Bella Rose Birthday

Hi all,

yep back again so soon. I actually got my card done for Makeesha's sketch challenge a couple of days ago, as I needed a birthday card for my daugther to take to a party ASAP. Since the computer is still in Mr 1.5's room and I was making the card Sat night, and I hadn't printed the sketch out I had to match by memory to the sketch. Speaking of which - here it is:

Now the card....

I went through my DSP's looking for something that a 5 yo girl would like and that also had a smallish pattern on it as I wanted to do some paper piecing. Some of the Bella Rose DSP turned out to be perfect for that. I also wanted to use a lovely stamp set I picked up a few months ago - Anna Mae from Our Craft Lounge. First I stamped Anna using Black Stazon on Whisper White then also onto the DSP, then I paper toiled out - her hair bow, her dress and shoes. I just used SNAIL on the various pieces to adhere them to her. Using inkpad lids and the aquapainter I coloured in her hair, arms, legs, face and dress collar. Using my oval nestabilities I cut Anna out and also gave her a Pink Pirouette frame and then layered that onto a Riding Hood Red scalloped frame. To give the card some dimension I also stamped the present in the set on Kiwi cardstock as well as DSP, then paper toiled out the ribbon and bow and adhered that over the present. To represent the three elements Keesh put on the bottom right (well top right for me as I have turned the sketch around) I stamped three balloons on Kiwi Kiss cardstock and then cut very thin strips of black cardstock as strings and trailed those down the side the scalloped frame. The balloons and present were mounted up on dimensionals as is the sentiment, from Think Happy Thoughts. I used my black marker to ink up half the birthday stamp, stamped it on Whisper white, used circle punches to trim it out and then layered it onto Kiwi cardstock which I also trimmed with circle punches and just by eye using scissors. That was mounted above Anna's hands on dimensionals as well. It's not the simplest card perhaps but I was very happy with how it turned out and to be honest I guess I just enjoy all that fiddly little stuff!

Thanks for visiting...recipe is just below.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless noted otherwise

Stamps: Anna Mae (Our Craft Lounge), Favourite Teddy Bear (R), Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black

Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blosson, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Bella Rose DSP, Oval Nestabilities, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, assorted circle punhes for trimming sentiment, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape

Daisies Stepping Up to the Sky

Phew,

we had one busy weekend and I haven't been able to get near the computer. First the weekly shopping, then taking the kids off to get photographed (they are only little for such a short time, although when you're sleep deprived it feels alot longer! and we rounded the weekend off with attending a birthday party). I actually had written this post up on the lap top nearly a week ago but posting well I guess that's another issue altogether. So here it is:

I managed to squeeze in an extra nights crafting this week to work on a special project – a birthday present for a good friend (hi Sam). Since she is superb paper crafter I wanted to do something special and the project I came up with was to make a Stepper Box. I first saw one on Caroline Le Bel’s blog last year (in Dec I think), when she showed the box she did as a workshop class. Caroline was kind enough to send me the instructions she had written up to make the box. You can also find instructions through this link, which was kindly sent to me by Splitcoasters (as they didn’t have a tutorial on their site for the box). (Tip: Make the Lid box a little bigger than suggested). So what kind of box am I talking about – well this is what I mean.

Using chipboard panels covered with DSP you make a casing that wraps around, 4 little box “shelves”, that are adhered each on a different panel at different levels so they “step” and the whole box can fold up on itself – how clever!!

After ummming and ahhing I settled on the Urban Garden DSP I wanted to use. Basic Gray wouldn’t normally be my first choice for a birthday card but I really liked the vertical flower pattern and thought it would work for the box and a matching card. So the colour palette is pretty simple – Basic Gray, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. I won’t go into details of how to make it – just follow the link if you want to check it out. One thing I will say is that it looks, initially to be really complicated to make all the boxes, but it is actually really simple and the boxes almost come together like magic.

There was no way that I was going to chop off the flower heads on the DSP or cover them up when the lid sits on the box, so I decided to cover the outside, side of the chipboard with white paper first then at a lower level layer with the DSP. I scalloped the top of the DSP on both the card and box. Inside the box I used another Urban Garden pattern to line it. The stepper boxes and lid are all made from Baja Breeze cardstock, all decorated with a matching DSP. The final touch for the box lid is a Baja Breeze corduroy button from the new Mini catalogue.

The little internal box steps are perfect for stashing a special little array of birthday treats – choccies, brads whatever takes your fancy.

The card is pretty simple but I hope effective. The same Urban Garden flower DSP scalloped at the top. Set on a layer of white, then the card base is Baja Breeze. To accentuate the DSP I paper pierced above and below. The sentiment was stamped in clear embossed Baja Breeze, punched out and set in a silver hodgepodge frame. That was laid over a strip of Baja Breeze ribbon and the frame was also embellished with the ribbon and some rhinestone brads.

I liked the result so much I think I’ll make one for me!! And my little Miss Four is dead keen on having on for her use as well.

Thanks for visiting.

Recipe: All SU unless noted
Box
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Baja Breeze
Ink: None
Accessories: Bella Chipboard sheet, White copy paper, Urban Garden DSP, Baja Breeze Corduroy Button, Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch1 3/8 circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, SNAIL adhesive, Tombow Multi

Card
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze, Versamark
Accessories: Urban Garden DSP, Silver Hodgepodge, Ice Rhinestones, Striped Grosgrain Baja Breeze Ribbon, Mat pack and piercing tool, Clear Embossing Powder (for the sentiment), Scallop Edge punch, Designer Label punch, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape

Modern Birthday Boy

Hi there,

Its time again for me to post my go at Makeesha’s weekly challenge. This week it was an inspirational challenge, and something a bit different, a sleek modern kitchen. Here’s the pic.

I wanted to make a very clean, simple, sleek card that reflected the colours you can see in the pic. The colours, and the “style” I thought would a suit a birthday card I wanted to make for my little brother, who hits one of those significant birthdays this year. So the colour palette is pretty simple – Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and Silver. Using Chocolate Chip and using some metal hardware also qualifies the card for another challenge – the first Creatalicious Challenge. Here’s the card.

Here's a side view to show you the layers and also a glimpse of the inside.

Using a Verve sketch from April, which had the clean lines that I wanted, I started with a Choc Chip base, layered that with Whisper White. I ran some silver cardstock through the cuttlebug using a brand new folder – Diamond Plate. Perfect for my bro, as he is a builder by trade. I thought it also suited the kitchen pic too, in a trendy designer way. In the practical sense perhaps not – too many lumps and bumps. Then I layered those onto Choc Chip. Finally over the top a panel of Choc Chip, which has a big Chocolate cake (clear embossed to give some shine) and the sentiment adhered to it. Originally I had stamped a Choc Chip cake onto Whisper White then planned to mount the paper toiled cake over the top, but I decided that it looked better mounted straight onto the base Choc Chip layer instead. The finishing touch some brads with Phillips Head screw tops.

I was quite happy with how this turned out and reckon my little brother will like it too.

Thanks for stopping bye – have a good week.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy (R)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Metallic Silver (not SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Cuttlebug Diamond Plate folder, Phillips Head Brads (Bizzy Becs), Clear Embossing Powder, Heat gun, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.

The Night Train

Hi there,

Well its time again for Makeesha’s weekly challenge – this week a colour challenge. Here is her colour pick.

And here is my card.

It looked like a nice combo. Since I had a nice little boys set awaiting its first inking (Choo Choo) I went with a boys card. For some reason my concept for this card was a quilted bedspread with the train traveling across it. Then again may’be it’s because I just went to the Craft and Quit Show last week. The card itself is pretty simple, the base is Bashful Blue layered with Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla. I used my 1 ¼ inch square punch to get 6 squares each of Certainly Celery DSP and Bashful Blue DSP (from Spring Showers), then laid them out in an alternating grid. I used my white gel pen to faux stitch around the edge of each square. I stamped three of the train sections in Pumpkin Pie on Very Vanilla, cut them out and again went around the edges with my white gel pen. I also rolled out the train tracks and paper toiled a stretch of them out too. The tracks were SNAILed straight onto the “quilt” background while the train carriages and puffs of smoke are all up on dimensionals. To give the card some extra dimension I crimped the end of the Very Vanilla layer, as well as the lower layer of the sentiment banner. Basically Bashful Blue buttons with threads of Pumpkin and Bashful Blue cardstock finish it off. Oh and I also tried to give the train carriages some extra shadowing using inkpad lid ink and an aquapainter before finally adding some crystal effects over the top.

Well wishing you all a good week and a touch of spring like the first daffodils we have in our garden.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Choo Choo, Birthday Whimsy (R)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Crimper, 1 1/4 " square punch, White Gel Pen, Bashful Blue buttons (R), Certainly Celery DSP (R), Spring Showers DSP (R), Crystal effects, SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals

Birthday Princess

Hi there,

well I'm getting this one in by the skin of my teeth. There was me yesterday morning thinking I'll just check but I'm pretty sure there is another week to go. Argh!! nope today was the deadline. Luckily enough I already had an idea in my head so in the scheme of things it may not have taken so long as usual to get this card together. Anyway firstly here is the sketch for the DT application for the new Creatalicious Challanges.

And here's my card.

And a close up to show the crystal effects and glitter.

For some reason I had Regal Rose and Basic Grey in my head and I also knew I had some already stamped images from Pretty Princess, which I borrowed a few months back from a good friend - hi Sam. Cutting a 4'6" by 4'6" in (12 by 12 cm) card base in Regal Rose I then layered that with Basic Grey then once more with some Regal Rose DSP (from the hostess pack in the curtrent SU catalogue here in AUS). I used more Regal Rose DSP for the panel just behind the main image. The central image of the Princess, which was stamped onto watercolour paper, was layered onto Regal Rose and then Basic Grey. The image itself I coloured in using only Regal Rose and a mixture of marker and ink from the stamp pad lid using an aquapainter (Except for using Blush Blossom for the skin areas). Once that was dry I glammed up the image a bit with some crystal effects and finally dazzling diamonds. The flower embellishments were made from combining punched flowers (Spring Bouquet punch) and felt flowers from the Flower Fusion Too pack. A mixture of silver brads and clear rhinestone brads were used to finish off the flowers and for the triple element on the side. Final touches include paper piercing around the two DSP layers and of course adding the sentiment. Which I incorporated into the bottom flower embellishments.

You may have noticed I haven't finished off the inside - I will, I just didn't have the time last night or today to get there. Overall I think it will make a nice birthday card for a teenager or may'be just someone young at heart:)

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted

Stamps: Pretty Princess (R), Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Basic Gray, Whisper White, watercolour paper

Ink: Stazon On Black, Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Blush Blossom (for skin tones), Going Gray (to outline image)

Accessories: Regal Rose DSP, Felt Fusion Too, Silver and Clear Rhinestone brads, Scalloped circle punch, 1 1/4 , 1 3/8 and 1/4 (R) inch circle punches, corner rounder punch, Spring Bouquet punch (R), Crystal effects, Two way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Mat pack and piercing tool.

Zoom, zoom, zoom we're going to the moon

Hi there,

First let me say thanks to everyone who left me a comment last week I wanted to drop past blogs and say thanks individually but just haven’t been able to get to the computer. Why? well its been an interesting week. I had my youngest superglued to me for several days while he was feeling sick with a fever. Thankfully he is now on the mend. But the enforced time of being pinned down gave me lots of time to think and ponder the sketch Makeesha set for her challenge this week. Here’s the sketch.

The key for me is really to find a purpose for the card and once I decided that I wanted to use the sketch for a father’s day card for my hubby things fell into place. Since my DH is an astronomer by trade I usually try to do something that reflects that. Here’s the card.

A side view showing how various layers are popped up on dimensionals and also gives you a glimpse of the inside.

Probably the trickiest part of the card was trying to find two something’s to use as templates to cut the large half circles on the RHS. They turned out to be a Milo tin and a small pudding basin – my circle nesties just weren’t big enough. Hmm obviously I have a hardware gap that needs to be addressed;). Anyway back to the card. On browsing through my DSP collection I came across the retired Spring Showers and I really liked the Bashful Blue stripy pattern. So I decided to use this as the base for the card. I used my Classic Stars wheel and using Chocolate Chip ink ran it over the half circle DSP. I made the sketch circle element the moon, made by first stamping a little moon, punching it out, then layering behind it a large circle of vellum, overlaying a chocolate chip circle and finally a circle of DSP the same size as the vellum. I got the idea for using the vellum from an element Cindy Major used on a scrapbook page she posted recently. The sketch horizontal “ribbon” feature became a spaceship headed for the moon. I inked up the stamp in Bashful Blue and then rock and rolled it in Chocolate Chip. Using my Jumbo Outline alphabet I stamped “dad” on the DSP and then paper toiled the letters out and lined them up on the long vertical panel. To finish off that panel and the half circle one I paper pierced along the edges of both. Final details are three stars on the LHS with Bashful Blue brads and a chocolate brad for the spaceship. The spaceship and moon, by the way, come from a really cute clear stamp set called Space Ships and Robots from My Cute Stamps. Overall I am quite happy with the result – I really like the combo of Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip. Wishing you all a good week.

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Classic Stars jumbo wheel, Jumbo Outline Alphabet, Spaceship and Robots (My Cute Stamps)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Vellum, ¾”, 1 and 1 3/8 “ circle punches, Milo tin and small pudding basin, small Star punch, Bashful Blue brads and a small Chocolate Bo Bunny brad, Mat pack and piercing tool, Spring Showers DSP (R), Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.