Sunday 30 June 2013

Air Force Thanks!




You know what comes after birthdays, right? Thank you notes!

When I can, I like to give my kids choices about certain things. One of the things I really want them to understand is that life is made up of choices and the consquences of those choices. So when they were younger and they would ask me if they really had to write ALL. THOSE. thank you cards after Christmas and their birthdays, I would say "No. You don't have to take all that time to write all those thank you cards to the people who spent time and money choosing a gift for you. You can just send the gift right back." Strangely, not only did they never make that choice, but they have stopped asking me the question!

This week was Struan's birthday and graduation, so he had a number of thank you cards to write. I opted for a clean, masculine (and easy to reproduce!) design that reflects his current dream - to be a member of the Canadian Air Force (specifically a Snowbirds pilot).

I used Papertrey's Antique Alphabet  for "Thank" and MFT's (Bold Statements) for "You". Circle punches and a little Maple Leaf to create the old RCAF logo which you can see below .

One of the coolest gifts Struan received was an actual RCAF flag from my sister. It is now hanging proudly over his bed (covering the old Hotwheels stickers that have to stay there for now because despite all the promises they will not come off the wall without taking the paint!)


Saturday 29 June 2013

OLW146 - Splats and Splatters!


This card is for this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge, which is being hosted by Karen. The challenge is to use those super-trendy splat and splatter stamps to make a one layer card. I went 'punny'. This could be a good card to tuck into Struan's suitcase when he goes to Air Cadet camp later in the summer.

For the first time ever, I used Papertrey's Stamper's Select white as a card base. It's lovely and thick and feels substantial enough to be a one layer card. It's not coated, like my beloved Gina K Pure Luxury, so you get a different feel, but overall, I like it.

I used an Inky Antics seniment, Gina K's Lots of Letters, some unknown splats and rings.

Friday 28 June 2013

FFC11 - Tree


Just here with a graphic little card to remind you that there are just a few more days left to play along with the current Festive Friday Element Challenge - Tree


Tree

And, that you don't have to use a tree stamp to make a tree! The trees are from  Papertrey's Square Prints, the 'decorations' are a masked portion of a stamp from Grunge Me, the sentiment is from Tiny Treats: Christmas. (I'm not sure where the lines are from - possibly a Music set from somewhere?)

As an aside, here's a link to what is probably my all time EVER favourite Christmas tree card. I love the funky, non traditional colours and the Seussian shape of the trees. It's by Happy Dancin' Bev and it's the card that 'introduced' us. She is a true delight - and a very talented cardmaker. Now we're friends with plans to actually meet up this fall - I'm so looking forward to it!

You have until Wednesday to link up your "tree" cards - hope to see you there!


Thursday 27 June 2013

Glam Glimmer Birthday!


A quick post for today, the final day of school for my kids. I really loved this card when I made it, but when I went back to it, I found that the white layer was not sticking to the silver glitter paper. Any advice? I love the way the colours overlap and I love the sparkle, but obviously, a card that comes out of the envelope in 2 pieces is not the goal!

Papertrey "Happy", My Stamp Box "Tall Solids" Alphabet.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Muse #23/CFC106/FFC11


This card is for this week's Muse and CAS-ual Friday challenges:

Here's Anita's Muse card.


When I saw the lines with dots , I immediately thought of music - and then when I pulled out my case of music stamps and found this sentiment, it seemed to fall into place with the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge  - the never ending love song goes on  over the edge.

CFC106

The beauty of going over the edge with a 4.25 inch square card is that it will still fit in a 4.25x5.5 envelope.

But then I had another idea - the lines and circles also made me think of Christmas ornaments. I also had the current Festive Friday Tree challenge in my mind and I came up with this, using an unknown ornament, a ruler and Copic Multiliner and a simple Savvy sentiment.


Tuesday 25 June 2013

CASology 50 - Free!


This week's CASology Cue Card is Free!



I think I may have been the "Einstein" that suggested this one and over the weekend there was some discussion amongst the DT members as to how to interpret this cue card. By the end of it, there were lots of ideas (as you'll see when you visit their blogs!). I even thought I could have used my "Wheels" card for this cue card!

We knew that people (at least American and some Canadian people) would be making patriotic-type cards as we approach Canada Day and Independence Day, but of course our participants stretch further than the borders of these two countries! In honour of my American family and friends, here's another FREE card for you, inspired by both the card above (layout) and yesterday's birthday card for Struan (colours):



So feel FREE to make a card that represents FREE however you interpret it. How about that shopkeeper's sign 'Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy'? (I couldn't find my puppy stamps!)

I went with horses - these ones from an old SU! set look especially free to me, as they gallop through their misty field. I decided to make a one-layer card, which is pretty much as CAS as it gets. I masked and sponged a small area, used dramatic black silhouettes and left lots of white space. Even this sentiment has been masked - it's the last line of a much larger sentiment from Door County rubber stamps. This one will be given to my sister, the equine surgeon. Unfortunately, she sometimes needs horse sympathy cards  and they're hard to find in Hallmark!

Now it's your turn to interpret FREE for your creation this week. Before you do, drop by the blogs of the other DT members and see where they went with this cue card!



Monday 24 June 2013

Happy Birthday Struan!


Today's my son's graduation from middle school. That's not what you thought I was going to say, was it? But I've already shown you his graduation card, and tomorrow (his birthday) is CASology day, so today you get a preview of his birthday card!

I was inspired by the design of the Snowbirds plane in this photo:


You may recall that we went to an airshow last weekend and saw the Snowbirds (and many other planes). Snowbirds pilot is Struan's current career aspiration. Right now, I say he just has to focus on high school!

I would wish him happy birthday here, but he just assured me that he never reads my blog, so I'll save it for real life.  

Sunday 23 June 2013

CTS33, LIM125 - Happy Birthday Jen!


On Saturday I did something I haven't been able to do for a while - I played along with  Less Is More, where the challenge is to make a birthday card for Jen, who likes cats, fish and butterflies (I couldn't think of a good way to do all 3 on one card!). And I played along with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:



I turned my white panel over and scored some lines on the back (using a post-it to make sure that the ends of the scored lines are all the same length).  I used an MFT butterfly die and a Stampin' Up sentiment. And, introducing Smokey Slate cardstock for the card base! I think it's the perfect neutral backdrop for the pops of pink.

So, Happy Birthday Jen! I hope you have (or had) a wonderful day!

Saturday 22 June 2013

Pony Party!


Our little friend Trinity turned 4 the other day. She loves ponies. That same day, I got a new little DeNami pony in the mail (along with his 3 little farm friends), so it was the perfect opportunity to ink it up!

No clever CAS design here - just pure fun and everything a 4 year old loves - sparkly bright colours and her name in big letters!

As well as the DeNami pony, I used a There She Goes balloon and Clear and Simple Stamps' Duo Alphabet (you get the solid and the outline stamps for each letter). (I used the period from the set to make the confetti).

After dinner on Thursday, Kate and I walked over to Trinity's house to deliver her cards (Kate made one too), and her gifts. She and Kate immediately started playing with the Playmobil horse set we had brought.

She reminds me of another little 4 year old who has now grown up into an equine surgeon (my sister) - I'm sure I'll be using this little guy again very soon - I haven't made many horse cards for a while!

Friday 21 June 2013

FFC11 - Tree


It's time for the next Festive Friday challenge and this time, it's an Element challenge: Tree!

Tree



I love the quilt from the inspiration photo, but decided to go simple and elegant with this one. I cut my tree (it's a black die - I have no idea where I got it, sorry!) from Soft Stone cardstock and popped the negative  up on dimensionals. This  gave a nice spot to fill in with some beautiful red Sprinkles from Annabelle Stamps, some little gold gems and Stampin' Up pearls.

"Random" placement can be tricky. I placed the sprinkles first (I laid them out before I started gluing), then placed the others around, keeping in mind the rule of threes and triangles. But really in the end, I relied on my eyes and my own feeling, too!

I hope you'll be playing along with this challenge - you'll be glad you did when December rolls around. But if that isn't enough motivation, there's a prize available for people who've played in at least 15 challenges! The deadline for our Tree challenge is Wednesday, July 3.

2013 Festive Friday Grand Prize! 
We want to give you even more incentive to stay on top of your holiday card stash, and we also want to encourage you to continue playing with us! Our last challenge will launch in the middle of November, and at that time, we will be offering a $40 Gift Certificate to one of three online shops to one lucky player who has participated in 15 or more of our challenges! Keep the images of your entries handy - you'll need them!

Thursday 20 June 2013

Muse #22 - 50 Shades of Grey


Now THAT got your attention, didn't it? (actually, it's getting a bit old now - where's the next big thing?!)

This card looks so innocent, sitting there all cool and grey and clean and simple. However, my recycling bin was definitely harmed in the making of this card. As in over-filled. Twice (and that's only a very slight exaggeration).

First I struggled with the design. Then I struggled with execution of the design (shading not light enough where I wanted the sentiment, masked strip not straight and/or parallel. Then I struggled with finger prints, badly placed stamp impression (Avery Elle sentiment, completely not their fault!), 'brilliant' new ideas that I was sure would be amazing, and then ended up not liking. Then, when I finally had it all together, with the white panel matted on black and adhered to a Fog card base, ready for its close up, the man in brown arrived at my door.

With my Stampin' Up! order, which included one pack of Smokey Slate card stock (and LOTS of Whisper White, to keep my recycling bin on its steady diet). Oh. My. Word! For the first time since Cool Caribbean came along, I am in love with a Stampin' Up! Colour! It is the exact light grey I've been looking for - the same colour as the brushed silver, just not metallic. (you know for sure that means it will be discontinued! lol!)

I resisted the urge to replace the cardbase with the new Smokey Slate, so you'll have to wait for another day  - I just could not face the chance of ruining the panel and having to start over yet again.

And if you're still here reading, you may be interested to know that this is my take on this week's Muse, by Marion (you should really, really go take a look at her June 18 post - wow!):



I focused on the gradient sponging (hence my 50 Shades of Grey), the format and font of the sentiment and the masculine feel of the card.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along this week - the deadline is Saturday at noon, when voting will begin. (You can vote, even if you don't get a chance to play along, just make sure you vote before Sunday at noon, when voting closes so that I can get the winners' post ready for Monday morning!)

Wednesday 19 June 2013

OLW145 - Spice Girls


It's my turn to host One Layer Wednesday and our theme is Spice Girls. Make a one-layer feminine card inspired by a spice, condiment or flavouring. You can use your spice as colour inspiration, as part of a sentiment or as a theme.

I chose salt and pepper (colour and 'texture'), with a little saffron thrown in for a pop of added colour. I used an Annabelle Stamps background (masked in a funnel), Papertrey flowers and a Stampin' Up sentiment.

You can go in any spicy direction you can think of!

OLW 145 Guidelines:

1. A one-layer card is defined as a single layer of card stock folded in half. No other layers of card stock allowed!

2. Make a feminine card inspired by a spice, condiment or flavouring!  Please  remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.

3. Upload your card somewhere online and link it using the InLinkz button to the right of this post. If you link to your blog, please make sure the link goes to the individual post, not to your blog's home page.

4.HAVE FUN! That's really what it's all about.



Tuesday 18 June 2013

CASology #49 - Fish


This week's CASology Cue Card is Fish



I don't have very many fish stamps and the ones I have (or at least the ones I could find), just weren't doing it for me, if you know what I mean.  So I used this Muji Funny Face eye stamp. I stamped the fish bodies and then masked and used the stamp again to make their tails. Easy-peasy.

I coloured them with copics in bright colours and then added a little grey shadow underneath, an easy trick that helps to add dimension to a flat card.  (ah, man, I missed one - do you see that?! Actually, I did that on purpose so that you can easily see the difference! lol!)

There was no room for a sentiment without throwing the design off-balance, so the inside of the card says "Just Keep Swimming!" - a perfect card for a time when someone needs some encouragement.

And now it's your turn. Before you go, check out what the rest of the Design Team made for your inspiration:


Monday 17 June 2013

ABNH - Faux Cloisonne



It's my turn over at A Blog Named Hero today. I'm showing a card I made using a technique that (I think) I developed and have used from time to time. I call it Faux Cloisonne. I used it on this card a couple of weeks ago, and on this one last year.

Head over to A Blog Named Hero for all the details!

Our current challenge at ABNH is #Tag - make a project either incorporating a tag or inspired by dog tags. Make sure you check it out - if you enter, you could win a $25 gift voucher to Simon Says Stamp!







Snowbirds


As you can see, the rain cleared up and we had a wonderful time at the Air show. There were lots of old WWII planes (one of the only two remaining Lancasters, and the only remaining working Mosquito, as well as Spitfires and Hurricanes), a Lysander, an aeronautic stunt team of 3 Harvards, some WWI replica planes and of course, Squadron 431, the Snowbirds.  (My son, above, has a flight jacket with their squadron patches on it). I didn't take too many pictures, because, really, the fun is watching the action rather than trying to record it! But here are some of the 50 various manouevres that the Snowbirds performed.

Add caption




While I can honestly say that I would probably have chosen crafting over the Air Show (you would have, too, admit it!), I did have a good time hanging out with my son and my dad, and we're already making plans for the 'big' airshow that happens on Labour Day weekend.

Sunday 16 June 2013

A day off...

No card today - we've had a busy, busy week and today, Struan and I are going to meet my dad and go to an Air Show to see the last working Mosquito (WWII plane) and the Snowbirds (Canadian Aerial Stunt demonstation team). It's pouring rain right now, although it's supposed to let up for the afternoon. I'm hoping that at least it won't be crowded! ;-)

Stop back tomorrow afternoon for my first solo A Blog Named Hero post.

And enjoy the rest of your weekend!


Saturday 15 June 2013

OLW 144 - Red White and Blue


Cheryl is hosting this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge. It's a colour challenge - Red, White and Blue.

I used my trusty old Papertrey sentiment (love that clean font!) and a masked portion of a Stampendous birthday stamp. (there's a photo of the full stamp and some cards I made with it here)

Coloured with Copics, some Stickles for sparkle and done! It  doesn't get much more CAS than that!

Friday 14 June 2013

FFC10 - Vintage Christmas


There's one week left  (ETA - oops - deadline is on Wednesday!) to play in the current Festive Friday Theme Challenge: Vintage



Claire Brennan from Waltzingmouse Stamps is playing along as our Guest Designer, and in her honour, I pulled out my Nutcracker Sweet  set to make this simple, elegant and vintage (I hope!) card.

To make it feel vintage, I used cream rather than white card stock. Then I embossed the Nutcracker in gold and added some red rhinestones to their crowns (and now I'm getting a three kings vibe from this). They  took up most of the space in the main panel, so I decided to put the sentiment (also from this set) in front of them - I love how the placement of the sentiment makes it look like they're holding a bar with a sentiment banner on it!

We all hope that you'll be able to play along with us in this challenge - the perfect opportunity to dig out those 'classic' Christmas stamps and supplies!

Did you see that there's a 'Grand Prize' at Festive Friday? Here are the details, and they're sure to provide you with even more incentive for keeping up with your Christmas cards throughout 2013:

2013 Festive Friday Grand Prize! 
We want to give you even more incentive to stay on top of your holiday card stash, and we also want to encourage you to continue playing with us! Our last challenge will launch in the middle of November, and at that time, we will be offering a $40 Gift Certificate to one of three online shops to one lucky player who has participated in 15 or more of our challenges! Keep the images of your entries handy - you'll need them!


Thursday 13 June 2013

CASADIA


Have you heard of CASADIA?

This is a fabulous idea started by Wida at Beachorado:

 This story all started when I saw a card Jennifer Rzasa CASED which was made by Laura Bassen. I decided to CASE Jennifer's card. I had a fun idea to start a card chain by CASEing cards, hence the name Case+idea=CASADIA. This page is dedicated to seeing how far the chain can go. 

If you are interested in joining, just email me!
wida.miller@gmail.com

From time to time, I would see people playing along as I visited blogs, but when my friend Darnell played, I finally decided it was time to contact Wida to get my name on the list.

This is the card I'm casing - it's by Chaitali Narla:



You should really go check it out - it's so cool to see how the cards have evolved from Laura Bassen's original card:






Wednesday 12 June 2013

Muse #21


For this week's Muse challenge. Here's Therese's beautiful inspiration:



I simplified it quite a bit, but used similar colours and a pearly dew-drop as my Impress flower centre. My Simon Says Stamp sentiment overlaps the flower, similar to Therese's sentiment panel.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us this week, but if time's running short and you can't make a card, you can still participate by voting for your favourite starting on Saturday at noon.

We had great news here in Toronto yesterday. The David Bowie Is... exhibit is coming here in September! I was so disappointed that I couldn't go to the V&A in London to see it, but good things come to those who wait! I feel a Bowie-inspired card coming on.....


Tuesday 11 June 2013

CASology 48 - Yellow


Today's CASology Cue Card is Yellow!



And we have a sponsor this week - Uniko Studio - check out all the details at CASology! I used Flower Power #1 to make this cascade of pretty flowers for a wedding or engagement card. The sentiment is an old favourite from Stampin' Up.

It took me a few times to come up with an arrangement of flowers that I thought worked. This arrangement is symmetrical on the diagonal axis of the card.

And now it's your turn to make some yellow cards - I can't wait to see what you come up with (I know I say it every week, but it is true every week - you guys are so full of creativity!)

And don't forget that if you are interested in joining us on the Design Team, now is your chance. Click here for all the details!

Here are the links to the blogs of the other Design Team members - go check out what they've made to inspire you!


Monday 10 June 2013

ABNH Neat and Tangled Collaboration




A Blog Named Hero is having a collaboration with Neat and Tangled this week! Every day, you'll see wonderful inspiration using products from Neat and Tangled. For this simple but fun card, I stamped the chevron pattern from Little Tangles. I used a ruler and Copic multiliner to add in horizontal lines and create the shapes for colouring. I added sentiments from On Edge and some stickles for sparkle!

Here are the supplies I used: