A Quick and Fun Birdday Card!

When pressed for time and in need of a quick birthday card . . . it is a sketch challenge to the rescue!  Sketch Saturday supplied the sketch for this fun card.

A scrap kit from the card-making box supplied the papers by My Mind’s Eye Penny Lane in Free Bird Robins Egg.  The paper was trimmed to match the sketch.  The Hero Arts OWH Missing You toucan image was stamped on white card stock with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Chameleon Aqua Marine BG4 and Seville Orange OR4.  The image was die cut with the corresponding die.  The Happy Birdday is stamped with Tsukineko Memento Luxe Rich Coco.  All the lower layers are edged with Tsukineko Memento Luxe Rich Cocoa ink as well.  The layers were adhered together and the toucan is raised with dimension foam adhesive.  

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

 Sketch Saturday #384

Dream Valley Challenges #118 Use the Color Blue

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #112 Things with Wings

Celebrate Autumn RRC #115

Celebrate Autumn

Autumn Leaves is a wonderful challenge at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges for this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.  Here in Central Oregon we don’t always get leaves changing color as the weather can be a bit erratic and change swiftly.  But this year is an exception and we have wonderful fall colors all around us. 

In the bright sunlight the leaves really shimmer!

 

The perfect solution to represent Autumn leaves is a shaker card.  This was made simple by the use of Impression Obession’s Shake It circle.  The leaves die cut from a variety of Quickutz leaf dies.  The paper is spritzed on both sides with Tsukineko Fireworks in Dandelion, Lady Bug, and Tangelo.  The circle from Spellbinders Standard Circles Small is die cut through both layers of the frame, which are two colors from the Coordinations Distress Collection.   The top card stock is pressure embossed with Cuttlebug Polka Dots and then distressed with a sanding block to bring out the texture.  The Classic Scalloped Circles Small is a great mat for the circle and the stamped sentiments.   After it is die cut it is pressure embossed using the tan embossing mat.  The edges are sanded to distress the scalloped circle just a bit.   

The shaker portion is raised from the front surface of the card.

The stamp the sentiment I used Technique Tuesday’s Borderline: Same Time Next Year set.   What is wonderful about the clear stamps is that they can be gently bent into shape to stamp a circular border.  Once they are in the correct shape on the acrylic block it is easy to stamp a border around the scalloped circle and inside the shaker area on the base card stock.  I drew a light pencil line on the base Kraft card stock before I stamped the images.  Both images are stamped in Tsukineko StazOn Saddle Brown. (Mostly because that is what was sitting on my desk at the time!)  The inside sentiment was stamped four times, and the outside almost three, with a portion masked off to not over stamp.

Once the stamping was complete I placed the small die cut leaves inside the Shake It circle and adhered it into place.  (They came with adhesive already in place, how great is that?)  The successive layers were adhered into place with the larger leaves adding to the frame around the scalloped circle.

Thanks for stopping by and come and join the fun at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges and create an Autumn Leaves project and share it with us. 

Selected as Top Three!

FanTastic Tuesday Anything Goes Autumn Colors

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Ike’s World Challenge Blot #48 Autumn Colors

Hand Stamped Sentiments #222 Autumn Colors

 Always Playing with Paper #46 Colors of Autumn

Crafting Desert Divas Autumn Colors

Come and Get It Happy Fall Ya’ll

My Time to Craft #306 Autumnal Colours

Fussy and Fancy #149 Autumn Colors

As You Like It Monochrome or Color

Typically color, but for this card monochrome shines through!

The Crafty Addicts Autumn Palette

Cherish the Journey Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #24

Retro Rubber Blog Challenge has another fun challenge for the next two weeks.  The theme is travel, which can be interpreted in many ways by using maps, different modes of transportation, or vacation images.  Go check out the blog and see what the Mod Squad has created for your inspiration.  So get out your retro rubber, older than a year, and give it a little inky love!  

 

I decided to make a map travel card that can be used for other purposes.   The journey can be a literal trip or the journey of life!

I found a map stamp that I have had since the late 90’s that is most likely manufactured by Art Impressions because it is grey rubber.  The sentiment is a mix of two sets by Technique Tuesday, “Cherish” and “Journey” are from Words We Love made in 2005 and “the” is from Celebrate Life made in 2007.  All the images are stamped in Ranger Van Dyke Brown on cream card stock and inked around the edges after being trimmed to size.

As for the layers I picked coordinating bits leftover from previous projects. Go check out these links and see how hanging on to a few scraps from previous projects can be incorporated into a new and fun creation!  The textured backing on the sentiment is from Masculine Thinking of You card.  The edges were torn with the help of a Plaid deckle ruler.  The first layer behind the map, wood grain textured Kraft card stock, is from the many practice sheets for the Advent Calendar stable.  The next layer of burlap texture brayer stamping is from the Celebrate Autumn card with deckle torn edges.  The bottom layer of brown Gelato colored card stock is from the Happy Thanksgiving Card.   

To assemble the card I laid the bottom four layers together and pulled out my Mini Janome sewing machine to stitch them together with brown thread.  Then the layers were adhered to the A2 size cream card.  The sentiment layers are adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.   

So come and play along and enter your project with us at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge!

I would like to enter the following challenges with this card:

Left of Center #97 Rip It Up (two layers have ripped edges)

Glad to say that this is a top three runner up at:
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #99 Stitching (real in this case)

Escher Birthday ATC

It is time to share another Artist Trading Card for a birthday swap.  The recipient happens to be male, so a masculine version was in order.  I have known him as a ATC trader since the Making Memories Forum days!  I have several ATCs from him and wanted to make something fun and special. 

I have been playing around with the Ombre effect and this started as one of the experiments.  The card size version didn’t meet my satisfaction, but when it cut down to 2 ½” x 3 ½” it is perfect!  

Front

The background is Faber Castell Gelato in Boysenberry on Strathmore Bristol 300 series.  I love this stuff for water intensive techniques!  After it dried I stamped the Stamp Out Cute Escher Birds to Fish image in a variety of inks.  Colorbox Oyster White was the base blended with Dragonfly black and Sepia Black.  The image was heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The background is black card stock embossed with Sizzix Dot Matrix.

Back

The small tag die cut is by Quickutz and is stamped with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black.  It is attached to the ATC with a bit of baker’s twine and a glue dot.  The fly charm is attached with glue dots as well. 

The following challenges provided inspiration:

Amusing Challenges Heat Embossing

Pile It On #86 Birthday

Quirky Crafts #19 Animal Magic

Hiding In My Craft Room #216 Super Scraps!

Stampotique Designers Challenge #212 Use only 2 stamps 

Top Three Winner at:

Ike’s World Challenges #46 One for the Men

Butterfly Birthday ATC

I will admit that the last few weeks have been filled with many things other than crafting.  My creative mojo was on vacation, and other priorities were higher up the list.  I have recently lost almost 30 pounds, which is a great deal of hard work in self discipline, meal planning, and daily exercise.  Along with that comes the cleaning out of my closet and the shopping for a fun wardrobe that fits the new me!  Now that school has started, school shopping is done, the boys’ rooms are de-cluttered, and the playroom given a thorough cleaning out I feel like I have a little time to play in my craft room.   (We won’t talk about the fact the craft room could use a little cleaning itself!)

This afternoon I sat down to create a Birthday ATC that is a little over due.  I like to use the snips and scraps from projects that were either experiments or didn’t make it for a card or scrapbook page.  This ATC used three leftover bits in its creation.    

I love how the bright sunshine brings out the shimmer!

 

The base Kraft card stock is embossed with Craftwell Teresa Collin’s Woodgrain Cottage and inked with Tsukineko Saddle Brown.  It is from the Advent Calendar I made last November!  The background is from the ABAC Celebration project in July and uses Imagine Crafts Fireworks in Dandelion, Tangelo, and Lady Bug.  More than a year ago I played around with Cheery Lynn’s Exotic Butterflies Small #2 and Angel Wings.  I think the Angel Wings is highlighted with Rexell Derwent Watercolor pencils with a bit of Liquid Pearls in Buttercup.  The new addition to pull the whole project together was the branch is Quickutz Wildflower with a bit of creative trimming.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkado Just Saying.  It is stamped in Tsukineko Saddle Brown.  

Just for fun, the reverse side.

  

The layers are adhered together; the branch is adhered with Zig Two Way Glue, which is perfect for small pieces.  After shaping the butterfly it is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive and glue dots. 

Proud to say that this ATC was a winner of this challenge:

Cheery Lynn Designs #202 Things With Wings

The following challenges provided some inspiration to get me going today! 
Pile It On #86 Birthday

Lacy Sunshine Winds of Change

Quirky Crafts #19 Animal Magic

Hiding In My Craft Room #216 Super Scraps!

Southern Girls Challenge Layer It Up (Five layers on anATC!)

My World Father's Day Card

It is time to create and send Father’s Day cards.  This is the first of three I will make this year.  I recently purchased The Everyday Heroes I want It All set, and felt like I could put it to great use for Father’s Day cards.  

The background stamp for this card is “My World” and it is stamped on cream card stock with Tsukineko StazOn Black.  I colored it with Rexel Derwent Watercolor pencils in Smalt Blue, Brown Ocher, and Sap Green.  Then I blended the colors with a Niji Water Brush.  The water brush is so easy to use and put the water to blend right where you want it.  Just a slight squeeze and there is water at the tip to blend.   The edges were torn using the Plaid Deckle Edge ruler.  I selected a few complementary colors from the Everyday Heroes paper set and torn the edges as well.  All the torn edges are inked with Tsukineko StazOn Saddle Brown.  An ornate die from the set was left over from another project so it was cut in half and adhered in with the layers of paper.    

Two more of the globe portions of the image were also stamped and colored then die cut using the Everyday Heroes die set.  Just the globe from one was trimmed and the second was left complete.  An ornate die from the set was also die cut.   I shaped the globe portion with McGill tool set.  The globe was adhered with dimensional foam in the center and Dries Clear adhesive around the edges.

This was a quick and fun card to put together.  It may not be considered CAS, but it was simple to put together using the Everyday Heroes set.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Fantasy Stampers #38 Father’s Day

Polkadoodles Wk 23 Father’s Day Anything Male

Sweet Stamps #226 For Dad

The Pink Elephant #303 Father’s Day

Dream Valley Challenges #108 Father’s Day

Aloha Friday #49 Masculine / For the boys

It is wonderful that this card was selected as a Design Team Favorite for TWO challenges!
Thank you!
Eureka Stamps #145 Father’s Day
Amusing Challenges Father’s Day

Anything But a Card Challenge #48, Out and About

We have a very fun challenge this month at Anything But a Card, Out and About.  I was inspired by the nature right out my front door.  I have a wonderful wild rose bush in my yard that smells lovely in the mornings and evenings.  This time of year I also have a perennial, which I think, is a type of Blue Phlox, but I am not sure.  Every morning the blooms at the ends blossom, and by evening the petals have all fallen off.  If the wind blows they do not last the day!   

Here are a few photos that inspired me to make my project, a flower wreathe.

Blue Phlox

Wild Rose

I started with a Darice twig wreathe with a 6” diameter.  I used the following dies to create the wild rose: Spellbinders Rose Creations and Foliage.  To create the blue phlox I used:  Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret and Spellbinders Foliage.  The stamens were created from the Sizzix Flower, Gazania.  I carried in samples of the flowers from my yard and matched card stock from my paper stash to the color of the flower.  For the wild rose I inked the center of the flower with Tsukineko Versa Magic Cloud White and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  The edges were inked with Tsukineko Versa Magic Perfect Plumeria.  I snipped between the petals before shaping the flowers around the stamens.  The stamens for both flowers were shaped or rolled and glued before adding Recollections Banana Flocking to the ends.  The blue phlox were inked with Tsukineko Versa Magic Night Sky and a Fantastix bullet tip.  The edges were inked with Tsukineko Versa Magic Purple Hydrangea.

The flowers stems were arranged around the twig wreathe and hot glued into place.  I added Super Moss around the stems.  The flowers were adhered to the stems with hot glue. 

I enjoyed making the nature inspired flower wreathe to remind me of the early summer season around my home.  Come join us over at Anything But a Card and share your creation that is inspired by being Out and About!

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Creative Blooms June Color Challenge

Ladybug Crafts Use your dies
Allsorts Week 315 Flower Power
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge #120 Anything Goes

Selected as a winner at:
As You Like It Challenge Favorite Flower
The wild rose is one of my favorite flowers because of it's beautiful fragrance!

Congrats Grad Card #2

It is graduation season here in Oregon.  We typically don’t start school until around Labor Day, so school is in session and graduations happen in early June.  I like to make the cards in the high school colors of the graduates.  It just so happens that the three I have made thus far this year all use red and black! 

The Sketch Saturday provided a great jumping off point to get this card started and finished quickly!  I do have a stash of red and black patterned papers from the days that I coach a High School Dance Team that was of course . . .  red and black!

This is an A-6 size card to allow room for the image and design.  The image is Technique Tuesday’s Grad, along with the sentiment.  A recent purchase that was a lot of fun to get inky!  Tsukineko Versa Magic Cloud White ink was stamped on black card stock and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  The sentiment is stamped in Technique Tuesday red ink on white card stock.  The patterned papers were trimmed and adhered to black card stock, with each of the layers backed with opposing color card stock.  Quick, easy and ready to sign and present to the graduate!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #364 

Mema's Crafts June AG Graduation
Inky Impressions #212 Make it for a Man 

Top Pick at
4 Crafty Chicks #249 Graduation

Best Friend

In among the outdoor chores of the weekend I did manage to get one layout done on iNSD!   I am also working on a couple of other projects, which will be posted in the near future.  With the nice weather and immediacy of needing to get the irrigation up and running to water the fields so the steer will have something to eat in a few weeks required my attention on Saturday.  So glad that the pump and irrigation folks are working overtime this time of year!  Plus the poults (young turkeys), chicks, ducklings needed to be moved to the outdoor chicken pen . . . yes, just snippets of time to get some crafting in this weekend.  Fast forward another few days and still working on irrigation issues, working a sub job, and working on stuff for the business.  Finally have time to write a blog post! 

Found this nice little sketch (which I tweaked to use for two photos) from Stick It Down.

These photos are taken just two days after my son came home from Russia, and depicts the close bond he had already developed with our two German Shepherds.  (Gotta love his hair cut, short all over with bangs in front, very popular in Russia at the time even with the adults!)  

I used papers and scraps from the Die Cuts With a View Pet Stack.  The bones and hearts die cut is by KI Memories.  It is the reverse side with a bit of creative sniping to shape the die cut to following the diagonal shape in the sketch.  The front side is a brown (see this post and layout), and the reverse is white.  To help it match the color scheme of the papers I inked it up with a bit of Colorbox Dune.  

Spellbinders Lacey Circles die cut the scalloped circle.  From the Queen and Company Dog themed Chip board a set I have had for years and qualifies as NBUS (never before used schtuff) I found my title, Best Friend plus the cute heart.  A bit of Ranger Sunset Orange on the heart and Pantone Tria (alcohol inks available before Ranger's) in Teal (320Ti) were used to color the chipboard.  The paw print die cuts are from my stash.  

The journaling stripes are white card stock that has been inked with Colorbox Dune and the edges are inked with Colorbox Terra Cotta.  The journaling is done in Zig Ocean.  I think it all matches and ties the layout together!  The vellum quote is from Flair Designs and fits the theme of layout very well.

Glad I got at least one layout done on iNSD!  

This layout is entered in the following challenges:

Stick It Down

The Paper Girls Challenge  #79 Cute Critters

Challenge Winner at:
Bimini Moose Scrapbook Challenges Pet Pages

Pinwheel Birthday Card for Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #12, Use Brads

For the embellishment challenge over at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge I wanted to use my brads in a functional way. 

  

That led me to think of pinwheels and a couple fun retro stamps by Magenta.  I have owned these stamps since the late 90's and they are still fun to play with, especially with this design.

These stamps have designs inside squares that would be perfect for pinwheels.  I wanted to try several different coloring techniques so I stamped my images on Strathmore Bristol 100- pound paper with Tsukineko StazOn Cactus Green.  The images were trimmed to the size square I planned to use.  Using the Stampendous stamp-a-liner and StazOn ink on acrylic sheets to position the image I stamped the reverse side with the same image.  They are not exact, but once the pinwheel is assembled the designs looked great.

Next I went to town with my Rexel Derwent watercolor pencils.  (Deep Cadmium, Rose Pink, Light Violet, Blue Violet, Dark Violet, Smalt Blue, Grass Green, and Sap Green.) They give a nice watercolor blend and bleed when water is applied with a small paintbrush to the colored areas.  The 100-pound Bristol paper works very nicely for this technique, as it does not curl when wet.  After the images were dry I used my Creative Imaginations Centering Ruler to mark from corner to corner at the same distances.  Then I snipped the shapes and punched a hole in the center and each corner with the Cropidile.  Using small glittered brads from my stash I assembled the pinwheels.  I trained the curves in the paper around a pencil.

Looking around my craft table for candidates to serve as a stick I spied a few cotton swabs with paper handles.  Just as an aside I prefer these over the plastic ones, especially when I do flame tests in Chemistry.  Ok back to the card!  After stripping the cotton off the ends of the swabs I sponged StazOn Cactus Green on the stems and the attached the pinwheels with glue dots.

To create the background I used purple card stock (4 1/2" x 6 1/2") and the Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die.  The edge designs were folded back and Recollections double-sided pink tape adhesive was applied.  I left the liner in place until I was ready to adhere it to the card.

Spellbinders Nested Lacey Pennants provided the thin banner that would fit through the brad slots.  This was die cut from the remnant section of the light green card stock from my stash.  The sentiment by Boxer Scrapbooking was stamped in StazOn Cactus Green.  A strip of dark purple card stock is mounted behind the die cut lattice and the brad prongs are poked through and secured.  The whole lattice layer is adhered to the light green card stock base.  The banner is threaded through the brad and secured with a glue dot to the brad.  The banner is secured with a dimensional foam adhesive dot to the front of the card.  The three pinwheels are secured with strategic glue dots.

This was a fun card to make especially the custom colored pinwheels.  I was able to use two types of brads from my stash and created a whimsical birthday card.  Please come play along with us over at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog and show us what you've got with brads!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Hiding in my Craftroom #196 Freestyle

A Gem of a Challenge #142 Spring is in the Air

Aud Sentiments #129 Birthday

Creative Moments #66 Spring or Easter 
Artistic Inspirations #129 Anything Goes with a Twist of Spring

Recipe Winner at:
Crafts 4 Eternity #222 Spring

Retro Rubber Blog Challenge 07, Be My Valentine

Blog land is filled with challenges for Valentine’s cards and Retro Rubber Challenge Blog is no exception.   Join us in making a Valentine or two and play along!  For this challenge we are asking you to find an older Valentine YOU have created before and CASE (Copy and Share Everything) yourself.  Maybe change up the papers, or the color scheme.  Or keep it all the same.  But please remember to create A NEW CARD to enter our contest.  Remember to use stamps that are older than one year. 

 

As you can see by cruising around my blog, I’ve made a number of cute Valentine’s myself but wanted to make something a bit more special for my Dear Husband.  Stair step cards are fun to make and create dimension quickly and easily with a few cuts and strategic folds.  Splitcoast Stampers has a great tutorial that can be found here.

Slanted view

I used the following dimensions on white card stock:  trimmed to 6” x 11”, cut 1 ¼” from each side from 1” to 6 ½”, score sides at 1”, 2”, and 5 ½”, score center at 6 ½”.  After I trained the folds I ran the entire card base through my Grand Calibur with a Craftwell Teresa Collins embossing folder suitably named Honeycomb.  

Front view

 

All of the heart images are from a sheet of red rubber I purchased from Yvonne Albritton back in 2000 or so.  I really like that the images are repeated in three different sizes, making a coordinated stamped card easy.  All the images and sentiments are stamped in Tsukinkeo Memento Luxe Love Letter and are heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  You might be able to tell I am a big fan of inked edges, and this card is no exception.  Each of the stamped sections are backed with Fancy Pants Black Glitter sheet. 

The front sentiment is by CoMotion and has been in my stash for a very long time!  It is backed with Fancy Pants Black Glitter sheet die cut with Spellbinders Fancy Tags.  I was surprised how easy the glitter sheet was cut with the dies.  But I still have glitter all over my desk!  The tiny hearts are die cut using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Card heart die.  Quick way to add a little bit more to the card!  

Inside sentiment

The interior of the card is a smorgasbord of images.   Technique Tuesday’s All You Need is Love provided the I, you, and lips.  The hearts are from the Yvonne Albritton stamp sheet.  The large Love is by Heidi Swapp. 

Created in 2001

 

My original plan was to CASE the part this card by using velvet to stamp on for my Valentine.  But I was not able to find velvet in my town of about 80,000 that would work properly.  Maybe the next time I visit Portland I will go to a bigger fabric store and stock up!  This is a Valentine I made in 2001 that uses a similar broad stroke style stamp as the center image, and shiny metallic card stock.  The sentiment is stamped and embossed with glitter embossing powder.  It doesn’t show up well in the photo.  I have an entire collection of Fiskar scissors, both small and wide.  In this case I used the wide version of Seagull to trim the ends of the sentiment, and the band is trimmed with the smaller version.   

This was fun card to put together and use a number of stamps that needed a little time hanging out on my craft table and getting inky!  Why don’t you join the fun over at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog and make a Valentine that uses your older stamps!

I also must note that as I was making this card last week, this little ladybug flew in to join me.  Where she came from I have no idea . . . but it has been unseasonably warm here in Central Oregon.  This is where I found her, inside of the stair step card! 

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Simply Craft Too  #78 Happy Valentine’s Day and uses Hearts 

The Crazy Challenge #190 Love

Mema’s Crafts Valentines 

Crafty Boots Hearts and Valentines

Great Impressions Challenge Love, Love, Love

Chosen as a top pick!

Sweet Stamps #207 Love is in the Air
Chosen as a top pick! 

Aloha Friday Challenges#40 Valentines