Thinking of Flowers

A dear friend of mine, A, has been going through some very rough times for the last ten months.  I haven't seen much of her but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of her a lot.  When I finally had a chance to to see her, I made her this card.  Not a fancy card, but enough to tell her that I've been thinking about her.  The flowers represent her family, which I thought was quite cute.  I hope things will start looking up for her and her family because they definitely deserve it.

Sending You Love...For Your Birthday

My sister-in-law wanted to use this card style for her wedding invitations next year.  The style is unique and easy to make, however, the card ends up being very small (only a 4" x 4"), not nearly enough space to place all the information that needs to be written on an invite.  To show her exactly how small the card is, I made her a sample, in the form of a birthday card. 

See how the card opens up (sorry the photo was rotated for some reason)?  I might actually make more of these for other occasions!

Birthday Circles

Here's another card we made at last week's Team Meeting -  a very simple yet colourful card that can be made for birthdays, thank yous, babies, congrats...The key is in the stamp set used called "A Fitting Occasion".  I've been itching to buy this set since I laid my hands on the catalog but I've been holding out.  I'm glad I got to try it out at the last meeting.  And the best thing about this card - you get to use up your scraps!



Scattered Flower Card

This simple card was made using the Reason to Smile two-step stamp set.  The first step is the solid flower stamp, and the second is the trace of the flower.  Instead of placing the two stamps directly on top of each other, I separated them out on this card.  I've seen others do this to make some beautiful cards but I'm not sure how I feel about mine...

Maybe I need to try a more cheerful colour combination?

Another Hallowe'en Card For You

It's been a few months since I've been able to attend our Team's Monthly Crafting Meetings.  Since I work a far way's away, it's incredibly difficult to be able to make it to these meetings.  However, I finally made it this month and I'm glad I did.  As usual, we did some make and takes, and here is one of them, a not-so-scary Hallowe'en card.  Enjoy!

October says Hallowe'en

I don't normally make Hallowe'en cards, but these stamps were just too cute for me to pass up.  I stamped a bunch of these monsters and bats, and now I don't know what to do with them.  So don't be shocked if you get a Hallowe'en card from me this year!

A Grey Birthday (Card)

No birthdays should be grey, but that doesn't mean birthday cards can't be.  I'm beginning to love muted designs with a pop of colour.  It's just as eye-catching as a card full of colour.

Today is my birthday - maybe I'll save the card for myself :)

An Everyday Card

Sometimes I just want to make a "simple" card just because (though nothing is really simple, right?)  I didn't have anyone in mind when I made this card, nor an occasion, but this design is versatile enough I could add a sentiment on the inside once I figure out what it will be used for.  Notice that the three panels were really from the same image?

Christmas Lodge

I'm going to change things up a bit and share with you a Christmas card done with stamping.  When I first saw this stamp set, I fell in love with the Christmas lodge shown here.  Colour it in or leave it plain.  In this case, I went with the latter but I didn't forget to include a splash of colour in both the card base and the snowflakes.  By the way, do you like the watermarked (with Versamark) snowflakes on the blue layer? 

The outside:

 Carrying over the colour scheme on the inside of the card:



The World Got A Present The Day You Were Born

At last week's crafting get-together with W and B, the three of us shared our supplies (namely stamps!) so that we could make cards that we otherwise won't be able to make.  I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to borrow W's Mixed Bunch and B's Papillon Pot Pourri stamp sets.  Coupled with some of my supplies (Fancy Fan Embossing Folder and the old Priceless stamp set), I put together this light cheery card.  The sentiment is from the old Happiest Birthday Wishes set.

The front:

Happy Birthday, Helen!

Hip Hip Hooray!

I have to admit, I wasn't in love with the Stampin' Up Aviary stamp set when I first saw it in the catalog, but after seeing what magic B did with it, I fell in love.  Aren't these little birdies and bird cages so cute?  I put them to use on a birthday card here but they will work on cards for any occasions.  I might just have to buy this stamp set now!

Don't take pictures late at night...

Because I either end up with washed out photos, or yellowy photos from the yellow lights at home.  The pictures just don't do this card justice.  C requested a birthday card for her mom who likes bling and blue, so this is what I came up with.  Hopefully the recipient won't notice that the glittery blue paper in the background is Christmas (snowflake) design, but the colour as well as the amount of glitter was perfect so I had to use it.  I hope she likes it just as much as C!

Washed out (flash on) version:

Yellow (no flash) version:

Inside:

Happy Birthday, Brayden!

My bff's little baby is turning one, oh how time flies.  I made this simple but cute card for Brayden - notice how the ink and cardstock for each animal matches?  The stamp set is called Fox and Friends from Stampin' Up and the colours used are from the 2011-2013 In Colours line along with Early Espresso, my go-to colour for everything.  I hope he and parents all like it! 

Flowers, anyone?

My bff wanted a card for her mother-in-law who's turning 60 this year.  She loves to garden so I hope she'll like this floral card.  I used the Stampin' Up Reason to Smile stamp set and coloured in the flowers with ink and a Blender Pen.

DIY Patterned Paper

If you're wanting some patterened paper but just don't have exactly what you want or the colour scheme that you need, why not make your own with the stamps that you have.  From flowers to words to swirls, anything goes!  To give this card a theme, I used the happy birthday cupcake from Easy Events.



More Cards From My Class

Here are a couple more cards that I had prepared for my "Birthdays Galore" card class that B didn't get to make because we were short on time.

This card features the Afternoon Daydream Simply Scrappin' kit.  These kits are great and really simple to use.  Everything is coordinated for you, and all the shapes you see are adhesive.  No cutting, no guessing.  You can make this card in three minutes!

This one is another more elegant card that uses the "triple stamping" technique with the Reason to Smile stamp set.  I didn't really stamp it three times though, because if I did I would never be able to align the flowers up exactly!  Instead, they were stamped once, with all three layers temporarily fastened to each other.  You might see a hint of green in there too - that's a beautiful swirl from the retired Priceless stamp set.  I "stole" the sentiment from the Easy Events set :)  Oh, if you're loving the colour of the card like me, you'll want to know that it's Calypso Coral, one of the 2011-2013 In Colours.

My Very First Class!

On signing up to be a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I went through the motions of setting up a website with them (free for the first two months so sure I'll keep it for two months) and posted some classes on there.  Unexpectedly, someone RSVP'ed for a class (and she comes from a half hour drive away)!  Both shocked and excited, I had to prepare some cards we'd make for my "Birthdays Galore" class.  I had prepared four but B only made two.  I think she's into the more cute and fun cards like myself.  Here are the cards she decided to follow.

This card was made using the Patio Party paper collection, and the Make A Cake stamp set.  I finally got a chance to use my new Fancy Fan embossing folder which I love.  And of course, the Daffodil Yellow ribbon that I won. 

This card makes use of the Easy Events stamp set and the sentiment is from Petite Pairs.  The colour scheme is kept fairly simple here but I loev the way it turned out.  I coloured in the snail using the ink pads and the Blending Pens.  Easy!

July Team S.T.I.C Make & Takes

Time sure flies!   It only feels like a couple of weeks ago when I attended my first Team S.T.I.C meeting where we made two Make and Take cards.  This month, we got to make four!  I just love how the talented ladies on the team came up with such simple yet gorgeous cards.  It goes to show that one doesn't need to jump through hoops to make a nice card.  If you feel intimated at the thought of crafting, hopefully the cards below can convince you that you can do it too!

5 minute card

It ALWAYS takes longer than it looks, but you can see the simplicity of this card, and how it could be adapted for any occasion just by changing up the colours and sentiments.

In this particular case the card was for N's niece who was just born today!  Of course, I couldn't give up the chance to use my Petite Pairs stamp set.  Congrats to the parents and to the new aunt N!

Make and Take Cards

At the Stampin Up meeting we did a couple of make and take projects.  There was also a shoebox swap, but I didn't have any Stampin Up products to use, so I wasn't able to participate.  Maybe next time :)

Without further ado, here are the cards we made at the meeting: