Funky Monkey

I have always found that making birthday cards for adult men can prove troublesome.  This card is one I am sending to an elderly friend in England who is always giving me a hard time (in a joking way) so I thought a cheeky card might be appropriate.

The imade is from  Dustin Pike  and I have coloured it with a combination of Prismacolour and Koh-In-Noor pencil crayons.  The paper is from a Provo Craft Scrap Pack but it had a red background that I felt was too strong and since I really wanted to use it, I scanned it and removed the background.  The cardstock is from my stash and the red piece was run through the Cuttlbug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. The sentiment is computer generated and lifted from a sentiment I saw on a friend's blog.

Phindy's Place Challenge

The challenge this week at Phindy's Place on Paper Craft Planet is to create a card using one of her images and the colours blue, green and orange.  Since I have already used that colour scheme I had to be careful not to make this one look the same.

I didn't put a sentiment on the front this time but inside it says:

Bringing a bunch of good wishes your way. 

Happy Birthday

The image is called Flower Wagon and can be purchased along with other wonderful digis at Phindy's Etsy Shop.  I coloured it with a combination of Prismacolour and Koh-In-Noor pencil crayons.  The paper is from Sandylion Sticker Designs, Recollections (Michaels) and Free Digital Scrapbooking (online).  The last paper was called Green Swirl but when I printed it I didn't realize that my ink cartridge was almost empty and it ended up as turquoise with a fine green stripe.  The cardstock is Recollections (Michaels).  Other supplies used:  Doily Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Flower Punch (EK Paper Shaper), Corner Punch (Fiskars), Brads (Making Memories), Pearl Stickers (Recollections from Michaels), Ink (Color Box).

Another Stitched Card

I made this card recently as a birthday card for a relative.  I enjoy doing embroidery on paper but really like to combine it with other card making elements.  Piercing the pattern onto the paper (I use a lightweight cardstock) is the tough part because you have to be so careful in order to ensure that your holes have space between them.  I often shrink the image from the original pattern size and that puts the holes even closer together.

The image pattern is from Basics of Embroidery on Paper (Erica Fortgens).  The paper is from a Provo Craft Scrap Pack and WackyWhinnieDesignz (online).  The cardstock is Recollections (Michaels).  The frame was made using the Nestabilities Label 1 dies (Spellbinders).  Other supplies used:  Doily Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Card Candy (Craftworks Cards), Organza Ribbon (my stash) and Embroidery Floss (my stash).

Good Luck Card

We had another dusting of snow last night but it was all cleaned away before I headed out at 7:00 am to look after my grandchildren for a couple of hours as I do every morning.  Husbands are so handy to have around!

Here is another card I made recently using an image from Mo's Digital Pencil (actually it was the first one).  Her designs are so much fun and so varied.

This card was made with the Kimono image (Mo’s Digital Pencil) and coloured with a combination of Prismacolour and  Koh-In-Noor pencils and Odorlous Mineral Spirits.  The papers are from Sandylion Sticker Designs and a Provo Craft Scrap Pack.  The cardstock is from my stash (I don’t remember the source).  Other supplies are Brads (Making Memories), Good Luck Punch (Marvy Uchida) and flowers (Wal Mart).

Phindy's Place Birthday Challenge Card

I am proud to be a member of the Phindy's Place group over on Paper Craft Planet.  A couple of weeks ago they had a challenge to make a birthday card using one of Phindy's super images with a colour scheme of red and brown.  Well, I had never entered a challenge card before but I thought I would give it a try.  I did it quickly so I could submit it on time but I don't think it turned out too badly for my first effort.  My red is a real deep raspberry colour and I used a lighter brown than they probably were looking for but it was accepted.  Just to let you know, it has been a long time since I've done any colouring and it is hard to stay inside the lines.  My 3 yr. old granddaughter is as good as I am - hmmm does that say something about her or me.

The card has the Miss Mouse’s Tea image from Phindy's Etsy shop coloured with a combination of Prismacolour and Koh-In-Noor pencils.  The papers are Marooned Daisies (Kelly Panacci for Sandylion Sticker Designs) and a red paper from a Provo Craft Christmas Scrap Pack.  The cardstock, both plain and striped,  are from my stash (don’t remember the source).  The lollipop flower is handmade and the sentiment is computer generated.  Other supplies are Buttons (my stash), Chalk (Mungyo), Border Punch (Martha Stewart) and Brad (Making Memories).

Wedding Card

Good morning.  It snowed here last night and now it is fairly warm so we have slushy roads and fog.  What a mess!

Last fall a co-worker married for a second time and I hadn't known her for long so I decided a gift wasn't appropriate but the least I could do was make a card and this is what I came up with.  I am sorry it isn't a better photo but I am sure you will get the idea.  I made a plain white box to put it in and put a white organza ribbon around the box with a large bow. The recipient told me she has put the card in a shadow-box frame and displayed it in her home.

The card is made with three colours of cardstock (pale grey, cream and white) from Reflections (Michaels).  I created the word paper using a pale grey font colour and the cream paper was embossed using my Cuttlebug.  The large flower is made of up of punched flowers that have been cut apart and re-assembled.  The stamens in the centre came from little flowers in my stash (actually left over from when I made my daughter's wedding headpiece).  The three small flowers were punched and I added a small iridescent bead in the centre of each flower.  The leaves were cut with my Cricut using the Walk in my Garden cartridge.

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge

Here's my last post for today but I'll show you some more of my work tomorrow.

This week the challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge Blog  is "Clean and Simple". The recipe calls for one of  Mo's wonderful images on a white or cream card, along with one ribbon - no layers, no bling. Given that I am just starting to use digital stamps on my cards, I thought simple would suit me just fine and created this card for submission.  I hope you like it.

This image called A Thousand Stars was generously offered by Mo as a freebie when her group at Paper Craft Planet reached 1000 - a super milestone.  The image was coloured with a combination of Prismacolour and Koh-In-Noor pencils and I used chalk to create a dusky sky, which is probably why the card looks blue but trust me I used white cardstock.  The ribbon is a piece from my stash that came from Michaels. 

It is snowing here now and late in the day so there isn't much natural light in the house and I had to take the photo using the under-the-cupboard lighting in my kitchen.

Valentine's Cards

Now that my blog is up and running, I thought I would show you some of my recent work.

This year I only had time to make a couple of Valentine's Day cards.  The first one was for my wonderful husband.

The card was made with paper from WackyWinnieDesignz.com and the cardstock is Reflections (Michaels).  The sentiment was computer generated.  The hearts were stitched using a pattern from Basics of Embroidery on Paper (Erica Fortgens) with embroidery floss from my stash.  Other supplies: Ribbon (Kate’s Paperie), Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Nestabilities Petite Scalloped Circle (Spellbinders), and Craft Candy (Craftworks Cards)

The second card is one I made for my little grandchildren.

The image is a freebie from Lily-Boo's Boutique coloured with a combination of Prismacolour and Koh-In-Noor pencils and Odorlous Mineral Spirits.  The papers came from WackyWinnieDesignz.com, Provo Craft scrap pack and my stash.  The cardstock is Reflections (Michaels).  Other supplies: Craft Candy (Craftworks Cards), Brad (Making Memories), Punches (Martha Stewart, EK Success) and the Swiss Dots embossing folder in my Cuttlebug.

My First Post

Hello and welcome to my blog. I love creating handmade greeting cards of all types and will share them with you here. Today I am happy to show you a card I made for my Mother-in-Law's upcoming 87th birthday using inspiration from a card I saw on a friend's blog.

The card is hand cut and stands just fine but when it was folded, it wouldn't stay together to put it into an envelope. Rather than tying a ribbon around it, I decided to make a little holder for it, which turned out to be a good idea because it allowed me to include a verse.



The card was hand cut from cardstock I had in my stash. The flames were distressed using Tsukineko Brilliance Dew Drop inks (Pearlescent Lavender and Purple). The papers are from a Provo Craft scrap pack. The flowers were punched using a Marcy Uchida punch and have Making Memories brads in the centre. The word Birthday was cut with my Cricut at 1 1/2" using the Lyrical Letters cartridge in the Jumbo mode. The letters were then run through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder and the dots were touched with Lavender Stickles.



The holder is made from Reflections cardstock (Michaels) with the same papers as the card and another punched flower. The tag is hand cut with a computer generated sentiment on both layers and was distressed with the same inks as the candle flames.