Playing some more with my Silhouette!

I've been making some baby cards. This cute giraffe was a free svg I found online and he fit perfectly into the rectangle. It cut perfectly on the Silhouette Cameo. I like using the negative space to let the layer below peek through. The "welcome baby" wording was also done with my Silhouette Cameo using sketch pens.  It was a two part process. First I removed all the cut lines except the wording. I set Cammy" to the settings required for the pens. Then, without removing the mat from the machine, I cut the giraffe panel by enabling the cutting lines and disabling the word cut lines. A very cute and simple CAS card. Thanks for looking!  Now off to do some in pink :-)

 

Leslie

Playing with my Silhouette Cameo!

Oh how I love new toys!  Here is a birthday card I made for a coworker's niece for her birthday.  Needless to say she loves ballet.  I cut out this ballerina from the Silhouette Online Store.  It was a perfect file to start practicing using my Silhouette Cameo.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the software.  The second image is the inside of the card complete with a set of ballet slippers which were cut using a free image found online.  This baby cuts the tiniest and most intricate cuts.  I'm loving my new toy!

This sympathy card was inspired by one found on Pinterest and one made with my crafty friend, Lisa.  In this version, I used a free SVG file found online for the butterfly but I can't recall the source to give credit where credit is due.  The circle was cut with a nestability and the designer paper came from my stash, company unknown.  I also got to play with another new toy.  My We Are Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board.  I'm liking this new toy as well.  Previously, I would shy away from square cards or cards that were not an A2 sized card because the envelopes were expensive and/or hard to come by.  I'm loving being able to make custom sized envelopes and regular A2 envelopes much more economically than purchasing them.

 

Thanks for looking!

Leslie

Wedding Cards!

My Mojo has dun gone up an' disappear'd!  I had some wedding cards in mind and couldn't come up with a plan of my own and I found these ones on Pinterest complete with a free downloadable template.  Sometimes CASEing a card helps bring the mojo back.  These cards were inspired by Stamp-n-Design and another card by Stamping Princess whose card was also inspired by the the original Stamp-n-Design card.  I was able to import the pdf template into Inkscape where I was able to convert it into something I could cut on the Cricut using SCAL2.  The dress was embossed with Sizzix's Snowcap embossing folder.  The inside stamping and sentiment comes from Inkadinkado's 97892 Marriage set.  I like how quickly they came together and how they could easily be customized to match the any colour scheme of a wedding.  I considered stamping a "Mr. & Mrs." sentiment to the left of the dress in white but it was a tad large and it would have needed to placed on an angle. I thought it might take away from the simplicity of the card. The only other addition i might add is a velum belly band with the Mr. & Mrs. on it to hold the card closed.  I love gatefold cards but it irritates me that they don't stay closed nicely. 

Thanks for looking!

Leslie

Funny how a stamp can grow on you!

I must admit that I wasn't really a fan of Stampin' Up's Swallowtail stamp when it first came out. I mean, it is huge!  As a card maker who tends to stick to A2 cards, what use would I have for it?  Well, after seeing all the lovely pins on Pinterest using this stamp and a lovely card made by Lisa, I'm in love. Thanks to my other friend, Carol, for letting me play with her Swallowtail. Here's the cards I came up with, not that original and mostly a CASE of the work of others but I like them :-). Thanks for looking!!

Leslie

Crop & Shop Cards!

I had a great time at The Cutting Garden's monthly Crop & Shop this past Saturday.  I had a hard time finding my mojo that night so I CASED two different cards.  I created a nice clean and simple sympathy card and birthday card with a butterfly theme from a card I had pinned on Pinterest.  The second two cards were inspired by Lisa's lovely card.  Thanks for looking!

 

Leslie :-)

Sympathy Cards

Its the kind of card you hope to not need and don't like to make ... but they are needed.  I've been playing around with some of my new sets and came up with these sympathy cards to add to my inventory.  These stamp sets are both from Stampin Up.  The purple card is done with a set called "Just Believe" and the Rust/Yellow card is made with a retired Stampin Up set called "Inspired by Nature.  I was very lucky to find this set used and it is quickly becoming one of my favourites.

No challenges to enter today :-)  On to much more pleasant cards with my next post. 

Thanks for looking!

Leslie

It's all Lisa's Fault LOL!

It all started with making some flowers.  "Try it.  It will be fun they (Lisa) said." ... and off I went making flowers.  Now I'm loving making Lisa's crumpled up flowers and trying others with cuts made with SCAL2 and my Cricut.  And I'm playing with burlap.  This is my progression from a couple of flowers to a finished card.  It is kind of cute.  I think it is growing on me LOL! I'm definitely stepping outside my comfort zone.

This card meets the requirements of the following two challenges:

• Loves Rubber Stamps Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes with the Option of Kraft

Thanks for Looking!

Ivory on Ivory Christmas Card!

I thought I'd try my hand at a white on white Christmas card after attending a White on White card class at The Cutting Garden this past weekend.  Here's my first try, going with an "Ivory on Ivory" theme and a bit of distress ink for added dimension.  I think I need to add something to the center of that snowflake :-)

This card meets the following challenges:

• March card layout at The Cutting Garden
• Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create
• Anything Goes challenge at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long
• Leave it in Neutral challenge at Jingle Belles
• No Red & No Green challenge at Sweet Stampin' Christmas

Thanks for Looking!  Leslie

White on White class at The Cutting Garden!

I had a lovely afternoon at The Cutting Garden making white on white cards.  The picture doesn't do them justice!  On the card on the bottom right, Kim taught us a really nice trick on how to easily get those three pennants all equally spaced and wrapped with ribbon before popping them upon the card with pop dots/dimensionals.  It was a great way to do it without a lot of grief!

This is my post for today and hopefully I'll get crafty on my own later this evening or tomorrow and will post something I came up with on my own :-)

 

 Thanks for looking!  May the force of craft be with you all this weekend :-)

Leslie

Christmas at the Lighthouse

I'm so excited to use on of the new stamps I recently purchased from Repeat Impressions in Maine.  I found this company through one of the blogs I follow and I knew I just had to have some of their stamps!  I love lighthouses!  This particular stamp is "Santa Over Portland Head Light" (in Maine).  I've shopped so many times in Maine but have never taken the time to explore the hundreds of beautiful lighthouses I know are scattered along along the coast of New England.  Maybe next trip I will try to spend some time out of the malls and on the coast!

 

I'm entering this card in a few challenges:

• The Christmas in March challenge at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge
• The No Red and No Green challenge at Sweet Stampin' Christmas (It actually took a lot of restraint to not put red on this lighthouse!) 
• Sketch Challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch (I had to improvise a bit since my sentiment was so long and wouldn't fit on a portrait orientation).

•  Brick Wall Technique at Technique Time Tuesday (Thank you to my loving husband for helping me figure out the math to cut these bricks the proper size)

• Monochrome Cards for Men at Cards for Men Challenges (What can be any more monochromatic than white, black and gray?)
• Card Theme Week (Animals) at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown (My animal of choice are Santa's Reindeer flying across the sky and the reindeer stamped and embossed on the main card panel)
• Neutral Noel over at Jingle Belles

Thanks for coming by and taking a look!

Leslie

St. Patrick's Day - My Irish Ancestry!

Good Day!  Or should that be "Top of the Mornin' to You"?  I'm told this saying is an Irish-American saying and isn't actually used in Ireland.  But I digress!  With St. Patrick's Day coming up, I'm honoured to respect my Irish ancestry!  My Great Grandmother was born in Co Derry and immigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick back in the day.  Here's the 1911 census showing her family living in "Residents of a house 4 in Lewis St (Duncairn, Antrim)"
 

A coworker is from Ireland and requested a few tasteful cards to send back home to relatives in Dublin.  I was honoured to be asked to make them and tickled pink that something I created has gone back to the motherland.  I'm told they were well received in Dublin, Ireland!

 

May the luck of the Irish be with you all this weekend on St. Patrick's Day and always :-)

La Fheile Padraig Sona Duit  (Happy St. Patrick's Day)!

Leslie

Four More Challenges in One Card!

I'm on a roll!  But it is taking more time to blog than it is to make a card.  I'm having fun learning the in's and out's of Blogger though.  Here's my next creation which really made me step outside my comfort zone.  Why?  Because everything is on the left and I like things centered.  Doesn't seem balanced to me but that is the sketch so I'm living with it LOL!  Also, that much patterned paper takes me away from my clean and simple comfort zone.  I had fun pushing myself.  Thanks for looking!

This card meets the requirements for:

Mojo Monday 284

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 31 (use ribbon)

Paper Playtime - Challenge 5 (anything goes)

A private challenge on a Facebook group I'm part of (Cherry theme)

Thanks for looking!

Leslie

Four Challenges in one :-)

I'm so proud of myself completing a couple of challenges today all in this one card!  I'm new to blogging and new to trying to complete challenges.  I thought I may have bitten off more than I can chew but I think I made it :-)

This card meets the requirements for

Freshly Made Sketches #76 - For the overall layout which says I can combine this with three additional challenges.

Crazy 4Challenges #176 - Use the negative portion of a die cut (C4C176). 

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - March Colour Challenge - Use the colors black, metallic gold and white.  

Festive Friday FFC03 - Use a snowflake element.


I went with a Christmas theme to help meet the requirements of a monthly Christmas Card challenge over at Splitcoaststampers but maybe I can't count that one there since one of the rules for #1 above was for only three additional challenges.  In any event, I love having the majority of my cards completed before the frazzled days of November and December roll around. 

It is hard to see from the picture but the card base is white with just a 1/4 inch showing all the way around the card.  The snowflake centres (the negative space) were made with a Die-namics die and the squares cut with basic sare Spellbinders Nestatiblitities.  The sentiment comes from one of my favourite CTMH sets, Holiday Commentary and it is embossed in gold. 

I had a lot of fun trying to combine all these ideas into one and I'm new at entering challenges so I hope I followed all the rules.  Thanks for looking!

Leslie

Joining the blogging world!

I'm jumping on the blogging wagon. I'm sharing a picture of a card done for a challenge over on Copycat Cards. This challenge involved using hexagons, pink and white. Thanks for looking!