Dino Bday

Dino-Mite by MFT is my go to stamp set for boy birthdays. Here's a card I made for a birthday party we went to last weekend. It was for one of dh's high school buddies son who turned 7. I like how it turned out and I think he did as well :-) The party took place at a bowling alley and dh and Miles really enjoyed bowling. Maya did not want to bowl at all so we hung out at the table and watched for the most part.

The card base is Ballet Blue. I stamped the Sanded background stamp in River Rock on River Rock card stock. I distressed the edges and added this to the card base. The image is stamped on Georgia Pacific white card stock with Pallette Hybrid Noir and then colored in with Copics and Copic Spica Glitter Pens. It's matted on Only Orange and Wild Wasabi. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon and is stamped in Ballet Blue ink on Georgia Pacific white. This is circle punched and then matted on an Only Orange circle and Wild Wasabi oval. A few Only Orange eyelets are added to the top corner. I left ribbon off since it's a boy card, ya know!

Here's a closer detail at the colored image.

Thanks for visiting! I expect to get back to a somewhat normal schedule soon.

TLC149-Split Negative Boho Blossoms

One of the bad things about not going to work is that my sleep cycles tend to get wacky. I end up staying up way tooooooooooo late. I know that next week is going to kill me! Dh naturally gets up super, super early--he goes to the gym before work a few times a week. Pre-kids, I used to do this and it was great. I always say I'm going to get up when he does so I can get some exercise done and I do it for a little bit before sleep calls me :-) Once again, I'm resolving to start getting up early so these late nights are going to end for me soon.

The good thing about being up late is that I got a head start on the Technique Lover's Challenge at SCS. TLC149 was to use the Split Negative Technique but not to use black and white. So, I decided to use red and vanilla. I stamped the heart from MFT's Boho Blossoms in Vanilla Craft on Real Red cardstock and embossed it with Crystal Clear embossing powder. Then I stamped it in Real Red Craft on Very Vanilla cardstock and embossed with Crystal Clear embossing powder. I cut them apart and lined them up and then matted it on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I love having a tiny mat and always use my Perfect Layers tool to get a 1/16 inch mat. I stamped the word "friendship" from the same stamp set with Chocolate Chip ink on Real Red cardstock and punched it out with the word window punch. I attached it to the heart with some gold cord and a gold brad. The card base is Kraft cardstock and is edged with Real Red craft ink. In hindsight, I probably should have used either Chocolate Chip or Real Red Cardstock instead since this went a different direction once I got started but I already had the cardstock cut and ready. I stamped the Fine Lace background stamp on Very Vanilla cardstock and then punched the corners with my Ticket Corner punch. I tied wide Chocolate Grosgrain around this and then attached it to the cardbase. Then, I attached the heart and small tag to the card with dimensionals. It still wasn't quite done so I added some Liquid Pearls to the corners of the card.

This was a fun technique but now I'm beat and about to hit the hay. The kids decided to "camp out" which means they're all sleeping downstairs. They stayed up late as well and the 5 yo is supposed to go to work with daddy tomorrow. Somehow, I don't see him waking up to do that :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Dino-Mite Birthday

My nephew just turned 2 and here's a card that I made for him. I love, love, love the Dino-Mite set by My Favorite Things. Since I've got 2 boys and they have friends, it's the perfect set for the plethora of birthday cards that I have to make for them. I stamped the dino in Versafine Black Onyx on Georgia Pacific White and then colored him in with Copic Markers and Copic Spica Glitter pens. Love the glitter pens--very sparkly and easy to use. I'm still playing and learning but think I'm getting a little better with my shading with the Copics. I really wanna play some more and will attempt to do it later since my new stamping room is slowly but surely coming into shape. I matted the dino on Tempting Turquoise and then put it on a Real Red tag. I punched a hole and used one of my Pewter Jumbo eyelets on it tied with a little snippet of Black Gingham ribbon. This is on the Old Olive cardbase on dimensionals. I stamped the Happy Birthday with Versamagic Lightning Black so it also has a little hint of sparkle. Tah-Dah! All done!!!!! Popped the card in the bag with his present and we were ready to go to his party. The kids all had a great time at the party so we had a nice Saturday all around.

Dh is at the park with the kids right now so I'm popping on real quick in the midst of my Sunday cleaning. There just aren't enough days in the week--I hate how work gets in the way of life! But then again, work allows me the ability to have the quality of life that I want so it's all a trade-off.

Speaking of trades, I got rid of my money pit of a car and I'm now the proud owner of a brand new 2008 Lexus RX350!!!! Woooohoooooo!!!!! I'm loving this new car :-) and all the bells and whistles put a smile on my face. See why I can't quit working? First of all, I wouldn't have the money to spend on my stamping stuff and secondly, I'm spoiled and like nice things :-)

Thanks for visiting and I'm hoping to get back to regular stamping soon.

MFT and In Colors

I made this card the other evening. I still cannot get enough of the new In Colors :-) The card base is Soft Sky. The bottom layer is Groovy Guava and I stamped the presents from My Favorite Thing's You Take the Cake set in Groovy Guava on this layer. I stamped the cake stand, flower cake, and candles in Versafine Black Onyx on Shimmery White. I then colored it in with a blender pen and Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, and River Rock inkpads. The sentiment is also on Shimmery white and I punched it out with the Word Window punch and then colored over it a little with Soft Sky and a blender pen. It's popped up on dimensionals. The focal image is matted on Purely Pomegranate and I wrapped soem Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon around the card.

This was a fun card to make and I can tell that at the rate I'm going, I'm going to need to order some card stock soon :-) Thanks for visiting!

Dino Birthday

I love, love, love this Dino set from My Favorite Things. Now, personally, I'm not a huge dino buff but my oldest son has always been enamored of dinosaurs. When he went through his imaginary friend phase, his was a dinosaur :-) I'm always on the lookout for dino sets and knew I'd get lots of use from this set when I spotted it. It's great for boy birthday cards and I've used it several times already. I'm pretty bad at using sets more than once--gasp--that's why I have too darn many stamps.

The card base is Summer Sun and the bottom layer is Elegant Eggplant. The focal image is stamped onto Whisper White with Brilliance Graphite Black and then colored in with various Copic markers. I don't have a colorless blender pen but discovered that my Cool Grey works at taking some of the color away when I use too much. I'm still working on how exactly to use these but I love the colors and love that no matter how much ink I use, I I don't get the paper wet and it doesn't pill. After I colored it in and played around with it a little, I matted it on Certainly Celery and Old Olive. I punched a small hole in the side of the card to put some Celery Grosgrain ribbon through and then attached it with an Old Olive eyelet. Then I attached the focal image with dimensionals. I stamped the Happy Birthday with Versamagic Cloud White and voila--done! Sign the card, stick it and the gift in a bag, and we were party bound!

It's been a busy weekend and I'm glad that this will be a short work week. Just think, if I wasn't doing summer school, I'd be on vacation now!

Have a great day and thanks for looking.

Fabulous Summer Sun

Summer Sun was one of the first SU colors that I fell in love with. I vividly remember one of my first stamping experiences on my own. I stamped many, many images from Fresh Flowers and made cards with a Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Whisper White combination. At that time, I didn't use a lot of embellishment but I was into paper tearing and Crystal Effects :-)

Fast forward a few years and I still love Summer Sun and Cameo Coral together. I don't use these colors that often but when I do, I wonder why I don't do it more.

I stamped the image from Let's Go for a Walk by MFT with Versamagic Midnight Black onto Whisper White and played with some of my new Copic markers. I'm buying them individually at this point and the smaller dogs are colored in with my Stampin Write markers. YES, there is a huge difference between Copics and the SU markers. I am by no means an artist nor do I have any art training but the Copics rock!!!!! I wish I had more money right now because the Dick Blick in Berkeley is having a customer appreciation/card holder sale this weekend that takes 25% off with my card instead of a mere 10% off. . .I'd buy way more Copics for 25% off if I had a couple extra hundred dollars. . .darn cash only methods I'm trying to live by! Anyway, I digress. . .the card base is Summer Sun. The strip in the middle is Elegant Eggplant and the circles are stamped with Brilliance Moonlight White--I love the soft shimmery sheen to this color. The main image is matted on Cameo Coral and I had to break out my Perfect Layers tool to get a perfect mat. I love, love, love my Perfect Layers and if I wasn't trying to stay neat and organized, I'd keep this out on my stamping area regularly. I stamped the sentiment onto Whisper White with Versamagic Pink Grapefruit. I originally planned to punch this out with my Key Tag punch but when I pulled the punch out, it was a little too small so I rounded the corners, matted it on Cameo Coral and used my Perfect Layers on it and then rounded those corners as well. I attached a small snippet of black gingham ribbon to the sentiment and then put a small yellow prima flower on top of this with a drop of White Opal Liquid Pearls in the center of this.

Oops, I forgot to add that I colored over the circles on the dress with my Clear Stardust pen and in hindsight, the card really didn't need it but it's still cute anyway.

Thanks for visiting!

More Dinos

Can I just say that Kim over at My Favorite Things rocks? I emailed her about the broken tail on the dino and she promptly sent me out a new set. I'm beyond excited and will definitely continue to order through her. Cute stamps and great customer service--what more in life could a girl want?

This was a quick card for Cousin Brian. He is exactly one year older than Miles so we generally have a combined birthday party to make it easy on family. The card base is Buckaroo Blue and other colors used are True Thyme, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White. I stamped the image and sentiment with my Versamagic Dew Drop in Jumbo Java. I colored in the dino with a blender pen and the inks from my True Thyme, Buckaroo Blue, and Pumpkin Pie ink pads. Then, I used some Orange Peel stickles on the candles, hat, and some of the frosting. I colored over the dino and sentiment with my Clear Glaze pen and then dotted the outside of the image with an Orange Glaze Pen which is probably the closest I'll come to doodling.

I'm not 100% thrilled with it but it served its purpose. Sometimes I don't like giving my cards away because I know that they're not going to be saved so it's probably better that I didn't agonize over this one for hours :-)

My Favorite Things

Ok, I love this stamp set by My Favorite Things My oldest ds desperately wants me to let him use this set since he's has alway LOVED Dinosaurs. I made both of these cards to give away. One of them is for Mason's birthday buddy and I'm so behind that this is about a month late. The other one is for one of dh's friend's son.

Card #1 is on a Cool Caribbean card base. The image is stamped in Versafine Black Onyx on Whisper White cardstock. It's colored in with Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, and Real Red Markers and then highlighted with my Sakura Stardust pen. After coloring it in, the white was a little stark so I dabbed on some of my i kan dee pearlescent chalks for a light blue shimmery background. This image is matted on Tempting Turquoise and Real Red cardstock and then put on an Old Olive strip that has some silver eyelets attached to the side. The sentiment is stamped with Brilliance Lightning Black to go with the shimmery theme.

Card #2 is on a Yoyo Yellow card base. The image is stamped with Versamagic Midnight Black on Whisper White. I colored it in with various Sakura Glaze and Souffle pens and then matted it on Real Red carstock. I layered this on a piece of Only Orange cardstock cut on the diagonal. The sentiment is stamped in Versamagic Red Magic.

My only complaint is that when I pulled my stamp off the block ( the dinosaur with the prezzies on the back), it ripped. I'm soooooooooooo sad. Is this user error or is the stamp flawed? I emailed Kim about it and hope that I can get the one stamp back instead of buying the whole set again since I really, truly must have this set!

Anyway, it's late on a Friday and dh and I need to get to bed before the kiddos wake up! In case I don't make it back, have a great weekend!