Christmas supplies?!

It's our last challenge of the 2025 at Seize the Birthday and Ashwini has challenged us to use Christmas supplies. It's a doozy for me! My creative brain only wants to use Christmas supplies for Christmas cards - lol. So I had to make it easy on myself - sorry Ashwini! I grabbed a Christmas stencil that is easily used for other occasions and made a CAS, single layer card.

Hope you can join us! Please check out the blog to see what fabulous creations the design team, our Surprise Party Guest Johanna, and previous winner Liz, have come up with!

Always so grateful for the comments.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a terrific day and a wonderful upcoming weekend. It's been a fun year and I look forward to what we create for Seize the Birthday in 2026!

Take care,

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday  - 3"x 6"

Stamps: Hero Arts

Paper: kraft card stock

Ink: Versafine Balck, Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Ink Antique Linen (edge), white pigment ink

Accessories: red pearls, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Sparkle Fade stencil, EK Success corner rounder punch

birthday cheers

Welcome to July crafty friends! It's summer here which means you'll frequently find me outside with some delicious food and cold beverages.  So at Seize the Birthday this week, I've chosen food &/or drink for the topping.  No surprise that I've "poured" myself a martini for this card.  I have so many cocktail stamps and dies so thought I would make use of them. It's a little hard to see but I used an embossing folder on the martini class.

Wanted to extend a warm welcome to our new Surprise Party Guest Karen Letchworth, and our previous winner Julia Aston. Be sure to see the rest of the delicious and refreshing creations over at the blog. Hope you can play along with us - using the topping isn't mandatory but we love it when you do.

Always so grateful for the comments.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a terrific day and a wonderful upcoming weekend.

Take care,

Glenda

Card details:

cheers - 4 ¼ x 5 ½ 

Paper: black, white, blue, green and red cardstock

Accessories: Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System, Spellbinders Confetti hot foil plate, silver foil, Hero Arts Martini dies, Paper Smooches cheers die, embossing folder

lovely layers

Welcome to April at Seize the Birthday! Nancy has picked "layer it" as the topping this week. I'm always afraid that I'm going to overdue it when it comes to layers and it's going to get too cluttered ... so I just decided to dive into head first and embrace it. I love these cone flower dies so did four of them!

Be sure to check out the blog to gift some crafty love to the rest of the design team, our Surprise Party Guest, Leslie, and previous winner, Nance. 

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

Glenda

Card details:

beautiful birthday - 5.5"x5.5"

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Versafine black

Paper: yellow, black and kraft card stock, 

Accessories: Honey Bee Stamps Cone Flower dies

color hues: red & kraft

Color Hues is starting off the year with one of my favourite colour combos - red & kraft! I haven't used this fun die set very much but thought it would suit this combo well. Sending this card off to a friend who is having a tough time right now.  The red hearts are the same shade as the rest of the red paper but they look different in the photo - not sure why.  Thanks to Sheri at Color Hues for this combo!

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope 2025 is treating you well so far.

Take care,

Glenda

Card details:

sending hugs - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: SU! Real Red

Paper: white & black card stock, SU! Real Red and Crumb Cake card stock

Accessories: SU! Sending Love dies, SU! black enamel dot, Provocraft/Cuttlebug embossing folder

double stencilling

Happy June crafty friends! We have a fun challenge at Seize the Birthday this week thanks to Barbara. It's double stencilling... I was nervous to try it (because I hadn't done it before) but it ended up turning out really well.  If you want a demo, check out this video. I realized that a more open stencil was best underneath and a smaller/finer/more detailed one was best over top. The bottom stencil is from the Hero Arts Petals duo and the upper one is Tim Holtz Splash.

June means time for a new Surprise Party Guest and for the next two months, it's the terrific Julia Aston. Be sure to give her, and the rest of the DT, some crafty love for their stunning creations over on the blog.

Have a terrific day and a wonderful upcoming weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Glenda

Card details:

birthday wishes - 3.5"x6"

Stamps: Ellen Hutson/Julie Ebersole

Inks: Versafine Black, Distress Oxides - Mowed Lawn & Uncharted Mariner

Paper: black & white card stock

Accessories: gems, MFT stitched circle die, Tim Holtz Splash Stencil, Hero Arts Petals stencil (one of two in the set)

marvelous music

Is anyone else finding it hard to believe it's the end of August?! This (Northern Hemisphere) summer seems to have flown by. I'm a summer lover so am hoping for the weather to stay nice as long as possible (although we definitely need some rain).

At Seize the Birthday this week, Jules has picked the theme make it musical.  I love listening to music and I know how to play a few instruments but I realize that my musical crafty supplies are not very plentiful. I found an SU! old set and used the bass clef (I wanted to use the treble clef too but just couldn't get it to work in the design). I did an Distress Oxide smoosh background, then penciled in the staff and then stamped the bass clef.  I was going to to go over the staff with a fine pen but I ended up liking how the pencil looked. After the card was done, I thought I should have separated birthday so it was more like how the Happy Birthday song goes. Oh well...

Hope you can play along with us! Check out the blog for the rest of the marvelous creations from the DT as well as our Surprise Party Guest Izzy.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hope you have a terrific day.

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday to You - 5½" x 4¼"  

Stamps: Hero Arts (sentiment), SU! (bass clef)

Ink: Versafine Black, SU! Blackberry Bliss, Distress Oxide Stormy Sky

Paper: Distress Watercolour Stock, white card stock

Accessories: EK Success corner rounder punch, black dots, pencil

bursting with balloons

Hey crafty friends! Hope you're enjoying spring or fall where you are. We might FINALLY be getting some warm temperatures here soon - can't wait. There is a joke that Canadians' favourite pastime is talking about the weather... I'm definitely feeling that lately.

This week at Seize the Birthday we are playing with balloons, courtesy of Vicki.  I had many iterations of balloon cards (that look nothing like these) before I settled on the first one. Then I was hunting through some stamps when I across a hot air balloon stamp that I had never used before so decided to make another one. Also found some patterned paper that I had been hoarding (surprise surprise) that suited the balloon well. The patterned paper is sparkly but it's hard to see. One sassy and one whimsical - do you have a favourite?

Hope you can play along with us! Check out the blog for the rest of the beautiful creations from the DT as well as our Surprise Party Guest Hilary and our Things in a Garden winner Claire. This is Hilary's last challenge with us - thank you so much for all of your fabulous creations!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a terrific day! Always appreciate your comments.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

Woo freakin' Hoo - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: Taylored Expressions (cat and sentiment), Hero Arts (background)

Ink: VersaMark, Versafine Claire Nocturne, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks (for watercolour)

Paper: green and white card stock, Tim Holtz Distress White watercolour paper

Accessories: Glossy Accents, Tim Holtz water brush, MFT stitched rectangle dies, clear embossing powder

Happy Birthday - 5.5"x4.25"

Stamps: Unity (balloon), A Muse (sentiment)

Ink: Versafine Claire Nocturne, Versafine Black, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks (for watercolour)

Paper: grey card stock, Tim Holtz Distress White watercolour paper, American Crafts patterned paper (retired)

Accessories: MFT stitched rectangle dies, clear embossing powder, Trinity Stamps bling, Tim Holtz water brush

drinks & inks

Happy April everyone! Hope all is well. Here on the west coast of Canada it is mostly feeling/looking like spring although I would always be happy with warmer temperatures.

Our topping at Seize the Birthday this week is alcohol, courtesy of Shirley - this can be alcohol inks or alcohol images or both! I did both :). I've used these dies a lot - thought they were perfect for this challenge.  The embossing folder is a relatively new acquisition for me and I quite like it. This is also one of those cards that is a random size - I sized the card to fit the design, rather than other way around.

Hope you can play along with us! Check out the blog for the rest of the awesome creations from the DT as well as our Surprise Party Guest Hilary.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a terrific day! Always appreciate your comments.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

Cheers - 6.25"x4"

Stamps: none!

Ink: Ranger Alcohol Inks

Paper: green and white card stock, Yupo paper

Accessories: Hero Arts Martini Glass die, Paper Smooches Cheers die, silver foil, Tim Holtz Dotted Embossing Folder

red, white and ... purple

I am thrilled with JoAnn's Seize the Birthday challenge this week because it incorporates my favourite colour - RED! She has asked us to do red and white plus one other colour.  I would normally go easy & safe and pick kraft, maybe yellow or orange.  However, I decided to really challenge myself and go with purple. I love purple too but it's not the first colour I think of to go with red. Let me know your thoughts... had fun playing with my new-ish hot foiler (confess to going through more than a bit of red foil to get that sentiment right).

I'm hoping you can join us to play along. What amazing colour combo will you come up with? Be sure to check out all of the colourful creations from the rest of the team as well as Surprise Party Guest Stephanie (thanks for playing with us for the last couple of months!) and previous winner Claire.

Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific day.

Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday - 5"x3.5"

Paper: white card stock, SU! Blackberry Bliss

Accessories: Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foiling System, Hero Arts dots hot foiling plate, Pink Fresh happy birthday hot foiling plate and accompanying die, EK Success corner rounder punch, SU! enamel dots

interesting initials

It's my turn to pick them theme at Seize the Birthday! I was trying to find something unique for a theme so I chose something fun and personal - use your initials! 

For example - my initials are GJW so I could use things such as green, garden, jungle, jars, water, waves, etc.You can also use your first and last initial or perhaps all three, as a few of our Design Team Members have done. Lots of options, so I hope you have some fun with it!  

I have used all three - G (green), J (jewels) & W (waves)

We have Stephanie joining us as our regular Surprise Party Guest and Melanie Hungerford as our previous overall winner. Check out the blog for all of the fabulous designs.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a terrific day,

Glenda

Card details:

Wishing You the Best Birthday - 4.25"x5.25"

Stamps: Hero Arts Let's Celebrate (I seem to have a thing for this set lately)

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides, Versafine Black

Paper: vellum, white & black card stock, Distress heavy stock

Accessories: Honeybee gems, Tim Holtz dies, EK Success corner rounder punch, Taylored Expressions blending brushes, Altenew Ribbon Waves 3D embossing folder

wonderful wings

Happy 2023 to all! Wishing you all the best for the upcoming year.

The first Seize the Birthday challenge of the year is courtesy of Cathy and it is 'winged things'. Birds, butterflies... airplanes. Went very clean and simple with my card. 

We've changed up a few things for the challenge this year so please check out this post from Nancy with all of those details. One bit of good news from that post is that the fabulous Jules Peddicord is staying on the STB Team (most excellent news!). Also check out the creations from our DT and our new Surprise Party Guest, Stephanie. 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a terrific day.

Glenda

Card details:

Wishing you the best birthday - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: Hero Arts Let's Celebrate, Stampin' Up Sent with Love

Paper: black card stock, watercolour paper

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral, VersaFine Clair Nocturne

Accessories: corner rounder punch, Tim Holtz water brush, enamel gem, clear embossing powder

fabulous faces

I have to admit that I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with something for Shirley's faces (human or animal) challenge for Seize the Birthday. Animals and people are not my strong suit! Then I remembered my new Abstract Faces dies from Tim Holtz.  I love how this turned out.  It's hard to tell the difference between the purple (card base, 'hair' and earring) and the black (face). 

Be sure to check out the blog for the rest of the fabulous designs from the rest of the team and our Surprise Party Guest, Åsa.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day.

Take care,
Glenda

Card details:

Have a Beautiful Birthday

Stamps: Hero Arts Let's Celebrate

Ink: SU! Blackberry Bliss

Paper: white card stock, green scrap paper, SU! Blackberry Bliss, Mango Medley and Soft Sky

Accessories: Tim Holtz Abstract Faces Dies, gems, SU! Maths embossing folder

fabulous food

It's all about food over at Seize the Birthday this week.  It's a little sad because it was our former DT member Lindsey's turn to pick the theme.  :(  She wouldn't want us to sulk though... she would just want us to celebrate food - one her favourite things (mine too!). Much as I love food, I always have a hard time with food cards.  So I had to go in search of inspiration (see below for the card I CASEd). I did two cards because I wasn't sure if I was happy with the sentiment on the first one. The details that are hard to see are the Wink of Stella on the "scoops" in the first card, the Glossy Accents on the cherries and the cream coloured card stock in the second one.

This is the card that inspired these cards... it came from the designer of the stamp set I used, Julie Ebersole. Thanks for making awesome stamps and cards Julie! (and for being a fabulous human).

Be sure to check out the blog for the rest of the delicious designs from the rest of the team and our Surprise Party Guest, Åsa.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a terrific day.

Glenda

Card details:

Happy birthday

Stamps: Ellen Hutson/Julie Ebersole Stay Cool, Hero Arts Let's Celebrate (sentiment)

Ink: Distress Oxides & Versafine Black

Paper: white card stock

Accessories: Honey Bee gems, Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella

Wish big

Stamps: Ellen Hutson/Julie Ebersole Stay Cool, Paper Smooches (retired sentiment) 

Ink: Distress Oxides & Versafine Black

Paper: cream card stock

Accessories: Honey Bee gem

cool colours

I always love colour challenges and this week at Seize the Birthday is no exception.  Colleen has asked us to use purple, blue and green for our challenge this week.  I blended some Distress Oxides (I've listed the colours below but it's a bit of a guestimation as I did the card a while ago) and then stamped this gorgeous Nautilus stamp from Hero Arts. The scientist in me definitely suggests Googling nautilus to see what cool (and very ancient) creatures they are (and they are not coloured green, blue and purple!),

Please check out the fabulous creations from our Surprise Party Guest Karren and the rest of the fabulous design team.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope July is treating you well.  I just celebrated a BIG birthday and am feeling quite fortunate for all of the love I'm getting from friends & family. 

Have a great day,

Glenda

Card details

birthday wishes (mailed this already & forgot to measure!)

Stamps: Hero Arts Nautilus Pattern Bold Prints, Julie Ebersole/Ellen Hudson Totally Random Sayings Vol 2

Paper: black & white card stock

Ink: Distress Oxides - Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers & Seedless Preserves

Accessories: Trinity Stamps bling

marvelous metallics

Happy July! It happens to be my favourite month (as it's my birthday month!). Cathy has chosen the metallics theme for us at Seize the Birthday this week. I did not do anything fancy (looking at the description on the blog - I don't think I even own half of those things - haha!). I have some new Tim Holtz dies so was playing around with some metallic and shimmer papers for the CAS card. A little hard to see but the black, red and gold are shimmer papers and the silver is shinier.

A big welcome to our new Surprise Party Guest, Karren Johnson!  Be sure to check out what she and the rest of the team have come up with over at the blog.

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

Glenda

Card details:

love & laughter - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: Hero Arts Let's Celebrate

Paper: white card stock, gold, red & black shimmer paper, silver paper

Ink: Versafine Black

Accessories: gem, Tim Holtz Abstract Faces Dies

spectacular stencils

It's time for another Seize the Birthday challenge!  This week it's all about stencils thanks to Vicki. I definitely do not have a shortage of stencils and managed to use five on this card. The one that is a little tricky to see is the stars - I did it with white ink (it's easier to see IRL). There's a little glimpse of it in the upper right corner against the black bubbles. I had a lot of fun with this as I dug out some paste and some glitter too.

Check out what our Surprise Party Guest Lorraine and the rest of the DT came up with over at the blog.  Hope you can join us!

Wishing you a terrific day and a wonderful weekend.

Always appreciate that you stopped by.

Glenda

Card details:

love & laughter - 3.25"x5.5"

Stamps: Hero Arts Let's Celebrate

Paper: watercolour, white card stock

Inks: Versafine Black, Distress Oxides

Accessories: stencils, paste, glitter, corner rounder punch

cheers to green

Time for another Seize the Birthday challenge and JoAnn has picked a green & white theme.  Perfect for St. Patrick's Day and the arrival of spring in the northern hemispheres. I thought I would go very celebratory with my card this week. Playing with my alcohol inks again (it's become a bit of a habit!).

Please be sure to see what Surprise Party Guest Deepti Aggarwal and the rest of the STB team have come up with over on the blog.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Glenda

Card details:

cheers - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: none! *gasp*

Paper: Yupo, SU! Lucky Limeade, white & black card stock

Ink: Ranger/Tim Holtz alcohol inks

Accessories: Hero Arts martini die (including lime slice), Paper Smooches cheers die, Sizzix Connect the Dots embossing folder, Trinity Stamps bling

elegant embossing

Happy Thursday crafty friends. I'm happily posting on time this week! At Seize the Birthday this week we are all about embossing (of any kind) thanks to Barbara.  I decided to use some embossing powder and do some watercolouring with some Distress Oxide ink.

Be sure to pop on over to the blog to check out the elegant creations from the design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Vicky Hayes!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.
Glenda

Card details:
it's a celebration - 5.5"x5"
Stamps: Hero Arts Jellyfish Party, PTI sentiment
Inks: Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Oxide Ink, Versafine black
Paper: watercolour paper, white card stock
Accessories: white embossing powder, Trinity Stamps baubles

yellow & pink

I'm thrilled that I'm able to play along with Color Hues Challenge!  It's not really a matter of time - it's a matter of me just getting organized to photograph the card and do the post. I seem to be very good at getting the card done but missing the deadline. I was so determined to get a card done for this challenge that I am doing one that involves pink (and you know how I feel about pink).

Hope you have a great week.  It's a holiday Monday for us so looking forward to some more down time.

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Hello there 

Stamps: Taylored Expressions / Lori Craig

Ink: Distress Oxides, Distress Ink, Versafine Black

Paper: Distress Heavy Stock

Accessories: Hero Arts stencil, A Muse yellow gems, Taylored Expressions blending brushes

take me away

Finding in hard to believe that is the third week of July! We don't have a lot of plans this summer but I am loving the warm weather and trying relax as much as I can.

It was my turn to pick the theme at Seize the Birthday this week and (no surprise) I chose travel! I am craving travel these days and hoping we can fly away later this year.  The stamp I used is a retired Hero Arts stamps that I've had forever but don't think I've ever used it! (not sure why).  I looked up a topographic map online and tried to roughly mimic the colours using some Distress Oxide inks. I received this set from My Favorite Things as a gift recently and it had the perfect sentiment (although I may have to wait until next year to give this card to someone - LOL!)

Be sure to check out the blog for the terrific travel creations from Surprise Party Guest Melanie and the rest of the DT.

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

Glenda

Card details:

Adventures 4¼" x 5½ "

Stamps: Hero Arts (map) and My Favorite Things (sentiment)

Ink: Distress Oxide Inks, Versafine Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Paper: white & kraft cardstock, watercolour paper

Accessories: Geolocation enamel embellishment, clear embossing powder