Wednesday Butterfly Birthday Card

Hello my dear blogging friends. I hope you are having a wonderful week, lots of fresh air and sunshine, and finding time to use your creative talents.

 Today I have for you a card that I have made after combining four very fun challenges together. I apologies for the poor picture quality, but at least it shows you the pretty little card I made.

I do admit photography is NOT one of my talents!
So, starting with the challenge from tuesdaythrowdown which is to make your own background, I have used my happy birthday embossing folder with white paper to make the background for this birthday themed card. Over at simplylessismoore they have two cards for inspiration, and I have chosen to use the birthday theme, and the red heart on this card. On the pinspirationalchallenges the photo inspiration is a picture of beautiful butterflies which you can see I have put three on my card as embellishments to add interest. These butterflies were purchased at our local dollar store which is the fourth challenge from shoppingourstash. I always love to be given a challenge to use what I already have, and at Shopping our Stash, the challenges are always about pulling out something from your pile of stash.
Thank you so much for looking and for stopping by today. It means so much to me that you have found your way to my little space here in blogland. Your comments are always welcomed and very appreciated.

Friday's Vintage Card

Welcome one and all to my little piece of cyberspace. I hope you will enjoy the card I have made to show you today.

My inspiration for the card has come from the sketch posted on the challenge for unscriptedsketches. I have made the card vintage for the challenge at cardsgalorechallenges where they are having a vintage challenge for the whole month of April.  I am entering my card in both of these challenges.

To make the card I used a piece of music paper from an old music book. I inked it with Tim Holtz distress inks, vintage photo, and tea dye.  Then I took a cream color piece of paper, ripped the edges and inked it in a similar fashion.  I stamped the sentiment 'a note of thanks' on to this piece, then added inked green twine and an old button to finish off the card.

I have been a primitive crafter for many years, and love the look of all things old.    Making this card was very fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you so much for coming to my blog. I would appreciate any comments you may leave for me. I would also be honored if you would consider becoming a follower. Have a great day, Hugs, Cathryn

Thursday's Card

Good Afternoon, my blogging friends. Today I have a simple card to share with you that is bright and fun and very easy to make.  But first I want to make a shout out to all those celebrating their 4th Blogiversary over at unscriptedsketches. Way to go gals, 4 years sharing your challenges, sketches, and fun for all!  I do so appreciate all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the challenges going for card makers like myself. Thank you all so very much!

I am using the sketch from unscriptedsketches for my card this week. I am using the theme Friend from addictedtocas.  I have added faux stitching which is the challenge from fussyandfancychallenge. I will be entering my card into each of these challenges.

I have made this card using bright yellow paper, then I added a sentiment stamp about friendship which I colored in with my new colored pencils. I then backed it with purple polka dots before placing it on the card.

I used purple bakers twine and a pretty little purple flower to give the card a little pop of color.  I love how bright and cheerful the card turned out and I hope you will love it too.
Thank you so very much for stopping into my blog today. I love to read any comments that are left for me, each one leaves a stamp on my heart. I would  be honored if you would consider becoming a follower of mine...just click in to join at the top of the page. Thanks so much, and please come back again.

WOYWW

Hello blogging friends, who can believe it is Wednesday already? Another day to snoop around the desks of fellow crafters around the world! If you are new to WOYWW, please hop over to see Julie and you will discover everything you ever wanted to know about this crazy phenomenon "What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday". You will also find a lot of other desks to visit, and if  you haven't already joined, you can find out how to join in the fun yourself!

Today I haven't done any work to be totally honest, so I just put a few things together on my desk. A card I made for a challenge that I will be posting later this week, and a few new things I have added to my stash. So many people have oodles of markers, but I have decided to buy pencils to use for colors on my cards at this point as I am so new to card making and don't want to make a huge money investment right now. You can see my bag of Sharpie markers that I have, but I don't use them very often, sometimes for doing faux stitching, but not often for coloring because they are not acid free. When I purchased them I didn't know anything about the importance of being acid free. 

I have also bought some Tim Holtz paper and a few more colors to add to my distress inks.  I just love the Tim Holtz products,I am just not very familiar with how to use them, so I am looking forward to learning as I go.
Well, thats it for me today, thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you are having a grand time snooping around the world of desks on WOYWW.
Please leave a comment and let me know you  stopped by! 

Friendship Card

Hi my dear blogger friends. Today I have a very CAS (clean and simple) card for your viewing pleasure. But first I want to make a shout out to all those celebrating their 4th Blogiversary over at unscriptedsketches. Way to go gals, 4 years sharing your challenges, sketches, and fun for all!  I do so appreciate all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the challenges going for card makers like myself. Thank you all so very much!

I am using the sketch from unscriptedsketches for my card this week. I am using the theme Friend from addictedtocas.  I have added faux stitching which is the challenge from fussyandfancychallenge. I will be entering my card into each of these challenges.

This is a very simple card which would be easy to remake, which is one of the rules for a Clean and Simple card.  I have used a simple spring purple polka dot pattern background, added a stamped sentiment which I backed with yellow paper, and colored in with my new colored pencils. I added yellow bakers twine and a simple yellow silk flower.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog, your comments are so appreciated.

Serendipity Card Tutorial

 Hi all, this is my first tutorial, so I hope it will be easy enough to follow. This is not something I have made up myself, nor do I claim any ownership for this design. I just thought I would share how I made this card in case someone has not made a serendipity card before. It is a fun card to make and the results can be quite stunning. Good Luck and Have Fun!

Supplies:
Card stock for background: 5x10
Card stock for card : 6 1/2 x 10 your color of choice
Card stock to back the collage pieces, your color of choice
Card stock for inside card : 6 x 4 1/2
Scrap papers colors of your choice. plain or patterned
bone folder
glue
stamps (any you might have)
colored inks of your choice
versa mark ink
embossing powder
heat gun
ruler
craft knife
scissors
paper trimmer
sentiment stamp (if desired)
ribbon (if desired)

1.On a piece of paper, 5x 10 glue ripped plain or patterned paper in a random way until the paper is fully covered. Let this dry fully.

 2. Stamp randomly over the collage with different stamps and different colors to add design. ( I did not do this on this piece, but you will see it on my other samples.)

3.Stamp with the versa mark and add embossing powder. Heat with the heat tool.

 

4. Cut collage into 1" strips using a paper trimmer.

5.The card I am making today uses 3, 1" x 2" pieces and 3, 1"x 1" pieces. Once I have all the strips cut, I decide which of the longer strips I will cut the smaller pieces from to make my design.

6. Glue these cut pieces to the backing color, for my card, this is silver. Then cut out a 1/8" matt around it. I use the perfect layers rulers . You could also use a paper trimmer, or skip this step if desired.

7.Fold your 6 1/2 "x 10" paper in half with a bone folder, (this is the main card). Attach  the pieces to your card as shown in the final picture. I added a ribbon and a birthday sentiment to this card.Glue the 6" x 4 1/2" piece of card stock inside the card to finish.

Please see the following samples for other card ideas. I apologize for the poor picture quality.

Thank you so much for coming to my blog. I appreciate any comments or feedback you might have that might help me improve this tutorial. Your words are always welcomed.

WOYWW

Hello my blogging friends around the world. Today I have a short post as I am not feeling up to par, but I wanted to share my work desk, and try to get around to see a few of yours too! I just love to see what you all are up to, and I love knowing that you are visiting me too.
If you are new to WOYWW, please hop over to see Julie and you will discover everything you ever wanted to know about this crazy phenomenon "What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday". You will also find a lot of other desks to visit, and you might even join yourself!!!! (if you haven't already!)
On my workspace you can see the beginning of my scrapendipity card that I will hopefully be getting to tomorrow, and hopefully will be making my first tutorial for. I am making the card for my youngest son for his birthday, and it is a process that is a lot of fun to do and turns out quite stunning, so I hope you might come back to see the finished product!

I have also laid out some of my newest paper stash that I purchased at Michaels on the weekend...if you live in Canada or the USA you might think of hopping over to Michaels before their best sale of the season ends on Thursday...I don't show you all my new stash,but my they do have a whopper of a good sale on this week!
Thank you so much for stopping by, I would love it if you would join my blog while you are here, and I appreciate every comment that is left for me, your kind words bring a smile to my heart!

Happy Card!

Welcome one and all to my little space in blogland.  This is where I find a place to share some of my creative talent with the world. It seems quite impossible that sitting here in my living room, typing at my computer, you, whoever you might be, will be reading this, in another place, at another time. I am touched really, humbled, that I might make a difference in your life, no matter how small that might be. In this moment we matter to each other. I want you to know how important you are to me for taking the time to read this. If you are one of my close friends, know that your friendship holds me together in my toughest times. If you are just popping in to visit, know that I appreciate you coming here because your presence means you care enough to look at my work, and I am grateful for all the support and encouragement I have received from so many kind bloggers since I have started this new journey. I have realized that it isn't only about the craft, it is about the relationships, the support, and the generous sharing of time that we give to each other, that makes this blogging work. So thanks again for being here, in this moment, you are appreciated.

The card I am sharing today was inspired by many challenges. I love to read through and integrate many challenges together because I find that somewhat, 'challenging'! First off is the cardmakinmamas  .  Their challenge this week was to create a card with no patterned paper.  I thought that would be quite interesting because it is always so easy to reach for the dots and swirls and other delicious papers of which I have stacks of. (come  on how many of you are addicted too?) . Then there were two challenges with the theme of spring. These are the allsortschallenge, and the craftsandmechallenges .  Then over at cutecardthursday the challenge is to use something borrowed such as an idea, a button, a ribbon, or a sketch, which is what I used. I borrowed a sketch from a class I took at mycreativeclassroom.  Then the final challenge was from stampandcreate . They are having a month long April challenge which is to create a card with at least one die cut on it.  So having said all this...here is my card!

I embossed the top of the card with small dots, and made the bottom with different shades of purple stripes.  The flowers where made with my Cricut cartridge, Ultimate creative sampler. I cut out three layers, stamped them, inked the edges of the petals and added a pearl to the center. I love how feminine this card turned out. I could add a sentiment on the pink center space, but have left it blank for the time being as then I can add to it later.
Thank you again for stopping by, your support and encouragement mean the world to me.

Cards by Cathryn

Welcome to my blog, to all my followers, and to everyone who is visiting for the first time. I would love it if you would consider becoming one of my followers today! Your presence here is so appreciated, I hope you enjoy the moments you spend here

 It is Monday again, where did the weekend go? I had a great weekend hopping around the world enjoying looking at other peoples desks through WOYWW  .

For those of you who have never visited that site, it means "Whats on your work desk Wednesday" and about 200 people actually post pictures of their workspace so people like me can be curious and see what they are up to in their crafty lives.  I am in the process of having a new craft room built, so I am looking for ideas, especially for organization, and boy do some people have organized craft spaces! And as all my friends know I am the Queen of Clutter, so any help I can find will be great for the new space. Anyway, if you haven't checked it out, maybe you would like to, and hey why not join in the fun and post a picture of your desk this coming Wednesday.

My card today was inspired by a few different challenges that I plan to enter my card in today.  I followed the sketch created by Sarah at mojomonday 

I chose the color scheme of aqua and cherry red...yes look for it there is cherry red on there, from thedynamicduoschallenge   

The theme of the card which is the cue word FRIEND comes from  addictedtocas

 And finally I will enter the card in the challenge at stampandcreate where their April monthly challenge is to use of at least one die cut on your card. 

Today I enjoyed spending time creating. I find it relaxing, therapeutic, and just plain enjoyable. I appreciate each and everyone who comes to read my blog, and I hope you will take a moment to leave me a comment. Each comment means so much to me.

Have a creative day,

Hugs, Cathryn

Thrilling Thursday

Today I am so happy to share a card that I helped my neighbour  make for her lovely little granddaughter Kaili who is soon turning 6. Kaile just loves Hello Kitty. So Debbie and I found these special papers, some embossing supplies, and off to the races we went. This is what we came up with.

For her first card I think Debbie did an awesome job!

Now on to the card I made after she went home.  I made this card using a sketch I found at deconstructingjen:Sketch #95. I was trying for a vintage/distressed look for this card which is one of my favorite looks, as in the past I have done a lot of work as a primitive artist. For me to find challenges looking for a vintage look is just so much fun.

Using papers from the Heritage Book from Joannes Fabrics,  my sewing machine,distressing tool,and an inking pad, this is the card design I came up with this week. Oh I also added a fabric bow which I aged, and an old button.

                    I love the vintage look and feel of this card, and I hope you will too!

These are the challenges I will be entering my card in :

allsortschallenge:200th challenge! vintage

 pinandtack:spark-your-creativity-now-anything goes 

I am so happy that you stopped by to check out my blog. I would love for you to become a follower if you haven't already done so! Please leave a comment your workds bring a smile to my heart! 

Do have a a grand day!

 Please come back again.

WOYWW

Hi everyone its Wednesday which means it's time for the amazing Whats on Your Work Desk hosted by the amazing Julia :-).  If you are new to this amazing desk journey, hop on over to Julia's blog here and get the whole scoop, if your a seasoned sojourner, read on!

Me, well I am a newbie, this is just my third week posting, and I have been enjoying hopping around the world to see what other people have on their desks. My desk is pretty basic, so I thought this week I would post 2 pictures, the first is a picture of the collage that most people commented on last week,it was way in the back of my desk picture. It is actually a piece that was created by my beautiful granddaughter Madilyn who is 6. We were crafting together , making scrapendipity pages. This is hers:

The second picture is what is behind my desk.  I am currently situated in our guest room. So I sit facing the desk and when I turn my chair around the bed is right there so it has become a storing center for some of my crafting supplies...and other stuff.  And yes that is a shark you see in the background!!!  One of my hubby's purchases.

Well, I guess the shark does kind of take over!  I am waiting for my new room which is in the process of being renovated.  In the meantime, I love my little space and love any time I spend there creating.
Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to stopping by as many desks as I can this week for inspiration!
Hugs, Cathryn

Paper crafting Tuesday

I love to spend time making cards and my daughter in law Danielle has a birthday coming up so I wanted to make her a card.  She has a love of Betty Boop, and loves the colors black, red and white, so I played around with these colors and came up with this card.

 

It is a very simple card made with an embossed white background, with a rose added, and a polka dot ribbon added over the top.  I tied the bow separately  and glued in on the ribbon.  I added the white embossed piece to a black background to make the whole card pop. 

As simple as this card is, it turned out very pretty and elegant, and she just loved it!

I hope you will too!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

cardmakinmamas: no patterned paper

simonsaysstampschallenge:anything-goes 

the paper girls challenge: raindrops, umbrellas, or flowers 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I appreciate each and every comment left for me, I read each one and take them to heart.  I would love it if you would become a follower. Hugs, Cathryn

50th Card Post!

Wow, they say miracles still happen, and for me to still be blogging after 2 months, and this being my 50th Post, for me, it is nothing short of a miracle. I have you, my readers, my supporters, to thank. Your kind comments have helped me to believe in myself and move ahead in this sometimes crazy blogging journey. Knowing that there is a caring community of crafters out there has breathed new life into me and I will be forever thankful to all who have come, and will come to this blog to share just a little bit of time with me on my journey.

Today for my 50th Post, I have a card for the seizethebirthday challenge. Starting with a sketch, make a masculine card.  Here is the sketch.

 

So for my card I decided to use a new technique I am just learning, heat embossing.  I used the color scheme of black, silver and grey metallic. And I just love the way this card came together.  I used Martha Stewart Embossing Powder, and papers from Michaels. I hope you love this card as much as I do.

As I mentioned earlier I will be entering this card into the seizethebirthday:masculine birthday.

Thank you so very much for looking. I read all comments and take each one to heart.  Would you please consider becoming a follower on this special day! Thank you for your support!
Hugs, Cathryn