#849 – Another New Year card!

Hello and welcome! Here’s another new year card. I made this one to send to a dear blogging friend of mine. Hope she liked it! 🙂

I was totally inspired by this card made by Jennifer McGuire (the last card in the series). I don’t have any such die, but I wanted to achieve a similar effect. So instead of a single die cut, I used many!! 😉

Of course, as you can see, I made the card a more-or-less tone-on-tone, rather than colorful, as I first intended to. I kinda liked this look! 🙂

I first started with a card panel – 6″x4″. I used MFT Flutter of Butterflies and die cut a few of the butterflies from the panel. I then used the flower and leaf dies from Paper Smooches Flowers and Flowers 2 dies, and die cut from the gaps in between the butterflies. I also added a few dotted swirly lines using Paper Smooches Stitched Flourishes 2 die. I retained all the die cut pieces, to use them later in my card.

I first adhered the die cut panel on a cream colored cardstock. I then started adhering the die cut pieces, layering a few and finally embellishing a the butterflies and flowers with cream half pearls.

Finally coming to the sentiment. After finishing the card base, I had no idea how to proceed. I finally settled on using the happy die from Mama Elephant along with a strip of stamped sentiment from Reverse Confetti Whole Lotta Happy. I first die cut three pieces of the die and stacked them. I added some liquid glue behind both the die and strip and just laid them on the card – no pressure, so that they would appear floating on top of the butterflies.

And that finished the card! With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

Just us Girls challenge #514 – Trends Week: Create Dimension

Global Design Project #223: Celebration

Happy Little Stampers January Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Just Add Ink challenge #488: Celebrate! A BIG congrats on completing 10 years of the challenge! Wow! What an achievement!!

Thanks for stopping by!

#847 – Happy New Year!

PE: Honorable mention at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge!

Hello! I am already almost half a month away, but I think I can have the whole of January to wish someone a Happy New Year, so there! 😀

These are the cards I made for the family this year.

As I do for every year, this time too, I have common theme and design. This year, I planned to

• Use colored cardstock as my card base
• Use layered flower stamps as the focal
• Use dies for the background
• Have some kind of a different fold than the usual.

For these cards, I made the card open in between. The bottom half is tucked in between the foil strip and the colored card base. So, one has to kinda pull the bottom half of the card towards themselves to open the card.

For the first card, I used navy blue cardstock, added pieces die cut from Simon Says Stamp Clustered Flowers die. On this I added a strip of silver mirror card stock. I then adhered all the leaves and flowers in layers. The focal flower comes from Hero Arts Flower Layering Hibiscus stamp set, and the other pieces are from other stamp set.

For the second card, I used Spellbinders Doily Circle dies, die cutting cream and yellow cardstocks and alternating them between each circle when adhering. I used a gold mirror cardstock strip on this one, and the focal rose is from Altenew’s Build a Flower: Rose.

For the third card, I used Stamplorations Bloomtangled 1 die with a strip of silver mirror card stock. The flowers are a stamp set  from Right at Home called Sunflower.

For the fourth card, I used Altenew’s Doodled Lace die cut, a strip of gold mirror cardstock and then Altenew’s Layered Lili as the focal point.

On all of these cards, I used the sentiment which is a combination of Lil Inker Designs’ Rustic Spring and Reverse Confetti’s Whole Lotta Happy stamp sets. I used the same on the self made envelops as well. This time I used Fabriano Tinta paper to make the envelopes.

With these cards, I am joining the following challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Something New

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Fun with Florals

Happy Little Stampers: January Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Virginia’s Show and Share for January. Thank you Virginia for hosting it!!

Thank you for stopping by!

#844 – Christmas Poinsettia

Hello and welcome! Time for another Christmas card!! This time, the focus is on the poinsettias. The red of the poinsettias against a white (or, in this card, a cream) background is just fantastic! The red looks absolutely dashing! 🙂

I first die cut the top and bottom pieces using the My Favorite Things Stitched Scallop Basic Edges dies. Then, on the card base, I drew the outline of the two pieces using a pencil and set the pieces aside. I then die cut a bunch of the poinsettia leaves using the Simon Says Stamp Poinsettia Cluster die using the same cardstock. I then adhered all the pieces, flat on the card base, taking care not to go much beyond the pencil markings.

Next came the sentiment. I used Paper Trey Ink ‘Tis The Season stamp. I first stamped the upper half in red ink, then stamped both using Versamark watermark ink, and heat embossed the bottom half using platinum embossing powder, and the top using clear embossing powder. I repeated this a couple more times to give it a bit more dimension. I then foam mounted the top and bottom pieces on the card. Finally I adhered the poinsettias, which are from Itsy Bitsy, on the card. For embellishing, I added half pearls on the centers of all the poinsettias and added silver glitter shine on the poinsettias.

I am joining the following challenges –

The Flower challenge #39: Use a Die

Inkspirational challenge #202: No Stamping (I have stamped for heat embossing the sentiment, so if this doesn’t count, please take my entry off!)

Happy Little Stampers: December Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Just us Girls challenge #516: Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

#831 – Butterflies Birthday Hugs!

Hello and welcome to another challenge at Seize the Birthday, where the latest topping, given to us by Barbara, is ‘Butterflies’! Of course, you can also choose to not go for the topping and make a fresh birthday project to join us!

And here’s the card I made –

I started by making the background using Altenew Floral Shadow. I actually made three of them – with different shades of black and grey, and ended up choosing this one for this card. The rest are saved for something in the future. 🙂

Well, I trimmed my chosen paper on the top and bottom and then foam mounted this on a black cardbase.

I then cut out several pieces of the butterflies from three dies from My Favorite Things Flutter of Butterflies, from several pattern papers. I also cut out the body of each butterfly using black cardstock. I then adhered three pieces of pattern paper together for each butterfly..

Finally, coming to the sentiment. I cut out one piece of Memory Box’s Big Hugs using white cardstock, and three more using black. I stacked the black ones and adhered them together, and adhered the white one off a bit, to get a shadow effect. I adhered this on the card, so that there was enough space to add the three butterflies too. Then I added the other part of the sentiment, which comes from Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers, using foam tape

With this card I am joining the following challenges –

Happy Little Stampers: August Anything with Dies challenge

A2Z Scrapbooking challenge: Birthday

Checkout the Seize the Birthday blog for more amazing instance of creativity by the rest of the design team! Also joining us is our Surprise Party Guest, Su Mohr!

And thank you so much for stopping by!

#829 – STB: Rainbow – 2 Ways

Hello and welcome! We have a brand new challenge at Seize the Birthday and the topping, chosen this time by Cathy, is Rainbow! If you are not a fan of rainbows, you can choose to just join us with any Birthday project of your choice!

This time I have two cards – yes two! And that too, when I totally suck at making cards with rainbow – the actual rainbow or just even the colors!

For my first card, I used stencil wreath technique, which Jennifer McGuire has taught. I used the Winnie & Walter Buffalo Check stencil and distress inks to blend in some rainbow color, on all the sides, leaving the center white. I then trimmed the piece using Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles die. I then stamped the sentiment, from Simon Says Stamp Birthday Bits, in black ink. I foam mounted this on a white card base.

It still felt like it needed something! So I created a thin frame using Memory Box Basic Rectangles set of dies, stacked them with similarly cut pieces and adhered this on top. I also cut out a few tiny flowers and leaves from the Paper Smooches Flowers 2 dies, which I adhered on opposite corners. I used a few pearls on the flower centers, which also acted as additional embellishment.

For the next card – actually this was the first card I made – I wanted to go with the actual rainbow, not just the colors.

I first made the background – blending some distress inks in shades of blue, then a little bit of yellow in the bottom. I then added splatters of water, to create a splattered effect. I also added splatters of white distress paint, and then some blue watercolor ink. I kept it aside to dry completely.

I used We R Memory Keepers Nesting Circles to cut out seven pieces, then colored them all in rainbow colors. I adhered the pieces, not so neatly, on a corner of the card. I then added the sentiment from Winnie & Walter Wishing You stamp set and then the clouds from Paper Smooches Clouds die cut. I added some sparkle on the clouds and rainbow using Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen.

With this card, I am joining the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Make Your Own Background

Happy Little Stampers July Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Inkspirational Challenge #191: Photo challenge: banners, kites, balloons

So, which version of rainbows did you like the best?

Do remember to check up on the Seize the Birthday blog for more “colorful” inspiration from the rest of our design team and of course, from our talented Surprise Guest Su Mohr! And, of course, join us using your own birthday project!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#823 – Happy Wedding Anniversary!!

Hello and welcome! Today, I am showing off a card that I made together with my sis!! Yes, its a project which we’ve created together, since it was for our dear parents’ anniversary!

My sis made that precious background … and my job started after that. How did she make that background?? You’ll have to ask her!! 😉

For my portion – I debated between metallic cardstock or die cuts which I heat embossed with metallic or pearl embossing powder. But, well, white suited the background the best, so that’s what I went with. I die cut a few pieces of white cardstock using Pink Fresh Studio Fancy Floral die, adhered them together. I then adhered the background over my white card base, and adhered the die cut on top.

The sentiment die cuts are from My Favorite Things Emmitt Alphabet and the stamped piece is from Altenew Painted Poppy, which I first heat embossed using rose gold embossing powder, then a second time using a mix of gold and rose gold embossing powders.

I adhered the die cuts over a strip of vellum, then adhered the fussy cut sentiment. I also added a few gem stones of white and orange for embellishing.

For the envelope, I used a die cut piece of Pink Fresh Studio Fancy Floral, which I used like a stencil with orange distress inks to create an ombre effect at the bottom, and stamped the sentiment (which none of the images show!!!) using Altenew Painted Poppy and Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers.

And that’s our combined project! Love how it looks so bright and happy!! 😀

With this card I am joining the following challenges –

Pink Fresh Studio Monthly challenge: May Challenge: Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers: May Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday challenge: Mood Board: Bright colors

Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

#814 – Dots & Stripes

Hello and welcome to a brand new challenge at Seize the Birthday! To join the challenge all you have to do is create a fresh, new birthday project. You have an optional choice of using a ‘Topping’ in your creation, and this time, this topping is ‘Dots & Stripes’.

I chose to use the topping in my project. And here’s what I made –

I first made the backgrounds. On one piece of cardstock I used My Favorite Things Bold Diagonal Stripes stamp with Versafine Onyx black and on the card base, I used Winnie & Walter Mini Scenery: Spotty stencil using Black Soot distress ink to apply. I then trimmed a part off the diagonal stripes piece and foam mounted it on the dotty background.

For the flowers, which are die cut from Altenew Peony Dreams, I used photo paper and watercolor on top. These are cheap watercolors I used, but they worked pretty well. Since the paper is not made to absorb ink, spotty patterns formed when I watercolored on them. So pretty! I then adhered them, piece by piece.

After adhering the flower and leaves on the card, I added the sentiment – from Altenew Label Love and Paper Trey Ink Wet Paint 3, and foam mounted them on top. I added some gold sequins scattered around the card and in the flower’s center, for some embellishing.

Joining the following challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Feminine/Girly

The Flower Challenge #30: Anything Goes

Timeout Challenge #131: Inspired by Words: Hugs, Kisses and a lot of Birthday Wishes – where they are also celebrating their 5th Birthday!! Yay!! Congrats to Sandy and the fabulous DT!!

Happy Little Stampers March Anything Goes with Dies challenge

I hope you are inspired by my creation! Hop over to the Seize the Birthday blog for more inspiration from our amazing DT and our amazingly talented Surprise Party Guest, Tenia Nelson, and join us with your own birthday project!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂