Best Wishes for the Mr and Mrs

Hi folks!

Just popping in on this scorcher of a Canada Day to share a card I made for friends of ours who recently got married.

The arrival of my (sob) last order from Verve (they are shuttering their operations) coincided with the happy occasion so I was able to use these lovely freebie papers with a stamp from one of the sets I purchased.

It's fairly clean and simple so I jazzed it up a bit with a gold heart clip from CTMH.

A Vintage Masculine Birthday

Hi folks,

Well, I've been having a hard time getting in to the mood to make cards this year. One of my other hobbies (quilting) has been using the bulk of my crafting mojo instead. I'm not going to fret about it - just go with the flow. Maybe I'll start updating this blog with my quilting adventures - there seems to be a LOT more of them lately. Stay tuned!

I figure though that it is about time I share one of the two cards I have so far this year. This is one that I made for my Dad's birthday back in January.

I used a bunch of supplies from my stash for this one.

• kraft cardstock base
• Authentique papers
• the vintage masculine image is from Unity Stamp Co
• the Happy Birthday sentiment is from CTMH
• I *think* the Dad sentiment is from Verve
• the twine is from my stash
• the shipping tag was no doubt a freebie from one of my Unity KOM orders. I must say - I REALLY like using shipping tags for my stamped images these days - especially if I am not colouring them.
• layout: Viva La Verve January Sketch

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Whimsy Anniversary Wishes

Hi folks,

If you are here for my post from the Team Brae-er October blog hop, just scroll down to the previous post.

Today I'm sharing the anniversary card I made for my parents - 47 years of marriage last week!

Since they are visiting at the moment, we were able to take them out to dinner to our favourite Italian restaurant to celebrate.

card details:

• finished size: 6 x 6 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: CTMH Whimsy Fundamentals + Glacier CS
• embellishments: CTMH Silver Shimmer Trim
• die cuts: CTMH Hearts Thin Cuts
• sentiment: Verve Stamps "Love Story"

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Wishes

Hi folks,

Card maker confession time - I've gotten really bad about getting cards out on time for birthday celebrations. Part of it is lack of mojo, part of it is feeling tired and drained all the time, part of it is having to find just the right image and paper. I'm playing catch up this weekend so you can expect to see a few more better late than never cards in the coming days.

Anyways, this card is for my niece who celebrated her birthday back in July. She's in Ottawa this coming week for a sport camp with Encounters Canada so I will be able to give the card to her in person during our very limited visit time. They keep a close eye on the kids during their week here but her parents were able to give us permission to take her offsite for a couple of hours Monday night.

card details:

• finished size: 6 x 6, CTMH Flaxen card base
• patterned paper & sequins: CTMH Florence (retired)
• stamped image: Unity Stamp Co - July KOM - Glittering Eyes, coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E11, E02, E00, E93, E23, E27, E29, YG63, B91, B93, B95, B97, E41, E42, Y32, Y38)
• sentiment: Verve "Amazing Wishes"
• layout: Mojo Monday 463 (I didn't do tall and skinny but I was inspired by the sketch) 

as always, thanks for stopping by!

Aloha!

Hi folks,

Just popping in to share another recent creation.

This birthday card (for another niece) was a fun one - I actually mixed papers from TWO different paper packs! Unheard of for me!

card details:

• finished size: 6 x 6, white card stock base
• patterned papers: CTMH Happy Times and Whimsy Paper Fundamentals (retired)
• stamped image: The Greeting Farm "Aloha", coloured with Copic Markers
• sentiments: CTMH Circus Alphabet and Verve "Amazing Wishes"
• die cuts: Verve "Flag It" die cut set
• layout: Viva La Verve July 2016 Sketch 2

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Calypso Butterflies

Hi folks,

Just thought I should pop in and share the card I made for my Mom's birthday. She likes butterflies so I thought that I would put butterflies on her card this year.

card details:

• finished size: 6 x 6 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: CTMH Calypso
• stamps: Unity Stamp Co May KOM "A Summer Story", Mom is from one of my older Verve stamp sets 
• layout: Viva La Verve June Week 1

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Anniversary - La Vie En Rose

Hi folks,

Just thought I would pop in and share another anniversary card I made with the La Vie En Rose paper collection from Close To My Heart.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: CTMH "La Vie En Rose"
• stamps: Verve "Small Celebrations", "Love Story"
• Spellbinders: Petite Circles

I don't think I used a sketch for this one - just winging it for a change.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter!

Hi folks,

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable Easter weekend. Ours was a quiet one on our own this year. No visiting with dearly beloved's family as many of them are at a destination wedding for one of the cousins.

It was a nice change from the usual hub-bub of the family gatherings but I must say I did miss watching the nieces and nephews run around for the annual Easter egg hunt.

Anyways, I figured I should stop in and share the Easter card I made for dearly beloved this year.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: Graphic 45 "Hope" (my favourite Easter themed paper as it isn't awash in the usual spring pastels)
• stamps: Verve Stamps "Egg-stra Special", "Some Bunny"
• dies: Verve Stamps "Flourished Trim", "Rounded Scallop Frame", "Rounded Rectangle"
• twine from my stash
• layout: Viva La Verve April 2015 Week 1

challenges for this card:

• Pile It On #63: die cuts/punches
• Verve Divas April Inspiration: Bunnies and Babies
• One Stitch at a Time #234: Anything Goes with Easter/Passover 
• Sister Act Card Challenge #100: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy 1st Birthday

Hi folks,

Dearly beloved's youngest niece celebrated her first birthday recently and this is the card that I made for her.

It's kind of nice that our siblings and friends continue to have little ones - so I can keep colouring up cute little images like this for their birthdays.


card details:

• finished size: 5 x 5 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: Carta Bella "Alphabet Junction"
• stamped image: The Greeting Farm "Alice Bean" coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E21, E33, E31, E13, R81, R83, R85, R000)
• sentiment: Verve "Borderline"
• layout: Sketch Saturday #340

additional challenges for this card:

• Seize the birthday: Anything Goes birthday
• Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes
• Shopping our Stash #182: Thrice as Nice (at least three patterned papers)

As always, thanks for stopping by!

A Sweet Anya Happy Birthday

Hi folks,

Just popping in to share a recent birthday card - with actual colouring!

card details:

• finished size: 5 x 5 inches, white card stock base
• patterned paper: Carta Bella "Alphabet Junction"
• stamped image: The Greeting Farm "Sweet Anya", coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E21, E23, E25, E27, B91, B93, R81, G20, G21, G24
• sentiment: Verve "Small Phrases"
• layout: Sketch n Stash #155

challenges for this card:

• Hiding in my craft room #180: Freestyle
• Cute Card Thursday #354: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Baby's First Christmas

Hi folks,


Well, this year I saved some time on my Christmas card making for my nieces and nephews by simply sending the cards I made for them LAST year and didn't send (I know - bad Aunt). But, that meant I still had one card I needed to make since my sister added another little one to our extended family back in June.


This is the card I made for our youngest niece.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned paper: October Afternoon "Holiday Style"
• stamped image: The Greeting Farm - Oliver & Amelia "?????? ", coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E21, E23, E25, R81, R83, R85, G24, G21, T0, T1
• sentiment: Verve "Ornamental Christmas"
• layout: Splitcoaststampers Sketch 515

challenges for this card:

• Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes
• Christmas Card Challenges #4: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Card Making with CTMH Picture My Life

Hi folks,


Well, I have to share ANOTHER time saver that really helped me this year for making my Christmas cards - the Picture My Life™ Pear & Partridge Scrapbooking Program from Close To My Heart.

I picked this set up earlier this year when CTMH was having a promo where, if you purchased a PML kit, you could pick up the memory protectors for a discounted price.

Since dearly beloved's step-mom is an avid scrap-booker, I gave HER the memory protectors and kept the cards for myself. Of course, since then, CTMH  has come out with an a la carte version of the kit, that comes without the page protectors. Awesome for card makers or traditional scrapbookers.


So, despite me picking up this kit MONTHS ago, this morning at 3:30am I was getting myself out of bed (couldn't sleep - too much left to do!) and making some quick Christmas cards with the kit. In just over an hour, I whipped up these fifteen cards (so I still have LOTS of the PML cards left to make more cards for next year).

And here they all are:

(oops - didn't notice that ALL of the photos of this card were blurry)

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• Picture My Life™ Pear & Partridge Scrapbooking Program
• decorative paper tape from Lee Valley Tools (I love Lee Valley by the way - so many cool things there) & CTMH Silver Shimmer Trim
• stamps: Verve "Ornamental Christmas", "Holiday Greetings", "Joyous Noel"

As always, thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

CTMH Cut Above™ Holiday Cards

Hi folks,


I'm back again today sharing ANOTHER 30 Christmas cards that I made - this time using the Cut Above™ Holiday Card Kit from Close To My Heart.


Here's a photo of the kit contents:

And a suggested design for the ten cards that you can make with the kit contents:

Like yesterday's 30 cards, I had to make them all different so this time I used 10 different stamps and put together the pieces for the card three different ways by moving the cute little birdie around.

Here they are!

And all of them up close!

The really neat thing about the kits? I made the 60 cards in today's and yesterday's post in just one afternoon. Isn't that awesome? If that inspires you to pick up a few of these kits for some last minute Christmas cards for this year (or to get a head start on next year's) just drop me an email!

stamps used:

• CTMH: Merriest Christmas (B1468)
• Verve: Joyous Noel
• and I'm sure there are others but I can't find the paper upon which I wrote them!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

CTMH Cut Above™ Christmas Cards

Hi folks,


Wow, with all the hub-bub leading up to Christmas and trying to keep up with training for my New Year's Eve 10K run, I've been forgetting to post!


Well I'm making up for that today by sharing 30 Christmas cards that I made with the Cut Above™ Christmas Card Kit from Close to My Heart.


Here's a photo of the kit contents:

And a suggested design for the ten cards that you can make with the kit contents:

Of course, those of you who are frequent visitors to my little space here on the web know that I don't like to make duplicates of anything. So, even though I had THREE of these kits to work with (I had picked them up as supplies for a Christmas Card workshop that fell through as there weren't that many folks interested), I could not possibly make 30 identical cards.


Instead, I used 15 different stamps and did both a portrait and a landscape version of the card. Voila! 30 different Christmas cards! Want to see them? Well, here they are!

Want to see them up close?

stamps used:

• CTMH: Merriest Christmas (B1468)
• Verve: Holiday Greetings, Joyous Noel
• and possibly some others which I HAVE written down but right now I can't find that darn piece of paper!

Anyways, thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having fun getting ready for Christmas!