Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sketch and Stash Challenge #8 Birthday Invitation


Wow, it's been way too long since I posted on here. And I just realized I'm a little late to enter into the Sketch and Stash Challenge but I used their sketch for inspiration when designing some simple invitations for my son's first birthday party. I haven't used the images from the Pooh font cartridge in any of my cards so I was excited to be able to finally use one and have Pooh be the theme for the party. We weren't going to throw a big bash in light of my FIL's situation (he'll be in the hospital for at least another two weeks) and I know he'll be very saddened that he won't be able to attend, but we decided to order in some food and have a bunch of friends and family over to help celebrate our son's big day.

The patterned paper I used was from the Cricut Celebrations pack and the Pooh cut was at 3". It was hard to be creative and get excited about doing a boy card but now that I have a Disney Princess cart due to arrive shortly, I know I will be easily excited and eager to create invitations for my daughter's birthday. Please excuse the poor quality of the photographs. I can't find my camera so I had to use my cell phone.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My First RAK!

I just wanted to share with everyone this wonderful RAK that arrived in the mail today. It's from a very talented cardmaker named Karen. I became an admirer of her work just after I first started making cards of my own back in January and I've been a follower ever since. I was never terribly interested in stamping but I couldn't resist after seeing what gorgeous stamps there are and I just fell in love with the Sugar Nellie Gorjuss stamps that Karen uses so creatively in a lot of her work. Sugar Nellie Stamps is a Scottish company and I haven't seen their stamps here in Canada, yet. So Karen decided to mail some printed images for me to use and I cannot tell you how thrilled I am! What is so neat is that they arrived all the way from Scotland! And the best part of it all is the one-of-a-kind card Karen made for me. Isn't it just beautiful?

Thank you, Karen, for your truly gracious and thoughtful gift!

My First Award!


I am so happy to announce that Tammy from Tammy's Place has kindly passed on the Lemonade award to me. That was so thoughtful of her and it really made my week. If you haven't had a chance to check out her blog, then you should pop by and look at all the truly amazing work she does

Now, the way the “When Life Gives You Lemons, make Lemonade” Award (for short, The Lemonade Award) works is:
1) You must link back to the person you received the award from.
2) You have to nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award!

So I choose to nominate the following bloggers who I have met since I started blogging here on Diana's Designs. They have been kind enough to leave comments and words of encouragement, and have also inspired me in my creative endeavours.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Some Bunny Loves You


So I'm a little late in posting this, yes. But I really did want to share this 12 x 12 card my daughter and I put together to give to my father-in-law. He's been in the hospital for a few weeks now and just started chemotherapy a few days ago. It's hard because now that he has no immune system, it's risky to bring the kids to see him as my daughter attends preschool and there is always some notice of an illness going around and I always fear that my daughter, who seems otherwise healthy aside from a minor cough, might unknowingly be carrying a bug. We did get to visit him earlier this week and he was beyond thrilled to see his first grandchild. He proudly pointed out the pictures of my kids on his locker and the Easter card we made for him which rested on his window sill. It was just after his first chemo treatment and aside from seeming a bit tired, he was in good spirits. And although he's since had a few rough nights battling high fevers, I'm still very hopeful and know that he is strong enough to handle the rough times ahead.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Starving Artistamps: Oh baby! You're Super! Giveaway


Check out the newest stamp collection by Starving Artistamps and enter for a chance to win the whole collection by following the instructions located here. But hurry, contest closes tomorrow! Good luck!

Welcome Baby Card for Boy


My DH needed a card to give to his worker whose wife just had a baby boy. And I thought, finally, I get to use the Cricut New Arrival cart for the very reason I bought it for - to make baby cards. So I whipped this up last night and can I tell you? I had so much fun putting it together and I am super happy with the result. I also made a little embellishment for the envelope and interior as well.

Friday, April 10, 2009

CPS Card Sketch #110


Here is my card for the CPS card sketch this week. I decided to use my Grab-a-Doodle-Do image to use on this card and I had fun colouring it in and adding stickles. I cut out the leaves and flowers from some scrap designer paper I had lying around and used them to decorate the inside of the card as well. You might say there's a bit too much glitter on the DP but I kept everything else somewhat minimal in order to compensate for it. I like how it turned out. How about it you?

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Here Are Some Invites



When I first got my Cricut, I was looking for every excuse in the book to use it. The first thing I could think of was making invitations for my son's upcoming first birthday. Granted, I only had the Plantin Schoolbook and Accent Essentials cartridges so I didn't have much to play with. Here are some of the invitations I've designed, my favourite one being the Wall-E card. Notice the pun on the name which I designed using Microsoft Word. I used some cuts from the Paper Doll Dressup cart for pieces of the Wall-E but handcut the head and hands, which ended up being quite tedious after my friend ordered 15 invites! Here are some other less tedious invites. The photos aren't the best quality so you cannot really see the details of the floral printed paper I made in the last picture.



Tuesday, April 7, 2009

ICSketches #11


I finally had the chance to quickly throw together a card for a challenge and I just loved the Inspirational Card sketch this week. I used my new Cricut Celebrations cartridge for the card, envelope and scalloped tag. I got to use my new Studio G ink pads, fairy stamps and my favourite, Stickles! I just bought the stickles a few days ago and I couldn't wait to put them to use. Here is the card with the matching envelope:

Friday, April 3, 2009

The Final Product - My Nephew's Door Plaque


So here it is, the final result of the door plaque I'm giving to my nephew for his birthday this weekend. I used Elmer's spray adhesive and boy, is that stuff ever messy. And stinky to boot! I opted to leave it as is and not use the matte finish. I think that should be okay seeing as it will be used indoors. Now I just have to add something to the back to be able to hang it on his door.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

My First Cricut Craft


My nephew is turning 5 this weekend so I thought I would put my new Cricut to use and create a door plaque for his room. My sister decorated his room with a Cars theme but I didn't have the Disney Cars cartridge. So instead I went with the classic car from the Mickey cartridge. I really love how the cuts turned out but now I have to figure out what to do with the actual pine plaque I just bought. I know I should sand it down before I paint it with white acrylic paint. But then I need to adhere the paper. I have a spray adhesive I will try out and I also bought some low-odour matte finish to protect it when it's done. I'm just hoping it will turn out okay because I worked really hard on the car. I love the paper I used and I'm hoping my nephew will like it just as much as I do.

Stamp Something Sketch Challenge


Just a quick post to share the card I designed based on Emily Weems sketch over at Stamp Something. This was the first time using this Studio G stamp and it was so easy to colour in. I don't know yet what I will use it for, hence no sentiment. Hope you like it!