2017 Go To Card

Oh my, I cannot believe we're into the last few days of October. The month has flown by at a pace almost too fast for me to keep up. My commitments and schedule always explode this time of year. From conversations with friends, I suspect it's the same for most of us.

I finally managed to carve out a little time during the past week for some card making and crafting; mostly in prep for my church's annual Holiday Bazaar. In addition to a crazy schedule it's also the time of year when my craft room is in a perpetual state of craftiness and mess.  I'll be sharing the results of my efforts later. For now I'm just popping in to share my go to birthday card for 2017. 

This is a super fast and easy card. I've probably made at least 2 dozen  using lots of different stamps but my favorite set is the Inkadinkado Patterned Pets set. I pretty much leave the animals black and white with just a little bit of shading using a Copic W2, hand draw a party hat and just provide a bit of color in the background. 

The sentiment is computer generated and reads "4 out of 5 people get money in their birthday cards" and the inside "Happy Birthday #5."  Cute, right! Perfect for friends and co-workers. Plus it works for guys or gals...always a bonus in my book. Of course now that the year is getting close to wrapping up and I've sent this card to practically everyone I need to come up with a go to card for 2018. Wish me luck. 

100th Birthday

Last week was busy with no time for crafting or card making. Paint all day, scrub, clean, get cleaned up and a quick supper before dropping into bed. I was almost happy to see Monday again.

No free time meant I had to get my hustle on last night, after all you don't often need a birthday card for someone celebrating their 100th birthday. What an accomplishment and special celebration for a dear friend. I definitely want the card to reflect this special day, be sparkly and fun. So I pulled out my foil and some stamps from Mama Elephant. I just love the little dog and cat agenda stamps. So fun and I've seen so many cute cards made with these sets.

I spent a little time on the computer to design the sentiment, ran it out on my laser printer and then used the Pink Gold ombre foil from Heidi Swapp. Once I had the foiling completed I ran out a couple of black and white practice prints on regular copy paper, trimmed it to size then spent a bit of time stamping images to figure out which ones I wanted to include and where I wanted them positioned. Once I had it planned out I was ready to go and the actual card came together quickly with no re-dos.

A few of the images are popped with a foam dot and the dimensional dots on the card are from Cloud Nine. Remember those? Yeah, I have some really old supplies in my stash which are happy to finally get used.

PTI Sweet As Can Be

Today I'm sharing a card I made with PTI's Sweet As Can Be stamp set.

I masked and stamped the ice cream cone and then used circle stamps from various sets to create the the background. The sentiment was made using my Cameo print and cut feature and adhered with some foam tape to give it a little pop. Washi tape was used on the card base to pick up the colors of the background and sentiment.

I specifically chose the colors for this card for a more masculine feel. I always need guy cards and never seem to have enough in my stash of cards. I was on a roll so I made up several cards to tuck away for upcoming birthdays. Enjoy!

MFT Cat-itude

Another card to share, this one created with MFT Cat-itude stamp set. I have a lot of cat lovers among friends and family so a cute little kitty card is always welcome. 

This card was created with some masking, my copics and colored pencil. I've been practicing with copic coloring. Lots of great tutorials out there and I'm slowly becoming more proficient. My challenge is I always want to overwork an area so it's a toss up on whether I'm becoming more proficient with coloring or exercising restraint...perhaps both. 

As usual, this is another flat card. Once I completed coloring the panel I adhered it to my card front and then used washi tape to add some patterned stripes. 

Enjoy. 

PTI Beautiful Blooms

I make a lot of birthday cards...a lot. Since I don't get much "me time" for crafting or stamping when I do find a moment I try to build up my stash. This card uses the PTI Beautiful Blooms stamps. An oldie but well loved. I created this card when I first bought my Misti, which means it's been in my stash for a while.

Most of my card are flat for easy mailing. I know there are ways to protect and mail bulkier cards but I'm a big fan of simple and quick. I have a difficult enough time just making sure there are postage stamps in the drawer without having to worry about a stash of special mailers or the extra postage. 

On this card I did break my "flat rule" and mounted the card panel onto foam and then to the card base. I've since discovered foam sheets at the Dollar Tree. Yes, they are assorted colors (I haven't seen white sheets yet) but trimming the sheet smaller than the card panel ensures the foam sheet doesn't peak out nor throw a cast onto the card base. Plus the sheets are super thin. About the depth of 110lb card stock but without the weight (read no extra postage). Plus...they're a dollar!!

As a finishing touch I took the time to stamp the envelop. I always think it looks nice to have a coordinating envelop. 

MFT Card Design Superstar

I'm playing along with the MFT Card Design Superstar contest. I haven't done a lot of stamping, though I own a number of stamps. This contest was the perfect motivator to pull out my stamps sets and experiment. 

For my entry into the Clean & Simple Genius I'm using MFT's Beautiful Blooms stamps and dies. I may not get the opportunity to stamp often but this is definitely a go to set. I always get beautiful affects and it's the perfect set for a flat card design. 

For the background I masked off sections of cardstock and used distress ink to apply color and detail. I did the same for the flower vase using washi tape. Just be certain to apply some anti static powder on your cardstock. I didn't my first go round and discovered washi tape is much stickier than I remembered and had to redo the vase shading.

Little dots on the vase were added using the flower center dots in the set. Added a little extra sparkle on the stripes with my favorite Gelly Roll Clear Star pen.

I ended up doing 2 cards; same design and stamp set just different color combinations. This is the blue version. Now I just need to decide which of the 2 I'll enter into the contest.

MFT Challenge

I've been working on cards for the MFT Superstar challenge. This one didn't make my cut so I added some washi tape along the sides of the card, lined an envelope and sending it out to a friend I've been thinking about this week.