ATC featuring Aud Sentiments

The current challenge at Aud Sentiments is "Any Sentiment but Birthday" and they are offering a wonderful freebie wordart by Marie-Clare. Since the theme of one of my group's ATC swaps this month is "Stars" I couldn't resist combining the two to make this shaker-ATC:

I assume this quote is from "Yellow" by Cold Play, and although I'm familiar with the song and incorporated yellow stars into the design, the blue coloring had nothing to do with the video theme (a happy coincidence!) I printed the sentiment onto a shiny white cardstock and attempted to heat-emboss it in yellow, but it didn't work so well this time. However, I liked the effect and was still able to ink it with blue inks. I also sprayed it with blue Glimmer Mist.

The frame is two layers of a glittered cardstock; the top piece is inked to be slightly brighter. I cut the apertures with a Spellbinders die. The plastic cover is cut from a scrap packaging plastic, and the shaker is filled with chunky glow-in-the-dark glitter.

The wood stars were inked with a yellow ink & heat-embossed with Holographic embossing powder. I also added some gem strips. I added an outside layer of blue tulle.

Challenges/Inspiration:
Add a Little Dazzle #41: Glitter/Anything goes
Aud Sentiments #114: Any Sentiment but Birthday
Opus Gluei: #191 ATCs (artist trading cards)
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything goes + an uplifting sentiment

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Happy, down to my bones

Man, I am getting my pennies' worth from Dilly Beans' Girlie Skellie digi collage sheet; I rarely buy pre-colored images, but they are fun! For this card, I printed the Sugar Skull image on vellum, then reversed it and printed it onto a thin metal sheet (Making Memories). I wasn't sure how well that would work, but I dried it with my heat tool and sprayed it with a matte coating, and was able to handle it fine. The flowers are made from the rest of the same metal sheet; more on that later. The backing piece is a red vellum that I cut in my Big Shot, using the same die set as I used for the sentiment, which I made by combined the flowers from the collage sheet and the wonderful sentiment from Create with TLC.

Fetch-a-Sketch #17

Inspiration/Challenges:

Aud Sentiments: Happy (digi sentiment provided by sponsor, Create with TLC)

Fetch-a-Sketch #17 (right)

Shopping Our Stash Challenge 39: Metal Mania sponsored by Dilly Beans Stamps

This card is more fun in person, because there's so much texture:

I bought the Spellbinders Flower Creations die to use for my sister-in-law's wedding invitations (which turned out great!), and of course it just went on super-sale at Jo-Ann's! But I'm still glad I bought it from CropStop; the big box stores get enough of my money!

After cutting out the skull, I had exactly the right amount of metal left for the die plate. It embossed like a dream, but I didn't get a great cut even after running it through my machine many times, so I ended up cutting them out. Then I heat-embossed each piece with a different color and put the flower together with a brad (the top, purple piece is glued onto a small brad).

I gave this to my husband last night...he came home with a new laptop, which in our house is a little like getting a pair of feet! He's been saving for it for so long; I'm so happy for him!

Punch-flowers and a Pretty Girl

Stitchy Bear is having a month-long contest in August for cards to feature in their ad for the October issue of PaperCraft Essentials magazine. Looks really fun, so mark your calendars!

Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps Online Shop is such a great resource for many different brands of digi stamps. One of my favorites, Gillu's Gallery, is now selling there too. They have a challenge blog, One Stitch at a Time, and their current challenge is Flowers. Perfect opportunity to use the Pretty Girl digi from Gillu's Gallery, as well as to try my hand at a paper-punch flower technique I saw in PaperCraft Inspirations magazine (Jan. 2011).

I tried my hand at a paper-punch flower technique I saw in PaperCraft Inspirations magazine (Jan. 2011), and I'm really happy with the result. I didn't glue myself to it once! For the middles, I made some tiny buttons from shrink plastic (see my previous post), colored them black, and sewed them on.

I used the current Midnight Madness Sketch, but I chose the color combo myself. Everything's colored and/or edged with Copics, including the paper I used for the punch flowers.

I'm entering this card into Aud Sentiments Challenge #33: "Enjoy Your Day", thanks to this lovely sentiment by Marion.

Inspiration:
One Stitch at a Time Challenge #77: Flowers
Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #113
Aud Sentiments Challenge #33: "Enjoy Your Day"

Stamps: Pretty Girl by Gillu's Gallery, For all Mothers set by SP & Company, Happiness Ticket by When the Scrap Hits the Fun
Paper: Hammermill, Recollections, Core'dinations, shrink plastic from stash
Tools: InDesign, HP printer & ink, needle, awl, Fiskars papercutter, Recollections punches, Crop-O-Dile, Tim Holtz paper distresser & scissors, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, bakers twin, stash ribbon (Thanks Sandra!), Copic markers

Update 6/25/11: This card made the top 3 at OSAAT!

Bunnies ain't fakin', a-whole lotta shakin' goin' on.

Easy now.
Shake, Baby, shake!
I'm entering this card into the Anything Goes/DT challenge at Aud Sentiments. Oh how I'd love to be a part of their team!

I also made this card for the following challenges, and I thank everyone for such great inspiration. I took each challenge very seriously, and enjoyed seeing how all the different ideas worked together. I'm really happy with how this turned out.

PaperWorks Co. Recipe Tuesday: Easter image, 2 papers, a bow
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge: Sketch
Cards for Men Challenge #8: Easter

The movement lines on this image really made me want to make a shaker card. I really like the result, but it took me 8 tries to get a complete, smudge-free stamp on the plastic. Thank to StazOn ink remover, however, I was able to clean the plastic to reuse. For the "shaking stuff", I used the multi-colored pile of scraps from this week's border-punching. I like how it sticks to the edges, but still shake really well.

For the sentiment, there was no question: TLC Creations! I'm so glad I bought her $10 sentiment license. She's always posting freebies like this one that I grabbed (with a thank-you, it's only fair) just knowing it would come in handy.

I added a green overlay to the sentiment image, made a banner with a yellow stroke in InDesign, and printed it at "Best" onto vellum. Then I heat-embossed it with transluscent yellow. For the inside sentiment, I hand-stamped it in green and embossed it with the same powder.

I found myself stuck with how to color this stamp, as it's so full of possibilities. So I asked my editor (and husband) and he said, They're Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail going to Sunday School. I never would have thought to color them like actual bunnies! Somehow he always knows the direction I really want to take, when I'm too busy looking in all directions.

The PaperWorks Co. "recipe" calls for only two [designer] papers, so I chose a stripe-embossed white paper and a busy black-and-white polka-dot paper. I liked how they contrasted with the bright spring colors. I also liked that I could have the stripes going one way behind the rabbits, and the other way for the card itself.

I cut the frame with SCAL & Cricut, adhered it to foam tape and then lined the the whole thing with ribbon. I think it adds a quiet touch of color, and was certainly easy to do.

Hope you'll consider entering some of these fun challenges, and thank you so much for visiting!
*
Bunny Hop stamp: The Peddler's Pack Stampworks
What's Shakin' sentiment digi stamp: TLC Creations
Happy Spring sentiment stamp: StudioG

Copic markers:
Rabbits: E35, RV21, E51, E33, E31, E000
Blues: B39, BG10, BG15, BG49, B23, B32, B05
Reds: R27, R59, R02, R29, RV29, E000, E02, RV23, RV21
Yellows: YO4, Y000, Y06, YR12, Y17, Y02, Y08, Y13

Update 5/2/11: This card made the Top 3 for the Cards for Men Easter Challenge.

Hipster McMillan's Magic Guide to Language

This fortnight's challenge at Aud Sentiments is especially fun: we're challenged to use "trendy sayings." To say that I went slightly overboard with this challenge would be to say that the movie Overboard was slightly ill-conceived. I love slang, but have always been more of a linguist than a hipster, so I reached out to my FaceBook friends for ideas:

• "I heard this dude say, 'it's trill!' because something was cool. Unsurprisingly he didn't know what the word trill actually meant."
• "My teenagers are always saying now, No Big Deal. It is often said just with the letters NBD. Another is SERIOUSLY? How 'bout 'are you freelin me?' Mash of for real. And a lot of people are saying FO SHO now for for sure! NOT me, but lots of other people."
• "This is getting old but: sweet and bad are both good."
• "In my college years we used to say, Yak! when we meant chill out and be cool as not to draw attention. I think the term was cooked up because Platoon was on in the smoking floor TV lounge and the scene when everything is getting blown to shit and the yaks are just eating grass all nonchalantly seemed quite descriptive at the time."

Between these suggestions and some of my personal favorites, my head was swimming with too many ideas and I simply couldn't choose, so decided to throw caution out the window of the skull and make a Fortune-telling Cootie-Catcher, like we did in Junior High. Of course, I now have the PhotoShop-ready Cootie-Catcher template by Creations by Julie instead of an old sheet of math homework to work with, so it's a true homage to hipness. Every subsequent decision was made with respect to hipness: Gotham typeface, Tim Holtz classic-product-packaging paper, bright-colored-camouflage clip, "Rock On" sentiment stamp, fuzzy yarn, stamped stitching. And if anybody's thinking, Gee she's down on Hipsters! please keep in mind that all of these items were readily available in my home. The most passionate name-calling happens in front of the mirror!
Inspiration:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #22: Trendy Sayings

Cootie Catcher template by Creations by Julie for Gingerscraps

Supplies: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Seasonal Paper Stash, Fiskars papercutter and deckle scissors, ZipDry glue, Tim Holtz distress ink, StazOn ink, sentiment stamp by gstudio, stitch stamp by the Paper Studio, HP printer & ink, Adobe PhotoShop, Gotham typeface, 1000Flowers.org "Shape the Oval Office" emery board, Lion "fun fur" yarn, mini-clip from Oriental Trading Co.

I love the idea that you could throw this in your European Shoulder Bag or clip it on your Hello Kitty key chain and pull it out when necessary at your local art-space coffee-bar. For more Hipster silliness, may I recommend:
If Superheroes Were Hipsters
Hipster Triangles
Typestaches
Hipster Bingo

"You Make My Heart" Pop-Out

Ah Valentine's Day, when pink and glitter seem like good ideas. My favorite part about this holiday is that it gives us an excuse to tell people we love them...plus, make them cards. I've seen some really fun Valentines online, from punny Patent Illustration Valentines to SuperFriends Action Valentines from the 1980s, to ninja-themed Kawaii Mini Valentines. Many, including these, are free to print at home!

But I'm low on printer ink, so I decided to make another hand-made Valentine, inspired by the Aud Sentiments Corny Sayings challenge and the "slider pop-out card" tutorial I found yesterday at SCS. I'm also entering this card into the Cards for Men Valentine Challenge, because I think it keeps a classic Valentine feeling without being too girly. I'd give it to my sweetheart (but he'll read about it here first)!

This card features this Friday's PaperFacesDesign Freebie, Lovebirds 2.

The card design is quite simple (if you follow the directions, which only took me twice), and once you have the base together, you can decorate to your heart's desire. I stamped a heart-and-star border from a Christmas set onto the "sliding wrap" with Antique Linen distress ink, for a wood-block, vintage feel. Then I got a little funky and "distressed" the white side of a light green paper with red, yellow, and linen inks. I was inspired by Stamping 411's Technique Thursday / Reinker Background post, but I don't have the right tools so I just used a damp paper towel. After it dried, I stamped the flowering vine stamps onto the green side, for the garland, and made a backing piece for the Lovebirds. I even ran the ribbon over the Antique Linen ink to tone it down. The garland is affixed with heart brads; I hid the backs with a couple of the vine stamps.

Sliding Pop-Out Card Tutorial: Kim Score for Splitcoaststampers
Digi stamp: Lovebirds 2 by PaperFacesDesigns

Inspiration:
Aud Sentiments Challenge #21: Corny Valentine
Cards for Men Challenge #3: Valentines/Love

Supplies: decorative papers by Paper Studio, MS detailing scissors, ZipDry glue, Sentiment stamp by gstudio, HP printer & ink, Cricut + SCAL, Fiskars papercutter and deckle scissors, Copic Ciao markers, Tim Holtz distress inks (fired brick, antique linen, mustard seed), silicon stamps from gstudio and Scrappy Cat, stash eyelet & heart brads, Crop-O-Dile II, Offray ribbon

Valentine's Paisleys

I've decided to send Valentines to the Family this year, and, surprisingly, find myself in need of more cards. Instead of just making a bunch of cards, I like the individuality that making them for challenges brings. So here's a little number, possibly for Dad, inspired by a sketch, a color combo, and a sentiment theme. The emboss-resist technique was invaluable in making the "Beloved" sentiment with the background paisleys.

Inspiration:
Color Dare #93: Regal Rose, Pacific Point, Pink Pirouette
CPS Sketch #202
Aud Sentiments Challenge #20: Love theme

Supplies: Recollections & Core'dinations cardstocks, ColorBox liquid chalks, Fiskars papercutter & corner punch, ZipDry glue, MS detailing scissors & border punch, Xyron sticker machine, MeltArt clear embossing powder, Marvy heat tool, sentiment silicon stamp from stash, single paisley rubber stamp by Stampabilities, triple paisley rubber stamp by All Night Media

Last-minute Greetings

This week's Aud Sentiments and Allsorts challenges pretty much sum up how my house looks right now: Happy Holidays and Last Minute Christmas!

My creative life was changed forever when I discovered the world of origamic architecture, and it was further changed by my discovery of the pop-out pencil holder at Extreme Cards & Papercrafting. Using her template, I created my own version in SCAL. I had precut 7 yellow houses on my Cricut, so when I realized I needed some special cards for family all I had to do was glue on some pretty paper! The little cards on the front are hand stamped and punched; I also made small yellow message stickers for the inside.

Supplies: DCWV, Martha Stewart and Recollections cardstocks, gStudio silicon stamps, Stash brads, CraftSmart ink, Fiskars scissors & punch, Cricut personal cutter, SCAL2 software, Offray ribbon


Happy Holidays! You can download the personal use only cutting file for this card here.
If you do, please leave a comment to let me know. And I'd love to see photos!

Celebrating Celebration

When I first saw the Hanukkah or Holiday card challenge at Tuesday Trio I thought, Finally an excuse to make a Hanukkah card! Honestly, I usually just miss Hanukkah because my family doesn't celebrate it...but I have several friends who do. Heck, half the time I don't even know what day today is! I decided to make matching Hanukkah and Christmas cards for a family who celebrates both. I had a lot of fun making them. My main concept was based on the tradition in both religions to have candles in the windows.
Inspiration: Tuesday Trio Sketch #43: Hanukkah

Supplies: Martha Stewart silicon stamps, Recollections & DCWV cardstocks, Graphix clear plastic, ZipDry glue, Tim Holtz scissors, StazOn ink, Cricut personal cutter, SCAL2 software, Offray ribbon, Michaels eyelet, Crop-O-Dile II, Sakura gel pens, stickers by Phrase Cafe, gold holographic paper (colors in photo a result of scanning)

Update 12/16/10: This card made the top three for Tuesday Trio Sketch #43.

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Inspiration: Tuesday Trio Sketch #43: Holiday
Aud Sentiments Challenge #16: Ho Ho Ho!

Supplies: Martha Stewart silicon stamps & glittered paper, Recollections cardstock, Graphix clear plastic, ZipDry glue, Tim Holtz scissors, StazOn ink, Cricut personal cutter, SCAL2 software, Offray ribbon, Michaels eyelet, Crop-O-Dile II, Sakura gel pens, gold holographic paper (colors in photo a result of scanning)

Original inspiration for magic picture cards: Naked Mole Rat magic picture card by CPeep at Extreme Cards & Papercrafting
Magic Card tutorial: SplitcoastStampers
Magic card template for SCAL2 by cg-says