A Big Cheesy Birthday to you!

So just what do you give to your quirky uncle who loves cheese?  A cheese card of course.  I bought these stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps a couple of years ago with specifically this card in mind.  To be honest I then bottled it and thought this card was beyond my capabilities.  I'm so happy I finally attempted it and if I do say so myself, I'm pretty happy with the cheesy outcome.

So what do you think?  More cheese?  More Mice?  Indigestion? Too cheesy?

I've been trawling CAS cards on SplitcoastStampers and Lateblossom on Simplicity to try to get it - I think think this might be as plain and simple as I can go.  All that white space seems pretty clean to me but I think I fail on the simple part.  There was a lot of masking and mock ups and one potential image was harmed in the making of this card - its cheese got ahead of itself when I forgot to mask it.

What I really enjoyed on this card is that it was my first time airbrushing!  OMG how fun is that to do - I keep finding excuses to do more of it!!! I can't believe how intimidated I was at the thought and then how easy it is.  I have easily had my Harbor Freight Compression and Copic adaptor for six months and just kept looking at the box.  Now I have to learn how to airbrush with real paint as I have two or three Radio Controlled Cars to paint for my boys! YIKES!  And one of them wants a Union Flag on roof!  Luckily thanks to SCS I have heard there is a masking material in the hobby section of Hobby Lobby that I need to check out!  Wish me luck and hopefully it won't take me another six months to get them painted!
Anyway that's my cheesy story and I'm sticking too it.

The making of involved the usual culprits

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 x 5.5 inches
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps, Stampendous
Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics

I know I don't have many followers, however I'm toying with the idea of playing with my layout a bit more to modernize it.  So any helpful comments in that direction will be much appreciated.  Many thanks and I bet you noticed that my blogging is like the weather in Ky - when it rains it storms! LOL!  Take care!

Hmm Happy Mother's Day?

Now if you are in North America you will probably not understand my question, but as I made this to send to my MIL in March for Mothering Sunday in England you will understand that my question is really me scratching my head that it took me so long to upload, edit and post it using my software (check out that snazzy watermark! WooHoo! I'm only years behind the times!). *catches breath after that run-on sentence*

Right now down to the nitty gritty I have had these 6x6 had to have them K&Co paper stacks for years! and I have USED THEM! is it party time or what?  Part of the issue is that they were in my notorious "safe place", you know that place where you put something to keep it safe and then promptly forget where it is.  I have decided that since my supplies take up an entire pie safe (double wardrobe size for those that measure that way) that I need to use what I have and yes I have donated some things but I'm a hoarder and I prefer to force myself to use it.  If I give it away I have no ownership of my purchasing.  Oh dear I have digressed a bit, anyway I decided to 3D decoupage three of the papers into a card for my mother in law and stamp the sentiment in the middle, it probably would have been quicker to just stamp a card from scratch with all those small cuts but I was pleased with the outcome even if I couldnt' find an envelope to fit it...in the end I had to throw it in the padded envelope with her present and pray for the best.

I assure you the usage of those three sheets of 6x6 for the layers have made a dent in my supplies! LOL!

Ingredients
Cardstock - Neenah
Paper - K&Company
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Accessories - foam tape/dimensionals

Changes are on the way...

I know I have been silent for a while - luckily it is for good reasons but has meant a bit of a learning curve for me.  I got a new computer and photo editing software so I am trying to learn to use them both to get the most out of them.  Let alone migrating and re-arranging files!

I think we all know I'm not the most prolific cardmaker at the best of times, however, I have managed to make 3 cards in my off screen time that I need to share with you and I have also managed to get out and learn how to use my airbrush.  I'm now officially in love and want to airbrush everything!

I was really impressed with myself last week making one of my "masterpieces" in about 1 1/2 start to finish.  I think that was a record for me!  I have at least two cards to get done today and I just can't think so these cards are definitely taking longer than 1 1/2 start to finish! LOL.

Take care and if you have read this far show some love to my followers and the blogs that inspire me -

Following is another thing I am trying to work out, plus challenges and all sorts of other things on my to do list!  Take care and I hope to be here soon with my uploads!

3D Hydrangea card.

I really like how this card turned out.  What do you think?  It's the birthday card I sent my dear Mother-in-law.  It was quite time involved but pretty simple to put together in the end.  My general stamping style isn't "pretty" but I think this actually fits in the pretty mode.  I had to post this so I hope it survived its 4,000+ mile journey somewhat in tact.  I think if it hadn't my Mother-in-law would have said. 

I can't really say how this card came about...if you are into reading, it was a very stream of consciousness event.  I was playing and inspired from a variety of sources. 

Last year I made my MIL a really involved card with multiple layers of stamping, embossing etc.  So I knew I had to come up with something at least equally as good.  I was playing with my hydrangea punch in January just punching card excess from the previous pink card and playing with my embossing stylus to see just what it took to make those magnificent flowers I have been seeing everywhere.  Well, by the end of television viewing time with the family that night I had quite a few formed blossoms in hand!  I had to decide if/how to incorporate them on a card for my MIL.  I went through my stamp collection and found out the Kitchen Sink Stamps Hydrangea set... hmmm... lets take this dimensional like a photo and have the stamped hydrangeas set the scene and the 3D one as the focus.  I was also inspired by the clean look from the Simplicity blog and the CAS threads on Splitcoaststampers.  I decided to use my memento ink and just go tone on tone on tone for the step process to keep the focus on the main bloom.  I finished off the 3D blooms by gluing a small pearl in the center of each and then mounting most of the petals on pink circle to have the ability to play with the placement.  After I placed the circle of petals on the card base, I then added more to make the blossom look more organic.

Recipe

Card Size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Cardstock - Neenah, Recollections (pink), DCWV (green)

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps

Ink- Memento (Angel Pink, Bamboo Leaves)

Accessories - pearls

Perfectly Pink Girlie birthday

I do so many masculine, boyish cards that sometimes it's really good to let myself go and really go for it with the girlie ones!  There is lots on this card but supplies-wise its fairly straight-forward 3 cardstock choices, two inks, 4 stamp sets, markers, nestabilities, circle cutter and a bit of bling... hmm maybe there is more to it than I thought!  I guess it just goes to prove when you are in the zone with a card it flows.

To be honest I colored this image last year.  I always have trouble at the beginning of the year switching from Christmas and winter blahs to getting cards done and as my Brother in Law and dear, youngest cousin have birthdays 4 weeks after Christmas I just can't afford to lose my mojo like that.  It's the first time I have tried to do that and I have to say I really enjoyed the process.  I picked this image for my cousin because she has this little black cat that honestly follows her around like a dog and pines for her when she is at school by sitting by her bedroom door and crying for her loudly. 

 I chose the pinks from what I had left over from a Recollections paper pack that I bought a couple of years ago and decided I wanted to stamp tone on tone and just see how that turned out.  The base is Neenah and I stamped "9 Today" repeatedly to create a background.  I then used the same ink to continue with the greetings on the pale pink cardstock.  The large circle was cut before stamping and the small circles after.  I wanted the greetings to stand out a bit more so one I highlighted with white dots and the other with white faux stitching.  After cutting and matting the image with nestabilities I felt the whole card needed a bit of bling so I adhered three rhinestones in each corner of the mat.

Recipe

Card size -  8.5in x 5.5in

Card Stock - Neenah, Recollections

Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps, High Hopes stamps

Ink - Memento Tuxedo black, Rose bud

Color-  Copics, American Craft white gel pen

Accessories - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter, Rhinestones

A Class Act!

Classy right?  Well, I know this is kinda generic but it was inspired by a coming together of ideas and comments.  I was reading a thread on Splitcoaststampers about the images from Cricut being too childish.  Now you may disagree but I think this one is pretty simple and ageless, rather than childish.  I made this for my 17 year old as in the last few years he has been exploring his theatrical side and gaining more confidence with each performance.

There is a card cut on the cartridge and I used that to make the base with the black masks over the opening  I then covered those masks with an identical white cut out and another one that I had highlighted and shadowed with copics and popped up from the other white masks with some coasters I had collected.

I didn't like the "gap" around the masks as such.  I decided I would go in behind and add some texture.  I then lined the card with another layer of gold/yellow cardstock. 



Do you get the song reference with this card as well?  "Ah huh, You know what it is?" (another nod to a song that my son seems to be singing all the time at the moment though he's a Colts fan! :S ! LOL!)

Recipe
Card Size  8.5in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - The Paper Source (textured black), Recollection (white/gold)
Cricut Cartridge - Locker Talk
Cuttlebug - dots embossing folder

Color -  Copics (C1,C3)

Accessories - Cricut Expression, Cricut Design Studio

Ye Old Buzzard -that's my BIL

So my brother-in-law turned 50 and what was I to do but rub it in his face.  It wasn't until I was nearly finished with this card that my husband decided to suggest a Hawaii Five-O theme.  Really? You wait until I am nearly finished with a unique card that isn't useful for anyone else we know this year?!  Anyway I stuck with my original plan and will have to try to remember to use the Hawaiian theme in the future!  So here's my attempt at elder humor -

It's a combined stamps project.  What can I say if I like a stamp I use it.  And I really like how these combined.  The image is from High Hopes Stamps and the Large numbers are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I love both stamp companies - High Hopes for their whimsy and Kitchen Sink Stamps for their beauty.  I wanted the graphic punch of a cartoon with this card, do you remember the days when we used to get excited about the color in the newspaper and how they used to print the comics in color on Sunday?  I guess I'm showing my age because its a fond memory of mine and that was the sort of feel I was going for with this.  Did I get it right?  The multi-colored line of "50" is the envelope.

Recipe

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah, The Paper Source

Stamps - High Hopes Stamps, Kitchen Sink Stamps, Stampendous (the small 50 on the balloon)

Ink - Memento tuxedo black, Big Juicy Pad (kaleidoscope effect), Versamark

Color - Copics

Accessories - White embossing powder