naturally nautical

Wow - I feel like the months are flying by.  How did it get to be June already?!? We've had a few hot days here and hopefully there will be more soon... summer is definitely my favourite season.

My friend Lindsey has chosen a nautical theme for this week at Seize the Birthday.  I usually don't put red, white and blue together but definitely works for a this theme. Was thinking afterwards that I could have used a wavy embossing folder for the waves... oh well.  Next time.

Please welcome Melanie Hungerford as our Surprise Party Guest! Looking forward to having her join us!  Be sure to check out the blog for the rest of the team's nautical treasures.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

belated birthday wishes

Stamps: Paper Smooches

Ink: Versafine Black

Paper: SU! Real Red, Crumb Cake & Night of Navy, white card stock

Accessories: wood veneer cloud, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Lawn Fawn wave dies, Copic grey marker

wondrous wheels

Happy Thursday crafters!  Hope you are doing well.  This week at Seize the Birthday, Shirley has given us the challenge of wheels. The possibilities are endless!  I've been trying my hand at blending... sometimes I am more successful than others. This one was successful and goes well with the water theme.

Hope you can join us this week to create some wondrous wheel creations (or just birthday of course). Head over to the blog to see what our Surprise Party Guest, Lynda and the rest of the team came up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday - 3.5"x5.5"

Stamps: Paper Smooches (ship wheel), Avery Elle Loads of Wishes

Ink: Versafine Black, Distress Oxides - Twisted Citron & Broken China

Paper: SU! shimmer (for background), white card stock

Accessories: Altenew Ribbon Waves 3D embossing folder, grommet, stitched ribbon

beautiful bouquets

Happy Thursday my crafty friends... hope you are doing well.  I'm particularly excited as I'm getting vaccinated (jab #1) this weekend!  I know it's still a long road and many people around the world don't even have access yet but I'm glad things are moving forward. FYI: Unicef Canada is fundraising for equitable vaccine access.

Colleen has chosen bouquets for our theme at Seize the Birthday this week! This is not my original idea - borrowed it from my friend Sue.  I love dark purple so much but I don't seem to use it as much as I should (but it is hard to photograph).

Hope you can join us this week for some beautiful creations (or just birthday of course). Head over to the blog to see what our Surprise Party Guest, Lynda and the rest of the team came up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday to you - 4.25" x 5.5"

Stamps: Catherine Pooler (leaves & flowers) & Lawn Fawn (sentiment)

Ink: SU! Blackberry Bliss, VersaMagic Mango Madness & Tea Leaves

Paper: white card stock, SU! Blackberry Bliss

Accessories: MFT stitched rectangle dies, Catherine Pooler dies, SU! silver mesh, twine

furry friends

Happy Thursday friends! This week at Seize the Birthday we are doing furry creatures this week! Thanks to Cathy for this challenge. I confess -  I have very few furry creatures in all of my stamps.  So I pulled out a less obvious furry creature - a unicorn!  Hope that still counts. Nothing says unicorn like rainbows and glitter so I went all in!

Hope you can join us this week for some fun furry friends creations (or just birthday of course). Head over to the blog to see what our Surprise Party Guest, Lynda and the rest of the team came up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

stunning spring

Hope you are well! I'm very happy because the warm temperatures have finally started to arrive here - hope they stick around.  It perfectly ties in with our theme at Seize the Birthday this week - spring flowers.  Thank you TaeEun for the challenge (she always has the most amazing floral cards so this is very appropriate for her challenge!).  Grabbed an alcohol ink background for this otherwise CAS card. 

Hope you can join us this week for some spectacular spring creations (or just birthday of course). Head over to the blog to see what our Surprise Party Guest, Lynda and the rest of the team came up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

happy happy - 3.75"x 5"

Ink: Ranger alcohol inks

Paper: white card stock, SU! Old Olive & Pacific Point, Yupo paper

Accessories: Simon Says Stamps daisy & happy dies, A Muse pearls

spectacular squares

Wow - how did it get to be April? Wasn't it just the beginning of March? Hard to believe that this year is flying by so quickly. Hope things are going well in your world... I'm grateful to be able to get outside with our lovely spring weather while I eagerly await getting a jab in the arm.

This week at Seize the Birthday our theme is squares, courtesy of JoAnn. I didn't get too complicated here - several squares on this card.  Went a little nerdy and used a math background - just to stick with the squares theme. Was wishing I had enamel squares, but alas, I didn't and had to go with circles.

Hope you can join us this week for some square creations (or just birthday of course). Be sure to check out the blog for the rest of the DT creations.  Also give a warm welcome to our new Surprise Party Guest, Lynda!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day and terrific weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday - 4"x4"

Stamps: Fun Stampers Journey - sentiment, Hero Arts - background

Ink: SU! Lucky Limeade, Hero Arts Cerulean chalk ink

Paper: black, grey and white card stock, SU! Old Olive

Accessories: Tim Holtz tiny attacher, SU! enamel dots

sketchy

It was the 1 year anniversary for our 'shelter in place' this week. Wow - hard to believe! What do you do to occupy your spare time right now? I've been really good at reading, exercising and eating ... not so good at cleaning the house, yard work, or practicing languages and piano.  ;) Just grateful to be healthy, to be able to go outside, to be employed and to be able to see friends at a distance.

I got to pick the challenge for Seize the Birthday this week... so I pulled together a sketch.  Thanks Ashwini for "blogifying it"! I was inspired by this card of mine, just flipped on it's side.  This card was not at all what I initially envisioned... I like it but don't love it ... but I'm posting it anyway.  LOL!  Maybe I'll warm up to it.

Hope you are able to play along!  I always love sketch interpretations.  There are some brilliantly creative ones from our Surprise Party Guest Carol and the rest of the DT over at the blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you are staying healthy and sane (mostly anyway)!

Glenda

Card details:
Oh happy day - 6.25" x 4.25"
Stamps: Mondo Gerbera from Ellen Hutson/Julie Ebersole, Loads of Wishes from AveryElle
Inks: Versamark, VersaFine Clair in Nocturne, Distress Oxides
Paper: watercolour paper, black card stock, SU! Granny Apple
Accessories: clear drops from Studio Katia, white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, SU! embossing folder, sewing machine

trio of green

It's March!!! So many mixed feelings about March this year... but I'm focusing on the arrival of spring. It's spring time over at Seize the Birthday as our challenge this week is three shades of green. I love green so have lots of scraps of green patterned paper...so decided use them with my new Simon Says Stamp die!

Hope you can join us!  Be sure to check out the glorious green creations from Carol, our Surprise Party Guest, and the rest of the team!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are staying well and staying sane.

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday to You - 3 1/2" x 6"  

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: VersaFine Black

Paper: scraps of green patterned paper, white & black cardstock, SU! embossed designer paper

Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Brilliant Gifts die, SU! gem

...and end scene

It never ceases to amaze me, after all these years of card making, how some cards just come together so quickly and easily (like this one) and others take FOREVER to get right. Our current challenge at Seize the Birthday is to create a scene.  Thanks (maybe?) to my friend Lindsey for choosing this one.  Scenes are always a struggle for me - this one perhaps the biggest struggle ever but definitely happy with the result. 

I chose an ocean scene because I love the ocean and thought it would be easy. I really don't know how long this card took (at least an hour).  I kept picking up things and moving them around (definitely lost some paper thickness on some of those little pieces), swearing, making new (this card had an octopus on it originally) and different pieces in different colours, swearing more, moving stuff around more.  Amazed that moving things around that had already been attached didn't leave any adhesive or tears. I felt sorry for my friend Jo who was online crafting with me that day.  I was relieved to finally get the the scene together. I then had to draw in the & between the two sentiments and had to hold my breath that I got it right and didn't ruin the card.  I really love this card but I don't love how long it took. Apologies for the long story. I'm not complaining, just lamenting my incompetence  - lol.

Hope you can join us!  Be sure to check out what Carol, our Surprise Party Guest, and the rest of the team created!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are staying well and staying sane.

Glenda

Card details:

big hugs & birthday wishes- 4 ¾" x 4 ¾"  

Stamps: Mama Elephant (sentiments), SU! Sea of Textures

Ink: Distress Inks (too many to remember), VersaFine Black

Paper: watercolour

Accessories: SU! Sea of Textures dies, Memory Box Elegant Jellyfish

whole lotta hearts

Welcome to February friends!  Everyone I've been talking to this week says "where did February go?". I am in agreement - January seemed to fly by even though I don't feel like I did much. Struggling a bit with pandemic fatigue... really itching to get on an airplane jet off to far away lands.  It's been too long... just trying to be patient and keep myself busy with reading, exercise and video chats!

So in honour of February, we are playing with hearts over at Seize the Birthday.  The theme is courtesy of our fearless and amazing leader Nancy! I love using hearts (especially since I don't make Valentine's Day cards) for birthday cards and 'miss you' cards.  When I first envisioned this card, the hearts were going to be running the same way as the alcohol ink. However, when I started building it, I decided it looked much better with them being oriented in opposite directions.  What do you think? Now wondering if I should have put some bling on it.... oh well. This card is pretty CAS and didn't take long to put together.  Which is exactly how I like it... remind me to tell you about the card I made for the next Seize the Birthday challenge.  It was quite the opposite to this one as far as how long it took... "insert eye roll here"

Hope you can play along! Be sure to check out the lovely creations from the rest of the team and welcome our new Surprise Party Guest, the fabulous Carol Mayne! Really looking forward to having her join us.

Hope you are keeping well and thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day and a wonderful weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday- 4 ¼" x 5 ½"  

Stamps: Cathy Zeilske

Ink: Versafine black, SU! Real Red, Ranger Alcohol Ink Watermelon

Paper: white, Yupo

Accessories: MFT Hearts Entwined die

very vellum

Seize the Birthday is playing with transparency/vellum this week (courtesy of Ashwini). Thanks for the great challenge. I chose vellum as it just seemed to fit the feel of my card.  Please ignore my slightly tipsy 'happy' ... guess it got into my martini from last time! Loved putting the stitching on this (it's a great way to attach the vellum), especially since this is one of the few things I've sewed lately that wasn't a mask! 

Hope you are able to play along and have some fun with this! Be sure to check out all of the fun creations from the rest of the team and our Surprise Party Guest Julie Peddicord!  This is Julie's last week with us.  Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us Julie!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day and wonderful weekend. 

Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday- 4 ¼" x 5 ½"  

Stamps: Altenew Halftone Happy, Taylored Expressions Rough Notes Background 

Ink: Versafine Black, Altenew Lava Rock

Paper: white, black, grey & blue card stock, watercolour paper

Accessories: watercolour pencils, sewing machine, SU! enamel dot, Simon Says Stamps daisy & happy die

snow vs. martini

Wishing everyone a fresh and bright 2021! Hope you were have some relaxing (and safe!) downtime over the holidays and new year. Ours was very quiet (we have spent several Christmases on our own so not unusual) ... we had to work a bit but definitely had some chill time off.

Speaking of chilling out ... after taking December off, Seize the Birthday is back at it with a snowy background challenge this week!  I took the easy route and just did some white splatter.  That's basically what snow is anyway, right? I'm not a fan of real snow (I'd much rather be inside with a martini) but it was fun trying to figure out what to do with this challenge. Thanks to my team mate Barbara for coming up with this one!

Pretty simple but I like how it turned out (plus is has red on it so how can you go wrong?).  Hope you are able to play along and have some fun with this! Be sure to check out all of the spectacular snowy creations from the rest of the team and our returning Surprise Party Guest Julie Peddicord!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day and wonderful weekend. All the best to you and yours for 2021.

Glenda

Card details:

celebrate - 4 ¼" x 5 ½"  

Stamp: Fun Stampers Journey Greet & Shout

Ink: SU! Real Red, Mr Huey's Opaque White Mist

Paper: white & blue card stock, black glossy paper 

Accessories: martini die (hmmm, where did it come from?), washi tape, MFT Polaroid Die, Fancy Pants Designs heart and star stickers

Case Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Happy December!  I'm honoured and excited that fellow science nerd and card maker Michelle Lupton invited me back again this year for some Christmas card fun. I have lots of Christmas cards left over from previous years so won't be making any new ones to send... but it's always but to play around with my Christmas crafty goodies. 

This year, the challenge was to be inspired (CASE) one of Michelle's cards to create a Christmas card (and she will do the same for one of my cards). From Michelle (because she worded it so well): 

CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything - but it's not about just copying a card. It's about getting inspiration from cardmaking friends, but making a new card that is our own.

 

I chose this adorable card and created this card. I wonder if I should have added some sparkle somewhere but overall quite happy with it! I might make a few more to send to some very special people.

Be sure to head over to Michelle's to see what amazing creation she came up with (I don't get to see it ahead of time so I am excited to see)!  I always love her cards and know it will be fabulous.  

Thank you so much Michelle!  It is always a pleasure and an honour.

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Peace & Joy

Stamps: Avery Elle Holiday Bouquet

Paper: Yupo paper and white card stock

Ink: Versafine Black, Ranger Alcohol Inks - Stream, Citrus & Sailboat Blue

Accessories: Lawn Fawn snowflake dies, Tim Holtz air tool

pink & brown

How did it get to be the end of November? So hard to believe. Hope you are all doing well & staying safe.

Playing along with Color Hues pink & brown challenge.  I was going to pass on this one but then I realized I had pink and brown alcohol ink... that would make things easier (take out most of the thinking part of card making - lol).

Happy Thanksgiving to my American crafty friends!  Hope you're having a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

hugs - 3.5"x 5"

Supplies: Yupo paper, Avery Elle hugs dies, Ranger Alcohol inks, air tool, heart gem

sparkle & shimmer

First off, apologies for my late post!  It was supposed to be up this morning but... it just didn't happen. Oh well... anyway, we are playing with sparkle & shimmer this week over at Seize the Birthday.  I went with a fairly subdued card to let the sparkle pop!  It may be hard to see but the green & purple are on shimmer paper and the black is on glossy paper (added the second photo to try to show it off). Surprisingly - no stamps on this card.

Hope you are able to play along and have some fun with this! Be sure to check out all of the spectacular sparkle & shimmer creations from the team and our Surprise Party Guest Julie Peddicord!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day and wonderful weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

celebrate - 4 ¼" x 5 ½"  

Paper: black card stock, SU retired patterned paper, SU! green sparkle paper & black glossy paper, A Muse shimmer paper (green & purple)

Accessories: Paper Smooches celebrate die, SU! globe dies, brads