Sympathy Set

After my Mom saw my previous post of the sympathy card we sent to Grant's step-mother, she sent me an email asking if I would make her several that she could use. Unfortunately, it seems as though she has been needing more of these than one would like!


So, I made her this set of 6 and a little box to put them in. These cards and the box use the SU Curvy Verses and Embrace Life sets.


These three from the set are made using black cardstock from Michaels (as I'm out of SU and Bazzill black). The colours of these are pretty in pink, apricot appeal, and bashful blue, the designer paper used is all from the "prints pack" SU hostess level 1 set - which is in my opinion the best level 1 set. The roses are all coloured with the corresponding SU stampin pastels and enhanced with blender pens. The ribbons are all from the $0.59 section at Michaels.


These three cards were made the same way using pale plum, certainly celery and barely banana. As I didn't have matching designer paper I cut another piece of the cardstock, stamped the blossoms from the Embrace Life set in Versamark and heat embossed the image to make my own patterned paper. Turned out well I think - although I think I should invest (not that it is expensive) in the embossing buddy to get rid of excess random embossing powder.


Finally, the box I made was using Charmaine's directions here. They are super clear and easy to follow. It is made with black and bashful blue cardstock. The box is large enough to fit these 6 cards and envelopes and more! I wrapped the coordinating ribbon around the box and stamped the image on the box just so it is clear what cards are inside it. I added two Prima Flowers just to jazz up the box a little more!

Sympathy SC169, CC159

Grants step-mother's mom recently passed away and we are not going to be able to make it to the funeral. So this weeks SC169 and CC159 (which I can now do since getting sheets of all of the SU cardstock) on SCS inspired this card that we will send to his Dad and step-mother.


This card uses Bazzill Basics black textured cardstock instead of SU Basic black because I like the textured feel and I don't have that in the SU stock. The other cardstock is Whisper white and bashful blue. The designer paper is from the Prints Pack the Level 1 hostess set in bashful blue.

The saying is from the SU set Curvy Verses and the rose is from the SU Embrace Life set. Both images are stamped in SU basic black. The rose is coloured in using SU stamping pastels in bashful blue and detail was added using the blender pens. The ribbon is from Michaels and matched perfectly - it is the $0.59 stuff. Inside the card, I put another piece of bashful blue cardstock to write on and stamped in the bottom right corner the top of the rose from the front of the card.

Hopefully, they will enjoy it. I know it won't make up for not attending the funeral, but at least they will know they are in our thoughts!

WSC41 Housewarming

I got my big SU order in the mail this week while I was away and I was so excited to use it. I needed to make a card tonight because my boyfriends brother is coming to visit us and he recently bought a house so we needed a card to put the gift in. I decided to combine this with Beate's WSC41. I had actually made a different card earlier but put it in the recycling bin because I really didn't like it.


This card uses Bazzill Basics textured cardstock in pink and brown (unsure of which shade exactly). Browns and pinks are one of my favourite colour combos. The patterned paper is from DCWV glitter set. I loved how nicely the pinks and browns of the designer paper matched the cardstock.

The stamp is from SU Pun Fun and stamped with SU Basic Black. The image is coloured in using SU stampin pastels in close to cocoa and pretty in pink. The SU Blender pens were used to give a little bit more dimension to the image. There is also the slightest touch of brilliant blue around the eyes but it is hard to see on the photo. The stamped image was matted with brown cardstock and pop dots were used to affix it to the card. All edges were corner rounded to match the corners of the squares on the designer paper.

I like the way this card turned out so much - I almost don't want to give it away!

Back Home and Pet Scrapbooks

I am back home in Lethbridge and thought since I was just visiting with the family pets (and the family), I would share some pages from the scrapbooks I made of the pets. I made both scrapbooks for my parents for Christmas 2006. Both albums have pics of my parents in them but I eliminated most of them for the blog since I wasn't sure if they would be ok with their pics on here. These scrapbooks were only the second/third scrapbooks I made so I see so many things I could do differently now, but I (and my parents) still love them.

This scrapbook of Dawson was for my Dad since Dawson was a gift to my Dad for his 40th birthday. I am just showing some of my favorite pages from it as it would be too long otherwise. This scrapbook of Zero was for my Mom since we consider Zero her cat (although I like to think he is mine). This too, is just a few pages. Both of these scrapbooks were made using materials primarily from the Making Memories scrapbook kits for a dog and cat respectively. I just added a couple of extra embellishments such as eyelets and jewels. I also used Bazzill Basics textured cardstock for both.

Visiting the Family Pets

No cards or crafts. I'm back at my parents for a few days and especially excited to visit with the pets. I thought I would share some pictures of our boys because they are too cute! I've made full scrapbooks just of them!

This is our dog Dawson who loves to pose for photos! This is his pouting face, which always leads to him getting people food.

This is our cat Zero, who has a ton of personality. This is a picture of how he helped me to study to get through Nursing school! He is always "talking" to you about something. I wanted to take him with me when I moved but we live in a no pet building and he's too talkative to hide!

Aren't these the cutest boys ever?

I'll be back home Friday but will have to work so there likely won't be posts for a few days again!

Happy Easter and WSC40

Happy Easter everyone!

Here is a card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #40. The sketch can be found here. I altered it a bit and made the circle a square just because I wanted to use this saying and didn't want the circle to be huge to fit it. I tried putting the sentiment on two different lines but it just looked funny.


The stamp is SU from the "Short & Sweet" set. The cardstock is Bazzill red and SU Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White. The patterned paper is KI Memories "surprise napkin." The ink is Inkadinkadoo red. The ribbon is American Crafts from the "Popsicle" set. I'm not sure who makes the little blue squares but they are from Michaels in the sticker section and come in different sizes and colours.

Simple SC168

This weeks Sketch Challenge at SCS had me stumped. I came up with this card, but I'm not happy with it, us the picture turned out even worse. All of the colours are quite vibrant but I couldn't get that to come through in the photos without making something else look weird. I got my inspiration from Nancy's card here, but I definitely did not do it justice at all. Check hers out though to see what I think is the best submission for this weeks challenge.

I say this card is simple just because there was very little involved in it as I only used paper and one stamp - no embellishments at all (although I did consider it)! Looks quite plain too.


All of the designer papers are from the Provo Craft "Celebrations" paper set for use with the Cricut and the cardstocck I believe is Bazzill Basics. The stamp is from the $1.50 sets at Michaels used with Inkadinkadoo ink in red.

Maybe you can relate? I find that as soon as I have an order on the way of new stamps or ink or general stamping supplies - my mind can only think of things to do with those sets. That's my excuse anyway for the above card. Just waiting on my newest SU order which will be huge!

Coaster Post It

Today I thought I would give the coaster post-it note holder, that I have seen others make, a try. They are great for keeping in your purse to take quick notes for something whenever needed. My upline, Andrea Walford, has a great tutorial on how to make these - you can find it here. I scored the edges at a little less than one inch so that when folded over the coaster, the coaster doesn't show through in the corners.

Both of the designer papers used are from Provo Craft made in 6x12" sheets to go through the Cricut machine. The blue cardstock is from Bazzill Basics (not sure of the shade). The SU stamp curvy verses is stamped in Tempting Turquoise which matches the American Crafts ribbon from the Gumdrop set perfectly. The flower is from Prima.

Some of the pages in the post-it note pad are stamped with the little flower from the SU "short and sweet" set in tempting turquoise.

These are super easy and inexpensive to create. They would make great door prizes or gifts for a workshop if made with SU products.

SC167 Pomegranate Blossoms

I love the SU "Embrace Life" set and used it again for this weeks Card Sketch Challenge #167 at SCS. I'm not too happy with the way this card looks but hey, it was my first attempt at using the blender pens with the classic ink pads on a larger image.


The cardstock used is SU purely pomegranate, groovy guava and whisper white. I love these colours. The blossoms were stamped in SU basic black.

All of the images were coloured in using the SU blender pens and SU purely pomegranate classic ink. I think the little blossoms look pretty good and shaded well but I definitely need practice doing the larger images! At least with flowers, I can pass the lines off as shading, but that wouldn't be the case with any other images.

Again, I didn't have any coloured ribbon yet that matches well (I have some on order though) so I ran white ribbon through the purely pomegranate ink pad, let it dry and then sprayed it with hairspray. The hairspray seemed to make it so the colour would stop coming off on other things - I thought it was worth a try since I had nothing else available!

Embrace Life WSC39

I've been so busy working evening and night shifts that I haven't had any time to post until today! So I'll probably have a couple of posts today.


This card is for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #39. You should check out her blog too if you haven't yet. It is filled with great ideas. This card is made using SU Whisper white and Wild Wasabi cardstock and black Bazzill Basics cardstock. The "embrace life" stamps are stamped with SU basic black ink and colored in using blender pens and the wild wasabi classic ink.

The "Define Your Life" gratitude stamp was done very carefully by lining up the stamp in the classic ink pads since I don't have the stampin write markers - takes some practice but I think it looks good!

I thought the card looked pretty plain and wanted to add some ribbon but I didn't have any black or wild wasabi ribbon so I ran some white ribbon through the Black StazOn ink and let it dry a few minutes. Worked well since StazOn ink dries on anything!

Rainy Day Challenge

Well I guess technically it's not a challenge but Susan Roberts at Rainy Day Creations created a card sketch as part of her SCS Ways To Use It challenge, and I thought I would give it a try.


This card was made using SU tempting turquoise and pink passion cardstock. The ink is also SU tempting turquoise. The stamps are from SU "Wild About You" and "Short & Sweet." The ribbon is Bo Bunny and the patterned paper was from a stack of paper from Costco - but it matched so well with the SU cardstock. I always cut my circles using my Creative Memories set.

It isn't the greatest card, but it's ok I think. Not my typical colours, but I am trying to branch out into the brighter side! Sorry about the weird shadows it wasn't very sunny today.

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #38

I always look forward to Beate's weekend sketch challenge for more inspiration and layout ideas, and unfortunately I missed last weeks challenge. I made this card this morning for this weeks sketch challenge, but am just now getting around to posting it. I did modify it slightly as I liked the way the circle looked better than a rectantle/square and I liked it off to the side better as well for this card. Hope you don't mind the modifications Beate!


The stamp set is SU curvy verses - this is a set I have been wanting for a long time now but put off until signing up to be a demonstrator. I love the font and the fact that the saying is curved and not straight like so many other stamps that contain sayings. I think it makes the stamp a little more flexible to add other images to.

The cardstock and ink are both Stampin Up blue bayou. The green cardstock and patterned paper I have had for a long time and no longer know who made them - sorry! The flowers are Prima flowers and the green brad in the centre of the flowers is from Making Memories, which matched perfectly with the colour scheme.

SC166 Wild About You

I got up today just in time to have my Stampin Up starter kit delivered this morning! I didn't even finish putting everything together before I had to use them for this weeks Card Sketch Challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers.

The first card I made for the sketch challenge I accidentally swapped the order of the layered pieces of paper so I made another card that did it the way as shown in the sketch. Not that I minded, because I have been waiting to be able to play with the "Wild About You" set.


This elephant card is the one with the papers in the wrong order but I still love it. The elephant is stamped in Blue Bayou ink and matted with blue bayou cardstock. The yellow cardstock is DCWV that I used to match the patterned paper better with blue bayou. The yellow eyelets were just to add a little more interest.


This card is the one that has the paper going int he proper order as shown in the Sketch Challenge. The cardstock and ink are all wild wasabi. The white cardstock is whisper white. I wasn't able to find any matching paper that I had already so I just stamped one of my "background basics" stamps in wild wasabi to appear as patterned paper until I order some from Stampin Up.

For both cards, the cuttlebug embossing folder "spots and dots" was used to create a bit more interest - plus it is my favourite embossing folder! The main images were both also adhered using pop dots.

Anxiously Waiting

This has been such a busy week, I haven't had time to update my blog in almost a week now. Good news though, I found out I am a blog candy winner over at Jennifer's Sweet Designs. I have never won any blog candy before. Now, I have something else to be excited waiting for!

I've already been procrastinating making cards while I am anxiously awaiting my Stampin Up starter kit so that I am filled with ideas when it finally arrives. So, on that note, I thought I would post an old thank you card I made that involves no stamps (I'm not sure how many of those I'll have once the stamps come).

This card was made using a pre-scored glitter card from DCWV. Heidi chipboard letters and American Crafs minimarks rubons make the Thanks image. I love rubons since you can put them on anything. I wanted to make the card say thanks without using all chipboard and this allowed me to just fit the rest of the word right on the existing chipboard. The paper is KI Memories "It's a girl thin stripe." KI Memories is one of my favourites as I am sure you might be guessing with how often I use it. Finally, I just added a few eyelets with my Crop-a-dile - every scrapbooker/cardmaker should own one of these!