Seize the Birthday with Cake!

It's time for another Seize the Birthday challenge, and my teammate Shirley has picked a classic: CAKES! Instead of baking a cake, I stencilled one - that's close, right? 

This cake stencil is a lot of fun, as there are a bunch of different ways to *decorate* it. Almost all the family birthday cakes I make are either chocolate or mocha (except for one annual lemon cake request), so I blended a couple of mocha layers and frosted them in chocolate. I used a gel pen to add the stripes to the candle. And only one candle - that's the way it's been lately, if there's a candle at all, it's on the birthday person's piece only. No more blowing all over a cake people are going to eat, it's the pandemic! :D This is my new favourite birthday sentiment - I've used it on the inside of other cards, but it's about time it came to the front of the stage. 

I'm hoping the good people at Simon Says Stamp enjoy a good birthday cake, since I'm adding this to the current Wednesday Anything Goes challenge. 

Lots of yummy-looking inspiration from the StB team and our continuing surprise party guest, Jenny! 

Remember, cake or no cake, we are happy to see all birthday cards in our gallery, so come join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, American Crafts Hip Hip Hooray patterned paper, Concord & 9th Top It Off stamp, Versamark onyx black, MFT biscotti & barn door, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, vintage photo & speckled egg distress inks, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Gelly Roll white gel pen

Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils

Addicted to Stamps and More is back with a new Die Cuts and Stencils challenge! My love for layering stencils for colouring continues, so that is what I used for today's card: 

The last time I used this stamp and stencil set, I used blues, so this time decided to try pinks and purples. I definitely like it both ways! For the sentiment, I die cut the sentiment outline in both white and black cardstock. I stamped and embossed "best" and "ever" in black, and "day" in gold pearl embossing powder. The beginning of the sentiment is stamped and embossed right on the gold banner, then the two layers of die cuts offset slightly for dimension. 

My teammates' cards cover a range of colours, occasions and use of stencils and die cuts! Be sure to visit the ATSM blog, and then play along! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Recollections black cardstock, gold pearl paper, Pigment Craft Co. Delicate Floral Background stamps & stencils, Stacked Sentiments: Best Ever stamps & dies, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, MFT extreme black & spun sugar, picked raspberry, shaded lilac & rustic wilderness distress inks, Wow clear gloss & pale gold pearl embossing powder, MFT blueprints 24 banner die

Hitting the Books

It's the last week of September! How did another month flash by so quickly? It really doesn't seem that long ago we were in sloooow pandemic time, and while covid still hasn't gone away, time has sped up remarkably - for me, at least. All this to say... I never seem to find the time to make cards for challenges that I'm not already part of! But Shopping Our Stash currently has a Back to the Books challenge (okay, until midnight my time...) and I love making book-related cards! While the image that I chose has only been in my stash for a couple of months, the sentiment has lived here since before the pandemic: 

Possibly another reason I lose time for cardmaking - I am very fond of getting lost in a good book. ;) I stamped and masked my reader so she could sit on a pile of TBRs, and coloured her and the books with Copics, as well as the mini book in the sentiment. I used a deckle die to cut out the panel, and found some cardstock scraps in coordinating colours to add a little interest to the card base. And while normally "staging" is one of my least favourite parts of the card blogging process, when it's a book card I always have fun picking which Dickens items I'll use. :D (This time, a couple of 1858 photographs. Photography has been around for a loooong time.) 

If you also like making book-related cards, there are still a few hours left in the challenge! 

Supplies: Neenah white & assorted coloured cardstock scraps, Altenew Tall Tale & Feed Your Craft Page Turner stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Sizzix/Tim Holtz deckle edge die, fun foam

Leaf Cards at Scrap 'n Stamp

 I'm on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today with two cards, featuring two different techniques, and all about today's Random Acts of Cardness prompt, LEAVES! All the deets of how I made them are on the blog. 

The Sisterhood Gets Ugly

Welcome to a Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Saturday! Edna is delightfully illustrating our latest challenge - U is for UGLY. Sometimes, making a card, you want it to be pretty, but something goes wrong, and you think, well darn, that's ugly. Well, now we want you to aim for ugly! Here's mine: 

Have you met Miss O. Stritch? (She is proudly single, and wants nothing to do with that new-fangled MS. title.) Now I'm not trying to insinuate that our dear O is ugly, but she is... different. And as the song from A Chorus Line goes... different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty. :D I started the card by stamping Miss Stritch in the centre, then blending some bright colours around her, adding a bit of stencilling and stamping for interest. O is coloured in Copics, matching the background as much as possible. Of course my Tim Holtz snarky strips offered the perfect sentiment! 

Strange as it may seem, I encourage you to view all the fabulous ugliness over on the Snarky blog, from my teammates and our new Queen of Snark and guest designer MK! Hope you'll get ugly and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Bazzill black cardstock, Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Hipster & Ellen Hutson Stay Cool stamps, MFT extreme black & picked raspberry, salty ocean, wilted violet & crackling campfire distress ink, Copic markers, Winnie & Walter Sci Fi Star stencil, Tim Holtz Small Talk Snarky sentiment sticker

Inkspirational: Retro

It's time for a brand new challenge at Inkspirational, and we have a word prompt: RETRO! I do have some retro-style stamps in my stash, but I also have a fun page of journal-card-size images, so that's how I rolled:

This was obviously a quick and easy card to put together. I rounded the corners of my main image and added a thin black cardstock mat, found a couple of patterned papers that coordinated and ran them through my (retro?) swiss dots embossing folder and put everything together on a cream card base. A little bling also seemed in order, so I went for the more retro rhinestones over the more modern enamel dots. :D 

All kinds of retro fun on the Inkspirational challenge page, so be sure to check out the makes from my teammates! Go retro and join us. 

Supplies: Neenah natural white & SU basic black cardstock, Authentique Party, Vicki Boutin Let's Wander & Dear Lizzy Lucky You patterned papers, Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, Hero Arts gems

Making Mandalas on the Scrap 'n Stamp Blog

It's my turn on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today, and I'm playing with Birch Press dies to make a mandala card. Here's a peek: 

Hope you'll pop over to the blog to see the full card! 

Seize the Birthday: Stitching

It's time for a new Seize the Birthday challenge, and this time around, we are all about STITCHING!  But don't forget, we always welcome all birthday cards in our gallery! Here's what I came up with: 

This card started with the hill - I decided I wanted a hill with stitched lines. It still seemed to need a little more texture, so I also stamped a background pattern all over it. For the sky, I used two colours of distress ink and a blending brush. Stitching shows up on the sun and cloud as well! The cloud was one of many sent to me by a friend a long time ago, and the white was not the same as my celebrating lamb. A good coating of sparkle marker fixed that! 

A lot of my teammates used real stitching - sewing machine or embroidery - on their cards, so be sure to check out the StB page! We also have our continuing surprise party guest, Jenny. Hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, SU garden green & scrap yellow cardstock, Paper Smooches Party Posse & Hero Arts envelope pattern background stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & tumbled glass & broken china distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Paper Smooches stitched, Lil' Inkers small sun & MFT blueprints 29 stitched rectangle dies, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle shimmer marker, foam tape

Color Hues: Purple and Pink

It's *gasp* the second half of September already, and time for a new Color Hues challenge! Our new colour pairing is purple and pink - and I love that these two shades have nothing to do with autumn, or colder weather, or pumpkin spice. ;) I went girly with the hues: 

I would happily take credit for this fab technique, but all glory goes to my Seize the Birthday teammate, Shirley, who also happens to be the designer of this fun dress set! (If you're going to CASE someone, might as well aim high. :D) Here's the card that caught my eye. For my version, I started on watercolour paper, stamping the dress, then adding the top and bottom of the dressmaker's dummy. (Are they still allowed to be called that?) After watercolouring the bodice in purple and the skirt in pink and letting them dry, I sprinkled on some pink frantage embossing powder more or less where I wanted it to go, then heated it (VERY IMPORTANT) from beneath. I added my sentiment, found some matching purple cardstock to add interest down one side, and my card was done! 

Lots of purple and pink eye candy over on the Color Hues page, from my teammates and our latest guest designer, Janet! Take a break from fall hues and join us! 

Supplies: Memory Box vibrant violet cardstock, Ranger watercolour paper, STAMPlorations Party Dresses & Sunny Studio Best Fishes stamps, Versamark & MFT extreme black ink, Simon Says Stamp antique gold & Stampendous shabby pink frantage embossing powder, Zig watercolour markers 

A Tiny Craft: Fall/Autumn ATCs

It's time for the second-ever A Tiny Craft challenge! Our theme this month is Fall/Autumn. I made a series of four ATCs: 

Here's a closer look at each:

I'm actually using my colour sprays!

This background is from a gelli printing session;

it's the sheet from cleaning my brayer off. 

Artist trading cards and coins are such fun to make - so I hope you will play along! 

Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion

At Addicted to Stamps and More, it's time for a new challenge: Any Occasion! It's quite possible that the next time this rolls around, I'll be focussed on Christmas cards, but since I needed a birthday card, that's my occasion this time:

I think the sentiment and this classic image of Einstein pair well, don't you? :D To start, I stamped him on some watercolour paper, then stamped him again so I could mask him while I added watercolour powder, mostly in blue, but with a little bit of green, as well. Of course, both colours have a few other pigments in their mix, adding to the fun background look. Removing the mask, I added just a bit of colour to Alfred's face and tongue. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz sticker that I matted on the same green that I used for the backing panel. Both are mounted on a blue card base. 

The ATSM team have a variety of occasions covered in their inspiration cards - so I hope you'll pick your own occasion and join us! 

Supplies: Hero Arts blue layering & Memory Box lush green cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Viva Las VegaStamps Einstein's Tongue stamp, MFT extreme black ink, Magenta Nuance celadon & spring green watercolour powders, Zig markers, Tim Holtz Small Talk Snarky sticker 

Happy Little Stampers: Stencils

It's time for the September Happy Little Stampers STENCIL challenge! My generous friend Barbara recently sent me a pretty stencil she happened to have a duplicate of (happens to us all!), and I thought I'd show my appreciation by using it for a card: 

This is a full background stencil, but I decided to isolate two of the flower images on it for the opposite corners of my card panel. (By coincidence, my teammate Swapna used this same stencil, and you can see how it looks as a background on her card.) I adhered my panel to a neutral card base, and added the die cut sentiment and some clear Nuvo drops. Quick and easy! 

The design team's cards are a great showcase of the many ways stencils can be used, so I hope you'll visit and be inspired! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Papertrey Ink soft stone & scrap black cardstock, Hero Arts Large Lotus Pattern stencil, fired brick distress ink, Paper Smooches Thanks & Winnie & Walter Katharine Cutaways pierced rectangle dies, Nuvo clear drops

The Sisterhood are Paper Piecing

We are ready for a brand new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, and we're going old-school with P is for Paper Piecing! Of course, old-school made me think of apples, so here is my card: 

 

I have two or three stamps that are my go-tos for paper piecing, but I wanted to do something different. After looking through some of my stamps, I chose this cute little apple - partly because I knew I had this snarky apple-related sentiment. I stamped the apple on the white card base, and then of course on a whole bunch of different papers. I tried to find a patterned paper for the apple flesh, but nothing looked right until I stamped it on some cream coloured cardstock. I ended up stamping the core so many times, I was seeing all kinds of rude things in it! :D I did give up trying to paper piece the tiny seeds, and just coloured them with a Copic marker. I don't know it it's strictly *allowed*, but I decided to add a few backing layers to my paper-piecing, so it has some definition to add interest to the otherwise very clean and simple design. 

The Sisterhood has come up with all kinds of paper piecing brilliance, as has our current Queen of Snark and guest designer, Rachel! Grab your tiny scissors and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & natural white cardstock, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found patterned paper, Unity Mix Up of Cuteness & Ellen Hutson Everyday Punnies stamps, MFT extreme black ink, Copic marker

Inkspirational: Autumn Leaves

It's time for a Designer's Choice at Inkspirational - my choice! And I picked Autumn Leaves... what was I thinking?!? Obviously when I chose it, I _wasn't_ thinking about how tenaciously I try to hang on to summer once September appears. Luckily, a lot of people (not me) embrace the cooler weather and changing colours of fall, so I hope this proves to be a popular theme! Here's my autumn leaves card: 

I do love this intricate maple leaf die, and come to think of it, I always use it in fall colours! I already had one cut out of some cream coloured, speckled cardstock, so chose to start with that. I blended some deep red ink in from the edges, leaving the centre quite pale. I swiped the ink directly onto the border die cut. For my backing panel, I used the same ink with a maple leaf stencil. The sentiment came in a Unity grab bag once, just in case you were wondering how I came to own it. :D 

Fan of autumn or not, I think you will love the variety of beautiful inspiration from my Ink teammates! Be sure to head over to the challenge blog. I hope you will join us! 

Supplies: Neenah natural white & desert storm & Stampin Up naturals ivory cardstock, Unity sentiment stamp, Versamark & fired brick distress ink, Simon Says Stamp antique gold embossing powder, PoppyStamps Maple Leaf die, ARTplorations Autumn Falling stencil

For the Birds at Scrap 'n Stamp

Happy September Blog Hop! This month, the Scrap 'n Stamp design team are ruffling their creative tail feathers with a FOR THE BIRDS theme! I managed to find a few birds to put on my card: 

I'm using the fun Concord & 9th Birdie Talk turnabout stamp set and coordinating dies. Confession time though: I have yet to master this particular turnabout stamp. Luckily, the design itself is funky enough that I can get away with things being slightly off... that's what I tell myself, at least! :D It did help me come to the design decision to add a vellum panel over it - of course, it's really to make sure the big die cut bird doesn't fade into the background. ;) The bird, branch and speech bubble are cut from various colours of cardstock scraps. I picked one of the set's sentiments to white emboss on the speech bubble. It was easy to adhere the vellum onto the card base - I just added my adhesive under the bird, branch and bubble! 

As we do every month, we are offering a $50 gift certificate to one lucky blog hop commenter! Here's the master list: 

Tara

Susan

Kia

Chala

Deborah

Lindsey ---> you are here!

Jessica ---> next and final stop!

And we have a sale to go with our hop! 

Have a great weekend!

Supplies: Neenah white & scrap coloured cardstock, vellum, Concord & 9th Birdie Talk stamps & dies, Versamark & Memento cantaloupe, new sprout, teal zeal & nautical blue ink, Wow white embossing powder, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die

Happy Little Stampers: CAS

A new month means a new round of challenges at Happy Little Stampers, and today it is time for a new CAS challenge! Our theme this month is Winged Things. I took the obvious route and put a bird on it: 

It is possible I'm pushing the clean and simple envelope by using a gelli plate print as my background panel - but I'm pretty sure the "clean" refers to a clean design, not how messy the production might have been ;). And if you have any experience with making these, it can be a quick and simple process. This background was simply three inks swiped on the plate, brayered to smooth and blend them, and then printed onto the cardstock. To make sure the rest of my card was CAS, I die cut the white bird silhouette and stamped and embossed the sentiment. A trio of Nuvo drops finished everything off. 

You will see a variety of winged things on the HLS challenge blog! I hope we have inspired you to join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Altenew Inky Bouquet stamp, Versafine onyx black & shaded lilac, tumbled glass & spun sugar distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, CUTplorations perched bird & MFT diagonal stitched rectangle dies, Nuvo drops

Seize the Birthday: Pastels

Here we are with the first Seize the Birthday challenge for September! JoAnn has picked our new optional *topping*, and it is Use PASTEL Colours Only. Wow, who knew that one simple word could cause such an immediate brain freeze? :D Eventually I created this card: 

Clean and simple and very pastel! I started with my card base, masking off most of it with a torn paper mask. I blended three pastel shades of distress ink along the left side. I then used the same inks to stamp a music background over top. I angled the stamp on purpose - way better than trying to stamp a background cling stamp straight and being just a tiny bit off. ;) I die cut my flowers and sentiment banner from white cardstock, using the same pink ink to colour the sentiment border and stamp the sentiment. 

Jenny returns as our surprise party guest, and she and the design team have worked wonders with pastel colours! With or without the the topping, I hope you'll join us with your own birthday card creation. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Local King Rubber Stamp Notes & Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments stamps, Versamark & spun sugar, milled lavender & tumbled glass distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies & Paper Smooches Bannerific dies