A Two Minute Card...

Today I am posting a card I made from a leftover...I made a card for Monday's CAS challenge which I didn't upload 'cause I didn't love it...and this metal square with a flower in the middle was something I had made, tried on that card and didn't end up using.

On its own, it was pretty cute, so I stuck it right in the middle of a piece of cardstock, chomeped the corners off, added a sentiment plus a few drops of liquid pearls and called it done! Hope you like it! This layout is a great way to use little bits and pieces laying around on your table...

Supply list:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: PTI (Green Thumb), a muse (it's your day)
Ink: palette hybrid noir, rose red
Accessories: metal adhesive square embellishment (unknown from stash), pop dot, pearl brad, liquid pearls, corner chomper

Just Hatched!

I just got my latest SU club order which included some linen thread...can't believe I haven't ever ordered any...I love it!!

The latest Embellish Magazine Challenge is to use stitching and some springy colours.


A colleague of mine & his wife just had their first baby, a girl, last week...these colours are perfect for a baby card!



My base is 5" x 3.5", with some faux stitching along the right edge (made with a tracing wheel a la Anna Wight).

I cut out the egg shape in the three colours using my oval nesties. I also cut a base layer to adhere the colours to once I trimmed them. I decided to add different textures to the pieces using various cuttlebug embossing folders. I tied the pieces together by distressing the edges and stitching them together. I am still waiting for my sewing machine to get serviced, so the stiches were all hand done. It helps to pierce the paper first, especially when going through a few layers of paper.

I cut out the label for the sentiment, but the actual die shape was too big for the card, so I cut it in half...it fits well on the edge of the card. A few stitches at the ends of the die cut tie it in well with the egg. To finish off, I added a little pink bird (popped up) on a small circle to help ground the egg. Hope you like it!! Thanks for visiting...

Supply list:

Stamps: PTI (just hatched)
Paper: PTI (rustic white), SU (sage shadow, blush blossom, kraft)
Ink: PTI (chai & chamomile), SU (pretty in pink), Palette hybrid burnt umber
Accessories: SU (3/4" circlel punch, linen thread), oval nesties, pop dots, cuttlebug embossing folders (swiss dot, textile, herringbone), thread (Gutermann), Sizzix label die, tracing wheel

Swimming Lessons done soon...

The boys have been doing fabulously with their swimming lessons...my youngest has gone from needing bribes to enter the water to swimming to the deep end holding a noodle and almost doing an underdunk! My oldest is actually doing a front crawl!

This card, following Carly's sketch for the newest clean and simple challenge (CAS60) on SCS, is for their swimming teachers.



Supply list:

Stamps: a muse (snorkel boy, thank you)
Paper: SU very vanilla, cool caribbean, basic black, pumpkin pie
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Accessories: cuttlebug embossing folder, MS star punch, copics, scor pal, paper piercer, pop dots, at you spica glitter pens, SAMJ

I embossed the cool caribbean squares with my cuttlebug and matted them in black. I stamped & coloured snorkel boy and cut him out. Isn't he cute?? I added some sparkle to his starfish with my spica glitter pens. The sentiment was lined up using my stampamajig. Final touches included a few scored lines, some piercing and two tiny glittered stars.

Hope you can join us for the challenge! Thanks for visiting!

I Love NY...

The CAS challenge this week (#59) on SCS is an Inspiration challenge featuring New York City! I have never been there...big cities are some of my favourite places to visit...I love the hustle and bustle, being able to walk or take the subway everywhere and of course great shopping & food! I am super excited that DH and I are planning a little May getaway to, you guessed it, NYC!! Can't wait!

Whenever anyone has described NYC to me, they always mention the noise and the honking cabs. I had to use my "beep beep" stamp from A muse on this one.



Here is what I used:

Stamps: A muse (beep beep, cityscape)
Paper: SU (very vanilla, basic black, ruby red), watercolour paper
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: pop dots, SAMJ, SU watercolor wonder crayons (bold brights)

I stamped the Cityscape stamp (A muse) on watercolour paper and used my waterbrush & SU watercolor wonder crayons to paint the buildings in bright colours...the thing I love about watercolouring is that you can be a bit messy with your colouring and that's OK! The main image was framed with the "beep beep" stamp (thank goodness for my stampamajig!). I added a black border around the main image, and as an afterthought, also added a strip of red for some more colour. Hope you like it and that you can play along in the challenge!!

Inspired by JulieHRR...again!

I couldn't stop browsing Julie's collection of cards and came across this one...

I loved the white flower on the red background and the mix of papers and colours...it sent me straight to my Mushroom Trio stamp and red shimmer paper from A muse. I just received a package from A muse in the mail (winnings from playing along during VSN - thank you A muse, I love everything you sent!!) which included gorgeous seafoam sheer ribbon, so I pulled off a piece of that to use. I love cards with a touch of black...grass punched with my Martha Stewart grass punch was the perfect addition...it matches the grass under the mushrooms! I stared at the card for a while, left it overnight and decided today to add in some tiny embellishments in black to complete the card (they are from Stamping Bella).



Here is what I used...

Stamps: a muse (mushroom trio)
Ink: SU craft white
Paper: a muse kitchen notecard, red shimmer, SU basic black
Accessories: white detail embossing powder, MS grass punch, SU circle punch, black flower embellishments from Stamping Bella, A muse ribbon

Thanks for visiting...check out the challenge and play along!

Chocolate Mint!

Today's CAS challenge (CAS58) is a colour challenge...any shades of brown and green plus white or cream. I made a pile of cards with these great colours, but most of them turned out kind of ehhhhh....here is the one that made me happy...



Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps (Love & Luck), PTI (papertray)
Ink: SU (always artichoke, certainly celery), PTI tea dye (chai & chamomile)
Paper: PTI rustic white
Accessories: pop dots, bella bauble (pickle), paper piercer, leather band/strap from the fabric store


The card is regular A2 size, but the actual part that opens measures 4 1/4" square. I cannot stop making square cards. I even turn A2 cards into squares!! I taped the top part together and added a few details. I pierced a line of faux stitching above the fold and punched a notch at either side for the leather band/strap to tie into.

The word "Luck" (gorgeous font, eh?) is from Kitchen Sink Stamps...I stamped it in 2 different colours of green for a shadow effect. I used the word "good" from PTI's first ever set Papertray to complete the sentiment.

The 4 leaf clover is also from KSS...it was cut out, popped up and embellished with a bella bauble. The card base was distressed/aged with tea dye ink from PTI.

Hope you can join in on the challenge...thanks for visiting!!

March A muse Lounge Challenge

This month, the A muse Lounge Challenge is to be inspired by JulieHRR. Not hard to do as she is one of my stamping idols!! I pored over her gallery for days...and left puddles of drool behind!

Here is Julie's card that I couldn't stop looking at. The gorgeous colours and the rock & roll technique on the flowers & leaves...wow!

I knew before I started my card that I wanted some black on it and I was sure I wanted to use some ricrac. Then I started rocking and rolling...I played around with so many different inks and colours of ink that my desk was covered in ink pads! Here is what I created...



Stamps: A muse (delicious day, leaf frond, solid apple)
Ink: palette hybrid noir & moulin rouge, SU barely banana, soft sky, garden green, certainly celery & cameo coral
Paper: SU very vanilla, basic black
Accessories: pop dots, SU sponges, ric rac (unknown source)

I used my Eclipse tape to mask over the apple to stamp the leaves. I cut out another apple and popped it up. I sponged around the apple with soft sky & barely banana. The edges of the main image were distressed a bit for dimension & popped up. The sentiment was perfect (a muse has the most perfect sentiments!). Hope you like it! Thanks for visiting!

It's Monday...CAS day!!

This week's CAS challenge on Splitcoaststampers, "A Different Kind of Shape-abilities", calls for using at least 2 different layers of shapes. I am not one to use lots of layers because lots of layers = cards that take too much time to make! I am all about quick cards, as I am usually making them late at night!

Still in the grungeboard mood from the birthday card (see my previous post), I decided to see how my SU/Sizzix Dies would cut through the stuff. Sadly, not all of the dies I own will go through grungeboard...nesties won't, and if I remember correctly, my cuttlebug dies won't either. Thankfully, the SU ones went through like butter!!

Here is my layered, but CAS card for this week's challenge:



Here is what I used:

Stamps: none!
Paper: SU true thyme, PTI rustic cream, BG sugared
Ink: PTI tea dyes (chamomile & chai)
Accessories: Grungeboard (harlequin), pop dots, SU Beautiful Butterflies die, MM paint (manila & buttercup), Glimmer Mist (pearl), SU copper cord

Hope you have some time to play along! You will be wanting to do CAS57!! Thanks for stopping by!

All {Birthday} Partied Out!

This has been the weekend of Birthday Parties. My oldest had one yesterday and is currently out at another. We also celebrated a few family birthdays last night. In the middle of all my getting ready (the party was at my place), about half an hour before everyone was supposed to arrive, I realized I did not make my "baby" brother a card. You can see from the card how old he is now!

This would count as a10 minute card. I got pretty messy and covered in paint while making it! Thank goodness for my non-stick craft mat! I decided to use a school/math theme...because I could not find anything quickly to use as an equal sign, I had to use an arrow.


Here's what I used:

Stamps: DOTS (ink splatters)
Ink: SU true thyme, PTI tea dye (chamomile & chai)
Paper: a muse
Accessories: Grungeboard (letters, numbers & shapes), Adirondack Acrylic Paint dabbers (espresso & pearl), Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paints (fired brick & antique linen), Glimmer Mist (pearl), a muse pretty pearls (cranberry)

Thanks for stopping by!!