Rockin' 14

How was every one's Memorial Day?  In our house, it is also a celebration weekend as the Oldest Kiddo just happen to be born on this holiday 14 years ago.   The weekend was spent cooking, feeding, cleaning up, cooking, feeding, cleaning up after four teen age boys and one younger kiddo who so wishes he was a teenager!! haha!  It was all good!  There is nothing like the sound of kids cracking themselves up with a good time!

I finally managed to make the Kiddo's birthday card the morning of his birthday.  Hey!  I got it done BEFORE the family celebration, so that has to count for something! snort.  I'm telling you, the lack of creative time has definitely caused some serious rust in my stamping skills!  After FOUR attempts, I finally was able to get the main image panel to look somewhat as I envisioned. 

I started by clear embossing the large splatter of SU's Extreme Elements onto a 4 1/4" square base of Gina K' Pure luxury.  I then pulled out Distress Ink in Peeled Paint, Broken China and Vintage Photo, randomly swiped them across my craft mat and misted with Perfect Pearls Turquoise for a Wrinkle Free Distress look.  I then sandwiched the panel between copy paper and ironed off the clear embossing (Faux Bleach technique).  The main image was stamped with Azure Stazon using SU's Extreme Guitar.  The other stamps (flourish, grunge dots and stars) are also from the Extreme Elements set and were stamped randomly with Stazon Timber Brown (the flourish over the removed embossed areas), Peeled Paint and Broken China inks.  The sentiment was stamped with more of the Azure Stazon ink and hand cut.  Light sponging with Peeled Paint, Broken China and some Vintage Photo along the edges blends it in with the main image.  Pop dots raise the sentiment forward.

To finish off the card I used the Alpha Parts Ransom numbers to create the 14 in the corner.  The main image  was distressed.  I deliberately did not sponge the exposed white edge as I liked the look against the white base. The image was then matted on SU's Pacific Point and everything layered onto a 5" square piece of Pure Luxury. 

Life will continue to be crazy this next week as it is the last week of school and the birthday boy graduates from 8th grade on Thursday.  I've got 6 graduation cards that still need to be made, but posting might have to wait until after the weekend, LOL!  I'll be lucky to get them done between everything else that is on the schedule for this week!

'Till then....................................take time to Rock some Creativity!



Lots of Colors and Swirly Things

Hey People!! I hope you are having a great evening! Yes, I'm writing this rather late in the evening.  That would be how life is around here!! 

This afternoon, when I picked up the Kiddos, the youngest told me that it was Mrs. B's birthday today and he had to finish the card he was making her.  He said he told her he would give her "her present tomorrow, for sure, because he didn't have time to finish it today". He described to me that it was taking forever because he was writing "Happy Birthday" in block letters across the entire card.  He then proceeded to pull out the card from his backpack.  And the "OH NO!!!" was one with much dismay! It would seem that the Kiddo, not only shoved the card into his backpack (thus crumpling the card), but he also shoved his LEAKING water bottle on top of it. 

After finishing his homework, he came into my office/craft area and said he needed to make a new card.  I figured he would want to just make the same version, just round two.  NOPE.  He thought that he might like to stamp.  Ok.  What kind of stamp did he have in mind?  Did he want to color?  Did he want flowers?  After a few minutes of pondering, he came up with "I don't want to color, but I want a lot of color and swirls and stuff".  Oooookkkkkaaaayyyy. 

So, I did what any wise mother does when put in that situation.  I pulled up SCS's resource  page and started looking at possibilities!!  And one of the first to jump out at me was the Alcohol Ink Faux Bleach technique that my friend Sherry wrote up.  My kiddo has played around with my alcohol inks before and liked them.  He was very excited when he saw Sherry's example and thought that would be perfect. 

He chose which "swirly" stamp he wanted to use and stamped it with Versamark ink and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it. Then concentrated very hard on melting the embossing powder

Then he chose which inks he wanted to use.  We had to have a sample of different ink colors and then he chose which ones he wanted to use.  I caught myself in time from suggesting a "color" scheme.  I believe his final choices were: Stream, Raisin, Wild Plum and Butterscotch. 

I then placed a scrap piece of computer paper over the inked image and melted off the embossing powder with my iron.  We tried several different die cuts on the front to place his sentiment, but he didn't like the fact that they all covered up his "swirls".  He started looking at my punches and pulled out SU's Designer Label.  He hand wrote the sentiment with SU's Elegant Eggplant marker and sponged the label edges with Distress Dusty Concord.  I suggested maybe some type of "bling" beneath the sentiment and pulled out some glittery brads and itty bitty self adhesive pearls.  He went with the pearls and colored them with the same alcohol ink colors he used on the background.  I then asked if he wanted a ribbon under the label.  After looking at it, he decided yes ('cause it didn't cover too much of his swirls).  Then he decided to add a bow.  After much frustration on my part to tie a decent bow with "legs", he said that the "fake" bow I showed him first, would be fine.  Gotta luv that kid!! "Fake" bow made and topped with another self adhesive 1/2 pearl. 

The results:

*Have to share.  While adding my "watermark" to this photo, the kiddo says "uhhh, where is "Card by C?!!" 

During this entire process of making this card, the Kiddo kept asking if I thought Mrs. B would like it, because she wasn't expecting something like this.  

I don't think she is going to like it.  I think she is going to LOVE it. 

 Supplies:  Paper:  Gina K's Pure Luxury, SU glossy paper.  Inks:  Ranger Alcohol Inks, SU Elegant Eggplant marker, Distress Dusty Concord, Versamark. Stamps:  Tattered Angels "Regal".  Accessories:  Clear embossing powder, 1/2 back pearls (from my stash), black ribbon, Designer Label punch

Thanks for dropping by again!!  Remember~your creativity can be the inspiration for someone else!!

Going Grunge?

I love the wrinkle free distress look.  Tim Holtz is the creator of this look and the stuff he comes up with is just incredible!!  I've done a couple of projects with this look in the past and when I saw the Brushed Wildflowers that Just for Fun has, I KNEW that this was the look I wanted to try. 

I need to find a new photographer.  Once again this picture again does not capture the lovely deep color tone of the colors of this project. But I was once again on a time crunch and could not take the time for photo session number 3 (yes, this is from photo session number 2.  Session one was a complete bust!)

 First I stamped the image in versamark ink and clear embossed on Very Vanilla paper. I then cleared off my non stick craft sheet (wow!! Who knew that I actually had a desk under there?!) and swiped distress inks in Fired Brick and Peeled Paint across it and spritzed with my spray bottle until beads appeared. I layed my stamped image across it, dried with my heat gun and repeated until I got the look I wanted. I then took some Vintage photo distress ink and sponged, toning down the red a bit. I place on of Tim Holz's masks in the upper left hand corner and sponged more Fired Brick to give myself a faint swirl. I then pulled out my iron (shhhhh!! Don't tell anyone!! I supposedly don't know how to use the thing!) and put my image between two sheets of typing paper and on my craft sheet ironed the image on high until the embossing powder melted giving me a faux bleach look. I love the combo of these two techniques and could easily get in a rut using them!! I distressed the edges and added a bit more vintage photo distress ink to finish off the edges.  Then the wonderful little extra that you cannot see.  I used some Tattered Angels glimmer mist in pearl over the entire panel!  OH MY!! I love the soft shimmer that this gave the main image!! I tried to get it captured in the picture, but it is just the perfect subtle accent and my little point and shoot camera could not capture it! (you may be able to click on the photo and get a bigger image and see the shimmer.  I think that is how this is suppose to work) Sooo sad!!  Moving on. Then to finish off the whole look, I pulled out a butterfly rub on from American Crafts and placed it on some transparency paper.  I then cut it out and bent the wings a bit to give it dimension and attached it only at the body.  I also found a rub on from SU's retired Cherish collection and put over the bottom corner.  This was then adhered over a black panel and then over the Very Vanilla card base.   I then spent several hours trying to tie a stupid bow.  Ok, maybe not HOURS but dang close!!  I'm tellin' ya~~me and ribbon are going thru a rough time lately!  I'm seriously thinking that we might have to have an extended separation and see if we can work this irreconciable difference out.  Anywhoos!  Obviously I settled for a knot and a cute little key charm ( I believe it comes from Tim Holz's line....it's in my stash of stuff and I can't remember where, what, who....I need to make better note of such things!)

This card now sits on my MIL's counter with her other birthday cards.  I think I should have gone snarky.  That seems to have been the theme this year.  Oh well.  Guess I need to increase my snarky collection of stamps!! (I do know she liked the card.  She was very interested in how I made it and "oooed" and "awwed"). 

Glad you all could stop by!!  I woke up dreaming about some other ideas so I might try to see if I can actually get them on paper!!  Have a great day!  It's a bright and sunny day here....maybe I'll have to drag some stuff outside to work! (wink)

Fastest Heat Gun on the West Coast

(insert accent with a drawl here_______)

Wellll pawdners!! Needed to round up a quick "thinkin' of ya'll" card to go along with the grub I was fixin' for a family that just lost their loved ones. Since I was gettin' short on time, I decided to play it smart and CASE myself from this previous card that I made a while back with a little changin' of the layout to one I found on the Clean and Simple blog. Now, not to be pattin' myself on the back too much, but I think that this is one for the record books as far as being a quick draw. I kinda had the general idear in my noggin' so that helped. I knew I was wantin' to use the Faux Bleach technique and have a couple of favorite sets for that particular technique. Here's what came out of the showdown between me and that onery critter Lack of Time:

First off, got myself a Very Vanilla base goin'. Then cut and used my CB Swiss Dots on the Close to Cocoa strip and added that purdy scallop border usin' my Scallop punch. Usin' my favorite tool, the stampamajig, I decided the placement of my tulips and stamped them usin' Versamark ink then clear embossed and blasted it with my heat gun. Grabbed my trusty extra large stipple brushes and worked some Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress inks around the image. I then got out the hot iron and placed my image on my Craft sheet. Topped 'er with a scrap piece of paper and ironed until the embossin' powder melted onto the paper. Matted the image over some vanilla and chocolate chip cardstock and added the ribbon to the side strip. I decided against a sentiment on the front (wellllll......to be honest, I just plum ran out of time to add that little detail!! But I shur put a HANDWRITTEN thought on the inside!!) All in all, I figure it took less than 20 min from start to finish (which, for me, is SOMETHIN' worth braggin' about!!) Supplies: Stamps: SU's Terrific Tulips (retired). Paper: SU's Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip. Inks: Ranger's Distress inks in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots embossing folder, Ribbon from Target, stipple brush, Clear Embossing powder, heat gun, SU scallop punch and my trusty ol' iron.

Wellll, thanks for stoppin' by. I shur do appreciate it!! (and I promise no accents on the next post!! hehe)