Keep Calm (again)

My generous and talented stamping buddy, Angela, sent the cutest little We R Memory Keepers stamp set to me recently. (She's currently on a bit of a blog sabbatical, but you can always go and admire some past creations.) This is just one of the many things it can say...

Fun, isn't it? Besides "craft", you can keep calm and knit, draw, sew, paint or -- of course -- carry on. It's also very easy to highlight the one word, since it is separate. I sent this card to a friend that was going through a tough time. I knew she was taking her mind off things by working in her craft room... and sometimes, it's just hard to know what to say. 
This card will be a last-minute addition to Simon Says Stamp's current challenge to... put a stamp on it! I'm also adding it to Moxie Fab World's focal point challenge. 
I'm sure some day I'll tire of the whole "Keep Calm" thing... but not yet. ☺

Supplies: white, manila & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Stampin' Up (?) patterned paper, We R Memory Keepers keep calm stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memories passion red inks, clear embossing powder, Papertrey Ink tag sale #3 die, paper raffia ribbon, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Cards from friends

Happy holiday Monday (and day after Canada Day) to you! Or happy almost 4th of July... or just hello. ;) I thought I'd spend a little part of my extra weekend day sharing a few cards from talented friends. Just for fun, I'm posting them from smallest to tallest. 

There may be a way to make this card cuter, but if there is, I certainly don't know how. It's from my friend and crafting play-date buddy Emily, who is also posting this card today on her blog. Without the tag, this card is just about four inches square. She enlarged a digital stamp and to my amazement, hand-cut it! Love the colours and the little touches of Glossy Accents. Thanks, Em!

This beauty of a card is from Heather. I quite like the irony of her sending ME a thank you card when I'm the one who derives inspiration from her all the time! If you want to know how she created this amazing image, you are in luck, as she wrote an excellent tutorial for this very card. Thank you, Heather!

And finally, this 5" x 7" card from Angela. I'm in love with the little bees, the great colours, but mostly, that amazing die-cut hexagon overlay. Serious Silhouette Cameo envy! (It's a new toy for Ang.) She blogged about this card as part of her Growing in Unity week, But alas, it's too late to comment on her post for a chance to win. ;) Thanks, Ang! 
No card from me today -- summer comes, and my card-making rate goes waaay down. I will be back on Wednesday with the latest installment of Crafty Creations Challenges -- and for me, the emphasis will definitely be on challenge this coming week!  Pin It Now!

The Last of the Christmas Posts?

Before we get too far into January, I wanted to share some fabulous (mostly) Christmas cards I received from some very talented friends. These are more or less in the order I received them.

Back in November, Kary celebrated her birthday by giving away stamps sets on her blog! And I won two lovely sets! When Kary sent them (from Malaysia!) she included this lovely card. One of the best things about this beautiful card is that it confirms that I have no need to invest in Copic markers... I could never come close to this level of gorgeous colouring! This also turned out to be the first Christmas card we received this season.

I guess I've been on a bit of a winning streak, as I also won some fun stamp sets from Angela in November. She sent them along with some extra goodies and this great card, which was perfect to receive on a gray and gloomy late fall day. 

But then Angela sent me this beautiful Christmas card a few weeks later! I love the more vintage-y feel of this design with its rich warm colours. 

My friend Amanda knows I love me some Mickey, so she sent this amazing card to me. Do they not look perfectly festive in red? (Fun coincidence: my husb had already bought my Christmas card, featuring... die-cut Mickey and Minnie under the mistletoe!)

I do like Emily's clean and simple (CAS) style -- and playdates at her house where she lets me use all her awesome stuff! (I don't think I'll be getting her out of the city any time soon to return the favour. Besides, she has way better toys. ☺) My photograph doesn't do justice to the glittery green felt she used for this sweet Christmas tree. Emily does a much better job displaying it here. 

A Stampin' Up demo that sends her customers Christmas cards? How awesome is that? Of course, Grace knows what she's doing, since she used beautiful SU products, most of which I don't have. 

It takes a while for an angry red bird to fly from the States up here to Canada (so many pigs along the way, I'm sure) but wow, it was worth the wait to see this card from Meg in person! Every little detail is perfect, right down to the shimmery Santa hat!


Thanks for making it through this long post -- I think these awesome cards make it all worthwhile, though. 



Pin It Now!

A Card from Angela!

I've been remiss in not showing off this gorgeous card I received from Angela! 

You can read about what Angela used to make this card here. (And if you haven't before, you really should visit her blog!) I really like the background stamped squirrels and that the acorn caps just happen to be in my favourite colour. ;) Angela sent me this to thank me for the birthday card I sent her, and included a few more of the squirrels stamped just for me, and a couple of the amazing medallions she makes out of washi tape. So I could send Ang a thank you card for this, but then she might feel obligated to send a card to me to thank me for the card, and... maybe I'll wait till closer to Christmas. 
Wednesday will be my second post for Crafty Creations Challenges, and you still have some time to enter the current colour challenge!  Pin It Now!

Keep Calm and...

It's everywhere, isn't it? The British World War Two slogan, "Keep Calm and Carry On", has enjoyed a renaissance in the past few years, first in its original form and then in infinite variations. But when I saw THIS stamp, I knew it was the riff on the classic for me: 

I first learned of Market Street Stamps when my blogging friend Meg was named to the company's design team. Not only is Meg uber-talented, she's also very generous, and sent me this stamp recently after I admired it. (And included a bunch of other goodies, as well!) When it came time to use it, I was very impressed at how cleanly and evenly it stamped, especially for such a solid image. I wanted it to be the one focal point of the card, so I kept everything else simple. I did take a close-up photo to show off the Stickle salt rim on the glass and the quilting I scored on the background panel:

You can also see the clear glitter embossing powder I used. I've had it forever, and love its perfect mix of very fine glitter and clear embossing goodness.
This card is destined for a friend who will be celebrating a birthday that ends in zero. With that in mind, the inside reads, "After all, it's only another birthday." I think she'll see the humour in it. 
I'm adding this card to Market Street Stamps current first anniversary challenge to link up any MSS creation. I'm also going to add this to the latest Less Is More challenge: Cocktail. (Best. Challenge. Idea. Ever.) In the meantime, keep calm and... whatever! :P 
P.S. Not that any further proof of her genius is needed, but check out this awesome card Meg tucked in with the stamping goodies she sent me! 

P.P.S. Hey! This is my 100th post! Who would have thunk??? 


Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Market Street Stamps Sip On stamp, Colorbox cranberry ink, clear glitter embossing powder, Icicle Stickles, Martha Stewart scoring board, dimensionals

Pin It Now!

Birthday cards

I usually make two cards for my granddaughter's birthday, not least because she's the second-biggest fan of my creations (after my husb, of course). The first one is her official birthday card:

The background is made with a stencil, sponged with distress inks. The butterflies are coloured with a combination of Sharpies and Laurentien markers. What doesn't show up in the photo are the black diamond Stickles on their bodies. I had originally intended to put a sentiment on the front, but decided to let the butterflies speak for themselves. It does say "happy birthday" on the inside.
The second card includes a certificate for a back-to-school shopping trip, so I wanted it to be stylin'. 

Stylin', but oh so easy! Both the patterned paper and the cat sticker were gifts from my generous and talented friend Angela.  My big contribution, other than noticing that the paper and cat were a perfect match, is the pink rhinestone collar. :P I'm linking this second card up with the current Crafty Creations challenge to show your inner animal. I am, after all, a stylin' cat... at least in my own mind. 

Supplies: (butterfly card) white & pink cardstock, Heather's Stamping Haven butterfly stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, spun sugar & worn lipstick distress inks, Crafter's Workshop Mini Butterfly Ballet stencil, Sharpies, Laurentien markers, black diamond Stickles; (cat card) white cardstock, Anna Griffin Fifi and Fido patterned paper & sticker, Queen & Co. Pretty in Pink rhinestones Pin It Now!

Other Birthdays

A couple of weeks ago, I joined in the celebration of Amber Ink's first birthday. (I even won some of their birthday giveaways!) There are other birthdays to celebrate this summer, though... including mine! I received some amazing cards:

Emily's post with all the details about this card can be found here. She often says she can't heat emboss, yet look at the beautifully-embossed red and purple panels! With this card, Em included some Stampin' Up rich razzleberry cardstock and ribbon... I apparently like purple tones much more than she does. :P 

Angela's card arrived reasonably soon after the Canada Post lockout ended. I had already had a sneak peek when she wrote about it on her blog, but it's even better in person! In with the card, Ang sent several die cuts, including the clouds she cut out of this card, several from the Papertrey Ink (PTI) set she used to make her card, plus die cuts I can use with my own PTI set, Fly Away! 

Now this card I thought had been lost forever in the postal lockout. Finally Meg posted it on her blog and the Unity blog... and the next day, there it was in the mailbox! It was worth the wait... Meg works wonders with her Silhouette. Meg also generously included several die cuts in with her card. (Many in red!)  And speaking of Meg -- have you seen her finalist party trio project for Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest? Go, admire -- and vote before 2 pm Eastern tomorrow! 
This was not a birthday card, but it came with a blog candy win, so that's practically like a birthday present!  

Virginia included this card with some awesome Hero Arts stamps I won on her blog; she also added an assortment of fun SRM stickers! I always admire speckle-free white embossing, and this card has it. My grandson was utterly fascinated with the main image; first with how it was stamped (we had used "magic powder" together before, but not in white), and then I had to name all the buildings for him! 
Are you still reading? If you are, thank you -- I'm not done yet! My husb also has a summer birthday. Here is the card I made him:

My card is very much inspired by this one; of course, I didn't bother to actually READ how Vicky made hers and went ahead and did it my own way, using an acrylic block background on watercolour paper and heat embossing some of my music stamps (or parts of them) on top. (No, the vellum did not originally bow out like that; I'm blaming it on the humidity.) 

His grandkids made him a card, too, with just a little help from me:

They decided the stamps and colours on their own, and my granddaughter (who's nine) cut out the guitar herself. My contributions were cutting the background to size and assisting with the magic powder for the guitar. ☺
Thanks for surviving this marathon post!


Supplies: (heart & soul) white & navy cardstock, watercolour paper, vellum, Hero Arts musical clef stamp, Stampendous double note stamp, Local King Rubber Stamp Noteworthy, Versafine onyx black ink, Tumbled Glass, Broken China & Stormy Sky distress inks, clear embossing powder; (guitar) white & blue cardstock, Local King Rubber Stamp Noteworthy, Studio G guitar stamp, Faded Jeans distress ink, clear embossing powder, dimensionals Pin It Now!

Talented Friends

I wanted to share cards I received -- before the Canada Post lockout! -- from talented friends.

I love how Angela used the pale blue Stickles to tie together the branch and the flower. Such a pretty spring card. (I guess a realistic spring card would have been all about rain, but what fun is that?) With this card, Angela shared some blog candy goodies she won (amazing patterned paper and awesome stickers), some Unity stamps and a washi tape medallion similar to this one. Thank you, Ang! 

Meg recently treated herself to a Silhouette. Oh, envy. She used my favourite colour, my favourite activity, and a mutually favourite phrase to create this masterpiece. The photo didn't capture the dimension, but the red layer is pop-dotted, which means placing all those little bits (inside the A's, for example) on teeny pieces of dimensional tape, too. Finicky and fabulous! (Check out the trio of similarly themed cards Meg created here.) Thanks, Meg!  Pin It Now!

Oops...

... I thought I was all done with Easter posts. I wasn't expecting these two beautiful cards in the mail!

What a totally cute bunny, and don't you love that scalloped patterned paper element? Emily blogged all about this and her coordinating cards here.

And look at this gorgeous card from Angela, with the fabulous patterned paper! I had to show off the envelope, too -- see that seal on the back? Angela made it with washi tape!
(No, I didn't really just receive them. I really did just get around to posting them.) Pin It Now!

A Card and Catalogue from Meg

Isn't this a beautiful card? My friend Meg recently became an A Muse Studio consultant and generously sent me a copy of their new catalogue, which you can see in the background of this picture. But even better? This awesome card! If the cardstock and stamps Meg used are any indication of the quality and variety that A Muse Studio has, colour me impressed! ;)

Thanks, Meg, for the catalogue to peruse and this fabulous card to admire. ☺

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!

Valentine Cards from Friends

Look at these fabulous Valentines I was fortunate enough to receive!

I love this card from Angela. It's a style I totally admire, and fail miserably at. Look at all the amazing elements she was able to incorporate into one awesome card.

Emily didn't just send this incredibly cute Valentine, she added some terrific goodies! She included all the supplies I needed to make a heart necklace just like the one she posted here (except in red, pink and purple); as well as a stamp of hers I'd admired that she no longer needed and a sweet clear stamp. Wow! Pin It Now!

Christmas RAK Flashback

Yes, it's the middle of January... must be a perfect time for a Christmas flashback! Some of my friends also happen to be talented card-makers, and I wanted to share their beautiful creations.

I love how each card is awesome in its own way, each with its own individual style. I do have to say, a cat, a pun on Dickens, and a bit of snark... hard to top that! ☺ (Meg also sent me a copy of her Shutterfly Christmas card, with the best picture of her corgi on it!) Pin It Now!