Circle Circus

Hi guys. I love Stampin' Up stamps. They're just really expensive -- kindsa out of my price range right now. A few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a blog candy that happened to contain not just one, but THREE Stampin' Up stamp sets!!!!!!!! Yes, I was excited!!!!

Today I want to show a card I made with one of the stamp sets. This one is called Circle Circus. Basically it's a set of various circular shaped stamps.Using various ink colors I stamped randomly...

Here is my card:

a close up of the stamping... 

I think I used 6 different colors of ink before I was satisfied!!!

I absolutely love this stamp set!!!! It's perfect for making cards for either gender...and gonna be awesome when I need to make a masculine card. :)

challenges:

Simon Says Stamps -- Anything Goes
CASology - Circles 
Panpastel -- Happy Birthday
Party Time Tuesday -- Anything Goes
Anything Goes Challenge blog -- Make it Manly
Heart to Heart -- Clean and Simple
Creative Card Crew -- Birthday
The Sisterhood of Crafters -- Happy Birthday
Created with Love -- Bright & Cheery
Inky Chicks -- Mother's Day or Birthday
Creative Craft World --  Anything Goes (less than 12x12)  
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge -- Stamp You Love (but don't use)
-- this stampin up set is brand new for me...first time i'm using it

Moxie Fab World --  Pattern Play

Love without Words

Hi guys. Can you believe it's February already?!! Seriously, time seems to be passing by soooooooo fast these days!!! Wasn't it only yesterday that we were celebrating the New Year?!! Totally nuts!!!

Anyways, in true February fashion...I decided to make a card to go with the month's theme. LOVE. Of course, that meant getting out the red ink...and a valentine/heart stamp...

I'm trying to use up scraps -- and this card was perfect for that. Using a Clear stamp I borrow, I stamped the heart image multiple times onto a strip of white cardstock. Then I layered the strip onto some red cardstock to bring out the red a bit.

Finally, I embossed some white cardstock with a Sizzex embossing folder called "Flower Rings & Clusters set". I was really impressed with how the embossing folder showed -- very deep groves! There's definitely a difference in Cuttlebug folders and Sizzex folders -- although I still love my Cuttlebug and wouldn't trade it! :)

I adhered my stamped strip onto the embossed cardbase...and there's my card. :) Clean and Simple....and perfectly LOVE-ly. :)

Ignore warning

Thanks for dropping by my blog today. Be sure to leave a comment and I"ll drop by your blog as well. Have a fabulous day! :)

card recipe:

"Flower Rings & Clusters Set" Sizzex embossing folder

Heart Clear Stamp

red ink
white bling

cardstock 

challenges:

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Sweet Stamps -- Valentine/Love
Sweet Stampin' Challenge -- Love is all around
Delightful Sketches -- Red & White
2 Sisters Challenge -- Red & White and/or Pink
Basic Grey Challenges -- Love is in the Air
Glitters and Sparkle -- Love/Valentine
Hiding in my Craftroom -- Red 
V's Sweet Ideas -- Love Theme
Let's Craft and Create -- CAS Love
Lexi's Creations -- Love/Valentine
Word Play Saturday -- Anything

Silhouette Butterflies

Hi guys. It's been quite the busy time around here the last two weeks....and my crafting table has had to take a backseat. On January 11th, we were blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby boy. :) It's been two weeks of all things baby -- but we're having so much fun! :) He's such a good baby...doesn't take a whole lot of work, but he does have priority...and he's showing us who's the new boss around here! LOL but that's okay -- we'll let him rule the roost for awhile. :) Those adorable smiles we get in return make it all worthwhile! :)

So anyways, I've been getting a little bit of card making in the last few days. After all, babies do spend most of their life sleeping...so there's a bit of time to do other stuff now and then. :) I've always loved cards that had Silhouette stamping on them. For some reason, I always had floral images in my mind when I thought of this type of card, and because I didn't have any silhouette floral stamps I never could try it. Then I saw a card on Pinterest (love love love that website!) that used butterfly stamps for the silhouette images. Of course, if it has a butterfly, I'm gonna love it! So I decided to try a similar card using my "Fanciful Butterflies" stamps from Sweet Stamps.

I absolutely LOVE the way this card turned out!!!! It's not too complicated to reproduce (I mass produced using different colors and sentiments) and yet it's striking. There's just something about the Black, White & one-other-color combination. :) Always a classic! :)

 The squares are popped a bit with dimensional foam. (not sure if you can see it from this angle)...

I decided to also decorate the envelope that goes with the card. Nothing too fancy...just a bit of stamping with the "Fanciful Butterflies" stamp...to bring it together with the card. 

That's for dropping by my blog today. Leave me a comment and I'll come visit your blog as well...
And now I'm off for some more baby time... ta ta! :)

supplies used:

"Fanciful Butterflies" by Sweet Stamps
"Effervescence" border punch by Fiskars

Black ribbon from my stash
White Bling

challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge -- Anything Goes 

Tip Top Tuesday -- Lavishly Luscious Layers
 Word Art Wednesday -- Anything Goes 
Creative Craft Challenge -- Bling it on
Through the Craftroom Door -- Anything Goes
Tuesday Throwdown -- Bling it on
My Grafico Challenges -- Anything Goes
Drunken Stampers -- All that Glitters 

Party Time Tuesday -- Anything Goes
Mervi's challenge -- Anything Goes/Friendship
Simply Create Too -- Anything Goes
Die Cutting Divas -- Anything Goes
My Time to Craft -- Things with Wings 

Bunny Zoe's Crafts -- Anything Goes

Christmas Angel

Hi guys. My Christmas cards this year are very CAS (clean and simple) type of cards. I make a lot of my cards using the Inkadinkado Christmas clear stamps -- used two different stamping sets. They were such a blast to work with! The stamps themselves have a lot of details...which I blinged up...and that's pretty much all it needed. :)

The "Angel Silhouette" is my favourite stamp from these Inkadinkado stamp sets. Angels played a big part in the Christmas story. From the angel Gabriel who told Mary about how she would conceive the Christ-child, to the wonderful gathering of angels in the sky proclaiming "Glory to God in the highest...and on earth...peace, goodwill towards men..." -- angels and Christmas just go together for me. So when I saw this angel silhouette stamp, I was sooooooo impressed! :) Just the perfect stamp for some Christmas cards...

Here are the two Inkadinkado clear stamp sets I used:

I loved how the card turned out! Simple....but striking -- especially once I added all the bling. :)

I made a few different variations -- just color wise, 'cause I loved the overall look of the card too much to change it. Here's another bunch of Christmas cards finished and ready to sign and send off! :)

 some challenges for these cards:

The Stamp Spot -- Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: What's your Favourite?
-- Stampin' Up Cardstock, Inkadinkado Clear Stamps
Word Art Wednesday -- Anything Goes 
Sweet Stampin' Challenges -- Christmas Anything Goes
 

Christmas crop

Hi guy. We had a crop with a few of the girls on Friday evening...to make some Christmas cards. It was fun -- lots of laughs. :)

So today I want to showcase one of the cards I made that evening. I must admit my mojo was a little lost when we first started, but a few hours into it, it finally found me...and I did manage to get a few good Christmas cards made. :p

First off -- I had a blast playing with the spellbinders. They make card making so much easier and faster! Plus, we had lots of great stamps and tons of fun papers to work with!!!! The mojo just HAD to come!!!!

I actually added dimensionals to the image...which my camera apparently had a hard time picking up on.

LOL This crop made me realize just how into the color brown I am!!! I'm putting it everywhere these days -- and not getting tired of the color either! It just happens to look good combined with a multiple number of different colors...

...who knew brown was a Christmas color?!! ...I guess you learn something new every year! :p

Here's the full card:

 Thanks for dropping by my blog today. Leave me a comment and I'll come visit your blog as well. :) Have a great day! :)

challenges:

Our Daily Bread Designs blog: Winter Holiday -- Christmas
Creative Cards Crew: Anything Goes
Paper Creators Crafts: Christmas
Natalie & Amy Challenges: Favourite Color Combo -- Brown & any other color
Penny Black and More: Any Die Will Do
Challenges 4 Everyone: Anything Goes

Christmas is Coming & Some Giveaways

Hi guys...I'm back with another Christmas card to share with you. This one features ribbon. Ribbon is one embellishment that I love to see on cards, but when I try using it on one of mine, they often don't turn out quite right.

This card actually turned out the way I had it planned in my head. :) Thanks to an online friend, I have the Easy Bow maker to help make the perfect bows.

The Easy Bow Maker doesn't look like a whole lot, but it makes perfect bows every time...and saves lots of time trying to get the bows look pretty. It's definitely a time-saver. :)

Here's the full view of the card:
 

supplies used:

Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouette Stamps

Cuttlebug Folder -- Victorian

Ribbon from Stash

Red Bling

Also want to let you know about an amazing giveaway. Nicole's Stamp Addiction is having a Thank You giveaway -- 50 promarkers!!! I have never used one of these markers, but if you're into using stamped images for your cards, this giveaway is for you! They look like a lot of fun to play around with. :) Her giveaway ends when she reaches 3450 followers -- so head on over to Nicole's Stamp Addiction and sign up. You can't win if you don't try. :)

Also, The Scrapbook Garden is having a fabulous November/December giveaway. Head on over to her blog to get all the details. You could be the winner of this:

I've never actually tried Distress Inks, but from the tutorials I've seen using them, they look like sooooooo much fun! And there so many different ways of using them! I would love to win this! :)




Really Reasonable Ribbon is having a pre-holiday blog candy. I have been the lucky winner of the RRR blog hop twice (they have one every month with an amazing ribbon prize), so from experience I know their ribbons are awesome! They are great quality and great looking too! :) Plus, their pre-holiday giveaway has a lot of extras. Head on over the Really Reasonable Ribbon blog to read all the details.

And if you're looking to be further inspired with Christmas related cards and projects, head on over to the At Studio D blog. They're having a 25 days of Christmas giveaway -- and there's lots of inspiration to find there as we head into the Christmas season.

challenges:

Stamping Sensations -- Traditional Christmas
Word Art Wednesday -- Anything Goes
Totally Stampalicious -- Bling
Through the Craftroom Door -- Anything Goes
House of Gilli -- Celebration

The first of many to come

Hi guys...can you believe it's November already?!! Like wow!!! We're a month away from the Christmas season!!! And with time flying by so fast, I think it's time I got some serious Christmas cardmaking done,  'cause time ain't slowing down anytime soon! ....and I don't want to have them all pile up on me at once...

So today I headed to my scrapping table to get started on some Christmas cards...

I decided to try using some clear stamps -- "Christmas Silhouettes" by Inkadinkado. (love the name of the stamping company, don't you?) LOL

This set of stamps is so much fun to play with!!! One thing I love about them is that you don't need to add a whole lot to the card to make it look amazing! Just a little color and bling...and whah-lah! I had created my first Christmas card. :)

Wanna see???

Not my typical Christmas card that's for sure....

...but I decided to try the reindeer stamp anyways, 'cause I love the trail of "snowflakes" and "flowers" it has behind it. It's just a fun stamp...and so pretty! :)

I love the bit of extra blitz the image gets when you add some bling to spice it up...

Here's a look at the whole card. Clean and simple...just the way I like it! :)

 Thanks for dropping by today. God bless you. :)

challenges for my card:

Crafts & Me Challenges -- Bling it Up
Word Art Wednesday -- Anything Goes
Willow Sketchie Challenge -- Sketch 

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge -- No Patterned Paper
HotShot Crafts -- Bling it On
Anything Goes Challenges -- Anything Goes
Totally Stampalicious -- Anything Goes
DL.Art Challenges -- Any Holiday from October to End of the Year
Crafty Pad Designs -- Christmas is Coming
Creative Craft Challenges -- Special Occasion, Not Birthday

For a Sad Occasion

Hi guys. Today I have a very simple card to showcase. Nobody likes making cards for sad occasions, but it's during those times when a card from a friend helps and means so much! Just letting someone know you care -- what better reason could there be to send/mail off a card?

I used the Stampin Up "Thoughts and Prayers" stamp set again. I love love love this set! It's so versatile! :) ...and it makes even the simplest cards look striking. I also embossed the background with my Victoria embossing folder to give the card a little texture. Finally, I added two punched out butterflies (not sure of the punch name or brand) from my stash and added some bling to make them pop a little. :)

I also added pop dots to the whole card...just to give it a little dimension and keep things a little different. I love how it turned out! :)

I found a few challenges to enter this card into:


The Cuttlebug Spot is having a "What's on Your Desk?" challenge. Here's what I found lying around...and decided to get another card made with the Stampin' Up stamp set. :)

Word Art Wednesday - Kind Words

Crafts and Me -- Anything Goes
DL.Art -- Sympathy or Get Well
Shelly's Images -- Tic Tac Toe Challenge
--  *Bling  *Free  *Embossing  --

Sentimental Sunday -- Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly -- All Creature Great and Small

Simon Says -- Punch and/or Die Cuts

Birthday Masculine

Hi guys. Today I have a masculine birthday card to share. Masculine cards, in general, seem to be everyone's most challenging cards to create. I find little boys' cards to be pretty simple, cause you can add a cute animal image and it works. But when you start making cards for adults, it gets a lot harder. Especially when you try a card without a coloured image (which isn't really my style in the first place).

So when I set out to make masculine cards (for older guys)...I like to keep them Clean and Simple for starters. I often look if I can find a sketch online to use, which I did in this case. And when I finally do find something that turns out really really really well, well I mass  produce! :p LOL Different colours, different stamps, etc.  -- but a great sketch is dying to be mass produced! And when it comes to masculine cards -- a GREAT card is hard to come by, so why not?!!!

On to my card:

The cardstock is from a Michael's pack. The border is from a Colorbok paper pack I won awhile back. I love all shades of brown and this Paper pack was my favourite from Colorbok so far! Beautiful papers!!! (I only have scraps left, but that was perfect for this card, as all I needed was a scrap). :) The square stamp is from the Dollarama -- I haven't found a whole lot of uses for it yet, but I do love it for Masculine cards. And finally the two sentiments are from the Upsy Daisy stampset I borrowed from a friend.

I love how all these different products work together. :) And yes, I am definitely mass producing this card!! I love it! :)

Just Tracy's Crafts Challenge -- Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge -- Father's Day/ For a Special Male
Sweet Stamps -- Anything goes
Mojo Monday -- Sketch
Creative Inspirations -- Anything Goes

Masculine Birthday

Hi guys. Today I want to show you a masculine card I made. These cards always the hardest for me to make -- 'cause cards tend to look flowery or "girly" very fast -- especially when you start to add embellishments....like ribbons.
I used a sketch from a friend -- it's also a great sketch if you're looking to clean up scraps. I'm definitely keeping it around for the future...'cause there's always scraps that need to be taken care of! :)
Here's the card:

I used a clear stamp to stamp the "grey/light black" image of the candles, and then stamped my Birthday sentiment over it with black. I cut the spellbinder and inked up the edges to make it "pop" a bit. (and yes -- I even used a bit of ribbon...but it doesn't make the card any bit girly, now does it?!) Guess it all depends on what you do with the ribbon. (something to note for myself).

So that's it -- another C - A - S card :)