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! :)

Merry Christmas

This past weekend, I participated in the online Card Makers Success Summit. The theme was "Christmas in July," so the focus was on holiday cards. Twenty-five instructors came "together"--virtually, of course--to teach many techniques over the 4-day summit. Preeti Chandran's lesson on easy faux watercolor techniques inspired this card. I used another "trick" I learned during the summit with this card - cut a 9x12" piece of watercolor paper into (6) 3x6" pieces, to make 6 mini slimline cards. With the help of my MISTI stamp positioning tool, I was able to make 6 cards total of this design in just a few hours.

I used Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Christmas Pine" stamp set for the images & greeting. I began by stamping the branches. With the stamp & my Canson Montval watercolor paper panel in my MISTI, I used a green Tombow marker to "ink" up the stamp. I spritzed it a couple of times lightly with water, then stamped onto my paper. I let the stamp sit for a few seconds, to give the ink a chance to absorb into the paper, giving a "faux" watercolor look. I left the stamp in place after opening my MISTI, dried it off, & inked here & there with a darker green color. I spritzed & stamped that, to create some color variation. I repeated this for each branch. If the image stamped too "cleanly" - with too much detail - I just used a damp paintbrush to spread the color out a bit.

For the pinecones, I used a similar technique. I put my panel in the MISTI, positioned my stamp, & inked it up with a light brown marker. I spritzed the stamp lightly, & stamped onto my paper. This time, though, I used a damp paintbrush to spread the ink out on the paper, keeping the shape of the pinecone. I also left a few highlights here & there. I let that dry while I stamped my other 5 panels with the same images. By the time I returned to my first panel, the ink had dried, so I tapped on the same stamp with a darker brown marker. After spritzing, I stamped the image over the original, to provide some detail to the pinecones.

Once my images were all done, I stamped the greeting in Gina K. Designs Charcoal Brown ink. Once I finished, I felt the images & greeting were still a bit too disconnected, though. So I used a pale gold metallic watercolor to splatter over the panel. That seemed to provide the perfect touch. Finally, I matted the panel with brown cardstock, & adhered it to a white card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Christmas Card Throwdown's July Theme Challenge: "Pinecones"

613 Avenue Create's July Challenge: "Anything Goes" (I am playing the watercolor twist)

Merry Christmas Poinsettia

The current Christmas Card Throwdown challenge is to use the colors white, deep purple, & gold. I created this card using a background technique taught by Tiffany Solorio during the online Cardmaker Success Summit event.

I cut a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper to letter size, & used Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Blueprint Sketch, & Wilted Violet Distress inks with the ink smooshing technique. I smooshed the inks onto my non-stick craft mat, spritzed with water, & pressed my paper into the color. I dried this with my heat tool, & repeated until I'd built up the depth of color I wanted. I also used Crushed Grape & After Midnight Dylusions sprays to add a little more intense color. I spritzed the panel with water droplets, and dried that with my heat tool again for some lighter spots. Finally, I splattered gold metallic watercolors all over the background. Once everything had dried, I cut the sheet into four A2-size panels. I cut 1/8" off 2 sides of the one that I chose for this card, so I would end up with a 1/16" border on all sides when I adhered it to my card base.

I die cut the flower & leaf pieces with the "Blooming Poinsettia" die set from Poppystamps, all from white cardstock. I splattered them with a pale gold metallic watercolor, just for a bit of added interest. I glued the flower pieces together, adding glue just in the middle of each layer, so the petals could fluff up a bit. For the flower center, I used 3 dots I'd made previously with Pale Gold Nuvo Crystal Drops, adding them with glue. I glued the center of the flower to the card panel, & added the leaves underneath, applying glue only to the ends that tucked under the flower.

For the greeting, I die cut Simon Says Stamp's "Merry Christmas" from gold metallic cardstock that I'd backed with Stick It adhesive. To keep the die cut from getting distorted while I applied it to my panel, I left it in the die. I removed the adhesive release paper from the back, placed the die on my panel, & used my craft pick to poke through the holes in the die. This stuck the words on my panel just enough so they stayed put, while still allowing me to adjust them a bit if I needed to. After I removed the die, I used my Teflon bone folder to burnish the greeting in place. Finally, I adhered my card front to a white card base.

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

Dies R Us Challenge #173: "Anything Goes using Any Brand of Die that DRU Sells" (used Poppystamps die set)

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

Best Wishes

The oldest daughter of a friend I went to school with just got married. I made this card for her & her new husband. The design came from Sketch Challenge #512 at Try Stampin' on Tuesday's challenge blog, but I missed the deadline to enter their challenge. The overall look was inspired by this card I saw on Pinterest, & the embossed frame on this card by Libby Fens. Challenge #87 at Double Trouble Paper Crafting, which had partnered with the sketch challenge, inspired the design as well. The theme there is "It's Hip to be a Square," so to use square(s) and/or circle(s) on your project. I used one of the "Decorative Labels One" dies from Spellbinders (discontinued) for my square, & a circle die cut over that. I also did both heat & dry embossing, to fulfill the second part of their challenge.

I made my card 5x6-1/2", to accommodate both the greeting, from My Favorite Things' "Cause for Celebration" die set (discontinued), & the embossed "Decorative Labels One" die turned 45 degrees. I cut my card front from navy cardstock to that size, & embossed the die frame into it. I die cut a circle from Strathmore Mixed Media paper, & inked it with Antique Linen Distress ink, to give just a bit of color. For shimmer (because we all know the moon shimmers), I pressed my Versamark ink pad all over the circle, and then heat embossed with Ranger Holographic embossing powder.

I punched the owls from black cardstock with the Stampin' Up "Owl Builder" punch (discontinued). I also die cut the branch from Spellbinders' "Sweet Birds on a Branch" set from black. I glued them to the moon, & added a silver glitter heart that I'd punched. I trimmed off the branch where it overhung the moon edge, and adhered it centered over the embossed frame on the card front.

I die cut the greeting from a cream piece of The Paper Studio's Pearlized cardstock. I felt the color complemented the moon nicely. I glued that to my card front, & finally adhered the card front to a white card base.

Big Birthday Present

The current challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids challenge blog is "Tween/Teen Cards." I created this card with an old digital image from Kenny K, "Present Surprise" (discontinued). The design inspiration came from Sketch #SC746 at Splitcoaststampers.com.

I sized the image in Photoshop, and printed it on a panel of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. I used Prismacolor pencils to color it. For a little detail above the image, I used My Favorite Things' "Wonky Dots" stencil & Kitsch Flamingo Distress ink. The stenciling echoes the pink dots on the present.

The rainbow greeting banner was actually a scrap left over from another card I'd made. I heat embossed "happy birthday," using stamps from Altenew's "Birthday Builder" set & Ranger Navy embossing powder. I cut the end of the strip at an angle for a bit more fun, & adhered it to my panel. I glued on 3 buttons from my stash in coordinating colors. After the glue dried, I stitched through the holes with white crochet twine. Finally, I added my panel to a teal cardstock mat that I'd adhered to a white A2-size card base.

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