Three Cards w/Stamps from Brutus Monroe

Hello crafty friends,

It's a good feeling when you use stamps (any product really) that has been sitting around unused and therefore unloved for a while.  I got these three stamps a while ago and they just sat waiting for me to play with them and I finally did.  Here are the cards I made with them in no order, because I can't pick a favorite... I love them all

Card 1, does not have a sentiment on the front, so I could use it for anything really, but this card will be going out soon to a special couple as a belated (I'm always late) anniversary card.  I used Taylored Expressions Birch Tree Background die and the Brutus Monroe Owl Love You stamp

Card 2, is fun and I think totally male card.  I know several guys in my family who would love to get this card.  So if you want dibs on it, you better speak up.  This card obviously started with the super CUTE dog wearing headphones stamp from Brutus Monroe Rockstar Pets stamp set (there's a super COOL cat in the set also).  I colored them w/my zig watercolor brush pens, using a clear wink of stella to move the watercolor around for lots of sparkle.  I also used the Die-Versions Birthday die, which is no longer available.  The spatters on the background are from a water down black wink of stella and in person they look grey instead of black, which is kind of cool and edgy.

Card 3, is going to a true Chicago lover.  I have someone in mind, even though I'm not sure when her bday is :)  Really how cool are the Brutus Monroe city globes!  This one is called City Sidewalks - Chicago.  I colored it by with an ink blender and distressed inks... super easy and fast.   The curvy  birthday die is from Serendipity Stamps and goes so well w/the globe.

Well, those are my three cards.  Thanks for stopping bye to check them out... do you have a favorite, leave me a comment telling which is your favorite and I'll pick one random comment to win their favorite, which I'll custom make for them. 

Impression Obsession - Autumn Colors

Hello crafty friends,

This card idea has been on my mind as an entry for the Impression Obsession "Autumn Colors" challenge for SEVERAL days, but being the procrastinator that I am, I only just sat down to make the card this afternoon.  I know I cut it close on this one considering the challenge ends tomorrow (Oct 6th), but never the less, it was a fun card to make and I love playing with my IO stamps.

I stamped the pumpkin three times, twice masking off the center part of the stamp, so that the eyes and mouth wouldn't stamp.  I watercolored all my stamped images.

I used the Pumpkin Cup CL778 stamp set, which is currently not available on the IO website, but here's a link to other cute cups stamps, some of them would work for a stacked design.  I especially like this Coffee Cup and this Tea Cocoa die set.

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

Impression Obsession Challenge - Flowers

Hello crafty friends,

The Impression Obsession challenge running until Mar 5th has a flower theme, so I used the larger flower cluster from the Sweet Celebration stamp set to create a circle wreath element for my card.  I die but the circle first and then stamped the flowers around the circle.  I used Distress Oxide inks for all my water coloring.  Next I stamped the "Happy Birthday to You" sentiment from the old Birthday Cakes stamp set (sorry, can't find it on IO's website).  I kind of messed up here, because i should have stamped it a little higher, so it could be seen after I added the stamped cake element, which I popped on foam tape for dimension.

Thanks for stopping bye... wish me luck.

Cosmic Newton

Hello crafty friends,

I have been in a funk, with no interest in crafting (I know... shocking) for a few weeks now.  So after packing up all my Christmas stamps and other crafty stuff, I pulled a few of my favorite stamp sets and placed them on my desk hoping they would bring my creativity out.  

on Sunday, I sat down and started working on a couple of watercolor backgound panels and later added Cosmic Newton (from SSS) to one of the panels.  The two astronaut Newtons are popped up on Action Wobbles.

I used my Prima Metallic Watercolor set for all the coloring.  Since I wanted my background dark and pigmented, I didn't dilute the watercolors with water too much.  I also went with an ombre kind of affect to mimic the trip into outer space.  The cats are not as shimmery, because I diluted the watercolors with lots water. 

It's hard to capture the shimmer in a photo.

Thanks for stopping bye to check out my Cosmic Newtons.  Wish me luck, because I'm entering this card in the current Simon Says Wednesday Interactive Card theme Challenge.

Inspiration Squad - Feb2018 Challenge 193

Hello crafty friends,

Happy Friday... and welcome to CAS-ual Friday's Challenge #193.  This challenge uses this sketch as our inspiration starting point.

What do you think?  I would love to see how you interpret this sketch.  I made these cards for the challenge. 

For card #1 I used the HB2U set from the Whole Shebang stamp set, stamping it in black three times.  next I added a die cut Friend in red to the center of the panel, right over the middle HB2U.  I finished the card by stamping in red a flower background with the Full On Floral stamp.

For card #2, I turned the sketch sideways and used the ballerinas from the Tutu stamp set... stamping thee ballerinas across the card's front panel.  Now for those you are very observant, you will noticed that the ballerina on the left is not in the stamp set.   It's actually the same stamp as on the right.  I used one of those mirror stamps to reverse the direction of the ballerina stamp.  I will be honest and let you know that I tried it several times before getting an OK (not great, not good, just OK) result.  I was also stamping on watercolor paper, so maybe that caused some of my problems.

I finished the panel by water coloring it, adding a sentiment banner and mounting it onto a black card stock that I have previously stamped flowers from the Pretty Posies stamp set.  I finished that card by mounting my finished panel and adding a few drops of white Nuvo.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  I look forward to seeing your heart theme submissions to this month's challenge. 

Inspiration Squad - Feb2018 Challenge 192

Hello crafty friends,

Happy February...  one month closer to Spring.  CAS-ual Friday's Challenge #192 is all about hearts and I made these two cards for the challenge.

Both cards are tall (3.75"x8.5") ones that fit into standard #10 envelopes.  The blue card has stamped sentiment arrows from the Cupid's Arrows stamps set within the die cut arrow openings from the Heart Board dies.  The red card has stamped hearts from the Cupid's Arrows stamps set in shades of pink and red inks and the "I LOVE YOU" arrow stamps hitting the centers of those hearts.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  I look forward to seeing your heart theme submissions to this month's challenge. 

Birthday Bus Rocks

Hello crafty friends,

I did a lot of lunch time/break coloring using my Zig Brush Pens and the OH SO CUTE Birthday Bus stamp from Avery Elle.  I love this stamp set and have so many ideas for it. Here are three of those ideas:

Card 1:  I'm calling the Party Caravan.  I started w/a per-made 5x6.5 white card.   Using watercolor paper and the ink smooching technique (if you haven't tried this technique, go see this video by Laura Bassen's... I love her videos).  Once my ink smooches were dry, I used the ink spot (for lack of a better name) die from this die set by Tim Holtz to die cut five bases for my party letters, which were die cut using a die font that I unfortunately can't identify, because I can't find it's packaging (sorry).

Once I had all my elements ready, I started assembling the card.  I started by adding the letter ink spots, putting some on dimensional tape and some directly on the card front.  Next I placed the center bus, followed by the side buses.  I added the stamp sets birthday theme extras (gifts, cake and ballons) to the tops of the buses and as a finishing touch added some enamel drops.    Here's a close up of card 1:

Card 2:  I'm calling Big City Birthday.  I started w/a per-made square 5.5" white card.  I inked the top with Distress ink to create my sky and fussy cut the top of a 6x6 sheet of pattern paper from the Pink Paislee Take Me Away pad to create a clean line of roof tops.  This got attached directly to my card front.  Next I die cut some grass using this Frantic Stamper grass die set.   I attached my grass strips and inserted my birthday bus.  As a finishing touch I added a happy birthday banner using the banner for the Avery Elle Band Camp stamp set.  

Card 3:  I'm calling Lets Party.   Once again, I started w/a per-made square 5.5" white card, which I covered with a blue w/tiny white stars pattern paper.   Next I die cut a speech bubble and using the Paper Trey Ink Party Trio die, which I due cut twice...  once from the speech bubble element and once from blue pattern paper, in order to inlay the 3 blue party die cuts into the speech bubble element.  I attached this element directly to my card front.  Next I added my Birthday Bus and three blue star balloons from the Avery Elle Ellie stamp set.  As a finishing touch, i added some enamel dots, gloss accents to the star balloons and stamp stars onto the speech bubble.

Wow, this was a long post.  Thanks for staying w/me to the end.  Unit next time... take care.

Rainbow & Butterflies

Hello crafty friends,

I spent the day yesterday making "just for fun" cards instead of design team calls :)  It's good to sometimes just play with our supplies with no goals other than having fun in mind.

Played with some of my new products to make this card.   Started with the beautiful Rainbows stamp from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and the Hero Arts Ombre Pink to Red ink pad.  I stamped the rainbow of butterflies in the center of each side of my 5 inch squared card front panel.  Next I stamped the sweet sentiment on scrap pieces of watercolor paper (I pretty much use nothing else these days) and a few butterflies using the Hero Arts Ombre Pool to Navy ink pad ( I'm loving these ombre ink pads).   I cut my sentiment using an very old punch and inked the little tags with a little soft pink.   I attached the little tags on dimensional tape and the butterflies directly on the card front without any dimensional tape, but because I didn't want to fussy cut the antennas... I first stamped the butterflies onto the card front and them glued my fussy cut butterfly bodies on top.  I added stickles to them as a finishing touch and three glittery drops around the sentiment.      

Thanks for stopping bye.  Unit next time... take care.

Owl My Love

Hello crafty friends,

It's been a while since I posted anything on my blog.  It's taken me a while to get caught up after the holidays and to start creating just for me.   After dinner last night I went into my craft room and created these three love theme cards and since today is LOVE day, it's the perfect day to post them here.

My first card was super easy... no I really mean it this time :)  I used the Die-Version I LOVE YOU Corner Concept die, which I cut four times and arranged on my kraft card front.   This is my first top fold card.  I used a 8.5x11 sheet of kraft card stock, which I cut in half the long way and folded in half.  I added one of the cute owls from the Owl My Thanks stamp and die set, which I colored in green to match my card stock and popped up w/foam for a little dimension.  Super easy and super fast card.

My second card has a few more components, but just as easy to put together.  I used the other half of my 8.5x11 sheet of kraft card stock for my card base, once again making a top folding card.  I matted it w/a piece of pattern paper leaving a small kraft border.  Next I die cut the Die-Version Smile Sweet Frames, manually trimming off the smile for a clean look.   I also die cut the Die-Version Heart Pops Whispers balloons, which I tucked into the bottom of the frame.  I added the same little owl from the Owl My Thanks stamp and die set, this time colored in yellows and added some tiny hearts from the same Owl My Thanks stamp set.

My third card was a little more involved and I have to admit it's my favorite :)

I covered my card front with a distress blue pattern paper and die cut three hearts into the front though both layers of paper.  I used smallest and second smallest dies from the Little B Heart die set.  I love that these dies also have heart stitch dies in the set.

The last thing I added to the front of the card was the "Owl My Love" sentiment from the Owl My Thanks stamp set,

The next thing I did was lightly trace the heart openings w/a pencil to get placement from my owls on the inside of the card.  Are you ready to see the inside?  Drum roll please :)

I stamped all three of the owls from the Owl My Thanks stamp set and colored them all.  Next came the hard part... at least hard for me, because I have zero drawing skills and I wanted to draw some tree branches around the stamped owls.   If I was smart I would have done the inside stamping on a separate piece of paper, which I would attach to the inside, but NO... I didn't stop to think and just started drawing and you know what?  I think I did a pretty good job.  I LOVE how it turned out.  I didn't draw the leafs, they were from an old stamp set I had (sorry, have no idea of the brand).

The last thing I added to the inside of the card was the "Owl My Love" sentiment and a few of the hearts from the Owl My Thanks stamp set.

That's it.  Three cards in under three hours on a Friday evening... not bad.  Thank you for stopping bye to look at my cards.  I love comments and try to reply to all of them, so leave me a comment letting me know which card is your favorite.

Happy LOVE day crafty friends!