Asian Style Anniversary

My card was inspired by this card that I saw on Splitcoast. I used the same stamp set and kept the same basic layout but I wanted it to be my own creation so I didn't copy it exactly. I only used one of the flower images and they were inked using bravo burgundy, cut out and attached to the branch image with dimensionals. To keep with the Asian inspired stamp images I embossed the black background using the floral screen embossing folder.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy, Black; Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Black; Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Burgundy Organdy Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Floral Screen Embossing Folder, Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Five Challenge Card

I needed to make a birthday card for a co-worker and I also wanted to challenge myself to do something different. This card incorporates five challenges from Splitcoast.

1. Technique Challenge - Make a trellis (TLC316).

2. Color Challenge - soft suede, crumb cake, baja breeze and a neutral (CC314) with an option to add glitter, sparkle, gloss, etc.

3. Sketch Challenge - here is the link to the sketch (SC324).

4. Ways to Use It Challenge - Felt (WT313).

5. Free for All Challenge - How does your garden grow? (F4A56).

To make the trellis I used the top note die frame and cut 1/8" strips and attached them diagonally from left to right and then wove the another strip from right to left going over and under the previous strips. To give it a weathered look I sponged it all over with crumb cake ink.

It wasn't difficult to incorporate the colors using the Parisian Breeze DSP as my flower garden behind the trellis. The trellis layer was adhered to soft suede and then attached to my card base of baja breeze.

The felt flower was created using a cuttlebug flower die and white felt. Once the flowers were cut I dyed them using a baja breeze reinker mixed with water and because I didn't want to wait for them to air dry I just used my heat gun to dry them. Make sure you keep the heat gun moving and don't get to close to the felt. Once the felt was dry I layered my flowers and added a rhinestone brad. The leaves were cut from crumb cake card stock using the little leaves sizzlet. I cut two of them and then just cut the leaves apart and adhered them to the top left corner using tombow adhesive and attached the felt flower with mini glue dots.

The sentiment was stamped using soft suede ink onto whisper white card stock and then punched out using the large oval punch, layered onto a baja breeze scalloped oval then a soft suede curly label, and finally a crumb cake scalloped circle. I added the rhinestones and then adhered the entire piece with dimensionals to the lattice punched baja breeze strip that was layered onto soft suede.

It probably took me an hour and a half to create this card because of the weaving for the trellis and the dyeing of the felt. I love how this card turned out and I think the time spent on it was well worth it.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Parisian Breeze DSP; Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze; Stamps: Occasional Quotes; Other: Felt, Rhinestone Brad, Rhinestones, EK Success Lattice Chain Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Curly Label Punch, Round Scallop Punch, Top Note Die, Little Leaves Sizzlet, Cuttlebug Flower Die, Tombow Adhesive, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals

With Sympathy

For this sympathy card I used some retired elements from Stampin' Up. Can you believe I still have mauve mist card stock and organdy ribbon! The main image on this card is from a stamp set called "Happy Harmony" which was a set you could get from free during sale-a-bration several years ago. I have used this set for various occasions and reach for it when I need to make a card in a hurry. I colored the flowers with a mauve mist marker and then went around the edges of the flowers with a rose romance marker to achieve the two-tone effect. The stems were colored in certainly celery and the sentiment was stamped using soft suede ink. For the embossed background I used the cuttlebug script embossing folder.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Mauve Mist; Ink: Mauve Mist, Rose Romance, Certainly Celery, Soft Suede; Stamps: Happy Harmony, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Script Embossing Folder, Mauve Organdy Ribbon, Dimensionals

Sympathy Prints

This card was very simple to put together and by changing the sentiment could be used for almost anything. The leaf image was stamped onto whisper white card stock using bashful blue ink. To get the faded effect you can either ink the image and stamp off several times or ink it once and huff on the stamp to moisten the ink and stamp several times. Once I had my images stamped I used the color spritzer tool and a bashful blue marker to achieve the effect I wanted. The sentiment was stamped over my main images and then layered onto a piece of bashful blue card stock. I paper pierced the upper left corner and mounted it to the card base using dimensionals. The background paper on the card base is from a DCWV paper pack.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray, DCWV Paper Pack; Ink: Bashful Blue, Black; Stamps: Petal Prints, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Color Spritzer Tool, Black Brads, Dimensionals

Caring Sympathy

I wanted to use the hydrangea image from the "Because I Care" stamp set for my sympathy card but I wanted the layout to be different and the sketch challenge on Splitcoast became my inspiration. I was having a difficult time with the corner to corner layer but once I stamped the single blossom image in versa mark ink and added the paper piercing it all just came together. I colored the hydrangea image using a blender pen with cameo coral and rose red ink and the flower centers were highlighted with a white gel pen. The leaves and stem were colored with old olive ink. Once the image was colored I wanted it to have a little shimmer so I spritzed it with frost white shimmer mist and then mounted it to a piece of rose red card stock. The stamped image and the sentiment were adhered to the card front with dimensionals but it seemed off balance so I added the dew drops to the upper left corner and it helped to balance things out.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Cameo Coral, Rose Red, Raspberry Tart DSP; Ink: Black, Cameo Coral, Rose Red, Old Olive, Versa Mark; Stamps: Because I Care, Warmest Regards; Other: Paper Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, White Signo Gel Pen, Frost White Shimmer Mist, Dew Drops, Dimensionals

Red Spinner Card

My nephew turned 10 and his party was on Saturday so I'm finally posting the card I made for him. His favorite color is red so of course that had to be the main color and I knew he would like the idea of the card being interactive since the spinner on the card can actually spin. All of the kids had to have a turn at making the spinner move. The main image was stamped using black staz-on ink and then embossed with black embossing powder. I used various SU markers to color in the images and then attached the spinner through a 1/2" circle of real red and the stamped image. To make sure the spinner would actually spin the stamped image was mounted to real red card stock using dimensionals and then attached to a layer of brilliant blue card stock. I used the number collage embossing folder for the background and adhered that to brilliant blue card stock and then to my card base. The remaining elements were stamped and attached to the embossed background using dimensionals.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Brilliant Blue; Ink: Black Staz-on, Real Red, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Take a Spin, Birthday Wish; Other: Number Collage Embossing Folder, 1/2" Circle Punch, Spinner with Brad, Black Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Masculine Sympathy Cards

 

 

I think most of us have difficulty making masculine cards but when they also need to be sympathy cards the difficulty level increases. I decided to keep the cards fairly simple and clean which I think works well for both masculine cards and sympathy cards. The trees were stamped onto very vanilla card stock using crumb cake ink and then I used the color spritzer tool and the crumb cake marker to fill in some of the empty space. The stamped images were adhered to mellow moss card stock. The background paper is from a DCWV paper pack and luckily the colors in the paper coordinated very nicely with the mellow moss and crumb cake card stock.

Supplies Used: Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, DCWV Paper Pack; Ink: Black, Crumb Cake; Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Other: Notched Corner Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Color Spritzer Tool, Dew Drops, Dimensionals

Sympathy Elements

I needed a sympathy card and decided that the color challenge of using bashful blue, pear pizazz and concord crush would work. I really like how the blue and concord crush worked so well together for the blossoms. I stamped the image on whisper white card stock and used markers and a blender pen to color it. I added some white ink using a signo gel pen to the flower centers over the daffodil delight ink for a softer look.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Pear Pizazz, Concord Crush; Ink: Black, Bashful Blue, Concord Crush, Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight; Stamps: Elements of Style, Warmest Regards; Other: Eyelet Border Punch, Modern Label Punch, Blender Pen, White Signo Gel Pen, Dimensionals

Anniversary Bliss

This card will be going to my sister and her husband and it will actually be on time this year. It seems like I miss their anniversary every year and I always feel bad because she never forgets my anniversary. My sister's favorite color is purple and I decided it was time to use concord crush. I really like that the framed tulip embossing folder fits the standard A2 card and doesn't leave a large border. The flourish was stamped in concord crush ink on a piece of whisper white card stock and then spritzed with frost white shimmer mist. The stamped image was then layered on a piece of concord crush card stock and another piece of whisper white card stock. The butterfly was stamped in concord crush ink on a scrap piece of whisper white card stock and cut out. I wanted to add ribbon or lace and tried several different things before deciding on the white organdy ribbon. The ribbon was to wide so I folded it in thirds and added the ribbon slide to hold it in place. I attached the pearls to the card elements and glued the butterfly in place with tombow adhesive.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Concord Crush; Ink: Concord Crush; Stamps: Bliss; Other: Frost White Shimmer Mist, Pearls, White Organdy Ribbon, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Ribbon Slide

Spinner Birthday

When I first saw this set in the mini catalog I knew I had to have it and the game spinners to go with it. I stamped the image with black staz-on and embossed it with black embossing powder. The images were colored to coordinate with the ice cream parlor paper. Once everything was colored in I cut out the image, added the punched flower and game spinner and mounted it to a piece of marina mist card stock using dimensionals so the spinner would actually spin. I then attached the image to the scalloped border square. The card base is a standard A2 card in whisper white layered with a piece of marina mist and then ice cream parlor designer paper. The scallop border piece is also an element from the ice cream parlor paper pack. Once I had the layout that I was happy with it just seemed like it needed something else so I attached rhinestones to the upper right corner.

Supplies Used: Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Ice Cream Parlor DSP; Ink: Black Staz-on, Various SU Markers; Stamps: Take a Spin; Other: Scallop Trim Border and Corner Punches, Game Spinner with Brad, Rhinestones, Black Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Gray Birthday

This card is for the "Ways To Use It Challenge" on splitcoast. The challenge was to use gray as a neutral. I need more masculine birthday cards and thought since the challenge was to use gray it was also the perfect opportunity to make a masculine looking card. I kept the card clean and simple and didn't clutter it up with too many elements. It is also a monochromatic card which is what I seem to make when I make masculine looking cards. The card base is the standard A2 card in basic gray card stock layered with very vanilla and then charbon dsp. I stamped the sentiment and image onto very vanilla card stock using basic gray ink. I punched out the stamped image using the wide oval punch but I wanted the stamped image to have a border around it so I punched out 2 more ovals from basic gray card stock and then layered them together to create the border. The stamped image was attached over the ribbon with dimensionals.

Supplies Used: Paper: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Charbon DSP; Ink: Basic Gray; Stamps: Vintage Labels; Other: Wide Oval Punch, Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals