Girlfriends

Quick birthday card to share today. As usual, I'm combining different sets and manufacturers. This card is using Mama Elephants Girlfriends and Up & Away sets along with sentiment and stencil from MFT. I'm behind this year on building up my birthday card stash, but that's about to change. I just acquired some new items and set some goals: one related to using older products and another focussing on incorporating dies. With some determination, there will be lots to share soon.

WF Enveloper Stamps

Quick post this morning to share a recent birthday card created with Waffle Flower Enveloper stamps. Big fan of enveloper stamp sets; sophisticated, contemporary designs that are fun without being too cutesy. Lots of masking, ink blending and a bit of fussy cutting went into this card.

Blended Backgrounds

No surprise I'm more than ready for Spring, though I could have happily done without Sunday's spring forward. My body still is struggling to adjust to one less hour of sleep.

Few more blended cards. I'm not a huge fan of embossing. Despite following tips and tricks supplied by the best crafting has to offer, I still find granules of embossing powder everywhere. I think it's just the nature of embossing. On the upside, there is nothing quite like a beautiful stamp (background or other), white embossing and colorful blended inks. A relatively quick and straightforward process which always delivers stunning results. Another plus, if you're inclined to look on the bright side, all my equipment gets a good cleaning after embossing. Damn those granules.

These cards use the MFT Etched Flower background stamp. It's a large rubber stamp, big enough to cover a front panel of an A2 card, but since most of my cards are 5x7, I needed to stamp top and bottom. A great property of rubber is I always get a great first impression, so I rarely need to re-stamp an area to ensure coverage.

It's not noticeable on the photos, but I did add a little sparkle to parts of the card using a shimmer pen. Just enough to fancy it up a bit.

Color Blending Birth Yay!

The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy, and to top it off, this is the week my computer monitor decided to take a permanent snooze. Ugh! There are some things I'm willing to go without for any period: cleaning, laundry, maybe if you really twist my arm...chocolate, but, access to a computer is not one of them. We're pretty teched-up in this household, but tablets and smartphones can only get you so far, especially with these old eyes. So now I'm positioned in front of a new monitor, a little poorer but much happier.

The cards I'm sharing today is Birth yay from My Favorite Things. This is one of the few sets I saw and immediately ordered. I didn't even wait for it to qualify for sale pricing; it's that adorably cute. I pulled out the Copics and inks for some destress time. Plus, my birthday card stash is woefully depleted, like I had to actually "purchase a card" depleted.

   
























Love how these turned out. Bright colors always make me happy. I made 4 cards total and have 9 birthdays this month. For the moment I'm done coloring rhinos, even cute ones. Time to hit the stamps.

Simon Says Spring Flowers

Happy Monday!

If you're located in the Midwest, we're recovering from last week's arctic freeze with a big thaw. Thankfully everyone in my immediate family survived without any significant issues which can accompany such low temperatures. We hit -24 degrees, coupled with wind chill close to -45 degrees. But no broken pipes, dead car batteries or furnaces giving up. Extremely thankful. And just as grateful the kids are back to a regular schedule and routine. They spent 3 days home last week because of snow and temperatures. By their eagerness to go out to the bus stop this morning I think even they were happy to be going to school again. Or maybe it was just the warm-up. We're supposed to hit close to 50 degrees today...and then drop back down to the 20's. Mother nature in the Chicagoland area is cruel and heartless in February (and March, and April)!

With Spring in mind...I'm sharing a birthday card I created using SS Spring Flowers stamps. Sadly, it will be the only Spring I see for a while.

Flowers are fussy cut, and I used a medallion stamp with VersaMark for the background image. This one will probably be hand given as the wood tag adds some bulk.

Altenew Medallion Cover Dies

Happy Monday. We got snow this weekend which was a good enough excuse for me to spend some time in the craft room. I pulled out Altenew's Medallion cover dies and played for a while.

I spent a few hours positioning colors to create the elements. Embossed sentiments on vellum and then wrapped the design before mounting it onto the card base. Happy with the results and thinking if I can find the time during the next couple of weeks I may try a Valentine version.

21st Birthday

My nephew turns 21 this month. He's the third one of my nephews and niece to hit 21 so we won't even go into just how old that makes me feel. Not only does he turn 21, but it is also his golden birthday. I don't think it gets much better than 21 on the 21st. We're gearing up for a big celebration, though I'm going to leave the partying into the wee hours to those much younger.

The special day (and guy) deserves a special card. This one came together pretty quickly thanks to the Silhouette design store, some old chipboard numbers, glitter paper, and glitter tape. I use the Radiant Banner card from Hero Arts. Did a gradient fill and then just printed the background onto some Staples photo supreme matte paper. I love this paper for printing. It always delivers vibrant, crisp color. It's a bit more of a challenge if I use it for print and cuts. I think it has a high fiber count because I have to use a well-loved mat or risk tearing the paper when I try to release the cut images. It also requires a double cut and preferably a new blade. But I deviate, since this time I just printed the image and trimmed by hand.

Honestly, I can't remember the manufacturer of the chipboard numbers. They've been in my stash for a very long time. I'm not big on chipboard and you know I generally like my card pretty flat. These have quite a bit of dimension but since this card is hand delivered it is not a problem.

I really like the card but I'm guessing that he'll spend more time admiring the check inside the card than the card itself.

Cool Cat Card

Today I'm sharing a card I made using stamps from MFT. I mentioned in a previous post I was on the search for 2018 go to birthday card. Something universal and easily mass produced. Undecided if this will be the one, but I did make several in one sitting.

This card uses stamps from MFT's Cool Cat and Twice the Wishes sets. I love the images in the Cool Cat set, especially the little fat cat. So adorable. With a lot of cat-loving friends, I anticipate I'll be pulling out this set often. The bow and party hat are from a Mama Elephant stamp set and adds a cute little festive touch.

I don't have a balloon stencil so I improvised by using an old punch and copy paper to create a mini stencil. I punched several, secured them onto my cardstock and then used Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks to blend the design. I chose bright, warm colors to combat the grey skies of winter but you could opt for a cool palette or even make each balloon a different color for a real festive, party look.

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. 

Birthday Cards

A few birthday cards made quite some time ago but never posted. The first is one I made on the fly for my niece's 2nd birthday. I used design studio to weld the cupcake image together to form a card base and then welded the number 2 candle on one side of the base. The images are all taken from the Sweet Treats cartridge. And because I was in a hurry and not really paying attention I had to make a custom envelop using a treat bag since the card wouldn't fit into any of my standard envelopes. You know what they say about measure twice and cut once.

This next card was put together using Life Style Crafts (Quickutz) dies. Quick, easy and putting lots of scraps to good use.



On a Roll

A few more birthday cards. We're very much into the bright colors at the moment. I think it's our desire for warmer weather that's driving our recent color selections, as if that would hurry Mother Nature along to usher in Spring. So far it hasn't been working. Ha!

I had a big piece of the striped paper remaining from a recent layout. Along with our mission to make a dent in the big list of photos needing to be scrapped I'm trying hard to use my scraps immediately rather than have them languish in the scrap pile. I just about used up my stock of little party hats from K&Company; I think i have one or two more floating around, finished up 2 sticker sheets and added a few more fun cards to our birthday stock.  

Drowning in Scraps

Mom and I have been hitting the scrapping pretty hard. And this means we're generating scraps galore. I'm good about saving and sorting scraps but not always that good about putting them to use but I couldn't let these go to waste. The papers are from one of my all time favorite old KI lines. I love the bright colors and they're perfect for some cheerful, fun birthday cards. I paired them up with a box of K&Company party hats, very old KI tags and went to town creating a few cards to replenish our stash.

Birthday Cards

Just a quick post to show off some birthday cards. I'm not really that much of a card maker. I go in spurts mostly when I need to replenish my stash of birthday cards; the only cards I give out on a regular basis. A lot of them get sent off through the mail so I usually try to keep anything I whip up fairly flat for easy mailing. These were created immediately after finishing up some layouts. I'm not always that smart or motivated. More often my layout scraps make it into the scrap bin along with my good intentions of using those bits and pieces for card making. The emphasis here is on good intentions.

We like bright, happy cards in my family. And because we have so many guys in the mix frills, glitz and glitter needs to be kept to a minimum.