Celebrate!

Boys/male cards are always a tad more challenging it seems, but it does seem to help a bit when the colour scheme is already nutted out for you (like using DSP for inspiration, or a colour challenge) and this week's Curtain Call Colour Challenge was my help for my brother's birthday card.

Add to this the same colours and stars from this weeks Stampin' Celebration Inspiration Challenge and I was good to go!! The star panel was created by 'rolling off' the Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel and using the second generation stamp, and was mounted on a very thin border of Real Red. The edges of the base card were lightly sponged with Night of Navy. I wanted to add texture to this card, so the edges of the white panel were distressed with scissors and I sprayed the larger Night of Navy panel with water before scrunching it and allowing it to dry, and torn the edge of it as well as the Whisper White underneath. The Celebrate! banner was popped up with dimensionals in the middle to give the illusion of 'movement' and a few punched stars were scattered to finish.

Stacey of the Curtain Call Colour Challenge is giving away some blog candy to celebrate the launch of the new In Colours in the US IB&C, so pop on over and give her some comment love - or better still, create a card for the Curtain Call!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!! We'll have a drink together soon!

Happy Fourth of July, Happy Canada Day and Happy Territory Day (1st July too!!) too!

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: All Year Cheer II (retired), Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel
Card: Kraft, Night of Navy, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Night of Navy
Punches: Small Star, Star

Retro Pears

It was another colleague/friend's birthday this week, but I was having difficulty trying to figure out what type of card to make... The other girls were relatively easy - one is more 'classic' and the other quite girly - but putting my finger on the right style this time.... one of the other girls suggested I go 'retro', so this is what I came up with (quite fitting for a dietitian with the pears too!!).

I have kept it quite simple as my friend isn't into frills and flounces; I quite like the effect of the layered ribbon and this is the first time I've used my corduroy buttons!!

I realised after I finished it that although I made this for a female, it could quite easily be suitable for a male too (I think it's the colours...), so it fits the Stampin' Royalty 'Masculine' challenge this week.

Now to get cracking on my brother's birthday card...

Thanks for visiting!







Stamp: Birthday Wish (retired)
Card: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss
Other: Corner Rounder Punch (non-SU), Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Buttons (retired), 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon

A Couple of ColourQ Cards

There are always awesome colours to work with over at ColourQ, and this week Arielle has given an additional task of challenging a friend to play along as well, so I challenged my good friend Nerine to join in! I know she's been stamping and scrapping a bit lately, and I know I always find challenges great inspiration.

As we don't have Crushed Curry, I have substituted Summer Sun - I think it works better than Marigold Morning which I tried last time....

I wanted the flower to be THE focus of the card above so have kept everything else simple and understated. I did add a couple of rows of paper piercing to the top and the bottom of the Brilliant Blue base to tie in with the flower.

I almost wasn't going to post this card, but when I came back and looked at it again after a few hours I thought 'yeah, I do like it'... VERY simple, just a little bit of paper piecing. A wonderful friend found and sent me this Just Beakause stamp set for my birthday because I love toucans (I'm toucantash on SCS!) and was really disappointed I didn't get this set before it retired. This is the first time I have used it in a card - I've only inked it up once before but that toucan is in my UFO stash. Isn't that little toucan SO cute though?!

This card could suit for either a male or a female birthday - such versatile colours!

Thanks for visiting again!

Happy Birthday

Stamps: All Year Cheer II (retired), Friendly Flowers (retired)

Card: Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Brilliant Blue, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise

Other: Filigree Designer Brads, Certainly Celery Ribbon (retired), paper piercer

Birds of a Feather

Stamps: Just Beakause (retired)

Card: Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Whisper White

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Brillant Blue, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery

Rustic Rooster

I have had Rustic Rooster for a few weeks now and keep trying to find the right way to use him without much luck, but this week I pulled him out for the lovely browns in the latest Sketch'n'Color Colour Challenge. I really do like the way browns and blues go so well together.

I stamped the script in second generation Close to Cocoa on Creamy Caramel, and stamped the rooster in Chocolate Chip directly on top. This was layered on Close to Cocoa, then Bashful Blue - all distressed. I felt this card needed to be quite simple (I'm quite good at the KISS principal I think, hence loving Stampin' Royalty's challenge this week!) so as not to lose or overpower the rooster. A little bit of ribbon and some background stamping did the trick.

I also featured the rooster on the inside of the card; Whisper White edged in Creamy Caramel on Bashful Blue.

I'm think this rooster might just find his way to my Grandpa for his birthday; after all, we did have chooks on the farm for years.

Thanks for visiting and hope you had a great weekend.

Stamps: Rustic Rooster (Level 2 Hostess), Sanded

Card: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, WhisperWhite

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel

Other: Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

A Couple of Colour Throwdown Cards

I didn't start out to make two cards for this weeks Colour Throwdown Challenge, but while I was on a role, I kept with it. I went with Sage Shadow, Really Rust and Bravo Burgandy.

This first one was made for Paul's Pop, so it also fills the requirements for Stampin' Royalty this week of a masculine card :) My initial thoughts were to pull out my Outlaw DSP, but I used that for his card last year.... So, I then thought about using 'white space' and just putting a smaller panel in the top half of the card with a birthday cake, but I couldn't find one to suit. Then I remembered seeing Pick-a-Petal used as a candle on a few blogs last year, so thought that could work (as he would have A LOT of candles on his cake), especially paired with the greeting from the SAB set Whimsical Words. I keep thinking the card needs something more, so I popped up the flame, but I'm still not quite sure... Paul keeps telling me it's perfect for Pop as he's a basic, simple man who doesn't like fuss, so here it is. Don't you love supportive husbands?!

I also wanted to make a little thank you for a colleague of mine who recently went to Sydney and brought me back some gorgeous tea from T2. She's an absolute gem!! (We don't have many shops here, so everyone is really cool with picking up bits and pieces when we visit big cities - another colleague is hitting Kikki K for me this coming weekend. I don't do internet shopping as it would be WAY too dangerous for my credit card). Like It a Latte (retired) was the obvious choice, and this was kept SUPER simple. I think the sponging just adds the right finishing touch. I suppose you could almost say this could pass for a masculine card too.... I'll let the Stampin' Royalty Goddesses decide....

Many Candles Card

Stamps: Pick-a-Petal, Whimiscal Words (SAB), Polka Dots & Paisley (retired)

Card: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Ink: Bravo Burgandy, Really Rust

Other: Paper Piercer, Stampin' Write Journaler

Because Nice Matters Love Note

Stamps: Like It a Latte (retired), Sweet Little Sayings (Level 1 Hostess)

Card: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Ink: Bravo Burgandy, Sage Shadow, Really Rust