These Kitties Are Ready to Party!

Greetings, fellow crafty folks!

Just stopping in to show you another birthday card, this one full of the cutest darn kitties you've ever seen... who are TOTALLY ready to PARTY!!! =)  LOL

This is the Party Kitties stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs, and one from my favorite of their artists. I broke out the Copics and actually enjoyed coming up with different ways to color each of them and keep it visually interesting... although I might try doing this image in all black/white/gray cats sometime. After I did a test run for color, I stamped the image three times so I could fussy cut and layer them up....

For a bit of interest, I used Glaze pens to color in their noses and hats.  It's hard to see on the photos, but there's a lovely sheen on their noses as I used a thin coat of clear over Copics.  I used the colored Glaze pens on their festive hats and gave them a thicker coat for real shine and added a bit of Stardust Stickles (I should start buying it in bulk lots haha) on the pompoms for sparkle. So fun! =)  On the background I added some dots with a Viva Decor pearl pen.   

I trimmed up the image with a Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangle die and layered on my kitties before adhering the panel to a cute striped paper from a Glitz Color Me Happy paper pack which is nearly 2 years old, but still available. I love the current rainbow phenomenon going on and since I was away from crafting, I'm just getting into the whole chevron thing... but since I'm no trendy crafter, who cares?! =)  LOL

I added a bit of Doodlebug twine in Ladybug red and Stickled the heck out of that bow. For the inside, I added the leftover snipped from the striped paper. I created and printed my sentiment from Word and cut with the same Spellbinders die and running a Copics marker around the embossed edge, followed by a coat of Wink of Stella. Simple, but purrrfect. haha =)

The birthday girl is a cat lover, so I'm sure this one will go over well. I certainly had a good time creating it! =) 

One of the best things about blogging again is getting to participate in challenges, so I'm popping over to these blogs to enter my little party felines:

     Fab 'N' Funky Challenge - Challenge #237 Birthday

     Seize the Birthday - Birthday - Optional Topping of Monochromatic Orange (my 2nd entry)

     Crafting for All Seasons - Challenge #90 Birthdays

     Papertake Weekly Challenge - 2 or 4 Legs (Kitties have 4! LOL)

     Inky Impressions Challenge - Challenge #185 Animals
     Eureka Stamps Challenge - Challenge #114 4-Legged Friends
     Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Challenge #121 Anything Goes
     Creative Moments - Challenge #55 Anything Goes/Celebration  (my 2nd entry)

So, that's it for today... til the next card, happy crafting!

Christy

Sweetly Shaking It Up on Your Birthday!

November is turning in to a challenging month to get back into the swing of crafting regularly... I've got six birthday cards to make for coworkers and friends this month!

So I'm back again (I know, twice on the same day! haha), this time with a birthday card that I had lots of fun creating! I love the recent wave of shaker cards so I decided to create one of my own for a coworker's birthday card this week featuring a Birdie Brown stamp from My Favorite Things:

Looking at it on this screen, the colors are kind of blah.  Here's another photo with more accurate color...

Aahhh, much better. Anyway, bad pics aside, This one is going to be one of my all-time favorites I think. I love the colors of this DCWV paper from their old Celebrations stack. And I really like my coloring on the image on this one. I have finally started to convince my inner cheapskate that the only way I am going to get good at coloring is to practice, even if it's "wasting" supplies. LOL  Another thing I will have to remember is that I have to recreate my light tent and take proper photos. =\

I used two sizes of a Spellbinders die to cut my window and a piece of acetate from some Spellbinders packaging. My image is part of this lovely Birdie Brown Sweet Birthday wishes stamp set. I absolutely loved coloring her - the hair turned out exactly as I wanted and that skirt... I actually managed to get a hint of the ruffles in her skirt. Yay!  I wanted to add white polkadots, but the white Signo pen I bought two years ago has thoroughly dried up, so I went for black, using a Glaze pen. I also used purple Wink of Stella on the bottom ruffle of her skirt and a mix of clear and purple on her dress and hair bows. I gave her patent leather shoes with the Glaze pen, too. I know, no self respecting girl wears a skirt and patent leather shoes together, but since she's a drawing, I figure no boys will be able to see any reflection up her skirt. LOL    Last, I glittered the top of her cupcake with my favorite Stardust Stickles. The color is off on these pictures as well, but they show you the shine and glitter. =)

For my shaker, I used the image of the cupcakes on a tiered stand that is included in the set. I colored up the top two tiers where the cupcakes didn't overlap each other with Copics to match the colors in the DCWV banners cardstock and cut them out before coating their icing in Stardust Stickles.  I used two layers of foam adhesive to make a pocket and threw in some purple and lime sequins and pink and blue glitter (all from Doodlebug Designs and with fun names like limeade, bubblegum and swimming pool) together with the cupcakes. Then I sat here at my crafting table and played with it for the next 15 minutes. =)

To finish off the front of the card, I used a Copic marker to get the right shade of purple on my little sentiment flag and heat embossed a sentiment from the stamp set in white.

For the inside of the card I used the leftover scalloped die cuts, a few more sequins and a larger cupcake and sentiment from the stamp set. Simple, but oh so cute!

This one was so fun, I may find myself making more shaker cards soon. I do know I had a hard time giving this particular card away. Do you ever have that problem?  Make a card you absolutely love and then have to send it on to another home? LOL  I suppose I'd be surrounded by cards eventually and have no room to make any more, so better to have crafted and given away then never to be able to craft at all. hee hee

For some more fun, I'll be shaking my way over to these challenge sites to enter this sweet birthday shaker card:
Artistic Inspirations - Challenge #116 Anything Goes/Happy Birthday
Craft Your Passions - Challenge #238 Bright and Sparkly
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Challenge #11 Make it Sparkle
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge - Challenge #125 Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Challenge #55 Anything Goes/Celebrations
Moving Along With the Times - Sparkle and/or Shine
Seize the Birthday - Birthday (Topping choice: Monochromatic Orange)
 Challenge Up Your Life - Challenge #1 Anything Goes
ShowCASe Your Style - Challenge #1 Tic-Tac-Toe  I used Emboss-Sequin-Sparkle, plus there's White, Diecut and Sentiment, too!
Addicted to Stamping - Challenge #91 Bling, Bling!
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes

Then one more finished birthday to post... and four more to craft this month, so I'll be back soon!  Til then, happy crafting!

Christy