inside, I actually used a paintbrush and CTMH inks; first I dabbed the tip of the brush right on the inkpad, then on scrap paper so the ink is not too dark and then color in my item. I do all the shading later, skipping the scrap paper step.

Michaels, etc:
* White cardstock
* Brown ribbon (thanks, Crave Cupcakes)
* Flower brad
* Dark rhinestones

CTMH:
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Pair A Phrase (retired)
* Lucky Level 2 Paper Pack
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Pack
* Chocolate Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Honey Ink
* Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

It's snowing once again!

Masculine colors...

My father in law is turning 60 this year, and his gift to himself is to fly all the siblings plus any significant others to Portugal from Denmark. So all we need to do is get to Denmark and he'll take care of the rest. Our tickets are bought; and just counting down the months before we go.

A 60th birthday deserves an awesome card! As I was doing my usual trolling of the forums last night I came across two inspirational items and a card was born. This is the first time I am entering in two challenges.

Inspiration: Heart 2 Heart's Photo Inspired Challenge & i{heart}2stamp's January 2012 SFYTT

I changed up the layout slightly from the SFYTT because I didn't feel like doing a circle but also because the inspiration from H2H includes tags! From the picture I took the theme of browns, yellows, and the leaf branch which is present in the large brown background patterned photo. Since the colors aren't "girly", they're masculine, in my opinion.

The funniest problem I have with putting so much on a card is that it flops over if I don't design the inside of the card and add some more 'weight' to it. So, I continued the leaf theme - those leaves are actually cut out of scraps from the front pattern of the paper, and I distressed the edge of the sentiment piece with Chocolate because it blended too much into the yellow otherwise.

Michaels etc:
* Solid Cardstock, Spice Market Collection
* Yellow dotted pattern - Creative Memories
* Ribbons
* Leaf pattern cardstock - Costco

CTMH:
* Limited Edition - September 2011 SOTM
* Horizon
* Bohemian Alphabet
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Chocolate Ink
* Spring Iris Ink
* Olive Ink
* Honey Ink
* Opaques Adhesive Gems (Pearls), Mocha

I'm looking forward to Portugal and seeing my Danish family soon!

Adhesive Runners and cards

I'll start this post with a review of a Michael's product: Recollections Repositionable Adhesive Runner. I really didn't like this one. I bought it as a in-between - I had lost all patience with my Creative Memories tape runner that was acquired before my CTMH days.

Psst... I have a Tombow CTMH adhesive runner coming in the mail. I have high hopes!

The adhesive refused to stick a lot of my 3-D items down! I had to resort to the glue gun and was not impressed at all. I'm sure if you're just sticking paper to paper, it would probably work fine but it wasn't sticking my ribbon down. So for those of you who have seen Repositionables, either use Permanent or Permanent dots.

I saw this beautiful card originally done by Amy Sheffer and then used for inspiration by Teneale Williams who makes gorgeous cards down in Australia! So my inspiration is both cards off CASE Study Challenge #71.

Trying to get that cardstock ribbon to stick down was horrendous with the Recollections Repositionable! But the glue gun did wonders. The paper was from my Costco stock and when I saw it I just had to - the particular recipient of this card I know never minds a little shopping!

This photo is my lesson not to use a zoom lens (Canon EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6) to take closeups, but I can't remember what I did with the kit lens and the other one I have is for dark light, which is not worth it on sunny days. It focused fine on the little flower but not on much else! As you can see I also had to decorate the inside of the card with a bit of bling.

Michaels, etc:
* Patterned cardstock
* Solid cardstock (Jewel collection)
* White cardstock, bulk
* Ribbon

CTMH:
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Pair-A-Phrase (2011 campaign)
* Pink Collection - Brads
* You and Me Die Cut (2011 campaign/fundraiser)
* White Daisy Just Blooms
* Spray Pen
* Pearl Paint
* Cranberry
* Outdoor Denim
* Smoothie
* Smoky Plum
* Art Philosopy Cricut Cartridge

 Hope it's not too windy where you are!

Spring Froggies...

Dad's birthday is coming up in Feburary, and I thought I'd try to stay at least one or two cards ahead of actual birthdays so I can get them mailed out in time.

I haven't touched my large stash of background papers from Costco in a long time (it was a steal!!) and I thought I'd go back to that. The one I chose in particular actually influenced my color scheme towards oranges, yellows, and browns.

Today's inspiration is Mojo Monday: MOJO224.

The ribbon was perfect timing - I was just by Michaels the other morning and they had spools of ribbon for 1$ ea. Thought I'd pick up some browns and reds and it complimented this card perfectly. For those of you wondering, it seems that natural light causes my granite countertops to reflect what's on the card.

Because the froggy on the top of the card is hidden under the ribbon, I thought I'd add three little frogs to the inside of the card amid a sea of red tulips. If you look closely, the tulips are double-color: first I inked the stamp up in Tulip (lighter color) then I inked the stems in Chocolate. Always go light to dark if you choose this technique.

Michaels, etc:
* Patterned circular cardstock
* Solid cardstock (Spice Market, Gems)
* Ribbon
* Fiskars Circular Shape Cutter

CTMH:
* Dream Big
* Beary Busy
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* 1" Circle Punch
* 2" Scalloped Circle Punch
* Chocolate Ink
* Tulip Exclusive Inks Marker
* Juniper Exclusive Inks Marker
* Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Can you wait? 11 more days for the Spring/Summer 2012 Catalog to be live!

Brother birthdays back to back

My brother and I are born exactly six months apart, and my brother-in-law is the day after that for birthdays! I already have a card done up for my brother from a prior workshop, but I had to do one for my brother in law. Postal office, here I come again.

Today's inspiration was a card sketch from Got Sketch? that I got in my mailbox back in December. And I thought it was the perfect reason to use up paper from one of my retired Level 2 kits - Lucky.

Inspiration: Got Sketch? : Sketch 135 (card)

You can never go wrong with a few boy themed papers on your hands. My Cricut E2 cut the neat letters doily on Wonderland paper (brown with dots) and the blue doily with the grey background. It amazes me how intricate the E2 can really cut things.

To illustrate the versatility by simply turning the background paper over, I used the other side of it on the inside of the card. The print is similar but in this case it is in monotone color only.

And of course, the plane is because my brother in law absolutely adores planes; he used to be qualified to fly but hasn't in a few years. Maybe one day he'll take me up to the sky in a Cessna in the future.

Michaels:
* Blue cardstock from "Primary"
* Grey cardstock
* White embroidery floss

CTMH:
* Little Reminder : January 2012 Stamp of the Month
* Card Chatter - Birthday
* Horizon
* Lucky Level 2 Paper Pack
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Pack
* Liquid Glass
* Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge
* Olive Ink
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Grey Wool Ink

Stay warm, I hear it's gonna get cold this week!