Life Is Better

This is an anniversary card I made for my husband,

using Phrase Play #10. 

The panel was cut from Stamper's Select White 

and then stamped with a polka dot stamp from 

Waltzingmouse Stamps. 

The word portion of the die was cut again from 

Pure Poppy card stock and inserted into 

the corresponding negative space. 

The floral section was coloured with 

green and red copic markers and then added to the front.  

The sentiment was stamped with Pure Poppy ink. 

This panel was then matted with a Pure Poppy panel.

The card base (Fine Linen) was stamped with 

Simply Chartruese, Kraft and Pure Poppy inks 

using Plaid Builders stamps.

Supplies (PTI unless noted)

Stamps - Phrase Play #10, Plaid Builders; Waltzingmouse Stamps: Off Beat Backgrounds

Inks - Pure Poppy, Kraft, Simply Chartreuse

Paper - Fine Linen, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Stamper's Select White

Dies - Phrase Play #10

Other - Copic markers; corner rounder

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Happy Camper Anniversary

My niece and her family love to camp. 

They spend several weeks each summer in their trailer 

at provincial parks - swimming, campfires and s'mores are 

their favourites. I used Petite Places: Happy Camper 

to make an anniversary card for them, 

knowing that it is very close to their hearts!!

I love using a variety of stamps and dies to embellish 

each of the little boxes from the Comic Strip Cover Plate. 

This time, I cut one piece of card stock from Kraft 

to make the outline frame and a second piece 

in order to get the variety of panels.

On the top box, I cut away one of the 

vertical frame lines so that I could have a full width 

for the sentiment (Close To My Heart: Good Times).  

This was stamped with Dark Chocolate ink 

directly onto the Aqua Mist panel. 

I stamped it a second time onto white card stock with 

Pure Poppy ink, and trimmed the small Good Times panel. 

I then glued that onto top of the original stamped line. 

A yellow copic marker was used to fill in the stars.

The central panel was created using:

* a roadway - narrow grey cardstock with white dash lines;
* two die cut trees from Scene It: Mountain View; 
* stamped birds from Ahoy! 
* Fresh Snow ink sponged along the top to make clouds
* Sun - die cut from Harvest Gold card stock with a 
    medallion die (Ad Sense) and stamped with a small sunburst 
    from Monthly Moments: June.  A yellow adhesive dot was 
    added to the center before popping it up with foam dots.
* Trailer, banner and car - Happy Camper stamps and dies.

The bottom right panel uses stamps and dies from 
Petitie Places: Happy Camper and Scene It: Mountain  View.
 

The bottom left panel uses a Heart-2-Heart #3 die cut, 
sponged with Pure Poppy ink and stamped with a 
sentiment from Clip Tips using Versamark and 
white detail embossing powder.

Supplies (PTI unless noted)

Stamps - Petite Places: Happy Camper, Clip Tips, Monthly Moments: June,
Ahoy; Close To My Heart: Good Times

Inks - Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold,
Fresh Snow, CTMH: Grey Wool; Versamark

Paper - Aqua Mist, Kraft, Stampers Select White, New Leaf, Harvest Gold; 
CTMH: Grey Wool

Dies - Petite Places: Happy Camper, Scene It: Mountain View, 
Ad Sense, Heart-2-Heart #3, Comic Strip Cover Plate

Other - Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folde; copic markers; foam dots

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Little Bitty Birds Anniversary

I was inspired by this card (Audrey Tokach)  

using Little Bitty Birds and Additions,  to create an 

anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law.

I masked a border on a white card base in order 

to sponge a rectangle of blue sky and green grass.

I die cut the fence from the Additions set from 

white card stock, then coloured it with copic markers. 

Grass and flowers were added with stamps from Garden Variety.

The birds and bird bath were die cut, stamped 

and coloured with copic markers.  

Up, Up & Away and Heart-2-Heart #6 dies were used to cut 

several clouds that were layered together to create dimension. 

These were outlined with a grey copic marker for shading. 

The sentiment was stamped with Pure Poppy ink.

A small red heart was die cut (Flipping Out)

and added to the card front. 

Card Interior

Sentiments: 

Mat Stack 3 and Mat Stack 3 Collections 

Bird House:  

Little Bitty Birds

Grass & Flowers: 

Garden Variety

Supplies (PTI unless noted)

Stamps - Little Bitty Birds & Additions, Garden Variety'
Mat Stack 3 and Mat Stack 3 Collections

Inks - Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Lemon Tart; 
Close To My Heart: Crystal Blue; Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy

Dies - Little Bitty Birds & Additions, Up, Up & Away, Heart-2-Heart #6

Other - Copic Markers

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Tulip Time: Oh Happy Day

When I first got Tulip Time, I stamped and die cut 

a stack of flowers so that I would have them ready 

to make a variety of cards. My first card here, used the 

tulip trio along with some single flowers to create a bouquet. 

For this card, I used 5 single flowers and arranged them 

in a mason jar vase.The background was created by 

sponging aqua, pink and yellow inks and then adding

 'sprinkles' (Tinsel & Tags) with gold embossing powder. 

The front panel was cut with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangle 

die and mounted onto an aqua card base.

Friendship Jar was stamped with a light grey ink 

and then stamped with aqua and green inks using 

Crackled Mini stamp. The jar was fussy cut, a gold string 

was tied around the jar and a Tiny Tag was stamped 

with the polka dot frame and sentiment (Mini Blooms) 

and added to the jar. This was mounted over the 

 floral arrangement using foam dimensional tape. 

Three brass adhesive dots were attached at 

the bottom of the card front.

Card Interior

Sentiments

Embroidered Blooms

Supplies (PTI unless noted)

Stamps - Tulip Time, Tiny Tags, Friendship Jar, Mini Blooms, 
Embroidered Blooms, Tinsel & Tags
Inks - Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, Bright Buttercup, 

Sweet Blush, Lovely Lady, Raspberry Fizz, 
New Leaf, Vintage Jadeite, Mint Julep, Soft Stone; 
Versamark; Stampin' Up:Pool Party

Paper - Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up:Pool Party

Dies - Tulip Time, Tiny Tags; Lawn Fawn:Stitched Rectangles

Other - Gold Cord (from my stash); Copic markers; 
Stampin' Up:Gold Detail Embossing Powder; foam dimensional tape

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Papertrey Ink July 2015 Blog Hop

I was able to finish and photograph a card for 

this month's blog hop at Papertrey Ink. 

I love the colours and designs from the inspiration photo: 

butterflies, browns and pinks and that create a vintage look.

 

I started by creating a mask so that I could stamp Text Style  

with Kraft ink onto the center of a white card base.  

In order to "frame" this circle, I cut a larger circle and 

used the negative on the outside and the circle mask 

over the text. Using Kraft ink, I sponged a 1/4"  frame.

The Canvas Impression Plate was used on the card front. 

Two corners were rounded and Vintage Tea Dye ink (Chamomile) 

was sponged around the edges. I wish I had used the Kraft ink 

along the edges instead, but I will know the next time I use this colour combo!!

The sentiment (Fillable Frames #4) was stamped in Dark Chocolate ink.

The butterfly (Butterfly Dreams) was stamped onto 

white card stock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink 

and then coloured with copics. I fussy cut the butterfly, 

covered it with Versa Mark ink and then clear embossed 

it twice to get a shiny effect. I then mounted it onto a 

Beautiful Dreams die cut from white card stock. 

Brown embroidery floss was added behind the butterfly 

to create the antennae. Three brass adhesive dots were 

added over the body of the butterfly. 

I cut the die 3 more times from Kraft card stock, 

coloured the edges with a copic marker and then 

layered them over the text circle. The coloured 

butterfly was added on top with a thin strip of 

foam tape so that the wings would curl out.

Thanks for visiting today. Enjoy the Blog Hop!
Karen C.

Floral Gift Tag

When I purchased a gift for my brother and sister-in-law's 

anniversary the store packaged it in this pretty Gift Bag: 
a Kraft background with lime green flowers and 
white accents. I love the fresh look of this colour scheme!!

It didn't come with a gift tag so I 

made one using my "collection" of craft supplies.

I started by die cutting Tag Sale #3 from Kraft card stock. 

The large flower (Rosie Posie) was stamped with Limeade Ice 

onto white card stock and then fussy cut!! 

A copic marker to was used to create shading on the petals.

The center of the flower (Simple Sunflower) was made 
using a circle of Kraft card stock, stamped with VersaMark, 

then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

The flower was attached to the tag before adding the final details.

The sentiment (Swoosh) and dots (Harvest Berries) were also 

heat embossed with white embossing powder and the 

little bow (Tinsel and Tags Kit) was stamped with Dark Chocolate ink.

   

Thanks for visiting today.
Karen C.

Anniversary Hearts

I recently ordered Hearts Cover Plate from 

Papertrey Ink and decided to make an 

anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law.

The cover plate was cut from Stamper's Select 

White and then mounted onto a white card base.

Before inserting the hearts into the cover plate, 

they were stamped with Hibiscus Burst, 

Lemon Tart and Crystal Blue (Close To My Heart) 

using Background Bitty Blocks and Just for You.

Framed Out #11 was cut several times from 

Stamper's Select White, Hibiscus Burst and Vellum.

One white inner heart was stamped in Lemon Tart 

with gingham Bitty Background Block; 

then a vellum heart was layered over this.

 Three adhesive pearls accent the inner heart.

The larger heart frame was made with several layers: 

Top layer - stamped with Framed Out #11 and Hibiscus Burst. 

Bottom Layers - Hibiscus Burst card stock

ANNIVERSARY: Wet Paint & Grey Wool ink (CTMH). 

happy: Wet Paint Word die cut several times with 

Smokey Shadow and Stamper's Select White. 

The top layer was coloured with copic markers 

to match Grey Wool; then positioned over the 

darker die cuts onto the card front.

Card Interior

Wishing you: Grey Wool ink and Sans Alphabet (CTMH). 

love + joy: Hibiscus Burst; Grey Wool & Crystal Blue inks,

               Wet Paint and Wet Paint Alphabet.

Supplies (PTI unless noted)
Stamps - Background Bitty Blocks, Just for You, Framed Out #11, 
Wet Paint, Wet Paint Alphabet, Sans Alphabet (CTMH)
Inks - Hibiscus Burst, Lemon Tart and Crystal Blue (CTMH)
Paper - Stamper's Select White, Hibiscus Burst, Smokey Shadow, Vellum
Dies - Hearts Cover Plate, Framed Out #11, Wet Paint Word die
Other - copic markers; adhesive pearls;

Thanks for visiting today.
Karen C.

Blue & Pink Quilted: Spring Anniversary

Quilted:Spring dies and stamps have been on my on my desk since they have arrived. I've made birthday cards and a sympathy card and today I'm sharing an anniversary card. I used the similar design as this previously posted birthday card to create a blue and pink version with a few yellow flowers!!

The quilt block details were stamped directly onto a white card base. 
A few of the details were coloured with a blue copic marker. 
The floral designs were added to the top and bottom corners and 
the sentiment (Think Big #24) was stamped with Blueberry Sky ink.
The Canvas Impression Plate gives some texture to the card front.

I had previously cut a full quilt block from Blueberry Sky card stock and used the circle portion for a note card and the shaped inserts for a birthday card.

Those cards can be found HERE.

I like to make use of all of my scraps, so I took the leftover frame 

and usedit to create a border around the quilt block.

I die cut the flower and floral spray from white card stock and then stamped it with the coordinating stamps using Blueberry Sky, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, and Simply Chartreuse inks. Foam adhesive was used to pop this up onto the center of the quilt block. A small pink rhinestone was added to the flower.

The inside was stamped with a sentiment from Pretty Peonies; 

flowers, leaves and dots from Quilted: Spring.

Supplies (PTI unless noted)

Stamps - Quilted: Spring, Think Big #24, Pretty Peonies

Inks -  Blueberry Sky, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse; 

Paper - Stamper's Select White,Blueberry Sky

Dies - Quilted: Spring, Canvas Impression Plate

Other - pink adhesive rhinestone, foam adhesive tape; copic markers 

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Something Old, Something New

Today's post is a little different, incorporating some "old" cards that I found in my stash and some "newly" decorated envelopes to go with them!!

Like many stampers, I have a collection of cards tucked away and somewhat forgotten. This summer I spent time cleaning and organizing in my craft room. My space was in so much chaos, I just didn't feel like creating. I knew that I had to get a handle on all of the new and old products and projects that were piling up. At the same time, I needed a variety of birthday and anniversary cards for family members. As I was going through the saved cards, I picked out a few that I thought would work and then set about making a "new" envelope to give the card a fresh look.

Something Old #1: 

I made several of these cards and kept one in my stash. (details here) 

It was a perfect time to use it for my grand niece's first birthday in August.

Gigi Giraffe: Clear Dollar Stamps

Card Interior

Something New: Envelope #1

PTI:
Circle Scribbles and Polka Dot Alphabet
 Hibiscus Burst. Limeade Ice, Harvest Gold, Winter Wisteria

Something Old #2:
I had made a slider card using the 3 image panels below. 
I didn't like the way it looked, so I re-worked the pieces to create 
a card with extra sentiment pages for my 4 year old grand nephew. 
He's into pirates so this was a real hit with the birthday boy!

Card Front

PTI:
Card Base: Kraft Card stock
Stamping Up
Card Front: Ahoy, Matey; Matey Wheel  
Chocolate Chip & Pacific Point Card Stock
Watercolour pencils

Center Pages

Close To My Heart: 
Friendship Word Puzzle; Friendship Alphabet
Moonstruck, Cranberry inks
PTI: 

Rustic Cream Card Stock,
Sew Simple Borders, Dark Chocolate

Interior Page & Back

Close To My Heart: 

Birthdays, Good Times

PTI: 

Canyon Clay, Dark Chocolate inks

Something New: Envelope #2

PTI:
Up, Up & Away
Tiny Treats: Valentine; Fresh Snow Ink;
Close To My Heart: 
Charm Alphabet; Outdoor Denim ink;  
Memento Tuxedo Black;
Copic Markers


Something Old #3: 
 This was a card from my stash -  I used it for my niece's anniversary.

 Stamps
High Hopes Stamps: Hopeful Ant  
  TPC Studios: Playful Expressions

 Close To My Heart: 
Black & Cranberry Inks; Cranberry Card Stock

My Mind's Eye Patterned Paper
Scalloped Border Punch 
  Watercolour Pencils; Cranberry Ribbon

Something New: Envelope #3

PTI:
No Strings Attached, Tag It's #5
Background Basics: Medallions 
Close To My Heart: 
Cranberry, Olive inks

Envelope Flap: Medallions  

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Mighty Oak Anniversary

My older brother and sister-in-law celebrated their 45th anniversary at 

the beginning of August. They have 4 children and 6 grandchildren (with 

another grandbaby due in November). With that in mind, I made this card - 

each heart represents one member of their family!! The sentiment was 

a perfect choice for this card too!!

 Papertrey Ink Supplies (unless noted)
Mighty Oak Cover Plate and Stamps
Stamper's Select White Card stock
Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse Inks
Other: Small Heart Punch

The inside of the card was finished with a sentiment from  
Think Big #24 and two additional punched hearts.

The little tree stump (Close To My Heart: Wild About Love) was stamped 

with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copic markers.

* Since I was hand delivering the card, I stamped the Envelope Front with a tree (Floral Foliage). Dots were added to the center of the flowers using a red marker. 
* The background was made using a Polka Dot stencil (Heidi Swapp) with Aqua Mist and Simply Chartreuse inks. I hand drew the dotted line with a brown marker to designate a hill and create a distinction between the "grass" and "sky". 
* Label Basics was stamped onto a piece of white card stock, hand cut and glued to the  envelope front (it covers a blooper that I made while stamping the sentiment. (Comfort Food Additions).  The names were stamped with Simply Chartreuse Ink. (Stampendous: Retro Alphabet)

Thanks for visiting today.
Karen C.

Watercoloured Feathers

Watercolouring and Feathers:
 These trends have been featured on many blogs and videos, 
so I've been anxious to give it a try. I used a feather stamp set from 
Close to My Heart and a word die from Papertrey Ink to make an anniversary card.

* I started by creating two coloured panels on watercolouring paper: 
one with blue, teal, and greens; the other with pinks, oranges and yellows. 
* I stamped the feathers (Feathers: Close To My Heart) with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder, before fussy cutting each feather.

* I cut two word dies (Wonderful Words: Together) from Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores and then glued them to the card base to create a shadow effect. 
* The other portions of the sentiment (Mat Stack #2, Fillable Frames Additions 2) were stamped with Hawaiian Shores ink. 
* Two pink and one yellow sequin were added to the card. 
* One corner of the card front was rounded with a corner rounder.

* The blue/green feather was glued to the card base, then the pink/yellow 
one was attached with foam adhesive dots.

* A piece of embroidery floss was added at the base of the feathers.

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.