A Chummy Boss's Day Party

Ahhhhhhhh!  I feel like a bear coming out of winter hibernation… my short-lived excitement in Spring gave way to the realization that I had a few nuts and berries that I needed to inventory and get straight before I could go running off in the crafty forest to sniff and color the flowers, bother the bees for their honey to glue my papers together, and capture a few fairies for some fairy dust… because who can make a card without a liberal sprinkling of glitter and magic?  So I retreated to my cave and got to the business of me for a bit. I missed crafting, but I knew if I focused on one thing at a time, when I did pick up a stamp again, I could really enjoy it. Health issues now in check, off meds, and nuts and berries mostly inventoried and organized (LOL), now it’s time to get out into the creative wilderness!

My first foray was, appropriately, on World Cardmaking Day last weekend. My coworkers had asked me to make our group card for Boss’s Day, which is October 16^th here in the States. I’m not even sure other countries celebrate Boss’s Day. The American commercial card industry has made just about everything a card-celebrated event by now. LOL  But I digress…  so, group card.  I was thinking through my stamp stash, trying to remember what group images I might have. I didn’t want to go the classy, floral route this year. First card back in 6 months, I wanted fun and “pop”. I remembered I had two Paper Smooches sets that I could use together to make my own crowd… and, hey, what’s a party without balloons?  So out came my recently purchased Simon SaysStamp balloon dies. (I must mention, to keep my sanity, I still ordered crafty supplies during my hiatus. I think it kept alive the belief that I would, indeed, be back in the craft room eventually!)

So this is the party I created…  (and please forgive the not-so-great cellphone pics. Took the card to work and almost forgot to take any photos!)

I stamped each of the Chubby Chums and Chubby Chum Pals with MFT Hybrid Ink and colored ‘em up with my Copics, who were quite pleased to be brought out into the light of day again. They weren’t so pleased that I was using a cardstock not really intended for Copics. My blending leaves something to be desired, but hey… this card is for non-crafters. If I have learned anything, it’s that non-crafters are too amazed by the artistry to notice the imperfections that cardcrafters immediately see… not to mention, they don’t ogle and drool over the works of artists like “The League of Supercardcrafters” –Jennifer McGuire, Kathy Racoosin, Kristina Werner, Sandy Allnock, Lauren Bassen, Heidi Crowl– or some of my faves Squirrel, Delphine, Lisa, Faye and Annette.

But again, I digress…  I fussy cut my little chummies and used black marker to clean up the edges and gave their eyes a bit of shine with some Glossy Accents.  I colored in the balloons with my Copics as well and then gave them a good sparkly emboss with Judikins Iridescent Sparkle powder. Then I spent the next half hour playing them in the light, and exclaiming, “Ooooh, sparkles!” over and over again. LOL  I fixed my front and inside white panels on a pretty sheet of blue raspberry cardstock from MFT and added a dotty border with Glossy Accents (inspired by Lauren Bassen), leaving it overnight to dry completely.  

I originally planned to fold my 8.5x11 paper in half lengthwise, but decided I liked a final 5.5x8.5 size better, so my little group had to budge up closer to each other than I had planned. I used foam tape to pop up two levels of chummies and did the same with their balloons, using a light thread to tie the balloons and give my chummies something to hold on to. I especially love that Pup on the end chose to tie his to his tail. =)  Since the front panel had gotten a bit crowded, Bear had decided to hang out on the inside of the card with a few small balloons and have a party of his own.

So, I’m off to gather some more materials and hit the craft room. My fingers are itching to get into some more stamps and I still have a crafty haul that has been sitting there waiting to be put away for a couple of months. Then I can wander out and have a good poke at the beehive and gather up some flowers and fairies. I’ve given myself a baby-step goal of at least a card a week… and Christmas is coming, so I’d better get cracking. =)

I might stop by and link this party up to the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge where it’s Anything Goes this week. I know the balloons are SSS, but it’s those adorable little Chums that steal the show. =)  You can find their challenge HERE: 

Til next time, happy crafting!

Christy

SAS4K DT Card: Mother's & Father's Day - Bears and Roses

Good morning!  Sorry I'm a little late to the party this morning but Blogger is, well... the software gremlins are up and about today. Need to add some anti-glitchy gremlin spray to my shopping list. =)

It's the first Saturday of the month... time for another great challenge at Send A Smile 4 Kids! This fortnight our challenge is Mother's and Father's Day cards for kids to give to their parents. And we have FOUR terrific prizes from our sponsors:

* 5 digis of your choice from  Whimsy Stamps *

* Digi Doodle Shop is offering a $10 gift voucher *

* $15 towards a purchase at the Crop Stop *

* 5 quid to spend at Cuddly Buddly *

Prizes are picked randomly, so anyone can win! And better yet, you can send in your cards to be donated to children in one of seven hospitals. See here for more details!

Digi Doodle Shop and Cuddly Buddly generously offered the DT some images... I knew right away when I saw this little guy that I wanted to paper piece him. And I knew just what papers I was going to use...

Except for the dark blue cardstock, this card is entirely digital papers and paper-piecing! I used Summertime Designs' Fathers and Fedoras Kit and Vintage Oreos. She has some fabulous, fabulous kits... and free! I used several prints from the Fathers kit for the layers and for my bear's little hat and coat. I still don't like my fur coloring yet, so I used the lighter and darker damask papers in her Oreos set, tweaked just a bit for color temperature in Word, for the bear's fur and the Hedgehog's prickles.

 I started by printing my digi on white cardstock for the base layer before printing all my designer papers out on 20-lb printer paper and running them back through to print my bear image over them. I layered them up one at a time starting with the bear's fur; since the paper is so thin, there's not as much dimension as using cardstock and burnishing it in the style of Mariska (LOVE!), but it still adds a little something in person.  I used a black pen to add in some more spiky detail on the hedgie and colored his face, hands and feet with Copics, too.  I added some Copics grays on the bear fur and his little plaid outfit in an attempt to achieve a little more dimension. Plus (of course!) I popped him them up on foam dots. I admit my addictions. LOL

My sentiment was created Word, using the old style Word Art and filling the "Dad" with one of the digi papers. The finishing touch on my clean and simple card were two gray screw-head brads I picked up at Michael's. I see this morning that my teamie Karen had similar ideas with paper piecing and used similar brads. Great minds! LOL 

  

For my Digi Doodle card, I looked through the website a few times to let something 'speak' to me. Lots of images were shouting, so it was a hard decision! I finally settled on this lovely floral heart.

I colored my image with Copics, sticking with the R30s for the roses to get a coral color that would match my digi papers, which this time are from Nitwit Collections - Thimbles and Threads. I spent some time burnishing my floral heart image with a large-balled stylus so it would have that great dimensional curviness when I popped it up on foam dots.

 Again, I went thin and printed on basic printer paper, except I printed a bit of the quilted coral on cardstock to punch my Martha Stewart butterflies. I kept seeing these teeny tiny beauties on other cards, so I finally located a punch and bought it. I keep resisting the urge to punch butterflies out of everything I see. LOL I took some light orange and yellow pearls which I touched up with R35 Copics to more closely match my papers.  

To finish, I added some peachy-pink sheer wired ribbon. I had it the way I liked it for about 60 seconds, before a nosy dog peeked up from under the craft table, knocking it out of my hands. The bow went wonky and I ended up fussing and faffing about with that darn bow forEVER. So much so that looking at it now, I see I forgot to add the tails. No wonder it doesn't look right. LOL  Well, I can always give up bows like my friend Squirrel (although between you and me, I think she's a right bit harder on herself than she needs to be). I added one of the punched butterflies with some pearls to the bow as my last touch. The finished card isn't exactly what I pictured, but it's pretty... and each card is a learning experience for the next one. (Bows with tails, Christy... bows with tails.)

 

My teamies have whipped up some fantastic creations of their own... click on over to the Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge blog and get inspired!



See you soon, and until then... happy crafting!
Christy

PCJ DT Card: Anything Goes Challenge - The Most Adorable Panda

Greetings! I'm not really sure what happened to February, but I'm afraid it was one month I don't want to repeat. Life at work since my last DT posts have been a bit hectic and I'll admit more than not I've come home brain-fried, without the energy to craft or visit my bloggy friends. Bleah. =( 

Fortunately my DT responsibilities have forced me into the craft room --which is why I was interested in joining a DT in the first place, so good on me for planning ahead LOL -- and I've had some fun playing with pre-colored images the past two weeks. I felt like I was cheating, but it was so relaxing not to have to think too hard about my oh-so-still-developing coloring skills. And the image for my card today is so cute, who could stay in a gray and blah mood playing with The Paper Shelter's image The Most Adorable Panda? LOL

This fortnightly challenge at Paper-Crafting Journey is easy peasy.... it's ANYTHING GOES! The fabulous prize is a $20 gift certificate for our wonderful sponsor, The Paper Shelter, so you can go a little wild in the shop! =) 

As I mentioned, my pick of the digital images so generously offered to the DT by The Paper Shelter was The Most Adorable Panda, available in both black and white line image and pre-colored, and it also comes with a terrific turquoise digi paper. The set inspired this:

Adorable image, right? Now you see why I couldn't resist? LOL

I spent a little time searching for some kind of bamboo print and I found a free illustration image on Microsoft.com which I resized a bit in Word and printed on cardstock. With it trimmed up and popped up on foam dots, I love the look as a backdrop for the panda image, which I also cut out and layered on thinner foam dots. I wanted a touch of natural materials and I had this Chinese character in my stash that I knew I wanted to use. This character is roughly translated as health, as in wishing someone the blessing of good health, not just in body but also in spirit. Considering how many of my coworkers have succumbed over the past month to some really awful "upper respiratory viruses", OI'm thinking it would make a great inside joke to make it into a Get Well card of sorts. LOL For now the inside is sentiment-free until I decide. =)

After sizing and printing my digi paper, I added a strip of this really gorgeous cream-colored Curvacious Chamois ribbon from Berwick-Offray which is really soft to the touch and has a curling, twisting quality that looks great on three-dimensional projects like wreaths and bows. And I loved it against that soft turquoise color and in contrast to the jute mesh ribbon I paired it with... until I tried taping it down to secure it. Flattening it just killed that beautiful curviness, but after about 20 minutes I finally managed to wrestle it into submission! I braided a few strands of two shades of hemp twine, weaving in the Chinese health charm and adding that over the mesh ribbon. As a last touch a few Hero Arts pearls were dotted here and there.

I have to say that I love what my fellow teamie Jessie did with the same image. She combined the cartoon-like panda with a really lovely background. So inspiring, and it's always interesting to see how many different directions you can go with the same image! =)  You can see her card and get more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team's creations using other Paper Shelter images over at Paper-Crafting Journey... then get to crafting and link up your papercrafting projects! Can't wait to see what you create!

I'll be back Saturday with some cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids, so until then, happy crafting and best of health to you all! I'll try to get out to my bloggy friends soon, hopefully on the weekend if not sooner!
Christy

James Bear in the Snow & Lili's Little Fairies candy

Hi! Blogging to you from a waiting room at the local hospital. Mom's having her other knee replaced... so that's one hip in April, one knee in October and one knee in December. Just call her Bionic Mom. LOL

She asked for another card to put in her room after the surgery, and I couldn't resist the urge to use one of my new never-inked stamps from LOTV, James Bear in the Snow. I also got to use my new, never used digital paper set from Nitwit Collections, Joyful Hearts.

I colored James with my Copics, and tried to get a furry/hairy look. I think for the next time I use this stamp, I'll go back to basic blending, then work up to getting furry techniques, but he turned out pretty cute. As I've said, it's hard to go wrong when you start with a great stamp image! =)

For James, I used the deckled-edge oval Nestie, Stardust & Waterfall Stickles and Liquid Pearls. Also making an appearance are the Martha Stewart Aspen PATP and some white pearls colored pink with an R85 Copics. Along with the snowflake and striped paper, I used a pink snowflake from the Nitwit set that I fussy cut to layer under my image and a plaid flake that I coated in Glossy Accents for something different than I've done before. I almost added some glamour dust, but waited too long to think of it and the surface was dry. I think I could become as addicted to that as I have to Stardust Stickles! hee hee 

I did a simple inside as I was running short on time, but my mom loved the snowflakes punched from the Nitwit papers. And I love textured cardstock... even a blank white space looks more interesting with all those nooks and crannies. =)                     

It was so much fun coloring James, even with the challenges of it being the first time. I have lots (and lots!) of new LOTV stamps for coloring in 2012... so one of my crafty goals this year is going to be to use at least one of my LOTV stamps every week. To help reach that goal, I'll be following the revamped LOTV challenge... Lili's Little Fairies.

To celebrate the "new" launch, they are having a fabulous candy draw to kick things off before the first challenge in January.  You can read all about it here!

Challenges for James...

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December - My #5 card! woohoo!

Digital Tuesday - #141 Winter Wonderland (Nitwit Collections digital paper)

The ABC Christmas Challenge - F is for Frosty

2 Sisters - #71 Snowflakes

Sweet Stampin' - Sparkle & Bling

Hiding in My Craft Room - Use It or Lose It

Just heard mom's out of the surgery and in post-op... great timing! =)  I expect to be back later this week with one or two last projects of the year, but if something comes up, just want to send you all my best crafty wishes for a very happy New Year!

See you soon!

Christy

Toby's Sparkly Snowball

Card number two from spending the day in the craft room is this holiday card for another of my nieces. Sorry, the photo's a bit wonky, but it's sparkly, isn't it? =)

This image is Toby from the StampFairy - and Gerda happens to be having a 50% off sale right now! I used Copics again - love the Sketch brush tip! - and used a white paint pen to add a bit of accent to the ends of Toby's scarf. Smooch spritz on a white textured cardstock created the base. The snowy background is from Nitwits new Woodland Wishes with some torn white cardstock glittered up with Stickles for the snow-covered ground. Again I've used Martha Stewart punches for the snowflakes dotted here and there. I made my own sentiment on the computer, cut it out with a deckled oval Nestie before glittering the edge. Toby is up on foam dots and his snowball is glittered to death! LOL I also added a few Liquid Pearl dots to accent the Aspen punched border and the larger snowflake. A bit of Offray rickrack in baby blue hid the border seam nicely. 

 
 This one was taken without flash so it's a little blurry, but it shows off all that sparkly snow! =)

And here's a close-up of Toby...

So, off this goes into the box to be mailed out on Monday... and best of all, this snowball won't melt on the way to Arizona. =)

Challenges for this card...
Christmas Cards All Year Round - December
Crafty Calendar - Cold and Frosty
Joanna Sheen - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Craft Your Passions - Anything Goes with Glitter
Kaboodle Doodles - #96 Colors of Christmas
Tuesday Throwdown - Celebrate the Season
ABC Christmas - Y is for Yippee! Christmas Is Almost Here!
Creative Inspirations - #141 Snow Much Fun
Moving Along with the Times - #127 Last Minute Christmas
Paper Craft Journey - Christmas Challenge
Winter Wonderland - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Send a Smile 4 Kids - Winter Fun for Kids
2 Sisters - #69 Christmas