Baby boy

This was a fairly quick and dirty card- made for a coworker who is expecting any day now. Several months ago, she made a comment, and immediately, the idea for the card came to mind.

I specifically was looking for a turtle stamp, and couldn't find one I liked. Fortunately, a friend had this set I could borrow. The comment made by my coworker was along the lines of 'close to the end, you don't care if the kid comes out a turtle, you just want it out.'

The stamps are by Recollections (Michaels), and the paper was in a multi-pack. My coworker knew she is having a boy, and the jeans background was just perfect. I coloured the animals with copics and cut the square out with Nestabilities. I tucked the animals behind the card to give it a little more interest and dimension.

Brother's birthday

My baby brother celebrated his birthday last Saturday. He really loves woodworking, and he is very talented with it. I decided that his birthday card needed to involve his favourite hobby.

The base of the card is a 4.25 by 5.5 piece of adhesive cork. I picked it up from a local scrapbooking store around Christmas and finally got around to using it. The first piece, I stamped the sentiment in black and didn't like it at all, so I tossed it to the side and cut the second piece and used brown. I like it much better- it looks like it was burned into the cork.
The tape measure is some creative re-using. We got a mailer from a local phone company with the tape measure wrapped around it- I decided to save it from the recycling bin and used it on the card. The stickers are from my favourite store in Stonewall, and I coloured them with my copics so they had a little different look to them. I really like the way this card turned out, and I am sure my brother will like it, and the little something I stuck inside for him as well.

Long weekend, new toys and creativity

I went away this weekend with a friend, and we hit many a craft store. It's so much fun to get away with a like-minded crafting friend.

Coming home with many crafting goodies resulted in a great deal of creativity today. I ended up making several cards today, which I will share over the coming days. This one was probably my favourite creations today. I love the way the colours turned out:

The stamp was purchased at Joann's this weekend. I cut the card to a 5.25 inch square and stamped the flower four times. I used Broken China, Stormy Sky, Spun Sugar and Wild Honey distress inks to colour the flowers with an aqua pen which gave a nice water colour effect. The butterfly was stamped in black and then I used four colours of distress inks, all in the orange family (Rusty Hinge, Marigold and a couple of others) to colour the butterfly. Then, to add more dimension, I cut it out, embossed it with clear embossing powder and attached it to the card with foam tape. This card puts me in mind of spring, which finally seems to be here, after a long, cold winter, and a slow-starting spring. It is also my entry into the the Less is More challenge here. I am glad to be able to play with the Less is More challenge again- and actually finally post my entry.

Apparently...

Procrastination begets more procrastination. I have been busy with work, cleaning my crafting area, cleaning the house getting ready for a gigantic yard sale in a couple of weeks (including purging my craft space). My crafting area is now an organized, relatively clutter-free zone, and I hope to be able to keep it up.

I was actually able to see the entire top of my desk, and it was nice to be able to use my paper cutter and not have to push stuff out of the way.

Here are a couple I created a while ago, and haven't gotten around to posting. I've been in a creative spin lately, and will have some more posted soon.

This technique was one I posted a while ago, and played with it in a different colour. Both stamps are Tim Holtz.

First, I stamped the background in black ink and clear embossed it.

Then, I wet the paper, and smooshed distress inks all over it, wet it and crumpled the paper. I then wet it again, added some more ink, blotted the paper with a paper towel and gently (VERY gently) rolled it between my hands like I was making a play dough worm. As a result, the paper is rather leathery. I then dried it a little with my heat tool, and ironed it to smooth it out a bit. 

As it was embossed, I ironed it face-down on a piece of cardstock and very carefully lifted it off.

For this one, I stamped onto white in a rusty colour and ran the inks around the edges as well. I tilted it for a different perspective and added the ribbon and sentiment (which I think is Stampin' Up). 

I'll be posting more soon, I promise!

Spring fever

I've been slacking lately- we got back from our trip mid-March, then my husband went to his mom's for a three-week visit. Last week of his trip, I got a horrible cold and it's still hanging on. I managed to do some creating while he was away, but didn't get it uploaded until today. Typical- he'll be home in about an hour, and I am doing stuff last minute.

While we were on our cruise, my third niece was born- Emily Catherine- I was trying to decide what to do for her, and came across this cute little stamp at Michaels in the 1.50 bin. I haven't really done a square card before, but it worked well for this one.

The paper is a lightly textured stripe, layered on a darker pink. The sentiment was an experiment- I had the perfect pink for it, but it was a copic marker. I coloured the stamped, huffed some breath on it and stamped it quickly. I was amazed that it worked. Now, to find something to send her and pop it in the mail.

Flourishes challenge

I stumbled upon a new challenge at splitcoaststampers.com. The challenge is to use four of something on your card, and you had to use Flourishes stamps. I have only one set of Christmas stamps, and several non-Christmas. I love, love, love this set, and have used it many times.

I stamped the image in Momento black ink, coloured it all over with N0 Copic, coloured the image with Copics and used Spica gold on his glasses. Then, I added Tea Dye distress ink all over the front of the card, cut it to size and layered it on dark green and red cardstock. The background piece is also coloured with the distress ink. My four of a kind were the brads.

Long time, no blog

It's been a while since my last post- husband retired from the military last month, and to celebrate, we went on a Caribbean cruise. It was heavenly, and I would go back in a heartbeat. 

I made these cards a while ago. It was a technique I saw somewhere (can't remember where now) and really liked it. I got some patterned paper on sale, and the vellum overlay really toned it down. 

The stamp sentiment is Tim Holtz.

 For this one, I ran the vellum through the cuttlebug and the through the zyron to make it stick to the card face.

 This one was run through the zyron as well. The ribbon added a little detail.

 This one is probably my favourite. I used alcohol ink on glossy paper and then stamped the butterfly with black in and embossed it before cutting it out.

I have some new toys that I'll be playing with later this week. So many toys, so little time.