I'm still backlogged...

... on cards!! Booting off to South Africa in the first week of December meant that I was behind in making Christmas cards, and my parents collect them. So I feel terrible that they didn't get one this year, and so I'm making it for them now, albeit a bit late.

I dusted off some old stamp sets that I hadn't used in some time and are retired, and had great fun with the alphabets.

Today's inspiration: My Paper Secret Friendship Card [Wonderful Words, Friends], by Christina

 

The biggest challenge was lining up the letters correctly for the sentiment on the red line of the cardstock. I used red, green and white for Xmas colors. Some years back, I fell in love with the Bohemian alphabet and bought it on a whim. I haven't used it much since, but it was appropriate for this card. On retrospect it could almost be a baby card, but it's a Christmas card. The reindeer was colored with Copic Markers.

I continued the three stripe colors inside the card and stamped the sentiment inside with Cranberry Ink. The fun thing about doing Xmas cards that isn't for a workshop is that I can revisit with all my stamp sets whether or not they're retired. I colored the little raccoon again with Copic markers.

Other:
* Solid Cardstock
* Copic Markers

CTMH:
* Bundled Buddies, retired
* Snow Flurries, retired
* Classmate Alphabet
* Bohemian Alphabet, retired
* White Daisy Ink
* Cranberry Ink
* Grey Flannel Ink, retired

It's been pretty chilly here the last few days, hope you are all staying warm!

Happy Father's Day!!

It is that day in the year that we celebrate everything that our Dads mean to us. And for those of us who were the eldest and female in the house, there were a lot of funny stories to follow.

I still remember how loud it was when Dad's jaw dropped - after I'd asked him for a 3AM curfew, the day I brought home a boy that wasn't Chinese (and I even married him six years later!). And then when I married into an amazing family, acquired a second Dad and there were equally many amusing moments between him and I. (And yes I know... this post is a little late... it's been a crazy year for me).

Today's inspiration is Case Study : Challenge #145 interpreted by Lynn Mangan.

I used the rock and roll technique to give the lanterns some more oomph. Perhaps this year I'll wise up and actually find a proper Father's Day and Mother's Day stamp set in time for next year. In the meantime, I think this one turned out pretty awesome.

Other:
* Solid Cardstock

CTMH:
* Paper Lantern
* Classmate Alphabet
* Designer Buttons - Wooden
* Itty Bitty Sparkles
* Adhesive Pearls - Mocha
* Outdoor Denim Ink
* Topiary Ink
* Honey Ink
* Autumn Terracotta Ink

I meant to post this back in June but as you can see...  a little late on the post :)

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!

Butterflies and Mother's Day

I just needed an excuse to use my newest stamp, Delight, but it also so happens that I need to make a second Mother's Day card for my mom who lives here and feeds me and my husband every Sunday! She deserves a card too and of course she will come over for dinner which is often a three course meal.

Today's inspiration is a mix of iheart2stamp's March SFYTT and Amber Hight of The Stamping Scrapbooker's interpretation, Mr & Mrs.

I wanted to do three butterflies, but it wasn't big enough - however, two seems to be just perfect. They were embossed with Dutch Blue embossing powder with a bling button in the middle. You can't see from the photograph, but I glued the middle of the butterflies down and then added foam tape to their wings to pop it up a little.

The third butterfly has made it's appearance on the inside, which is an echo of the colors used on the front of the card. I also decided to distress the sides of the cream cardstock so that it had a bit of a fuzzy look to tie into the blue background.

Michaels etc:
* Cream patterned paper, CM
* Solid cardstock, Michaels
* Ribbon, Michaels
* Fiskars Edge punch and embosser

CTMH:
* Delight
* Classmate Alphabet
* Dreams Come True
* Dutch Blue embossing powder
* Bling buttons
* Lilac Mist Ink
* Moonstruck Ink
* Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge

It's almost Easter! I can't wait!

You and Me Themed 2012 Calendar

This was a unique challenge for me. I wanted to stay solely with the colors that were in the You and Me Kit: Creme Brulee, Olive, Smoothie, Garden Green, and Chocolate which meant that I did not have free reign with colors like I normally have. However, I didn't mind; it was actually less stressful to work with four colors (I did not end up purchasing the Creme Brulee ink) and it came out looking fantastic.

As you can see I ended up using You and Me patterned cardstock for the front and back only. The rest of the inside pages were the brownish/cream colored cardstock from Michael's Spice Market cardstock and the quote pages were white cardstock that I distressed with chocolate ink.

Each of the stamped corners on both sides were done with the curly stamp from You and Me, three times per corner and then all squares were distressed with chocolate ink. I thought it would be lovely to have a little quotation on the back of each square. Each quotation is matched with some "pictures" of course, all second generation stamping. In the case of September and December, the months actually span over six weeks so I needed to do some masking in order to stretch the weeks.

I wish I could keep this calendar for myself as it came out looking so gorgeous but it is a present that I'm sure my Mom will love this year for Christmas. I am glad that this project is done - I can finally put all my stuff away properly :) but no shortage of stamp sets were used.

All in all this being my first time, I will definetly use the My Creations chipboard items again. Next time I will be using their triangle banner.

Michaels:
* Cardstock from 'Spice Market' set

CTMH:
* You and Me Kit
* Creme Brulee, Smoothie, Olive, Garden Green cardstock from Autumn set
* Bohemian Alphabet
* Classmate Alphabet
* Month By Month
* Enjoy Life
* Find Your Style - Jan 2011 Stamp of the Month
* Horizons
* Chairs To You - April 2011 Stamp of the Month
* Pair-A-Phrase - August Constant Campaign
* Angel Sent
* Sensational Season - March 2011 Stamp of the Month
* Wings Workshop kit stamp - retired
* Dreams Come True
* Baby Love
* Snowflakes
* Wonderful Friend - retired
* Olive Ink
* Chocolate Ink
* Garden Green Ink
* Sorbet Ink

Inspired by gel-a-tins.

I absolutely adore CTMH, but I'm always up for new card ideas. This one was done for a female coworker I work with (and heaven knows, female developers are few and far between). She's a techie, but at the same time she's still a girly girl and can salsa until the cows come home.

I stumbled into gel-a-tins which was mentioned on a tutorial I was watching and decided to see if they had any card creations. Lo and behold, my eyes lit on one and I was interested in putting a CTMH spin on it. I love the end result!

This is the one I first saw...

and this is my version!



I decided to use purple and blues for a more feminine feel and of course with Find Your Style it was definetly girly by the time I was done with it! :)

Cardstock:
* local craft stores

Other Items:
* Sparkly clear embossing powder
* Embossing ink

CTMH:
* Find Your Style: January 2011 Stamp of the Month
* Classmate Alphabet
* A Little Everything
* Garnet Ink
* Smokey Plum Ink

- Happy Stamping!