Masculine Birthday Card

I whipped this card up from the inspiration of this week’s Paper Players #341 sketch:

 

The simplicity of the sketch is what drew me, I almost immediately know what supplies to reach for.  I owe out a few masculine birthdays and this fit the ticket.  I used paper from a 12 x 12 pad “Natural Luxury” by Craft Smith.  I seem to return to this book for both elegant and masculine over and over.  Its a great mix of florals and patterns with splashes of shiny gold thrown in.  I used a slide mount – the sort from old projectors (remember the days when you were subjected to someones family memories for hours? – sometimes that was hugely meaningful and fun, other times you wish you could clone yourself… LOL!)  At any rate, these are glass plated slides with a metal looking plastic frame which I backed with coordinating cardstock and sealed in with narrow foam tape.  A “shaker” card, basically.  The sentiment is stamped with Versafine, the words from Stampin’ Up.  I used my Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle dies to create interest on the sentiment banner. 

 

I’m some  weeks home from a visit to Houston Texas and I might get an inkling to post some of my favorite pics on my blog yet, we will see.  For now, here is a photo of one of my favorite spring flowers from here in our Pocket Desert area of beautiful BC – a Shooting Star flower, and a little spring inspiration as well.

 

At night I peer into a velvet and diamond night sky,

Seeking with my naked eye,

In spring I look upon the ground,

To see if I’m blessed to have found,

In night, in day – a shooting star,

I hunt upward, downward – here you are!

- Barbara Derksen

 

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Sweet Everyday card

Finally was able to create again, bonus my lovely sister Nina was available to hang with me during! 

We chose to do this week’s Mojo Monday #492 sketch:

I love how NinaNina and I think in totally contrast most of the time – its always exciting to see what she comes up with.  For me, I let the paper do most of the work.  I used I cropped a 12 x 12  paper pad  by Craft Smith called Natural Luxury.  I layered upon layered, adding cuts using stitched rectangle die cuts by Simon Says and then some pretty floral die cuts by Jillibean Soup -  Latte Love.  The final touches the black ribbon shot through with gold to coordinate and some etches into gold flower buds and leaves using a seam ripper (my favorite secret tool!)

 

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Going Home

I'm tucked into a comfortable seat at the Calgary airport waiting for the last leg of my flight home in a short time and since I have a while before I fly out and because I've sorely neglected my blog I will use my time to create a post.   I've been gone five weeks to Houston where I spent time with my daughter and grandbaby.  Precious, precious family time together.  I marvel that five weeks could pass so swiftly and pleasantly.  I'm coming home with a treasure box of memories.  I have missed my husband very much and I feel like a bride going home!   

I left the cold and snow behind in the Okanagan so it felt like stepping into another world to find myself in full springtime in Houston.  We were located in the Bayou area of Houston which has so much to offer.  I enjoyed the lush parks - spring flowers in bloom, all of nature bursting forth to provide pleasure to the senses.  Vibrant wildflowers green grass and lovely shady trees everywhere providing welcome shade and framing Houston's tall downtown buildings.  

I enjoyed good food and met warm and friendly people.  I found myself enjoying the "yes Ma'ams" in their polite warm southern conversations and I must say everyone I met really went out of their way to make me feel comfortable.  I realized that 'bayou' is no longer a foreign word.  I sorted out which restaurants are fast food and wow there are a LOT of restaurants in Houston.  I tasted 'real' BBQ, which is nothing like anything I've ever had before. 

My daughter, grandbaby and I took some side trips to various places.  I'm sure my little nose-print is still on the passenger window.  I especially loved a long walk we took down a long red clay country road and another drive to Lafayette, Louisiana.  I met a lovely lady from Louisiana during my Houston stay and if she represents the southern charm then I can't wait for another visit. 

I also visited the Houston Zoo with a relative and my grandbaby too - she is a bit young to fully enjoy the critters (who were mostly hiding out or sleeping off the heat of the day) but I had a grand time and it was special time with our cousin.  And the best thing ever? (besides having time with those we love) was being present when grandbaby crawled for the very first time.  

I could post so much more, but my flight time is creeping up.  It will be sweet to be home with my husband and be creative again.  

 

Hearty “I love you” Card

I had a wonderful creative evening with Nina and Judy last night and I enjoyed making a very simple take on this challenge from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #197

I used a Simon Says DieNamics Die cut rectangular cut out of a 6 x 6 DP Heidi Swapp block for the base.  I added a circle punched out of cardstock with this sentiment from Your Next Stamp.  For my embellishments I simply punched tiny hearts from heavy glitter cardstock.

 

♥♥♥

I get pleasure out of leaving little tidbits after my posts so today I’m sharing a hint I stumbled across by accident.  I have been wearing a glittery nailpolish for a while but it was at the stage where it was beginning to flake off and snag on everything so it had to come off before I got really annoyed.  I, unfortunately, have a problem with the feel of cotton or cotton balls.  Makes me all squeamish and when it crunches I literally flinch.  You know, the feeling like some folk get when they hear nails going down a chalkboard.  Anyways, for lack of something sturdier than paper towels,I hit upon the thought I might try a used dryer sheet and goodness gracious it works like a charm!  

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Birdy Birthday Card

Such a fun little card to make, using CAS(e) this Sketch #206 Challenge as a jumping off point:

 

This Crate Paper caught my eye right away and I snipped it up in mere seconds.  I cut it with a Simon Says DieNamics stitched rectangular die into and then sheared it off angle ways.  I chose to use the bird as a focal point toward the bottom but use punched out hearts from the same paper as the bit that draws the eye up to the sentiment.  I used my go-to teeny tiny My Favorite Things stamp to say Happy Birthday and, after bumping a few of the hearts up, added some tiny hand drawn dashes up to the hearts. 

♥♥♥

The work of art is above all a process of creation,

it is never experienced as a mere product.

- Paul Khee

This quote struck me.  I believe it is what binds us all togehter.  I used to do a lot of “fine art” and when my sister Nina introduced me to making cards, I had a real wrestle in my mind to think of it as anything but a tiddly hobby.  I loved it, but I felt that it did not have any value for my time – not compared to a painting which might hang for years and generations… However, I’ve come to be humbled by what creating (especially online with Nina and my Sister in Law Judy).  The opportunity to all create together is priceless.  The cards are hugely fun to make and honestly, I have to tell you that the work I see all you card-makers do out there, well you are fine artists in my opinion.  I’ve seen so many of you push creativity to the enth degree!  I see you using mixed medias and making cards that could and should be hung and framed. 

 

But most of all, I’ve seen the absolute joy when someone I’ve gifted a simple card to can bring.  I can’t tell you how many times a card has touched someone’s heart.  How many times someone has let me know that my little card was just the thing someone needed at that exact time.  I am so very thankful today for this community of artists (yeah, YOU!)  Have a happy and creative weekend! 

 

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Floral Happy Birthday (200th Muse Challenge)

Congrats to MUSE on their 200th Challenge!  What a milestone!  Here’s the “muse” we are asked to model our card after:

this card was created by Jenni Murray and I couldn’t think of straying very far from her beautiful example so I just went with it in all it’s glory, adding a few personal touches. 

I used a slice of 6 x 6 from a block, the designer is 1/2 wiped out by the sticky tape and it lifted off though I see the word “HADFEILD” and I think it says “HOME-MADE” for the name of it. The stamp is by Bo Bunny and the Floral is by Prima.  The leaves though, that’s something all of my own, a little cheat of sorts…

 

When I’m at the thrift stores or dollar stores, I pick up silk flowers and leaves, then I simply either use them ‘as is’ or I trim them with scissors.  They look so much more real than paper and sometimes there is wire inside them and so they bend and fold to look very natural. 

♥♥♥

Why not light up someone’s day today?  Why not – it’s free to give and yet it can start a domino of smiles…

This poem by Margaret M. Dixon encourages us:

 

It lights the face with beauty, entirely lifts the gloom,

As will a tiny lantern some corner of a room,

And the passer-by is gladdene, when someone stops awhile,

To have a little cheery word, made richer by a smile

 

Smiling is so easy, and yet we often may

Neglect to light another’s path in this quite simple way,

So, when the world is blanketed with mist and pouring rain,

Just smile – it could bring sunshine into someone’s life again.

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A BEE-utiful Birthday Card

I had such a sweet time making this card.  I saw this challenge for Seize the Birthday for January 19th and decided it would be amusing to try this one with some stamps I had in mind. 

The Seize the Birthday challenge calls either to make this a simple birthday card and/or make it one including Doodles or Dashes – I chose to hit it on both points!

I chose the base to include lots of white space by embossing a slab of white columns cardstock using a Cricut Cuttlebug Chicken Wire embossing folder.  (I thought the shapes suggested beehive hexagons)  I then stampedall the senitments on – the “buzzing by to say” and the hexagons and the bee and doodles are all from Honey Bee Stamps (oh how I LOOOOOVE my HB Stamps!!!)  Used bright yellow cardstock for more “hive” which I fussy-cut and bumped out with foam tape.  I shaded each segment using my tombow markers using a graduated wash of deep burgundy.  I matched up a bright yellow tombow to accent the bee then after everything was placed I used Diamond Glaze to adde dimension to the hive and bee. 

The Happy Birthday sentiment is a Studio G.

♥♥♥

I want to share with you a thought that if where you are, like where I am, is the dullest, darkest time of the year, know there are snowdrops waiting just under the snow, even though you can’t see them.  Take advantage of this time to tackle some projects about the house indoors.  Read books, burn a candle, have warm baths.  Don’t let the gloom get ahold on you.  You can’t change the weather but you can think sunny! 

 

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Elegant Birthday Card & Dreary January

I feel like I finally hit my creative stride again – YAY!  This first card (and opportunity to craft time online with my sister Nina and sister in law Judy in 2017.  I chose to  make a card for the Case This Sketch January 19th challenge

 

I felt a deep satisfaction as this card almost built itself, layer upon layer.  You know how it is when you’ve not had a chance to do something for a bit – you are fearful you’ll forget!  I used:

Cardstock

Ma Cherie designer collection paper

Simon Says Stamp Stitched rectangular Die Cuts

My Favorite Things Stamp sentiment

Super fine marker

Wink of Stella marker – Silver

Crochet thread

I let the paper do much of the work and as focal point of the facade.  I simply traced some of the blossoms using a super fine ink pen and then added subtle glitter using Wink of Stella. 

This has been a long, chilly winter until now, with the lake frozen over. My husband watched some coyotes navigate the icy shore yesterday morning.  The temperatures have been sub-zero quite a bit, however, the past few days have been very soggy.  Rain, snow, rain snowrainsnow.  The ice is melting and unreliable.  The rural driveways a soggy slick mess.  The skies an unchanging dull steel gray with heavy clouds pressing us into the valley.  Thankfully the weather is said to take a somewhat more cheerful change this week.  I’ll keep you posted!

Thank you for dropping in today – here’s something to ponder before you go.  Even when it seems the darkest, light a candle and know its only temporary…

As a candle’s cheerful light

Scatters all the gloom of night,

Hope will come a-shining through,

Lighting up the way for you,

Glowing through the darkest days,

Sending out its healing rays,

Beaming like a leading light,

Until once more the way is bright.

- Dorothy M. Loughran

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Sweet Dog Birthday Card

I’m basing this card on this week’s CAS on Sunday #99 Challenge – this week’s recipe being “Black and White with one color of your choice”

I used this Christmas Stamp from Recollections, but colored the bow in a pretty pink. I wanted it to be a birthday theme, for a female so I simply chose a lovely fuschia instead of red.  I stamped the sentiment in the coordinating black and pink. The black ink is versafine onyx.  I received a set of stitched dies as a gift and this was the perfect way to use it for the first time!  They came from Simon Says Stamp.

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I blogged last.  My big beautiful life keeps me too pooped to blog of late but I’m hoping to remedy that in the coming months. 

Thanks for popping by!

 

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A “Rosey” Birthday Card

Ouch! – it has been over a month since my last post!  After being away to Calgary (brrr!) then Houston Tx and San Antonio (ahhh!) then back to Calgary (double brrr!) then home (where its pretty cold now too) I’ve now had a few days to unwind and adjust to time changes and get my feet under me.  I managed to get my craft area back in order as I’d abandoned it in a despicable state before leaving – and I settled in to make a card!  Ahhh, my happy zone.  I decided to make a card based on the CAS(e) This Sketch #201 challenge:

I chose to cut these gardenias (close to a rose, right?  This card is going to a Rose…)  I die cut them ( Memory Box)out of a sparkly pink glitter paper.  I laid down a base of Tim Holtz distress inks before gluing the florals.  I finished it all off with a sentiment from Your Next Stamp. 

I think I should get myself in gear and post at least a few times this coming week!

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