Kayak Yak: Harbour Celebration Sunday April 17

This is a little aside from paper crafting for my local friends.  And if you haven't checked ou the Kayak Yak blog, you're missing out!

Kayak Yak: Harbour Celebration Sunday April 17: "Here's a note forwarded from SISKA -- the South Island Sea Kayaking Association -- about next weekend's Celebration of our Harbour. This eve..."

Simple and white

Last week I seemed focused on very simple cards on a white background.  One of the reasons I was focused on super simple cards this week is because I had a request for a friend for a whole set of cards.  I was super flattered and I hope she'll like some of these.  Next up, much more complicated ones to balance them out.

I made these first two at my friend Glenda's place at our semi-weekly craft night.  I like the balance on these cards.

 I then moved onto using some stickers from my favorite store - The Dollar Giant. 

I made one more, but must have forgotten to take a photo.  They're OK, but nothing to write home about. ;)

I also had a set of really pretty rub-ons from the Dollar Giant that I've been hoarding.  I thought I'd give them a try on a couple of cards.  I haven't used rub-ons before but it was super easy!

Cheers,
Jo

Cityscapes

OK, so I'm a little behind.  These cards were inspired by Paper Crafts Magazine - see the original challenge post and the challenge winners post.  That was only almost a month ago!  Opps!  Obviously the inspiration stuck in my mind - so when I finally sat down to make some cards last week, I got down to it.  For some reason, my mind was stuck on night time cityscapes. 

I started with some DP I found on sale at Micheal's - just after seeing the blog post and thinking it was perfect for it.  I also dug out some scraps of paper for a mixed Japanese scrap pack I've had for ages (read: I've been hoarding). 

I wasn't really happy with this card.  Somehow it didn't come together well.  Still inspired, I moved onto another one with more scraps and a vellum sentiment from the dollar store.  I used my Creative Memories star punch and some gold paper (more from the scrap pack) to finish off the night sky.  What do you think?  I like it much better.  I don't usually like having to cut things out, but drawing and cutting the skyline silhouette was kind of fun.

Today my friend Glenda's blog challenge was to use four of anything on a card. The card above fits (four brads), but I had to make another one just for Glenda.  It didn't seem right to pull out last week's card and recycle it for the 04/04 challenge, but I liked it, so tried again - and even tried my hand at stamping on vellum.  It has four brads and, if you count the gold layer under the stars, four layers.

Cheers,
Jo

Visiting not crafting this weekend

My sister was in town this weekend and I didn't sit down to make any cards.  I did work on some scrapbook pages last week but can't share those - they are a surprise.  My sister and I did a winter visit to Buchart Gardens.

Flowers are just starting to bloom in the Sunken Garden. And we got a nice sunny break to enjoy them in.

The Three Sturgeons were surrounding by flowers.

The boar scarer was going strong in the Japanese Garden.

And the Spring Prelude was glorious.

It's amazing they do all this inside.

Cheers,
Jo

An inspired simple series

At last week's craft night with the girls I was pretty tired, so I focused on a clean and simple design. This series was inspired by Alli Miles' Simple Birthday Wishes from page 54 of Paper Crafts 2010 special issue Card Style.

I started with Basic Grey ink with my Local King Rubber Stamp background, but decided it was too dark.  I think it worked OK with the Believe stamp (from Micheals, I think), the Amuse leave stamp (I can't remember the name) and the black background.

I liked these two better, thanks to some borrowed SU River Rock ink but kept going.  I decided I preferred the leaves in Old Olive better, especially in combination with River Rock.

I was finally struck with some inspiration - the musical background from Local King in combination with my Amuse 'Just a Note' sentiment.

Cheers,
Jo

Another owl

I needed a birthday card for co-worker for tomorrow, so I pulled out one of the owls I made on Saturday and used a similar design.  What do you think?

This is almost entirely a Stampin' Up card and a strap of DP. I used the bird and owl punches and a corner rounded and black, white, Basic Grey, and textured Pacific Point papers.  The embellishments and sentiment are from Micheal's. 


Cheers,
Jo

Owls and mushrooms

Somehow my weekend flew by with a lot less productivity than I was hoping for.  Oh well!  I did get a couple of cards made Saturday, and some other projects started.

One's for my friend in Ontario:

I used a random scrap of brown paper, with the Ripple background stamp from Local King Rubber Stamps.  White and Pacific Point Stampin' Up paper and the mushroom stamp from Funky Four (with some markers), and the Amuse sentiment.  The embellishments are from Micheal's.

I made a bunch owls last night, then only made one card...more owls cards coming soon!

This is almost entirely a Stampin' Up card, with the sentiment from There She Goes, and a strap of DP. I used the bird and owl punches and a corner rounded.  The eyeballs are the same embellishments used above.

Does anyone have anyone any suggestions for taking better pictures of my cards?

Cheers,
Jo