Vintage-y Christmas

It feels as if it has been eons since I have posted a card on this blog. I've been so busy lately, I haven't had any time to take pictures of the cards I've been making.

That all changed this weekend, when I had the opportunity to snap a few quick pics.

My favourite season of the year is Winter, and my favourite holiday is.... you guessed it.... Christmas! As soon as that first hot, humid, heat wave hits in the Summer, I'm usually looking forward to the day when the snow will start to fly. So, it should come as no surprise that I love to get a head start on my Christmas cards (that's not true - it always surprises me - I'm a procrastinator by nature).

A few months ago, I made a batch of Christmas cards using a card layout that I especially liked.

Here's a look at the finished product:

I think that the end result has a 'vintage-y' feel to it. And I like that I was able to bring together stamps from various different stamp sets and companies to create the card.

Stay tuned for more Christmas creations in the next few weeks :)

Prayers

Back in July I posted this card which I had made for a student at my school who has been battling cancer.

This young woman was in her first year of University when she was diagnosed with leukemia. Now, it's a new school year, and there is a new batch of students roaming the halls full of life and energy, while their peer lays in a hospital battling cancer.

The past few weeks this student has spent most of her time in an induced coma and yesterday we learned that her parents had made the tough decision to take their child off of her respirator.

This year the theme at my institution is to "pray without ceasing". If you are reading this post, please take the time to lift up a prayer for this young woman and her family at this difficult time

Encouraging HCCC

August's HCCC was a great one. Unfortunately, August was a crazy busy month and time was not on my side.

Fortunately, I made a card a few weeks ago which I think fits the two-part challenge.

1) I made this card for my friend:

And I think it totally fits in with part #2 of the challenge - it encourages the recipient, and hopefully bolsters their confidence when they are feeling tired, frustrated or just blah. Basically it encourages them to grow in their self-confidence.

I love the orange slice stamp, and using it to create the scalloped edge at the bottom of the card.

When I finished the card, I felt it was missing that little something. Then, I added the three rhinestones, and VOILA! the card was complete.

Hope you enjoyed August's Hazzard County Card Challenge as much as I did. We'll see you in September :)

My new toy!

I recently purchased a new toy that I can use to make wonderful card creations with - a Cuttlebug! I had been debating about purchasing one for some time, and finally decided to go for it.

I borrowed an embossing folder from my friend, and started having fun.

Here is the card that I made for my mother's birthday at the end of the month....


Simple, classy and elegant, I think. My mother will be sure to love it.

Return of Mojo!

I'm not going to lie to you, lately I had started to doubt my card-making abilities. I thought I had lost my mojo. Every card I made seemed to be an epic failure. Nothing worked.

Then, all of a sudden a few weeks ago, something just clicked. I was inspired. I felt the creative juices flowing once again. I had my mojo back!

What better way to celebrate the return of my card-making mojo than by participating in the Mojo Monday challenge!

I have a plethora of birthday cards to make, and decided to use this challenge to inspire a birthday card creation. Here's a look at the end result:


I love how all of the elements (colours, embellishments, layout, etc.) combined, and hope this is a sign of good things to come in my future card creations.

Belated Birthday Card

I had a very productive card-making weekend. Finished 3 Christmas cards, and made 4 other wonderful creations.

The first one that I want to share with you is a long-overdue birthday card. Since I knew I had to make this card, I thought I would tie it in with the July HCCC.

I've never tried emboss resist before, and have always wanted to. I borrowed the Upsy Daisy (SU) stamp set from my friend, watched a few YouTube videos to learn the technique, and then set to work.

Here is the result:

I love the end result! I kept walking by the card all evening just so I could look at it :). I hope the recipient likes the card as much as I do!

June HCCC

This blog post is waaaaaaaaay overdue, but better late than never :)

The June HCCC was certainly challenging. I decided to make a card of encouragement for a student at my school that is currently undergoing treatment for leukemia.

Here's a look at the finished product:

I really wanted the orange ribbon to pop (since orange is the ribbon colour for leukemia), so I kept the background as neutral as possible, complimenting the orange with some light purple cardstock.

Part of the challenge forced us to make a card that wasn't a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 single fold card. I wasn't getting inspired by any unique folding techniques, so I opted to make a simple postcard.

I have always wanted a stamp set with an Eiffel Tower in it, and recently picked up a Tim Holtz set on sale at Michael's. I couldn't think of a more suitable use for it than this postcard of encouragement.

I hope that the recipient can find a measure of comfort in this small token, and pray that the treatment grants the student strength and restores them to good health.

Summer Daze

I was
super excited
to get my
KOM from Unity Stamp Co.
for June.

I couldn't wait to use one of the stamps from the kit

to make this

AWESOME CARD:

I was inspired by
this card
that was posted on the Unity blog a while back.

i LOVE the end result.

It is happy, sunshine-y, summer!

Dutch Treat

So, this weekend the FIFA World Cup began in South Africa and I thought I would pay homage to this event by creating a card that is influenced by the team that could win it all.... The Netherlands! Really I was looking for inspiration for this week's Mojo Monday challenge (see sketch on right), and it gave me an excuse to use my awesome "Netherlands" stamp set from Stampin' UP!

So, what did I end up creating? Take a look for yourself:

I don't think it is a winner (this one and this one are definite contenders), but it was fun to play along. My favourite part of the card is the little Dutch boy and girl. I embossed them, and then cut them out and popped them up on the card. I am also very fond of the burgandy cardstock in the background. I ripped the cardstock to give it a "rustic" feel, and the colour really pops on top of the subtle patterned paper.

Hope you like it, and I hope to have some new creations posted soon!

Mother's Day - A month later...

June is a busy month for birthdays in my family, so I will have lots of opportunity to get crafty in the next few weeks.

However, today I thought I would FINALLY post the card that I created for my Mom for Mother's day.

Here's a look at the finished product:


There are various aspects of the card that I really love. But, if I had to do it all over again, I would get rid of the brown/pink polka-dot ribbon in the centre. Ugh. Too many different patterns.

I'm really happy with the two flower embellishments that I created using my flower punch and brads. I also really love the stitching that I did around the bottom half of the card. Take a look at a close-up:


Also, for this card, I got to use my brand new tag punches that I purchased from Stampin' UP!. Love these punches! I've got vague ideas of using them to create some awesome Christmas cards. Here's another look at the "Mom" tag:

Overall, the finished result is okay. And, even if I'm not 100% over the moon about it, my Mom really liked it, so that's all that matters :).

Stay Crafty!

Lemon Zinger

So, with a week to go, I've finally got my card for the HCCC completed. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute! :)

Here's a close-up of my paper-pieRcing. I pierced the corners of the yellow cardstock that is layered under my stamped images.

The layout for my completed card was taken from an old Mojo Monday sketch (I was feeling extremely un-creative and could not for the life of me think of a layout of my own).

I really enjoy the yellow/grey/white colour combo. I glued some 'dazzling diamond' sparkles on the stamped images, layered them on the yellow cardstock and the popped them up with some dimensionals.

Super cool. Way fun. Can't wait for next month's challenge!

Blog Candy

Check out this blog candy!

What an amazing way to celebrate a birthday - giving unto others. Hopefully whoever wins all of Debbie's blog candy will use it to bless others.

Mojo Monday 137 Challenge

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I decided to try my hand at another Mojo Monday challenge. I really liked the layout for this week (see picture on the right) and I was inspired right away. However, it actually took me three nights to pull all of the elements together and complete the card.

I thought the panel of 4 squares was an interesting design element. Right away I was inspired to create a "film strip" type of feature for this section and incorporate it into the card.

Here's a look at the finished product:

My spin on a non-traditional Christmas card. I don't like using traditional Christmas colours, and thought the colour combo in this patterned paper was so great. And I really love how the "film strip" panel turned out.

Awesome!

I tried to find a square punch that I could use to make life a little easier, but I couldn't find one, so I cut out all of the squares by hand with my paper trimmer, and then punched holes down the sides. Love the finished result!

The 'merry' and 'Xmas' are heat embossed in white so that they pop on the cardstock.

These three flower brads kinda faded into the background, so I thought if I glued some sparkles on them, they might 'pop' a bit more on the card.

Overall, I really like this card. Love the colours. Love the layout. LOVE the film strip feature. What do you think?

Birthday Celebrations

I had the opportunity to make some cards with Angela this weekend, and I needed to make a card for my father's birthday.

Two birds, one stone.

This is the end result of 3 hours on the road, 2 beers and a couple hours of stamping fun:

Pretty nice, huh? Hindsight being 20/20, I think I would have tilted the kraft cardstock layer in the other direction to balance the angle that that stamped 'celebrate' image is tilted.

Still love it though. It was my first time sewing, and it turned out pretty well for a first try. Woohoo!

Here's a close up of the layers:

I had a blast creating this card. Will probably have to make a few more using this design.

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Taken with Teal, Very Vanilla (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Stamp: 'Celebrate' (SU)

April HCCC

So, this month's challenge over at the HCCC was a doozy! Ange sure knows how to issue them.

My inspiration for this month's challenge was this picture frame that I received as a gift for my birthday:

Nice, huh? Yeah, I really like it too :) Gotta find the perfect pic to put in it.

So, I tried to play on the circles around the outside of the frame, and incorporate that into my card. Here's a look at the finished product:

This is a sweet little card that I am going to use for my niece's baptism next month.

My favourite features of the card:

- I got to use transparencies

- The face of the card slides open to reveal the 'inside'

See what I mean:

Too cool.

Here's a close up look at the "pearl"-esque embellishments...

Can't wait for next month!

MOJO133 Madness

I had some extra time this week, so I thought I would take the opportunity to challenge myself. I decided to take a stab at the Mojo Monday challenge:

I really liked the challenge layout for this week and couldn't wait to get crafty!

And, here is my take on the original:

I tried to stay away from using purple (since it is my go-to colour) and really challenge myself by using some other colours. :) I heat embossed the jukebox image with my awesome, sparkly, stardust embossing powder. The 'bday' sentiment is also embossed on the blue CS using white embossing powder to make it pop out.

I like the music theme of the card, but think that the patterned paper in the background might be a bit too busy. I am pleased with the end result though. Hope the recipient likes it as well!

Masculine

My attempt with this card was to create a masculine birthday card. I have to make a lot of birthday cards for my many brothers and nephews, and I have a hard time coming up with new ideas. I mean, in the end the guys aren't going to really care about the time and effort that went into the card - it'll just end up in the recycle bin - but I want to know that I've put my best effort into the creation. ;)

The layout for this card is based on a card that I received months ago from my friend Angela.

I made a mask of the ticket stamp, and used it to created the layered ticket look. I then wrote "Happy Birthday" inside the tickets. I popped the tickets up with dimensionals on top of some patterned paper.


The first flap opens up to reveal another fold of patterned paper...

...which in turn opens up to reveal the inside of the card where I can write my birthday greeting:

Overall, I think its ok. Not too frilly or frou-frou-y. Dark colours. Very masculine.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, March is the month of my birthday and in celebration I issued a challenge over at the HCCC to celebrate. Here's a look at the card I submitted for the challenge.

I had a lot of fun working with the 3" x 6" card size. Think I'm going to start using this size a little more often. The flowers in the lower right-hand corner of the card are embossed in dark green, the butterfly is done using two-step stamping, and the flight path of the butterfly is enhanced with some green "bling". I'm quite happy with the end result.

Love/Hate Relationship

The card I am posting today is a thank-you card I made for my sister-in-law's Bridal shower. I have a love/hate relationship with this card. Most of the time, when I look at it, I hate it. Crazy colours, too wild and busy. Blah!

The other half of the time, I love this card. I think it's genius! I love how the green and the purple tie-in with the colours on the patterned paper. And I love how the circles punched out on the purple cardstock match the circles on the patterned paper.

What I really want to know, is what do you think? Do you hate it, love it, or are you indifferent to it?

February Hits & Misses

Greetings fellow bloggers!!

I've missed a few blog posts this month 'cause I was on VACATION!!!

Sorry to leave you all behind, but I'm going to make it up to you by posting three different cards today. Angela's challenge for February over at the HCCC was a doozy this month. Really challenging. So challenging that I ended up creating four different designs, not quite happy with any of the results. The designs seemed great in my head, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

Here's the first card I came up with:

I really like this card, and I think out of the four designs it is my favourite, but I didn't submit it for the challenge. I like the stamps and the colours, I just find the end result to be quite overpowering. I thought "I can do better than this!" and I went back to the drawing board.

In my second attempt, I tried to incorporate the wrapping paper that was the inspiration for the colour choice:

It's okay.... not great. And I thought that by using the wrapping paper, I was cheating, so I started over and tried again.

My third attempt was fun. I got to use the guitar and "Rock On" stamps from Unity that I have been dying to use ever since I picked them up from the mailbox:

I liked it as well. The whole design is popped up off of the base using dimensionals, and I embossed the "Rock On" (love embossing!). I also put a few staples on the card to give it that 'rock' edge.

If you want to see the card I submitted for the challenge, head on over the HCCC blog and let me know what you think.