Planning ahead...

This may seem a little premature--we're only JUST into April, and I'm designing Mother's and Father's Day cards...

These will be the projects for my next stint, volunteering in the Recreation Therapy dept at the Rehabilitation Centre where I work (as a speech therapist).  The  recreation therapists asked for M and F Day cards, and a third generic design (still working on that one, but it'll probably involve water-colour pencils).  The idea is to introduce people who've had a traumatic injury or diagnosis of degenerative disorder, to new past-times,or help them realize they can still do things they used to love. Being creative is good for your health!

Anyway, the M-day cards involve colouring with alcohol marker on the BACK of heat-embossed vellum. I used some beautiful floral stamps from Create A Smile.

I made up a couple of samples, to give an idea of different possibilities for colour.  All materials are cut out, so the participants just need to stamp, colour and assemble. I prepared the heat-embossed panels ahead of time, too (having learned from experience that embossing powder gets EVERYWHERE when you teach a class...). I CASEd this idea from Justine Hovey.

The Father's Day cards feature the awesome stamp-of-the-month from Close to My Heart: Typed Note. Isn't that vintage typewriter the cutest? Reminds me of THIS video: priceless :)

The stamp set features many different messages to stamp onto the "page."

Again, a couple of different ideas for personalizing with colour.

Adding some Glaze pen to the keys made them stand out.

Off to enjoy our beautiful  15° C weather!

Happy Sunday,

Caroline

Neat, Tangled and Water-coloured

I seem to be in Valentine's mode, still. Or at least still in love with hearts...

Neat & Tangled's challenge this month is to watercolour.

The N&T design team is also teaming up with Cosmo Cricket this week, to showcase a new CC product: colour-ready paper. It has embossed images; all you need do is add ink or watercolor (or both) for some spectacular but simple-to-do results.

Following along those lines, I played with Neat & Tangles Tiny Triangles background stamp.

Today's card has the triangles heat-embossed in white, with a watercolour wash over top, in shades of pink, merging with red and yellow.

 

The upside down triangles made me think of little hearts, so I punched some tiny ones from water-colour paper scraps, tinted them with the same Distress Inks, and mounted them over triangles of the matching colours.

I like the cascading effect.

Go check out Neat & Tangled's blog for more watercolor inspiration.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Watercolor card stock- Michaels

Cardstock in Honey, Hollyhock and Baby Pink- Close to My Heart

Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Fired Brick and Wild Honey- Ranger

Small heart die- Paper Smooches

Stitched rectangle die- Lil'Inker designs

And she's back...

I believe this is my first post of 2015!

Sorry to have been MIA the past few weeks. Truth be told, I was a bit burnt out with crafting and blogging after taking on a bigger role in the Caring Hearts Card Drive this year. Lots of work right up until Christmas. Then the holidays themselves, with three adult boys home and parents and sister visiting from out of town.  Plus, I started another contract at work January 5th, and am now working full time for the first time in YEARS. Not sure how everyone else manages it :) I now go to the gym for 7:00 a.m. and do everything else after work or on the weekend. Not a lot of time or energy left-over for creativity...

I DID get to go to my annual scrapbooking retreat with my besties in Wisconsin in January. SUCH a good time. It felt so good to re-connect with my gals, and to remember how much I love scrapbooking.  I'll be sharing a few lay-outs here in the next few weeks.

But today is all about Paper Smooches and Valentine's Day.

Kim Hughes is celebrating four years in business, with lots of extra fun on the PS blog.

I made my Valentine cards this year using the goodies from Jen Sherkus' "Monster Hugs" kit. But I had to get inky for THIS CHALLENGE:

I've been having fun making patterned paper with embossed images and Distress Inks. I learned this technique from the very talented Heather Telford.

Here's the process:

Heat-emboss assorted PS heart images on 5.5" x 4.25" card stock. Blend two-to-three colours of Distress Ink over the embossed images, using a foam tool.  I used Worn Lipstick, Tattered Rose and Gathered Twigs (thinking of roses, chocolate and kisses!). Splatter the panel with water and spritz with Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist. Dry it and add more stamped images in the distress ink colours. Here's a close up of the final effect:

 I then cut the panel into three smaller pieces and used them to make three LOVE U cards.

 This one uses the PS Love die, the U from the new Sassy Script stamp set, and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

Number two uses a sentiment from the PS Fancy Frames stamp set, and the heart border from the PS Heart Dies. I used Worn Lipstick to custom colour my row of little hearts. Looking at this photo, I realize I glued my panel on UPSIDE DOWN!

This one's a little over the top, but fun! I cut a stitched heart (Lil'Inker Dies, as is the new stitched rectangle mat) from the panel, and mounted it over matching card stock. The "thanks" is another PS die; I sponged more Worn Lipstick onto white card stock in a gradient of colour before cutting out the sentiment.

A satisfying afternoon's work!  Beats being outside today...-34 C.  Brrr!

Make sure to check out the Paper Smooches blog for more fun and inspiration!

Happy crafting,

Caroline