Inky fun

The kids were with their Dad last weekend and I took full advantage of the time by taking an all-day class at my LSS, Country Lane. The class was "Bold & Kooky" and was all about using Dylusions inks and stamps to create amazing fun projects. The primary project was a small canvas (although I use the word canvas loosely since it was actually a really heavy card) which I ended up adapting into a large card.

The class was very much out of my comfort zone as it was unstructured and imperfect. We started by spraying the heavy card with Dylusions spray inks (I used purple, pink & orange primarily), then adding water and kind of swooshing the inks around. Once the paper was dry we added in stamping elements to create additional interest and then glued on stamped elements. I had a hard time letting myself just go with the process but it was such fun and I love, love, love the backgrounds that were created! I haven't used Dylusions before but have lusted after the stamps for quite a while so this was a great opportunity to give them a try too.

This card is going to be donated to Send A Smile 4 Kids - most of the cards that I make (and most donated) are more suited to kids but I think the Dylusions line is perfect for teenagers. I can hardly wait to play some more!

Challenges:

• ATC's & Cards with Attitudes - anything goes
• Fat Pages & Cards with Attitude - anything goes
• Papercrafting Journey - hand coloured image
• Squirrel & the Fox - sparkle (check out her tiara)
• Stamp and Create - bold & bright
• Use Your Stuff - use some hand-made elements (the background paper!)

Always Coca-Cola

Today I have a layout to share that I created this past weekend at Crop & Create. The challenge was to create a layout about everyday moments including one's guilty pleasure. Well, I can't say that I feel guilty about my diet Coke addiction, but I have been looking for an excuse to create a page about my very favourite thing (excepting my kids & pets of course).

The papers and photo came from the Coke store in Las Vegas. I created the flower by die cutting a cut open diet Coke can (cool, huh?) using Tim Holtz' tattered flowers die. The finishing touch was the addition of a sprinkling of clear dew drops to suggest the bubbles in a freshly opened pop.

Challenges:

• Crafting for all Seasons - layers
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Recycle, Re-purpose, Re-invent - anything goes & metal
• Secret Crafter - anything goes
• Try it on Tuesday - anything goes

Cutie patootie puppy card

Just back from a wonderful weekend at Crop & Create sponsored by Scrapbook & Cards magazine. I took wonderful classes from 3 of the great women in scrapbooking - Becky Fleck, Vicki Boutin and Kimber McGray. The classes were all based on techniques and I learned so much that I'm eager to try.

But first I want to share a card that I made for one of the weekend contests - Why Hello There. And I am so proud to admit that my card was chosen by Kimber McGray as the winner! Being selected as a winner by someone who has published 4 books on scrapbooking and card making was a total thrill! But enough of the bragging ... here is the card:

I used a couple of new toys for this card - the Grand Madison Window die cut from Memory Box and the Flowers & Leaves die cut from Marianne Design Creatables. The cutie patootie puppy is a front & back stamp from Art Impressions - he is so adorable but I have to admit he's being sitting in my drawer because I've been intimidated about colouring him. I've been working on my colouring though and I'm actually pretty pleased with him. The toughest part of this card was aligning the window and dog on either side of the acrylic so front & back matched up. One last thing to add, I didn't want any writing inside the card to show through the window so the inside of the card actually opens up to the right (the buttons are kind of a handle) so that I can write a nice note.

Challenges:

• 2 Sisters - inside & out (show the inside & outside of your card)
• Aud Sentiments - any sentiment
• Crafting for all Seasons - lots of layers
• Cutie Pie Challenge - die cuts/punches
• Die Cuttin' Divas - anything goes
• Divas by Design - anything goes
• Let's Ink it Up - use your favourite embellishments (mine are die cut shapes and flowers)
• Paper Play - use 2 of something (2 buttons)
• Secret Crafter - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
• Top Tip Tuesday - dig out something old (stamp has been in my stash for ages!)

Happy birthday to my BFF

One of my very best BFF's had a birthday earlier this month and I needed to make her a very special card. She is a Siamese-lover and when I came across this image online I printed it in black & white and then coloured it to match her cats more closely. The papers are from Bo Bunny and really match her personality - vibrant, colourful and fun. I lightly sanded and inked all of the papers plus I tore and inked the middle stripe (using the actual paper design for my guide).

My favourite part of the card is the medal on the front. I stumbled across a bunch of metal highland dance medals at a garage sale and I think it makes a perfect embellishment. I covered the dance competition name/date with the flower and then added a bit of sparkly ribbon. Totally fun!

Challenges:

• 365 Cards - Use some sanding or other type of distressing plus include some tearing
• Craftroom Challenge - Birthdays
• Crafty Creations - Circles (lots of circles in the paper)
• Divas by Design - Anything goes
• Fab 'n Funky - Celebrations

Mother's day card

It's a bit late sharing, but I had to make sure my Mom had seen the card before I shared it here on the blog. This is her (late) Mother's Day card made with Basic Grey papers, peel-off outline stickers and Copic markers.

Supplies:

• Basic Grey "Sweet Threads" patterned papers
• Elizabeth Craft Designs "Tulips" peel-off outline sticker
• Copic markers
• Spellbinders "Floral ovals" die
• Spellbinders "Beaded ovals" die
• Spellbinders "Ironworks" border die
• Buttons from stash
• Pearls from stash

Challenges:

• Basic Grey - anything goes
• CMC - anything goes with Copics
• Crafts & Me - flowers
• Cute Card Thursday - pink & green
• Flourishes - use a flower

• Midnight Madness - sketch
• Pink Elephant - buttons galore
• Southern Girls - die cut or punches
• Top Tip Tuesday - dig out the old (the buttons are over a year old)
• Truly Scrumptious - anything goes

More tea???

I've been working on a set of cards for my mom (she wants them to give to volunteers at her teahouse fundraiser) and the quantity keeps changing - first she needed 10, then 12, then 16 would be great. I love making cards so it isn't too difficult but I am getting a little tired of the "tea" theme.

Anyway, here is the final (I hope) set of cards.

For this set I used peel-off stickers from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I used gold peel-offs for most of the cards but after photographing them, I actually wish that I'd made more using the black stickers but I made the mistake of leaving them out one evening and the cat decided to "improve" them by chewing on them.

I love the ease of peel-offs although I did a bit more fussy-cutting than I initially intended. If you look at this detailed picture, you'll see that I actually cut out the leaf design and laid it on a different patterned paper for a resulting paper-piece look. I also added some glossy accents and glitter to various sections of the pots and cups.

I used Fancy Pants designs papers that came free in Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine (don't you love freebies that are cute and usable!). The glitter stripes are just cheap ribbon I picked up at Michaels ages ago. For the final touch I printed a sentiment "A cup of thanks" onto patterned paper and then die cut the little teabag label shapes using Die-namics "Always Time for Tea" die cuts. I attached them to the teapot or cups using bakers twine.

Mom arrives in 2 weeks to pick up her cards so here's hoping her volunteer numbers don't expand yet again! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Challenges:

• Cute Card Thursday - food/drink
• Daring Cardmakers - fussy cutting
• Emergency Crafters - spots & stripes
• Freshly Brewed - thanks/appreciation
• Mema's - bingo (I chose pink/ribbon/diecut)
• Scrapbook Sisters - off centre
• Sweet Sketch - sketch

A cup of thanks

My mother runs a volunteer tea at her local teahouse and she asked me for a set of thank you cards that could be used for her volunteers. I made 3 sets (of 4 cards each). I've already shared 2 of the sets and here is the 3rd.

The image is an older one from Mo's Digital Pencil - isn't he a little sweetie? The patterned paper is Basic Grey, the cardstock is Bazzil. The lacey doily embellishment is actually cut from a larger sheet of Basic Grey. The flowers are either Prima or Recollections (I can't remember which).

Challenges:
2 Sisters - anything goes
365 Cards - pink, animal, DP
Basic Grey - 1 image, 2 papers, 3 embellishments (flower, doily, pearl)

Craftymess Challenge - pink & cute

Creative Belli - animals

Creative Craft Challenges - animal antics

Mo's Digital Pencil - anything goes with Mo

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Ruby's Rainbow - pink & brown