Sentiments only!

This week's CAS challenge on SCS is to only use a sentiment. I own a pile of them, but I often grab my A muse ones. They have great fonts...I am a sucker for great fonts! This card started out with a rose....


I wanted to try making a paper flower. This rose was pretty simple. Here is a tutorial from Dozi that I loved. I ended up smushing the paper up to make it soft and smushing down the rose quite a bit until it flattened nicely. I made some faux suede for the leaves.

Because the rose was so pretty, I thought it would be perfect to use for a sentiment only card. I chose all vanilla for my layers with subtle interest added via the herringbone cuttlebug folder, paper piercing and distressed edges. The red rose was counterbalanced by a bit of red scallop on the opposite side of the card. I played around quite a bit with different other red elements to try and add a third bit of red (rule of threes) but nothing looked right so I stopped!

Hope you like the card...and that you grab a great sentiment and play along in the challenge!


Supply list:

Stamps: A muse
Paper: SU (vanilla, rose red, mellow moss)
Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI (chamomile & chai tea dye)
Accessories: herringbone cuttlebug embossing folder, paper piercer, sizzix tag die, SU scallop edge punch, corner chomper

Too many projects...

I have too many projects that need to be made...it's killing my inspiration! I have bits and pieces all over my desk, butchered cards from ideas that went wayyyy bad and deadlines for getting these things done. ACK!! The projects extend beyond cardmaking too...wish I could clone myself, or hire a personal assistant for the next month! I am going to spend the day outside & get the garden cleaned up. Then, I'll sit down and make a to do list...

Hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend!

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!