An Apple a Day...

How's this for a get well card?  I think it's cute and the bright colours are cheerful and uplifting don't yo think?  Hope none of you are needing a get well card this holiday season and I'm lucky enough to be able to put this one in card stash (thankfully I have my blog readers to share this with instead),  

I'm so tired of doing Christmas cards and knew that I wanted to make anything but.  I went through my paper hoard for this Get Sketchy sketch and came across this fun paper.  I started putting this together without knowing what stamps I wanted to use and then finally decided to use my punches to make this apple core that I've seen on other blogs.  At that point I still didn't know what kind of card this was going to be.  Well I got all the pieces prepped and it was time to pick out the sentiment....I could have done pretty much anything but I decided to work with the old adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".  I thought about making something for the teachers in our lives too but I wonder if they get tired of the apple theme themselves?

The apple was made using the SU! tab punch on Very vanilla and Real Red.  I sponged the vanilla with So Saffron craft ink.  The stem was made using the 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 circle punches and the leaf is made from the 5-petal punch.  I may just make a small picture tutorial.

This was also my first time sponging (real red) on my nestabilities.  I still need some practice and I'm in no way as good as my friend Tanis but I'll find my groove.

I really like where this paper took me and the relaxed creativity that came out of it.  There was no pressure just a patient process that came out with a very nice end result.  Don't you love it when that happens?

Paper:  Real Red, Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Kraft, NSU dsp

Ink:  Basic Black, So Saffron (Craft), Real red.

Accessories:  Tab punch, circle punches, 5-petal punch, nestibilities labels 1,  Red gingham ribbon, red grosgrain ribbon

Kind thoughts of Remembrance

Wishing you a thoughtful and peaceful Remembrance Day.  We've had a nice quiet one today.  We will probably take part in the candlelight vigils of remembrance this evening.  Hopefully one day everyone will understand the meaning of living in peace and harmony.  Too many times I've taken for granted that I grew up without fear of war on our homeland.  My children can walk the streets and play in playgrounds without the fear of stepping on land mines!!  And to top it off there's enough food to go around that I can share with those who don't have the means to buy their own. We are blessed!!

This card is another sympathy type card using Get Sketchy #13 .  I really like the colours and that sentiment has always been one of my favourites.  I added a little bit of So Saffron ribbon to give it a little touch of another colour besides blue and purple. What do you think?

Thanks for taking the time to look.  Hope you're week is going well.

Paper: Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, NSU dp
Ink:  Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Whisper White satin ribbon, So Saffron grosgrain ribbon, NSU wheat colour brads
Stamps:  For all You do, Kind thoughts.

Ghostly Greetings 3 in 1

Yes, I know, Halloween is over and my calendar does indeed say November but there were at least two challenges left to do that had inspired a ghostly card and I thru in a Get Sketchy Challenge  for good measure. (that and the sketch worked perfectly).  So here are the Challenges:

1) Everything But the Kitchen Sink .  The challenge was to incorporate toilet paper in a project...that's right toilet paper and you should just check out some of the ingenious ideas that those ladies have come up with.  All week last week my preschooler was coming home with these ghosts made out of kleenex and he decided to use a box of it to make his own at home.  By the end of week I was pretty tired of finding these little guys all around my house.  Who would have thought it would be the catalyst for my next creation?

2) Crazy 4 Challenges .  The challenge was to make a spooky halloween card.  These ghosts may be more cute than spooky but it still fit the theme.

3) Get Sketchy Challenge #12 .  My version of the sketch is a way more simplified version than most but once I got those ghosts on my 5x5 card there wasn't room for multiple layers and embellishments.

The ghosts are made by covering half a square of TP with a whole square and tying with gingham ribbon.  I then ran the ends of the ghosts over my black ink to give them a darker, scarier look and then I added eyes with my marker.  I also used my marker on the die cut sticker to doodle the Ghostly Greetings sentiment.  What do you think?  Any ideas on how I could have jazzed it up a bit without making it too busy?

Rain Rain Go Away!!!!

Well this card is most appropriate for the kind of weather we are experiencing here.  It's raining Cats 'n Dogs!!!  It's raining so hard that there are puddles of water forming everywhere and that's hard to do since most of Kamloops is developed on the mountainside.  Around here you only ride your bike if you are in really really good shape.

Today's card is my interpretation of the Get Sketchy #10!  I wanted to try something a little different and was then inspired to make an umbrella from an Oval.  What do you think? I cut the oval from my old Fiskars Shape Cutter and used my SU! 1/2" circle punch to make the scallops.  I then sponged the umbrella with Bashful Blue and doodled the sentiment.  The inside is doodled with "Hope you feel better"

The embossed panels were made over a year ago when I had my craft pals Maureen and Melisa over for coffee.  Maureen was showing off her cuttlebug and I got to practice embossing on some of my scraps.  Yes Moe, it's taken me this long to use it.  Ideally, I had wanted to make something that would portray rain but I was having a hard time coming up with anything so I settled for snowflakes.  Any ideas? There's silver fibre paper and bashful blue paper in the background.

The card isn't quite as polished as I would liked but it was the follow through of the vision that I cared about the most.  I wanted to see if I could make at umbrella.  Thanks so much for taking a look and I hope I've inspired to you to follow your vision regardless of the results.  Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Christmas is Coming - Really?

You wouldn't know it with this beautiful sunny day here in Kamloops, BC with slightly warmer weather and less wind.  It's suppose to be like this throughout the weekend so here's hoping.  My husband will most likely go chop some wood for our new woodstove insert (which warms the house beautifully). Chopping wood day is really neat because everyone gets involved even the two year old.  DH takes one of the kids out to the bush and then when they come home we all work for an hour or so piling the wood while dad splits it.  The amazing thing is that all three kids work so well together. The drawback is that wood doesn't burn as clean as gas but I find if we light the fire for only 5 hours in the evening the gas furnace doesn't even kick in all night.

The wood fire last night put me in the mood to make Christmas cards using the Get Sketchy Challenge #9.  I  can't believe it's been nine weeks of challenges already!  Time flies! and to prove that the Christmas Holidays will soon be knocking on our door.  I had a lot of fun last night using some new, inspiring designer paper and chipboard embelishments.  This collection works wonderfully with SU! colours Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry, Pretty in Pink, and Olive Green.  Ruby Red also works well but wasn't used in either of these cards.

Thanks for taking a peek and hope you are all doing fabulously.

Merry Christmas

Paper:  Whisper White, Pretty In Pink, Soft Sky, NSU dp

Ink:  Soft Sky, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories:  NSU chipboard santa, Rhinestones

Stamps:  Snow Swirled,  Season of Joy (sentiment)

Merry and Bright

Paper:  Soft Sky, Old Olive, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, NSU dp

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive

Accessories:  NSU chipboard sentiment, gold glitter glue

Stamps:  Season of Joy  

Get Sketchy #8 - Birthday Wishes

This week we had a fabulously fun sketch to work with over at get sketchy with a bonus challenge of using brads.  Not only was I inspired by the sketch but also by this throw pillow I came across while shopping at IKEA in Vancouver.  Our trips there are never complete without a walk through the showroom.  The older two get to have fun in the germ infested play room while my husband and I get to spend one on one time with our toddler.

Anyhow this is what I came up with.  I didn't intend to make a masculine card but it managed to happen which is great since I can always use them.  I distressed the edges of all the circles and added sponging to frame the sentiment  My favourite things about this car are the all the circles, the colours and that gold floss.

Birthday Wishes
Paper:  Chocolate chip, Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou, Sage shadow, and Creamy caramel
Ink:  Chocolate chip and Blue Bayou
Tools:  Circle Scissor, Fiskars oval template cutter, 1/8" circle punch, dimensional, sponge, Large and small SU star punch
Accessories:  Gold floss, blue brads

Mommy Needs a Couch Day!!!

Hi all! Hope your week is going by fantastically even if it is busy. Mine is going very well but man...I would love to have a lazy day in my own house to sit back and relax. It makes me reminisce of the days without kids when I could turn on the fire place and curl up to good book or watch all the chic flicks I could digest and simply enjoy doing nothing. And now I know that even if I was given one of those days I would fill it with all the things I can't (or don't like to) do with the kids like sleep or scrapbook or grocery shop. Right now I'm just thankful that I'm not having a couch day due to illness and neither are the kids. Life is good!

I made this card for one of my friends who is also a busy mother of three young girls and whose Facebook status lately has been lacking in enthusiasm (ex. Ugh, blah) LOL. It's sounds to me like she's getting worn out from the daily grind of school and extra-curriculars. I'm right there with you Tara!! It's too bad you lived so far away and then we could have a couch day together watching those chick flicks and sipping wine. The men could take the kids. Hopefully they'd come back with all six of them..hmmm..let's not think about that. So here's to all you busy mothers out there (whether the kids are young or grown)! And here's to our friends (with or without kids) who are there to give us support! Motherhood would be harder without you.

PS: I didn't manage to finish a Christmas card with this sketch (I decided to go to bed early) but maybe tonight.

Couch Day
Paper:  Old Olive, Cottage Wall dp, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, SU! Kraft
Ink:  Soft Suede, Old Olive, Perfect Plum
Accessories:  Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1/4" circle punch, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, Paper piercer.

Happy Everything - Get Sketchy #6

Is it really the end of Tuesday already? Where does the time go? It goes whether you're having fun or not doesn't it?  My week is filled with dentist appointments, music lessons and school activities. I haven't decided whether I'm going to the Parent Advisory Council Meeting tomorrow night. It would be another busy evening and it's hard to try and get homework and music practices done in between it all. Some days I find it hard to prioritize everything. And it's hard to get into a routine when my husband doesn't understand the importance in sticking with it. It's not that he's not helpful,  he just doesn't understand what needs to get done or have the same way of prioritizing so I find myself constantly delegating which is exhausting. Who said being the boss was easy? {wink} Ah well, there are many more weeks to get into the groove and get it right.

Anyhow, today I finally found the time to finish Get Sketchy #6 without patterned paper. It's nothing fancy but I like it. I knew I wanted to do something Masculine and I wanted to use my scrap pieces of paper (I have a lot of that). The River Rock was one of the last pieces I had and it had a couple of score marks which I decided to incorporate into the paper and created a pattern of my own. The Soft Suede pieces are inked and distressed around the edges as well as inked on the surface to give a bit of texture and dimension.  I figure it would have been too plain otherwise especially since I wasn't using any dp.  I chose to stick with the stars for a more masculine theme and because I don't use my star punches as much as I want to. Finally, I chose a sentiment that could cover something more than just a birthday if I wanted it to.

While I didn't get the card done before the end of the weekend, it is done before Thursday and these days that is a miracle. I hope you are all having a fabulous week and the beginning of fall is not too cold.  We just got a new wood stove insert installed so my basement will be nice and cozy warm at night when I'm crafting.  {big dreamy sigh}

Paper:  Soft Suede, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Soft Sky, Old Olive
Ink:  Soft Suede, Blue Bayou
Accessories:  Small and Large Star punches, Scoring tool, Velvet star brads
Stamp Set: On a Pedestal

Get Sketchy #4

I'm sorry it's been a few days since my last post, but I enjoyed a whole weekend of nothingness, mindless, stay-at-home relaxing time.  Which was nice before everything kicks into high gear.  Preschool, school, music lessons, dance class, swimming are all on the agenda for my older two this fall.  Thankfully, the little guys isn't old enough to anything yet.

I did find the time last night, after the kids went to bed early, to complete the Get Sketchy Challenge #4 .  Unfortunately for me, I was inspired by NSU (Non-Stampin' Up) designer paper (See my dilemma here ).  It was very popular last spring and I just had to have it and most everything that went with it.  This is the first time I've gotten a chance to use it.  Just in case you have this dp in your collection, it went wonderfully with old SU In colours such as Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, and Riding Hood Red.  

Anyhow,  I hope you enjoyed viewing my version of this fantastic sketch.  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous week.

Paper:  NSU dp, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Groovy Guava, Tangerine Tango, Ridinghood Red
Ink:  Ruby Red
Accessories:  Whisper White taffeta ribbon , scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, NSU rub-on, NSU rhinestones, NSU sewing machine LOL
Stamp set:  Sincere Salutations 


Please feel free to fill in the blanks in the comments section.

Grateful Greetings

Here's my take on the 3rd Get Sketchy challenge.  It turned out better than I was anticipating and it was the first time I've taken a sewing machine to any project.  I'm able to borrow my cousins sewing machine for the next 10 months while she's away at university.  Thanks Melissa!!!  

I just bought a bunch of SU Kraft CS and I'm becoming addicted to it.  Kraft is a nice warm colour when you don't want to use bright bases like white and vanilla. Its country appeal brings forth images of warm fireplaces, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie and the cabin at the lake surrounded by family and friends.  With those images in mind, I thought of Thanksgiving and realized that it's not that far away for us up here in Canada and also that we don't give as much attention to Thanksgiving as we probably should. 

The inside of the card says "The truest measure of our thanksgiving is how we use the blessings for which we give thanks."  It's from the Grateful Greetings stamp set in the new Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini.

For this challenge I used some older supplies and colours I don't think I've used before.  The Lucky Star Die-Cut Accents from 4 SU catalogues back.  This is the first time I've used them!!  And then there is the Baja Breeze from last years In-colours.  Amazingly I didn't use much of that colour either even though it is a beautiful blue.  Of course I used a little bit of the Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon....I bet I'll cry when I run out of it :(  

I hope you enjoyed your visit and have a fabulous week. 

Paper: SU Kraft, More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Olive Green

Ink:  SU Chocolate Chip

Accessories/Tools:  Circle Scissor, Chocolate chip satin ribbon, paper piercer, corner rounder punch, sewing machine, Lucky Star die-cut accents

Stamp Set:  Grateful Greetings

Gearing to Get Sketchy

Lately, there have been quite a few challenges to make masculine cards.  I thought I'd carry on the male theme for the second Get Sketchy challenge.  This sketch looks easy enough but maybe that's what had me stumped...there were just endless possibilities it was hard to limit them. I had the Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo dp and die cuts on hand that I've been waiting to use.   And then I saw the Maya Road Gear chipboard and had a vision.  While my card didn't quite come out the way I had envisioned (especially since I had an oops at the very end)...I think it will work quite nicely for my sons 5th birthday. 

The oops I was talking about happened when I went to stamp the inside with a Happy Birthday sentiment in RED.  I flipped open the card and the edge caught the ink pad!!!  All the hard work had already been done.  So I was forced to make lemonade with my lemon and added the red inking around the edges.  I think it makes it a little rougher around the edges...a little more masculine maybe?

As for the "Gearing up" saying, I had no stamp sets that showed or said what I wanted it to so it was made using my handy dandy printer.  While this card is not perfect,  I hope that it has inspired you to create especially if you have this adorable dp laying around and haven't used it yet.  I'll have a couple more masculine cards to share with you tomorrow.  One is meant for a more mature someone.

Thanks for looking and have a Fabulous Sunday!

Paper:  Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo dp, SU whisper white, certainly celery
Ink:  SU Craft ink, real red, brocade blue, green galore
Accessories:  Printer, twine, Maya Road gear chipboard, BG and SU buttons

Get Sketchy Challenge #1

I'm so excited that I get to start these challenges from the beginning.  It's great belonging to something when it first starts. Maybe its my type A personality that likes to start things from the very beginning....never in the middle.

This challenge really had me stumped.  I just couldn't find the right stamp set and I really wanted to work with my current favourite, the Basic Gray Lemonade collection.  In the end, I think I tried too hard to mix the dp and the design. I should have just gone with my first thoughts and that was snowflakes and Christmas.  Snowflake eyelets would have worked that curvy portion of the sketch beautifully.  It's just not time to think about falling snow yet when we're in the middle of August!!!  Maybe in October.  I really think that, had I just followed my original inspiration, I would have created something better.  I will try to be less stubborn with my ideas next time.

The second layer of the curvy portion is done by tearing the paper and inking the edges.  The sketch didn't call for ribbon but that side just seemed a little bare for me so I decided to add the Purely Pomegranate ribbon.

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous week.

Paper:  Bazzill Basics Starmist and Petunia, BG Lemonade, Whisper White

Ink:  Soft Sky,   Purely Pomegranate

Accessories:  Purely Pomegranate ribbon, Stampin' Up! Flower Fusion,  Making Memories Noteworthy flower (sheer),  Very Vanilla brad.

Stamps:  SU Delight in Life