Bunny Love

A new-to-me challenge blog is Crafty Creations. When I happened upon it through Peggy's blog and saw that the latest challenge was to use bunnies, I thought it was perfect timing with Easter cards needing to be made!

The image is a Studio G clear stamp I received as part of a prize package from a comment contest on Splitcoast Stampers. To add a little extra wow, I embossed it in my new and very cool holographic embossing powder. Then I framed the image using the frame from this tutorial, also at Splitcoast Stampers. (The talented Emily used a variation on the frame for this card.) I tried pink twine in the corner first, but the twine had just a little too much red to go with the pink in the image. The lilac twine turned out to be just right.
I hope to be back soon with some more bunny cards soon... Easter is not that far away!

Supplies: white & purple cardstock, Studio G bunny love stamp, Colorbox orchid pigment ink, holographic embossing powder, Twinery lilac twine Pin It Now!

Flying Birthday

I am so pleased with the way this card turned out! It's one of those rare times when how I pictured it my head totally worked. It started when I found this awesome Echo Park paper when I was in London a few weeks ago. You see, my brother bought a plane last year, then learned how to fly. His birthday is next month, so I thought this paper would be the perfect starting point for his card. Then my friend Emily pointed me in the direction of this cute DigiSparkle airplane digi. I wanted it to fly in the opposite direction, though, so I flipped it. (One of the handy things about digital images!) That meant losing the banner, however. I decided this Inkadinkado sentiment could work as a banner. I printed the plane on white, then on red twice, so I could piece the plane itself, then add a little extra dimension by layering the bumper and tail sections. (Please feel free to add the proper technical terms in your head.) The propellor, struts (?) and wheel are pieced with silver pearl paper. The pilot is coloured with watercolour pencils. The sentiment is embossed for some shine and dimension, too. I loved how well the Caribbean twine matched the paper! The plane and the banner are popped up on dimensionals.

I think the colours in this card are close enough (although there are a few extra colours in there...) to qualify for the current Embellish Magazine Masculine Color Trends Challenge. More important than that, though... I hope my brother likes it! ☺

Supplies: white & red cardstock, Echo Park Little Boy: In the Clouds patterned paper, silver pearl paper, DigiSparkle airplane, Inkadinkado sentiment, Memories passion red ink, clear embossing powder, Twinery Caribbean twine, black half-pearl, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Spring Birthday Card

There's still snow on the deck, and snow in the yard, but it really is starting to feel just a little bit like spring! Soon we'll be able to go out and look for pussy willows in the bush.

I do like it when this type of card works -- simple, but a little bit stylish. I cut an oval out of a post-it note so I could lightly sponge the blue background. The pussy willow branch is stamped and then clear-embossed. (I showed the technique the other day to a friend who is planning on making her own wedding invitations. It's fun to watch someone else enjoy the magic of heat embossing for the first time!) I added some white flocking to the catkins for texture... and because otherwise the sponging shows through! ;)
This card fits this week's Simon Says Stamp and Everybody Art Happy Birthday challenges as well as this week's Do You Stack Up (DYSU#11) challenge to add a bow.

Supplies: white & blue cs, Sunshine Designs pussy willow, JudiKins calligraphic sentiments, Stormy Sky & Vintage Photo distress inks, clear embossing powder, Studio G white fresh flocking, white Offray ribbon Pin It Now!

Colouring Stamps with Markers.

Many card-makers buy expensive markers to colour their stamps. Mine came from an office-supply store. ☺

I wanted to be able to have the blossoms on this branch a different colour than the branch itself, as well as the butterflies, which are also part of the stamp. Using markers made it much easier than trying to hit those tiny blossoms with the corner of even a dewdrop-sized inkpad. I also used marker for the sentiment, so there would be an exact match.
Speaking of matches, I'm not sure why the purple layer photographed so dark; it's a good match in real life. Another time, I might add a few Stickles or Spica clear sparkle to the blossoms, but the intended recipient for this card isn't really a blingy-type person, so I restrained myself. ;)

Supplies: white & purple cardstock, Memory Box butterfly stem, Hero Arts thank you, Laurentien markers, corner-rounding punch Pin It Now!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What better way to mark the occasion than by sharing this fabulous card from my talented friend Meg! Pin It Now!

More Music

When I was in London (that would be Ontario, not England) last week, I found this fabulous Hero Arts musical clef set. I got it home, admired it, and wondered WHAT to do with it. Here's my first attempt:

I started by embossing the clef in copper pearl embossing powder (another new purchase!) on vellum. I really liked it, but then what to do with it? I tried a bunch of different ideas and colours and patterned papers, then came across this mica paper. The flecks of mica don't show up in the photo, but they are shiny and an exact match to the embossing powder! I inked my trusty Local King music background in Versamark to continue the music theme. And that layer beneath, that has a hammered copper look to it? Versamarker and more embossing powder! That look was harder to achieve than I thought it would be, but I'm okay with the result. Since four layers is a lot for me, this card is going in the DYSU (Do You Stack Up?) layers challenge. And since 900 or so crafters can't be wrong, I'll add this to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge, too. ☺

Supplies: white and Stampin' Up very vanilla cardstock, vellum, pink mica paper, Hero Arts musical clef, Local King Rubber Stamp notes background, Versamark ink, Versamarker, Artful Stamper copper pearl embossing powder  Pin It Now!

Embellish Colour Trends Challenge with MUSIC

This is my first Embellish Magazine colour trends challenge -- with these lovely colours AND music, how could I not? The only shade I was a little unsure of was the green... or is it yellow? In the inspiration photo, it's definitely green,  yet on the sample bar, it seems yellow. After a little deliberation, I went with green.

The background stamp is from Local King Rubber Stamp, inked in Versamark on kraft cardstock. I didn't want the leaf to be too dark a green, so I inked it first and off-stamped it before inking the bird. This and the sentiment are both cut out and popped up on the kraft layer. A couple of pearls to tie in with the bird, and done!

Supplies: white and SU kraft cardstock, Local King Rubber Stamp notes, Inkadinkado nature, Studio G sentiment, Versamark, VersaMagic spanish olive and perfect plumeria chalk inks, Colorbox orchid chalk ink, pop-dot tape, Queen & Co. lavender pearls Pin It Now!

More Mickey!

I like Mickey Mouse. I like Winnie the Pooh, too, I just need more Pooh stamps. :P Some day I'll grow up, I'm sure. In the meantime...

I needed a couple of cards to send people that I owed letters, and thought this sentiment filled the bill. Normally, the quotation marks would annoy me, but in this case, I decided it just makes your mind hear the sentiment in Mickey's voice. And I'm okay with that. ☺

Supplies: white, black & red cardstock, Disney (EK Success) Mickey stamps, Brilliance graphite black ink, clear embossing powder, EK SUccess 1" circle punch, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Reject Blog Hop

How can you resist a blog hop organized for sad, rejected cards? Rejected for publication, that is. Amber at Damask Love decided to organize a blog hop to show off cards that were submitted for, and rejected by, Paper Crafts magazine for their recent Go-To Sketches publication call. This was my first time ever submitting anything for publication, so my expectations weren't very high.(Especially considering there were close to 3000 submissions for fewer than 300 spots!) And now that I've read Latisha's post (thanks for that, too, Amber!) I have all the excuses some ideas why these cards didn't make the grade and what I might do differently next time.

My first card uses Go-To Sketch #49:

This card uses Bunny Blocks digital stamps from Bugaboo Stamps. There are seven in the set, so I flipped two of them to make a 3x3 grid. (Yes, the sketch has 16 images; I interpreted. ☺) This is a perfectly fine card, but there's nothing particularly WOW about it, and I'm not displaying any great technique, new product, or the like. I'm still happy with this Easter reject, which I think will make a good kid card. Canadians in the crowd will notice the classic bilingual pun on "bonne idée" for the sentiment. :P
My second attempt uses sketch #59:

Here I've used a far from new-and-trendy Stampin' Up image in a classic way -- inked it in blue for a Wedgwood/Delft look. Many stampers have been there, done that. But that's okay, because it's always handy to have a simple, classy sympathy card in the stash.

Check out the reject blog hop... think of all the inspiration you'll get without the magazine purchase!

Supplies: (Easter card) white & yellow cardstock, Bugaboo Stamps Bunny Blocks digital images, Prismacolor pencils, dimensionals; (sympathy card) white & navy cardstock, Stampin' Up Elements of Style (image), Unity Bevy of Butterflies (sentiment), faded jeans Distress ink

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Liebster Blog Award!

I have been VERY remiss in not acknowledging this Liebster Blog Award, given to me by the always awesome Emily! Her card-making is always totally inspiring (if occasionally a little intimidating, because she is so talented) and she and I have become big-time email friends.

There are a couple of conditions for this award if you have been tagged and want to participate.
Create a post where you post the 'Love Blog' image. You should also blog the person's link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award. You can then choose three to five favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.
Please note: The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so it is probably best to choose great blogs that are just starting out or who don't have a lot of followers. Not a requirement... just a suggestion!
So just about everyone has more followers than me ;) ... but here are three bloggers I enjoy visiting.
Amber @ She Sure is Sketchy Amber is the artistic force behind AmberINK. This is her personal artistic blog, and is always inspiring to visit.
Donelda @ Wiggy's World Check this blog out -- Donelda is a CAS (clean and simple) Canadian stamper with great cards and ideas.
Marilyn aka Peggy @ The Nutty Cardmaker Peggy's another fellow Canadian (!) and always has fun blog entries to enjoy. 
Thank you again, Em! I hope to be back with a card or two soon... if I could just figure out where I left my card-making inspiration... ☺ Pin It Now!