Double D Challenge -- Weddings

Time for another Double D challenge already?  Why, yes it is, and this time Team Darlene is asking for Wedding-themed cards.  Seems June is all about Weddings and Father's Day when it comes to card making.  I don't have any weddings in the offing, but you never know...  I'll be ready with the card I'm sharing today.

Have a look at our pretty, pretty mood board:

I was completely enchanted by the pink roses and baby's breath the bridesmaids are holding, but there's a lot to be inspired by in the mood board.

I made paper roses with pearl centers.  Didn't have any baby's breath so I used white die cuts instead.  Now, you know I don't ordinarily use chunky flowers on my cards, but a wedding card is special.  I thought if I made them more like wild roses they'd be a little less chunky and, in fact, I made an over-sized envelope from heavy weight paper and the card fits very nicely inside.  The roses are already crinkly, so you can hardly mess them up.

I used an old Spellbinders Blossom Nestabilities die set -- three sizes for each rose.  These are circle dies with a lightly scalloped edge.  Cut from heavy paper -- not as heavy as card stock -- then doused thoroughly with water and wadded up tightly.  Put the layers together after they dried.  Two of the flowers were dried with a heat tool, but one was left wet and wadded overnight (ran out of time).  The overnight flower came out the best, I think.

The lower half of the card was embossed with a large Anna Griffin embossing folder, then swiped over with a white craft pad (pigment ink... the kind you can emboss).  Brings out the pattern beautifully.  Top half was cut in a curve and stamped with a retired SU Fine Lace background.  "Love" is a Power Poppy stamp.

Finished up the inside similarly.  The sentiment is from a Power Poppy digital set -- not a wedding sentiment, necessarily, but I think it works.  It would also be a cute sentiment for a baby card, don't you think?  Just stretching the resources.

I'll sum up the ingredients in the recipe further down, but first I want to remind you to visit Double D for more challenge info and to have a look at how the team was inspired.  You'll see quite a variety of pretty things there!  I'll be back when stamping happens.  Have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy My English Rose clear stamp set (love), Power Poppy Tulips digi set (inside senti)  Paper:  Neenah Classic white, pink paper for roses, SU Pink Pirouette smooth and textured  Ink:  SU Pink Pirouette, Going Gray, Craft White (all SU inks), printer for inside digi sentiment, RV00 Copic to color inside leaf and highlight sentiment  Accessories:  Pearls, silk ribbon, silver cord, Cuttlebug Anna Griffin Wildflower Gate embossing folder  Dies:  Spellbinders Blossom Nestabilities and A2 Curved Borders One, Memory Box Chloe Stem, Poppystamps Sylvan Sprig, Dee's Distinctively Sm Pair of Leaves (inside)

A Special Father's Day Card

Ever since we've had Wally and LuLu I've been making dog cards for Rich for Father's Day.  They're from Wally and LuLu, of course, because they can't make their own cards.  Rich, being The World's Best Dog Dad, deserves a special card, so this year I thought I'd try something a little different.

Using an idea from Debbie Olson's blog here I converted a photo to a digital stamp and then watercolored with Tombow markers.  Seriously, I should have paid more attention to Debbie's coloring tips as I think the Copics would have worked out better, but at the time I was only thinking about converting the photo.  I know... excuses, excuses!  I realize this card is only special to The World's Best Dog Dad, but here you go anyway:

Easiest thing in the world to do.  I opened the picture in Photoshop Elements 7, applied a "stamp" filter to it, lightened a little, then printed.  By the way, Debbie shared a link to a free software program that does essentially the same thing.

It's somewhat painful to look at the actual photo and my painting in such close proximity.  I couldn't seem to get the gold color right.  All efforts made them either too yellow or too red, so I settled on the red.  Hey, if you didn't know them...

I stamped the "bark woof" over top in Memento Tuxedo Black.  The stamps are from an Inkadinkado "Dogs" set.  It means "we love you" in dog language.

Finished it up with designer paper scraps and Core'dinations card stock (sanded) which I need to quit hoarding.  Brought some brads out of hiding, too.  I think he'll be surprised.  Maybe Wally and LuLu will get him some new tennis balls to go with it.

Have a happy weekend!

The Sweetest Peas

Sweet Peas.  Don't they smell wonderful?  They fill a room with scent and beauty.  I love them, but haven't grown them in years.  I do have some Copic colored sweet peas to share today, though.  This is Power Poppy's Sweet Pea Show digital stamp.  You can also get sweet peas in a clear stamp set at Power Poppy -- Sweet Memories.  I've had these printed up and tucked away in a box and finally brought them out to play last week.

Before printing I lightened the image and applied a softening filter.  The full image was printed up on a 4x6 sheet, but I cut it down to a square.  I mixed and matched some Power Poppy stamp sets -- Go Wild for the sentiments and Soothing Sympathy for the butterfly.

The butterfly was stamped in black directly onto the paper, then stamped again, colored, and cut out.  I sure didn't want to have to cut out those skinny legs and antennae so I cut them right off and glued the body and wings over top.

All those gray dots around the flowers are touched with a Spica clear glitter pen.  Couldn't catch the sparkle without making everything else look awful, but you can imagine.

I used many, many Copics for coloring.  They're fun, but, dang, you need a lot of them for an image like this.

• Greens:  YG03, YG67 for leaves.  G20, G0000 for soft background shading.
• Purples:  V0000, V01, V12, V15, V17
• Pinks:  RV10, RV13, RV14
• Reds:  R30, R32, R35
• Dots:  C3
• Butterfly:  C3, C7, E97, E08, B26

A real expert could probably get by with less.

I added the butterfly so I could play along in this month's Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy -- June Bug.  Cute name!  You have all of June to play along and the random prize is a $50 shopping spree.  Seriously worth the effort!

I'm also playing along in The Flower Challenge Anything Goes.  Gorgeous stuff there!

Okay, I've yakked long enough.  After a week of rain we have a week of sunshine ahead of us, so stamping will be on the back burner for a while.  I'll pop into my room now and then, but it will probably take a while to finish/photograph/blog anything.  I may surprise myself, though.  We shall see.  Have a stamp happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Sweet Pea Show digital stamp set, Go Wild and Soothing Sympathy clear stamp sets  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, other white for card base, SU Cameo Coral, Graphic 45 Precious Memories designer paper, scrap SU designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Cameo Coral, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers as listed above  Accessories:  Ribbon, ribbon slide, Copic Atyou Spica clear glitter pen, corner rounder punch, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Squares

Giggles for Friday

Giggle!  Happy Friday!  I made this card for a guy friend.  He's only thirty something so birthdays are not yet something to gag about, but it will make him laugh.  He loves to laugh.

I stamped the SU! Giggle Greetings on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper with Palette Noir ink and watercolored with Tombow markers.  Smooshed the sky and added the die cut banner and fence.

Some cards are just so quick and fun.  Glad I have friends who love to laugh.  I love to laugh, too.  It's good exercise!  Hope you all have a happy weekend!

Stamps:  SU Giggle Greetings  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor, SU Cool Caribbean, textured white, DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, Tombow markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Die-namics Wood Grain Fence, Memory Box Banner Parade

Blue and White for Baby Boy

It seems ages since I made this card.  A month, maybe?  I was celebrating the arrival of a baby boy in May, so I looked ahead to Double D Team Diane's Blue & White Challenge which starts today.  So, you see, it's a color challenge.  Your choice of theme, stamps, dies, design, shade or tone... just make it blue and white.

Necessity and supplies at hand brought me to the baby card I created, but just look at the beautiful inspiration board below, sigh...

As of this writing I'm making a plan for another card based on an image in that board.  Hope it pans out.  The team has the very difficult task of voting on favorites, but you know there's always a prize for a random winner, as well.  Check it out:

My card has a lot going on with all the die cuts and pearls, stamps, stitching, embossing, glitter...  It was hand delivered so I could make it lumpy.  I wanted to use real ribbon but, believe it or not, I didn't have anything that looked quite right.  All that ribbon... drawers and drawers of it... and nothing worked.  I will not use that as an excuse to buy more ribbon!

The hearts were punched and the onsie and socks are stamped and cut out.  To make things easier I'll list the dies here:

• Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily
• Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers
• Spellbinders Standard Circles Small
• Tattered Lace Washing Line Just for You
• Die-namites Beautiful Bow

Other ingredients are listed in the recipe below my signature.

Be sure to stop by the Double D blog to see all the blue and white samples.  The teams did a beautiful job interpreting the inspiration board.  You'll want to see the winners of our previous challenge, too, which are listed in a separate post.  Also, a heads up:  You can get a peek at our next two challenges in the sidebar at Double D, just in case you like to think ahead.

That's all folks!  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Darcie's Play Time  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, SU Soft Sky, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid designer paper  Ink:  Copic BG53 to color "Just for you", SU Taken with Teal  Accessories:  Pearls, SU heart punch, Stickles Stardust glitter glue, We R Memory Keepers Quilted embossing folder, dies as listed above

Rose Basket

This is one of those accidental cards.  Honestly, I probably never would have put this together if I hadn't been trying to do something else entirely.  It started with a whole other image and the large square frame from my scrap drawer.  The frame had been cut in white.  I colored it with a Copic marker to coordinate with that other image, but it turned out a completely wrong choice.  Then auto-crafting took over.

I ended up focusing on the frame rather than putting it back in the scrap drawer.  The Graphic 45 Botanical Tea paper pad is a beautiful collection, but there's one piece I don't particularly care for, so I thought if I used it to cover the frame there wouldn't be much showing and it would look okay.  Alas, I still didn't care for it, but I kept on and on...

I searched through my stamp drawers for an image that would look good with the paper and came up with this ages old rose basket.  Colored with Copics, sponged, layered, stitched, embellished with die cuts...

Now what shall I do with this card?  I mail or give away everything.  My June birthdays are done.  It's not quite right for my July birthdays (two of which are guys).  I decided to make it into an anniversary card for a friend who asks for four anniversary cards every year.  This is just her type of card as she loves the hand crafted look.  So... all that time spent and at least it's not for naught.

The frame, by the way, is wrapped in the paper.  You've seen that done before, I'm sure.  It's been a while since I used this method to cover a frame and I'd forgotten how much I like it.  Hopefully I'll do it again soon and then I'll try to demonstrate for those who might be wondering.  My auto-crafting this time did not include stopping for pictures.

Thanks for letting me share my story.  Does anything here sound familiar to you?  You probably have those times, too, where you start out with one idea and end up with another.  I guess that's part of the fun.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  All Night Media Anna Griffin (no other name on stamp)  Paper:  SU Naturals Ivory, old Hero Arts specialty gold paper, Neenah 110 lb white (layered under the gold for die cuts), Graphic 45 Botanical Tea designer paper  Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger Distress Tea Dye (for sponging), Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Spellbinders Grand Squares, Spellbinders Bird Scrolls

Gold Embossed Tulips

Tuesday I shared the kitchen dress cards I made for a friend, and today's card will be included in a batch I'm giving to another friend.  She likes the hand crafted look, so I'm hoping this isn't too simple for her.  I used the single tulip from Penny Black's Delicate Florals set, embossed in gold and watercolored with Tombow markers.

I didn't invest a lot of time in the watercoloring.  I just marked along the embossed lines and spread the ink around with a wet brush.  Easiest watercoloring ever.  In fact, I made two of these.  When in doubt go easy on the ink and heavy on the water.  Clean the brush frequently so as not to spread too much color.  The effect is nice, considering.

Gold embossing can look dull as dishwater unless it's turned in the light a certain way, so here's another angle:

After coloring I cut the 4x4 panel into 1" strips and glued to the card with just the tiniest degree of separation.  The score line at the lower edge helped with even placement of the strips.

The card base is Neenah 110 lb white.  The watercolor paper is Arches 140 lb hot press.  The sentiment is an unmarked 1997 oldie.  I gold embossed the tulip inside for additional decoration.

Easy to make, easy to explain!  Now here I am wondering how I could have possibly waited so long to finally use this pretty tulip stamp.  Crazy!  Have a happy day!

Kitchen Dresses

Hello at last!  I finished up a few things on my stamping to-do list so I'll be able to pop in with a little something now and then.  I go on spells where I do everything but stamping for a while and get all caught up, then I spend some time stamping and get behind in everything else again, sheesh.

I promised a friend I'd make some of these kitchen dress cards for her.  The first two are blank inside so she can use them for whatever.  The die set is Frantic Stamper's Kitchen Dress A2 Card Maker.  The back of each card is the same designer paper as the front.  I cut two white liners, as well, for sturdiness.

Another item checked off my to-do list is this month's Christmas card.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute!  Below are two kitchen dresses with a Christmas theme -- one for me and one for my friend.  Her choice.  Inside is the sentiment "Sweet holiday wishes".  My Christmas dress card will most likely be delivered to my former workplace with a batch of homemade goodies.

It's hard to stop once I get started with this die set because the dresses all come out so cute, but I had to make time for the next project.  I'll come back Friday with more just in case you're of a mind to visit.  I sure do love it when you stop by.  Have a good week!