Wednesday 29 February 2012

Last of the Horse Cards

These are the last of the horse cards that I'm sending to my sister for her friend. While I was surfing the net trying to find out who made the dancing horses from this post, (couldn't find the stamp anywhere!) I found LOTS of new horse stamps to buy.Once they get here, I may have another go at making a few more horse cards. But don't worry, I'll be keeping track of the manufacturer of any new stamps I buy.


Stamp: Unknown
Paper: Whisper White, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Kaleidescope Flannel




Stamp: Deadbeat Designs
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Grey, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Distress Inks (Broken China, Peeled Pain) direct to paper
Accessories: Grey Copic Marker




Stamp: Unknown
Paper: Whisper White, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, various distress inks (sponged)
Accessories: Grey Copic Marker





Stamp: Unknown horse, PTI Faux Ribbon (lines)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Melon Mambo, Concord Crush, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade





Stamp: Unknown
Paper: Unknown DP, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder





Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps
Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Sky, Pear Tart
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities


Tuesday 28 February 2012

Featured Stamper 264 - Cat Crazy

Ah, my favourite challenge! This one was easy - so many lovely cards to choose from. We had a very busy Sunday, so I didn't get a chance to play until Monday, but I would hate to miss a featured stamper challenge.

Here's the first one I chose for inspiration - you know I can't resist a snowflake!


And here's my take - different colours and embossed differently, but same basic layout:




Second inspiration piece:


I focused on the intricate die cut and the 3 dots and came up with this funky thing:



This final inspiration:





What stood out for me on this one was the rounded sentiment over the the focal image. This inspiration resulted in the birthday card I'm going to give my daughter, whose birthday is next Monday.



I'm so happy with this card! I think the colours, sparkles and clean layout are the perfect mix of sophistication and fun for a nine year old. I can't wait to give it to her!


Supplies:

"Merry Christmas"
Stamps: Savvy
Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Marina Mist, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Marina Mist
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, ? snowflake die

"Dotty Birthday"
Stamps: Stamps of Life
Paper: Summer Sunrise, Tempting Turquoise, Pixie Pink, Basic Black, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Summer Sunrise
Accessories: Memory Box die, 1/4 inch circle punch, stickles

"Kate's 9th Birthday"
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly
Paper: Sparkle, Basic Black, Summer Sunrise, Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Gina K
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Nestability, Papertrey Ink Number die







Monday 27 February 2012

CASE Study 79 and Horse-y Cards Day 2


Here's the inspiration for this week's 


Pretty photo card with lots of embellishments.

Since I'm making a bunch of horse cards right now, I thought it would be appropriate to combine with the CASE study and make a horse card for my submission:

And I thought I'd show you a few other of the horse cards I've made for my sister's friend.


One of my current favourite colour combinations.




Sometimes the simple treatment is all a great image needs - sponged edges in Soft Sky.




My trusty "Flannel" Kaleidescope pad (I use this one a lot)



 Inspired by soft neutrals, I ended up being really pleased with this fun card!


I've got one more set of horse cards to show you - probably sometime later in the week, before I mail them to my sister.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
"CASE card"
Stamps: Stampin' Up! (retired)
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, Rich Razzleberry, Versafine Onyx
Accessories: Green Copic Marker

"Vine plus Horse"
Stamps: Inkadinkado (horse), Papertrey Ink (vine)
Paper: Whisper White, Island Indigo, River Rock
Ink: Soft Suede, Island Indigo, River Rock, Lucky Limeade

"Simple Foal"
Stamps: Serendipity
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Sky

"Colourful Stampede"
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Kaleidescope Flannel

"3 Horses with Saddles"
Stamps: Magnolia
Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Bordering Blue
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers


Saturday 25 February 2012

IC325 - Galleria Arts and Crafts, Clean And Simple 179

Galleria Arts and Crafts website is the source of our inspiration today. What a great site - lots of really different items to choose from. As always, I couldn't limit myself to just one.

Here's the first (I think it's a brooch):




And here's my card, which I'm also going to use for Clean and Simple 179



Second inspiration:


I turned this on its side and included the silver extender chain (as a sentiment). I made the dots with my copic markers and then used crystal effects to imitate the dimension of the beads (click on the photo to enlarge and see the dimension):



Finally, this cool horse art. How perfect, since I'm making horse cards for my sister's friend:



I love the rich brown of the horse and the colours in its funky dye job! I pulled out my copics and my favourite Deadbeat designs horse:


Thanks for stopping by today!


Supplies:
"CAS179"
Stamps: Papertrey Ink (dragonfly), ? Sentiment
Paper: Whisper White, Ballet Blue
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, Stickles, Crystal Effects

"Beady Thank you"
Stamps: Hero Arts (Thank you)
Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Silver embossing powder, copic markers, crystal effects

"Three Dyed Horses"
Stamps: Deadbeat Designs
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic Markers






Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Home Sweet Home

This week's trigger:


And here's my card:


The biggest challenge for this card was finding stamps that have a similar line weight and style, that fit into the  cut out white polka dots and represented something from the trigger.

Thanks for stopping by today - hope you have a wonderful weekend! It's my mom's birthday tomorrow and I haven't made her a card yet, so I know what I'll be doing today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sunshine Designs (house), Hero Arts (Bird), Stampin' Up! (flowers), Gina K Designs (Thank you)
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Green Galore, Cool Caribbean, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Soft Sky (sponged edges)
Accessories: Copic markers, stickles, circle nestabilities

Friday 24 February 2012

OLW #80 Two by Two plus Masking

Wow! This one was tough! Two stamps, two colours and masking. And if you HAVE to add a sentiment (I do!) then it has to be in one of the two colours used previously. See Susan's blog for the full challenge.

I finally came across an oldie-but-goodie set - "Bodacious Blooms" by Stampin' Up! I used one of the solid flowers, plus the leaf/stem stamp.

Then I realized how limiting the two colour rule was - I wanted to rock and roll the stamps to get more dimension, but that would have been more than two colours.

OK, enough chat! Here's the card. Let me know what you think!


PS - like my new blog banner? I'll tell you more about it (and the lovely lady who designed if for me) next week.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up (Bodacious Blossoms), Papertrey Ink (sentiment)
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: none

Thursday 23 February 2012

Liebster Award

Imagine my surprise when I went to Deborah's Gems the other morning to find myself nominated for an award!


MASKerade is a Liebster Blog!

What does this mean, you ask? I Googled it, but only found other Liebster Blogs, no history of the award or how it started or anything. It seems like a big pyramid of blog-discovery and kindness to me!

Here's how it works:

1) The award is given to Bloggers with fewer than 200 followers, to help them gain new followers
2) Once you've been nominated, you pass on the Award to five other Blogs.

Steps involved (how I love a checklist - it feels so good when you can put a tick mark beside something!)

1) Link back to the person who gave you the award and thank them (thank you Deborah!)
2) Post the award on your blog
3) Pass the award to 5 bloggers who inspire you
4) Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know.

I'm passing the Liebster Blog Award on to the following blogs:

Jackie at RockwellDesigns
Susie at  Sharing What I Love
Donelda at Wiggy's World
Janet at SwanLady Impressions

and finally, Susan at Questioning My Intelligence.  I owe Susan a special thank you for two reasons.

Susan's Simplicity blog (which I've been watching pretty much since it started (I used to 'follow' her on Splitcoaststampers every Monday morning!) was my source for finding the other 4 blogs I nominated - I love looking through all the entries for One Layer Wednesday and finding new blogs that inspire me!

Susan's Questioning My Intelligence blog is beautifully written and rings true for me with pretty much every entry. How she manages her family, 3 blogs and moving house recently is completely beyond me, but I'm glad she does!

So go visit these 5 blogs and be inspired! And come back tomorrow for my card for this week's diabolical (in Susan's own words!) One Layer Wednesday challenge.

Runway Inspired Challenge # 6

Here's this week's inspiration piece for the Runway Inspired Challenge:




This is the second card I made for this challenge. The first one just wasn't sitting well with me, so I gave it another go and this one feels much more like me.

I went with the colours (including the white runway and the dark background), the dots and the silver shoes (represented by the sentiment, which I admit does not look very silver in this photo!)

Here it is:



I enjoy the geometric feeling this has. Or does it just look like a stoplight in a parallel universe?

Supplies:
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (sentiment)
Paper: Whisper White,  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Not Quite Navy
Ink: Memento  Versamark, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Not Quite Navy
Accessories:  Silver embossing powder


Tuesday 21 February 2012

Peacock Wedding

While I have some ideas of cards to make, I've got nothing new to show you today. So I thought I'd go back and look at some work I've done in the past.

Last year, I made wedding invitations for a couple who wanted peacock feathers included. This project led to a number of panicky moments:

First, when I discovered it's not so easy to find peacock feathers. I pictured myself NOT making friends at the Toronto zoo, as I chased down and plucked feathers from peacocks (they bite, you know!). Finally found a place on Queen Street, where all the fabric and ribbon stores are.

Then I had a hard time finding ribbon to match - you wouldn't have thought it was so hard, but the first one I found was almost $5/metre (that's about the same as a yard). That would have cost about $1 per invitation. In the end, I found some that cost about $0.15 per invitation.

Then, how to tie a knot so it would lie flat. I literally watched HOURS of Youtube, trying to figure that out. And then hours more, practicing!

And finally, figuring out how to attach the feather so that the recipient could detach the feather without removing the ribbon and 'ruining' the invitation. In the end, I put a glue dot under each side of the flat knot and just stuck the feather between the knot and the card - the glue dots held the ribbon in position on the front of the card, and created a little 'channel' for the feather to fit into, and it could be pulled out and put back in.

Despite all this panic, I was thrilled with the results - and so were the happy couple! (click on images to enlarge). The invitation was 6x6 and went into a shimmery gold envelope.



This was the 4.25"x4.25" thank you card I made to match - very simple - gold embossing on gold shimmer paper, with a vanilla panel inside, to make it easy to write on.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Invitation
Stamps: Papertrey flourishes
Paper: Vellum Cardstock, very vanilla, pacific point, early espresso, gold shimmer
Ink: laser printed, versamark
Accessories: gold embossing powder, brown ribbon, peacock feather

Thank you
Stamps:          (feather),             (thank you)
Paper: Gold shimmer, very vanilla (inside panel)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Gold embossing powder

Horse-y Cards, Day 1

My sister, a horse surgeon at Wisconsin Equine Clinic, asked me to make a set of horse-y cards for a friend of hers. I have quite a number of horse stamps and horse-y sentiments, but mostly I've used them to make sympathy cards for my sister to send to clients if a horse dies.

It was fun to try to think of more cheerful cards to make with these stamps, and I tried to use brighter colours than I normally do.

Here are the first four I made:






I think the last one is my favourite. I used distress inks direct to paper to create the horizon, then stamped the horses in Versafine Onyx. I love how it looks like the horses are dancing on a summer day!

Unfortunately, I don't remember where the stamps for the first and fourth card come from. I've had them for ages, they're unmounted and therefore don't have a name on them. I have to get better at tracking the manufacturers so I can share with you. I'll see if I can find them again - if you know, please leave me a comment!

The stamp on the second card is from Deadbeat Designs - they've got lots of great horse and Texas-themed stamps. I love the abstract feeling of it.

The stamp for the third one is from a clear set from Inkadinkado.

Thanks for stopping by today!


Monday 20 February 2012

Featured Stamper 263 - Beccabatgirl



I've followed Beccabatgirl for a couple of years now - I love her style! As usual, I couldn't choose just one, so here are the four that inspired me and my re-do. Becky's are the small ones, mine are the larger ones.



























Supplies:


"thanks"
Stamps: Stamps of Life
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Doodlebug DP, Summer Sunrise (PTI), Concord Crush
Ink: Versafine Onyx
Accessories: Cuttlebug die, yellow stickles


"Big Blossom"
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Big Blossom
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Brilliant Blue, Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Ink: Kaleidescope blues
Accessories: Copic Multiliner


"Leafy Thank you"
Stamps: Hero Arts Leaf background, Stampin' Up (Curly Cute)
Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, GIna K Pure Luxury
Ink: Versafine Onyx
Accessories: 1/8" circle punch, stickles


"Flowery Thanks"
Stamps: Gina K Designs (Solid Flowers), Stampin' Up (Thanks Kindly, small black flower)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Gina K Pure Luxury
Ink: Versafine Onyx, Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore
Accessories: Stickles

Sunday 19 February 2012

Inspiration Challenge 324 - Creative Wallcoverings

This week's inspiration challenge is to find something on the Creative Wallcoverings site. I found two that really inspired me.

The first was this switchplate, which was literally crying out to become a card:


Here's my card:





For my second inspiration this wall decal (and the letter "A" had nothing to do with it, I swear!):



I changed the letter to "K" for my daughter and used my Cricut to make two cards (can't throw out those scraps!)




Since Kate is turning nine soon (birthday card photos to come!) I used nine accents/dots rather than the six in the inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
"Daisy Chain"
Stamps: Unity (daisies), Hero Arts (sentiment)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Yellow stickles


"K"
Stamps: (various clear solid flowers)
Paper: Basic Grey (plaid), Whisper White, Gina K Pure Luxury 120 lb
Ink: Lucky Limeade, Tempting Turquoirse, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Cricut, Storybook cartridge, Ranger White enamal accents

Saturday 18 February 2012

Clean and Simple #178

Found a new challenge to try! Clean and Simple is just what it sounds like. Exactly my style (especially because it doesn't have to be a one-layer card - phew!).

I decided to give Christmas a rest for now and move on to another holiday!

Here's my Happy Easter card:




I've had this bunny stamp for a long, long time - I think he looks nice and springy with the pastel backgrounds behind him!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Stamps: Great Impressions (bunny), Michaels (Happy Easter), Papertrey Ink (Background Basics - Circles)
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Sky
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: Copic markers, Stardust Stickles