It's Your Birthday with Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge

Wow, it's been a while since I posted but I've headed into the busiest time of the year at work and I'm just dog tired by the time I get home every night and weekends are busy now too.  I'm sure you all know how that goes.  But I wanted to pop on here to share the card I made for the Inky Paws Challenge over at Newton's Nook.  I love their challenges almost as much as I love their stamps.  This one was all about sparkle and you know how I love that.  You can find the challenge here.

For this only slightly more than one layer card, I used a technique from a class I took a month ago to do some partial die cutting.  I stamped the oh so cute kitty in a box from Newton's Birthday Bash and colored him with my copics.  Then I very carefully cut around the kitty and slid my Simon Says Stamp Brilliant Gifts die behind it.  I cut out the present die from the card, then again from black card stock and some DCWV glitter cardstock.  Then it was just a matter of rebuilding the presents behind the kitty.  I added some Wink of Stella to the kitty's box and covered it with Glossy Accents.

Another Card Created from the Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit

For today's card, I started again with the mug.  I stamped it out, added the sentiment, colored the coffee and added some shading.  Then I fussy cut it (gasp, more fussy cutting).  Once that was done, I started with the other orange card base I made from card stock from the kit.  I used the stitched frame from the My Favorite Thing's Blueprints #13 to cut out a piece of vellum and the patterned paper.  I then layered the patterned paper on the card base before attaching the mug to the vellum.  I added glue to the vellum behind the mug and adhered that over the pattern paper.  I added a few dots of glue in the upper left hand corner and hid them behind a few sequins.  A few strategically placed dots of glue at the other corners secured my vellum and completed the card.

Another Card from the Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit

Let me start by confessing that I'm not actually in love with today's card.  It's okay.  I think it's that I don't really like the bright colors and I'm not thrilled with my coloring.  They seem just a little bit too much, but I still had fun making it.  I started by die cutting some white Neenah card stock with my American Crafts/Amy Tangerine Plus One die.  I colored the heart with a copic and stamped my sentiment.  On the inner panel of the polaroid, I stamped the mug, colored the coffee, added highlighting to the mug and colored the background.  Then I cut the patterned paper down to slightly smaller than my card base and added my completed polaroid on top to finish it off. 

More Inspiration from the Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit

Today's card started with an accident.  I stamped out the mug and added the orange stamped stripe at the bottom and the sentiment, but somewhere along the way while coloring the coffee, I ended up with a dot of brown on the mug.  Boo!  Not ready to just throw it all away, I started adding dots all over the top of the cup.  When I was done, I decided it was good enough to keep, but I needed something that could handle the orange.  I decided to use the orange left over from a previous card along with this funky patterned paper with hints of orange.  I cut the funky paper down just a bit smaller than my card base, cut the orange to about a third of the size of the card and layered them up.  I stamped the steam in Khaki and (gasp) fussy cut it.  Then I added my cup to the card, the fussy cut steam and some sequins from the kit to finish it off.

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit: Inspired By Me!

After making some card inspired by the sample pictures, the creative mojo just started coming through on it own and I began making cards without any outside inspiration.  For this card, I started by stamping the mug and adding the coffee and the sentiment.  I then fussy cut (yes, again) the mug out.  I wasn't sure what to do with the background but I loved this brown paper with swirls on it even though it seemed a bit bright and psychedelic.  Because I loved the pattern, I wanted to show it off, but maybe tame it down a bit.  I cut the page down just slightly to fit the card base with a bit of a frame.  Then I centered the Simon Says Stamp Frames die on the paper and cut a second frame in white.  Then it was just a matter of inlaying the center panel, the white frame and the outer panel on my card base.  I added my mug and a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins from my stash to finish it off.

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit: Inspired by Lorraine Aquilina

For my final card inspired by the sample cards with the October 2014 Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp, I put my own spin on a card made by Lorraine Aquilina.  You can find her card on her blog here. I loved her card so much, I only made a couple of changes. I die cut the tea cup out of the same paper, but I switched out the center heart for a blue one so it would stand out a bit more. I cut down a strip of the striped paper and two strips of the orange paper.  I cut a white piece about three quarters of the size of the card base.  Then it was just a matter of taping down the strips on the card base, stamping my steam in the Khaki ink that came with the kit and then layering on the cup I had die cut.  Unlike the sample, I added a dark piece in my cup to look like the coffee I would usually have in my cup.  I also switched up the sentiment because, well, I need thank you cards.  It seems like I'm always low on those and I added a few sequins instead of the speech bubble. Super cute.

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit: Inspired by Sarah Moerman

Today card using the October 2014 Simon Says Stamp card kit is inspired by Sarah Moerman.  You can find her card on her post here.  I loved how she used the die selectively to get the fox, but I wanted matching cups, so I turned the die over, held it up to the light with the paper and moved the paper around until I was fairly sure I had the second fox lined up in the die.  It was extremely tricky and was surprised that it actually worked right the first time (good thing too because I didn't have room for a second shot).  I cut a white piece of cardstock (I know it looks pinkish in the picture, but that's just my bad lighting - better lighting is on my wish list) down for a top folding card, added a strip of the striped paper, a strip of the brown paper and then stamped my steam on with the Khaki ink from the kit.  I added my coffee cups, the sentiment and the sequins from the kit to finish it off. I love how this one turned out and I love that absolutely everything (except the card base) came from the kit.

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit: Inspired by Shari Carroll

Next up, I was inspired to try my hand at Shari Carroll's card made from the card kit.  You can see her fabulous card on her blog here.  I changed up a few things.  For instance, I used the wood coffee cup rather than die cutting one.  I moved the sentiment to the inside of the card.  I used the wrong blue for the hearts (one downside to crafting while camping - limited supplies).  But for the most part, I followed the card.  I cut the orange paper down to just smaller than the width of my card base.  I cut the yellow paper down to just under half of the size of the orange paper. I cut the strip the striped paper and cut a banner end.  Then I layered all the pieces together.  I stamped out the heart twice in Soft Blue Simon Says Stamp ink (the only blue color I had with me) and then fussy cut (yes again with the fussy cutting) the circles (okay I admit I was cursing that I didn't have a punch or die or something to do that).  I stamped the steam in the Khaki ink provided in the kit and fussy cut that too.  Then it was just adding the hearts with pop dots, adding the steam with tape and gluing down the cut and sequins.

For the inside of the card, I simply die cut some white paper with the stitched frame from My Favorite Things Blueprints #13 and stamped on the sentiment with the Khaki ink.

Simon Says Stamp October 2014 Card Kit: Inspired by Stephanie Klauck

On our camping trip, I started playing with the October Simon Says Stamp Card Kit.  I finally signed up for a subscription after seeing so many cute kits.  I loved the stamp in this kit.  The paper seemed a bit too, well, loud for me, but that wasn't going to stop me from playing.  I started out my making my own take on the card inspiration sheet sent with the kit.  First up:  Stephanie Klauck's super cute card. You can find her original card on her blog here.

I stamped the mug from the stamp set with the kit onto some Neenah card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink so I could use my copics. The cup turned out to be a lot grayer than I planned. I guess I still need a lot more practice with my copics.  Once it was colored, I took the cute veneer glasses and added them on top of the cup, drew in the eyes and then filled them with Glossy Accents for that shine that glasses have.  I cut a couple of strips from the striped paper in the kit, but I didn't have any grey.  So I took the Smoke ink pad from Simon Says Stamps and swiped it onto some white card stock to cut down for a grey strip.  I stamped out the sentiment bubble in Smoke ink and then added the sentiment using Slate ink from Simon Says Stamp.  I then fussy cut the speech bubble (yes, I did fussy cut). Then it was just a matter of layering the panels onto a top folding card base, adding my speech bubble with pop dots, and rounding the corners with my Corner Chomper.  I finished it off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins I had brought with from my own stash and that is my card.

Happy Meow-oween, Take Two

After I finished my card for the Inky Paws Challenge over at Newton's Nook, I just had to start working on an idea that had been percolating while I made my challenge card.  I inked up the Newton's Day Dream stamp but then wiped off the flowers.   I then stamped it on my card stock and then again twice more on two post-it notes so I could have both sky and land masks.  I masked the kitty before I inked up the small pumpkin from Newton's Perfect Pumpkin and stamped it on both sides. I also cut two more masks for the pumpkins.  Once the kitty and pumpkins were stamped and masked, I used Lawn Fawn's Starry Backdrops inked in Versamark and then heat embossed in clear embossing powder to make the starry background.  I used a variety of Distress Inks to sponge on the background starting with Squeezed Lemonade at the horizon, adding Seedless Preserves and finishing in Chipped Sapphire at the top and then blending back down.  I wiped the excess ink off the stars and removed my kitty mask to replace it with the one to let me finish the ground.  I sponged on Shabby Shutters and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink for the ground, leaving me with just white pumpkins and kitty.

My sister's cat Gus, a gorgeous house panther, isn't doing well.  She's pretty sure he has kidney failure and, since he's 16, it's probably a pretty good guess.  She's taken him to the vet for blood work and, when I was working on this, we were waiting for the results.  So I decided that Gus would be my inspiration for this kitty.  Not much technique involved in coloring an all black kitty, but I still had fun with my new Prismacolor colored pencils and gamsol.  The pumpkins were a bit more of a challenge on the coloring scale.  I was going to finish them off with one of the pumpkin faces that come in the Newton's Perfect Pumpkin set, but, of course, I can't for the life of me find it. I had pulled it off to size the stamp for the pumpkin and then set it aside to finish the coloring and now I can't find it.  That happens to me all the time and the stamps eventually turn up stuck the back of another package or the side of my pencil case or whatever.  My bet is that it will turn up just after I finish my last Halloween card of the year....

To finish off my panel, I wanted to do something a little simple.  I bought the Simon Says Stamp Frames dies because I love the frame it cuts out.  I saw so many ways it would be useful and I thought it would be perfect for this. So first I cut the panel down using the largest stitched die from My Favorite Thing's Blueprints #13 set and then centered up the Simon Says Stamp Frame Die over my panel and die cut it.  I then die cut a white piece with the same frame.  Then it was just a matter of piecing them all back together on my card base.  Once I had it together, I added my sentiment from the Newton's Perfect Pumpkin set and washed the sky in Wink of Stella. 

After the card was done, I was left with a starry frame that was perfect to frame Chewie!  Of course, she would sit still so I could get an in-focus picture.  This was the best I could get...

Happy Meow-oween! Inspired by Newton's Nook's Inky Paws Challenge #14 and Mojo Monday #366

We're back from vacation and, sadly, hubby is sick.  I don't feel so great either, but I think my issues are just the upcoming weather change playing havoc with my sinuses.  So I didn't have much creative mojo today but I so desperately wanted to play in the Inky Paws Challenge #14 over at Newton's Nook.  I just love their stamps (maybe it's the whole kitty thing?) and I love a good challenge.  Fortunately my most recent stamp acquisitions from them were waiting in the mail (along with yet another vehicle registration bill - why is it that every single vehicle we own has tabs that renew in the same year?  It's a crafty budget killer.) just begging to be inked up.

I spent a time today stamping and cutting out masks and coloring, of course, in between loads of laundry and doses of cold medicine for the hubster and catching up on Project Runway, Survivor and Resurrection.  I used the Newton's Perfect Pumpkin set to stamp out the kitty and pumpkins, but I needed some trees and leaves, so I had to look to some other sets to finish out my scene.  I used Avery Elle's Let it Snow set for the trees, and the leaf from the Lawn Fawn Winter Sparrows set to finish it out. 

I wasn't sure what to do with my image, but loved the sketch over at Mojo Monday (Sketch #366) so I decided to use it for my layout.  For the paper, I pulled out the Simple Stories Take a Hike 6x6 pad just to extend our camping vacation just a bit and the Dark Chocolate Simon Says Stamp card stock.  I used a bit of vellum to add my sentiment.  I picked a heavy weight vellum and, in retrospect, I wish I had used a lighter weight.

Card Deconstruction

After getting the photos for my sister, I pulled apart the entire card and played with the pieces to make something totally different.  This card just came together from nothing but I love it.  I started with a Heidi Swapp stencil to add my falling snow.  Before my embossing paste was dry, I added some Judikins Embossing Powder for a little sparkle.  I then added a night sky with about six (!) colors of Distress Ink (Scattered Straw, Seedless Preserves, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Tumbled Glass and Black Soot).  I cut out the rolling snow hills with my Mama Elephant Landscape Trio dies.  To the two in white card stock, I added some Versamark Dazzle and the same sparkling embossing powder.  I stamped the sentiment from the Hero Arts set with the houses in some Simon Says Stamp Soft Navy ink and fishtailed the banner.  Love this card, even though it not mass production friendly.

You (my dear sweet husband) Are the Best!

I saved this card for today because the sentiment is perfect.  Today is my 10th wedding anniversary to the most fabulous man on the planet (not counting my dad).

I can't believe it's been ten years since I said I do to Matt on the ice in between periods of the hockey game.  Tonight, we'll celebrate back (sort of) at the scene of the crime.  In the same jerseys we wore in all our wedding pictures.  Those jerseys have gotten a lot of wear and still mean the world to me.

It's hard to believe it's been ten years already.  It seems like just yesterday, but it also feels like we've been married for so much longer than 10 years.  He tells me the same thing.  I guess it was really meant to be.  I'm not saying it's been easy.  We've been through a lot of really difficult times in the past ten years, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it.  I really feel blessed to be his wife

So this card was perfect for today because he really is the best.  It also came together so easily with those Simon Says Stamp Stamptember Tim Holtz Blueprints stamps.  I used the large Postage Stamp die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out the image.  I found several sheets of paper in the Echo Park Paper 6x6 Note to Self pad that I liked.  I cut the blue polka dot to 4 by 5.25 to leave a frame of white.  I added a strip of the striped paper and smaller strip of the blue ledger for a little interest.  I then adhered my die cut piece to finish it off.

So that's it for today.  I'm off to celebrate ten years with the best.

 

Hello Friend

Today's card came together in a snap. I had the Lost and Found Two 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye sitting on my craft desk.  I love the paper in it even though it's a bit more distressed and fancy than what I usually like.  I loved this blue script paper and I thought it would be nice as a background so I cut it to just cover the entire card.

I've been watching a lot of Nichol Maguirk's videos lately and I love how she uses vellum.  So I ran some vellum through the largest frame from the Femme Frames from Mama Elephant.  I layered it over the blue paper then cut down my watercolored image from Simon Says Stamp Stamptember exclusive Tim Holtz stamps using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journalling Card.  I added it to the top of the vellum then finished the card off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins. 

I picked this card for today because today is my sister-in-law's birthday.  We had been best friends before I married her husband's brother and we became sisters.  Now we don't talk as much as we used too and this card kind of reminded me of that.  Happy birthday Val.  I hope it's a good one.  Coincidentally, it's also my Uncle Jim's birthday.  So I'm sending big birthday hugs to him too.

Life Is Sweeter with You in It

I love the die cut inlay craze that's so popular right now.  I'm not the best at it so don't look too closely at this card.  I used the scalloped frame from the Simon Says Stamp Frames die set to cut through this cute polka dot paper from the Miss Caroline 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye.  I then die cut the same frame into some leftover watercolor paper.  I then tried to inlay the watercolor paper into the polka dot paper.  That was a funny experience.  By the way, if you try to inlay with polka dots and something doesn't look quite right, check if you didn't get one piece of the paper turned the other way.  Yeah, my dots didn't line up.  Thankfully my tape was very forgiving and I was able to peel the paper off and turn it around.  No one would have known, well except for the fact that I can't keep my big mouth shut.

The rest of the card was a breeze.  I die cut out my stamped piece from the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember Tim Holtz exclusive using the straight frame from the same Simon Says Stamp Frames die set but used my We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper to round the corners.  I liked that better with the curves of the other frame.  I then adhered the panel with pop dots and called it  day. 

Time to Celebrate with Mojo Monday

So, as I mentioned before, I stamped out all of the Tim Holtz Simon Says Stamp Stamptember exclusive blueprints stamps and watercolored them all with Distress Ink.  So then I just had to finish putting the cards together.  Easy peasy, right?  Well, no.  I needed some inspiration for the layout.  Thankfully, there are couple of fabulous weekly sketch blogs.  Today, Mojo Monday, sketch #364 came to my rescue.  Go check it out here. 

This card came together quickly after I saw the sketch.  I used the polka dot paper from the Echo Park 6x6 paper pad Note to Self cut to the same size as the card base.  I found a coordinating pattern that I liked.  I used the postage stamp dies from Simon Says Stamp to cut out both my stamped image and a square from the paper.  For my stamped image, though, I didn't have the right size frame in the die pack.  No problem.  I made my first cut lining up where I wanted the bottom to be with the bottom of the stamp.  I then moved my piece to line up were I wanted the top to be and cut again, getting a smaller rectangle by making two cuts than the die would normally produce.

I fished a button out of my stash and finished it off with some crochet thread.  It seems a little busy to me.  I'm not really sure I like it, but it's good enough as a reminder that today is a big day to celebrate.  My parents are celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary today.  Love you Mom and Dad!

Wish You Were Here

What a weekend!  I took Friday off and, for the first time in probably close to two years, I didn't actually work because I hired someone who took over some of the day to day things that required that I work.  I thought I would have a lot of time to play in my craft room with a long weekend, but we filled it up with other things.   That said, I can't tell you how much more relaxed I feel.  So nice!  The hubby and I spent the whole day on Friday playing.  We checked out the new Cabellas just a bit north of us, ate the most amazing ice cream at Salt & Straw and watched the home opener of my favorite WHL team.  It was so nice to have a whole day just doing things together. 

On Saturday I cleaned the house while he worked and then we went back for game number two courtesy of some tickets in the suite that hubby's boss gave us.  Yesterday I ran a few errands and finished up the Mojo Monday card in enough time to get it posted to the challenge but not up on the blog because my parents came over for Sunday night dinner.  I love that.

I had eagerly purchased the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember exclusive Tim Holtz blueprints stamps.  These are the first Tim Holtz blueprint stamps I've bought.  I've looked at them several times and put them on wishlists, but I've never actually picked any up until now.  But these ones were too good to miss (if you are thinking about them yourself, hurry over to Simon Says Stamp - they are a limited release for Stamptember only so there's only few days left, that is, if they aren't sold out already). 

I stamped the image in Archival Ink in Jet Black, then watercolored it with my Distress Ink Markers.  I was just playing with the stamps, but then I saw the Mojo Monday #363 sketch and I knew it was perfect for that.  The paper comes from the Lost and Found 2 6x6 paper pad from My Mind's Eye.  That paper pad is perfect for a masculine card.  I finished it off with some ribbon and a button threaded with crochet thread, all from my stash. 

 

I've entered this card over at Mojo Monday in challenge number 363.  That challenge is now closed, but there's a new one every Monday so check it out if you are looking for some inspiration and fun.

Have a Moo-tiful Birthday!

I love that hockey season is back in full swing:  last night the home opener and tonight the first game at home in my easy chair watching on the big screen.  Yes, this is the life.

The only big dilemma in my life right now is whether to drive to Seattle on Thursday night to take Sandy Allnock's class on coloring funny people at Impress.  I so want to go, but it's a long trip and I'm a bit of a introvert.  I have a hard time sometimes convincing myself to go do new things even when I know I will enjoy it.  So in the next couple of days, I have to make up my mind.

In the meantime, I've finished up with the last of the Birthday Farm Animals stamp set she designed for Simon Says Stamp.  I've had so much fun coloring these cuties.  Today's card came together pretty quickly too.  There's a flag shaped die in the My Favorite Things Blueprints #13 that I had been looking at and thought would be perfect for the cow stamp, so I had already cut it out the other day.  Then it was just a matter of picking only two of the fun patterns in the Sunny Side 6x6 paper pad from Pebbles to build my card.  I added some baker's twine I found in my stash, a little Wink of Stella to the banner, and the now almost required Pretty Pink Posh sequins and Glossy Accents. 

It's Your Pig Day and Mine Too!

It's here!  It's finally here!  It's the home opener of my favorite hockey team and the hubby and I are there watching the banner raise from last year's winning season.  So excited!  So it only seemed fitting to do a card for a big, I mean pig, day. 

This is another image from the oh so cute Birthday Farm Animals set from Simon Says Stamp that I colored over the weekend.  This card came together so quickly since I had these scraps left from the Carta Bella Hello There 6x6 paper pad on my desk that were just calling my name.  A few cuts to trim the paper down to fit the background of the card, a few more cuts to create a banner and then I die cut my image using the Notebook Basic Die from Paper Smooches.  Then all it took was some tape, a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins and some Glossy Accents on the balloon and eyes to finish it off. 

Happy Birthday Spring Chicken!

Ahh... It's Thursday.  Just one more day before opening night of hockey and I just can't wait.  This time tomorrow I'll be yelling and cheering and celebrating one of my favorite things about Fall:  the return of hockey!

In the meantime, I continue to make birthday cards using that Simon Says Stamp Birthday Farm Animals set.  Today's card features the chicken (which is so stinking cute).  Once I had it colored, I was back to that same place:  what do I do with it now?  This time I pulled out the tag die from Lawn Fawn from the Winter Gifts set.  It was the perfect frame for the chicken.  I cute a second one from patterned paper from the Pebbles Sunny Side 6x6 pad, which was still sitting on my desk.  Then I cut down another piece using the stitched frame die from Mama Elephants Basic Set and some vellum from the scalloped die from the same set.  Then it was just a matter of layering the papers together, added some Hemptique baker's twine and finishing it off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and Glossy Accents on the eyes.  Super cute!