A few holiday cards

I was planning out a few cards for my annual card making get-together, I was on a roll so I just kept making more. I keep meaning to use more felt. I finally picked up a metal shim for use with detailed dies and wow, does it ever make a difference! The spellbinders snowflakes cut out so nicely! I was in the mood for something bright and colourful and not terribly traditional.

For the second card, I just felt like decorating a tree.I stamped it, cut it out, wrapped it with baker's twine, attached a few buttons, and topped it with a star.

Supplies:
Card 1: Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Holidays
Ink: Hawaiian Shores
Paper: White, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores
Accessories, etc.: Spellbinders Snowflakes Die, Felt (Limeade Ice, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz), Button, Twine, Photo Finish Strips Die

Card 2: Stamps: Think Big Favorites #21, Layered Postmarks: Holiday
Ink: Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream
Accessories, etc.: buttons, baker's twine, corner rounder

Happy Anniversary

Here's a card I made a while back, I just wanted to make something with these fun notched flower dies and leaves. I'm pretty sure this one was inspired by a creation by Dawn McVey.

Supplies:
Stamps: Round and Rond
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Kraft, More Mustard, World Bazaar DSP and various other Stampin' Up papers
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Accessories, etc. Notched Flower die, Turning a New Leaf die, button, twine

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

When I saw this month's inspiration photo over at PTI for the blog hop, I fell in love with the colour combination!

I really wanted to make sure I made use of all the colours, so it seemed appropriate to stamp out some floral background paper using all the colours. While cleaning up some items at my grandmother's place, I found this pretty eyelet lace. I didn't have any ribbon thin enough to weave through the eyelets, so I trimmed a thin piece of card stock and wove it through. It worked splendidly! I had to laugh once I was done though, I used almost the exact same layout as last month's PTI blog hop. Oh well, I guess it's a good one!!

Supplies: Stamps: Big & Bold Wishes, Beautiful Blooms II, Floral Frenzy
Ink: Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Simply Chartreuse
Paper: Simply Chartreuse, White, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Berry Sorbet, Melon Berry
Accessories, etc.: Lace, Floral Dies, Summer Sunrise button

Grad Card

I saw this card and immediately wanted to make my own version. I did mine a little differently. Instead of popping up the numbers, I cut them out of the white layer and placed black paper behind. I also don't have a silhouette, but I do have some number dies.

I kept the dies exactly where I wanted by using post-it notes and running through one number at a time.

Then I added 2 rhinestones for a tiny bit of bling and a graduation sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: Movers & Shakers Sentiments
Ink: Black Onyx
Accessories, etc.: Rhinestones, By the Numbers die

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

It's been a while since I've participated in one of Papertrey Ink's blog hops, but I saw the inspiration photo on the weekend, and I made a note to play along this month.

I used the colours and themes from the inspiration photo- light blue, green, yellow, ruffles and flowers.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Background Basics: Petal Power, It's a Jungle Out There
• Ink: Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist
• Paper: Baja Breeze, Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss
• Dies: Medium Scallop Die, Notched Flower Die
• Accessories, etc.: Ruffled Ribbon, Button, Twine

Things I have learned from moving....

Have you ever had to pack up and move your craft space. It is not that fun of a project. And throughout it all you're thinking to yourself- I just want to sit down and make something, but it's all in boxes. Here's a few things I've learned along the way...

• As awesome as it is to have a hobby, especially one that involves creating something, you don't just realize how much STUFF you have, until you have to pack it all up and move it. 
• Paper is really heavy.
• You also don't realize how much stuff you have that you don't want anymore or will never use again. I'm talking all sorts of product- boxes of old stamps, ribbon, paper, and more. It makes one feel wasteful and horribly consumptive. 
• I could probably hold off on buying anymore card stock for a long, long, long time. I have that little bit of crafter's OCD, where I'm down to 10 sheets of one colour, and I'm all "oh no, I better get another pack". 
• I packed all my full sheets of paper away weeks ago, and sorted all my scraps into colour families. I've been using that only for the last month, and you know what, it's been okay. I've had more than enough paper to choose from. The odd time where I didn't have the colour in the size I wanted, I just used something else. I'm thinking I'll unpack the paper packs, but will continue to not use them until absolutely necessary.
• You quickly realize the ridiculousness of hoarding supplies...If you buy something because you love it, use it! Otherwise sure enough, you'll come across it years later and think it's tacky or untrendy and question why you ever bought it and held on to it. I like to think this is a bit avoidable because I consider my current style of clean and simple, a classic. Of course, it took me several years before I found that to be my preference, so I have all sorts of stuff that doesn't really mesh as well now.
• This is a tricky one, and it's really more of a "hindsight" type thing. When you start out, it's all so overwhelming, and really you just want to get as much cool stuff as possible. So maybe you go and get the bargain card stock, and the cheap ribbon and the not so great quality stamps, But you know what, quality ends up winning anyway. Even though you didn't want to "waste money" on those expensive items, if you stick with the hobby, you'll end up buying the good stuff anyway. And then you're not actually saving any money.

Here's a card as well:

I made this one a while back, I also made it in 3 other colour combinations (aqua mist/hawaiian shores; lemon tart/summer sunrise; and spring moss/ ripe avocado). I really liked it in every colour combination.

Supplies: Stamps: It's a Jungle Out There (birthday sentiment)

Ink: Dark Chocolate

Paper: Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, White

Accessories, etc: Block Alphabet die, By the Numbers impression plate, Hibiscus Burst ribbon, twine, button

Congrats Clothesline

A few weeks back my mom had a specific request for me- she had seen a cute congratulations card where the letters were hung out on a clothesline.

Well, as luck would have I had ordered these tiny clothespins on a bit of a whim, and was just itching for the chance to use them. Although the card itself is quite simple, it took a bit making sure the spacing was decent. I attached the string loosely to the back of the teal card stock, then I placed the letters to the string with tape. I started in the middle with the G and the R. Next up was adding the clothespins. I added a glue dot to the back of each pin so it would stay down. Due to the weight of the pins, the string naturally took the nice wide-U type shape.  Finally I added a few felt clouds. I've got a few more packages of these adorable clothespins, so I may yet try this again.

Supplies:
Paper: Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Metropolis (discontinued Scenic Route paper)
Die: Block Alphabet Upper,  Cloud 1 and 2
Accessories, etc. Felt, Mini Clothespins, string

Sometimes...

Sometimes you just feel like making something quick, simple, and pretty.

I was having fun using this floral punch, and put together a little something. First, I stamped some cardstock full of dots and punched out the flower. Then I placed a layer of vellum overtop and added a button embellishment. I actually made the leaves out of the petals as well. I was feeling very into patterns, so I added a bit of wordy background stamping. Finally, I pieced it all together, used a mega sized sentiment, rounded my corners, and called it a day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II, Text Style II, Think Big 13
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist
Paper: Vintage Cream, Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse, Vellum
Accessories, etc.: Corner Rounder, Button, Baker's Twine

Bright Butterflies

I needed to make somewhat of a specific and unique card the other day. It was for a couple that was granted guardianship of their foster daughter. There really aren't too many stamps available that fit the bill, so I figured I'd go with something that fit the whole situation. They had put in a lot of hard work, and with guardianship granted, it seemed to me that their wish had finally come true.

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies, Night Night Moon
Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Dark Chocolate, Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores
Paper: White, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores

A Superstar kind of birthday

I finally picked up the adorable Outlines Alphabet from Papertrey Ink. You know how it goes, a set catches your eye, but you keep putting off getting it. Well, I had to sit down almost right away and put something together with it.

Anyway, it's a pretty basic card. I arranged the letters on a grid block, stamped them, then coloured them in with Copics and Spica markers. I added in a greeting from It's a Jungle Out There (I really, really like that font the Happy Birthday is in). Next I added a mat and some punched out stamped stars. I put that all together on a starry backdrop. The card is 6.5x3.875.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Outline Alphabet, Star Prints, It's a Jungle Out There
• Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, White
• Ink:Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Tuxedo Black
• Accessories, etc.: Copic markers, Spica markers, pop dots