Birthdays and Books - a great combo

Hi folks,

Just sharing a card I made for the daughter of dear friends of ours. I didn't know what to get her and for her birthday and then read a funny comment on her Mom's Facebook page about a comment from her younger sister regarding book series "Diary of A Wimpy Kid". Let's just say that the word diary was replaced with a similar sounding word - to much laugher. So I asked if I could get the birthday girl the series of books. Yay! Perfect gift!

So I had to make a card with THIS image from the Back 2 School Series from Yumi & Fumi Handmade.

card details:

• finished size: 5 x 5 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Snippets"
• stamped image: Yumi & Fumi Handmade "Back 2 School Series" Yumi with Book. Coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E11, E93, E21, E23, E25, E27, YR00, YR01, YR02, BG11)
• sentiment: Verve "Birthday Bash"
• Embelllishments: jute twine, ribbon, embroidery floss and Basic Grey Curio button from my stash
• layout: Cardmaps January 2014 (I used the sketch with the bird but flipped it on the side)

additional challenges for this card:

• One Crazy Stamper May Challenge: Anything Goes + Embellishment
• Shopping our Stash #152: Birthday or Anniversary

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Viva La Verve - July Week 4

Hi folks

I'm back again today sharing the cards I made for the Viva La Verve Week 4 sketch challenge.

Here's a look at the stunning sketch:

And here are the two cards I made - one a birthday card and the other an anniversary card.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base. Brown Bazzill card stock for the mats and inner liner
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Classic Calico"
• stamps: Verve "Love Notes", "Wishful Elegance"
• dies: Verve "Flag it" die set, "Flourished Trim", "Classy Label"
• brown satin ribbon from my stash

challenges for these cards:

• Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes (for the birthday card)
• Pile it On #30: Anything Goes
• Sister Act Card Challenge #17: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit my little corner of blogland!

Viva La Verve - June Week 3

Hi folks,

Just back to share the last of the Father's Days card I made. This one was for dearly beloved's Dad.

This one may very well have been my favourite of the bunch!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Darling Dear"
• stamps: Verve "Protector", "Purely Sentimental", "World's Best"
• Spellbinders: Petite Circles
• layout: Viva La Verve June Week 3 Sketch

Thanks for stopping by!

Viva La Verve - May Week 4

Hi folks,

I am back again to share another of this year's Father's Day cards. This one was for dearly beloved's step-brother.

Very clean and simple. The two little banners (though you can't see it in the photo) are actually curled a little to add some dimension to an otherwise simple card.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Darling Dear"
• stamps: Verve "World's Best"
• layout: Viva La Verve May Week 4 Sketch
• Martha Stewart border punch

additional challenges for this card:

• Cupcake Craft Challenges #247: Let's get sentimental
• 365 Cards Day 163: Word Wednesday "Father"

As always, thanks for stopping by! Hope your day is tremendous!

Viva La Verve - May Week 3

Hi folks,

I am back yet again to share another of this year's Father's Day cards. This one was made for dearly beloved's youngest brother.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Darling Dear"
• stamps: Verve "World's Best", "Father Figure"
• CTMH Black Waxy Flax
• layout: Viva La Verve May Week 3

additional challenges for this card:

• Really Reasonable Ribbon #74: Dots and Ribbon
• Here Come The Boys #54: Let's go dotty!

Thanks for stopping by!

SCRSC100 - Game on!

Hi folks,

Well, I officially go into the books as bad girlfriend with this one. I HAD wanted to give this card to my dearly beloved for his birthday, but events conspired against me last week and I ran out of time to make my sweetie a birthday card. I wound up BUYING him a card instead. However, since I purposely bought this stamp to use on a card for him, I HAD to make it all the same this weekend and give him a little "after" birthday present as well. Yep, ANOTHER video game.

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base, grey card stock mats
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Classic Calico Collection Volume 2"
• stamped image: Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps "Video Game Oliver", coloured with Copic markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E04, E50, E51, E53, C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C6, Y35, B28, R24, G007, G00, G02, G03)
• sentiment: Verve "Purely Sentimental"
• Spellbinders: petite ovals, classic squares
• brads from my stash (those among you are familiar with XBOX controllers might recognize the little pattern that I created with the brads - chuckle, chuckle)
• layout: Sparkle Creations Rubbers Stamps Challenge #100

additional challenges for this card:

• One Crazy Stamper March Challenge: Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday #260: Anything Goes
• Seriously Creative March Challenge: Anything Goes
• Designed to Color Monthly Challenge: Hexagon Fun (you can see that one of the papers I used is a hexagon print)
• Hiding In My Craft Room #89: x3 (use three different designer papers)
• One Stop Craft Challenge #220: Anything Goes
• Love to Create Challenge #57: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a fabulous week!

Use it Tuesday #51 - Dies, Punches or Cut-outs

Hi folks!

This week I get to play along as a guest over at Use it Tuesday for another fantastic challenge to help us  all dig into our hoarded stash of crafting supplies. This week's challenge is to use dies, punches or cut-outs on our creations!

If you frequent my blog on a regular basis, you KNOW I love my die cuts and punches. Most of the cards I make use at least one or the other, sometimes both. And, more often than out, I also cut-out my images or use a pre-cut die image as an embellishment (I've been loving the wooden die cut embellishments which have been popular of late).

For this card, I went all out and actually used all three elements of the challenge.

I've used my Spellbinders Petite Circles Dies, the Pennant Trim Die from Verve Stamps, a corner rounder punch for the sentiment panel AND I stamped the little cupcake image on a couple of different pieces of patterned paper before cutting them out and layering them together.

I absolutely adore this paper pad from Studio Calico and have to confess to hoarding it in my stash until I can get back to my LLS and hopefully pick up another one (or two) of these paper pads. I think this may be only the second (or third) card I've made with these papers. Anyone else do that? Buy supplies and then not use them because they are so pretty? Yes, you say? Well, come on then and join in with this week's challenge over at Use it Tuesday! You'll be glad you did!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base. CTMH Cocoa card stock for mats
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Classic Calico"
• stamps: Verve "Big Wish", "With Love" (cupcake is stamped on two pieces of patterned paper, cut out, layered and popped up with foam dimensionals. Parts of the cupcake coloured with Copic markers E79 and E51) 
• dies: Spellbinders Petite Circles, Verve Pennant Trim Die
• corner rounder punch
• butcher's twine which I coloured to match my Cocoa cardstock using my Copic E79 marker. Frugal Sheena tip: buy regular butcher's twine for your kitchen and colour it to coordinate with your projects with your markers!
• layout: Viva La Verve March Week 2

additional challenges for this card:

• One Crazy Stamper March Challenge: Anything Goes
• 365 Cards: Day 63: You take the cake (I just HAD to use this sweet little cupcake)
• Pile It On #10: Oh Yummy! (mmmm....cupcakes......)
• Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #206: To Die For

Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Birthday Newton

Hi folks,

Just thought I would share this little card that I made earlier this week - to celebrate our youngest cat's birthday....yes, I'm THAT crazy cat lady....

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 4.25 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Classic Calico"
• stamped image: Penny Black "In the garden" (because this little cat looks just like our Newton - he's just a little "fluffy" shall we say)

challenges for this card:

• One Crazy Stamper January Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

January 2013 Viva La Verve Week 2 - Masculine

Hi folks,

I managed to squeeze in a little craft room time today - not as much as I had wanted but still, a little is better than none.

I settled in with the Week 2 Sketch for the January Viva La Verve Challenges over on Splitcoaststampers and made a couple of masculine birthday cards.

Here's the sketch:

and here are my two cards - the first with the same orientation as the sketch, the second with the sketch flipped.

The first one is for a co-worker who always says "Life is Good" when you ask him how things are going. I knew I HAD to use that sentiment on his birthday card.

The second is for the boyfriend of a friend of mine back in Newfoundland.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: Studio Calico "Classic Calico", edges distressed with Memento Rich Cocoa
• stamps: Verve "Life is Good" Plain Jane, "Birthday to You" Plain Jane
• metallic brads from my stash
• Spellbinders Petite Circles, Hexagons

additional challenges for these cards:

• Crafty Creations Challenges #203: Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp: New Something (my hexagon Spellbinders that I picked up during the boxing day sale at Michaels!)
• Crafting when we can #35: Favourite Things (mine are: masculine cards, kraft card stock, Verve stamps and Spellbinders - can never go wrong with that combo!)
• Corrosive Challenge #165: Out with the Old (those brads I used - I have tons in my stash and just never seem to remember to use them. Trying to be better about that this year! I think I did well with that on these two cards - 14 brads gone out of my stash!)
• One Stitch at a time #145: New (again, my hexagon Spellbinders!) and, technically, though I've had the patterned papers for a couple of months, this is my first time cutting into them. 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your new year has been off to a wonderful start.

January 2013 Viva La Verve Week 1 - Masculine

Hi folks!!

Well, I really didn't make it in time to play along with the December Viva La Verve Challenges last month - what can I say? The usual Christmas rush, lack of mojo and any number of other reasons/excuses just kept me from playing along in time.

But you can bet I am going to do my best to play along in January!

For 2013, I'm strengthening my resolve to make at least one masculine and one feminine version of each weekly sketch. AND --- if all bodes well, I'll try to do a "holiday" card for each sketch as well. Most of the time, that will probably be me trying to stay ahead of the Christmas card making game. But I will probably squeeze in whatever other holiday or special occasion is coming up that month or the following month since I am pretty sure that my Verve stamp collection now covers MOST of the major card giving occasions.

So, up first for the Week 1 sketch is the birthday card I made for my very special Dad.

Here is the sketch:

and here is my card:

I quite like this card - and so did my dearly beloved. In fact, he quite pointedly said that HIS Dad would probably LOVE to get a card like this for HIS birthday in February. So....you will probably be seeing another card very much like this one in the near future.

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: My Mind's Eye - Miss Caroline - Fiddlesticks (first time cutting into this paper!)
• stamps: Verve "Super Dad" and "Small Phrases"
• Studio Calico Wooden Hexagon Die Cuts - I picked these up at the Crop and Create here in Ottawa a few months ago and FINALLY opened the package to use them. Yes, I was hoarding them for a special occasion....AND until I could get my hands on the Spellbinders Hexagon dies (so I can cut out my own from the wood veneer stashed in the basement wood shop)
• Spellbinders Hexagon Die

Additional challenges for this card:

• Use it Tuesday #46: 2013 (my first birthday card for the New Year as my Dad celebrates on January 7th. Hoarded supplies list: the patterned paper and the wooden hexagon die cuts. First time using both though I have had each for a two or three months now).
• The Pink Elephant Challenge #180: Anything Goes

thanks for stopping by!