Quick & Simple Thank-You's

I needed a bunch of quick Thank-you cards that would work for both males & females, so I pulled out an older CTMH stamp set (A Little Everything) and got six of these made up:

 I used my Misti to stamp the three different coloured 'Thanks' on all the white panels, and used my sewing machine to stitch them down to some grey cardstock.

 For a couple of them, I just had bits and pieces of plaid leftovers, so I cut them in strips, and zigzagged over the seams.  The sentiments are attached with pop dots for a bit of dimension.

Plaid papers are Lawn Fawn; Inks are Pear, Creme Brulee and Lagoon - all CTMH.

Another Happy Camper

I posted this same card using the Lollydoodle papers last week, and today I've made up the guy version using Avonlea.  It's not the most masculine of cards, but the guy I've made it for will appreciate the sentiment:

Patterned papers are Avonlea; Stamp sets are A Little Everything & Camper Crazy; Cardstock is Slate & Colonial White; Green button - all Close To My Heart; American Crafts twine; Copic Markers, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #202

I'm needing to build up my stash of generic birthday cards for my daughter to give to friends, etc... so I made up two of these using this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch:

Patterned papers are Girl Friday by Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock is Chocolate & Colonial White; Stamp set is A Little Everything, Close To My Heart; Ink is Chocolate, Close To My Heart; button, CTMH; American Crafts twine.

 

Have a Happy Birthday

Today is my oldest's 18th birthday!  He's away at school, so I made this a few days ago and sent it off in a care pkg (sniff).  I know, you're thinking that this isn't the most masculine of cards... but it is bright and fun, so I'm going with it :o)  I used CTMH's new Chevron Borders to make my background, stamping one of the strips repeatedly on the diagonal, cleaning it and reinking each time:

I just LOVE how the background turned out, and love this colour combo, too!  The card is 5 1/2" square.

Cardstock is Pacifica, Lagoon, Pear, Smoothie, Creme Brulee & White Daisy; Inks are Pacifica, Lagoon, Smoothie, Cotton Candy, Pear & Creme Brulee; Stamp sets are A Little Everything & Chevron Borders - all Close To My Heart;  Twine is American Crafts.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #181

It's been a while since I've been able to play along with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, so I'm very happy to have found some time last night to make up a quick card.  I loved Karen's sketch this week... I'm pretty sure I'll be pulling it out again soon.  Here's what I came up with using the Buzz & Bumble papers:

I used a little snippet of copper glitter paper for the little tab over the sentiment - it doesn't show up really well in the photo, but it's a warm coppery/brown colour, and very sparkly!  I popped up the front panel and wrapped it with a bit of twine from American Crafts.

Patterned papers are Buzz & Bumble; Cardstock is Cocoa, Sunset & Champagne; Copper glitter paper; Stamp set is A Little Everything; Ink is Cocoa - all Close To My Heart; Twine is American Crafts.

Mother's Day card for CASE study

I've combined this week's Sketchbook Saturday sketch with the inspiration from the CASE study challenge to make a card for my Mother-in-law.  I loved the outline rose stamp on Agnieszka Malyszek's card, and thought they would work perfectly with the Card Word Puzzle stamp set.  I went with pretty colours:

Okay.  Now after colouring the images with my Copics, I knew that I didn't have perfectly matching pinks - my markers lean a bit more to the peachy side of things.  So I debated on flipping my background over to the creme brulee side... here's what it would've looked like.  I thought the green lost a bit of focus, even though the roses blended better, but I decided to stay with my pink background after all.  Thoughts?

Patterned papers are CTMH; Cardstock is Black, White Daisy and Sweet Leaf; Stamp sets are Card Word Puzzle & A Little Everything; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Copic Markers.

A CAS card for Heart2Heart

This was a hard card to photograph (doing it an night didn't help!)  I'm afraid that the picture looks a little dingy, but the card is very soft and light in person :o)  The Heart2Heart blog is having a colour challenge this week: Sky, Garden Green & Sunkiss Yellow.  Since I don't own Sunkiss Yellow, I subbed in Buttercup.  I've been inspired by what Nancy Ball has been creating lately, and also a card by Maile Belles:

Mojo Monday #214

Great sketch from Julee for Mojo Monday this week!  I picked up a few sheets of Echo Park paper last week, so I went for a slightly non-traditional Christmas card.  I really love how it turned out :o)

Right after I took these pictures, I bought some Martha Stewart coarse glitter... so stay tuned, I may sparkle this up a bit, and reload new photos!

Patterned papers are Season's Greeting by Echo Park; Stamp set is Glad Tidings, Verve; Cardstock is Cocoa, CTMH; Ink is Cocoa, CTMH; Snowflakes, CTMH; Classic Label die, Verve; Bubble gum organdy ribbon, CTMH; Pink check ribbon, Offray.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #86

This card makes me SO happy!  It's not my best card (by a long shot), or the fanciest... it's actually kind of plain, and average.  But - everything I used to make this card is at least 2 or 3 years old... so I'm using up my stash, and that makes me SO happy!  It's easy to make projects with all of your newest goodies, but this hobby does tend to make the supplies pile up, and digging out the old stuff is much less inspiring.  This week's Play Date Cafe colours fit these papers perfectly:

Patterned papers are Best Friends Forever; Cardstock is Twilight & Colonial White; Stamp set is A Little Everything; Inks are Hollyhock & Sunset; Summer & Fall buttons - all CTMH.

Heart2Heart Technique Challenge

This week, Heart2Heart's "From Our Heart to Yours" Challenge - is to show us your favourite technique.  Stitching on my work, is definitely my favourite technique, (and I did on this card!) but I also decided to use another favourite, paper pleating.  Pleating our B&T paper is so easy, and a box pleat is my favourite look.  To do it like my sample, grab your paper trimmer and an embossing stylus, and score measurements as follows: 1/4", 1/2", 1/4", 5/8" and keep repeating the pattern right across.  I needed a bit more than 12" in length to go across my card, so I was able to hide the join underneath one of the pleats.  *If you've never sewn on your cards or layouts - give it a try!  You need a fine sharp needle (it needs to be fine, otherwise the bigger needles just leave larger holes in your work), and you want a fairly long stitch (mine are usually 4.5).  No backstitching, just put the needle in your work and go - and when you're done, simply stop.  Leave a long tail when you start sewing, and when you cut your threads.  Then turn your work over, and from the back, gently tug on the thread to pull the thread from the front through to the back.  I usually tie off the ends to keep them taut, but you can also tape them down.

Patterned papers are Mayberry; Cardstock is Olive, Smoothie & Colonial White; Stamp set is A Little Everything; Inks are Honey & Olive; Ribbons are Pink Collection; Mocha Opaque Pearls. - All CTMH.
Remember that you need to use CTMH products to enter the challenge, and if you do use some contra, just let us know what it is.  This month Angel Shifflet & Sharon Holmes have donated prizes for two lucky winners that will be randomly drawn at the end of the month, and you could be chosen as one of our monthly Top Ten!  Check out what the fabulous design team has come up with to inspire you (the artwork is quite fabulous!)