Nice to see you again, TAWS!

Things have been a wee bit crazy over here.  And you know what that means - my card making time has suffered!  Weeks, maybe even over a month have gone since I've had a chance to chime in for the TAWS challenge.  This time around, I promised myself I would play along, despite the craziness!  And I'm so glad I did!

Here's the inspiration:

And my card:

This is a little birthday card for a friend who is celebrating on April 24 (which was another reason to get a card finished despite the craziness!).  If I can pop it in the mail tonight, it should arrive in her mailbox on her special day.

I just love that little bunny from the Cover Ups set, and the itty bitty sentiments are from the same set.  That font size is so sweet.  The flowers and the call out are from the Talk to Me set and the double underline under the bunnies is the little rectangular shape from Awesome Blossom.  I had a ton of fun playing along, and enjoyed the escape from craziness, even if just for a little while!  I'm hoping the task that is keeping me so busy will soon be done, so I can start creating and posting much more in the days to come!

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Shannon

Baby en Route

Hello!

Today I'm sharing a card I made for a co-worker who just announced she is pregnant.  And as I mentioned I LOVE making baby cards, so I went straight to my card making room and got started.  I didn't use a sketch or a challenge for this one, just went and started playing.  And here's what I came up with:

The baby bump stamp is from the pre-Paper Smooches days for Kim Hughes when she was designing for CHF.  I still have a lot of faves from her old school designs and this is definitely one of them.  And the rest of the images are Paper Smooches.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Shannon

Two Oopsies and a Happy Result

Hello!

Playing along with the Unscripted Sketches challenge this week.  I was pretty pleased with how the card turned out, but it wasn't easy getting there!  My intention was to place the chevrons more in the middle of the card, than closer to the top...until I smudged black ink all over the patterened paper!  Ugh!  I had to place the chevrons higher to cover up the mess!  I had also planned for the panel to be a bit bigger with less of a white frame...until I accidentally cut one side of the chevrons off a little too much and they didn't extend fully from one side of the panel to the other.  I considered leaving it, but wanted to stay true to the sketch, and it looked better with the full extension anyway!  So I trimmed it down.    So here's the sketch and the result of my little boo boos!

Sketch:

Card:

Thank you so much for coming by to see me today!
Shannon

So Loved

Hello!

Before I get started on all of my Sunday "must do's" - grocery shopping, chores around the house, getting ready for work tomorrow, etc, I wanted to share with you a "wanted to do" Mother's Day card that I made for this week's Retro Sketches challenge.  It was a really fun sketch to work with!

And here it is:

And my interpretation:

All Paper Smooches on this one!  Hope you like it!! 
Now I'm off to do the "must do's" :(  Hope you have a day full of "want to's"!!!
Shannon

Butterflies for Mom

Hello!

It's hard to believe that Mother's Day is really just around the corner.  It's such a special day - honouring our mothers, and all the mothers out there who give, sacrifice and love so unselfishly and so unconditionally.  Mom's should be celebrated every day of the year, but having one day a year dedicated to celebrating mothers is so special nonetheless. 

I'm hoping to create several cards in the coming weeks for Mother's Day that I would like to bring to work for a little sale before the big day.  I got things kickstarted today with the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This week's challenge is a trend challenge, and the trend is butterflies.

And here's what I came up with:

The butterflies are from Flutter By and the flowers stamped on the scalloped oval in the background are from Reflections. 

Hope you like it!
Shannon

Spring Chicken

Hello!

I love making baby cards.  Love it.  They make me smile.  Which is paradoxical, because I got completely left out when they were handing out maternal instincts.  Never had any desire to have kids.  My Mom always told me that would change.  That the day would come where all of a sudden I would change my mind.  Nope.  Didn't happen.  I always new in my heart that it just wasn't for me.  And when my nephew and two nieces came along, and I became an Auntie, I knew that was my true calling.   So babies - no.  Baby cards - yes!!!

I just love that little chick from The Alley Way Stamps.  I thought it would be perfect for a baby on the way - gender unknown.  It's very simple, but even this one makes me smile.  Hope it makes you smile too!

Have a good day!
Shannon

On the move!

Hello!

Today, I've got a little gift card set that I am giving to my co-worker who is set to transfer to another city very soon.  I've made ten of these little guys.  Inside will be all of her new address information, and I am going to package them up with these matching envelopes and a 10-pack of stamps.  Hopefully she will like them! 

The little bird house is from an old Kim Hughes set when she was designing for Cornish Heritage Farms - I still LOVE that stamp!  The little birdie on the envelope is from Woofers and Tweeters and the "fly line" is from Flap Happy.

Hope you have a happy day!
Shannon

A little me time...

Hello again!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a little "me" time this morning while my husband slept.  So I took advantage of the opportunity and whipped up a card for the PS SPARKS challenge this week.  It's a Picture Perfect challenge and the inspiration photo is so soft and pretty.  I had to make a sympathy card for one of my friends at work, and I thought the colour pallette would work well for the card. 

Here's the pretty picture:

And my card:

Thank you for stopping by to see me!
Shannon

Aloha!

Hello!

Hope everyone is having a nice long weekend!  And for those who celebrate, Happy Easter!  No kids over at our place, which means no egg hunt for us this morning :(  Our Easter treat is just to sleep in!  In fact, my husband is still fast asleep after working a night shift last night.  I think I will have to take advantage of the "me" time with a bit more card making until he wakes up!

I made today's card for one of the lovely ladies that I work with.  She is heading off to Hawaii in a few weeks to celebrate her 50th birthday (she doesn't look a day over 29!).  This trip has been in the works for a very long time - I think she's been counting down the sleeps for about a thousand days now!!   And it's just a few weeks away now!  I wanted to make her something special that celebrated her trip and her big day.  I pulled out my Paper Smooches Get Outta Town set and just started playing.  I love all the images on this set!  I just played around with stamping and colouring, and here's what I came up with.

It's a little busier that I would normally do, but I wanted to squeeze all the elements onto the card.  Hope you like it, and I hope to be back again tomorrow!

Happy Easter!
Shannon

Hello, Blog - Is That Really You?!!

Hello!

My poor, neglected, little blog!  March was just a crazy month for me, and sadly card making and blogging time was pretty much non-existent!  And I REALLY missed it!  It feels so good to be back.  It's Easter long weekend, which gives me four glorious days off work, and I managed to spend a good chunk of yesterday making cards!  I was so ready, and so excited to get back into it, but unfortunately my "mojo" wasn't quite as excited.  In fact, my parents are in Mexico right now, and I emailed my Mom to be on the lookout for my creativity on the beach, and if she found it to please bring it back home!  But I did manage to sqeak out a few little cards, starting with one inspired by the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge this week. 

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I've started keeping a stash of my cards at work and some of my co-workers have asked that I keep some kids cards on hand.  I thought this one would be good for a little boy.  All Paper Smooches, and that dinosaur is perfect for practicing my Copic colouring.  PS images are so great for this and that dinosaur - gah - is adorable!

Be back again tomorrow with another card and hoping to squeeze in some more card makign time over the long weekend, so I can get back into a more regular posting routine - did I mention how much I missed card making and blogging?!!

Have a good weekend!
Shannon xx