I don't know why, but I haven't been making cards for my close friends at work. I recently decided to start, and this is one of the first. I did a 40th birthday card for a friend earlier this year, but that was a special occasion. This is a non-milestone birthday. :-)
This friend at work likes birds and bird-watching, so I thought Papertrey Ink's Bird Watching set would be perfect. I colored the birdhouses with my Copic markers and then cut them out with my Nesties. I also got to use my brand-spanking new MS "around the page" border punch, but I didn't go around the page, lol. I'll try that at a later date, because I bought the corner one, too. Anyhoo...I hope she likes it. She's one of the ones who sees all of my cards at work before they're sent to the recipients, and she seems to enjoy them, so hopefully she'll enjoy one of her very own.
Thanks for looking!
Supplies: Kraft and Stamper's Select White cardstockfrom Papertrey ink; Pink textured paper from a Momenta Tranquil 5 x 7 cardstock pad; MS patterened paper; Bird Watching stamps from Papertrey Ink; MS border punch; Nestabilities: Circles, Labels 3, Ribbon Tag Trio; Copic markers; Offray and Basic/Basic ribbons; Memento black and Versamark inks; Kaisercraft rhinestones
I am pretty proud of myself today. The card pictured here uses several things that are new to me, whether it's the product or technique or both.
I have an admission to make. I don't like to practice at anything. I have a tendency to give up on something if I don't get it right away. It's not this way with everything, of course. Just things that don't "matter" in the grand scheme of things, like piano lessons -- I'm not going to die if I don't practice. Of course, I won't be good either, but I HATED practicing piano when I was younger.With schoolwork, "practice" -- aka homework -- is necessary, and you have to work at relationships and such. But crafty techniques...not so important. :-)
So anyway...the card... This one is for a guy at work whose parents will be celebrating their 64th anniversary this year. He had seen some of my cards at work, so he asked me to make one for his parents. When I asked him what they liked, he said his mom's favorite flower is the sunflower since she's from Kansas. I've admired Lori Tecler's use of Kitchen Sink stamps (among other things), and I was pretty sure I'd seen a sunflower a while back, so I headed over to Kitchen Sink Stamps and found the Giant Sunflower set. It seemed a simple enough process. Looks can be SOOO deceiving! :-)
I received my stamps on Thursday and sat down this morning to try it out. First problem -- I didn't have enough colors in the same families. What to do, what to do? I tried it with the colors I had -- it was close, but not close enough. Plus, I was having SUCH a hard time positioning all the layers. So I went searching for tips and found Tammy Hershberger's tutorial. I tried the Kitchen Sink tutorials, but I only "got it" after reading Tammy's tutorial. I tried another couple of times (there's the practice!) and finally got a good one! Yay! The leaves were much easier, and I think that now that I've done one well, I should be able to do it again. So lesson learned: practice can be good! Perseverance, too.
So, I also received my Waltzingmouse stamps today. I was so excited because they came all the way from Ireland and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get here. Laurie Schmidlin and Ashley Cannon Newell had both been showing off cute stuff made with Waltzingmouse stamps, so I had to get some of my own. I had already decided to use my Labels 4, but when I got my stamps today, I knew I could use my Very Vintage Labels No. 4 as well. Yay!
The other thing my friend from work was thinking was to have a sky and I started thinking of Kansas' rolling hills. Kansas is flat, but I never really knew flat until I moved to Florida, lol! Kansas is NOT flat! So I decided to give the front some rolling hills. I freehanded some curves and stitched them with my sewing machine (another first for me). Next, for the sky, I was thinking maybe I could finally make use of my Copic Airbrush System. I practiced on scrap paper, and came up with what I thought might look sort of like dusk. I hope I was successful in representing that.
Last new thing was including the butterfly charm hanging from the bow. Michaels has a bunch of stuff on clearance, and I got several cards of charms, thinking I could do exactly what I did with the butterfly.
Anyhoo...it took a while, but I'm pleased with the result. Thanks for looking and reading my rambling. This experience was great in terms of showing me exactly why practice can be so helpful. (Not that I didn't know, but it's good to be reminded every so often.) :-)
Supplies: (There are so many I hope I don't forget anything!) Paper: Rustic White, Dark Chocolate, and Lemon Tart from PTI, green from Bazzill; Dark Chocolate ink and Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo from PTI, Versamagic chalk ink in Thatched Straw, Mango Madness (stamped off), Pumpkin Spice (stamped off), Sage, Spanish Olive, Hint of Pesto, Sahara Sand, and Jumbo Java; Labels 4 and Ribbon Tags Nestabilities, Copic Airbrush System and Copics (sorry, don't ask what colors!); Plaid Petals a Plenty charm; Rustic Cream Button Twine from PTI.
Well, I can't believe my youngest turned five this past week. He's getting so big! And he had a great time at his party. I think he even appreciated this card, lol! He said, "Look at the puppy!" That's not much, but at least it got a comment, like many of the cards didn't! He, um, hasn't learned to at least pretend to look at the cards yet...just digs in for the presents, lol.
I got to use one of my new Cuttlebug folders from a set I bought from HSN. I also sort of airbrushed the color on the dog with my Copics and used a Spica pen to color the puppy's tag. The "Make a Wish" is a rub-on from Three Birds' Perfect in Platinum rub-on set that I got on clearance from HSN. The party hat is the other impulse buy from Michaels I mentioned in my last post. The "paper" across the bottom was actually from a sheet of KI Memories Sheer Delights that I got on clearance from Two Peas. (I luuuuuurv clearance!)
Supplies: Unknown dots dp, yellow and green The Paper Company cardstock, KI Memories Sheer Delights "Birthday", Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Cuttlebug (I think it's Harlequin?); Three Birds Perfect in Platinum rub-on; K&Company Layered Accents "Party Hats"; Sandylion puppy stamp from "Boy Clear Stamps" set; Colorbok orange brads; Memento ink; Copics and Copic Airbrush System; Martha Stewart zigzag rotary cutter.
A while back, a friend on one of my Yahoo groups surprised me with a birthday card. It was such a nice surprise, I decided to "steal" her idea and send cards to my "friends" when their birthdays came up. Hopefully she has received her card by now because I sent it ages ago! And hopefully she was surprised, too.
I used my Papertrey Ink Sign Language set for this one. I even used my Spica pen to add a little glittery flame. :-) It's an Ocean Tides card base with clear embossed Polka Dots dots. The DP is My Mind's Eye, Just Dreamy 2, Enchanting "You and Me" So Close/Red Hot Paper. I used Memento inks for this one (Black and Rhubarb Stalk), plus Papertrey's Chamomile cube. The ribbon is Stampin Up. Border punch by EK Success.
I posted a card just a few weeks ago for my mom's anniversary, and this one is for my dad's anniversary. I recently received Papertrey Ink's Sign Language stamp set, and decided to use it on this card. The designs are so freaking cute, but alas, it didn't come with an anniversary sentiment. Probably too long to fit the sign, lol. Anyhoo...
It's also the first time I inked up my Polka Dots II set, and the first time I used my full-sized Vintage Cream ink pad. I was really tired of trying to get everything covered with the little cube, so I broke and bought the full size.
Thanks for looking!
Supplies: Papertrey Ink cardstock in Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides; Papertrey Ink ink in Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate; Copic Spica (flower centers are glittery); generic rhinestones; Scor-Pal; Fiskars Apron Lace border punch; Papertrey Ink stamps: Sign Language, Damask Designs, Polka Dot Basics II; square and square scalloped Nestabilities
It's not often that I get to do little girl cards. I have two young boys, so we tend to go to boy birthday parties and HAVE boy birthday parties and such. Our new neighbors (received the bird box way back when) have a daughter who just turned six, so I got to make a girly, blingy card! Yay! ;-)
The cupcake is from The Paper Company's Cupcakes collection. First I stamped it in Memento black and colored with Copics (just a teensy bit shaded). Then I covered it with 3D Crystal Lacquer and dusted some glitter on top. Then I stamped the cupcake again in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. Once the lacquer was dry, I cut out the cupcake part as well as the solid silver hear from the silver version, and stacked it all together. Added a rhinestone and had a cute, girly cupcake! I also used my Copics to airbrush the Labels 4 diecut. You can barely see a bit of yellow and pink behind the cupcake and sentiment (from Hero Arts). Nana's Kids papers, a Papertrey card base, and American Crafts ribbon finished it off.
It's my understanding from her mom that she really liked this card and she wants to scrapbook it. :-) Her mom is allergic to cats (I have four), so I'll be bringing my goodies next door sometime soon to help them with their scrapbook. I don't scrapbook, but there's no reason my schtuff can't be used for someone else's scrapbook, right?
Thanks for looking!
Another acquisition from the CHA Craft Supershow is the Vintage Picnic stamp set from Papertrey Ink. Since my anniversary was last week, we received money gifts from my mom and his parents, so I needed some thank you notes. This is also my first real try with my Copic markers. You may not really be able to see very well (my camera sucks), but there is subtle shading on the flowers and leaves.
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