Porch "Urn"

Just a quick post to show off this lovely urn that I completed today for the middle of our front porch for the coming holidays.

Normally I do a very "elegant" urn, in brown/gold tones to match our stone front home, but this year I decided I wanted to do something fun & whimsical (which is VERY unlike me).

I have 2 iron urns - the ones you normally see dressed up at this time of year with winter greenery/decor - but decided I wanted to use them to adorn either side of our front door with small-ish lighted Christmas trees (fake).

So I was on the hunt for an idea of adding a bit of Christmas flair to the front of our house, and where else should I seek this inspiration but on PINTEREST??? That website eats up my spare time like it never existed ... oh wait, it doesn't exist! :-)

I saw this Pin that I thought was a lovely idea for a table centrepiece -

My only problem was that I needed it on a larger scale so that it could easily be seen by the street, so I went on the hunt for a metal 5-gallon pail. What I found instead was an old medium-sized metal garbage can, that was a little bit worse for wear (and years), but in my opinion, the dents only added to the can's "character".

Three coats of Apple Red high gloss paint, a belt found after scouring all the local shops/thrift shops, and VOILA!!! My porch urn came to life and now sits proudly in the middle of our porch.

I absolutely LOVE IT!!! What do you think?

I'm now ready for the holidays. Bring on the SNOW! :-)

Christmas Blessings Candle

I think Pinterest is the biggest "enabler" around for crafty goodness, don't you? So many beautiful cards, so many new products, that I just want them all!!!

Thankfully, my pocketbook keeps me in check :-)

But when I saw a card made with this lovely Memory Box die - called Tall Tapered Candle - I couldn't resist purchasing it!

I had a holiday table centerpiece in mind while putting my card together, so had to hunt in my stash of dies for the appropriate die cuts to place at it's bottom. This is what I came up with:

The Tall Tapered Candle was cut from a pearlescent white cardstock. I left the "ribbon" section empty, but re-added the pearlescent pieces for the candle sections. I used Stampin' Up's Old Olive cardstock to cut the Memory Box Glowing Candles die (see below), then I proceeded to cut off the candle sections so that I was left only with the leaf & sprig sections:

The wee poinsettia die cuts were added using Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettias die set - the perfect size. 3 white pearls were added to their centres (3 mm & 4mm sizes).

The sentiment was heat embossed in gold using PTI's Signature Christmas stamp set, which matches the glittery gold cardstock I paper pieced into the candle's flame.

Hope you have a fabulous day - thanks for popping in!

Brilliant Christmas Gifts

I'm here again to post yet another holiday card I've made recently, and yes, I know what you're thinking ...
I can't believe I'm posting so soon after my last post either! LOL

Usually, when I have spare time (what's that?? right), I`m usually online checking out blogs (I follow A LOT of lovely blogs!!!), or looking at all the lovely cards posted on Pinterest (follow me, the link is above, just under my blog banner ..... ), or cooking (especially on weekends as I like to prepare meals for the coming week. I work full time and it`s challenging getting healthy meals on the table at night when I`m exhausted from work).

I envy those who are dedicated enough to post on a regular basis, and one day, I hope I am one of them :-)

So, back to my card ... SO easy, as truly, this die does all the work.

This is an exclusive Simon Says Stamp die called Brilliant Gifts.

I die cut it from a mirror gold cardstock, as well as some DP from my stash that I thought would suit (I chose small patterns for it to show through, and matched it to coordinated cardstock colours to add variety). My card uses the DP along with Stampin` Up`s Real Red and Gumball Green cardstock.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted`s Ornamental Style stamp set.

I have a hard time making CAS cards, so all this white space made me sweat a bit (haha!), but truly, this die is so beautiful that it looks just lovely on it`s own, so I left this card as CAS as I could. Do you agree with me?

Since the diecut is made from metallic gold cardstock, I`m also entering this card on Virginia`s View November Challenge Blog `All Things Metallic`.

Have you seen all the beautiful cards posted for this challenge? You just have to go check it out!

It`s now snowing here north of Toronto - a gently falling, thick snowflake kinda snow. Peaceful ... like Sunday mornings should be. Hope your day is A-MAZING and thanks for spending a wee bit of it on my blog.

Simon Says Stamp Holiday Frame Dies Card Set

Happy Saturday morning!

We are starting to see snow falling here in the Toronto area, but fortunately (for now), it's not sticking around. Tomorrow the downtown area of Toronto will experience the 110th Santa Claus Parade, so it's definitely beginning to feel like Christmas is right around the corner!

When my kids were younger, we loved going downtown to watch all the amazing floats drive by, waving at them, and humming along to the holiday tunes played by the many talented bands that went by. One amazing experience, made all the better with hot chocolate to keep us warm on a chilly day :-)

I'm popping in to post a couple of cards I made recently (I have 4 craft sales to prepare for in the coming weeks so I apologize about my lack of posting).

I purchased this lovely die set from Simon Says Stamp - Holiday Frame Dies - and couldn't wait to use it as I've seen some beautiful cards on Pinterest with it. (Psstt ... Pinterest is my current addiction, and is wonderful for enabling my craft spending habits LOL)

I decided to do a red & navy colour scheme, sprinkled with silver. I used 2 different stamp images, 1 from PSX (G1602) of the Snowmen Trio, and one purchased at Michael's in their dollar bin of a Winter Cardinal (CraftSmart). Both were embossed in red ink inside the frame.

The background was created using JustRite's Retro Sparkle Background Stamp, in silver ink.

I added a few scattered Iridescent 4mm and 3mm rhinestones to bling them up a bit (Pizzazz Aplenty) :-)

Here are the 2 side-by-side:

Have a lovely weekend, and thank you for stopping by my blog.

Happiest of Holidays

I know I've been neglecting my little blog for some time, and truly, it was never my intent! I've been busy creating tons and tons of cards (unfortunately, mass producing them in preparation for several holiday craft sales I have coming up in the coming months). This has taken up a lot of my crafting time, but I've promised myself that I would take pictures of my cards and post them soon. Keeping my fingers crossed :-)

In the meantime, I did manage to put this quick card together with these ice skate diecuts that have been sitting on my craft desk for a couple of months. I added mini white pompoms and silver marker to embellish them a tad.

Thanks for popping in - hope you like my card!

Supplies used: Papertrey Ink On Ice stamp set & die; Papertrey Ink Happiest of Holidays (sentiment); Spellbinders Labels 4; pop dots; silver marker; Pumice Stone Distress Ink; Stampin' Up Baja Breeze cardstock; Bo Bunny DP

Papertrey Ink's (Lack of) Customer Service

I am a Canadian customer of Papertrey Ink and have been for some years (i.e. I've spent literally THOUSANDS of $$$ on their beautiful products). Of course, shipping to me here in Canada is expensive, but as there is no Canadian supplier, I don't have much of a choice. On occasion, perhaps once a year, I go into the US for vacation and arrange to ship my goodies (from Papertrey as well as other online suppliers) to a Kinek point located just across the border. I avoid the shipping costs and duties, and pay a minimal $5 pick-up fee.

One such occasion occurred recently, and I had actually placed SEVERAL ORDERS with Papertrey to pick-up at Kinek during my vacation, my last one including a die set that was recently re-stocked and for which I ordered another set for a friend (as we often combine our orders). Well, when I opened the box, one of those die sets was missing - only 1 was shipped, so I contacted Customer Service (Julie Heskamp, the owner of Papertrey Ink).

Of course, by this time, I was back home from my vacation here in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Actually about an hour north-east of Toronto.

Julie was very quick to reply, and exceptionally pleasant ("hope you're having a fabulous day" etc.), and replied back to me that yes, IT WAS THEIR ERROR IN NOT SENDING THE 2ND SET.

When she advised me of her resolution, it floored me!!! Even after admitting it was THEIR FAULT, they advised me that they could only send the missing die set to the original destination - i.e. the Kinek point in New York state, which is a 3-hour drive (one way) from my home!!

When I explained my situation - the distance, the pick-up fee, the fact I wasn't going to be visiting the States again for some time, the fact that almost all of my orders have been shipped to me here in the GTA with those few cross-border occasions, the fact that 1 die set can be sent to me here in Canada for minimal cost, and the fact that they admitted fault in this situation - she reiterated that they were only willing to send it to the original destination ("company policy"), or I could receive a credit for the $10 product.

It's a shame how dreadful their "Customer Service" is. They definitely have a way of making customers feel like their satisfaction is not worth their efforts or added expense, no matter how small.

No wonder they have an "F" rating at the BBB!

I'm saddened because I still like their product and realize that my decision to cease buying from them would mean absolutely nothing to them, no matter how much money I've spent with them over the years. I also can't help thinking that, if I were an American customer, would they be willing to send that missing die set to my home address in the US, or would they still insist on sending it to the Kinek point because it's their "Company Policy"??? I mean, 1 US address is the same as sending it to another US address, right?

It's highly likely it's because I'm a Canadian customer and it's too much trouble for them to correct THEIR error by sending the die set to me here in Canada at an added cost to them.

Shame on Papertrey Ink!

Neon Happy Birthday - Virginia's View Challenge #5

I have been following Virginia Lu's blog for a little while, inspired by her creativity and card designs (as well as her hilarious antics involving her DH, Dr. John). In fact, when she started her "Virginia's View Challenge" blog recently, I had every intention of playing along.

Five months later, I have finally managed to make a card to get in on the incredible fun (where does the time go??). And what could be better than this month's challenge than to use die cuts??? I mean, seriously, you should see my die collection! I have a terrible addiction to those lovely metal things, and there is no end to the fabulous designs coming out all the time. Can one ever have enough dies? I have yet to discover the answer to that, so in the meantime, I'll continue to buy the ones that catch my eye ;-)

This card uses the lovely Memory Box Blissful Butterfly Border, paired with the Papertrey One Liners: Happy dies -

I've also been wanting to play with some neon cardstock I picked up a while back, so took the opportunity to use the colours with the butterfly border die. I gave the white panel some texture by running it through my Cuttlebug with the Papertrey Linen & Canvas Impression Plate die, glued the border die on a slight diagonal, filled each pocket with the neon cardstock diecuts, then adhered the "Happy" diecut at the base. I can't tell you how hard it was to leave the top portion alone ... have I mentioned how difficult I find it to make a CAS card??? LOL

The inside of this card completes the sentiment with "Birthday".

So there you have it ... my entry into this month's Challenge - to use diecuts. Why not join in on the fun?

Trillium Gift Card sets

If you read back on a previous post in which I featured a Retirement card for a dear friend, you'll know that I picked up the My Favorite Things Die-namics set "Lily" as I thought it would work nicely for a "Trillium" flower, the official flower of our Province of Ontario. My SIL requested a card set to give as a gift when she visits a B & B this summer.

I came up with a couple of designs that feature this lovely die set. This is my first:

The first design uses Stampin' Up's Hardwood Background stamp on the main panel stamped in (SU!) Crumb Cake ink on Kraft cardstock, then stamped again on white cardstock for the inner circle that holds the flower die image. I surrounded the circle opening with a Spellbinders Stately Circle die in (SU!) Garden Green cardstock, the same colour cardstock also used in the flower & stem using the Die-namics Lily die.

The sentiments on all the cards were stamped in (SU!) Garden Green ink using PTI's Wet Paint Stamp Set, a current fave :-)

Of course, thinking perhaps she wouldn't like it, I went back to the drawing board and came up with another design:

The second design I decided to leave as blank cards to be used for any occasion ... but using some of the same elements (i.e. Garden Green cardstock, the exact same flower).

A Spellbinder's Floral Oval die surrounds the lovely "Trillium" flower, and I used some neutral designer paper that I had in my stash. I added a bit of bling around the upper right corner of the oval by gluing 3-3mm Yellow Gold Pearls purchased from Pizzazz Aplenty, my favourite supplier of bling in so many amazing colours & sizes! (Pssst! By the way, they also happen to be having one of their BOGO sales, so head on over to their site & stock up!! You have until the end of the month, or until supplies last.)

Hope you like my "Trillium" cards & Happy Canada Day!

Thank You Momiji Centre

I was lucky enough to get accepted as a vendor at a lovely local Art/Craft sale which took place this past weekend, an event I've had my eye on for some time but never thought I'd be a part of.

The venue is totally A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! It was located in the central hall of a Japanese Retirement Residence, which was open to the Public for this event. As you entered, you passed a Koi water garden (sigh!). There are 2 enclosed "Libraries" on either side of the long corridor leading to the back, and the ceiling was almost completely glass to allow that gorgeous sunlight in. Both Libraries had super large wood/glass doors, which were open for the event and housed local artisans showing off their beautiful, handmade work. I was located towards the back of the main hall, which had tall bamboo plants almost to the ceiling, on a direct path to a fundraising Cafe that sold sinfully delicious desserts & snacks - could I have gotten a better spot??? Not at all!!! LOL

To be honest, I didn't care a bit if I sold any of my cards ... I was so humbled by the friendliness of the residents and their friends and families, how completely respectful they were. They truly made us vendors feel like "family", and I can't wait to go back and see them again. The Event Coordinators and Volunteers also deserve to be recognized as they did a wonderful job - a huge "Thank You" to you all!

I wanted to show off a lovely card rack that was gifted to me by my Sister-in-Law, Donna. I sent out word to family that I was looking for one but never in my life did I expect to have one of them find the PERFECT ONE, and in such short time. It arrived just in time for this event. It's a 16-pocket spinner, and is located on the left side back corner of my table.

Each of my customers received my business card with each purchase, which provides the link to this blog, so if you happen to be one of them, I want you to know how very appreciative I am for your support and that I hope we meet again at the Momiji Centre at next year's event.

Thanks so much for dropping in and reading my post!

Pop! Clink! Fizz!

I had a lot of fun - and frustration (LOL) - putting this card together.

I've always had a vision in my mind of how this card would come together ever since I saw the PTI release for this stamp set - PTI's Propose a Toast stamp set & co-ordinating die.

It doesn't look anything like my mind's vision! :-)

Does that ever happen to you? It's rather common for me. Many times I set out to create a card, only to go off on another creative curve to end up with a design that is nothing like what I thought it would be. Oh well ... at least I got something done!

The basic pieces of my original idea are here. I used Acetate with the Propose a Toast die to simulate glass champagne glasses, and the words to portray what happens when a bottle of bubbly is opened for a celebration. The PTI Notched Hearts Banner Die Collection diecuts were an afterthought (did I mention I have a HARD time doing CAS cards? LOL).

The sentiment is from PTI's Congratulations Mini Stamp set, and a few iridescent rhinestones were added to finish this card off.

Thanks for "popping" in ;-)

Foliage Thank You card

Early in the Spring I spent the weekend with some card making gal pals at a cottage up north. We go twice a year to spend the 2 or 3 days stamping to our hearts content, without feeling guilty that we're not cleaning the house, or watching the kids (for some of us), or making meals for our DH's. Each of us is responsible for one meal, we all pitch in where needed, but mostly, we gab, we laugh, we drink, we enjoy each other's company and feed each other's creativity. If one of us arrives feeling a sense of no mojo, that quickly changes with the inspiration from what others create.

This card was inspired by one of our gang, Christa, who has a fabulous CAS style that I admire, and try to imitate (i.e. CASE).

As you can see, it's a very simple - yet elegant - card that can be used for any occasion/sentiment. In this case, the stamp set used is Stampin' Up's French Foliage (now retired), with the "Thanks" sentiment from PTI's Wet Paint stamp set. The edges of the card were sponged using Vintage Photo Distress ink to soften the look a bit, and the sentiment panel was accented with Stampin' Up's Real Red cardstock to bring out the linear pattern on the MME graph DP a bit.

Hope everybody had an amazing Father's Day weekend!

Retirement Card for a Dear Friend

Sometimes when I see the digital pictures of the cards I've made, I really - REALLY - wish I knew how to take better photos as I never seem to do the cards justice. (Note to self: learn some basic photography skills!)

This 5" X 7" card is a case in point!

I have a very dear friend who will be retiring after 37 years of teaching, and a more giving person I have never met. Of course, I had to make her a card to celebrate this momentous time in her life, and this is what I came up with:

I recently acquired the My Favorite Things Die-Namics Lily die set (which I thought would make amazing White Trilliums, which are the official symbol for our province of Ontario). As soon as I saw all the lovely cards made with this die on Pinterest, I had to use it for her card.

I used cream & soft pink as the main colours on this card, with Stampin' Ups Mellow Moss for the stems/leaves. The flower "parts" were all cut from the pink cardstock, with some areas coloured with a pink Tombow marker to give them a bit of definition.

I then used the Spellbinders set "A2 Devine Eloquence" and cut the 2 largest dies in cream, adhered the larger to a pink base, then popped up the second die cut in the centre. The largest cream base was dry embossed using an Anna Griffin Embossing Folder release from Cuttlebug (5" X 7"). PTI's Tiny Tags die/stamp set were used for the "Enjoy" sentiment. I finished it off with a satin edged organza ribbon bow.

I hope she likes it ...

Thanks for stopping in - enjoy your day!

Sharing a Couple of Cards

As promised, I'm trying to catch up with all the cards I've been producing lately, but not posting.

My bad!

Both cards are what I consider "summer-y" ... reflective of the season and all the wonderful activities that people enjoy.

My first card uses the Memory Box dies Mini Golf Carts and Golf Border die. I paired it with a sentiment from PTI's On The Links stamp set.

The sky/cloud background was sponged using cloud diecuts, which were moved around to achieve the scattered cloud affect.

The next card uses the Whimsy Stamps Sailboat die, with various sections cut from DP and/or cardstock & put back together. The smiling sun is from PTI's Heart-2-Heart #6, as are the cloud diecuts. The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics stamp set.

Along the edges of my "waves", cut with Impression Obsession Wave Dies, I added a bead of Frosted Lace Stickles to give the edges a foamy affect ... like breaking waves ;-)

That's all for now. I've been SO wanting to join along in so many wonderful card challenges, so hopefully my next post will be along those lines!

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you may be, and thanks for spending a wee bit of it here with me.

Custom Grad Card & Update

It's hard to believe I've not made one single post in almost two months! When I had this blog design developed, I vowed to post frequently so as not to have wasted my money on the blog's cost.

But I've been busy with a couple of Craft Shows, with one more weekend event booked for later this month, so it's not as if I haven't been creative. I have, I have ... it's just that I've neglected this blog in favour of producing more card choices for my potential buyers.

Soon all that should settle down and I hope to do some catching up by posting all the cards I've been making since my last post in early April.

For today, I have a custom graduation card ordered at my last sale. I used the school colours and the Graduate's name (done with a CTMH letter stamp set), along with the Congrats embossing folder, PTI's For the Graduate cap die, and Tim Holtz Vintage Market Alphabet/Number set for the graduating year.

The numbers were touched up with a Wink of Stella brush in clear glitter - love how it adds that subtle touch of shimmer!

So nice to see the warmer weather (which makes it even harder to craft inside) - hope you are enjoying it. Happy Summer and thanks for taking the time to drop in.

With Sympathy

We are finally starting to get some warmer temperatures here in the Toronto area, and rain - instead of snow - is forecast for later today. I'm hoping it will melt the snow that remains and wash away a lot of the grit that winter and snow mounds seem to accumulate.

I can't wait to get my hands "dirty", not with ink, but with gardening! I'm starting to see crocuses and early blooming flowers peek out of the ground - yay!

I got some time over the weekend to devote to cards - double yay! :-)

This was a quick sympathy card I put together using Stampin' Up's Just Believe, and the tag image from Everything Eleanor. I've seen many cards that pair these 2 images together, so I can't take all the credit for this card.

I originally stamped the panel and trimmed it to size, but when I saw this embossing folder in my stash, decided to start over as I wanted to "frame" the image within the embossed area. Mat framing is in Midnight Muse and Smokey Grey cardstock. The sentiment, from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages, was stamped in Midnight Muse on a tag from Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio, which also holds the silver/grey satin ribbon to finish off this easy CAS Sympathy card.

Back soon with a card or two that I worked on over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Motorcycle Birthday

Here's another attempt to step outside my norm of making cards geared to women (i.e. pink; flowers; bling; ribbon).

Not that motorcycles are strictly for guys! I have several gal pals who ride motorcycles. Hmmm ... perhaps I'll put together a "girlie" motorcycle card in the future for them ;-)



This motorcycle diecut is from a Rubber Stamp King set, that also has a coordinating stamp set. Love how the dies also have embossed detail.

With the nicer weather arriving, I'm sure we'll see alot more of these vehicles on the road.

Vrroom, vrroommm!!

Oh Happy Day - Blog Candy Score

Recently I was tickled pink to find out that I won some blog candy from the amazingly talented Jennifer McGuire. She shared a wonderful organizational system for dies on her blog, which I have adopted as my own - I absolutely LOVE IT!

If you want to have a peek, check out her video by clicking here.

My comment on her blog won me some lovely stamp sets, including "Oh Happy Day" from Avery Elle, a fabulous collection of sentiments with an adorable font.

So I paired the title sentiment with a Unity Bicycle image stamp I've had for some time, but never got around to using - until now - for a CAS card design.

Hard to tell by the photo, but some of the dots on the bottom of the card have Diamond Stickles to add some interest to the card.

The quality of the Avery Elle stamps is outstanding - crisp and clean. I will definitely be looking to pick up more from them in the future.

Hope you have a "Happy Day" too!

Papertrey Ink Pretty Peonies Anniversary Set Birthday Card

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of PTI stamps & dies (just ask my card making gal pals! LOL).

This Papertrey Ink Anniversary set, released in February 2012, remains one of my all-time faves of their Anniversary sets. I love the images, the sentiments, how well coordinated the stamps are, and especially, their sizing.

I recently had to make a Birthday card for my BFF, whom I've known since Grade 7, so this is the set I reached for.

Sometimes, it takes me a lot of time to put together a card I'm happy with - the layout, the colours, the elements. Many times I've spent hours in my craft room, only to scrap everything I've worked on, frustrated at myself.

This card wasn't one of them ... it seemed to design itself ! (If the card fairy was there helping me out, why doesn't she come back more often?) :-)

Along with the Butterfly image stamp from the set, I used the matching die set, as well as Spellbinder's Circle Nesties (and Small Scalloped Circles). The top half of the card was embossed with dots, while the bottom half is stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites #12. The scalloped border is actually PTI's Heart Border die tucked under to only show the top part. A piece of gingham ribbon finished it off.

My friend was delighted with her card - and I was happy with the way it turned out.

Hope you like it too & thanks for stopping by.

Stampin' Up's Petite Petals

When I first started seeing cards made with this set on Pinterest, I tried to shrug off the urge to buy it as I felt I already had enough "flower" stamp sets/dies in my ever-growing collection (does it never end? LOL).

But over time I realized I couldn't live without it so I broke down and purchased it. I'm SO glad I did. It has to be my most used Stampin' Up bundle to date - it's so versatile!

I decided to do a card with a vase of flowers to herald in Spring. With the winter we've had here in the Toronto area, I felt it would never get here! Alas, the warmer temperatures are almost here (almost, as we're still not quite out of the woods), and here's my card:



I used a combination of Stampin' Up cardstock colours (Calypso Coral, Crisp Canteloupe & So Saffron) to punch out the flowers after stamping them with the same colour ink, then added a bit of extra detail with smaller flower punches and an ivory pearl for the centres. I used the SU Sizzlit Leaf die, along with one of the vase dies from PTI's Mega Gracious Vases, which was sponged with Old Paper Distress Ink to soften the edges. The border punch used is one I've had for a long time (likely purchased at Michael's).

Now if only the REAL flowers can start to show their lovely faces!

Happy Spring!

Yay! It's Your Birthday

Just wanted to add another wee post today with a birthday card I put together, inspired by Papertrey's March 2014 Blog Hop to incorporate something GLOSSY into my card design. (OK, so I was somewhat late for the party - LOL)

I started off with a combination of pretty papers from MME and used Papertrey Ink's stamp set Stylish Sentiments: Birthday.

I diecut a couple of PTI Button Stacks dies in SU! Ruby Red & PTI's Smokey Shadow and covered them with Glossy Accents, then tied them together with some cream coloured yarn. (Can't wait for the Bitty set to add to my growing PTI die collection!)

Easy peasy!

Father's Day Tool Card

I have struggled with the decision of WHAT to post as my first card on my new blog.

I mean, I'm my own worst critic and it seems that every card I've made since my new blog was completed (just over a week ago), was never good enough! Perhaps I should design a card that MATCHED my blog colours ... or maybe even a card that incorporated damask designs to match the blog header ... or why not go to the outside extreme and post something completely DIFFERENT (whatever THAT means!! LOL).

Another thought was to post a card that is outside my comfort zone, which for me is CAS and/or masculine cards.

In the end, I've decided to post a few cards I've worked on as my blog was being designed. After all, I have to post SOMETHING, don't I? :-)

I am excited at the prospect of sharing my creations with the card "world" and hope that you enjoy these cards as much as I did creating them.

I used a recent acquisition from the new Close To My Heart catalogue to make this card - C1571 You're The Best - and paired it with my current favourite stamp, Stampin' Up's "Hardwood" Background stamp (isn't it a fabulous image??). Backing the sentiment double-ended banner (PTI's Double Ended Banner set) is a diecut in (SU) Midnight Muse from JustRite Stampers Antique Labels One die set.

The images from the stamp set were stamped in Crumb Cake and Soft Suede, while Hardwood was stamped in Soft Suede on Kraft cardstock for the base.

So you see ... ??? For my first post I managed to show you one of the card designs I most struggle with - MASCULINE cards. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to tackle CAS cards :-)

Thanks for taking a peek at my post.