MIM #190

This week's Make It Monday challenge is plaid backgrounds. I LOVE stamping plaid. I stamped two pieces of cardstock in different color combos, but ultimately decided to use this Raspberry Fizz/ Pure Poppy/ Limeade Ice/ Simply Chartreuse plaid to make a Christmas card. I'm not big on traditional red and green for Christmas, but don't mind it when it's given a twist with less traditional shades like lime and raspberry.

 Thanks for stopping by,
T

FFC44

Hi there,
I'm loving this new wreath set I received from Stampin' Up the other day, so I had to take it for a test drive. So glad that Festive Friday's current inspiration photo has a wreath image!

I also drew on the white and natural wood tones and texture for the background.

That's all for today.
Thanks for stopping by,
T

MIM #188

Hi there,

My shoebox seems to be pretty light on baby cards these days, so I thought I would use Laura's Make It Monday challenge as inspiration for a background for this as yet unused die. The concept is an ombre background. This isn't exactly ombre because it goes from dark to light, and then back again because I had lots more real estate to cover! I also didn't overlap like Laura did because I wanted a more muted look for a baby card, so didn't want the colors too saturated.



I die cut the text block three times and layered them up for more dimension, and replaced the dot on the i with three layered melon berry hearts, and finished it off with a mini safety pin.

Here is the gorgeous card that Laura made:
There's still 5 days left if you want to join in on the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Muse #92

 Hi there,
A quick card and a quick post for this week's Muse challenge. I'm receiving an order from SU tomorrow, so I thought I should actually use something from my last order before the latest arrives! I don't recall the name of this new blue, but I like it, especially combined with green. It's similar to PTI's ocean tides, but a tad lighter.

I love these wet paint sentiments from PTI. The font partners so well with these messy polka dots and vintage-y flowers.

Here is the inspiration for this week's challenge. I'm sure it's easy to see I followed the general layout, as well as using a dot background, floral elements, vellum, and green/blue color combo.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Muse #91

Hi there,

I made use of my extra hour from the daylights savings time change to stay up extra late last night and squeeze in a bit of crafting! I'm not getting much free time these days, trying to wrap up lots of reno projects before the snow flies. Hopefully I can get back into the groove once there is a blanket of snow on the ground.

I was pleased when I saw Michele's challenge idea on the Muse blog this week, to do a set of cards with the same patterned paper. This is exactly how I roll when I'm crafting! I hate making duplicate cards, but I will often make 3 or more cards at the same time that are variations on a theme. I had a brand new pack of unopened patterned paper that I thought would work well for some Christmas cards, so I picked out this dotted sheet that resembles falling snow.

 For the first card, I also picked a green patterned paper out of the same pack to die cut my tree. It's hard to tell in this photo, but I used SU white glimmer paper for the rolling hills. It's also hard to see the dazzling details glitter added to the tips of the tree. I popped up some of the elements for a bit more dimension.

 The next card uses the same tree die (from PTI) with limeade ice cardstock. I added some glitter to it, and die cut the sentiment from glitter paper.



The final card has heat embossed pine boughs and a pinecone. I added some liquid applique to the tops of the sentiment letters, like snow collecting on top of them. It still needed a little something, so I added a strip of glitter paper.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Muse #89

Hi there,

I made a bit of time tonight to play along with the Muse challenge. I loved Therese's rolling hills, and I rarely remember to use my patterned paper, so I pulled it out to see what I could find for fields of flowers. This cute little tree seemed the perfect thing to perch on a hill. I couldn't decide what type of card this should be, so I'll wait until I use it to add a sentiment.

 

Here's a look at the adorable card Therese designed as the inspiration for this challenge:

Thanks for stopping by,

T

MIM #183

Hi there,
I saw a cool technique on PTI's Make it Monday video this week. Dawn added dry embossing over heat embossing which a great technique if you want to make super-mailable, flat card that still has lots of dimension. In honour of Thanksgiving happening in Canada this weekend, I thought I would make a fall themed "thank you" card, and also link it to Susan Raihala's Thanksgiving Crusade. She is on a one woman mission to promote Thanksgiving in an effort to stop it from being overshadowed by Black Friday. Sounds good to me! I think I'll give it to my hubby. Renovations are rough, and he's been putting lots of time into painting our kitchen cabinets and getting them looking perfect for his perfectionist wife! I'm sure it will be worth all the effort when everything is done, right?! To be clear, he's not doing everything. I painted the cabinets by hand. and stained, painted and urethaned the new coffee bar. He's been out in the garage painting the cabinet door with the sprayer, but those are the parts you really see, so they need lots of attention.

I embossed the leaves with Zing powder, then dry embossed the panel with my plaid PTI impression plate. Both elements have a bit of a rustic feel. yet the straight lines in the plaid pattern are a contrast to the more organic look of the leaves.

That's all for now. I'm off to America to pick up some items I ordered in for the kitchen.
Thanks for stopping by,
T

FFC #41

Hi there,
I kind of fell off the wagon this year on prepping for Christmas throughout the year. So now it's getting down to crunch time! When I saw the photo this week at the Festive Friday challenge, it reminded me that I've had this wood veneer paper for 6 months or more, but have never gotten around to trying it out. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for a somewhat rustic card, so I tried embossing the wreath directly onto the wood. It seemed to work pretty well, but a darker color would likely stand out a bit more, though the Leaf Zing powder is a bit brighter than it looks in this picture.









It's too bad I don't have any skate or sled stamps on hand. Those elements really appealed to me because this scene kind of reminds me of our house at Christmas because I usually have a swag or wreath, with a pair of skates tied to it, hanging from the door, and an old sled leaning against the wall! This is one version from a few years ago, but I didn't get the sled in this pic. Wish I had taken a picture the last couple of years because now I can't really remmeber what I did! I seem to recall some plaid ribbon and pinecones. Oh, well. I like to change it up. This year will be different again.

 Thanks for stopping by,
T

Fusion - Sunflowers #2

Hi there,
Just popping in for a very quick post for another Fusion challenge card. This time I just used the photo as inspiration, and watercolored some sunflowers. I love this sunshiny picture and wish summer weather would stick around a bit longer! I'm so not ready for winter yet.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Fusion - Sunflowers

 

Hi there,

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I've done any stamping! I've been on a bit of a hiatus because we've been working on some house renovations. I usually stamp less in the summer because I'm busy with outdoor pursuits, but I've never gone this long without stamping. The kitchen reno is still in progress, but maybe I will post some before and after pics when it is done? 

My plans for flying yesterday were cancelled due to weather conditions. That was a bit of a bummer because we had a flour bombing contest planned at my gliding club, but on the plus side, it did give me some time to a bit of stamping.  I was inspired by the Fusion challenge, and decided to incorporate both the picture and sketch into my project.

 

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by!

T

MIM #175

Hi there,
It's been far too long since I've done any stamping, but I was intrigued by this week's Make it Monday challenge at PTI and had to give it a whirl.

The challenge was to create a border using non-border dies by partial cutting.



I decided to turn this into a birthday card for a friend, so I dressed up the inside accordingly.

 I also decided I needed to jazz up the front a bit with some rhinestones on the butterfly bodies, and some smooch for the wings.

Thanks for stopping by!
T

MIM #168

Hey there,
Long time, no stamp! I'm drowning in yard work and renovation planning, but I had a birthday dinner to attend this evening, so I needed a quick idea for a birthday card last night. I had watched Melissa's Make it Monday video yesterday at Papertrey Ink, so her chalk and stamping on textured cardstock technique was the first thing to pop into my head. I decided to give it a try with the linen and canvass impression plate, and a variety of solid stamps. I set out to do purples because that is the birthday gal's favourite color, and greens for the leaves, but decided as I was chalking the background to add a dash of turquoise. I was glad I had when I was trying to figure out what to do for the greeting. I think the turquoise really makes the "Happy" pop, which is a necessity with all that's going on in the background!

Here's a closer look at the texture, and the label I cut from vellum to attach the greeting. I embossed "birthday" in silver to tie in with the silver in the ribbon. I think I could have done the chalking a bit darker. It's hardly noticeable with all the stamped images on top. Maybe next time?! I did impress a few more backgrounds in case my first attempt failed miserably, so maybe I will give this technique another run?

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Muse #68

Hi there,
I was hoping to do some yardwork today, but it was a lazy, rainy day, so I thought I would take the opportunity to do a bit of crafting instead. This card was inspired by Marion Vagg at the Muse challenge. Here is her lovely card.

Thanks for stopping by,

T

CC9

Hi there,

With Mothers' Day just around the corner, I decided to use the monochromatic purple color scheme from the Card Concept challenge today to make a clean layered card for my Mom.

I love white embossing on a simple color blocked card. I hope you can tell the center color block is an eggplant color, though it looks really dark here.

After embossing the field flowers, there wasn't much real estate left to add a sentiment, so I die cut a tiny tag in the lightest purple, and stamped the greeting in eggplant.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

T



Fusion #8

Hi there,

I've kind of fallen off the stamping band wagon lately, but the gorgeous pastel roses on the latest Fusion challenge were the perfect inspiration to ink up these PTI roses for the first time. The colors are perfect for spring, and I thought would be well suited to a wedding or shower card. Maybe I'll need to make a few more of these in other color combos? These stamps are so easy to work with.

Here's the inspiration behind this card.

Thanks for stopping by,

T

Muse #60

Hi there,

 

Just making a quick late night post for the Muse challenge. I had hoped to spend a bunch of time stamping this weekend, but ended up shopping for appliances instead. Oh, well. At least I have that item checked off my to do list. 4 shiny new appliance bought and paid for. Now I just have renovate the kitchen so I can have them delivered. Should be simple, right?

 

I loved the colors Lyndal used on her card, which gave me the itch to do a little blue and yellow sponging. I was planning to emboss an image in clear first, but I didn't find anything in my stash as bold as the birch tree image, so I decided to change it up and use a new coverplate for white horizontal stripes instead. A greeting and a button, and I am ready for bed!

Thanks for stopping by,
T

FFC27

Hi there,
I was glad to realize today that I hadn't yet missed the deadline for Festive Friday, so I squeezed in some crafting time tonight. Crafting has kind of been taking a back burner to work lately, and to my obsession with house renovations, but I just received my latest PTI order today and plan to place a Simon Says Stamp order soon, so I'd better get stamping if I was to justify my purchases!

This blingy snowflake was inspired by this photo:



Who can resist a gorgeous snowflake? Not me! I'm not generally one to collect things (other than stamp supplies, that doesn't count) but I do seem to have an excessive number of snowflakes in my stash of Christmas decorations. I actually have some that are fairly similar to this photo, but in blue, but for the card, I kept pretty true to the photo colors; silver, white and a dash of green, with a smattering of rhinestones on the focal point.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

T

CC5/Fusion 6

Hi there,
I squeezed in a bit of stamping time today. I wanted to play along with the Card Concept challenge, because anyone who knows me knows I'm all about lime and espresso! My favourite combo, and a good one for a guy friendly card, and I'm usually short on those, so I designed a clean and layered card. It was also inspired by the Fusion challenge. I used the layout as well as the circular shapes and dots, and lime green, of course.

Here's a look at the inspiration photos:


Thanks for stopping by!
T

CC4

Hi there,
Just popping in quick with a short post for the Card Concept challenge. I was inspired by the luscious bouquet in the photo to fussy cut a bouquet of pink roses for a clean and layered card. It's a little hard to see in this picture, but the card base is embossed with diagonal stripes.

That's all for today.
Thanks for stopping by!
T