Monday Fun Day: Birthday Girl

More fun and frivolity today.  Getting a birthday card done and using up spare parts in the process... the spare parts are the frame and the big present.  The big present is a Die-namites die I picked up on a super sale, discontinued.  It's large enough to make it the focal point, and that's how I thought I'd be using it, but I changed my mind along the way.  Here comes Art Impression's "29 Again" birthday girl.

The big present, really, was the start of this card.  Just a not-yet-used die I was trying to find a use for.  I'd cut it in black glitter paper, but set it aside thinking, "okay, now what?"  And there it sat until I made myself do something with it.

Long story short, I decided it would be a fun accent for Grandma's birthday.  Settled on pink because Grandma looks sweet and the black needed some cheering up.  The frame had been cut in white, so I colored it with an RV02 Copic marker.  Grandma is colored with Copics, also, and her balloon is glittered with Stickles.  I smeared the Stickles around with my finger for better coverage.

The sentiment on the front is an older one from Stampin' Up!  The star and flower sprinkles came out of the die I cut for the inside:

The frame, by the way, is a combination of Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Stackables and Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets.  I love working with frames!  Have a happy day!

Flowerful Friday: Happy Bloom Three Ways

Welcome to another Flowerful Friday.  Maybe you remember I mentioned in an earlier post I was having trouble with my coloring and had made several "duds".  Well, one of the stamps I was having a problem with is Altenew's Happy Bloom.  It's a beautiful set with one large stamp, plus several smaller stamps and a few sentiments.  You can make lots and lots of cards with it and no two alike.  A smart purchase, I thought.  The problem was my own haste or expectations... I'm not sure... but I finally colored one I'm somewhat satisfied with.

For this card I stamped in Memento London Fog on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copics.  I masked the two flowers that overlap the sentiment banner and used a stamp positioner to stamp the sentiment.  Popped up the image panel and finished with iridescent sequins.

Inside I stamped a partial image in amethyst ink and a sentiment from another Altenew set -- Wishing You.

Okay... want to see the cards I wasn't happy with?

The card below was stamped in Ranger Antique Linen on Arches 140 lb hot pressed watercolor paper and watercolored with Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  Splatters, sequins, stitching, distressing.  It has grown on me and now I think maybe it's not so bad.  In some ways I like it better than the Copic colored card.  The sentiment is minutely off.  I know... picky, picky!

Card #3 is mixed coloring media:  Stamped in SU's River Rock ink -- a water based muted green -- on Neenah 110 lb white.  The coloring is Prismacolor Pencils blended with Gamsol odorless mineral spirits.  The faint blue shading around the image is Copic B21.  Finally, I added blue watercolor splatters.  Some of it I like a lot.  Some of it not so much.  The sentiment is way off.  I know it shouldn't bug me so much, but it does.

Holy cow, that's a lot of coloring!  I wish I could take the things I like best about each card and put them together.  Maybe next time.  I see lots more Happy Bloom coloring in my future.

You all have a nice weekend now and I'll see you again on Monday!

Whatever Wednesday: Wild Horses

I did not know until recently that Stampendous had a line of Laurel Burch stamps.  I went there looking for something else and found Laurel Burch.  Stopped me in my tracks.  I love anything Laurel Burch.  Bookmarked!  Finally, when I was ready to shop, I indulged.

I realize these stamps are not very mainstream, but I guess that's what I love about them.  It was too hard to narrow down my choices, so I ended up with three single stamps, and two full sets.  I'd still like to have more.  I chose to color these Wild Horses first.

I didn't use the vivid colors associated with Laurel Burch.  Instead, I was inspired by a notebook I saw in a shop... similar, but different.  Stamped with Versamark and embossed in copper, watercolored with Twinkling H2Os.  Rich and earthy.

Poor horses... their sparkle and shimmer is tethered by the limitations of my photography.

I used a copper brushed metallic card base, a strip of gold trim.  Inside is a sentiment and sun motif from a different Laurel Burch set.

A small motif from that other set for embellishment on the front.

I'm going to categorize this as a masculine card, but I'm sure I'll send it to a girlfriend.

I'll be back with flowers on Friday.  Enjoy the rest of your week, and I'll hope to see you then!

Stamps:  Wild Horses by Laurel Burch for Stampendous, Fish Wishes (Laurel Burch/Stampendous) for sentiment  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot pressed watercolor, dark brown card stock, copper brushed metallic card stock  Ink:  Versamark  Coloring:  Watercolor with Twinkling H2Os  Accessories:  Gold self-adhesive trim, copper embossing powder, light gold embossing powder, Spellbinders circle die, 1" circle punch

Monday Fun Day: EGG-citing Easter

Hello there!  Ready for another week to whiz by in a heartbeat?  Let's slow it down for a minute and enjoy our Monday.  It seems like a good day for something cute, fun, whimsical, lighthearted... so I'm going to designate Mondays as a fun day.  Flowerful Friday, Monday Fun Day.  Guess I'll do Whatever Wednesday for the in betweens.  I may miss a day or two when the stamping runs out, but for now it will give me some focus and keep me moving along.

I didn't think I was going to get any Easter cards made, but then I remembered it's one of the reasons I bought this So EGG-citing stamp set.  Birthday, Easter, baby... there's a sentiment for each and more, so I'm good for a while as long as I don't send egg cartons to the same person over and over again.  In fact, I slipped a Post-It Note in with the stamp set so I can list the names of who I send egg cards to.

I think the card is pretty self-explanatory:  A stitched circle frame with a stitched circle patterned paper inset, grass die, Copic coloring.  Very simple and not much time spent on coloring.  Did I mention it was fun?  Yep, it was fun!  See you again on Wednesday!

Stamps:  Your Next Stamp "So EGG-Citing"  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, PTI Lemon Tart, Memory Box Granny Smith, Echo Park Happy Summer designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Memory Box Stitched Scalloped Circles and Stitched Circle Layers, Impression Obsession Grass Border

Flowerful Friday: Another Free Digital Stamp

Happy Friday!  I don't know about you, but Friday sure sneaked up on me fast.  It was a busy week and I was not home enough for quality stamping time.  That's when I get in a hurry and nothing turns out worth a darn.  I've taken a notion that I want to reserve Fridays for flower cards.  Well, sheesh, it would be nice if I could actually color some flowers.  So after casting off several duds I thought maybe it was time to share something I colored last month.

This is an extra super simple card.  Well, somewhat simple.  It didn't take much time, but I like it.  As stated in my title, it's a free digi.  You can find it here at the Digital Two for Tuesday blog.  There are two pretty flower images in that post, both embroidery designs.  This one had a vertical orientation, but by flipping it horizontally and dropping it off the side it made the smaller image appear to be in the background.  You'd never know this was a 1953 image.  It looks very current to me.

I added a double row of stitching and some silver cord.  A Stampin' Up sentiment.  Lots of white space.  I printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and colored with Copic markers.  That's all, folks!  Hoping for better stamping times coming up.  I'd like to get ahead on my card needs before summer calls me away.  Have a happy weekend!

Double D Challenge: Just Wing It

Time for another Double D challenge, friends!  We're doing "Just Wing It" for a theme and we'd love to see where your wings take you.  I have golden dragonflies today.

Here's our inspiration board with a variety of winged things:

And a prize for a random winner:

This Elizabeth Craft "Dragonfly" die set has been sitting in my not-yet-used basket far too long.  I thought I'd be using them with flowers, but it somehow never happened, so when this challenge came along I decided to make them my main focus.

I have to show you this photo of the die set so I can 'fess up to what inspired me.  Just keeping it simple with an ink-sponged background, water splatters, circle stamps, and some tiny dragonflies.

I used some favorite older Stampin' Up! inks -- Cool Caribbean and Gable Green.  Old Hero Arts Box of Dots stamps -- inked mostly on the edges by rolling in the stamp pad and then rolling on the paper.  Gold mirrored card stock with Gable Green for the card base.  The inked panel is Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Surface card stock.  A seriously quick and easy card to make and lots more fun than I expected it to be.

I'll be looking forward to all the things with wings this challenge inspires.  Do check out the wonderful DT cards on the Double D blog, leave some love, and then play along with us.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Poppystamps Believe in Magic sentiment, Hero Arts Box of Dots, Hero Arts tiny dragonfly from Printer's Lowercase alphabet set  Paper:  Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Surface, gold mirrored card stock, SU Gable Green  Ink:  SU Cool Caribbean and Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise for tiny dragonflies, Memento Tuxedo Black for sentiment  Accessories:  Elizabeth Craft Dragonfly die set, Spellbinders Nested Lacy Pennants, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Blossom Twofer

Hello at last!  I haven't managed much time in my room lately, tsk tsk.  Coloring was happening one petal at a time whenever I could pop in there.  Finally, when I did have a day, I put the coloring aside and made some cards for the Twofer Challenge -- make two different cards for two different purposes, using the same stamp or die.   The theme this time around is "Blossoms".

I used an older Die-namites die called "Daisy Bunch" for a simple "hello" and a "get well".

For the first card (below) I glued wood grain paper to the card front, then embossed with Sizzix Elegant Wreath folder, sanded to bring out the pattern.  Daisies are colored with Copics and layered three times with Neenah 110 lb white.  The "hello" is two layers, colored with Copics.  Couldn't help but add the bow and cute little ladybug dimensional sticker.

Card #2 is a whole garden of daisies and two more ladybugs.  An older Stampin' Up! Curvy Verses sentiment.  One of the daisy dies is trimmed to fit its spot on the right edge of the card.

I used one of the trimmed off daisies for the inside.

These cards were almost too much fun.  Daisies are so cheerful.  Thanks, Darnell and all the Twofer Team, for lots of inspiration!  A full list of ingredients can be found below my signature.  Have a happy day!

Twofer Blossoms Challenge

Stamps:  SU Curvy Verses and Love Ya Bunches  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, Memory Box Granny Smith (green) card stock, Ms. Sparkle & Co wood grain designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, EK Success dimensional ladybug stickers, Sizzix Elegant Wreath embossing folder, Die-namites Daisy Bunch die, Paper Smooches Hello Words die, older JustRite rectangle dies

Blooms Fill In

I'm back again with more new stamps getting inky before they grow moldy oldie.  Today it's my very first Concord and 9th set.  I'll blame this one on Cindy Beach and all the pretty stamping she did with this set.  I bookmarked it immediately and, happily, it wasn't long before I shopped.  Don't you just love receiving those packages of crafty goodies in the mail?

The set is Blooms Fill In.  It's a background stamp with a few sentiments and a whole bunch of flower parts you can use to fill in the blanks.

Clear stamps with a large expanse of solid surface can be tricky, so the right paper and ink makes all the difference.  Cindy had good luck with Distress Oxide inks (which I don't have).  My best results were with Memento ink.  My two favorite papers for solid image stamps are Stampin' Up Whisper White and Copic X-Press It Blending Card.

This is Memento Toffee Crunch on X-Press It Blending Card.  I kept it monotone, using Memento Rich Cocoa for the darker accents.  I stamped an additional partial background, cut out the flower part and layered it with twine and a die cut.

After I made this card (and several more!) I looked at them sitting there on my desk and wondered what is so compelling about this stamp set.  After all, you could easily do this with designer paper, and heaven knows I have plenty of that.  I guess it's just the do-it-yourself aspect of stamping.  Different colors, different degrees of filling in the blooms.  Playing around and seeing what happens.  A stamper gets it.  This set should come with a warning:  Once you start it's hard to stop.

Have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  Concord and 9th Blooms Fill In  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Bazzill tan and dark brown  Ink:  Memento Toffee Crunch, Memento Rich Cocoa  Accessories:  Linen thread, Cottage Cutz Fall Vine