Another March Birthday

How many March babies are out there??   For me, there are at least 7 birthdays to make cards for.  Today my friends birthday happens to land on the same day as my sisters.  On Friday I managed to make a special card for girlfriend of mine who has some of the same passions as I do.

The latest Sketch Girl challenge came in very handy.  It was a fairly simple sketch which is always nice because  it makes it easier to 'dress up' using some hand stitching, buttons and satin ribbon. Surprisingly the entire card was made from paper in my scrap bin!  Had to add some shamrock paper in honour of St. Patricks day.  Imagine, I actually don't have any St. Paddy's day stamps or embellishments.

I also have another card that I made pictured below using the same sketch but I didn't like how it turned out.  I thought I would share anyways just in case it might inspire you to perfect it. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you are happy and healthy.  I'm feeling much better today which is good since I have a feeling my dh will be spending much of the day in bed with this horrible virus. I hope to get the chance to get out of the house today and get some much needed groceries :)  Happy Crafting friends.

Paper: Barely Banana, Old Olive, Earth Love dp (Cosmo), Whisper White.

Ink: Old Olive, Perfect Plum

Accessories:  Purple floss, scallop border punch (SU!), Buttons in Lemon tart, Plum pudding, and New Leaf (PTI), yellow satin ribbon (chatterbox), linen thread, dimensionals

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits and Signature Greetings (PTI)

FTL 80 Birthday Boy

Lots of birthdays this month so I've been busy making more birthday card and one of them had to have a masculine vibe for my dad.

A very basic card but I think the colour combo works well and the diamond background stamp (Practicing Creativity) adds a little something.  Buttons always make a card more fun and interesting.  No frills, no ribbon or bling so I think that makes it masculine enough. 

Here on the home front we are still recovering.  I actually ended up back in bed with a fever this morning and not feeling well at all.  My lovely mother-in-law came by to take my laundry home with  her so that it was one less thing I had to worry about and my dear hubby has put on a lovely pot of soup for dinner.  How blessed am I???  The only downer is that we were suppose to have my son's birthday party with extended family tonight but of course because we haven't been feeling well no one wants to risk it...nor would some of us have any fun feeling the way we have.

Paper: Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Lemon tart button (PTI), Brown button (BG), Blue designer button (SU!), linen thread

Stamps: Key to my Heart (Practicing Creativity), Sincere Salutations (SU!),  Everyday Button Bits (PTI)

March Viva La Verve #2

Just a quick post for my second Viva La Verve sketch challenge of the month.  I was inspired by the turquoise and red of this kitchen with black and white accents.  The background on the turquoise panel was an experiment using the lined portion of the argyle stamp from Key to My Heart (Practicing Crativity).  I really like how it came out with all those criss cross lines.  And it was so easy!!! I find making the true argyle print a little bit nerve racking. I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to making those line match up. The heart is from the Hundred Hearts Verve set and the sentiment is from SU! Simply Said set.  It was hard to find a sentiment that fit on that tiny panel.

Anyhow, I'm still not feeling well today and my hubby is home sick now too.  That's good thing for me because it was very nice to take a nap this morning to make it through the rest of my day.  Hopefully the kids will be in bed early again tonight.  Last night two of them were asleep by 5:30 pm!  

Hope you are all doing well and looking forward to the weekend.  I'm just praying for a healthy one.  I've been stuck at home since Saturday and it sure would be nice to get out of the house...even if it is for the groceries.

Paper:  Black and White cs, Tempting Turquoise, Summer picnic dp (SU!)
Ink:  Basic Black, Real Red
Accessories:  Real Red Satin Ribbon
Stamps: Key to My Heart (Practicing Creativity), Hundred Hearts (Verve), Simply Said (SU!)

From My Couch to Yours

Good morning everyone!  How's the middle of the week for you?  Mine?...well I thought this cold was gone but it came back with a vengeance for me this morning straight to my sinuses.  Luckily the kids are recovering well. Hopefully, like the week, this is just the climax and then I can actually get some things done around here. 

Here's the results I got a few nights ago for the newest Card Patterns sketch.  I really liked this unique sketch and these longer cards seem to take less time to layout and embellish.  

The paper is from My Mind's Eye and it matched perfectly with my SU! Flower Burst embosslit.  The Flower was turned more into a funky button by punching two holes into it and threading linen thread through and tying.  The couch was stamped in black ink on More Mustard and adhered with dimensionals. With the colours and less focus on the flowers I think it could also be used for a masculine card.  Either way it's a fabulous card to give to a friend or even your significant other :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a wonderful day.  Happy crafting!

Paper:  MME dp, Going Gray, More Mustard, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Black

Accessorries: Flower Burst embosslit, linen thread, 1/16" hole punch, dimensionals

Stamps: On My Couch (PTI)

Sweet Sunday Birthday Boy

Yesterday was my littlest man's 3rd Birthday!  Officially no more babies or toddlers in this house :( Here's the cute card that I made him.  I had bought the paper and felties knowing exactly what I would do with them.  My pet name for my son is Little Monster because he is just that.  He's a very busy boy who doesn't like to sleep or sit still and he's into everything.  He's a very curious and vivacious boy.  Also very charismatic and honest which gets him out of heaps of trouble   

About a month a go he hit one of the little girls I babysit for and of course I put him in a time out to think about things. Once I was done consoling the little girl and making sure she wasn't seriously hurt, I went to my son to have a little chat.  I asked him "Why did you hit her?" and his response "I can't tell you."  Of course I prodded and asked why he couldn't tell me.  His exact final response: "Because I have no reason." And the way he said it, so sincerely with his hands in the air and shrug....it was all I could do not to laugh!!!

Anyhow, lets get to the card.  I used Karen's lovely Sweet Sunday Sketch because it had that fabulously large focus panel to stick the monsters to.  The October Afternoon dp I stumbled on when searching an online sale.  It was too cute not to and the wonderful part is that it matches Pacific Point which I never use and have a few sheets still waiting to be used.  I added some cross-stitching, swiss dot, and trimmed edging. Isn't it cute???

Thankfully we are all feeling better around here.  No more fevers!!!  Hope you are all healthy and happy.  Happy crafting!

Paper: Old Olive, Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Night light louie dp (October Afternoon)

Ink: computer.

Accessories: Felt monsters (saffarass), orange cotton floss, pinking sheers, perfect polkadots ef.

Verve CAS and Colour Challenge

To help me combine both  March Verve Release challenges, I got the chance to use Fall to Layout #81.  What better place to find a CAS sketch than at Clean and Simple Stamping?  And I loved this sketch!!!  In order to meet the flower requirement of the Verve CAS challenge I used die cuts (I didn't have very many flower stamps that would work well).  And to make the sketch more my own I added some faux stitching around the edges. (That part made me a little nervous as I didn't want to have to scrap it and start again).  I didn't have a verve stamp that fit nicely in the sentiment area so I found an alternative. 

I have to admit that the colour combo scared me a little.  A little too retro, but I think once I got the hang of it, the colours made a really striking combination! I'm going to have to try these colours again!  Meanwhile, I've got to get a move on dinner and laundry!  Have a fantastic evening.

Paper:  White (PTI), Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, So Saffron (from the SU! Princess Party Kit)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1" circle punch, cuttlebug flower die
Stamp: Whimsical Wishes

Verve Sketch, Tag, and Recycle challenges

Since four people in this household are ill (including me), it's all about combining challenges this weekend. So I combined as many March Verve release challenges as I could hoping to win a $25 gift certificate. I made the tags from some scraps using my cuttlebug.  The Heartfelt Thanks tag could be used as a bookmark or around a wine bottle.  The top is made from Nestibilities Label 1 dies.  Very handy!! and it was so easy.  It's not embellished but I didn't want to cover up that lovely retro looking paper!  The flower was made by folding my piece of paper and placing it in such a way on the flower layer die that it cut a card rather than two separate flowers.  This tag is meant more for a tiny card on a gift bag.

My next project is a card that combines the sketch challenge and the recycle challenge.  I found the sketch tricky and in the end I didn't love what I came up with but I did get to use one of my favourite stamp sets.  The textured white paper is actually a coffee cup sleeve that I found wrapped around a coffee I had bought just before my daughters music lesson.  That lesson is from 4 until 5 which is around the time that I hit a wall and my energy levels are drained.  The nice thing about those evening is that my hubby is home before me and starts getting dinner ready....plus I get that hot cup of coffee.  Anyhow, I really liked this cup sleeve not only because of the texture but because it was off-white rather than kraft or brown!  So it's been in my scrap bin for a couple of weeks now.  I'll have to stash some more :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I've made.  Hope your week is wonderful.  We're suppose to be enjoying spring break this week but right now we are just focusing of feeling better.  Thankfully we don't have to be anywhere this week and no one's missing any school.

Tags

Paper: Chocolate chip, Groovy Guava, Nook & Pantry dp (BG), Very Vanilla

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Nesties Labels 1, Flower Layers sizzix die, brown satin ribbon, linen thread, lemon tart button (PTI),  large corner rounder punch

Stamps:  Celebration of Thanks (Verve)

Coffee Success

Paper: White (PTI), Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Nook & Pantry dp (BG), Whisper white

Ink:  Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Circle scissors, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punch, lemon tart twill (PTI), coffee sleeve

Stamps:  Delightful and Delicious (Verve)