Baby Bear

Hi everyone,

well this week I'm back with a card to welcome a baby girl to the world. The starting point was to use Makeesha Byl's weekly challenge - this weeks it's a sketch, with a circle element - love those! And since I love to use DSP (patterned paper) I couldn't pass up the Just Add Ink challenge this week too. First up here's the sketch.

And here's the card


The challenge is hosted by one Keesh's DT this week, Cindy Major and Cindy added the extra element that you must use something you've been hoarding. Not hard in my case ;) I knew I wanted to put my button bellied teddy bear in the middle of the circle. Next I hunted for some DSP that would fit the pastelly brown/ pink theme I wanted to use. Having selected the DSP I then stamped my bear on and trimmed it out, then mounted him up on dimensionals above a contrasting DSP pattern. Then added a pink chocolate threaded button to his belly with Tombow. In retrospect I think the button is actually a bit too big. The bear is framed by a Close to Cocoa layer then a large Pink Pirouette scalloped circle. Down the bottom I added my most hoarded element a Build a Brad, had them for over a year and never cracked the tin. I used the Brad (backed by another hoarded element a Felt Fusion flower) to anchor the sentiment banner. To balance that all out I added a couple Felt Fusion Too flowers (letting all the stops out on hoarding now!) layered with a threaded button to the upper left of the scalloped circle. I couldn't go past using a new EK success punch I picked up this week to give a lovely border to the vertical sketch strip and it nicely echos the scalloped cirlce - I hope! I added two ribbons over the top of the Close to Cocoa strip. I tried something new for me, dyeing ribbon. I used a sponge dauber and my Pink Pirouette ink pad to dye some white taffeta - since I wanted to keep the pink/cocoa theme. Finally to finish off the front I stitched around the edge of the top layer using some pale pink thread. The inside is finished off simply to match the front. Overall I'm mostly happy with the end result - one other reservation, beside how big the bears belly button is (try saying that when you've had a couple of glasses of wine!!) is that the front is over cluttered. But you can't get it right 100% of the time and I do like it!

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Short and Sweet, Baby Button Bits (PaperTrey Ink)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Candy Lane DSP, Circle nestabilities, EK Success border punch, Felt Fusion Too, Build a Brad, Pretty in Pink narrow grosgrain ribbon, White Taffeta, 3/4" circle punch, Cropodile, Sweet Blush and Chocolate buttons (PaperTrey Inc), Sticky Strip, Tombow, Dimensionals, Double sided tape

Haiku for you

Hi everyone,

my did Makeesha have a in your face colour combo for her Inkspiration challenge this week! My first thought was argh how do work with that. But the DT put together some fantastic examples and the combo was rapidly growing on me. Factor in some zen time for thinking while I put Mr 2 to bed and I had an idea to work with! Here is the colour combo.


And here is the outcome.


I started with some folded over Pumpkin Pie cardstock which I then cut with my Scallop Circle die. To get an instant card just make sure you don't completely cover the die - that way you get your fold. Next on some Whisper White I stamped the flowering branch from Eastern Blooms. I inked up the stamp using markers for this, colouring the branches Chocolate and then the flowers in mixed Eggplant and Pumpkin. I could then place my circle nestie over the image and cut. I did try one extra trick - to trim out the end of the branch with my scissors and carefully lay this over the die so when it cut the circle the end of the branch would remain extending out from the circle - it worked :). Oh and when I cut the white image layer I also laid my DSP over so that was cut at the same time. Finally I cut a mat of Eggplant, then one of Whisper White. To embellish the front I stamped three flowers and trimmed them out, adding contrasting brads to highlight the centre. Another little trick that I tried was to colour a white brad (with Copic marker V09) to get an Eggplant coloured one - I put on two layers of ink letting it dry in between. Nice! I mounted the flowers on dimensionals above the branch, added a Chocolate rub on for the sentiment and then layered on some narrow Eggplant grosgrain (using sticky strip) to cover the image/DSP transition. The final touch, after some deliberation, was to sponge Pumpkin Pie and then Elegant Eggplant around the edges of the Pumpkin scallop circle base, and just some Pumpkin on the white edge of the image panel. The inside was finished off very simply to match.

I quite liked the end result - its always nice to end feeling that way :) I think I can see more circle cards in the future.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU!(unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Eastern Blooms
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Circle Die, Haiku DSP, Chit Chat rub-ons, narrow Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, Circle nestabilities (Spellbinder), Earth Element brads, white brad colours with V09 Copic marker, sponge, Sticky Strip,Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape.

Teddy Bear Birthday

Hi there,

Well this has been the first time I’ve been able to do a Mojo Monday sketch for ages. But when I saw this week’s I just knew I had to have a go and it would be perfect for a birthday card I needed to make. Here’s the sketch.

I wanted to make a birthday card for a little 2 year old girl and so I decided to pull out an old favourite of mine – Favourite Teddy Bear. A good friend used the set to make a lovely card for my daughter when she turned two (Hi Sam) so with this memory in mind I began.

I stamped the teddy first in Versamark and then Timber Brown stazon. Then I embossed with clear embossing powder. To fit him in the circle decided to pose him sitting down, by carefully trimming his legs off and then repositioning them. I got this idea from a card they had in one of our past Stampin Up catalogues. His front leg is up on a dimensional as is his party hat. A pressie and some balloons, projecting off the central circle, finish him off. For the colour theme for the card I decided to go with Rose Red, Regal Rose and So Saffron. To give the card some texture and also to convey the happy birthday message, I passed my top Saffron layer through the cuttlebug using the Happy Birthday folder. Then I cut it into three equalish sections. These were mounted over a Regal Rose layer that had been stamped with a little flower background. All the teddy accessories – hat, pressie, balloons (and the teddy) were coloured using my aquapainter and ink from the ink pad lids to coordinate with the colour scheme. Once they were mounted on the card I swished them over with 2 way glue and added the glitter. To finish off the card I added some Regal Rose ribbon, as per the sketch, although I did move the bow to the other side - it balanced the balloons better that way.

Hopefully the birthday girl will like it!

PS: It was raining here this afternoon so my photo's are a bit yuck, once the sun returns I will come back and edit in some new pic's.

Recipe: (All SU unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Favourite Teddy Bear, Fresh Fillers
Cardstock: Rose Red, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Versamark, Timber Brown Stazon
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities (classic and scalloped), Cuttlebug Happy Birthday folder, Clear embossing powder, Aquapainter, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, 2-way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

A Tree for Dad

Hi there,

time to slip in my Mojo Monday post today (I hope). I really liked the sketch this week. So here is it.

I'm not quite sure how I came up with this idea - I guess I was just thinking about what I could fit into a circle and what cards I might be needing sometime soon. When I came across this DSP from the Spring Break pack and decided the colours would work well with the big oak tree from Lovely as a Tree - well a card was born!

And here's a side view to give you a glimpse of the inside and you can also see how the rectangles are lifted up on dimensionals.


Just a few special points to note, to stamp the tree I first used markers to colour direct to the stamp, I sort of did scattered patches of Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip and then used a blender pen to blur the edges together a bit. When I stamped it - it was nice but not quite intense enough, so first I went lightly over with my aquapainter, then in turn loaded the three markers into my colour spritzer and spritzed away till I got the what I wanted. Another gentle swirl with my aquapainter and it was done! It actually looks more blurry in the pics than it is in real life. Oh the other main "trick" was that I only wanted a small dad label. Luckily I noticed when I got my alphabets out that Whimiscal Lower has a "and" stamp in which the text size is quite a bit smaller. "And" has an "a" and a "d" and that was what I needed for "dad", a little bit of stamp-ma-jigging later and I had my label. As to the rest of it - well it a mix of cuttlebug, DSP, circle nestabilities, corner rounding, brads and ribbon. All the details are below.

Recipe: (All SU unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Lovely as a Tree, Whimiscal Lower
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: Spring Break DSP, Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder, Blue Bayou stitched grosgrain ribbon, Hemp Twine, Circle Nestabilities, Colour Spritzer, White Bo Bunny Brads, Piercing tool, 1/8", 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches, Corner rounder punch, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape