Techniqued

I took a little time during the past coupla days to actually read my blog feed, which is filled with yummy craft sites, so by the time I got around to starting a project my head was filled with ideas. And they all poured into this one card...

Now that I've discovered slider cards, I'm going to have a difficult time going back to flat ones! I love the way you can layer elements but still see each element when it's in the "up" position. I have a cheat-sheet with the dimensions taped up in my craft space, and once you get the hang of the folding/gluing part, it's really easy.

I started with Curtain Call's Act 68 color combo (Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette), even though I knew I didn't really have great matching marker nor ink colors. I did, however, have an gorgeous Core'dinations cardstock that was a great match for the Melon Mambo, so I dry-embossed it with one of my new Fiskars texturing plates. I did the same with a white cardstock for the slider strip and pop-up pieces.

I had taken the energy to watch a video tutorial on making a Go-To-Sentiment card at Papertrey Ink (with the sound on, which sometimes I don't bother with, because I'm at best a visual learner. As mom said about the SuperBowl Commercials, "Some were really great, but of course we never watch them with the sound on. We're not interested in advertising.") The concept behind the Got-to Sentiment card is simple: put together all of your similarly-themed sentiments to create one image. However, if you know anything about stamping, this is a real trick of stamping skill and luck. Because I have few sentiment stamps (I'm still looking for a good, affordable collection), the largest group I have is Made for You themes. I started by printing a TLC Creations digi stamp sentiment, to mix it up. I printed two, in case I messed one up, but I ended up using both. I had lots of fun lining up the stamps, but the fact that 3 of them were rubber made it a bit more exciting...

For the pink "framing" on the front sentiment piece, I used the old Post-it trick, inspired by a tutorial at There She Goes. Ah, where would the crafty office worker be without Post-its‽ I once helped a student use them for a stop-motion animation project; Brilliant! I used this trick years ago when I was dabbling in spray-paint art, but really felt like the tutorial helped me see it in a new way. I deckled the edge of the Post-its before I stamped the paper with chalk ink.

I thought that the sentiment group really lent itself to a Valentines card, so I added PaperFacesDesigns' I Heart U Couple. The moment I saw Mad for Markers' Crazy Hair Colour Challenge, I knew I wanted to make something that my husband would like, since his #1 suggestion for my coloring is "Bright Hair". He never suggests Bottled Blonde or Auburn, rather fluorescent blue or Chartreuse. So, I gave these kidlets Wild Wasabi-inspired tresses. I can't decide if this is my official entry into this challenge, just because it's really fun and I'm only 75% satisfied with the result.

Digi Stamp: I heart U couple by PaperFacesDesigns
Digi Sentiment: TLC Creations

There She Goes Wednesday Trends: Post-it Notes
Mad for Markers Challenge: Crazy Hair Colour
Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act 68: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette
Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Series: Go-to Sentiment Card

Sliding Pop-Out Card Tutorial: Kim Score for Splitcoaststampers

Supplies: Hammermill and Core'dinations cardstock, MS detailing scissors, ZipDry glue, HP printer & ink, Fiskars papercutter, deckle scissors, corner punch, texturing plate & tool, Copic Ciao markers, HP printer & ink, Memento ink, ColorBox chalk ink, stash eyelet, CelebrateIt! ribbon, sentiment stamps from gstudio, Hero Arts, Alice in Wonderland set, Beatrix Potter Two Bad Mice set, and Bentley the Bear set from Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine, Post-it notes

...Flock together

I've really been having fun with my Bluebird stamp, and it's actually made me really long for Spring. Especially today, which is gray with the threat promise of snow.
I went to nature for color inspiration, and decided to color the three birds as English, American, and Australasian robins. I love to think how these birds are "common" to their communities, yet are so different in their coloring. The differences in beak and leg colors were especially interesting to me.


This is a foldover layer card, which I've seen several places including the awesome Extreme Cards & Papercrafting blog. It's oh-so-easy to cut and lays relatively flat. I was inspired to try something different by this week's Fancy Fold challenge at Allsorts. In this case, I'd say that birds of a feather fold together (you didn't think I could let that go, did you?)!

Allsorts Challenge Week 85: Fancy fold

Supplies: Bluebird rubber stamp by Carolyn Shores Wright for Stamps Happen, Inc., Recollections & K&Company cardstock, Memento ink, Fiskars papercutter and deckle scissors, ZipDry glue, Martha Stewart detailing scissors, stash brad, Crop-O-Dile II, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Garamond typeface, Copic Ciao B color set

The Bluebird of Haughtiness

Ooh, I just can't stop crafting, what with my cute birdie stamp and the many challenges out there! Today I decided to try coloring a couple of bluebirds, and found color and sketch challenges for both. They turned out pretty nifty...and I like that I've sent a little flutter of birdies through the challenge blogs this week!
Inspiration:
Curtain Call Color Challenge Act 64: Pacific Point, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist
Mojo Monday Sketch #173
Inspiration:
SPCC #82: Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
Paper Pretties Wednesday Sketch Challenge #135

Supplies (for one or both): Bluebird rubber stamp by Carolyn Shores Wright for Stamps Happen, Inc., silicon stamp by gstudios, Recollections & Core'dinations cardstock, Memento and StazOn inks, Cricut Expression & markers, SCAL, Fiskars papercutter, corner punch and texturing plate & tool, ZipDry glue, Martha Stewart detailing scissors, Offray ribbon, Copic Ciao B color set, pop-dots

It's Cool, it's warm, and it's about to poop on my porch

The crows of winter have taken over for now, chasing squirrel shadows across the branch-lined snow, but soon the robins will be back and we'll be entertained by their chubby, newly-flying babies finding refuge on our back deck and crying for guidance so pitifully that, eventually, an adult robin will come out and caw it back home, and in celebration it will make a pretty noise, and poop. Spring, and our porch, are always punctuated by such miracles of life; In the meantime, I thought I'd color some 1-dimensional birds. This stamp certainly captures those bird babies' attitude!

The Cool Or Warm Colors Challenge at Make It Colourful was just too challenging to pass up, and I did learn quite a bit by separating my Copic markers. I Googled images of bluejays and cardinals for natural inspiration, and looked to Stamping 411 for the layout.

I chose this particular decorative paper because I had some scrap pieces perfect for stamping the "sincere sentiment", and the colors & patterns ended up fitting the image pretty well.
In a fit of Don't waste this pretty paper, I used my CriCut to cut a 8.5x5.5 white card with a frame on one half, so that you can see the other side of the decorative paper when you open the card. Plus you end up with a pre-cut piece, ready to stamp.

After I put everything together, I edged the pieces, and the image, with Copic markers Cool Shadow (Cool Colors card) and Canary Yellow (Warm Colors card). Using the chisel end of the marker made a really nice shading effect for the edging on the cardstock pieces.

I'm pleased with the coloring, but I suspect that technically it's just awful, or at least smacking of overzealousness. Ah well. All the elements seem to complement each other, and I've gained a whole new appreciation for the nosy and noisy robins that will soon invade the yard. Hopefully this year I won't have to coax one out of my dog's jaws...Ah, the miracle of life.

Inspiration:
Make It Colourful Challenge #1: Warm or Cool
Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch Challenge #185

Woodmounted rubber stamps:
Blubird by Carolyn Shores Wright for Stamps Happen, Inc.
Hello. by Idea House for gstudios

Supplies: Stampin' Up! paper (Subtles Patterns 2010), Recollections white cardstock, Memento ink, Cricut Expression, SCAL, Fiskars papercutter and corner punch, ZipDry glue, Offray ribbon, Copic Ciao B color set