Meating Expectations

I had a friend going through some physical therapy and though he has a while to go, he is making good progress. I thought this punny card would be a nice pick me up.

I used 2 stamp sets: Lawn Fawn (Let's BBQ) and Altenew (Raise the Steaks). These are 2 of my favorite sets to use and they go great together. I love the oversized steak, and made it pop out a bit with foam tape. For the background, I stuck a few scraps onto a piece of computer paper, that way they are all the same thickness and it adds a nice finishing detail. Coloring meat was a little weird- I'm not vegetarian or anything, but googling pictures felt a bit odd lol. I settled on some yellow/beige/pink copics. The 2 reds and 3 oranges I used on the grill are a bit close in color, but in real life you can see the shading. Also, I loosely scribbled some C1 grey copic to the ground after taking the pic- it adds a little shadow under the grill. Now, I'm ready to eat!! Thanks for coming by.

Challenges:

Cardz4Guyz

Not just cards challenges

Doggy Heaven Sympathy Card

It was sad that I had to make a quick sympathy card. Because I worked late and didn't have long to work on it, I kept it pretty CAS (clean and simple).

I cut my own cloud stencil from a sheet of paper and used lawn fawn and distress inks to make the background. 

I cut some vellum paper into a cloud shape and wrapped it around the front of the card, gluing it in the back. Vellum is see through, so you have to be careful where you glue it. I stamped the dog and used gold embossing powder for the halo and sentiment. I adhered it onto a piece of gold mirror cardstock. The shine is really great from the embossing and background paper, and I thought aqua and gold was an interesting color combo. 

The stamp set is Fur Ever Friends by Newton's Nook.

Welcome Baby Robot Pop Up Box

This card folds flat for the mail and then pops up to reveal a simulated technological wonder!

The box die is from Lawn Fawn and incredible useful. It cuts the rectangles for the box flaps as well. I used a computer chip stencil from my stash since the theme was robots.

The robot stamps are"mini bots" from Clearly Besotted. They just made an add-on to this stamp set, featuring baby/plushies, called "robot plushies", so I will also be using down the road. These cats are the best and fun to color. I also used an embossing folder to make the gray paper look like metal. You can adjust the flaps, I wanted to show the other side, so I kind of flipped it up, but you can put them at 90 degrees or completed flat once you open up the box. I personally leave the back piece flat and do not crease that side, so it provides a backdrop. The sentiment says "awesome people make awesome babies", which I thought was fitting for my robot loving friends. 

My favorite part? The poo-bolts under the baby.. did you notice?

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges: 

https://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/

http://cardz4guyz.blogspot.com/

Dream-Catcher

Hi. Today I did a card for dreamers. 

The first two pictures came out pretty well and show off the clear embossing powder I used on all of the die cuts. I thought about adding some gems for the beads that are commonly strung on dream-catchers: I used a minimal combination of crystals and sequins to achieve this effect. I am not really sure if I like the before or after better- what do you think? I try not to overly complicate cards, which is difficult for me, haha. With my stash, it feels like I have a kitchen sink and makes me want to throw it at every creation. 

First I blended a piece of paper with blue distress inks. This nice collection of die cuts is from AC Moore, which I bought it for 55% off of course! I have had this in my stash for a while and thought about making this card a few times. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts stamp set, appropriately called "Make a Wish". 

The black stars are from a random die cut out, and I added some white stars with a gel pen.

Let me know if you prefer I go into the step by step details of embossing and die-cutting... I feel that many readers/fellow crafters already know these processes.. and reading multiple blogs that explain the steps in great detail over and over again can get a bit tedious. If you like, check out my first few blog entries as I go into much more detail on these common techniques. This is written as a fast yet fun read :)

Please come by again and have a good day!

Challenges: 

Addicted to Stamps

Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge

Avenue 613

Clean and Simple on Sunday

Simply Create Too

Hanging Floral Bday Card

Milton and I took my mom to London for her bday and we went to a few beautiful restaurants and bakeries with hanging flowers. They were on the walls, the ceilings, all over the place! (Clos Maggiore, Saint Aymes, Dalloway Terrace, Aubaine)  

I tried to replicate some of the floral work on her birthday card:

The vines were cut using the Leafy Background Die from Impression Obsession. Since it is pretty detailed, I normally need a metal adapter plate, but it is a die I find myself using frequently. 

I cut it out of sticky paper and used two tones of fine green glitter for the leaves. Then, I peeled the rest of the paper off and covered the background area with some white sand that I had laying around (it was fine sand I had bought to put in the bottom of a vase or something).. I was curious if it would work or not.. I was hoping for some cool sandy texture.. Well, only the finest of the finest grains of sand stuck, and I think it was mostly white dust haha..  but it actually looks good, even when you look closely- it just appears to be a smooth white, which works great.

I adhered that to a piece of pink cardstock from Simon Says Stamp and got started on my layered flowers. The flowers are from Altenew's Life is Awesome set. I actually think I did the pink ones a bit wrong, since the die didn't match up AT ALL lol. Apparently, I started them a bit too far from the tip of the green base.. they were way longer than the die.. so I hand-cut those and they worked just fine. Live and learn. Glued the flowers on and popped a few up with foam tape. 

The happy birthday diecut is from the Simon Says Stamp site and I believe it is Karen Burniston's collection. I like the large size and the font. Stacked two of them together, but if I did it again I might stack 5, so it is even most dimensional.

Thanks for coming by. I thought about including pics from the restaurants, so let me know if there is interest and I can make another post or edit this one with a more personal touch of my trip(s).

Challenges:

Pammies Inky Pinkies

Creative Fingers Challenge

Corrosive Challenges by Janet

Cardztv

You Kick Ash and Stenciling Tips

I needed a thank you card, but not just any ole thank you card, so of course I made a punny one.

Hard to capture all the shine in the light, but I used vellum and alcohol markers for the ground. Vellum and acrylic paint for the volcano and lava. Modeling paste and glitter paste for the stenciled background. The stencil is from Simon Says Stamp, Mod Stripe. The dinosaur is a layered stamp set from Stampin' Up called No Bones About It. I had to cut out the dinosaur and kind of regret leaving so much white, but I was really afraid of messing it up on the tiny parts in-between the scales and legs... the white trim also helps the eye since the background pattern is so bold, so I'm ok with it. The sentiment and volcano die are from My Favorite Things- I Lava You. 

I used a gray paper to mat it because I love gray and any color looks great with it. Used some foam tape to stick it on a side folding card-base and popped it in the mail.

Note on stencils: I love them and they are awesome, but sometimes they can be tricky. It is an elaborate process, and a time sensitive one at that. When I stencil, I tend to tape down a few different stencils on my desk at once. I try to use the same or similar color schemes so I don't have a million pastes drying up before I can even use them. Since I like to mix the colors and create ombre/fades a lot, I don't really have a lot of 'pure' paste leftover that I can stick back in the jar. If you use one color alone, of course you can do that. I personally like to stick 2 globs of different colors on opposite sides of my non-stick mat. I use the first color on stencil after stencil and slowly incorporate the next color until I use up all my paint. 

I also use a bit of white modelling paste at times- a big jar is cheap from Blick Art Store and can be used with acrylic paint or glitter pastes. For acrylic paint, it does the important job of thickening it up- that way the paint isn't seeping under the stencil all over the place. It will lighten the color a lot, so keep in mind that a little goes a long way. The glitter paste also gets 'dulled', so again, just use a tiny bit to achieve the ombre effect. I'm also cheap and this helps extend the life of an expensive jar :) Pro-tip, keep a few different spatula tools and that way if you need to grab a tiny bit more paste to finish the stencil, you won't contaminate your container. 

Oh, and most importantly: clean your stencil and tools asap so they don't dry and harden! I keep a small container of hot, soapy water on the desk and when I'm done with a stencil, I peel it up and drop it in. If you are doing one stencil, you can probably run to wash it off right away, but since I tend to do 3 or 4 in one sitting, this has really worked well for me. Then, I bring the bin to the sink and wash them all off thoroughly. The container I use cost 88 cents at target and fits a 6x6 stencil without a problem- it is actually what I keep all my craft supplies in since they are see-through and stack nicely. I also have a bunch more of those containers in my apartment since they hold a set of shoes perfectly, but you guys probably don't care about my closet organization lol.

Last tip- if the stencil isn't perfect in a spot or two, just stick your sentiment or a sequin over it :D

When I see professional looking cards online I like to imagine that they have a ton of mistakes that are just covered up well. Of course I'm happy for them and quite sure they are perfect underneath too, but it does make me feel better about the projects I made :)

Challenges:

MFT card challenges (volcano = shape/layout)

The Male Room Challenge (no papers)

Simon Says Stamp blog Mon Challenge (past times- prehistoric!)

Mod Squad Challenge (name the stamp)

Fusion Card Challenge (green/blue colors!)

#BeMine

Sorry for the late post, I was away for V-Day and forgot-  Here is my #bemine Valentine  :)

This card features an arrow from one of Tim Holtz' Idea-ology sets. It is pretty large, though there are some smaller arrows in the set too. The large ones have some heft, so I recommend using some thick cardstock or a sturdy cardbase.

I also used some nice white textured paper I had in my stash. It is really bright white, so while the picture might not be great, the contrast is striking. The heart was made by cutting 3 strips of 100# paper (light pink, dark pink, red) and adhering them to a piece of computer paper. This way, the heart is all the same width. I used computer paper to not add extra bulk since I would be die cutting out the heart and I didn't want to damage my BigKick. Oh, and because computer paper is cheap and nobody would be seeing the back anyway :)

The wooden #BEMINE embellishment was heat embossed with Pink Pearl embossing powder from Ranger. I used some Ranger multi medium matte glue since it dries clear- luckily nothing seeped out, but better to be safe than sorry! Adhered my valentine to a card base and it was ready to be handed out on valentines day! 

I think that this CAS (clean and simple) style card is effective and allow the embellishments to shine... literally. Thanks for checking it out.

Challenges:
Brown Sugar Challenge
Craft Rocket Challenges