CD release "Time"

A good friend of mine, Aaron Bailey, is a very talented performing artist. He is releasing his new debut CD entitled Time. He needed something a little different than the usual printed invites for special friends and/or media he wished to invite to the CD release performance. So, I tried making up a hand made card for him at his request. 

I used his album cover as a starting point and this is what I came up with...

Stamps: Clockworks, Rough Type

Ink: Versamark, Illuminate pad, Whisper White craft pad

Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, and Black cardstock

Tools: distressor tool, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, heat tool, dimensionals, glue dots

Extras: Cherry Cobbler, Clear, and Silver embossing powders, silver brad

The face of the clock is popped up on dimensionals and distressed. Each letter is punched and distressed, then adhered with a glue dot. The clock itself and the largest gear are embosssed in silver. The clock face is in Whisper White craft ink. The gear with the cross through it is stamped with the new Illuminate pad, the smallest gear is in clear embossing powder.

For the insert, I used a font that matched the old typewriter font on the front of the card. I had some cute packages done up with the card laying atop the CD and wrapped with red ribbon, like a gift for select media persons to receive. Of course, I took pictures of this but cannot find them anywhere!?

Aaron Bailey's CD release performance details:

(insert reads)

You are invited to experience a night

with local artist, Aaron Bailey.

When:

April 7, 2013 from 7:30 to 9:30

Where:

John L. Haar Theatre

10045-156 St. Edmonton, AB

Aaron invites you to experience a live 

performance of his original songs in the 

company of his seven-piece band, 

in honour of his debut album, “Time.”

You may have previously seen Aaron 

perform musical requests at the dueling 

piano bar, The Red Piano, in Edmonton. 

However, on this night, Aaron is excited 

to perform his original material for you!

Come out for a night of instantly catchy

pop-rock songs with melancholy yet

inspiring lyrics that elicit hope, comfort, 

and change.

Hope you can make it! See you there!

Tickets can be purchased at the door or from Tix on the Square

Merry March

I'm terribly behind...sigh. Valentime's, St. Patrick's, a whirlwind of holidays and I'm still stuck on Christmas. Well, at least I'll still be able to be in sync with Merry Monday. Maybe it's because I always start my Christmas cards a little late that I continue to make them into the new year, but every year it's the same. If I were smart, I'd continue on throughout the year as the folk as Merry Monday do!

Stamps: Frosty Friends, Many Merry Messages

Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark

Paper: Early Espresso and Whisper White cardstock

Tools: Apothecary Accents Framelits die

Extras: White embossing powder, rhinestone brads, Christmas Lane die cut stickers (retired)

If you're wondering why I'm taking pictures of my cards on the floor, well it's because the light there is the best. I've tried them on the table and it's just not the same, it seems to stream through on the floor better than anywhere else near the patio door.

Happy Post St Paddy's Day!

Baby Shower Projects

Well, it's been far too long! I got caught up in the holidays, baby showers and baby birth, moving my mother and a really nasty cold over xmas. Anyways, i'm here to share some pics from my friend's baby shower (finally)!

My best friend, Kim, is Vietnamese so her Momma cooked up some insanely delicious food! People went a little nuts over the homemade spring rolls!!! But they are delicious so we get it : D

Here is my banner below. We attached the first part above the mantle...

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Ink: Basic Grey

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Whisper White, Build a Bear pawsitively prints I (so saffron polka dot paper on the grey pennants)

Tools: Perfect Pennants die (new one), Bigz XL Pennant die (old one), Serif Essentials Alphabet dies, Rosette die, XL scallop circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Circles #2 die, 3/4" punch

Extras: Daffodil Delight satin ribbon

and the second part hung from the mantle itself. As you can see the colours are Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, and white. I used the stamp set Fox & Friends throughout. My grey polka dots were made from 3/4" circles punched from grey cardstock and applied at random with glue dots.

We also had a candy bar. Yay! Kim and I had a blast just going and buying the candy. We both agreed that it was the most fun we'd had in a long time. We used to work together in a chocolate shop, so our days of delighting in candy and treats together go waaaay back. As you can see, she didn't skimp!

Stamps: Fox & Friends

Ink: Basic Grey

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Whisper White

Tools: Perfect Pennants die (new one),Timeless Type sizzlits dies, XL scallop circle punch,,1 3/4" circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch

Extras: White bakers twine

I made a mini banner for the candy bar, and little label stands to identify each type of candy. There are little daisies added to the banner that I made by using the Boho punch. 

The candy shown here are the Hershey's Cookies and Creme drops; Kim's favorite!

Stamps: none

Ink: none (I printed the candy names off the computer)

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Whisper White, Build a Bear pawsitively prints I (so saffron polka dot paper) 

Tools: Decorative punch, scallop oval punch, scallop circle punch

Here is a picture of the cupcake picks I made. The cupcakes were homemade too by our friend Dominique (who basically organized the whole shebang.) Check out the punch with floating duckies. So cute!

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Tiny tags

Ink: Basic Grey, Daffodil Delight

Paper: Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey, Whisper White

Tools: XL scallop circle punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch

Extras: Daffodil Delight buttons, bakers twine

So here is the food table!!! Homemade spring rolls, salad rolls, papaya salad with shrimp, noodle dishes...oh my!

A close-up of one of the menu cards. We put the Vietnamese name first, and the English underneath. At the shower they announced they were having a boy. The fox was Kim's favorite stamp of them all, so I went heavy on the fox.

Pretty yellow flower puffs Dominique made that we hung around the food table.

This is a picture of the wall of balloons that was above the spot where the gifts were opened. Cool idea eh? I found it on pinterest. Doesn't it sort of look like bubbles? 

Dominique did such a great job of organizing everything. Kim's mom is a master chef...i'm seriously so jealous that she got to grow up on her Momma's cooking. I was thrilled to be allowed to create some stuff for such an important event in our lives.

I love how events like this bring everybody together, and you get to see all those people you just don't normally see on an everyday basis. It makes it so special to reconnect again and to be able to all share the excitement together. It was such great fun!

DS73 & ISSC38: Sparkly Spider Trails to you!

I'm getting so excited for Halloween! I liked the look of two similar sketches this week, the first is from the sketch on Deconstucting Jen's blog:

   

The other is from a new blog I've discovered called iSpy Sketches:

With these two in mind, I created my card. I wanted to use the little witch on her pumpkin from Greeting Card Kids before Halloween went by because it's the cutest image. I've been trying to incorporate the use of my Simply Scored tool a little more in my card making, and look at what I came up with...

My little spiders have left trails of iridescent ice in their path! I created the look of "engraved" paths with my Simply Scored tool, aren't they cute? My spiders are little pearls that I coloured black. Then, I added some legs. I guess they make rather cute and not scary spiders.

And here's my little witch...

I stamped her on watercolour paper and painted her in, then highlighted with markers for a little more definition.

The accent on my greeting is actually a button under the glimmer brad and the little bow.

I tried to capture just how much my spider trails shine in this picture. 

I've only partially decorated the house, but preparations are under way. I have my costume and I read recently that it's supposed to be a full moon on Oct. 31st! ouuuuuh, scary!!!

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Basic Black, Perfect Plum, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake

Paper: Basic Black dsp, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, and Perfect Plum cardstock, watercolour paper

Tools: Simply Scored, Circles Die #2, XL Scallop Circle, heat tool

Extras: Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Plum Perfect button, black Glimmer Brad, linen thread, pearls, permanent black marker

Have a great weekend!

MDS Gratitude

Here is the final MDS project I did for Thanksgiving. I mounted the central panel on some River Rock cardstock, but keeping just a small edge. I put a small piece of that birch paper I love along the back, but not before using the little hearts border on it. I find I use this little punch most at Thanksgiving, which is strange because I always assumed I'd be using it for Valentine's when I bought it.

Stamps: Autumn Days, Autumn Harvest (digital)

Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Really Rust, River Rock (digital)

Paper: Autumn Spice, Frostwood Lodge

Tools: MDS 2, pinking hearts border punch

Extras: Crumb Cake grosgrain bow (digital), Walk in the Park (bird)

The Autumn Spice designer series paper in the background is textured and so pretty, both sides were so pretty that I allowed the other side to show on the inside. This is my favorite of all the Thanksgiving cards I made.

I'm off to watch a scary movie. I've gotten a bunch of them to get me in the mood for Halloween.

CCMC 221 & HSS 139: Grateful Pumpkin

Here is the card I made following the challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments which asks for anything Pumpkin!

Once again I'm using MDS for the front panel of the card and I'm using that sketch from Create with Connie and Mary again! It's simple but still fun, love it!

Stamps: Holiday Blitz, Autumn Days, Grateful Heart Thanksgiving (all digital) & Friendly Words jumbo wheel

Ink: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake (all digital) & Crumb Cake ink pad

Paper: Crumb Cake cardstock

Tools: Jumbo wheel

Extras: Linen thread, More Mustard grosgrain ribbon, Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon, Chocolate Chip wide satin ribbon

I pulled out my jumbo Friendly Words wheel and rolled it along the side of the card and in the inside but kept it tone on tone.

I did colour the stem of my pumpkin in Always Artichoke with the MDS 2 colouring tool, i'm sorta wondering how we made anything without it now.

CCMC 221 & PPA 144: So Thankful

Well, it has been a busy summer and somehow it's already October. What?!? October? There's been moving and all that goes along with moving, but at least we were able to go through a lot of stuff and decide what to keep, what should go, and that in itself feels great.

I've been working on some baby shower projects which I will reveal once finished, and also a lot of My Digital Studio products! Some of the MDS products I made for Thanksgiving and thought I would give you a peek at them. I used the sketch from Create with Connie and Mary since it allowed me a large space to place my MDS work in.

One of the coolest parts about the MDS artwork is that it now allows you colour in/over any stamp (with the MDS 2 upgrade that is!) So I used the new colouring tool on my branch with leaves digital stamp.

Stamps: Autumn Harvest (digital)

Ink: More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso (digital)

Paper: Well Worn dsp, Autumn Spice dsp, Frostwood Lodge dsp

Tools: MDS 2

I purchased these fall digital products during the sale Stampin' Up! just had, and I've had great fun playing with my new goodies...see!? I've made it a hybrid project by adding my MDS work to cardstock and highlighting it with various designer series paper.  The challenge over at the Paper Pal Arts has given us the colour palette of More Mustard, Cajun Craze, and Early Espresso to use, so I chose to follow this one as well!

I am IN LOVE with the paper on the largest flag, the birch looking paper. I want it to be a staple but it's from last year's holiday mini so, I'll have to enjoy only what I have. Sigh.

And now I leave you with a picture of Mom's Pecan Cognac Pie, it's to die for! Those are apple pies in the background which I will never ever tire of... I think mom is dying to try to make some new stuff and we keep on asking for the same old thing. In order to accommodate, she made a number of pies/desserts and we were truly spoiled. (There was also a steamed chocolate bread pudding with Grand Marnier and warm chocolate sauce over top-sorry no picture, it's all gone)

Thanks Mom!