Wishing You a Wonderful Birthday

I went a bit wild with textures on this one (as usual 😄). I just love all the movement that textures add, both visual and tactile. I want to make cards people want to touch as well as look at. Paper is a fun thing to work with!

 

I used the Hero Arts set Woodland Creatures which had a cute smiling mushroom and a sweet little ladybug. The mushroom was more of a "he" until I gave it some luxuriant lashes and some glittery lips.💃 After coloring Miss Mushroom, I added Stickles Fruit Punch glitter gel to the circles on her cap, let it dry, and then added clear dimensional medium, and let it dry. I also added the dimensional medium to the 2 ladybugs to pop them out. See the second one climbing up the side of the upper circle? 

I used a black Copic marker (110) to ink the edges of the ladybugs after cutting them out, although I avoided the foot area. I sponged a bit of More Mustard ink and some Vintage Photo ink around the main image area. I stamped the word saying on the designer paper before running it through the Cuttlebug with the embossing folder. That is all. Take care. 🐞

Recipe:

Stamps: Hero Arts Woodland Creatures, The Angel Company "Wishing You a Wonderful Birthday"

CS: White, Basic Grey Recess, Basic Grey Archaic, Black

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! More Mustard, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Vintage Photo

Copics: R22, R24, R29, YR23, W3, 110 

Other: Park Lane Paperie Woodgrain embossing folder, Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder, Nestabilities Large Pinking Circle, Standard Large Circle and Standard Small Circle, Black Pigma Micron 005 (for eyelashes), Stickles Fruit Punch glitter gel, Inkssentials Glossy Accents clear dimensional medium, Gold organza ribbon, foam tape, hole punch tool

Botanicals Happy Birthday Friend

Happy Friday! 🌞I am so enjoying getting back into making cards again! It's like Christmas!

This card is for a dear friend whose birthday is this month. I actually have two friends with September birthdays, and I'll share the other card once she has it in her possession.

I post my cards on this blog mainly to inspire MYSELF! 😄 But of course, I hope it inspires others, too! I learn cool techniques and then forget about them. So I often look at what I've done in the past to remind myself of them, to re-learn them, basically. Like stamping on cardstock with watermark ink and then embossing it. Such a cool look! I do that all the time, or used to anyway. But I had forgotten all about it until I started looking at my older cards for inspiration. 

Botanicals is one of the first stamp sets I bought from Stampin' Up! back in the early 2000's. All but the "Happy Birthday" stamp and the background stamp on the green paper are from the Botanicals set. It's a classic set that never grows old. 

One thing I love doing is dimensionalizing my cards. I am in love with foam tape! You can do such cool things with it. I must not be alone because while I was at Michael's the other day I saw a 12-inch wide roll of it! 

I'm not keen on sinking $21 into such a thing, but it made me happy to see that it comes in such vast quantities! I mean, look how cool that stuff is! You can pop out anything you like with it. 

My cards tend to not only be dimensional, but also textured, either visually or physically. It just thrills me to add texture or movement of some kind to my cards. 

On this one I popped out the poppy flower, bud, and pod. To add interest I put some Fruit Punch Stickles on the flowers and Peeled Paint Stickles on the leaves and pod. And I don't know why, but I get a thrill putting holes on my cards. Like the ones on the scalloped piece. They're not perfect. But I find that look more endearing than a perfectly-holed die that cuts them for you. Dies are expensive. My hole puncher is not. And I already own way too many dies as it is. Plus, punching holes is very Zen!

For the inside I used two inks to create a marbled effect on the saying, although I'm not sure it's visible in the picture. I inked the stamp with a lighter red, and then touched it here and there with a darker red. Then I breathed on it to moisten the ink and stamped it.  It gives a cool mottled effect. I used the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to line up all the stamps inside the card. The bottom collage stamp was stamped twice to get a continuous look. It's not perfect, but it's tricky with such a stamp as this that has so many things to line up.

Well, that's about it! Thanks for coming by for a visit!

Recipe:

Stamps: SU Botanicals, SU Canvas, Savvy Stamps "Happy Birthday"

Papers: Prima Doodle Deux, Swirl Vellum, White, Black, Olive

Inks: Versamark embossing ink, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink, Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Tim Holtz Distressed Ink Abandoned Coral

Copics: 110, R30, R32, R35, YG95

Other: Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder, Nestabilities Classic Oval Scallops - Large, Classic Ovals - Small, SU Scallop Trim Border punch, large oval punch, small oval punch, black gingham ribbon, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, hole puncher, foam tape, Stickles (Fruit Punch, Peeled Paint)

Hello Friend 😊

Hi, there! It's been a while! I haven't stamped for a couple of years. I was a bit rusty making this card, but it's all starting to come back to me. The thing about stamping is it's a very expensive hobby to get into. But the stuff you buy lasts a good, long time - most of it, anyway. I have so many lovely older stamp sets, papers, dies, etc. to play with. I still even have my Stamp-a-ma-jig! Anyone else still using theirs? I mean why buy the 10-times-better newest gadgets when the old stuff still works just fine, right? 

I hope to be sharing more on here in the near future. Not sure if I'll be the only one visiting my old stamping blog at this point😄, but if you came by for a visit to see if I was here, thanks so much and please leave a comment to let me know!

Take care!

Recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Unfroggetable, Stampin' Up! Amazing to Zany

CS: Prima Doodle Deux decorative papers, White, Black

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black,

Copics: BG11, BG13, E41, W1

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Taylored Expressions Chevron Border die, Sizzix Architectural Accents die, paper piercer, sponge mat, Stamp-a-ma-jig, googly eyes, Stickles Fruit Punch and Frosted Lace glitter glues, black gingham ribbon, foam tape

Yukon Masculine Birthday Card

Well, hey! Haven't been doing much stamping until recently, so let me share with you a card I made.

This birthday card is for my grandson who turned 21 last month. He's a quiet, gentle young man, and this noble elk makes me think of him. 

The elk is from the SU! Yukon set, and was chosen as my focal point. 

I wanted to keep to a forest/wilderness theme, so I used the Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder on the grey-green outside panels. But before embossing them, I rubbed them (direct-to-paper) with my SU! True Thyme and SU! Close To Cocoa ink pads to give them more visual texture. Then I stamped the wilderness image from the same set in black ink on the bottom of each panel. The grey-green cardstock is one I've had for a long time. I'm not sure of the color's actual name or its maker. But it fit well with the look I was going for.

I used the gatefold cut to create a center-opening style. It's my favorite card style. To hold the card closed, I used a little bronze lever, held in place by a bronze mini-brad. It was very challenging to work with, so I'm not sure I'll do that again. I used one of the Nestabilities Pinking Circle dies on black cardstock to frame the center design and added foam tape under the white circle to give more dimension. 

I double-stamped the elk image on white cardstock. I cut one out with a circle die and the other one using craft scissors and a detail knife. Then I colored everything with Copics. Cutting out those antlers was a challenge! No die cuts to make it easier! After cutting it out, I lined the edges with a black Copic. Then I adhered it over the other elk image with foam tape to add even more dimension. 

On the inside I carried the forest theme further by using the Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Cutting Plate die, cutting it in half to use as inner side panels. I used the same grey-green cardstock, inked up with True Thyme and Close to Cocoa to texturize it. After the ink dried, I ran the tree pieces through a Xyron 510 sticker maker to apply adhesive to the backs. It was a bit messy because of all the nooks and crannies of the image, but it was fairly easy to clean up with a rubber cement eraser afterwards.

I used a 1/2" circle punch and a corner punch to get the corners and middles of everything a bit fancy. Another of my favorite things to do on my cards.

I used a tree stamp from SU! Lovely As a Tree and the numbers were from SU! Letterpress Numbers. The birthday stamp was from Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes. Everything was stamped in black ink using a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to align everything properly.

So there you have it. Thanks for coming by for a look! 

Recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Yukon, Stampin' Up! Lovely As a Tree, Stampin' Up! Letterpress Numbers, Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes

CS: Black, grey green (unknown source), White

Inks: Stampin' Up! True Thyme (2007), Stampin' Up! Close to Cocoa, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Copics: 110, E33, E35, YG93, YG95, YG97

Other: Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Cutting Plate, Nestabilities Standard Circle Small, Nestabilities Large Pinking Circles, Cuttlebug Forest Branches embossing folder, Xyron 510 sticker maker w/permanent adhesive, rubber cement eraser, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Corner punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, foam tape, bronze mini-brad, bronze mini lever, craft scissors, Fiskars Fingertip Precision Detail Knife

Pure Innocence Hugs and Kisses

Hello, and Happy Wednesday! This little card has lots of holes in it, wouldn't you say? What is it with me and holes? I guess it's just something fun you can do to paper, and I love the zen-ishness of doing it the old-fashioned way, with a piercing tool.

My sewing machine was a bit wonky while I stitched around the edges, but I like the way it turned out. Kind of funky! It was a decorative stitch that maybe wasn't the best choice, but I still think it works, at least for me. The unevenness adds a bit of whimsy.

I used my piercing tool and an Ornare paper piercing template in the corners. Like I said, I love putting holes in paper! 😊 They frame things so nicely.

I used so many Copic markers to mimic the designer papers when coloring the hat and dress. And I'm sorry for not keeping track of which colors I used. I need to be better about that.

Since I love patterns so much, I added black circles with white dots all over the dress to make it more interesting. I wanted it to be loose and free, not too regimented. 

 
I put a tiny gem on the shoe buckle area to mimic a big button. And by using the white gel pen under some of the ink on the shoes, it makes them look like suede.

This card makes me so happy. Don't you love it when you feel that way about something you make? Thanks for coming by and feel free to comment before you leave! I love comments!

Stamps: Pure Innocence 02 digital stamp, Stampin' Up! All Year Cheer I sentiment

CS: White, Teresa Collins Fabrications designer papers

Inks: Computer ink for printout, Copics for coloring, Micron 03 for circles on dress, white gel pen for dots in circles, egg shells, and highlights on hat, and on shoes under Copic ink

Other: Nestabilies Classic Oval Large and Classic Oval Scallops Large dies, large oval punch, small oval punch, Ornare decorative corners piercing template, punching tool, sewing machine, olive-colored gem for shoe, foam tape, cream organdy ribbon

Remember

 

Crazy Birds Happy Birthday

May is an especially busy birthday month in our family. Three of my five children were born in May. So I'm getting a lot of stamping done! 

My 4th child gave me this Tim Holtz Crazy Birds set a few years ago and I just love it. Such a fun set that I don't play with nearly enough. I was inspired by the style of this card which I saw on Pinterest. I had an idea that an open window to the inside would be a fun way to display the birds. The birds represent my daughter's 3 roommates and her youngest sister who will soon become a roommate, as well. When my youngest daughter saw the card, she immediately chose the bottom right (red) bird to represent herself. 😜

I went pretty simple with the background and just used the old Stampin' Up! Paisley Print background stamp. It looks so cool in Versamark ink on the SU Not Quite Navy cardstock and the Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocados cardstock. Makes them really pop. I also used the Cuttlebug Floral Screen embossing folder on the green area.

Here's how the card looks open. I put a Velcro coin inside to keep the card closed when lying down. 

For the backs of the birds I die-cut 2 extra copies in black cardstock and sandwiched them with the front image using Tombow Mono Multi glue. Had my Xyron sticker maker not been out of commission, I would've used it instead, and it would've been much less messy.

Afer sandwiching the birds together, I used my black Copic marker (#110) around the edges to make them blend with the black backs.

I do not have measurements for this card. It was kind of a cut as you go kind of thing. I just decided what size the frame for the window would be and then measured the inside and cut.

I matched the black frame with the white inside part. I was going to frame the inside as well, but decided to leave it as is.

Here's a close-up of the "birthday girl". I used the wings to hold the balloon and the present. 

Well, that's about it. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous (Tim Holtz) Mini Bird Crazy and Things, Stampin' Up! Birthday Balloons, Stampin' Up! Paisley Print (background)

CS: SU Not Quite Navy, Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocados, White, Black

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black for birds, Versafine Onyx Black for sentiment, Versamark clear embossing ink for background, Copics for coloring birds

Other: Stampers Anonymous (Tim Holtz) Mini Bird Crazy and Things dies, Cuttlebug Floral Screen embossing folder, white gel pen for eyes, Micron pen for eyelids, lashes, and to decorate the present,  Stamp-a-Ma-Jig for centering sentiment, Tombow Mono Multi glue, foam tape, black Velcro coin to hold card closed

Silly Whale Birthday

Hello! Another sea-themed card. This time I'm using my old Stampin' Up! Silly Sealife set. The card sketch I'm using is Mojo Monday 560. 

I chose two papers from the Basic Grey Archaic collection because they are "wavy" like the sea. And one of them has a "bubbly" look that made me think of being under water. The one behind the sentiment wasn't "wavy" or "bubbly", but I liked how it went with the other two. 

I thought the Stampin' Up! Cheery Chat birthday greeting would go very well with the whole look on the front, and I used the matching birthday saying inside. I love the whimsy of the font.

I used the Nestabilities Labels Three die to frame the sentiment, but I'm not sure it was the best choice. Maybe a tad too wide for the look? I dunno.

And, of course, I gave in to using my Tiny Bubbles embossing folder because this card has a water theme...and...bubbles.

My happy little whale is spouting glittery water. 

It's probably hard to see, but I used the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder to create "waves" on the lower bubbly-looking paper. 

And here's the inside. Aren't those sea creatures adorable? This is such a versatile stamp set, I tell ya!

Close-up of the inside.

So, yet another sea card. I think that's my last one for awhile though. Hope you're having a good week! Take care and thanks for coming by!

Stamps: SU Silly Sealife, SU Cheery Chat

CS: Black, Ivory, SU Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey Archaic designer paper

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Copic Markers for whale: B0000, B00, B21, BG11, E11, E13, E15

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles and D'Vine Swirls embossing folders, Nestabilities Standard Circle Large and Labels Three dies, hole punching tool, foam tape, large brown eyelets, Frosted Lace Stickles glitter gel

Snappy Birthday - Seaside/Beach Theme

Happy Saturday! This card is a bit old school. I actually stamped everything on it (no relying on digital images or designer paper), and no use of Copic markers. I used actual ink pads and regular Stampin' Up! markers like in the olden days. It was a lot of fun. And I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself and used the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder AGAIN. I love that thing too much, I'm afraid. Maybe I should try doing some cards without relying on my embossing folders for once? I just love the textures they create. It's an addiction. A very hard habit to break.

So this card used the retired Stampin' Up! Crab & Company set which I purchased awhile back on eBay, but had never used. I saw some really cute cards made with it on Pinterest which made me want to own it. Such a fun set! I also used another old Stampin' Up! set called Beautiful Batik. Anyone remember that one? I hardly ever used it, but I thought it would go well with my seaside/beach theme, especially using beachy colors. I colored the stamps with SU markers and then huffed on the stamps to moisten the ink and stamped different images from the set all over the white cardstock. I also used some of the smaller images from Crab & Company here and there around them. And last, but not least, I took one of the splatter stamps from ye olde SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds and stamped it here and there to fill in.

I used no die cuts either. Rebel me! I just did what I used to do (before die-cutting took the stamping world by storm) and cut the rectangles with my paper trimmer. I did use a hole punch to get the oval shape around the outside sentiment.

I have to say that I enjoyed doing things mostly old school for a change. I don't own any die cuts that have the dotted borders. Someday I'll get around to buying some. Until then I'll just punch my own holes, uneven though they may be. It's actually very therapeutic doing it by hand and is one of my favorite ways to embellish my cards. 

One last stamp set I used was Stampendous Sushi Bowl Party. I stamped the tiny swimming fish stamps from the set using Versamark clear embossing ink on the turquoise background to imitate them swimming in the ocean in schools. They're so cute!

Inside, I used a sentiment from an old The Angel Company set that I don't know the name of. You can get a better look at the cardstock I used on the front of the card inside where nothing is laying over it.

This was a fun card to make using so many old school ways. I do need to lay off the embossing folders a bit, I think. I have so many of them that I don't even use. I keep grabbing my favorites. This must change.

Thanks for coming by for a look! Have a great day!

Stamps: SU Crab & Company, SU Beautiful Batik, SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Stampendous Sushi Bowl Party, inside sentiment by The Angel Company

CS: SU Tempting Turquoise, SU Yoyo Yellow, White, Black

Inks: SU Tempting Turquoise pad and marker, SU Yoyo Yellow pad and marker, SU Glorious Green marker, SU Certainly Celery pad and marker, Versamark clear embossing ink, Versafine Onyx Black

Other: Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, water brush, yellow zigzag ribbon, turquoise gems, foam tape, jumbo oval punch, hole punching tool, googly eyes

Another Mother's Day Card - Iris Flower

Hello! I have another Mother's Day card to share. I know it's a bit late, but I'm getting it up here, nonetheless. 

I started with some pretty lavender polka-dotted paper I've had for eons and did my usual texturizing to it using the Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes embossing folder. Then I mounted it on black cardstock. I kept the card fairly simple otherwise.

I used the gatefold technique, which is one of my favorite card styles. I nipped all the corners with a corner punch, except for the center backs, which I cut out in half circles with a 1/2" circle punch.

You can't see it, but I used a black Velcro self-adhesive circle to help keep the card closed. I usually glue the Velcro halves on the cardstock even though the Velcro adhesive is very strong. That way it won't come loose or rip the cardstock after it has been opened a few times. I usually put both halves together on one side (usually behind the main decorative element), gluing the parts that touch the cardstock with Tombow Mono Multi glue, and then close the card and leave it overnight to dry. 

I added a bit of  black gingham ribbon inside to jazz it up a bit, and I did use a sentiment inside, but I hadn't added it yet when I took the pics. I seem to be doing that a lot lately for some reason.

I stamped the iris image from The Angel Company (long since retired) in Memento Tuxedo Black on white cardstock and colored with Copics. I added some lavender, yellow, and lime green Stickles glitter gels here and there.

I mounted the outside saying with foam tape. What would I do without my foam tape, I wonder?

I hope you enjoyed this card. Thanks for coming by!

Stamps: Iris from The Angel Company, saying from Hero Arts

CS: Black, lavender (interior), lavender polka dot (exterior), White

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black (saying), Copics for coloring

Other: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes, Nestabilities Lacey Ovals and Classic Ovals Small, black gingham ribbon, corner punch, 1/2" circle punch, foam tape, black Velcro self-adhesive circles, lavender, yellow, and lime green Stickles glitter gel, Tombow Mono Multi glue