Happy Happy Birthday

Recipe:

Stamps: Hero Arts Woodland Creatures, Penny Black Critter Party, "Happy Happy Birthday" sentiment by The Angel Company (TAC)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxide Fired Brick

Cardstock: White, Teresa Collins Fabrications designer papers

Other: Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls and Birds and Swirls embossing Folders, Martha Stewart Arched Lattice border punch, cream ribbon, stitching, foam tape

Christmas wedding card

I have never made a wedding card with a Christmas theme before, so this is my first time trying to combine the two. My daughter's fiance's aunt (got that?) asked me to make her a card with this in mind. So here's what I came up with:



I had a whimsical saying stamp from The Angel Company that went perfectly with the wedding cake from SU Sweet Treats. All I had to do was use green and red and make it a bit festive and it would work. The tricky part was the inside sentiment. I didn't have one in a similar font, and had I been more together I probably could've hunted down the font and made my own sentiment. Oh, well. As it was I was in a hurry to make this card in the midst of all the painting I was doing. Which is now why I'm only posting this in January, weeks after making the card.

To festive it up I used gems. They always jazz up a card. And I have them in my stash.



Another way I jazzed it up was to use a glimmer spray on the cake itself. I blocked the red ribbon and the flowers so it would only go on the cake. I did this by making a copy of the image and cutting out the parts I wanted to get glimmer spray on, leaving the rest to cover the other parts.



For the inside sentiment I used the I Corinthians 13 stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs because every married couple needs to know what love truly is.




I also carried some of the elements from the front to the inside.

I enjoyed sharing this card with you. I hope you have a marvelous new year filled with many blessings!

Stamps: SU Sweet Treats, TAC wedding saying, Our Daily Bread Designs I Corinthians 13 sentiment (inside)

CS: White, Red, SU Old Olive, Black0

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black, SU Real Red

Other: Cuttlebug Polka Dots and Birds and Swirls embossing folders, Nestabilities Scallop oval, and regular oval dies, SU Scallop Trim border punch, various Copic markers, glimmer spray, red gingham ribbon, clear ep, foam tape, gems, 1/8" hole punch

May Your Day Be As Wonderful As You Are!

This is the most stamping and playing with ink I've done in a long time! I heat-embossed so much on this card, y'all! I am loving all this playtime! This card is for my mother's birthday.

For the brown background piece I first did direct to paper with the Antique Linen Distress Ink pad. Then I stamped the leaves from SU Autumn in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with SU Vintage Verdigris EP. Then I went over it with DI Vintage Photo and lastly with SU Basic Brown. So now it just looks brown. But that's how I got there! lol Then I rubbed a light green Copic marker over the leaves and wiped them off. I'm not sure, but I think embossing powder might react with Copics and soften. Just be careful if you try this.



I hope you can see that I heat-embossed the grass image and the bee. It made for some enjoyable coloring with Copics afterwards. The bee is popped up with foam tape.



On the inside I wanted to create a sort of dancing bee scenario. I stamped them all in Brilliance Graphite Black and heat-embossed them with clear EP. Then, once cooled, I ran the edges through the Cuttlebug using the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder. To hide the folder edge and keep with the black lines image, I used some grosgrain ribbon. I rolled both inside and outside edges of the Green Galore CS with the Leaf Prints wheel and VersaMark ink. Busy, busy, buzzy!



The white paper collapsed a bit from the Cuttlebug embossing. A thin extra layer in the sandwich probably would've fixed that. Ah, well.



I hope you liked my imperfect, but happily-created card, and thanks for looking!

Stamps: The Angel Company (TAC) - not sure of stamp set names, but the image is from one and the saying is from another; SU Autumn, SU Leaf Prints wheel, SU Birthday Greetings

CS: Black, SU Green Galore, SU More Mustard, White

Inks: VersaMark, Copic Markers, Brilliance Graphite Black (for heat embossing), Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo and Antique Linen, SU Basic Brown

Other: Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls and D'Vine Swirls embossing folders, Nestabilities oval, rectangle, and scalloped dies; Clear heat embossing powder, SU Vintage Verdigris embossing powder, foam tape

Did you give up on me yet?

Hello to the 5 or so people who still come by to see if I'm here. ;) Has it really been since March that I haven't posted? Well, that's because I haven't been stamping until this past week when I finally cleaned up my stamping area. I can't work in a mess and I have been too tired and lethargic to deal with it. But I got out the bottle of cod liver oil in my fridge and took some every day this week and I've had more energy. I cleaned out our overflowing junk drawer and dealt with the box of junk drawer junk from the last time I emptied it! Plus, I went through our vast pen and pencil collection and checked to make sure all the pens worked and then sharpened all the pencils. And I threw out a lot! Not to mention cleaning up a big section of my study where I stamp. So thanks, cod liver oil!

This card is fairly simple considering how much I usually load up my cards, but I just couldn't think of anything to add that would improve it. I struggled a lot with the image and trying to color cleanly. Those Copics are so juicy that it's hard to color in small areas. I hope someday they come up with a marker that has the regular point, a smaller point (I never use the chiseled end, do you?), and can be used with an air brush. That would be perfection in my book. Aren't the CIAO markers like that except that they can't be used in an air brush?

Well, I'll go back to my cave now. I hope to be doing more stamping soon. My creativity is in a bit of a rut and I'd like to break out of my usual choices and do something fresh with some old stamps. *sigh* We'll see. Thanks for coming by! Today, I gave you something to see for a change! ;)

Stamps: Pure Innocence 023 digi stamp by Heather Ellis, word stamp by Stampin' Up! set Smorgasborders

CS: Black, Pocket Full of Posies by DCWV, White

Ink: Computer ink and Versafine Onyx Black

Copics: B41, YG13, YR12, R00, R02, R29, E33, V06, Colorless Blender

Other: Nestabilities Inverted Scallop Circle, Standard Circle, Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing folder, black polka dot ribbon, sewing machine, corner ticket punch, 1/2" circle punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, velcro tab (for holding card closed), foam mounting tape.

With Love - Mojo Monday 126

I am happy to say that I finally ordered my Copics! I'm so excited!! I pretty much stuck with everything listed in this post plus a few more. My order is larger than I intended, but that is usually the case, isn't it? So I used more birthday money then I expected. I won't cry about it when I'm blissfully coloring my new digistamps!

I do own 2 Copics already: C1 (Cool Gray #1) and Special Black 110. I used the C1 on the background around the girl on this card, but the rest is done in Prismacolor pencils. I sponged black ink around the edges. I don't really care for the way the edges turned out. Oh, well.

This sketch came from this week's Mojo Monday #126. It's a busy one, yes? ;) Lots of stuff going on in this card.

Aren't the Pure Innocence images just darling?? They sure are rightly named. This image is called Pure Innocence 001. The neat thing about using digital stamps is that you can make them almost any size you want. That's a very convenient feature. I created a Word document and copied 4 images of the little girl onto the page to print. That way I have extras if I goof one of them up or want to dimensionalize one of them.

All the designer papers came from Basic Grey's Cupcake Collection.

I went a little wild with Cuttlebug embossing folders. I'm sorry. I do love those things.

Thanks for looking and be watching for my upcoming Copic adventures! Yay! Can't wait!

Have a lovely weekend!

Recipe

Stamps: Pure Innocence 001 digistamp by Digi Stamp Characters, With Love by PSX, Just for You by Stampin' Up!

CS: Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy and True Black by Papertrey Ink, Basic Grey Cupcake Collection dp

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, printer

Other: Cuttlebug Spots and Dots, Birds and Swirls, Tiny Bubbles and Mesh embossing folders, Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circle Large and Standard Circle Large and Labels 2 die cuts, Martha Stewart Double Scallop border punch, sewing machine, sponge dauber, red gems, black gingham ribbon, 3D-Dots, Copic C1 marker, Prismacolor pencils, Stamp-a-ma-jig, black Micron pen for touching up image

Friendship birthday card

This card design is similar to another one I did for Amy Westerman's Sunday Sketch Challenge. I don't think she does those anymore. Nevertheless, I felt the flower from Doodle This was perfect for this design.

To do the flower, I stamped it 3 times on glossy white cardstock and cut 2 whole flowers out and the center on the third one. I watercolored them using a water brush and the Ruby Red, More Mustard, and Close to Cocoa markers, building the color intensity a layer at a time. Once everything was good and dry I curled the petals back with a pencil-type object. I connected the layers with mini Pop Dots.

For the main part of the card I used Ruby Red cs. I stamped Canvas in Ruby Red on it. For the Cuttlebugged part I used Apricot Appeal cs and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Birds and Swirls" embossing folder (so pretty!). Then I sponged (more like rubbed) black ink over the cuttlebugged part.

I used a black polka-dotted ribbon, gluing it down to the Apricot Appeal and black cs before adhering that piece to the Ruby Red.

I stamped the sentiment from Birthday Greetings on white cs in Basic Black dye ink and stamped one of the swirls from Doodle This in Ruby Red and then lightly sponged a little black ink on the stamp, huffed and then stamped it on the white. It toned down the Ruby Red just right. I stamped the sentiment area with the speckled stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in More Mustard with a light sponging of black ink. I mounted the sentiment on black cs and used Dimensionals to adhere it to the card.

Recipe:

Stamps: Doodle This, Birthday Greetings, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
CS: Ruby Red, Black, Apricot Appeal, White, Glossy white
Inks: Basic Black, Ruby Red, More Mustard
Others: Markers: Ruby Red, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa; Cuttlebug embossing folder "Birds and Swirls", Stamp-a-ma-jig for sentiment, Polka dot ribbon, Dimensionals, Pencil for curling flower petals, Sponge