3 monkeys & a cupcake

I had a super productive evening last night and completed a total of 4 cards for Cards for Kids (which provides hand-made cards to Children's Hospitals for distribution to hospitalized kids on their birthdays and other holidays). 

These cards were pretty quick to put together as the images were already coloured and I used card sketches from a couple of challenge sites for the designs. All that was left was the selection of papers (Basic Grey, of course) and embellishments (buttons). All of these papers came from the Basic Grey "Wander" collection. All of the images are from Bugaboo.


Challenges:
Sisterhood of Crafters - birthday
The Crazy Challenge - animals
Crafty Pad - birthday
Pile it On - cute kids (card #4)
Basic Grey - dots & spots (cards #2, 3)
Catch the Bug - anything goes
Crafty Emma - all creatures great & small
One Stop Craft - card for a child
Crafty Catz - food or drink (card #4 is a cupcake)
Sew Many Cards - flags (pirate flag in cards #1, 3)
Stamp Something - use a digi
Fuzzy Wuzzy - anything goes (with an animal)
Charisma Cardz - birthdays
Delightful Challenges - buttons
Corrosive Challenge - sketch (cards #2, 3)

Friday Sketchers - sketch (cards #1, 4)

Cards for kids

I've recently decided to start collecting and then donating handmade cards to the B.C. Children's Hospital. I'm calling the project "Cards for Kids" and am working to get the first batch of cards to the hospital by the first week of February. These cards will be given to the nurses and staff at the hospital to give to sick kids at appropriate times (like birthdays and holidays).

This card is the first that I've made specifically for "Cards for Kids" and I'm quite pleased with it. I think it will be just great for a boy's birthday.

The image is from Tiddly Inks and I think it's just perfect for a boy's birthday. I raided the kids' craft stash for the paper (it's from a Crayola pack) and used alphabet stickers for the sentiment. The ribbon started out white but was coloured using Copics to match the boy's shirt.

Challenges:
Crafty Pad - happy birthday
One Stop Craft Challenge - for a child
Stamp Something - use a digi
Charisma Cardz - birthdays & celebrations
Paper Play - clean & simple

Gift bags

Christmas may be long over but that doesn't mean I'm not still giving out gifts (nothing like being organized!). I finally dropped off my last couple of Christmas presents and so I can share the gift bags that I created for them.

The bags were super quick and easy to make. I used a couple of House Mouse stamped images that I had pre-coloured, matted them on some plain cardstock, and then added a shiny ribbon. The decorative border along the top of each bag was made with Martha Stewart's pine branch border punch and a strip of Sookwang double-sided tape with red glitter added. 

Challenges:

House Mouse & Friends - celebrate

Crafty Emma - all creatures great & small

Fuzzy Wuzzy - anything goes (with an animal)

Crafty Sentiments - anything but a card

ABC Christmas - anything Christmas

Fab n Funky - anything goes

Anything Goes Challenge - something "C" (I chose "C" for Christmas)

Portfolio notepad project

Today's project is a portfolio note pad that I made as a teacher gift. I started with a small size note pad (9 x 6") that I purchased at my local Staples and then made a decorated portfolio cover using coordinating papers.

 To make the portfolio cover, I cut two pieces of a nice heavy double-sided cardstock to form the front & back covers. I then attached them with a coordinating piece of cardstock that I scored and folded to create a 1/2" spine. I then cut another strip of cardstock (1" by 6") and adhered it to the top of the notepad. I decorated the front of the portfolio with more of the paper and then embellished it with a flower made using the Tim Holtz "Tattered Flowers" die cut. And then the entire thing is finished off with some "antique photo" distress ink.

I'm not happy with the flower (although it looks much better in real life than in the photo) as I couldn't make it as full as I wanted (after all, this needs to be a usable item) and think next time I would use a stamped image instead of a 3-D embellishment. But that's the way of crafting, right? Create, criticize, improve.

Challenges:
Crafty Sentiments - anything goes or anything but a card
Craft Your Passion - anything goes

Happy birthday you old dog

I know it isn't particularly respectful calling my Dad an old dog, but I don't think he'll mind (and it is pretty fitting) so I made this card for Dad's upcoming birthday. The inside sentiment reads "Happy birthday, you old dog".

The image is "Best seat in the house" from Just Inklined. I had such fun colouring this image, especially getting the colour of the chair just right. Now my Mom would never have allowed a chair that looked this rough sit in the house but if it was up to my Dad this type of chair would definitely have been in a place of honour, not to mention the old smelly dog. I used a mix of Basic Grey papers and cardstock stickers from the Pyrus collection. I love the eyelets on either side of the card - I punched holes through the one paper layer and then inserted copper eyelets so that the cream background paper would show through. I still think this card is too plain but Dad likes simple so I held back on embellishing further. The great benefit of making cards is that each card can be taylored to match the recipient's likes/dislikes.

That's it for today. Hope you are having a great one!

Challenges:
Fab 'n Funky - anything goes
Stampin' Royalty - birthday
Crafty Emma - anything goes
Paper Sundaes - use something new (the Basic Grey paper/embellies)
Creative Inspirations - use something new
Top Tip Tuesday - metal (the brads)
Sketch and Stash - sketch (my forgotten stash are the eyelets)

Sending birthday wishes

Today I have 2 dogs to share - one is on a card and the other is now a part of my family. First, the living dog. "Larry" (who may be renamed soon) is a 6 year old Husky X that I found at my local animal shelter. He is arthritic, overweight and sheds like you can't believe (and it's wintertime; I can't wait to reupholster my furniture in Husky hair come Spring). And he's just perfect! I love a dog that enjoys walks but doesn't bug me if I don't want to go out. He is just so lovable and easy-going. The kids are fighting over who gets to hug him next (although he seems to be quite happy accepting multiple hugs at a time). I'm a strong believer in adopting adult animals because their personalities are known and it's therefore easier to find a good match for any househould. Our last dog was 7 yrs old when we adopted her and we had a wonderful 5 years with her. I'm hoping for at least as long with Larry.

And now for the paper dog. This card was created for a very dear friend's birthday this month. Although I have a collection of completed cards I always like to make a brand-new, personalized card for my special friends. This card was made using her favourite colours (blue and bright white).

The image is a freebie from Sliekje. She offers so many adorable images on her blog and never charges a cent for them! I coloured this little guy using Copics (warm greys) and then adhered him to a layered card of patterned paper and shiny Bazzil cardstock. The patterned paper is actually a winter pattern but by carefully placing the image and embellishments over the snowflakes, it ends up being just right for this card. Even though her birthday is in January, she loves all things Spring so it was important to make sure this card used colours and patterns that were very fresh.

Well it's time to walk the dog to the mailbox (a mere block away and quite an acceptable walk for my Larry) and get this card on its way. Have a great day!!!

Challenges:
Totally Gorjuss - for someone special
Stamping Vacation - monochromatic blues
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - celebrate (a birthday)
Totally Papercrafts - time to celebrate/party

Christmas kitty

I have to admit that I'm one of those people who listens to Christmas music in the summer and makes Christmas cards all year round. So it definitely isn't surprising that today's card is ... Christmas!

The image I've used is a freebie offered in Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine. This magazine usually contains a double spread of digi images that you can photocopy or scan and then use at will. I just couldn't resist this cat - his expression is just priceless!

As usual, I used Copic markers to colour the image and Basic Grey papers. But I also used the Copics to colour all of the embellishments - the taupe rik-rak was actually an ugly shade of red so I turned it over and coloured it to match the kitty;  the gold ribbon started out white; and the pearls were off-white. I am a major advocate of Copic markers because of their versatility and usefulness (no, I don't work for Copic but if they want to send me any free markers ... LOL).

Anyway, have a wonderful first day of 2011! Here's wishing everyone a creative year full of fun!

Challenges:

Fab 'n Funky - quick & easy Christmas

Top Tip Tuesday - get embellishing

Christmas Cards All Year Round - anything goes Christmas

CES Challenges - anything goes

Sketch & Stash - choose a sketch from the year