It's Your Party!

Here's the second LO I've done from Ceilidh's birthday party... isn't she cute? Even when she's scrunching her face?? Papers are all Bo Bunny as are the buttons, flowers and bling. Also on there are some AC Thickers, some glitter letters I got at the dollar store, paint, felt border (I think Anna Griffith?) and some Bazzil just the edge cuts.

Canvas

Like everyone else I've been following the Thinking Inking videos by Jennifer McGuire on 2 Peas and am blown away by her creativity. The woman is TALENTED! Anyway, this week she's focusing on sticky back canvas and I just had to give it a try. I couldn't find any of that canvas so I went to the local fabric store and bought some unbleached canvas. I've never used sticky back canvas, so I can't give you a comparison, but I got the effect I wanted with the unbleached stuff.

To prep the surface before stamping, I watered down some Gesso and just painted it over the top and let dry. Then I stamped my greeting, inked the edges, rubbed some distress stickles over the surface, and that was it. Piece of cake! I also used some floral Hero Arts stamps, colored and cut out and a button for embellishments. The background is a Cuttlebug embossing folder with some distress inks around the edges.

Feeling "Kraft"y

I am still in love with Kraft... I love how you can do something so simple and it looks awesome! I made a few Kraft cards last night, all of them in under an hour... gotta love anything that quick and easy!

Little Mermaid Girl

I swear Ceilidh is part fish! This is a LO I did on the weekend, it's from her 4th birthday party (the week before... imagine! I did a LO only a week after the event!! Wow!!... that doesn't happen very often... I digress...)

Anyway, here's the LO. I think it will qualify for one of the challenges at ScrapCentral. Maybe the "more than 8 flowers" challenge... I think there are 11 on here.

Most stuff was from the Bo Bunny Calypso line with some MM letters, AC Thickers and a Martha Stewart tag thrown on there too.

Kraft & Colored Pencils

I think I'm in a kraft/ colored pencil phase right now... I'm loving the combination of the two together. Plus, it's just fun to have an excuse to color right?!

I made this card yesterday. The background stamps (dot and paisley) are both from Hero Arts and I think the cupcakes and saying are Stampendous? I made this at a friend's house and the cupcakes are hers, so I can't quite remember... I colored the cupcakes and paisley background with Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for looking!

Garden Chic

It's finally starting to feel like summer here... 'bout time! It's almost August! Anyway, the flowers are in full bloom and I was in the mood for a floral card. Here's what I came up with. There's also a crop going on over at ScrapCentral so I think this may be one of the cards I use for the "Suprise" category.

Most of the supplies used are Bo Bunny (patterned paper, brads, buttons, rub-ons), the green ink is CTMH and those little leaf stamps are from K & Co.

Pink Chair

Check out what I bought at Staples! It was only $50.00 and something I desperately needed! I don't know if you can see that little wicker stool in the background there, but that is what I used to sit on! My back is going to thank me the next all-nighter I pull! And I love that I can swivel now!!! I also love that there are no arms because my space is in a tight u-shape and there's not much room. I'm constantly reaching somewhere, so they'd just get in the way anyhow... not to mention my arms are always on the table, so what did I need them for right??!!

Here is a birthday card I finished today for my cousin's daughter Ceilidh. I finished in the nick of time too cause her party's tomorrow! I wanted it to be bright and fun and cheerful, so I think I met my criteria.

I had just bought that Cornish Heritage Farms owl stamp and was dying to use it and pop up different layers. I love the way it turned out and I will be doing more of this I think in the future. I also used flower soft on the hat pom-pom and glossy accents on the candles, hat and owl eyes. I colored everything with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The background cloud stamp is from Hero Arts, as is the branch the owl sits on, and the candles were from Scenic Route. I used CTMH inks, MM sticker letters and the 4 is Chatterbox. And I even recycled! The kraft dot background is actually part of the packaging from some K&Co. letters. I feel a little greener now!

Scrap Central Card Kit

So I'm a little slow at times... A while back ScrapCentral had a card kit that I just got around to picking up this week. I had to play with it right away once it was in hand though cause it was just so darned cute! This was just a quick card I did this week, but I hope to play more "in-depth" this week-end!

Papers, flower, ribbon all included in the kit, as was a stamped greeting which I used on the inside of the card. Additional items used were leaf stamp from Gel-a-tins, Spellbinders die, Distress inks, Birthday stamp (I think from Inkadinkado?) and a dot stamp from Hero Arts.

The bloom was originally a white prima flower included in the kit. To make it match the BG papers, I dyed it with distress inks. To do this, I always mist the flower with a little water first, this lets the inks blend together easier. Then I use a paintbrush and pick up a little color off the inkpad with it and "paint" it onto the flower in the areas I want color. I used "Peeled Paint" in the center and "Worn Lipstick" around the edges of the petals. When the flower was dry I stamped the dots on with "Vintage Photo" and Voila! Custom colored flower to match my project!

I'm Feeling Guilty...

When Hannah's sister was born, I don't think I'm stretching too much here, she was the MOST photographed child in the county. She was the first baby born to our group of friends, and every other second of the first year of her life is caught on film by somebody! Poor Hannah on the other hand was almost 9 months old before I took a photo of her! Gasp!! Don't get me wrong, there are still thousands of photos of the child, just not the millions like the child before, and none taken by me. But Hannah is a clever girl and she saved up all her cuteness for our first photo shoot! And now that I've taken some pics, I'm not in as much danger of losing my "Fav Cousin" title as I was. I'm usually months behind in my scrapping, but these photos turned out so adorable that I had to scrap one right away... I think you'll agree with me... And there may not be as many photos of her, but she's loved just as much. So without further ado, welcome Hannah to the blog! She's worth the wait!

I used Bazzill Cardstock, CTMH inks, American Crafts stamps, patterned papers, Thickers and pearlescent cardstock, and a Faber Castell pen for journalling.

Thanks for looking!

Another puppy Layout!

Keeping in theme with yesterday's post, here is a layout I made for our neighbour. This is Miss Sophie. She's a Pug and she gets along really great with our Boston Terriers. The three of them together is kind of like a fur tornado though and all three love to play chase, so when one gets a sock or a shoe it's a doggie Merry-Go-Round around the kitchen table!

Paper is all from the American Crafts "Amplified" line, letters are Thickers as are the white chipboard pieces (Thickers "Accents"), and I just drew along the edges of the patterned paper with my Sakura Souffle pen.

Voila Sophie!

First Layout in Months!

So I finally did a layout... it has been months since I'd done one, and when I sat down to do it I had the thought of oh no I've forgotten how to do this! But I love the end result! It was one of those fussy layouts I do from time to time that takes forever but I'm pleased with the result so it was worth the time.

I'm sure there are easier ways to get the look of the background, but what I did was glue bright green lace cardstock to neon orange cardstock and then painted the whole thing ivory. It took quite a few coats (I told you it was fussy!), and I kind of like that in some spots you can faintly see the green showing through. There is also some masking done in Distress ink (frayed burlap I think) and some stickles overtop, just underneath the photo and flowers, but I don't think you can see it in the photo, it's very subtle. The rest is a mixture of stuff I had laying around... the majority of the flowers are Prima but a few are ones I picked up at the dollar store. The butterfly was in the wedding section at M's, sequines you can pick up anywhere, the letters are K & Co. and the trims I picked up at Fabricville and Walmart.

There you have it! Thanks for looking!

I have been in such a card mood lately! Although I did actually do a layout the other day... the first one since April... That's bad right?? I haven't photographed it yet but as soon as I do I'll definately be sharing, I love how it turned out!

So I came across the Thinking Inking classes by Jennifer McGuire over at 2 Peas and WOW is all I can say as far as inspiration goes! It's like a one stop technique shop, so you just know I'm lovin' it! A few of the cards below were definately inspired by some of the stuff in there, so if you're intrigued and like techniques, you definately have to check out the videos here!

I know summer is really just getting started and here I am showing you Fall cards, but I just got that Inkadinkadoo set last wek and couldn't wait to play... so just ignore the fall feel on the 2nd and 4th cards!! I also got a new Hero Arts background stamp and a new clear set as well (cards 1-3). Hope you like what I've done with them! Thanks for looking!