#1015 – STB: Navy and Lime Green

Hello and welcome! We have a special challenge at Seize the Birthday and this time we’re collaborating with our sister challenge Color Hues for a Color challenge to help them celebrate their 2nd Birthday!  The bigger the party the better, wouldn’t you say? Congrats to them!

And here’s what I made –

I started with the card’s focal points. I took a strip of white cardstock and used Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch distress inks to add in the color, blending it in the center. I then used a die from Spellbinders Nordic Floral to die cut 4 pieces out of the strip. I also cut out a few extra panels from scrap cardstock to adhere beneath these pieces to get some dimension. While adhering, I swapped the inner die cut pieces between the full die cut pieces, and adhered them.

Next, I used Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles to die cut a white cardstock panel and adhered this on the white card base. I then aligned and adhered the floral die cut pieces. For the sentiment, I used Concord & 9th Painted Rose, which I stamped and fussy cut and then adhered with a little dimension beneath. And that finished my card.

Checkout more inspiration from both the Seize the Birthday challenge and the Color Hues challenge blogs! We have inspiration from the DT and also our Surprise Party Guest Åsa Johansson this time! And don’t forget – this time you get to join both the challenges!! 😀

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#973 – A Cup of Love

PE: Honorable Addict at Addicted to Stamps and More!!

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge at Seize the Birthday, and the Topping this time, chosen by newest team mate Jules is ‘Beverages‘. The Topping is optional, and as long as it is birthday themed, your project is worthy of entry.

And here’s what I made –

I thought of going for tea or coffee, since those are the beverages I mostly drink! 😉 I had one stamp with tea cup, but it didn’t suite the idea that I had in mind. So I looked up a few images in Pinterest, and drew and watercolored this piece. I used CrafTangles watercolor paper and Gansai Tambi watercolors to color this piece.

Once dry, I die cut the panel using My Favorite Things Stitched Wonky Rectangle. I also stamped the sentiment from My Favorite Things Cup of Tea. Finally I added a ton of splatters in black and white, let it dry. I then foam mounted this over a piece of dark cream cardstock.

And that’s my card! With it, I’m joining these challenges –

Watercooler Wednesday challenge #328: All About Occasions

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #418: Birthdays

Checkout what my team mates and our Surprise Party Guest Carol McFarland created at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#968 – A Vintage Cake Recipe

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge again up at the Seize the Birthday challenge, and this time, the topping, suggested by our teammate Shirley, is ‘Cakes‘. Every Challenge is always Anything Goes and the Topping is included for extra fun. It’s not required to include the topping on your birthday project.

And here’s what I made –

As usual, my plans didn’t come to fruition, but I love how it turned out nevertheless!! 😀

I had thought of making a nice bright cake, but this one started looking vintage on completion. And what’s more, the cherries were so dark, they were almost black. Thank god they are watercolors, I could add water and use a tissue to pick up the extra color. And look, I forgot to add a tray under the cake!! Well, I did put a nice table cloth, so that should be fine, right? 😀

So, anyway, after watercoloring the cake and the table cloth, I used a newspaper stamp to stamp the background, then watercolored it some more to spread the colors. I thought of adding splatters, but decided against it. Once the water all dried, I die cut the panel using My Favorite Things Elegant Rectangle. I then stamped the sentiment, from Penny Black Sentimental stamp set in black. For the card base, I stamped the gingham using Impression Obsession Gingham stamp, using my MISTI to stamp it once using a medium teal ink, then offsetting it by a couple of millimeters before stamping it for a second time using a kraft ink. I then foam mounted the watercolor panel on top.

And that’s my card! I’m also joining the following challenges –

Inkspirational challenge #248: Word Prompt

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Checkout some delicious cake filled inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our Surprise Party Guest Jenny Martin at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#967 – Let’s Try Stitching!!!

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge up at Seize the Birthday and the optional Topping this time, chosen by Barbara, is to ‘Use Faux or Real Stitching‘. Since the topping is optional, as long as your project is birthday-related, you can join the party!

And here’s what I made –

I finally dipped my hands into cross-stitching!!! Yay!!! My sister was a major inspiration, after all, I’ve been seeing her use the needle and thread for years now! 🙂

I’m glad to also have used the Simon Says Stamp Stitching Panel, for what I think, is the intended way of usage (no, I am not saying you can’t just just use it as a background, it looks wonderful either way!). On this, card, since I didn’t want to waste embroidery thread with my amateur stitching, I used normal sewing thread instead, since I had access to plenty of it from my mother’s stash! Also, I did choose colors on my own this time – I usually have a couple of colors in my mind and use my color inspiration board on pinterest to pick the rest of the colors – but this time, I chose all of them, and I am super happy that they worked so well!

I did have a great time stitching. I did all the amateur mistakes – felt so bad when I had to cut off a lot of thread because I didn’t pull it right, made the top stitch come out from the wrong side, stitched over one hole, measured wrong – the whole shots – but I truly did enjoy the experience. In fact, I would like to make more (and maybe use embroidery threads this time? What say sis?) if I am not time constrained!

All that story, since I didn’t have much to write about the card itself!!! 😀

Anyway, coming back to the card – Once I finished the sewing, I cut out 2 sets of the frames using dies from Simon Says Stamp Stitched Squares and Waffle Flowers Nesting Squares, along with extra pieces from scrap cardstock to stack them for dimension. I then adhered these using liquid glue and then mounted that over a square Beige card base. The sentiment comes from Neat and Tangled Hand Stitched stamp set, which I thought suited the card to a T. I also added a thin strip of copper foil washi tape on the sentiment strip, since I wasn’t going to add any other embellishment – sorry you can’t see the shine here.

And I’m joining the following challenges as well –

Watercooler Wednesday challenge #324: All About Occasions

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #414: Any Occasion

And that concludes my report of my new crafting adventure! 😀 Checkout more stitching inspirations from our Surprise Party Guest Jenny Martin and of course, our fantastic crafting team at the Seize the Birthday blog!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#960 – Striped and Bold

Hello and welcome! Time to start a new challenge at Seize the Birthday and this time, the Topping is chosen by our talented team member Vicki to be ‘Stripes‘

I had multiple choices for creating stripes, including ones which didn’t involve stamping. In the end, I decided to go with a bold look, and made this –

The bold, black and white striped background is made using My Favorite Things Bold Diagonal Stripes background stamp. I stamped it on a white panel using Black Soot distress ink and trimmed it to size. The clean blooms are my latest purchase from Concord and 9th called Buds & Blossoms. I stamped them in Black Soot distress ink as well and then stamped the colors on top. I trimmed them and kept them aside while I chose the sentiment.

Initially I had chosen a die cut sentiment. I thought of choosing a bright yellow, but then felt it wasn’t suiting the card as well as I thought. Neither black nor white nor any other neutral color was looking good. Finally, going through my stash, I found this old stamp set by Neat and Tangled called Everyday Labels. I stamped it on the same white cardstock, and trimmed the pieces. I had initially chosen to add ‘happy brthday to you’ along with another piece with a heart, but decided that all that wouldn’t fit, and to keep it simple instead.

Since I didn’t want to add any bling to this bold look, the sentiment strips were also the perfect spot to add something extra. So, after I finished foam mounting the flowers and sentiments on the card, I used Glossy Accents on the sentiments, a few of the flowers to add the glossy shine, and then also used Sakura Black Glaze pen to add black dots of glossy shine on the other flowers. To prevent the sentiment strips from warping, I first added the foam tape below the sentiments and then added the Glossy Accents.

And that’s my card. Checkout the Seize the Birthday blog for more inspiration from our wonderful Surprise Party Guest Melanie Hungerford and the rest of our talented DT.

Thank you so much for stopping by!