Masculine Thinking of You Card

Sadly my great uncle is sick in the hospital. I knew he would love a card but most of my get well cards were too young for him. So I set to work.

We are both very religious so I knew he would appreciate this stamp with a scripture on it. While it doesn’t exactly say ‘get well’, I don’t think it needed to. The buttons look too bright for the card colours but IRL they are a perfect match. This is a pretty basic card so there isn’t much to tell you about. Click on sketch to visit the challenge.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SSS
Ink: Grey Flannel- Memento
Paper: light grey CS-SU!, dark grey, ivory CS-PTI, DP-MME
Accessories: buttons-Basic Grey, embossing folder-Sizzix

Winter Wishes Tags for PTI October Blog Hop

Welcome to Paper Trey Ink's October Blog Hop. This month's theme was to make a set of at least 5 holiday gift tags. I don't celebrate any holidays so I just made some fun winter themed tags.

I dyed my own ribbon for this project. The first batch I used some reinkers that ended up splitting into too many purple tones so I redid it with only a greenish navy. That worked perfectly. Then I added some pewter Distress stain to add a metallic sheen which looks pretty IRL but is impossible to photograph and just looks white. Oh well. It’s also impossible to see the glitter I added to the snowflakes with glitter embossing powder.

The die cut is very intricate and dainty and therefore would be hard to adhere except for a new product I used, E6000 adhesive spray. It is messy as there is lots of overspray so use scratch paper or your craft sheet and be sure to hold it in place for at least 1 minute as it isn't very tacky at first. Other than that learning curve, it's a great product! It also says to clean out the entire nozzle and straw after every use which is a huge pain but I've not done it and so far, so good!

Enjoy the rest of the hop! Rebecca

RECIPE

Stamps: SU!
Ink: night of navy-SU! Versamark
Paper: white, blue CS-SU!
Accessories: tag die, buttons-PTI, snowflake die-Memory Box, Hug Snug seam binding, silver cord, iridescent ice EP-SU! Distress stain-Ranger, E6000 adhesive spray

Graduation Card for Katie

We recently hired a respite caregiver for my son who has autism. It is such a relief to have some time to myself while she watches him and my baby if he is awake. She is wonderful with them so when I heard she was graduating from Queen’s University, I had to make her a graduation card.

I’m afraid I don’t know her very well so I went with a very plain style. The fact that I decided to go with her school colours AND that I don’t have many grad stamps kinda threw me for a loop too. I wish it was more interesting. But… I went for the wow factor inside!!

It is hard to take a photo of but when you open it, the spiral opens and you see her grad year! Along with stars covered in the same washi tape I used on the front. I cut two stars for each one you see and glued it to the back on the other side of the spiral to make it look more finished and give it stability.

I’m entering this in the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Open Sesame challenge to make a card that moves or has an unusual opening. My spiral expands as you open the card.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: grad hat-SU!, sentiment-WMS
Ink: versamark, navy-SU!
Paper: navy, ridinghood red-SU!
Accessories: gold EP, washi tape-stash, foam dots-Jody Morrow, Sizzix star die, numbers die-Quickutz

Engagement Card for Max

Max is a wonderful woman who came into our lives as an autism consultant who, thank goodness, is paid for by a wonderful organization called Kerry’s Place Autism Services. She helps families navigate the difficult world of parenting a child with autism with kindness and a quiet dignity mixed with passion for insisting children’s rights are preserved. I recently found out she got engaged so I made this card for her; she deserves every happiness.

It is super simple so there isn’t much to say except to tell you how I got the variegated flowers. I used cube ink pads inking with autumn rose all over then with scarlet jewel very lightly in the middle then heavily only in the very center so I wouldn’t get distinct lines of where one colour stopped and another started. One flower, top left is all scarlet and one bottom right is all autumn rose. I’d switch those two if I made this again. IRL it is so pretty because I used REAL Swarovski crystals. They are so twinkly and amazing. I save them for the most special of cards. I hope she loves it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: rose-SU!, love sentiment-PSX
Ink: autumn rose, scarlet-PTI, Versamark
Paper: sweet blush, vanilla CS-PTI
Accessories: gold EP-SU!, foam dots-Jody Morrow, ribbon-stash, crystals-Fire Mountain Beads, Imaginisce ribbon cutter

Pretty Green Dress for The Shabby Tea Room

I LOVED this week’s inspiration photo! The colours were amazing, aqua, a slightly peachy pink, silver and a bit of brown which I didn’t really use much. I decided to recreate the dress and add some silver and pink accents.

There are so many details that are hard to see and so much prettier IRL. The rose on the top of the dress form is clay and from some broken jewellery my mom gave me. It had a flaw on it so I covered the petal edges in glitter. No way to see the super fine glitter in the photo. You may be able to see in the  close up that I added the tiniest possible drops of Pearl Pen to the straps and neckline because to me the bodice looked beaded.

The belt ‘buckle’ has tiny flowers on it. The bodice has a vellum overlay to soften it and make it match better with the colour of the skirt with the tulle over it. The mannequin is covered in pretty tone-on-tone floral paper. The music stamped behind the mannequin has small areas which are embossed with silver glittered embossing powder which gives it a bit of vintage, distressed looking sparkle. I really wish you could see those things. They took me ages to add!

The ribbon medallion, which is mimics the one in the inspiration photo, is much pinker IRL and not so orange. More like a deeper version of the Paris postcard colour on the lower part of the card. I tried manipulating my photo every which way but it either made it worse or seriously and disastrously affected the other colours. I didn’t really use the brown  much but there is a touch of it on the Paris postcard in the postmark which you can se below.

This gorgeous embellishment originally had a bright pink crystal dangling at the bottom which didn't suit at all so I swapped it out for a pearl bead. Ah, much better! Since I wasn’t hanging it from anywhere, I added a ribbon to the loop at the top. I love the subtle glitter they embedded in the epoxy when they made it.

Click on either photo to visit the challenge blog posts. One other fun detail. I should have taken an angle shot because you can’t see it but the mannequin is several layers thick. She is made of pretty thick coaster board, 4 layers, so she stands out quite a bit from the background. You can tell a bit by looking at her shadow. much larger than it would be if she was flat or popped up on foam dots.

I’m also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge to use Your Favourites because this music stamp is one of my favourites. I lost it for a while and was THRILLED to have found it! YEAH!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: music-SU!, flourish-PTI
Ink: Antique Linen, Encore silver
Paper: background dp-MME, roses-American Crafts, postcard-Cavalini, blush CS-SU!, coaster board-Ellen Hutson, silver paper, vellum-stash, aqua mist CS-PTI
Accessories: bird charm-Girl’s Paperie, medallion ribbon-American Crafts, white ribbon-May Arts, tulle-Michaels, pearls-Dollarama, rhinestones-TE, lace-Etsy, Tim Holtz mannequin dies, PTI label dies, SU! silver and iridescent ice EP, flower bouquet-Jesse James buttons, foam dots-Jody Morrow, pearl bead-stash, mini scalloped punch-EK Success, Pearl Pen, ribbon slide-stash, sheer white ribbon-stash, Glitter Ritz Warm Highlights

Case Study Warm Winter Wishes

I loved the inspiration piece they chose for the CASE Study challenge this week. Click on the photo to check it out.

I decided to use snowflakes instead of leaves. I had planned on a very simple once layer card like the one provided to CASE but my brain just couldn’t stop trying to come up with my own spin on it; a way to make it my own. So I thought of die cutting a hole and adding the sentiment to acetate using white Staz-On ink. But honestly, I HATE using white Staz-On. It is messy and hard to clean off of stamps and blocks. It has to be re-inked every time you use it and doesn’t even always give a great impression. I guess I could have carefully heat embossed it but I didn’t think of that until I am typing  right at this moment! So I left the acetate alone and just used it to support the snowflakes I inserted into the opening then stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card.

I got this all done and even photographed it then decided it needed more bling. So I added glitter to the aqua snowflakes and rhinestones to the sentiment area. Shame you really can’t see the glitter at all. It is white so it can’t be helped. I’m entering this into the Caring Hearts Card Drive. I have to hurry and get it and my other card in the mail. I’m sure they would love it if you could help out!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SU!
Ink: hawaiian shores, aqua mist, blueberry sky-PTI, bashful blue-SU!
Paper: aqua mist CS-PTI, white-TE
Accessories: label dies-Nesties, snowflake dies-MFT, rhinestones-Kaisercraft, glitter-Stampendous

Horse Thank You Card for October SFYTT

This is a very belated thank you card for my girlfriend. Her DD taught riding lessons for summer day camp this summer and my son was in her class. Because we live very close together and she was driving her daughter there anyway, she drove my son also.

This may sound like a small favour to you but it was huge to me. Huge enough that without her kindness, my son probably wouldn’t have been able to attend even though his grandma paid for the lessons. It would just be too much for me to get up and get everyone ready to go so early so many days in a row. You may not be aware but I have lupus, fibromyalgia and serious fatigue as a result. Getting everyone ready and out of the house is a major undertaking. I am so grateful to her and since she also rides, I made this horse themed thank you card for her.

My son helped with the Copic colouring in case you were thinking it isn’t as detailed or refined as my usual work. I’m teaching him the theory behind colour selection (greyer and cooler further away and in shadowed areas for instance) and shadowing (choosing a light source and the difference it makes depending on it’s shape) and colour blending. He prefers to draw in pencil and not colour but yet wants to use my Copics. Hmm…. Maybe just the novelty of something he isn’t allowed to use?

The sentiment panel is an unusual shape, I know. I used a ticket  punch on the corners then decided the panel was too wide for the space I’d left. So I trimmed the panel down and started to repunch the corners when I decided I liked the unusual shape!

For once there is plenty of time to play in this challenge! Crazy unusual for me! I ALWAYS link up at the last minute. Half the time I forget to post in time to actually enter the challenges I’ve made cards for. Seriously??? Click on the sketch to link to the post. Can you believe that I’ve played in every sketch so far this year! I can’t either! I am rarely so disciplined!

I’ve been having some serious behavioural issues, the kind that require therapy and professional diagnosis, with my 5 year old. On top of that, I’ve been having some other very frustrating things going on; it’s been a terrible couple of days. If you are reading this and have a few seconds to linger, please leave me a cheery comment or (clean) joke. I can use all the help I can get today. I rarely post anything personal unless it directly relates to why I made a certain card (as above) but I could sure use a pick-me-up today. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Horse poetry-CDS, sentiment-SU!
Ink: Memento black, Vintage Photo Distress
Paper: Archaic-Basic Grey, chocolate, vanilla CS-SU!, kraft CS-PTI
Accessories: ribbon, ticket corner punch-SU!, foam dots-Jody Morrow, Copics

Celebrate–You’re a Star

I hope my son does well on his report card and if so, this is for him to celebrate the end of the year. This card is also for Unscripted Sketches 163, Joan’s Gardens challenge this week to make a card for a kid and this month’s Waltzing Mouse Blog Party which is open for linking right now!

I kinda got on the confetti craze for this card. I used lots of different papers from 3 packs and Say It Loud from Waltzing Mouse stamps. I wish I’d had one smaller star die so I could layer some even smaller stars pointing off the top right corner, I’ll have to go on a hunt to see which company makes just the right sizes. The photo below is the inspiration for this month’s blog party.

I’m noticing that I really strayed from the sketch quite a bit. I think you can still see the inspiration though, my large panel is bigger, the square was translated into a star and the right panel shrunk into my banner panel. I was still inspired by it though and that’s the point right? I hope…?

I hope if you enjoyed my card that you will visit again. I am in the process of making a video for a really cool graduation hat gift box/gift card box and I’ll post the link and measurements as soon as it is done. I have subscription thingies on my sidebar. Have fun with the rest of the party!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: WMS
Ink: pumpkin pie, green galore, teal (the last two blended to get the small sentiment colour)-SU!, broken china distress
Paper: Fancy Pants, Echo Park-Splash, MME-Lime Twist, confetti white, kraft CS-SU!, orange zest CS-PTI
Accessories: star dies-Sizzix, PTI, star punch-Fiskars, foam dots- Jody Morrow, notebook page punch-SU!

Lila Grace Baby Card

Jennifer McGuire recently had a new baby girl! I don’t know her personally but I love her blog and I greatly admire her! And if this baby is even half as cute as her little guy Colin, she will be a beauty! And since I love making baby cards…

I bought this die and stamp set but hadn’t had a change to play with it yet. So I had a fun time making this card. As you can see, I embossed, or rather debossed, each scoop of ice cream differently. Well, all except one. I used as many folders as I had with a small enough scale and appropriate pattern but had to repeat one. I hadn’t intended to go ROYGBV order so I didn’t pay attention to which two die cuts were embossed the same. Then I did go rainbow order after all. It wasn’t until I was showing my girlfriend the card that I realized the blue and purple scoops were embossed with the same pattern. Ugh, that didn’t look good. So I took a minute while she was here to remove the blue scoop (I have more of the blue paper than purple), recut it and re-emboss it. She looked at me rather indulgently as she thought it was fine as it was but nooo, it surely was NOT! LOL!

It’s all in the details right?

I hope you like it Jennifer. I don’t have your address but if you email me (link under my photo top left), I’ll mail it to you!

ETA: Bummer, the collection to link to the Lila Grace blog hop is closed.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: sentiment, heart background PTI, outline letters-SU!
Paper: white CS-Taylored Expressions, pink cardstock-PTI, scraps for scoops and cone-SU!, green scrap for leaf-PTI
Ink: memento black, pinks-SU!,
Accessories: Quickutz, Cuttlebug embossing folders, Copics R81,83,85, pink button-PTI, PTI ice cream die

Hostess Gift Set

I never used to bring a hostess gift when I was invited somewhere until I saw so many lovely gifts people posted on their blogs. I just wasn’t a custom when I grew up or at least not one I was aware of. I feel so grown up when I bring something with me. But now I don’t know, do I still send a thank you card when I give a hostess gift and card? Or do I save the card for after? Hmm.. if you know, please leave me a comment and fill me in!

I covered a little can with DP and added a cute little handle. You can see the card I made too and behind is custom tissue paper to wrap the gift. I put a shower gel and purse-sized hand cleaner inside. I added Scor-Tape and glitter to the mini clothes pin to hold the card on to the can. I hate using envelopes when I am hand-delivering a card. Seems so wasteful!

Here is how it looks put together! I hope she likes it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: WMS Say It Loud
Ink: red-SU!
Paper: all SU!
Accessories: label die-Nesties, clothespin-Michaels, ribbon-SU!, tissue-Dollarama, glitter-MS

Wisteria Sympathy

A friend lost her favourite uncle and asked me to make a sympathy card for her aunt. This is one of my go-to sympathy cards but I haven’t made one like it in a  long time. Sometimes I have so much fun with the new stuff I buy, I forget about my old favourites.

This is one of the old two-step Stampin’ sets. The butterfly was coloured with Copics but the rest is dye ink.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: butterfly, background and focal image-SU!, sentiment-PTI
Ink: lavender, eggplant, moss, olive-SU!, Antique Linen Distress ink. memento black
Paper: eggplant, saffron, confetti white-SU!
Accessories: pearls-Dollarama

Cherry Blossom Anniversary Card

I recently bought the coolest flower die. It makes gorgeous cherry blossoms. I made them in an unusual colour combo but I love that I can personalize them!

The colours of this card are epecially unusual to anyone who knows me well. Orange is one of my least favourite colours but I have been know to use it under the right circumstances like as an accent, when I love the paper pack or when the person I am making the card for loves bright colours! The latter is the case this time. Oh, and my blonde little guys look awesome in orange so you might see it on a scrap  page at some point!

Making the blossoms is easy. Die cut all the pieces. I cut all of mine from ivory card stock. Then I coloured the star shaped piece with an apricot marker. Same for the center of the sunburst shaped piece. The little ‘sticks’ I coloured in blush and the tips are pumpkin. The sticks and tips are coloured on both sides. The flowers are sponged with blush ink.

To make the flower 3-D, you glue the tab to the back of the next petal. However, I found it was hard to get the tab to stay glued as it is tiny, less than 1/8” long! When I make it again, I won’t glue the tab first. To prepare the center, use an embossing tool and a foam or embossing mat to cup the star piece. Repeat for the sunburst. Then adhere the sunburst to the inside of the star. Now you want to curve the petals and squeeze the flower into a cup shape. Then add adhesive to the outside of the cupped center and the tab and add the center to the flower. While holding down the flower center with the embossing tool, make sure the tab is touching and hold until it is dry. All done!

I’m entering this in the Joan’s Gardens challenge this week and this April’s SFYTT (turned 90 degrees). Joan is offering 6 guest designer spots for participants! I’m really hoping I get a chance!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamp: PSX
Ink: memento black, Apricot, blush, celery-SU!
Paper: Picadilly-Basic Grey, saffron, vanilla, punpkin-SU!
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, lace-WMS, die-Memory box, markers: apricot, pumpkin, blush-SU!, ribbon-Masterstroke Ribbon, Kaisercraft rhinestones

PTI Blog Hop

 

This month's theme was interactive cards! I can't wait until I can order the Movers and Shakers dies! For now, I used an SCS tutorial for a wiper card.

Here's the front…

and this photo below shows what it looks like opened up.

If you hold it open and flat, the wiper section sticks up perfectly straight. We've just had three straight yucky days with snow so I needed a happy card with springy colours! I made a very similar card before in deeper colours; if you go to the search box in the top left corner next to the orange Blogger 'B' and type in wiper, you will find it. Hard to create links how I'm posting. It would be perfect for a sympathy card. ETA: Here’s the link.

I've always wanted to make one with a pocket inside for a gift card holder with an arrow on the wiper pointing to it! I didn't realize until now that my Laughter panel looks unbalanced so I'll probably add a little leaf sprig at the top later. I used a marker to create the centers for the pink flowers.

The yellow flower doesn't have a center for it exactly. I tried thumping my markers in the center but it didn't show up enough. So I used the tiny flower stamp included to stamp several times in apricot ink to make a center. It's the same stamp you see in pink in a few places.

EDITED SINCE I WROTE THIS: I apologize for the very lousy iPhone photos. I promise to get better ones up this afternoon but I'm so tired. I got up right after nursing the baby to make this. He actually slept through the night, from 12:30 until almost 8 (awesome for a 2 month old), but I'm behind on sleep because he's usually up several times! So I'm posting from my iPhone and will post properly later with real camera pictures. I'll add the recipe then too. The PTI products are the papers except the Kraft and plum CS, the stamps, dies, buttons and striped twine. The inks, scalloped punch and twine are not PTI.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Life-PTI
Ink: banana, apricot, moss, olive, plum, pink, eggplant-SU! Distress Linen, Photo
Paper: spring moss DP, rustic white CS-PTI, kraft, perfect plum, pale plum CS-SU!
Accessories: butterfly and scalloped circle die, chocolate twine, white button twine, buttons-PTI, foam dots-Jody Morrow, twine-stash, bee bellie-Jessie James buttons, Battenburg lace tape-stash, EK Success mini scallop punch, WRKM Corner Chomper

Nautical Thanks

I was almost killed in a car accident last Friday. Some distracted moron drifted over the center line into my lane. Fortunately, I had a lane to my right so I swerved to avoid him and he continued drifting into that lane too! Took off my mirror! I was so worried I’d have to pay for it because he left the scene. But amazingly, another driver following behind the drifting moron followed him and so he finally returned! I was so grateful to the nice guy who followed and came back to be a witness that I made him this thank you card. I’m going to bake him something too.

It was hard to decide what type of card to make. I have car, travel, beach, robot, monster, office, nature, animal and a few other themed stamps appropriate for a guy. Other than knowing he is a teacher at my son’s school though, I have no idea what he likes. So I just went for this, I figured it was generic enough. I wish there was a guy equivalent to flowers for girls'; appropriate for anyone.

The knot tutorial came from Bar at Paper Pursuits, sorry I don’t have the link right now as it’s on my iPhone. It’s called a sailor’s knot so you can probably search her blog for it. I used the CPS sketch below. Click on it to link to the challenge.

Incidentally, the cops charged the guy who hit me and I didn’t have to pay the deductible because he was at fault. Whew! I was so scared and my 7 week old baby was with me. When the mirror was knocked off, it didn’t even make the van shake so we were OK. But I started shaking considering that if it weren't for my quick swerving, we could easily be dead. It is so strange and scary to see a huge SUV heading straight for you!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: lighthouse-JustRite, sentiment-PTI (Out on a Limb Sentiments)
Ink: Memento black, night of navy, real red-SU!
Paper: white CS-X-Press It, saffron, night of navy, real red-SU!, DP-October Afternoon (Seaside)
Accessories: twine-May Arts, ribbon-SU!, oval Nesties, pinking shears, Copics YR31, Y21,23, B41, W00,1,3,5,7, C7, 100, R24,27,59, BG72,75, brads-stash, Sizzix embossing folder border, foam dots-Jody Morrow, square punch-SU! (end of banner)

January PaperTrey Ink Blog Hop

I love this blog hop but haven’t participated in a while. It’s so hard to create something in time with only one day notice! (Unless the topic is posted in advance somewhere I am not aware of, please let me know if it is.) So I often miss out. But this time, I already made a card that qualifies that I hadn’t posted yet, NO WAY! Oh yeah, WAY!
 

The challenge was to find your favourite card from 2011 that features PTI products, then to CASE yourself using that card as inspiration. I absolutely love Button Boutique and had a blast playing with it when I first got it. The original post is HERE.You can see the other button cards I made that day HERE.

I actually made this for last week’s Mojo Monday sketch but as is typical with me, I forgot to post it in time to link it up. I drive myself crazy doing that! And I remembered only 40 minutes late. But now that I see it will work perfectly for this month’s blog hop, I am not so disappointed in myself.

I really had fun making this stick pin. I decided to go very sewing themed with it once I found that the charm I picked would go on the pin when I bent the charm ring back. I was going to bend it back all the way flat against the back but when I got it half way, I got the brilliant inspiration to slide it on a corsage pin. A mini thread spool quickly followed as it was sitting in the same bellie container as the charm. I store my bellies by theme if it has a theme and by type, eg: brads, buttons etc if it doesn’t. Some things are subdivided by colour as well if I have too many for one container.

This is a close-up of the button card. I used a broken vintage MOP (Mother of pearl) button and the others are from PTI. The brown one looked too new and perfect so I scuffed it up with a nail file. I really like these colours together, cocoa, chocolate and baja by SU! (I apologize for the weird colour cast to these photos, I tried to adjust the colour but I am not using software with an auto white balance adjustment so I could only go more blue or more pink,  this was the closest to neutral I could get. I actually do better photographing at night as usual!)

Here’s a close-up of the original card’s button card. I think this is baja again, LOL! I wanted each button to look different so I either threaded differently or placed them at different angles. But I really embellished the plain white button with embroidery thread making it look like a little flower! Awww, so cute right? The pink part is a French knot, easy to learn to do; I’m sure there are zillions of instructions on the web or on YouTube if you’d like to try this. A small detail but card making is all in the details right?

If you enjoyed this project, please visit again or subscribe. I have RSS and email sub widgets on my sidebar. I don’t always post regularly as I have a 1 month old so bear with me!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE (see original card link for those supplies)
Stamps: Button Boutique-PTI
Ink: cocoa, chocolate, baja-SU!, Distress Antique Linen, Vintage photo, Antique Linen Distress Stain
Paper: chocolate, vanilla CS-SU!, DP-MME,
Accessories: button card die, buttons-PTI, damask ribbon-Wal-Mart, thread spool, corsage pin-Michaels, charm-stash, Silk ribbon-May Arts, Copic BG72,75, Bow-Easy, lingerie ruffle-stash of bra making supplies I sell, foam dots-Jody Morrow, Zots dimensional clear glue dots, EK Success mini scalloped punch, WRMK distresser

Hero Arts Thinking of You Card

I bought one of the new Hero Arts sets that includes stamps and matching dies. The dies are unique in that they cut right at the very inner edge so no guessing where it is going to cut like dies with the cutting edge in the middle. Of course, then there is no way to stencil or emboss so it’s a trade off.


I sincerely apologize for the icky colour cast. I have come to realize that photographing my cards in the daytime in my light box is never going to work. The lights I use have a very yellow cast and the light in my room is daylight so quite blue. The mix seems to confuse my camera sensor in a very nasty way. I don’t have software that will auto correct and the manual adjustments I made didn’t help much. I’d take another photo but I already gave the card away. Sigh… I hope you can use your imagination to get rid of the bluishness.

The authentic colours are celery, banana and apricot in the background, pretty in pink and regal rose for the flower and celery and olive for the leaves, all from SU! I used markers to colour the flower and then spritzed the stamp lightly with pearlized water I made from Perfect Pearls. Next time, I’ll use a bit more water as I wish it had blended a bit better. I was inspired by a card I found by Melissa Bickford posted Jan 14th on Just Dandy. Thanks Melissa!

This card says Thinking of You but I used it as a sympathy card. I stamped a sentiment from JustRite stamps inside. A dear friend lost a brother and sister within the space of a month. Sadly, I didn’t know about the brother so the card only says sister inside but they get the idea.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Hero Arts-Floral set and dot stamp from some other HA set
Ink: celery, rose, banana, apricot, olive, pink-SU!
Paper: doily-Wilton, white, banana, celery CS-SU!
Accessories: Ribbon-May Arts, dies-HA

My Favourite Things ATC

This is one of my favourite ATCs I’ve ever made. Interestingly enough it was for a swap called My Favourite Things-make an ATC inspired by the song from Sound of Music. It really isn’t a traditional ATC though. This is what it looks like before you open it.

So as you can see, it looks like a ‘brown paper package tied up with string’ and inside…

…is a collection of things from the song. The rose has glossy accents on it in specific spots to look like rain drops, as in ‘raindrops on roses’. Then we have a ‘cream coloured pony’, a ‘white dress with blue satin sash’ and a bee from ‘when the bee stings’. They’re a bit hard to see but in front of the pony is ‘snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes’ which I made silver in reference to ‘silver white winters’. The little tag lists the things from the song in case it wasn’t clear. Once I was done, I really wanted to keep this one!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: girl-MFT, pony-TAC, flower-SU!, bee-Unity
Paper: white, ivory CS-TE, brown paper-lunch bag
Ink: Memento black, cocoa
Accessories: baker’s twine-Masterstroke Ribbon, Curvy rectangles-Spellbinders, glossy accents-Ranger, tag die-Cuttlebug, Copics, snowflake punch-MS

Butterfly Dreams ATC

I don’t remember when I made this or for what but I am finally getting around to posting it. It was probably for a butterfly or
shabby chic themed swap on Swap-Bot.

Pretty simple so not too much to say. I hope you like it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: SU!
Ink: Memento cocoa
Paper: vanilla, chocolate CS-SU!, vintage music paper
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, Making Memories fabric tape, Copic Markers, Pearls-Dollarama

Baby Thank You Gift Set

Friends of my husband’s just had a baby and since he helped us move (huge job!) I just had to make them a baby gift. I’ve been too busy getting ready for our own baby (37 weeks as of Sunday! almost there…) to make anything too extravagant but I managed to whip up a set of 10 CAS thank you cards.

Here they are, as a set, all boxed up with envelopes. I would have made the box more interesting but everything I could think of would have gotten crushed when I put it in a padded envie to mail it. And I’m not sure they are the sentimental types to save and/or reuse a pretty box.

Isn’t this stamp gorgeous and detailed? I just love it! I tried interesting my mom in stamping a while back and she bought quite a few stamps but never kept it up so I inherited this beauty! Such a great focal stamp, fabulous all on it’s own.

Here’s the card all by itself. I went with very CAS because I’m told they are not into things that are too ‘frou-frou’! These should work well. I don’t think I’ve ever made cards with so few ‘ingredients’! I’ve made quite a few thank you cards for my own use already but if I run out, I may make a few more of these!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamp: oops, I forget, email me if you want to know but its older so probably retired, thank you-PTI (I think)
Paper: marina mist, vanilla CS-SU!
Ink: night of navy-SU!