Pots, Paints and Plants, Oh My! (05/30/2012)

Today's project didn't have ANY paper in it at all ... but it had bright colors, stamps, embossing powder, and plants :)  Here it is:

My Mommy sent me a beautiful potted plant assortment for my birthday, but in a pot without drain holes, and kinda ornately-ugly (not her choice I'm sure!).  Anyhoo, it has been on my to-do list for a very long time to repot the plants.  And, since one of them was an African Violet, I wanted to put that in its own pot, with the other plants in a second pot. 

So, the other day I bought two clay pots with saucers and acrylic paint.  I got a glittery purple and a bright yellow (sorry Cougs, I didn't think this through ...).  I painted each pot - but didn't realize until I had done the first coat on the purple one that the glittery purple paint is really designed to go over an already existing color, because it isn't an opaque paint - it is pretty translucent with sparklies.  Oh well, it is still kinda cool.

After I painted them and let them dry, I pulled out my Lawn Fawn Judy's Blooms and used versa mark ink to stamp a flower repeatedly, tossed on some white embossing powder and then heat gun them until they were shiny :)

Dumped in some dirt, re-potted the plants, and I have a complete project!  Now, just gotta bring them back to my office!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

We Did It! (05/28/2012)

I get excited thinking about this ... meet today's scrapbook page:

I recently started RUNNING, and this was my FIRST-ever running event.  Guy and I did the Disney Princess Half-Marathon at Walt Disney World in February, 2012.  It was AMAZING!

I never in a million years thought I could actually do a half-marathon, and I do have to confess ... I didn't run the whole thing - I ran a mile, walked a mile, ran a mile, etc.  But, my next running goal is to actually RUN a whole Half-Marathon!

Anyhoo, back to the scrapbook page - we had a challenge at our monthly crop to incorporate circles, so I cut out my photos and some embellishments with my trusty circle and scalloped circle die cuts. I also needed something "crown" like.  So, I die cut (using Stampadoodle's snowflake die) out a big circle-ish thing, and created "jewels" to make it like a tiara or crown, fit for a Princess!

I used my Creative Memories oval cutters to cut out some small blue cardstock ovals, and then covered them almost to the edge with some Crystal Stickles.  I also punched out some blue cardstock holes, and stickled them as well.  After they dried, I adhered them where I wanted them.

I also used Lawn Fawn's Claires ABCs to spell out my sentiment: "We Did It!" and used some Lawn Fawn Triple Pack Cord to hang the bannered words from.

 
I highly recommend the Disney Princess Half-Marathon ... it was so much fun!  There are princesses everywhere, and a very fun and festive event.  I had a really good time, and this page makes me happy because it reminds me of all the fun we had that day :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Happy Birthday Critters (05/25/2012)

Today's card is full o' critters and dimension ... let's meet it shall we?

This is a little birthday card for a friend that really likes animals ... I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the 'Burbs.  I also created a "stair-step" card and layered grass die cuts in varying shades of green as the base.  I stamped out some critters, a tree and a butterfly, and copic marker colored them in.  I then adhered them with pop dots and die cut out a label, and stamped the sentiment on it.  Slapped it all together, and totally made Kelly's day!

This was a fun one - and I love the little pink bunny - too cute!

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Mikey's Birthday (05/23/2012)

Hee hee, here is another attempt at a masculine birthday card:

This card is for my brother's birthday.  He is very outdoorsy, and I wanted to make him a little something to acknowledge that, and be masculine at the same time.  I envisioned Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest (yay!) and even drew a sketch to capture my vision  I am starting to do this a little bit more .... it is quite helpful!  And, this is probably the first time ever that my final card looks a lot like the sketch design idea!  Yay!  Here is the sketch that I made a day before ....

I paper pieced pretty much everything.  I used Lawn Fawn's Bright Side Collections Petite Paper Pack for the sloped ground and pine trees. I also used plain card stock for most of the other parts - I didn't use any markers at all ... I did this all with paper and fussy cutting.  Although, I did use some Distress Ink on the grass border (punched with a Fiskars punch) because I needed to darken the green cardstock a tad.

Then, I topped it off with Lawn Fawn's Grand Greetings for the sentiment.  I didn't take a picture of the inside, but I used Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After and stamped "may all your dreams come true" from that set.

I hope Mike likes his card - he is a great big brother :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Mothers' Day Cards (05/21/2012)

Moms are the best ... and here are two Mother's Day cards I made for the two special mommies in me and Guy's lives:

I used an old favorite standby stamp, the flowers and pot from D.O.T.S. (yes, it is that old!).  I stamped out the flowers & pot twice, and colored them with my Copic markers.  I also stamped the image two more times, so I could color in some flowers to pop-up for some extra dimension.  Here is a closeup of a pop-up:

I really like that these two images are the same, are colored very similarly, but, the background and card stock are completely different, which makes each card quite different.

And, here is the inside of my mom's card - I used a little bling, and cut out a panel to slip underneath the bling for the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment first, gave it a little inking, and adhered it and then layered the bling over it.  Fun!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommies out there.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Classic Happy Birthday (05/18/2012)

Today's card is a black & white Happy Birthday card.  Let's check it out!

I wanted a classic, clean line, and I really like black & white together ... this has a lot of b/w patterned paper, and some silvery paper too.  I used strips of rhinestones to add a little extra pop too!  Can't go wrong with lots of rhinestones!

I also used a border punch to make a fancy pants border on the silver paper.

I didn't have quite the right Happy Birthday sentiment stamp, so I printed out the sentiment with my printer, but I can't remember what font I used (sorry!).  I "reverse" printed it - I made a text box in black, and changed the font color to white.  This allowed the sentiment to appear white on a solid black background to give it extra pop!!

I really like this card, and I hope it inspires you too :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris

Inspirational Hello (05/16/2012)

Hi, let's say HEY to today's card:

This little card was to tell a very good friend of mine how very proud I am of her.  She inspires me in so many ways - and I wanted to tell her that.  I used my favorite Lawn Fawn stuff, especially Flutter By and Fanciful Frames.

I stamped out flowers, leaves and butterflies with versamark on white paper, and used white embossing powder.  A little heat-gun action later, I had some white-on-white images.  I used my ol' trusty Stampin' Up markers to color them, then water-colored them to soften them, with a wet paint brush.  After a little bit o' drying time, I fussy cut them out.

I stamped the frame on patterned paper, using Lawn Fawn's Bright Side Collection Kit, and then fussy cut it out as well.  I repeated Kelly Marie's tip (she is the owner of Lawn Fawn) to do a second-generation stamp of the frame and cut it out to use as the "background" of the framed image.  This really helped me line up where the frame would be, and layered my images on top of it.  I also used some Distress Ink to color the inside/back of the frame to offset the flowers a bit.  After I figured out where I wanted the flowers and leaves, I stamped the sentiment and then adhered the flowers, and the frame.

I added a little bit of Martha Stewart glitter glue to a flower for a little extra oomph, and tossed on a butterfly and did a white gel pen flutter trail. 

Here is close up of the butter fly and trail:

I am so very proud of my buddy Cheryl, and hope this helps tell her.

Thanks for stopping by, have a magical day!

Chris