It's a birthday!
I made a card, using Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Snow, Critters in the 'Burbs and Critters in the Forest, Hats Off to You, Sophie's Sentiments and stickers and a panel from the Bright Sides Collection Kit for my nephew's birthday.
I stamped out the critters and the hat and colored them with Copic markers, then fussy cut them. I layered most of the critters under the panel, but just had to put the cute 'lil penguin on the front of the panel with a festive party hat! I also layered a strip of washi tape underneath the panel, and stamped sentiments on the panel too.
Before adhering everything down, I also used Sophie's Sentiments and stamped Happy Birthday in versa mark for a background. Here is a closeup:
Happy Birthday Alex!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
I recently attended the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo and did a few make & takes. They were really fun, and I decided to post what I did here ... so, here is one of them - I colored and glued it together, but the design and everything else is from the great gals at Stamping Fools. Here is the card from Stamping Fools:
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This was a fun card to make. The gals at Stamping Fools used white cardstock, laid down a sheet of adhesive, then covered it with micro fine glitter. Then, they cut the glittered cardstock into rectangles. They designed the make & take and had everything else pre-cut for all of us. We layered the yellow patterned paper cardstock panel over the white card, and matted the small white panel with black cardstock. We then used a Dazzle sticker and pulled off the "frame" of the tulip pot sticker, put it on top of the glittery cardstock, then colored in the image. After that, we fussy cut out the glittery image, and pop-dotted it onto our rectangle. A few spots of bling later, and the card was done. Here is an image of the glittery, copic colored image close up:
This card was fun, and it taught me that I can color OVER glitter! I have tried it since I got back from the Expo, and I have some stuff in the works, based on this idea!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's card was not created by me - but I just had to share, so here it is!
My buddy Mary, who is fairly new to paper crafting, attended the Puyallup Scrapbook Expo with me and some of our other paper crafting friends. Mary made this card for a friend - and I think it is absolutely gorgeous!
She used Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After for the unicorn, copic colored it in, and even added a little silver sparkly glitter to the horn. She also stamped out and copic colored flower, leaves and a butterfly from Flutter By. She also used the Bright Side Collection Kit patterned paper.
She border punched grass, and used distress ink to add some texture to the grass. She layered this all up, stamped the sentiment on paper, banner cut it, and she was done! I love this card - Mary did such a fantastic job!
I just had to share this card to show you how wonderful it is, and the amazing cards that Mary creates ... she is a genius!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's post is NOT a card ... it is a BOX! Let's check it out.
I needed to give a gift to a visiting Chinese lecturer, and decided to make a box to put the welcome gift in. Red is a traditional color for gift giving, and I didn't have a red box - so I made one! I purchased a white cubed box from a big box store, and decided to decorate it. The bad news is, distress ink (all I had in red!) does NOT stick or adhere to glossy white boxes. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
I decided to decorate with a little bit of scrolly swirls from Lawn Fawn's Grand Greetings, and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. After I got the gold scrolls embossed, I tried to do a resist technique using red distress ink. But, the ink didn't stay on the box and kept smearing off. I had nothing else to color it with, so I ended up pulling out my crystal 3d glue and some red tissue paper. I smeared the glue all over the box, and wrapped it in the tissue paper and smooshed it down. So, the tissue ended up being laid over the gold embossed decorations. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it ended up working out.
Here is a shot of the goodies inside the gift box:
All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out - but it sure was a process to get to this point! Hopefully our visitor enjoyed his welcome gift.
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
We all need a Happy Monday card now and again:
A friend who knows I like to make cards, made a joke recently about wanting a "happy monday" card ... and since he wished for it, he got it!
I used a card from a big-box store card & envelope set, and cut a patterned paper panel from Lawn Fawn's Bright Side Collection kit paper to use. I also stamped out the "may all your dreams come true" sentiment from the Critters Ever After set, in rainbow colors on the card. Then, I filled in the rest of the space above the patterned paper area with the same sentiment but in a softer ink to create a bit of a patterned paper effect with the sentiment. Here is a close-up:
And, heck, if we are dreaming, why don't we dream big and wish for a griffin? So, I stamped out the griffin from Critters Ever After, and colored it in with Copic markers and fussy cut it. I layered it over the patterned paper.
I also stamped out the "happy monday" sentiment with Quinn's ABCs in rainbow colors with the Petite Paper Pack patterned paper. I white heat embossed the sentiment letters and adhered them to the patterned paper. I finished it off with a sweet bow using Lawn Fawn's Lawn Trimmings cord. Check it out:
I don't like the look of ribbon or stuff wrapped through the "inside" of the card, so I cut the lawn trimming cord long enough to stretch across only the front of the card, and then cut another piece and tied it in a bow onto the first cord piece. This way, the bow could slide along the straight cord and I could place it exactly where I wanted it. Once I had the placement figured out, I used my crystal 3-d glue stuff and squeezed out a thin line of glue, stretched the straight cord out and placed it on the glue. I held it tight for a few seconds, then trimmed off the ends. I ended up with a tied bow, without having the cord wrapped through the inside of the card.
I know Dan enjoyed this card, and hopefully his Monday was even happier because of it!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's card has glitter!
This card was totally scraplifted from Lawn Fawn's 07/09/12 blog post. When I saw Chari's card, I knew I had to make one ... and Melisa, conveniently, was having a birthday! So, she got a glittery candle border card.
I recently purchased a pack of cards & envelopes from a big box store, for super cheap (8 cards & envelopes in the dollar bin!). So, I decided to use one of those. I used the one with the scalloped edge. I layered a blue panel over most of the front of the card, and left the scalloped border. I also ran a thin strip of the same cardstock color on the inside bottom of the card to help accent the scallop.
To decorate the card, I used Lawn Fawn's Chevron Backdrops and versa mark inked the cardstock panel with the thin chevron border. I stamped "happy" with Quinns ABCs and filled in each letter with blue glitter glue. I also stamped "birthday" from Sophie's Sentiments. Then, stamped a string of colored candles from Bake Me a Cake set.
I topped off the card, just like Chari, with a cute little party hat from Hats Off to You collection.
This was a really fun card and I hope Melisa enjoys it and has a wonderful birthday!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's card is colorful and filled with love! Let's stroll on over and say howdy okay?
I made this Thanks card to thank a friend for her inspiration and belief in me ... and I wanted to make it as colorful as possible! I used Lawn Fawn's Quinns ABCs for the sentiment, and Belinda's Borders for the heart border and the chevron and squiggle backgrounds.
I made a card from cardstock, then cut a white cardstock panel. I stamped the heart border and then colored the hearts in rainbow colors with Copic markers. I scraplifted a hint from Lawn Fawn's Kelly Marie and drew around the outer edges of the heart border with a very light gray marker to help make the heart border POP a little bit more. It is really hard to tell in these photos.
I also stamped both the squiggle and chevron borders in versa mark to create a bit of a patterned paper background. You can kinda see that in the photo above.
I stamped out my sentiment, using versa mark and white embossing powder on Lawn Fawn's Petite Paper Pack in rainbow colors as well. I fussy cut them out and adhered them with popup dots.
I wanted even more color :) so I tied on some bakers twine, tied bows, and copic colored some clear rhinestones to get them to match the twine, and popped them on top of the bows. I also put a teeny dot of Crystal 3-D glue under the bows to keep them in place, and keep them from unraveling.
A corner punch and a little bit of inked edges later, and the card was done. I really hope Kerena likes it - she has inspired me in so many ways. I hope this little card helps tell her how much I appreciate her!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's post was a true collaboration ... it definitely takes a village - and teams are much more inspiring than just one person. Let's meet today's card that many people (me and several fairy godmothers) were involved in the creation and inspiration of:
Okay, so it seems like a nice, simple wedding card ... but it is an interactive, double-slider card!! I received a thank you card recently from a very dear friend. She made a double-slider card and I was blown away with how cool it was! I had been mulling around how to make a wedding card, and when I saw the slider-thank you card, I was inspired!
Here is the full card, with the top & bottom slid out:
Now, pull up a chair and get comfortable, because I want to share with you how I was inspired, and how much help I had to make this card. I definitely cannot take all the credit because of all the help, suggestions and advice I received!
I first envisioned a wedding card, using Lawn Fawn's Happily Ever After and using the dress and engagement ring stamps. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted for a background, or how to frame the dress. But, I wanted the dress! I pulled out some silvery paper from my stash, and also found a floral patterned vellum. I knew I needed to make the dress from the silver paper, and also stamped out the bodice on the vellum. I laid the vellum over the silver, and it gave the top of the dress a little extra pop. I planned on putting mini pearls across the waist area to separate the top from the bottom, and cover up any adhesive used on the base of the vellum. I was telling my dear friend Terri, who made me the slider thank you card, about this card idea - and she suggested some tulle or fabric to go over the bottom of the dress too. An idea was formed! And, Terri was kind enough to give me some tulle out of her stash since I didn't have any. Note to self, must purchase tulle because it is so much fun to work with! We'll come back to the dress construction in a little bit.... But, here is a closeup of the vellum overlaying the silver:
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Terri, and our other uber-crafty friend, Mary, came over to help with with the build of this card. I won't exactly 'fess up how many HOURS this card took, but it was a lot :) And, this was with three people working diligently to make it happen ... and, the best part was, we had too much fun!
I had already stamped out the dress and bodice, and had measured out a 6" x 6" square double-slider card. The double-slider card Terri had given me was rectangular, so I had to use my stellar math skills to change the dimensions, and also go from rectangular to square.
For the dress itself, Terri and Mary suggested gathering up the tulle and using a ribbon. They set about making the gathered fabric and assembled the dress. We quickly realized the gathered fabric wouldn't allow for a pearl-belt but I was adament that we use pearls. But, I couldn't figure out where to put them. Terri, in her infinite wisdom (she is so much more creative than me!) suggested we place pearls on the tulle, on the bottom of the dress! Genius idea! And, instead of placing a strip of pearls at the waist area, we moved the pearls to the top of the bodice for extra pizzaz. This is how the dress turned out:
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Okay, so we had the dress done ... now we needed to frame it or highlight it somehow. We pondered a lot of different ideas, namely using die cuts to create a label or shaped background. All of a sudden, Terri and I both said we wanted to "frame" the dress, and realized we could use Lawn Fawn's Fanciful Frames! And, we could use the purple patterned paper from Lawn Fawn's Petite Paper Pack. Now, how to frame the dress in the actual frame? As soon as we pulled out the larger frame, we both envisioned a mirror ... now, how to make the mirror reflective? I didn't have any silver metal, but I had gold leaf, but it was too flimsy. That didn't seem right - and then we realized that a silver filled-in frame would not make the silver dress pop - we had to have a different color inside the frame. We settled on a white interior, but with a platinum-stamped mirror image of the dress. We got busy making this, and assembled the mirror.
Once we had this handled, Terri realized that the proportions were wrong, and we couldn't have a 6" x 6" card. So, we cut down the card base to a 5" x 5" square. This fit the dress and mirror better.
We also made the rings. Mary and Terri suggested we make them pop a little more, and I should do black embossing. I found some gold shiny paper in my stash, and stamped and black heat embossed the rings, then fussy cut them out. I also stamped out the diamond on the same silvery paper as the dress and black heat embossed it. I fussy cut it out and started to assemble, but it seemed like the diamond should be a little more sparkly. We pulled some glitter out of my stash, and viola, we had a glittery accent on the diamond!
The front wasn't quite balanced as we laid it out - and Terri and Mary suggested a bit of a line or base across the black background. Again, we turned to my stash, and pulled out some sticky tape and the same glitter we used on the diamond, and made a glitter line across the card to anchor the mirror and dress.
After this, we had to tackle the two pieces that would slide out. Previously, Terri showed me another card she made with Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After magic wand and star clusters. This inspired us to use the same stamp set and make a starry background for the two slider pieces. I also wanted the background to be purple, but not purple cardstock. We pulled out my Distress Inks and chose Dusty Concord. But, to make the stars visible, and not cover them in purple, I stamped the stars from Critters Ever After and Bake Me a Cake with Versa Mark embossing ink, sprinkled them with white embossing powder, and heat embossed them. Then, I pulled out my trusty ink blender and went to town coloring the white paper purple. The ink colored the paper, except the stars, where the ink was "resisted" by the white embossing powder. This resist-technique is pretty cool! Here is a close-up:
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For one of the slide out panels, we decided to do part of the sentiment from the Happily Ever After stamp set. The full sentiment reads: "Wishing you a happily ever after" but we shortened it, to just the "happily ever after" part, and also used the ellipses from the Just My Type Too set, which was perfect! Again, the dilemma was how to frame the sentiment. We decided to use Bannerific for one of the banners, and have the banner held up by two white doves (also part of the Bannerific stamp set). The panel seemed a little empty, so back to the Happily Ever After set, for the entertwined hearts. I stamped them on white paper and Copic colored them red.
For the other slide out panel, I envisioned a stamped border of the champagne glasses, but didn't know how to pull it together. Terri suggested we stamp the glasses in a row, and color in the glasses of champagne. Terri (who is an awesome colorer!) started blending Copic colors to find the perfect color combination. She then had the idea of placing the little heart cluster from Happily Ever After as bubbles from the champagne. As we practiced and fiddled with it, we settled on a strip of champagne glasses, but only the center pair colored in with heart bubbles above it. We also decided to stamp the heart bubbles in gold sparkly ink. A stamped sentiment, also from Happily Ever After, and then an inked border - and we were done :)
Here is the card with the sliders half out - just to get a better idea of what they look like going in and out:
Terri asked me about an envelope - and I said I would make one. But, it sooned dawned on me that an envelope wouldn't work since the dress had such dimension to it. So, I made a box instead!
I cut out some 6" x 6" square for the base, a 6-1/8" x 6-1/8" square for the top and some 1-1/2" strips for the edges. I versa mark stamped the champagne glasses on the strips, scored them at 1" and folded them and adhered the edges to the base. I did the same for the top. Here are both pieces:
I used my Bright Side Collections alpha stickers to spell out "congrats" and the bride and groom's names. I also used my silver sparkle gel pen to draw around the "congrats" sentiment to make a little extra pop:
When I showed this card to my husband, Guy, he really liked it, but didn't realize it was a slider card. I had to give him some hints for him to realize that he had to hold the card and pull the white ribbon so that the other two panels slid out. So, I improvised a note for the happy couple so they would know what to do, when they opened the card too. I used a vintage Creative Memories swirly border guide, traced it with the sparkle pen and wrote a quite note about how to operate the card so they would get the full effect:
And, to finish it all off, I placed the card in the box, slid on the lid, and tied it all up in a bow:
This was a card made just for the happy couple, and I really hope they appreciate it ... we had such a fabulous time making it!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Sometimes ya just gotta tell someone that they rock! And, here is one of those times:
I scraplifted an idea I saw on a recent Lawn Fawn blog, using Belinda's Borders. I made a monochromatic card, and copied the concept of using one of the borders repeated as a background, and created a die-cut label for my sentiment and stamp.
For this card, I also used stamps from Lawn Fawn's Stay Tuned set. I used the radio, the music notes and the "sound waves" along with the "you rock" sentiment and exclamation point!
I layed the die cut, stamped label over some washi tape, used the corner rounder, and called it good.
Melisa rocks - and now you know she does too :)
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Another day ... Another card:
Scraplifted this idea (Belinda's Borders background on a monochromatic card) from a recent Lawn Fawn blog, and made a card for a friend's birthday ... he totally rocks, and he is an incredible emcee, so this seemed fitting to have a microphone as the center piece for his birthday card. I used the Stay Tuned stamp set for the microphone and "sound waves" symbols.
I also scraplifted an idea from another Lawn Fawn blog, and stamped my microphone onto Lawn Fawn's Bright Side Collection Kit patterned paper using versa mark ink, and then covered it with clear embossing powder and heat embossed it. Then, I colored in the non-embossed areas with a water-based dark gray marker, wiped the ink off the clear embossed parts, and then fussy cut out the microphone. Here is a close-up. It is a tad difficult to see, but this does kinda show the clear embossing over the patterned paper.
I cut out a label with my spellbinders die cut and my trusty Cuttlebug - love, love, love the Cuttlebug! I stamped out the sentiment from Sophie's Sentiments, and cut it into a banner shape. Layered it across the label area, and was finished!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Hi, let's meet today's card shall we?
This was a very different card for me ... I made this the old-fashioned way, just scissors, colored cardstock, glue and a marker :) I just had to make a "summer" gift for a buddy, who loves, loves, loves the Happy Summer stamp set from Lawn Fawn. So, I got her the stamp set, and a couple coordinating copic markers as well. I just had to stay in the picnic/watermelon theme, and made my own watermelon-shaped card to go with the gift.
I free-hand cut the watermelon shape (don't look too close ... or go ahead and look, and just feel the wonky love of doing it like a third grader!). I needed something small for seeds, and I came up with the idea of using two of my petite flower punches from Stampin' Up. I stamped out two flowers and then cut them into pizza-type slices of each petal, for a triangle-ish seed shape. I also allowed myself to have them in a little different shapes and sizes to make it look a little more realistic and third-graderish. *I apologize to all third graders out there :)
Tied up the copics with a bow, and the card and gift was done!
I know Terri will enjoy her summer, and this little giftie will help it be just a little bit better!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Today's card has a platypus. Let's say hello:
I made a get-well card for a friend, and I wanted it to be fun and funny ... she loves Phineas and Ferb, so this seemed like just the ticket! I made a card from cardstock, then cut a panel from one of Lawn Fawn's Bright Sides Collection Kit patterned papers. I added a little somethin' by stamping a stitched border from Belinda's Borders. I then created my own framed panel on white cardstock by stamping some scallops, also from Belinda's Borders (I totally scraplifted this idea from Lawn Fawn's 06/17/12 Belinda's Borders blog post).
I used more border designs (the swirly and the hatch marks) to fill in the framed image, and stamped the sentiment from the On the Mend stamp set. I also stamped the band-aid from the same set onto a colored cardstock, and fussy cut it.
I stamped the platypus from the Critters Down Under stamp set, Copic markered it, and fussy cut it as well. I had to turn this little guy into Perry, so I pulled out my Hat's Off to You set, stamped out the fedora, colored it in like Perry's hat, and topped off the platypus with it.
I hope this little card cheers Kelly up, and lets her know we are thinking of her and sending her hugs (and a platypus!).
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Good day! I made a cute little card, so let's meet it right away, shall we:
One of our co-workers is moving on to a new adventure, so I made a card to celebrate her next step.
I made a small square card from kraft cardstock. I used versa mark ink and stamped the hearts from Lawn Fawn's Belinda's Borders on the cardstock to create a water-marked image. I cut a smaller piece of yellow cardstock, and used the twirly border, also from Belinda's Borders, and created sunburst pattern across the card panel for texture. Here is a closeup:
I stamped the flamingo from Gnome Sweet Gnome, Copic marker colored it, and fussy cut it out. I wanted some green at the bottom, and used Lawn Fawn's Natural Cord and dyed it with a Distress ink. I stuck on a strip of washi tape, tied the dyed natural cord over the tape, and pop-dot adhered the flamingo and was done. This one was fun and easy!
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
Sometimes you just need a masculine, old fashioned, yet refined birthday card ... so this is what I did. Let's meet the card okay-dokey:
This birthday card is for my wonderful cousin, who is very distinguished, an artist, (not that that intimidates me or anything ... sheesh!) and an-all around renaissance man. I was also inspired by the paint in his house - he created a striped-effect by painting the same, deep, rich jewel tone color with both matte and glossy finish in alternating wide stripes. I tried to invoke that here, by cutting equal-sized strips, and alternating them with "plain" and "embossed" strips. I kinda like this effect!
This is a 5-1/2" square card. I used an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock, and cut it into a 5-1/2" x 11" piece. I scored it at the half-way mark, and then cut the remaining three inch piece into 1" strips. Then, I cut them into six 5" x 1" pieces. I placed three of them into a cuttlebug folder and dry embossed them. I placed the strips on the cardstock and adhered them down.
I used my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders dies to cut out two labels - one in black (staying in the monochromatic theme here) and one in the same cardstock as everything else. I used the same Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the black label, and stacked and adhered the labels to the card, and trimmed off the edge.
To also invoke my cousin, and his artsy and vintage side, I used Lawn Fawn's Just My Type stamp set and stamped out a typewriter on white cardstock, and colored them in with my Copic markers. I fussy cut out the typewriter, and also used Crystal 3D to highlight the keys.
I stamped the sentiment from the Just My Type Too, and stamped Happy Birthday inside the card, using a sentiment from Sophie's Sentiments.
I also adhered some ribbon across the bottom to help anchor the images and add some extra pizzazz, without adding much dimension. I needed to keep this flat since I am mailing it.
I really hope Cousin Brian likes this card. I tried to make a card that reflects his distinguished and playful personality - he is da bomb, and hopefully this little card will help show him how much I appreciate my incredible cousin.
Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!
Chris
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