One More Birthday card

Yes... one more kitty celebrating a birthday.  Tomorrow is also my son's birthday.  He has never owned a cat but when he came out to California to drive me and my Siamese cat back home to St. Louis, my kitty developed a big crush on her "Uncle Willy" and spent 2 and a half days on his lap as we drove from Santa Rosa to St. Louis.  Whenever I'm traveling, my kitty stays at his house.  So, of course, she would send along a birthday card too!  

Image and die cut:  PTI Cat's Meow

Paper:  Doodlebug Kraft In Color

Card stock:  PTI Dark Chocolate

Another Birthday Weekend Card

We have a family joke about my son-in-law Brian-- He never wanted a cat but finally relented a year or two ago so that my grand-daughter could have a pet.  And now guess who buys all the kitty toys and has a constant companion!  This is not the most technically sophisticated card but it captures the fun of this unique relationship between man and cat!  I saw the kitty and mouse and knew instantly what to do with it-- I made up the sentiment on my laptop, printed it on card stock and ran it through my die-cutting machine.  Even with a kitty as the focal point, it still has a masculine feel.

Birthday Weekend

Lots of birthdays this weekend-- My daughter Amy, my son Will and my son-in-law Brian.  We'll be getting together for dinner on Sunday.  This card is for my bling-loving daughter Amy.  It's a "shaker" card, filled with sequins and bits of glitter.  I used my favorite Twinkling H2Os watercolors to make the background for the butterfly.  Amy has a sparkling personality and is a master corporate trainer who spreads joy and enthusiasm wherever she goes.  I love this sentiment from PTI's "Life Is 

Beautilful"!

A special thank you

I spent part of my childhood in mainland China and in Hong Kong-- so you can imagine my surprise and delight when I received a special gift of a photographic history of Hong Kong last week!  

I wanted to create an Asian-inspired thank you card and remembered this unique rice paper that I've been saving.  I found it at a vendor fair in July - it almost looks like silk brocade.  And this month PTI just happened to release a series of abstract motifs including the one used on this card.  I heat embossed it in gold and colored it with Copic pens to match the paper.  

Wow!  It came out perfectly on the first try!  

Cardstock: PTI Pure Poppy, Select White

Image:  PTI Fancy That

Make It Monday 177

I bet there's been a big run on Stretch N Seal paper at local grocery stores!  This is the secret ingredient on today's Make IT Monday challenge, using the reverse pieces of a cover plate die.  The Stretch N Seal paper is perfect for creating perfect placement of all these small pieces.  My "paper" for the die cut was created with watercolor (twinkling H2Os) on watercolor paper.  This was so much fun to make!  

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Fabriano watercolor paper

Dies:  PTI Mighty Bloom, Thankyou

Stretch Your Stamps Day 10

The Underwater scene on this day's class was an immediate inspiration to create another "inspirational" card for a daughter who is in the throes of starting her own business.  Mr. Shark is sort of a un-official mascot.  I used the double stamping technique, Copic pens and some sketching for this one.  The porthole took a couple of tries with different sizes of circle dies. After the first try, I decided to add some sequins and make it a shaker card.

I hope this one brings a smile to her face when she opens it! 

Cardstock:  PTI Hawaiian Shores, Stampers Select White, clear cardstock

Inks:  PTI New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist 

Copics: various shades of blue, green, orange and grey - black Multiliner pen

Embossing: Ranger white embossing powder, Versamark Watermark Ink

Stretch Your Stamps - sketched putline

At last!  I have a whole Saturday to myself and I can catch up  with the last couple of Stretch Your Stamps  classes.  This particular technique was about taking solid stamp images to another level by messing around with them - such as double-stamping or blurring the lines and then adding a "sketchy" detail  with a fine Multiliner pen.  Frankly, I tend to stay away from solid stamped images because I prefer to use Copic pens, watercolor or other media with outlines images instead.  It gives a much more personal touch. Loved how this one turned out!  Added a few "dew drops" to finish it off.

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp "Happy Mail", PTI Bold Bouquet

Inks: Memento: Bamboo Leaves, Dandelion, - PTI Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, - Ranger Archival Jet Black ink

Papers: Echo Park: Summer Bliss, Pebbles: Garden Party

Copic Multiliner .03 black ink pen

Stretch Your Stamps II - graphic stamps

Today's class assignment was to use graphic stamps - I always keep a " congrats" card on hand for one or another of my children' s accomplishments - and stars  & sparkles definitely were in order for this one.  I should have stock in 3M foam mounting tape because it's so perfect for shaker cards!

Stretch Your stamps with Paper piecing

When I think of paper piecing. the first thing that comes to my mind is MFT's adorable Pure Innocence stamps.  I love these sweet little girls, who remind me so much of the Joan Walsh

Anglund' books I used to read to my daughters when they were growing up.  I keep a special "tiny print" file of papers on hand to "dress" them with fussy-cutting.  It's like playing with paper dolls again.  In this case, i used this technique for the armchair and the footstool.

One more stamp stretch

One more outlined stamps with watercolor.  Yellow is my most favorite color and today I found an excuse to use it with a floral set from Gina K (love the casual sketchiness) and a happy sentiment from Sunny Day Doodles. Happy, happy happy card!  ...I think I'm done for the day!

Watercolor - Stretch Your Stamps II

Playing with color and design is probably my favorite part of card-making.  This is another project for today's class, using outlined stamps - off center.  I was inspired by the bounty of marigolds in my garden.  And it was so much fun to capture these colors with watercolors!

Beautiful Day! - Stretch Your Stamps II Class

So happy!  Some class projects I have the stuff for and a Saturday that's ALL mine!  This project was about using outline stamps off-center.  When I created the center piece, I had no idea that I actually had a gorgeous piece of Basic Grey 12x12 "fresh cut" paper that fit perfectly.   ...now to get a chore done so I can make another card for today's class!

Lots of pop dots!

I was inspired by one of the videos on Stretch Your Stamps to try using a stylus to create 3-dimensional flower petals.  The stylus has been sitting in my toolbox for months --totally un-used!

This was a fun technique and now I'm sure I'll use it many more times in the future. Thank you Shari Carrol!  

Make It Monday #175

This one took a lot of thought and trials!  First I went I'm the wrong direction with the die cut.

Then, I didn't like some of the colors I used and made some more changes with a second die cut.  

But in the end, I like how it turned out.

Paper:  PTI Vintage Cream, plum Pudfing

Stamps: PTI Doodlie Doo, Meadow Greens,  A Little Inspiration

Color: Copic pens