Group Photo

When I saw this stamp set during preview week over at Mama Elephant I knew that I had to have it.  This group of kids is just too cute and a good group to color up, although time consuming. 

As I said earlier, Mama Elephant’s Photo Bomb was used on this card and colored up with Copic markers.  Once I finished coloring faces I got a little lazy and decided to paper piece the two dresses worn with some Snap Vibe paper.  I used a white sharpie pen to color in the areas that could be taken for lace around their necklines and the sleeves on the one in the lower left corner and put some Christmas red stickles to the heart on her dress as well.  One of my kiddos got a little lost in the image, but he made it through.  I cut two Polaroid frames out of neutral colors and put my focal image into them and placed it on the red panel.  I cut the letters out of scraps of Recollections paper that I had in my stash and fixed them to my project using multi-matte medium.  I put a metallic enamel dot to represent a magnet at the top of my Polaroid.

Supplies used:

Paper: American Crafts Red for main panel, Recollections various colors, Neenah #110 Solar White for card base, Hammermill #100 for picture panel, Snap Color Vibe 6 x 6 paper pack;

Stamps and Dies: MaMa Elephant Photo Bomb, Lawn Fawn Say Cheese Die, Lawn Fawn Finley’s ABC’s, MFT Blueprint 18 for red panel;

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black;

Copics: B00, B01, YG13, YG17, R17, R27, Y19, Y21, Y32, Y23, C5, C7, W5, W7, E000, E00, E19, E11, E13, E17, E21, E23, E33, E35, E53, E55, R01;

            

 Everything else: MME Metallic Enamel Dots, Black Sakura Glaze Pen, Black Memento Marker, White Sharpie pen,

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you a wonderful day.

Owl days are the best

Today’s card was made for submission to this week’s Freshly Made Sketch and The Paper Players Challenge of featuring one of our feathered friends on it.  

The card is on a top fold A2.  It is pretty much a one layer except for the owl who is raised up on the clear ½” pop-dots.  I stamped his hat on a piece of the same patterned paper used on the stripe and pieced it on top of the base.  I added some hot pink flocking powder because every birthday hat must have some fluffy.  The owl was colored up using the Copics listed below and then my colorless blender was used to make some small dots for texture on him.  Once he was all colored up I originally colored his eyes in black, but they looked a little flat.  I then remembered I had some wiggly eyes in my stash so I found some that would complement his colors and glued them in place using some multi-medium matte. 

Next I cut my DP stripe and the mat.  Now, I don’t know about you but I am terrible about gauging how much paper I will need.  To make sure I only had to cut my DP once I grabbed some scrap paper and played with it to make sure I had the correct measurements for my DP.  When I had the correct size it was glued to the mat and the finished piece was glued to the card front and I put the finished owl in place.  With everything in place it looked a little plain, so I grabbed my trusty Copics, colored up some Hammermill then used Mama Elephant’s Confetti Cuts die.  Once I had enough die cuts I placed them around the card and used Lawn Fawn’s Birthday tags to stamp a little using Mama Elephant’s pigment ink.

Challenges Entered:

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, Hammermill #100 for focal image, Recollections Black and Hampton Art Color Crush;

Stamps and Dies: Some Odd Girl Happy Owl Days, Lawn Fawn Birthday Tags, Mama Elephant Confetti;

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Black, Mama Elephant Tutti Frutti and Eggplant;

Copics:  Owl: E50, E51, and E53                                  

                         G12, G24, G43

                         RV04, RV14, RV34           

                          

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well.

My Mother, My Hero

My mother turns 67 this coming Saturday, so I made her this card to tell her just how special she is to me.  She has always been there for me even when I was dead wrong she stood by me.  The only condition to that was I could not end up in jail.  If that happened I was on my own, needless to say I made sure that is not where I ended up.  When I had to deploy for military assignments she took care of my oldest son for months at a time.  She has had health struggles for the last couple of years and no matter what I know that she is okay if she is cracking jokes, so that is how I gauge her health is by her being able to laugh.

 I’m sure I pulled some design elements off of the Mama Elephant’s design team blog unintentionally, so I apologize in advance if I have.

The front panel was done by placing a circle die in the approximate center and cutting.  Then I placed the cityscape die cuts where I wanted them and cut off any that was hanging from the sides.  I cut a piece of fun foam slightly smaller and used the next size up circle die to add some dimension to that panel.  For the sky I used an A2 size panel and airbrushed it first with B32, then took B39 starting at the edges working my way in so that I would have some darkness within my circle area.

I next took my two superhero’s and pierced a small hole on each and ran some gold thread that I have because we cannot have our pets out sans leash, even if they are a super hero.  I figured out where they would be placed and then took my white gel pen and made some stars in my sky.  I put all of my pieces together and dreaded having the front panel all white, so I colored up some scrap paper using the same colors in the project and cut some stars using the Mama Elephant Lots of Stars die and placed them throughout the front panel and skyline. You cannot see in the picture but I added some clear Wink of Stella pen to the stars before I topped them with glossy accents.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, Recollections Black and gray for buildings;

Stamps and Dies: Mama Elephant Tiny Hero with matching dies; Mama Elephant Cityscape and Lots of Stars; Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circles

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Black and Archival Red Geranium;

Copics:  Skin: E11, E15                                     Sky: B32, B39

              Hair: W1, W3, W5, S7

              Outfit: Y11, Y13

                          YG11, YG13

                          RV14, RV17

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Monday.

Happy Birthday!!

I’m back.  Last week I was able to travel to Phoenix, AZ to participate in the Copic Certification classes taught by Ms. Debbie Olson.  Wow, so much knowledge and such a wonderful person.  While I have been learning on-line through Kit and Clowder,

It was nice to sit face to face with someone and find out if what you are doing is right.  Enough about that, I am sharing a card that I created for a co-workers birthday this week using the newly gained skills acquired over the weekend.  The image is a digital one from Saturated Canary called Ana who was colored using Copic markers.  I started trying to use this image for the Mojo Monday Challenge but I just could not make it work.  However, I do like the finished product.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, and Recollections Jewel Red, Feathered Greens, and Purple Passion;

Stamps: Saturated Canary Ana;

Dies: Lifestyle Crafts Rectangle, Simon Says Stamp Balloons, and Mama Elephant Sew Fancy;

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well.

Falling Leaves

How has your weekend been going so far?  Today is the Super Bowl here in the states and that means I will have my crafting space entirely to myself since all the men folk in my house will be watching the game.  I treasure the time I am allowed in here alone since I share the space with my husband who is an avid computer gamer and my youngest fur baby who is a dog but gets in the window like a cat.

Yesterday on SCS the inspiration challenge was to review a Pintrest board and design a card inspired by it.  This board had some amazing items pinned on it and this is the one I chose:

and here is the card that resulted:

It is a very clean and simple one.  In fact it is too clean for my husband who does not care for all of the white space.  I found a scrap piece of #80 Neenah Solar White and placed some double sided adhesive on the back, swiped it with the three ink colors, and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Once the piece cooled I cut the sentiment out, peeled the backing off to reveal the adhesive and then placed it on my panel.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, #80 Neenah Solar White for focal panel;

Stamps: Penny Black Fancy Foliage;

Dies: Penny Black Wishes

Inks:  Mama Elephant Lollipop, Lemongrass, and Orangeade;

Day 5- 2 for 1

On day 5 of class there were two projects shown that I was able to complete without making to horrible a mess.  The first one is the circle card.  My first time making one of these and it will not be my last.  The blue panels that you see on the card were created by smooshing Memento’s Bahama Blue into the paper to get a good coverage and the orange heart uses Memento Tangelo.  The ring and center circles are popped up on foam tape and I used a white gelly roll pin for my white stitch lines around it mainly to cover a penciled circle that I couldn't remove entirely.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White

Stamps: Mama Elephant Boutique Borders, Simon Says Stamp Winter Wishes;

Dies: Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Circles, Lawn Fawn stitched journaling card

Inks: Memento Bahama Blue, London Fog, Lady Bug, and Tangelo

The second card uses a technique called Ink Patterns.  I placed some post-it correction tape on a blank white panel in a design of my choosing and burnished the tape in good to make sure it did not move during the inking process.  I blended my chosen distress inks until I was satisfied and then removed the correction tape and magic.  It looked pretty cool, but I could see where my tape did not match up exactly, so large stamp to the rescue.  I then die cut, placed a red mat behind it and popped it on some foam tape.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, #80 Neenah Solar White for focal, Gina K Red hot for Mat

Stamps: Tim Holtz Good Thoughts

Dies: Mama Elephant Peek A Frame

Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Pickled Raspberry and Barn Door

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend is going well.

Day 4- Faux Embossing

Happy Friday!  We have made it through the first month of the New Year.  

Earlier in the week I shared that I was participating in Clean and Simple 4 Techniques made Simple being presented on Online Card Classes.  Over the next couple of days I am going to share some cards showcasing some of the techniques learned.  I will admit there are some techniques I need to conduct some remedial training on, but there are some that I think I have got down pretty good.  All that being said here is the first card I am pretty giddy over.   The trick to this card is that your die cuts and panel must match in color.  I attached some double sided adhesive to the back of my cardstock and used Lawn Fawn’s Thanks die until I had enough cuts to cover my panel.  Next, I took the cuts and placed them on the card to see how I wanted them arranged.  Once satisfied, I peeled the backing off of my cuts and placed them on my panel.  A sentiment banner was heat embossed and put in place, and then the entire panel was popped on a white card base.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, Gina K Ocean Mist and Sweet Mango

Stamps: Mama Elephant Many Thanks;

Dies: Lawn Fawn scripty thanks, Lifestyle Crafts Rectangle

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend is a crafty one.

Wee One

Tonight’s card is inspired by the very talented Kristina Werner.  This week she is one of the instructor’s presenting during Online Card Classes Clean and Simple 4 Techniques Made Simple.  She calls this technique Border Gap die-cutting.  I took her inspiration card and shopped my stash and this is what I came up with.  I chose the yellow and green as a way of being gender specific instead of the typical blue or pink.

Supplies used:

Paper: #110 Neenah Solar White for base, and #80 Neenah for focal panel;

Stamps: Mama Elephant’s Carnival Cupcakes, Just Hatched, and Happy Everything;

Dies: Mama Elephant Landscape Trio

Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Shabby Shutters, and Mowed Lawn

Distress Markers: Antique Linen, Worn Lipstick, and Pumice Stone

Embellishments: Doodlebug Sequins

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well.

Shall we have tea?

Wow, I have been away for at least a week and I feel so lost.  The youngest came down with something and of course mommy had to get it as well.  I am just now getting to the point where I can function somewhat.  I made this card today. This little girl is an illustration by Mo Manning and she came part of  the T-time set sold under the Penny Black brand.  The sentiment is a die cut also from Penny Black.  The background was created using the On Point Border set with Moonlight Pigment ink from Mama Elephant.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Birthday Bear

Good Morning,

How's your weekend going so far?  Mine has been moderately productive and for that I am happy.  Today I am sharing a card that I've made for a co-workers birthday later in the week.  The background is a Hero Arts background stamp and the image and sentiment is from Mama Elephants Carnival Cupcakes and Carnival Toppers respectfully.  To finish the whole thing off I threw in a few Doodlebug sequins.

Hope your weekend went well and your coming week is filled with goodness.

The first Saturday of the New Year

Well after spending all day off and on attempting to color I decided to create a card to post here.  I will admit I went through at least three different patterns before finally settling on this one.  The background is created using the linear embossing folder from Lifestyle crafts and sponging some distress inks on it.  The Panda and umbrella are from Mama Elephant and can be found on their website, and the sentiment is a die cut from Simon Says Stamp.  Soon this weekend will be coming to an end and I really don’t know if I was as productive as I would like to have been, but hey I have about fifty-one and a half weeks to get betterJ  That’s the joy of waking up every morning.  I know that I have another day to get it right.  How did your weekend go?