I have a very addictive personality. It manifests itself in many ways in my life, but one of the most annoying ways is my reading habits.. I cannot simply read a book over 2 weeks at a leisurely pace, it's DAY 1, DAY 2, DONE!!! I hate it because I really can't do anything else while I'm immersed in a book because I AM ADDICTED to it.. So I've been absent recently because of this book:


It was a really tough book to read, but needless to say I could not put it down. I am relatively naive when it comes to the civil rights movement in the United States owing mostly to where I live  (Western Canada) where our population is mainly caucasian and more recently, asian. I hadn't met an African American person until I was 18 years old and went to college in Iowa. Weird, eh? I'm not saying I didn't know that the racism issue was/is bad, and this book didn't show me how bad it was and still is for many, many people, but I learned a lot from it, and I'm grateful for it.. I HIGHLY recommend this book. You won't be able to post to your blog or do any crafts until you read it from front to back.. Promise.

So here are a couple of cards I managed to make today:

Stamps: trendy trees (sentiment)

Paper: SU! Dsp, bazzill brown

Ink: pti snow white

Accessories: ribbon (may arts), silhouette digital cutter, white gel pen

Stamps: elzybells

Paper: cosmo cricket, bazzill

Ink: ranger - lamp black

Accessories: copic markers, liquid applique, tattered angels mist (chalk white)

I have to work all day tomorrow, so I better get my butt to bed! I just wanted to post a couple of cards I've made today. One I love, one is "meh..."


This is the one I love... I didn't do the best job on the rolling hills (they're more like lumps...) but I just love the colour scheme. This is a scene made with a few different Technique Tuesday stamps.

This is the "meh..." card:

 Okay.. bed time! Have a great day!

No, not my husband, but cute none-the-less:

While I was working at Clipper Street the other day I had a stack of Bazzill cardstock in my hand and I could not get the colour combo out of my head!! Three shades of a blue-green and three shades of olive swam around in my brain until I finally created....

Stamps: whipper snapper, very punny, amuse (other fish) DRS designs (bubbles) PTI (fresh alphabet)

Paper: bazzill, pti

Ink: ranger - lamp black

Accessories: clear glass dew drops, ribbon, copic markers, nestabilities, srm stickers

Even though this is technically my "summer vacation" I am still working a lot. Almost every day... But I am able to steal away to do some great summer activities with the fam'. In the mean time, I have been crafting a little too... I've been trying out a few different styles, so stay tuned for some variety!!
Here are some projects that I've completed:





There you have it!

Cards 1&2:

Stamps: elzybells

Paper: melissa frances, MME, PT

Ink: melissa frances, MME, PT

Accessories: button (jenni bowlin), ribbon, copic markers, glitter, chipboard

Card 3:

Paper: crate paper, PTI

Accessories: tattered angels mist, MM Slice, eyelets, srm stickers

Card 4:

Paper: ep, bo bunny, pti

Accessories: ribbon, srm stickers

Card 5:

Stamps: whipper snapper, amuse

Paper: basic grey, pti

Ink: ranger

Accessories: flower soft card an accessory, flower soft, copic markers, MM Slice, button, ribbon

*thud... That's me on the floor. I want these soooooooooooooooooo bad! (I'm whining like my 8 year-old right now..) Aren't they gorgeous?? Click on the image to bring you to "Georgie Love." It's kinda like an Australian Etsy.. So awesome.. Anyway, I made this card based on the bangles:

Stamps: beautiful blooms (papertrey ink)

Paper: papertrey ink

Ink: ranger - lamp black

Accessories: srm sticker sentiment, buttons

A quickie post! I wanted to share a couple cards I've been working on...

Stamps: the cutting cafe

Paper: luxe designs, pti

Ink: (images printed on my printer)

Accessories: foam squares - a lot of them..

Techniques: colouring with copics

Stamps: elzybells, amuse

Paper: cosmo cricket

Ink: ranger - lamp black, memento - london fog

Accessories: glitter, pearls, copic markers, nestabilities

We're having a lot of fun this month as we dive into a Clean & Simple style. We challenge you to use stickers to create a card, layout, altered item (whatever you like!) with a Clean & Simple feel. Please provide your entry at the bottom of this post. The challenge winner will receive a SRM Stickers Prize Package along with an invitation to Design for SRM for the month of September. Please load up your creation(s) by the end of the month.

As a side-challenge, the DT were charged with the task of using the same sticker 3 ways.. This is how the story went:

So I was sitting at my craft table churning out some cards and I proudly sat back to show Ian (my husband) my same-sticker-three ways final product:

So now that I've used all of my Quick Cards "Love" stickers, I think I have proved a point: There are infinite uses for these darling little stickers...

*Check out today's blog post at the SRM Stickers Blog for a possible sneak peek of the new Quick Card stickers.. I've seen 'em, they're great! 

I've been admiring some library card stamps lately and man was I thrilled that The Cutting Cafe came out with some in a variety of colours! Just open the PDF and print! Or, to do what I did: open the PDF in Photoshop, adjust the size and then print.

I printed the library card out on kraft cardstock, then stamped "Dad" with a couple letters from a Papertrey Ink alphabet set. My dear ol' Dad is turning 60 in a few days. My present for him is my talents as a chef and I will be "catering" his party. I cooked for his retirement party last year and all of his friends loved my food, so I hope to wow them again.. anyway..

Here's the card. I played along with today's Sketch Challenge at Splitcoaststampers..


The "Happy Birthday" is also from The Cutting Cafe. It came in a set called "Birthday Fun." 
Have a great day!

Stamps: Park Avenue Patterns, Everyday Alphabet (PTI), the cutting cafe digi stamps (happy bday and library card)

Paper: pti

Ink: ranger - lamp black

Accessories: foam squares

Trying new techniques is like adding new tools to your proverbial belt. The "Technique Lovers Challenge" at SCS today challenged us to do embossing twice, any kind of embossing. So I chose to heat emboss, then dry emboss. This is one that is a little cumbersome, but the final result has that "wow factor," for sure. Here's what I did:

1. Stamp image on slightly patterned paper and colour with copic markers. 
2. Go over coloured areas with versamark pen and cover with clear embossing powder. Heat to set. (for those of you that don't know what that is, it's the stuff that makes it shiny)
3. Rub a little oatmeal coloured ink around stamped images. (Emboss resist technique)
4. Dry emboss whole panel with a cuttlebug folder to give it that tile-like texture. 
5. Heat embossing powder again to make it shiny. (it lost some of its luster when I dry embossed.. 

Did I tell you that while I'm on "summer vacation" from teaching I am working at Clipper Street, the store I teach the occasional card class at! Besides being hard on the feet and back from standing for 8 hours straight, I am loving working there. The customers at Clipper Street are like no others! I get to help with projects and "talk shop" and the working environment is relaxed and fun... It's a huge change from teaching, but it's exactly what I need. It's inspiring to be around all the pretty papers and "stuff," so when I got home from work tonight I sat down and starting on this little image.

Onto tonight's card... Sometimes having fun and experimenting while colouring yields wonderful and unexpected results. Case in point: the card I made tonight.. This paper I've been trying to love (Neenah Solarcrest white in 80lb weight) is a little weird when you take the blender pen to it. (I'm talking Copic marker language right now..) The colour gets eaten up and leaves little waves behind. Well, to cover the inconsistencies I dotted some medium/dark green around the image and HELLO! I LOVE it!!

Then... to be totally serendipitous, it goes perfectly with the patterned paper I'm using! yay. (that was a sarcastic yay, but really, I'm glad it worked out because I could never PLAN for things to go this well...)

Stamps: pure innoncence (from digistampcharacters on etsy, and sentiment by pink cat studios

Paper: crate paper, PTI

Ink: ranger - lamp black

Accessories: copic markers, twine, sticker by crate paper

I played along with today's ways to use it challenge and it was to use yellow! I agree with Julia, it's a recent trend, and I am actually loving it. 

I used yellow as a predominant colour on this card (patterned paper, background of image, yellow pearl on the inside of the flower...)

Canada will celebrate it's 143rd year since Confederation.

All Canadians are entitled to Canada Day off work - although some people have to work. (like Police, Fire and emergency service workers).

I decided to make a Canadian "card" (it's not actually a card, it's a piece of art! lol) using a sticker from a sheet of 4th of July stickers! Sneaky, eh?? The maple leaf and "Canada" were cut out with the Silhouette.