swanky sihouettes

Welcome to Seize the Birthday crafty friends.  Cathy has chosen silhouettes for our topping this week. I was a little stumped on this one but I was looking through some of my stash and found this background. I thought it would go well with one of these funky flowers. I snuck a little heart in between the happy and birthday - it blends in a bit but thought it was a fun accent.

Be sure to head over to the blog to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the team, our terrific Surprise Party Guest Wanda and previous winner Chris. Hope you can play along with us - using the topping isn't mandatory but we love it when you do.

Be sure to head over to the blog to check out the swanky creations from the rest of the team, our terrific Surprise Party Guest Wanda and previous winner Rachel. 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:

happy birthday

Stamps: Trinity Stamps

Ink: Versafine Black, Distress Oxides

Paper: watercolour paper, black & green card stock

Accessories: Tim Holtz/Sizzix die, washi tape, enamel heart, sparkly spray mist (for splatter - don't remember the brand)

focal one

Hey crafty friends... welcome to another Seize the Birthday challenge.  This is the second last one of 2024 as we take December off. Ashwini has chosen the challenge this week - for the focal image, use only one stamp and stamp it only once. No more stamping is allowed on the focal image.

I used one of my favourite big floral stamps and coloured it with watercolour pencils.  To liven it up, I splattered with some pink (! I know, I know) Distress Mica spray.  Happy with how this fun card turned out.

Be sure to stop by the blog and check out the fabulous creations from the design team, our Surprise Party Guest Fran.

Sending crafty love to all of you. 

Thanks for stopping by and take care,

Glenda

Card details:

celebrate - 3.5 " x 6"

Stamps: Casual Fridays (image) and A Muse (sentiment)

Ink:Versa Claire Nocture, Distress Mica Spray - Cocktail Party, Distress Ink - Uncharted Mariner

Paper: watercolour paper, black card stock

Accessories: Derwent watercolour pencils, Tim Holtz water brush, clear embossing powder

red & black

Hey crafty friends.  I couldn't resist playing along with one of my favourite colour combos - red & black - over at Colour Hues Challenge. I recently took a fall leaves watercolour painting class and couldn't resist putting some of those techniques into this card. I used Distress Ink for this card... since I made it, I've picked up some watercolour paints (always more crafty supplies to buy - right?). I've also accumulated many leaves in my jacket pockets - lol.

Thanks to the design team for all the fabulous inspiration.

Have a great day and I'll be back on Thursday with another Seize the Birthday challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Glenda

Card details:

best wishes - 4.25" x5.5"

Stamp: Spellbinders

Ink: Versafine Black, Distress Aged Mahogany 

Paper: watercolour paper, black card stock

beachy

Hope everyone is having a great May so far! Life is a little hectic as a started a new job on Monday but I'm looking forward to the new challenge. I have a few new crafty goodies too (not used on this week's card) and hope to have some time to use them soon.

Our beach theme for Seize the Birthday this week was picked by Vicki. I dug out an old wood mounted surf board stamp and did some watercolouring with Distress Oxides.  The background is blended Distress Oxides. We took surf lessons when we were in Costa Rica late last year - so fun but really exhausting!

Be sure to stop by the blog to give some crafty love to the rest of the team as well as Surprise Party Guest Jolanda and previous winner, Stef.

Have a terrific day and a wonderful upcoming weekend.  It's Mother's Day in Canada on Sunday so wishing a great day to all of the moms, step-moms, grandmas, aunties, sisters and other mother-figures out there! I'm a proud step-mom and aunt/great-aunt.

Thanks for stopping by.

Glenda

Card details:

All Kinds of Happy - 5.5"x4.25"

Stamps: My Favorite Things Bundles of Ballooons (sentiment); A Muse surf board

Inks: Versa Claire Nocturne, Distress Oxides, Adirondack Black Archival Ink

Paper: Distress Watercolour and Heavy Stock

Accessoreis: Tim Holtz watercolour brush pen

off the edge

It's time for another Seize the Birthday challenge and Shirley has chosen off the edge. I love this challenge and decided to do a tipsy martini off the edge.  There is a bit of sparkle (Wink of Stella) on the martini but it's hard to see.

Be sure to check out the blog to see the great creations from the design team as well as Jolanda, our Surprise Party Guest, and previous winner Milla.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,

Glenda

Card details:

Cheers - 3½" x 5"

Stamps: Unity Stamps (martini), Trinity Stamps (sentiment)

Ink: Distress Oxides, Versa Claire Nocturne, Mr. Huey (splatter)

Paper: Distress Watercolour Stock, SU! Real Red

Accessories: EK Success corner rounder punch, Wink of Stella, clear embossing powder, Tim Holtz water brush

yellow & pink

Happy weekend friends! A friend of mine recently had surgery so thought I would use the latest combo from Color Hues to make a card for her. I used the very 'high tech' tool of toilet paper rolls to make the hearts. LOL! I have yet to figure out why I so often do colour challenges with pink when I don't even really like pink. 

Hope you have a great upcoming week!

Thanks for stopping by.

Glenda

Card details:

get well - 4¼" x 5½"

Stamps: Paper Smooches

Inks: Distress Oxides - Mustard Seed and Worn Lipstick, Altenew Evening Gray

Paper: Distress watercolour

Accessories: heart gem, toilet paper rolls

fabulous florals

It's spring time in the Northern Hemisphere so at Seize the Birthday, we are doing spring florals, courtesy of Linda. No surprise, I went very clean and simple. Used some watercolour pencils and my Tim Holtz water brush.

Check out the blog to see the fantastic florals from the rest of the team and our Surprise Party Guest Deborah and previous winner Deb.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Always appreciate your comments.
Have a great day,
Glenda

Card details:

happy birthday - 4¼" x 5½" 

Stamps: SU! (flowers) and A Muse (sentiment)

Inks: Versafine Black, Versa Claire Nocturne

Paper: red card stock, Distress watercolour paper

Accessories: Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Tim Holtz watercolour brush pen, clear embossing powder, gem, fine line pen

dynamic duo

This week at Seize the Birthday we have a terrific challenge courtesy of Jules. We are creating cards wtih matching tags. I used the cone flower stamp from one of my favourite stamp sets from Taylored Expressions & Lori Craig, Field Notes.

Be sure to check out the blog for some beautiful combos from the design team as well as our Surprise Party Guest, Deborah, and previous winner Vicky.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Always appreciate the comments!

Have a terrific day and a wonderful upcoming weekend,

Glenda

Details:

happy birthday card & birthday wishes tag

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Field Notes (flower) and CZ Designs (sentiments)

Inks: Versafine Black, Versa Claire Nocturne

Paper: green card stock, graph paper card stock, Distress watercolour paper

Accessories: Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Tim Holtz watercolour brush pen, washi tape, enamel dots, EK Success Round Binding Edge punch, A Muse ribbon, MFT tag die, clear embossing powder

Colour Hues - Lilac & Mint

For some reason, I seem to gravitate towards colour challenges that will REALLY challenge me. This time it's lilac and mint from Colour Hues.  I don't have any trouble with the darker purples and greens but this pastel combo is challenging!  Used some Distress Oxides to make a smooshed watercolour background, and then stayed CAS with the rest ... hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great day.  I appreciate your comments.

Card details:

happy birthday - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: SU! (poppy), A Muse (sentiment)

Inks: Versafine Black, Distress Oxide Peeled Paint & Shaded Lilac,Versa Claire Nocturne

Paper: grey card stock, Distress Watercolour stock

Accessories: MFT stitched rectangle die, clear embossing powder, Tim Holtz water brush pen

falling

Welcome to Seize the Birthday's last challenge of 2023. Wow! So hard to believe. It's been another fun year and I look forward to all the fun challenges in 2024. 

Barbara has chosen fall stuff for our challenge this week. I have some long retired pumpkin stamps that I pulled out for this.  I used some Distress Oxides with some water & paint brush and 'painted' right on the stamp.  I love how they turned out and made a few more cards similar to this for some fall birthdays. 

Be sure to pop over to the blog (where it's a bit of a pumpkin fest!) to check the rest of the fabulous creations and give some love to our  Surprise Party Guest Loll and previous winner Lisa K.

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

Glenda

Card details:

birthday wishes - 4¼" x 5½" 

Stamps: Ellen Hutson/Julie Ebersole Totally Random Sayings Volume 2; A Muse pumpkins

Inks: Distress Oxides

Paper: Distress Watercolour paper, brown card stock

Accessories: brown paint, twine

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

card for a kid

My apologies crafty friends for this late post (it was supposed to up yesterday).  Life is a little non-linear for me right now - that's my excuse.  Haha.

Linda chose card for a child as the Seize the Birthday theme today.  I confess that I struggle with card for kids but when I was at my crafty retreat in January, I borrowed a great set from a friend and it made it easier! I coloured the images with watercolour pencils and added some foils splatters in the background.

Hope you can play along with us! Check out the blog for the rest of the fun creations from the DT as well as our new Surprise Party Guest Hilary and the overall winner from my initials challenge, Deborah.

Thanks for stopping by! Always appreciate your comments.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Glenda

Card details:

Hope your day is magical - 4.25"x5.5"

Stamps: SU! Magical Day

Ink: black pigment ink

Paper: SU! patterned paper, watercolour paper, white card stock

Accessories: Spellbinders splatters foil plates, silver foil, watercolour pencils, Tim Holtz water pen

sunny summer

Over at Seize the Birthday this week, Barb has challenged us to make cards around summer activities.  I love warm weather so just being outside in the summer is one of my favourite things. I dug out one of my favourite vintage wood mounted stamps to make this stamp.  Getting the smooshes watercolour background "just right" took several attempts but finally got one that I liked. It's hard to see but I used a green sparkle pen for the leaves on the tree.

Hope you can join our Surprise Party guest Lorraine (thank you for all of your amazing creations the last couple of months!) and the rest of the team to create some crafty goodness around summer activities.

I think summer may have finally arrived here so I'm looking forward to spending some time outside this weekend.  Hope you can too.

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

celebrate

Stamps: sentiment from PTI, image from A Muse

Ink: Distress Oxides, Adirondack Black

Paper: watercolour

Accessories: grommet, green sparkle pen, corner rounder punch

stunning stencils

Welcome to another challenge over at Seize the Birthday. Cathy has chosen stencils this week.  I definitely have a bit of a stencil habit so the hard part was picking one.  I went with something simple to let the flower pop. Really like how this turned out. One embarrassing thing about this card? I've mailed it already so I can't remember what I used to watercolour the flower - Distress Inks or pencils. I suspect it was inks unless I was particularly thorough at blending out my pencil marks. Oops!

Be sure to pop on over to the blog to check out the delicious creations from the design team and welcome our new Surprise Party Guest, Carol McFarland. Great to have you join us Carol!

Hope you have a terrific day and a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Happy Birthday

Stamps: PTI (sentiment), Taylored Expressions (flower)

Ink: Versafile Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Ink Broken China

Paper: white cardstock, watercolour paper

Accessories: Tim Holtz stencil, washi tape, pearls, fine Copic (for doodle border)

stellar stitching

Happy Thursday crafty friends! Hope you are doing well.  I have to admit I have not the been the most cheerful person lately with the state of the world... but I am making time to be kind to myself and keep busy with fun things.  Including being crafty of course :).

Barbara came up with our Seize the Birthday challenge this week - stitching.  I happily used my sewing machine to add a stitched border to the card. Last year I was able to reorganize my craft room so my sewing machine can stay set up all the time (which was also handy when I was sewing masks - lol) - so I love any excuse to use it. Kept this card CAS with some bright colours - quite like how this turned out.

Be sure to pop on over to the blog to check out the stunning creations from the design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Jenny.

Hope you have a terrific day and a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Celebrate the day - 4.25" x 5.5"

Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays (flower), A Muse (sentiment - retired)

Ink: Versafine Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Paper: SU! Mango Melody, watercolour paper, white card stock

Accessories: Derwent watercolour pencils, A Muse white pearls, Tim Holtz water brush, SU! window punch, clear embossing powder, sewing machine & black thread

pretty in pastels

Just a reminder... in the Northern Hemisphere there is still officially three weeks of summer left and fall has not arrived, even though the calendar says September! I'm a summer lover so am holding on as long as I can!

Our challenge at Seize the Birthday this week is pastel colours! Thanks to JoAnn for this challenge... I default to bright colours so this was a good challenge to get me out of my comfort zone.  That said, I stayed firmly in my CAS comfort zone for this card.  I quite like coral coloured poppies so that was my inspiration for this card. Please ignore my misaligned enamel dots.  I tried to fix one but the adhesive on those suckers is pretty aggressive.  I could have fixed it in Photoshop but then I decided not to... embrace the imperfection. ;) It may be hard to see but I stamped the birthday on light green.

Be sure to pop on over to the blog to check out the beautiful creations from the design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Jenny.

Hope you have a terrific day and a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Celebrate the day - 4.25" x 5.5"

Stamps: SU! poppy, Avery Elle sentiment, Taylored Expressions grid

Ink: Versafine Black, Versamark, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Paper: kraft, white, green

Accessories: Derwent watercolour pencils, enamel dots, clear embossing powder, Tim Holtz water brush

by the sea

Great news! We have a new Seize the Birthday team remember - the fabulously talented Jules Peddicord! Really excited to have her on the team. Welcome Jules!

My darling friend Nancy has picked 'by the sea' for our Seize the Birthday challenge this week.  I love all things ocean so I was delighted with this challenge.  The original inspiration for this card is this one from my friend Jenn. She was the person who first got me into watercolouring and then gave me a mini lesson on how to get this effect. I've made a few cards like this and always have fun. I've tried doing a shaker with this card but I prefer 'shaker-less'. 

Be sure to swim on over to the blog to check out the spectacular creations from the design team and our Surprise Party Guest, Jenny.

Hope you have a terrific day and a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Glenda

Card details:

Celebrate the day - 4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp: My Favourite Things

Ink: Versafine Black, Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Inks & Distress Oxides

Paper: watercolour, white card stock, Yupo glitter paper

Accessories: Memory Box die, Trinity Stamps baubles

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

elegant embossing

Happy Thursday friends! Our theme at Seize the Birthday this week, thanks to Ashwini, is using an embossing folder. Not sure if this worked exactly as I expected exactly as I hoped... however, I used one of my favourite sets, Sketchbook Florals, from Taylored Expressions/Lori Craig and that always makes me happy.

Be sure to check out the blog for our surprise party guest, Melanie, and the rest of the team's embossed beauties. Give the some crafty love!

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

Glenda

Card details:

birthday wishes

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Sketchbook Florals, Mama Elephant (sentiment)

Ink: Versafine Black, Versafine Clair Black

Paper: watercolour paper, A Muse retired Foolscap, coral and kraft card stock

Accessories: Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folder, tag punch, Derwent watercolour pencils, clear embossing powder, EK Success binding edge punch, washi tape, mini paper clip

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