"Happy is the bride the sun shines on..."

My Mum told me on the day I was married, 23 years ago, "Happy is the bride the sun shines on, sad is the bride the rain rains on". It happened to be sunny on my wedding day, which considering I was married in November, was pretty lucky! As you all know I have been working on wedding thank you cards for the past couple of days. The bride's wedding colors are lilac and white, and after several samples and variations, she chose this design to be her wedding thank you card. Now I only have 149 more to make! No worries, I am honored to do it! Now everyone pray for sunshine!!

Thank You, Thank You...

I have been working on thank you cards for an upcoming family wedding over the past couple of days, and thought I would share a few of the card designs. One of the requirements is that I can reproduce 150 of them, so the card needs to be simple. The other requirement is postage. Often hand made cards require extra postage because of the thickness and weight and with mailing 150 cards keeping postage costs down is a must. I decided to test out my new Breezy Wreath Die by Poppystamps inc. The web site is www.poppystamps.com and the dies are available at both online and 'real life' papercrafting stores.
It's perfect for this type of card as it adds a pretty design element, but practically no weight. I was concerned about the die being 'flimsy' because it's so delicate, but it's a tough stainless steel die and after many uses shows absolutely no wear. The wreath is also a symbol of eternity so it's appropriate as well. I die cut two wreaths then layered them, added some punched mini flowers and a few dabs of Stickles. The bride actually chose another design, a beautiful stamped wildflower card, but she really liked this one too, so I thought I would share it as wedding season is fast approaching! Dada da da. da da da da....

Oops! I did it again...

I love visiting family! I've been in Markham, just east of Toronto, this past week having a visit with my niece and nephew and guess what?!! They live right around the corner from the most ginormous (sp?) scrapbookin' card makin' paper craftin' store I have ever seen! Remember that I am a small town girl! The store is called Pointer Gifts & Crafts, located on Woodbine Ave at Hwy 7. I had excellent service from Heidi Wong and was thrilled to see rubber stamps I have only seen on my computer screen in real life! I will definitely stop in again when I visit next time. And there is a Michaels on the next block! So take a gander girls, these are a few of the goodies I'll have waiting for you next card night!  Good thing I like to share, eh?
I have so many card making ideas swimming around in my head, I hardly slept a wink last night. I'll be home soon and we can play! Yummy, yummy!!

All in the Family - Family Portrait

This is the biggest card I've ever made! I was asked to make this 'family portrait' by a family friend and had a ball stamping, coloring and arranging all the little bits and pieces. It features one of my all time fav stamp sets, All in the Family by Stampin' Up! I also used Trendy Trees, Unfrogettable, Owl Together, Loads of Love and rolled the houses then cut them out using SU! jumbo roller wheel with the houses wheel stamp. I colored all the characters and elements using Prismacolor pencil crayon and odorless solvent. They have two dogs, Maggie and Toby who appear several times throughout the picture and I customized the characters to make them look more like the actual family. It kind of reminds of the "Where's Elmo?" books, but this is more like, "Where's Maggie and Toby the Dog!" Who says a card has to actually fit in an envelope??!!

A Jeweled Egg for Easter

Just a quickie for you, a sparkily Easter Egg! I don't happen
to have an egg shaped die, so I used an old Easter card as
a template. I embossed the swirl pattern using a background stamp
and some clear embossing powder, then inked the whole
background using Tim Holtz Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade
and Wild Honey Distress Inks. I added a flower, gems and
a Happy Easter Sentiment. Happy Easter Everyone!!

Two Step Owls Living in a Tree

This sliding mechanical card features my favorite punch, the Two Step Owl Punch by Stampin' Up! It's not very often that I see a card design and love it so much that I have to make one, but this is one of those cards.  While surfing Youtube the other night I found a card making video by darlene003, featuring this card design. Her channel is very worth visiting, her card designs are fresh and she has an eye for color! I think what grabbed my eye was the tree, I've never seen a tree design like this one, and I found it intriging. The mechanism on the inside is simple to make and could be used to create endless card possibilities. I will definitely make this style of card again, maybe a fishing theme for Father's Day, stay tuned...

A Cascade Birthday Card for Mum

I made this crazy cascade card for my Mum's upcoming birthday, and it only took me two whole days!! It's based on a card design by Chris Peterson, www.callalily studio.blogspot.com. Chris made a cascade card featuring two crazy ladies driving home from a shopping spree and when I saw it, I just knew I had to make one for my Mum! The card features my Mum and her dog Mollie driving home from a day of 'retail therapy'. I lost count of how many different stamp sets, punches and dies I used, but I can tell you my craft room is a total disaster! When I showed her the card and told her I was going to put it on my blog, the first thing she said was, "But the whole world will know how old I am"! I told her they will only know if I tell them, and being the good daughter that I am, I'll keep her secret!