The Party Continues... on the Pony Express!

Hello, hello, helloooooooo! Back again, with another birthday card as threatened, er, promised. This one was created for my friend's grandson who is turning 1 this month. I know the card is more for his mama than for him, but I kept it cute, colorful and simple anyway. After all, it will end up smooshed in a baby book or a box of mementos, right? LOL

I had fun coloring up this Party Pony image from Whipper Snapper Designs, by the same artist who created last week's Party Kitties...

Isn't he just the sweetest? =)

I colored him with my Copics, adding shimmer, shine and sparkle details with Glaze pens (hat, pressie and saddle), Stardust Stickles (hat pom) and clear Wink of Stella (saddle, pressie and sweet little posies).  The clouds, most of which got cut off/out of the image when I die cut it, were made with a combination of colorless blender, C0, and a bit of a white Souffle pen, so they have just a little texture and rise off the image.

I used a combination of dies - Spellbinders scalloped and standard circles and MFT Blueprints 15.. My papers are from the new Hip Hip Hooray pad from Doodlebug. I foresee an addiction to Doodlebug pads coming my way shortly! =D  My sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Handwritten Borders. I admit I held my breath while I stamped it! Thank goodness my stamping skills have improved. =)   I popped up my image for just a teensy bit of dimension (considering its future storage haha), and added a few epoxy stickers here and there. The final touch was the number 1 from the MFT die set By The Numbers. Cut from the same paper as the scalloped circle, it was coated in clear Wink of Stella and smothered in Glossy Accents. All I can say is "oooooooooh, shiiiiiiny!" ;)

I was going to duplicate the layout of the front on the inside of the card, but... ok, I'll be honest. I would have had to cut into the second sheets of these papers and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Yes, thank you, I AM scheduled for my first Paper Hoarders Anonymous meeting next week.

So to avoid the dreaded second sheets, I used MFT's Fishtail Flag Stax and the remaining strips, and I sacrificed a different orange sheet in the pad for the scalloped circle.

A few more epoxy dots here and there and done!

The Pony Express will be stopping at these challenges on its way to the birthday boy...

     Crafting When We Can Challenges - #82 Use Your Markers (Copics for me!)
     Fab'n'Funky Challenges - Happy Birthday
     Crafting for All Seasons - #90 Birthdays
     Addicted to Stamps and More - #122 Make Your Mark
     Tip Top Tuesday - 3 or More Papers

And tha'ts it for today!  I'll be back soon - yes, another birthday card, but soooooon, Christmas and Snow and all things winter! LOL  Til then, happy crafting! =)
Christy

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

Retiring to a Rose Garden

Hello, fellow crafty folks! =)

I have been a busy stamper the past two weeks and have officially made more cards in the last two weeks than in the 6 months before that. Which feels good, but whew!

Here's the first... which is also the one with the most time invested. Our department VP retired after 40 years and is an avid gardener. She's been talking about looking forward to building a rose garden now that she'll have the time, so a group of us gathered together and got a rather hefty gift card for a local garden shop. My task was to create a card with enough space for 30 or so people to write messages and to 'package' the gift card. As soon as they said "roses", I knew this one had to be a Magnolia stamp. This little Tilda is one of the first stamps I bought when I officially discovered cardmaking online two years ago, and my coloring has most definitely improved since the last time I used her...

Isn't she sweet?

The rose paper from which I took my color inspiration is from a rather inexpensive Colorbok packet I was given as a gift last Christmas. I loved the deep burgundy and dusty pink together with the slightly shabby distressed look.  I cut them with stitched panel dies from My Favorite Things. Love the effect of that little bit of stitch detail! I used a bit of Walnut Distress Ink to age the edges of all my papers and the Spellbinders diecut I used for my image.   I colored Tilda, the Magnolia leaves die cuts, the largest rose, and the four little rosebuds with Copics so that they all matched.  On the image I used a bit of Liquid Pearl around her and some Lemon Ice Stickles on the rose centers.
 On the Wild Orchid Crafts flowers, just  a touch of Wink of Stella on the large rose and Stardust Stickles on some of the smaller pink roses gave them a bit of sparkle. A bit of creamy lace, a few pearls, and a little Magnolia dragonfly die finished off the front panel.



Now, for the really fun part...  again, there were about 30 people to sign the card, so I had to find a way to make the card a lot bigger... so I went for an accordion fold that goes on and on for about 7 more panels!

I had to glue together a number of burgundy card bases. I colored six sets of these Magnolia rose stamps, then fussy cut them before shimmering them up with some clear Wink of Stella.

Each panel is a triple layer of the Colorbok rose paper, a piece of white cardstock colored with the same YG95 that I used on the rose stamps, and another piece from the same Colorbok paper pad. All the edges are inked with either Walnut or Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

(The pages look slightly different colors here because there was daylight on the right panel but not the left when I photographed the panels. Oops!)

For the final page, I searched the internet for quotes about gardens. I loved this one:

"I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself. 

And I find sufficient purpose for my day. - Robert Brault"

...so I typed it up on the computer, added my own note below it and printed directly onto the Colorbok paper. This panel was also going to hold the gift card, so I cut a notch out of it using the bottom bit of a Magnolia tag. I used the same tag to cut a tag from white cardstock, colored it with YG95 and coated it with clear Wink of Stella.
When everyone had signed, the tag was attached to a little envelope that held the gift card. Another little dragon fly perches on the the bottom of this panel as well.

To finish off the project, I created a 1" thick box out of gold metallic paper and created a little label for the front.  The box was done envelope style, with a little velcro closure on the back.

Everyone loved it... it even made her cry - in a good way, of course! =)  I won't be doing something so elaborate again for a while... it took at least 2 hours just to color and cut out all those roses for the panels. But it was well worth it in the end. A special card for a special event!

I'll be popping over to a few challenges to link my little Tilda creation...
Tilda's Town Challenges - Challenge #129 Anything Goes
Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia Challenge - Challenge #106 Sparkle
Midweek Magnolias Challenge - Challenge #101 Glitter, Lace and Pearls
Crafting When We Can Challenge - Challenge #82 Use Your Markers

My next two posts will be all about birthdays! Woohoo! Til then, happy crafting!
Christy