Mother's Day Blog Hop with InStyle Stamps

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Update: Welcome Craft Critique Card Carnival! The theme is Mother's Day and here is my project I'd like to share. If you are just stopping in and want to get super inspired for Mother's Day take this link to walk through the whole blog hop. Thanks for stopping in!

Welcome Friday and the end of the month. That means it's time for the InStyle Stamps Blog Hop and we are showcasing Mother's Day themed projects. I'll guess you have seen some amazing projects so far!

So if you have been stopping and hopping from the beginning with the InStyle Stamps Design Team, then you have just hopped from the talented Miss Robin. If you are just stopping in for today, why don't you start from the beginning at the InStyle Stamps blog . We are all excited to show you what we've dreamed up!

My project is inspired by a dress my mom and I found that she wore at my wedding. The dress had some amazing blue silk-like fabric with just a bit of satin trimming and that is where my project got started. I'm using InStyle Stamps Vickie for the image and she is all silked out with a blue suit and satiny gloves. Her hat even matches the outfit. Now, I want to know in real life how much this outfit would cost?!!!

I'm so glad you stopped and hopped through my post today. Be sure to go back to the InStyle Stamps blog and vote for your favorite designer project and leave a comment for a chance to win some SPICA Pens.

Next hop is to Genevieve's blog for some more Mother's Day inspiration.
{This is the last day for InStyle Stamps Rubbah sale! That means Vickie is on sale today.}

If you get lost along the way here is the blog list:
Kerry
Taylor
Angela
Robin
Janelle (me!)
Geneviéve next hop!
Raquel
Angélique
Jodi
Lana
Cyndi

Now for those who might want to know the details:

My cardbase is a lucky find in my paper stash, I don't know where I got it but it was fantastically a match to the ribbons I used for this project. I created the cream cardstock mat shape on the computer and printed out two for the layered look. The top mat is embossed with my fav Cuttlebug folder, Victoria. Both mats are sponged with Antique Linen around the edges and I also ran the sponge across the embossing to make it pop. The ribbon is from my stash (another thing that is as old as my wedding...it was what I used from my invites to the ribbon around the disposable cameras at the reception, LOL).

The Vickie image is all one layer and I used my markers, of course, and the pearls and earring are pearlized with embossing powder. She's elevated with some Stampin Up Dimensional dots.

One of Verve's newest release has a set with some Mother's Day sayings so I combined two of them and stamped it on a circle diecut with a Nestabilities die.

I need to give a couple of credits that made it SO easy to create this cute little felted hat. I used the directions from Costumes Organization on a How to make a Felt Hat. I used all Nestabilities to cut out the circles for the crown and brim of my hat from ecru kunin felt. Cinch, I tell ya. The other mention is a video on how to make a Twirled Ribbon Rose by Di van Niekerk. (She makes it look SOOOOOO easy. I gave up after 20 times when I finally had three to put on my hat.) I used some very tiny glass beads to anchor the ribbon rose's down on some old aida cloth I still have. I rarely let go of anything in the craft room. The ribbon is the same as I used on the card.

Now all I need is a hatbox! {wink} 

Details:
Card Size: 4 x 9 1/4 inches
Stamps: InStyle Stamps Vickie
Paper: LSS blue and cream CS
Ink: Laserjet, Ranger Antique Linen, Creamy Caramel, Prismacolor Markers (Eggshell, Brick Biege, Sand, Light Tan, Light Umber, Cream, Wheat, Deco Yellow, Cloud Blue, Brittany Blue, Blush Pink, Flagstone Red)
Accessories: Cutting template for mats, Cuttlebug Victoria EF, Offray ribbon, Nestabilities Circle dies, Satin Pearl EP

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Strapless Dress - Mojo Style

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Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today I've got yet another fabulous InStyle dress to show you. This one gave me so many ideas, but I just don't have the time to create them. I'll journal down those thoughts for when I have some time. LOL

So here's a real quick card I put together using the Mojo Monday Sketch #136.

This strapless dress could be a great image for just about any kind of card, but I had in mind a Birthday card this time. The dp made it a cinch. All I need to do is write my own message on the inside and I'm done!

Now for some InStyle Shop Talk ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Two reasons to hop on over to InStyle Stamps right now:

$SALE$  - Just a note to hop on over to InStyle Stamp Store and check out all the rubbah stamps. They are on sale until the end of the month. Just THREE more days!

*NEW* - All the new stamps the InStyle Design Team and I have been showing you the past several weeks are showing up in all categories, BUT just take the link on What's New to see the latest ones. I'm checking back every day and updating my posts to add the links to these amazing images.

That's all for today! Come back on Friday for the InStyle Stamps Bloghop! We won't be able to keep it under our hats much longer...{wink}

Details:
Card Size: 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Stamps: InStyle Strapless Dress
Paper: Neenah Smooth White, Pretty in Pink, vellum, DCWV Text Prints DP
Ink: LaserJet, Prismacolor Markers (Cream, Deco Yellow, Wheat)
Accessories: EK Success Edge punch, SU! edge punch, SU! black plaid ribbon and satin/organdy ribbon, CTMH Create a Paint

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Viva La Verve - Livingroom One

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I added this card to my SCS gallery a while ago and thought I'd fill a gap in my posting since I'm working on some projects for the end of the month.

My Viva La Verve inspiration was for week 2 came from room 1. I focused on the satiny silver fabric in the chairs, the cream and mustard/sand color in the decor and wall, and the glass lampstands.

The stamps I used are from Waltzingmouse Stamps' Nestie Friendly Very Vintage Labels 3 set and Blessed by You. I used a Verve complimentary stamp for the sentiment. I made the Nestabilities Label 3 mat look like it was a metal piece by using some Zing Silver embossing powder on the stamps and silver metallic acrylic paint dry brushed over the whole thing. I confess, I first did the Labels 3 stamp and then brushed acrylic over it, which dulled the finished of the embossing. The apple looks much more metallic because I embossed after the acrylic paint had dried.

I started to make a deep orange flower to match a stripe in one of the pillows, but my clever mind wouldn't let me. I made an apple blossom sprig out of punches, so it would match the apple in the label.

The watercolor gradient is actually prismacolor markers, colors that I used for the buds in the sprig. I needed to have a balance of colors somewhere and that was where the marker went down.

Thanks for stopping by.


Details:
Card Size: 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches
Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps Very Vintage Labels 3, Blessed by You, Verve "Thanks" stamp
Paper: LSS Sand color CS, Basic Black, Slate Blue textured CS, Cream CS, White copy paper.
Ink: Prismacolor Markers*, Graphite Black, Silver Chromacrylic paint
Accessories: Quickutz Diamonds and Dots EF, Nestabilities Labels 3, Paper Shapers Flower punch, SU! Little Leaves die and two other flower punches, Kaisercrafts rhinestones

Prismacolor Marker Details: Flower - Deco Pink, Colorless Blender; Buds - Blush Pink, Pink, Process Red; Little Leaves - Green Tea

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Beach Party Release at Verve this weekend

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Last night I was able to sneak in to the office to hang out with the Verve community for Verve Beach Party Release Party. It was a fabulous time and the chatting and reveals are always such a pleasure.
The sketch challenges by Julee were fantastic and I wasn't able to get to them but they are definitely apart of my go-to pile in case I need a sketch to get me going. I was able to get to the color challenge and Julee picked out a fantastic color combo of Orange, Aqua and Green.

My card went off onto a curiosity spin as most of my creations do. I wanted to know if I could paper pierce a design onto acetate and stitch thread onto it. With some clever counting I was able to manuever all the holes without jumping over previous stitches and stitch on both sides so if anyone peeked it would look finished too. I was almost reluctant to cover up the ends with a matching white cardstock from the sentiment because they actually were invisible. It sure was fun creating those waves for the beachy scene on my card.

It's definitely a simple and clean card, but with the bright cheery Verve sun stamp I think I'll enjoy my day!

Details:
Card Size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches
Stamps: Verve Plain Jane Enjoy Today
Paper: WRF Kraft, ??Ginkgo CS, Neenah Smooth White, Acetate
Ink: Graphite Black, Prismacolor Markers ( Aquamarine, Orange, Poppy Red)
Accessories: DMC Embroidery Floss

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One too many...

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birthdays can make you a little DizZy. Don't ya think?

Well DigiStamp Boutique has this adorable feline, Maxwell with Balloon, who is trying a bit too hard to celebrate your birthday. My guess is that he was trying to air up enough balloons for each year of your life! 

Sally-Ann also has a new collection called Simply Baby. It is ever so cute. Go check it out!

Remember! You can also win May's Offer of the Month by using one of the April OM's on a project and linking it on the DigiStamp Blog. There's one week left!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Details:
Stamps: DigiStamp Boutique Maxwell with Balloon
Paper: DCWV Matching Mates, Basic Black, Mohawk Smooth White
Ink: Prismacolor Markers - Maxwell - Yellow Ochre, Goldenrod, Bronze; Nose - Cool Grey 20% and 70%; Ears - Deco Pink, Wheat; Tummy - Wheat and Colorless Blender; Balloon - Cream, Deco Yellow, Canary Yellow, Yellow Ochre; Ground shadow - Ash Grey
Accessories: Yellow DMC Embroidery Floss, hole punch, Quickutz font for "o's", Black Button Thread

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Kindness is a Blessing

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Hi everyone!

It has already been a week since my last post and I can't believe it's been that long. I gave myself some time to be with my children and hubby. The weather has been nice and we just needed to be out in it. I've also been playing with a lot of new things these days and you'll see a few of them in my project today (they'll be starred in the end of the post under Details).

I used this fabulous digital stamp from InStyle Stamps called Label 1 to enclose a sentiment from the Waltzingmouse Stamps called Blessed By You. I colored the label with markers and then sponged around the oval for an aged look, it wasn't enough so I used some Ranger Crackle Paint over the oval section and some Glossy Accents for the flowers and leaves. This forced me to walk away and play with my family...just so my label would get all cracked up.

The card is a sketch challenge from The Shabby Tea Room. I rotated it to fit the label and the card base though.

The companion piece is a tea bag book. These have been around the papercrafting world for years, but I have not done one since blogging , so now I have, LOL. The instructions I used are from SCS here. I wasn't so quick enough to go to the Resources section at SCS for instructions. They show using the ribbon differently and as a closure tie, so I made up a closure all my own that looks like a toggle closure of a coat.

A decade or so ago I was given a necklace...gorgeous indeed... made with a mix of wooden beads covered wtih origami paper and also meticulously rolled paper beads. That's where I got my idea to make the toggle.

If your curious, I created my bead from 1 x 2 inches black cardstock cut diagonally from the center of one short side to the corners of the opposite end to make a tall triangle. I put glue on 3/4 of the inside of the triangle and started rolling the 1-inch end around my skinny crochet hook (think thin wooden skewer size) and once it was dry enough I threaded my ribbon by pushing it through with the hook. Then I just made a loop for the other side and adhered it between the cover and sleeve. If I did it again, I would cut the cardstock even longer, maybe 3 or 4 inches by 1 inch, so that the bead would be more round...but this size works fine too. Test out where you need the loop and how big before you tape it altogether.

Okay that's it. Sorry for all the babbling...I just want to chat I guess. LOL

Details:
Card Size: 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches
Tea bag Book size: 3 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches
Stamps: InStyle Label 1*, WMS Blessed by You*
Paper: LSS Cream CS and Text, Tracing Paper, Basic Black, LSS pink and green CS
Ink: Laserjet, Graphite Black, Pretty in Pink, Ranger Antique Linen and Tea Dye, Prismacolor Markers**.
Accessories: Impressabilities Flowers*, Nestabilities Fancy Tags, Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace edge border, SU! Trio Flower punch, Martha Stewart Frond punch, Kaisercraft yellow pearls, LSS cream satin ribbon, SU! Pretty in Pink Grosgrain ribbon, LSS pink organdy ribbon, black eyelets, and I would be lost if I didn't have my ISP tape from iheartpapers (red line or tacky tape)

**Prismacolor Marker Details: Label1 Flower - Ballet Pink, Raspberry, Tulip Yellow, Goldenrod, Spring Green, Emerald; Frame - Bronze, Sepia; Punched flowers and leaves - Ballet Pink, Spring Green, Emerald

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Hey Mom! Over the Hump Day Challenge and Candy

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It's the middle of the week...are you all making it through okay? Hey Maahhhhh-uuuummm! You here that? That's my children. They are in high need of something these days and "hey mom" has already rung through our house several times this week. Guess what the theme for Over the Hump Day Blog Candy Giveaway is this month? Yea, It's Mom's Day!

I've got some inspiration for you to help you through the rest of your week. If that's not enough you'll have to go over to the InStyle Stamps blog for details on the challenge and blog candy! That will for sure get you on your way to Friday. LOL

(my photos are not coming out very clear in blogger...just click on it to see it in focus. sorry)

Here's my card for today. And yes, I'm stuck in green and blue colors! I thought about the feather duster being peacock feathers and that's where I got the green and blue for the rest of the card. I know you all are rolling your eyes right now, but I promise to work hard and get into another color scheme for my next post.

My card is using InStyle Stamps Darla stamp. She is so happy dusting. I'd love for her to come on over to my place for a while, but I have her all set up to be mom for the day. Now my mom really does love to keep house of which I am greatly lacking at present, but its the stage where I just get a clean wet wipe out to wipe the television screen before I hear "Hey mahhhhhhuuummmm!" Well, it's not a wet wipe anymore but at one time in my life there was Go-gurt (yogurt in a tube) smeared all over my television screen and the closest I could grab to clean with was a wet wipe from the changing basket.

Oh I am getting completely sidetracked so I'll skip card details for this post. It's all pretty straight-forward.

Jump on over to the InStyle Stamps blog and get the details to join in on this months challenge. I'm guessing that you either need a mom's card or you know someone who just might, so this challenge can help you along just dandy!

Details:
Size: 5 x 5 1/2 inches
Stamps: Darla
Paper: LSS of green, blue, light gray, white; Basic Black, Neutrals Gray
Ink: LaserJet, Prismacolor Pencils, FC PITT black pen
Accessories: Martha Stewart Eyelet RTP edger punch, LSS blue ribbon, Nestabilities Tags 5, black button thread, Martha Stewart photo corner punch, Lavender Chalk (for background around image), Stampin' Up paper crimper

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The words we say...

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I decided I would try a MoxieFab challenge with all the new sketches that are being shown from the new Go-To sketch magazine.

The sketch that I used is slightly changed. I had two different inspirations going on in my head where one sketch post talked about "stretching" a sketch by rotating and flipping it so I decided to "stretch" out the square sketch into an A6 size card to go along with my idea for the second sketch from MoxieFab here.

The cocktail dress is from InStyle Stamps. I colored the three dresses with Prismacolor Cool Grey markers (40%, 70% and a dab of 90%). I've found I love to color the skirts so I can make broad whispy strokes with my marker, LOL. I created some hangers and colored them with True Blue and Process Blue markers. All the images, even the printed sentiment, are outlined with Cream marker to match the mat behind the dresses.

  

I picked the colors from InStyle's Color Challenge for April here. The added elements in the sketch, well, I just completely did a boo-boo and started in on the wrong sketch, but I loved it so I kept it.

Layers and that handmade necklace embellie. Too cute! Now this is exactly when I can say, if I wasn't so sentimental about my crafting supplies and keep a ziplog bag of unfinished projects, I would not have been able to make this necklace. Some call it hoarding, some call it destiny. You choose.

Now how does the sentiment end?

 Oh, yeah...your dreams will come true.

Details:

Stamps: InStyle Stamps Cocktail Dress, Sentiment font "Love Ya Like A Sister" from kevinandamanda scrapbook fonts

Paper: LSS Citron, Basic Black, Astrobright Blue, LSS cream, Neenah Smooth White

Ink: LaserJet, Faber-Castell PITT black pen, Prismacolor Markers (color names in post)

Accessories: KaiserCraft black rhinestones, Antique glass beads, thread, Martha Stewart Photo Corner punch, Quickutz Retro Diamond EF

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Viva La Verve - Red Room

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I've been missing my Viva La Verve Challenges for some time now, so whenever I can, I'm trying to fit one in. Sometimes they sit unfinished until I get the idea, but this one came together quickly after it sat for a week. Amber has the neatest photos for inspiration and week 1 had a red living room that was calling me. I've seen a lot of bright flowers using the newest flowers from Verve and there have been a lot of challenges the past few weeks to use chipboard, so those ideas came together for this card.

Okay so here is my card inspired by that red room.

I used a woodgrain background stamp borrowed from my mother-in-law by All Night Media brand, stamped in Chocolate Chip. I sponged some Ruby Red in spots to give it a varnished look. I had my sweet daughter help with this card, she painted Warm Red acrylic paint on two square chipboard pieces until the were shiny, then I showed her the dry brush technique with some Burnt Umber acrylic. Boy did her eye's light up at that technique. I finished those squares off with a little distressing around the edges with scissors. That was about all she wanted to do on mommy's project so later in the week I started with the bottom panel by using a really thin sheet of chipboard (think the back of a legal pad paper thickness) and cut into strips. I used the dry brush technique on them and then sponged Ruby Red onto the bare spots. My first attempt was rather silly because I thought I could use the aqua pen... which created a really muddy color. That's what creating is all about, isn't it. I used one strip for my spacer piece and glued down the vertical strips on a piece of Basic Black CS that I precut to fit the bottom panel. I trimmed off a little bit of the cardstock at the last vertical strip to make it nice and neat. I did the same thing for the horizontal strips, but I premeasured them before gluing. I used my Warm Black Prismacolor marker to color the ends where the bare chipboard was showing.

Out came my Coluzzle to make the oval frame from chipboard. I applied the same process for painting as the lattice panel. I stamped Psalm 84:11 with Jet Black Staz-On and then cut it out for the oval frame adhering it with Glossy Accents. I popped it up with dimensional foam dots and colored the edges of the foam so they wouldn't be too noticeable.

The flower is on kraft text weight paper and embossed with a mix of Black and Gold embossing powder that I mixed together. I had some leftover warm red paint on my palette so I thought I would use it on the flower. The first layer soaked in, but then I went back around the tips of the petals and got a real nice pop out of it. I used my markers to make the shadow parts at the base of the petals. The middle of the flower is Orange Yellow and Canary Yellow markers. The leaves are colored with Prismacolors in Green Tea and Light Olive Green.

That's it. This card is definitely something I've never done before. It was fun to try new things and I'm so glad I didn't repurpose or throw out this unfinished project.

Details:
Stamps: Verve Plain Jane Psalm 84:11, Verve Love's Flower, woodgrain bg stamp
Paper: WRF Kraft CS and text, chipboard, clear acetate
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Prismacolor Markers (color names are in post), Acrylics in warm red and burnt umber
Accessories: paintbrush, black/gold embossing powder, Coluzzle Oval template

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InStyle Color Challenge Combo

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InStyle's Color challenge is teaming up with a sketch from the Fussy and Fancy Challenge Blog today.

This is a super easy challenge! InStyle provides the great color combo and Fussy and Fancy's own Mindy supplies the sketch! All that's needed to finish this challenge up is a hand-picked image and embellishments from you! Easy - peasy. Come join along at InStyle Stamps blog for all the details.

Here's the sketch:

And here's the color challenge:

Here's my card for this delightful challenge combination. It's using Cocktail Dress, an exclusive image only found in participating retail stores. I was thinking it could be a wedding dress and so I touched some of the shadow areas of the dress with my Cream Prismacolor marker and faded it a bit more with the Colorless Blender Pen. The single embellish on the dress is a KaiserCraft rhinestone. 

Be sure enter you creation for both challenges. The sketch challenge is here at Fussy and Fancy Challenge Blog. The color challenge is on the InStyle Stamps blog.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Details:
Stamps: InStyle Stamps Cocktail Dress, Verve Dare to be You
Paper: Old Olive, LSS Cream, Neenah Solar White, Making Memories Basics Neutrals, Astrobrite Blue
Ink: LaserJet, Taken with Teal, Prismacolor Cream Marker
Accessories: Nestabilities Large Labels and Fancy Tags, Martha Stewart Dotted Scallop edger punch, KaiserCraft Round and Flower rhinestones

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Fun with Verve Flowers

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I've had this project going since the middle of March and I've been slowly finding time to put it together. Most of you would probably get something like this done in a day or even a weekend, but I've got two darling children that keep me busy and it has been March Madness season as well so you know, I'm creeping along with my projects! The idea came while getting some wedding ideas for another project and I ran across this fab trend of bouquets in purses for table decorations. Is that a new trend or old one?

So I thought it wasn't going to make it in time for the Verve March Project Parade, but here I am done with the project and I have to say it came out just like I had it "in my brain" (as my 4 year old would say).

A purse bouquet!

 I started out with a purse pattern that I altered just a bit from Mel stamps here. (For some reason the downloads on SCS weren't working when I tried, so I took the jpg image and did a redraw in PaintShopPro. I decided to add a strap from the back to the front while I was redrawing, otherwise it is her template.)

I traced my template onto kraft cardstock and embossed with a Sissix Texturz (Tween set) plate then  sponged Creamy Caramel and Ranger Walnut Stain Ink over the raised edges for depth. I embossed with clear powder over the whole thing minus the areas I needed to use tacky tape. The metal buttons are jumbo brads I got at my fav art store (Quality Art) and dabbed them on my Versamark ink pad and dipped them into Tim Holtz Metal Distress powder (2 times), then I clipped off the super long tines in the back so they wouldn't show.

The flowers are all from Verve sets ( Floral Symphony, Petals and Stems, Wishful Elegance and Believe in Miracles) that I stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black and then did my usual coloring with Prismacolor markers. I cut them all out and paper toled a few layers and then added some Martha Stewart glitter or Stickles.

I added the flowers onto a Old Olive CS cut out with a Large Labels Nestibilites, then I stamped the sentiment from Because of You in Graphite Black onto white CS and cut out with a smaller Large Labels nestibilities. It was too big for the space below the flowers so I just ran the sentiment through a couple more times cutting away the top and bottom white space.

All purses need to be filled with something so I filled a cello  bag with some wrapped candy and tied it up with some Stampin' Up ribbons. I had an extra flower I couldn't fit on the card that I strapped around the tie MacGuyver style with cording sandwiched between a couple dimensional foam dots.

I'm writing up this post in a flash so I hope this all makes sense. Enjoy, and please get creative and have some fun with this idea. You can easily use flower punches and pattern paper for the flowers or do all those great crumpled layered flowers too!

Thanks for stopping by!

I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but the photos on my screen look stark and out of focus (I must need to clean my contact lenses, LOL), but when you click on the photo it looks pretty good.

Details:
Size: 5 1/2 x 3 3/4-inches (purse only)
Stamps: Verve Floral Symphony, Petals and Stems, Wishful Elegance and Believe in Miracles, Because of You, SU! Tiny Tags
Paper: Wausau Royal Fiber Kraft, Mohawk Smooth White, Old Olive
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Creamy Caramel, Ranger Walnut Stain, Prismacolor Markers (Blush Pink, Cherry, Raspberry, Tulip Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Violet Mist, Imperial Violet, Sky Blue Light, Colorless Blender)
Accessories: Martha Stewart glitter, Stickles, clear EP, dimensional foam tape, florist wire, jewelry tag punch, Nestibilities Large Labels, jumbo brass brads, candy and cello bag

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Like mom, like daughter

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It's the Monday after Easter and I don't know about you but I think I'm still stuffed from our dinner on Sunday. Easter has been celebrated and I'm so thankful for it's meaning. It's the best holiday I think my family and I celebrate, but second to that are birthday's. Wait, I think there is a tie, Mother's Day really must be the second as well. I'm saying all this because my card today is Ballet Matilda from DigiStamp Boutique and she's taking on a mother and daughter role. She is part of the Offer of the Month at a special discount price. You can also buy her individually, but why? All of them are so cute!

When I saw this dancing mouse I knew I had to work on the ruffles of her tutu and make them special. Not once, but twice! It is after all a card about a mother and a daughter.

Before I get started in on the details are a couple of DigiStamp NEED TO KNOW items.

The Offer of the month at DigiStamp Boutique (DSB) is the discounted set of the month and Sally-Ann has decided to bring back her wonderful monthly competition on the DSB blog. Use any image from the Offer of the month on a card and let her know about it on the blog post, then you are entered in a prize drawing for the next month's Offer of the Month. Your card can be used in any other challenge, Just in case I forgot any details, go to the DSB blog.


If you are quick you can also still get a 10% discount as an Easter treat at the DSB store. Hurry, I bet it ends at midnight UK time zone! {wink}


This is how I did it.
Let's start from the base up. I used Wausau Royal Fiber Chocolate cardstock from my local paper shop (see my sidebar) and cut it as a 5 1/2 x 11 sheet and scored it in half. I'll create a matching envelope with my scoring board later. Then I searched for some cheerful flowery paper and found what I was looking for in Me & My Big Ideas "Sassy" paper pack ($4.97 for 32 sheets at Big Lots).

If this doesn't sound silly, I actually did a Google search on mice colors and markings and I found this amazing site of copyright protected photos here. I fell in love with the Recessive Yellow mouse photo and that's where I was inspired for my Matilda's. I use MS PowerPoint almost always to position and print the images. It's easy to right click and get the size of the image and resize to a certain height or width, crop away any white space around it for getting the images close together and it's a pretty simple program to use. For Matilda I used the original size and then reduced and mirrored the second image for the "daughter" mouse. I copied both of the images a couple of times and cropped down to the flowers and tutu's for my layers, so I wouldn't waste paper or printer ink.

For the coloring I used my Prismacolor markers and detailed in with pencils. I really wanted to show the darker hair strands and that's the way to do it for me. You can get the colors I used at the bottom of this post.

I might have started off too soon with the size and shape of my card, because I didn't have a sketch in mind, but Mercy Kerin's Tuesday sketch (MTSC67) saved the day. I tried to stay with the sketch but I wasn't in the mood for stitching so I found some double stitched ribbon to go in it's place and then added ribbon and buttons until I thought it framed the images well enough and met the rest of the sketch.

I wanted to emboss the "Mom" from Verve's All Because of You, but I didn't have the right color of powder, so I just stamped it with Chocolate Chip on a darker pink CS and clear embossed it. This is where I added to the sketch layout. When I grabbed this Verve set I saw another sentiment that I had to use to finish off the thought I put into the Matilda image.

Now doesn't that make for a great Mom's Day card?

Okay, because I'm just tickled about my tutu's, here's the layer's view of the front of the card.

I cut around the bottom and side of the tutu against the image lines and then gave myself some fold over space at the waist, about 1/16th of an inch. I used the sharp tip of my SU snip scissors to score on the waist, but it cut the paper just a little which ended up okay because it help the fold bend cleaner. I glued the waist to the main image with Glossy accents and then used a dimenional foam to help keep the hemline popped up. I repeated this for the top ruffle of the tutu and again for the second Matilda.

Thanks for staying with me on all my details.


Details:
Stamps: DigiStamp Boutique Ballet Matilda, Verve All Because of You
Paper: WRF Chocolate CS, M&MBI Sassy PP, Pink Passion, LSS Pink
Ink: LaserJet, Prismacolor Markers and Pencils*, SU! Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Offray Orange Cream Satin Ribbon, Dashes-Dots and Checkers Blue stitched ribbon, Buttons, Singer Orange embroidery thread (Target a while back), Oval Nestibilities, SU! Oval punch and EK Success Flower punch, Clear embossing powder, OMS.

Prismacolor Details (Pencil in parentheses): Matilda  Fur - Wheat, Mocha Light, Colorless Blender (Sepia, Light Umber); Nose and Paws - Deco Pink and Wheat; Flower - (Pink, Magenta, Orange, Pale Vermillion); Tutu - (Pink, Process Pink, Magenta); Background top to bottom - Muted Turquoise, Cloud Blue, Mint Cream, Chartreuse, Mocha Light, Mocha Dark, Sepia.

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Lucas and Fifi remind me...

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Happy Saturday. Most of my friends have their children out hunting down Easter eggs, but we are happily at home, dry and not muddy. We'll be having our own hunt around the house on Easter Day. So this is an early Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate the day.

This is a card I made over a week ago in March for my mother-in-law's birthday. I waited until it was delivered before posting.

These digistamps from DigiStamp Boutique remind me of my two children. I'm guessing that they might remind me of anyone, but I was dreaming up a birthday card for my mother-in-law and what she likes so much, and that must have been where I met Lucas and Fifi. LOL

To make it look like Lucas and Fifi were standing next to eachother I duplicated one of the flowers from Fifi and then added Lucas next to it. I colored Lucas and Fifi with my Prismacolor markers and then cut them out and glued them to another printout on patterned paper from the DCWV Flower Shop paper pack.  I stacked the pattern paper on top of some LSS yellow cardstock then I took some white cardstock and colored the edges with Teal Blue Prismacolor markers and layered that onto the bottom. For the label, I printed out the sentiment using a font from KevinandAmanda dot com and cut it out with a Label 1 nestie. I colored it with my Jade Green marker and then colored a portion of a Linen background stamp and pressed the label onto it to get a varied print look. For the strip of paper I just paper pierced the edges of the strip on top and bottom and hand stitched with DMC Floss #502.

In making the card I discovered that I didn't have enough room to fit the sentiment on the side and I remembered that I have my Martha Stewart Scoring Board that has the information to create different size envies on the envelope tool. Yea! That was my fix to the too small A2 card. I started with cardstock that was 6 1/4 x 9 inches and scored in half for an A6 card size. I used Kraft Text weight paper to make the envelope and when I had it all glued together I ran the flap through my Cuttlebug with the Happy Birthday folder from the Sissix Happy Birthday set (barely visible in the photo above).

So much fun! I think she really liked it.

This card is my KRAFT CS challenge for  Crazy 4 Challenges #31.
Details:
Size: 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches (A6)
Stamps: DigiStamp Boutique Lucas and Fifi, SU Linen Background
Paper: LSS Kraft cardstock and text, yellow, Mohawk Smooth White
Ink: LaserJet, Prismacolor Markers*
Accessories: DMC Embroidery thread, Nestibilities Labels 1, Pea Hurry Up Beck font from KevinandAmanda dot com, Martha Stewart Scoring Board

*Prismacolor Markers Detail: Fifi: Hair - Sand, Light Tan, Light Umber; Bows - Canary Yellow, Yellow Ochre; Skin - Eggshell, Brick Beige; Dress - Tulip Yellow Yellow Ochre, Trim - Deco Yellow, Canary Yellow; Flowers - Cream, Tulip Yellow, Canary Yellow, Yellow Orange, Goldenrod, Lucas Hair- Sand, Light Tan, Light Umber; Skin - Eggshell, Brick Beige, Sand; Flower - Cream, Tulip Yellow, Apple Green, Leaf Green; Shirt - Pale Jade, Jade Green; Pants - Khaki, Light Mocha; Shoes - Cool Grey 50% and 90%. Sentiment Label - Jade Green allover and Teal Blue on Linen Background stamp.

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Fabulous Dress Sketch

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Today is sketch day for InStyle Stamps and Taylor has an awesome sketch to try out for the month.

You really need to head on over to the store blog and see what the other Design Team came up with for this sketch. They are fantastic!

I've got a great little number for you on my sketch card. It's InStyle's Heart Bow Dress. I like how the dress has so much fullness and whimsy. A great image for an any occasion card. I made mine into a from Mom to Daughter card. Maybe for a first dance? It will be a few years before I'm struck with that kind of emotion, but this dress just make me think of prom. I heard on the radio a two minute parenting topic that has me thinking about how to build up a child's esteem about who they are and not what they do. I hope to instill that in my children, but only time will tell.

As you can tell I rotated the sketch so I could showcase the dress. I printed out the dress on white cardstock and then decided I wanted some type of design on it. Instead of printing out another dress on patterned paper for paper piecing I quickly made a mask out of tracing paper. I clear embossed with the Stampin' Up Filigree background stamp using Versamark, then colored the dress with Prismacolor markers. I wanted the dress to shimmer so I painted over the bow and lace with Close to My Heart Create-a-Paint and also misted the whole dress with Tattered Angels Marshmallow Mist for a nice even shimmer. The dress is popped up on grey cardstock using EK Succes 3D Dots.

The panel across the bottom is embossed with a Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder and brushed lightly with a Cloud Magic VersaMagic Dew Drop then layered with a Basic Black panel and SU! Neutrals Grey cardstock. The sentiment is from Verve's Love's Flower set with Brillance Graphite Black ink and then cut out with a Nestabilities Blossom die. I colored over the sentiment with Deco Pink Prismacolor marker.  I used my Martha Stewart hydrangea punches to make the flower by punching out two white flowers, one black flower and a tiny pink flower. The two white flowers were colored with a marker to match the sentiment. I used my stylus on all of them but the black flower and gave them some curves. I glued them all together and added a drop of Frosted Lace Stickles to the center.

I think that is it for my card today! Thank you for stopping by.

Details:
Stamps: InStyle Heart Bow Dress, Verve Love's Flower
Paper: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Neutrals Gray, Basic Black and White Copy Paper.
Ink: Inkjet, Brilliance Jet Black, VersaMagic Cloud Magic, Prismacolor Markers*
Accessories: Cuttlebug Victoria EF, Nestibilities Blossom Die and Large Labels Die

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