June 19, 2009

VSN Mini time/Father's Day/Birthdays o' plenty

Yikes!! It's been a while since I've been on here. Sorry about that. I've been trying to get some very mundane house things accomplished and have had very little time for stamping. Tonight that all changes...I'm officially on a mini strike until after tomorrow. LOL. We'll see how long that lasts, though, with a three year old in the house. Anyway....tonight is a virtual stamp night mini over at Splitcoast. You all know how much I love to do those challenges and here we are again. This is a pretty lengthy post so scroll down to see them all as I update each one.

First up is a pull treat card. If you want to make one of these super easy favor things, the tutorial can be found HERE. It's supposed to have a candy bar inside, but I don't keep those in my house. The temptation would be too great to indulge so I don't even go there. LOL. For this, I used the new in-color Melon Mambo. OMG!!! I L-O-V-E this color. I wheeled the background on the base of the card first. Then I scored and assembled the pocket to hold the treat. Then I made the belly band out of pink pirouette.
The edges are punched with a Martha Stewart lace edge punch, and the stamped sentiment is a retired one from SU. Then I cut a piece of pink pirouette card stock to make a bookmark for the inside. On that I used a Unity Kit of the Month stamp for the image and then did poppin pastels for a very soft look. The sentiment is stamped in melon mambo ink. All the corners are rounded for durability. then I took a 1/2 inch circle punch to make a hole for the ribbon.

Now, for a non-mini related card. This one is a birthday card for a family member. It was super easy, super quick and so chic. I used SU's window sheets that were in the spring mini, cut them apart and layered two of them for this card. On the dotted layer I used staz-on black ink to stamp the sentiment. then on the top layer I used a rub-on butterfly from that same mini catalog. All this was layered on top of melon mambo cardstock. The photo corners were added last and they are pink pirouette and melon mambo.

Next up is a challenge card. It was to make a spiral pop-up on the inside of the card. This was so incredibly easy!!! The only tricky part is to make sure your adhesive doesn't overhand any of the spiral or else it will make your card stick shut. The tutorial came from this blog. This is a father's day card for my husband from our three year old. So the artwork is the three year old's handywork on a stamp I got from Hobby Lobby. It seemed appropriate for this particular challenge and card. I like the way it turned out, and I think the three year old will too once he sees it. LOL




And here's another birthday card. Yes, there are a few. We have a big family thing this Sunday to do Father's day and birthdays and there are a bunch of cards to make. LOL. This one was fun, and I used a set I've never used before because it intimidated met. Now I love it! This card uses the Wanted set from SU and It's Your Birthday sentiments. It was quite a bit of work, but I love the results. The fold for this card is called a trifold shutter and the tutorial can be found HERE. The front panel was assembled and then attached to the card front. I first cut the scrapbook paper and sponged the edges with chocolate chip ink. Then I made the creamy caramel panel using the various patterned stamps in the wanted set. They were stamped with creamy caramel, chocolate chip and versamark. With the versamarked stamps, I applied the poppin' pastels technique in greens and browns. Then the edges were all sponged with chocolate chip inks. On top of that is a piece of light yellow cardstock. I stamped the horse with versamark and chocolate chip inks three times without reinking in between. Then the horses were embossed with clear embossing powder. After that, the edges were distressed and sponged with chocolate chip ink, and I used Always Artichoke with a little emboss resist to get the foreground in place. Then I sponged chocolate chip again around the green edges.

For the banner on the top, I took a scrap of creamy caramel paper and wadded it up and then smoothed it out. Over that I sponged a little chocolate chip ink to get a leathery look. This was then stamped with the sentiment and attached to the card with brads. That completed the front of the card, and then the inside was decorated fairly simply but still continuing the paper and stamps from the front.




On to the next card. This one is a birthday card using a wish RAK challenge sketch that can be found HERE. It's a pretty simple sketch, really and I love the way this one turned out. I used two different background stamps on top of each other for the tags--leafy glade and canvas. Then the eagle was stamped in the new Soft Suede color from SU. Love this color! It's so soft and rich at the same time. Very crisp too. I used some of that same soft suede paper, kiwi kiss and so saffron and the bird is stamped on very vanilla. I used my nesties to get the circle layers, and the oval punch kind of helps break it up a bit.

For the final card, I used a stamp from Tractor Time and had my three year old color it. This is a Father's Day card, and it turned out pretty cute. I used the sketch challenge from mojo monday's blog, and it worked out pretty well for this card. The colors are garden green (I think), black and the new curry color. The DSP is a retired one I had on hand. I used large eyelets and antique copper hodgepodge for the hardware. I love the idea of having the kiddo color the image and I assemble the card. It really feels like the whole family contributed to the card. LOL

June 02, 2009

I Spy...

Well, I had a visitor this evening in my home. I like visitors. Really, I do, but some just are not welcome in my home! Most of the two-legged variety and a lot of four legged ones as well are welcome, but I draw the line at some things. Look closely at the photo. What do you see?


Cute little guy isn't he? Well, not in my house he's not! Imagine my surprise when I come walking by and see two eyes peering out of the dirt at me. I know, I know. I'm such a girl, but hey that's what the guys are for right? to get rid of the vermin!