*Thinking of You*

I don't know about you, but February sure has flown by.... especially after January was 964 days long LOL!  The days are getting longer (well the daylight is) and the sun is feeling warmer.  I'm sure we have many more days of wintery weather to deal with, but at least it's feeling like it won't last forever.

I'm not sure about this card... I like it, but I don't love it.  Not sure what I'd change, but....

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo
*Images:  Avery Elle Loads of Wishes; Gina K Crazy Daisy
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Catherine Pooler Grass Skirt, Be Mine, Samba, Grape Crush
*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*Wishing You The Best Day Ever*

Here we are, the end of February.  I just finished round 7 of chemo this week, meaning I'm more than halfway done.  I will be so happy when the drug infusions are done and I can start to feel better instead of knowing that each two weeks I will feel a little worse than I did in the two weeks that preceded it. Some of my side effects will be going away soon as with the next round (or the round after that) I will probably be dropping one of the three drugs I am on.  With that the muscle cramping and cold sensitivity will subside... some of the damage is already done and will be permanent but hopefully we will be catching it at a point where I can live with it for the rest of my life.  I am really looking forward to May!

I was gifted some great new to me stamps not so long ago... and I finally inked this one up.  It's one stamp that I've stamped twice... once right side up and once upside down to create the area in the centre with the sentiment.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Balmy Blue
*Images:  Tonic Studio Summer Flowers; Studio Katia It's Your Birthday
*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics
*Tools:  Misti

*Black White and Gold*

I love the elegant simplicity of this card....  a simple gold embossed floral image with some black accents.  Quick and easy to throw together.... and I think it looks so classy!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black
*Images:  Tonic Studios Botanical Burst; MFT Essential Sentiments
*Ink:  Versamark
*Tools:  My Sweet Petunia Cut Align; Perfect Layers
*Etc:  Gold embossing powder; white embossing powder

*Pastel Birthday*

After playing with a pastel colour palette a while back, I decided to revisit it....  not everything has to be bold and bright, right?  I don't know why I reach for the bold colours more often than the pastels.

Again, this card is inspired by a card I found on Pinterest.  Lisa Adessa of I'm In Haven has some of my most favourite cards!!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin Up! Granny Apple Green
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy
*Ink:  VersaMark; Catherine Pooler It's a Girl, Bellini, Limoncello, Melon Ice, It's a Boy
*Dies:  Create A Smile Birthday
*Tools:  Perfect Layers, Gemini Jr; Life Changing Blending Brushes; Misti
*Etc:  White embossing powder

*A Touch of Green*

I saw a card very similar to this while browsing Pinterest the other day... but I didn't take down the information to be able to share who inspired my card (but thank you to the other creator for sharing your ideas!).  I will admit, the original card I saw looks better than this, but I am still pleased with the outcome of my card.  My only issued was the stamped "Happy"as I had to fill in some spots by the striped paper with a black pen.  It would have been better with a word that didn't have letters that hang down or with a die cut instead of a stamp.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; scrap of cardstock from bin
*Paper:  MFT Black & White Stripes
*Images:  Pink & Main Birthday Script; Lawn Fawn Simply Sentiments
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Tools:  Misti
*Embellishments:  green pebbles
*Etc:  Micron Pen

*Hope Your Day is Awesome*

See... I told you there'd be another rainbow card!  I love this paper pack from My Favourite things... lots of fun rainbow prints!  I also love that I found a sentiment that fit within one of the rainbow stripes!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; assorted scraps
*Paper:  MFT Over the Rainbow
*Images:  Altenew Weekend Doodles; MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Flower
*Tools:  Gemini Jr
*Embellishments:  Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals

*The Best Friend Ever*

I had fun with this card....  I just love a good rainbow!  In fact, you'll see another rainbow card in my next post!

With my recent second cancer diagnosis, I have found that there have been some people who have totally stepped up... some to bring meals, some to hang out, some who just check in regularly and let me vent.  I am truly blessed to have a wonderful group of people surrounding me while I go through all of this....  that's what inspired this card.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black; assorted unknown scraps
*Images:  MFT Anything But Basic Friendship
*Inks:  Versamark
*Dies:  Pink Fresh Studio Fancy Diagonal Stripes; MFT Friend Duo; Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiments Banner
*Tools:  Gemini Jr
*Etc:  white embossing powder; foam tape
*Embellishments:  Studio Katia  Sparkling Crystals

*Birthday Wishes*

I'm back with another card using that Stampin' Up! laser cut paper.  I love the way it looks... so many pretty designs.  I've kept it safe for more than a year because it was so pretty... but now it's time to cut in to it and play with it.

For this card, I carefully used a Life Changing Blender Brush to colour the white panel.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black
*Patterned Paper:  retired Stampin' Up!
*Images:  Avery Elle Sentimental Too
*Ink:  VersaMark; Catherine Pooler Lime Rickey
*Dies:  Avery Elle Sentimental Too
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Heat Tool
*etc:  white embossing powder

*A Million Thanks*

Just a quick card for you today.  Once again I used some scraps die cuts from previous cards that were in a dish on my desk.  I also grabbed a piece of the laser cut paper from Stampin' Up! from last year.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Cameo Coral, Melon Mambo, Almost Amethyst; Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Patterned Paper:  retired Stampin' Up!
*Images:  MFT Essential Elements
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  MFT Stitched Flowers
*Etc:  Big Shot; large clear gem

*CAS#362*

Welcome to another two week challenge with the team from CASology.   For the next two weeks, we want to see how you interpret our challenge of TALL.  Share your card with us on the CASology Blog for your chance to win a great prize from Uniko and to be featured as a guest designer on a future challenge.  I hope you'll also head to the CASology Blog to see what the rest of the design team has been "up" to!

I decided to make a tall and skinny card that would fit in to a business envelope.... My first thought was to use giraffes, but when I saw what the rest of the design team was up to, I decided to do a tall and skinny card instead.

I spent a lot of time trying to photograph this card... but I just couldn't get one element to show up.  And of course, it's the one element that ties it all together.  If you look *really* closely, you might be able to see three embossed lines from the right top corner to the left bottom corner....  The flowers are scattered along these three lines.

Items Used;
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi
*Images:  Avery Elle Loads of Wishes
*Ink:  VersaMark; Stampin' Up! Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Rich Razzleberry, Lost Lagoon
*Embellishments:  Studio Katia Iridescent Bubbles; Michael's Bridal flowers
*Tools:  Scor Pal; Perfect Layers

*Friendship Wreath*

Hello everyone!  I am posting to my blog a little early as I am on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog this morning with a great card....  I pulled out my Gina K Wreath Builder and some colourful inks and had a little fun creating another card with a Galentine's Day theme to go along with the month long challenge over at Scrap 'n Stamp.

To make this card, I started with a 5 1/4" square piece of white cardstock and placed it in my Misti with the larger of the two Gina K Wreath Builder templates.  For one of the turns in the Wreath Builder, I had to tuck one corner through the hinges to make it all work.  I knew I wanted my wreath more in the corner so I placed my first stamp off-centre, pretty close to the one edge of the square of white cardstock.  I just kept adding layers and colours until I was happy with the outcome.

Once it was all stamped up, I cut down the panel to 3 7/8" to 5 1/8", keeping the wreath off centre.  I was inspired by a card I saw by Jennifer McGuire several months ago so my placement and colours are similar to what she did...

The inks I used are ones I had on hand but you can certainly find some great inks at Scrap 'n Stamp...  like these Colorbox Inks or some of the new GinaK inks or the inks by Lawn Fawn (you can get some great colour groupings in the mini pads!).  While you can use the Tim Holtz inks for stamping I do find that they are better for ink blending than stamping.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 100lb; Lawn Fawn Cilantro
*Images:  Gina K Wreath Builder
*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Party Dress, Tempting Turquoise, Lime Rickey, Sweet Sixteen; VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Tools:  Misti; We R Memory Keepers Layers Guides; Gina K Wreath Builder Template
*Embellishments:  Yellow bling

*AAA159*

Welcome to another challenge with AAACards!  For this challenge, our sponsor is Uniko Stamps....  if you create a card following the prompt and upload it to the inlinks tool on the AAACards blog, you will be in the running to win a free in stock stamp from Uniko!

For this challenge we want to see how you interpret a clean and simple card (lots of plain blank space) with the cue of One Corner.  We encourage you to use the optional twist of "Love Those Older Supplies".

Be sure to check out the AAACards Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with!

For my card, I pulled out one of the first Catherine Pooler Designs stamp sets I purchased... it hasn't seen much love!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 100lb

*Images:  Catherine Pooler Spot On

*Inks:  Catherine Pooler Suede Shoes, Rockin' Red, Lime Rickey; Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Tools:  Misti

*Embellishments:  Studio Katia Iridescent Bubbles

*Perks of Friendship*

I have a lot of patterned paper in my stash that I find I don't use because it doesn't lend itself to my clean and simple style.  While some would look at this card and think clean and simple, I don't.  There's a lot going on in that background, which, at least to me, means it's not clean and simple.  It's not a bad thing, but you've all seen how I keep a lot of plain clean space on my cards.

But still, I like how this card turned out.

I really should use some of this pretty paper more often!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black
*Patterned Paper:  retired Stampin' Up!
*Images:  Picket Fence Studios Levels of Friendship
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Stampin' Up! Layered Oval Dies
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers Tools
*Etc:  coloured bling

*New Baby Congrats*

A few weeks ago Cathy Zielske showed a card she received and I fell in love.  The card creator had used pastel colours for colour blending... something I never thought to do.  I've almost always done my ink blending with the intention of making a dark colour.  But I was so wowed by the gentle colours of this card I was seeing.

I immediately went to my craft desk and started to blend with some lighter shades of Catherine Pooler inks... and immediately wondered why I didn't do this ages ago!

I cut the floral background and then wondered what I wanted to do with the card... and then BOOM, my coworkers wife had their baby girl and I knew it had to go to them!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Almost Amethyst
*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design Dancing Daisies Cover Plate; Pretty Pink Posh Congrats
*Inks:  Catherine Pooler Bellini, Limoncello, Mint to Be, It's a Boy, Sweet Sixteen
*Tools:  Gemini Jr

*Sending Big Hugs*

Another super simple card to throw together. I am going to be so sad when I run out of these Bridal Department flowers that I bought at Michael's many many years ago.... they are just perfect with the shimmer they have and they take ink so beautifully!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Images:  Avery Elle So Kind
*Ink:  Copics; Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Etc:  self adhesive pearls

*You Got This*

Happy Sunday all... I hope you've all had a good weekend!

This would be a great card to throw together if you were in a hurry and needed a card...  I think the only thing that took time was the ink blending, and that's just because I like to layer the colour slowly to avoid ugly spots.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Lavender Lace
*Images:  Hero Arts To Seize Or Not To Seize
*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Sweet Sixteen; Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Designs Open Daisy
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers; Life Changing Blender Brushes
*Etc:  Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust

*Galentine's Blog Hop*

It's time for another blog hop with the Scrap 'n Stamp Design Team!!  For February, we are looking to see your Galentine's Day cards....  not sure what that is?  Well, it's a card you'd send to a very good friend.... kinda like a valentine but with a good friend theme instead of love.  Make sure to visit all the blogs along the hop and leave a comment at each blog....  one commenter will win a $50 shopping spree at Scrap'n Stamp!!!  The winner will be announced on or about February 18th on the Scrap'n Stamp Blog!

I had some fun with this card, using some new to me products.  I started out with a stencil from Gina K and I used a palette knife to spread Deco Foil Transfer Gel over it.  I set it aside for about an hour to dry.  I then grabbed this beautiful multicoloured Deco Foil and placed it on top of the stencilled piece and put it through my laminator a few times to adhere to the foil to the transfer gel.  There were a few parts that didn't take the foil quite right so that's how I decided where to put my sentiment!  I stamped up the MFT sentiment and used the We R Memory Keepers layer guide to create a 1/16th black layer under the sentiment (and under the front panel as well).  I can't wait to play some more with the Transfer Gel!

Items Used:
*Neenah Solar White 110lb; black
*Images:  MFT Sassy Pants Best Friends
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Stencil:  Gina K Stellar Snowflake
*Tools:  palette knife, We R Memory Keepers Layer Guide; laminator
*Etc:  Deco Foil Transfer Gel; Deco Foil Transfer Sheet

Be sure to hop along with the rest of the Design Team!!!

Tara

Amber

Sandi

Kia

Nancy  -- you are here!

Susan

Chala

Deb

*Black and White Birthday*

I absolutely love how this card turned out....  nothing but black and white and a little bing.  Very crisp, clean and simple.  I think I'll have to try to do another sometime.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Paper:  MFT Black & White Stripes
*Stamps:  Penny Black Sprinkles & Smiles
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Big Happy
*Etc:  Lawn Fawn Glitter Pen; clear faceted gems

*CASology #361*

The CASology team is back with a new cue card!  For the next two weeks, we want to see your take on the word "sweetheart".  Be sure to link it up at the CASology blog for your chance to be a guest designer on an upcoming challenge!

As I said on Sunday, I don't usually make Valentine's Day cards.  In fact, we could probably count on one hand how many Valentine's I've made in 22 years of card making!  I couldn't resist the new Lawn Fawn Stud Puffin stamp set when I was at my local stamp store so I threw in some heart dies to round out my purchase... and I'm really glad I did!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Patterned Paper:  silver glitter; MFT Black & White Stripes
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Stud Puffin
*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Catherine Pooler Rockin' Red; Copics
*Dies:  Hero Arts Infinity Hearts
*Tools:  Gemini; Brother Scan 'n Cut; Perfect Layers

*AAA#158*

Happy Sunday everyone!  And Happy February!

It's time for another challenge with AAA Cards... for the next two weeks we want to see your cards that use up to one third of the card front with the optional twist of hearts. Link them up at the AAACards blog for your chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Stamplorations!

I don't normally make cards for Valentine's Day so it was a bit of a challenge for me to add in the Hearts... but I'm happy that I was able to mix it up a little bit and make it a less romantic card.  To add a little more interest, the two smaller hearts are popped up on foam dimensional tape.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Patterned Paper:  MFT Over the Rainbow
*Images:  Avery Elle Loads of Wishes
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Hero Arts Infinity Hearts
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Misti
*Etc:  foam tape

I really look forward to seeing how you interpret the cue card this week!

*Layout Revisited*

I was going through my Pinterest boards the other day and came across a bright and happy Christmas card that I wanted to make... but I challenged myself to make it a non-Christmas card.  And as I was putting the final touches on the card, I realized I've made a card almost exactly like this before.  Instead of a stamped sentiment, the other card was a die cut word...  but otherwise the colours and everything are basically the same.

oops.

But hey, I still like it!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; assorted colours
*Images:  Right At Home Script Greetings
*Ink:  Versamark
*Dies:  MFT Impact Alphabet; Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banner Die
*Etc:  white embossing powder

*Let's Celebrate*

How it is possible that we're at the end of January already?  For the first time in my life, I am truly glad that time is flying by....  today marks the start of round 5 of 12 of chemo and I am really looking forward to being done!  I'm doing OK considering what's going on, but I am so very tired of having 3 or 4 days of feeling like crap on my chemo weeks.  I just want to get back to my regular life!!

So while I'm always surprised at how fast a month can go by, I am very glad these weeks are flying by.  Bring on May, warm weather and the end of chemo!

I saw a Christmas card online at some point that I really liked and it's stuck in my head... but instead of making it a Christmas card, I decided to do a birthday card instead.  I also changed up the shape and colours of the repeated images...

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin Up! Pacific Point
*Images:  MFT Colour Drops; Lawn Fawn Simply Celebrate
*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Something Borrowed, Pixie Dust; VersaMark
*Tools:  heat tool; Misti; Perfect Layers; Crystal Katana
*Etc:  white embossing powder; clear gems; Gina K glue

*Birthday Lights*

Last winter I bought a couple of Stampin' Up! sets with Christmas lights... and I have never inked up any of the stamps in the accompanying set.  Until now.  I decided to play with a repeating pattern to create something other than a winter or Christmas card using the sets... so I grabbed the light with the flower in it, set things up in my Misti and away I went!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; unknown orange
*Images:  Stampin' Up! Making Everyday Bright; Concord & 9th Birthday Basics Turnabout
*Ink:  Gina Ki Amalgam; Tombow Markers
*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Misti
*Etc:  silver bling

*Glitter Stripes for Scrap 'n Stamp*

I am so happy that I've been able to squeeze out some time and energy to resume some design work for the Scrap 'n Stamp Canada Blog! You know I've been creating, but I haven't felt up to trying to do the posts for my Design Team duties with them... so I'm happy I was able to get something done for them in January!  In fact, this is my second post for them this month!

My card is very clean and simple... and honestly I think it needs a little something... but I sat with it for days and had no inspiration....  so that's the card you get today LOL!

What I want to show you with this card, is how important it is to burnish your glitter if you are using it....  I LOVE the Be Creative Tape with glitter.... and the backing of the tape is perfect for burnishing the project.

To create the stripes, I started with a strip of cardstock and then put a strip of the Be Creative tape, then another strip of cardstock and so on.  I could have done one large strip of the larger Be Creative tape, but then I was worried that my strips of glitter wouldn't be even.  So I switched it up to use the skinniest tape instead.

This photo was taken after I covered the project with the silver glitter.  It was everywhere!  I should have used my anti-static tool on the cardstock before pulling off the backing of the tape... but I didn't.  So instead, I used the Be Creative Glitter Magnet to remove the glitter from everything except the tape.

In this photo you can see that I started burnishing the glitter.  What this means is that you rub the glitter with your finger (or in my case, I used a piece of the backing from the tape and my bone folder)... this makes the individual pieces of glitter lay down flat, allowing the most amount of shimmer to show on the card.  If you don't burnish, your glitter won't look nearly as shiny and shimmery. In the above photo, the two lines of glitter at the bottom of the photo have been burnished and you can see that they are more shiny than the top two lines.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; assorted blues from my stash
*Images (and die):  Hero Arts Eat Cake All Day
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Etc:  Be Creative Tape; Be Creative Glitter Magnet; foam tape; Nuvo Pure Sheen Glitter
*Tools:  bone folder; Gemini Jr

*Foiled Thanks*

I made this card on the same day I did the other foiled thank you card...  everything is exactly the same, except I changed it to portrait from landscape.  Oh, and I used a silver iridescent foil instead of blue.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; blue shimmer; vellum
*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Big Thanks
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers; laminator
*Etc:  Gina K toner sheet; Gina K foil

*CASology #360*

Welcome to another challenge with the CASology Team!!  My favourite part of this CASology challenges is that other than needing to be a clean and simple card, you are free to interpret the cue card however you want.  Please check out what the members of the Design Team have come up with ....  all so different!!!

Also check out what our guest designer, Jan C, has come up with!  For your chance to be a guest designer with us in a future challenge, please be sure to share your card HERE!

My first thought when I saw this cue card was bling!  But then I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I tried a few other ideas with crystal, but my mind kept coming back to bling...  so I decided to go with it!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 100lb
*Patterned Paper:  MFT Black and White Stripes
*Images:  Gina K Wreath Builder
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Spellbinders Beaded Circle
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Crystal Katana
*Embellishments:  assorted Swarovski Crystals

*AAA#157*

It's time for another 2 week challenge with the team from AAA Cards!!!  I was excited for the optional twist on this theme as I was gifted a great My Favorite Things stamp set and was looking forward to using it!!

For this challenge, our sponsor is Ink Road Stamps. And our Guest Designer is Kylie!  I hope you'll hop on over to the AAA Cards blog to have a look at what the Design Team has put together for this challenge... and we hope you'll link your creations for us to be able to have a look at how you interpreted our clean and simple challenge!  You don't need to have a blog...  the linky tool will allow you to share from a blog, your Instagram account or even a Flickr account!

One layer cards are always a little bit of a struggle for me... but this time around, the card came together pretty easily.  I kind of knew the look I wanted and I just went for it.  The worst part was fussy cutting a mask for the little penguin.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Images:  MFT Polar Penguins
*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Catherine Pooler Something Borrowed; Tombow Markers
*Tools:  Life Changing Blending Brushes
*Etc:  Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust

*Winter Scene Thanks*

A very quick and easy card to put together to share with you guys today.  Again, a great card if you were looking to make multiples.  I just love this Stampin' Up! paper!!!  The other side is a silver foil design.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Night of Navy
*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Feels Like Frost
*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Big Thanks
*Tools:  Gemini; Perfect Layers Tool
*Etc:  Lawn Fawn Glitter Pen

*So Many Snowflakes*

Back again with another winter themed thank you card... I have a few more after this too (sorry if you're getting bored!).  I do challenge you to grab out some of the stamps you save for Christmas cards and create some birthday or thank you cards for your winter card needs!  It's been fun!

For this card I used a new little tool that my sister gave me for Christmas.  I have tried a lot of "gem picker" tools and I find them all great for picking up the gems but none of them really release easily on to your adhesive.  She bought the Crystal Katana tool and let me tell you how impressed I am with it!  It easily picked up the gem with very little effort and as soon as I touched it to the glue, it was off the tool.  I am so glad I asked for it for Christmas!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 100lb; Stampin' Up Balmy Blue
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Simply Sentiments
*Ink:  VersaMark
*Dies:  Impression Obsession Snowflake Background:  Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners
*Tools:  spray glue; Gina K Connect Glue; Perfect Layers; Gemini Jr, Crystal Katana
*Etc:  clear flat gems

*Thank You So Much*

I'm on the Scrap 'n Stamp Canada blog today with a winter thank you card...  I have really been enjoying using some traditionally "Christmas" (at least in my world) images and dies in my cards for January.  It's still winter so a lot of these items I save for Christmas are working really well!

This card would be great for mass producing... once I had the layout down, it only took a bit to put the card together.

I started by cutting out the snowflake in silver glitter paper and trimming off the part that makes it an ornament.  I then cut a circle out of a 4X5.25" panel.  I glued the snowflake to the inside of the panel so that it kinda looks like a peek-a-boo.  I added foam adhesive to the back of the entire panel and put the patterned paper (cut to a small square) behind the circle opening.  I added some regular double sided tape to the back of the patterned piece and stuck it all to the front of a card.  I added the sentiment banner across the front to finish it off.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 100lb
*Patterned Paper:  Concord & 9th Neutral Glitter Paper Pack; MFT 6X6 Over the Rainbow
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Simply Sentiments
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  Memory Box Telluride Snowflake; Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners; Spellbinders Circles
*Etc:  foam adhsive

*Snowflake Thanks*

I have been very fortunate since my recent cancer diagnosis to have a lot of people step up with little acts of kindness... and being a card maker, I feel the need to send off some thank you cards to let them know how much their efforts are appreciated.  So I spent the last few days of 2017 working on some Thank You cards, many of which are using winter themed supplies that I'd usually save for Christmas cards.  I guess I just couldn't put away the Christmas stamps, dies and papers quite yet!

My sister found some GinaK toner sheets on the floor between the wall and one of my towers of drawers that I honestly forgot I bought last year... so I decided it was more than time to play with them!  I cut the large sheet into smaller sizes and sent a few through my laminator with some foil.  For this card, it's a blue foil.  I wish you could experience the shimmer as I see it.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; blue shimmer; vellum
*Dies:  Simon Says Stamp Big Thanks
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers; laminator
*Etc:  Gina K toner sheet; Gina K foil

*CASology #359*

And we're back!  After a little break for the holidays, the CASology team is back with another challenge.  For the next two weeks, we want to see your take on the cue "repeat".  And honestly, this is an open ended challenge, as long as your card is clean and simple.  You can repeat an image, you can repeat a challenge, you can do whatever the word "repeat" speaks to you! 

We'd love to see your interpretations of this challenge so be sure to load them up on the CASology Blog.  As always,  you could be chosen to be a guest designer on a future challenge!

For this challenge, our Guest Designer is Claire!

I decided to go with a repeating image for my card... I think it's fun that you'll see some different interpretations of this challenge from each of the members of the design team. 

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White
*Patterned Paper:  MFT Dots & Stripes Bright
*Images:  MFT New Best Friend
*Ink:  Gina K Amalgam; Copics
*Tools:  Perfect Layers Tool; Stampin' Up! Stampartus

*AAA #156*

Welcome to the first challenge of 2020 with the AAA Cards crew!  Our sponsor for challenge #156 is Crafty Stampers! 

Joining us as a guest designer for this challenge is Arlene!

As you can see from the cue card below, we are playing with a sketch for the next two weeks with the optional twist of Winter Birthday.  Be sure to head to the AAA Cards blog to share your creation with us for your chance to win.  If you don't have a blog, you can also link to cards in other ways (like Instagram and Flickr).

I stuck with the square shape for this card... kind of wish I would have gone with a regular sized card instead.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb
*Patterned Paper:  Stampin' Up! Feels Like Frost
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Yeti or Not
*Ink:  GinaK Amalgam; Catherine Pooler Suede Shoes; Copics
*Tools:  Brother Scan 'n Cut
*Embellishments:  Lawn Fawn Glitter Pen

I hope you'll play along with us!

*Snarky New Year Blog Hop*

Welcome to the first challenge of 2020 with the team at Scrap 'n Stamp Canada!!  We are all having a little fun with the theme for January which is Snarky Cards.  We want to see cards with a little tongue in cheek humour.  We'd love to see what you create so share them over on the Scrap 'n Stamp Challenge Facebook Page.

Also remember to visit each of the blogs listed below and leave a little comment on each site... you'll be entered to win a $50 gift card from Scrap 'n Stamp!  (winner will be announced on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog on or after January 21st).

There is also Snarky New Years coupon code you can use if you want to order any of the items you see on the blog hop!  Simply enter in SNY20 to receive $20 off any purchase of $75 or more (before taxes and shipping).  This coupon code is valid until January 5th at midnight PST.

This card took me a while... I knew I wanted to use the MFT Impact Numbers and I picked out the sentiment and had those sitting on my desk.  It needed *more* so I tried the MFT striped paper.  and it wasn't quite right still.  So I played around creating a black frame and suddenly, it all came together!

As 2020 is the year I turn 50, I have several friends from my childhood turning 50 this year as well...  I might need to make a few more of these cards LOL!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black; Yupo
*Paper:  MFT Black & White Stripes
*Images:  MFT Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings 2
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Alcohol Pearls in Tranquil and Raspberry
*Dies:  MFT Impact Numbers; Square Dies
*Tools:  Gemini Jr; Perfect Layers
*Etc:  foam tape

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team came up with for this fun Blog Hop!  And don't forget to leave comments on all of the stops along the way!

Tara

Laurie

Susan

Kia

Deborah

Nancy E

Sandi

*Happy New Year!*

Welcome to 2020!  So hard to believe that the whole Y2K scare was 20 years ago.... wasn't it just 1980 20 years ago?? 

2020 marks the year I turn 50... and that freaks me out a bit.  It's also the year my oldest turns 25.  I remember 25.  I had him at 25.  I was married for a few years, living on our own in a city half way across the country from our families... it's so strange!!!

Anyway... I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years Eve and that you are ready for whatever 2020 has in store for you.  With this whole cancer thing, I've decided I'll really and truly celebrate the new year when treatment is over.  I had chemo yesterday (the 31st) and have my take home bottle of chemo until late tomorrow afternoon.  I still feel pretty good so I was able to enjoy NYE with my husband and my sister.

I have a few more cards to share with you that I created in 2019...  and today is one of them.  A pretty quick and easy birthday card to add to your stash.  You could easily make this a more masculine card by simply changing up the colours you choose.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, Pool Party
*Stamps:  MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes
*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  SSS Big Happy; Spellbinders Nesting Circle Dies
*Tools:  Gemini Jr (YUP, Santa brought me one!!!)
*Etc:  Gina K Connect Glue