Holiday Mini Swaps

I LOVE swaps!  On our demonstrator forum website there are quite often opportunities to join swaps, but most of them are in the US, so when one comes along that is Canadian I have a hard time passing it up!

Here are the TWO cards that I made for the most recent Holiday Mini Swap.

This card was very easy for me to come up with.  I knew right away that I wanted to use the Gently Falling stamp set, Spice Cake DSP and Spice Cake Fabric.  If any of you know me, these aren't really are not at all my colors, but I can't get enough of this Spice Cake paper!  The leaves are stamped in More Mustard (the lighter ones have been stamped off before stamping on the card) with the lines stamped in Soft Suede to match the papers.  I either distressed the edges of the papers or sponged the edges of the papers, just to give it a bit more of a rustic feel.

I did not put a sentiment on the front of this card, as I thought that it could be used as many different things - Thanksgiving card, Thank You card, Birthday, Thinking of you...really anything that you would like it to be and I would hate to limit the recipient.

This card did not come so easy to me.  I had the idea for the sketch that I wanted to use, but I couldn't get the ribbon to look "right".  I think that my friends were getting sick of me asking them what was missing and them telling me that it was ok, but I just didn't like the way it looked.  That was when I got the fabulous idea to add the brad to the center of the bow.  You can't really see it in the picture, but it is actually a double bow (two loops) and is held together in the center by the brad.  The "joy" is stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and the cardstock colors used are Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.
This is a simple card, but I think it is that simple elegance that I love so much about it.  And I know the girls in my classes like it too, as they were asking when we would be making this card!

I hope to be back in a few days with the cards that I recieved in the swaps.  There are LOTS of great ideas and I can't wait to share them with you...just need to have the daylight to take the pictures.

Have a great weekend!  Hope you find some time to play!

Shore Birthday

I feel like an awful blogger lately, my summer has been so busy and is only getting busier.  We don't have a free weekend until the middle of September for sure and possible even the end of September, depending on whether or not the last plans go through.
It is hard to believe that it is the 2nd of August already!!  It has been a great long weekend that we spent with really great friends and their family (they have the most adorable 8 month old twin boys EVER)!  It was a very relaxing weekend and even though one of the boys came down with a cold, I can't think of anywhere else I would have rather been. 
This card kind of reminds me of our weekend.  We didn't spend much time relaxing on a shore, but we did get to go down to the lake for a little while.  I had actually made this card for my FIL and gave it to him in July, but because I hadn't posted and it seems so relaxed I just had to post it tonight.

I always have a harder time making masculine cards, so I CASED this card.  Check out the original here.  I hate to say that for this card the stamp sets are not available through me.  The chair and shore birds are from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Shore Thing.  The "happy" and "birthday" are from two separate stamps sets designed by the amazing Amy Rysavy.  The colors on this card are Pacific Blue, Sahara Sand and Soft Suede. 
Hope you like it!  I will try to get back to post some more cards for you soon.