It's always nice to say "thank you..."

Customers make us who we are! With that said, I always include a thank you card with each customer's first order. The recipient of this was no exception and on top of it all she's a lovely, creative lady who I enjoy crafting with! 

Again with the fiddling - I knew that I wanted to use a SOTM (sneak peek) and that I also wanted to use one of the sets I bought because I wanted it, but that I hadn't used. This set takes me back to my very first days with CTMH. What can I say, we met and fell in love.

They compliment each other so well when I use the flourishes as a flower backing the typewriter. If you look really closely, the flourish on the bottom left and the top right are rock n rolled with Twilight and Gypsy ink. Always ink light first, dark second.

For the front of this card I went to town with foam adhesive. To achieve more than one layer, I simply double-stacked the foam adhesive. I couldn't live without this stuff.

I also brought the patterned cardstock inside the card and used a masking technique for the peek-a-boo flourishes. 

Other:
* Solid color cardstock
* Fiskar Edging Scissors

CTMH
* Stamp set from Wishes Workshop To Go - retired
* April 2015 SOTM - Typed Note : to come!
* La Belle Vie Level 2 Paper Pack
* Red and Pink Adhesive Rhinestones - retired
* Twilight Ink
* Barn Red Ink
* Gypsy Ink
* Whisper Ink

Don't go away yet a few exciting things to talk about! This month, with a minimum order of $55 CAD, you can get one of two chevron ribbon rolls for free! Ribbon gives such beautiful dimension to any card or layout and you can use it so many ways.

Secondly if you qualify for this it means that you've hit a minimum of $50 to qualify for this month's SOTM - Home for the Holidays. Most of the images are paired up with CTMH's Art Philosophy Cartridge so you don't have to fussy cut the shapes yourself.

The nights have been nippy but the frost hasn't stayed - here's hoping for at least a few more warm days!

Sometimes...

... there is that one, amazing person that you meet, and while they're there they make a heck of a difference but there comes a time when they have to leave again.

I had the fortune of meeting an incredibly bright young man who was a summer student on our .Net project. As with the end of August looming school starts again and he has to go back. I have only met someone this intelligent, humble, and pleasant person with a wicked sense of humor twice in my life before. One of them helped me launch my career, one I married, and this one... he could literally be the next Steve Jobs but much kinder and more considerate.

Anyway. We are sending him onto his 3rd year of university with a Nespresso and a card.

Today's inspiration: Case Study 151 : Second Interpretation by Jocelyn Olson.

 I just had to do some shading and coloring with my Copic Markers with the July 2013 SOTM, Sweet Life and I used a ribbon cut from Florentine to give it a bit of pop. I cut out the leaves, the apple and the flower which is raised up with foam tape.

Other:
* White Cardstock
* White ribbon
* Copic Markers R29, R24, R22, R20, YG67, BG10, YG63,E39, E33

CTMH:
* Solid color cardstock for card base
* Sweet Life (July 2013 SOTM)
* For A Friend
* Scrapbook Statements - Poets
* Saddle Pigment Ink
* Black Ink
* Mocha Adhesive Pearls

First try with Copic Markers...

I only own four, of which two of the markers are the same color but different shade (because I had no idea what I was buying). Thank you Suzanne Dean for providing a basic starter list! She also has great tutorials as well on how to get started.

This was actually inspired by a layout I had done previously for a housewarming card but sticking to the cleaner colors of a wedding card I did before the card workshop.

I wanted to stick to bright, spring colors to reflect the sunflowers from May's stamp of the month, and the yellow ribbon I had picked up somewhere on sale was the perfect compliment. It's a gentle shading, but I used Y11 and Y13 and then used a brush and chocolate ink for the middle of the flowers.

I always like to decorate the inside of my cards, something I started doing after I discovered Teneale Williams' blog. I took the same sunflower and inked up two of the corners, coloring with the same technique.

I will be off for the next few weekends as I'm finally on the trip to celebrate my father-in-law's 60th birthday in Portugal! Hope that the sun comes out by the time I am home!

Michaels, etc:
Ribbon
White cardstock
Copics Y11, Y13

CTMH:
Friendship Bouquet - May 2012 SOTM
Cocoa Ink
Chocolate Ink


Listening to the birds chirp and the echoes of the Denmark vs. Netherlands Euro 2012 game,