Hey! Listen! Legend of Zelda Card

Happy New Year, Stampin' Friends! My youngest kiddo is a New Year's baby. He was a c-section, so the doctor wanted to know if we wanted to try for first baby of the year, but heavily pregnant and barely able to walk me was all OMG NO JUST GET ON WITH IT! Thus was born Max, lover of costumes and fancy clothes, supa sarcastic, and deeply invested in one fandom at a time. 

Currently his deep obssession love is Legend of Zelda. So of course, he wants a Zelda themed birthday party, and he had a lot of say in how this invitation was made. I did start with this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, but instead of florals and sentiments I was instructed to make triforces and to quote Navi, Link's fairy friend.  

I used my Cricut to cut the card fronts, adding text to create the Navi quote, which I backed with blue paper, because apparently she's usually blue. We added rows of "bushes" to whack, and I created a triforce with the Shapes tool in design space.

Navi herself is just some vellum butterfly wings with a blue cardstock body. I painted it with the new Lagoon shimmer crush and finger painted on some blue stickles glitter gel. Inside we had the party details and some additional fairies. I wanted to do more, but Max was happy with his vision so off the invites went to his friends. We are having a sword training adventure class at his Martial Arts School, and he is so excited! I'm up to my elbows in treasure chests and cupcake toppers. Welcome to 2020! 

May SOTM Celebrate Card

Whoo! Three days in a row - I'm on a streak. I did a little Facebook Live tour of my new tiny stamp space, and that was such a big leap for me. I really had a great time organizing my tiny storage space into a fully functional craft room just the right size for me! 

Today for my video I made this sweet celebration card using the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. Those balloons in the May Stamp of the Month are so pretty and easy to customize! I colored mine is with my Zig Clean Color Brush markers topped with CTMH shimmer brushes in Mint, Sugar Plum, and Clear. Then I added some white chalk pen touches to the shimmering balloons.

I used the nesting Circle and Stitched Circle dies, along with the stitch lines from the Decorative Borders die set to cut the embellishments on the card. The woodgrain is from the new Into the Wild papers, with a few touches of Sweet Girl mixed in. If any of y'all aren't loving this ombre wood grain business, feel free to send those sheets my way, lol. Finally I sprinkled on sequins from the new Crafty assortment, using my new FINE TIPPED Liquid Glass Applicator, and if you wanna hear me gush over that amazing bit of plastic while trying to use it one handed while also filming, you can watch that in my Facebook Live video from today!

Spaceman Birthday Card

Wow! June is just flying by this year. My oldest kiddo is a sixth grader and it has been a flurry of special activities, field trips, and his promotion yesterday.  I have been crafting...but mostly on some stuff I can't quite share yet. We also had a birthday party this weekend, so I whipped out a quick and easy space ranger card.

I started with this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge sketch. I added a panel of Central Park watercolor dot paper under the main white cardstock panel. I stamped the main panel around the edges with stars using the reds, blues, and yellows from the dotted paper, plus some pebble planetary sprinkles. I added the sentiment in the upper corner and popped up the birthday part on it's own little banner. Then I used my finger to dot on streaks of stickles glitter gel. 

The spaceman set is still available from the last Expressions book, but if you want him, hurry because my guess is he won't be around much longer. I'm keeping him and his matching Thin Cut dies in my permanent stash because as a mom of three boys he'll always be relevant for us.I added some alcohol marker colored sparkles and bitty sparkles to his space suit buttons, and wiggly eyes because who doesn't love wiggly eyes? I'm linking this guy up to the Seize the Birthday Challenge, even though I skipped the Beachy Toppings theme for this week.

The boys are in school through Friday, which hopefully will give me enough time to finish up all my getting ready for convention projects. Wish me luck!  

One Year Older Birthday Card

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! I'm just back from a few days at the beach with some of my favorite crafty crew, and it felt wonderful to laugh, snack, and craft with those fabulous ladies. One of the projects I completed was a little sneak peek of the March Stamp of the Month for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge! I'm also linking up to this week's Seize the Birthday Challenge.

March's Stamp of the Month is a cheerful mix of birthday themed sentiments...but I wanted to contract those images with the super gorgeous florals from Chelsea Gardens. This kit has been my favorite of the current Expression idea book. It's been so uber popular that the coordinating embellies are only available in the KIT now, so if you've been waiting on this line, now's the time!  CTMH has a pretty great deal going this month (while supplies lat) if you love PINK as much as I do!

It's hard to see here but I stamped the background of the white square with second generation Sweet Leaf ink using the YAY! image. This stamp set is mostly sentiments, and I needed a festive IMAGE, so I flipped the zero stamp (it comes with these adorable outline number images to customize it for birthday ages) and stamped the back of that image to create my balloons. Both the balloons and the dots on the "1" are painted with Gold shimmer pen, so there's a nice sparkle in real life, too. I added a little hand drawn border around the main card element with a journaling pen to help it pop against that lovely floral background.

MY giveaway to celebrate the 250th sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge is finally over (sorry for my technical difficulties!) and the winner is SUE D! I've already emailed her so she can claim her very own adorable February Stamp of the Month. Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet Cupcake Rainbow Birthday Card

When I saw this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge sketch, the center element reminded me that I has one practice cupcake shaker element hanging out on my desk without a home. I had originally intended for this card to be a shaker, but that plan ran out of implementation time.

I built the shaker by die-cutting the cupcake out of craft foam. Then I stamped the cuppie image onto white cardstock and topped it with the negative image diecut from a second white cardstock panel. I added rainbow glitter to the cupcake liner, and wiggly eyes to that sweet face. I layered the shaker stamped image, then fun foam diecut (filled with sequins and chunky glitter), a panel of overhead projector acetate, and then the diecut cardstock panel. Lots of Liquid Glass went into this project, which I weighed down with ink pads to hold it together until it dried. 

I stamped the background with a sentiment from the Flower Market bundle. Then I layered on a rainbow of shimmer tape and added some hand drawn outlines using a super fine journaling pen. This was a fun an easy sketch to make - I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts and play along!

Sweet Birthday Glitter Cupcake Card

So I know I've blogged a lot of cupcake cards this fall...but seriously there's always something new that makes me want to put a cupcake on it!

In this case I was working on this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge. The main image was drawn as a circle, but I went with the Sweet Birthday cupcake, natch. I stamped the cuppie on a panel of white cardstock, then I die cut the image out of a separate panel of cardstock and layered that on top to inset the stamped image for a bit of depth. I used Shin Han alcohol markers to color some white cardstock for the stamped banner detail, trimming that colored paper to 1/4 inch and highlight the sentiment.

That black and white paper needed somethin' somethin', so I used glitter gel in a rainbow of colors to turn it from black and white to rainbow ombre. Then I used the same gels to fill in the dots of the cupcake liner, Since that wasn't enough glitter yet, I patted some transparent prisma glitter gel for sprinkles over the cuppie's top before adding the big wiggly eyes. I used some pink chalk to add a little color to his sweet cheeks. Happy Sparkly Monday, Stampin' Friends!

Sweet as a Cupcake Birthday Card

I know I may have already made a ton of cards using this adorable Sweet Birthday stamp set. It was already one of my favorite stamp sets, but now there's a matching Thin Cuts set so I don't have to fussy cut that cuppie anymore. Swoon!! 

I made this card using the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I chose a base of Sea Glass cardstock that I stamped with one of the sentiments in Sea Glass ink. Then I layered on a panel of that pretty Swan Lake floral paper. I used a lot of ribbons and shimmer trims for the side banners.

I colored the cuppie with my Shin Han alcohol markers. and added a bit of clear glitter gel. I couldn't resist topping this cutie patootie off with some large wiggly eyes. I love him even more now that I don't have to cut him out every single time. Check out all the new Thin Cuts here, while supplies last. I'm also linking this card up to the new Seize the Birthday challenge. Hope you have a sweet day, Stamping Friends!

Monthly Memories Calypso Cards

Friday night my Monthly Memories Scrapbooking club is finally getting together in person again. I'm so excited to be back in a functional studio space! We scrap, we have dinner, we laugh - it's just so much fun!

The scrappers have chosen either Magical or Calypso for their projects. It's too late to order those kits, but I wanted to share what we did with the Calypso card designs. If you've been hanging around here you've noticed I'm in LOVE with this True Love stamp set. The sentiment on this card came from me second favorite stamp set right now, Sweet Birthday. 

My Calypso kit gals will also be making some Flamingo cards, but instead of using the retried Flamingo stamp set we will be using the pre-printed PML cards that came with the Calypso kit.

Using the cards made these sweet handmade cards come together in a snap!

Here's a little sneak peek of our October Kit, Jeepers Creepers. I'll be posting all the details on the Monthly Memories Jeepers Creepers kit this weekend and how you can join in on the Monthly Memories fun! 

Hello Cupcake Watercolor Card

Remember my Instagram posts about messing around with watercolors? And then what I did with those messy panels I was making? Here's a sweet finish to that project!

Working from the MUSE challenge this week, I took those cupcake toppers and built this card using the placement as a sketch and the watercolored heart as my inspirations. I used the new Jeepers Creepers papers because I wanted a cheerful birthday feel. I was so excited to get my new Thin Cuts Hello and Thanks set, so I broke that out and paired it with just the Cupcake word from Sweet Birthday.  

I stamped the cuppie base onto White Daisy CS and gave it a quick color with a couple Shin Han markers before topping off the dots with some shimmer pen. I forgot to grab a picture but I added a #createkindness sentiment on the inside that says "You are SPECIAL to Me".  I think my favorite part are the little pink cuppie cheeks!

Party Hats Sweet Birthday Card

I've been making a lot of cards lately using Sweet Birthday, but I hadn't yet inked the cute birthday hat. I fixed that problem right up yesterday when I was making cards for card buffet all day long. 

I was using the CASE this Sketch Challenge as inspiration, so at first I kept trying to only fit in two rows of hats. Eventually I gave into three rows and I'm a much happier cardmaker. I colored the hats very simply with turquoise and yellow Shin Han Markers, and mounted them onto some (retired) Wings sweet leaf patterned paper, using the color palette from this week's Color Throwdown.

I popped up the hats with thin foam tape. All the yellow bits on the hats got a layer of sparkly glitter gel, as did the sequins along the bottom of the sentiment. I used a journaling pen to outline the card and add a bit of zig zag detail to the sentiment banner. 

I managed to make six cards yesterday and cut sixty for the card buffet in September, all while my sweet hubby played with the boys and caught up our laundry pile. Now I'm ready to face the last week before school starts! Did you make anything this weekend? 

Have a Sweet Birthday Cupcake Card

Sweet Birthday is basically my favorite birthday stamp set ever. There. I said it. How one little inexpensive set can make my crafty heart so happy...but seriously with the little faces and this adorable cuppie? Bliss.

Last week it was my sweet friend Cathy's birthday, so we went out for a fun (if noisy) dinner at the Thirsty Lion. I brought her this card, made with Georgie (RIP pretty paper packet...end of idea book retirement season is tough, man...sniffle) and the aforementioned adorable cuppie. I stamped the background with hearts from Happy Heart, another tiny little inexpensive jewel of a set. 

My card design came from the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. It was fun to carve out the slanted shape instead of sticking with my usual straight lines. I watercolored the cuppie base and paper pieced the frosting with a scrap of Georgie. I went around the edges with a nice black journaling pen. Then I caved an added the wiggly eyes, and drew on some happy little eyebrows before glittering the cuppie liner circles.  Finally I blew on the glitter frantically until it was time to leave for dinner! Happy birthday again, Cathy!!

Have a Sweet Birthday Card

While prepping for my Open House tomorrow, I took a little creative break to whip up a fun card with my other favorite new stamp set, Sweet Birthday. 

I was inspired to procraftstinate by this week's Muse Card Challenge. I've been playing with the adorable cupcake in Sweet Birthday, but my candles were as yet untouched by ink, and this seemed like just the right thing! I stamped my candles across the top in Cranberry, Sapphire, Saffron, and Glacier. I paused for a moment to contemplate whether 10 wiggly eyes was too much (what IS too much anyhow?), and clearly the wiggly eyes won.  

I picked up some Saffron ink from my pad lid with my Shimmer Brush to color in the flames with a faint wash of color and sparkle. I couldn't leave the background alone completely (I tried, really I did...) So I embossed it with a heart embossing folder. I'm linking this card up to the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge. Back to prepping for tomorrow's Open House!

 Stop by my Open House on Sunday to see the new goodies in person, grab a $1 stamp set, make a quick card, and check out my fall class schedule. Contact me for the address! Hope to see you there!

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month!

Happy National Scrapbooking Month, Stamping Friends! There are so many fun things happening in May! There's the new May SOTM, a brand new Seasonal Expressions Idea book out, and the fabulous new Happy Times special kit and papers. Can you feel the creative mojo?

I decided to start off the month of May with this happy card based on the new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge this week. I splattered the card base with a bunch of watercolors to coordinate with the new Calypso PML card I cut up for my background squares. I just love the colors in this new kit! I think that that stripey zip strip might be one of my favorite little bits of the new patterns.

I stamped the May Stamp of the Month cake pieces on more bits of Calypso paper/PML cards, then pieced the cake together. When I first saw these stripey Calypso sequins I literally squealed SQUEEEE! The new self-adhesive sequin packs are all in the small 6mm size. Then I topped off my adorable sequins and cake with some dots of gold glitter gel, and added some hand drawn black outlines.  

I'm linking this card up to the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge. Don't forget to pop over to Atlantic Hearts to play along with this week's sketch!

Watercolor Blog Hop

Welcome to the Watercolor Blog Hop! This month we have 30 fabulous creations using our vibrant watercolor palette to share. You may be arriving here from LELA'S BLOG. Let's hop!

I painted a bunch of panels and flowers for my original hop project idea, but I really wanted to do something with watercolors I hadn't done before. I popped over to RetroSketches, and at first I thought that this week's cute sketch didn't really lend itself to watercolors, but I just kept coming back to it. Finally I decided to go for it. I masked off the design using fat and skinny washi tape. I masked all around the edge with washi too, just to be safe. Then I did a wash of teal and dark blue watercolors int he masked areas with a lot of water. Before the paint dried I sprinkled on some sea salt, which is a really pretty effect with watercolors. When I removed the washi mask, I had these lovely bars of watercolor goodness.

I stamped the little pirate in Memento Tuxedo black and used my waterbrush with the paints to lightly color in the pirate. I added some dirty smudges to his sweet pink cheeked face, because in my house pirates are a dirty lot indeed. I painted a wash of red onto some scrap cardstock and when it dried I stamped on the AHOY MATEY sentiments to make the little sentiment red banners. Finally I added a journaling pen line around the edge of the card. I'm linking up to the Anything Goes Challenge at Seize The Birthday.

Next up on the hop is MELINDA'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Day 361: Sock Monkey Birthday Card

A few weeks ago I saw this adorable Sock Monkey card by Margi Gilbertson in the February SOTM Blog Hop. I really wanted to try making my own sock monkey card, but at that time I had literally just packed everything we owned and driven three rambunctious boy children back to Oregon, so my supplies and crafting time were pretty limited. I would not even dare to say were halfway unpacked, but I am finding enough goodies as I unpack to feel the itch to create again.

I hopped over to Retrosketches, because I always love their cool sketches, and this week was no exception. I double embossed the bamboo cardstock background panel with my heart folder, then layered on a chipboard adhesive border that I colored red with a marker and some black arrow washi tape. I outlined the panel with a black journaling marker because my real stitching materials are still lost in the cardboard abyss. I added a super old FRIENDS rub-on, carefully trimming off the "s", and popped up a heart bubble from Share the Love. I love all the fun older goodies I'm finding as I unpack!

I stamped the monkey image three times without reinking to get a variety of colors. I used a brown Memento ink pad and swiped the stamp down across the pad as I inked it to give the monkey some extra texture. Then I trimmed out the monkeys to piece the sock monkey details onto the darkest monkey. I added the mouth and stitch details with markers, and gave him a happy little banner to hold. I never would've thought to make this balloon monkey into a sock monkey (thanks, Margi!), but he was a whole lotta fun to make!

Day 347: Penelope WYW Card 4

For the last of my Penelope Workshops Your Way cards (the kit makes 8 cards, 2 of each design), I wanted to use the giraffe balloon. I stamped him a bunch of times with a lot of rolling ink combos, but I didn't like any of them. 

Eventually it occurred to me that the reason I didn't like them is because giraffes should be spotted. I had a simple fix for that - kissing!

First I inked the giraffe in Canary Ink but did not stamp him. Then I inked the polka dot image included in the SOTM set with Thistle ink, stamped that off onto my scratch paper so the spots wouldn't be too bright, and then stamped it onto the Canary inked giraffe repeatedly until his was all spotty. You could also stamp the second generation spots directly onto the Canary stamped giraffe image if you want a more defined spot. Finally I was happy with the giraffe balloon! Next up I'll share the adorable Penelope layouts.