Saturday, April 30, 2016

Inspired by all the little things #13

Today, I have a card to share for 
 

As soon as I saw this fabulous photo, I knew I wanted to use my new
PTI Butterfly cover plate to make my card.



I started by impressing the cover plate onto a piece of white cardstock and then 
blending Altenew Buttercream and Warm Sunshine ink onto it.
I diecut the Butterfly cover plate from some teal cardstock and inked the edges with Altenew Dusk ink and my blending tool.


I used the Altenew Dusk ink to stamp my sentiment (from PTI's Choose Joy).
 
I'm also linking this up to this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Visit Inspired By All the Little Things to see the rest of the DT's takes
on the inspiration photo and to play along, if you'd like.
You have until Thursday, May 5th to link up your card.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, April 29, 2016

Butterfly Reflections Ink April Mood Board

Today, I have a card to share that I was inspired by the


Isn't it pretty?
I was inspired to make my card using Altenew's Wild Hibiscus stamp set.

 
I stamped the flowers in Wplus9 Ocean Drive and Altenew Cotton Candy.
The butterflies were stamped in Altenew Warm Sunshine and the sentiment in Altenew Moon Rock.

 
I was really happy with the design of my card, so I decided to repeat it several times,
using my MISTI.

 
Here, I stamped everything the same, but decided to colour in my elements,
using ink pressed onto an acylic block, water and a paintbrush.


Here, I stamped the images & sentiment in versamark on some watercolour paper
and heat embossed them in white. Then, I coloured them in using my Zigs, water and a paintbrush.

 
Here, I stamped everything in Versafine onyx black on watercolour paper,
before colouring in the images with my Zigs, water and a paintbrush.
 
And, because, when I stamped my last card, I thought it looked cool in black and cream...

 
I stamped everything in black on a piece of vintage cream cardstock and adhered it to a piece
 of black cardstock, so there'd be a strip along the bottom.
 
So, there you have it... a "Five for Friday" of a different sort for today -- five cards, one design.
Do you have a favourite?
Sage's is the fourth one. :)
 
Thanks for looking!

Thursday, April 28, 2016

CAS(E) This Sketch #170

Today, I have a card to share that I made for
 CAS(E) This Sketch #170 designed by Hannelie Bester :


Isn't it cool?
Now, I have to confess that I was a little stumped by this sketch...
But then, I was tidying up my craft area and came upon some of the patterned
paper I had stencilled on from the PTI Colour Pop Florals kit
and decided to use one of my completed panels to make my card.


So I trimmed my stencilled/stamped panel into four pieces, following the sketch,
and adhered it to a panel of white cardstock.


I diecut two of the words (also from the Colour Pop Florals kit)
from ripe avocado cardstock, stacked them together and adhered them to my card.
 
I'm also linking this up to this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.
 
Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see the rest of the DT's takes on the sketch 
and to play along, if you'd like.
You have until Thursday, May 5th to link up your card.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Altenew April Challenge: From Places Abroad -- Thailand

Today, I have a card to share for the


Isn't it gorgeous?
While the colours listed on the background didn't include gold,
I knew I had to include some gold embossing on my card.


I started by stamping the Wild Hibiscus flower and butterflies
in versamark on watercolour paper and heat embossed them in gold.
I used my Zig Markers to colour them in, as well as a paintbrush and water.


I coloured some Zig Marker onto my acrylic block and added some water.
With a paintbrush, I painted some colour onto a piece of text patterned paper and
used it as a border on my card.
I stamped the sentiment (from Best Mom) in Desert Nights ink.
 
I'm also linking this up to this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Fusion {April Showers}

Today, I have a card to share for the Fusion {April Showers}:
 
 
I was inspire by both the photo and the sketch to make my card,
pairing the adorable alligator from Reverse Confetti's Later Alligator & Weather It Together.
 
 
I stamped the umbrella from Weather It Together and then masked off the handle
to stamp the alligator.
I actually started stamping this card at the Sunday School Card Club and demonstrated
masking to them -- their reactions were so fun to the "magic" of masking!
I coloured these in with my Zig markers and a paintbrush and water.

 
I scored my diagonal lines and then masked off the area with post-it notes
and blended Hawaiian shores ink onto my card front.
I added some more colour to my background using a grey Zig marker and water.
I diecut my clouds using the Weather It Together Confetti Cuts
and stamped my sentiment over my ink blending.
 
 
 

 
 
Thanks for looking!

Monday, April 25, 2016

Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop

Today, I'm participating in the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop
And guess what?
This is my fifth anniversary of playing along with the PTI blog hop, as I participated
for the first time on April 25, 2011 -- and have participated every month since. :)

This month's challenge was to be inspired by the work of Chad Hagen.


It's a really cool photo, but, honestly, it left me a little stumped.
I finally came up with this idea for my card.
  

I started by diecutting a circle from the edge of a piece of cardstock using my MFT Stax Circle dies.
Then, from the piece left over, I cut the next size circle.
I repeated this step five more times to end up with one circle and six rings.
With my blending tool, I started with the outermost ring and added lemon tart to it.
I then did this to the second outermost ring but added more ink, so it would be slightly darker.
I repeated this step for the next three rings, but with harvest gold.
Then, I did bright buttercup and summer sunrise in the centre.
This gave me a similar effect to the largest circle at the top of the inspiration photo.

I blended aqua mist and Hawaiian shores ink for my sky and green parakeet for the ground.


I stamped the Petite Places: Barnyard onto their coordinating diecuts
and stamped my sentiment Barnyard Sentiments & from KIS: Belated Birthday.

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Muse Challenge #162 & Make It Monday #246

Today, I have a card to share for the Muse Challenge #162,
where we were encouraged to be inspired by this lovely card by Tracey McNeely:
 
 
Isn't it pretty?
I decided to make my card using my PTI Colour Pop Florals kit:
 

I diecut the flowers from the patterned papers from the kit and adhered them
to my card over some Wplus9 Happy Wishes stamped leaves.

 
I stamped my sentiment (from PTI's Wet Paint) in lovely lady and tropical teal.
Then, I pressed some raspberry fix ink onto my acrylic block and painted
it over my sentiment with a paintbrush and water for this week's
It turned out a little too pink to match perfectly with the flower diecut in my bouquet,
so I went over the whole word with some berry sorbet, water and a paintbrush.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Inspired by all the little things #12

Today, I have a card to share for 
 

Isn't it gorgeous?
I decided to use my Stampin' Up! blossoms stamp to make my card.


On watercolour paper, I stamped the image  & sentiment (from PTI's Choose Joy) 
in versamark and heat embossed it in white.
Then, I used my Zig markers, water and a paintbrush to colour them in.


As a finishing touch, I impressed some soft stone cardstock with a PTI woodgrain
impression plate and added it along the side of my card.

Visit Inspired By All the Little Things to see the rest of the DT's takes
on the inspiration photo and to play along, if you'd like.
You have until Thursday, April 28th to link up your card.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, April 22, 2016

Five for Friday

Hey there!
I realize that I haven't posted a Five for Friday in a while,
so I thought today would be a great day to do so...


1. We've had a busy last couple of months.
All three of my kids have been involved with different performance related things.
Our town has had our Festival of the Arts and Sage & Jonah each played two songs for piano, back in March.
They both did really well.
Sage and I also played Amazing Grace as a duet for Sacred Evening.


We picked up matching scarves for our performance. ;)


2.  Jonah and I also played a duet -- Mission Impossible.
This was so much fun, but it was very challenging for me.
Our hard work paid off though, because we got a great mark...
AND we got asked to play it again at the Highlights Concert on May 1st.
Sage has done poems at Highlights in past years, but none of us have ever been
asked to play there for piano, so we're pretty excited.


3. Last week. Sage performed in the Vocal part of Festival of the Arts.
She started taking voice lessons in the fall and performed four songs --
three solos (His Eye is On the Sparrow, Touch the Sky (from Brave) and Over the Rainbow)
and a duet with her friend, Faith, called Child of the Universe.


They did such a great job on their duet -- and they wore our matching scarves, too.

Sage did very well on her solos, too. 
I'm was quite blown away by how she's not looking like my little girl quite so much anymore 
-- she's growing into a lovely, confident young woman.

*Edited to add: Sage did so well in her solo performances that we got two phone calls this week:
one to tell us that she had one an award
& two to ask if she would sing Touch the Sky at the Hilites Concert!



4. Austin has been busy performing with his choir (they performed at the Brandon Jazz Festival
last month, as did Jonah's choir and I got to go along, 
as well as at the Morden Festival of the Arts last week.)


(He's right in the middle in this photo, to the left of the boy with the red tie.)
He's also busy with rehearsals for his school play -- Trixie the Teenage Detective, 
which opens next week.

Jonah is also going to be in his school play -- Shrek Jr. -- next month and both
boys have Coffee House fundraisers coming up for their choirs
and Sage and Jonah have recitals for piano (and another one for Sage for voice),
so the next few weeks will be busy -- but fun, as I really enjoy watching my kids perform!


5. Last week, Austin brought home his best report card ever -- which was awesome!
We had the parent-teacher conferences last Friday, so I made butter crunch for his teachers,
but his drama teacher doesn't eat sugar, so we brought him a pineapple.


I made tags for the butter crunch and the pineapple, 
using my PTI Journaling Tag die, my SSS Big Scripty Sentiments
and my MFT stencil.



Thanks for looking!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

CAS(E) This Sketch #169 & Curtain Call -- Simplicity -- Take Two

Today, I have a card to share that I made for
 CAS(E) This Sketch #169 designed by Chrissy Larson:




For inspiration, I also used the current


I decided to use my Reverse Confetti  products to create a large clipboard on my card.


What do you think?
I started with some Fancy Pants patterned paper as my background.
I made the clip from my clipboard using the Gift Card Holder Tag Confetti Cuts.
From a circle of silver cardstock that I'd previously diecut, I diecut the top of the tag.
Then, I went over it again with the bottom of the tag, to make the fun shape.


I stamped the sentiment using A Friend Like You
and then scored the back so that I had the lines, like in the sketch.

Remember, there's still time to play along with this
 Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see the rest of the DT's takes on the sketch 
and to play along, if you'd like.
You have until Thursday, April 28th to link up your card.



 

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

MFT Colour Challenge 43

Today, I have a card to share that I made using the MFT Colour Challenge 43:


I decided to use my Fall Florals stamps & dies to create my card.


I started by smoothing some aqua mist ink onto my background.
I stamped the wreath from Papertrey Ink's Twig Wreath and the sentiment 
from Papertrey Ink's Phrases & Praises.


I stamped some leaves onto my background and added the rest of the elements
on their coordinating diecuts.

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Card Concept #53 {Bright & Fresh}

Today, I have a card to share for The Card Concept #53 {Bright & Fresh}:
 
 
I love the pretty pattern on this fabric and how it was edged with the aqua scallops!
I decided to try to recreate the pattern using my PTI Colour Pop Florals kit.
 
 
I started with a piece of sweet blush cardstock and applied raspberry fizz, new leaf and white ink
with the stencils.
I stamped in the details, with the same colours of ink,
and then heat embossed the flower centres using Zing! butter embossing powder.

 
From my panel, I diecut one of the flowers and two leaves, from behind
where I added my Shaker Shapes: circles dies.
I diecut the Shaped Sayings: Birthday die from aqua mist cardstock.
 
Thanks for looking!