Happy Bird-Day

Today's design team project uses the latest sketch from Atlantic Hearts and a cute layering bird stamp set that I received with one of my British craft magazines several months ago and am just finally getting around to using for the first time! 

Since the branch and leaves are all one stamp, in order to get them to have two different colors I had to color the stamps up first with water based markers -after stamping the image I then went over everything with a water brush to try to help the colors flow better. It didn't work perfectly, but it'll have to be good enough, lol!

The bird layers I stamped in 2 shades of brown plus the slate blue. This stamp set also came with 2 matching die cuts, so I used them to cut out the bird and his wing for dimension on this otherwise CAS card.

After stamping the sentiment in the slate blue, I then die cut the whole stamped panel out and layered it on to the front of a slate blue card front.

Until next time~

Old Oak Birthday

Today's design team project for Atlantic Hearts uses sketch #264 and one of the oldest stamp sets in my stash...the always classic "Lovely as a Tree".

I  kept everything simple so that the focus would remain on that majestic tree!

The patterned paper is from Creative Memories from many years ago. The tan background I just made using the small leaf stamp and some brown ink. The sentiment is heat embossed in white.

That's it for me today -until next time~

Mermaid Kisses

Today's card is a design team project for Atlantic Hearts for this week's sketch challenge. I will also be entering it @ Creatilicious Challenges for "Anything Goes w/ Optional Birthday", @ Card Mania Challenges for "Embossing", @ heARTful Stamping for "Anything Goes + a Stamp", and @ Dare 2B Artsy for "Your Favorite Colors". 

I had so much fun making this card and I think it was both because I used my favorite colors and got to take a new stamp set for a spin, lol. I've wanted this set from Stampin' Up since the first time I saw it! I got it in January and just now got around to using it!

So much fun stuff going on with this...not sure where to start! I used dry embossing and sanding on the blue background. Plus heat embossing to make my own background using clear ink so that it acted as a resist for my distress ink. I blended the two distress ink colors over the die cut seaweed panel and then splashed water on it to give it an underwater feel.

Inside I used a strip of the blue scrap paper from the front of the card, blended the extra ink under the sentiment and then added clear Wink of Stella over the stamped mermaid silhouette. 

I colored the mermaid using Prisma Watercolor Pencils and cut both her and the sentiment out using my Scan N' Cut machine...man, I really love that tool! I also covered the mermaid's tail and her headband with Wink of Stella for shimmer and shine.

That's it for me today...until next time~

Black, White and a Pop of Coppery Rose Gold

Today's project is a birthday card that will go out in tomorrow's mail and I was inspired by this month's sketch @ Verve. I am also entering it @ Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge for March, @ Always Happy Birthday for "Anything Goes: Pattern Paper" @ Tic-Tac-Toe for the bottom horizontal row: "Polka Dots - Die Cuts - Happy" and @ Creative Knockouts for "Die-Cuts/Punches". 

This card is a fun combo of black, white and a coppery rose gold. I've used patterned paper, glitter paper, metallic cardstock, several die cuts, paper flowers, thread and copper embossing powder.

Both front and inside sentiments are from retired Stampin' Up stamp sets. The "Birthday Wishes" on the front was stamped using Versamark and embossed with metallic copper embossing powder.

I custom colored the white paper flower using a Cosmic Copper ink pad and adhered it using a mini copper brad. 

That's it for me today -have a great weekend and until next time~

Hooray for Birthdays!

Today's card is my second design team creation for the February Moodboard Challenge @ Craftin' Desert Divas. I will also be entering it @ Star Stampz for "Make it Girly", @ Cute Card Thursday for "Cute Critters", @ Crafty Catz for "Birthdays" and @ Crazy 4 Challenges for "Add Cake".

The Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink is blended through the Sorted Shapes Stencil 2 on the top half and then I used patterned paper on the bottom half. The raccoon is from the Birthday Surprise digi stamp set and the sentiment is from the Birthday Sentiments digi stamp set. I did the coloring with watercolor pencils and a blender pen.

Inside sentiment is from the Say It Big clear stamp set and the pattern was achieved by spraying the stencil with water after working on the front of the card and pressing it on to the card.

You can see it much better in the first picture up above, but I added Glossy Accents to the party hat and clear Wink of Stella to the icing on the cake and the sentiment banner that I hand trimmed. The wrapped ribbon and bow helps to blend the transition to the patterned paper and the pink sequins from the Pastel Paradise pack were the perfect color accent!

Until next time~

You Are Ribbiting!

Today's adorable card is one of 2 that we will be making at my local library class this week and will be entered @ Creative Knockouts for " Birthday Wishes", @ heARTful Stamping for "Anything Goes + a Stamp" and @ 2 Crafty Critter Crazies for "Anything Goes with a Critter". 

The background was super simple and done with ink blending through a stencil. The stamps on the front of the card are from CTMH and colored with pencils. The inside sentiment is retired from TAC.

Using a square punch and a corner rounder punch on only 2 of the sides makes it super easy to make the focal pieces to stamp the frogs on. I also sponged some black ink around the edges to help them pop. The sentiment banner was added with foam tape but everything else is glued down flat to the card front.

 Sweet and simple, that's it from me until next time~

Happy Birthday Honey

We are celebrating my hubby's birthday today, so I decided to do it Craftin' Desert Divas style, lol. This Birthday Surprise digi stamp set has so many cute images and I especially love the cake with the number candles because it gives you the chance to personalize your card.

The inside sentiment came from an old retired red rubber stamp set from TAC.

All the images were colored with watercolor pencils and  the sentiment is from the Birthday Sentiments digi stamp set. The sequins are from the Shimmer Sequins pack

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That's it for me today, cuz we have a busy day planned...until next time~

LLama Wish You a Happy Birthday

 For today's design team project for Itsy Bitsy I decided to try something new -stenciling with Gesso over top of plain Burlap = FUN! I wanted this card to have some special dimension to it, so follow along to find out how I accomplished that...

I began by cutting down the 12" x 12" Burlap sheet from the Natural Burlap Stack  to a 6" x 6" square and taping it down to my work surface underneath the Brick Stencil using removable painter's tape. I then used a palette knife to spread the white gesso over the top 3/4's of the panel. I didn't bother to spread it evenly because I wanted the texture to be irregular. I then carefully pulled off the stencil, washed it and set the panel aside to dry while I began work on the rest of the card.

Using thin metal dies from the Banner set, Scalloped Circle set and Stitched Circle set, I cut out 2 of my stamped images from the Llama Birthday Clear Stamp Set and one circle shape from green paper from the Happy Birthday Paper Pad. I then fussy cut out the sombrero hat.

I stamped the images using Black Chalk ink and colored them using Watercolor Pencils and a blender pen on the Llama banner, sombrero and guitar(shown below on the inside of the card). I then popped the hat up using Adhesive Foam Mini Squares and threaded a piece of string that I had pulled from the sheet of burlap under the llama to make it appear as if the llama is wearing the hat hanging down on his back.

I used a black pen to draw the faux stitching along the edges of the banner.

Don't ya just love that cute sentiment inside? Working with these clear stamp sets to make your own sayings is easy because many of the words are separate and you can then just build them to your liking.

The pattern paper on the right side of the card was also from the Happy Birthday Paper Pad. It was hand torn for extra texture and glued down on top of the burlap. After I layered and adhered the circle diecuts, I tied a bow using string pulled from the frayed edges of the burlap and glued that on for the final accent.

 And that's all there is to making a fun and 6" x 6" multi-textured birthday card! Don't forget to head over to the Itsy Bitsy Store to get everything I used here in today's project and happy crafting! 

Until next time~