Spring Cleaning!

Spring is finally here! Time to put away all the winter clothes, open the windows for some fresh air and wash the windows to get rid of the grime and dust. With spring cleaning on my mind I thought it was a good time to update my blog. I used another free template,this time from The Cutest Blog on the Block.   I will want to personalize it some more but this is a good start.  I might even entice my son to help me customize it as he is good with Photoshop.

I haven't had much time to create and I'm really missing the creative energy that comes from spending a few hours in my craftroom.  Luckily, last night I put everything aside and made a few cards. 

I bought the Graphic 45 Place in Time and French Country paper pads online.  I love the crispness of the paper and the beautiful patterns.  I always hesitate to make the first cut but I will let this simple card speak for itself. 

Recipe: 

Cricut Fabulous Finds for the black frame

Cricut Storybook for the red checkered swirl flower

Cuttlebug Chicken Wire Embossing folder

Twine and button from my stash

 

The next card was made with a number of scraps from DCWV.  I had been wanting to try box pleating paper and it worked perfectly using my scoreboard.

 

Recipe:

Cricut Damask Decor for the 4 layer flower

Pearls, gem and ribbon for embellishment

 

 

Hope you're having some nice weather too and happy spring cleaning!

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my dear father's birthday on March 11th - he turns 77 years old.  Wishing him a wonderful day!

This card was part of the weekly challenge on the Cricut forum.  It is intended to be a sort of collage card.

Papers - Graphic 45, K&Company and DCWV

Images cut with the Cricut:  Banner, Party Hat, DAD

Stamped using Ranger Archival - black and sepia

Buttons from my stash - over 30 years old

Twine and brads

Thanks for dropping by!

Feeling Like Spring!

It was a cold day today -17 degrees Celsius but with the sun it started to feel like Spring.  I'm looking forward to having the snow melt away and putting away my winter clothes!

During my free time on the weekend,  I experimented with watercolouring with Tim Holtz distress markers and also played with alcohol inks.  I will start today by showing a simple image that was watercoloured. 

Papers: Cold pressed watercolour paper 140 lb 

DCWV Green Stack

K & Company 

 

I used cold pressed watercolouring paper  and cut the basic flower shape using a Spellbinder die.  The image is from an inexpensive stamp from Michaels ($1.50 Cdn).  I coloured the butterfly with Broken China, Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint markers and then added some Stickles to the wing.  The "Spring" frame was coloured in Mustard Seed and I then added a few pearls to the flourish. I then applied Scattered Straw distress ink being careful around the image.  As I was working with the markers, I used a simple round paint brush with a bit of water to blend the colours. It seems to have worked well although I know I can improve with the shading.

I still love my Cricut Expression and the Gypsy for cutting the shapes .  The brown frame was cut using the Elegant Edges cartridge and the green base of the flower is from the Forever Young cartridge. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo.

I added the brads and glued a blue gem on a basic paper clip to add a bit more dimension.

Thanks for dropping by!

Birthday Hot Air Balloon

It's midweek and the sun is shining after several days of rain!  I'm taking part in the Shabby Tea Room Sweet Summer Challenge and what better way with a hot air balloon ride!  For colours we needed to use Aqua or Teal, pink and brown.  Look closely at the pink doily and you'll find some yummy cupcakes!

Card recipe

Papers - DCWV Sweet Treats and My Mind's Eye Lost & Found

Tim Holtz doily and Cricut Elegant Edges

Inkadinkado stamp

Silk ribbon, seam binding, lace

Brads, gemstones, beads, pearls and feather

This particular card was a labour of love as I started off by box pleating the ribbon to make the flowers.  It's a little bit time consuming but you get such wonderful results.  I used the Tim Holtz doily die and the Cricut Elegant Edges for the frames of the hot air balloon.  I inked the hot air balloon stamp with Walnut Distress and Broken China.  The bow was made with seam binding from my MIL's stash - pretty old stuff but so pretty for this card!  I made the stick pin with a few pearls and beads and thought the feather worked well.  I added a vintage button with a bit of lace trim.   A few aqua gemstones to finish it off.

This card is for a special person who is sure to love and treasure it!

Here is the photo inspiration for this card:

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!  I would love to hear your comments!

Adestes Fideles - Classic Christmas song

I'm joining in again on the Jingle Belles challenge and this week we need to incorporate Christmas music.  I've also decided to play along with CardPatterns and use their sketch for my card.

There are so many wonderful songs that it was hard to choose the right one.  I picked Adestes Fideles, one of my all-time favourites, and printed off the music sheet on cream cardstock.  I then cut it with the Tim Holtz doily die.  I used my Cricut and cut the angel from the Christmas cartridge.  This was after doing a Nativity scene that I just didn't like.  Sometimes we have an idea and we visualize it but it doesn't always turn out on paper.  Luckily, like most of you, my papers were all on sale so I'm only wasting pennies.

I then tried to create the rectangle piece from the sketch and as I was looking through my paper stacks, I found the "Peace, Love, Joy" from Simple Stories.  So with the card almost complete, I stumbled upon the perfect background from the DCWV Christmas stack.  I added a few pearls, gem stones and ribbon and voilà my card was complete.  It did take a few hours from start to finish but it was a nice way to spend a few hours on a rainy Sunday.

Here is the sketch that I followed from CardPatterns

Thanks so much for dropping by and I always appreciate your comments!

Love is in the Air

Now that it is the month of June, we are heading into the season of weddings and anniversaries.  I made this anniversary card for a family member or dear friend, just haven't decided who will receive it.

Card recipe

Papers - Fancy Pants Bella, DCWV, Recollections for base

Circle - Spellbinders Petite Circle scallops

Punches for corner and tag "love"

Fabric -  flower, blue border with rhinestones and lace

The colours and fabric were chosen as part of this week's challenge Color Me Pretty at the Shabby Tea Room and inspired with this photo

The sketch design is from Mojo Monday with a bit of a twist/my interpretation.



Thanks again for dropping by and I always appreciate your feedback and comments!

Enjoy the weekend!

Challenges: 
Shabby Tea Room Color Me Pretty
Mojo Monday #243

A day at the beach

It's still Spring here but I made this card for my SIL who lives in Italy and loves to take her children to the beach.  I made it as part of this week's RAQ Challenge on the Cricut forum and also to submit to My Sheri Crafts Summer Challenge. 

Card recipe

Papers - DCWV Songbird, Bazzill, clear acetate

Sew Easy for the piercing for the stitching

Cricut A Child's Year, Elegant Edges, Stretch Your Imagination

Embellishments: Brads, buttons, pearl and photo corner

Versafine ink for "Just Saying Hello"

I started the design with a port hole and then just chose the elements from my Cricut cartridges.  It's the first time that I've used the Sew Easy that I bought over a year ago.  It's not the "easiest" tool to use on heavy cardstock but it does add a nice touch!

Enjoy your day and thanks for dropping by!

Spring in Bloom - Garden Party #115

The weather has been amazing for the past week!  It is hotter than usual yet we have had some rain and as such the garden is coming into full bloom.  I enjoyed an extra long weekend and have finally enjoyed a bit of time in my craftroom. 

This card is part of the Shabby Tea Room Garden Party challenge.  The sketch design was an older MojoMonday sketch.

Card recipe:

Green strips - K&Company Que Sera Sera

Centre frame with lily - gcd Studios Antiquities

Butterfly - K&Company TC Blossomwood

Plaid tag - Lost & Found Portobello Road

Doily - Tim Holtz with Black Soot distress ink

Flower - ribbon hand-stitched

"just a note" stamped with Ranger permanent ink on silk ribbon

Grommet, gem flower and gem stones - unknown

For this challenge, we were asked to use these colours for inspiration and add a dimensional flower.

I hope the weather is nice your way and thanks for dropping by!

Challenge Shabby Tea Room

"Let Us Be Judged by our Acts"

I hope you're having a great Friday.  The sun is shining here and we're heading into the weekend.  I'm fortunate to have plans with my husband and children on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day.  A special wish to all mothers - may you be treated especially well, be surrounded by family and friends and take time for yourselves!

Today I created the graduation card for my DS who will graduate from high school in June.  I've been following a number of different sketch challenges but this isn't part of any specific one.  I'm sure there are elements that you could find on different sketches but this is my own creation.  I did join in with Scrapbooker's Paradise challenge Playing in Paradise #66 - Graduation/Encouragement to create a graduation card.

My son loves it when I add metal tape to his cards.  So I started with the graduation cap.

I cut the cap from the Cricut Wrap It Up cartridge.  Then I placed stickers for the 2012, drywall mesh and  small pieces of aluminium duct tape on the rectangular board piece.  Yes, I do raid my husband's handyman supplies.  To give it an authentic used metal look, I use a small tool from Walnut Hollow to distress the aluminum tape.  Then cover the finished piece with black acrylic paint, wipe it off and let it dry.  Then I add some gold wax metallic finish in certain places. 

Then I created the other elements of the card, keeping a masculine and somewhat old time style.

The gear as the background element for the grad cap was cut from Cricut Indie cart in gold Recollections paper and embossed with the Cuddlebug Clockworks folder.  It was trimmed in brown cardstock to add dimension.  The other papers are from DCWV High School Matstack. 

Looking closely at the button, I realized that there was some writing on it so I researched it further.  This is one from my MIL's stash and I believe it comes from the 1950s. 

It was found on men's blazers and the inscription is Spectemur Agendo.  This is a Latin motto meaning "Let us be judged by our acts".  The source is said to be the from Book XIII of  Ovid's Metamorphoses.  It appears that these buttons are still available by the Waterbury Button Company.  I find this trivia interesting but more importantly that it's meaning is most suitable for my dear son as he begins the next phase of his life and pursues his studies at college in the Fall.

In case you're curious about the other metal tape cards that I made for him. I'll show you the one at Christmas and the other for his 18th birthday.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Challenge

Card for Homemade Treats

Hello again!  I'm just on a roll with making cards and keeping my blog up to date.  Thanks for the lovely comments from those who drop by from other challenges.  It's always nice to get some feedback!

Today's card is for RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut forum and it is also part of the CPS Challenge for this week #264.  There were also ad colours suggested for RAQ's challenge.

So here is the sketch and the ad colours

 

I thought it would be really difficult to select papers in the ad colours that would coordinate nicely but I think it turned out fine.  With the warmer weather, I think I will need a card for a potluck BBQ dinner so I created this cute little card. 

I made the sunflower with my Cricut using the Stretch Your Imagination, Accent Essentials and Damask Decor carts.  I have a tutorial with photos on my blog that you can read here.  The corner diamond accents are leftovers from the argyle pattern cut.

Card Recipe

Coral and Yellow sparkle papers - DCWV Glitter

Coral checkered paper - K & Company Sweet Nectar

Blue with Birds - DCWV Green Stack

Skyblue base - Recollections

Ivory Base - Staples 110#

Cricut - Wild Card for Argyle cut

Cricut - Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for sentiment frames

I'm looking forward to the next BBQ dinner with friends!

Thanks for dropping by!

Would you join me for a cup of tea?

I had some free time this afternoon so I decided to play in my craftroom.  I was inspired to make a card while thinking about some dear friends and after looking at a number of different blogs and challenges.

Here is what I created and happily it meets the requirements of three challenges. All of the cuts were made using my Cricut.   I needed to line up my paper exactly on the Cricut mat to achieve a "Royal Doulton" fine china pattern but I think I succeeded.

Card Recipe:

Papers - Kraft cardstock for base, Fancy Pants for pink base,

K&Company Blue pattern, Lost & Found for teacup, Recollections for solids

Cricut - Elegant Edges for all cuts except teacup which was A Child's Year

Pearls and gold Stickles for embellishments

Ink - Distress Broken China

For the sketch design - I Spy Sketches

Colours including having a rose The Shabby Tea Room 

And lastly, using Kraft cardstock for the Kraft Journal Make it Monday challenge with the theme being "Card for Her".

Hope you'll join me and have a cup of tea with your dear friends soon!



Merry Monday

It's a rainy day here and I'm still in the mood to create a Christmas card.  It's not always easy but I know that I will feel much better in September if I can keep making a few each month.

This week's sketch on Merry Monday looked like fun so I joined in.

I decided to use up mainly Christmas cardstock scraps as my folder is bulging and there are still some good pieces available.  I designed all the cuts on my Gypsy and then all I needed to do was ink, add a grommet and ribbon and glue down the shapes.   I modified the rounded rectangle a bit but that's part of the creativity and interpretation of the sketch!

Card Recipe

Papers - DCWV and Recollections

Cricut - Accent Essentials card base, Elegant Edges for green frame,

Ribbons & Rosettes for border with snowman and Winter Frolic for ornament

Ink - Antique Linen, Peeled Paint distressed for oval and Versafine for sentiment

Holly Leaves - Ranger Emerald

Ribbon - plaid from stash, stickles coloured with red marker, grommet and

acetate for oval frame

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Family Day!

It’s Family Day for us in Ontario yet it doesn’t apply to everyone so unfortunately my dear daughter and husband are working.  I’ll be playing Wii with my son soon – uh oh! I’m really not very good at video games.

As it has been awhile since I’ve posted, I will share my Valentine cards with you. Since the beginning of January, I’ve been taking part in a card challenge on the Cricut boards and have learned so much. 

Here is the card for my dear Valentine and loving husband:

Cricut – Accent Essentials for flowers; Sweethearts for Cherub, Elegant Edges for frames.  SEI Oasis cardstock and K&Company SW Nature

For my children, I gave them these cards along with some chocolates

Cricut – Doodlecharms for Heart and Elegant Edges for Frame.  Ribbon was ruched by hand-stitching a diagonal stitch.  Hearts was cut in foil, embossed and then ink with Alcohol inks. 

A shaped butterfly card by welding 2 butterflies from Cricut Gypsy Wanderings.

For my dear brother and his family, I made a non traditional card with a very loving sentiment.

Cricut – Ornamental Iron 2 for the frame, Jubilee for the banner and Joys of the Season for the lovebirds.  SEI Oasis paper and DCWV Shimmer Stack.

For my dear sister and friend – I used a similar Cricut cut from A Child’s Year cartridge but then created two distinct cards. 

Hope you’re having a great day!  It looks like Spring is around the corner!

Merry Christmas!

I spent a wonderful evening with my family as we celebrated into the early hours of Christmas.  We have a White Christmas after all!  It such a wonderful time of the year to be with family and friends. 

Silver bell - Cricut Joys of the Season

Foil covered cardstock using Cuttlebug snowflake folder

DCWV Shimmer cardstock in brown and Anna Griffin Calisto Christmas

Small ribbon for embellishment

Enjoy the holiday season!  Peace, Joy and Happiness!

Sugar 'n Spice

Another rainy day and only 10 days before Christmas.  We really need some colder days and white, fluffy snow.  The meteorologists are saying that it could be a green Christmas - oh no! 

Here's a quick card that I made after finding the perfect background.

Image Cricut A Child's Year

Cardstock DCWV Glitter then embossed with Cuttlebug Dots folder

Background cardstock Recollections Sugar Plum collection

Have a great day!