more milestone birthday cards

Summer programming coming your way the next few weeks...

First up some milestone birthday cards. 

Can you tell we have quite a few friends who are winemakers?!?

Renke Happy Numbers die 

Little B Block Out die 

Rayher Alles Gute die

Have a great weekend! 

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

paper pieced peony

So this is one of those creations that had me LOL. Like, where the heck did that come from?

Stampendous Jumbo Peony stamp

The Crafters Workshop Chevron stencil

Little B Blockout die

yellow embossing powder

embossing paste

Nuvo drops

This shot was in full sunlight so you can see the neon pink and that incredible sparkle

I actually made a card with this design ages ago and then again here and decided to update it a bit cuz I really wanted to participate in The Flower Challenge! And try out my new Tonic Glitter Paste (Moonstone). I heat embossed the peony onto a leftover from a marbling with acrylic paint session and fussy cut it. I'm calling that paper piecing ;)

The Flower Challenge - Paper Piecing

Time Out - Hobbies (I have four peony plants in my garden. Expect to see the little shoots coming up anytime soon ;)

anniversary a la ... wine

Had a request for an anniversary card. So I made one , a couple, many. And you get to see them all. Tomorrow's is the last :)

Meet my card. My girlfriend who requested the anniversary cards actually suggested a card with "wine" as a theme. But she didn't end up taking this one :(

That's OK. I'm not sure why, but I'm not so keen on it either.

I heat embossed Stampendous Wine Labels gold and then watercolored about three layers over it with Gansai Tambi blues and a touch of purple. Not really happy with the watercoloring. Hm. I was envisioning elegant, regal blue, paired with lovely gold embossing. I got this :) Your thoughts?

Cut my panel with CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangles.  Added a Hero Arts Best Wishes sentiment on vellum.

I'm joining the fun at:

Happy Little Stampers - July Watercolor with plenty of the optional twist of blue this time

Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

layered CAS

Howdy. Sharing a "clean and layered" card today I made at DD's request. "For a horsey gal" was the only tip she gave me. Infatuated with The Card Concept's inspiration photo, I did this.

Went with the colors of those peonies, added some gold with the leaves, the gold embossed sentiment and the die cut up top, and brought in the black in the form of the sentiment snippet and those hoof tracks! Not my standard way to make a cool B/W pattern, but I think it works!

Lots of layers here thanks to masking and stamping. Even brought in some stamp kissing (the stripes on the "m") and watercoloring (dabbing at the rose center with a wet brush to soften up the ink).

Have to share this... I was just tickled when I was looking for a scrap for "girl" and found that little one with the portion of a gold heat embossed/watercolored leaf on it. Recognize it (ha ha)? It's a leftover from this card that's literally been collecting dust on my workspace. I think it makes this card with that touch of teal! Well, it and that cool gold leopeard print acetate (new to me).

Supplies:
Stamps - rose (Viva), m (Technique Tuesday), horse hooves (Stabenfeldt), birthday (PTI), girl (Stampendous)
Inks - Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks, Delicata gold, Memento black
Die - hello (Technique Tuesday), cloud (WPlus9)
Acetate - We R Memory Keepers

I'm playing at:
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes
Craft Stamper - Take it Make it January Anything Goes
Card Mania #88 - Layer it (I've layered mostly stamps, but some snippets too!)
Danipeuss Kartenchallenge #034 alles neu
A Blog Named Hero - January

MMCC #31

Well hello 2017! First the crazy rush to get ready for Christmas. Then a couple quiet days with family around the tree (and dining room table - seems all we do is eat!) Then the nice and laid back days between Christmas and New Year's. And suddenly here it is, January 1st, 2017!

I wish all of you lovelies who still stop by the blog nothing but the best for the next 365 day trip around the sun!!!

It's no surprise we're starting off the new year at the Mixed Media Card Challenge with this theme.

I went CASsy with a housewarming card using watercolors!

Stamped some STAMPlorations Shirley's Houses in gray and one with black on watercolor paper. Messy watercolored it with Gansai Tambi red, orange and yellow and fussy cut it. Gave the windows a welcoming glow with sparkling H2Os. See the sparkle below?

Before adhering the house I masked the two houses and stamped the foreground with Stampendous Floral Tapestry. I applied embossing paste (colored with yellow acrylic paint) through ARTplorations  Clouds and stamped my sentiment from Stampendous Baby Girl  to look like a plume of smoke from the chimney.

There you have it. CAS yet a little messy! Again Happy New Year and thanks for coming by here! I hope you'll have time to join us at the MMCC this month.

I'm joining these fun challenges too:
Basteltraum #48 - Watercolor
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Time Out #73 - "With Each Sunrise we are given a Chance for a New Beginning"

happy 90th to my daddy!

Stopping by to share with you the card I created for my Dad's 90th. Actually, as you read this I am on my way to MI to celebrate with him :)

It was a labor of love. I had the brilliant idea to use ink smooshing with acetate to create a watercolor version of this.

This is the view from my folks' house. Those cedar trees are ancient and such a part of our family's history at this property :)

I masked horizon and lawn and smooshed Distress Inks for the grass (including dandelions ;) and lake. Again and again.

Then I stamped the trees from Stampendous Winter Trees and heat embossed them with clear to protect the ink from the rest of the ink smooshing process.

When I was satisfied, I used an iron and packing paper to remove the embossing and added a sentiment from SSS Handwritten Borders. A little PP to add a punch and voila!

Thanks for visiting.

Since I was definitely thinking of my Dad when I created this, I'm hooking up at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. where it's Thinking about You. And to Simon's Work it Wednesday for October since I've used SSS product.

I'm also joining in at Seize the Birthday with this birthday card. No stencil topping though.

And at Kathy R's Daily Marker Challenge. I colored all this. Albeit, with a piece of acetate ;)

And lastly, I'm hooking up at Craft Stamper, Take it Make it for November where it's Anything Goes with stamps.

guest designing at card concept 32

Lucky me, joining the lovely and incredibly talented ladies at The Card Concept this month. And getting to play around in the Mixed Media category too!

If the inspiration photo for challenge #32 doesn't make you happy, don't know what will. For me, it evokes feelings of summer. Those blooms. The Ball jar. I can just feel the breeze coming in through an open window...

So how did I approach this Mixed Media-wise? Well wanting to use multiple mediums and techniques to create texture and dimension, first I stamped my card front with Stampendous Floral Tapestry. Then I watercolored a couple blooms with orange. (And later, cuz I'd forgotten it, a couple leaves with green. Consider that my pint. As in, gallon-quart-pint, remember that?)

Then I dabbed orange acrylic paint through a Craft Emotions Folklore Flowers stencil. BTW, anyone know a trick to get the dried paint off the stencil??? I waited too long and soap and water aren't working and the design is very delicate so I can't really scrub it!

Next I applied gesso over the front. Twice. I was going for a floral-wallpaper-in-Grandma's-house feel and I knew I needed it subdued in the center where my focal image was going to be...

Enter focal image. A NBUS Tim Holtz Bell Jar die. But first I applied alcohol inks to acetate - I forgot to snap the photo before I die cut so just placed them back into the remnants to show you. Die cut the bottoms from woodgrain PP.

So in case you didn't notice first time around, go back and check out the sweet cupcakes surreptitiously posing in the background of the inspiration photo... I had originally planned to house a nice big sentiment under the bell jar, but then STAMPlorations Sketched Cupcake came to mind and...

I heat embossed the image on white CS and turned it into a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting! Fussy cut it and adhered it to my card.  Popped the bell jar base up on foam adhesive, capturing the bottom edge of the acetate too. Created a tiny tag punched with a border punch to mimic a doily and stamped the sentiment onto it before attaching it to the acetate with twine. I used a bit more foam adhesive on the back of the tag to hold the tag in place and attach the top portion of acetate.

TIP: Adhering acetate with dimensional adhesive allows it to really add some WOW to your card but visible adhesive is a problem. Hide it behind other card elements!

Thanks mucho for coming by today. I'm so happy I could share my Mixed Media project with you.  Can't wait to share my next guest designer project with you on April 15th.  I hope you'll peruse the Card Concept DT's works of art. Don't you love to learn more about card styles with every new challenge?

If you stop by later today, I'll be sharing another Mixed Media project - more flowers...

I'm hooking this card up over at A Sprinkle of Imagination (I've used Sailboat Blue and Stream Alcohol inks) where it's an Anything Goes this time around. And I'm joining the fabulous fun at Darnell's NBUS #4 too.

ETA: Have you seen Virginia's new challenge? #14 Layers and Dimension. I'm in.

now you're vintage

Someone in the neighborhood is turning 50 this weekend! Welcome to the club. Or as my card says - "Congratulations. Now you are vintage."

I jumped on the glittered blues bandwagon at House of Cards January challenge. Those certainly look like milkweed pods to me. Milkweed and I go way back. As a kid on the shores of Lake Huron I would watch big, fat, green caterpillars disappear into and emerge from cocoons dangling on milkweed plants as Monarch butterflies. And at summer's end I would tear open those pods and blow the seeds to high heaven. Now? Now I spend a week pulling all the weeds on the beach every summer when I am there. Adios milkweed.

Back to the card at hand. The glittery blue was easy. Some bottles cut with my new SSS Adult Beverages die and labelled with personalized vellum labels. Just love this touch. And I'm playing at A Blog Named Hero - Personalise too.

The front panel (Stampendous Wine Labels) and the clear embossed, ombre stamped sentiment strip (Stempelküche Grüße II)) were inspired by the Heat Embossing challenge at Stempelküche.

Distress inking over the heat embossed panel with ombre blues was also inspired by Inkspirational #74.

And the entire theme of the card was inspired not only by the recipient (we've emptied many a bottle together) but by the great Cheers challenge over at City Crafter.

Phew! Just wanted to squeak this one in here. Do come back later today for the last installment of the STAMPlorations release.