Purr-fect Kitty

I'm submitting this card to 2 challenges, Some Odd Girl's April Sketch Challenge and Simon Say's Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

This is the sketch I had to follow:

And here's my card:

I started out with the idea of a cat playing with yarn, and having the yarn be the 'flags' at the bottom of the sketch.  Which meant finding yarn, or something close enough.  The only thing I had was pink floss, so that set my colour scheme.  I decided that since I needed two frames the pink would go best with a monochrome look, and so settled on black, grey and white.

I cut out my frames and used a tape gun to attach them to the black card base.  I then played with the floss to make my loops and cat toy.  I glued the floss under where the black ribbon was set to go.  Using a lighter, I fixed the ends of the floss and ribbon so they won't unravel.

I carefully glued the ribbon over the floss and then started on my images.  The ball of yarn was stamped in black on pink fluorescent cardstock, and the cat on grey cardstock.  I then coloured the cat with pencil crayons and fussy cut them out.

To give the card a bit of dimension I used a pop dot in the centre of the yarn and cat's face, gluing the rest of the images down.  This way they pop up a bit.  I left the cat's tail unglued.

For the sentiment, I used the 'Purr-fect' stamp from Some Odd Girl's Clever Kitties set (which is where the yarn and cat are from).  'Have a' was carefully inked from a JustRite stamp and 'birthday' is from a There she Goes stamp.  I'd intended to do the entire sentiment in black and at the last moment noticed my pink Hero Arts fluorescent ink, and so used that to give it a bit of umph.

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop: Tilted

I originally planned to do a biplane card for this challenge/hop, but I saw someone else do that, so I decided to come up with another idea.  Here it is:

I started out with a light blue card and a second piece of cardstock in a darker blue.  I scored the darker panel how I wanted to cut it (so I wouldn't need to add pencil lines, and I kind of like the bits of scored edge you can see on the panel pieces).  I cut the panels and then using the off piece in the centre, drew pencil lines where my stamping would have to go (I did the same thing for the sentiment).

The stamps are all from Papertrey Ink's Daydreamer's set.  I used black and grey ink for the dandelion heads, and a green Crayola marker for the stems and leaves.  The flying dandelion seeds were done with a fine tipped black marker.

I attached the panels with pop dots and voila.

Window of Opportunity Challenge: Life is Better

After several days of not having time to card craft, Saturday I managed 3 cards.  The two butterfly ones I've already posted and didn't take much time at all to make.  This last card was time consuming but I'm very happy with how it turned out.  I made this for JustRite's Window of Opportunity challenge.  The idea is to have a window from one layer of your card to the next, that draws your attention as you open the card.

I had the idea that I wanted more than one window and so started with a piece of cream cardstock and scored 2 lines rather than one center line.

Starting on the inside, I stamped my frame and the two sentiments (one fudged a bit so I evened it out with a marker).  Then, using my light table I carefully traced my window on the two flaps, so only parts of the sentiment would show up on each page.  I then cut the windows out with a craft knife.

Once the windows were cut I stamped the frames around them so they'd be properly centered.

I thought the card looked too plain so I started adding embellishments.  For the front I started with the little accent stamps in the corner and the ribbon, then I added the Spellbinders vine and punched ivy leaves.  The tiny butterflies were punched out of vellum and coloured in pink marker on the back.  This made the wings curl up (which I wasn't expecting but worked out great).  I added a dot of glitter glue in the center of each.

I thought the middle panel needed some colour so after stamping the corner accents I added green to the frame.  In retrospect the marker I used had too thick a head to keep the detail in the stamp, so I should have used pencil crayons for that.  I added some larger punched butterflies to this page, punched out of a thin pink paper.

I decided the last panel was fine with the frame alone.  All of the stamps are from JustRite.  They're stamped with increasingly darker inks as you open the card (so light pink on the front and red inside).

Celebrate

Here's where you find out how I used the rest of the paper from the butterfly I die cut for this card here. It's another birthday 'celebrate' card.  Also a simple one, this time I stamped my CAS-ual Fridays stamp (curved again) on the paper below the die cut, and then the sentiment on the bottom of the page.

Very simple, but I think it looks great.  I've used pop dots to keep the panel up.

Birthday Bash Challenge

I'm submitting this card to CAS-ual Fridays' Birthday Bash Challenge.  CAS means Clean and Simple, so I wanted something without much embellishment.  I started out by die cutting a butterfly (Papertrey Ink) from dark purple paper (I've used the negative of that sheet in another card I'll post later this week).  I then used CAS-ual Fridays' Countdown set for the sentiment and image.  The image is designed to be stamped straight, but I curved it on my stamping block to get this effect.  The backing paper is a lighter purple, and the ink, Grape by Memento.  I attached the butterfly using pop dots.

Make a Splash

This is a card I made a few weeks back after seeing some nautical cards on the Simon Says Stamp blog hop. (You can see the cards here, they're the second and third one down.)

I used markers to ink up the stamp (by Local King Rubber Stamps), and cut it out.  The lines are just blue cardstock placed over white.  The sentiment is from my mermaid Some Odd Girl set.  I used pop dots to add the octopus to the card.  I like the card, but I'm not sure what occasion I'd give it out for.  Maybe a play/performance? (based on the sentiment).

Sending a Little Sunshine

I'm working extra this week and next, so I won't have much time for card crafting.  That means you're getting some cards I made a few weeks ago.  I did this card as an 'emboss over watercolour' technique card, only realizing when I finished that I'd stamped not watercoloured the base image.  I really like it though.  The stamps are Papertrey Ink.  I stamped the rays and circle in yellow, then embossed the white lines on top.  I avoided embossing where the sentiment goes so it would stamp flat.

Embossed Birthday Flower

I've been having some fun with heat embossing techniques lately.  Here's a birthday card I made.  It was quite simple and fun to do.

I stamped the Penny Black flower and Hot off the Press sentiment with Versamark ink, then heat embossed them in black on watercolour paper.  I then scribbled over the page with 3 metallic gelatos: blue, purple and silver.  I spritzed the page and then rubbed a sponge over the gelatos to cover the page fully and blend the colours.  Once it was dry I glue taped the image to a light purple card.

 

Hot Air Balloon Birthday Wishes

I made this card for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge, Watercoloring Embossed Images.  This is a fun technique.

All of the stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Up, Up, and Away set.  I started by stamping the hot air balloons on watercolour paper.  I put a few drops of different coloured reinkers on a piece of plastic and got out a container of water and a brush.  Then, taking small amounts of ink and water, I carefully painted the balloons.  For the baskets, as I don't have a yeller reinker, I tried something different.  I coloured on the plastic with a water based Crayola marker to get some ink, and used that.  When they were dry I cut them out.

For the background (also on watercolour paper) I painted the hills with a peacock shade of green, using more water to wash out the colour for the hills further back (and yes, I realized after gluing my balloons on that I'd messed up the perspective).  For the clouds I again coloured with markers on the plastic, this time in two shades of grey.  I added some water (probably too much) and painted the colour directly on the cloud stamps.  I actually like the marbled effect I got.  It worked well for clouds, though I won't try that for solid images.

I glued the two smaller balloons on the page and used pop-dots for the largest one.  I also punched one cloud and popped that on for dimension.  Finally I stamped my sentiment and added it to the back (and then realized I should have done that before adding the popped elements).

Fancy Birthday Card

Today's card is fancier than I normally make, but I LOVE these cards (even if I sometimes think they're too busy, hence why I don't make them often.  They're also time consuming but definitely worth the effort).

This card was specifically designed for JustRite's Friday Challenge #94, which is a sketch challenge.  I decided to make the card birthday themed so I could also submit it to Simon Says Stamp's Happy Birthday challenge.

I started out by die cutting my base using a Spellbinder's die.  I used the same die to trace the center area (which doesn't die cut) on my patterned paper and then hand cut it out so it would follow the lines of the die cut.  The center panel is also a Spellbinder's die, and the stamps JustRite (You Inspire Me), stamped with grape Memento ink.

I cut 2 shades of ribbon and tied them around the center panel before glueing the panel onto the card base.  The center panel was attached to the card with pop dots and the bow tied separately and glued on.  Finally I stuck a pin with various beads on it through the center of the bow.

Dragon Birthday

I made this card for Simon Says Stamp's Challenge Blog.  It's their 4th anniversary, and so the theme this week is Happy Birthday.

I started this card with the idea of using my Graphic 45 Bird Song cling #3 stamps.  I'm ashamed to say that though I've had the set for several months this is the first time I've used them.  I love the designs but haven't done much with an Asian theme lately.

I thought either the phoenix or dragon stamp would look fantastic embossed with my holographic embossing powder.  Turns out the stamp is too detailed so it's a bit hard to see what the picture is.  Next time I'll ink the image first in silver or gold and then emboss it.  Still, it's got a fabulous glitter effect in a fascinating mix of green and brown on its black background.

I wanted the sentiment to match and so daubed my bronze and teal metallic pigment inks on a sheet of plastic and then picked up the ink with the stamp (I didn't want to contaminate my stamp pads by using one colour and then the second.  This way I also got some fancy mixing of the colours).

The backing is red cardstock embossed with a Cuttlebug folder from an oriental set I have.

Some Odd Girl - Make a Splash Mermaid

I recently won a stamp set from Some Odd Girl Stamps called Clever Kitties.  I decided to take the opportunity to buy some of their other sets, as I love their designs - particularly the critters.  Yesterday they arrived, but I didn't have time for stamping so I finally got to play with them today.

I've wanted a mermaid stamp for ages, so instead of playing with the kitties (sorry kitties, I'll get to you soon) I went for the Under the Sea Mae set (they've got several characters they use, and Mae is one of them that's been turned into a mermaid for this set).

I started out with white cardstock.  Instead of inking in black the way I usually do, I decided to ink it in teal.  That set the tone for the rest of the colouring, which was done with pencil crayons and blended with gamsol.

I cut the image out with an oval Spellbinders die.  The oval came out when I switched plates for the embossing, which is why it's a bit lopsided (you can't really see it in the picture).  I don't mind though, I think it adds something to this image.  I used a red gel pen for the 'stars' and a clear one to go over the fins so they shimmer a bit.

I decided on a dark teal cardstock and cut and inked the sentiment label (also Spellbinders).  For the fish, I used the image from the Clever Kitty's set (so I did play with them a little bit), inking them with markers.  The red one's a reverse image, stamped first on plastic and then on paper.  As it came out very faint I just coloured over the lines with the marker again.  They're filled in with pencil crayon.

Something was missing...  I looked around my craft table and spotted some lighter teal crepe paper that wrapped stamps from an order a while back.  Perfect.  I punched out some flowers, stuck a rhinestone inside and wrapped the petals around them so they'd look a bit more dimensional before smoothing them back.  The mermaid and label are tape gunned on, the flowers glued and the fish on with pop dots.

I have to admit, I really like how this card turned out.