Belated Birthday Wishes

When I woke up yesterday morning and checked my email, I noticed the date.

April 29th.

My older brother's birthday.

And then I realized that I hadn't made or sent him a card. :(

I got called into work for the day, but in the evening, after taekwondo,  I sat down to make him a card, using the sketch challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles & the April Creative Weekly Challenge at the Crate Paper blog, where the challenge was to create a project using a Colour Collage: One Color in varying tints & shades.

Here's my card. I dug through my Crate Paper patterned paper scraps and found several shades of orange to work with.

I stamped a belated birthday sentiment from PTI's Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. The twist at Scrapping Everyday Miracles was to add washi tape: I covered a piece of cardstock with the orange and clear striped washi tape (MME) and diecut it with the Get A Handle on It banner die from PTI. The brads I added were MME (large chevron) and Teresa Collins (solid.)

Thanks for looking!

Everyday...

Today, I have a layout that I want to share. I created it for two different challenges.

The first is a sketch challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles where the challenge was to use the following Pages Maps sketch and the twist was to include washi tape on your project.

The second challenge is for the April Creative Weekly Challenge at the Crate Paper blog, where the challenge was to create a project using a Colour Collage: One Color in varying tints & shades.

Here's my layout. I had fun digging through my Crate Paper patterned paper and scraps looking for different shades of yellow to use.

I also used some Crate Paper diecuts from the new DIY collection. The washi tape I used runs across the centre of the layout (it's WRMK.) I made the tag using a Papertrey Ink die (tag sale #7) and added an Echo Park brad. I cut the title on my Silhouette. The enamel dots are MME. Behind those, I stamped the confetti image from PTI's Birthday Style stamp set.

I also used my Papertrey Ink Fabulous Frames, double-ended banner and get a handle on it dies. I stamped the word together from my PTI Wonderful Words Additions stamp set.

I had fun scrapbooking these photos that were taken at my nephew's wedding last year. I love how Austin and I can joke around and laugh together!

Thanks for looking!

PTI April Blog Hop

Once again, I'm participating in the monthly Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This month's challenge was indeed a challenge for me, as I like things straight.

I ended up making two projects for the hop. The first is a card that I was inspired by the bottom left hand photo above. I decided to pair my new PTI Big Ticket Basics stamp set & coordinating die with my Stars Border die and make a card for my son, Austin, who left for Alberta for his choir trip on Tuesday evening. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of the growth I'd seen in him this year and how I totally trusted him in going.

Here's my card:

I used PTI cardstock (classic kraft, orange zest and rustic cream) and some ocean tides felt for the star border. The sentiment "hooray for you" is from Wonderful Words Additions. The button and twine are PTI and the chipboard star is Pink Paislee, that I inked with aqua mist ink.

For my layout, I used Valerie Salmon's Sketch 136 at Got Sketch?, as well as my new PTI Big Ticket Basics stamp set & coordinating die and new Crate Paper patterned paper.

The chipboard letters are Studio Calico. I had lots of fun stamping the ticket border...

Jonah asked me why I hadn't checked off "my favorite." I said: "You know why." "Oh right,"  he replied, "because I'm your favourite." LOL!

My kids are going to have a lot of "best day ever" days in their life, because I LOVE this stamp and will be using it lots, I'm certain.

Thanks for looking!

Sunday Evening Post

Whew! What a weekend! It seems like we've hardly been home....

We had our Taekwondo Club Championship yesterday in Winnipeg and I'm so proud of how well my kids did! They each brought home a medal (for which I'm super happy for them!), but more than how well they competed, I'm so proud of the great attitudes they had and what a fabulous job they did volunteering. All three volunteered as runners, Sage & Jonah volunteered as time keepers and Austin corner judged sparring and got to referee as well. They were all just so on task and helpful.... it made me very proud!

So, this morning, before church, I made some cards to tell them this. For each one, I used Crate Paper patterned paper and journaling cards/tags, my PTI Wonderful Words Additions stamp set and this week's Make It Monday: Embossed Alpha Die Cuts.

Here's the one I made Austin. I added some PTI cardstock (vintage cream, ocean tides) and button twine. I used my PTI modern uppercase alphabet dies with black cardstock and heat embossed them-- it gave them a nice, glossy finish.

For Sage's card, I diecut the Wonderful Words "you" die and heat embossed it. I also added some Crate Paper chipboard flowers.

And here's Jonah's card. I used the same dies that I used on Austin's card, but this time in harvest gold.

When I gave Jonah is card and he read it, he said it brought tears to his eyes! So sweet!

I also managed to make a quick layout Friday evening, also using this week's Make It Monday: Embossed Alpha Die Cuts with my Wonderful Words stamps and die. I used My Mind's Eye patterned paper, a Crate Paper sticker (for the date) and PTI buttons and twine.

I heat embossed the stamped portion of my title with white embossing powder and the diecut portion with clear embossing powder.

Well, I feel as if I could use a few days off to rest from my weekend, how about you?

Thanks for looking!

Love this!

It has been a busy week with not a lot of crafty time..... I've been working, we've been busy with Festival of the Arts and we have a Taekwondo Club Tournament that we've been preparing for. Last night, I was so tired and I was hopping through my favourite blogs and thinking: "Oh, I'd love to make a layout!" So, I got up then and there and headed down to my area, determined to make a quick layout.

I decided to speed up the process by using a sketch. I chose this one from the My Mind's Eye Blog. It's their April Sketch Challenge:

I chose a photo that I took last week at the Festival Speech Arts to scrapbook. I was sitting close, with my fixed lens on my camera, so this was the best I could take.... but it still captured the moment, I think.

I used My Mind's Eye patterned paper, chipboard, journaling tag and decorative brads.

I used PTI's Get a Handle on It die to diecut a patterned paper banner to go with the chipboard banners. I've been hoarding that butterfly decorative brad forever!

Here's a close-up of the journaling. I loved that the journaling tag had this starter phrase on it!

For my title, I used Papertrey Ink Headline Alphabet stamps and dies. I also heat embossed them for this week's Make It Monday: Embossed Alpha Die Cuts.

For the banners beside the title, I used a scrap of Crate Paper patterned paper with the Get A Handle on It die which has both of my boys' ages on it (10 & 13). The chipboard banner wasn't quite the right shade of blue to match the patterned paper behind the photo, so I added some Aqua Mist ink to it using my Tim Holtz  blending tool.

Thanks for looking!

PWP Sketch #20

Today I want to share a sketch that I designed for Pages With Papertrey:

And then I used it to scrapbook photos from my 40th birthday last summer.

I used AC cardstock (12x12) & some Echo Park patterned paper (journaling cards). I stamped some banners from PTI's Birthday Style set in the top corner and then added a Crate Paper chipboard banner.  For the title, I used PTI's Flipping Out stamp set, along with Wonderful Words: Additions. The "40" was diecut using the Block Number dies and I diecut the flip flops with the Flipping Out dies.

I had originally planned to write my journaling on this sweet journaling tag, but decided to leave it as is and add another Crate Paper chipboard element to it. I ended up printing my journaling on the computer and tucking it behind. I diecut the journaling panel with an Edger's #5 die and stamped a sentiment from On the Farm.

And here's the journaling pulled out:

If you create a layout using this set, I'd love to see it! Please post a link to it either here in the comments or here on the PTI forum.

Thanks for looking!

Cards by Sage and me

Yesterday afternoon, Sage and I sat down at my craft table and made a couple of cards each for this week's Make it Monday at Papertrey Ink: Watercolouring Embossed Images.

First up are the cards that Sage made, using her new Fox set from PTI. She had this patterned paper that she knew she wanted to use with it because it, too, had foxes on it. On her first attempt, the paintbrush marked up the background of her white tag, I suggested she cut out the fox and mount it on a brown tag instead (she's originally wanted to use a brown tag anyway.) She agreed, but had me fussy cut the fox. Oh, and I tied the bow, too. ;)

And here's her second card, using the same supplies but changing the colours a little:

And here are the cards that I made, using PTI's Friends Til the End. I've done this technique before with black and white embossing powder, so I thought I'd try it with some of my new Zing embossing powders. I used pure poppy, hawaiian shores and limeade ice to watercolour my images. The sentiment is from Lovely Leaves.

And, next, I used white embossing powder and scarlet jewel ink to watercolour it in. I mixed a little dark chocolate in with the scarlet jewel for the flower centre. The button is PTI, the twine is lawn fawn and the patterned paper that I mounted the panel on is My Mind's Eye. The stamped sentiment is from PTI's Beautiful Butterflies.

I'm also linking this last card up to this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge: April Showers and/or Spring Flowers and to the Moxi Fab World Challenge: The Wonder of Watercolour Challenge.

Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

1. This has seriously been the longest winter ever! I came back from DR Congo to snow at the beginning of November and we still have lots of the white stuff around! It's actually snowing as I type this. Sigh....

2. We've been busy this week with the Morden Festival of the Arts... Austin performed a couple of poems with his class on Tuesday morning. He has been with this group of kids since Kindergarten and it's crazy to me to think that they'll be in high school next year!

Austin also performed two solo poems (one in French and one in English) and did very well.

On Wednesday morning, Sage performed two solo poems (one in French and one in English) and did very well, too. I was talking to the chair person later who told me that only 4 or 5 A-pluses were handed out during the two days... and Sage got one of them!

On Wednesday afternoon, Jonah performed two solo poems (one in French and one in English) and did very well, also. I'm so proud of my kids! I love to see them work hard on something and succeed!

Also, Austin & Jonah performed a duet together called Monopoly. It was really good! I didn't get a shot of them together (Austin had to get back to school for a choir concert right after his adjudication), but I did snap this cute photo as they were sitting waiting for the other performers to finish. I love how Austin had his arm around his little brother-- so sweet!

3. On Wednesday evening, Austin's choir held a fundraising concert for their upcoming trip to the Banff Choral Festival. They had a singer come out from Winnipeg to perform as well, and sang True Colours with her as a finale.

4. Last night, at taekwondo, Sage & Jonah submitted their application forms to test for their poom (junior black belts) in May. And I handed mine in to test for my 2nd degree black belt  :)

Also, Jonah, who'd been stressing out about board breaking at our tournament next weekend, broke three boards with back kicks-- we were so excited and proud of him! Hopefully this will get his confidence up for competing next Saturday....

5. And lastly, because I always love to include my projects on my blog, I wanted to share a layout that I made. I used American Crafts cardstock (12x12) and Echo Park patterned paper.

I used two of my newest PTI stamp sets on here. I stamped the super cute banners from Birthday Style as a border below my large photo and I used Bountiful Banners for part of my title.

Thanks for looking!

Crafty Peeps Card Kit Club -- April

I'm so excited to be a part of a card kit club! Some online friends and I decided to create a card kit club. The idea is that every two months, one member of our club mails out crafty goodies (patterned paper, stamped images, twine, embellishments, etc.) to each member and with those goodies, we create some cards.

To start us off, my friend, Merry, mailed out the goodies. Take a look:

There's some Crate Paper goodness there, as well as some stamped images, diecuts, twine and pearls.

I recognized the paper right away because I had bought some of it when it was first released. I'd also bought the coordinating chipboard. And since I still had many pieces of the chipboard, I decided to use it on the cards that I made with the kit.

I managed to get five cards made with the supplies Merry sent! Here they are....

Thanks again to Merry for the fun supplies you sent!

If you like to check out what the other "crafty peeps" made using these supplies, here's a list of who's playing along:

Jen Carter

Cheryl Knutti

Melissa Ladd

Maggie Haas

Kristii Lockart

Joan Bardee

I'm also linking four of these cards up to this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge: April Showers and/or Spring Flowers.

Thanks for looking!

Using up scraps

One of my very favourite lines is Crate Paper's Pretty Party. I rarely buy more than one sheet of patterned paper from a line, but from this one I have gone back to pick up second and third sheets of patterned paper, as well as purchased the 6x6 paper pad. I'd created a layout recently using some pieces of the Pretty Party chipboard and noticed that I still had quite a bit of chipboard pieces left, so I decided to use up some scraps from this line and make two birthday cards.

My first card uses one of the sentiment tags and some coordinating patterned paper and chipboard, along with some Papertrey Ink cardstock (sweet blush), twine and buttons. I also diecut the tiny scalloped border using my PTI heart border die and some stamper's select white cardstock.

On my second card, I used another journaling tag, on which I stamped a sentiment from PTI's Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Once again, I used the heart border die to diecut my borders from Crate Paper patterned paper. The presents were some fun chipboard embellishments to add!

I'm linking this up for this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Happy Birthday.

Thanks for looking!

As soon as I saw...

... the photo for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger: Friendly Flowers, I thought of my PTI embroidered flowers stamp set.

So, I pulled it out and created this card: .

I mixed the Embroidered Blooms stamp set with my PTI Text Style I stamp set for this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: Collage Elements. Then I added a sentiment from Stylish Sentiments: Birthday, as well as a diecut butterfly from Love Lives Here and a button to finish is off.

I'm also linking this up for this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Happy Birthday.

Thanks for looking!