BIRTHDAY CHICKENS

 Hi friends!

Playing along with this ALPHABET CHALLENGE

D for Double (ends 6/25)

A newly acquired, pre-owned die consisting of chicken wire and wood frame in one inspired this little farm scene. I die cut the piece in brown and used darker brown ink to provide some low lights to the knotty wood frame, then trimmed the wire portion out using an Exacto knife. I ran the frame die through again using silver card stock and mounted it behind the brown frame so that the silver wire shows in the open area. 

The chickens and quips are from a fun older Stampin’ Up! set I’ve always loved but never actually used. The background is just blue and green inks blended onto the white card front. 

SUPPLIES

  chickens, egg and small sentiment stamps - Stampin’ Up! Hey, Chick Sale-a-bration set

frame with wire die - Dies…To Die For Chicken Wire and Wood Background #TDF269

quote bubble dies - Picket Fence Word Bubbles #PFSD144

happy birthday die - Memory Box Happy Birthday Chic Script #94871

silver card stock

alcohol markers

Thanks for stopping in today!

GOOD LIFE DUCKS

 Hi friends!

Playing along with this ALPHABET CHALLENGE

D for Double

(ends 6/25)

These two just make me happy - love how ridiculously over-sized they are for their little pool. I resisted the urge to add googly eyes, but just barely! Settled on outlining the pupils with some neutral gray marker. Pond was cut from a scrap of handmade faux watercolored paper using Distress ink. Both ducks are foam mounted. 

 

SUPPLIES

duck stamps - CTMH Close to My Heart Makin’ Waves #C1365 clear set

sentiment stamp - Kolette Hall

enjoy word stamp - Fiskars Lea Griffith clear set

pool with border dies - FSJ Pool with a View die set #DI-0549

sunrays stencil - Picket FenceSlim Horizontal Rays of Sun

alcohol markers

white gel pen

mirrored bubble flat back gems

Thanks for stopping in today!

SPINNER SUMMER PINWHEEL.

 Hi friends!

Playing along with this Freshly Made Sketches. I’ve had my eye on Michele’s fun little sketch all week and just today was able to squeeze in enough time to make my card!

(ends 6/5).

This pinwheel is on a tiny nail art spinner which makes it extra fun! 

A great adhesive for something like this skewer is Glue Dots Clear Glue Lines. And I find Zots permanent glue dots work well with the metal spinners. I also stacked and glued a couple small pieces of card stock behind the brad to raise the pinwheel well above the skewer so that it could spin freely. 

SUPPLIES

pinwheel stamp - Great Impressions #F612

sentiment stamp - FSJ Fun Stampers Journey #SS-0630

ballon die (used for sun) - MFT My Favorite Things Die-namics Ballon Builder #MFT-2194

hills die - MFT My Favorite Things Die-namics Color Wave Cover Up #MFT-1901

cloud die - Darice Clouds #9151-2018-07

grass stencil - Taylored Expressions Set the Scene - Grass #TESN66

yellow iridescent no-hole sequins - Spellbinders Cameleon Opalescent #SCS-365

white gel pen

silver brad 

wood skewer

Thanks for stopping in today!

PUPPY B-DAY FEATURING SPINNER.

 Hi friends!

Playing along with this SEIZE THE BIRTHDAY 

#326 Feature an Animal

(ends 5/26)

and this WE LOVE STAMPING challenge with option 

All Creatures Great and Small 

(ends 6/3).

and this ALPHABET CHALLENGE “B” is for Balls 

(ends 5/28) 

Update!

I was excited to try these nail art spinners on a card, and this ball is perfect for them! 

A few helpful hints about these:

 *TIPS* The spinners are tiny! Craft tweezers make the job easier, and the best adhesive I found is some of my old stock Ultra Strength Small Clear Adhesive Permanent Dots by Zots / Therm O Web. It’s also helpful to back the die cut item to spin with an additional piece of card stock. Since the spinner is dimensional, raising surrounding images with foam tape distracts from that. Normally you’d want to center the spinner on the reverse side of your object, but if your object is slightly out of round like the red ball shown, it’s better to mount the spinner slightly higher so at rest your object is always balanced. 

Images were stamped in Memento black, colored with alcohol markers, fussy cut and then foam mounted. The sentiment was heat embossed, die cut and foam mounted. Clouds die cuts were ink blended with Distress Speckled Egg blue. 

 

SUPPLIES

dog and ball stamps - Rare Image Rubber Stamps* 

hat stamp (trimmed down) - Simon Hurley #HUR85560 Big Hugs clear set

sentiment stamp and die - Fun Stampers Journey Birthday Candles set

scallop circle die - Spellbinders Scallop Journal Cards #S4-1438

cloud dies - Tonic Studios Rococo Layered Clouds set

patterned papers - My Mind’s Eye Kraft Funday Happy Days 6x6 pad, and red polka dot from Recollections pad

spinner - Leelosp Nail Spinners (Amazon #X004KK6HQ3)

alcohol markers

Thanks for stopping in today!

SPLIT FLORALS.

 Hi friends!

I was inspired by a new-to-me technique blog GROUP OF CARDMAKERS 

This month’s focus is on a Split Card technique. Technically both of these florals should be the same color scheme but I stamped the image onto the middle of two 8.5” x 5.5” white panels of cardstock and then trimmed them into four separate panels before coloring them 😂 Go to their blog and follow the directions better than I did to save yourself some time!

 

Set 1:

 

Playing along with this JUST ADD INK challenge:

(ends 5/20)

UPDATE!

Set 2:

Playing along with this BEAUTIFUL BLOSSOMS challenge:

(ends 6/12).

Playing along with this STENCIL FUN challenge

(ends 5/30).

I outlined one of the florals with neutral marker to help camouflage a minor marker outside the lines situation and liked it enough to do a few that way. My coloring wasn’t that fabulous overall so I used some stencils and matching inks to blend patterns around the florals for interest, leaving some space open for a soft halo effect. 

 

SUPPLIES

stamp - JRL Designs #V 126 Paris Floral

Strength sentiment stamp - MFT #CS-156 Deepest Sympathy set

Trust sentiment stamp - Stampendous! #SSC1428 Floral Prayer set

Joy sentiment stamp - unmarked clear set

Blessing sentiment stamp - Stampin’ Up! Blessings of Home set

circles stencil - StampersAnonymous Tim Holtz Collection

squares stencil - StampersAnonymous Tim Holtz Collection

enamel dots and sequins - random

Thanks for stopping in today!

BEACHCOMBER HELLO.

 Hi friends!

Playing along with this FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES Challenge

(ends 5/18)

Update: 

My card got a shout-out this week from Cecile!

and this AS YOU SEE IT Challenge

(ends 5/20)

UPDATE!

I’ve been waiting all Winter and Spring to dig out some seashell images - nothing says Summer to me like all things beach!! 

As soon as the newest FMS challenge sketch posted I knew I wanted shells, but didn’t decide on blues/greens til I went pawing through my handmade card stock scrap folder and saw this piece. I’ve hoarded it because it just screamed to me that it had to be beach-related. 

*TIP* When I get a sluggish day in the craft room, I dig out some favorite Distress ink pads, smoosh them on to a slick surface, spritz with water and press white card stock into the mess. If you dry between colors you’ll get brighter more distinct patterning. 

I embossed a 3D folder lightly to get a wavy sand feel on the kraft card stock. The shells were stamped in Versamark onto colored card stock, heat embossed with detail white powder and fussy cut.

*TIP* In this instance I didn’t want any adhesive interfering with the vellum effect so I folded each end over the patterned card stock, then trimmed off at the seam line any vellum that would be doubled over the kraft area. This still left a good size tab to fold over and glue onto the back of the patterned paper. 

Starfish points and sentiment were foam mounted. 

SUPPLIES

sand dollar stamp - PSX #C-194 (1983!!)

starfish stamp - Fred B. Mullett #201

nautilus Shell stamp - JRL Design

word dies - Spellbinders Hello Smile die set S1-154

embossing folder - Altenew Ribbon Waves

flat back dots - Pink & Main Marshmellow

white detail embossing powder

vellum

Thanks for stopping in today!