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; 

Dragon Breath Birthday!

 I made this fun card for my BIL for his birthday!  I thought it was fun.  I don't know if I had more fun coloring in my High Hopes Dragon or making the background with versamark and clear embossing powder.  Lots of fun stamps on this card that I think I'm dotty over (yup had to do a circle pun!)

If I had it to do over I would cut my mask over the sentiment closer so the circle bursts would surround the sentiment more.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2;
Cardstock - Recollections: Black, White, Gray;
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Warm Wishes; Inkadinkado: Circle & Dots; Little Yellow Bicycle: Birthday;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Copic Multiliner;
Color - Copics;
Accessories - Embossing Powder: white, clear; Googly eyes

Birthday Hoot!

I made this card for a Stamp Out Cancer Challenge at Gina K's Stamp TV but didn't get to upload it because I reached my limit.

I like all the separate elements but I'm not certain I like them together.  Any thoughts?

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Cardstock - Recollections: 65lb white, pink; 
Stamp - Gina K Designs: Birthday Owl;
Ink - Gina K Designs: Color Companions Black Onyx;
Color - Copics;
Accessories - American Craft Ribbon.

Purple daisies

 

Using so many of the techniques (and confidence) I have picked up from Lindsay, the Frugalcrafter, I stamped this ink a Memento brown so that I would get more of a watercolor look than with a strong harsh black.  I especially like the way I pointed in the centers of the daisies.  They really pop in real life.

I would love to say that I planned this card from the beginning but the card was made around the watercolor.  I found paper to match in my stash and remembered this sweet ribbon which just has an edge of the blue in the sky.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Cardstock - Artist Loft watercolor; Recollections 110lb, Bright & Basic;
Stamps - Stampendous: Daisy Thanks;
Ink - Memento: Rich Cocoa;
Color - Koi Watercolor;
Accessories - Ribbon

21st box card!

A card for our dear niece who turned 21 in July.  I really struggled with this as traditionally in England it is "key to the door" you are an adult now birthday.  To be honest, the world has moved on so I decided to go fun and whimsical and pile it on.

Growing up she absolutely loved pigs so I am hoping that she will see this as a nod to remembering how much she loved pigs, a wee mini trip down her childhood memory lane.   

I wanted to make this card even more over the top than a normal box card so I decided in the great British tradition that she needed some birthday bunting to celebrate her big day.  Now that took a bit of thinking.  In the end I glued together some thick cardstock and patterned paper (both sides) to make them look a bit like carnival poles but keeping them flat for when the card was closed.

I did a few markings and I think I made the pennants 1 in long and 1 in wide.  I marked the bottom of the paper a half inch in and then every inch so I could cut the angles needed and cut enough for the front and back of the banner. Using a small alphabet set I stamped all the letters I needed and found a bit of thin white crochet thread in my stash and glue the pennant together, sandwiching in the thread.

Those "brads/enamel dots" are actually patterned paper scraps that I punched out, and used Versamark and UTEE to make to match!  I may never buy a "real" one again! 

The big problem with a card for an occasion that doesn't open and close is that there is no where to put a gift card/cash so I made a small envelope to match the large one and tucked it inside the box.  I went ahead and put her name on it so she will hopefully thought to pull it out.

 This is the card all closed up.  I was going to start my post with it but realized that if people are reading in readers they probably wouldn't look any further when confronted with such a dull image.  Oh yeah, what about that matching envelope!!!

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - The Paper Studio: Texture Cardstock, The Classics; 
Stamps - High Hopes: Pig, cake, presents, hat; Justrite Stamps: Curlz;
Ink - Archival Ink: black;
Color - Koi watercolor;
Accessories - Crochet thread;
Tools - UTEE

Prismacolor Pencils Peony Party*

*well birthday really, but that didn't roll off the tongue as easily.

Anyway, I made this card for my mother-in-law for her birthday next week.  I took another lesson from Lindsay the Frugalcrafter and just kept working my pencils rather than relying on any solvent based blender (like this video). I LOVE how it all turned out. Now if I had been clever I would have told you how this was all planned out. Honestly I was playing with my Prismacolors after not getting the results I wanted with my normal watercolor pencils. It wasn't necessarily bad just not what I wanted. 

Also what I didn't want was my flower floating in the middle of the page or to die cut or fussy cut it so I cut a mask and stamped around it. It was definitely out of my comfort zone but I think it works. 

Full disclosure! Here's the watercolor attempt! I think I like more water than cardstock will allow so watercolor paper from now on. Also I was trying to do the whole invisible stamping thing...need to get working on that some more.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Recollections white 65lb & 110lb for base, blue;
Stamps - Stampendous - Jumbo Peony; Cornish Heritage Farms - grid paper; Kitchen Sink Stamps - Whole Family;
Ink - Gina K Designs - black onyx; Memento - pear tart, bamboo leaves, bahama blue, danube blue, rose bud;
Color - Prismacolor pencils

All hands on board!

OK I admit it.  This looked better in my head, though I like the concept.  I honestly forget to crop the black so that the white base framed it.  I now wonder if that would have helped...

Ingredients
Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Recollections: Black; Red
Stamps - Inkadinkado: friendly advice ; Clear Dollar Stamps: baby hand & footprints;
Ink - Versamark; Juicy Pad;
Accessories - White embossing powder

Simply complex fuzzy Mustache Card

I made this a while ago and forgot to write down what I did.  I'm fairly certain I stamped the mustache in black and then covered it with glitter glue to adhere the flocking.

This card is for a family member that actually gets stopped and asked for autographs because they are convinced he is Tom Selleck.  I decided to keep it simple and think it works.

Ingredients
Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5 in;
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth; Revelations - black;
Stamps - Stampabilities Mustaches Clear Stamp Set;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black;
Accessories - Glue; Fun Flock: Black

I see you're 20!

I made this card for my neice who turned 20.  I wonder if she got the 20/20 pun-tasticness of this card.  Probably not but at least I amused myself.  I clear embossed the lenses and frames.  If I did it again I might use a very, very, very, very pale color to tint the lenses for the slightest contrast.

Ingredients:
Card size - 5.5 in x 8.5 in;
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth; Recollections: black;
Stamps - Stampabilities: Mustaches Clear Stamp Set; 7 Gypsies; Hero Arts: Classic Caps;
Ink - Memento: Tuxedo Black, Rose Bud; Versamark;
Accessories - pink rhinestones; clear embossing powder

Wild Party Animal!

Remember that zebra print block I made?  Any guesses for whom I made this birthday card?  LOL!  I hope I got it right.  I wanted a good amount of whimsy in this as the receipient is still pre-teen.  Sometimes animal print can look very vampish to me.  I hope I succeeded in getting the right tone.

 I don't know about you but I think they are having a wild time, dancing away at this birthday party!

And a close up of the sentiment to see that cute ribbon!

Ingredients
Card size 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Smooth Solar White; The Paper Studio; Recollections
Stamps - High Hopes Stamps: Party Cow, Single Present, Three Candle Cake, Party Hat Two, Party Pig, Party Donkey, Party Animal, Have a Happy Birthday;
Ink- Memento: Tuxedo Black;
Color - Copics
Accessories - American Craft: ribbon;

From a Bunch of Nuts

 

This card was for my nephew's girlfriend.  I have yet to meet her - the disadvantages of living on different continents, however, I thought this was appropriately young and disparaging (on the inside it says from a bunch of nuts).  So hopefully she liked it and got a laugh.

 

I will be honest I like all the combinations but I think the image is too small for this size card.  It is hard at times to be a "Big Card" giver and love these cute little images.  I'm sure I will eventually work it out.

Ingredients-
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Recollections Kraft, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest, The Paper Studio
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - Ribbon from a variety of sources, Spellbinders dies, Airbrush, and googly eyes! 



Birthday Flowers

This is a digital stamp from Clearly iStamp . It was a freebie a few months ago for a competition that I downloaded it for and never entered. So when I was in a bind this week for a large flower stamp and really couldn't think of something productive to make this is what jumped off my computer and said color me!
 
Originally I was going very plain with just the basket of flowers on the background.  TBH it just didn't look right.  I then thought I would add some color to the background to focus the eye.  That looked worse.  So I went through my hoard lovingly procured stash of designer paper and thought this was a decent match and kept the card light and fun.

Do you think it worked?

This card went to our 81 year old auntie with failing eyesight.  It was really important to use a large vibrant image.

This was the first time I had used a digi stamp.  I'm in love!

Ingredients
Card Size 8.5in x 5.5 in 
Cardstock - Neenah Solar White Classic Crest Smooth, The Paper Studio
Stamps - Clearly iStamp, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Color- Copics
Accessories - clear glitter glue.



H20 Pink Butterfly

I decided I wanted to try painting my stamp with my Twinkling H20s and then misting them and to stamp.  To be honest it seems to have turned out like a do it yourself Rorshach Test.  This was the best one so I decided to make it into a card. After stamping the butterfly I had to let it dry.  Then I used a circle mask to leave a highlight around the butterfly when I stamped and airbrushed the background. 

I liked the concept of this card but I don't know if I really like how it turned out.  It was fun trying different techniques and keeping it to one layer though.

Sometimes I have difficulty in putting a sentiment on a card, guess I solved that problem for this one!

In the end this was a messy time consuming process and I didn't like the result.  I might try it again with a rubber stamp in the future.  I did toy with the idea of going ahead and stamping the other two steps of the butterfly on top but didn't want to risk the one image I really liked after I had stamped this about a gazillion times (okay that might be a slight exaggeration).  I'm sure I will try it again though probably not this year!

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps (3 step butterfly) (Happy Birthday)
Ink - Memento London Fog, Tuxedo Black
Color - Twinkling H20s, Copic for airbrushed background.




Pink & White themed Roses

Join in with me, "another GinaKDesigns challenge card" this one was to keep to one color and one neutral.  I really like this card.  From the soft stamped background to the "flick" technique to color the rose.  I don't know if that is what it is called but I used the same technique that I saw used to color hair on YouTube.  I think it works and ads another bit of interest to the coloring of the rose.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth
Stamps - Stampendous, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics
Accessories - Spellbinders Nestabilities



Primary Birthday

Yet another challenge card from July from Gina K Designs challenges.  If I remember this one correctly, it was to use primary colors.  I think I mastered that! LOL!  I like it but I don't love it.  I hope I work out what I don't love about it, because I liked the concept.

Ingredients
Card Size -  5.5in x 8.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth
Stamps - The Pink Cat Studio, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics 

Hydrangea H2O

 

I stamped this for a challenge on GinaKDesigns a while ago to use white embossing powder.  I wanted to make this soft card.  I used Twinkling H20s for the flower and background.  The problem I find with the Twinkling H20s is when to stop.  I'm sure I will get more comfortable with them.  Love the soft, muted but sparkly outcome.

 

Ingredients

Stampendous - Hydrangea

Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, Bazzill

Ink - Versamark

Twinkling H20s - Fern, Forest Green, Blue Ice, Ocean Wave, Tanzanite

Accessories - White embossing powder, Ribbon.

Sensei's Birthday

 

Here we go again with my spinner cards.  I made this card for our Sensei.  He has a quite stressful job as well and I thought this would be a bit of light relief for him to see a comical image of himself spinning back and forth on a card.  He loved it and couldn't put it down.

 

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Class Crest Solar White Smooth, The Paper Studio
Stamps - Stampabilities, Stampendous
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics



Flowery Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day card that could easily be translated to a flowery birthday card.  There really isn't much to say except even though I know when US Mother's Day is every year I was still scrambling around at the last minute trying to get this made!

Pretty straightforward with a bit of masking.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Card Stock - Neenah Classic Crest

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps: 3 Step Daisy, Whole Family

Ink - Memento: Canteloupe, Tangelo, Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart, Cottage Ivy

Relax...

I'm going to be the first to admit that the Relax doesn't really pop with the white stitching, at first I panicked and then I decided to take my own advice!

I like the subtleness of it being the orange on orange.  Maybe thinking about it I should have shadowed the letters with either white or purple instead of the faux stitching. 

What IS important is that it IS still a pretty cute card!  This card went to our uncle who is a big train and cheese enthusiast - however, he does like to garden too.  The slight irony is that I envisaged a sunny day in the garden and they have probably had one of the rainiest springs to date including a tornado in England.  Oh well, just keep reading the card.

Ingredients

Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Card/Paper Stock - Neenah Classic Crest, The Paper Company

Stamps- High Hopes Stamps

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Miscellaneous - Sizzix alphabet; Spellbinders Nestabilities; American Craft White Gel Pen