Beach Babes

Here is a fun birthday card using Art Impressions Beach Babes stamps.

 

I used Copic markers and it is hard to tell, but the glassware and eyeglasses were clear-coated to make them shine. Here is the inside:

I am entering this in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes category and Splitcoaststampers challenge called Chillin'.

Freshly Made Sketches #735

 

I find card sketches to be super challenging, but in a good way! Sometimes it is good to stretch beyond the norm. When I saw this sketch I immediately thought of a Waffle Flower Stencil I had not used called Postal Collage Envelope Stencil. 

I thought it would be fun to line up the envelopes in this staggered grid.

The stensil is a two-part affair, the flaps are inked first and then the body. I ended up cutting them out by hand as lining them up on a card front was a little tricky. I used Distress Inks.

I am entering it on the FMS blog. 

Flowers for Mom

Happy Mother's Day! We are celebrating in Canada today. I made this peek-a-boo slider card for my mom. From the front you see an inner message of Happy Mother's Day - a wonderful calligraphy stamp by Quietfire Design. I chose to stamp in a warm brown to coordinate with the Stampin' Up! long-retired designer papers.

The front floral is a stamp, stencil and die set by Pinkfresh Studio called Slimline Floral Notes. The spray measures about 8.25 inches but I cut it apart to fit this A2 sized-card. I used various inks to stencil in the shading.

The fun part of this card is that when it is opened, there is a middle panel that slides across and a new sentiment appears in the cirle inside. It's kind of magical!

This is another stamp from Quietfire Design. The peach paper is ribbed so the stamped image was affected a bit.

I learned how to do this card by following the tutorial here: https://youtu.be/fuhTKf5WiYM?si=P0AYvDPruvxfYVIs. Next time I will use a smaller circle like the originator as I see how that might work a little better.

Here is a view of the card from above.

Mom said it is "creative" and "lovely" so I am glad I tried this out. Besides the floral die, I used Spellbinders graduated circles for the apertures. I am entering this in the Die Cut Divas May Challenge for Celebrations.

Sketch Challenge - Modern

As promised in my last post, here is a more modern take on the sketch challenge at the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook Group. The sketch was:

My card this time features skinny strips of patterned Lawn Fawn papers that I cut and glued to get the background.

Rather than a circle, I used an ANCIENT Cuttlebug die, possibly one of the first I bought, with a matching embossing folder for an ornament made from one of the Lawn Fawn papers. I heat embossed the corner sentiment in super fine white, which is a Waltzingmouse Stamp (retired).

Same sketch, two very different cards!

Vintage Santa

I have made a vintage Santa card for the month-long sketch challenge at the private Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Facebook group. They have a blog for inspiration, but the gallery of cards submitted for this sketch is over on Facebook. I always struggle to remember that's where we need to go to enter a card! Here is the sketch.

When I saw this I immediately thought of the cover image for a Pink Paislee 8X8 inch pad of printed cardstock that I have loved to use over the past decade. It was called City Sidewalks and I am down to my last three sheets, and the cover, which featured snippets of all the paper styles in the pad. So this card is a bit of a cheat because all the "brickwork layout" in the background was done for me!

The Santa and girl is a paper coaster I re-purposed here in a nod to the Peace on Earth Day challenge at Jingle Belles to create a holiday card that features re-cycled, re-used or up-cycled elements. A red ribbon and tiny ruby gems were accents. The sentiment seemed best stamped in red.

I have a modern version of this sketch card coming in a second post. Very different vibe!

Addicted to CAS #306

 

I cannot say I am "addicted" to Clean and Simple Cards but I greatly admire them. I struggle with them, but the current challenge is a postage theme and I am a sucker for mail-related items. Some of my first red rubber stamps way back when were postoids (faux postage) and quite artsy. Still have 'em!

I ended up with TWO cards from this challenge - using a positive die cut and negative. First up - Stampington & Co's Large Cancellation stamped in soft grey and framed with the leftover scalloped
frame from another postage project.

I diecut the Pinkfresh blooms out of the background, and then inlaid the diecut back into the hole, and added purple bits to the blooms.

A little dry embossed hello strip serves as the greeting.

My friend Sandy Phillips recently posted a swap card where she deckle-edged the negative space from die-cutting to frame the "hole"and I thought it was a great idea. 

I used microglitter in shades of lilac and green to fill in the negative space. This is called Burnished Velvet Technique. I burnished (rubbed) the glitter into double-sided tape and in real life it sparkles quite nicely. Some Waffle Flower postage stamps finished off the card.

*Challenges:  Addicted to CAS #306; Addicted to Stamps & More #515.

Doggone Birthday Card

Here is a sweet and simple dog-themed birthday card, perfect for a fellow who likes dogs. I fussy-cut the dog out of white cardstock, and the cake. Coloured with Copic markers.

 

I am entering this in the Seize the Birthday blog challenge for Anything Goes.