Soccer/Football - A different perspective

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.

Purple Pansy Petal Power!

I love this card - it turned out so much better than my brain imagined it - I just went with the creative flow and it all worked out this time!

I bought this Clear Dollar Stamp sets specifically to use for my MIL's birthday. She is a gardener at heart. She actually worked with disabled gardeners until her retirement and then continued to run a monthly club for them to attend.

If you haven't seen these flower of the month and flower sets at Clear Dollar Stamps then check them out - they have so much punch and variety within them.

I started this card out by using my Pansy set and coloring it with my copics - well actually that's not quite what happened. I started out this card with the intent on using my twinkling H2O's to create a luminous card that I knew my MIL would love. I painstakingly colored my main image and all the while not truly liking how it was turning out... Yikes! This really wasn't speaking to me. So knowing I was up against it and really needed to get this done I changed course and went back to my trusted copics and stamped and colored again - oh, yes! that really is much better. So the flower was colored and a nice sky halo of blue added to help it "pop".

Oh dear, now what. I looked at my Flower of the month set... I want to use the script... hmmm do I mask the image and use it? That doesn't seem quite right for what I am wanting. So I decided to create a background with the set using the script. On thinking it out I thought the script alone would be "too" masculine so I added the flowers, playing about with the placement using the stamps and the projected image in my head (no image available - just clutter in there!) and decided to stamp the image in a row of three and working out that if I turned the stamp 180 that it would fit together in the middle of the page rather nicely. Then I added another row of script stamping. I used the London Fog grey because I just wanted a softened reference to the original image. I colored in the pansies on my background just using the lightest of the colors I had used with my original image. I looked at my background and thought it needed something. There is just something about "script" that always screams antique to me - so I dug out my Distressed Ink inkpads and found Faded Linen and a sponge and just sponged over the entire background.

Afterwards I was playing with a layout idea and thought I would need a sentiment - I decided to use Brilliance Victorian purple and clear embossing on my sentiment to match the mounts of the image and the card. I wanted it to have a different sheen to it to stand out slightly from the background itself. Then I used the Swiss dots embossing folder for the entire background - that took three passes - I was thinking about using another folder but I wasn't certain I could get the pattern to match. I set my background aside to work some more on my main image.

I had stamped and colored my main imaged on a 4.25 in x 5.5 in sheet of cardstock. I wanted to use one of my Nestability sets - so after going through them all! I decided on one and used the next size for the mount...hmmm... I decided to embossing the image layer... now what? It doesn't really pop like I want - so out came the Distress Inks and sponge again and I used the die as a mask. On the mount layer it just seemed to need something to tie it together a bit more so I used the inside of the die as a guide to put down some faux stitching.

I decided to make the effort to match up the inside of the card too -

I decided I wanted to repeat the usage of my stamps again to mirror the front of the card. I first stamped the main image pansy in the center of the back of the card and the the sentiment in purple then I used the FotM pansies for the bottom corner and the script stamp across the bottom. It just felt like it still needed something so I softly colored in the pansies to match the front! It was then I decided to stop.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Bazzill, Neenah

Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps Pansy and Pansy Flower of the Month; Kitchen Sink Stamps Whole Family

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, London Fog, Grape Jelly; Brilliance Victorian purple; Distress Inks Antique Linen

Copics - BV00, BV02, BV04, BV08, Gooo, Goo, G14, G17, Y11, Y15, Y17

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots

Nestabilities

Graduations are like buses...

you seem to wait forever then three come at once . Yes, I know it is graduation season however, I didn't know "I" needed to make any graduation cards until last week. How do I miss these things. So anyone this one for my mother to send my cousin from "the family".


My thinking behind the card is that college graduations tend toward black mortar boards and tassels and then I used the school's colors which are supposed to be deep purple and gold... well this is my take on that.


I just want to know one thing... when will I ever learn to leave well enough alone. I was going for the nice crisp look but then I somehow decided that the embossing needed to be "highlighted" I wish I had stopped before I did it but I didn't and definitely didn't have time for a re-do - so lesson hopefully learnt this time. I'm not upset at what the card looks like just that I didn't stop to get the look I wanted to achieve. On a positive note, I have two more graduation cards to practice "stopping" at the right time.


Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5in x 8.5in
• Cardstock - Bazzill, Neenah,
• Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
• Ink - Memento, Brilliance
• Cuttlebug and Scor-Pal embossing

Still in Training?

This card is for a dear uncle's 70th birthday and he loves trains!

I really like the result I got on this project with my Cricut.

I decided that I would do a "free-standing pop up" card from SCS resources I had to adjust the measurements as I do "big" cards as in 8.5x 5.5 finished. I wanted to keep it cheerful so hopefully it is with the pearlescent blue cardstock and ink.

Then I had the hurdle of trying to work in Cricut Design Studio. I eventually managed to get a "welded" blackout 70 and a layer from my Printing 101 cartridge. Then I found two backgrounds on my Plantin cartridge for the borders at the bottom one is a city scape and the other is a treeline. I cut out a train from the My Community cartridge to use the negative as a stencil. The train border at the very bottom is Martha Stewart punch.

The greeting and repeat pattern on the card itself is from JustRiteStampers.

I really hope our dear uncle likes his card AND gets it on time with the international post that can be fun!

Critical Eye
when it is folded you can see the "and still in training" in retrospect that would have been a nice surprise when all folded down if I had stamped it lower. AND I had planned to emboss the blue "70" for some texture. Hopefully I will remember this for next time.

Ingredients

• Final Cardsize - 8.5 x 5.5 in - the panel is 8.5 x 4.5
• Cartridges used - Plantin, Printing 101, My Community
• Cardstock - Hobby Lobby, Wassau (that's pearlescent blue) and Georgia Pacific
• Ink - Brilliance
• Stamps - JustRite
• Punch - Martha Stewart
  

ETA - got an email from our uncle and he got it in time!!!!!

My first Cricut card for a "Princess"

I know I blogged a while ago about my "second" cricut card. Well, now that I have found the photo file (it was on my son's camera). I will share my first Cricut card. It is "ok" I like it but I don't love it. I think I am going to have to study the Paper Dolls cartridge a bit more and the Cricut blogs a bit more to find out what I like and don't like.

However, you know my style I don't just share what I deem my successes.

The body and hair are cut out of some Michaels cardstock. Her dress and hat are out of Waussau pearlescent cardstock. I hand drew the "banner" because I needed to get a sentiment on there and there wasn't much room left. I then stamped the banner with See D's sentiment stamp. And of course a Princess needs her bling factor so I dotted stickles all over the hat and the along the hemline and neckline of her dress.

Please feel free to give advice on what I could have done to make her "better" - From my perspective maybe a bit of shading. I know I don't like it but I'm a bit perplexed on what to do to make her "better" LOL

The little lunchbox is covered in cardstock from DCWV.

Let it Rock, let it rock, let it rock...

Because when I'm alive, I can feel the fire. Make you come alive...

oh wait...

this is supposed to be a card blog, not a group sing-a-long! LOL! Someone out there in bloggieland knows what I mean and yes Treacle, darling, we are in the Naughties not the 80's. ;)Another card I did for my son's birthday. I took him to his first concert, Live8 in Hyde Park 2005. We are still deciding if we need to do another gig soon, Franz Ferdinand is pretty near and then there are rumors that Kaiser Chiefs are supporting Green Day, ah but I digress again. I scanned the card so you can't really tell from the picture that the guitar is popped up.

Hope you like because I know people struggle with "guy" cards.

Ingredients

• Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5 in
• Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Bazzill, DCWV Rockstar
• Stamps - Inkadinkado
• Ink - Palette, Memento, Brilliance
• Color - Copics

Card and Lunchbox for Lauren

You know all that stuff you have "just in case" well this was definitely a "just in case card and project"! So see it does happen. You do NEED all those supplies just in case. LOL

I picked up the mini-lunchboxes at the Target dollar spot over the summer. The DCWV stack I just had to have as well as the square envelopes. This was one of those throw together cards that I needed yesterday and sent off with my youngest to a birthday party. After I covered the lunchbox with cardstock to match the card. Its just the right size for a gift card or the universal gift card as I call it - cold, hard, cash!

Ingredients
Cardstock - DCWV nana's kids, Georgia Pacific
Stamps - JustRiteStampers
Ink - Brilliance
Tools - nestabilities, corner rounder.

Another fine mess!

This was my husband's favourite (and yes I have to spell that in English not American because that is the way he speaks) card. He is a mad (another English-ism) Laurel & Hardy fan and when I saw this stamp on VivaLasVegastamps website I knew I just had to get it!

The image is stamped with Palette noir and colored in with Copics (I know they have such vibrant colors!) they had just the right subtle quick colors that I needed for this. Gotta love those grays again! And the skin tones were just what I needed.

I cut out the image with my square nestabilities and embossed the edge. I then cut a mat with the nestabilities in a very "manly" black.

The gray card is Bazzill which I scored into a grid using my Scor-pal. Now what did I ever do without that - it really does make scoring so much easier than it was when I used to try to use my trimmer.

The second stamped image of the clapboard is another from VLVS and the greeting is from my collection of See D's - they almost look like they were made for one another.

So, I guess the question now is - do you think my DH was right in his preference?

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Bazzill, Georgia Pacific

Stamps - VivaLasVegastamps, See D's

Ink - Brilliance

Markers - Copic

Accessories - Nestabilities, brads by Making Memories, Scor-Pal.

Zog Calling!

That title probably makes more sense in my head! We as a family always tease one another that we are from the planet Zog and I recently met an internet friend who's family share the same ancestry. LOL

So when I saw this stamp set from Technique Tuesday I had to have it because I knew I would use it!

I think in the end it worked out pretty well. I used my Copics again. some clear embossing to make the little green men shine a bit as well as Earth. Though just a word of warning - clear embossing doesn't act as a mask when using Copics... ask me how I know! LOL

I really like how the atmosphere to space turned out on this card and it was my dear hubby's second favourite card for his birthday.

Ingredients

Markers - Copics

Cardstock - Bazzill, Georgia Pacific

Stamps - Technique Tuesday

Ink - Brilliance

and a bit of detail clear embossing powder.

A bright Changito Birthday!

This is a card I made for a dear friend in Scotland who not only takes care of her family but decided to take Open University and is doing great! I really don't know how she does it all she is fab!

I took my cue from her cardmaking style - she almost always has bright cheerful cards with clean lines (now watch her go and change on me!) and detail. I was going to do cupcakes - everyone loves cupcakes AND she had sent me a card for my birthday with cupcakes... but it just didn't feel right. I wanted to celebrate her strength and her getting her courses sorted. So I found my Changito, Stampendous stamps and they just made sense for this card.

This is a BIG card 8.5in x 5.5in front or A9 whatever works in your brain!!! I love Big cards for special occasions.

The card base and colorful solids are out of the DCWV brights pad. I scored it pretty successfully with my Score-Pal. I then pulled out some my patterned cardstock from DCWV Nana's Kids (I love the vibrancy but just find it difficult to use any patterned cardstock/paper!) I also needed to use ribbon on this card - lots and lots of ribbon - so I cut a band of white and covered it with the ribbon and adheared that to the card base. Changito and his books were colored to match the cardstock choices with Prismacolor pencils on GP cardstock and cut with my rectangular nestabilities.

The envelope and insert where stamped with lined paper background from Cornish Heritage Farms and Stampendous school and Changito stamps sets. I used Brilliance ink on my brand new to me Kitchen Sink Stamps greeting. *insert happy dance!*

Ingredients
Cardstock - DCWV, Georgia Pacific
Stamps - Stampendous, Cornish Heritage Farms, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Embellishments - Michael's ribbon
Color - Prismacolor pencils, white gel pen Sakura
Ink - Brilliance

Ipod and Jeans Birthday

Well, take a great card and a great stamp that you can't find anywhere and sulk about it for six months and this is what you come up with. However I digress and should start at the beginning...

In January I found this great blog entry Just Give Me Stamps and like everyone that sees a great card I HAD to have THAT stamp... well I search and search and no luck so I decided to think outside the box. I ordered a denim backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms.

I started this card with 2 sheets 5.5in x 8.5 in white GP cardstock that I wiped faded denim distressed ink over. I then took my denim stamp and stamped over the cardstock to get the jeans look. Playing with the Scor-pal I made gussetted folds the pocket would hold the "Ipod". I then stamped the stitching with Graphite black ink (and yes I hold my hands up that the stitching could have been neater but heck, these are old jeans *WINK*). Then with the cropadile I punched through the layers of the pocket and once in the upper right corner of the card base and attached the brads. Then I attached the front to my card base and stamped the See D's Happy Birthday greeting on the pocket with platinum planet.

Now on to the "Ipod" - I took a sheet of pearlescent cardstock and cut it at 3 inches. Then I took the Scor-pal and scored it at 6 inches and also 1.5 inches from the ends. The screen is blue pearlescent cardstock backed with black and the circles I cut with Quickutz cookie cutters circle dies (my circle Nestabilities came the day after I finished this!). I then got my Just-rite monogram Stamper out and made the sentiment for the screen. The folds on the inside of the ipod are just the right size to hold a nice check (cheque for you Brits) as well!

So I'm hoping that this is just about the perfect card for a teenager no matter what their interests are!

Ladybug? Ladybird? Graduation Card.

I never know what to call an "LB" anymore - Ladybug is American, Ladybird is British so I think the darling little bug will just be LB from now on! LOL.

This card is for my Auntie in Alaska who just graduated college for nursing! WOOHOO! She absolutely lurves ladybugs so I took my inspiration from there. I decided to use the swiss dots cuttle bug folder to emphasize the dots on the LB and again I chose the ribbon to tie in. The circle was cut from the front layer first and is a Quickutz cookie cutter die. I put the solid circle aside and put the cardstock through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder x 2. I then used my Fiskars trimmer to score two lines and then stamped my greeting from Hampton Arts. I then measured my greeting so I would know where to score the bottom two lines and flipped the cardstock over and scored. After that I sent it through with my swirls folder. I then went over the top of the Congratulations with a graduation cap stamp and my versamark and clear embossing powder. I placed the organzaa ribbon to highlight this and be a color tie to the main image. I then mounted this on the black card base.

The lady bug image was stamped with Brilliance Graphite Ink and colored in with Sakura glitter pens. I then went around the circle making dots my black marvy pen. Then I just had to tackle the "nekkid" envelope too! This time I colored in the LB's with permanent red ink. This was added to the "hole" I had made earlier using 3-D Zots for dimension. After I took the picture I added an insert with a LB on the corner too! I really hope she likes it!

Sorry for the blurry close up! just trying to show the elements together and the clear embossing!LOL

Ingredients
Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black
Stamps - Unknown, Hampton Arts
Embossing - swiss dots, devine swirl, Fiskars trimmer
Pen- Marvy, Sakura

4th of July Birthday!!!

I guess I really should have more subtle titles - or maybe just sub titles as I know my brain and my thoughts don't always marry up!

Well today is a very special day - it is our entire little family unit's first 4th of July together or as the DH calls it Colonial Day. Honestly how can you argue with him! lol His uncle used to tease me that England were just seeing if the US could manage on their own... that was over 15 years ago, I think he may have been on to something. HMMM

I guess I better give you the heads on the card - its for a dear friend of mine in England - I have to say I was inspired by the artwork of this blog http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ (I know the work there is fabulous but keep coming here too please! I'm begging you here people! LOL)

I stamped my main image from High Hopes and colored her in using prismacolor pencils and baby oil. I then framed the images using the star border from Technique Tuesday stamped with platinum planet ink and clear embossed the stars. I decided to mask the main image and then sponged Distressed Ink in Fired Brick and then in Faded Jeans. I then stamped my denim background from Cornish Heritage Farms using my Adirondack denim pad. The stars are quickutz diecuts and then colored with the Fired brick and the platinum planet and adhered with 3D zots. The See D's greeting was stamped with the Adirondack denim pad and then highlighted with the distress pads. The card base is Archiver's own cardstock linen blue.

Hope you like and have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Ingredients:

Stamps - High Hopes, See D's, Technique Tuesday, Cornish Heritage Farms

Color - Prismacolor pencil

Ink - Adirondack, Distress ink, Brilliance

Dies - Quickutz

Bouncing Baby Boy!

Another boy card! Thankfully I just have these too cute stamps from High Hopes - it just makes it difficult to decide which one to use! There really must be something in the water with all these boys!

I AM happy with this card, I have to say. Though it is nothing like my original vision in my head! Does anyone stick to their original idea all the way through a card? I was inspired by the Heartprints Gallery - some really amazing things there! I actually started to do this as an all white front with the Kanga on a raised embossed section - although "nice" it was just too white for me! So I made my swiss dots embossing into a frame (had to send that baby through twice AND poke some of the dots back out with my embossing tool). Kanga is now cut to show the shading and raised from the base with 3-D Zots. BTW - this card is 5x7 - I just like BIG cards for BIG occasions!

I really think I need a Scor-pal. I have been trying to talk myself out of one but I just don't seem to be able to get the nice deep grooves that so many people are getting without one. The ribbon is attached with the brad alone thanks to my cropadile through three layers of ribbon and one layer of card!

Gotta love that Baby Oil technique and any residual "smell" is just oh so perfect for this occasion! LOL

Hope you like!

Recipe:

Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, DCWV pastel blue

Stamps - High Hopes

Ink - Adirondack Espresso, Brilliance Graphite

Color - Prismacolor pencils

Embossing - Cuttlebug folders - Swiss Dots and Perfectly Paisley, Fiskars trimmer

Ribbon - Michael's

Brads - Making Memories

Graduation card

I'm one of those bloggers that doesn't believe in apologising for absences - if we aren't out there living life then really what is the point? Back to the regularly schedule broadcast!

I'm not certain what I feel about this card. I put it together quite quickly for a High School graduate because I really just couldn't get my head together to get things done. My mojo definitely went on walkabout. I have cards and gifts now that I "owe" - don't you just hate when things get like that... I'm going to keep trying to aim to be ahead of the game, however because that is the way I am!

Anyhoo! - enough of me yattering away! Here's the important info!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Georgia Pacific, Hobby Lobby textured, iridescent gold vellum

Stamps - Hero Arts, Northwoods Rubber Stamps

Ink - Brilliance graphite black and galaxy gold

I love your style!

Firstly, sorry to keep everyone waiting for the reveal - we have had some quite strange weather here, and its made international news. Everything seemed to skip over us though it was confirmed today that the distant train sound I heard was most probably an EF2 tornado that touched down a few miles from here. The loss of life in "The South" is really too dreadful to contemplate with many still missing. We have a weather radio that seemed to never stop signalling on Tuesday to take cover and we just about heard the towns sirens going off, (though I know many people that slept through it - Yikes!) When I heard the sirens I got the family out of bed and went down to the basement to take cover for about 45 minutes. I'm thankful we are all safe and sound.


Well as promised here is the reveal and I am quite happy with it - sorry if anyone is disappointed LOL.

The BG and Dress stamps are from I Brake for Stamps. The BG is white brilliance stamped on black linen effect cardstock from Michael's. The purple dress is pearlescent cardstock I picked up at Michael's, the hanger is coated with Sakura white pen, the dress is highlighted with Sakura glitter gel pen in purple and I used a cut down christmas ornament hanger for the wire. The other dress was stamped on K&Company paper (Brenda Walton line). The stamps for the verse are Clear stamps stamped with Archival Black and the heart was filled in with Sakura pink Souffle pen. The embossed dots were made with my Crop-a-dile after I found the technique on Splitcoast Stampers in the gallery - though my hand really ached after completing the set!


Hope you like and can I just say that Della from I Brake for Stamps is lovely to deal with. These stamps were from my first order and I am planning on many more in the future!