Happy Girl

This is an 8x8 scrapbook page of my daughter. I'm cleaning out the 2007 photos and wrapping up the wee 8x8 album. I have little left other than mismatched photos that are too good to leave out of the album. Enter the random devotion to Adina.
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The background polka-dotted paper is Michael's open stock. The green is also Michael's cardstock. I never thought I'd used that colour (I don't like green!) but it works really well with the photos and makes Adina pop to the forefront.

The title is a combination of the Happy stamp from Polka Dots and Paisley, and a Michael's dollar-bin acrylic stamp. To get it really white, it has been heat embossed with white embossing powder. The buttons are from Stampin' Up (soft subtles and bold brights), and the single flower punch is from EK success to which I've added a green soft-subtles brad. The hardware on the edges of the photos is from the dollarama.

The floral border across the bottom is my new 12" Sizzix die (love it!!). I punched it once in a floral patterned paper, and the second time in solid pink. I cut out a couple of the pink blooms and tarted them up with glitter before layering them on the border with popdots. A third bloom was cut out and added to the label with a Stampin' Up! rhinestone brad. I also put some retired celery organza ribbon and some 1/8" pink satin ribbon on the label with a glue dot.

The label is stamped on left-over floral paper from the border. It's stamped using the retired set "Label Classics", and has been layered on the page again with pop dots to add some depth.

Thanks for dropping in,
C

Paper quilt

This is a small card with a big story.

Last summer, my 28-yr-old cousin Ingrid (who was 7-months pregnant at the time) learned she had stage 3 breast cancer. After having her baby early, followed by surgery, chemo, and radiation, her cancer is now in remission. She has survived.

Last fall, I participated in my first CIBC Run for the Cure. I was walking for Ingrid, but also for my mom, who 5 years earlier had a similar brush with cancer (minus the pregnant part.)

This year, I'm participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure, but I'm running it this time. I've never run in my life (except as a kid) but I started a learn-to-run program at the end of July and have been training every other day since. I wanted to give more than just a few hours one Sunday morning. And I wanted to keep myself healthy, hopefully to avoid this disease myself.

When I put out the call for sponsors, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my family - in particular Ingrid's mother, Anne, who donated $100. I needed to make her a really nice thank you card.

Anne is a serious quilter, so the idea of making a paper quilt came to me very quickly. My family also loves the outdoors and we go often go on canoe trips together. The quilt-block I chose is called "Tippecanoe".

The paper colours are Pretty-In-Pink and River Rock. The quilt blocks are each .5" squares - and boy, were they tedious. But I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I stamped the Thank You sentiment from All Holidays in Rose Red, punched it out with a small oval, inked the edges of the oval with Pink Pirouette, layered it on a 1" circle of Pretty-In-Pink that has been pierced and in turn layered on a designer-label-punched bit of River Rock. I fashioned a wee pink ribbon out of 1/8" satin ribbon and attached it to the label. The label is popped up on pop dots, and I strung some 1/4" sheer organza ribbon across the bottom of the card to anchor it.

I hope she'll like it.

Thanks for looking!
C

Wish Book #2

As promised, here's the wish book I made for my daughter (see yesterday's post for the book I made for my son). The dimensions are the same as my son's book.

Hers uses the retired pointsettia paper that's matted with Bravo Burgundy. The ornaments are stamped using Hung Up On The Holidays (retired) and is matted with Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme paper (both retired) that I cut out with my scalloped rectangular Nestabilities. The little seal is from Perfect Presentation and is punched out with circle punches and a scalloped circle punch. Some dots were added with a white gel pen.

The ribbon on the spine is retired stitched ribbon in Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme, and her name is just gold alphabet stickers from the clearance bin at Michael's.

Thanks for checking it out,
C

Wish Books

Every year my kids love to carve up the Christmas Wish Book from Sears, cutting out all the pictures of things they want Santa to bring them. Last year I made them little wish books they could paste their cut out pictures into. It turned out to be extremely handy when it came time to go shopping, because I had a ready-made booklet I could pop into my purse that contained everything they wanted.

This year I'm continuing the tradition. The booklets are a bit larger, but the idea is the same. They're 6x6 albums filled with blank white pages (about 10). Rowan's has some retired brown paper from SU!, some Baja Breeze for the title, and some Not-Quite Navy under the image and to mat the cover. The image is sponged in Soft Sky (retired), Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou (retired) and Not-Quite-Navy. The hockey dude you should recognize from last week's card (Michael's dollar bin) and the trees are from Lovely As A Tree. I added some gel-pen spots for snow, and a bit of sparkle because, well, I need a 12-step program for glitter.

The title is stamped in Baja Breeze with a sprig from Peaceful Wishes (retired, I think), and the pine cone is also from the same set. His name is just done in stickers.

The spine is tied with Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon (retired) and some chocolate chip 1/4" twill ribbon. Not super Christmas-y, but at least it feels wintery.

I'll share Adina's booklet tomorrow.

Enjoy!
C

A little bird told me...

Birthday card #2 is finally done (click to see it up close). It's not at all what I was expecting it to be. I started out with the fern frond from the new hostess set Organic Grace and Celery and Sahara sand paper... How did I end up with this?!

Well, long story short, the frond/celery/sand card was drab, drab, drab. The frond got supplanted by the cute bird from Touch of Nature (retired) and it all needed a hit of colour.

The colours on this card are Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, and a dash of Basic Black. The bird was coloured with classic ink on a blender pen. The edges are pierced, and it's matted on celery and black. The flower is from one of my Got Flowers bottles, with a pretty new designer brad (filigree) and a small turquoise rhinestone brad. Oh, and although you can't really see it in the photo, the bird's feathers have been dusted with irridescent pearl-ex powder, so they're a bit shimmery.

The layered papers are Turquoise (pierced) on Celery, which is layered on some polka dots left over from the Polka Dots and Paisleys paper kit (retired), which is layerd on some whisper white. The Birthday sentiment is from All Holidays (p142). The ribbon is some 1/4" grosgrain black with a wee knot of turquoise and green polka dots.

The background is the big Baroque background (p135) stamped in Certainly Celery. And it's all been matted on some Celery cardstock.

Not at all what I intended to make. Funny how cards have a mind of their own.
Thanks for looking!
C

The good ole hockey game

One birthday card down, one more to go. I present for your viewing pleasure today: The Hockey Card.

My son is attending the birthday party of a sports fan this weekend, and I needed a card.

I appear to be suffering from the flu, so my energy and creative juices are completely sapped this week. Enter Splitcoaststampers. I found a card Beate made, and I unabashedly CASEd the design (copy and share everything). Thanks Beate!

All cardstock is from Stampin' Up. The base is Night of Navy, the leaf print is Bashful Blue, the brad strip is Sahara Sand, and the image is matted on Whisper White, Real Red, and Sahara Sand.

The leaf print is stamped in Bashful Blue with a dollar-bin stamp from Michael's. The Birthday sentiment is from It's Your Birthday (retired) and is stamped in Night of Navy.

The little hockey dude is also from the dollar bin (oh, I love that bin!) stamped in NoN and coloured in with a Real Red Stampin' Write marker.

The Sahara Sand background is stamped with the GOAL stamp from All Soccer in Sahara Sand and the edges are pierced with my piercing mat and tool.

Thanks for checking it out,
C

Thank you card (WSC56)

I decided to participate in Beate's weekend sketch challenge this week. I'm also trying to embrace the new "In Colours" from Stampin' Up. Kiwi Kiss was... underwhelming... the first time I saw it. I'm trying to use it so I can grow to love it, much as I did with Groovy Guava last time.

The primary stamp set used on this card is one of the new Level 2 Hostess Sets, called Fall Flair (book a workshop if you want to earn it!). I stamped the Whisper White background square in Kiwi Kiss at full and half strength (stamped off one time) using the solid leaf stamp, and then I went back over it with the leaf outline in Baja Breeze. I added a bit of light sponging in the Baja to tone down the bright white. It's matted on a square of Basic Black cardstock.

The main image is again from Fall Flair, stamped in the Fresh Cuts background at half strength in Baja Breeze, the stamped the stems in Kiwi Kiss, and the blossom dots in Pacific Point. It's matted first on Kiwi Kiss, then on Basic Black. I stamped the wee flower from Fresh Cuts in Pacific Point on Whisper White and cut it out, punched out a small black star with a dollar-bin Michael's punch, and held them together with an olive coloured brad.

The scalloped strip on the right is Kiwi Kiss again. The scallops were cut with a corner rounder (the new scallop punch would've been so much easier!) and small white dots were added with a white gel pen. The ribbon is white taffeta.

The little thank you is from All Holidays, and is stamped on a piece of Whisper White punched out with a Word Window punch.

It's all assembled onto a 4.25x4.25 square card made out of Baja Breeze cardstock.

Thanks for checking it out,
C

Celebrating 10 years

My anniversary is tomorrow. Ten years; holy cow!

I made this card for my DH. I hope it's not too girly? Stamps are always so girly.

The card base is Brave Burgundy, and it has been stamped in Bravo Burgundy ink using the Wild Hearts background stamp (retired). I also stamped two heart outlines (Michaels dollar bin) in Versamark in the bottom right corner, and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I then cut out the insides of the hearts.

LOVE has been stamped in Kiwi Kiss on some Very Vanilla cardstock. (L-O-V-E stamps from an illuminated alphabet set from Michael's). I needed to use my stamp-a-ma-jig to align them neatly.

Celebrate (Wonderful Words) is stamped in Basic Black on a strip of white vellum, which I tore along the edges. The Vellum is attached to the vanilla cardstock with a couple of shiny gold brads. Although you can't see it well in the photo, there's also some gold elastic cord (SU!) tied around the spine of the card.

The inside is another piece of Very Vanilla cardstock upon which I stamped the bottom inch and a half with the Wild Hearts stamp in Bravo Burgundy, so you can see it through the cut-out hearts when the card is closed.

Still to come: a birthday card and a thank you card. Tick tock!

Anyone for some bowling?

My dear daughter, for reasons that I still do not fathom, has developed an unnatural affection for bowling. So much so that she's having her birthday party at the local alley.

I needed to make some invites that were suitably bowling-y. It all started with a search for bowling pins. I was quietly hoping for a QuicKutz die, but no such luck. Ultimately I found some sheets of bowling stickers that included numerous bowling pins.

After that, I trolled the internet for inspiration, looking at vintage bowling signs. All of the paper on the card (minus the stickers) is Michael's cardstock. I printed the letters on my printer, and the rest is tediously, painstakingly cut out by hand. Next year, she's allowed to invite 2 guests instead of 12!Thanks for checking them out.