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

School's out!

A very simple card that I think is totally fun and appropriate for the end of the school year. The card is based on a sketch from C.P.S. and the papers are from Basic Grey. I created the wordart sentiment using Word and the image is just a digital colouring page I found online.

The only challenging part of this card was choosing the colour for the schoolhouse. My red Copics were too red and the oranges weren't red enough so I ended up blending  a colours until I was happy with the match. Truly the best part of using Copic markers! I added blue trim/roof to give a bit more colour (and you can't really tell in the picture but the background is light blue/green Copic and really light green).

Challenges:

• Card Positioning Systems - sketch
• Card Makin' Mamas - red, white & blue (I hope there's enough blue - I know it's small but it is the only other colour)
• Totally Papercrafts - use a digi