Time for Summer, Baby!

We’ve had some pretty hot temperatures lately here in Southern Ontario so a bathing suit card was perfect for this week’s Crazy 4 Challenges theme of Ombre!

I absolutely ADORE this background paper. I could have 10 sheets of it and it still wouldn’t be enough. I wanted 2 layers under the bathing suit  but I also wanted to let that awesome ombre paper shine so I used some vellum for my lowest layer. The bathing suit was popped up on foam but I chose to cut multiples of the ‘relax’ die cut to make it more dimensional. However, when it came time to add it to the card, I realized I was in a bit of a pickle as the ‘x’ is a separate piece! So I cut several more of the ‘x’ until I raised it up to match the rest of the word. I also did that with the ‘r’ so it would match the ‘x’. A touch of shimmer pen to the swimsuit and ‘relax’ plus a few coordinating sequins and I was done!

I hope you have lots of ideas for making a project with some ombre paper or other supplies. Maybe a watercoloured or sponged background? Don’t forget to link up your creation!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Cupcake Celebration!

We have a very intricate sketch this week at Crazy 4 Challenges! It’s got lots of shapes and layers to work with.

This project was coloured entirely with Copic markers with the exception of the inks on the banner but even that is shaded with Copics. I started by colouring the cupcakes but then I couldn’t find a background paper I liked for the life of me! ugh!! So, next I airbrushed a background with the same Copics I used to colour the cupcakes! I thought it turned out subtle but nice. The strips of paper and the die cut frames were also coloured using the same markers. The frames were made with some of the first dies ever manufactured, basic squares and scalloped squares from Spellbinders. The cupcakes, dies and the celebrate banner are all from the Baker’s Dozen set by PTI.

Isn’t this a fun sketch? Come on over to the C4C blog to play along with the Crazies this week!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Masculine Congratulations

Hubby always has me make cards for him for his co-workers. I really don’t mind because it’s the least I can do since a huge portion of our disposable income goes to my crafting! And the timing was perfect because our theme at Crazy 4 Challenges is masculine cards.

He needed a congrats card for someone he knows who is leaving for a job elsewhere. I always ask him about the person so I know what direction to take when designing the card. This guy likes the outdoors but that was all I got. Men aren’t the best at noticing the type of things about a person that lead to designing a card that suits them. :)

Fortunately, I have a searchable iPhone program that I’ve set up with a ‘masculine’ category so finding some outdoorsy male paper wasn’t too hard. The paper is from a great masculine pad by Kaisercraft. The small ‘quality’ panel and the congratulations are from the back of the same pad! I love how Kaisercraft has so many fun pieces in the back. The tree was die cut and sponged to add a bit more of the outdoors and I found some self-adhesive metal pieces that look like brads but had no prongs. They were the perfect colour, aged copper, for this card. The top of the card is made from kraft paper I embossed with a PTI texture plate. To add a bit more texture to the patterned paper, I stamped some vintage style stamping.

Do you struggle with masculine cards? Maybe you can find some inspiration over at our blog! Pop on by and leave a comment for our team. Then make a card and link it up!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Summer Flamingo Card

So apparently yesterday was Barefoot Day which makes that the theme for Crazy 4 Challenges. Which suits me fine as I regard socks as torture devices only to be worn when desperate! That means I’m barefoot anytime I’m inside and as much of the year as I can manage outside.

All the papers are from Authentique, a pack called Utopia. The flamingo is an Echo Park die that I cut from more patterned paper. To make the dots not quite so prominent, I added some Worn Lipstick Distress ink. Then it was a bit too plain pink so I added some orange, just a touch, with Marmalade to mimic the flowers. I hand cut the monstera leaf, I just love those, don’t you? So vibrant in colour and organic in shape! The hibiscus flower (or whatever it is) is a wood veneer accent that I coloured. I filled the Polaroid-style frame from Simon Says with various Lucy’s Sequins. The aren’t as bright as the flamingo but that’s ok as I wanted the flamingo to stand out anyway. And they do look brighter IRL.

I hope you can find something in your stash that is barefoot so you can play along. Basically any bird or animal that isn’t dressed in some sort of outfit with shoes will work so hopefully you have lots to choose from! Even some sea creatures in shells have a ‘foot’, snails do too! So lots of ideas you can work with. Head on over to our blog and link up your project!

Enjoy, Rebecca

The Most Annoying Graduation Card EVER!!

So the challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges was to make a graduation card. Seems simple right? Oh, you would think so…

Oh but I had to complicate things by using Chibitronics lights. These are usually pretty easy to use, I’ve done it before, no big deal! Well, this time I spent HOURS agonizing over why they wouldn’t light. So I get all but one working… try to adjust the last light in the sequence… don’t change a. single. thing. with the other three lights. Now the first three don’t work and the last one does!!!!! AHHHHH!!! {insert bag language here}. So hubby comes to help. After much ‘rewiring’ all of the lights work. By now I’ve tried soldering the lights (apparently I’m very bad at it), taking lights out and replacing them and adding the special fabric conductive tape to try and make them work. Hubby gets them all working. Great. Off he goes, I add the card front, one light goes out!! {insert tearing hear and rending of garments here}. After another hour, I finally get it to work. Ta Da!! (total of 5 hours now working on this card!)

Why oh why did I go to all this fuss and frustration? Well my baby is graduating from Kindergarten this year. I know, it’s a silly thing to have a kindergarten graduation but it is so terribly cute and he loves Chibi lights cards so much. I just HAD to get it to work. He’s actually been in kindergarten for three years now. Being born mid-December, he really wasn’t ready for JK the first year so he only went for afternoons until March, you know, like in the olden days!! June of last year (16/17 school year) he just wasn’t ready for grade 1. He would have been so far behind. He was diagnosed last year with ADHD, learning issues and academic delay. He should get special help but brilliantly, they don’t really help kids until they are already way behind in grade 3. Because many kids catch up by then. ugh…

As we don’t celebrate his birthday, he is only older than the other kids in his class for a week or so before the holidays. When he comes back from break, he will be the same age as any kind with a very early Jan birthday. So not really a social stigma which some parents worry about. So for him, leaving kindergarten is a real accomplishment. More so than for other kids.

Back to the card! I forgot to get a photo of the pull tab which is also the switch for the lights but it says ‘happy graduation’. He saw me making it but he hasn’t seen it finished so he will still be surprised.

I hope you can join us this week with your own graduation card. Don’t forget to link it up and leave a nice comment for the team and their inspiration!

Enjoy, Rebecca