Is it feminine or masculine?

Who can believe that I have got a cold while we are in the summer?  Honestly I cannot, even though my throat is sore and my temperature is a tad bit too high.

So I am staying in, trying to relax and get some rest.  I started my relaxing day with a movie but it was rather boring so I didn't enjoy it.  I just couldn't stay in bed all the time!  So I turned to my craft desk.  Alas, I got so excited that I totally forgot to take my medication.  Shhhh~~

I like the card a lot.  The bright colors are perfect for birthday and the images are fun and cute.  At the end I added bakers twine and a bow.  Then I thought, now that the bow may have changed the "gender" of the card.  Is it a feminine or masculine card?  What do you think?

I have decided that it will be great for a kid. 

I've adopted the sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping:

The color combo came from Color My Heart Color Dare - Buttercup, Lagoon and Pear.  So glad that I tried it out as I would have never thought of something like this.

My card is also entering the following challenges:
1.  Kitty Bee Designs - Birthday
2.  Amusing Challenge - Birthdays
3.  Seize the Birthday - Birthday

Thanks for stopping by!

Dream Pop Birthday Wishes

I saw this sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and immediately thought of the Dream Pop paper:

Using the Dream Pop paper I've transformed the sketch into a lovely birthday card:

It has been a while since I last made lollipop flower so I wanted to create one with the colorful Dream Pop paper.  It works perfectly with the sketch!

 

The card is also entering the Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

  

Bright Colors Part II

Let's continue with the second part of the trilogy of Bright Colored Cards.

Today's card made use of Creme Brulee, Sunset and Cotton Candy.  They are shades of yellow, orange and pink in the Close to My Heart palette and I tried this color combo out as I was inspired by the challenge at Color My Heart Color Dare!  It's asking us to use yellow, orange and pink in a project.  Frankly it is not a color combo that I would normally use or even think of.  Are they too bright? 

Maybe not.

What's better than using them on flowers?  The card is based on a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping:

I love that the flowers can be cut with Cricut Artiste cartridge and thus they are cut and stamped and finished within seconds! 

Tomorrow we will finish the Bright Color series.  Thanks for stopping by!

A Feminine Thank you card

Haha, two Thank You cards in a row!  Today I am sharing a feminine one.  Quite a big contrast with the one from yesterday, right?  Even though both cards have quite a lot of "white" space, the true white space (as opposed to the green space from cardstock in yesterday's card) makes this card very clean.

 

The complicated part is the fabric flower.  I love the Chantilly textiles!  They are like paper but give a very different, softer texture than paper.  Best part?  It coordinates perfectly with the Chantilly paper!

 



 

I've adopted the sketch from Clean & Simple stamping.  Boy I can't tell for how long I haven't been playing but I constantly check out their sketches as they are so darling cute, clean and simple!

 

 

My card is also entering the challenge at Just Add Ink - this time it is asking us to add fabric.  Please stop by those challenges to see what others have come up with!  Be inspired!

 

 

Fancy Fold?

Heart 2 Heart Challenge asks that we add fancy fold to our project.  I've adopted a sketch from Clean & Simple to facilitate that:

I've accordion-folded the rosette for my card:

Folding the rosette may not be "fancy" but it is in fact quite challenging to hold it together.  I've put a scrap piece of circle on top and bottom of it with a lot of Liquid Glass to hold it in place.  Of course, the scrap circle cannot be shown so I've put a heart to cover it up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to Christmas card

I just can't stop my Christmas card obsession.  Is there a cure for it?

I've combined a color combo challenge and a sketch challenge for my card.  The Color Combo came from Dynamic Duos:

and the sketch came from Clean & Simple:

This card is also entering the challenge at Crazy for Challenge (C4C164), which asks us to put a bow on our project. 

Catered Crop asks that we use silver or gold.  My card is entering the challenge there!

Heart 2 Heart Challenges asks that we incorporate glitter to our project and my card is entering its challenge!

My card uses Pacifica cardstock and Silver embossing as the focus:

The Silver Shimmer Trim is really a nice little helper here - it makes adding the silver border easy!

If you see some "silver speckles" on the cardstock, yes, your computer screen needs to be dusted (just kidding) but that is actually a result of spraying pearl paint on the cardstock:

I actually started with a heavily sprayed cardstock but I figured that it would diminish the attention to the snowflakes so I made this one that is only gently sprayed.  In person the cardstock looks quite nice but I apologize for not being able to capture that for you in the picture.  Try it out, it is a cheap, quick and easy way to add interest to cardstock!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspired by a very cute top

Inspired by a very cute top, I followed the rules of the color challenge to prepare my card.   The color combo provided by Color Throwdown is summer-y:

Don't you agree that you want to go shopping now?

I've used the sketch provided by Clean and Simple Stamping blog:

Some oldies are used, they are all goodies.  I miss this stamp set - the flowers are beautiful and I love playing rock and roll stamping with this set:

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to Christmas

Let's go back to Christmas card today.

I'm happy to share with you a simple card that I made by adopting a sketch presented by Clean & Simple stamping blog:

My card is absolutely simple but I like it a lot.  This card is entering the bellichallenge again:

I'm always monitoring the great bargains in the While Supplies Last section.  A while back I got the Mistletoe paper packet and the Assorted embellishments.  Now that I'm preparing Christmas cards, they all become handy.  Want to look for good bargains?  Check them out here!

I've received Pear & Partridge cardmaking Workshop on the Go but have yet finished the cards.  I look forward to completing them and sharing with you!

Clean & Simple birthday card

I am enjoying the fun with my Cricut Artiste cartridge!  This time I've made a couple of 3-D roses.  This 3-D rose is a bit different from the one offered by Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge in a sense that the edges are more curly.  Both are pretty but you know, we always want to try something new to create pretty stuff!

I've adopted the sketch from Clean & Simple stamping blog:

the color combo from Dynamic Duos challenge:

and finally the requirement from CAS-ual Friday that asks us to use a black card base:

My simple birthday card looks like this:

The flowers look really pretty in person and I'm sure the recipient will be happy when she sees it!

A note for You

Time for a challenge offered by Clean and Simple Stamping blog!  I'm using this sketch:

I continue to be using stuff from my stash to prepare room for the new products.  Here, I've used the retired Topstitch paper:

When I first got this paper I thought it was too pretty to cut.  I still think it is very pretty, but I've decided to make it to use and appreciate it from a different perspective.  It is better to use it, right?

Happy July 4!

Happy July 4!
When I saw this sketch from Clean & Simple stamping blog I knew I was going to make a card with a patriotic theme:

So I am making this card to participate in the Clean & Simple challenge and the Heart 2 Heart challenge which is a patriotism challenge:

This card is made with the retired Fanfare paper packet.  Love the bright colors!  You have a chance to receive a pack of Fanfare paper and its coordinating embellishments for free!  Just place an order of $75 between July 11 and 15 and the Fanfare paper packet will be automatically included in your order.  How nice!

Soar

The July's Stamp of the Month is a stamp set of sentiments.  I like the one that says "Soar" the best because of the accompanying butterfulies.

I'd like to showcase this stamp with a sketch from Clean & Simple stamping blog:

Because of the orientation of the stamp, I have to give the sketch a little twist:

The butterflies below the word "Soar" is a second generation image.  After I've stamped the image, I stamped it again without reinking it.  It adds a lot of depth to the butterfly trail.

Materials used:
1.  Lucy paper packet
2.  Live Out Loud stamp set (Stamp of the Month)
3.  Chocolate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
4.  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge

Plant Smiles, Grow Laughs, Harvest Love

Since I took out my Sonoma paper packet a couple of days ago, my love with it has been rekindled.  I must say I am always excited when I see release of new products and tend to abandon what I already had.  I liked the Sonoma paper a lot when it was launched in the Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book and I was glad that it is carried over during the life of the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book.  However, I got carried away by all the new products in the current idea book and just forget my love with the Sonoma paper.

Good that I bought the stamp set Treasure Life then I found that this paper packet matches perfect with it, and continue to play with this combination.

I used a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamp blog:

After stamping the flowers, I disliked it.  There were too much empty space.

Good that I had yet cleaned my stamps, so I stamped the second generation image of the big stamp, and the second and third generation images of the small "singleton" flower.  The second and third generation images were much lighter but nevertheless serve their purpose to fill in the space.  Further, they added depth to the entire picture.  Don't you think?

Materials used:
1.  Sonoma paper packet
2.  Treasure Life stamp set
3.  Smokey Plum Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
4.  Olive Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Waxy Flax - Colonial White
6.  Designer Buttons - Wooden

Celebrate Today

It is time for another challenge presented by Clean and Simple Stamping Blog!  I really love their sketches and can't help participating in their challenges!

Last week it shared this sketch with us:

This sketch, even though looks simple, creates endless possibilities.  For some reason I really wanted to make a rather neutral card (After all, I have a lot more cards for girls than for guys) so I've substituted the heart with a star.  Using the Typeset paper, my clean and simple card looks like this:

Materials used:
1.  Typeset paper packet
2.  Milepost shapes
3.  Bamboo cardstock
4.  Paper Lantern stamp set
5.  Cocoa Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
6.  Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint

Flowers in 3 sizes

When I saw this sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping blog, I know I am going to use Cricut for help.  The sketch looks like this:

The flowers just reminds me of the flower that Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge offers.  So I've made this card:

The stamp set from Lucy Workshop on the Go has a stamp that coordinates with the flower.  I didn't opt to use it.  Instead, using the layer function of the Cricut, I've cut the outline of the flowers to give it some contrast.  It turns out pretty nice!

Materials used:
1.  Lucy paper packet
2.  Pear cardstock
3.  Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge
4.  4 my friends stamp set
5.  Blush Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Another Simple Card

I took the following sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping, a blog that I like a lot:

And I've used Stella paper packet and Just for You stamp set to finish this card:

To give the flower a little more attention, I've cut the same flower slightly bigger in red as a mat.  The flower pops immediately.

Materials used:
1.  Stella paper packet
2.  Tulip cardstock
3.  Just for You stamp set
4.  Tulip Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Olive Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
6.  Cocoa Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
7.  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge

A note for you

I've adopted this sketch from Clean and Simple Blog for my card:

My card made use of the Sonoma paper packet and the stamp set from the Workshop on the Go:

The other materials used include the current stamp set Just for You and the retired Pewter Mini-Medley Accent Collections.

Coloring with watercolor pencils

As promised, I am sharing a card that I colored the rose with watercolor pencils then blended with watercolor brush.

The sketch came from Clean & Simple stamping blog:

I really love their sketches and my card looks like this:

And a closer look at the flower:

This is a really fun technique.  Try it out!

Materials used:
1.  White Daisy cardstock
2.  Dotty for You paper packet
3.  Card Word Puzzle stamp set
4.  Smoothie Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Cocoa Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

Happy Birthday to You

Clean and Simple Stamping blog has provided us with this sketch:

It is of course, clean and simple and by using the Dotty for You paper, I've made this card:

The Dotty for You paper is just so versatile that I can't stop having more fun with it!

Materials used:
1.  White Daisy cardstock
2.  Dotty for You paper packet
3.  Sweet Leaf cardstock
4.  Black Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Sparkles - clear
6.  Paradise Paper Flowers
7.  Card Word Puzzle stamp set

Congrats to the Love Birds

I have the joy to make a wedding card for my friend.  I have adopted the sketch from clean & simple blog because when I saw the two snails in the sketch, I already had an idea in my head spinning.

Snails in a wedding card might be awkward, but birds in a wedding card will be perfectly appropriate:

Believe it or not, it took me quite a while to figure out all the details of the card.  I've spent quite some time to determine which paper packet to use and finally settle with Veranda, one of my favorites.  After that I was trying to see how I can put in the sentiment "Congrats to the Love Birds" because I do not have such a stamp and the only way to do it is to use various stamps and masking techniques.  Do you see that their wings are elevated?  I took me some time to cut the 3-D foam tape small enough to be hidden below the flourish-cut. 

Nevertheless, it appears to be a cute card.  Congrats to the Love Birds!