commissioned birthday cards

And today's summer programming, more commissioned birthday cards. 

Requested for a brother whose car is his pride and joy. I made three to choose from...

TAWS car stamp

Artemio cityscape stamp

Winnie and Walter sentiment stamp

Right at Home Holidays are on the Way die

washi tape

Renke die

Inkystamp sentiment

alcohol ink background, embossing powder

And for a butcher ;)

Neat and Tangled Hot Dog stamp

Inkadinkado sentiment

Have a great week!

simon says stamp - creepy crawlers not just for halloween

I've had a play with the Creepy Crawlers background stamp and discovered it doesn't have to be just for Halloween (IMO). I used the spiders to add interest to a November birthday card for a guy.

Here it is.

SSS Creepy Crawlers stamp

Concord and 9th Laceleaf stamp/die

Inkystamp sentiment

Altenew Tranquility inks, distress oxides, silver and bronze embossing powder

There's actually quite a bit happening on this card. I was trying out new-to-me products. First I inked up a panel of Neenah white with the blue grays from Altenew. Decided it made a good night sky so I splattered some water and then some watered-down Black Soot ink. (See what I did with the leftover Black Soot on my next card ;)  Then I opted for some creepy crawlers hanging around in the night forest, first in gray then purple oxides.

Since this card is for a man and not a kid I had to cut the cute so I went with the leaf and an artistic sentiment, both heat embossed onto shimmer gray cardstock in two tones of powder. I love the effect. 

So I mentioned the leftover Black Soot. Did I mention I have a guy friend with a Halloween birthday? Enter more creepy crawlers.

SSS Creepy Crawlers stamp

SSS Alphabet Blocks die

STAMPlorations Number Plate die

I picked up the leftover ink with a panel of Neenah and then stamped the spiders. Used the numbers die cut negative piece which was laying around to back my sentiment and added a few dots of fake Nuvo drops which fit the grungy feel of this card perfectly. There's a belated birthday greeting stamped inside!

Thanks for visiting. I'm enjoying being back playing with my supplies. I'm hooking up at the SSS Monday Challenge where it's about Any Holiday Occasion and also the Stamptember Gallery cuz these creeply crawlers were part of that release.

use those scraps

I was cleaning up my paper scraps mess from last week's cardmaking sessions and decided to actually make cards with some of the scraps rather than put the scraps back into my scrap storage. Makes sense, right? How come I never do it?

I took a look at the Distress Ink mop up scraps which were red and realized I needed an anniversary card ... soooo, why not die cut lots of little hearts? This card was born.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Hero Arts All Occasion Messages stamp

Heidi Swap spray ink

The next scrap was from this card way back when. It was pulled out of scrap storage for my pop up box card bouquet making but didn't get used cuz of the blue. So was it to go back to scrap storage? Again? Nope. The negative of the bloom got backed with a portion of it and I even managed to get the sentiment out of skinny little areas of the scrap! That, folks, makes me happy!

Pinkfresh Studio Floral Square Frames die

Penny Black Many Thanks die

The leftover little hearts from the first card had to go somewhere ... four of something isn't the easiest to design with. So I added a sentiment as the fifth element and voila! A birthday card.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Inkystamp Geburtstagsgruesse stamp

I'm joining these challenges:

Use Your Stuff - Out with the Old (YEP! All three cards!)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - AG with option of  "Something New" (card #2)

The Cat's Pajamas - January

 

CAS valentine for son

A quick post today to share the Valentine I made for DS. I was inspired by the challenge over at Poppystamps. I went to my dies and found a NBUS beaut which fit the animal challenge and my desire for a CAS Valentine.

Memory Box Bird and Branch die

STAMPlorations Balloons and Banners stamp

Inkystamp Winzige Grusse stamp

Altenew ink

So hard to photograph on a crappy weather day. Here's a closeup for you.

Are you doing anything special for Valentine's Day? I remember being in Myrtle Beach with my snowbird parents and being amazed at how Valentine's crazy the folks were! Germans poo poo the holiday as American commercialism ;) I think we'll be going out to dinner. And I bought myself red tulips for the table ;) A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, ya know?!? Hope the day includes lots of hugs for you!

I'm playing over at:
Poppystamps - Animal Menagerie

The Card Concept - Be Mine Valentine

The Paper Players - Red, Pink, B/W

three for grandma - altenew beautiful day

More commissioned cards.

Next request was for a card for boyfriend's Grandma who lives in England. She was a market lady and loves flowers. Hmmm. How could I not pull out an Altenew set?!?

I used Altenew Beautiful Day (I have the layering stamp plus the die so I decided to make multiple versions.) First up I put a NBUS impression plate (Altenew Dotted Swirls) to use for the cream colored background. And chose my other colors based on the January Inspiration challenge.

I stamped the layers with orange and green tones and spritzed the flowers and leaves with water to get that watercolored look. Added a bit of perfect pearls shimmer too but it's difficult to capture on camera. Oh, and pearls. Cuz pearls just belong on a Grandma card, don't they?

So for the second version I wanted to use reds and pinks. Decided to pair them with kraft. And I inked tone on tone through the Altenew Deco Wallpaper stencil. The heat embossed sentiment is Avery Elle Oh Happy Day. BTW, this is the card my friend chose.

Used the same ink-layers-with-light-to-dark-then-spritz-with-water method. There's shimmer on these too!

The third version ain't my favorite. But I thought, well how about a dark background. And then why not blue? Why not blue roses?  And how about contrast stencilling -  I used white pigment ink. Not sure if the dots are cool or weird? But I like the solid area at the bottom that left just a bit of space for the tiny Inkystamp Winzige Grusse sentiment.

I'm taking this last one over to Die Cut Divas where it's about New Things. The die to this stamp set is new to me and really makes creating with these lovely roses easy. Thanks for stopping by.

which one would you choose?

Been meaning to share this post for a while. A bit ago I was asked to make two cards for guys' 60th birthdays. One for a winemaker I actually know. The other for someone I don't know - except my friend said he's with the police and likes meat! Um. OK.

Should you have any questions to supplies, just ask.

Winemaker was easy.

Grateful for wine labels I got from Jacqueline years ago, I put one to use and carried on the gold theme with grapes and various collage elements.

As for the other guy, I was pretty clueless. So I searched the internet for milestone card ideas. Made several so she could have a choice. Which one do you think she chose? Which would you choose?

I kinda carried on the wine feel for this one.

And then gave a gatefold card a la Jennifer M. a try. Great way to stretch your cover plate dies too!

Next up, gave another cover plate die a shot. With kinda police colors ;)

And then I grabbed an alcohol-inked BG from my stash and turned it into a more playful card.

How about a deluge of confetti to celebrate?

Then there's the party props to support the giant "60".

And finally, the only "meat" stamps I owned...

So which one did my friend choose? Yep, the hot dogs! Though I'm happy to report she bought the blue geometric cover plate version and the alcohol-inked one too ;) Do you have a favorite?

Hope your Thanksgiving is/was wonderful. We celebrated last Sunday and I must admit I'm happy the preparations are over, though I'm still eating leftovers ;)

I'm joining the fun at:
ETA: Did someone say Circles? I'm hooking up at Day of the Month Card Club.
SSS Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes
AAA Birthday - Number

when you're swatching your new catherine pooler inks... part 4

So the other day I finally got around to swatching my new Spa Collection inks from Catherine Pooler. And I had some time on my hands so I had a play...

Meet the fifth and sixth card to emerge from this playtime.

Catherine Pooler Spa inks

This design is basically the same as yesterday's, just with different colors. I was aiming for a modern Christmas vibe. (DD doesn't think it'll fly, but oh well.)

I used an old solid square wooden stamp and a Stampamajig to create my backgrounds. Again, each square only has one layer of ink. Can't beat the coverage. I then stamped the little images with the same colors to get the tone-on-tone result.

I used solid images from various Christmas sets and sentiments from Technique Tuesday and Inkystamp.

Tomorrow's makes are CASEs of Lisa S. working with The Stamp Market hexagons.

Today I'm hooking up at:
Christmas at Sweet Stampin - June AG option non-traditional colors
Watercolor Wednesday - AG Feminine
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - AG
STAMPlorations - CAS Challenge

another twofer fer the flower challenge

Remember this card? It's Ericka's DT card for the current Flower Challenge where the theme is 

It knocked my socks off so I'd already pulled stuff out of my Mt NBUS and made two cards. Today I'm posting two more.

I went back into my pile and looked for flowers. I found a The Stamp Market flower stamp set with matching dies and although it took me forever with layered stamping and then die cutting, this happened. BTW, those leaves are gray...

   Cover plate die from Action Deutschland

The Stamp Market Beautiful Blooms stamp and die

Inkystamp Alles im Rahmen stamp

Altenew inks

And because I had also stamped a couple extra blooms, I turned them into another card using the whimsical Charming stamp from Penny Black. Yay for making multiples!

 Penny Black Charming stamp

The Stamp Market Beautiful Blooms stamp and die

Inkystamp Alles im Rahmen stamp

Altenew inks

Hope you liked this twofer too ;)

I'm heading over to:
Casology - Bouquet

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies February

Papercraft Challenge - Something New (my die and stamp!)
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes with option of tags
Penny Black Saturday - AG with flower option

twofer fer the flower challenge

OK. Have you seen this card? Knocked my socks off. It's Ericka's DT card for the current Flower Challenge where the theme is 

I need that challenge every day to even keep up with my NBUS! So I went into the pile and looked for flowers. And found this new die from my dollar store. And the Penny Black sketchy flowers. Then I went to my stash of backgrounds looking for something with reddish pinks and blues to die cut cuz I needed a nod to Ericka. And this happened.

  Flower Frame die from Action Deutschland

Penny Black Charming stamp

Inkystamp Winzige Gruesse stamp

acrylic paint Gelli print

And because that die created a pretty little rectangular piece leftover, I turned it into a spotlight card.

Hope you liked my twofer.

I'm heading over to:
Papercraft Challenge - Something New (my die and stamp!)
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes with option of tags
Stamping Sensations - All things Bright and Beautiful (blooms of course)
Watercooler Wednesday - AG Feminine

kraft red and blue i love you

I was on a roll yesterday. Ready for some cards?

So I'd seen this color combo. Then I ran across kraft leftovers from Christmas tag creations. So I decided to try to use up the negative piece...

 Spellbinders Iron Works Motif die

Poppystamps You Melt my Heart stamp

Prismacolor colored pencils

white embossing powder

Adhered it at a wonky angle on a kraft cardbase I'd heat embossed with two sweet snowmen. TIP: Used my MISTI. Stamped. Colored. Stamped. Heat embossed. Gives a nice clean finish. Decided to work a snippet of PP into the design too.

So then, having these colors on the brain and wanting to play with some new stamps, I remembered the current AAA Cards challenge to only use one third of your card. The stamps are Inkystamp Retro Chic, Winzige Gruesse and Chic Chicks. The inks are Adirondack Red Pepper, Pool and Latte - still some of the best colors out there ;)

And because this "tree" image reminded me of one of my long ago designs, I revisited it too!

Unfortunately, the color challenge has closed but I'm heading over to:
Daring Cardmakers - Just Stamping
Poppystamps - Starry Night (my snowmen are nestled in stars... close enough?!?)
AAA Cards - Up to one Third

Just Add Ink - New (my Inkystamp stamps)