Zoe birthday

I made this card for my niece for her birthday later this month.  I hope she likes it.  I know it is a little bit girly and she is in her 20's but I went for whimsy this time.  

Well, whimsy and chocolate.  I decided to color the cake chocolate flavor and use some chocolate scented embossing powder.  Well it smelt like chocolate for a little while.  I made this before we went away on holiday and came back and TBH I really can't smell the chocolate on it which is a little disappointing.

Still, I enjoyed making the card.  I used a half sheet of cardstock to stamp and coloring in the scene with copics.  I then used Versamark to color over the top of the cake to give the icing a glossy, chocolaty finish.  After highlighting her outfit with dots and coloring in the ground and wall, I stamped in the sentiment with the Memento and overstamped with Versamark and heat embossed with the chocolate scented embossing powder for more chocolaty goodness.

Once it was finished I die cut the front to pop up the center for interest and then stamped the envelope to match.

What it took:
Card size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb; Recollections Kraft;
Stamps - C.C. Designs Birthday Cake Lucy; Hero Arts  ; See D's Plain Jane Alphabet; 
Ink -  Memento Rich Cocoa, Versamark;
Color - Copics, 
Accessories - Gelly Powder Chocolate; 

University of Louisville Graduation Shaker Card.

 Sometimes the simplest cards take the longest time to keep them simple.  I think the photography doesn't do this card justice.  I wanted to do more stamping on the outside of the card but got involved in adhering it and remembering all the layers before I stamped it and then didn't want to mess it up.

I wish I had thought to seal in the glitter embossing powder.  Oh well, there will always be a next time and feedback is the recipient liked it.  I did use Love Letter and Rhubarb Stalk to get the right shade of red to match the embossing powder.

What it took:
Card size - 5 1/4" x 5 1/4";
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Graduation;
Ink - Memento Gray Flannel, Tuxedo Black, Love Letter, Rhubarb Stalk; Gina K Designs Black Onyx;
Accessories - Zing! red glitter embossing powder; Acetate sheet; Seed beads.

Black Ink Comparison

Every stamp group of which I have been a part, stampers ask about black ink.  So I thought I would stamp out my own and show the differences because a picture is worth a 1000 words right!

I have stamped out my blacks in Versacraft, Versacolor, Gina K Designs, Memento, Archival, and Stazon on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb.  I did my best to give them all and equal opportunity with the dollar rubber stamp I picked up from Michael's a few months ago.  Here is how they came out.  I would put Gina K (dye ink) 1st and Stazon (solvent ink) 2nd for blackness.  The foxes were stamped left to right, top to bottom (in case the stamp being "seasoned" had an effect).  Hope that helps anyone looking at these inks.  I use them all as some are better at different applications.

What I used:

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80 lb

Stamp - Michael's

Ink - Versacraft Real Black, Versacolor black, Gink K Designs Black Onyx, Memento Tuxedo Black, Archival Jet Black, Stazon Jet Black

Ciao! Sandy Allnock's Hex Chart

So I have to admit, I was on the fence on Sandy Allnock's Hex Chart.  I waited to see what all the fuss was about before I purchased it last week.  I decided that for the cost of a Copic I would jump on the bandwagon. But you know what there is no bandwagon, this chart is doesn't need a wagon it is one of the most useful tools with my Copics that I have!

Here it is colored in with all my Ciaos and 3 Sketch.  I think it shows you get a good spectrum of colors with the Ciao markers.  

There is also a fully colored in chart with the blank chart so you can assess which colors you would like to add to your collection and will work with what you have.

I have no affiliation with Sandy Allnock and decided a long time ago that I don't have to promote stores etc that I buy from, but this is a case that I honestly believe that for good results with the Copic range this is a very useful tool.

If you are interested there are more resource links at http://sandyallnock.com/hexchart/ I paid for this product and am not an affiliate of any store including Sandy's but in this case I am one very happy customer.

What I used:
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80 lb
Color - Copic Ciaos, Copic Sketch
Accessories - Hex Chart, Inkjet printer

All the boys wishing a Happy Father's Day!

ETA - I have entered this in the Mod Squad Challenge Blog  Father's Day! This week's sponsor is Kitchen Sink Stamps.

So, I had this idea for a card and I think it pretty much turned out as planned! Woohoo! How often does that happen.  I wanted to make a stamped scene with our boys and our furry boy.  And this is what I came up with.  

I really wanted to try the popped up die cutting from the scene so I knew I would have to shade in the background first which meant I needed to stamp in the boys and dog and mask them.  I then airbrushed the background in.  

I took the background to my Cameo and cut out the letters.  I'm still new with it so I although I slowed it down I should have increased the depth of my blade a little bit for a cleaner cut.  As I didn't want to redo the background I just used my xacto knife to ease the cuts.  I also cut 3 cuts out of blue cardstock to make the height for the letters.  They were nearly perfectly aligned until I had to hide the card for the bazillionth time as the husband kept walking through my craft space.  

After all the glue had set up I decided I need more of a scene, so I stamped the fence and tree in the background and colored them in with copics as I didn't want to get too invested if it wasn't going to work.  Big sigh of relief when it did, or at least I think it did!  After that I worked on the dog coloring to make it look like our Bagle (Bassett/Beagle mix) and the boys.  After coloring, I stamped the words onto the grass and embossed them with clear.  Ugh! They aren't showing up as much as I want so I over stamped in Memento hoping to give some more depth and ended up creating this shadow effect.  I thought at that point it was best to leave it alone!  So I re-colored the eyes and nose of the "bagle" and covered in glossy accents.

Next up, the envelope!  I didn't want to do the whole scene so our "bagle" make an appearance on the envelope.  Because the envelope isn't marker cardstock it bled outside the lines a little but honestly very few people look THAT close, and just notice the overall image.

What it took -
Size - 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb, Recollections 65 lb blue, 110 lb white;
Stamps - C.C. Designs SW1093 Brother, Clear Dollar Stamps Cocoa the Dog, High Hopes Stamps Fence, High Hopes Stamps Tree, Kitchen Sink Stamps Never a Loss 4 Words, Kitchen Sink Stamps Ready 4 Any Holiday;
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Cottage Ivy, Versamark;
Color - Copics;
Accessories - Clear Embossing Power, Copic Multiliner, Glossy Accents, Silhouette Cameo.

Sunset Swan Anniversary

I made this anniversary card for my Brother in Law and Sister in Law.  When I made it I liked it but... and I think that is the problem.  It is the scene I wanted, just a lake and a sunset, but ....  I think it is missing something.  Initially, I attempted a no line watercolor with it and clear embossed the swans and even with the intensity of the colors in the back ground they were just lost in the scene so I over stamped with gray which created an interesting shadow effect with the clear embossing as a highlight.  I like this but I wish it was better and the only way to get better is to keep trying.

What it took - 
Card size - 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Watercolor paper, Recollections 110 lb white, 65 lb blue;
Stamp - Stampendous Swan Pair;
Ink - Versamark, Memento gray;
Color - Koi Watercolor

Butterfly Time Silver Anniversary Thank Yous

We recently celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary and I needed to send out a few thank yous.  

My inspiration for these cards was the silver, clocks, and butterflies, which all related back to the gifts we received, as well as all the colorburst/watercolor techniques so many talented cardmakers are using at the moment.  I can't justify buying any more coloring products so I made do with my watercolors and a splatter technique after stamping the clock stamp in Delicata silver.

I know it isn't strictly colorburst but it seems to imitate the part I like, that moment when the color hits the paper and bursts into many patterns and colors.  So my happy little heart just splattered away!  And I love the white space it left too.

With the clock and gears they were stamped before any techniques and I love the way the splatters layer on the shimmer of the Delicata ink.  I also decided to add the vellum for the sentiment to emphasize the subtlety of the shimmer.

The butterfly was stamped at the end and layered upon the splattered colors.

What it took -
Card size - 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 in
Cardstock - Recollections 110 lbs white, 65lbs gray; Watercolor paper; Vellum;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Butterflies; Kitchen Sink Stamps, Stampendous Many Thanks; Hero Arts Watch Gears;
Ink - Delicata Silver; Memento Angel Pink, Memento Rose Bud;
Color - Koi Watercolors

A salute to 2 Graduating Generals

Thank goodness I got a Silhouette Cameo.  Last year I made this card with various punches and dies and I really wanted to step it up this year.  

I first decided to make the white background card but knew I needed two and as one was for a girl and the other a boy, I decided on the second card having a gray base.

My vision was to make these pieced clean and simple cards.  Well, I wouldn't say I ended up creating my vision but rather elaborating on it.  The importing the image and cutting the pieces was straightforward enough for even a Silhouette novice like me.  What was complicated was trying to do the inlaid die cuts.  First I tried with wet glue. DISASTER, it was gluing itself where I didn't want it.

Then a change of plan, how about some peel and stick that I have been hoarding for at least 10 years, may as well try it, what do I have to lose!  Oh my goodness, that stuff is sticky.  It all started well but honestly when I was done there seemed to be gaps between the pieces and I just didn't know what to do with them.  So now what?

I cut my pieces again and whilst it was cutting I thought about all my adhesives and decided to try my YES! paste as that wouldn't grab the pieces and would allow some wiggle room.  Well that seemed to work for this card except I did manage to have a small amount of glue here and there.  I decided to stamp the graduation year on another panel and embossed glitter silver for the girl's card and clear for the boy's card.  Hmmm now what?  I really didn't want to give up on my idea.  So I grabbed the graduation caps I cut out the other day when I was doing test cuts and arranged them as if they had been thrown up in the air after the ceremony! Ta Da! oh and they just happen to cover any small spots of glue over reach.  

I took the inside of the card money holder up a notch and added some more of the caps!

The cards were finished off with a coordinating envelope with the year stamped in ombre school colors.  I really like how that looks!

What it took -
Card size - 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb white; 65lb white, gray, blue;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps Playful Numbers, Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Graduation; High Hopes Stamps Grad Cap;
Ink - Versamark; Memento Nautical Blue, Memento Gray Flannel;
Accessories - Zing! Glitter Embossing Powder Silver; Dimensional Adhesive; YES! paste.

Graduation Cap Explosion!

Have to admit that I love the effect of these boxes.  I made this one for the same graduate with the knight card so kept the same color scheme but when with a stronger graduation theme.

All the caps and diploma and numbers I cut with the Silhouette Cameo from stamps I have and scanned in.  Love how it turned out.  I decided not to over stamp the numbers as I could just cut them out in any color and I liked the pop of white.  If I had it to do over I maybe would have shadowed them with a black.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections 65lb black, white; Bazzill: Maroon; Paper Studio: Classics;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Grad Cap, Diploma; Kitchen Sink Stamps: Playful Numbers; Hampton Arts: Graduation Set T;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black;
Accessories - clear packaging, dimensional tape.

Oh What a Knight!

Our valiant knight graduated and he had to be rewarded with a special card!  Well, I hope he thought it was special.  Again I do what I do, I started off my design with school colors and mascot.  So Maroon and Silver and a Knight (they also use navy but I didn't know how much so just went with what I know). 

I stamped the background with my stamp positioner and Memento ink so I could get deep coverage.  Then I lined up tape and foiled the silver lines by burnishing the foil into the tape.  All that sounds easy but took long enough to do.

Then I decided to take a leap of faith and learn to use my Silhouette Cameo.  I stamped my graduation hat and knight and a diploma on cardstock and scanned them into my computer and then used the Silhouette software to combine the mortar board and the knight into one image to make a cut file.  I never seem to start with the easy things!  I managed it with the help of YouTube and a bit of patience and love how it turned out.  I used my stamp positioner to line up the diecut with the stamped images starting with the mortar board which I stamped and masked to stamp the knight in.

I colored the knight with Copics and then die cut the circle with Nestabilities and stamped the "you did it!" in Versamark and clear embossed.  I think if I had to do it over I would have gone with white embossing to make it pop a little more.  After that I layered the circles under the graduating knight.  The last bit is that I decided to decorate the envelope to match in an ombre effect of gray to maroon.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb: white; Bazzill Maroon; Foil Paper;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Knight, Grad Cap; Stampendous: School Years; Kitchen Sink Stamps: Playful Numbers;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black; Rhubarb Stalk; Gray Flannel;
Accessories - Silver foil; Dimensional tape.

ROAR! RIT Class of 2015

What do you do when 2 out of 3 of your son's roommates graduate? Two different cards? Two the same?  Subtlety or KAPOW!  Well, I tried to think of 2 different but equal designs and I couldn't so this is what I did.

I decided to go with the School colors of Orange and Brown and the School mascot, a tiger, as the focus.  And of course, the tiger HAD to be graduating!  Then I thought, what if it were a shaker card?  Everyone loves a skaker card right?  So I looked through my bead stash and even my sequin stash and nothing.  All my sequins seem to be Christmas themed and my beads are tiny.  

So I decided to experiment with Shrinky Dinks.  Yes!  All those little mortar boards and diplomas are Shrinky Dinks.  Did I mention how awesome his roommates are? In fact, the Shrinky Dinks mortar board is the same one on the tiger's head. Boom! I love it when a plan starts to come together.

I made the main background using a non-patented hinged stamp positioner so I could restamp as needed and keep it aligned.  The one I have isn't easy on this size card but I made it work.  I masked the tiger and stamped over him with the large tiger stripe background stamp.

Then it was time to decorate the envelope to match.  I went with the same background stamp and an ombre effect of the school colors but starting with black moving through brown to orange.  Who needs a specialist inkpad?!

Ingredients:

Card Size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in;

Cardstock - Recollections 65lb: white, kraft, orange, black; scrap packaging transparency;

Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Tiger, Grad Cap, Diploma; Stampendous: Simply Safari, School Years; Hero Arts: Graduation; See D's: Plain Jane Alphabet; Cornish Heritage Farms: Tiger Stripe;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Tangelo;

Color - Copics;

Accessories - black cord.

A 21st Thank You or 2

A couple of 21st birthday thank yous.  I stamped off the thank yous to make an ombre effect and rounded the corners to add a bit of interest to such a simple card.

Ingredients
Card size - 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections 65lb white;
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps: Never a Loss 4 Words, Playful Numbers;
Ink - Memento - Gray Flannel, Nautical Blue;
Accessories - corner chomper.

25 years and Devilishly in love.

I couldn't resist making this anniversary card for my dear hubby.  I mean really, after 25 years what can you really say that you haven't said already.  He knows how much I love him but he does bring out the devil in me!

I stamped the image and then traced the heart die around where I wanted it placed and fussy cut the image to the lines and then used my heart dies to do a partial die cut of the image.

After cutting, I colored in the image with a selection of Copics taking loads of hints from Sandy Allnock's YouTube channel.  I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed it.
I knew I wanted a textured background so I got out my heart punches and played to see which one would work best.  I cut the bottom border of the cardstock and backed it with a scrap of red cardstock, and yes I mean a scrap that was just wide enough to fit!  I honestly wanted it to look like a shower of hearts like those Simon Says Stamps stamps and stencils but went for a more loose geometric placement for all 25 hearts.

I have to say I love the outcome and the depth and textures on this card.  I wish I had highlighted her eyes more like Nichol Magouirk does.  Well, there's always next time.



Ingredients:
Card size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in; 
Cardstock - Recollections 65lb: black, kraft, white;
Stamps - CC Designs Swiss Pixie Devilish Lucy; 3 step Heart & Roses;
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Versamark;
Color - Copics
Accesories - Spellbinders Heart die, EK Success border Arrows, Zing! white embossing powder, Flocked ribbon, heart punch, dimensional tape.

All Aboard for a Happy Birthday!

It's that time of year where I make a card for our uncle who loves photography and trains! Subtle right?

I don't have any fancy polaroid dies so I made do with my rectangles and squares! Sometimes you have to think about what you have and how you can use it.  I think it works.

Ingredients:
Card size - 8 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections: Kraft, White;
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps - Railroad Memories;
Ink - Memento - Tuxedo Black;
Color - Copics to match patterned paper;
Accessories - American Craft patterned paper

Golden start to married life...

 If you follow my blog you know I try to use invites and interests as a jumping off point for my card design for an event.  Well the invite for this wedding was actually silver with subtle hearts at the top. I looked for an appropriate silver in my local Michael's and couldn't find what I wanted so I went with Delicata gold.  Isn't it yummy?  I lined up the stamp in my MISTI so it would stamp in the middle of the cardbase and then I stamped and inked and stamped and inked and stamped and inked and stamped and ink and if you look at the closeup you can see there is dimension to the image! Knocked it out of the park we have a homerun!

Ingredients:
Card size - 5 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in;
Cardstock - Recollections: 110lb and 65lb white;
Stamp - Gina K Designs: Always & Forever;
Ink - Delicata: Gold;
Accessories - Spellbinders Nestabilities Heart; Dotted Swiss embossing folder; 3M foam tape

Hippity Hoppity it's Spring and lots of bunnies!

So my Easter cards this year were an attempt a no line watercoloring.  I still have a bit of work to do but they were fun to do!

I think the blue ones turned out best and then the creamy brown ones.

The pink ones seem to look slightly demented!!

Now I just want to cuddle up to the lavender bunnies.

Extreme group shot!!! Had to do it at this angle to get them all in!

Ingredients:
Cardstock - Recollections: Kraft; Artist Loft Watercolor paper;
Stamp - CC Designs: Dragon Doodle Lucky Rabbit; Hero Arts: Celebrate Everyday;
Ink - Memento (I forgot exact colors);
Color - Derwent watercolour pencils