She Was Shakin'

I can't help it, but every time I make a shaker card I sing me a little Eddie Money!

I love my latest shaker card it's super cheery and fun.  I think my sloppy watercoloring adds a funky flair that fits the entire playful vibe of the card.  And, the Festive Birthday DSP mixed with the Bright Sequins is a perfect combo with the Marquee Messages stamp set.  

Now's your chance to hop on over to the amazing Kaitlyn to be further inspried!!

To Kaitlyn

To Dara

TGIF #69 Back to School

The challenge this week at TGIF is all about going back to school.  It's a theme that I have absolutely no need for this year, or do I?  My son and daughter-in-law both earned their bachelors degrees this past Spring and my younger son graduated from bankers training just last week at Wells Fargo.  I am so proud of all three and so glad to not have to pester about homework anymore--ever!

Just because my kids are no longer in school doesn't mean I can't make a cute and thoughtful package for a very new teacher.  Yep that's right, my daughter-in-law is a brand new elementary school teacher teaching music.  She has her own classroom and everything, how cool is that?

Colors Challenge A"MUSE"ment

For this saturated warm summer color challenge palette from Hand Stamped Sentiments, I found great inspiration from my long time friend Dena Rekow.   She made the cutest, or should I say stinkin' cutest, skunk card that I just had to use her and her card as my muse.  What fun it was to make this skunk using the Foxy Friends Stamp Set and the Fox Builder Punch.  This is no ordinary skunk though, she's not just black and white she is Blackberry Bliss (retired) and Whisper White.

A bit of info for this card to let you know...The DSP came from the Serene Scenery 6" x 6" stack.  The little Crushed Curry flowers were punched from the Tree Builder Punch.  The greeting was stamped using the Labeler Alphabet which I then did a quick fussy cut using my Paper Snips.

Monday Montage #75

I have pretty things to share for today's Monday Montage Hop.  I mentioned earlier that I am a huge fan of the Thoughtful Branches Bundle, so here is another look at more of what I have been creating using the limited offer exclusive stamp set and framelits.

For the hydrangea I inked up the petal image with a mix of Wisteria Wonder and Marina Mist.  To mimic a full and bushy hydrangea I stamped the image several times and cut each of them out with the coordinating framelit.  Then I trimmed bits and pieces from two of the cut petals into sections that I could layer on top of the third full bunch of petals.  For the stem I added Pear Pizzazz and Cucumber Crush ink with an Aquapainter.  The hydrangea flower is layered on a panel of Black Glimmer Paper (retired) with touches of black and white striped paper from the Neutrals DSP Stack.

 

To Dara

To Kaitlyn

Creation Station Get Well Hop

Needing get well cards?  Well then this Creation Station Design Team hop is for you!

I pulled out my very favorite stamp set right now which is Thoughtful Branches.  The images are all so gorgeous and the greetings are beautiful.  Recently I have done lots of stamping and cutting with the coordinating framelits, but for these cards I wanted to keep it clean and simple and watercolored.  I didn't want an excess of layers and fussy cuts, just easy eye catching stampin'.

To get the blurred trees I inked up the images as normal, but before stamping I painted the Watercolor Paper with plain water.  Once dry then I stamped the greetings with Island Indigo ink.  I love how the Dapper Denim Enamel Shapes look perfect with Island Indigo ink and paper.

For the framed dimensional layer it's really easy to do.  Simply score the bottom layer of card stock, mine is Kraft, right along the edge of top layer.  Clip out each of the corners with a pair of paper snips and then fold up on all the sides.  I roughed up the sides just a bit for added character.  I really like this look and think it's a good fit for masculine cards.

Get well cards are definitely needed in our stashes of hand made greetings, but when someone lends a hand with bringing in dinners or running errands for those in need thank you notes are also necessary.  Thoughtful Branches is the perfect set for so many occasions including get well wishes.  Thanks Stampin' Up! for creating such a masterpiece.

To Denita

To Julie

TGIF #67 Stencil It!

It's color challenge time at TGIF!  This is a great color palette that was lots of fun to dabble in.  For my spin on the challenge I decided to sponge over a hand made stencil with Island Indigo ink which adds a nice soft backdrop for the Flourish Thinlet floral focal point.  

I created my handmade stencil by cutting a piece of Vellum Card Stock a little bigger than my card; then I put the largest shape from the Flourish Thinlets in the middle and ran it through my Big Shot.  After that I positioned the negative of the Vellum Card Stock over my Whisper White card base and  ran a Sponge Brayer inked up with Island Indigo ink over top.  The new Sponge Brayers give such a light and airy look, which I love, and are fabulous for stenciling.  You know I have tons of Thinlets so I plan on doing more stenciling.  It's a tried and true technique that I like incorporating in my cards.

Leafy Tree Tops

As I was pulling out some paper to make a card I came across a few pieces of black scraps from the Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack.  I love LOVE the neutrals stack so much that I used up all the black sheets of DSP.  When these pieces fell out I felt like I won the Lotto!  Cha ching!!

The black pattern pieces were the perfect layers to backdrop my Cucumber Crush leafy tree top and Real Red apples from the Thoughtful Branches Bundle.