Mom's Birthday Wishes

Hello everyone,

This post is for the birthday card that I sent to my mom for her birthday last week.  You'd think with all the strawberry stamps and paper I've been collecting over the past few years, my Mom's card would be red and berried.  Not this year, it's pretty, soft and perfect.

The printed paper is Ken Oliver Watercolored Memories layered on Stampin' Up Barely Banana.  The sentiment is Joy Crafts Clear Stamps Sayings stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White and layered on more Barely Banana.  The embellishments are Marianne Design Butterflies.

I have never really enjoyed using the colour yellow and actually avoid it as much as possible.  It can be a really hard colour to make work.  All that said, Barely Banana was perfect with this muted watercolour printed paper.  I used the soft side of the sheet as opposed to the bold 'flip' side.  I loved using this bold sentiment and its perfect stamped Soft Suede.  Even with the yellow, I love this card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Sweet Birthday Blues

Hello everyone,

Today's post is another simple masculine birthday card that could also be considered neutral.

The printed paper is from the dollar store and is layered on Close To My Heart Sky.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up Delightful Dozen stamped in Pacific Point on Whisper White and layered on more Sky.

I always check out the paper crafting offerings at the dollar store because you never know what you'll find.  Case in point was a great pad of 'blue' 6X6 patterned paper.  These blue squares are 'retro' and wonderful.  I love the randomness and angled design of these rounded squares.  Of course, it was a no-brainer to round the corners of all the elements.  I had originally planned to add some square embellishments but once I affixed the sentiment element, I decided nothing else was really needed.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Pretty In Purple

Hello everyone,

Sometimes, pretty is just what you need to craft.

The printed paper is DoCrafts Papermania Lucy Cromwell layered on Stampin' Up Whisper White and Close To My Heart Petal.  The butterfly was die cut with Sizzix Butterflies Thinlits from a piece of specialty paper of unknown origin.  The sentiment is Gina Marie All Seasons stamped in Close To My Heart Smokey Plum on Whisper White.  The embellishments are Mark Richards 3mm silver metals.

This butterfly couldn't work more beautifully with this Lucy Cromwell paper if it were planned.  I love crafting all cards but this type of simple, monochromatic beauty makes me so very happy!  It's was so very easy just by keeping the layout straightforward and using an intricate die.  I particularly like this set of Gina Marie sentiments.  They have wonderful fonts and I've been able to use them often.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Birthday Dots

Hello everyone,

When my girlfriend decided to come to a recent charity crop I wanted to design cards that she needed.  She asked for Christmas cards (the last few posts) and birthday cards.  I designed five female and five male birthday cards for us to craft.

The printed paper is Momenta Amylee Weeks layered on Recollections Black and Close To My Heart Juniper.  The sentiment is Close To My Heart For Every Occasion stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Recollections White and layered on more Juniper.  The banner is die cut with Sizzix Banners Framelits from Recollections Black.  The embellishments are brads of unknown origin.

I love the simplicity of this card.  While intended to be masculine, it really is rather neutral.  The black really pops and when paired with the Juniper, it really wonderful.  The embellishments were, purposefully, intended to mimic the printed paper.  Overall, a simple card and a great result.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Berried Bannered

Hello everyone,

Today's post is the last of the Christmas cards I designed for a recent charity crop.

The printed paper is Little Yellow Bicycle Wonder Wishes "Merry Little Berries" layered on a solid red and a solid green each of unknown origin.  The sentiment is Inkadinkado stamped in Close To My Heart Topiary on Stampin' Up Whisper White.  The banners are die cut with Sizzix Banners Framelits from more red of unknown origin.  The sentiment and banners are highlighted with Xmas Red Stickles.

This is a great sheet of paper.  It's a wonderful scale for carding and, unlike yesterday's card, offers some excellent shading for coordinating.  I like the busy background as it offers a couple of options.  It's great underneath an image or, left like this, as the predominant background element.  It's perfect for embellishing, which I didn't do in this case, but left it alone.  I love the vintage aspect to the design which works great with this particular sentiment.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

A Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone,

This is another one of the Christmas cards I designed for a girlfriend and I to craft at a recent charity crop.  It was planned to be simple yet impactful.

The printed paper is American Crafts "Holiday Sinterklass" layered on a brushed silver and a green of unknown origin.  The sentiment is DeNami Design stamped in Stampin' Up Garden Green on Whisper White, highlighted with Sakura Clear, Red and Green Gelly Roll pen, and layered on more green.

This is not necessarily my favourite printed paper.  I thought when I bought it, it would be fairly straightforward to choose coordinating colours but without any shading, the red, green and grey are pretty unforgiving.  I've tried any number of embellishments and glitter but nothing makes me love this paper any more.  The scale of the images is great for carding but it's those colours that make it so very challenging to use.  I'm actually quite glad I've almost used up this sheet.  Notwithstanding all this whining, this is still a lovely card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Ornaments A Pretty

Hello everyone,

I was in the mood to craft a really pretty Christmas card.

The printed paper is Kaisercraft Christmas Carnival "Bauble" layered on Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette and Certainly Celery, and highlighted with Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.  The image is Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes stamped on Pink Pirouette, heat embossed with Stampin' Up white embossing powder and die cut with Sizzix Holiday Ornaments Framelits.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up Embellished Ornmanets stamped in Close To My Heart Twilight ink on Whisper White and layered on Certainly Celery.  The ribbon is of unknown origin.

I just so love making Christmas cards.  It doesn't seem to matter if they're traditional or not, simple or elaborate, sparkly or plain, I love them all.  This is such a fun card.  It's pretty and different and not necessarily what you'd expect in a Christmas card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Another Wonderful Winter Case

Hello everyone,

This is another card that I cased from this one I crafted this past July

The printed paper is atd Snow Days layered on a textured rust Bazzill.  The sentiment is Hero Arts Wishes Come True stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Recollections White and layered on more rust Bazzill.  The ribbon is American Crafts.

These lovely boots, mittens, scarves and hats make for such beautiful paper that, like the card I cased, I kept the layout and embellishments really minimal.  The card also needed to be simple because I ambitiously planned to have my beginner cardmaker craft ten cards in one evening.  Simplicity in this case makes for a great Christmas card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Sparkle And Snowflakes

Hello everyone,

Another Christmas beauty for you today.

The printed paper is BoBunny Powder Mountain layered on Stampin' Up Whisper White and Close To My Heart Moonstruck.  The sentiment is Impression Obsession Christmas Sentiments stamped in Ballet Blue on Whisper White and layered on more Whisper White.  The embellishments are Crafts Rhinestone Strips.

These colours pop!  The bling pops!  The sentiment layer pops!  The original sheet of paper had tons of beautiful snowflakes and a super cute bunny so I've been very careful with cutting.  There isn't much left.  If I do say so myself, this card is wonderfully exceptional!  I actually can't wait to give this someone.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Joyously Glittering

Hello everyone,

Today's post is another Christmas card that a friend and I crafted during a recent charity crop.  It a case of this card I crafted this time last year.

The printed paper is Echo Park Paper Company Winter Wishes "Snowy Trees" layered on Close To My Heart Smokey Plum and Twilight.  The image is Penny Black Joyous stamped in Twilight ink on Stampin' Up Whisper White, layered on more Smokey Plum and highlighted with Martha Stewart Coarse Crystal Glitter.  The sentiment is Technique Tuesday Jingle All The Way stamped in Smokey Plum ink on Whisper White and layered on more Smokey Plum.

I do so love how this image works with the printed paper.  The droopy leaves of both the image and the paper are perfect for glittering.  The sentiment font is modern so it also works really well with the non-traditional colours and images.  All in all, a great non-traditional Christmas card.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Simple Christmas

Hello everyone,

Today's post is another simple Christmas card designed with a beginner in mind.

The printed paper is Kaisercraft Santa's List Collection "Bon Bon" layered on Stampin' Up Read Red.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up Reason For The Season stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Whisper White, highlighted with Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen, and layered with more Real Red. 

This card was easy to keep simple in regards to the layout because this printed paper is absolutely amazing.  It's the perfect scale for a card.  The only drawback is that light blue colour.  It's a bit of a pain to coordinate.  I solved that problem but sticking to the reds.  I suppose I could have included some green as well but this works.  I did think a little sparkle was called for so I pulled out the ever handy Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen.  I think it the one thing I just couldn't live without.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Ornament Bliss

Hello everyone,

Another crop card today.  My girlfriend is an absolute beginner cardmaker so my intention to craft ten cards in a few short hours necessitated designing some that were really simple.

The image and sentiment is Impression Obsession Vintage Ornaments stamped in Stampin' Up Blackberry Bliss on Whisper White and layered on Blackberry Bliss.  The image is highlighted with Silver Stickles.

How's this for clean and simple.  The most time consuming part was waiting for the Stickles to dry.  I really love this set of ornaments, they are perfect for Stickles.  I thought they also worked especially well for these square card bases that I picked up at a garage sale.  If pressed, you could craft dozens of these cards in very short order.  Simple but really effective.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Painted And Perfect

Hello everyone,

Today post is for another Christmas card I designed for a girlfriend and I to craft at a recent crop.

The image is Deep Red Poinsettia Blossom stamped on Recollections Kraft with Ranger Glacier White and heat embossed with Stampin' Up White embossing powder.  The image is painted with LuminArte Coral Berry, Deep Coral, Mango Mamba, Persimmon, Poppy Red and Ruby Red Twinkling H2Os.  The image is layered on Stampin' Up Whisper White and Simple Stories December Documented Red Snowflakes.  The sentiment is Hero Arts Very Merry Christmas stamped in Stampin' Up Soft Suede.

I was inspired to design this card because I was so very pleased with the 'Kraft Magic' cards I crafted in September.  I love these 'magic' cards.  The white just pops against the Kraft paper and I think I used every red Twinkling H2O I have in my stash.  Again, I kept the sentiment simple and didn't even bother with embellishments so as not to detract from this pretty poinsettia.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Glittered And Gorgeous

Hello everyone,

Today's card is one that I designed for a girlfriend and I to craft at a crop in October.

The image is an Elizabeth Crafts Designs outline sticker glittered with Classic Red Glamour Glitter and a variety of Martha Stewart glitter.  The image is layered on Worldwin gold, Stampin' Up Whisper White and a shimmery green of unknown origin.  The sentiment is Hero Arts Very Merry Christmas stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  The embellishments are Crafts Rhinestone stickers.

All that glitter just puts me in the happiest of places.  These types of images are incredibly time consuming and finicky but the results are so very worth it.  They make for utterly mind-blowing beautiful.  I kept the rest of the card pretty simple so as not to have to compete with this poinsettia.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle

Diamond Beauty

Hello everyone,

I've been wicked busy the last few weeks designing and crafting Christmas cards.  It has been a crazy, crazy time.  Now its time to, hopefully, get back to something resembling normal

Today's card was commissioned by a colleague for a wedding.  I wanted to try something different and I had some fun crafting this fancy-folded beauty.

The card base is Recollections White.  The printed paper is of unknown origin.  The remaining papers are American Crafts Charcoal Damask glitter paper and Worldwin Shimmery Black.  The images are Technique Tuesday Fan Fare stamped in Ranger Glacier White pigment ink heat embossed with Stampin' Up white embossing powder.  The sentiment is Fiskars Just Married Quotes stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on Whisper White and layered on a silver of unknown origin.  The embellishments are Stampin' Up Frosted Finishes and Crafts Rhinestone Strips.

I think this card is an absolute thing of beauty.  The diamond fold was a bit of challenge to figure out but when I finally got it, I fell in love.  I was inspired by a tri-fold wedding card that I crafted in September.  It turned out so well, I got ambitious.  It paid off.

I hope you enjoy this card and come back to SPI again soon.

Gisèle