Breathe Deep

Love this pretty quote (digi) from Create with TLC.  This card was a chance to use my new Romantic Rectangles from Spellbinders and also the new Edgeabilities "Classic Decorative Inserts One". 

Image is stamped an MFT set, "Spring" and the flourish die cut is also from My Favorite Things.  I finished the inside and stamped the bird with Close to Cocoa, stamping first on scrap to get rid of the excess ink and then again on the white cardstock.

With today off to make a long weekend, you'd think I would have made more cards then just this one... but I've been on an organizing-spring-clean in my condo and today with the beautiful weather it was so nice to have all the windows open and the sun shining in... even gave me more energy!

Sweet Sarah Turns Five

My little niece Sarah turns 5 today and she is in full birthday mode.  Birthday breakfast with presents, then birthday fun at the Mall, followed by The Lorax (Dr. Suess) at the movies... then birthday cake and more presents after supper.  Then a nap... for me, not Sarah...lol.

I thought this sweet image by Mo Manning went well the the Verve sentiment "Big Wish" that I placed on the inside:

DP is all American Crafts.  Die cuts are from Spellbinders & MFT.  Love that #5 from MFT !!  She's extremely proud of her age today - so fun to see.  The pink sparkle flourish I found at the Dollar Store.

Gotta Run........... can't be late for Dr. Seuss! 

Keeping it Simple

Isn't there a lot of truth to this? 

Found this quote on TLC Creations (freebie) and added some blue/green highlights with my Copics. 

I used the MME Dilly Dally DP and my Spellbinder Fleur de Lis die to layer.  A little stitching, some sparkle, pearls & ribbon... and it's done.

Kept the inside simple:

Back soon... I feel a "card weekend" coming on.........  8)

Sentiment?

I searched through my sentiments for something that would go with this image.  I was looking for something like, 'keep on trying' or 'here's a leg up' or something equally corny... lol.  Anyway, I couldn't find anything.  I think I'll just put this one in my Etsy store as a blank card and it can be used for whatever someone chooses.  If you think of something - let me know!!

Inside:

Paper is a mixture of MME Dilly Dally & Pebbles Floral Lane.  I used my new MFT Notebook Edge die - love this one - you can use both sides of what you cut... easy peasy.  The rolled flower is also from MFT.  The image of course is Mo Manning and I used my Copics to colour it up.

So if you think of a good sentiment or caption, let me know, k?! 

Sunshine

This little Lily of the Valley stamp just steals my heart!  Isn't she adoreable?!  She's coloured up with Copics and I've cut her out with my circle SB just slightly to the left so I could add the Verve sentiment under the flowers.

I was finally able to get my hands on this new MME "Dilly Dally" - love it!  My local stamp store got a portion of their order in, so I wasn't able to get it all (yet).  Love the wood grain.  The rolled flowers were made from an MFT die, leaves were made with a MS punch. 

Off to do my nieces birthday card - she's going to be 5 and she's beyond adoreable... so I'm going to have to UP the cuteness level on that one.  lol

Fluttering By...

Love this adoreable silloutte stamp from Stamping Bella (Jane Girl... by Jane Davenport).  I paired her off with this beautiful Prima paper (Flights of Fancy Collection) I had... then proceeded to cover it all up.  lol

I used Spellbinder & MFT dies with Martha Stewart punches.  I embellished with piped nylon ribbon & velvet ribbon with adhesive pearls... and the sentiment on the inside is once again from Create with TLC (yes, another freebie!).

Well I'm about to flutter out to the television because Batchelor is about to start and I'm secretly hoping that Courtney has got her bags packed.... lol

Night all.

Bonjour

MFT is in da house!!  Picked up my order on Friday from the post office... in a snow storm no less.  So I've been playing a little this weekend with the "Who's That Parisian Girl" set. 

I used two of my new MFT border dies, notebook edge and monarch - gotta try all the new stuff out right away! lol

DP is Basic Grey... I was searching through my stash to find something with a small enough print to paper piece.  Reminds me of doing those cut-out dolls when I was a kid.  8)

Inside not done (yet) ... gotta sleep sometime!  lol

A Good Friend

Love love love making friendship cards so this image from Mo Manning was a must have for me.  Nobody understands like a good friend, right?

I dug into my new batch of Pebbles paper - love the texture of this stuff (the pink strip is from my stash).  I used Spellbinder & MFT dies & a couple of Martha punches for the leaves.  As always, coloured with my Copics. 

The sentiment on the inside is a FREE digi from Create with TLC. Their digi stamps are AMAZING!  All the sentiments are in gorgeous fonts and I thought this one especially matched up nicely with the Mo Manning image.  Unfortunately I didn't leave room on the front for it - lol - but I like it on the inside too.

Well that's it for me.  It's Friday night and it's pj's & tv time!  Yup - party girl - that's me!  Not... lol.  Love weekends though... hope you are enjoying yours. 

Plain or Not Too Plain?

I've had a hankerin lately to do something in vanilla & white.  Too bad I didn't have a wedding to attend on the horizon... so instead I decided in the end to go with a birthday theme.

I had fun working with the different Spellbinder & MFT dies, but honestly I was really wanting to add some colour.  I snuck a yellow rose in at the end just to add a focal point because the whole thing was just putting me to sleep!!  Maybe it's just too "wedding-ish" ??  I dunno...I've seen others do the white/vanilla theme and my jaw drops.  But I may try it again with some COLOUR.

Here's the inside.........(caution:  ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz's ahead)

I used a mixture of pearls & brads with some sheer ribbon.  Stamps are from Just Rite.  Along with the SB & MFT dies, I used a MS punch at the bottom along with an embossing folder.  A little machine stitching finished it off.   And a long nap finished me off. 

Happy Birthday Mom

Okay, I'm a little behind in posting. This is the card I made for my Mother's birthday...

Sentiment and frame are Just Rite and all dies are SB.  I added a mixture of pearls and brads and embossed the white layer underneath.  DP is Jillibean.

The inside:

Love the MS candle border punch!

And just one more pic of the chocolate cheese cake I made for her birthday.  I'm not sure I like the look of the center - it's just an Aero bar that I tried to shave into curly-q's... but as you can see it disolved into a chocolate powder!  LOL - anyway no one cared as it tasted pretty good. 

Keep Looking Up

Okay... the life of a card-makin-blogger-chic....one finger holding down a bow of a birthday card... the other hand typing this post for yet another card.  Love being back in the "card game".  Whoohooo!

Here's another Mo Manning - isn't she the sweetest?  Haven't a clue what they are looking at... but it makes me feel good.  I used MFT, SB & Memory Box dies, a few adhesive pearls & dew drops.  Sentiment on both inside & out are from a treasured & well used Stampendous clear set.

The inside:

Well that's it from me - I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card... so long as my finger isn't still glued to the front of it....

I am here for you

What's better then bending a friends ear over a cup of tea?  Exactly!... A cup (pot) of coffee!  BUT... in keeping with the image, this one is for you tea lovers.

I believe this paper is BG... I'm determined to use my scraps up so the designer names have long been chopped off.  Image of course is Stamping Bella (coloured with Copics) and the sentiment on the front is from a Hero Arts clear set.

The inside sentiment is from Stampendous:

Purple is not a go-to colour for me so I'm not sure why I dove in so deep - lol - "Deep Purple"... (now huming Smoke on the Water). 

PS - I have no purple adhesive rhinestones left.  Overkill maybe?  LOL

Monday = Holiday

This is certainly not how I feel about winter... but it is how I feel about having a Monday off work!  LOL

I can't get over the cuteness of Mo Mannings adoreable baby image.  Sentiment is from a small Verve set and I thought they went well together.

The inside:

Happy Monday all!

Where Dreams May Go

I think this was one of the first Mo Manning images that I tried... and of course loved. 

DP is Scenic Route, SB's used are Circle & Nested Heart Circles and of course my addicition to MFT mini rose die continues........

The inside (Sentiment is from Verve):

Happy Sunday one & all!

Snips & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Made a little card for a cute little 9 year old boy.  I put away all of my Uptown girls, ribbon, lace, glitter and pearls and started to think.... BOY BOY BOY. 

I love this little stamp from Kraftin Kimmies.  Comes in a great set.  I matched him up with my MFT border, star & number dies and used my SB oval to cut him out.  The candles border punch is EK Success.  I coloured him up with Copics and the DP is from a 6x6 pad of Crate Paper.

For the inside, I used Michele Boyer's technique of lightly stamping a portion of the image in a light coordinating colour.  Love the effect.  Thanks Michele!  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set.

Happy Weekend all!!

I Gave Up Shopping Once......

This started out as a Birthday card... but I made a u-turn into something for the funny bone. 

Another uptown girl from Stamping Bella.  I kept the Copic colours simple for easy paper match up.  I think I bought the darker green DP for St. Patrick's Day last year --MME Quite Contrary -- and the lighter green DP is BG Eskimo Kisses. The sentiment I just printed on my computer. 

And the inside:

I love my MFT tab die... it's so easy to incorporate a sentiment into a card even with a rather large image like this one.  And of course the MFT flourish die seems to sneak into most of my cards......

And I don't encourage giving up shopping... not even for 15 minutes.  8)

A Hundred Hearts

Hello All!  I finally got up the nerve to try digi paper.  I have hoards of DP, but thought if I could find some on-line for free I would give it a try.  I found this beautiful pink damask design at http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/ and used it in a card today.  I printed it on SU Whisper White and it printed beautifully. 

With a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, I had some left over for the inside:

I used the Spellbinder Fleur De Lis Square & Nested Hearts die cuts.  The rolled roses & inside border die are from MFT. Sentiment is also from MFT. 

I like how it turned out actually... it might make a nice Valentine Card.

How Sweet of You

Stamping Bella's Uptown Girl strikes again...

DP from a cute 6x6 pad of MME Lime Twist, Spellbinders Label 8, MS border punch, ric rac, machine stitching, coloured with Copics, adhesive pearls, sheer ribbon, Verve sentiment... all with a sprinkle of glitter on top!

I've made the executive decision to leave my craft room a mess and just head straight to bed.  I've got the weekend to clean it up... or at least make a bigger mess.  ;)

A Warm Hello

And a Warm Hello to you...

A quick post from me tonight - eyes are half shut - but I just finished this and wanted to post quickly before hitting the sack.

Another Uptown Girl from Stamping Bella.  Sentiment from Verve.  I guess this is my "apology" for not doing one Christmas card this year - LOL. 

Anyway, I had fun with this one..........

I used the MFT flourish die to try and make a swirling wind.  Whether it works or not - I don't know... either way, I'm off to bed.  Night!  ;)

Thanks for checking in!!

An Early Valentine

A creatively-slow weekend, but I've been on a Copic-Colouring-Kick and haven't moved the images into cards as yet.  With Valentines around the corner, I thought this Verve quote would be nice in a card.  I picked up some of the new Jillibean "Hearty Barley" line - love the craft paper look, although I never think to use it.  Next time I'll dig out my white ink pad...

The roses were an afterthought but I'm glad I went with it:

The little silver "love" heart charm is left over from a wedding invitation package I made for a friend a while ago.  I have lots left so with the season of Love just around the corner I guess I'll get to use a few more.

I kept the inside pretty simple... again the sentiment is from Verve:

Speaking of Love & Romance...... I'm off to watch tonights episode of Batchelor... can't help myself - lol.

Coffee & Friendship

Does it get any better then coffee & friends?  (Okay... maybe wine & friends??... lol) 

I adore this Uptown Girl image from Stamping Bella.  I've been practicing with my Copics again and this was a big job for me - yikes - took forever.  Didn't I just finish saying I like the smaller images?  But I'm loving these Uptown Girls - so fun.

Designer paper is MME & the coffee pot on the inside is from a Craft Lounge set that I have.  Sentiment is from a wood block stamp of Dawn Houser.

The inside:

I suppose it's rare for me to make a card without a whole pile of layers, ribbons, bells, bows.... yadda, yadda... but this one just seemed better left alone... like two good friends with big mugs of coffee.

Back soon.........

Missed My Copics

I'm certainly not the best at adding colour, but I've missed the relaxation I get from sitting with my Coffee & Copics.  Admittedly I like to colour up the smaller images and the blending probably takes me longer then most... but I love it.  

Here's a baby card I made for a friend at work:

I love this sweet Mo Manning image.  Designer paper is from a K&Company 12x12 pad combined with a bit of Whisper White and Barely Banana.  Used a combination of Spellbinders & MFT dies (what the heck did we do before dies?). 

And the inside:

Love this sentiment from Verve.

Just working on a few Valentine cards now and glad I finally broke the seal on getting back to card making.  Happy to be back blogging too.  ;)

Night all.

I'm Back...

Well hello everyone!  It's odd to read my last post and and see how I assumed my father would be home soon from hospital, but that wasn't the case.  He has remained in hospital since that time.  He's doing fine now, but it's been a very long road for him... and our entire family.  But as I said, he's doing well now - still in hospital - but expected to come home hopefully by April of this year.  Blogging or making cards wasn't a priority as I spent most of my time at the hospital or trying to help out in other ways.  When a family member is sick, I guess all those things we thought were so important - just aren't anymore. 

So........ in the last couple of weeks I've been sifting through the dust of my craft room... moving things from one big pile and into smaller piles... and was just too intimidated to try anything.  So I cleaned it top to bottom, floors, windows and all.  I took a spin around of some of my favorite blogs for inspiration and then discovered some new paper & stamps I had bought back in Sep/Oct ... and I tried a couple of test cards.  And........... they turned out horrible!!  LOL - OMG - they look like failed grade 3 science projects.  But I kept plugging away until it felt more natural and finally came up with a card that I wanted to post... even though it took FOREVER to do!   

And here's the inside:

Oh - and I did a little blog facelift too... New Year and all that.  Going to try and post a little more routinely as well and hopefully even put some cards in my Etsy store. 

Well that's it from me.  'Till next time.........

For Dad

Well my Dad is having a few medical problems lately and unfortunately is back in hospital.  The real bummer is that I've been sick (just a bad cold) and have not been allowed to visit.  I got to skype with him yesterday though from his hospital bed - how cool is that?!  (Thank you Steve Jobs...)

So here's a card I made for my father who I'm sure will feel just like this picture once he's home doing all his favorite things.

Stamp is Art Impressions (love their funny images!) and the sentiment is Verve.  Coloured with Copics and used my MFT dies for a border.  (love those SU! corduroy buttons Vicki!!).

Here's the inside:

Oh - almost forgot... it's (Canadian) Thanksgiving!  I'm very thankful for my family.  We're actually going to celebrate next weekend when we can all hopefully be together.  Enjoy your turkey!!

A quote on "Courage"

I love that special quotes have become so popular.  Everyone uses them on Facebook, on t-shirts, notepads and picture frames.  Before computers changed our lives, I used to write them down on scraps of paper (I still find them in old purses).  Since then, I've always collected my favorites and would keep them in a folder on my computer - I accumulated hundreds that either made me laugh or touched my heart in one way or another.  I always thought, "that will make a great card".  I obviously didn't have a good quote about "backing up your computer" because I lost them all last January when my computer crashed.   Thank goodness for Verve and their beautiful quote stamp sets.  I love this one about courage.

Paper is Fancy Pants Honeysuckle.  Dies are Spellbinder & MFT.  Love the cordoroy brads from SU!

Cutting this short - off to watch Big Brother.  Rachel has got to go!!  =)

For The Birds

Hi again!  I made a couple of cards using the new Spellbinder die "Bird Santuary".  What a great set!

As you can see I used a few MFT dies as well as Spellbinders and even the Martha lattice edge punch.  I love that flourish die from MFT in the 2nd card and it cuts like butter!

Well that's it from me again... the sun is coming out which means I'm off the computer!! 

Back soon!
Carla.

Friendship

Well it's been a while.  All I can say is, "great summer!".  I did manage a few cards over the last month, but time just never seems to expand to include blogging them.

For this one I used the Just Rite sentiment for friendship.  I really like the wording.  The DP is Fancy Pants Designs - love the tiny print and of course being a brown-fanatic I bought tons.  I used a combination of MFT and Spellbinder dies. 

Well I'm looking forward to posting more regularly now that summer is (mostly) over.

Back soon!!
Carla.

For Another Happy Couple

And yet ANOTHER happy couple this summer.  Love making wedding cards!

I had to use more of this gorgeous Pebbles designer paper (glad I bought lots!) It's just so elegant and perfect for this kind of card.  Sentiment is Verve and I used my Spellbinder & MFT dies once again, dew drops, lace & seam binding... and of course a little glitter.  (What's a wedding without a little glitter?)

I went to this particular wedding and it was one of the nicest weddings I've ever attended.  Such a beautiful couple... inside and out.

Okay folks - that's it for wedding cards for a bit.  I'm missing my Copics and need to do a little colouring....... back soon.