Thinking of Inking

It’s been a busy week with birthdays.  I’ve sent out 6 birthday cards this week!  I hope everyone who is celebrating has a wonderful, special day.

Today I’m going to share the first of the cards I mailed this week.  I used the Lizzie Anne Designs Weekly Sketch Challenge #103 layout and one of my favorite LAD stamp sets, Party Animals. I paper pieced the bird’s party hat using a scrap of the designer paper, so he coordinates with the rest of the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Naturals Ivory (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper from “Blush” 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: red grosgrain ribbon (Making Memories); Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Stampin’ Up!); Cutterbee scissors

I know, I know, it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted anything.  Three months, to be exact.  Part of the reason why is because it’s been a very busy three months.  Part of the blame lies with my being in a vast creative rut over the last few months.  There are a few more reasons but I won’t bore you with them.

I did make a card recently to send to a friend.  She’s a wonderfully unique person and I was hoping to represent her individuality with the red butterfly, standing out among the brown ones.  I hope she realizes that she is every bit as special as I think she is.

Supplies:
Stamps: Priceless, Spring Garden (Stampin’ Up!); Garden Inspirations (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Naturals Ivory (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: Cutterbee scissors, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Here’s another birthday card I made not too long ago.  This time I used Choc-o-lot Shimmerz on the cupcake icing, and the camera really captured the shimmer!  The layout is Lizzie Anne Designs Sketch Challenge #78 and the stamps are from Lizzie Anne Designs, too.  This is one of my two favorite cards I’ve made with the Stampin’ Up Berry Bliss designer paper.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals, Sketched Sentiments (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Berry Bliss designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate (Stampin’ Up!); Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Wonderful Watercolor Crayons and Purely Pomegranate ribbon (Stampin’ Up!); Choc-o-lot Shimmerz; Windows & Frame Making dies for cutting the circles (Sizzlits); sponge

Recently I decided to try some of the newer items on the cardmaking market.  So I bought some Shimmerz paints.  I was a little dubious at first because I’m not one to go for a lot of glittery stuff.  These aren’t exactly glittery, but they really do shimmer.  They’re gorgeous!  I have only two colors right now, but I do hope to buy more in the future.

Here’s a quick birthday card I made for one of my friends who really loves cupcakes.   I used Opal Shimmerz on the cupcake icing.  The layout is my take on Lizzie Anne Designs Sketch Challenge #80.  I did a tiny bit of paper piecing for the cupcake wrapper. The sentiment is a rub on. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the package it came from. When I find it again, I’ll edit this post to include the manufacturer.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: White Paper Basics (PaperTrey Ink); Pretty in Pink cardstock, Berry Bliss and Tea Party designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Wonderful Watercolor Crayons (Stampin’ Up!); Opal Shimmerz; scalloped circle from Cuttlebug “Harmony” alphabet; circle punch (EK Success); Textured Trios ribbon (Michael’s)

Hi.  I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I’ve had some blog issues, and it’s been a rather busy month.  But hopefully I’ll get back into a routine of posting on here again.  I’ll include two cards in today’s post in an attempt to make up for lost time, ok?

The beginning of June is always a time for celebration in my family because both of my parents have birthdays then.  This year they have both reached ”milestone” years.  I won’t embarrass them by saying just how old they are, but I hope that I will live as long and happy a life as they have.

This is the card I made for my dad.  The three trees are supposed to be symbolic of his three daughters.  I really like the versatility of this stamp set and think it could be used for lots of different occasions.  The layout is Weekly Sketch #81 at Lizzie Anne Designs, and it’s adaptable for a lot of different situations, too. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Birthday Whimsy (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: River Rock, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Western Sky designer series paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: River Rock, Sage Shadow (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: River Rock ribbon (Stampin’ Up!)

Here is Mom’s card.  My mom has always kept her house very tidy and clean - in fact, the only person I’ve met who kept a cleaner house was Mom’s mother!  My dad and sisters and I have often teased her about how frequently she vacuums.  When I saw this stamp image, I just had to get it for a card for Mom.  It makes me giggle every time I see it.  I was able to deliver this to Mom in person, and it made her laugh out loud, too.  The sentiment on the front says “On your birthday…” and on the inside I’d written, “Relax! Take a break from vacuuming!”  The layout for this card is a sketch by my friend Taylor. 

Supplies for this one:
Stamps: Kindred Spirits Sara (Gina K Designs); On Your Birthday (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!); “Bless” from Euphoria 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: petite oval and petite scalloped oval Nestabilities; Prima flower; Making Memories brad; Wonderful Watercolor Crayons and blender pen (Stampin’ Up!)

I hope all my American readers are enjoying the Memorial Day weekend.  Today, I’d like to memorialize some unsung heroes… teachers.  Teachers go through so much to help us learn to be good, responsible citizens, as well as teaching us the usual school subjects.  We’ve all had some excellent teachers and some not-so-great teachers, but I honestly do believe that everyone who goes into the teaching profession does it because they want to help children learn and grow.

Anyway, enough prosey mushy stuff.  The card I’m sharing today is one I made on behalf of the PTA executive board for a teacher who’s retiring at the end of the school year.  I apologize for the poor lighting, but it was the best I could do on a cloudy day.

I got the idea for this card from one I saw posted by Wendy Price in the Lizzie Anne Designs sketchbook.  Thanks for the inspiration, Wendy!  I stamped the pencils on a scrap strip of cardstock and colored them, and then cut them out and adhered them to the card.  It may be difficult to see in the photo, but there are three horizontal scored lines between the pencils and the sentiment.

Stamps: School Days (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: white Paper Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: watercolor pencils (Stampin’ Up!), blender pens, Fiskars trimmer for scoring

It’s been a very long and tiring week for me.  However, I did manage to make time to create a birthday card for a longtime family friend of ours.  How long is “longtime”?  Well, I knew her parents before they had any children.  I used to babysit her when I was a teenager, and then she used to babysit my boys.  Now she’s married and become just a really delightful adult.  I wish her all the best!

Here’s her birthday card.  I used Lizzie Anne Designs‘ weekly sketch #78 for the layout and their Party Animals set for the stamps.  The “extra twist” to the challenge was to go eclectic - so I used colors that I wouldn’t normally put together, which just happened to be the weekly color challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week!  Also, I used VersaMark to stamp a squiggly design on the green square.  I usually don’t think about stamping on designer paper.

Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Summer Sun, Only Orange, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!); Magnifique Moss from French Floral paper pack (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black; VersaMark
Other: orange gingham ribbon (Offray); Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Stampin’ Up!); Window & Frame Making dies (Sizzlits)

Birthday wishes are the order of today’s post.  Two of my friends will be celebrating on Friday - Helen at All Things Stampy and Elizabeth at Shadow’s Stamping Spot.  I hope both of them have a wonderful day!

First, here’s the card I made for Helen.  I made this for one of the Mini Virtual Stamp Night Challenges at Splitcoaststampers two weekends ago.  This is a flap card.  The part you see with the polka-dotted paper folds up from the bottom, and the solid pink curved flap folds down from the top.  It’s secured with magnets concealed by the oval panel and the designer paper.  This was a fun one to make! It’s also the first time I’ve attempted doodling a border.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cheers to You (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance, Whisper White, Tea Party designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Watercolor pencils, Rose Romance marker (Stampin’ Up); magnets (Basic Grey); mega scalloped oval punch (Marvy); oval die (Sizzix)

The second card in today’s post is what I sent to Elizabeth.  She’s a big fan of Shiner Bock beer so it seemed natural to use a Shiner label as the focal point of her card.  The layout for this card is a slight tweak of Lizzie Anne Designs’ Weekly Sketch Challenge #77.  I changed it to a rectangular format.  This is the least amount of stamping I’ve gotten away with on a card in a long time, but I enjoyed making it because I think E will really like it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cheers to You (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: More Mustard, Basic Black, Real Red (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: label from Shiner Bock beer; circle cutting system (Creative Memories)

… for a sweet birthday girl! 

OK, I apologize for the corny-ness.  But the person I made this card for is a very wonderful, smart, beautiful, delightful young lady whom I am proud to call my niece, and I do hope that she enjoyed her 20th birthday recently.

I used Lizzie Anne Designs weekly sketch challenge 73 for the layout.  I’m still not loving the Stampin’ Up color Kiwi Kiss overall, but I really liked this designer paper that uses a lot of that color.  Feel free to tell me what you think!

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black
Other: Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Stampin’ Up!), Red Wagon ribbon (Making Memories), Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle punch, EK Success circle punch

I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately.  My computer’s XD card slot reader has not been working, which means I can’t transfer photos from my camera’s memory card to my computer (because I have no clue where the camera cable is).  Of course, it would also help if I’d been making some cards and such to post on here, too.  But I’ve been doing more thinking of inking than actually stamping.

Here’s a card I made a while ago.  I don’t remember posting it online anywhere yet.  I modified one of the older weekly sketches from Lizzie Anne Designs slightly… the oval on the sketch was at the bottom of the wide bar, but for my card I felt it worked better at the top of the bar.  I tried sponging some Taken with Teal ink on the card base to add a little bit of shading or something, but it doesn’t really show in the photo.  Cutting out the letters was a bit of a pain, but between my Cutterbees and my Xacto knife, I got it done.

Supplies:
Stamps: Fundamental Phrases, Jumbo Outline Alphabet (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Bali Breeze designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: sponge, lots of patience while cutting out the letters!