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

happy father's day in blue and red

made a Father's Day card for a friend, with the centrepiece of the card being a wonderful black & white photo of the family mounted onto a scalloped square die-cut in white card stock (from Spellbinders Nestabilities - Lacy Squares range)

the card design was based on Seize the Sketch Challenge #22 (sketch by Lori Tecler), whilst the colour combination of red, blue and white was inspired by The Paper Players - Colour Challenge #199

the card base is white, on top of which is blue card stock mounted onto red card stock  - on the blue card stock, I had stamped in VersaMark using Impression Obsession's Cover-a-Card - Distressed Lines stamp, and then heat-embossed the same with white and glitter powders ... I loved the effect created (this would actually be a great Christmas card design!)

card was decorated with Hero Arts - Spring Branch die-cuts in red and white card stock (with embossed glitter), and finished off with a red bow and ribbon strip

peace at Christmas

a simple card using the design from Freshly Made Sketches #139 - but for the card, I flipped the design vertically, and instead of 3 ribbons running down the side, I decided to go with stamped and silver embossed lace trims

the main tag and bird are stamps from Penny Black - Glad Tidings stamp set, which I had embossed in white and then coloured in distress inks in blue shades

the horizontal swirls are part of Penny Black - Lace Trims stamp set - I embossed the same with silver powder for a bit of glitter but so as not to overpower the centrepiece blue tag

card is also entered for Merry Monday Christmas Challenge #111 - using aqua, white and splashes oolours

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!

some kind of wonderful

red, white and black are my favourite colour combination, and when they are colours for Fusion Card Challenge (Dinner is Served) - goodness, how could I resist?

the circles are die-cuts on white card stock and red polka-dotted pattern paper - using Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Scallops Dies

the background banner and centrepiece music score was stamped using Hero Arts Cling Stamp - Music Background whilst the sentiment stamp is from Just Rite - What I Like About You clear stamps set

there was a bit of glitter added onto the music notes, which didn't photograph well in the top photo .... so I took another close-up to try to show it (but it still didn't turn out that well) but at least you can see the lovely silver edge embossing to the sentiment tag!