Happy 10th Birthday!

Wow, I'm running late on Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #31. I made this card with a pop up gift card based on this Hero Arts YouTube video by Jennifer McGuire.

My niece, Gabi, turns 10 next week. In the second photo, I show the inside of the card. You see a Starbucks gift card...that's not her gift. I didn't want to ruin the surprise in case she sees this blog.

I based this layout on p. 4 of the SU 2008 Occasions Mini catalog.

Pop Up Gift Card Ingredients
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy
Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Parisian Summer DSP
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, VersaMark
Punches: 3/4" circle, scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, Fiskars scallop border, Fiskars 2" circle
Other: White embossing powder, Heidi Swapp chipboard, Sakura Gelly Roll, Martha Stewart Circle Cutter, Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #23

This card started with the ribbon. I've got some yummy BasicGrey ribbon I was itching to use. The sketch I used is for Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #23.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Inkadinkado Humorous Birthday, SU
Paper: Ruby Red, Cool Caribbean, white glossy, silver (American Crafts)
Ink: Basic Black, Ruby Red, Cool Caribbean
Other: BasicGrey Color Me Silly ribbon, rhinestones (Me & My Big Ideas), paper piercer, piercing template, foam tape, 1/2" and 3/4" circle punch, Sakura white gel pen

Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #14

Oh, wow! I love this color challenge, because I love black and white! Kristina asked us to create a "high-contrast, bold creation". Well, I hope I've done that.

Our colors this week are:

(July 3rd - ETA: I changed Going Gray to Basic Gray) Basic Black, Basic Gray, Ruby Red, River Rock, and Whisper White

I literally put the Thickers on the cardstock first and worked backwards from there. I finally bought Thickers a few weeks ago. I didn't add ribbon because I wanted to keep the card masculine.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Inkadinkado Humorous Birthday (I cut the tiny cupcake out)
Paper: Basic Black, River Rock, Ruby Red, pattern designer paper (American Crafts) has a gray/silver reverse side
Ink: Memories black, River Rock
Other: American Crafts Thickers (Poolside - vinyl), rhinestone (Me & My Big Ideas), foam tape

Tart & Tangy Birthday

I went to a class at Peggy's house the other night. This was the make-n-take card. I love this layout a lot.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Amazing to Zany
Paper: Whisper White, Real Read, Summer Picnic DSP
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive
Other: Read Red ribbon, scallop punch, 1 3/8" punch, dimensionals

Feliz Cumpleanos, Lucia!

I made this card for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #21. The person I made it for is my cousin, Lucia. She is actually my husband's cousin. She lived with us for a few years when she moved up to the Bay Area. She is the sweetest person.

I loved this sketch, Taylor! This card is small (4.25" x 4/25"). I found some great Basic Grey ribbon at my local Big Lots. I had to use some of it.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Hey There Cupcake (Stampendous), Felicidades Siempre, One of a Kind
Paper: white textured paper, silver foil (Only the Best), Soft Sky, Spring Silhouettes, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Versamark
Other: Clear embossing powder, Rubbermania Seattle Mist embossing powder, Amuse Circle Stickers (blog candy from Theresa), half pearls (Target $1 bin), Boho Blossoms punch, Basic Grey ric rac, corner rounder, Oval Coluzzle, metal edge tag

Kristina Color Inspiration Challenge #11

We are back from our trip to Southern California. I really love the scenery once you are South of the LA area. We took Kalino to Legoland in Carlsbad and then we went to my niece's high school graduation in Monrovia. We had a great time.

This card started out as a Father's Day card for my husband, but it lost it's masculine touch when I added a flower...oh well, I'll make him a new one.

The colors we had to use this week are:

Rose Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, Going Gray, Whisper White

Kristina warned us to use a lot of white. I hope this qualifies as a lot. I stamped the Priceless images with dye ink, then with Versamark in order to emboss them with clear embossing powder. The colors look darker because they are embossed.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Birthday Whimsy, Priceless
Paper: White textured card (from Peru), white, grey/white designer paper (Making Memories)
Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive, So Saffron, Going Grey, Versamark
Other: White flower (Imaginisce), tiny saffron flower (Prima), white mini brad (Making Memories), PSX clear embossing powder, foam tape

More Cards From Our Stamping Day

I'll be out of town until Thursday evening, I hope everyone has a great week. I'm going to have blogger publish a few entries while I'm gone. These are some of the cards from my Friday stamping marathon with Ericka.

I designed this first card. I had to do crayon resist...again! This time, I used the Priceless set. After stamping on glossy Kromekote with Memories ink and tracing areas with a white crayon, I rubbed three colors of Stampin' Spots over the image. Finally, I rubbed the image with paper towel.

Crayon Resist Happy Birthday Card Ingredients
Stamps: Priceless, All Holidays
Paper: white textured paper, black, glossy Kromekote
Ink: Bordering Blue, Rose Romance, Eggplant Envy, Memories Black
Other: Making Memories large rhinestone brad, black/white ribbon (Michael's), corner punch

Ericka designed this ginger blossom card. I love the elegance of this card. She let me choose which sentiment I wanted to use. You can never have enough Thank You cards.

Thank You Card Ingredients
Stamps: All Holiday
Paper: Groovy Guava, Ginger Blossom designer paper
Ink: Groovy Guava
Other: satin ribbon, SU Hodgepodge Hardware brad

Ericka also designed this card. For an early birthday gift, she gave me 2 sets of stamps. The second set is from Heidi Grace. In all my stamps, I didn't own a sympathy sentiment, until now. I chose to make this a sympathy card.
Sympathy Card Ingredients
Stamps: Heidi Grace Clear Stamps Greetings
Paper: River Rock, Pumpkin Pie, designer paper
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Versamark
Other: Felt Fusion flowers, brad, clear embossing powder

I love this last card too. The Just a Note sentiment is not a stamp; it's Ericka's handwriting. She had me do paper piercing.
Just a Note Card Ingredients
Paper: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, designer paper
Other: Chocolate Chip Poly-Twill Ribbon, paper piercing tools, foam tape

Happy Birthday From Ericka

My birthday is next week. I love the card Ericka made for me. The colors are awesome. It's reminds me of Maui. The texture is great with the crimped paper. (I forget to use my crimper. How many of us have tools that we forget to use once in a while?) I love the flower and the brad. Gracias, Ericka!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #17

Here's my weekly card for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #17. I had to create another card using the Crayon resist technique I love on the Hero Arts website.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Happy Birthday (A Muse Artstamps), Hey There Cupcake (Stampendous)
Paper: white glossy Kromekote, Real Red, designer paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: So Saffron, Real Red, Memories Black
Other: White Crayon, Making Memories brads, 1/2" circle punch

Happy Birthday - Woven Ribbon

This card is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #16. The card design started with the ribbon. I knew one cupcake on this card would be too small, so I wanted a larger focal point.

I like the look of torn paper. I tore more edges that she required on her sketch.

I put 3 layers of embossing powder on the cupcake.

I did some ribbon weaving about 4 years ago on a card and I was reminded of the technique by Kristina in her Make a Card Monday video. I don't know why I haven't done ribbon weaving more, I love it.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Hey There Cupcake (Stampendous)
Paper: kraft, Pumpkin Pie, designer paper (My Mind's Eye), white
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Other: ribbon (Costco), Clear embossing powder, Making Memories mini brad, scallop punch, 1/8" circle punch, SU felt flower, mini pearl (Target $1 bin)

Happy Birthday (Designer Paper Challenge)

I made this card for Theresa's challenge to only use background/designer/patterned paper as our only embellishment. I loved this challenge! It's like Jen's purely white card challenge.

I used one sheet of designer paper from My Mind's Eye. It's got a bohemian chic look to it. I cut out the 3-inch circle and then trimmed the scallops. It's mounted on the card with foam tape. I layered a 1-inch band of paper through the middle. I cut 3/4" circles from the paper and used foam tape to mount them on the card.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: Kraft cardstock (CA Paper Goods), designer paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Basic Black
Other: corner rounder, 3/4" circle punch, foam tape, Martha Stewart circle cutter

Happy Birthday Cupcake (SOA Challenge #9)

This card is for Stampin' Out Alzheimer's Challenge #9 and Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #15. I made my own background papers by stamping them with Brilliance ink pads. I was a little rushed to finish this card, so I feel it's not by best effort.

The colors that inspired this card are: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and Summer Sun.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: All Holidays & By Design (Stampin' Up), Hey There Cupcake (Stampendous)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and some vanilla-colored textured paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Brilliance (Rocket Red, Coffee Bean, Yellow), Versamark
Other: Yellow embossing powder, Making Memories mini brad, 3/4" circle punch, foam tape

Feliz Cumpleanos (SOA Challenge #8 - Card Sketch & Kristina's Color Inspiration #8)

For this card, I decided to combine card sketches (Stampin' Out Alzheimer's #8) and Kristina's Color Inspiration #8 challenge). Wow, they are both #8!

I absolutely loved the acetate card Nichole Heady created last month! I decided to make an acetate card yesterday. I've never done this before. I was inspired to use a piece of white Hambly Screen Prints overlay I bought at Maker Faire this past weekend. I love it! I cut a 2.5" by 3.5" piece. I also cut 4 pieces of Bashful Blue the same size. The acetate is sandwiched between the cardstock to hide the adhesive and the ribbon. I couldn't sew the card like Nichole's, because I'm having trouble getting the right tension on my machine. I had also never used Brilliance ink on acetate. This site says Brilliance ink will dry on acetate overnight...it did. My only problem was keeping the acetate "clean" from finger smudges and scratches, and getting a photo of the card.

Our colors this week are:


Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White

Card Ingredients
Stamps: So Many Scallops, Priceless, Felicidades Siempre
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, JudiKins Embossable Window Plastic, Hambly Screen Prints - ATC Patchwork
Ink: Brilliant Blue, StazOn White, Brilliance Mediterranean Blue, ColorBox Frost White pigment Other: Flower Fusion, Rhinestone brad, Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain (Thanks, Theresa for the blog candy!), scallop punch, 1 1/4", 1 3/8" circle punches, PSX White embossing powder, foam tape

Happy Birthday! (SOA Challenge #6 - Marvelous Metal)

This card is for Stampin' Out Alzheimer's 2008 Challenge #6 - Marvelous Metal. We had to use at least 2 different metal embellishments... well, I've got at least 2 types on this card.

On the happy birthday stamp, I masked off the candles and scallop border. I love the metal tags, if you mess up the stamping, just erase it off! I don't have StazOn remover, but I used JudiKins Fabric & Permanent Ink Cleaner. I "erased" my work several times.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Circle (Martha Stewart), So Many Scallops (Stampin' Up)
Paper: lavender parchment (CA Paper Goods), silver studded paper (my friend, Ericka), silver metallic paper (don't remember where I bought it)
Ink: StazOn Cotton White & Jet Black
Other: Stampin' Up Metal Magic tag, Making Memories Moulding Corners, silver ribbon, silver thread

Happy Joyful Birthday! (SOA Challenge #4 - MoJo Flashback)

This card is for Stampin' Out Alzheimer's Challenge #4. It's a MoJo Monday Flashback sketch. I've never done one of Julee Tilman's MoJo Monday sketch challenges.

I used my sewing machine without thread to get the paper piercing throught the card.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Long-Stemmed, Small Sayings
Paper: Pink Parchment (CA Paper Goods), designer paper is a combo of blog candy from Theresa (Thanks!) and K&Company
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Other: Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Martha Stewart Daffodil marker, Crayola yellow green pencil, ribbon (also from Theresa), Making Memories square brads

Happy Birthday 2 You - SOA Challenge #1

This card is for the first challenge of Stampin' Out Alzheimers (SOA) 2008.

We had to create a boy's birthday card with the central design element being a number. I rubbed Groovy Guava ink on the chipboard number and then Brilliant Blue ink on top. I decided to add glitter since the number is not that big. I used my Crop-A-Dile to emboss the paper. This card is different from the card I started out designing. I made a few mistakes along the way. I mounted the card upside down...duh. I had to cut it off the card and remount it on different cardstock.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Stampendous Hey There Cupcake
Paper: Colored Pencil Lilac (CA Paper Goods), blue, orange, and white paper
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Groovy Guava
Other: chipboard letter (Provo Craft), orange glitter, Glue Pad, blue ribbon

Three More Weekend Cards

These are the other three cards from a stamping party I hosted on Sunday. It was another intro to card-making for my non-stamping girlfriends. I posted the Mother's Day card I had them make the other day. They loved playing with all the paper punches, stamps, and inks. They laughed when I pulled out my Crop-A-Dile to set the snaps for the Father's Day card! They couldn't imagine that we use such a large tool for paper crafting.

Happy New Baby Card Ingredients
Stamps: For a Friend, Figures of Speech
Paper: Certainly Celery, white, and designer paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Basic Black
Other: button (Making Memories), white gel pen, metal tag, circle paper punches, white ribbon, silver thread, colored pencils

Happy Father's Day Card Ingredients
Stamps: All Holidays
Paper: white, Brilliant Blue (made by rubbing Brilliant Blue ink on white kromekote), the stripped cards are $1 bin specials from Michael's which had 8 cards & envelopes
Ink: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Ruby Red, Brilliant Blue
Other: snaps (Making Memories), red ribbon (Michael's), small tags, scalloped square paper punch


Birthday Wishes Card Ingredients
Stamps: For a Friend
Paper: Stampin' Up Certainly Celery, Colored Pencil Lilac (CA Paper Goods), white kromekote, and designer paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Other: gold mini brads (Making Memories), Martha Stewart marker, light blue and gold ribbon (from Peru), corner rounder, gold gel pen