Birthday Card with a Little Help...

My little cousin has a birthday coming up.  This is problematic for me because my crafting stash has a rough time trying to support "cutesy" cards, especially where boys are concerned.  So on a whim yesterday, I took a trip to a local scrapbook store to see if I could find an easy way to supplement what I already had with a few things fit for a pre-teen birthday boy.

I settled upon the Follow Your Heart papers and embellishments from My Mind's Eye.  Hopefully between these fun papers and what I already had at home, i'd be able to come up with SOMETHING!

How about kites?  Boys like kites, right?  The bulk of the stamping on this card is on the Baja Breeze background.  I used my retired Sanded background (<3 it!), grunged up a bit with Extreme Elements, then stamped the entire background with netting.  Have I mentioned I love background stamps? ^.^

The patterned papers are matted on Pear Pizzazz and Island Indigo and the sentiment flag is on very vanilla (my color is a bit off on this photo, it doesn't look as yellow IRL).

In addition to the local scrapbook store and my stamping stash, this card was made possible by the following challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches Sketch Challenge - FMS24
• Handstamped Sentiments Banner Bash - HSSIC107

I wouldn't have known where to begin if not for these two challenges, so ladies, thank you SO MUCH for the added inspiration!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Michey

Shopping List - The following products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up

Pear Pizzazz Color Suite	Island Indigo Color Suite	Baja Breeze Color Suite	Very Vanilla Color Suite	Extreme Elements Stamp Set
Netting Background Stamp	Happiest Birthday Wishes Hostess Set

Simply Soft Birthday Card and a Question

My mother is a lover of watercolors, flowers and fabrics and with that in mind, I created this next card for her.

The focal flower image is from Simply Soft, which is a 2-step hostess set that you can get for FREE with a qualifying workshop order.  I stamped the first step in Lucky Limeade and step 2 in Blushing Bride.  Full disclosure here - I had a rough time lining up my pink over-stamping onto the green stems (you see, I don't own a Stamp-a-ma-jig yet, which would have made lining the two stamped images up a piece of cake).  So to cover up the fact that my alignment was a bit off, i touched up with markers and distracted with the Color Spritzer tool.

You all have seen me use the flourish from Creative Elements to death, and LOOK!  Here it is again! ;-)  This time it's stamped in Cherry Cobbler and glitzed up with some Dazzling Details.

I've tied it all together with Velvet ribbon, which is now retired but my mom LOOOOOVES velvet, so I thought she'd appreciate that extra touch.

So, here's the homage to my mother on her special day!  I love that my family totally appreciates receiving handmade cards - Mom and Dad actually have a shelf in their family room where they have kept every card I've ever made for them - seeing that makes my heart soar!

Michey's Note:  I'm experimenting with a new way to display my products at the bottom of each post... do you prefer the images, the text listing (down at the waaaaay bottom of this post), or both?

Thanks for taking a peek and leaving a comment!  I value your feedback very much!

Michey

Shopping List

Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set	Simply Soft Stamp Set	Creative Elements Stamp Set	In-Color Marker Assortment	Naturals White Cardstock
Very Vanilla Color Suite	Blushing Bride Color Suite	Lucky Limeade Color Suite	Soft Suede Color Suite	Cherry Cobbler Color Suite
Decorative Label Punch	Dazzling Details

Shopping List - Products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up


Stamps: Simply Soft, Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Naturals White, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Twitterpated Buttons, Linen Thread, Dazzling Details, Color Spritzer tool

A Birdie Birthday

Another year has started which means another round of Birthday Cards for the men in my life.  In the last 2 years, i've done the whole "sailing" and "boat" theme to death - you can see some of those cards here, here, here and here.  So, I needed some new mojo that didn't involve boats or maps.

Michey's Note:  I've decided to enter this into Our Creative Corner's "Over the Edge" challenge.  I originally wanted to go a bit more outside the lines than I did, but I have to mail this card, so I had to keep it envelope friendly.  I hope this still counts >.<

Yeah, it's got a bird, but it's a boy bird for sure!  I'm still smitten with the Weathered Wood technique I first blogged about last week, so I set off to come up with another combination.  This one uses Sahara Sand, River Rock and Always Artichoke.  I splattered on some Bravo Burgundy and Soft Suede with my Color Spritzer tool... I seriously can't get enough of my color spritzer - I practically use it on EVERY CARD these days... you'll see ;-)

The birdy is one of our A La Carte stamps - Young Vermillion. Isn't he a handsome little fella?  He's stamped in Soft Suede and has some pool party colored in on his chest using a blender pen. This panel was then sponged and splattered with soft suede and matted on a piece of Bravo Burgundy.

The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from Perfectly Penned, stamped in Soft Suede and similarly distressed.

Everything is mounted a tad bit askew on an Always Artichoke panel that's been embossed using the Houndstooth Embossing Folder.  It's then tied with some Linen Thread and I added some tags to finish it off.

So, what do you think?  Did I pull off a boy-ish card without using any images of vehicles, powertools, or sports?

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michele

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Young Vermillion, Perfectly Penned, Tiny Tags
Paper: River Rock, Soft Suede, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla
Ink: River Rock, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Pool Party
Accessories: Big Shot, Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Jewelry Tag Punch, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Linen Thread, Color Spritzer Tool, Blender Pen, Distressing Essentials Kit

{Heart} Attack!

As Valentine's day approached this year, I started to psyche myself out -- overthinking the card I would give to my special someone, worried that it wouldn't measure up.  Of course, this anxiety is all in my head, but at the time, it was giving me a very real creative block!

At the 11th hour, I was inspired by this Weathered Wood tutorial by Wanda Cullen and out popped this masculine-ish masterpiece.

I started out with Very Vanilla Cardstock, scored at every inch on my Simply Scored Scoring Tool. Then I just smeared different inkpads directly to the paper. I used Sahara Sand, a little bit of crumb cake, and an even littler bit of Always Artichoke.  The beauty of the score lines is they don't collect ink because they are depressed, but in a good way!  ;-)

I added in some of my background stamps (Wonderfully Worn in Real Red, and (retired) Sanded Background in Sahara Sand).  I {heart} my chunky background stamps sooooooo much!  I then tore and sponged the seams and edges with Sahara Sand and Always Artichoke.

It's hard to tell on the background, but I've stamped the swirl from Creative Elements, and then dabbed Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint over top to add a bit of glitz.  Then I hit the whole thing with my Color Spritzer tool using a Sahara Sand marker.

Once I had those two elements figured out, everything else was easy --  hearts, hearts, hearts! I used a mix of embosslits and punches to create the heart vignette, then tied it all up with some Linen Thread, and finished with some little tags.

This was the first card I made in a LOOOOONG time that wasn't slated for a class demonstation, so I used more products and techniques than usual.  It was incredibly freeing to be able to "go shopping" in my craft room and use whatever I felt like, lol!

I need to get inky like this more often ;-)

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Creative Elements, Tiny Tags, Wonderfully Worn, Sanded (retired)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand
Ink: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Big Shot, Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, Adorning Accents Edgelits Die and Embossing Folder, Linen thread, Full Heart Punch, Small Heart Punch, Jewelry Tag Punch

Pines and Poinsettias Class set

Hi stampy peeps!  I wanted to take a moment to share with you some class projects I've designed using the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set.

This first card uses a sentiment from Four the Holidays and a hand assembled poinsettia using the 5 petal flower punch and a boho blossoms center.

This next one uses the sentiment and background scrolly piece from Pines and Poinsettias, combined with Dasher.  Isn't he just so adorable with the jingle bell and bakers twine?  (and yes, he actually jingles ;-)

This last one uses the pinecone stamp (colored directly onto the stamp with markers, and the little holly stamp as a random background.  See how well the stamp pairs with the Holly Berry Bouquet Designer paper?

With these three cards, I was able to use EVERY SINGLE STAMP in the set (which is actually a first for me, lol).  I'm quite tickled with the way all of them turned out, do you have a favorite?

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Dasher, Pines and Poinsettias
Paper: Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler, Naturals White, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso
Accessories: Mini Jingle Bells, Bakers Twine, Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, 2 3/8 Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/4 Circle Punch, 5 petal flower punch, Boho Blossoms, Scallop Trim Border punch, brads, Petals-a-plenty embossing folder

Handstamped Coasters

Hey there, Stampy peeps!  I wanted to take a quick reprieve from the Halloweening to show you some prototypes that I'm working on in preparation for some holiday sales.

These handstamped tile coasters will protect your furniture from cold and hot things (i've tested them out with sweaty drink glasses and hot mugs) and they are super simple to make!  All it takes is some 4x4 Travertine tiles, Staz-On ink in your favorite colors, Cork Sheets and your favorite stamp sets!  

Michey's Note:  These tiles are unglazed 4x4 Travertine from the tile aisle of Home Depot. They are grounded smooth on one side, but they are rough on the other (which is why i've covered the back with cork sheeting). My advice is to open up the box and go through each tile to make sure it meets your standards, sometimes you'll come across a tile with a pit on the top or a damaged edge.  In my area, a box of 9 of these tiles sells for just over $5.

The best part is that you don't even need to seal these - the Staz-On ink is impervious to whatever I decide to throw at it! I advise you to wash your tiles when you first get them home - that's to get rid of any lingering stone dust - and also make sure you let your tiles dry completely - overnight if you have to.  Any trace of water on them and your image will be hopelessly blurry (ask me how I know >.<)

Some of the sets i've used on these include Creative Elements, Field Flowers, Inspired by Nature, and My Friend. 

The cork sheets are cut down to size (you can just use regular scissors, your big shot,  or a sharp blade) and glued to the back of the tiles using Crystal Effects.

A project like this really shines with larger scaled stamps.  I've even pulled some of my favorite stamps out of retirement to come up with a few different designs. what do you think?

Thanks for taking a peek!

Michey

Falling for French Foliage

Here in Maryland, the leaves are starting to turn and there's a clean crispness in the air that just begs to be captured on paper. (Of course, this statement is on the heels of the nearly unheard of "Snow-tober" event we experienced yesterday... but we won't talk about that ;-)

Anywho, back to todays card! It uses the French Foliage stamp set in some deliciously yummy fall colors. The larger leaf was Rock 'n Rolled in Peach Parfait and Cherry Cobbler, while the smaller leaf was stamped in So Saffron (For more about the Rock and Roll technique, check out this card project from earlier this year). Sahara Sand was used to darken the edges, add waterspots and to accent with some collage script. Finally, Champagne Shimmer Paint was dabbed on using crumpled cellophane to add a network of shimmery veins across the whole panel.

A simple sentiment panel is brought to you by Thank you Kindly and a die-cut from Lots of Tags, again with some sahara sand distressing.

I wrestled with possibly adding some kind of ribbon or twine to this piece, but in the end, decided I wanted the beautiful leaves to take center stage... what do you think?

Thanks for taking a peek!

Michey

Michey's Note:  I am playing along with the Paper Players Challenge #70.  Their design team ALWAYS rocks my socks, so be sure to pay them a visit when you get the chance ;-)

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me at Stampin' Up

Stamps: French Foliage, Thank You Kindly
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Naturals White
Ink: Peach Parfait, Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Lots of Tags Sizzlet, Big Shot, Champagne Shimmer Paint, Edge Distresser (from the Cutting Kit).