Garden Gate Birthday Card

A gate fold birthday card, featuring a gate on the front made almost entirely from elements in Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: Garden Gate. The only bit of stamping in the entire card is the paper before the gate was cut. Stamped with Fine Linen and blended with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. The front of the gate fold before the lattice and gate were attached is stenciled with leafy Garden Gate stencil and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The sign and flowers are cut from printed sheets included in the kit.

The stenciled non-embellished side of the gate fold.

The inside shows the printed card base with the mailbox and removeable letter (which contains a birthday message) from the Make It Market kit: Post & Parcel with more floral embellishments from Garden Gate.

Simon Says Use Your Favorite Tool (BigKick),  so I did : ).

A Gender Neutral Card : )

A gatefold card made for Online Card Classes Wild Card. The card base is Papertrey Ink's Ocean Tides, stamped with the foliage stamp from Friendship Jar: Flowers set with Fine Linen ink. The flowers are cut from one of the small dies in the Friendship Jar: Flowers set out of patterned vellum. The hearts are Limitless Layers: Heart Stitches cut from Classic Kraft and the plane is Tim Holtz' Mini Airplane covered with a technique from Creative Chemistry 103 (also on Online Card Classes).

 The gatefold opened. Simon Says Global Exploration, so it's there as well. 

Loads of Fun Birthday Card

Loving the Loads of Fun set from Lawn Fawn. The image is stamped with one of the Alcohol Ink techniques from Creative Chemistry 103. I used a 1 3/4 inch circle die to make the washer window. The cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Tropical Teal. 

On the inside I used the die cut circle to stamp a laundry basket "cupcake". I used an exacto knife to make layers in the laundry, and then put in candles from Papertrey Ink's Wishes Come True set (they are longer than the basket, but easy peasy to cut to size). Colored with Twisted Citron and Peeled Paint Distress Markers. The bubble highlights are made with a Picket Fence Distress Marker and at first they are totally invisible, but after a few seconds the color really pops.

Red Stickles accent the candle flames, and Diamond Stickles highlight spaces between bubbles.

 I only stamped the bubbles where they were likely to be seen. On the left is the back of the card front. I used a scrap piece of watercolor paper (painted a light blue) as the back of the shaker.

Papertrey Ink April 2016 Create Along With Us Challenge

I finally tackled the Movers & Shakers: Sliders die, and once I actually had them in my hands (after watching Nichole's video), it was Easy Peasy.  Stamping the card front and THEN diecutting the top part of the slider works much better than cutting and trying to stamp (just saying lol). I used Spring Rain cardstock for the front stamped with Rainy Day Sentiments with Enchanted Evening for the large drops and Aqua Mist for the smaller. The cloud and Sun are only attached in the middle for extra dimension.

When the ribbon is pulled it pops up the top of the focal point and exposes the slider which is stamped with the solid block from Building Blocks with "We'll be friends until we're old and senile. Then we'll be new friends." written on it.

The focal point base is Stamper's Select White and the Scene It: Skyscapes (cloud and sun) are cut out of  Fresh Snow Linen cardstock. The clouds are painted with Stormy Sky Distress ink and the Sun is painted with Bright Buttercup and Orange Zest. I scored it right at the point that the sun meets the horizon and attached it to the slider at the bottom fold. I stamped the ribbon pull with a pull here sentiment from Movers & Shakers: Sentiments set and is attached to the slider tab with two tiny attachers colored with Ranger Gold Pigment Alcohol Ink. The sentiment is stamped on vellum Fillable Frames #5 stamped with Stazon. It is attached with a line of Tombow Multi behind the "behind".

For this month's Create Along With Us Challenge, I  was inspired by this card made by Heather Nichols cards for the Papertrey Ink April 2016 release

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is Dimension, and Simon Says Let's Do the Polka, so I'm including it there as well.

Christmas Golf Dome

An interactive Christmas Golf Dome for my father's widow who loves golf. I made the snowman and the snow golf ball out of toilet paper and a smidge of glue (this dries much faster than paper clay at this size). I assembled the snowman and attached it with glossy accents. When it had dried I covered it and the snowball with Icicle Stickles. The tiny tree is one I picked up at a big box store and removed the base. The golf cart is die cut and stamped using On the Links stamp and die set with Shrinky Dink so it would fit in the dome.

Make sure the tree is not going to be cramped by the dome (unless that is the look you are going for lol).  The dome base is from the Make It Market kit: Tinsel & Tags. The tag on the front is from Tinier Tags from Stamp-a-faire 2015 stamped with the Merry Christmas from the Make It Market kit: All Through the House (attached to the dome with Glossy Accents).

I made the golf hole by using a standard size hole punch and attaching a piece of straw underneath it and a piece of cardstock at the base of the straw. I punched a hole for the tree wire and put some glossy accents around the hole to make sure the tree stayed put. The tree is decorated with red Stickles. The golf cart is attached with Glossy Accents.

Simple Cupcake : )

The cupcake is from Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: Party Pops, the base is stamped with Ocean Tides, the icing with Hawaiian Shores and the cherry with Aqua Mist.  The card front is also Aqua Mist.

The stamp under the icing is also stamped with Hawaiian Shores.

CASology's Cue Card this week is Cupcake.

Krafty Cupcake

The cue card at CASology this week is Cupcake. I used Versamark for all the stamping with Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: Party Pops. The wrapper is heat embossed using Sparkle N' Sprinkle's Clear Fine Detail Embossing Poweder, and the icing is made with the White Fine Detail. They have a LOT of embossing powders and free shipping with orders over $25, no affliation, just sharing : D.

The icing lifts up to reveal another matching stamped image, this time stamped in ombre using Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst and Raspberry Fizz. To make the frame, I just held the pen in my hand and pushed the mat over the craft mat so the hand holding the pen doesn't move at all, just the paper. Simon Says Anything Goes.

He Built a Better Mousetrap

For the record, we don't have "resident" mice, but in colder weather we have passersby who try to find shelter from the cold. Archie's favorite season is winter for this reason. It's an older house (built in 1906).

The bear is holding a sign that says "He built a better mouse trap!" The buttons are from Papertrey Ink (Melon Berry) and so is the Outlines Alphabet stamp set used to stamp "sage advice" with Versamark and Hero Arts White Embossing Powder. I think I bought the polka dot washi tape on clearance (no evidence of a brand), the grid washi tape is from Stampin' Up!

The idea for the layout came when I was testing a mouse stamp I made from an eraser.  I've been thinking about it for a while. When I saw May Flaum's Camp Scrap is working on Monochrome this week, everything fell into place.

I used a pencil to sketch out all the hand writing and the food dish, and then wrote over it with a Fine Line Sharpie. Then I erase for Scotland. The thought bubble is drawn with Tropical Tangerine Stickles, and the speech bubble is drawn with Orange Peel Stickles.

There is more journaling under the photograph, and my customary pocket for more journaling under the "card" element by taping only the sides and the bottom.

As I was making this layout (in a day once I got the idea for the bigger picture and the photograph printed), I started thinking about how much easier using stamps on layouts has gotten for me (touch wood lest the mojo runs away). I think it started by participating in some challenges to use Papertrey Ink stamps by the truly talented Leigh Penner at her blog (chock full of crafty goodness) To The Full.

Simon Says Furry Friends.

Paper: Fancy Pants "Great Pumpkin"(base), Sassafras Bungle Jungle the dish was made from a piece of scrap.

Embellishments: Queen & Co. Embellishments (flower), Tropical Tangerine Stickles, Orange Peel Stickles, Making Memories Puffy Alphabet Stickers, Washi Tape, Papertrey Ink Melon Berry Buttons, Sequins.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Outlines Alphabet (Versamark and Hero Arts White Embossing Powder), Stampin' Up! Cheerful Critters set (Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile), hand-carved mouse (Papertrey Ink Orange Zest) and x stamps (Terracotta Tile).

Flipping and Popping Birthday Card

The Papertrey Ink glassine bag is decorated with a technique I learned at May Flaum's Camp Scrap.  The strip along the bottom is a little blue foiled cardstock, but I couldn't get that to photograph. The patterned paper is from K&Co Daydreamers, stamped die cuts from Papertrey Ink's Embellishments stamps and a variety of sequins. And the focal point is stamped with the cupcake from Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: Party Pops

And the cupcake opens to reveal a birthday message.

The card is 5.5 x 12 folded in half with two of the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps (stamped with Black Onyx Versarfine and colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and a water brush) and two speech bubbles. The card opens on the right side.

The next layer gives a translation of what the birds were saying and opens at the bottom.

Which opens a pop up made with the Make It Market kit: Party Pops. I used a thinner cardstock than usual to keep the bulkiness down, but I would use Papertrey Ink's Linen cardstock for the cupcake next time.

Simon Says Furry Friends.  

My Ship Has Come In: 3D Spinner in a Jar Tutorial.

This is the tutorial for my entry for the Bedtime Stories Challenge at Waltzingmouse's PJ Party.

BTW I adapted 3D spinners from a free class I took at Craftsy called Create Stunning Birthday Cards she has three other interactive card techniques in the class.

The lid  is stamped with Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink a couple of times and smudged, then heat set. Then a circle punch is put down with ATG.  The ship is also from Ocean Bound stamped with Parisian Dusk by Memento on Manilla and punched out with a 1 3/4" punch.

The doubled ended banner die is from Papertrey Ink. The right side is curled over a pencil then Scor Tape is put on the very end and then again about 1/2 inch away, bent into shape and attached to the side and fussed into shape. The AHOY is from Ocean Bound stamped with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink, and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Studio Style stamped with Chipped Sapphire.

The first step is to make sure the spinner will fit through the lid. In this case, the 2 1/4 inch circle punch fits through with just a bit to spare.

Position to circle dies within a second 2 1/4 circle punch. I keep them in place with a piece of low tack painter's tape or a piece of washi tape. The middle piece is either recycled or put aside for another project.

Now it's time to work on the spinner.

I use my little Gelli Plate to stamp an image in reverse so both sides of the spinner have an image. I haven't done a lot of research on the Gelli Plate, but the VersaFine rolls back very quickly. The image on the right was left too long. When I went to do it again, I had my paper right at hand. (Be aware of ghost images unless you wipe down the plate).

The three ships in the middle are all stamped directly. All the others are  stamped on the Gelli Plate first and then the paper is put on it and rubbed with fingers or a brayer. The variation comes with the speed the paper is put on the plate after inking.

When I'm making a two sided spinner I start with a die cut. I read in a couple of forum that it is easier to get centered images by stamping first and using a mask to place the die. Tape the die in place and run it through the machine.

Then I fussy cut it down to the directly stamped image with a pair of scissors. The clear plastic will be the support. I drew on it with a Sharpie to make it easier to see. The reverse image is trimmed so the base line and the bow of the ship were the edges.

For this project I wanted the ship to slide around the channel rather than spinning while it's sliding, so it's important that the support is at least as wide as the channel. BTW if you want the object to really spin while it's traveling through the channel, make the support narrower than the channel.

Usually I use a button or a coin as the base of the slider, but the jar is fairly narrow, so I made a rectangular base with a bit of shrink it. And because it was white I covered the top with cardstock that matched the base.

Put the directly stamped image face down apply adhesive to the back (I like Ranger's Glue N Seal because it has a little slip to it) put the support pieces down then add a little more glue and apply the reverse image and align. Set aside to dry.

When it is dry, fussy cut the reverse image to match the front. Then cut each plastic in  half vertically (so there are 4 pieces instead of 2) and fold them to a 90 angle from the base of the image altering between the left and right side.

Put Scor Tape on the top and attach the plastic supports.  Trim the plastic flush with the sides of the slider base. Now that the slider is made the height can be determined. It needs to be high enough for it to slide easily.

I used three layers of foam tape cut very very narrowly at the outer edge of the die cut to set the height. 

Three layers of foam tape in the middle so they are the same height (very important to keep the spinner from falling out of the channel). Again, leaving room for the sliding part of the ship to move around.

The sides were made by stamping the Hero Arts Waves background stamp and cutting out a line of waves. Scor Tape was put around the side (where the foam tape is) and the waves attached to the side. Insert the slider in the channel.

Apply a little Scor Tape to the bottom and use a large pair of tweezers (these are sold for Terrariums) to lower the spinner into place. Press down on the middle to make sure it's going to hold in place.

To make the banner fold washi tape over twine.  I used Tim Holt tissue tape over smooth hemp twine (sold in the jewelry making section). Cut the tape into pennants with scissors. The sailboats are from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set with VersaFine ink (heat set).

Tie a knot at each end of the banner and tape inside the jar under the knot. Put on the lid and ta da!

My Ship Has Come In (even if it spins)

For the Bedtime Stories Challenge at Waltzingmouse's PJ Party.

It's the ship from Ocean Bound, spinning around under a banner made of Tim Holtz Tissue Tape stamped with the boat from Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set. The waves are made using the appropriately named Waves background stamp by Hero Arts. The Ship is from Waltzingmouse's Ocean Bound (I am REALLY loving this set). 

The lid features another ship from Ocean Bound as well as the AHOY. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Studio Style.

I want to make sure I get this entered in time, but I have a tutorial in the works that I will post soon. But basically it's a spinner card just made 3D.