Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Happy Birthday!

 


A woman I met at an online retreat last Fall has a birthday coming up, so I made her this card. I used several Lawn Fawn products to create my elements.

I stamped the mice, from "Bubbles of Joy," as well as one of the party hats from "Beam Me Up," on scraps of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. (This is my preferred ink & paper combination when I use colored pencils.) I used my Prismacolor pencils to color them, then die cut them with the coordinating dies. I used a bit of liquid glue to add a hat to each mouse's head, & went over their eyes with a black glaze pen.

I used My Favorite Things' "Rolling Clouds" stencil & Tumbled Glass Distress ink to create the sky. I cut the grass with a couple of "Grassy Hillside Borders" dies from a scrap of Recollections "Watercolor" 12x12" patterned paper. I used another purple scrap from the same paper pad for my balloon, which I die cut with a "Party Balloons" die. I also die cut 3 more balloons from scrap white cardstock & glued them to the back of my purple balloon to create dimension. I heat embossed the greeting, from "Beam Me Up," on the balloon and used a white gel pen to add the exclamation point.

After I adhered the back grass layer to my card front, I glued down the running mouse. I tied a piece of white crochet twine around the neck of the balloon, & glued the balloon to my card. I stretched the twine to the mouse's paw, and used a drop of liquid glue to hold it in place. (I clamped the twine with my cross-lock tweezers while the glue dried, to keep it fairly taut.) I added the second mouse to the balloon with liquid glue. I used scraps of cardstock behind his upper part where he hung over the top of the balloon, to keep him level with the balloon. Finally, I adhered the front grass piece with foam tape.
 
Inside of card


To add a little something to the inside of the card, I die cut another grassy layer, and adhered that in place. I used a third mouse from "Bubbles of Joy," with his little party hat, and added the cupcake from Lawn Fawn's "Party Unicorn" stamp & die set. I positioned the mouse so he is looking up where the inside message will go. I really love how this card came out!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Floral Happy Mother's Day

  

I created this card for my brother & sister-in-law to give our mom for Mother's Day. I used Sketch #SC741 at Splitcoaststampers.com for my design.

After I sized it in Photoshop to fit the sketch dimensions, I printed the "Coneflowers and Butterfly" digital stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I used my watercolors to paint it, following a reference photo for the flowers I found online. I also printed the greeting, from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Mother's Day Sentiments" digital stamp set, onto a strip of white cardstock, & rounded the corners with my 1/8" We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.

I die cut the image panel with a "Nesting Oval Infinity" die from Hero Arts. I adhered it & the greeting to a panel of blue patterned paper from Die Cuts with a View's "The Citrus Matstack." I added that to an orange panel from the same paper pad, & adhered a strip of an orange dot paper along the right side. That finished this super-easy-to-put-together card. And yes, our mom loved it!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Punny Mother's Day Card

 

I have always loved a good pun, & when I saw this card on Pinterest, I thought, I've got to make one myself. I used the "Color Layering Orchid in a Pot" stamps & coordinating dies from Hero Arts (discontinued) for my flower. Because of the relatively large sizes of the various elements, I made my card about 4-1/4x7-1/4"

I found some reference photos for orchids online, & one that had yellow & magenta petals with white centers intrigued me. I began by die cutting the main orchid image, so I could get the flowers & stems placed correctly. I stamped the first flower layer in Hero Arts Lemon Yellow. I used Hero Arts Raspberry Jam for the magenta, & heat embossed the centers with Ranger White Super Fine Detail powder. I stamped the stems with Lawn Fawn's Doe ink; & used Hero Arts Lime Green, Lawn Fawn Freshly Cut Grass, & Hero Arts Pine inks for the leaves. I stamped the dirt with Memento Espresso Truffle ink, & finally the pot with Lawn Fawn Moonstone. I then die cut the pot, leaves, & dirt with the coordinating dies. I used a small strip of lightweight cardstock as a backing piece to glue the pot, dirt, & leaves together, to make them easier to handle & position.

I die cut the letters for "Y'Orchid" with Lawn Fawn's "Quinn's Capital ABCs," pulling in the apostrophe from "Quinn's 123s." Then I stamped them with the coordinating stamps & Raspberry Jam ink. I stamped the first part of the greeting using Papertrey Ink's "Polka Dot Parade" alphabet stamps (discontinued). Initially, I was going to use those for the "Happy Mother's Day" at the bottom as well, but they were too large, so I opted for Lawn Fawn's "Claire's ABCs" instead.

After I stamped the top & bottom portions of the greeting, I glued down the die cut & stamped letters. Finally, I glued on the orchid, letting the very top overlap the "Y'Orchid" word slightly. My mom really got a kick out of this!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Hoppy Birthday!

  

The current challenge at Double Trouble is "Fun Fold." They are partnering with Crafting Happiness for their Challenge #95, "Frogs (or Anything Goes)." I am entering this card in both challenges.
 
I followed a tutorial for a Flap Fold card at Splitcoaststampers.com. I used Bazzill Marine Mist cardstock for the card base, & patterned paper from Echo Park's "It's a Celebration" 6x6" pad to decorate. I punched along the upper short panel with the "Scallop Sentiment" border punch from Fiskars.
 
I stamped the frog (from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Birthday Pals" set) onto a scrap of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I colored it with my Tombow markers. I die cut the frog with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Circles" die, & cut a mat from pink Core'dinations cardstock with a Waffle Flower "Additional Circles" die, to give me a 1/16" border. I also stamped the present on a 1" circle I'd punched from bristol paper, and colored it with my markers. I die cut a 1-1/8" pink cardstock circle for the mat.
 
I use a 1-1/2" circle die to cut the hole in my card base. After I adhered the patterned paper on the front lower flap, I glued my matted focal circle within the opening, adding the glue only to the bottom area of the circle. I adhered the present circle with foam tape over the edge of the top flap, as a closure for the flap. Finally, I stamped the greeting on the upper flap.
 
Inside of card
 
For the inside of the card, I cut a 4" square of cream cardstock, & added a 1" tall border of patterned paper to the bottom edge. I masked off the border strip with a piece of Post It tape, & stamped the balloon & inside sentiment. I stamped the balloon again onto bristol paper, colored it, & fussy cut it out. To finish, I glued the colored balloon over the stamped on on the inside of the card.

I'm also entering this card in 613 Avenue Create's May Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist).