Picket-fence Criss-Cross Birthday card

I've been making tons of Christmas cards recently, and probably have many more than I need, so I'm trying to make more Birthday cards. I was really intrigued by the "Criss-Cross Card" Challenge at Birthday Sundaes. I've never made one, but I love all the DT samples and just had to give it a try. It was fun! Instead of included a pull tab for the enclosed card, I secured it with a small clothespin that I colored & stamped.

This card was also largely inspired by this week's Cupcake Inspirations photo. Now, if you look at their photo and then at this card, you might think Really? but it really was. Originally I was going to incorporate bright-colored flowers, but found myself focusing more on the grassy elements. I occurred to me to add a flower onto the the front, but I really liked the clean simplicity of how it is. It's difficult to see in these photos, but the white is a linen-patterned cardstock.

I'm also entering this card into the Birthday theme at the Crazy Challenge.

Inspiration:
Birthday Sundaes #26: Criss-Cross Card
The Crazy Challenge #84: Birthdays
Cupcake Inspirations #127: Photo Inspiration

Stamps: Raisin Boat, Stampendous
Paper: DCWV, Recolections, stash
Tools: Martha Stewart punches & scissors, Fiskars papercutter, Cricut & SCAL, stamp block
Other: ZipDry glue, Recollections embossing powder, Versamark inks, Copic (for edging), stash wooden clip

Update: This card was a chosen for the "Super Sundaes" for this challenge. Thank you!

Happy Wishes with Birthday Sundaes and DP2

I made this card pretty quickly since it's for a friend who's birthday was yesterday! Whoops!

Inspiration:
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #24: Inspiration photo (left)
DP2 Challenge #98: Sketch (right)

Stamps: Done! by Mo Manning, Bunting by  Ellephantastic (thank you!) Studio G, Fiskars, SP & Company
Paper: Hammermill, Core'dinations, Recollections, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter & punch, MS scissors, Marvy punch & heat tool, Cricut & SCAL, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign
Other: Tacky glue, red tape, Pink Paisley twine, Recollections & Stampendous embossing powder, Versamark watermark ink, stash brads
Copics: BG10, B00, B23, Y02, Y06, Y17, YR01, E13, RV04, E35, E37

Making a Splash

I had too much fun making the shrink-plastic charm for my LOTV Christmas card, and couldn't wait to try some more. So when I was going through my Blog Feed that morning I was really tickled to see these gorgeous shrink-plastic earrings by Lola Cordova on the Bugaboo Stamps blog. Guess who's putting printable shrink-plastic on her shopping list?! (Lola, you left a lovely comment on my flip-book post while I was writing this...thank you! And never say you "can't" because you'll find yourself doing it!)

Something I've wanted to try for some time is matching a shrunk stamp with the original stamp. I started with this beautiful splash stamp from Raisin Boat. The main image is that stamp four times in four blues, one of which is heat-embossing. I then sprayed the whole thing with "Frost" glimmer mist. The brad is stamped with two smaller splashes that came in the set, and sprayed with the same glimmer.

For the shrink-art, I used StazOn to stamp the large splash onto clear shrink plastic, cut it out, punched a hole, and shrunk it with my heat tool. I strung the finished piece onto some clear plastic beading thread, added a couple of faux-pearl beads and a clasp. As you can see in the photo on the right, the image shows up sorta transparent on the skin.

I then taped up the chain and hung the necklace onto the card, using the brad to help hold it down. I've had this idea in my head for a while, but the photo and sketch inspirations at Birthday Sundaes and CPS really brought it all together.

Inspiration: CPS Sketch #228 (on right)
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #19: Inspiration Photo (on left)

Stamps: Raisin Boat, Inkadinkado
Paper: Core'dinations, Recollections, stash
Tools: Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter, Marvy punch, Crop-O-Dile, Tim Holtz paper distresser & scissors, shrink plastic
Other: ZipDry glue, Stampendous embossing powder, Versamark, Memento & StazOn inks, Copics, brad from stash, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, stash jewelry supplies, stash pearl beads

Hey Cupcake!

I just recently discovered the Make It Monday Link Party, and really like the idea of sharing my current personal favorite creation each week. Love looking at everyone's projects, too...a great resource for inspiration.

I decided to mix two challenges to make this card, because I wanted to try both themes. Birthday Sundaes is focusing on Shaped Cards (and I can also use birthday cards!), and the Saturday Challenge at Just Some Lines is to use dots. I pulled out all my spotted papers, using mostly scraps, and made a paper-pieced card based on the Cupcake by Stampendous.

I couldn't resist adding a hidden massage on the front! I ended up hand-cutting the hearts, to make it easier to stamp and emboss evenly. I'm definitely going to have to make more of these, maybe with more pages. Here's the "inside":

Inspiration:
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #14: Shaped Birthday Cards
Just Some Lines Saturday Challenge: Spotty Dotty
Make It Monday #42, sponsored by Cupcake Cards and Crafts

Stamps: Cling Cupcake XL by Stampendous, Happy Birthday sentiment by Inkadinkado, sentiments by Hampden Art, Gift Mandy digi from Tellen's Place Designs
Paper: Core'dinations, Echo Park, stash
Tools: Marvy heat tool & punch, Fiskars scallop circle punch, MS detail scissors
Other: ZipDry glue, Stampendous embossing powders, Versamark & Memento inks, Sakura GellyRoll pen, ribbon by GCS Imports (thank you Sandra!)
Copics: 100, R27, R59, YG03; RV11, RV02, BV04, B63, BV00, BV000, B0000, B00, BG000, E13, E11, E51, E000, E33, E17, R59, R37, R35

Vintage-y Birthday Card for a non-vintage friend

I usually prefer to make or combine embellishments instead of using kits, but I couldn't resist making a card with the ephemera that came with my Graphics 45 Fashionista paper pack.

I stamped & heat-embossed the red bits, using two stamps from the gorgeous {ippity} stamps I won from last week's Card Positioning Sketch Challenge!!! Thank you Banu, I love them. Seriously, check out this line of stamps...they are high-quality, unmounted rubber stamps, but they come with foam attached so that you can put them on your block and get stamping.

I even managed to squeeze Birthday Sundae's Anything Goes and Tellen's Place EmbalmingEmbossing challenges into this card. Hope she has as much on her big day as I did making this!

The cake isn't from the set, but it seemed just right. I know she likes chocolate cake, so I colored it with copics. I used E17, E 08, and E11...it came out so nicely that I actually got hungry! The 3 is a glittery rub-on from my stash.

Inspiration:
Tellen's Place Challenge: Embossing
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #3: Anything Goes Birthday

Supplies: flourish & wreath stamps from Regal Greetings set by {ippity} Stamps, cake stamp from Together Forever by Stampin' Up! (2007), sentiment stamp from Studio G, Graphics 45 Fashionista paper pack, Martha Stewart embossing powder, border & scalloped punches, and detailing scissors, Offray ribbon, ZipDry glue, Marvy heat tool, Copic markers