Let's Hang Out...

I just had to switch gears to a girly card today. I needed a little pink in my day and the bird on the clothes line makes me happy.   :)

The layout is from the Mojo Monday sketch #68. It's a contest this week...go check it out!

The image is Funky Clothesline from Stamping Bella, and the sentiment is also Stamping Bella. I stamped it with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury cardstock and coloured it with copics. I used my Labels One nesties to cut out the image and the pink layer. I also added some shimmer to the lacey looking border on the garments, but it doesn't really show in the photo. 

The card base is my fave cardstock, Gina K 120lb, followed by a layer of Not Quite Navy with distressed edges. The patterned papers are from the Imaginisce 'Loves Me line', which I picked up today on a shopping trip to my LSS, Right at Home Scrapbooking.   

The flowers along the bottom are SU Filigree brads, but instead of using the silver brad center, I used a pretty pink Bonbon from Stamping Bella. I didn't want to distract too much from the image, but I needed to stick to the sketch, so I used a litle Heidi Swapp ghost flower and a pink Bella Bonbon at the edge of the clothesline. 

I keep thinking the little flowers in the background kinda look like butterflies fluttering by. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Blog Award-Thank you!

My friend Janet gave me my first blog award! How cool! I feel so honoured! Now I get to pass along the love to 5 more fabulous bloggers. 

Here are the rules:

I have to list 5 of my addictions and list 5 fabulous blogs...here goes!

Addictions:

1. All things stamping related (shopping, creating, playing).

2. Talking with my BFF (on the phone now that we live in different countries).

3. Blogging

4. Emailing

5.  Chocolate

Now for the 5 fabulous blogs:

1. Dana W - Dana's House of Cards, my BFF who started a fabulous blog just before Christmas. 

2. Joanne B - Just a Little Something, my instant stamping friend who welcomed me to my new town on MA.

3. Nancy M - Cardworthy, my fabulously creative and talented friend who did my blog banner.

4. Charlene A - Willow and Paisley, a new blogging friend who lives near my BFF.

5. Wendy B - Bond Girl Bliss, she's Charlene's BFF and I hope to meet them both when I visit my BFF.

Ah, what a fun little blogging web we've woven!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Gina K. Card and a SALE

My boyish birthday card construction continues, but I switched gears to a manly card this time. The golf bag image and sentiment are from the "King of the Grill" set from Gina K. Designs. I stamped the golf bag with Memento black ink onto Gina K pure luxury white, then onto patterned paper from the Basic Grey Archaic line. I paper pieced the plaid and also the rusty colour onto the bag and coloured the brown accents with my E47 copic. I thought the plaid pattern was quite appropriate for a golf bag.  :)

The image is layered onto Always Artichoke, then Really Rust, then Chocolate Chip. I distressed the edges of all the solid layers. 

The card base is Gina K's 120lb Pure Luxury cardstock. It's the absolute best cardstock I've ever used both as a card base and also for colouring with copics. I can't rave about it enough...more about that in a minute though. I adhered a piece of Artichoke onto the white base, then layered more of the plaid paper. I accented the bottom with a piece of Chocolate (and pierced & distressed the top edge) then added another pattern from the Archaic pack. By the way, I used papers from the 6x6 paper pad. I like that the patterns are shrunk down for cards. 

The sentiment is stamped onto Really Rust then cut out with the Ribbon Tags Trio from Spellbinders. I attached it to the card with a piece of green twill and some aged copper brads. The top of the card was a little bare...I tried piercing the corners but that didn't seem like enough so I added the layered photo corners instead. Now my big decision is who to give this to, hubby, Dad, or one of my three brothers...hmmm. All I know is that's one manly card down, four more to go. 

Now, onto more important info...LOL!...Gina K. Designs is having a sale TODAY only. If you're on her mailing list then you probably already know about it...if not, read on. On Tuesday, January 6th, 2009, receive $10 off any purchase of $25 or more! Wowzers!!! That's A-mazing!!! Thanks Gina!!! Use coupon code JAN6SALE for online orders. So, back to my raving about her Pure Luxury cardstock...you REALLY need to try it and this is the perfect opportunity (along with all the other goodies in her store). No, I don't work for Gina, I'm just super happy with her stuff and when I find a good thing I like to pass along the love.  :)

So go fill your shopping cart!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Button Birthday gets a Makeover

I just couldn't leave my card from yesterday's post alone. I wasn't happy with it, but I thought it would be ok since I was sending it to a 6 year old, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I was lying in bed last night when it hit me. I'd use the same alphabet, but overlap the letters and colour them with copics. That would leave me more space for the candles on the right side. Yippee!!! Off to sleep I went, once I knew how to make my card better.

So here's the makeover version. I really do like it MUCH better than the original. It still uses the Jumbo Outline Alphabet but I used my SAMJ to place them exactly where I wanted. For the "Birthday 2 U" I used a combo of a word from the SU sets It's Your Birthday and Simple Serif Alphabet & Numbers. 

Now I feel much better about sending it.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Button Birthday

Here's another card for one of my nephews. Not sure about it though...I don't love it. I'd rework it, but really, he's 6...will he care? I got the idea to use an alphabet stamp from this card on Tessa's blog. I like her design much better though. 

The layout is from the Our Creative Corner sketch challenge. 

The patterned paper is from Sonburn Designs...another line with boyish colours. 

I used my Jumbo Outline alphabet to stamp the letters onto patterned paper and but them out. I did the same for the candles with the Big Birthday Candle set and added some dazzling diamonds to the flame. The row of buttons is my attempt at a boyish scallop...actually, I think that may be my favourite part of the card. LOL! The word 'happy' ended up being on an upward slant...it was supposed to be more askew than that...not sure what I was thinking when I glued down the letters. 

Oh well...hopefully tomorrow will be a better mojo day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

You Rock!

Well, it's that time of year again around my house...boy birthday season. That's what I call it anyway, and it's my least favourite cardmaking time of year. Of the nine boys/men's birthdays, seven are in the first quarter of the year...ugh! I don't know about you, but these seem to be the most difficult cards to make. Why can't guys like flowers???  LOL!

So when I saw Jen's Sketch For You To Try I knew it would be a perfect one to start off my boy cards. 

There's only a teeny bit of stamping on this card, just the sentiment, and it's from the Essential Sentiments set from MFT. The other thing I don't have a lot of is boy-themed paper and embellishments. I'm happy that I picked up some Scenic Route patterned paper at my LSS, Right at Home Scrapbooking, a while back, and I thought the colours would be perfect for one of my nephews. 

I covered and SU chipboard star with red patterned paper, then I added a lower case "d" ghost letter (cause this card is for Drew). I used my small star punch for the kiwi kiss star and topped it off with a blue button. The tag is stamped with white Stazon (although it looks blueish in the photo, and actually it's not pure white on the card either) and cut out with the Spellbinders Tags Trio shapeabilities. 

I ran the brilliant blue background piece through by Tiny Bubbles cuttlebug folder for a bit of texture. The three patterned panels are pierced along the top and bottom edges. I have a glittery green star all covered with Stickles that I'm going to add to the inside of the card, once it dries in about 12 days! LOL!

If you have any favourite boy/men cards, please leave me a link in the comments section. I'm looking for inspiration.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen 

A Bit More Happy Mail

A few more handmade Christmas cards arrived while we were away. I actually LIKE getting cards after Christmas...it seems to extend the season and puts a smile on my face when I open the mail. I thought I'd share these last few with you.

This one is from Michelle L. The card is full of her special touches, like crystal effects on the windows and light bulbs, and lots of sparkle and shine. 

My friend Sonia A. sent this one. It's a tri-fold card with a little slit punch to hold it closed...cute!

This one is made by Jennifer T. I really like the white and kraft colour combo and the words 'snow' across the bottom are all sparkly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Seize the Cupcake

Phew...what a day. The first day back from vacation was all about groceries, errands, unpacking, laundry (although we really don't need the shorts and bathing suits here in New England right now!) and picking up Shadow (our Mini Schnauzer) from the Cape, where he was vacationing with his puppy pals. How 'bout that...my dog has vacationed on Cape Cod and I haven't! LOL! 

I can't tell you how happy I was to get into my stamp room this evening. I was definitely in stamping withdrawal after an entire week away, and I think I was in Nestabilities withdrawal to since I used three layers of them for each image. 

I popped onto Taylor's blog for inspiration from her Friday Cupcake Challenge, TECC49. This is a fun sketch, and when I saw it I knew I wanted to do the "disappearing cupcake" thingy. 

The card base measures 5.25 inches square and it's made from Gina K 120lb pure luxury white cardstock. There's a layer of chocolate chip, then a layer of Basic Grey striped paper, the Sultry line, I think. 

The image and sentiment are from the Hero Arts Clear Designs Cupcakes set. I thought the saying was perfect for my disappearing cupcake. I stamped the cupcake with Memento Black and coloured it with copics. I used my SU scallop circle punch to take a "bite" out of two of the cupcakes, then I cut out the remaining part of the cupcake. Don't know about you, but I would eat the bottom of the cupcake first and save the top for last, but it just looked weird when I punched them that way.   :)

I used my nesties to cut a chocolate square, then both pixie pink and kiwi kiss scallop circles, then white circles. 

The cupcakes are popped on dimensionals and the sentiment is on a double thickness of dimensionals because the little pink clip is pretty big. The sparkly dots are Bonbons from Stamping Bella. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

A Small Confession

I have a small confession...We've been away in Jamaica for the past week, just getting home today! Yay Mon!

Remember the card I posted for my brother's wedding? Well, it was a destination wedding to Negril, Jamaica. We had a super time...my family actually travels really well together and we always enjoy ourselves. Really, how could you not enjoy sun, sand, and surf!

My new SIL sent everyone these awesome luggage tags before we left. Aren't they adorable? We each got two tags and they were personalized too! I told her it was just like going on an SU cruise. My brother even participated in the project by hunting down the actual plastic tags. What a great reminder of their wedding, and totally useful too!

Regular programming...errr...I mean posting will resume in the next day or two. I'm in stamping withdrawal!!!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Pocket Notes

Just a quick post for today. I made this set as a hostess gift for a neighbour. The layout is shamelessly cased from this card on Splitcoast. I was drawn to the clean lines of the layout and the fact that it would be super quick to whip up a batch of these. I'm sorry, I don't really have much to say about the products I used on the card...I didn't write it down at the time and I've given away the cards. The stamp set is SU Pocket Silhouettes. I know the green one is Wild Wasabi, and I think the other is Almost Amethyst, but I can't recall who made the patterned paper. The ribbon and dark layer are both SU chocolate.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen