Mellow Yellow

Just a quick post to pop in with today's card. This card was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. The colour scheme was inspired by the "Mellow Yellow" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. I'm also participating in the House of Cards March challenge which is all about enamel dots.

Card: Stampin' Up Basic Black, Basic Grey and Daffodil Delight card
Paper: Stampin' Up I Am Me
Stamps: Stampin' Up From the Herd
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You dies, Candy Dots subtles, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies

Nontraditional Christmas Colours

Yes, it's another Christmas card post. I was asked to make some Christmas cards with Finnish and Swedish sentiments, so who am I to argue. This card was inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch. For the first card I used the colour combo from CAS - Colours and Sketches. For the second card, I picked the colour combination myself. 

I really like the Clean and Simple look of these cards. Unfortunately the colours don't show in the photos quite as nicely as they do in real life, but you should be able to get an idea. 

I also stamped a few Christmas ornaments inside the card for a finishing touch.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Teal, silvery grey card from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Joy to the woods

Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey, Crumb Cakem Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky and Wisteria Wonder, Hobbycraft pigment ink silver

Other: Stampin Up Island Indigo ribbon, grey ribbon from my stash, Stampin' Up basic adhesive gems 

With sympathy

In a very brief time two people I knew passed away. One was family and the other was a neighbour. I have been very lucky and experienced very little loss of my nearest and dearest and although neither of the recent losses were very close to me, it's still a reminder of how fleeting life is. Our neighbour had just come home from a holiday with a friend, and never made it from the taxi on his driveway in to the house before he passed away. That makes you think, and be very grateful for every day you get with the people you love. It has also made me think a lot about being so far from my family. Living in another country from most of your family does make you think about how you would deal with a serious illness or accident in the family. Would I have to move back home? Leave my home and my job? Things you hope you will never have to deal with but who knows what curve balls this life has to throw.

This card is for my Mum's cousin with sympathies on her loss. It was inspired by The Challenge. I sprayed some watercolour paper with Perfect Pearls and stamped in grey ink, first on the wet paper getting more of a watercolour effect and then waiting until the paper had dried a bit for a stronger grey colour. Unfortunately the beautiful shimmer from the perfect pears doesn't show very well on the card, although I tried to get the sun to catch the shimmer. The background is clear heat embossing on black cardstock. I like the subtle effect.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Dale & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine Watercolour paper, black cardstock from my stash, shimmery silver cardstock from my stash

Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Basic Gray

Stamp: Hero Arts Flourish Background, Hobbycraft Thistle

Other: Perfect Pearls, Ranger Fine Clear Embossing powder, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage lace die, Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Heather, white ribbon from my stash

The elusive male card

The elusive creature we call the male card... We build Pinterest boards for it, have courses and challenges to help us make one. And yet every time it's so hard to get going every single time. Thankfully I sorted out my only UK Father's day card a while ago (Finnish Father's day isn't until November). But I am still faced with the dilemma of male cards as I've promised to make a few cards for my Sis' friends when they graduate Medical School in little over a month's time. There are two male cards on that list, and I thought now is the time to tackle at least one of them. Off I went to the Interwebs to find some inspiration. I was inspired by this card I found on Pinterest, as well as the wonderful DT creations on Stampin' Royalty and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge as both blogs are running male themed challenges this week.

I have to admit it, I went for every single male card cliché out there. Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, neutral colours, banners... But if it works, it works. I wasn't sure whether it would really work or not, but I think it turned out to be a decent card after all despite it's apparent simplicity. The photo doesn't quite do it justice as it doesn't show the dark grey and chocolate chip brown quite as vibrant as they are in real life.

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray and Chocolate Chip
Paper: Stampin' Up Tea For Two DSP
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge and Hardwood, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Inks: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate and Early Espresso, Tim Holtz Distress embossing ink
Other: Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing powder

G is for graduation card

I have a list of graduation cards my sister has asked me to make for her fellow medical students when they graduate this summer. For some reason I have struggled finding inspiration, but today I decided to bite the bullet and cross off another card on the list. I went in search of inspiration and found this week's Retro sketch. And it is just amazing! I really loved the sketch, I love sketches with elements with rounded corners, I think it just makes everything look so much more serene and peaceful and friendly. I immediately knew I wanted my top layer to be vellum, it gives such a cool look, but at the same time it's quite challenging to create with as you have to figure out ways of attaching it in place without leaving visible glue marks anywhere. 

I have also had The Card Concept challenge on my mind for a few days, it is so far outside my comfort zone I knew I just had to give it a shot. It's a colour challenge with yellow, black, white and grey. I am so bad with yellow. Seriously, I rarely use it on my cards unless I'm doing a colour challenge with yellow included. And this time, only yellow and neutrals? I had no idea what to do with it. But I think in the end it turned out quite elegant. Unfortunately it doesn't quite come across as good on the photo as it does in real life, photographing cards with vellum can sometimes be a bit tricky, and this was certainly one of those times. The Card Concept asks you to classify your card into one of their categories, I think this is "Clean and Layering". 

I also found a great new challenge blog called The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (how great is that) and their current challenge is "R is for ribbon", so I'm entering my card in their challenge as well. Particularly as I finally managed to tie a bow that doesn't point in all possible different directions. And I won't tell anyone I actually used quite a few glue dots to make it look like that, as I'm incapable of tying a bow...

I started by picking out card in Smoky Slate for my background, and a DSP from the xx set for the background panel. I stamped the pretty flower stamp from So Very Grateful in black ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and coloured with markers, adding a few layers of yellow to make it bright enough. I die cut the letters using Tim Holtz alterations die. Then I attached everything into place, making sure the adhesive for the vellum panel went under where the ribbon was going to be, as well as under the die cut letters. I then tied the yellow ribbon and secured in a few places with glue dots. As a finishing touch, I added a few adhesive gems which also help keep the vellum in place. I also stamped, heat embossed and coloured the flowers in yellow and grey onto the envelope and inside the card. I really like how the card turned out and hope that my Sister's friend will like it too.

Card: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Dovecraft 110 gsm Premium Vellum

Paper: Stampin' Up Sunshine and Sprinkles and Patterns Stack - Brights collection

Ink: Hobbycraft black pigment ink, Stampin' Up markers in Daffodil Delight, So Saffron and Smoky Slate

Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful

Other: Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die, Papermania adhesive gems in Capsule Sunshine, Dovecraft Tea Party grosgrain ribbon

Butterfly thanks

My mojo has been AWOL lately. I spent several hours crafting on Monday, but only managed to fill my trash without creating anything worth keeping. Today I was lucky enough to leave work a bit earlier than usual after attending a course all day. After finally getting home (thank you to whoever it was who thought it's ok to do 50 mph on the A14 in rush hour in the right hand lane...) I snuggled on the sofa with a cup of tea and my collection of challenge blogs to try and revive my dead mojo. As usual that got the old creative neurons firing. I was super-inspired by the current Poppy challenge, I loved both the colour combo and the sketch. I also got a bit obsessed with the spots in the picture challenge from Stampin' Royalty and just had to add some to the card. I am also submitting the card to Addicted to Stamps which has the theme "Make your Mark" as I coloured the butterflies with markers.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm Premium Vellum, Stampin' Up Basic Gray card, pink leftover cardstock from my stash
Stamps: Kanban Butterfly stamp, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Grey ink, Stampin' Up markers Blushing Bride and Soft Sky, Tim Holtz distress embossing ink
Paper: Stampin' Up Patterns Stack - Brights collection
Other: Ranger ultra fine clear embossing powder, Papermania Seafoam White embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Lace die, Stampin' Up Jewels basic rhinestone