#860 – STB: Cards for Kids

PE: Rocker at Watercooler Wednesday challenge!

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

This time, I tried going making a card with a window – a window created by fussy cutting and surrounded by fun elements.

I played with a variety of stamps from MFT And Mama Elephant. Some of the images had thinner lines, so I made them thicker by going over them again using a fine liner. The sentiment comes from Clearly Besotted Scrumptious Script stamp set.

I first stamped the images for the top layer and fussy cut out the center. I then took a scrap piece of cardstock larger than the window, and then stamped my ewe. I then colored them all using Zig brush markers. I also added a bit of pattern on the banner, the party hat and the balloon using white gel pen and a black fine liner. Then, I added a bit of shimmer using Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen.

When I trimmed the top panel, somehow, I ended up not getting the dimension right to position the card in the center. So, instead of messing things up, I chose to move the panel a bit to the right, showing the card base in the other three sides instead.

I was so engrossed in making it work…and when I felt like there was no purpose to the window in the card. Frankly, I can’t even make out whether that poor ewe is indoor or outdoor! But, well, the card itself looks fine, so I am glad I could make the idea itself work! 😉

With this card I am joining the following challenges –

Addicted to Stamps #382: Make your Mark

Watercooler Challenge #264: All About Occasions

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Virginia’s Show and Share challenge

Checkout the Seize the Birthday blog for more inspiring instances of creativity by the rest of the design team! Also joining us is our Surprise Party Guest, Stef Perry!

And thank you so much for stopping by!

#859 – Inspiration Station #09

Hello and welcome! We managed to make it relatively quickly this time with the Inspiration Station Challenge – a challenge where my sister and I come up with a prompt to excite our creative juices!

It was my turn to propose the challenge this time, and, following my sister last time, I made my own tic-tac-toe board –

I had initially had some other idea, but that didn’t work, so switched gears and made this one instead. This uses two lines – layers-embossing-tearing and layers-one image-pattern paper.

I made a few pieces of pattern papers in tones of pink, mint and yellow. I used various stamps (listed below) to create the patterns and also my blending make-up brush to blend in color for the background. Once done, I chose a few out of them for my card, tore one of the edges, and adhered them on a white card panel. I trimmed this down and adhered it on the card base.

I used the following stamps:
My Favorite Things Geometric Grid
Technique Tuesday Lots of Dots
Lesia Zgharda Kvity’s Contours
Neat & Tangled Landscape Textures

For the focal image, I used a few stamps from the Pink Fresh Studio Fluer 1 stamp set and heat embossed them in black glitter ep and trimmed this panel. I then used Memory Box Rectangle basics dies to die cut a few pieces for the frame, adhered them together and heat embossed it using an embossing powder mix that I made. I then adhered the frame onto the floral embossed panel I created earlier and adhered it on my card.

For the sentiment, I used My Favorite Things #Captions die. I die cut several pieces, adhered them together and heat embossed them with the same embossing powder. I adhered this also to my card.

And that’s my card! Checkout what my sister has made – its a beautiful art journal page featuring some lovely poppies!

With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Anything Goes

Pink Fresh Studio March challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

#856 – STB: Touch of Green

PE: Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

Hello and welcome! We are starting a new challenge this week at Seize the Birthday challenge, and the topping this time is ‘Touch of Green’, which is given to us by Vicki. Of course, as usual, you are free to skip the topping and join us with any Birthday project, as long as it is new.

This year, I one of my goals was to improve my watercoloring. I’ve never tried free style coloring – I usually stamp and watercolor. So I am trying to learn it. This challenge was perfect to try painting leaves, so I gave it a go. And after I was satisfied (at least, for the time being) with my attempt, I made a card out of it.

I used watercolor paper from Hndmd/CrafTangles, and Gansai Tambi watercolors. I basically was aiming for a shade like Pthalo Green, so its a bluish-green tinge (and not a photo mistake 😀 ). This is supposed to be a branch of eucalyptus leaves, but I am not really sure if it is looking as much! But I am sure I liked how the watercoloring itself turned out, so that’s ok, I guess! 😉

Once everything dried, I added a few splatters and then once that too dried, I added the sentiment, trying to go for the same ink color as the painting. The stamp set I used is Winnie & Walter In a Word: The Big, the Bold and Party. I then trimmed the piece a bit on the sides, and mounted it on a black card base.

I hope you are inspired by my card!I am joining the following challenges too –

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: A Bit of Green

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Use some Green

Happy Little Stampers March CAS challenge: Use Your Favorite Technique (Mine is watercoloring)

Happy Little Stampers March Watercolor challenge: Anything Goes (haven’t used the optional ‘Flowers’)

CrafTangles March challenge: Anything Goes (And I’ve used their watercolor paper)

Check out the Seize the Birthday blog for more inspiration from out fabulous DT and also from our talented Surprise Party Guest, Stef Perry! And don’t forget to join the party! 🙂

#853 – Inspiration Station Challenge #08

Hello and welcome! I kinda feel that we are early on this time’s Inspiration Station challenge – I mean, we have definitely completed our projects earlier than last time, but still… feels more earlier! 😀

This time, it was my sister’s turn to choose the challenge, and she prepared a tic-tac-toe board for us –

I initially wanted to go with Green-Stamps-Stencils combination, but when my newly ordered Altenew Dare to Dream stamp set arrived, I changed it to yellow, since I wanted it to be a feature on my card. And here’s what I ended up making –

So I chose a few shades of yellow, pink, green and kraft shaded inks, and stamped them. I confess I suck at aligning them all properly, so the gaps between the different patterns is all over the place. In fact, that’s the reason I didn’t stamp them horizontally and went for diagonal stamping instead.

Once done stamping, I trimmed the panel a bit, then die cut it with Paper Trey Ink Center Style Feminine die, then foam mounted the outer frame and adhered the inner piece using double sided tape.

For the sentiment I went to Altenew Bold Alphabets and used foam tape to adhere it to the card. The stamped piece of the sentiment comes from Altenew Adore You stamp set. I stamped it in black, trimmed it and then foam mounted it on the card.

Since the card was already loaded, I didn’t add any extra embellishments. And that finished my card.

Checkout what my sister created for this challenge – I must say, I get more and more amazed by what she creates with mixed media every time! I totally loved it, and I bet, so will you!

With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: With Love

Altenew February Color Inspiration challenge

Timeout challenge #154: Affectionate

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#850 – STB: Stencil

Hello and welcome to a new challenge at Seize the Birthday! This time, we have Nancy choosing the topping, and she gave us ‘Stencils’ to work on!

And here’s what I made –

I love stencils and have a ton of them in my stash, but somehow, never end up using them. So this was a great chance for me to get to use them. I wanted to make the stencil have a big impact on the card, so tried out various techniques and media on them. Finally I chose two, out of which I made these cards.

I have used the same stencil – Tie and Dye from CrafTreat – on both of these cards.

Card one: I started with a panel of photo paper. I wanted the colors to stay as soon as they would be applied, so this was the best option. I used the stencil with brusho pigment powders, applying the powder, then lying the stencil on top and misting with water to activate the colors. Working things the other way round – placing the stencil, then sprinkling the powder then misting didn’t work as the stencil had smaller negative spaces. Applying the water first and then the powders didn’t work either, since the panel didn’t stay wet enough for long enough for me to apply the powders. My plan was to actually have colors only where the stencil had openings, but that didn’t work. And it ended with this ‘burst’ look.

Anyway, once everything was dry, I removed as much extra powder as possible using a towel, and then trimmed the panel and adhered it on a white card base. The sentiment, which I stacked, is from My Favorite Things, called Birthday Wishes. I also added a few iridescent sequins for embellishing.

Card two: I used alcohol inks with ink lifting… kind of. 😛

I used yupo paper as the base and applied a rainbow of alcohol inks in a sunburst. Once that dried, I placed the stencil on top, then used a felt applicator with a few drops of alcohol ink blender to apply darker shades of alcohol inks on top, basically, the opposite of ink lift. Why? Because, like my earlier plan, the ink lift didn’t look good, didn’t work well.

So anyway, I moved the stencil a few more times and redid the technique, to cover the whole panel more or less equally with patterns.

Once done, I adhered this over another card panel, since this yupo paper wasn’t thick enough. I then foam mounted it on a white card base and trimmed the excess. The sentiment is from Altenew Inline Alpha dies. I die cut them thrice and stacked them before adhering them to the card. I also used a couple of sequins for embellishing.

With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #372: Make Your Mark

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Use a Stencil

Just Add Ink challenge 488: Celebrate. And they’ve turned 10 too!! Congratulations!!

Stamplorations January Stencil challenge: Anything Goes

Checkout more inspiration from our DT and our Surprise Party Guest, Joyce Mehrberg, in the Seize the Birthday challenge blog. Also, don’t forget to join the party!

Thank you 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!

#843 – Sending Christmas Greetings

Hello and welcome! This post features the second Christmas card I made to send out to a friend. 🙂

This time I made it a shaker card. The background is another print from the CrafTangles Elements pack, Christmas Animals. I lightly watercolored it a bit using distress inks, since the white background was looking a bit too bright in white. I also added glitter on the elephant’s and rabbit’s caps’ white bits and the baubles and star on the Christmas tree. I also added glossy accents on the baubles and star on the Christmas tree. I let it dry completely before proceeding further with the card. I also adhered a few pieces of silver star sequins on the tree and here and there on the piece.

To make the shaker, I used Moss Green cardstock from CrafTangles to cut out a window frame. I used a white card base, adhered the cut out ‘Elements‘ picture, added a few shaker elements and then adhered the window frame, to which I had already stuck a clear plastic sheet.

For the sentiment, I die-cut a few pieces of Simon Says Stampers Sending die. For the top most piece, I first heat embossed in silver the scrap piece of cardstock that I was going to die cut. After heat embossing a couple of times to get a good coverage, I then die cut it, and adhered all the pieces together. The stamped piece of the sentiment is from Winnie & Walter Wishing You stamp set. I then adhered them both on the card using double sided red tape.

At this point, I felt that the white of the cardstock was too bright, compared to what I could see from the window. So I colored it the same colors as the shaker panel, lightly. And finally I was done. 🙂

Joining the following challenges with this card –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Interactive Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Day

Just us Girls challenge #516: Anything Goes

CrafTangles Monthly challenge #12: December challenge: Christmas

Thank you so much for stopping by!