Saturday 28 February 2015

Muse 106 - Thank you!


Here's my one-layered take on this week's Muse challenge, where our inspiration comes from Guest Muse Shona:



I focused on the colours and simplified the layout a little. But I kept the shimmer! I used a very old Papertrey background dots stamp and Berry Blaze Kaleidecolor ink. I fit my emdash sentiment into the pattern and then filled in the 'blank' spots with dots of stickles.

You have until Monday morning at 8 am to play along with us in this challenge. At that time voting will start and you can vote for your top 3 favourites (even if you didn't link up a card!) until Tuesday at 8. Voting results will be posted on Tuesday at noon. Hope to see you there!

Friday 27 February 2015

Painted Petals in Blackberry Bliss


This card was inspired by this post by Vicky Hayes. Vicky is a UK Stampin' Up demo who uses SU! products in fun and unexpected ways - I'm always inspired when I visit her blog.

This time I was inspired by Vicky's use of Painted Petals to build a box. The blossoms are shown without the leaves, and have pops of orangey-yellow. Turns out it's DP, not stamping, but I knew that the look could easily be replicated with the coordinating stamp set.

I used Blackberry Bliss ink and cardstock, and one of the sentiments from the set. To introduce the yellow and a graphic element, I masked and sponged the end of my sentiment strip in Adirondack Summer Sunshine.


Thursday 26 February 2015

Happy Birthday!


This is a simple, monochromatic card I made for my mom's birthday (today!). I used Mama Elephant's Happy die along with an old, unknown, cut-apart-from-the-happy birthday and some Doodlebug sequins.

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Merry Monday 147 - O Holy Night


I was thrilled to be named the winner of last week's Merry Monday challenge and I'm looking forward to being GD next week! This week's challenge is to use stars.



I was inspired by this quilt I found on Pinterest:



I love stars and this is so simple/mod, and almost chevrons!

I used an old A Muse Artstamps sentiment and various blue/aqua cardstocks along with my Spellbinders Star Nestabilities.

Tuesday 24 February 2015

CASology 135 - Mini


This week's CASology Cue Card is Mini!



There are lots of fun ways to go with this! I chose to use a small image (There She Goes Stamps) and a cut-apart sentiment (Uniko - this week's sponsor!) to make a mini focal image. To make sure it stood out, I chose a high-impact colour for the balloon as well as coating it in glossy accents for some shine. I also used a black frame for contrast. Surrounded by all that glorious white space, 'mini' is perfect for a CAS card!

 Now it's your turn! Before you go, make sure to check out the rest of the DT's blogs for inspiration!







Friday 20 February 2015

Painted Petals


When the latest Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue came out, I fell in love with this pretty set, Painted Petals. It has a beautiful watercolour look and you can use stamps to build different looks. I played around for a while and came up with these two pretty, spring (oh, please, please get here soon!) cards. 



Thursday 19 February 2015

Muse #105/Merry Monday #146


I decided to combine this week's Muse challenge and the current Merry Monday challenge:





I used a Santa stamp from Stamps Happen. Not sure about this guy. It's a bit hard to tell what you're looking at!

The interesting thing (to me), is the effect on the sky. I coloured it using grey Stampin' Up Blendabilities markers and then went over it with a lighter grey Copic and got this really mottled look, which I like, but I was pretty surprised that they didn't blend together. Aren't they both alcohol ink?

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Happy Birthday, Anita!


I had a 4-card afternoon yesterday! That doesn't happen very often, but this time it was simple, because I had two specific goals: first, to make Anita a birthday card. Second, to use some of the items that we exchanged or made at our playdate last weekend.

Today is Anita's birthday and it will continue sometime into next week, when she will finally receive this birthday card from me. I'm going to claim 'wedding busy-ness' as my excuse! lol!

For this card, I used a Paper Smooches die cut rose and leaves that Emily put into a card kit. I cut one of the leaves so that they could nestle together, looking overlapped, when they're really not.

I also used that amazing linen cardstock that Emily raves about - she gets it from Ellen Hutson.  I sponged a PTI Soft Stone stripe on the card base and stamped my sentiment in Versafine Onyx.

Anita - I wish you a very, very happy birthday, my friend!


My next card shows the panel I embossed with embossing paste. Yes, me! I did that! And it was FUN! I had already sponged a panel with distress inks and then used the pearlescent embossing paste that Emily brought to my house and a stencil of falling dots (can't remember who made this one - can you help?). I wanted to really let the panel shine, so I simply inlaid a black Paper Smooches thanks die.


Next up, a very simple card using some beautiful, striped card stock that Natasha brought, along with a butterfly that she had coloured and applied glossy accents to (it was attached to a little gift - too beautiful not to use again... and again!). I finished it with a black Paper Smooches die cut that Emily brought.


Finally, a Lady and the Tramp themed card using some Reverse Confetti stamps and dies that Tracey brought, along with the little gold sequins. The frame and the aqua paper came from Natasha (I cut down the rectangular frame to make a square - I made sure to keep the cut lines behind the dogs).  I added my own Clearly Besotted Love die - I'm sure they were not thinking 'spaghetti' when they designed it! lol!

Tuesday 17 February 2015

CASology 134 - Monochrome



This week's CASology Cue Card is Monochrome!



During the week, the DT had various discussions about the meaning of monochrome - all one colour? Different shades of one colour?  Black and white only? What we agreed is that monochrome does NOT have to be monotonous!

I decided to use blue and to also play along with One-Layer Simplicity #13 - You blend. I masked a triangular portion of my card and sponged on various blue distress inks. The arrow shape points your eye from left to right, but by using a big Technique Tuesday YOU, the card still feels balanced.

Now it's your turn - we can't wait to see your creations for this challenge! Here are links to the blogs of the rest of the DT members - check them out for more inspiration!

Sunday 15 February 2015

More Wedding Goodies



Along with making the invitations for my sister's wedding yesterday, I made little cupcake toppers and tags for the little bags of 'hugs & kisses' for the guests:



In other news, today is the 50th birthday of Canada's Maple Leaf flag. In celebration, Struan participated with the Lieutenant-Governer of Ontario's project to make a human Canadian Flag with over 2,000 people. Here's a link to the photo (the file is huge and you'll see why - you can zoom in on everyone's face!). Can you find Struan? He's right in the middle, arms crossed, behind a guy with two thumbs up.


Valentine's Wedding


Yesterday, my sister got married. I know - so romantic to get married on Valentine's day, right? This is the card we gave to her and her new husband, with a gift card inside - they're planning a renovation in their kitchen.

For this card, I used a Clearly Besotted Love die, a Papertrey heart, and my MFT pierced rectangle on some pretty foil paper that isn't quite mirror (hence the blurred reflections).


Below is the invitation I made for them - lots of shimmer (white, pink and silver cardstock).




Saturday 14 February 2015

Muse 104 - Valentine's Day


Here's my final Valentine for this year. This one's for Michael. And for this week's Muse challenge, where Michele has inspired us with this masculine valentine:



I made the background at our crafty playdate last week. We started with watercolour paper, and sprayed it with yellow, green, red and blue spray thingies (what are they called?) and then oversprayed with a gorgeous gold one. The results will be completely different (and out of your control!) every time, but I think this one turned out beautifully! The shimmer is really gorgeous in real life.

I finished the card by cutting out Papertrey hearts, and a Stamps of Life sentiment, and placing it all on a dark grey base.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us at Muse this week - the deadline is Monday morning at 8 am EST. Voting starts then and continues until Tuesday morning at 8. Voting results will be posted on Tuesday at noon.


Friday 13 February 2015

One heart, Two dies, Two Valentines



These are the valentines I made for my kids this year. I used the same idea for both, but differently for each card.

I started with a plain heart die from Papertrey. I cut one out in black, one in white. Then I used this rainbow circle die from Papertrey to cut the heart into strips.

For Kate's card, I coloured the strips with copics and WoS, put the heart back together and then popped it up over a black circle for some contrast. I used a little PTI sentiment, cut out of its heart.

For Struan's card, I glued the pieces down onto Soft Stone cardstock, leaving a tiny bit of space between the strips (and thus elongating the heart). I left out one strip in the middle - the perfect size for this Sweet Stamp Shoppe sentiment, stamped in Classic Cherry ink.

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Pinspiration - again!


This card was inspired by the same photo on Pinterest as yesterday's Valentine. I'm giving this one to my sister, the vet, whose birthday is fast approaching.

The Happy Birthday dies are from The Stamps of Life, the balloon is from Paper Smooches and the 'string' is a stem from the MFT Fresh Cut Flowers dies. And oh yes, my favourite pierced rectangles from MFT.



Tuesday 10 February 2015

CASology 133 - Love!


This week's CASology Cue Card is Love.



I got my inspiration for this card from a photo on Pinterest:


Outdoor-Advertising-MockUps-600

Love the clean colour combination! For my layout, I decided to go 'out of the box'. Literally! (and then I saw this card - I don't remember seeing it before I made mine, but maybe I did and I was subliminally inspired - certainly great minds think alike and certainly we all look at a lot of cards and see great ideas and inspiration!)

I used a Papertrey Heart die and lined it up on the edge of my Soft Stone panel. I then cut another half-heart out of white and coloured it with a Copic marker (I didn't have cardstock the exact colour I wanted). I finished it with a bold black sentiment from Mama Elephant.

And now it's your turn! The timing is perfect for Valentine's day - I can't wait to see how you interpret this Cue Card!

Monday 9 February 2015

Shakin' just for fun!


Here's a card I made for our niece's birthday. One thing about a shaker card - no one can resist picking it up and giving it a shake!

I kept it quite simple, focusing on her name (spelled with My Stamp Box Tall Solids Alpha in some of my favourite colours!).

I stamped the happy birthday after I put the card together, which was a bit of a mistake - you can see that the bottom half of 'birthday' was not as well supported by foam tape as the rest of the stamp. I always have to learn these things the hard way!

Sunday 8 February 2015

Crafting in the Snow!


I hosted a crafty party yesterday. Tracey McNeely, Emily Leiphart and Natasha Kara came over for a playdate and oh, man was it FUN!

We did this once last summer, at Natasha's. We spent most of the time chatting, laughing and eating, with a little bit of crafting thrown in (mostly mad die-cutting of each other's dies that we didn't have) and we vowed that this time, we would be more productive! All week, we've been madly messaging requests to bring certain stamp sets, or dies, or supplies that each other had so we could all try something new.

We used the room next to my craft room, to set up our work table. This room used to be our guest room, but recently we decided (since we're very inhospitable and almost never have guests! lol!) to swap the guest room into the basement, and use this beautifully bright, sunny room as Kate's American Girl 'apartment'. Its proximity to my craft room was perfect - we were busy going back and forth all afternoon. Here's the set up:



We each brought something for everyone to work on. My project was blending of distress inks, at Tracey's request. 

Emily brought embossing paste and I was so thrilled to see how easy and fun it was!


Natasha brought some colour-spray thingies. I over-sprayed my first attempt, and ended up trying another. Remarkably, once they dried they were both beautiful!


Natasha also showed us this technique that Dawn demonstrated in a video the other day. We learned that it didn't work with Simon's Doll Pink ink, but Tracey got stunning results with some other colours!

Tracey and Emily both also brought pre-cut card-kits, which we kept to open later - I don't think anyone completed a project, but I'm sure you'll see the results of our work over the next little while!

And it wouldn't be an Ardyth-Tracey get together without a little adventure (remember when we went to Virginia's and it took us over 3 hours to complete a one hour trip?!). It was snowy and the cars needed brushing off. Tracey started her car and then locked her keys inside. Fortunately she has roadside assistance, so within an hour, she was on her way safely home - all's well that ends well!

Friday 6 February 2015

Muse 103 - Love X 2


I found Vicki's Muse card this week very intriguing:



So intriguing that I ended up with two cards that I like equally but differently!

For the first one, above, I focused on the colours, the DP, the heart and the circles. I used a little Stampin' Up sentiment. I created a round frame around some gingham paper that was lined up precisely on a 45 degree angle so that the heart could be placed symmetrically on the pattern. I love the clean feeling of this.



For the second card I focused on the DP, the die cut and the double heart element. The Love die cut is a new one from The Stamps of Life (it's even longer, but I cut it off on both sides to fit). I made sure that all 4 edges of the gingham were cut to look the same. I often find myself focusing on little details like this. And just as often, probably, I completely miss them! lol!

I hope you'll join us and play along with Muse this week! The deadline is on Monday morning at 8 am. At that time, voting will start and continue until Tuesday morning. Voting results will be posted on Tuesday at noon. Hope to see you there!

Thursday 5 February 2015

CTS109 - Happy Birthday!


Here's a very simple card I made for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge.



Instead of having my stripe of doodlebug washi on the card front, I cut the card so that the front is narrower than the back, and put the washi on the edge of the back. Here's a different view of it:



I used an old Stampin' Up sentiment and 'sprinkled' some stars around for a festive feel!

Wednesday 4 February 2015

OLS13 - You Blend


It's so great to work with people who have a sense of humour! Susan is hosting this month's One-Layer Simplicity challenge and you just have to go and read where her inspiration came from. She really made me laugh!

Many of you will remember "My Cousin Vinny", a hilarious movie that I am now dying to watch again. Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei are absolutely excellent in this film! I do not specifically recall the line that Susan refers to, but you can bet that I will notice it the next time I watch!

Anyway, the challenge is to use blending in some way on your card. I masked a narrow strip and blended distress inks before adding a very simple sentiment in black. I've taken a quick look at the gallery and there's a lot of really neat ideas for blending - make sure you check them out!

I hope you'll get a chance to join us - this challenge runs until February 24.

Tuesday 3 February 2015

CASology 132 - Hot!


This week's CASology Cue Card is Hot!



There are so many fun ways to go with this, and I have managed to include two of them: 1) cooking (hot food) and 2) good looking (hot person).

I used an old There She Goes set, Bon Appetit. That chef is a pretty big image, so to keep it CAS, I used only part of him and I kept the colouring to a minimum (which is also a good strategy if you're nervous about colouring in general!)

This week, we have a prize from our own May Park, who has recently designed and released a stamp set perfect for making your valentines! Make sure you check out all the details

Now it's your turn. Up here in the Great White North, you may have to imagine something (or somewhere) hot. If you're in Australia, you probably have no trouble imagining something hot! lol! Wherever you are, I hope you'll join us!

Here are links to the rest of the DT Members' blogs - make sure you go get even more inspiration from them!