Friday 30 November 2012

cQc 165 - Joy to the World


For this week's Colour Q Challenge:



I am completely enchanted with these colours - they're definitely Christmassy (although not everyone is making Christmas cards with them!) but also playful and childlike and beg to be used in a really FUN way.

You wouldn't believe the convoluted way I came to this design from a very simple billboard that I see when I drive by it every week, but don't have a photo of, so I won't even bother you with the details. Let's just say that you might have a hard time seeing the billboard in this card!

The other interesting part of this card was that for 3 of the 4 colours (I used Gumball since I don't have (never did, never will) Glorious), I used the new foam Stampin' Up inks, but my 2007 Cool Caribbean fabric pad is obviously OLD! Despite re-inking it, I'm still not getting reliable images, which is a shame, since it is probably my all time favourite Stampin' Up colour (hey, Shelley G - do you hear me?! lol!). Also, it doesn't seem to match my hoarded and dwindling pile of Caribbean cardstock anymore. I guess maybe the inks deteriorate. Or the cardstock is fading. Or both! This alphabet is called Lots of Dots from My Stampbox.

Thursday 29 November 2012

OLW116 - Scene It, Done It (Never Again!)


Take a good look at this card, because I don't think I'll be making any more like it! lol! I have admired the art of Leanne Spanza for a while now - the bold colours, geometric shapes - LOVE!

So when Karen's challenge for this week's One Layer Wednesday was to create a scene, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try something in Leanne's style. Yes. I drew this with a Copic multiliner and a ruler.

As always, the simplest looking things become quite challenging. My biggest challenge here was keeping the ruler clean so it wouldn't smudge the scene. I used a piece of cardstock that was cut using my curvy cutter (Creative Memories, but I think it's retired) to trace for the hills, and I did smudge it (hence the stickles on the snowy hill!). I did stamp the snowflakes, using a little open circle from Paper Smooches. And the sentiment is part of a very old Doodlebug clear set.

Having said all that, I'm pretty happy with the overall look, and have new respect for artists who do not rely on stamps for their images!

PS - for those of you who voted yesterday, thank you. We are unanimous! Here's the card with the added text:




Wednesday 28 November 2012

DD30 - Gloria (or Gloria in Excelsis)!




OK, this one needs to go to a vote. But first, let me give you the background.

I found this Stampabilities angel at Hobby Lobby in Madison last weekend, when I was visiting my sister. I love the child-like abstract feeling she has. There are tons of possibilities for her (you may see another one tomorrow!).

When I saw this week's Dynamic Duo combination,


I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her. I made her into the Heavenly Host, and added the sentiment (Stampin' Up, Contempo Alphabet) in a font that is equally clean and child-like. I used Silver Lightning embossing powder, which has a glorious sparkle, which I have yet to capture in a photo.

So here's my question:

Now that I look at it here on the blog, I am itching to add "in excelsis" in very small font, under the gloria. What do you think? Does it look like a place setting name card for my friend "Gloria" (I don't actually have a friend named Gloria) or is it finished? I don't have time to make another one today, so please let me know what you think!

PS - I'm thinking that this (or the 'in excelsis' version) is my first design for my 2013 Church Christmas cards - talk about a head start! lol!

Tuesday 27 November 2012

CASology 21 - Time


This week's CASology Cue Card is Time!



Well, it's just about time to say good-bye to 2012 and welcome 2013, so I decided to make a New Year's card.

I masked, stamped and embossed the Old Island Stamp Company sentiment and then lined up my clear number stamps on my acrylic block above the sentiment. I masked above the final 2 and below the 3, to make it look like a digital clock rolling forward.

To add some colour, I masked 1/4 inch of the top and bottom of the main panel and stamped multiple colours using the thinnest line from Papertrey's Faux Ribbon set.

Then, I used mirror card for the card base to give the whole card a celebratory feel!

Now it's your turn to show us what time means to you.

Don't forget to link up by noon, CST on Sunday, December 2 (can you believe it's almost December already - Time is passing!!)

Here are links to the blogs of the other Design Team members - go see what they came up with!


Monday 26 November 2012

Final Horse Cards. For Now.


These are the last two designs I made for the sets of cards I made for my sister to give to her friends and clients.

And this is the last scheduled post due to my weekend trip to deliver these cards to my sister in Wisconsin. (I came back late Sunday night, and I knew I wouldn't have time to make a card before Monday morning.)

Unfortunately, I don't know who made either stamp (they're unmounted rubber). For the first one, I used Silver Lightning embossing powder - it's so hard to get a photo of how pretty it really is - it has glitter in the powder and it catches the light so nicely! I used brushed silver for the main panel and Cherry Cobbler for the mat.

On the second card, it's looking rather Pumpkin Pie-ish, but it's really More Mustard, and Soft Suede. The ink is my Spectrum Kaleidecolor pad - one of my favourite ways to get a 'wow' out of simple stamping!

Tomorrow it's time for CASology again - be sure to come back at 9:00 for another inspiring Cue Card!


Sunday 25 November 2012

More Horse Cards - Day 2



I'm in Wisconsin this weekend, on my annual trip to visit my sister, so this post is scheduled. Here are two more cards I made for my sister to give to her friends.

I'm sorry, but I have no idea who makes this horse stamp. (ETA - Lura has helped me out (Thank you so much, Lura!)- these stamps are Wild Horse Canyon stamps - I have two sizes, but I could not tell you if they are large and medium, or medium and small.) (the horse I used on the first card is bigger than the one on the second).

While I was making the first card with the 'herd', I realized that this horse made me think of the Longchamp logo, and that inspired me to make the second.

I used Marina Mist, Baja Breeze, London Fog and Sahara Sand on the first card, matted the image panel on Marina Mist and a Soft Stone card base.

For the second card, I used Versafine Onyx ink and clear embossing powder (Waltzingmouse sentiment) and then used Kaleidecolor Spectrum ink with Papertrey's Super Stripes to add a pop of colour.

Saturday 24 November 2012

Another Horse Card


It seems only appropriate that while I am away visiting my sister, the equine surgeon, I show you the rest of the horse cards I made for her to give her friends.

This is a very simple treatment of a Rubber Cafe stamp. I love that it looks hand drawn. Stamped in Versamark Onyx, and embossed in clear, matted onto black and then a Soft Stone card base.

Thursday 22 November 2012

OLW115 - Another Gift Tag


Stores are wonderful places to look for inspiration. They have highly-paid, creative designers who make their signs and advertising. This tag was inspired by a shop in our local mall (The Source?). I love the clean geometric shapes and the bold colours (surprise!)

I'm linking this up to Heather's OLW challenge, to make a one-layer gift tag. Now I've doubled my stock of Christmas tags. lol! Appropriately (since Heather is the Queen of Sponging), I masked and sponged the red and green, but I did use a stamp for the star and the sentiment (Papertrey). The tag is 3.25 x 3.25 inches.

By Friday morning, I will be on my way to visit my sister in Wisconsin for the weekend. I have scheduled posts for Saturday to Monday, but it's unlikely I'll be commenting much during that time (too busy having FUN!).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I know I will!

LIM94 - Now that's what I call Hardware!



Look what I found at the Swarovsky store! These silver snowflake ornaments come in a set of 3 and I decided to split them up, to make each one of them a perfect gift for a special teacher or friend at Christmas time. (I will make sure I mention in the note that the snowflake is an ornament, so that no one throws it out inadvertently!)

The crystals are set right into the snowflake - you can see them on both sides of the snowflake. I'm sure they'll be lovely on a Christmas tree, but equally pretty hanging in a window, catching the sunlight. Photographing the beautiful sparkle of the crystals is clearly beyond my photographic (or even my limited Photoshop) skills, but trust me, it's BEAUTIFUL!


I decided to make the gift part of the card. I will enclose the white satin ribbon that comes with the snowflake. The cards will have to go into a box, to ensure that they are not scratched or damaged.

I used Enchanted Evening glimmer cardstock, to keep it very simple. I had to 'stack' 3 glue dots to allow for the bumpy back side of the ornament. I will link this up to this week's Less is More challenge, to use hardware.

OLW115 - Gift Tags


Oh, this was a fun one! I don't usually make tags (but every year on December 24, I wish I had!)

Heather is the host of this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge and the challenge is to make a gift tag.

I used a Christmas tree stamp from Annabelle Stamps. It's so fun to choose a colour scheme and make the tree look traditional, colourful or somewhat monochrome, like here.

What you can't see is the thin coating of glossy accents I put on each bubble to add some fun shine and texture.




Wednesday 21 November 2012

LIM94 - Hardware


This card is for this week's Less Is More challenge, to use hardware, and I am so happy with this! I dug around in my 'Christmas drawer' (old holiday dp, felt snowflakes etc) and found this hardware - they're called Alpha Snaps by All My Memories. I bought them years ago - they came 4 on a card (like buttonssometimes do) and I bought "J", "O", "Y", although I seem to recall that they had all the letters. I have no idea where I got them or where to find them now - I've got one set left.

I love the colours (Poppy Parade, Melon Mambo and Lucky Limeade) and the simple, geometric design. The shine and dimension that the snaps add make it festive and fun!


Tuesday 20 November 2012

CASology 20 - Gobble!


This week's CASology Cue Card is Gobble!



Man, it was hard to come up with something other than turkey for this challenge! Not that turkeys are bad; in fact, they're very appropriate at this time of year, but as I mentioned last week, Canadian Thanksgiving was in October, so I don't really  need a turkey card! lol!

Pacman came up on my Google search for gobble images (don't do it unless you've got good porn filters, please. Don't ask!) I remember when Pacman was the latest thing and now it's 'retro' and 'vintage'. I suppose I am as well!

I cut a 1" circle for Pacman himself, and drew on the back of it where I wanted to cut his mouth. For the ghosts, I used my smallest 'long oval' nestability and then drew a line on the back of each so they would all be the same height and then cut with pinking shears. I stamped a row of yellow dots and placed everything on the panel. I used this Stamps of Life sentiment - I thought the repetition of Happy would evoke the repetitive blip, blip, blip you hear as Pacman moves around.

Anyway. Now it's your turn to talk Turkey. Or Gobble.

But before you do, take a look and see what the other Design Team members came up with:







Monday 19 November 2012

QFTD139 - Casing Gabby!



I have never played along with Splitcoaststampers' Queen for the Day challenge before. I didn't even really understand what it was, but this week's Queen is my friend Gabby (Gabalot on SCS), and I wanted to honour her by playing along.

I chose this card of Gabby's to case:


I used an Impress line of snowflakes, a snowflake die (sorry, I don't know who makes it, but the metal is coated in paint that is kind of bashful blue in colour, if that's any clue) and a Stampin' Up! sentiment. And lots of Stickles, to make the snow sparkle.

I will also link it up to Addicted to CAS #1 - Snow and CASual Friday, Winter Blues.



Tomorrow's our next CASology Cue Card - and it's a fun one! See you at 9:00!

Saturday 17 November 2012

ATCAS1 - Snow and CFC79 - Winter Blues


This card is for Addicted to CAS's first challenge: Snow!



And it's also for this week's CAS-ual Friday's challenge, Winter Blues:


Or as I prefer to call it, Blue Christmas. Doesn't sound quite so depressing (but I understand that the Girl Fridays want to be inclusive of everyone, even those who don't celebrate Christmas!)

I woke up with this idea in my head. It'll be perfect, I thought. This Lifestyles Crafts die is so symmetrical that it will be EASY to piece this together, I thought. WRONG. Each one of the "M" shaped pieces between the arms of the snowflakes (yes, they have arms, didn't you know?) is unique, so there was some serious re-cutting involved here,  and even some re-re-cutting, once I figured out how to position the die to get the 'right' piece cut!

But I'm happy with the result - lots of retired Stampin' Up blues here - Brocade, Ballet, Caribbean, plus Bashful, Pacific, Turquoise and Not Quite Navy. The sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Sunday is Toronto's Santa Claus Parade - I'll be marching in it, playing my tambourine, along with about 20 other ladies, in front of The Salvation Army band.  It's always such a fun day, and a wonderful way for the Army to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas. Looks like the weather is even going to cooperate! Hopefully I'll be able to get a photo to share with you on Monday!

CTS6 - Another Horse Card


Yes, I'm still slowly churning out the horse cards I'm making for my sister. For this one, I was inspired by this week's layout for CAS(E) This Sketch (again!).



I have to admit when I first looked at this sketch, I got stuck on what's actually there. This happens to me with most sketch challenges. It takes me a while to look beyond (in this case) the big flowers, and make it my own. Quite often when I'm stuck, I try to either (or both!) minimize the elements, or make it one layer. Changing shapes is another option. But I try to stay true to the sketch - here, I made the main image smaller, changed the shape and took the sentiment out of the main image, but I think (hope!) it's still recognizable as the original sketch.

The stamp is Inkadinkado, the colours are London Fog and Midnight Muse.

Friday 16 November 2012

CTS6/CCC19 - More Thanks!



For this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge:




I used an old Stampin' Up set - In Any Event and Papertrey's Faux Ribbon in Summer Sun, Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay.

This could also be for this week's CASology Cue Card challenge, if I was allowed to play along, lol! - don't forget to play by noon (CST) on Sunday!



Today's a PD day for our kids - no school! We've got lots of fun planned - Build A Bear (which we donate to the Salvation Army toy drive), lunch out and a movie (probably Wreck it Ralph).

Enjoy your day!

PS - Special thanks to Liz who identified yesterday's mystery stamp! Thank you so much!

Thursday 15 November 2012

Help!


Anyone know what Stampin' Up! set this stamp came from? I think it retired after 2011 (it's not in the 2011/12 catalogue, and I got rid of my previous ones (dumb!)). I do remember that it was in a background set of about 4 stamps - this was the only one I liked, so I sold the rest without marking on the stamp what set it came from.

It's driving me (and a friend of mine) crazy that we can't figure this out - any help would be greatly appreciated!

OLW114/CTS6 - Christmas Thanks




This week's One Layer Wednesday challenge is being hosted by Cheryl. The challenge is to make a holiday thank you.

This is actually the second card I made. I had an idea that looked something like this photo. My plan was to use a solid green triangle rather than the 'a', and so I went hunting through my Christmas tree stamps. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I did find a really fun Hero Arts stamp. I wondered if it was completely out of proportion, but tried it anyway - here's the result:


I'm linking this one up to this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge:



I love the pops of colour and the way the letters look like they're behind the tree, due to the masking, but I'm still not sure. So I went back to my original idea, but used the 'a', which, conveniently, looks something like a Christmas tree. I like them both, but definitely, each has its own feel.

It amazes me how one little decision can make such a big difference. And if you notice, I still haven't done the solid green triangle (my original idea) - I could probably make all my Christmas thank you cards using this basic idea, and still have no two the same! I love this hobby!


Wednesday 14 November 2012

LIM93 - One Layer Houses


For this week's Less is More challenge - One Layer card with the theme of Houses.

This is one of my go-to designs - I've made similar cards for various weddings over the years (although I'm pretty sure I've never made a one-layer version before).

I love this Verses sentiment, and it ties in so nicely with the Stampin' Up Dreams and Dragons castle image.

I wanted the colours to be soft and dreamy, so I stuck to the low numbers in my Copics and applied them sparingly.

Back when we first got married, moving into our new 'castle' certainly seemed like a wonderful part of the fairy tale. Now, I look at it and think "too much to clean! When can we move to a condo?". Ah, reality. It really cracks me up sometimes!


Tuesday 13 November 2012

CASology 19 - Thanks!


This week's CASology Cue Card is Thanks!



We Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving in October (ironically, I was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on the day), but every day is a good day to remember to be thankful, right?

And this year, I'm thankful that I'll be in the US (Wisconsin) right after US Thanksgiving, to spend the weekend with my sister, the horse surgeon. I can't wait!

I'm also thankful for all of you - the whole cardmaking/stamping community, and all the opportunities I've been given to share my work with you and see your work as well!

This thank you card was inspired by this Stampin' Up ad:

B1_Inkredible_Nov12_USCA

Originally I saw a cropped version  of this photo that showed just part of the four ink colours next to the sentiment. I started playing around with my Skinny Oval (A Muse Artstamps) and ended up with this design, using MFT Vanity Plate alpha letters. I think it's kind of fun!

Now it's your turn to be thankful! Don't forget to link up your THANKS creations by Sunday at noon (CST)!

And, don't forget to drop by the blogs of the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this Cue Card:



Monday 12 November 2012

Delightful Dynamic Duos (DD28)


Happy Monday, everyone! Aren't these colours delightful together? They are this week's Dynamic Duo:


So festive! I cut snowflakes using an old Marvy snowflake punch and finished the card off with an Impress sentiment. I used Stampin' Up's 'Stickles' equivalent, but found it a little harder to work with than actual Stickles. Still, they match that Cherry Cobbler perfectly, so I'm not complaining too loudly! lol!


Sunday 11 November 2012

OLW113, Tuesday Trigger - Merry Christmas


Another one for this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge, to use dark red, green and gold.

And for this week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World,  Fantasy in Fall:




It's a bit difficult to describe how I did this, but I'll try.

1) Cut 2 circle masks. One for the outside of the wreath (big post it with a hole in the middle), one for the inside (solid circle)
2) Loosely placed the outside mask on the card. Lifted one corner of the mask to stamp the 3 big 'flowers' so that they would extend beyond the two masks.
3) Placed both masks down, and filled in the rest of the wreath with smaller circles of the same 3 colours (Raspberry Ripple, More Mustard, Old Olive).
4) Lifted off the masks, re-stamped the 3 big circles to make them stand out a bit more
5) Stamped my favourite Stampabilities sentiment in Versafine onyx (maybe brown would have been more true to the inspiration photo, but I wanted it dark so that it would stand out against the parts of the wreath that it would cover).

I was also inspired by this card by Laura Bassen:


season's greetings by L. Bassen

and by this photo on my Inspiration board on Pinterest:


Agent Orange Logo from Allison W
I love how a simple shape can become so festive just by using traditional Christmas colours!

Saturday 10 November 2012

OLW113, TMS171 - Happy Holidays


I have spent the afternoon so far just tidying my craft room, finishing cards that were not quite there (usually adding an inside white panel where the cardbase is dark, or stamping my 'Ardyth' stamp on the back). While I was doing that, I came across this card I made earlier in the week, and promptly forgot about.

I made it for this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge, to use dark red, green and gold.  I used an Impress poinsettia in Cherry Cobbler, gold beads for the centres, and Almost Artichoke for the Papertrey sentiment. I added depth to the petals by going over the centre-ends with a copic marker - it really does add something!

But, during the week, I also came across a new (to me) challenge called Tuesday Morning Sketches. It's obviously not that new, since it's at challenge 171, but the fun, simple sketch also inspired me while I was making this card.



Now I'm hoping to get back upstairs to think about some more horsey cards. FYI - I added a link to this morning's post, so that you can find Deadbeat Designs' online store if you want.