Birthday Blessings

I needed a special birthday card for a special friend. I decided to make a fancy-fold card of sorts, & found a tutorial on Lattice Fold Cards by Sam Calcott. I used her "bonus" technique of putting the pop-up lattice feature on the inside of the card. For a pattern, I used the "Susan's Lattice Folds" template from Hot Off the Press (discontinued).

Sam had suggested in her tutorial that using a white-core cardstock would give a cool two-tone effect to the lattice portion. I have a pad of 12x12" cardstock from Die Cuts with a View called Flip/Side. It has 2 different shades of a color per sheet. I chose a mint/teal cardstock from that pad.

Inside of card showing lattice fold

I began with the inside panel. I cut it to 7x12", and scored it in half at 6". I knew I would cut it down eventually, but wanted to make sure it was wide enough, so started with a larger piece. I lined up my template pattern along the fold, & traced the cut lines with a pencil. I cut them with scissors, & then folded down every other section. I cut off the folded piece at the very bottom & glued it to the top to complete the pattern. I did end up trimming down the panel at the top & bottom, as well as the sides. Then I set that aside to work on the rest of the card.

For the front, I die cut a tag from a faux-dip-dye watercolor panel that I'd made previously. I die cut a butterfly with Divinity Designs' "Fancy Fritillary" from silver mirror cardstock backed with Stick It adhesive. I cut the tag reinforcer from the same silver cardstock & glued it in place. I adhered the butterfly to the tag at an angle, & adhered the tag to a panel I'd cut from the leftover piece of the inside panel. I used the teal side of the remaining cardstock piece to mat my panel, & then mounted it onto a white card base.

For the greeting, I heat embossed the "birthday blessings" from Altenew's "Balloon Bunch" stamp set onto a scrap of a different teal cardstock. I cut it into a banner, & adhered it to the front of my card. I adhered the inside panel in place, & adhered 2 white panels on either side for a personal message.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge: "Use a Card Fold Tutorial +/Animals"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Add a Sentiment"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #415: "Birthday Wishes"

Die Cut Divas August Challenge: "Watercolor - Real or Faux" (used watercolor on the tag)

The House that Stamps Built Challenge #A421: "Use a Tag on Your Card"

Kitty Thanks

Recently, one of our cats, Barney, passed away after a long battle with renal failure. I wanted to create a thank you card to send to the doctor & staff at the vet's office where he was treated. I came across the "Cat with Butterfly" stamp from Rubber Cottage (discontinued) in my stash, which I have had for some years now. Since butterflies symbolize (among other things in different cultures) hope & bravery, I just thought this image was perfect. I paired it with one of the "Many Thanks" dies from My Favorite Things (discontinued). For the design, I adapted an old Operation Write Home sketch.

Because the cat on the stamp is a tabby, & Barney was a grey & white cat, I couldn't see stamping the image in a dark ink. So I pulled out my Fade-Out no-line coloring ink by Ink on 3. The stamp was a wood-mount red rubber stamp, which I had converted to cling mount, so you can't see through it. I didn't trust that I could use my MISTI & position the stamp correctly on the panel, so I used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig instead. Usually with Fade-Out ink, I like to double-stamp the image to be able to see the lines better. But, due to the size of this stamp, I wasn't confident that I could re-stamp the image, even holding the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig handle in place when I lifted my block. Thankfully, I got a good enough impression on the first try!

Using my Prismacolor pencils, I colored the butterfly yellow (because, why not?), and colored the kitty to look like Barney. The white parts of his body were the most difficult, since I needed to add shading so they stood out against the background, but still make them look white. So I colored those parts just barely with a very light cool grey pencil. There is grass in the stamp, but I added more with a couple of green pencils, just to fill it out. I toyed with the idea of coloring the sky area, but thought it wouldn't look good in the end, so I just left it alone.

Since Barney has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge, where all pets go to await their (human) parents when they die, I decided to make the greeting in rainbow colors. I adhered strips of colored cardstocks to a scrap piece of white cardstock, then cut it with the thanks die. I glued that to a light grey panel, to echo the grey colors in the kitty. I added a black strip to separate the greeting & image panels, & used a teal blue cardstock to mat the panels.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge #281: "Anything Goes + a Sentiment"

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge: "Use a Card Fold Tutorial +/or Animals"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Add a Sentiment"

613 Avenue Create August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Poinsettia Joy

I created this card inspired by this week's color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown. The colors this time are aqua, rose pink, & metallic gold. An unusual color scheme for sure, but I had fun pulling this together.

I first die cut my poinsettias from 2 shades of pink cardstock with the Poppystamps "Blooming Poinsettia" dies. I used only the 2 smaller flower dies for those pieces, and die cut the centers from gold metallic cardstock. I glued the lighter flower layers on top of the darker ones, adding glue just in the centers. Finally, I glued on the centers, again adding just a dot of glue in the middle of the die cut.

For the greeting, I die cut Lawn Fawn's "Scripty Joy" from the same pink cardstocks as my flowers. I glued the lighter die cut over the darker, offset to give a shadow effect.

I cut my tag from gold metallic cardstock with a Scrapbook.com "Nested Tags" die. After I figured out where to place my greeting & flowers, I glued them to the tag. I also added the tittle to the "j" at this point. I originally die cut the hole reinforcer from the light aqua cardstock I used for my background, but it blended in too much when I adhered the tag in place. So I die cut it again from the darker pink, & just glued that over the aqua one. To finish, I just adhered my card front to a white A2-size card base. This was actually a really simple card to make. The hardest part was just figuring out what products I wanted to use!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create's August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

The House that Stamps Built Challenge #A421: "Use a Tag on Your Card"

Aud Sentiments Challenge #281: "Anything Goes + a Sentiment"

Dies R Us Challenge #175: "Anything Goes Using Any Brand of Die that DRU Sells" (used Lawn Fawn & Poppystamps)

Happy Birthday Kitty

A friend of mine has a birthday coming up. She is a cat person, so I decided to use the image from the "Newton's Birdhouse" stamp set from Newton's Nook for the image on my card. I brought in the greeting from My Favorite Things' "Birthday Greetings" stamp set (discontinued).

I followed a tutorial for a "Free Standing Pop-Up Card" at Splitcoaststampers.com. I have not made one of these in a long time, & figured it would be perfect for this little image.

After I cut a tag panel from Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper, I stamped the image in Ink on 3's Fade-Out ink so I could do some no-line coloring. I then used my Prismacolor colored pencils to color it. I used a green pencil to add grass to give Newton a surface to lie on. For the greeting, I used Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink, to coordinate with the grey kitty.

I rounded the top two corners of my tag with my 1/4" We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper. I cut a mat layer from red cardstock, to bring out the red in the birdhouse, & rounded the top corners of that. After I added the panel to my mat, I folded 2 die cut circles over the top. I punched a hole & set a large eyelet with my We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-Dile II Big Bite tool. Finally, I threaded a piece of ribbon through the eyelet & tied a bow around it with grey & white baker's twine.

I created my base from a piece of Bazzill Robin's Egg cardstock. I used a patterned paper from Echo Park's "Sweet Summertime" 6x6" pad to decorate the outside. Finally, I inserted & adhered my tag element into the base, following the tutorial instructions. I really love how this card came out, & especially how easy it was to put together, thanks to the excellent tutorial!

As a bonus, here's a photo of myself with our 2 new kittens, Charlie & Robinson, that I'm entering in Cleo's Special Random Draw at Double Trouble Paper Crafting's Challenge #90:

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Double Trouble Paper Crafting Challenge #90: "Are You Kitten Me?"

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge #53

613 Avenue Create's August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Aud Sentiments Challenge #281: "Anything Goes + a Sentiment"

One Sketch, Two Cards

I created not one, but 2 cards for Lawn Fawnatics' Challenge #106. They posted a sketch, & challenged participants to create a project based on that. For my first card, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees. I stamped the Be Merry greeting from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" stamp set (discontinued) 5 times at a diagonal, shifting the card panel up in my MISTI stamp positioning tool each time I stamped.

I stamped the joy (from the same set) several times with Lawn Fawn's Kiddie Pool ink, onto a scrap of white cardstock. I die cut it with a "Small Cross-Stitched Rectangle" die from Lawn Fawn. After I  trimmed my blue panel slightly, to 5-1/4x4", I adhered my main greeting panel in the middle. I adhered the blue panel to a white A2-size card base. I added several Pretty Pink Posh 4mm & 6mm Sparkling Clear Sequins, & that finished this first card.

My second card is for the mother of a friend of ours. Her husband passed away earlier this year, & we heard she is not doing well now. So I decided to make a card to send to her, to try & lift her spirits a little. This time, I kept pretty much with the sketch.

I die cut an oval from Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with one of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Oval" dies. I stamped the image from "Rain or Shine Before 'n Afters" towards the top of the oval with a light grey ink. I also stamped one of the greetings from the set below the image, in a slightly darker grey. I used an orangey-yellow ink to stamp the sun portion onto a scrap of yellow cardstock, & fussy cut just the sun out. After I colored the rainbow & clouds with my Prismacolor colored pencils, I glued the sun in place.

I felt the empty bottom area threw off the design, so I die cut another portion of an oval from a scrap of pale blue cardstock, & used a Lawn Fawn "Puffy Cloud Borders" die to cut the top portion. Then I glued that to the bottom of my main oval. I also inked the perimeter outside the stitching line with Speckled Egg Distress ink, to help the oval stand out from the background.

I cut a piece of patterned paper I'd gotten as a gift in a Lawn Fawn order to 3x4-1/2", & glued my oval centered on that. I covered the front of my 4-bar card base with a yellow cardstock, & added strips of different colors to that, to mimic the rainbow in the image. I backed the patterned paper panel with another piece of white cardstock that I'd cut the same size, so the cardstock strips behind it wouldn't create any dents in the paper layer. Finally, I adhered the patterned paper pane to the card.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create's August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Hero Arts Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge #26: "Rainbow Cards" (second card only)

Aud Sentiments Challenge #281: "Anything Goes + a Sentiment"

Dies R Us Challenge #175: "Anything Goes Using Any Brand of Die that DRU Sells" (used Lawn Fawn dies)

Happy Holiday Wishes

I am honored & excited to be guest designing for Christmas Card Throwdown sketch challenge this week! You can find all the details & enter your card at their site.

Christmas Card Throwdown Sketch

For the images on my card I used WPlus9's "Poinsettia Builder" stamp set. This layering set is very easy to use. I stamped the first layer of each flower with Lawn Fawn Guava ink, then followed with Memento Love Letter, Altenew Ruby Red, & finished with a double-stamping of Ranger Red Geranium Archival ink. I used Delicata Golden Glitz for the flower centers, & Delta Emerald Green and Memento Cottage Ivy for the leaves on the 2 larger flowers. The smallest flower doesn't have a leaf layer to go with it, & looked rather naked without any. So I just used a couple of Tombow markers to indicate leaves on that one. I stamped my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Holiday Greetings Mix 1" set, onto a scrap of white cardstock & cut it into a banner.

I wanted to try something different for my background. I used an A2-size panel of navy cardstock & Prima's "Flourish" stencil (discontinued). I temporarily adhered the stencil to my panel, and used a makeup wedge to apply metal leafing glue through the openings. After I removed the stencil, I let the glue dry until it was tacky, then added Nuvo Radiant Gold gilding flakes to the adhesive. After I covered the panel with the flakes, I used a stiff bristle paintbrush to scrub away the excess. Finally, I lightly buffed the surface with a sanding block to remove any "straggler" flakes.

I die cut each flower with a circle die, and cut mat layers for them from Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock. After I glued the circles to their respective mats, I glued them & my greeting to my background. Finally, I adhered my background to a white A2 card base. I really love how this card turned out. Now go create your own holiday card & enter the challenge! :)