So Happy to be Canadian

This card was inspired by this weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly.  Since it is getting close to the Queen's Jubilee, and also the Olympics, their idea was to use either your national colours or the colours of the UK.  I thought this works out well since Prince Charles and his wife Camilla just finished a visit to Canada this week, and they even visited my province. For this reason I decided to go with Canadian colours red and white.

Once I decided on red and white I thought I should probably use a maple leaf image as well, but after searching through my stamps I realized I didn't have one.  And I call myself Canadian!  So I decided to carve my own.  I made three sizes, but only two made it on to this project.  Thats OK, Canada Day is coming soon so I can use the larger one then.

Since my last few cards were birthday cards I decided to make a thank you card this time. I started with a red cardstock base, cut and folded to the A2 size.  I chose some Bazzill dictionary print (which I love!!), and although I usually mat patterns I decided not to for this one as I like the contrast of the gray hue against the red.  I used a distress tool around the edges of the pattern (lightly as the paper is very  thin) and adhered it to the card base.  I added a piece of black ribbon around the middle of the card, making sure the ends were adhered underneath where the main panel would go so that they don't show on the inside of the card.   A second piece of ribbon was tied around the first piece to make the bow.

I decided to make some handmade scrunchy flowers since the thin dictionary paper works so well with this technique. You can read about the first ones I made here.  I used four circles for each flower, and  since I didn't have any jewel brads left I just used simple mini-brads for the flower centers, to which I adhered rhinestones later.  Once put together I sponged the 'petals' with red ink, and sprayed the flowers with red, white, and gold shimmer sprays for sparkle. Adhering the jewels was the last step.

I cut the main focal panel out of white cardstock and stamped a swirly flourish stamp several times on one side.  I stamped three leaves (one medium, two small) on the other side of the panel, turning the stamps each time for interest, and allowing the images to go off the edge.  I chose the sentiment from one of my new My Minds Eye sets, and I thought it worked because it is the same font that is on the dictionary paper.  I chose to stamp it in black to make it stand out from all of the red.  Once the sentiment was added to the center of the panel, I added some Sakura glitter pen to the images, used a distressing tool on all four sides of the panel, and added the flowers with Zots.  The panel was adhered over the ribbon with foam squares.

For the inside of the card I stamped the sentiment on a small piece of white.  The sentiment is actually inside of an oval.  Since the white scrap I used wasn't very big I positioned the stamp so that the sentiment was nestled into the corner and the oval went off the edge of the piece.  Once stamped I added some Sakura glitter pen and distressed the edges with a distressing tool.  I matted the white with more dictionary paper and added this to the inside of the card.

Red and white is not a colour combination I usually turn to, but I'm thinking I should more often.  I also like the idea of keeping things simple by using one bright colour along with black, white, and some neutrals.  This card has given me some ideas for future cards which I am sure you will see soon!  I love how this card turned out, it's patriotic without being obvious about it, and I keep trying to think of someone I need to thank just so I can give it to them!  :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. Lets Ink It Up - Bling
2. Creative Craft Challenges - Distressing
3. Party Time Tuesdays - Vintage or Shabby Chic
4. Deep Ocean - Swirls
5. Creative Card Crew - Dimension
6. Papertake Weekly - True Colours
7. Ribbon Carousel - Fancy Flowers

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Real Red, Whisper White, Bazzill Basics Antique Dictionary Page.

Stamps:  My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy True Blue Stamps, Lost & Found Two Breeze Dream, Lost & Found Two Rosy Everything.  Hand carved maple leaves.

Ink:  Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink Lipstick Red.  Memories Black.  Smooch Spritz Cherry Ice, Shimmerz Paints Shimmerings Goldie Lox, Babies Breath. Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star pen.

Embellishments:  Recollections Mini Brads, Stampin' Up Jewels Basic Rhinestones, black satin ribbon from stash.

Adhesives:  Tombo Mono Permanent Adhesive Runner, Zots, foam squares.

Tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, Tonic distressing tool, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Small, We R Memory Keepers brad setter, bone folder.

Send a friend flowers.

When I made the Mother's Day card last week, I loved those little flowers and I decided I would do something similar, only more, on today's card.

I started with some papers from American Crafts Hello Sunshine collection - perfect for spring - and die cut two sizes of circles from my nestabilites set.  I also cut some circles out of plain white cardstock and sponged all of the circles with coordinating shades of ink.  I assembled the flowers with some cute little button shaped brads.  The brads were actually all white, but I wished that they were in colour, so I coloured them with my Bic markers.  Once the flowers were assembled I sprayed them with some Shimmerz spray so that they would sparkle a bit.

Once the flowers were finished I chose a green shade for the card base, but I decided that the background should be more neutral, so I chose some brown and kraft sheets from the same Hello Sunshine collection.  I put the darker shade in the background and drew a vase on the lighter shade.  Once I cut out the vase I attached some ribbon, and the cute sentiment, which I of course added some Sakura glitter pen to (what card would be complete without it these days, lol). 

My card was almost finished but I felt it needed something else, so I added some faux stitching with a white gel pen.  I thought it tied in nicely with the pattern on the darker brown background.

I decorated the inside with a space for a note and some tiny flower stamps in coordinating colours, Sakura glitter pen, and more faux stitching.

Its funny, but I think every new card I make is my new favourite, lol.  :)

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

1. Catered Crop - Quickfire in stitches
2. Creative Stamp Friends - Spring
3. Everybody Art - Friendship
4. Simon Says Challenge - Bingo (Flowers, Glitter, Brads)
5. Ribbon Carousel - Anything Goes
6. Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Certainly Celery, Whisper White.  American Crafts Hello Sunshine Collection - Fluttery, Dainty, Frolic, Gossamer

Stamps:  American Crafts Laughter, Fun.

Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink  Chestnut Roan, Lime Pastel, Dark Peony, Creamy Brown, Rouge, Yellow Citrus, French Blue, Alabaster.

Markers:  Bic Mark It Summer Melon, Margarita, Green, Blue Skies Blue, Fandango Pink.  Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Star.  Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

Sprays:  Shimmerz Paints Baby's Breath, Goldie Lox.

Embellishments:  Recollections brads, American Crafts satin ribbon.

Adhesives:  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive runner, Glue Dots.

Tools:  Paper Trimmer, Scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Craft Pick, sponge, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.

A Cup of Tea for Mom

This latest card seemed to take forever to make because I didn't know where I was going with it, but I love it!

Since so many challenge blogs are having Mother's Day challenges due to the UK holiday, I thought it might be fun to get a Mother's Day card done early (Mother's Day is not until May in North America).  One thing that is pretty consistent in both my Mom's and my husband's Mom's kitchens is if there isn't already a pot of tea on the stove there will be one shortly.  For this reason I started with the Kitch collection of stamps from The Girls' Paperie and used the teapot as a focal point.

I wanted to make something soft and pretty so I thought a combination of cream, brown, and pink would be pretty.  I also decided to haul out some of Pink Paislee's Mistables paper since I haven't played with it since before Christmas and I was in an inky kind of mood.

I first cut the mistables to the size I wanted then used Ranger's Inksentials blending tool to add several colours of Colorbox chalk ink.  I love that stuff!  Once that was done I sprayed a variety of mists on it to add a bit of interest and sparkle.  I was using Shimmerz Paints brand, which is very translucent, so the effect of using them is very subtle, but it is very pretty.

I decided to use a strip of Basic Grey patterned paper along the middle, which I also embossed with a dots folder and inked the edges.  I stamped the teapot on a circle of cream cardstock which had been die cut and embossed with a Nestabilites circle, then inked with the pink and brown ink before the die was removed.  I really like the effect.  Once I whip stitched the strip of patterned paper at one end, and added some ribbon and twine, I added the circle with some foam squares.

I thought some butterflies would look pretty in the mix, but I don't have a small enough butterfly stamp, or punch.  I do have some small butterfly stencils however, so I used the Ranger tool to blend pink and brown ink over the stencil onto kraft cardstock.  I cut the butterflies out, and decided they needed something more, so I added some Sakura glitter pen.  After adhering them with glue dots, and popping their wings up on foam squares, I thought they still looked bare so I added some pink gems.

While at this point there was quite a bit going on on the card I still felt like it needed more so I decided to make some paper flowers.  I didn't come up with this on my own, I saw it somewhere but I can't recall where.  I wish I could so I could give credit!  Anyway, these were super easy.

I started by die cutting several circles (each flower has three) from the plain cream and the patterned kraft.  I inked the edges of each and pierced the middle with a piercing tool to use as a guide, and also to make adding the brad easier later.  I then just cut slits going from the outside edge almost to the middle pierced hole.

Once all circles were cut in this manner I assembled them with a brad and with the flower placed between my finger and the edge of my bone folder I curled the edges a bit. Once they were adhered in place I bent the top layers up and manipulated the petals until they looked like I wanted them too.  They turned out beautifully so I will definitely be using this technique again, I already have an idea - I just have to find the time to execute it!

I didn't have a sentiment stamp to use for the inside so I hand wrote a sentiment included in the back of Spring 2012 Stampers' Sampler Take Ten (one of my favourites).    I love this saying:

I've decided to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Allsorts Challenge Blog - Three in a row.
2. Catered Crop - Recipie swap in stitches.
3. Lets Ink It Up - Show us your flowers
4. The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Spring colours.
5. Pile it On - Up in the Air
6. Moving Along With the Times - Special lady 
7. Basic Grey Challenge - Mother's Day/ Girlie 
8. The Ribbon Carousel - Baker's Twine 
9. Deep Ocean Challenge - Butterflies 
10. Creative Card Crew - Vintage 
11. Papertake Weekly - For the girls or Mum
12. The Pink Elephant - Get krafty
13. Creative Stamp Friends - Spring
14. Stampin' for the Weekend - Shabby chic photo Inspiration  

  15.  Cardabilities - Sketch #51 

 The Supplies I used are as follows:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla.  Recollections Kraft.  Basic Grey Basics Kraft 6x6 Paper Pad.  Pink Paislee Mistables.

Stamps:  The Girls' Paperie Kitch clear stamps.

Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan, Rouge, Lipstick Red, Creamy Brown, Alabaster.  Shimmerz Paints Baby's Breath, Cotton Candy, Heavy Metal, Plum Pudding.

Markers:  Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers Chocolate Chip.  Sakura Gelly Roll pen Clear Stardust.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Adhesive Runner permanent, Scotch Quick Dry, Glue Dots, Skor Tape, foam squares.

Embellishments:  Creative Charm Vintage brads, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss Baker's Twine Cream Soda, American Crafts satin ribbon, pink gems from stash, cream thread from stash.

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Cuttlebug embossing folder Seeing Spots, paper trimmer, scissors, bone folder, paper piercer, sewing needle, Tim Holtz ruler (for piercing before sewing), Plaid Folk Art Peel & Stick painting stencils.