Christmas sparkle

A quick post today as my youngest is nagging me to have his turn on the computer. The card I'm sharing with you today is a simple Christmas card with tonnes of glitter and sparkle. The digital stamp is from Bugaboo and is coloured with Copic markers. The Christmas ornaments he is sitting on are peel-off stickers on acrylic - I then used Stickles glitter glue to colour in the different sections. By popping up the cut-out ornaments, the sparkle quotient is maximized! The background papers are Basic Grey.

And now off the computer I go so that my DS can watch those so-very important you-tube videos.

Challenges:
ABC Challenge - Deck the halls
Basic Grey Challenges - Christmas
Card Makin' Mamas - Christmas
Copic Marker Europe - Christmas
Crazy Challenge - Christmas time
Emergency Crafters - Deck the halls
Jingle Belles - anything Christmas
Top Tip Tuesday - anything goes Christmas

3 looks with 1 design

I love how a simple design can be changed so easily with a change in materials, or in this case, a change in topper. I decided to (finally) use up some sparkly white cardstock scraps rescued from Christmas crackers (from several years ago) and was inspired to turn it into a sparkly snowflake border using the Memory Box "Frostyville" border die. It took quite a bit of fussing to get the card to cut properly since it was both thick and rough but the result is very pretty. I added a rectangle of black card and a backdrop of shiny silver striped paper for a really elegant look but the overall effect was too plain. I decided to use a variety of toppers that were sitting in the drawer already coloured/assembled.

The first 2 cards use Bugaboo kids all dressed up for the holiday. Aren't they adorable? They are coloured with Copic markers and placed over chipboard sentiments. I think the result is quite fun.

For the next card I used a Forever Friends 3D decoupage image that came free in a magazine. I don't often use this sort of freebie but I like how it turned the card into something more fun & child-appropriate.

The final card stayed elegant with the addition of a layered white die cut snowflake (Spellbinders). The 2 layers are held together with a white enamel snowflake brad that has been in my stash for just short of forever (i.e. over 5 years!).

I think the first set of cards are my favourite, probably because I love the Bugaboo kids so very much but I wish I could have made a few more of the last design too. How about you?

Challenges:

• ABC Christmas - favourite punch or die (Frostyville is a total favourite of mine)
• Christmas Card Challenges - die cuts
• Clear it out - Christmas
• Die Cut Divas - Holiday spirit
• Forever Friends - Christmas
• Holly Jolly Christmas - metallic Christmas (metal brad in the bottom card)
• Oldie but Goodie - use a 2012 sponsor image (Bugaboo!)
• Unstampabelles - Christmas w/ no stamps (cards 3/4)
• Use it Tuesdays - Christmas

Glitter galore

Today's Christmas card is one of my favourites that I've made this year as it combines some wonderful elements AND was super easy to make.

I started the card by putting gold peel-off stickers (the Christmas baubles) onto an acrylic sheet (the type you use in an inkjet printer) being careful to place them on the smooth side of the sheet. I then turned the sheet over and applied different colours of Stickles glitter glue onto the acrylic. By using the rough side of the acrylic the Stickles adhered better, plus I didn't have to worry about getting any glue onto the gold outline sticker since I was working on the back. It took about a day & a half for the glue to dry but once it did - wow!

Next I coloured (with Copics) and cut out this cute little elf (from Bugaboo) so she could perch on the ornaments. The card design is based on the current sketch at Stella Says Sketch. The red strip is an embossed cardstock strip matted on a gold background with a few golden tree stickers. Super easy and super cute, even if I do say so myself. I ended up making a batch of these cards cause they are so darned cute!

Challenges:

• Crafting for all Seasons - red, green & sparkle
• Crazy Challenge - Christmas
• Creative Card Crew - star
• Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas
• Top Tip Tuesday - Christmas

Jingle your own bells

Second post today but I wanted to share this second card that I started on the weekend in Debi's class at Country Lane Scrapbooking.

This card uses Stampotique and Dylusions stamps for an unusual card. The background paper was created with Dylusions spray ink and some unknown snowflake stamps - super simple to create! The image is coloured with Tombow markers and Stickles glitter glue. The stripes at top & bottom are some washi-type tape from Michaels. I love the non-traditional colours and image coupled with the traditional snowflakes in the background. I also LOVE the sentiment - haven't we all had one of those days?


Challenges:

Poisoned Peas Please - walking dead
Forever Night - anything goes
Sparkle & Glitter - twisted holidaze

Something a little different - napkin art

Last weekend I took another wonderful class with Debi at Country Lane Scrapbooking. I swear Debi must spend most of her time just thinking up ideas for different ways to use materials and products because she continually amazes me with her creativity. This time she had us use a napkin (yes, a napkin) as our card base and then embellish from there.

Don't let the traditional colours fool you - this ain't your mama's Christmas card!

The napkin we started with was quite adorable but I'm thrilled with the finished, more interesting product. After removing all of the extra layers from the napkin, it was adhered to a piece of cardstock (I used a brayer to get it really smooth). To alter the design, I added a real button on the belt, some glitter on the snowflakes and pompom and, best of all, a new face. The face is part of a Stampotique stamp ("Clover") and it adds just the right touch of freaky. The final touch was the addition of a Stampotique Mini Ornament in the bird's beak. I'm sure many will disagree but this is just my favourite Christmas card so far this year! But who to give it to????

Challenges:
Christmas Cards All Year Round - card with santa
Crafty Catz - recycle (napkin & the button came from a shirt)
Dream Valley Challenges - non-traditional Christmas
Fab 'n Funky - non-traditional Christmas
365 Cards - pick a pattern: Stripes
Poisoned Peas Please - walking dead (tell me this doesn't look like a zombie santa!)
Forever Night - anything goes
Sparkle & Glitter - twisted holidaze

Winter wonderland

OMG - it's the last day of November and I've barely started on my Christmas cards! I have a few special cards made but the bulk are sitting on my dining room table in various states of completion (and, OK, by completion I really mean that they are hardly even imagined). Panic can be a good thing sometimes - I spent the evening cranking out creating a batch of cards inspired by a gorgeous card I discovered at Splitcoast Stampers.

I started out by die cutting the frames and deer (Memory Box "Debutante Frame", "Orchard Frame", "Deer Trio") from white cardstock. I then embossed the background frame (using Sizzix "Christmas Dots #5"), first spreading distress ink (Tim Holtz "Broken China") on the folder to create the snowy background. I wanted the deer to really stand out, so I inked a second die cut with the same "Broken China" distress ink and layered it behind & slightly off to create a shadow.

The patterned papers all came from my stash - Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday" and 3 Bugs in a Rug "Snow Much Fun".To tie the reds in the snowflake paper in with the red strip and poinsettia, I added some dots of Stickles "Candy Cane" glitter glue in the tree branches and poinsettia centre. The final touches were Stickles "Star Dust" dabbed along the snowy ground and then some inking around the card edge.

Sure sounds like a lot of work but these cards actually came together pretty quickly. The most difficult aspect was keeping my cat from stepping on the drying glitter!

Anyway, off to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day of decorating the house and hopefully making more cards!


Challenges:

There are tonnes of challenges for Christmas cards right now so I'm going a little crazy with my entries.

Crafts 4 Eternity - Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas
Divas by Design - Sparkle & glitter
Fussy & Fancy - Christmas
Jingle Belles - Anything holiday
Little Red Wagon - Include a tree
Oldie But a Goodie - Let it snow (plus use older item - papers are all over a year old)
Partytime Tuesdays - Anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown - Lots of layers
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Note card

This evening's card was very quick to make since the bulk of it was created last year at a scrap retreat. If I remember correctly, it was a make & take that I started but never finished. I may not remember all the details but I do recall that we created a circle mask (just using a circle punch) which was placed on the card prior to stamping the background (using a script stamp). Then the scrap paper with the hole punched in it was put down so that only the circle was showing - this was coloured by blending inks. And then finally the branch was stamped over top. The sentiment was stamped separately and then after the paper was adhered, the doodle oval was stamped over top.

Sorting through the supplies, I also found the bird stamped separately on white paper plus a few odds & ends of paper. I ended up cutting out the bird and pop dotting it on the branch. The bird's eye is a tiny little bead. Next I added a bit of twine wrapped around a black base. The final step was adhering it all to a white card base that I inked around the edges.

It may have taken over a year but who says I never finish anything?

Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge - "T" for tag
Crafts 4 Eternity - tags
Crafty Creations - no flowers
Do You Stack Up - leaves & trees
Ruby's Rainbow - birds

Cooking up a set of cards

I've been trying to create some order from the chaos of craft supplies (sadly I spend more time organizing and sorting than actually creating) and came across a set of cardstock stickers & die cuts (from J Ellory Designs) that I bought/got free ages ago. One of the challenges this week at 365 Cards was to create a set of cards and so I was inspired to finally use the stickers/die cuts for just this purpose.

I chose Basic Grey's "Nook & Pantry" patterned papers along with some dark red cardstock for my papers. I really like how the darker red cardstock highlights the reds in the die cut/stickers. Two of the cards use sentiments from the die cut pack and the third has a computer-generated sentiment. I thought it would be nice to have an assortment so they are all somewhat general to be used for a birthday or "just because".

For the designs I chose sketches from 3 different sites:



Challenges:
Crafty Catz - anything goes
Pause Dream Enjoy - food & beverages
Pennys Paper-Crafty - lots of layers
Raise the Bar - birthday
Simply Create Too - use your stash

Birthday quilt

My birthday was this past weekend and one of my gifts was the Spellbinders Hexagon Nestabilities set. I used it right away to create this birthday card:

The design of the card is inspired by this week's sketch at Clean & Simple Stamping. I like the way the stars on the sketch cascade down the side and thought it would work equally well to have quilting blocks cascading. The papers are all from Basic Grey and the sentiment is computer generated (I found the saying by doing a Google search for quilting quotes). I wanted to maximize the white space and keep the overall layout simple so the only embellishment I used was a white pen to add in stitching. For some reason the photo makes it look like the bottom of the card is yellowish but actually the colour is white just like the rest.

Challenges:

• Basic Grey Challenges - anything goes 
• Card Crafters Circle - patterned paper
• Clean & Simple - sketch
• C.R.A.F.T. - birthday
• Craft Your Passion - hexagons
• Fab 'n Funky - die cuts/punches
• Moving Along with the Times - stitching
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Raise the Bar - anything goes

Vintage Christmas ATC

I've decided to try my hand at making some ATC's (artist trading cards). My first ATC has a Christmas theme and uses Basic Grey papers and embellishments along with a photo of little, old me sitting with Santa Claus.

I chose a corrugated cardboard background that has been distressed with Tim Holtz' Walnut ink. The patterned papers and embellishments are all from Basic Grey. The photo was originally in colour so I converted it to black & white and then lightly inked the edges and across the front to give it more of a vintage feel. I particularly like the flower embellishment as it feels like leather - great texture. I imagine that I'll end up adding the ATC to a card base at some point - don't you think it would make a cute Christmas card?

Challenges:
Basic Grey - anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - use 3 design papers
Crazy 4 Challenges - anything but a card
Divas by Design - festive
Eclectic Ellapu - vintage
Jingle Belles - sketch 
Just Keep On Creating - anything Christmas
Live and Love Crafts - anything Christmas

Another a"maze"ing card

Happy Halloween! The kids woke me up bright & early wanting to get their costumes on for the parties at school. I certainly feel sorry for the teachers today! Both of my boys wanted costumes from their favourite video game "Minecraft". The youngest is "Steve" (check out that diamond sword) and my oldest is a "Creeper" (the bad guy). I had a late night cutting & pasting these costumes together (just printed cardstock glued over paper bags) but the kids are happy so it's worth it.

My other crafting project has been the creation of Halloween cards for the kids. This card is the one I made for my younger son.

I made a set of cards with mazes on the front for the BC Children's Hospital and the boys asked to have similar cards for themselves. For this one I used a digi from Dustin Pike's Doodle Dragon Studios which I inserted into a dollar store maze. The papers are Bo Bunny and the border punch is Martha Stewart. The sentiment is printed off my computer. This was a very quick card to put together - I think the longest time was spent prying the maze apart so thatI could replace the inside image with the digi.

Have a wonderful Halloween!

Challenges:

• 2 Sisters - Halloween colours
• 4 Crafty Chicks - Halloween
• ABC Challenges - Halloween in a hurry (make the card in less than 30 mins)
• Craft Punked - Halloween
• Crazy Amigo - Halloween
• One Stop Craft - Halloween
• Top Tip Tuesday - Halloween

Dintinctively Pink Christmas

I'm in a festive mood today so I'm sharing a Christmas card that I just finished up.

I used a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches as my starting point and was inspired to use pink as my base colour because so many challenges this month are calling for pink (due to it being Breast Cancer awareness month).

I was shopping on the weekend and picked up a couple of new die cuts (the tree and deer) so I just had to use them right away. The tree die cut is from Dee's Distinctively Dies - I cut the tree layers (plus free-handed the largest layer because I wanted my tree to be a bit bigger) and then embossed them using a snowflake embossing folder. I popped up each layer of the tree to give even more dimension. The tree trunk is just free cut from a scrap.

The window frame is also popped up so that there is depth (Memory Box Madison Grand Window with ledges trimmed). The deer are cut with Memory Box (deer trio). I really lucked out with the black/grey patterned paper - I was looking in the scrap box and found just enough of this paper. I love how the design looks like swirling snow.

That's it for now - thanks for visiting.


Challenges:
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - embellish with die cuts/punches
ABC Christmas - anything goes
Christmas Card Challenges - pop it up
D.L. Art - Holiday in Oct/Nov/Dec
Do You Stack Up - embossing
Fussy & Fancy - anything goes
Jingle Belles - creatures
Love to Create - lots of layers

Twisted Trick or Treat

UPDATE:  My card was chosen as one of the Top 3 at Forever Night! I'm just thrilled to be included among such wonderfully creative & creepy cards.

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I'm hoping that my BFF Jacqui is too busy to check any blogs but if not, Jacqui, please stop looking now!

OK, so today I'm sharing the Halloween card that I created for Jacqui and normally I'd wait until it arrived before sharing it on my blog but there are so many challenges right now with Halloween for a theme and I just love entering challenges, so ...

 

Sorry about the picture being a bit blurry but honestly, it doesn't really hurt the look of the card (lol). The card front started as a tag (made a couple of weeks ago in a class at Country Lane). I trimmed the top and then added a couple layers of patterned paper (Basic Grey). The final - and my favourite - touch is the netting wrapped and tied along the top. The net is actually recycled from a Halloween treat bag! I just love the ragged look of the knot. In case you didn't see the first post, the images on the tag are Stampotique and Tim Holtz and the background was created using Dylusions sprays.

 

Challenges:

2 Sisters - Halloween

ATC's and Cards With Attitude - Halloween

Card Makin' Mamas - Halloween

Come and Get It - Halloween

Crafty Calendar - All things spooky w/ optional recycling

Craftymess Challenge - Halloween

Fashionable Stamping - Halloween

Forever Night - Anything goes / picture inspiration (I think my girl has as much attitude! lol)

Loves Rubber Stamps - Get your spook on it's Halloween

My Sheri Crafts - Halloween

Paper Playtime - Boo

Party Time Tuesdays - Trick or Treat

Pile It On - Any holiday

Pink Elephant - Halloween

Sentimental Sundays - Halloween

Sweet Stampin' - Halloween

Top Tip Tuesday - Halloween

Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween



Yummy Halloween

Today's card was made for my darling niece and includes some of my favourite things - Bo Bunny paper, an Elizabeth Dulemba digital image and lots & lots of layers.

I chose a sketch from Twisted Tuesday as my starting point. For my main image, I used the caramel apple from Elizabeth Dulemba - I printed off 6 copies of the apple so that I could colour and spray mist (using Shimmer "Frost") the caramel coating separately and then pop it up from the apples. Love how it worked out although if I did this again I'd probably choose to leave off the spray mist or go with something a bit clearer.

Twisted Tuesday sketch

The papers are a mix of Bo Bunny and DCVW. I added Stickles "Rock Candy" to several of the candy images so that the card would have more shine. Every layer is popped up so the card has lots of dimension! And looking at the photo I'm kind of taken aback at how busy the card is - doesn't look quite this colourful or busy in real life. Oh well, my niece will love it and that's what counts! Happy Halloween to you all!

Challenges:
2 Sisters - Cute & creepy
Card Makin' Mamas - Halloween
Challenge Up Your Life - Halloween
Chocolate Coffee Cards - Stitching (real or faux)
Come and Get It - Halloween
Craftymess - Halloween
Crafty Catz - Halloween
Dream Valley Challenges - Halloween
Heck of a Challenge - Halloween
My Sheri Crafts - Halloween
NMWC - Halloween creations/colours
Pile It On - any holiday
That Craft Place - Halloween
Twisted Tuesday - Sketch plus twist - use spray mist
Unique crafters - Halloween

Pretty patchwork envelope

I'm in love with this birthday card that I made for my niece. First off, it uses products from some of my favourite companies (Basic Grey for papers, Pollycraft for the digi, Spellbinders for the dies) but it also gave me a chance to try a new technique!

The image is an old one from Tales from Pollycraft (the store is closed down but you can still get her images from Little Miss Muffet Stamps) and it is perfect for my niece - swear it even looks like her! I coloured the image using Copic markers. All of the papers used on the card are from Basic Grey. The digi is framed using a Spellbinders die cut and the sentiment is a rub-on over another Spellbinders die cut.

I wanted to make a long card but didn't have an envelope that would fit - instead of making an envelope, I used one of those reply envelopes that you get inside bills and altered it according to an article I recently read (which magazine? hmmm). It was such fun digging out scraps of paper and gluing them to the envelope. I finished off by running a brayer over top so everything was really adhered. And "voila" a custom envelope that also used up a bunch of paper scraps from my ever-expanding bucket oh scraps!

That's it for now although I'll be posting soon with another birthday card for another niece ... reminder to self: finish that card ASAP before I miss her birthday! LOL.

Challenges:
Card Mania - happy birthday
Craft Us Crazy - children
Crafts and Me - anything goes
Divas by Design - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - dies/punches

And these challenges for the envelope only:
Craft Room Challenge - alter it
Party time Tuesdays - anything but a card
Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything but a card
Unstampabelles - recycle/repurpose

Inky Halloween fun

I have been having such fun attending classes at Country Lane lately. I've now taken 4 classes, all with the amazing Debi, and I so wish there were more I could fit in. The latest class was Halloween Fun and I'm just thrilled with how each turned out. Debi teaches techniques, not card kits, so even though we had her examples to work from, every card in the class turned out a bit different.

These first 2 cards involved creating our own backgrounds using distress inks and stamps. I still can't believe these started as blank white pieces of paper! I particularly love the second card with the 3D tree and creepy bunny. The main stamps are Stampotique and the background stamps are mostly Tim Holtz. The images are coloured with Copic markers. I'm not sure who makes the die cuts for the tree and fence - if I come across them in my travels I'll add later. I love the technique for the first card where we covered the initial stamps (the tree & fence) with masking medium and then created the background. Once the background was finished, I just rubbed off the masking medium - sure easier than trying to cut out these detailed stamps!

This card was incredibly simple. It started with a napkin (yes, a napkin) which we then embellished. I chose to colour the pumpkin eyes/mouths and add a popped-up/cut out head from a Stampotique stamp. Once home I also added a couple layers of black grass using a Martha Stewart border punch. Ever since this class, I've been looking at napkins with a whole different eye!

 And this last project is a fun tag that started with a sprayed background (Dylusions ink) that we then built up for interest. I chose spiderweb and spider stamps along with a Stampotique girl (stamped separately, cut out and glued) and a Tim Holtz apothecary label.

So, aren't these some fun techniques and cards? I've already used the ink background idea for a card I'm making for my niece. And did I mention that I've been noticing napkins a lot more lately? If you like any of these ideas then drop by Debi's blog - she promises to post pictures and instructions!

Challenges:
Catered Crop - Halloween
Corrosive Challenges - Monsters & villians
No Matter Which Challenges - Halloween colours
That Craft Place - Make your own background
Crafty Calendar - All things spooky
Forever Night - Anything but a card
Moving Along With the Times - In the dark
Craft Room Challenge - Alter it (I altered the napkin)
Partytime Tuesdays - Frightfully scary

Have an a"maze"ing Halloween

I had some spare time so I made up a few Halloween cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I think these will be quite popular based on my own kids' reactions - they totally tried to snag a card each! I can't imagine anything more boring for a child than being in the hospital so I hope these mazes give them even a couple of minutes of amusement.

I picked up the mazes at the Dollar Store for 4/$1. The images inside the mazes were pretty lame so I used an exacto knife to cut open the maze and then replaced the images with pre-coloured digis from Doodle Dragon Studio. A little dab of glue sealed the maze back up no problem. For the purple cards I embossed plain cardstock and then lightly ran black ink to pick up the pattern. It gives a nice distressed look and also coordinates well with all the blacks in the patterned papers (from Basic Grey). I used sketches from 2 sources:

 

I also have to thank Kimber McGray for the idea of using mazes on cards. I picked up the idea at one of her classes at the Burnaby Crop & Create. Happy Halloween (1 month early) to you all!


Challenges:

• Card a Day - kid cards
• City Crafter Challenge - Halloween colours
• Creative Card Crew - Purple
• D.L. Art - Halloween for a kid
• Heck of a Challenge - anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room - Halloween
• Love to Create - anything goes
• Paper Play - choose a holiday
• Partytime Tuesdays - anything goes
• Send a Smile 4 Kids - anything goes for kids
• Sketch Saturday - sketch
• Sweet Shop - sketch
• Totally Papercrafts - for a child

The word is out ...

I was totally inspired by the cover of the latest Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine to make this batch of cards for the BC Childrens Hospital. They often request cards that can be given to kids when they go home and the balloons and sentiment just seemed ideal.

To duplicate the look of the balloons, I first printed off a digi of an old dictionary page (from The Graphics Fairy), then I put the printed paper back in the printer and printed off a bunch of balloon digis (from Dustin Pike). After colouring and cutting out the balloons, I added pop dots and string (actually cross-stitch floss left over from another project). The polka dot paper was scrap so I'm not sure who makes it. The final cards are quite dimensional and because I didn't adhere the string except in a few spots, they also have some movement. I made a batch of these and will include them in the next Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) card delivery.

Challenges:
Crazy Challenge - seeing spots
Fashionista Challenge - for a child

I {heart} to stamp - sketch
Moving Along with the Times - flying high
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show - read all about it

Pokemon party

My darling son attended a birthday party recently for his very best friend - the party theme was Pokemon so I was requested to create a card using one of his friend's favourite Pokemons. Well, I'll do anything for my son (did I have a choice?) so I made this card featuring not one, but two, Pokemon. When the card is closed, you see Reshiram and then when the card is opened, the centre flips around to show Zekrom (for those of you lucky enough to be ignorant of the Pokemon universe, these are 2 of the main legendary creatures in the newest version).

I found the images of the two legendary Black & White Pokemon characters online so that was pretty easy. The design of the card was totally inspired by a previous sketch at Sketch Saturday. Not only did I love the sketch (and didn't it adapt well to a swing card?) but I also saw the stars on the sketch and immediately knew that I had to use these Bo Bunny papers. Even the stars are cut from a sheet of the Bo Bunny paper (I had lots of fun lining up the stars so that they would look good when the card was open and closed).  The card blank was cut using a Sizzix die so it was tremendously easy to create.

Anyway, the card was a hit - the birthday boy's mom even asked me where I bought the card (she was sincerely surprised that it was handmade).

Thanksgiving cards already?

OK, I know it makes no sense that today I'm sharing 3 cards that are suitable for Thanksgiving but there is actually some logic behind the choice. Earlier this week I visited my LSS (Cherish the Thought) and as usual Jessie had some great grab bags of scraps for sale. I purchased one bag that held an assortment of fall-themed papers (apples, trees, lots of oranges & browns) along with embellishments (flowers, chipboard, die cuts) and I just couldn't wait to make something. I figure I'll put the cards away and donate them in the Fall to Send A Smile 4 Kids - I've already started collecting Halloween and Christmas cards but Thanksgiving often seems to be the forgotten holiday.

I used the current sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday for all 3 cards. The fronts are a digi stamp (Pollycraft), colouring page (a freebie off the Dover newsletter) and a die cut (part of the grab bag). The digi and colouring page image have been sitting in my drawer coloured for months so it's good to use them up. Every layer is popped up so these cards have lots of dimension.

Challenges:
Crafts and Me - anything goes
Crafty Creations - buttons
Fab 'n Funky - no stamped images (3rd card only)
Shopping Our Stash - use something new (all the papers & embellies)
Simply Create Too - use it at least twice (I've used the same sketch 3 times
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch  (rotated to the left)

Wedding wishes

One of my least favourite types of cards to make are those for weddings - mainly because the occasion is so special that it seems difficult to make a card that is special enough. My nephew was married this past weekend and I made this card to wish him and his bride all the best. Sorry that the picture is fuzzy - I really have to remember to check the photos before I send the card off.

I used the colours from their wedding invites (purple, black & white) as well as tried to match the style of the invites (which were traditional with a couple of touches of fun). I'm pretty pleased with the result although I really wish I'd re-coloured the digi - the bride's shoes just look way to dark).

The digi stamp was a freebie from Simply Cards & Papercrafts Magazine and it's coloured using Copic markers. The paper is Jodie Lee Designs' (from Prima) Nature Garden pack. The card itself is cut using the square Sizzix Flip-It card die.

Challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays - use a black card base
• Craft Your Days Away - shades of grey plus 1 other colour
• Creative Card Crew - use black cardstock
• Sparkles Forum - wedding

Welcome baby card

Today's cards is a re-do of a baby card I made a while ago - unfortunately the cat spilled iced tea all over the earlier version of the card. Luckily the image was pretty much unaffected because I really love how the colouring worked out. I chose a sketch from Fetch a Sketch and I'm quite pleased with the new design. The top edge of the image was stained but a handmade flower fixed that flaw (the flower is made from fabric petals pulled off an inexpensive flower stem bought at Walmart last year).

Supplies:

• Scalloped circle, Spellbinders
• Digital stamp, Mo's Digital Pencil Too
• Copic markers
• Patterned paper, Jillybean
• Patterned paper, Basic Grey
• Flower, made from petal stash
• Button, stash

Challenges:

Colour Me Creative - anything goes with girly twist
Cute Card Thursday - fairy inspired
Fab n Funky - make your own flower
Fetch a Sketch - sketch
Mema's Crafts - anything goes
Mo's Digital Challenge - hugs & kisses
Papertake Weekly - girlie
Tuesday Alchemy - buttons

Embellishments can be found anywhere

Are you always looking for interesting (and inexpensive) items to use for embellishments? I know that I always have my eyes open when I'm out & about and I stumbled across a great source of cheap embellies this past week. I was shopping with my 11-year old niece and found myself trapped in Ardene's (for those of you who aren't familiar with this store, it's a mecca for young girls but pretty much irrelevant for anyone over the age of 20). Looking around though I found a great selection of hairbands that could be dissassembled for their individual bits.

Today's card isn't very fancy but I wanted to share it just to show the flowers which cost a grand total of about 40 cents - the hairband was $2 and contained 20 individual flowers. Deal!!!

Challenges:

Cupcake Craftroom - lots of layers
Papertake Weekly - girlie
Sweet Sketch - sketch
Totally Papercrafts - lots of layers
Truly Madly Crafty - animals

Awesome recycling

Last weekend I was in a crafting class where we used lots of Dylusions' ink sprays and did lots of blotting to remove colour (to create lovely soft effects). I crumpled the paper towel I used and tossed it in my bag - when I removed it, I realized that the result was a bee-u-ti-ful background. Waste not, want not, right? It took some experimentation to get the paper towel cut evenly (one pointer - using a straight-edge cutter does NOT work, it just tears the towel even if it's glued onto cardstock). I just love the way it looks behind the monkey digi (from Mo's Digital Pencil) though!

Challenges:

• 4 Crafty Chicks - school's out
• Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - anything goes
• Digital Tuesday - amazing animals
• Fetch a Sketch - sketch
• Oldie but Goodie - summer holidays (monkey digi has been sitting coloured in my drawer for a year!)
• Totally Papercrafts - use a digi