Birthday Cards

Wishing You A Happy Birthday And Many More To Come

May 9, 2018May 8, 2018 Sky

Hi there, I hope you’re having a great week!

Sometimes, when my mojo is lacking and I just want to play with color, I fall back on a big sentiment that can stand on its own. Today’s card uses the Wishing You stamp set from Mama Elephant which has a beautiful scripty sentiment and a number of supporting smaller sentiment stamps.

I started by trimming an A2-sized piece of Canson XL watercolor paper using the largest die from the Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Rectangle die set. Then I stamped the sentiments using VersaMark ink and heat embossed them using Hero Arts white embossing powder.

I used a foam blending tool to blend three colors of Distress Inks at a diagonal, blending the colors into each other. The colors are Ripe Persimmon, Carved Pumpkin, and Squeezed Lemonade. I used a very slightly damp paper towel to wipe away any ink that was sitting over the embossing, to restore its bright white. Then, I flicked clean clear water onto the panel and let it sit for about 10 seconds before dabbing it up with a paper towel.

Finally, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base and that finished up today’s quick and easy card.

Thanks for coming by!

Birthday Cards, Feel Good Cards, Just For Fun Cards

Hope Your Day Is Sprinkled With Every Happy Thing!

May 3, 2018May 2, 2018 Sky

Hi there, I hope your day is going well!

Today’s card uses the Sweet Sprinkles from Concord and 9th, made especially for Essentials by Ellen. I love the large cupcake image and the set also includes an ice cream cone for versatility.

I started by stamping the wide sprinkles stamp multiple times onto an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. I used a rainbow of Altenew inks: Crimson, Orange Cream, Fresh Lemon, Parrot, Tide Blue, and Deep Iris. Then I trimmed the piece down to 4″ x 5.25″ and set it aside.

I trimmed another piece of cardstock using the second-largest die from the My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangles die set, and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink.

On a third piece of cardstock, I stamped the cupcake wrapper and the frosting in two Altenew colors: Blush for the wrapper, and Crimson for the frosting. Then I used three Copic markers (RV23, RV25, and RV29) to add some hint of depth and swirl to the frosting. The white sprinkles are stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink, and enhanced with a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. I cut out the images using a Brother ScanNCut2 (though dies do come with the stamp set) and adhered the wrapper flush to the white background, and popped up the frosting with foam tape.

To finish, I adhered the white background to the rainbow background and then adhered that, in turn, to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for visiting!

Animal Cards, Birthday Cards

To the Birthday Chick

April 15, 2018April 15, 2018 Sky

Hi there!

Today’s card uses the colors from Color Throwdown Challenge #488. When I saw these colors, I immediately thought of the Birthday Chicks from My Favorite Things.

I started by using Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink to stamp the chicks, giant cupcake, and balloon onto Neenah Solar White #80 Classic Crest cardstock. Then I got down to coloring. I used Y15 and Y19 for the chics, B01 and B04 for the cupcakes, party hats, and candles, and YG23 and YG25 for the candles and balloon. I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen to add details to the hats, cupcake frosting, candles, and balloon. Then I cut out the images using a Brother ScanNCut2 and set them aside.

For the grass I blended Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks onto an A2-sized piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock. Then I trimmed that piece using Lawn Fawn’s Grassy Border die. I stamped the sentiment using the same black ink as earlier.

For the background, which is a piece of Neenah Solar White, I very lightly blended Tumbled Glass Distress Ink along the edges of the Cloud stencil from My Favorite Things. I used the same color to lightly go around the edges of the clouds which I cut out from scrap cardstock using Lawn Fawns Simple Puffy Clouds dies. The sun is cut from yellow Recollections cardstock using the Sunny Skies die from My Favorite Things.

I assembled the card using liquid adhesive to adhere the grass, largest cloud, chicks, and giant cupcake. I applied the adhesive to the center of the sun, but left most of the rays unglued so that they stand up a little. I trimmed bits of the sun rays and clouds that were hanging off the edge of the card front.

The two smaller clouds and the balloon are popped up using foam tape. I used a Copic C1 marker to ground the chicks and giant cupcake by adding what I hope look like shadows. And finally, I adhered the entire card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Animal Cards, Birthday Cards

Happy Birthday

April 14, 2018April 13, 2018 Sky

Hello there! I hope you’re weekend has gotten off to a good start!

Today’s card uses the Butterfly Beauty stamp set from Concord and 9th. I wanted to use the detailed butterfly stamp to try a version of no-line coloring, where I wanted the outline of the butterfly to fade away but the detail of the butterfly to remain. I wasn’t entirely successful, but it was a fun experiment and I have an idea of what to try next time!

I started by die-cutting the card front out of Ranger watercolor paper using the largest of the Wonky Stitched Rectangle die set from My Favorite Things. Ranger watercolor paper is a nice bright white compared to other watercolor papers, and it has a rough and a smooth side (which is not uncommon, in my limited experience). I used the smooth side for my stamping and painting.

Then, I stamped the butterfly image in Antique Linen Distress Ink. This ink color is very light and since Distress Inks react with water, I knew that the stamping could be made to fade as I added water and watercolor.

I used painter’s tape to tape down the card front to my desk and then I used an 8 round brush to apply clean clear water over the butterfly, being careful to follow the outline, and avoiding the body and antennae. I chose Golden Yellow and Chrome Orange from Peerless Watercolors and laid down a layer of the Golden yellow with a 8 round brush. Then I added Chrome Orange around the edges, blending inwards. Peerless watercolors are very easy to blend and I find that I could go over areas that had dried a bit without pulling up the color. The result is a relatively smooth layer of color. Using a 1 round brush, I added more Chrome orange to the edges for some color variation. Finally, I used the same brush to add Pearl Gray to the body and antennae.

I then decided that I wanted to add some splatter to the card, but not to the butterfly, so I created a mask by stamping the butterfly onto a piece of Judikins Eclipse Tape* that I stuck on to a piece of scrap cardstock. Then I cut out the butterfly, peeled-off the cardstock, and masked off my watercolor butterfly.

I smooshed a bit of Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink onto an acrylic block and then, with a lightly wet brush, picked up some color and splattered it onto the card. I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink.

Finally, I added Scor-tape to the back of the card front and adhered it to an A2-sized card base and that finished up the card.

The next time I try this, I think I may choose a very light dye ink. While I was able to retain some of the detail of the butterfly, the veins blended away a bit too much and are harder to see where I used darker orange.

Thanks for visiting!

*Eclipse Tape is a 6″ wide roll low tack tape (it feels like Post-It tape to me). It can be used like Stick It Adhesive Sheets or Inkadinkadoo Mask Paper, but I find it to be much more affordable since the roll contains 33 feet of tape. It doesn’t have release paper, but I apply it to cardstock and find that it peels off cleanly.

Birthday Cards, Celebration Cards

Hooray From Concord and 9th – Take Two

April 8, 2018 Sky

Hello there, I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

Today’s card is a CAS(E) of one of Concord & 9ths inspiration cards for the Birthday Stacks stamp set. I made today’s card for a friend who is celebrating his birthday. I originally planned to use shades of blue, but then I realized that blue ice cream doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In the end, these shades of yellow and orange and the way the scoops overlap reminded my friend, and other friends around the table, of tennis which is how we all met. I love it when things work out in ways you didn’t imagine!

I started by stamping the ice cream scoops in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. Then I used the coordinating die to trim off the top part of the scoops. Since the die wasn’t long enough to stretch across the card, I used my paper trimmer to finish the horizontal cut to the edge of the paper. I then used the same ink to stamp the ice cream cones.

For the ice cream scoops, I used Hero Arts Soft Vanilla and Altenew Citrus Burst and Sunkissed inks. And for the cones, I used Hero Arts Pumpkin Pie. The stamp set includes solid stamps for these elements which makes the stamping very easy!

For the sentiment, which is Concord and 9ths standalone Hooray die, I used a scrap piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper because I wanted to blend the Altenew Inks and I usually find it challenging to blend dye inks smoothly. The Bristol Smooth paper has a coating that allows the ink to sit on top of the paper longer which gives you extra time to blend. I die cut the sentiment, and then placed the die cut back into the negative space so that I could easily hold it in place while blending. I used foam blending tools to sponge Sunkissed along the bottom and Citrus Burst across the top, blending in the middle.

I die cut the sentiment four more times out of scrap 110# regular cardstock and layered the pieces on top of each other, adhering all of the layers together with liquid adhesive. Then I adhered the inked sentiment on top to create a chipboard-like embellishment.

Then it came time to assemble the card. I adhered a A2-sized piece of kraft cardstock (I like the Recollections cardstock from Michael’s which is 60# weight and great for layering, not to mention its affordable price point) to a card base. Then I cut a piece of orange cardstock, also from Recollections, and adhered it to the back of the ice cream scoop piece, leaving an edge of orange peeking out. Then I adhered that combined piece to the card base.

Finally, I created some loops of twine and sandwiched it between the sentiment and the card. I used a couple of acrylic blocks to hold it all in place while the liquid adhesive dried. And that finished off the card!

Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Cards, Celebration Cards

Hooray From Concord & 9th

April 3, 2018April 5, 2018 Sky

Hi there!

Today I have a celebration card to share. It uses a few items from Concord and 9th: Triangle Turnabout for the background, Birthday Stacks for the balloons, and the Hooray die.

For the background, I used Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock and three ink colors from Altenew (Dew Drops, Aqualicious, and Teal Cave) as well Ranger Silver Ultra Fine embossing powder. If you haven’t seen how Concord & 9ths turnabout stamps work, I encourage you watch their tutorial on YouTube. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a hundred thousand!

On a separate piece cardstock, I stamped balloons using three stamps from the Birthday stacks set. I stamped the set of circles and the two types of strings in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Then I used the same three ink colors and embossing powder to add color and shine to the balloons. I made a mistake here in that I stamped the set of circles upside down so I had to fussy cut the balloons since the matching die didn’t line up.

For the sentiment, I ran the Hooray die through my Sizzix Sidekick five times. Once using Neenah cardstock, and four times using white 110# scrap cardstock. I placed the Neenah die cut back into it’s negative space to make it easier to hold in place while I blended Aqualicious and Teal Cave onto it, using the lighter color on the top half and blending it into the darker color on the bottom for an ombre effect. Then I adhered all five layers together using scant amounts of liquid glue to create a dimensional sentiment.

Then it came time to assemble the card. I trimmed the triangle background in half, saving the other half for a future card, and adhered it to an A2-sized card base. Then I trimmed the balloon panel so that the height of the balloons revealed some of the triangle background and still left room for the sentiment. I used foam tape to adhere it to the card base so that it stood up from the background.

Before I adhered the Hooray sentiment, I pulled out some inexpensive silver thread from my stash and wound it around a few fingers. I added a liquid glue to the back of the Hooray die cute and then adhered it to the card, sandwiching the silver thread in between. And that finished the card!

Thanks for stopping by!