blue bib welcome

l love making 'welcome baby' cards as they celebrate such joyous occasions with new life coming into the world

this faux 'baby bib' card was made by die cutting a scalloped square against a folded white card stock (with one edge of the scalloped square off the folded edge of the card stock)

pram was stamped onto the turquoise-striped card stock and once again on the polka-dotted patterned paper, which was fussy-cut and layered into place onto the turquoise card stock with foam tape

the pram stamp comes from Hero Arts - New Baby stamp set

whilst the sentiments come from Paper Smooches - Simply Said stamp set

card is entered into The Card Concept Challenge #13 - Oh Baby! - using a Clean and Layering style

PS note: a big thank you to Lee Ann for choosing my card as one of the winners for the Card Concept Challenge!

joyful spirit

against the busy backdrop of reds, yellow and turquoise on the centre panel of this card, I just wanted a simple sentiment to stand out as the highlight of the card

a polka-dotted red and yellow big brad holds the red ribbon and tag in place at the top left hand corner of the card - and this helps to balance against the scalloped circles at the bottom right hand corner

the sketch from The Paper Players Challenge #201 was perfect to show off that beautiful patterned card-stock

the 'joyful spirit' sentiment stamp comes from Paper Smooches - Spiritual Sampler stamp set

cheer up!

card design was based on the sketch in retro sketches #117 (which again, I was late for submission) - the colour combination was based on colourQ challenge #244

this was a tough challenge as this colour combo is not one that I would naturally use for my cards - having completed the card though, I have changed my mind, the orange and olive colours really add punch to the sedate shades of blue

the kite and cloud stamp is from Paper Smooches - Cut Loose stamp, and I used the Clouds Dies to do some inlay die-cutting for all the clouds

hugs under the daisy

love this Penny Black wood-stamp - "squeeze till I squeak" - the two mice are super cute and so fun to colour, as this is one of my favourite stamps, this card is entered into this June month's Penny Black and More Challenge 
******Use your favorite stamp******

the card design was based on Seize the Sketch #21 by Lori Turner

the tag is a die-cut using Paper Smooches - Quote Tag die cut set, and the 'hugs' sentiment is also from Paper Smooches - Chit Chat stamp set

for extra dimension, I had fussy-cut an extra daisy flower and mounted the same with foam tape onto the stamped image - after colouring the same, I added glossy accent to the flower centre and also along the sides of the petals - which was picked up in the close-up shot below

'HUGS' TO ALL AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AHEAD!

be of good courage

card was made for a good friend's young son to encourage him in his studies and at school .... and I wanted to share this encouraging verse from Joshua 1:9,  a verse that has brought me much comfort and strength when faced with challenges that seemed unsurmountable ... praise the Lord for His wonderful Word!

card design was based on this week's Mojo Monday #348

but the circle was replaced with the two cute crocodiles, courtesy of stamps from Paper Smooches - Zoo Crew collection and using the Zoo 2 dies

the verse (from King James Version) was printed using different fonts and in different colours onto a white card and thereafter cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities - Adorning Squares

hello in color swatches

ColourQ Challenge #243 was initially tough for me with the array of colours in the palette but when I saw this striped pattern paper in my leftover basket, it screamed to be used for this challenge!

the centre piece with the 'hello' die-cut layers was inspired by the card in Muse Challenge #69 (which timeline for submission I missed)

the 'hello' was die-cut using Paper Smooches - Quote Tag die-cut set, whilst the 'hey there' sentiment is a stamp from Paper Smooches - Sentiment Sampler set

a close-up of the centre-piece will show the slightly glossy finish to the 'hello' die-cut - with the help of Ranger's Glossy Accents - I also went over the 'hey there' phrase with a silver glitter pen for some subtle shine

now and forever my cup of coffee

card was inspired by the aroma in my coffee cup as I was contemplating this design in CAS(E) this Sketch #78

this was so much fun with lots and lots of gold embossing, first on the coffee cup from Hero Arts - Need Caffeine stamp set, and on the swirly design from IO-Cover-a-Card - Swirls stamp

the curvy 'steam' was cut using Paper Smooches - Borders 1 dies, and card was finished off with a sentiment from Paper Smooches - Simply Said stamp set.

final close-up shot of that 'luxe' cup of coffee!

making the years count

I love this sentiment - so apt especially when one has notched several decades and still counting ... it's such a great reminder of what's important

card design was inspired by Paper Smooches SPARKS May 25-31 Designer Drafts challenge 

using the Paper Smooches Digits and Numbers Dies, I stacked the cut numbers in a semi-circle with the ones on top mounted with foam tape for some added dimension

and a close-up of the stacking numbers

thanks notecard gift set

I love this flower stamp from Hero Arts, which is both graphic and yet pretty .... in this series of 3 cards, I had white-embossed the flower prints in different positions, then coloured the background for each of the cards with Distress Inks - barn door red, mowed lawn green and vintage photo brown, and finally stamped the flower print again but this time in Versafine vintage sepia.

The sentiment 'thanks' was gold-embossed onto vellum and affixed to the card front. A couple of pearls affixed to the centre of some of the flowers was the finishing touch.

I wanted to use this series of cards as part of a gift note-card set... so I created a holder for the cards, the note-paper and envelopes.

The same flower stamp was used for the card-holder but this time, stamped in Versafine toffee (brown) and spanish moss (green). On the inside of the holder, a little pouch was created to hold the cards, note paper and envelopes.

This was such a fun project ... I am tempted to do a couple more of such gift sets for Christmas!

The colour scheme for these cards was inspired by Just Add Ink Challenge #215 - colour combination

a 1st birthday

An easel card made for a little one who will be celebrating his first birthday - the yellow, green and purple colours were inspired by Paper Smooches SPARKS: May 11-17 Picture Perfect Challenge

The numeric "1" was highlighted with the same green and purple colours in line with the embossed inked background, and 'glittered' up with glitter glue for added impact.
I also added a little picture window frame where the 'smooches' tag is currently placed, so that a mini-polaroid photo of the 1-year birthday boy can be inserted for memory-sake.

The stamps and die-cuts (frame and banner) are from Paper Smooches - Chubby Chums, Sentiment Sampler, Streamers and Duo Die 1 range.

The background of the front cover of the card was embossed using Cuttlebug's embossing folder.

Post Note (19 May 2014): so thrilled that this card was selected as one of the Featured Players' cards for the PS SPARKS challenge!