Challenging Colour Challenge

I don't know how I found Kristina Werner, but I *LOVE* her Make a Card Monday videos, and I have been following her blog for about a month or so. Recently she started posting colour challenges, and this is the first one that I have completed.

The combo came from this photo from Pier One.

Translated into SU colours we have Orchid Opulence, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.

I found this colour combo to be particularly hard because I don't like Orchid Opulence. It's not a colour I use very often, and it's the only colour in which I haven't bought a full pack of paper.

I knew I wanted to use one of my new sets from the Occasions Mini, so I chose Tart and Tangy since the orange could be pumpkin pie, and the cherries, or the strawberry would look good in rose red.

This is a very plain card for me, but I really struggled with the colours, and didn't know what else to add.



The sentiment is from the rub ons also available in the Occasions Mini.

Paper Trey blog hop

Nichole and the rest of the Paper Trey gang have come up with a really cool way to get inspired and see some amazing paper creations. They are starting a monthly feature called the Blog Hop. Unfortunately I was too slow in registering my blog to be included this month (the deadline was the 23rd), so I am not *officially* part of the blog hop process. However, it's my birthday, so I have decided that I can participate anyways. :)



The idea was to use ribbon as a focal point, and at least one Paper Trey product. Although I am not sure I actually achieved that, I did use lots of ribbon on this card.

I *love* the Text Boxed set, and it was great fun to pull it out for this challenge. This is the stamp set that got me hooked on Paper Trey. The sentiment is from Alli Miles' first set Shapes by Design. I thought the sans serif font complemented the lines of the ribbon, and the stamps.

This is the first time I have ever made a card that folds along the short end, and I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for "blog hopping" by, and I will be back tomorrow with some swap cards I made a few weeks ago.

Easter Greetings

I was in Saskatoon visiting my family over Easter, and I should have posted these before I left, but I ran out of time.

These are the cards I gave to my family this weekend.






These two cards use the He is Risen set from Gina K. The first card was inspired by the card posted by Melanie during the release party held on SCS. It is stamped on a cropped photo that Deron took. The second card really reminds me of the wood of the cross with the sanded background and the earthy colours.



This card uses the Baskets of Happiness set, also from Gina K. I don't have nestabilites, or a square punch that is the right size for the scalloped square punch that I have, so the image was cut out with my paper cutter, then the corners rounded with the SU corner rounder punch. It was coloured with SU markers.















These three cards were all done with Melanie's set Just so Hoppy! I am loving this set. I had so much fun using fun flock on the chicks and the bunny. Deron's favourite card of the whole lot is the second card with the chicks that has them dancing on the grass. I really like the texture on that card, but my favourite is the bunny card. I love the basket handle being thread through the bunny's hand, and the two colours of brown to make it look like the basket is woven, and the flock on the bunny, and finally, the way the paper matches the flower embellishment perfectly.




Lastly, this card was made with sets that are not from Gina K. Crazy, huh?

The background is made by smooshing pale plum, and perfect plum ink on opposite sides of a plastic report cover, then closing them together, re-opening and putting glossy cardstock in between. It creates a bit of a marbled look. The stems are from the Garden Whimsy set from SU, and the grass is created by removing the cross hairs from the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.

I hope you enjoy these somewhat delayed Easter greetings, and I will be back later today with a ribbon based card using Paper Trey stamps.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

It has been a REALLY long time since I posted, but I have still been creating in the background. I had a craft fair to prepare for, and I have been doing research into the stamping industry to see if there would be a market for a store in my area.

Hopefully some of this is slowing down, so I will have more time to post my cards (and clean up my horribly messy craft room).

This card was made with Women of Life one of the PTI stamps released last month.

Thanks to the Postman

A week or so ago it was really cold in Saskatchewan. So cold that Amy and Julie spent some time talking about it on their blogs.

I decided that I should make a thank you card for my Canada Post letter carrier to show my appreciation for the work they do even when it's -40 or colder.




This card is inspired by the sample in the current SU catalogue using the A Little Bit of Happiness hostess set.

The card base is my favourite colour from the 'in colour' series. River Rock. It is a great neutral and goes with everything.

The background is stamped with Autumn Fest (retired). I love the way these two sets work together.

The strips are Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa, both with distressed edges and then sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.

The main image was stamped on Water colour paper, and water coloured using ink pads in a variety of fall colours. This was my very first attempt at water colouring, and I am pleased with the result.

All that Glitters

I love participating in swaps on SCS. I find that it forces me to create things on a timeline, and that I get some fantastic samples back from all of the other participants too. In the past I have swapped with stampers from the US, and it has been somewhat stressful because it takes so long for mail to arrive that I was always worried about the deadlines. These two cards were created for a swap based out of Alberta, which is awesome, because I can send them express post, and they get there the next day!!




This card uses Amy R's weekend sketch, and a great colour combo of Certainly Celery, Elegant Eggplant, and Apricot Appeal.

It's hard to see, but the background is stamped with VersaMark using the Whimsy wheel, then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It's very glittery in real life.



The sentiment wish is stamped in Apricot Appeal ink, and adds to the whimsical feel of the card. The circles within the butterfly wings are filled with Stickles to add some more glitter to the card.


The second card base is sprayed with glimmer mist from Tattered Angels. I LOVE the look this creates, but it curled the edges of the card somewhat. The photo makes it look like silver spots, but again, IRL it's actually glittery.



I really like the look of black and white with a pop of colour, and I think the red frame really makes the image stand out. The paper is from a package I got at Joann's when I was in Minot last summer. The ribbon is from the dollar store (I think).



I didn't colour the Bella because I like the monochromatic look. I did use stickles to add bling to the diamond and the tiara.

I can't wait for the swaps to come back so that I can see all of the other fabulous creations that use glitter!

Valentine's Gifts

I am sorry for the short gap in my posts. I was feeling 'blah' over the past few days. You know, where you don't have energy, your creativity is nil, and you don't really have anything to say. Well, that was me for a few days. But after a very productive and crafty weekend I am back with some projects.

I have no idea why these are called sour cream containers, but they are soooo easy, and absolutely adorable. I used Beate's tutorial on SCS as my starting point, but these ones are smaller than the sample.



These are made with Cerise (retired), Holiday Harmony (retired), and Berry Bliss designer paper from SU.

The paper was cut to 3x4 to make these 'treat sized' containers. I made 50 of these this morning, 27 went to my sister to handout to her students on Valentine's day, and the other 23 are in the empty cinnamon hearts container in the photo above. It took 2 containers of cinnamon hearts to make 50 treats.

These are so easy, I did all of the cutting, taping and filling of all 50 in under 2 hours. It was only a couple of minutes each.



The second gift was inspired by Melanie's gift box. Melanie is an absolutely FANTASTIC stamper and designer. She not only designs great projects for her blog, but she also designs stamp sets that are available in Gina's Store.



This box is actually the plastic box that Papertrey stamps come in when they are mailed out. The stamp used is from the Time Well Spent hostess set that all of us SU demos got for free a few month ago. This is actually the first time I have used this set.

The ribbon is Real Red grosgrain, and the other three sides of the box are covered with Cerise paper (retired). The flowers are coloured with the Red Atyou glitter pen. The jellybeans and cinnamon hearts are from an assorted package that I got at Shopper's Drug Mart for $2.oo. This is such a cute way to give candy. Thanks Melanie!