Life begins after...COFFEE!

Slightly warmer temps and longer days...can spring be far behind?

 

The  Coffee Loving Cardmakers don't think so...

They have organized another fun hop. The linky is open through this Friday, March 6th. There are lots of prizes from some wonderful sponsors, and tons of inspiration from the participants.

I broke out some caffeinated supplies from Verve Stamps: the Coffee Stamp set and coordinating word die.

I planted those coffee beans in some watercolour soil, "watered" them with some warm coffee (mug coloured with Copics), surrounded the panel with some sunshiny Bokey patterned paper, and watched those fresh plants sprout.  The sentiment says it all.

 

The card layout is based on Freshly Made Sketches #175.

I flipped the sketch, adding ribbon to the cursive "coffee." Snail courtesy of Paper Smooches "Green Thumb."

Go check out the Spring Coffee Lovers' Blog hop!

Supplies:

Watercolor paper: Tim Holtz

Bokeh paper: Close to My Heart

Cardstock and ribbon: the stash

Distress markers

Copic markers

Stamps: Verve and Paper Smooches

Die: Verve Stamps

TIME...to celebrate Fathers

This is the Father's Day card I made for my kids to give their dad. (Boys, you know they need a little nudge...).

It is a total CASE from one designed by Ann Barba, from the Paper Wishes website. I just changed up the sentiment, to fit the occasion, for the "Best Dad of all Time."

 It was lots of fun to colour in the clocks and gears with copper and gold Smooch inks. The black embossed design actually resists colour, so it was easy to stay within  the lines.  The beautiful silver linen paper just makes the card. Some copper jewel Dazzles also fit the theme.

Here's the inside:

 I used a stamp from Verve, inking the big "DAD" in gold Delicata and stamping the definition over top. The greeting and gears are more pieces from the "Color Me" pack.

Hope your weekend includes some grilling and stamping!

Happy Crafting, 

Caroline

Lecker! Something delicious for KIS! #36

It's been a while since I played with Keep It Simple!

The current challenge is "Lecker!" which translates to "delicious."

My sister, who lives in Amsterdam, uses that word, too, and it DOES sound delicious when spoken. There are already cards submitted with fruit, cake, coffee and so on, so I thought I'd go the CHOCOLATE route.

This card features a Stamp of the Month from Close to my Heart. I heat-embossed the brownie with Cocoa powder (yum!), and traced the frosting with a white gel pen.  The lacy border is a Paper Wishes die and the ribbon was a Verve purchase. Everything is mounted on a Chocolate card base with some pink enamel dots thrown in for good measure.

Are you thinking of your favorite treat?

Why not head over to the Keep It Simple blog and link up your creation. The challenge runs through Wednesday, April 3rd.

Happy crafting,

(AND cooking and munching!)

Caroline

Supplies:

Cardstock in Chocolate, Cocoa and White Daisy

Ink: Versamark + Cocoa embossing powder and White Detail embossing powder

Stamp sets: both retired Close to My Heart; A Chocolate Affair & Mad About You

Distress Markers and Copics; Wink of Stella

Ribbon: Verve Stamps

Dies: Paper Wishes "2 Lacy Borders;"Spellbinders' circles and scalloped circles

Enamel dots: Flamingo, CTMH

You're a shoe-in...Dynamic Duos #92

 Good morning, everyone. 

How I wish it was open-toe-shoe weather outside! Patience, I know.

In the meantime, we can celebrate the start of a new month, with a new "bold & cheery" challenge from the Dynamic Duos.

I used a Viva la Verve sketch for my card this week, along with some new Stampin' Up goodies from my friend, Hayley.

Here's the sketch:

 And here's the card:

I used some Verve ribbon, to match the Hollyhock and Indian Corn Blue papers from Close to My Heart. The new SU goodies include the stamp set and pinked edge framelit dies.

A closer look:

How's about that Manolo Blahnik shoe?

To dress it up, I did some paper-piecing and Copic-colouring, along with touches of silver gel pen, Wink of Stella and bling. 

 Strap on some cute shoes and wander over to the Dynamic Duos blog to see what the  talented team has done with these bold colours.

Anne Marie Hile

Annette Elliott

Angel Johns

Cindy Brumbaugh

Holly Endress

JoAnn Burnham

Julie Gearinger

Michelle Bala

Sarah Fleming 

Tenia Nelson

Hope to see your creation linked up this week! One of the best parts of the DT job is seeing and commenting on all the skill and ability out there.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Cardstock: (all CTMH) in Hollyhock, Indian Corn Blue, White Daisy, DP from Ariana paperpack.

Stamp set: SU Making a Point

Copic Markers

Uniko silver gel pen

Dies:  SU Starburst Framelit dies; Spellbinders circle dies.

Provocraft embossing folder.

Verve ribbon

Bling: CTMH 
 

*Tsukineko MEMENTO Full Size Ink Pad TUXEDO BLACK

*ZIG Wink of Stella GLITTER CLEAR Brush Tip Marker 025320

Circles & Diamonds Stitched Pattern Die

InLinkz.com

Just B-coz...

Hello, is it spring yet?

I felt like hibernating this morning when I awoke to a fresh coat of the white stuff. Enough already!

You might think thoughts of spring were the inspiration for this card, but it was actually a couple of challenges:

The Friday Mashup, which was to use triangles and/or hexagons  (I missed the deadline, BTW, so I'll have to try harder next week),  and

I don't have any hexagon stencils or embossing folders, so I created some using my scoring board:

flipped it over when finished and sanded to reveal the pattern.

The honeycomb hexies were made using a punch, some patterned paper and the CTMH stamp set Doodle Signs,  pictured above. Some were popped up for added dimension.

The sweet little bumble bee is from Paper Smooches' Green Thumb. I thought he looked good in orange! Keyboard alpha stamps also from CTMH.
Turns out its NOT too late for the Happy for Hexagons challenge over at Moxie Fab World. 
It runs through March 7th, so get cracking!

 Thanks for the head's up, Lyndal!

That's all for today,

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Cardstock: Sunset, Sky, Sweet Leaf, White Daisy, CTMH; DP Rosemary & Thyme, Paper Wishes

Inks: Sunset, Sweet leaf , CTMH; Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Doodle Signs, Keyboard alphabet, CTMH; Green Thumb, Paper Smooches

Scoring Board: Martha Stewart

Hexagon punch: Creative Memories

Copic Markers

Wink of Stella glitter pen

Ribbon: Verve Stamps