En français, s’il te plait!

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Shauna

Hmm.. I failed a bit with the theme here.. notice the France theme?  Well, the writing there is definitely not French.  Better luck next time.  My profs would have docked me marks for an inconsistency like that on a project!

This is for *gasp* yet another challenge.  This one’s for Challenge #48 over at Unscripted Sketches.  Check it out and play along!

I had fun playing with my old storybook paper here.  I’ve never used a big piece like this, and I must admit that it didn’t want to stick to double sided tape very well.  The paper’s pretty fibrous so it’d rather pull off the tape.

Oh, and my buttons came from Basic Grey!  I finally found a way to get them from an Ebay seller, and then today a local store also just got some in.  Silly coincidence, but convenient for moi.

In case you’re curious, this is the cute sketch I got to use.

SK-sketch-21-US-sketch-48

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Boyish Bandit

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Shauna

I’m really big on the girl cards.  Girls like pretty things.. butterflies, flowers, swirls.. and I like making pretty things!  So I’m definitely lacking in boy cards.  When I jumped into Challenge 84 over at Clean and Simple Stamping, I decided to give myself the bonus challenge of making this one “boy friendly”

Does this count?  It’s sort of boy colours (brown, blue, green).. and some lovely twine.. and a very boyish raccoon.. OK, it’s definitely girl friendly too, but I’m hoping it’ll work as a Birthday card for Nathan!

I had fun playing with some hemp rope of different weights, and who doesn’t love scalloped edges?!

Want to play along?  Here’s the sketch.  Head over to the challenge for more details.

FTL84

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Tweets birthday

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Shauna

Aren’t these birds the most adorable little friends EVER? The answer is YES! 

 

I had so much fun making this card for the Picking up the Pieces Challenge over at Moxie Fab World.  The goal is to use bits of pretty patterned paper in a technique called ‘paper piecing.’ Check it out, it’s explained so well in the challenge! And yes, I’ve been doing a lot of challenges lately but they’re just so much fun!

What I did was stamp my funky Verve images on different papers, cut out, and pieced them together.

 

Materials

  • stamps (Verve, Hero Arts, and Stampendous)
  • VersaFine ink
  • Distress Ink
  • pop dots
  • paper and cardstock
  • VersaMark Ink
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New Cupcakes

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Shauna

I got myself some new cupcakes and they’re deliciously yummy.  Oh, don’t I wish I could eat them!

This could be enough to get me to actually bake some real ones tomorrow.  It’s a shame that I’ve been trying (and failing) to eat healthy recently.  Every day I start fresh and every day I seem to come up short on this goal.  But that’s ok when it’s because of a tempting cupcake, right?

This little card is for an Everything but the Kitchen Sink Challenge that I just found.  Their sketch is super cute!

Challenge 11

I’d say that this card doesn’t strike me as particularly “my style” but hey, I’m branching out here.

I’m so happy that I discovered Verve Stamps.  They have so many lovely ones, like these cupcakes.

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Project 52: a little ice cream – yum!

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Shauna

This was Nathan’s date, and for a simple one, it sure was delicious.. I mean fun!

He took me out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  It was like we were back in high school or something.  In fact, there was an adorably cute young couple snuggled in a corner booth nearby. Oh to be 15 and “in love.”

I should have gotten another picture of our delicious Blizzards for perspective, but mine’s a small, and his is a medium.  That’s a lot of ice cream, yo!  What flavour, you ask?  We both opted for Reese’s Pieces.

Interested in other date night ideas, or taking part in this fun project?  Head on over to Simply Modern Mom’s blog and her Project:52 section.

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Springy Challenges

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Shauna

This little card is one I just whipped up for two different challenges.  It’s leaving me wanting a bit more, but I think I’m happy with it over all. 

It goes with the Sketchtastically 83 challenge over at Clean and Simple Stamping, and the Color Cue {2} challenge at W Plus 9 Design Studio.

The sketch and colours:

FTL83   color_cue2

To be honest, I was pretty darn lucky to find any light yellow paper in my craft room.  It’s not a colour I’ve ever worked with!  Luckily I had 2 sheets sitting there for times like this.  =:)

The flowers are from an acrylic Inkadinkado set, with gemstones in the centres.  The sentiment is a great stamp by AMuse.

I think the ribbon part would work a bit better with wider ribbon.. and some tweaking.

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Mailbox Candy

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Shauna

Look look look!  The mail person brought me such fun goodies to my mailbox today!  I’d ordered these two sets from Verve Stamps:

yhst-54729554693478_2096_9373493 yhst-54729554693478_2093_10029875

I just want to squeal with glee every time I look at them.  The next goal?  Actually use them!  Apparently they aren’t supposed to just sit there looking pretty on my craft table.

Oooh, and they gave me a free little “enjoy today” stamp.  Too cute!

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Pictures make me antsy

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Shauna

Looking at this picture makes me antsy.. to go on another trip!

DSCN4428

Isn’t it great?  This is from the last trip that Nathan and I went on – our belated honeymoon in Vegas.  Well, we were lucky enough to fly to the Grand Canyon and tour around a wee bit.  I just love this picture (almost looks like a fake backdrop, eh?)  It really makes me want to pack my bags and get some more travelling in.

Alas, that probably won’t be happening for a while, but I certainly can’t complain, as we’ve done way more than our fair share recently!  We went to China in August 2008, Washington DC in Feb. 09, got married and did some local travelling in August 09,  Cancun in November 09, then Vegas in January 2010.  Lucky us!

So for now, it’s teaching, card making (and other crafting), sports playing, and wife-ing.  Check out this amazing tutorial on how to make beeeeeautiful paper roses over at Little Birdie Secrets!  I definitely covet them and am desperately searching for the perfect 6-petal flower punch.

P1180461

Are you drooling? I sure am!

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Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Shauna

This is my first try at a Moxie Fab challenge.  Every week Cath posts a Tuesday Trigger challenge where you create a card based on inspiration from a picture posted.  Today’s inspirational “trigger” was this chair

Roxton_Wing_Chair_pier_one

I adore the texture and the colour combinations.  It’s such a cute chair and pillow combination that I nearly forgot all about making a card!  Anyways, here’s what I came up with

The image and sentiment are both from a set that just came in the mail from My Cute Stamps.  I love when packages of stamping goodies arrive for me to play with!  The swirly background is by Inque Boutique, which I stamped in VersaMark ink.

Don’t you adore that little heart button?  The world needs more of those.

Check out what others have done with this week’s trigger, and find out more info to play along too, here!

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Simple and fun

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Shauna

I just found Lucy’s Cards Challenge 7.  The goal is to create a clean and simple card of any kind..

Well, my absolute favourite simple cards to make are these cute bug cards.  I know I’ve shared them before, but they’re so relevant to this challenge!

They are just SO SO easy to make, and if you use some textured paper, they turn out fabulous.

I used the Denami Designs swirl stamp along with some cute little bugs from various companies.  I painted them in with Twinkling H2Os and added some glitter here and there.  Seriously, 5 minutes each tops!

Have a look around at Lucy’s Cards blog.  She’s super talented!

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Clean and Simple challenge 82

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Shauna

Since I had fun with last week’s challenge over at Clean and Simple, I decided to participate again.  Well, I honestly couldn’t resist when I saw the sketch.  It’s just too cute!

FTL82

I must admit that I didn’t get too creative with my card, but I definitely love what the card became in the end.

I stamped on this beautiful patterned paper in VersaMark ink and embossed in Detail White embossing powder.  Next, I dabbed on some silver ink over the dandelion heads to give them a faint glow.  White would work well too.

The scalloping is just from a Fiskars cutter and oval template.  I’m amazed at how well it worked.  I’m thinking you’re going to see a lot more of that from me ;-)

Stamps:  Hero Arts Dandelion and A Muse Happily Ever After.

Check out what others have made for this week’s sketch here.  Seriously. So. Much. Fun.

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Project 52: Slumber Party

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Shauna

I’ve had all these date ideas that I’m excited to do, but many of them would work a whole lot better in sunny warm weather.  So instead, I decided that we’d have a slumber party.  I wasn’t feeling too awake, having just gotten back from playing a game of ice hockey (I scored!), but it was still a fun evening with Nathan.

I set up the living room with a cozy blanket, a bunch of candles, mixed drink, and snacks.  Just like back in middle school and high school.  Well, I’m sure I would have had a bag of candy back then.. hmmm, maybe that’s an idea for next time ;-)

We snuggled up together and watched the end of the hockey game (Go Canucks, go! This bit was a bit impromptu, as I’d forgotten about the game.  Next, I pulled out some old episodes of Freaks and Geeks.  It was definitely enjoyable! 

Upon Nathan’s suggestion, we pulled out our bottle of almond tequila that we’d bought in Mexico.  Whew.  I’m not a tequila fan, that’s for sure.  Nevertheless, I did my shot of this stuff with no chaser.  It wasn’t too bad!  I’ll even admit that it had a great aftertaste of almondy sweetness.  Almost yum.

Check out others’ date nights over at Simply Modern Mom’s site.  There are so many great ideas!

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Not-so-fantackstick?

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Shauna

Take 2 at the challenge over at Clean and Simple Stamping, and I think I did a bit better.. or at least I’m happier with the results, as the card feels more “me.”

This was the template

FTL81

And this is my new take on it

The heart is the paper one that I made this morning.  I just coloured the thread with a turquoise marker, and edged the paper in some turquoise ink.

For my background, I stamped the swirl by inque boutique in VersaMark ink, and embossed that with Glitter Galore EP.

Don’t you like this one better too?  Or am I completely crazy?

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Old book heart

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Shauna

Hello, hello, and a happy Wednesday!

I’m loving using my old book of fairy tales to add fun elements to my cards.  Today I decided to experiment with that book and a funky heart punch.

This little guy is about an inch and a half across.  I did 4 layers and stitched them together by hand with some white thread. Crumple, crumple, and away you go!

Oooooh… maybe next time I’ll use some coloured thread!

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Fantackstick

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Shauna

I decided to partake in this challenge over at Clean and Simple Stamping.  See their great sketch, and the fun card that Natasha made?  Now that’s a style I love and embrace.

FTL81 CAS_FTL81_NJT

Unfortunately, my card turned into a disaster.  I got a really fun and springy new set today by inque boutique that I wanted to try out.  Don’t get me wrong, they are great images, but I’m pretty positive that my card turned into a disaster.  A tacky purple and black disaster resembling something I may have made a few years back (and possibly recycled even then). 

Maybe I’m being over critical, as sometimes I can grow to like a card.. but as it stands, I’m not too keen to show this card to the world (hence why I’m hiding it after the link below).  It’s just not pretty enough for the front page of my blog!  So if you’re feeling super curious or somewhat sadistic, feel free to take a look.  **note that all this is moot if you’ve clicked directly to this post.  Sorry, but you see the card.  No choosing for you!

Continue reading →

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