I love a long read, bookmark card...

Loved the colours this week at Color Throwdown and the sketch from Freshly Made, perfect for a Bookmark Card to encourage my youngest to complete his Reading Challenge - he's only got one or two books to go, but every bit of encouragement helps!!  I designed the card so that the bookmark/tag tucks in behind the button, and can be easily removed as needed.  I added paper to the back of the middle section of the Basic Grey flourish sticker so it would not stick to the bookmark.

Papers are a combination of Basic Grey, Echo Park, Crate Paper and Jenni Bowlin, stamped with The Alley Way Stamps funky little Party Animal giraffe, with the sentiment made using Alphabet Soup, Hey Cupcake and Party Animal, and punched with EK Success scalloped border.  Buttons are Fancy Pants Off to School and a Prima heart button.

Also playing along at:

Cute Card Thursday  - Tag You're It
Raise the Bar - Back to School

Hope you have the opportunity to enjoy a long read soon!

You're so QWERTY... Just my TYPE!

TYPE HYPE! Tuesday Trigger

I couldn't resist this fortnights Type Hype! Tuesday Trigger.  Thought it was perfect for a nostalgically romantic card!  Inside the card reads ...Just my TYPE!

I used Glitz Dance in Sunshine Paper Layers as the basis for my card - LOVE the old typewriter, faded text and love heart typewriter keys.  I added the sentiment using My Favourite Things Typewriter Alphabet, stamped in Versamark Watermark Ink and heat embossed with Zing Pewter, to create raised metallic letters - reminiscent of the old typewriter stalk letters. Mounted the QWERTY letters on foam tape in the centre of these cool pearl sheen Fancy Pants Off to School buttons.  Matted the sheet on red cardstock to reflect the red typewriter ribbon - and romance!  Backed with 7 Gypsies paper which I altered with Distress Ink in Old Paper to create a more old-fashioned, QWERTY feel LOL! 

Hope this weekend is just your type too!

More or Less CAS-ual...

I thought I'd share a bit of the thinking process that went into the creation of this card :)  Yes, I do think before I craft - sometimes too much perhaps LOL!  

I thought I'd combine this weeks Less is More Blue & Green challenge with CAS-ual Fridays On Cloud 9.   There are soooo many possibilities for cards to create that sometimes I find it easier to narrow down the possibilities by combining challenges.  As green and blue are harmonious colours, they are excellent candidates for creating layered inky backgrounds.  I sprayed my watercolour paper with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, and added a bit of sparkle by overspraying with Glimmermist Denim.  For me a negative die-cut is perfect for a "Miss You" card - because in order to create a negative die cut, something has to be missing!  I cut the circle from my sprayed watercolour paper to represent the sun, and then negative die cut my Marianne Design bird and branch and pop-dotted it onto my white cardstock.  The Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler "Miss You" was the right size for balance and it's in a casual font which suits the bright colours.  Next I matched the cardstock base colour to the darkest shade of blue in my circle to repeat and anchor it.  I wanted to soften the edges of the card to reflect the circle shape, so I used a corner rounder.  I left the bottom right corner squared off to serve the dual purpose of helping to focus on the sentiment, and the corner was missed - as is the recipient!

 What thoughts inspire your creations?!?

Play Date Cafe Christmas...

 

My mojo decided to run away to join the circus today, and the only way I could try to tempt it back was with some chocolate cupcakes!  Hey the sign says "Do what you love/love what you do", and I do love chocolate cupcakes, almost as much as I love sticky date cupcakes ;)

I saw this weeks inspiration photo and colours at The Play Date Cafe, and just kept thinking of Christmas treats, so I made some festive Christmas decorations - the best thing is they are re-usable (except the cupcakes of course LOL!)  The cute sentiment, holly and reindeer are from The Alley Way Stamps Fa-la-la and Christmas Magic.  Papers used are cardstock, SEI and Echo Park papers, together with washi tape from a variety of sources including Typo, and jute from The Ribbon Carousel.  For each decoration I punched out two scalloped circles and sandwiched the bamboo skewers in between them, you could add decoration on the back too to create an edible centrepiece for your Christmas table.

My kids and hubby really enjoyed this project too!

The after party LOL!

TAWS BE Inspired, Have a Ball...

Loved the colours in this fortnights TAWS Be Inspired Challenge #8 - after all, teal is my favourite, and red is not far behind, and I ran with circles and the carnival theme using The Alley Ways Admit One and Alphabet Soup, to create this cute birthday card.  Paper pieced parts of the gorgeous clown, and die cut and punched a series of circles using Echo Park and October Afternoon papers.  Coloured the rest of the clown using Copics E13 Light Suntan, Y17 Golden Yellow, R27 Cadmium Red and BG 18 Teal Blue.  Pop dotted the clown and his starry juggling balls too.

Come join in the fun, you have until August 17 to play along!

Also playing along with:
The Pink Elephant Sketch
The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe - Circles / Birthday / Favourite Colour

 

Don't Worry...

 

I haven't really attempted one layer cards, so I thought I'd challenge myself to create a one for the Less is More sketch this week for my "Bee Happy" card.  I created the hexagon background using the Crafter's Workshop Mini Punchinella Template and Scattered Straw and Wild Honey Distress Ink, overstamped the Stampendous Buzzin Blooms in Momento Black Ink then used a water brush to highlight the flowers and bee in Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, before adding the stamped sentiment and drawing in the black borders and bee trail, finally adding glossy highlights to the flowers and bee using Dimensional Magic - I love how it makes them look like amber.  Bee-cause you can see them in the sky I'm linking this up to CAS-ual Fridays On Cloud 9 too!

Hope you will "Bee Happy" this weekend!

The dock can sea you now...

Inspired by the nautical colours from this weeks CASual Fridays Challenge, this versatile i-Spy Sketch, and The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe - Blue / Dry Embossing / Masculine, I thought I'd try a technique new to me, involving dry embossing a strip of watercolour paper, using my bubble border embossing folder, then wet embossing the raised sections using my Versamark Clear Embossing pen and clear embossing powder, before over-spraying the dampened watercolour paper with Dylusions Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise, and a couple of drops of Sapphire Glimmer Mist.  The Alley Way Stamps Castaway fish was stamped in Versamark Watermark Ink then heat embossed with Denim Zing, and watercoloured in Dylusions Fresh Lime and Vibrant Turquoise.  Inside reads "Hope you're feeling ship shape soon!", 'cause there's nothing quite like a sea-sick fish LOL!

Hope you are having a FABULOUS week :)