Birthday Wishes Dad

Hi folks,


Well, for once I am ahead of the game for a birthday card for my Dad. His birthday is today and I actually made his card and got it into the mail with the Christmas cards! Woo hoo!

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Authentique "Suave"
• stamps: CTMH Seaside Greetings (D1609), Hats Off (C1593 - a hostess rewards tamp), You're the Best (C1571)
• embellishments: CTMH Silver Shimmer Trim

challenges for this card:

• Loves Rubber Stamps #133: Anything Goes
• Clear it Out Challenge Blog: Theme: Anything Goes. Stash: Anything Goes (shimmer trim)
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for stopping by!

And happy birthday Dad!!!

By the way, if you haven't heard about Anya, Oddies and Others you should stop by and pay them a visit. It's a great place to share all of your card creations! I'm adding this card to the January linkup for others!

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!

My first Base & Bling Necklace

Hi folks,

A friend of mine has a birthday in January and, surprise surprise, I'm actually on top of things getting her birthday present ready and in the post! It actually went out with her Christmas present.

I decided it was high time that I try my hand at the Base & Bling wearable crafts from Close to My Heart.

So here's a photo of the necklace. It's not a great photo but since making this I picked up a jewelry display bust (at Michael's on Boxing Day). Future photos of my jewelry creations will be MUCH nicer.

I paired the necklace with one of the cards from the (now retired) Ivy Lane Card Making Workshop on the Go (also from Close to My Heart).

And I also decorated a little gift card tin to hold the necklace.

Here's the outside:

And a peek inside:

project details:

• Base & Bling: Faux Antiqued Gold Chain, Storyteller Charms, Faux Antiqued Gold Square Pendant, Square Glass Cover, Storyteller Style Sheet
• Gift Card Tin: CTMH Ivy Lane Paper, Gold Shimmer Trim, paper flowers from my stash

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!

Snowhaven Reboot

Hi folks,

I know that, technically, Christmas was two days ago but, since I've been too busy to post the last of this year's Christmas cards, you will have to tolerate me posting them over the next little while.

I promise - there's birthday cards waiting to be posted as well!

Anyways, you may or may not remember my post with the cards I had made with the Snowhaven Card-Making Workshop on the Go from Close To My Heart.

I had said to dearly beloved that it was my plan to make variations of this card for all of our parents. He suggested that the big sentiment panel might stand out more if it was stamped in grey instead of the pale blue glacier. So I did - I used Slate for the panel and Glacier for the snowflakes.

I think he was right. I like this version better. I also added another strip of paper to this one - the black snowflake pattern.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, white daisy card base
• paper, stamps and embellishments from the Snowhaven Card Making WOTG

Challenges for this card:

• A Gem of a Challenge #134: Anything Christmas
• CHNC #209 - Anything Goes Christmas

As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit, especially at this time of year!

Bacon Appreciation Day 2014

Hi folks,


If you are a regular visitor to my blog, then you know that every year in December, we celebrate the birthday of a friend of ours with "Bacon Appreciation Day". It's an idea cooked up by his wife a few years ago (this year we celebrated the 6th edition) where the entire birthday dinner revolves around bacon. The welcome to dinner beverage, the appetizers, the entrée, the side-dishes, the dessert. Every single course has bacon in it.

Of course, his birthday card always has some porcine influences as well.

This year, I was thinking that I had pretty much used EVERY pig stamp I own so I had to come up with something different.

As it happens, I had an extra card blank in my CTMH Cut Above™ Happy Birthday Card Kit and decided to use it with some of the papers from the retired Lollydoodle Paper Packet to come up with this year's card.

The pink paper kind of reminded me a little bit of bacon. What do you think?

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches
• patterned papers: CTMH Cut Above™ Happy Birthday Card Kit  and Lollydoodle Paper Pack
• stamps: CTMH "You mean the world to me" (B1467). The "eat more bacon!" was built using my Pegz Alphabet stamps from Mason Row.

challenges for this card:

• Simon Says: Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly: Pick a Fave or Anything Goes (I'm going with Anything Goes!)
• Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes Birthday

As always, thanks for stopping by!