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Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Well, long time no see!  Things have been busy around here with the little one, but I’m loving it.  We have such a busy schedule with exercise classes, yoga, and lots of long walks, I’ve had very little crafting time… so I feel as though I need an excuse to get back in the craft room and get crafty!  (It helps that the hubby is going to be off for a while so he can help watch the little one while I craft a bit)  I’ve decided to attempt to become a Kraftin’ Kimmie Krafty Guest!  I’ve left it to the last minute (no surprise there), but I really hope I’m asked!  I’ve LOVED Kraftin’ Kimmie stamps ever since I’ve laid eyes on them, and have built up quite the collection over the last year and a half – in case you couldn’t tell by all the KK images I use on my cards.  They are such fun to colour, and there’s one for pretty much every occasion.  The challenge to enter into the Krafty Guest contest was to use our favourite KK stamp, but since I have so many favourites, I decided to use my most favourite Halloween one, which is Witchypoo!  Here is my card in all its glory:

Witchypoo

I coloured her up with Copics, and layered her over some sparkly glitter paper.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the bats, the graveyard, and the tag.  The skull was covered with some Liquid Applique which gives it the puffy look.  The patterned paper is from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look, and wish me luck!

Happy Halloween,

Steph

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Kraftin’ Kimmie’s “No Embellies” Challenge

This week’s challenge over at Kraftin” Kimmie stamps is to create a card with no embellishments, and it just so happens that I made one! (UPDATE – of course, I did not get a chance to upload this before the deadline, so I wasn’t eligible for the challenge… but that’s ok, taking care of the little one is the first priority nowadays :))

Wedding Card for Erin

My good friend, Erin’s, sister was getting married last weekend so she requested a wedding card.  I pulled out two of my favourite KK stamps, Chester and Posy.  I coloured them to look (almost) exactly like how the bride and groom would look on the big day – yes, the bride wore red!  I have been told that she really liked the card, which is excellent!  I apologize for the terrible picture – I was busy with the baby, so the hubby was playing photographer, and the lighting was not all that good… obviously. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Until next time… toodles!

S.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

He FINALLY Arrived!

web3

After being 11 days overdue, and with a not so gentle nudge from the doctor, my beautiful little man, Nathan arrived on July 4, weighing in at 8lbs, 2oz.  I have to say, I was extremely pleased with my delivery day, and childbirth was not that bad (that’s with my new best friend “epidural”).  All in all it was just an amazing experience, and I am loving being a mom!  Needless to say, my crafting moments have been few and far between, but that’s ok.  

This newborn photo was taken by Tracy at Creative Simplicity Photography, and is copyrighted to her.

Toodles,

Steph

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Thank You Cards Part 2

Here’s one last set of Thank You cards that I made for baby gifts.  I decided that I should get a head start on them before the baby came, since I probably wouldn’t have time afterwards.  The problem though, is that we are not finding out the sex until the baby is born.  Therefore, I had to be a little creative in my colour scheme.  What I decided to do was to just simply use the colours of the nursery.  We painted the nursery the colour of Stampin’ Up’s “Certainly Celery” cardstock.  I simply took a piece of the cardstock to Home Depot and they matched it perfectly!  I even held the cardstock up to the wall once it was painted and it’s incredible how perfectly they match!  The bedding is from Pottery Barn:

img68m

and has some yellow, brown, and khaki in it, so I compared the colours to Stampin’ Up cardstock and matched it to So Saffron, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, and Crumb Cake.  I then took my Fox and Friends stamp set – the first stamp set I bought from Stampin’ Up, and one of my absolute favourites, and I made this “decorative paper” using the above mentioned colours:

Fox and Friends

Next, I chopped it all up – into 5” x 3 3/4” pieces.  I also cut up the Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, and Crumb Cake cardstock to 5 1/4” x 4”.  Layered the decorative paper on top of the plain cardstock, and adhered it all together.  Here’s a look at the final pieces:

Fox and Friends Thank You Certainly Celery

Fox and Friends Thank You Crumb Cake

Fox and Friends Thank You Chocolate Chip

Fox and Friends Thank You Early Espresso

Fox and Friends Thank You So Saffron

The sentiment is from a stamp I bought in the $1.50 section at Michaels, it’s adhered to a piece of Early Espresso cardstock.  I used some scraps to create the little scallop under the sentiment, popped that piece up over top of a piece of ribbon.  

The most time consuming and tedious part of creating these cards was stamping the images onto the whisper white cardstock – it took a long time!  Once that was over, everything else was easy to whip up.  I mass produced about 64 of them.  I’m not saying I’ll have to send out that many, I just wanted to make sure I had enough cards on hand that I won’t have to make any more of them!

Well that’s it for now, thanks for stopping by to have a look!

Steph

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Thank You Cards

I knew way back that I would be having a baby shower before giving birth, and I also figured some of my students would be giving me gifts for the baby as well.  So, I decided while I still had time, to make a bunch of thank you cards for any baby gifts I received before hand. 

Thank Yous

I used the same colours to colour the Stamping Bella image, “Preggo Circle” as Elaine Hughes did here.   I paired it with some light purple cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug in a Cuttlebug baby-themed embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Stampin’ Up’s “Short and Sweet” set; I cut it out with their Modern Label punch.  The ribbon is some grosgrain I picked up at Wal Mart.  The two scallop circles were cut with my Life Style Crafts dies. 

Luckily, Canada Post is up and running again, so I was able to pop these into the mailbox early last week.  They should be hitting their destinations sometime early this week. 

Thank YOU for stopping by!  Have a great Tuesday!

Steph

Monday, July 4, 2011

Nesting?

As this post goes up, I’m hopefully at the hospital, well on my way to delivering the little bundle of joy I’ve been “cooking” for the last 9+ months :)  I took some time yesterday to organize my card collection.  They had all been thrown into this plastic box with no rhyme or reason, which was not the best method for figuring out which types of cards I have, and which type I need to make more of.  So, I came up with this way of organizing:

Organizing

I used my Life Style Crafts circle and scallop dies to make the tabs, which I then scored and folded in half.  The white cardstock was cut at 5 1/2” by 5 1/4”.  I then ran the paper through a Martha Stewart punch along the 5 1/2” length.  The scallop and plain circle were then folded over the top of the white cardstock and stamped with the heading for that section.  I used all Stampin’ Up Stamps for the labelling – mostly from the “Teeny Tiny Wishes” set, but a couple are from their “Short and Sweet” set.  

I’m liking my new system – now I know what kinds of cards I have and they are all within easy reach. 

Thanks for checking in!  Hope you have a good start to your week!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Card Class – Week 1… part 2

On Friday, Jennifer and Kristina added 6 more colour combinations to inspire us in our card making.  I used the fourth combination on this card here:
Card Class 2011 Week 1 b
The image is Birthday Friends from Kraftin’ Kimmie – I’ve used it a lot lately!  I coloured it with Copics, and used some Liquid Applique for the icing – I highly recommend that if you are using Liquid Applique, you let it fully dry before taking the heat gun to it.  This allows for a much smoother puffed look.
The cardstock used is all SU – Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, and Regal Rose (which is a retired colour).  The paper is from a K&Company stack. 
This is my last post for today :)  Happy Sunday everyone!
Steph

Card Class – Week 1

week1-colors
This year, since I didn’t think I’d have enough to do over the next month, I decided to sign up for Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner’s Summer Card Camp.  This week, we had an awesome colour combination and lots of inspiring samples to get the creative juices flowing.  I love the work of both of these ladies and decided that even though I might not have that much time to create over the next little while, I’m always up for learning new techniques and filing them away for later.
Here is what I came up with for this week’s challenge:
Card Class 2011 Week 1
All of the stamps I used are Hero Arts.  I stamped everything in Stampin’ Up’s Whisper White Craft ink and clear embossed.  I used Crushed Concord, Worn Lipstick, and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks for the background and the larger flower on the front.  All I did was sponge them on with some makeup sponges.  The sentiment is Hero Arts and is stamped in Crushed Concord.  I embossed it too.  I used Nestabilities Dies for the sentiment panels, and the background one was sponged with Broken China distress ink.  The ribbon is from my stash. 
I must admit, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I saw the colour combination, but I’m happy with what I came up with.  I really love the technique of embossing, then sponging with distress inks.  You can come up with some amazing colour combinations and looks with these inks. 
Thank you for stopping by!  I’m going to relax and enjoy my potential last day of non-parenthood!  I’m being induced tomorrow, and if all goes well, there should be a baby sometime over the course of the day tomorrow!  So excited!
Steph

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Baby Shower Gift Bag

Lately I have really enjoyed decorating plain gift bags myself.  I’ve done them for mother’s day, birthdays, and for a friend’s baby shower gift.  Here is what I did:

Baby Shower Gift Bag 2

And a close-up of just the decorative piece:

Baby Shower Gift Bag

I used the stamp set “Baby Bundle” by Stampin’ Up, and I cased the look of it from the 2010-2011 catalogue.  I coloured it with copics.  The onesie on the front is actually popped up at the bottom with some dimensionals.  The sentiment is from the same set.  The embossed background is a Cuttlebug folder, and the border I used is a Tim Holtz die.  The cardstock is all SU – Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, and So Saffron: a colour combination I got from the colour coach. 

These bags are so easy to make and make the gift that much more personal. 

Well, thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Steph

Monday, June 27, 2011

Happy Birthday Doug!

Today is my brother’s birthday.  And, although it’s still early, it’s not looking as though he will get a niece or nephew to share his birthday with him.  I guess my little one wants his/her own special day :) 

We celebrated Dougie’s birthday yesterday, as I mentioned in my post – but I thought I’d post pictures of his card and gift on his birthday today.  Here is what I made for him:

Happy Birthday Dougie 2011

Like I said on Saturday, I love this stamp!  Poor Miles overindulged and is paying the price!  I coloured him up with copics – very similar to the one I posted on Saturday.  I made this cake “orange flavoured” as well, since it was Dougie that wanted the orange cake way back when.  The sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments

Here is the card and the gift bag:

Happy Birthday Dougie 2011 2

I found the plain gift bags at the local dollar store, then just created the card front to glue onto it.  The image on the bag is also from Kraftin’ Kimmie, it’s found here

So, I wish Doug a happy birthday, even though he has to work :( 

Thanks to YOU for stopping by.  Feel free to leave me a comment!

Steph

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom’s birthday, and unfortunately for her, she didn’t get a grandchild today to share her birthday with her.  That did however mean that my family was able to come over for a BBQ.  We celebrated both my mom’s birthday and my brother’s birthday (his is tomorrow).  Maybe he will get a niece or nephew to share his birthday with him!  It was  a great evening with beautiful weather so we sat outside while Dexter chased after the ball all night – which would explain why he came in and immediately went to bed!  It was a great night, that’s for sure.

For her special day, I made this card:

 Happy Birthday Mom 2011 2

The paper is Elegant Eggplant and Certainly Celery by Stampin’ Up.  I stamped the Celery with the swirls from the Baroque Motifs Stampin’ Up set, and embossed it with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.  The butterflies are all from a clear stamp set from Hero Arts.  I took a Copic colouring course at my local scrapbook store a few weeks ago with Sherrie Siemens and we coloured one butterfly in these colours.  I bought the stamp set, and decided to colour more of them the same, and use them on a card for my mom.  I just love them and they take no time at all to whip up.  The colours used are B21, 24, 29, V12, 15, 17, BV0000, and G24.  I cut them out and also used the Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on them to give them that super shine.  They are attached with glue dots.  The sentiment is from a SU set, and it’s stamped on a piece that was cut from a Nestabilities tag set. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Steph

Saturday, June 25, 2011

To My Fellow Teachers

I’ll be thinking of you this week as you wrap up the school year.  I can’t believe it is already over!  Each year seems to go by faster and faster.  This past school year I worked closely with two fabulous ladies.  We each brought our own areas of strength to help one another, and learned so much from each other to help us in our own classrooms.  I’m truly thankful I had these ladies to help me out this year.  As part of a little year end treat for them, I created them each a card.

Here they are:

Teacher 2011

and…

Teacher 2 2011

Oh I’m so in love…

I used MFT’s You Make the Grade stamp, along with their Clearly Sentimental About Teaching set.  The flowers were made using this new die from Spellbinders (which I mentioned in my post yesterday):

IMG_3216 IMG_3215

Once I cut them out, I ran them through my cuttlebug in Stampin’ Up’s square lattice embossing folder.  The buttons are from Basic Grey.  The papers are Cosmo Cricket’s Circa 1934

I certainly hope these lovely ladies enjoy their cards and treats!  And I hope you enjoy your day!

Steph

Friday, June 24, 2011

Cute Card Thursday Challenge

Well Kraftin’ Kimmie (can you tell her stamps are my favourite???) is sponsoring this week’s Cute Card Thursday Challenge, and I really liked the layout, so I decided to participate.  Friends of ours had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and we are seeing them tomorrow, so I put together this card:

Cute Card Thursday June 24, 2011

I used Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Diana stamp, along with the bottle and rattle accessory stamps.  The bear is from a Stampin’ Up set.  I coloured them all up with my copics, and added some Glossy Accents to the bottles and rattle.  The flowers were cut out with a Nestabilities set I recently purchased.  It has become one of my new favourites!  I use it all the time.  I embossed the flowers with my Stampin’ Up lattice embossing folder.  They are held together with some Basic Grey brads.  The paper is from a baby pack I picked up at Wal-Mart… not sure of the company right now, but I think it’s K&Company.  The turquoise is from a Recollections pack of cardstock and the pink is Pretty In Pink from Stampin’ Up. 

Thanks for checking this out!  Have a great day!

Steph

It’s About Time!

Hello!  It’s sure been a while.  Not that I haven’t been busy crafting, I just haven’t really had the opportunity to photograph and post some of my creations.  Hopefully over the next little while I can find some time to get some of these creations of mine posted.  Not sure how well that will go since the little creation I’ve been working on for the past 9 months or so is due to make his/her appearance any day now!  That’s right, my hubby and I have a little one on the way.  My due date was yesterday, so here’s hoping it happens anytime.  I am ready to go!  Until then, I am just doing little things here and there, laundry, chores, etc… passing the time.  I was fortunate to get a lot of crafting done earlier in the week – I finished my thank  you cards for gifts once the baby is born, and I was busy making some birthday cards today.  I’ve decided to post on of today’s creations for Kraftin’ Kimmie’s weekly challenge this week which is a card for a little one.  Here is what I came up with:

 

Kraftin Kimmie Challenge June 24 2011

I used Kimmie’s Birthday Cake Overdose stamp by Steven Leary – I absolutely love this little guy!  He’s coloured up with copics, and I added some Glossy Accents to the icing to shine it up a bit (oops, I just noticed I forgot to gloss up the icing around his mouth).  I specifically coloured the cake orange.  My brother’s birthday is this weekend, and I remember a long long time ago he wanted an orange flavoured cake for his birthday, which he got… oh memories!  The patterned papers are from a Cricut pad of paper I found at Wal-Mart.  The sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments set. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Steph

Friday, April 22, 2011

Hippity, Hoppity, Eater’s on Its Way!

Hello!  I am nicely settled in to a quiet Good Friday morning.  This week has been a hectic one at school, being both Holy Week and a short week.  Next week will be busy too, we are preparing for First Communion next weekend and it’s another short week!  Oh well.

So, cute story.  I am a first aid provider at school, and during recesses I have to stick around the office to fix up any cuts and scrapes, hand out ice for head injuries, etc… Well yesterday during last recess, I had to put the bunny boxes I made for my students out on their desks.  I had just finished up when I got called down to the office for first aid.  Well, the bell rang for the kids to come in, and I was stuck with 3 or 4 head bumps in the office.  By the time I got back to class, the kids had been in for a few minutes (I’m very fortunate that the teacher next door keeps an eye on them while I’m at the office).  Still, I half expected my students to be into their treats and find jelly beans all over the floor.  My suspicions were not at all relieved when I walked down the hall and saw the “lookout” at the door, turn and run into the class.  But man, oh man, was I ever impressed with them when I got to the door and they all came out from under their desks and called out “Happy Easter!”  It was the cutest surprise ever!  Man, I love my class. 

Anyways, this was the surprise that awaited them on their desks:

Bunnies On Parade

I got the recipe for these cuties from this link here.  I used basically the same sizes of circles, however I don’t own the Stampin’ Up “Wide Oval” punch, so I substituted with the smallest oval in the large oval nestability set.  Some of my circle sizes are a bit different too, I just used what I had. 

For the box itself, I used an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 sheet of paper but scored it at the same dimensions as Tammy did in her original found here

Inside each bunny, I stuffed some Easter grass, and a plastic egg with 8 jelly beans in them.  I included one of each colour and the following prayer:

Jelly Bean Prayer

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we made.

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for His hour of sorrow.

Pink is for our new tomorrow!

An egg full of jelly beans, colourful and sweet,

Is a prayer, is a promise, is a very special treat!

I have no idea where I got the original version of this poem from, I think it was handed to me by another teacher at some point over the years. 

Needless to say, the kids loved their bunny boxes, I just hope they all survived the trip home!

Here is a close up of each colour:

Bunny Brown

Bunny Grey

Bunny White

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Steph

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Happy Sunday

It seems as though the weather is FINALLY starting to warm up in this neck of the woods.  My hubby and I spent yesterday morning outside, cleaning up after Dexter (we have not been picking up after him all winter, so the backyard was a BIG mess), raking, dethatching, raking, and finally fertilizing our yard.  I even got the flower beds raked out, so I am quite pleased about that.  A lot of the perennials are starting to poke their little heads out of the soil, and the tulips are getting bigger. I even noticed my hydrangeas are coming back to life.  After such a busy Saturday, we look forward to a bit more of a relaxed Sunday.  There’s a few things I need to do around the house, but otherwise it should be nice and quiet.

This card I’m going to show you today, is yet another one made with K&Company’s “Poppy Seed” pad of paper, and the same image from Friday’s post.  I love that I can do so much with one pad and the same stamp.  I just changed up the sentiment.

Happy Anniversary

This piece of designer paper is so cool because the flowers are raised and textured.  I coloured the flower image with the same colours as mentioned in Friday’s post.  The sentiment here comes from Stampin’ Up’s “Teeny Tiny Wishes” set. 

Well, thanks for stopping by.  I hope to get into the craft cabana at some point today to do a bit of crafting.  We’ll see though.

Have a great day!

Steph

Friday, April 8, 2011

Simple Get Well Soon Card

Good morning!  Not often do I have the opportunity to post on a weekday morning!  I’m sitting here on the couch, sipping my delicious peach, banana, mango smoothie, watching CH Morning Live, and have finished reading all of my google reader subscriptions for the day.  Today is a PD day, so I don’t have to prepare anything for my class, therefore I figured, why not post on my blog?!? 

This is a simple card that was also created with the Poppy Seed paper collection by K&Company. 

Get Well Wishes   

The flower image is from Kaiser Craft – my local scrapbook store had a bunch of mini sets by them up by the cash for only a few bucks.  I coloured it with my copics: BV0000, BV000, BV0, BV02, V04, YG0000, YG03, YG05.  The sentiment is from Stampin’ Up’s Teeny Tiny Wishes – a set I wanted for a while, but didn’t want to spend almost $50 on.  I finally bought it when I held my Stampin’ Up party and man, had I known how much I would use the set, I would have bought it sooner!  It’s a great set with a sentiment for practically everything.  I mounted both the image and the designer paper layers on a dark purple cardstock from Michaels.  I don’t know about you, but I like using the cheaper cardstock for layers because you only see such a small amount of it. 

Well, I better get moving around here.  I have some staff meetings to attend!  Have a great day!

Steph

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Simple Set Part 2

I spent some time up in my craft room yesterday creating more simple cards with the K&Comapny “Poppy Seed” 12x12 designer paper pad.  I love this pad!  Like I said yesterday, the colours are so pretty, especially for spring!  Here are three more cards I made in this set:

Poppy Parade Happy Birthday

Poppy Parade Happy Birthday 2

Poppy Parade Happy Birthday 3

So I stamped the present image on three different patterned papers, and cut each part out.  Then I mixed and matched at was able to make 3 different piles of presents.  I combined each with a different pieces of patterned paper and viola!  All stamps used are Stampin’ Up, although I know the gift stamp was in a set from last year’s Saleabration, so it is retired. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a great weekend!

Steph

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Simple Set Part 1

Hello all!  It’s been a while since my last post, I’ve had a pretty busy couple of weeks with lots going on around here.  We have a couple of plans for this weekend, but otherwise it’s going to be a bit of taking it easy and hanging out with friends. 

My mom requested  a set of cards from me that she could give to a friend of hers as a birthday gift.  I bought a pack of K&Company “Poppy Seed” paper from Wal-Mart and knew that I wanted to use this paper to make a coordinating set.  I LOVE this paper – the colour combinations are fantastic, it’s 2 sided, there’s some glitter sheets and textured sheets, and there’s a bunch of papers with big designs (it is a 12x12 pack), that can be used alone as the focal image on the front of a card.  Case in point is this one here:

Thank You

The image was trimmed to 5x3.75”, and matted to a Bermuda Bay (retired Stampin’ Up) piece of cardstock measuring 5.25x4”.  The ribbon is from Wal Mart, and the sentiment is one from Stampin’ Up – I believe it’s in the Warm Words set.  I punched it out with the modern label punch.  I punched a piece of purple cardstock with the modern label punch, and cut it in half, mounting that to the back of the sentiment to make it stick out on the ends like that.  It was such a simple card, and so easy to put together, but I love the patterned paper.  I think I’m going to use the rest of it to make a set of thank you cards for myself. 

I will post more cards from this set over the next little while.  I hope you enjoy!

Have a great day!

Steph

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Birthday Weekend Part Deux

Well last night’s dinner was fabulous.  It was nice to get together with the crew, since it’s been a while.  Today, we’re taking it a bit easy, I have a few things I need to do for school tomorrow, and a couple of birthday cards I’d like to get made.  In continuing with my weekend of birthday card posts, here is the card I made last weekend:

Happy Birthday Uncle Al 

I kept it pretty simple.  I stamped Joanie on the Neenah cardstock, then masked her and stamped the Jukebox.  I coloured it all with Copic Markers.  I used Elaine’s version of the jukebox as my inspiration for colouring this one.  The coloured cardstock is Stampin’ Up’s Cherry Cobbler and Bermuda Bay (which I know is retired).  I absolutely love my colouring job here.  I’m still trying to get the hang of colouring with Copics, and although I’ve improved a lot, I still have a long way to go.  I enjoy checking out blogs such as Elaine’s (she posts the colours she uses and has a couple tutorials), and Sherrie Siemens (who also posts colouring tutorials).  Seeing the colour combinations others use and the effects they achieve really help me figure out what colours to use together. 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Steph

Copics used: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, B0000, B00, R20, Hair: YR0000, Y21, Y26, E35, Clothing: B0000, B93, B95, B97, B99, R43, R46, R59, Jukebox: E31, E33, E35, E37, E59, E50, E53, C1, C3, C5, C7, R40, R43, R59, Blender Pen

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A Happy Birthday Weekend!

Well I’m not one to carry on a celebration for as long as I can… or perhaps I am.  Anyone who knows me will remember our wedding :)  Anyways, this is the weekend before my birthday and we have dinners each night with different people to celebrate.  To celebrate these festivities I will share with you a couple of birthday cards I’ve made for other people over the weekend.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Lyndsey

This beauty was made using a regular A2 fold, then folding the front back on itself.  I used Stampin’ Up’s Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, and Early Espresso papers (it’s a combination I got off the SU colour coach).  The flowers were cut out with my SU 5 Petal Punch and Boho Blossoms punch and run through the cuttlebug in my SU embossing folder (can’t remember the name of it).  The stamped flowers are from a Hero Arts set, and they are stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink.  The stem is from a Bo Bunny stamp set I bought on clearance at my local scrapbook store.  I can’t take any credit for the layout or design of this card.  My SU demonstrator made this card with us at the card party I had a few weeks ago.  I love it so much, I’ve done it in a few different colours with several different sentiments on it. 

Well, I better get ready for Birthday Dinner #1.  Have a great day!

Steph

Friday, March 18, 2011

Goodbye March Break

Well, it’s been a good week off, I got lots done around the house – all those little jobs that I just haven’t had the opportunity to get to. I finished the week off by cleaning the house today so that I can relax and enjoy the weekend. I then had a little bit of time to spend in the craft cabana before I made dinner and I put together this card:

Say Hello

I think my favourite part of this image is my colouring of the grass. I wanted to try something different rather than just shading it with copics, so I used a bit of a flicking technique that I also use when I’m colouring hair.

The image is a Kraftin’ Kimmie one, her name is Springtime Maisie, and I think she is super cute. I coloured her up with Copics, and cut her out. I cut the oval and scalloped oval out with my nestabilities, and used the My Favorite Things cloud die to cut out my stencils for the clouds, which I sponged with Stampin’ Up’s Bashful Blue ink. The sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie, the flower is from a punch I have. I used a Stampin’ Up embossing folder to emboss the background.

*UPDATE* I originally made this card for last week's Kraftin' Kimmie challenge (Anything Goes), but by the time I went to link it, the challenge was closed... I woke up this morning and checked the Challenge Blog and wouldn't you know it! This week's theme is "Put a Button On It"! Well, I did that! Looks like I'm nice and super early for a challenge, for once.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend!

Steph

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sending You Some Sunshine!

Wherever you are here’s hoping the sun is shining! Today started out beautifully here, but over the course of the day turned dull and dreary and rainy. After such a beautiful week it stinks that the weekend has to be so yucky. Oh well, at least it’s warming up. I’m sure ready for winter to finally disappear. Here is my attempt to make this day a little brighter…

Sending Sunshine

I created this beauty for Kraftin’ Kimmie’s “Scoopy Scallops” challenge this week. I used this cute little Miles image from artist Steven Leary, and coloured him with my Copics. (BV0000, BV000, BV00, B0000, B00, Y0000, Y02, E42, E43, R20), and paired it with some My Mind’s Eye paper. The yellow cardstock was die cut with my large scallops die from My Favorite Things. I cut a number of the scallops and just layered them one on top of the other. The circle was cut with my nestabilities. The paper was so thick that I had to cut it from the front and the back in order to get the circle cut all the way through. The sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimme – I believe it’s the beach sentiment set.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend!

Steph

Friday, February 25, 2011

A Little Something “Just For You”

Hello! Happy Friday to you all. After a busy, short week, it’s nice to be getting back into weekend mode. I came home from work tonight and made a card for Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Weekly Challenge. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for it, but I grabbed a new stack of Basic Grey paper (Hopscotch) for some inspiration, then chose this Maisie image because she’s so super cute and Springy. Lastly, I followed the sketch laid out by Elaine. This here is the fruit of my labour:

Just For You

Maisie is coloured with the following Copics: Maisie: E42, E43, G82, R83, R85, Flowers: R81, R83, Y23, G82, Grass: G82, G94, Sky: B0000, B00. Cardstock: Pear Pizzaz and So Saffron from Stampin’ Up. Patterned Paper: Basic Grey “Hopscotch” 6x6 pad. Brads are also Basic Grey. The ribbon I bought at Wal-Mart.

I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Friday, February 18, 2011

This One Was A Challenge!

This week’s Kraftin’ Kimmie challenge was a doozy!  The challenge was to use three main colours, two patterned papers, ribbon and a button.  Whew!  That’s a lot.  Now, let me backtrack a bit to how I ended up coming up with the idea for my response to this challenge…

I was on my way home from work tonight when I thought I’d stop by the mailbox to check if perhaps my new Kraftin’ Kimmie stamps had arrived… and low and behold they were there!  I came home and mounted them right away and as I was cutting them out, I had an idea!  I’ve made a few spinner cards before, using the truck from Stampin’ Up’s “Loads of Love” set. So… I thought that I could perhaps use the wheels of Miles’ bike in this stamp to create a pretty cool spinner card.  Well, here is what I came up with!

Checking In

Miles is off to check in on his good friend, Maisie who is under the weather.  I coloured him with Copics: E42, E43, E47, B63, B66, W5, W7.  The patterned paper is from a Cosmo Cricket stack.  I used my Martha Stewart grass punch for the grass.  The window for his wheel spinners was created with the Stampin’ Up “Word Window” punch.  The sentiment is one of KK’s “Everyday Sentiments”. 

If I get a chance this weekend, I’ll post a bit of a tutorial on how to create these cool spinner cards, although there are a lot of tutorials out there in blogland! 

Well, I’d like to thank you for stopping by.  Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Thinking of You

Going through some more pictures taken a long time ago, I stumbled upon this one:

Thinking of You 2

I loved the colour combo that Michele Boyer used here, so I used the same colours on my image of Charlotte. I cut her out and mounted her to a circle cut out with a circle die. The background was created by simply cutting squares out of a piece of embossed cardstock and arranging them on white in a checkerboard pattern. The sentiment was one that I found at Michaels in the $1.50 bin.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please feel free to leave a comment before you go!

Steph

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

One More Valentine

Hello! Happy Flag Day to my fellow Canadians! Today’s card is a sample of the cards I made with my students yesterday. I had pre-cut everything for them and had their pieces in individual baggies so I didn’t have to spend time handing out small pieces. Here is what the card looked like:

Kid's Valentines

I cannot take any credit for this cute card since it was case’d from Mary Jo, who’s blog I stumbled upon somehow. The red cardstock was embossed with a Sizzix folder, the clouds were cut with the Cloud Die from My Favorite Things. The legs were created from SU’s Word Window punch, which I folded over to bend them (this was the hardest part for the kids to do). The wings, nose and hearts on the antennae are from SU’s three heart punch. The circles were cut using a set of circle dies I have. I think the googlie eyes are the perfect touch! I hope my students’ families enjoyed their cards – the students had a great time making them.

Thank you for stopping by, and have a great day!

Steph

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you!  I had a great V-Day at school with my students.  It’s always so much fun to watch them hand out their Valentines, then sit back and read them all – they get so excited, I love it!  We also made a cute little “Love Bug” card, but I forgot to take a picture of some of them before I sent them home!  I will take a picture of my sample and post it here later this week.  Here is a sample of the Valentines I made for my family:

Valentines 2011

Here is a close-up:

Valentine's Day 2011 2

I created this Valentine using the letterpress plate from Stampin’ Up – I can’t remember the exact name of it.  I coated it with Versamark before running it through my cuttlebug with a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock.  The dark brown is Early Espresso.  The red hearts were cut out with a cuttlebug die cut, and I sponged around the edges with Early Espresso ink, then embossed them with my favourite embossing powder – Ultra Thick Embossing powder (UTE).  I glued them to a piece cut out with a nestabilities die, which I punched with SU’s slot punch and ran the ribbon through.  It was a super simple card to make, but I really love it’s simplicity.

I wish you all a wonderful Valentine’s Day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Sunday, February 13, 2011

It Pays to Check Your Pictures Folder

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been going through my pictures on my computer which is rewarding me greatly. I’ve found several pictures that I took of cards I made, but didn’t get a chance to post. This one here I made for my husband’s cousin who had graduated from University back in June (that’s how long it’s been on my computer for). Enjoy!

Congrats Lyndsey

The image is from My Favorite Thing’s Pure Innocence line, and she is so super cute – as are all of the little girls and boys in this line. The sentiment is from Kraftin’ Kimmie’s Everyday Sentiments.

I hope you have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Paper: Basic Grey, Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry (Stampin’ Up), the green is from a pack from Michaels, Ribbon: from Wal-Mart, Other: Stampin’ Up Modern Label Punch, Slot Punch

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Happy Retirement

Happy Saturday Everyone! I’ve spent some of my morning here catching up with my DVR – specifically, my episodes of Days of Our Lives (my little guilty pleasure). Soon though, I’ll have to get up and get moving. There’s rooms to clean, laundry to do, some marking for school, and a bit of organization to do in my craft room – all before Hockey Day In Canada begins! :)

Last summer my husband’s uncle retired from our school board and of course we had a big party for him. I created this card in honour of his retirement:

Canham's Retirement

Chester is a Kraftin’ Kimmie image, that I coloured up with my Copic markers. Since I coloured him so long ago, I don’t remember which colours I used, but I’m pretty sure the browns are the E70’s. The papers are from a stack I bought a while ago at Michaels – there was a whole sheet of clocks that I cut the clock from. I distressed the edges with Tea Stain and Walnut distress ink. I did want to write out “Happy Retirement, It’s About Time!”, however I decided to go with this:

Canham's Retirement Inside

I typed out the sentiment and printed it on cardstock. The font is a free one, called “Minya Nouvelle” and it’s found here. The clock on the inside is the accessory stamp that came with Chester.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy your Saturday – however you end up spending it!

Steph

Friday, February 11, 2011

Kraftin’ Kimmie Challenge – Seeing Red

Hello all! Well I just finished off a rather busy week! I spent Thursday and Friday at a conference in Toronto called Reading For the Love of It. It was fantastic, and I went to so many workshops and picked up some fabulous ideas that I can’t wait to try out in my classroom. I was also fortunate to be offered 2 tickets to the Leafs game last night, so my hubby and I got a little hockey game date night – my favourite kind of date night! Unfortunately they lost, but what else is new??? I’m a die hard fan nonetheless, and will continue to support my team!

Now, onto other crafty things. This week’s Kraftin’ Kimmie Challange is “Seeing Red”. Here is my creation:

Seeing Red

I am using a stamp from January’s Kraftin’ Kimmie release, called Rebecca Raspberry. I coloured up Rebecca with my copics, and paper pieced her dress with a paper from Bo Bunny’s valentine stack – not sure of the proper name. All of the decorative paper is from this stack. I sparkled her raspberries up with some pink stickles. The hearts were punched with my SU three heart punch, and I sponged the edges with some Soft Suede ink. I clear embossed them to give them that super nice shine with some UTE – Ultimate Thick Embossing powder, which I believe is from Ranger (and is my favourite embossing powder).

I apologize for the bad lighting. With the busy week I’ve had, I didn’t get a chance to photograph this card until a little while ago and it was getting dark. I hope you like it anyway!

Until next time,
Steph