Lots of Candles Masculine Birthday Card

Some days I don't feel much like crafting.  Some days I don't feel much like blogging.  And then there are entire weeks when I don't feel much like doing either.  Obviously this has been one of those weeks!  Thankfully there are lots of challenges out there to help me get back into it, and inspire this manly birthday card I made this afternoon:

The colours came from the latest Stamping 411 Colour Inspiration - old olive, not quite navy, close to cocoa and more mustard.  The design was inspired by the latest Mojo Monday sketch, although as you can probably tell, I did manage to put my own spin on it again.  These things have a tendancy to evolve a bit in the making!  

 Never mind, still got me back into the crafting and blogging - at least for today anyway!

Stamps used for this card:  'Sanded' background, 'Big Bold Birthday' (candle) and the SAB set - 'Whimsical Words'

Simple but beautiful butterfly card

I am really loving the butterfly stamp from the 'Dreams du Jour' set right now.  I love the fact that it is an outline stamp, so if you want to colour it in, like I did for this Kristina Challenge card, you can.  I also love the fact that there is enough fine detail in that outline, that if you want to, you can just stamp it out in a single colour and it still looks fantastic - especially if you have a few in different colours:

For this card I really wanted the focus to be on those butterflies, and originally set out to have just some stamping on a single piece of white card.  Unfortunately the white card, while perfect for stamping on, is not the heaviest, and the card seemed a bit too flimsy.  Instead I trimmed it up and attached it to a teal card base, to match that teal sentiment.  I was pleased with the finished look - having the teal didn't take away from the butterflies at all, and I think I ended up with a more balanced card.

 

The colour combination of taken with teal, real red, and apricot appeal came straight from the latest Stamping 411 colour inspiration challenge.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get everything positioned just where I wanted it, but other than that, this card was super simple, and I now I think I love those butterflies even more!

A Bold Bright Card with a Tropical Feel

It is no secret that the Bold Bright colours are not my most favourite - although I have been trying to use them more lately and have been pleasantly surprised more than once!  I do love the Kaleidoscope patterned papers though - they seem to me to be a slightly subdued version of those bold brights, and so not quite so scary!  They do make me long for a nice Fiji holiday though - I think they have a fun tropically kind of look.

So of course when I saw those wine glasses in Makeesha's inspiration photo, I thought of a nice fruity drink to go along with those tropical papers.  Here is the photo:

And here is the card:

I based this card on the latest sketch from Stamping 411 again, but abandoned the planned brads for knots in the ribbon instead.  Because the colours in the paper are not too bold and bright, I was able to use pumpkin pie ribbon, even though the card is a nice bright only orange, and I don't think it looks out of place.

Not quite a Fiji holiday, but it is sure to brighten someones day!

Wanted - A Pretty Pony Card

Cousin Maya is turning 8.  She loves horses, and is lucky to have her own white pony named Star.  When it came time to make Maya's birthday card the choice was easy - use the horse from the 'Wanted' stamp set.  Most of the projects I have seen and made using this set have been with earthy colours, and often quite masculine looking.  This time I wanted a pretty pony card, so instead of browns, I went with pink - well an embossed white horse on pink card (the running horses on the envelope were pink though).  The finishing touches were a couple of punched stars, some pink pirouette ribbon, and sponging around the edges of all the card and the pink pirouette patterned paper.

The layout of this card was based on the sketch challenge over at Stamping 411.  I love the simplicity of this sketch, and think I might have to file it away for future quick card reference:

 Now this card has me thinking about a possible  bargain bin project from my February challenge.  I see more pretty ponies in my future...  Stay tuned!