First Birthday Fairy

Happy Wednesday - and the last day of August! Today also marks the last day of summer holidays for me as I'm back to work tomorrow. In fact, I start my new job and I'm incredibly excited to be joining the team at Trent University.

Wednesday means it's time for a new challenge at Little Red Wagon. Mandy is our hostess this week and she's challenged us to "Get Inky"! Mandy wants us to make good use of our ink pads - but sentiments don't count! I figure that, if your fingertips are a variety of colours by the time you've created your project, you should be good to link up with us over at Little Red Wagon

I created my card for my goddaughter who turned one earlier this month. I used a few colours of distress ink to blend my background. I cut the number 1 using my Silhouette and then embossed it after adding some pink distress ink to it. I added some water and ink splatters, as well as Sophia's name before adding a sweet little fairy from Your Next Stamp. I finished things off with some sequins (retired from My Craft Spot).

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to check out the rest of the inky creations - and then link up your own to be part of this week's fun!
 
Products used:

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You are a Wonderful Person

I was home this afternoon and able to spend some time in my craft room. I'd seen the current sketch challenge (Challenge #46) at Your Next Stamp and had an idea in mind so got to work!

I used a number of Your Next Stamp products for my card, including the Stripe-tastic Frame Die for my lattice fence. I simply cut the frame twice and affixed the two cuts back to back in order to create the lattice. I did trim it a bit in order to follow the sketch more closely. The banner was cut using a retired die from My Craft Spot. I used a lot of dimensionals too. The little scene is popped onto the card mat and the little banner is also popped on top of that.

Have a fabulous weekend! It's the last one in August! Where does the time go?!

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Have a Smooth Birthday

It's time for another challenge at Little Red Wagon and Donna is our hostess this week. She's chosen the theme "Happy Birthday" which is perfect for me as all my children have August birthdays (including my goddaughter)! In fact, my youngest turned 14 yesterday and my daughter will be 22 tomorrow. We're enjoying all the cake!

When I saw Lawn Fawn's So Smooth stamp set, I knew I had to get it. My middle guy turned 19 a couple of weeks ago and he LOVES smoothies. He'll often make them for the family - or happily accept one when somebody offers a smoothie to him. I did my best to keep it masculine-looking with the colour scheme. Jack was happy with his card - as well as the smoothie he had for his birthday breakfast!

Everybody has a birthday so we hope to see lots of you joining in the fun at Little Red Wagon this week to share your birthday card (or other birthday-themed project) creations! Please head over to check out the creations by the rest of the Girlfriends too!

I'm also going to link up my card at Lawnscaping Challenges, where the current theme is "Punny Time". 

Products used:

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When I Kneaded You

I'm thrilled that I was able to create a final card for My Favorite Things' Camp Create: Farewell Bonfire. The theme for this craft is "Single Layer Savvy". A few months ago, I watched a video on masking and purchased a huge pack of masking paper. I figured that this was the perfect time to put it to use! It works so wonderfully well!

I loved the way my card looked - until I coloured the grass and sky. I wish the sky was more subtle but it is was it is! Perhaps I should invest in some Copics (I use Spectrum Noir) so if you can recommend a very light, pale blue, I'd love to hear from you.

And here's my Bonfire badge!

Products used:

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MFT Camp Create - A Week of Cards!

This is a looooong post with five different projects to share. I'm so excited that I was able to complete all the cards for this session's Camp Create at My Favorite Things! There is a final bonfire craft that I'm hoping to make as well, but thought I would post the rest now. My son has been away at his own camp this week and it's been so much fun for me to have my turn at "camp" as well! I really have enjoyed the instructional videos, the demonstration cards and the many wonderful cards shared on Facebook and Instagram by my fellow campers.

Monochromatic Magic

The first day of camp was Monochromatic Magic. Of all the cards I made this week, this is my least favourite. I think I need colour! Still, it was an absolutely fabulous opportunity for me to stretch myself and to work outside my box. This is the first time I used my Ewe are the Best set which I've wanted for AGES! I'm so glad it arrived in time to play! I used it again at this week's Camp Create so hold on a bit and you'll see another stamp from the set used below. (The lighter mat and "EWE" tab are actually a pale grey - although they look more white in this photo.)

Products used for my Monochromatic Magic card:

Awesome Ombre

The next day of camp was all about Awesome Ombre. I love the way my card turned out and am especially pleased as it's perfect for sending to a male. In addition to products listed below, I also used added some sequins (retired from My Craft Spot) to finish things off.

Products used for my Awesome Ombre card:

 

Remarkable Resist

Wednesday's craft was all about Remarkable Resist. I've done a bit of resist work on cards in the past, but not with a solid image. I watched the instructional video with interest and then gave things a go myself! I really like the technique and it was quite easy to do - with a fabulous effect. I'll be taking advantage of my Remarkable Resist learning in the future!

There's a bit of a shine in the photo above so you can really see the heat-embossing on the clouds. There's some Wink of Stella on the wings too!

Products used for my Remarkable Resist card:

Divine Dry Embossing

We learned all about Divine Dry Embossing during Thursday's class. I am in LOVE with this technique! Unfortunately, I messed up the first time so I had to redo my little scene. I used a shim thinking that it would help give more definition but it cut through some parts of the frame. Anyway, I figured it all out and I am delighted with the look of the embossed frame!!

Karolyn (Thursday's counsellor) also gave a tip about blending Tumbled Glass and Mustard Seed inks to create a soft green grass. I tried this out for myself and really like the look! I am so happy with the way this card turned out. It's my favourite this week.

Products used for my Divine Dry Embossing card:

Stunning Shadow Stamping

For our final class of the week (excluding the special Farewell Bonfire), we focused on Stunning Shadow Stamping. This is also a new technique for me. I first tried using white ink for my shadow but it didn't show up very well with my lighter pink paper so I switched to Versamark before stamping with Tattered Rose. I didn't have any solid stamps from MFT and used some sweet hearts that are retired from My Craft Spot. I used the shadow stamping technique with the larger hearts and then stamped the smaller ones using Versamark only.

The banner die is also a retired product from My Craft Spot.

Products used for my Stunning Shadow Stamping card:




Thanks for joining me as I shared my creations! And thanks to MFT for hosting such a fun event!

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Relax

It's time for a new challenge at Little Red Wagon. Brenda, this week's hostess, has chosen a tropical theme: Surf's Up! I don't have any stamps with a surf board (or any with those cute surfing critters!) but I did focus on the tropics with an ocean background behind my palm trees in the sand. I coloured everything first and then cut out the image with a scalloped oval frame set. The frame is popped on the card for a bit of added dimension.

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to check out the rest of the Girlfriends' projects. We'd love for you to link up your own Surf's Up (Tropical) project too! I hope that, wherever you are, you can enjoy some time relaxing in the tropical sun (or even take time to relax while daydreaming about it)!

Products used:

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Stinkin' Cute Camp Notes

My youngest is off at camp this week and I created a set of note cards so he'd have some love from home each day. I used the same stamp on each card and just rotated the position for a unique look on each. The cute little skunk is from Simon Says Stamp's Stinkin' Cute set and I used a variety of sentiments from Your Next Stamp too.

This week's Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge is Let's Go Wild so I'm linking up my cards there.

Have a wonderful week! With my son away, I've been able to spend some extra time in my craft room so you'll be seeing some more cards from me soon!

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With Deepest Sympathy

If you're looking for my YNS DT Dare project, please click HERE.

Welcome to my second post today! Both have been pre-scheduled as I'm actually in Toronto with my middle guy who is writing a placement test for one of his fall courses. We decided to head up the night before in order to avoid the morning rush-hour traffic going through the city.

This week, Jan is our hostess at Little Red Wagon. Her theme is "In Sympathy". I have such a difficult time with sympathy cards (as I know many do) as a simple card never seems enough (and isn't!) to ease somebody's heartache. However, a card IS love in an envelope and a gesture of shared sorrow.

For my card, I used Simon Says Stamp's Wild Beauty stamp set. I masked a portion of the card with a washi-tape die cut and stamped around that before ink blending. After inking, I stamped my sentiment (retired from My Craft Spot) before adding some water and paint splatters. I also added a bit more ink to the flowers for further definition. I finished everything off with a few sequins.

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see the rest of the Girlfriends' creations and to link up your own "In Sympathy" project too.
 
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Happy Purrr-thday!

It's time for a design team dare over at Your Next Stamp and I've been invited to play along! This month, the theme is "Celebration" and it's a perfect way to celebrate Your Next Stamp's seventh anniversary!

For my project, I created a card using the NEW Jessica's Kitten stamp set. I started by smooshing some watercolours to make my background. I then stamped and coloured the gift pile and sweet little kitten from Jessica's Kitten set. As this card is to celebrate somebody's 50th birthday, I used the NEW Mini Letters and Numbers set to stamp the number 50 on the top gift. 

The purple polka-dots on the left panel of my card were stamped using the NEW Lots of Dots Edge stamp. I finished things off with some purple sequins (retired from My Craft Spot).

Head over to Your Next Stamp to see the rest of the creations made for this DT dare. Leave a comment while you are there for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice!

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Your Next Stamp August Release and Blog Hop

Yay! It's time for the Your Next Stamp August Release and Blog Hop! There are LOTS of fabulous new products and you can check them all out HERE. I absolutely LOVE the NEW Jessica's Kitten set but have also seen a sneak peek of a new rock band set that I plan to order too! This time, there are stamps, dies AND paper being released. Woo hoo!

For my first project, I created a card using the NEW Cute Home set. I love the fun house in this set! I coloured it in and added some detail to make it look like it's got wood siding and a brick chimney. I used the NEW coordinating Cute Home dies to cut out the image.

I watercoloured the background and added some tone-on-tone clouds using a stamp from the NEW Cute Home set. The tree and flowers are from the set too. The black stripes were stamped using Your Next Stamp's Stripe-Tastic Edge stamp.

For my second project, I used my planner to create a layout. For the most part, I used stamps from the NEW Rec and Leisure Planning set, although I also added stamps from Plan to Be Fit (bottom of each day) and a "SMILE" sentiment from School Notes. There is such a fabulous variety of images and words in the NEW Rec and Leisure Planning set. Something for everyone!
 

For my final project, I created a card using the NEW Jessica's Kitten stamp set. I also used the NEW Mini Letters and Numbers set to create the "MEOW" sentiment. I stamped the images and letters with Versamark and then heat-embossed them with white embossing powder before water colouring everything. The patterned paper either side of my main panel are from the NEW Swirly Fun paper pack too!

Now it's time to HOP! Check out the list of participants below. Leave a comment at each blog (including mine!) for your chance to win one of SEVEN $25 gift certificates to the YNS store - so you can pick out whatever you'd like!! The more comments you leave, the greater your chances are to win! Winners will be announced on the Your Next Stamp blog on August 10. Plus, everybody is a winner with this month's release discounts. Once you're ready to shop, use one of the codes below to save on your purchase! Yay! New release products can be found HERE.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Your Next Stamp August Release Preview Day

I'm thrilled to be joining the talented members of the Your Next Stamp design team for this month's release. Karen sent me some FABULOUS new products and I've been having a blast creating with them. Today, we're sharing sneak peeks and the full reveal will be made tomorrow.

For my first card, I used the NEW Jessica's Kitten set. This set is so adorable!!

After stamping and colouring a few of the sweet images for my "window", I stamped the sweet kitten and cut it out with the matching dies. The fun sentiment is from the same set. And see the "Swirly Fun" paper on the left of my card (in the full shot)? That's from a NEW Your Next Stamp paper pack being released tomorrow!

For my second project, I used the NEW Rec and Leisure Planning stamp set. They're perfect for all you planner addicts out there, but the stamps can also be used for cards, layouts or little lunch notes too. I also used the NEW Mini Letters and Numbers stamp set to write the names and ages of my children on their birthdays - all in August!! I added some stickers from my stash as well.

Don't forget to head over to the Your Next Stamp blog to check out more of the sneak peeks - and then come back tomorrow for the blog hop! As always, there will be a blog hop discount code AND a giveaway! In fact, to celebrate Your Next Stamp's 7th birthday, there will be SEVEN giveaways!! 

 

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Hello London!

We left last Wednesday for our camping trip and had an amazing holiday! I'm back home now and am heading into work for the morning. Although I am blessed with summers off, I'm starting a new job (yay!!) in September and am heading in for a team planning session. I've been hired as an Accessibility Advisor at our local university and am beyond thrilled to have been chosen for this position.

As it's Wednesday, it's time for a new challenge over at Little Red Wagon. Heather is our hostess this week and she's challenged us to "CASE a card". Basically, this means that we're asking you to copy the work of somebody who has inspired you (but please remember to give credit to the original creator).

Here's the original card (below), created by Kimberly Crawford. Like Kimberly, I used MFT's London Mouse stamp set and simply stamped most images in black ink. I cut and coloured the postbox and popped it on my card in front of the other images. I then used a "Hello" stamp (retired from My Craft Spot) to finish things off. 

Please head over to Little Red Wagon to see what the rest of the Girlfriends have created! We'd love for you to use this opportunity to CASE the work of somebody who inspires you! Once you've written your post, please link up over on the LRW blog.

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