18th Birthday!

I don't know about you but I LOVE explosion boxes and always wanted to make one.  Finally I had the opportunity and I love how it turned out!  Let me know what you think.

I got my basic instructions from Magic Boxes. I love the work on that blog.  I adjusted it because I wanted a big box out of 12 x 12 - yes those are 4 inch sides.

Now I have seen dies that make 3D cakes.  I'm a cheapskate (well sometimes) and I used my Circle nestabilities to cut and emboss a circle inside.  I then made tiny cuts around the circle to the embossed line to make the cake top.  The fringe was used to adhere to a 1.25 inch strip of cardstock to create the height of the cake.  I scored 0.25 inches in and fringed it for attachment.

Now I thought I was being clever decorating the tiers before I put it together... lets just put it this way, I wouldn't do it that way again. My three layers of mirri gold, purple cardstock and red ribbon didn't really like being eased into a circle.  The cake topper is a circle diecut stamped and layered with a bit of red decorative wire that I had already made into a spring by spiralling it around my piercing tool.

On the box uprights I made sleeves for tags for each parent and brother to sign.  The color combo is a combination of the 18 year old's school and favorite soccer team - Purple, Red, Gold (cardstock & mirri). 

I'm still undecided as to whether or not I should have decorated the sides of the lid...









Ingredients
Finished Size - 4in x 4in x 4in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest, The Paper Company, Revelations, Mirri unknown
Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps; Playful Numbers, Whole Family
Ink - Memento; Sweet Plum, Canteloupe, Lady Bug
Miscellaneous - Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities; Provocraft Cuttlebug Embossing Folders: Spots & Dots, Happy Birthday, Numbers; Sakura Red Stardust gel pen; Red Satin ribbon.

Butterfly birthday

I don't know about you, but I just about love this card.  The texture, the color pop of the butterfly! To me it just says "special", and I hope you think so.  This card was so easy and I really raided my stash.  I got these Butterflies about 10 years ago.  I have tried to use them before but it never was quite right.Knowing that I was going to use the butterflies and inspired by that spiral card inserts I had seen at the beginning of the year.  I thought I needed texture and simplicity to make the zing.  I cute a 5.5 x 8.5 panel.  Using the Happy Birthday embossing folder determined the orientation of my card.  I played with ideas and settled on the central panel with borders all embossed on the same piece of cardstock and with scored lines to join/separate the panels.  The small circle was stamped and highlighted with white gel pen.

I cut loads of circles in white and blue cardstock to carry on the circle theme from the front of the card.  I then used my circle nestabilities to cut a large circle and then emboss all the circles that nest inside for cutting guidlines to make them into a spiral.  I put landing circles on the spiral for the butterflies and to continue the circle theme and attached more butterflies and a couple of dragonflies.

To be honest, because I backed the circles on each side of the spiral it made them a little bit heavy on the wider part of the spiral but I think it works.

Ingredients
Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in finished front
Card stock - Neenah Classic Crest, Bazzill
Stamps - JustRite Stampers
Ink - Memento Blue Danube
Miscellaneous - Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities; Butterfly acetate stickers; American Crafts White gel pen

Sympathy

I know we all hate it when we have to make a sympathy card and this was no exception.  This was for Uncle Manky's wife for whom I made this card last year for her birthday.  I decided to go with their team colors as they seemed appropriate for a sympathy card.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Card stock - Neenah Classic Crest, The Paper Source, Bazzill

Stamps - Kitchen Sink 3 Step Daisy

Ink - Memento: Bahama Blue, Danube Blue, Versamark

Miscellaneous - Die Cuts: Spellbinders; Prima Flowers, Brads, White Grosgrain ribbon (blue colored with Memento Marker); American Crafts White Gel pen; Detail Black Embossing powder.

Monkey-ing around

I have had this stamp set for quite a long time, I love the little animals in it but never seem to have the right occasion to use it.

I made this for a 10 year old who is Monkey mad at the moment.  I knew she was getting one of those Sock Monkey hats and I had gotten her a small Ty Sock Monkey so I thought I might as well carry on with the theme.

I stamped and masked the trees.

Everything is colored with Copics and a bit of airbrushing to delineate between the ground and sky.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Card stock - Neenah Classic Crest

Stamps - Autumn Leave Mindys Zoo, Kitchen Sink Stamps Ready 4 Any Holiday

Ink - Memento

Color - Copics

Par fect Birthday

So there are only so many variation on a golfing theme.  After making the pom-pom flowers at Christmas I thought about how to transfer that idea to paper.  I also needed a card for my sports enthusiast BIL. 

I think this almost works...

The fringe for the grass.  The black oval as the hole.  The circle that is debossed to look like a golf ball.

And of course the personalization on the ball!  I will say I attempted to airbrush some depth on the ball.  Something I need to keep working on.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in

Card stock - Georgia Pacific, Revelations, The Paper Source

Stamps - Just Rite Stampers

Ink - Memento

Misc- Copics with airbrush; Swiss dots embossing folder





General Christmas Cards

Wow! Nearly six months later and I am posting my general Christmas Cards 2011!  Better late than never right? Anyway I think they are a pretty classic design.  I took inspiration from a GinaK StampTV video she posted before Christmas.

The process itself was pretty straightforward. I scored and cut my 8.5 x 11in card stock to make small cards.  I did them to open longways.  I then cut down card stock to 4 x 5.25 inches, dry embossed them with Snowflakes impressabilities and die cut a circle in the lower right hand corner (I did make a jig to keep it consistent).

I then used the jig to to place my sentiment on the base.  Stamping with Versamark and gold embossing to the sentiment and edges to match.  Afterward attaching the dry embossed panel to the front to complete.

Ingredients

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Card stock - Georgia Pacific

Stamps - Inkadinkado Warm Winter Wishes

Ink - Versamark

Dies - Spellbinders circle die, Snowflakes Impressabilities

Misc - gold embossing powder

Pom Flower Christmas

Wow! I have had this post queued up since the New Year.  I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get around to posting it.  As we all know life just sometimes gets in the way.  Luckily it was nothing overtly dramatic, just life itself.  So I created this card for my Mother in law for Christmas.  Now if you dust the cobwebs from my blog you will remember I did a similar felt flower pin in November.  I decided to dress it up a bit and add some beads to it.  There are plenty of tutorials on how to make the pin on the internet.  TBH it is very simple and I’m not going to re-invent the wheel here.  The big thing I had to overcome is how to adhere it to my card so the recipient wouldn’t destroy the card taking it off AND getting it into an envelope.

I was very lucky as my dear husband gave me a Grand Caliber for Christmas (when I found an incredible end of stock deal) that he let me use before Christmas.  I’m sure it helped that I explained my concept that I needed it for a card for his mother *wink, wink*  I used some of my hoarded lovingly acquired stash of Christmas cardstock that will most likely last me through my old age and then some.  I liked the idea of the repetition of flowers, even though they weren’t identical to the one I made.  I think it was more important to have the continuity of idea and colors.  I cut one of the largest sizes for the front of the card and some American Craft cardstock for the background.  I think off set the large die and cut it to fit on the front of my large card.  I used some Versamark and gold embossing powder on the edges of the die cut to make it pop from the background a bit more.  I used a smaller die to make a base for the flower pin.  Stamped and embossed the pin base and the card base.  My brain storm came when I used fun foam to create depth needed to put the pin on the small base and not mark the larger die cut on the card.  I used repositionable glue on the pin base so that it could easily be removed from the card.

My next brainwave was how to package the card.  Now it is at this point that I probably need to point out that I was sending this as part of a larger package to my in-laws with presents and other cards enclosed.  Space was a premium.  I have to admit I was rather impressed with myself for thinking about making a peek-a-boo window in the envelope itself for the pin to pop through.  My family said it was as if Rudolph got nosy!

Hopefully the pictures make it all pretty self explanatory.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in
Cardstock – Neenah Classic Crest, American Crafts
Stamps – Inkadinkado “Warm Holiday Wishes”, Kitchen Sink Stamps “Whole Family”
Ink – Versamark
Accessories – Gold Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Grand Dies, Fun Foam, Felt, pin back, Beads, wiring,
Technique – Stamping with heat embossing