Krikey Kreations

Reverse Paper Piecing?!

2012-01-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

Just how else would you describe this except for reverse paper piecing? Maybe I'm just used to seing paper piecing using vibrant cardstock to fit within the stamped lines. This time I wanted a vibrant background for my snowman

Not that you can tell from this picture but the santa hat is actually the same color as the ribbon. Both are pink. And yes, they are the exact same color because I colored in the white ribbon with my copics so I am absolutely certain of that! LOL.

Ingredients

Card size 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah for base and snowman, Me & My Big Ideas- Sugarplum (2010) for background

Stamps - Stampendous Jumbo Snowman

Ink- Memento

Color - Copic, Sakura metallic silver

Accessories - white grosgrain, mirri snowflake.

Big Snow!

2011-12-30T00:30:00.000-05:00

So I was desperate for a quick idea for a Christmas card for my adult nephew. I have this 12x 12 Christmas cardstock pad and think - why not just mount part of the big snowflake die cut on the front. So I cut it down and did. My DH said it looked too abstract. Hmm... I really wanted this to work. So I got out all my accessories and found these mirror snowflakes in my stash. I hope it helped the overall look.

Ingredients

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Bazzill, 12x12 DP

Stamps - Inkadinkado

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics (airbrushing)

Accessories - mirror snowflakes, Spellbinders rectangle dies.

All that glitters...

2011-12-11T14:03:00.001-05:00

Hmm I guess it is rather subtle for whom I made this card. LOL! I can't decide whether it looks too simple or not. Though I have to be really honest and say I am chuffed to bits with how it turned out even if I couldn't get a decent photograph of it. In person is looked plain luxurious.

The tree stamp is a Martha Stewart stamp and truthfully I wasn't expecting a good image. I had read a lot of stories about how difficult it is to stamp with her clear stamps, so I really worked on the stamp with a white eraser before stamping. I decided to go for a luxurious look - green and gold, it is almost like Fort Knox on a card. The cardstock is from open stock at Archiver's. I rubbed the cardstock all over with a used fabric softener sheet (cheap embossing buddy) to ensure I didn't have any stray embossing powder. Loaded up my stamp with versamark, stamped and heat embossed with gold embossing powder that I have had forever. Truthfully I thought it might have gone off/tarnished as I have read some horror stories. But it seemed fine even if I couldn't photograph it!

Hope they enjoyed their elegant card. Maybe next year I will go back to cutesy!

Ingredients -

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Archiver's open stock - linen texture

Stamp - Martha Stewart Crafts - Clear Christmas Tree Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps - Whole Family

Ink - Versamark

Accessories - gold embossing powder.

Paintball Turkey

2011-12-11T13:38:00.001-05:00

Wow what a few weeks it has been - I uploaded my next few entries a few weeks ago and with one thing and another I'm just getting the "words" or back story to go with the photos up. I don't know how to do that flash thing that the lovely Joan B at Paperlicious does that hides part of the blog but I might add all that at the end but probably not.

Anyway here is the backstory to this card! It was for my youngest male cousin who's birthday is the week of Thanksgiving. He had just recently been with all my lads paintballing, and of course they are yellow. So although I can't take any credit for the hodge podge of inspiration I think I brought those together in a pretty fun way.

"SPLAT!"

You can feel it can't you? Especially with that dripping goo punch greeting bar! Genius I hear you exclaim! Oh yes! I can hear you!

Right - the nitty gritty - looked up loads of paint splats on line. Planned to just print one and couldn't get my computer to speak to my printer in a way I needed it to do. On to plan B. Wing it! So I cut out my own splat and fussed about and eventually adhered it to the card base. Decided to color the turkey and paper piece it to the splat. Googly eye was a must at this point. Then worked on the greeting bar. I punched both colors and then layered. Found out that the black was too narrow so ~~bodged~~ creatively added another bit of cardstock to the upper border to complete the look. Stamped the greeting. At that point I decided the splat didn't stand out enough. I knew I was tempting fate and it wouldn't be "perfect" then I justified that it was riduculous to worry about a splat being perfect. Ideally I would have outlined it before I had adhered it to the card but by this point needs must and I did my wobbly best. Yeah, you can see the imperfections but I think that adds to the charm... yeah it adds to the overall charm!

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Recollections, Georgia Pacific, Wassau
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento, Multiliner pen
Color - Copics
Accessories - Googly eye, Dripping Goo Punch

Cheerful Winter Birthday Wishes

2011-11-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

Well someone out there in blogland who I knew I would remember and have now promptly forgot inspired me to get out my versamark and shimmering chalks, so a shoutout to whoever you are! Now I had to have these chalks and I can probably count on less than one hand how many times I have used them!

This was for my mother's birthday. I find that people with winter birthday's tend to get "winter" cards whether they like them or not so I try to step out of the norm and give them sometime a bit more bright and cheerful especially if it isn't really their favorite time of the year.

There really isn't anything too new or too unique about this card except it was going to have a white background as it was going to be a CAS card. Maybe, it might just eek into that category. I have had all the products stamps/chalks/inkpads and ribbon for years and it was good to break it out and use it - very satisfied feeling using up the stash of procured pretties.

So anyway - I stamped the center and the petals with versamark and then used shimmering chalks on them I then stamped black outlines over the chalk. Next I added the stem and leaves in versamark and again out came the chalks. At this point I looked at the card. It was white, pink and green with chalk halos around. I could have stopped at this point, but I decided I wanted MORE! so I made a yellow halo around the flower to make it bright like sunshine and who doesn't need more sunshine this time of year in the northern hemisphere? I reevaluated and decided that I may as well chalk the entire card and added the blue background. The rest is pretty straightforward of placing the ribbon, stamping the greeting and added white gel pen for some added texture.

I think it is good to share the process every once in a while as there is no set way of making a card. Sometimes I do make the card I set out to make but most of the time it is a creative process of adding and subtracting and deciding what would work best.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Smooth, Black from stash - I believe Waussau textured. It's pretty lightweight.
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps- Never a Loss 4 Words and Pretty Petals
Ink - Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Color - Shimmering Chalks
Accessories - grosgrain ribbon

PS - if you look for a stamp set name under the wrong manufacturer you aren't too likely to find it... Think it is time to call it quits on the blogging today! Take care!

Blue Christmas Skates

2011-11-13T14:41:00.001-05:00

Over at StampTV they hosted a challenge last week (yeah, I got my card posted in time but the challenge itself is closed) for "Blue Christmas" and this is what I came up with. On top of participating in the challenge I also used GinaK's tutorial for versamark resist. Now I realize you will have squint, hold your computer at arms' length and possibly stand on your head to see it but there is a versamark resist snowflake background on this card. The most prominent one is probably right under the main image. They show up better in person. Honestly!

What I think I learnt is that maybe the stamp was too delicate to pick up enough versamark for a good resist and maybe the blue I chose was too dark. The ink itself should have been ok as it was Memento which is the same GinaK used in her tutorial just the next shade dark blue. Failing that maybe it was a cardstock/moisture issue.

Maybe I should find some candy have a find the snowflakes competition and the first one that finds all of them wins... like I would be that organized!

Oh and BTW this is One Layer card, I masked the skates and the circle.

Ingredients-
Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Smooth
Stamps - GinaK "School, Sports, Spirit", Inkadinkado "Warm Holiday Wishes"
Ink - Memento Danube Blue, Tuxedo Black
Copics - B000, B000, B00, C1, C3, C5, C7
Accessories - White Grosgrain ribbon, Sakura metallic silver.

Unbee-lievable Birthday!

2011-11-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

I decided I wanted to use this image first so I colored it... hmm how to mount and keep it all relevant because I knew this was going to be a "big" card compare to the ones that most cardmakers make. I decided that I could cut down some cardstock and allude to a beehive. My first attempt was dire. I had graduated the cuts and truthfully it looked like a bad pyramid and didn't give the right "feel" so I started again. This time I made the shape you can see and felt that the image mounted on black could allude to the hole in the beehive where the bees fly in and out. I didn't want a literal interpretation just the idea.

Got all that done and decided I needed some leaves. So I cut apart some extra vines (now if you have been following my blog you know I have already used them in another extra project). I thought to make this all pull together that faux stitching would work. I then decided to use the greeting out of Stampendous bee set I have.

Ingredients

Cardsize - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Card stock - Neenah Classic Crest, Recollections, Black (unknown)

Stamps - High Hopes Rubber Stamps (image); Stampendous (greeting)

Ink - Memento

Color - Copic, American Crafts (white gel pen)

Accessories - Corner rounder, Spellbinders oval dies.

Such a sweet birthday

2011-11-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Such a sweet treat to wish someone a happy birthday don't you think? Well, of course sometimes you need more and more an more to share all the delicious goodness and the good thing about these sweet treats is that they are ZERO calories!

This sweet card concoction is for my Sister in Law. It was all pretty straight forward once I decided I wanted to use these stickers that I picked up earlier in the year at Michaels, on sale nonetheless! Oh yeah! You can't really tell but I added some stardust glitter pen to the cupcake and the candle flame. I thought a card full of sweet confection was the perfect foil for my homemade baker's twine. I'm a bit iffy on how it turned out but I know the recipient isn't someone that would fret about whether it was fake or not.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest

Ink - Memento

Stamp - Stampendous (image); Kitchen Sink Stamps (greeting)

Color - Copics, Sakura stardust gel pens

Paper - The Paper Studio

Accessories - Homemade Baker's twine; Recollection cupcake stickers. Rhinestone.

Combining inspiration for a great birthday card!

2011-11-06T12:15:00.000-05:00

I would be lying if I didn't say I am rather pleased with the outcome of this card. It all started with this post fringed-felt-flower-video-tutorial by Julie Ebersole. I had to make a felt flower - I had all this excess felt off cuts from when I made the fez . So I followed her video and fell in love with the whole process of making such a fun embellishment. I decided I was going to send this to my husband's auntie whose eyesight is failing and would appreciate the texture and dimension. Now all I needed with the right layout. I went to Moxie Fab Felt Challenge got loads of inspiration to continue on my quest but couldn't find quite the right layout that I needed. Then I happened upon this layout --> at StampTV and the accompanying beautiful inspiration card! Wowzer you should go take a look! Go on... really go and take a look it is just a beautiful card AND perfect for what I needed.

I think I fulfilled all my requirements and made a great card thanks to a lot of inspiration from some very talented ladies. It took a couple of attempts to find the right color Copic to match my red, the first one when applied direct to paper looked a perfect match but when I airbrushed it was way too pink.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Recollections
Ink - Memento
Stamps - Gina K Designs The best things in life
Color - copic to match red airbrushed
Accessories - circle and scalloped circles Nestabilities by Spellbinders, White and red with white dotted organza ribbon, adhesive pearls The Paper Studio.

Vroom Vroom Vroom!

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

I made this card for a dear friend who has recently become a father to a bouncing baby boy. Our friend owns his own service garage so I know he will appreciate the car on the front.

Not quite a one layer card however it is pretty CAS! I decided the stamped panel needed some pop so outlined it with a wide nib of my Copic marker that I had used to trim the onesie.

Ingredients

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV Nana's kids

Ink - Memento

Stamps - GinaKDesigns

Color - Copics; American Crafts white gel pen

Tree of Love - Wedding inspiration

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

So as with earlier this year we recieved an invite and I used it for my inspiration. Truthfully the bride had shown me pictures of her wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses several months ago and I had been mulling over the details on making just the right card for this girlie girl bride. Any time I spoke with her or her family it was about the pink dressed with black buttons all the way down the back. I kept trying to make something like that work and just didn't like anything I could think out. Then the invite arrived: a sillouetted couple with branches (and trees on the envelope and back) and hearts... hmmm....

So I went with the color scheme, and a tree full of hearts, lots of hearts. I thought the polka dots embossing alluded to the black buttons down the back of the dresses. Psst. Look closely at the tree trunk. I "carved" the couple's initials in the trunk!

Truthfully I completed this card without the black heart... and it needed a bit more pop. Yikes I had already used the largest of my dies to make the aperture. So I used the negative and attempted to trace around it at 1/4 inch and then hand cut it to make the frame for the aperture.

This is the inside of the card. The pink polka dot paper from the paper pack didn't quite match so I went with the black and more hearts which we used to sign the card.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Recollections (pinks)

Paper - The Paper Studio

Stamps - High Hopes (image), Kitchen Sink Stamps (greeting), I Brake for Stamps (Inside)

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Spellbinders heart dies; Polka dot Embossing folder; Heart punch unknown.

Sew Much Flowery Fun

2011-10-22T00:30:00.000-04:00

OK I know I am late to the sewing party and some people are more than "over it" as a trend. I think that is why I decided to have a go at it. I don't really worry about trends. I do like it when I am inspired by what I see and for this card I was firstly inspirated by all the pleated medallions and I thought they would make a good flower. I used 2 1/2 Spellbinders classic scallops circles to make the flower and folded it along the scallops. I think the easiest way to fold was line them up and then unfold and fold another fold and after all the pleats are scored actually pleat the piece for dimension. I wanted a lot of pleats!

Does the stem look familiar? It was left over from when I cut decorations for my cousin's baby shower. I like that I was able to get such a different look from the shower decorations.

This card was made for our auntie, she is advid knitter but enjoys handmade items and artwork. Her eldest son is a graphic designer. So I try not to do something that would be in the realm of graphic design when I make a card for her.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Recollections

Paper - K & Co

Stamps - Just Rite Stampers

Ink - Memento

Accessories - white thread and sewing machine.

Ha-ay! Happy Birthday-ay!

2011-10-20T00:00:00.000-04:00

So this was the start of a punny birthday card. My youngest is always telling me "hay - ay" jokes... so when it came time to make a card for him I had to make it a "hay-ay" joke card. Lots of masking and airbrushing on this card. I think if I redid this card I might have made the "Hay-Ay" in a speech bubble and maybe add some twine to the bottom to reinforce the grounding of the scene. Otherwise it is a pretty straight forward stamping and coloring.

What would you have done differently with this card?

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Just Rite Stampers

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Color - Copics

Accessories - Black embossing powder.

Soccer/Football - A different perspective

2011-10-18T00:30:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought I had finished with the soccer/football cards - I put a different spin on it (get it?!) OK I won't dwell on that I can hear the pun groan from here.

I decided I wanted the perspective of the crowd and goal. So I stamped the crowd on my 5.5 in x 8.5 in cardstock and randomly spot colored in the crowd. I didn't want them to be more than the background so I didn't use any loud colors just grays, blues and neutrals.

I then layered the grass green paper over the bottom 2/5ths of the card and cut the slot. I wish I could say it was meticulous planning.. OH WAIT! With meticulous planning I realized that I could match up the front "grass" stripes with the back of the slot.

At this point I thought the "hard part" was done. Little did I know! I have had this plastic mesh that came off some duty free for a while thinking it would make a great net. I ran it through my Xyron... it lifted off the card. I tried again. It lifted again. Thought maybe I could slightly melt it to the card with my heat gun and it started to shrivel. YIKES! In the end good ol fashioned white glue to the rescue and an acrylic block to hold it down.

I think the rest is pretty self explanatory (or I have already said it in at least 3 of the previous 5 posts).

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock- Neenah Solar White

Paper - The Paper Source pack

Stamps - Viva Las Vegastamps (crowd), GinaK (Little Tees, Sporty Accessories), Just Rite Stampers (Shirt lettering & numbers), Stampendous (Flexible Friendship Wishes)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black, Versamark, Brilliance Victorian Violet (I think)

Color - Copics

Accessories - White & Clear embossing powder, Pennies, Fun foam (for dimension), Foam Tape square.

A revisit less dimension sans cat, larger circle

2011-10-17T00:30:00.000-04:00

At this point I think you could say I have this card nailed down. Now I know a lot of people would tut tut at recreating different versions of this card for so many people. Can I just say, do you know how hard it is to make a card that directly appeals to male interests? I see it all the time on Splitcoaststampers. Cries of help regarding male cards. I also made this interactive and tactile. Simple pleasure of rolling that ball up and down the pitch seems to bring the brightest smiles to the men in my life. They really seemed to love it. It is like a card version of a video game! Result!

The only major change is that I had run out of foam tape and started using fun foam from my stash and truthfully it worked better the card was much less springy. If I make another one of these cards I will definitely be using fun foam. I did use foam tape square with the ball

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Paper - The Paper Source pack

Stamps - GinaK (Little Tees, Sporty Accessories), Just Rite Stampers (Shirt lettering & numbers), Stampendous (Flexible Friendship Wishes)

Ink - Memento Danube blue Tuxedo black; Versamark

Color - Copics to match the Sheffield Wednesday kit.

Accessories - Black embossing powder, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Pennies, Fun foam (for dimension), Foam Tape square.

Can I get a Tilt with that Spin?

2011-10-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

And so the football/soccer card continues to evolve... now I know you can't see that this is that much different than my first card. Colors are now for my nephew who is an ardent Man United supporter. I know, I know, we still love him anyway.

You can't really tell but the shirt tilts when the spinner spins! Oh yeah now we are talking super nerdy card making skills! Lionel Messi can't even keep up with these moves. LOL! Thank you Splitcoastampers Resource pages (tilt and/or spinner cards).

This card also has a super save on it. I cut the slot just a fraction too big. Now it is pretty fiddly to get to the point of the slot so I decided to double stamp the ball and apply it to the other side of the back penny for stability and it worked like a charm.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Paper - The Paper Source pack

Stamps - GinaK (Little Tees, Sporty Accessories), Just Rite Stampers (Shirt lettering & numbers), Stampendous (Flexible Friendship Wishes)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black

Color - Copics (sorry forgot the exact colors but they were in the 20s/30s range and I use Ciao).

Accessories - White embossing powder, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Pennies, Foam tape

Triple Teamed Birthday

2011-10-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry about blurring the names but it was a bit TMI. Still numbers of favorite players and last time England won the world cup are on this one. This card was for the hubs. He follows at least three different football teams (Liverpool FC, Sheffield Wednesday, and Rochdale) rather religiously. I had already thought what can I do differently, then I decided that I could spin one of the jersey's. Now you would think ok, that's the end of this episode. Same but different of the previous incarnation. The real story about this card is that my hubs turns to me AFTER I have made this card and says. "You know you should make a card with the shirt as the spinner!" So either this card is pure genius or pure "RutRoh" to quote Scooby. I'm going for great minds thinking alike and genius! LOL wouldn't you?

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Paper - The Paper Source pack

Stamps - GinaK (Little Tees), Just Rite Stampers (Shirt lettering & numbers), Stampendous (Flexible Friendship Wishes)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black and Danube blue, Versamark

Color - Copics & Multiliner.

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, White embossing powder, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Pennies, Foam tape

World Cardmaking Day lesson on sharing.

2011-10-01T14:28:00.001-04:00

I love to share! I bet just about everyone with a blog loves to share, an idea, a thought a project in progress or completed. However, I think we should remember that not everything is ours to share. Letting my friend borrow a stamp is completely different to widely disseminating someone else's art.

Please take a moment today and visit Mo's Digital Pencil too . I came across a post on SplitcoastStampers and thought the best thing I could do on World Cardmaking Day is support the artists who make my little stamp creations possible. Please think about it and I hope you will do the same.

Here's another site as well if you really want to give these artists your support. http://stampoutstamptheft.blogspot.com/

What? Flowers on a Soccer card? What am I thinking?

2011-09-21T00:30:00.000-04:00

This card is for the wife of Uncle Manky from my previous post... her season ticket was right beside his and I got to thinking that I bet she never got "sports" cards because they aren't very feminine. So I challenged myself to make a feminine sports themed card. I think I might have just succeeded too! I decided that I wanted to use my gladiola stamps for the feminine touch alone with the tee shirt and ball... It came to me that the only time I have really ever seen this combination is on the washing line so thus "why" the shirt is on the washing line. Hopefully in the make believe card world Auntie Gladys didn't have to wash and hang out her shirt to dry on her birthday!

I stamped, colored and embossed the shirt and ball just like I did for Uncle Manky. I then stamped the gladiola multiple times masking off the butterfly in all but one of the repetitions and staggering the placement to look more natural. After coloring them in with Copics, I used versamark and clear embossing powder to emboss them. I used an airbrush to spray the sky (I think that is about the best sky I have done!) and more Copics to make some grass for the garden. The clothes pegs are from another Clear Dollar Stamps set Hanging Out. Although I didn't have movement with this design I wanted it to look like it could so I popped the ball and the bottom of the shirt up on dimensionals. Do you think it makes the shirt look like the breeze has caught it? As for the blue stripe background that was to mimic the hoops that are on the front of the Reading FC football kit and it does a nice job of tying everygthing together don't you think!

And though you can't see it if you saw my previous post you will know there is a little "manky cat" on the inside of this card too!

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock & Paper - Neenah Solar White, The Paper Source (black cardstock & blue stripes).

Stamps - GinaK Designs (Little Tees, Sporty Accessories), Clear Dollar Stamps (August Flower of the month, Hanging Out), Kitchen Sink Stamps (Whole Family), JustRiteStampers

Ink - Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versamark

Color - Copics

Accessories - clear embossing powder, airbrush, foam tape

And when Football (Soccer) Season begins so do the themed cards!

2011-09-20T06:39:00.000-04:00

I make no apologies for my blogging - life is too short! What I will do is warn you that I have a lot of soccer/football cards of a similar ilk coming up. Hey! I'm an if it ain't broke don't fix it sort of gal. What I think is good about sharing this is that you will see how I changed things slightly with no two cards exactly alike (the SCS spinner card use is prominent) even though the theme is the same.

This card was for one of our favourite uncle's who is celebrating his 80th birthday and used to be a Reading FC season ticket holder. Unfortunately he has had a few health problems and had to give up his season ticket a few seasons ago but I know he still supports them.

The name "Uncle Manky" is a pet name from my husband, it stems from a family party where his uncle asked "Who's manky cat is that?" Well, that just tickled my husband's funny bone and ever since (20+ years) he has been "Uncle Manky".

Of course, I had to add a cat too just to remind him how he got the name!

That second cat.. well I will get to that another day.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Paper - The Paper Source pack

Stamps - GinaK (Little Tees, Sporty Accessories), Just Rite Stampers (Shirt lettering & numbers), Clear Dollar Stamps (Simon the cat), Stampendous (Flexible Friendship Wishes)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black and Danube blue, Versamark

Color - Copics W1,W3, W5 and I can't remember the pink...

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities, Pennies, Foam tape

Just in case you are interested, I used the small round stamper with the medium sized font - it overhangs the outside but gives me the right curve for the shirts, I just go along and press down with my fingers to ensure the tops and/or bottoms of the letters get enough pressure to ink the paper.

I guess its hard to tell from the photo but I did my best to make it a Reading FC kit with the sleeve trim in blue and accent this with a blue ball.

A Shower for Baby Dillon

2011-09-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

So I think I have found my calling decorating for family baby showers. We use karate studio for these functions as one of my uncles runs a karate dojo and is kind enough to let us use it. It is a great open space but some times it needs something to be a bit more homey. I do my best to decorate it to keep my mama cousins happy.

I asked my aunt if she wanted me to decorate a bit for the shower and if anyone was doing a "diaper cake". I did my now traditional (I guess two showers makes a tradition) baby block baby name. This time I used two tones of blue as I didn't have enough of either to do the name in full. I try to do these things out of my more than ample stash! I'm sure no other paper crafter has these issue having so much cardstock around. Anyway, I think they are a great hit and fairly easy to do with my electronic die cutting machine.

As my policy to be completely honest about these things you will see with the decorations that are hanging there is a cute not so little umbrella in the center. I have to be honest that I attempted to make a mobile but the string the vines and animals were just too heavy for the cardstock umbrella, so I deconstructed it and used them separately. My wonderful son hung them from the soffet for me and did an excellent job staggering the heights (those animals have fronts and backs decorated). There is an elephant at the far end in case you are wondering - I did the best I could but the shower was staring at this point. LOL!

Alas, the diaper cake. I can't take all the credit. I had my mother roll the diapers. We kept them rolled with clothes pegs and then we put rubber bands around the "layers" and covered the layers with a couple of layers of freezer paper. I then lined some ribbon I had on hand with some double sided tape and placed it around the middle of the layers. The ribbon at the bottom of the layers is wired. Don't you just love that bow! I placed the animals all around to decorate it.

Now you are going to have to forgive me for a moment for sending you back up to the first picture to see that giraffe and then point out the one on the cake. Yes that giraffe on with the building blocks is nearly 2 feet tall - just how fun is that! And on the cake what about that double sided monkey on top?! He is "attached" to a wooden skewer that I fed through the gaps in the layers. Acutally I fed about three skewers through to help it all hold together. Did you notice the all the vines on the mirror? There are loads - they are to cover the joins between the mirrors - my uncle even said they could stay up by my cousin wanted them for her baby book.

I enjoyed making these decorations so much but I'm not going to lie there are a lot of decorations and they took me 3 8+ hour sessions to complete and a few heartbreaking attempts that failed. And it definitely is not the "cheap" option. I'm not even going to add up the supplies because the joy I got from doing some special for my cousin was worth it. Thanks for looking.

Apologies for some of the "coding" making the page a bit wonky - I have done my best to clear it up.

Baby Shower crafted gifts - Clothes Dividers

2011-08-25T00:28:00.027-04:00

So I told my aunt that I would help decorate for my cousin's shower. My cousin is having a boy and has a jungle animal theme for her baby accessories. I happened across this tutorial http://adreatravis2008.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-second-video.html and just had to make these part of my gift to her. Please visit the tutorial and leave some appreciation if you like this project.
I used fun foam for the ovals and cut them out on my die cutting machine as I wanted a larger size than the nestabilities I have. I picked colors that went along with the scheme and mostly replicated animals similar to her sets and added a couple more - the bird and the frog.

I decided to use some twine I had for more of a jungle/rustic feel. Did you see how the chick is in an oval (or is it an egg)? And because I had two monkeys I thought they needed to be the next size.

With the cutting I had to re trim the ovals as the fun foam had a bit of a perforated look even using the deep blade housing and a very slow cutting speed.

What I did different from my inspiration is that I used twine instead of ribbon, and I made the oval the entire mat for the piece without having rectangles hanging down as I thought they would be easily damaged. I wanted this to be about making new mom's life easier.

Generally I went with the normal animal sizes for the order. The exception is the frog and I just thought he needed to be on "water" blue!

Truthfully it was a fun project with great impact that the mommy to be loved (once I explained what they are! LOL). All the printing was done on the computer onto card stock.

Apologies for the picture sizes. I didn't want the post to scroll forever just repeating the same project but different color and animal but still wanted to share them all with you.

I was trying to work out how to do some groovy things in my photo editing software and starting losing the will to share so when plain and simple.

IngredientsFun Foam
Card stock
Cricut Create a Critter
Spellbinders Rectangle Nestabilities
Eyelets
Twine

Oopsie "Baby on Board" a little more to the right please.

2011-08-23T00:08:00.001-04:00

This card is fairly CAS in my opinion, but then again what do I know!

In the spirit of telling you the ups the downs and the all arounds this isn't exactly the card I was going to make... I had this vision of a single popped layer with airbrushed shading around the image. All went well until the mask wanted to permanently attach itself to the t-shirt on the oval. Sheesh! I'm a time limit here. Did I forget to say the car was packed and ready to go to the baby shower for set up and everyone was waiting for me!...oh I did? Well the car was packed and I guess you get the idea. Quickly I decide that there is no saving it. I stamped another t-shirt and promptly got the letter skewed. ACK! oh no... I'm just going to have to go with it at this point. So I color it and mount it and pray that all the decorations and paper gifts I made for her will make up for my skewed "Baby on board". And yes I will start sharing those with you my next post... I probably will divide it over a few posts in case anyone is inspired by my humble little creations. Thanks for looking and sharing in my oops!

Ingredients
Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah
Stamps - GinaKDesigns
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Dies - Spellbinders
Techniques - Airbrushing, Dimensional layering, Masking, dry embossing

From your favorite Aliens...

2011-08-22T00:05:00.001-04:00

When you have a dear friend that is a plane buff and pilot you can get some pretty interesting conversations late at night and one of them was if they had ever seen a UFO...

Of course a UFO only means the flying object was unidentified. Right? LOL! So logically the way my mind works when it came time to make a birthday card for our friend I had to play on this conversation. We are definitely a bunch of goofballs so I'm sure it really wasn't any surprise for our friend to receive such a silly card.

So do you think this is Out of this World? I won't pretend it is a piece of art but I do like how it all turned out. And yes, I do see that bit of marker bleeding at the bottom. I got ready to spend loads and loads of time and effort trying to eliminate it and then realized that a nice shiney flying saucer would reflect the sky around it. That's my excuse and I am sticking with it!

TBH I'm particularly proud of remembering to put a bit of pink in the space. Though honestly I could have spaced the Aliens better. A fun set from Clear Dollar Stamps that I can't wait to find an excuse to use again.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Other - Embossing (yeah there are some twinkly stars on there)

Techniques - Stamping, Masking, Airbrushing.

A Very Dotty Happy 18th!

2011-08-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

Can you tell we are absolutely dotty about our neice and she has a special birthday! Well in England anyway. They really celebrate 18th and/or 21st birthdays. The 21st is more traditional but 18th is really popular too especially as they finish secondary school and don't really graduate like we do in the US (They do national exams and get their results a few months later).

I used a couple of Gina K Stamps sets for this. I stamped the greeting on the white die cut circles with a rainbow of memento colors. I then stamped the shirt with the lady bug red on scrap paper and before I cleaned it off I added some metallic Tsukineko ink to the stamp and stamped again to keep the color and add a metallic sheen to the lettering on the T shirt. I cut out the shirt and put foam tape on it. I then used my Spellbinders dies to cut out circles in both white and black. I cut and adhered them together adding the shirt to the front and decorating with rhinestones. Then I made the background layout and decided to go overboard with the dots theme and emboss the background which meant four passes through the folder and machine with some hand embossing to tease out the dots that get smashed in the sides of the folders.

Time to attach the image circle using some more foam tape and of course I just had to add the rainbow dotty ribbon I already had in my stash! I don't know if it works or not but I like it. What about you?

Ingredients

Card size -8.5 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Georgia Pacific

Stamps - Gina K - Just So Sporty & Little Tees

Ink - Memento, Tsukineko

Accessories - Embossing Folder, Die cuts, Ribbon, Crystals

Red Hearty Happy Anniversary

2011-07-28T00:01:00.026-04:00

So I got creative block and got to trawling Etsy one night, well lets be honest one day & night and got inspired by loads of graphic letterpress cards. I had wanted to make a Clean & Simple card for my BIL & SIL for their anniversary and this is what I came up with.

I don't know if it completely works. What do you think? I like all the components and I really liked it when I sent it. I think I'm just second guessing myself now.

Anyway at least I used some dies that I have had for a few years and have never used! Oopsie!

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Archiver's open stock linen texture, The Paper Source

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories - Spellbinders Heart Dies, Cuttlebug Male & Female dies, Ribbon, Heart brad.

Rainbow Butterflies

2011-07-27T00:01:00.037-04:00

Isn't it amazing how sometimes the simplest cards to make are the most striking cards to view. I decided that as this was a get well card I wanted it to be cheerful. What is more cheerful than a rainbow after the rain and better analogy. So basically I cut out 12 in strips with the butterfly punch in each color of the rainbow. I then cut them to length for the card. Next I sent the strips through my sticker maker. I did then send them through my die cutting machine with an embossing pad to ensure all the glue was adhered.

With the excess strips I cut out some of the individual butterflies and then adhered them to each color for some movement.

All that was left was to stamp the greeting with my Big Juicy rainbow inkpad. The sentiment is Inkadinkado.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah

Paper - The Paper Source

Punch - Martha Stewart

Stamp - Inkadinkado

Ink - Big Juicy

Accessories - sticker maker

"Fezzes are Cool" - how to make your own Fez

2011-07-26T00:01:00.005-04:00

Subtitle - "how to make your own fez". - it's handmade not blocked nor perfect.

Our household is a big Dr Who house - now we are are bit subtle about our Dr Who love. No conventions or outward appearances but if you know us you know we love the Doctor in all his incarnations. That said it came as no surprise when my eldest gets a prom invite for a masquerade and promptly says - I want a fez. Simple right? Well you would think so, especially with all the steampunk related sites around. It seems that Fez's aren't that well documented in the How To Category unless you want to find a bucket to fit your head and put a tassel in it. I knew I wanted something a little more durable than that and I believe I have come upon the answer to all those steampunkers who need a fez.

First I measured my son's head - yeah it IS big 22.5 inches (that's the easy bit) Then I took some scrap cheap cardstock and fashioned a conical cylinder (is there such a thing?) with it and put it around his head for a fit. From pictures on the web I knew it wasn't a cylinder, though was only a slight slant. Had to decide how tall the fez was going to be at this point, and truthfully mine is probably a tad on the tall side. If I did another I would probably shorten it by an inch. I took it down to 21 inches circumference by trial and error. Lots of cutting and trimming and I had my cardstock pattern to cut my fabric.

I had bought a yard of red felt from the fabric department of Hobby Lobby (very wide) and some medium stiffness Double Sided Fusible Package Interfacing. I needed the stiffness to keep the fez upright but I did want some flexibility so it would survive more than one event.

I did the math (thank you internet) for the radius of a 21inch circle for the top and drew out a circle with the string method.

I cut out 2 felt circles and 1 Interface circle. I then cut out 2 felt sides and 1 Interface side - I had to piece this together for about an inch.

I then attempted to iron the felt to the interfacing. It did work a little bit but it isn't a super sticky hold and don't panic when the felt pills up a bit. Just peel it off and keep going.

Now I got my sewing machine out. I did a short wide zigzag stitch and attached the circle to the top (21 in) of the side. There really is no good way to pin it and use a sewing machine. After I had gone all the way around AND liked how the top looked, I then sewed the side seam together. I won't lie at this point I was praying it was going going to turn out ok. I went up and down the side seam a couple of passes. Then I bound the bottom of the side sandwich of 2 felt and 1 Interface together so you couldn't see the white. Again with the good ol trusty zig zag stitch.

Now the tassel. I couldn't buy one that would work so I used black crochet thread. It took a lot of looping for the length. Then a few knots to ensure it was stable. I then cut the ends to make them fringe and passed the knotted thread to the top and started binding the tassel to the knot. This took fabric glue and some patience to get a nice neat appearance. I did pass the thread through the knot a couple of times in the process to secure it and keep it tidy. Once I had finished I sent the thread with a lot of effort and brute force up through the middle of the tassel to so I had a length to tie onto the hat. I used a hole punch from my craft stash to create the hole. I knotted it and glued the knot to stablelize it.

I know this was wordy but I hope it helps anyone out there trying to make their own Fez. It survived the prom with just about every attendee having a "fez" picture in great shape. I have a feeling this will become his staple accessory for many, many social functions in the years to come.

Ingredients
Inspiration - Doctor Who
Pattern- Internet, and Trial & error
Cardstock - cheap but sturdy to stand up to make the cone
Pencil - to draw and make the pattern
Felt -
InterfaceThread
Sewing Machine with a zig zag stitch
Crochet thread
Large blunt needle
Hole punch
Glue

Yeah, that didn't work

2011-07-25T16:31:00.001-04:00

So the concept was to use my fabby new Hero Arts stamps to make some thank you notes that needed to be sent out already. The plan was to use purple for the typewriter, gold for the paper and an orange for the background, stamping in black. This should work, Right?

So I stamp my typewriter black on purple and all is well... maybe I just should have left it at that but no I didn't. I decided to put crystal effects on typewriter to make it glossy. It curled when dry. I stamped the "thank you" on gold and tried to make it look like paper. Hmm the paper is too big for the typewriter. Lastly I put my orange paper through my die cutting machine and the embossing folder must have thought it was a die cutting folder...

You know I'm going with it. I'm not perfect and I am proud! Who wants to be card making elite? I just want to get my cards done and sent out on time! LOL! and hopefully they are cute, and no one has ever made a prettier, cuttier, more scrumtious card right?!

Oh well back to the drawing board time!

Ingredients
Card Size - 4.25 x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Georgia Pacific
Paper - The Paper Source
Stamps - Hero Arts
Ink - Memento
Accessories - Crystal Effects

CAS Kentucky Wedding.

2011-05-22T00:24:00.001-04:00

I saw this link on Paperlicious blog and remembered that I had seen the challenge whilst looking for inspiration for this card. It didn't occur to me that I had actually used bling until I was blogging this so I am delighted to be able to "enter" this in CAS-ual Fridays challenge!

I took inspiration for this card from the invitation. Basically I reversed the colors and used stamps from my collection to create a similar effect as the card but with a difference.

The colors for the wedding apparently are purple and blue. I decided not to use the purple and just keep it simple. Apparently the blue was chosen by the groom for UK basketball. It really is a religion here.

I know a lot of people struggle with Wedding Cards but I think if you know the invitation is designed by the couple then it gives you more information than who and the venue - it gives you a style and reference point. That said when I got married I had plain and simple black and white invitations.

This is what I came up with using the invitation as inspiration. The damask stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps and I think they mimic the original pretty well.

You can't really tell but after I colored the rings with Copics and then went over the top with some Tsukineko galaxy gold for a slight sparkle and of course the ladies ring need a "diamond" to sparkle too. And I think that qualifies as "bling" on a CAS card!

What I really like though is the embossed border to just take it one step further than the original.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Just Rite Stampers, See D's

Ink - Memento, Galaxy Gold

Color - Copics

Accessories - Spellbinders Nestabilities, Rhinestone (I just couldn't afford the diamond for a card!) and NO airbrushing - I might have to have a moment of silence.

Mother's Day the card was on time.

2011-05-21T22:02:00.000-04:00

I made this card as part of Challenge SC331 on SplitcoastStampers

I tried to upload it at the time and couldn't so I thought I would go ahead and post it now though it's been a couple of weeks. I kept trying to hold off until I got my gallery updated. Still trying to get that done. Hopefully tonight if I'm lucky though it may not because it is VSN night there. One of these days I'm going to have to participate in one however, I keep thinking I need to be a bit more organized before I start and at the moment if you could see my craft space - organized it is not!

I decided to use this High Hopes stamp I have had for a while for a Mother's Day this year especially as it was so close to Easter. I colored, masked and airbrushed with my Copics. I really do love the intensity of color I get with little effort. I did alter the sketch a bit by adding some flowers to make it a little less masculine.

I think I'm getting better with the airbrush!

Ingredients

Card size - 5.5 x 8.5 inches

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Prima Flowers, Rhinestone brads, Airbrush

Technique - Stamping, Masking, Coloring with Copics, Airbrushing

There's something fishy about this...

2011-05-10T00:01:00.001-04:00

So I had to make a quick card for a teenage girl who invited my kids to a pool party. She loves tigers (used my only tiger for her last year) and Team Jacob but not Twilight (and I have no idea how to even approach that with the stamps I have!) so I decided to go with the water theme. I like the card but don't think it particularly screams teenage girl and maybe that is a good thing because she isn't the most girlie girl - in fact I think she would have been offended by a pink card though if you look at this card you can see I did manage to get some glitter on the fish!

This card represents a lot to me. I think after I decided the theme it was just about the quickest card I have ever made! From first inking to final glitter application all over the cod, I think it took me just under two hours which was the time frame I had to complete it. I am so excited about that. I think technically it is pretty good, though with a bit more time I might have added some friends for the cod to swim with on its birthday though I kinda like the watery open space. Maybe next time I use these stamps I will add a present dangling from a fishing line and maybe a party hat for the cod... I always seem to come up with these ideas after the fact! LOL.

AND it is another airbrush card! Lots of water and sand airbrushing. I'm loving my cheap Harbor Freight compressor - the most time consuming part is making the masks and I just keep them with the stamps so I have them for the next time!

Ingredients

Card size 8.5 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock Neenah, Recollections (blue)

Stamps High Hopes

Ink Memento

Color Copics - TBH the colors were three out of each 10 group and I don't know if the specifics are so important because it's personal choice to match what you want to match.

Accessories Spellbinders Nestabilities, Glitter Glue (plain old kiddy glitter glue).

My 9 year old cousin loved it! But I have the feeling I missed the mark with regard to a teenage girl... oh well I will probably have next year to get it right! LOL!

A Big Cheesy Birthday to you!

2011-05-09T00:01:00.003-04:00

So just what do you give to your quirky uncle who loves cheese? A cheese card of course. I bought these stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps a couple of years ago with specifically this card in mind. To be honest I then bottled it and thought this card was beyond my capabilities. I'm so happy I finally attempted it and if I do say so myself, I'm pretty happy with the cheesy outcome.

So what do you think? More cheese? More Mice? Indigestion? Too cheesy?

I've been trawling CAS cards on SplitcoastStampers and Lateblossom on Simplicity to try to get it - I think think this might be as plain and simple as I can go. All that white space seems pretty clean to me but I think I fail on the simple part. There was a lot of masking and mock ups and one potential image was harmed in the making of this card - its cheese got ahead of itself when I forgot to mask it.

What I really enjoyed on this card is that it was my first time airbrushing! OMG how fun is that to do - I keep finding excuses to do more of it!!! I can't believe how intimidated I was at the thought and then how easy it is. I have easily had my Harbor Freight Compression and Copic adaptor for six months and just kept looking at the box. Now I have to learn how to airbrush with real paint as I have two or three Radio Controlled Cars to paint for my boys! YIKES! And one of them wants a Union Flag on roof! Luckily thanks to SCS I have heard there is a masking material in the hobby section of Hobby Lobby that I need to check out! Wish me luck and hopefully it won't take me another six months to get them painted!
Anyway that's my cheesy story and I'm sticking too it.

The making of involved the usual culprits

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 inches
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Stampendous
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics

I know I don't have many followers, however I'm toying with the idea of playing with my layout a bit more to modernize it. So any helpful comments in that direction will be much appreciated. Many thanks and I bet you noticed that my blogging is like the weather in Ky - when it rains it storms! LOL! Take care!

Hmm Happy Mother's Day?

2011-05-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

Now if you are in North America you will probably not understand my question, but as I made this to send to my MIL in March for Mothering Sunday in England you will understand that my question is really me scratching my head that it took me so long to upload, edit and post it using my software (check out that snazzy watermark! WooHoo! I'm only years behind the times!). *catches breath after that run-on sentence*

Right now down to the nitty gritty I have had these 6x6 had to have them K&Co paper stacks for years! and I have USED THEM! is it party time or what? Part of the issue is that they were in my notorious "safe place", you know that place where you put something to keep it safe and then promptly forget where it is. I have decided that since my supplies take up an entire pie safe (double wardrobe size for those that measure that way) that I need to use what I have and yes I have donated some things but I'm a hoarder and I prefer to force myself to use it. If I give it away I have no ownership of my purchasing. Oh dear I have digressed a bit, anyway I decided to 3D decoupage three of the papers into a card for my mother in law and stamp the sentiment in the middle, it probably would have been quicker to just stamp a card from scratch with all those small cuts but I was pleased with the outcome even if I couldnt' find an envelope to fit it...in the end I had to throw it in the padded envelope with her present and pray for the best.

I assure you the usage of those three sheets of 6x6 for the layers have made a dent in my supplies! LOL!

Ingredients
Cardstock - Neenah
Paper - K&Company
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Accessories - foam tape/dimensionals

Changes are on the way...

2011-05-05T13:23:00.000-04:00

I know I have been silent for a while - luckily it is for good reasons but has meant a bit of a learning curve for me. I got a new computer and photo editing software so I am trying to learn to use them both to get the most out of them. Let alone migrating and re-arranging files!

I think we all know I'm not the most prolific cardmaker at the best of times, however, I have managed to make 3 cards in my off screen time that I need to share with you and I have also managed to get out and learn how to use my airbrush. I'm now officially in love and want to airbrush everything!

I was really impressed with myself last week making one of my "masterpieces" in about 1 1/2 start to finish. I think that was a record for me! I have at least two cards to get done today and I just can't think so these cards are definitely taking longer than 1 1/2 start to finish! LOL.

Take care and if you have read this far show some love to my followers and the blogs that inspire me -

Following is another thing I am trying to work out, plus challenges and all sorts of other things on my to do list! Take care and I hope to be here soon with my uploads!

3D Hydrangea card.

2011-03-05T00:17:00.025-05:00

I really like how this card turned out. What do you think? It's the birthday card I sent my dear Mother-in-law. It was quite time involved but pretty simple to put together in the end. My general stamping style isn't "pretty" but I think this actually fits in the pretty mode. I had to post this so I hope it survived its 4,000+ mile journey somewhat in tact. I think if it hadn't my Mother-in-law would have said.

I can't really say how this card came about...if you are into reading, it was a very stream of consciousness event. I was playing and inspired from a variety of sources.

Last year I made my MIL a really involved card with multiple layers of stamping, embossing etc. So I knew I had to come up with something at least equally as good. I was playing with my hydrangea punch in January just punching card excess from the previous pink card and playing with my embossing stylus to see just what it took to make those magnificent flowers I have been seeing everywhere. Well, by the end of television viewing time with the family that night I had quite a few formed blossoms in hand! I had to decide if/how to incorporate them on a card for my MIL. I went through my stamp collection and found out the Kitchen Sink Stamps Hydrangea set... hmmm... lets take this dimensional like a photo and have the stamped hydrangeas set the scene and the 3D one as the focus. I was also inspired by the clean look from the Simplicity blog and the CAS threads on Splitcoaststampers. I decided to use my memento ink and just go tone on tone on tone for the step process to keep the focus on the main bloom. I finished off the 3D blooms by gluing a small pearl in the center of each and then mounting most of the petals on pink circle to have the ability to play with the placement. After I placed the circle of petals on the card base, I then added more to make the blossom look more organic.

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections (pink), DCWV (green)

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps

Ink- Memento (Angel Pink, Bamboo Leaves)

Accessories - pearls

Perfectly Pink Girlie birthday

2011-03-04T00:22:00.001-05:00

I do so many masculine, boyish cards that sometimes it's really good to let myself go and really go for it with the girlie ones! There is lots on this card but supplies-wise its fairly straight-forward 3 cardstock choices, two inks, 4 stamp sets, markers, nestabilities, circle cutter and a bit of bling... hmm maybe there is more to it than I thought! I guess it just goes to prove when you are in the zone with a card it flows.

To be honest I colored this image last year. I always have trouble at the beginning of the year switching from Christmas and winter blahs to getting cards done and as my Brother in Law and dear, youngest cousin have birthdays 4 weeks after Christmas I just can't afford to lose my mojo like that. It's the first time I have tried to do that and I have to say I really enjoyed the process. I picked this image for my cousin because she has this little black cat that honestly follows her around like a dog and pines for her when she is at school by sitting by her bedroom door and crying for her loudly.

I chose the pinks from what I had left over from a Recollections paper pack that I bought a couple of years ago and decided I wanted to stamp tone on tone and just see how that turned out. The base is Neenah and I stamped "9 Today" repeatedly to create a background. I then used the same ink to continue with the greetings on the pale pink cardstock. The large circle was cut before stamping and the small circles after. I wanted the greetings to stand out a bit more so one I highlighted with white dots and the other with white faux stitching. After cutting and matting the image with nestabilities I felt the whole card needed a bit of bling so I adhered three rhinestones in each corner of the mat.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Card Stock - Neenah, Recollections

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black, Rose bud

Color- Copics, American Craft white gel pen

Accessories - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter, Rhinestones

A Class Act!

2011-03-03T00:46:00.002-05:00

Classy right? Well, I know this is kinda generic but it was inspired by a coming together of ideas and comments. I was reading a thread on Splitcoaststampers about the images from Cricut being too childish. Now you may disagree but I think this one is pretty simple and ageless, rather than childish. I made this for my 17 year old as in the last few years he has been exploring his theatrical side and gaining more confidence with each performance.

There is a card cut on the cartridge and I used that to make the base with the black masks over the opening I then covered those masks with an identical white cut out and another one that I had highlighted and shadowed with copics and popped up from the other white masks with some coasters I had collected.

I didn't like the "gap" around the masks as such. I decided I would go in behind and add some texture. I then lined the card with another layer of gold/yellow cardstock.

Do you get the song reference with this card as well? "Ah huh, You know what it is?" (another nod to a song that my son seems to be singing all the time at the moment though he's a Colts fan! :S ! LOL!)

Recipe
Card Size 8.5in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - The Paper Source (textured black), Recollection (white/gold)
Cricut Cartridge - Locker Talk
Cuttlebug - dots embossing folder

Color - Copics (C1,C3)

Accessories - Cricut Expression, Cricut Design Studio

Ye Old Buzzard -that's my BIL

2011-03-01T00:24:00.004-05:00

So my brother-in-law turned 50 and what was I to do but rub it in his face. It wasn't until I was nearly finished with this card that my husband decided to suggest a Hawaii Five-O theme. Really? You wait until I am nearly finished with a unique card that isn't useful for anyone else we know this year?! Anyway I stuck with my original plan and will have to try to remember to use the Hawaiian theme in the future! So here's my attempt at elder humor -

It's a combined stamps project. What can I say if I like a stamp I use it. And I really like how these combined. The image is from High Hopes Stamps and the Large numbers are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I love both stamp companies - High Hopes for their whimsy and Kitchen Sink Stamps for their beauty. I wanted the graphic punch of a cartoon with this card, do you remember the days when we used to get excited about the color in the newspaper and how they used to print the comics in color on Sunday? I guess I'm showing my age because its a fond memory of mine and that was the sort of feel I was going for with this. Did I get it right? The multi-colored line of "50" is the envelope.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Stampendous (the small 50 on the balloon)

Ink - Memento tuxedo black, Big Juicy Pad (kaleidoscope effect), Versamark

Color - Copics

Accessories - White embossing powder

Vroom! Vroom! Happy Birthday!

2011-02-28T11:44:00.002-05:00

I made this card for my son for his birthday over the weekend. He is 17 and of course like most 17 year olds he dreams of the day he will own a fast car. Notice I don't share that dream but as long as it's a dream then I can live with it and indulge all the work he is doing to one day afford one!

I ran across this card contest on Clearly iStamp and thought it would make a great layout for a masculine birthday card.

Pretty much everything on this card IS Clear Dollar Stamps - The car image, the greeting, the background, and even those bolts; they are stamped in Memento Tuxedo black, cut out and then a clear glaze over them for some shine and texture. This is one case where I started with the card sketch, the intended recipient (and chose the appropriate stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps) and ran with it.

So, do you think my card is running fast or running on empty?

Recipe

Card Sketch - CDC #22

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah (base and image), Recollections (Blue), The Paper Source (Black)

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps - bolt (Wrench & Bolt set), Metal plate (Heavy Metal), Happy Birthday (Cool Ride), Car (Corvette 1968)

Ink - Memento (Tuxedo Black, London Fog)

Color - Copics (sky - B0000, B000, B00; car - B23, B24, B29, B00, C1,C3, C5, W3,W5, E31; ground - C1, C3, C5)

Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder (gears), Spellbinders Nestabilities Oval

ETA - to answer the question - yes the diamond plate background is stamped.

2010 - Penguin sleigh party

2011-02-27T01:15:00.002-05:00

The last of my last year's Christmas cards well not quite - would you believe I have a whole group of "winter cards sat here that haven't been mounted to send to some special people in my life? Yeah, I didn't think I was stretching your imagination too much with that one! Maybe its something to do with publishing photos of my work 2-3 months after I have sent it out! Still I love to share even if its only with a few people.

So here it is and a bit blurry too! Bet you would believe that I take most of my pictures just as I'm stuffing that envelope to get my cards out the door too... hmmmm I think I might be giving away all my closely guarded secrets!

Anyway I like how this ended up and hope you do to.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill, Recollections

Stamps - High Hopes (I think)

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug dots embossing folder.

2010 Ski bear Snow Wishes

2011-02-26T01:17:00.001-05:00

I decided early on that I wanted this card to use non-traditional christmas colors.

I think it works even though I didn't have quite the right color cardstock and ribbon to match the blues in the coloring. Sometimes I think we can get too hung up on things matching. When Helena Bonham Carter was questioned by Jay Leno recently about her oddly paired shoes at the Golden Globes she said perfection is overrated and she is happy being herself.

I think she had a point. I know many card makers that can drive themselves to distraction trying to perfectly match items rather than enjoying the "flaw" or even glorying in it - so here's a shout out for non-matching blues - don't let them get ya down!

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color- Copics

Accessories - Ribbon from Michaels, Spellbinders snowflake background die.

PS - the color matching police haven't found me yet!

2010 Merry Kiss Moose!

2011-02-25T01:11:00.014-05:00

Maybe I should have published this warm little kiss earlier this winter! Definitely a cute idea for a winter warmer. I sent this little card kiss to my BIL and SIL. I tried a few patterns and embossing folders for the background and I was happier with the less is more approach, almost like that old saying about taking off one piece of jewelry before you walk out the door, however as I normally only wear earrings I think I would look a bit odd with only one earring so maybe I will just stick with I planned this card to be clean and simple! It will be a secret just between us right?

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - ribbon from Michaels. Corner rounder.

Christmas elf wishes 2010

2011-02-24T01:04:00.000-05:00

I honestly don't know if this worked. I tried to make this look like a package but I think it probably just looks a bit top heavy. I played and played with placement I just couldn't get it any better than this.

So basically its my same normal construction model. I got this stamp as an extra when I ordered directly from High Hopes - I think they only deal with shops now so I don't know about availability. I colored this stamp with copics and mat and layered to pop it a bit and added the green ribbon as an accent. I'm thinking that is probably where I went wrong and got the proportions of the ribbon layout too far into the corner. Still if we don't try these things how do we ever learn.

Recipe

Card size 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock Neenah, Archiver's open stock red

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - ribbon from Michaels

Better late (posting) than never! Cricut Christmas 2010

2011-02-18T00:55:00.003-05:00

Shock horror I didn't stamp my "bulk" Christmas cards last year. Oooo don't give me that evil look! Truthfully I wanted to use up some patterned paper that just wasn't speaking to me and the copious amounts of dark green cardstock. The only thing I actually purchased to make these was a Xyron creative station - oh my how did ever get on without that! Again this past year I went with the smaller card and kept it handmade and still sent them - my frugality came with the size and using up my supplies! We sent out around 90 of these cards. I know several people that do individual cards for holidays but I always liked sending the same even before I started making them!

Recipe

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Recollections, Rob & Bob paper stack (I don't know what number but I have had a few years!)

Accessories - Cricut Expression with Design Studio, Xyron creative station, Christmas cart.

Fly by Birthday for future Fly boy.

2011-02-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

I made this card expressly for my cousin, his heart's desire is to go to Naval Academy and fly as long as he doesn't get too tall!

So truthfully I bought this set from Clear Dollar Stamps specifically with him in mind because whether or not his dreams come true he will always love airplanes.

I made a tonal background using London Fog and Tuxedo Black in my Memento inks, alternating colors and stamps to get a masculine feel. I colored the focal image with Copics and plenty of color to ensure it stood out. I matted it on the black and put it to the background and it just seemed to swim on the page. I decided I needed to break up the background so I adhered the black strip across. That really made it much better. I put the card together adding a bit of masculine bling with the silver brads on the corners of the main image. It was still a bit blah. So I decided to use the "Happy Birthday" stamp from another Clear Dollar Stamps set (I think Classic Cruisin) and round them so they were like little message clouds. Hope you like.

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento - Tuxedo Black & London Fog

Color - Copics

Accessories - corner rounder, silver brads.

A little help for a Happy Birthday

2011-02-12T00:35:00.002-05:00

Thanks Joan at Paperlicious for the inspiration to create this card. Joan has been such an overall inspiration to me about exploring life as a daughter, mother and crafter so please visit her blog generally - she has decided to be an occasional blogger and that works for me! Yeah. I bet you hadn't guessed that. Anyway the link is directly to the card that inspired my creation and I hope you enjoy my interpretation.

I was absolutely at wits end on what sort of card to send to my nephew's girlfriend and I hope she liked this. I thought it was "young" and maybe even "modern" but what do I know! LOL!

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, K&Co paper

Stamps - Stampendous, Just Rite Stamps

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics, Sakura (glitter, metallic, souffle - yep all of them!), American Craft white pen.

Accessories - Circle nestabilities, rhinestones, punch (unknown ATM)

A planted wagon of Birthday Cheer.

2011-02-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to decide what I think of this card. It just seems to lack something but everything I tried to add went wrong so I went with the less is more approach.

So what do you think? Over cooked it? Under cooked it? or just right?

I started by selecting the image for this card and then the cardstock I wanted to use for the background. After that I chose Copics that matched the background cardstock. I then colored some white brads with the copics to match the image and help with the bling factor. I added glitter pen to the middle of the flowers to help pep up the image.

I wanted it to be bright and cheerful as I was creating this for our lovely Auntie in England who is in her 80s. I know she has some sight issues so I hope the card was bold enough for her to enjoy it.

Recipe -

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Color - Copics

Accessories - White & black brads, Martha Stewart punch, Sakura glitter pen

The bluebird of happy birthday

2011-02-02T13:37:00.000-05:00

Wow I guess I really have been away from my blog for a while what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and life in general. Well hopefully this card will help you cheer up and inspire you to think warm thoughts!

This card was for my Sister in Law. She loves gardening and although her birthday is at the end of October I thought it would make a change for her to get a card suited to her interests rather than the autumnal season.

What isn't obvious about this card was immediately after stamping "Sister in Law" I lost the stamps. They are clear and I couldn't find them on my work table anywhere. I looked and looked and nearly emailed the manufacturer about whether they make replacements after I had exhausted any idea of where they could have fallen when they just turned up right where I had previously looked. I'm putting it down to pre Christmas stress!

I like the juxtaposition of the formal font for the greeting with the whimsical stamps. Do you think it works?

I stamped the front panel wanting to keep all the stamping on one layer and make an impact with the white space. The bird and birdhouse on the inside I did stamp and cut out and apply as I didn't want bleed through to the back of the card. I also put some scrap cardstock inside an envelope and stamped and colored the envelope with that inside to prevent bleed through to the back of the envelope and to give my Sister in Law a glimpse of what her card was going to be about.

I really like this card - almost too much to send!

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source (black)

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes Stamps

Ink - Memento tuxedo black and blue danube (?)

Color - Copics

Ding Dong! or is that Dingbat?

2010-11-14T00:56:00.001-05:00

This is the culmination of a card idea I have had in my head for literally years. It all goes back to when I was in the school play "The Wizard of Oz" in 5th grade, and then years later saw a doormat at a Warner Bros store with the legs sticking out and "Ding Dong" on the mat. I kicked myself later for not buying that doormat. So this is my way of making sense of it all and creating a card to celebrate such a great movie/play.

I stamped the legs and shaded them with copics and colored in the ruby red slippers with my sakura glitter gel pen. I cut them out to place on the background which is a brick pattern stamped on yellow cardstock The wording I cut using my cricut, design studio and Plantin SchoolBook font.

Recipe -

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, The Paper Source

Stamps - Viva Lasvegastamps, Cornish Heritage Farms (I think they closed earlier this year and haven't heard if anyone is offering their designs elsewhere).

Color- Sakura, Copic

Cricut Expression - Plantin SchoolBook

Txt me L8r - HB2U

2010-11-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

Another Stampendous set that I used for my youngest's birthday card. I think what really made the card was the glossy accents over the phone after I colored it with copics. The "holey" border I made whilst playing with a Martha Steward punch. Another "look" I won't be replicating as it took forever to line up the holes for each edge, but I like the effect. The background I took inspiration from some fabric I saw at Hancock's Fabrics. I still might buy some to make a pelmet for his room!

Recipe
Card size - 5.5 x 8.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, The Paper Source
Stamps - Stampendous
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - Martha Stewart punch

Well, we are always telling him he is from Zog...

2010-11-12T00:36:00.001-05:00

I used this Stampendous stamp set for my youngest's birthday card this year. We are always telling him he is some sort of alien that landed here and we actually celebrate his landing date LOL! I think everything on the card is pretty straightforward and this is a good card for a teen with the grungy look. Good thing was that I got to use my Cuttlebug numbers folder and distressed stripes which I picked up to use someday and had never used! YIKES!

End of the Road for this Birthday Caper!

2010-11-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

Admit it, you expected a Christmas theme. I just couldn't take it that far!

Inside -

When all is said and done the Usual Suspects

sing like a canary to wish you a happy birthday!

Hope you liked the travel through the ups and downs of my penance for not making my dear husband number one on my card making schedule!

Recipe -

Card size - 5.5 x 4.25 in

Cardstock - DCWV, Neenah, The Paper Source

Ink - Memento

Stamps - Inkadinkado

Color - Copics

How many leaves does it take?

2010-11-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

This card looks simple right? Well I nearly lost it all over this card. I knew how I wanted it to look and it took me forever (repeat forever) to get the coloring on the leaf right. I like how it turned out in the end but a lot of leaves were raked directly into the trash in the making of this card!

Recipe
Card size 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV
Ink - Memento
Stamps - Inkadinkado

Bewitching Birthday card!

2010-11-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, if I had done this right this would have appeared at least a couple of weeks ago and been timely with the holiday, but I'm ok with that and I'm ok with using a witch stamp for a card that isn't a Halloween card too!

This was the tenth card in the set and I hope rather obviously represents October greetings.

On the inside I printed this greeting -

A happy birthday witch for you!

I think it works, do you?

Recipe

Card size - 5.5 x 4.25 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections, The Paper Source

Ink - Memento

Stamp - Studio G

Color - Copics

Accessories - Cuttlebug Swiss dots (or multi-wart in this case!), Spellbinders circle Nestabilities

A bookish greeting

2010-11-07T00:13:00.000-04:00

I always associated Books with the beginning of the school year and August/September depending on where we lived. So although this was the 9th card in the series for my dear husband it is also a good all around design for a thank you for anyone that loves books or teaches.

Recipe
Card size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - DCWV, Neenah, The Paper Source
Stamps - Stampendous
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics

Hap BEE birthday! Bet you won't BEE-lieve this card!

2010-11-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is the 8th card in my dear husband's birthday series AND the "big card" as his birthday is August. Don't they look so Hap-BEE to bee there?

AND to top off everything this is a set I picked up for half price! Un-BEE-lievable I know! I just thought they were a cheerful bunch. I went monochromatic with the rest of the card to keep the cartoon feel and give the color just that extra zing! (I've read on Splitcoast that "pop" is overused LOL) BTW I refrained from stickling the wings because I wanted to keep it manly and I ran out of time.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - Stampendous

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Cuttlebug swiss dots folder

A Star Spangled Birthday!

2010-11-05T00:07:00.018-04:00

There is a pretty funny 4th of July story involving my dear BRITISH husband, well actually there are several so I knew it was ok to poke at little fun at his fun with the holiday.

As with the previous cards in this set I kept it all one set of stamps - this time Stampendous. I think the rest is rather self explanatory so I won't re-invent the wheel.

Recipe
Size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source
Ink - Memento
Stamps - Stampendous
Color - Copics, Sakura

King for a Day? or just King me?

2010-11-04T00:07:00.020-04:00

Another missed holiday- My dear husband really is the king of my heart and yet suffered through a Father's Day cardless. I hope this went some way for making up for such things.

I have this set from Technique Tuesday that I bought specifically for him because he loves chess and most of the other games represented on the set. I cut out the squares and created a border similar to a chess board for the background even drawing in a little gold border on the edge.

Recipe
Size 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - The Paper Source, Neenah
Stamps - Technique Tuesday
Ink - Memento
Color- Copics, Sakura

Anniversary or Birthday?

2010-11-03T00:06:00.002-04:00

So you remember what I said about being forgetful and unorganized. Yup! I didn't make him an anniversary card this year either. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! Hopefully I made up for it with this little gem.

Inside I printed "Getting older with you is the best thing “I do”

And BTW don't replicate the punching effect it really took too much time for that little bit of cardstock. Yeah, I like the way it turned out but it about drove me crazy to do it. So if you do decide to go for it remember I warned you! LOL!

Recipe
Size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Wassau, The Paper Source
Ink - Memento, Brilliance
Stamp - See Dee's
Color - Copics, Stickles
Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder

“Welly” hope your birthday “rains” supreme!

2010-11-02T00:22:00.000-04:00

And so of course we are with our wet wishes for April. Or just the general weather forecast for my friends in Britain. I have to admit because the rain normally came with winds I never really bothered with an umbrella. Add to that not being able to hold one whilst pushing a stroller/pushchair and although I love some of the beautiful brollies I have seen I have invested in a very long time.

I wanted to use a rainbow of colors to remind him that after rain there can be a rainbow.

Here's the card in full with a bit better lighting. Love the little wellies from this set even if they are a bit girly. I have a Welly stamp from Clear Dollar Stamp but I will readily admit to being lazy and not searching it out to use it. Still I think this turned out kinda unisex and the sender is a girl I'm reliably told!

Recipe

Size - 5.5 x 4.25 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Wassau, The Paper Source

Stamps - Stampendous

Ink - Memento

Color- Copics

Accessories - Spellbinder's Nestabilities, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Irish you a happy birthday!

2010-11-01T00:29:00.003-04:00

OK the pun is awful but you have to admit it is a clever use of a theme stamp as a birthday stamp!

Recipe
Size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Recollection
Ink - Memento
Stamp - High Hopes
Color - Copics
Accessories - corner rounder.

I think this is my best CIC entry, do you?

2010-10-31T20:12:00.000-04:00

This is my last entry for Clearly Inspired Challenge #18 - I think I finally made something within the rules and that I really like!

I stamped the Tree from the Tree-mendous Wishes set. I stamped the tree with Versamark and then used detail black embossing powder.

The Owl is from the What a Pane set. I stamped it, colored it with copics and clear embossed it with versamark and clear fine embossing powder.

I used a mask I made with Nestability circles do mask the moon and create the background first with a brayer and Brilliance Black and purple stamp pads. Then I reverse masked and pounced in the orange full moon.

After all that was done I deckle cut the edges to give it an spookier feel.

Black, Orange and Purple! Finally I think I got it!
Recipe -
Card size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
Ink - Versamark, Brilliance
Accessories - Brayer, Black and Clear Embossing powders, Deckle edged cutter.

Challenge try number 2

2010-10-31T19:43:00.000-04:00

So I told you the story about my failed challenge attempt - I mean green is neutral right? So I tried again.

This time I used my "Boo to you" stamp set and the colors of Black, Orange and Purple

I know I got it right this time and I like the card I produced with the set and colors, but that's it I just like it. Hmmm... I think I will have to have another try. No one warned me that challenges were addictive!

Recipe
Card size - 4.25 x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
Ink - Memento

Challenge - Clearly iStamp Clearly Inspired Challenge #18

Sometimes its so simple to say I love you...

2010-10-30T00:17:00.000-04:00

Yeah I admit it there is no stamping on this one but when you are on a task to complete 12 cards for your dearly beloved sometimes less is more! I promise however there is stamping on the next one!

Yup. That's it Spellbinders Hearts and Scalloped hearts using my Archivers linen open stock red cardstock. I thought about stamping and adding more and I just thought in this instance less is more.

Recipe
size - 5.5 x 4.25 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Archiver's open stock
Accessories - Spellbinder's Nestabilities

Time to come clean! or Time to celebrate?

2010-10-29T00:17:00.007-04:00

This is one of 12 cards I made for my husband for his birthday this year. Yeah that's right I made him twelve cards.

Now, I'm betting you are wondering why and the reason is that I owe him. I'm really bad at taking it for granted that he will understand that I didn't get time to make his card. Everyone else is normally ok its just normally his card so this year I made him 12 to remind him that though I sometimes don't get the card made that he deserves that I do remember that I didn't do it and I do care.

I thought my ~~penance~~ *ahem* theme would be year around. It just somehow seemed appropriate. On the inside it reads "Its time to celebrate!"

So I began with time (geddit January? time?) ok I know! You're a tough crowd! Anyway my DH loves clocks so there is a secondary theme with it. I've had these Heidi Grace clock face stamps that I picked up on sale ages ago that I have never used (a good run on sentence and rationale to use them!) that I decided to use. I also broke out my non-sale, new to me, I knew I would need it sometime, number collage embossing folder. *wink wink*

Yeah, its clean and simple, or at least about the only version of CAS I can achieve.

I numbered his envelopes so this was the first card he opened... he knew, that I knew, that he likes clocks so I don't think he cottoned on to the overall theme at that point!

Alas, time to go. *GROAN!*

Recipe

size - 5.5in x 4.25in

cardstock - DCWV, Bazzill, Neenah

ink - Memento
color - copics
stamps - Heidi Grace
accessories - cuttlebug embossing folder

I really should have read the rules better!

2010-10-28T19:03:00.000-04:00

I rarely if ever decide to do blog challenges but I read one and thought - I think I can do this and use it. If you have read my ramblings for a while you know I need a muse (and as the band are only available occasionally in my area) and that is the people I create for. I have to feel it to make a card I just can't follow a sketch and feel happy. So that said I knew I had a card to make for my mother's birthday and I had a fun color challenge at Clearly I Stamp to play with.

This is what I came up with -

The problem? There is nothing about green in the challenge - purple, black and if you must orange. I guess my brain just thought traditional Halloween colors. I did do another two but I haven't gotten them photographed as yet! Do you think I should enter it and pray? Maybe I should just read the rules and see if its one entry per person! LOL

Recipe

Size - 5.5 x 8.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Archiver's open stock

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Accessories - Ribbon, Brads, Spellbinders dies

BTW here's the challenge - CIC18 as you can see nowhere does it mention green! LOL!

I have decided to take a hit to the ego! LOL!

2010-10-18T19:30:00.001-04:00

I'm just readjusting my blog to make it more friendly and I noticed a counter other than feedjit - thing is it counts views at 512 (and we all know that 510 of those are mine!) whereas my feedjit is around 14,000... so I guess I will humble myself to something more user friendly and although I haven't gotten near 14,000 comments please don't think because you aren't a number to me that you don't count anymore.

Onwards and upwords at least in the counting department.

I still have oodles of birthday cards to photograph and upload (they are here as they were for my DH) and of course everything I have been working on in between painting bedrooms - 2 down and now we are on the front living room - ceiling done, walls and trim to go! Take care and enjoy your crafting!

What do Wednesday, Rochdale & Macclesfield have in common?

2010-10-04T00:02:00.002-04:00

They are all represented on this card.

So my husband asks me to make a football (soccer to the Americans) card for one of his best friends and this is what I came up with. I really debated how to do this and thought I really wanted to use my GinaK sets. The problem was the stripes - Yikes! how was I going to make the stripes? In the end I went with stamping everything on white and free hand coloring of the shirts. Luckily (after some investigation) I found out that all the clubs are relatively the same color blue.

Then just when I thought I was done, he asks "can you put our names on them"? What? what do you mean? OMG? I would have done it different? Oh I don't want to waste what I have already done! Don't you know I'm on a time limit here? So I think for a moment and grab my Just Rite circle stamper and go through my alphabets for the one that is nearest. Thankfully on a whim I had some white embossing powder. Versamark and white embossing powder and using my letters half off the block and pressing each down with my fingers achieved the names - so nothing remotely awkward there! *snorts* OH NO! The white doesn't work with the stripes. Now what... I think they probably number the striped kits in black so I stamp up and color another striped shirt and try it versamark and black fine embossing powder. IT WORKED! HUZZAH! Then to find the right numbers... where I should have some - too big, too small ooooo these GinaK ones are just right!!! I'm now officially in love with Gina, but don't tell my "I can pull random requests out of the air and my wife will make it" husband. I outlined the number and letters of the main shirt in gold for that extra punch. All the shirts stamped and embossed I needed to decide how they were going to be on the "field". Quickly I grabbed my nestabilities and die cut a double circle out of the middle of a green sheet of 8.5in x 5.5 in cardstock and then cut that in half and spread them out to make the lines. My husband chose the placement of the shirts (I think he did a pretty good job) and I cut up some chipboard to lift the shirts off the field. I looked at the card and decided it really did need the football (soccer ball) so quickly stamped on out one and adhered it.

Recipe
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source
Stamps - GinaK (Little Tees, Just So Sporty, Sporty Accessories), Justrite
Ink - Memento, Versamark
Color - Copics
Accessories - white embossing powder, black ultrafine embossing powder, gold pen, chipboard

What the Canadian is this about, eh?

2010-10-03T00:03:00.009-04:00

Honestly, for whom do you think this card was created?

I could understand if you immediately said my great friend that moved to Canada last year.

I could understand if you said well someone of Canadian descent.

Or even if you said - oh you created that for Canadian Thanksgiving. All quite logical presumptions. Now the answer is none of the above. This card was created for my eldest to give to his friend because they have some sort of Canadian joke going. I didn't actually get an answer as to what the joke or conversation was. I presume it was one of those you had to be there things eh?

IRL - that ink matched pretty close to the red cardstock. Honestly - given that I had less than an hour's notice of needing this card and then the ensuing "that's not the Canadian flag discussion" I really think it turned out well.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, Archiver's open stock

Ink - Memento Lady Bug

Stamps - Inkadinkado

Cricut floral bouquet

2010-10-02T00:07:00.002-04:00

Boy did I have fun with my cricut making this! I decided I wanted to make a flower pocket card that was shown on Splitcoaststampers but of course I had to add a twist and make it LARGE because this was for my husband's auntie who turned; oh wait should I say? After all she is a woman, but you know when I get to the grand ol age of 70 I would be proud of the fact. Oh wait! That said I knew she was celebrating a very special day but I didn't think we had to advertise it any more than being more elaborate for her extra special day. Now Auntie Jen loves her garden so I already knew I was on a winner with anything floral, but truthfully I wanted it a bit more "special" than a flowerpot. So I was browsing my Cricut cartridge for flowers and saw the triple vase and thought - oh I can just fold that to make a the bottom and cut another to be the front AND be able to fold the one on the very back to make a stand so the card will stand up on the side with her others and only as a nice vase of flowers should do. (How's that for a run on sentence?). Now you know in general I make my cards and especially special occasion cards BIG no petit 4.25 in x 5.5 in card for this project. No way would that do. So I played with layouts on design studio and made this baby stand 8.5in high and 5.5 in wide. What do you think? Too Much?

Of course in the end I was in a hurry to photograph and mail this overseas so I didn't get a picture of the inside, the side view (of the stand) or the extra embellishments on the back to attempt to make this extra special. D'oh!

I did however manage to capture the bling of the glitter glue and rhinestones! Hooray! That bottom pink flower and some leaves as well as the butterfly are actually adhered to the vase portion of the card and the rest at part of the pull.

Now for the second part of this story. My darling husband travelled t'over pond to visit his family and of course his aunt and just happened to be there when the party was on. His mother was quite concerned that he didn't have a card on him to give his aunt and he kept assuring her he was certain that we had sent a card and not to worry but of course she did. They walk into the party and looks across the room and says "There it is mum - the one with the butterfly"... now I don't know if I would have described the card as the one with the butterfly but it did make me laugh that he could identify it by one element. Men!

Recipe
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Recollections, DCWV, Neenah
Ink (not seen) Memento
Stamps (again not seen - YIKES) - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Accessories - Cricut Walk in my Garden, glitter glue, chipboard coasters for dimensionals, rhinestones.

"Two little ducks" "Quack! Quack!"

2010-10-01T00:01:00.007-04:00

This is what I sent our nephew. At larger family gatherings over the holidays our uncle used to play lots of games and one of them was a home bingo set and we would play and laugh loudly. I don't know how much my nephew remembers about these gatherings because the larger family gatherings in the winter stopped some time ago because of space constraints. But when this birthday came up I thought I might just remind him of how he used to be a champion at home bingo when he was only a single digit.

I'm now wondering how many people will get the reference and know how old our nephew is? Should I just tell you or let you guess? This is a card based on British Bingo calling. "David's Den, number 10" a reference to the Prime Minister at Downing Street. "Legs! *catcall* eleven!" "Two fat ladies. 88". So given the background do you know how old the recipient of this card is?

Recipe
Card size - 8.5in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections
Stamps - Stampendous
Ink - Memento
Color - permanent markers, American craft white pen
Accessories - duck punch, nestabilities.

Flower wishes and lost pictures

2010-09-30T00:01:00.002-04:00

I made this card for my husband's auntie. She has only been a part of our lives for the last few years because of her husband having been adopted after birth. Such a joy to make connections with relatives we never knew we had for so long.

I like the simplicity of the image but wonder if it needed more. What do you think?

Recipe
Card Size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
Ink - Memento black tuxedo
Color - Copics
Accessories - Glossy Accents

Now for the lost pictures - I seem to have lost the pictures of the Anniversary card I made for my BIL and SIL this year and also the pictures from the card I sent my Neice. What is really bad is I can't even remember what I stamped! as we have moved my craft area from area of the house to another and done some decoration since then. Oh well, I hoped they liked and more importantly I hope that it comes back to me what I did when I'm least expecting it!

Pink first communion card

2010-09-29T00:06:00.006-04:00

I guess the title speaks for itself. This is a card I made for my cousin's first communion. She is a very girlie girl so I went all out. The cross really sparkles with the embossing powder.

Recipe
Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in
Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Versacolor
Accessories - iridescent embossing powder, nestabilities, prima flower, brad, grosgrain ribbon

Totally Tiger

2010-09-28T00:21:00.001-04:00

I made this card for a tiger lover. I bet you never would have guessed! I attempted to use flocking on the background... I know its kinda faded but I like it. I think it looks more realistic that way.

Recipe
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source, Bazzill
Stamps - High Hopes, Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink - Memento, Versamark
Color - Copic, American Craft
Accessories - Nestabilities, Fun Flock

Mr & Mrs W

2010-09-27T00:06:00.003-04:00

This card was for a couple who were getting married later in life so I wanted to keep it celebratory and light. What better way than a personalized champagne toast (I used a small W to personalize the bottle).

Recipe
Card size - 8.5in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, Wassau (I think - a pearlized pack), The Paper Source
Stamps - See D's, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Just Rite Stamp
Ink - Memento - tuxedo black
Color - Copics
Accessories - Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, Cuttlebug Paisley embossing folder, lavender and white sheer ribbon, prima flowers, clear rhinestone brads.

Flying by to say thank you

2010-09-26T00:28:00.003-04:00

This is a pretty quick and straight forward card I put together for some thank yous that we needed to send out. The last time I used this butterfly I made it in blue so I wanted to up the color a bit. I picked a copic color that matched the stamping ink and colored the ribbon to match. If you haven't ever tried it is a great way to match colors and it stiffens the ribbon to make it easier to work with and I find the ribbon doesn't fray.

This one is pretty much the same as above except with the Prima and brads instead of the ribbon.

Hmmm I think these might actually qualify as CAS...

Recipe
Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - white grosgrain ribbon, prima flowers, brads

All aboard!

2010-09-25T00:01:00.002-04:00

We have an uncle who is a train fanatic there really is no other way to describe him and this is what I came up with for his birthday in April.

I decided to keep it masculine with the colors even though its a spring birthday day. I'm pretty certain I used a Kaleidoscope autumnal (don't ask me the name right now) ink pad that I had picked up at Hobby Lobby some time ago. Of course yet again I colored the main train with my Copics.

Recipe
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento, Kaleidoscope, Distress
Color - Copics
Accessories - Nestabilities, straight edge

Time flies... well at least when I forget to blog it seems to!

2010-09-24T16:30:00.003-04:00

OK you are going to have to bear with me as it has been a few months since I created these. I will tell you from the start I don't have the copic colors I used for these next few posts. Also they are all going to be pretty short, sweet and to the point.

This card is for my Sensei's wife's birthday. My Sensei is pretty highly trained in Okinawan Karate so I thought she was appreciate the thought. She did. She gushed that she loved the colors and they are exactly what she wanted to redecorate one of her rooms in! I love it when things go so right.

Recipe -
Card size - 5.5 in x 8 in
Cardstock - Neenah, DCWV
Ink - Memento
Stamps - Hero Arts, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Color - Copics
Accessories - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart punch, Prima flowers, brads, ribbon

A boy and his catapult/slingshot - for UK Mothering Sunday

2010-02-28T00:37:00.001-05:00

Yes, there is definitely a story behind this card. Firstly, this card is for my MIL for Mothering Sunday, March 14th. She is the mother of boys and my husband is her youngest so by the time he came along they had already done it with the eldest. He still has ongoing stories about not having pets, toys, etc because his brother had them. One such item he never had was a catapult until his older brother became an apprentice welder and made him one. The catapult was then worked on by both them and they found a bit of tubing and proper density elastic to make it work. Of course, no self respecting boy would leave his catapult lying around without ensuring it could work. There in lies the story of my husband deciding the best thing to aim at was the neighbour's telly aerial. He had had a few goes and missed, that was until his father came out to see what he was up to. He told his father right away he was aiming at the neighbour's aerial and took another shot. Well as luck would have it he hit and in the same breath his father confiscated his catapult never to be seen again until they were clearing out the garage a couple of years later.

I saw these easel cards on SCS - I didn't really read the directions - I just had a go at my craft table. I like the way it turned out. Again this is another card that I'm trying to use up some of my paper stash - this is from a Basic Grey pad.

Ingredients -

Card Size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Stamps - High Hopes, Kitchen Sink Stamps

Cardstock - Neenah, Bazzill

Ink - Memento - Rhubarb, Tuxedo, Rich Cocoa; Ranger - Distress Inks

Paper - Basic Grey Archive

Color - Copics - B000, B93, B95, B97, G21, G28, E02, E04, E08, E31, E33, E35, R35, R37, R46, R59

Accessories - Prima flowers, Making Memories Brads, dimensional tape