Another Graduation Card

I've got another graduation card for you today (in Hawkeye gold and black)

{ Meagan don't look any further or you will ruin your surprise :) }




I used the CPS sketch again for this one.  I really like that little sentiment banner

I decorated up the envelope too.  I used true black, summer sunrise, and vintage cream for colors.  I colored the a la mode grad in with my Copics and also found a new use for them.  Coloring in the pattern on the patterned paper. 

The dotted paper is supposed to be black and white, but I really wanted Hawkeye gold, so I used my Y35 and Y38 Copics and colored it in.  I just colored over the whole paper (not each individual dot) because the black is dark enough that you can't tell.

Inside the card I decorated it up a little too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Britty's Grad Card

My daughter and her best friend (and several other of their friends) love Japanese culture.  They grew  up on anime' and are learning to speak the language as well.  I know a goal of theirs is to someday go to Japan.  They have been working hard selling T-shirts and making paper cranes for Japanese Earthquake relief fundraising as well.  They are such good kids.

Colie and Britt have been friends since 2nd grade so I wanted to make a special graduation card for her.

The stamps are from Kimono Kids (SU!) and For The Graduate (PTI).  I colored the faces and flowers in using Copic Sketch markers and paper pieced the kimonos.  I stamped the image onto Spring Moss and Lemon Tart Bitty Boxes patterned paper, added some shadow with matching Copic  and colored the flowers in with a white gel pen to make them pop.

Thanks for stopping by!

CPS Grad Card

I used this week's CPS sketch for another graduation card.  Since Jenny's school colors are blue and white I decided to go with that color scheme even though its not my norm, but it went really well with the layout, so I made a concession n this one card :)

I love the row of feet stamp form Go Graduate, SU! set from last year.

I colored most everything with Copics, except the girlie shoes (used Marina Mist marker) and the high tops (used a sharpie)

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The start of graduation season

I started making my grad cards last week ... when I started I thought I only had 3 or 4, but the list is up to a dozen right now, with my daughter's friends and some kids who are graduating form college (I thought they just graduated from high school :)

So here is a start to the grad card parade :

 I like making fairly non-traditional cards.  I used to go with school colors, but now its more fun to go with something unique about the person getting it.

So one is for Katie-bird - she is a girl through and through and loves pink intensely

 and another for Tia who single-handedly organized Japanese earthquake relief fundraisers

and this is for the boys - Josh and Jake - made them the same card.  Don't think they'll mind and I'm pretty sure their mom's will like them :) (this one is a CASE from Heather Nichols, and one of the reasons I bought the Chevron stamp set)

I'll post more grad cards as the week goes on.  I've got a bunch more to go :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Shower Invites and Birth Announcements

No not for me ... I'm WAY past that stage of life :)

But remember this card that I made based on one by Debbie Olson?  A gal I work with saw it and wants me to make Baby Shower invitations for a good friend of hers based on that card.

The theme of the shower is going to be something like "How does your garden grow" and each of the 50 invites will be slightly different.  Some will have 2 blossoms, some just one.  And there are 5 colors, all gardeny and floral-like :)

Here's a close up of the central images:

When my friend told me the story of her friend it was truly amazing and  miraculous that she is even pregnant (and so far everything is going superb).  I was so touched by the story that I am offering to make her birth announcements too if she wants me to.  They will be similar to the invitations, but all pink (because they know they are having a girl)

 That oval is just leaving space for a baby picture.  I put in a piece of card stock for sizing purposes.

Inside will be all the vital statistics printed on vellum.  I attached the vellum behind the picture so the adhesive doesn't show (I'll put in real info once I have it :)

Thanks for stopping by!

OWH Sunday Sketch and Stamp Camp Card

I used this weeks OWH Sunday Sketch to make a card for my May stamp camp.  I had a request for a Mothers Day card, and I thought I better get a move on since that's only 2 weeks away

Here's my take on it:

Its really fairly simple.  I used the Friends til the End patterned paper and also stamped the large blossom on the focal layer.

For the bow, I created the look from paper using the double ended banner die, and layering the cut pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Card

This week's Card Patterns sketch is by Nina Brackett.  Its a simple layout that can be made up in so many ways. I can't wait to see what the other designers do for this one

Here is my take:

I needed a birthday card for a good friend and for some reason I was feeling all vintagey tonight :)

The main color is Concorde Crush (probably my favorite In Color this year) and I used Sahara Sand as a light neutral to stamp the music notes (you can imagine its the notes to Happy Birthday, but I'm not really sure what it'supposed to be )

The flowers, and viney background image are from SU! Vintage Vogue.  The sentiment is from Fillable Frames #4

I also added a little bling with some black rhinestones on the flower centers

Thanks for stopping by!

Another take on this week's CPS sketch

I loved this week's sketch so much I had 2 ideas.  Here is the second one:

Once again I went for a masculine theme.  And these stamps are again from the upcoming SU! summer mini (a set called The Open Seas)  ...

I love the nautical theme.  It seems to be big for the summer and I for one couldn't be happier. 

I was actually inspired to make this card by my late grandfather.  He died when I was a toddler, so I don't know  a lot about him.  But I do know he was born in Scotland of Irish immigrant parents (my great-grands left Ireland during the potato famine)

My grandfather came to America in the late 1890s.  Through the Ellis Island Foundation, I've seen a picture of the ship he came over on and a copy of the ships log that he signed when he boarded. 

The log stamp in this set brought back that memory

Thanks for stopping by!

MIM: Masking With Dies

Today's Make It Monday at PTI is to use a die as a mask.  I absolutely loved Lisa Johnson's example card.  It makes me want the Turning a New Leaf dies even more.  But I had to work with what I had.

I chose the Mat Stack 4 die and the Leaf B from leaf Prints.

Here is my card:

I started with the Mat Stack 4 die and sponged Sweet Blush ink over Sweet Blush CS.  Leaving the mask in place I stamped the tiny dots form Polka Dot Basics and a sentiment from Round & Round

After die cutting the largest bloom from Beautiful Blooms #1, I masked that with a circle punch and stamped the polka dotted jar filling from Friendship Jar around the edges. 

I also die cut Leaf B and used that to sponge 2 leaves onto Spring Moss CS.  I used the die cut leaf to also mask the two leaves from each other and sponged Ripe Avocado on the left side to give some definition to each leaf.   It didn't photograph very well tho :(

Thanks for stopping by!

CPS Dad Card

This weeks CPS challenge has a lot of layers - or at least potential layers.  I decide to start working on some masculine cards since Fathers Day is coming up and I have a OWH box that is almost filled.

For this card I used the new set, Best Dad Ever, coming in the SU! summer mini catalog in May.  This set is great for making Father's Day cards or just a masculine Thinking Of You card.

I love the line of ties stamp.  This was one of the things that drew me to this stamp set in the first place.  I decided to play off some of the patterns in the ties and used some of my texture plates for 2 of the background panels.  For the other 2 I used other stamps from the set to create a collage

To finish out the sketch I cut apart yet another sentiment stamp from this set and layered the words on early espresso card stock to make them stand out against the all the background layers.

Thanks for stopping by!

MIM & OWH Sunday Sketch

Greetings!  This weeks Make It Monday challenge over at PTI is using heat embossing.  I love Dawn's card she made as an example.   I also used this weeks Sunday Sketch from OWH

Here's my card:

 I used heat embossing 2 different ways.  First I stamped the Polka Dot Basics in VersaMark and used clear EP.  Just as Dawns said int he video, it makes the paper darker and will always match!

The other heat embossing technique I used was to heat emboss the chair outline stamp.  This makes it SO much easier to color because there is a ridge instead of just a stamped line.  Much easier to stay inside the lines that way!

For the chair legs I used the Dark Chocolate Copic trio and for the chair itself I used the Ocean Tides Copic trio.  I made lines with eh colorless blender to give it a little pattern

Thanks for stopping by!!

{Supplies - PTI unless noted}
Stamps: On My Couch, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Ocean Tides, VersaMark
Paper: Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Soft Stone
Other: chair die, Dark Chocolate Copic Trio, Ocean Tides Copic Trio

April SFYTT

I like simple cards.  I like them even better when they look a little more complicated then they really are. 

Here is my card for this month's SFYTT:

I actually used a Christmas paper (Rustic Snowflakes) for the background, but with the springy modern butterfly I think it works.  I punched some of the dots and used SU! Build A Brad to create the line of 3 at the bottom.

I stamped the same butterfly as the focal image alternately right side up and upside down on the red layer and filled in just a couple of them as a highlight.

Thanks for stopping by!

{Supplies}
Stamps: Modern Basics [PTI]
Ink: Real Red, Crumb Cake [SU!]
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red [SU!]; Rustic Snowflakes patterned [PTI]
Other: Build a Brad [SU!]