Mama Elephant Color Challenge 01

Dear Reader,

Mama Elephant is having their first color challenge...the blog post is HERE.  I had first discovered Mama Elephant about a month or so ago and was immediately smitten with their designs.  As I love the color scheme (in fact my rooms are in reds and aquas) and I *needed* to ink up some of their fun stamps I decided to try the challenge even though I had somehow forgotten about it until last night.

I was watching "Now, Voyager" with Bette Davis and perhaps it influenced me a bit.  Do you see the little stamped piece of washi over the aqua heart?  Like Charlotte in the movie, this little heart is mended and the healed heart is even more dazzling than before...or so I like to imagine was my unconscious reasoning for my design choices.    

Regardless, this is a sweet little card celebrating love in all its many facets which is pretty appropriate as we look at beginning a new year.  I used the hearts and arrows from On Target, tag from No Peeking and wood clip and washi tape from We Click.  I double stamped the wood clip to give the appearance of depth and mimic the real deal...it was immediate love with that one stamp.

If I don't get a chance later, I wish all of you a new year brimming with laughter, good health, possibilities and most of all love in all its incarnations.

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
Stamps: No Peeking, On Target and We Click, Mama Elephant
Ink: speckled egg and cough syrup, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger
Cardstock: white, Georgia-Pacific
Other: diamond Stickles, Ranger; silver glitter fabric tape; foam dimensional adhesive, Stampin' Up!; corner chomper, We R Memory Keepers

Mosaic Birthday Card

Dear Reader,

Over the Thanksgiving break I watched a lot of Youtube videos with my mom (my sister reluctantly and not so happily watched some too).  She is over the moon for them and also fell in love with Lawn Fawn, October Afternoon and Betsy Veldman (I think they are all pretty swell too).  She also really liked Laura Craigie's Finally Friday videos for Two Peas in a Bucket.  One such card was the inspiration for the card I made.  To see Laura Craigie's card go HERE.

My aunt's favorite color is kelly green, but she also loves red so that was the genesis of this card.  I remembered the mosaic square tile technique Laura Craigie used and decided to give it a whirl for this card.  Having punched or cut out squares a lot in the past, her technique did indeed save a lot of time and effort.

I picked out patterned paper from Crate Paper's Story Teller collection (love this collection!)...perfect colors and patterns for this card.

I will tell you a secret.  I wrapped a border of red washi around my panel of squares because of some issues with how the edges looked (they were a bit unsightly).  Like Julia Child said, no one needs to know what happened in the kitchen...or studio in this instance.

Another issue arose when I tried to stamp upon the today sticker label from the phrase stickers from the Story Teller collection...the surface did not like my inks and it became an issue so I had to find some layers to add on top to cover up the stamping fiasco.

The red grid sticker came from my much used State Fair Die Cut Stickers from the State Fair collection by Studio Calico.  The other die cuts all come from the Sidewalks Flower Sack by October Afternoon.  I sure hope they bring Flower Sacks back because they are awesome!

Last touch was the trio of pearls to create the butterfly's body.  The whole panel was then adhered to a white cardbase.

More detail:

Inside:

Thank you so much for visiting!

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
Today Square Mosaic Birthday Card
stamp: happy birthday from In & Out: Birthday, Papertrey Ink
ink: seed packet, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger
Cardstock: solar white, Neenah Paper
Patterned Paper: from Story Teller collection, Crate Paper
Other: red grid label sticker, State Fair collection by Studio Calico; today sticker label, Story Teller collection by Crate Paper; die cuts, Sidewalks collection by October Afternoon; pearls, The Paper Studio; washi tape

A Hexagon Birthday Card

Dear Reader,

How about I share a card for a teenaged boy today?

Why not, you say.

Whew!  What a relief because that is what I have for you.

If you follow my blog you may notice some similarities with many of my recent cards:

1. White cardbase. Check
2. Patterned Paper. Check, Check, Check, Check and Check
3. Labels. Check
4. Stickers. Check and Check
5. Date stamp. Check, Check, Check, Check, Check and Check.

Hexagons may be a thing of the past (I know many are way, way over them), but I still like (okay, more than like) them and I thought they would be a good shape to use for a guy.  I simply stamped a hexagon outline stamp from Studio Calico's 35mm Kit (from May 2012) several times on patterned paper and cut out and pieced them together on the card front in a pattern I liked.  All of the patterned paper came from the Central High Card Kit by Studio Calico (from September 2012).

All of the stamps are also from Studio Calico with the exception of the happy birthday which is from Papertrey Ink.

Another element added to this card was vellum to soften the bold pattern and color of the sticker label from State Fair, an older collection by Studio Calico.

Closer view:

Inside (same green label stamp from the front of the card simply cut into a rectangle):

What do you think?  Okay even with all those hexagons?  Hopefully the teenager thought so.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to visit.  I hope you have a brilliant weekend!

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:

Hexagon Birthday Card
stamps: hexagon from 35mm kit, Studio Calico; for you stamp from Venice Beach add-on kit, Studio Calico; label (green label which happy birthday is stamped upon) from School Life stamp set, Studio Calico; a day to remember stamp from Awesome stamp set, Studio Calico; date stamp from Story Hour kit (March 2012), Studio Calico; happy birthday from In and Out: Birthday stamp set, Papertrey Ink
ink: tuxedo black, Memento by Tsukineko; stick candy and weather vane, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger; black soot, Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger
cardstock: white, Georgia-Pacific
Patterned Paper: 6x6 paper pad from Central High Card Kit (September 2012), Studio Calico
other: vellum; washi tape; Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz; State Fair cardstock stickers, Studio Calico

Lawn Fawn's 2013 Winter CHA Challenge: ABCs

Dear Reader,

I am once again attempting Lawn Fawn's Winter CHA challenge.  For a flashback of last year's entries go HERE.

This time around I took on their ABCs (alphabets).  I went with something a bit different and graphic in monotones. I can see myself playing around for more variations and patterns.

My first card uses the "w" from Quinn's ABCs to create a cool pattern.  The sentiment was built using Smitty's ABCs and I wanted to play off the "w" by including the word why.

Here is another shot to see the pattern and dimension a little better:

Next, I took on the letter "x" from Quinn's ABCs to again create a great background.  X is perfect for xmas so I stamped, cut out, colored in and then added some Martha Stewart glitter glue in turquoise and gold to the "merry mas" all from Quinn's ABCs.  To make the one "x" stand out I did not color it in.

One more picture to see the pattern, dimension and glitter (although it is more glittery in person):

I think they turned out pretty cute and a fun way to use some of my favorite alphabet stamp sets.

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
why, hello card
stamps: Quinn's ABCs and Smitty's ABCs, Lawn Fawn
ink: seed packet, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger
cardstock: white, Georgia-Pacific; dark green from stash
Copics: YG11 Mignonette
other: embroidery floss

merry xmas card

stamps: Quinn's ABCs, Lawn Fawn

ink: spice tin, Jenni

cardstock: white, Georgia-Pacific; Night of Navy, Stampin' Up!

Copics: Bo1 Mint Blue and BG07 Petroleum Blue

other: turquiose and gold glitter glue, Martha Stewart Crafts

One Design, Two Cards

Dear Reader,

Today I bring you a couple of cards that have the same design with changes in colors and other elements.  Don't tell anyone, but the cards are for brothers that are born in the same month and so I did them at the same time.  I actually really enjoy coming up with one design I like and play off it by customizing it for the particular person with colors, themes and/or motifs I know they prefer.  This saves me a ton of time in trying to come up with another original concept for a card.

I have found that an element I really like to add to some birthday cards is the recipient's day and month of birth (including the year I am making the card) to make it more personal.  There are a slew of new roller date stamps coming out from American Crafts that make this really easy and for an even simpler solution go to any office supply store and pick up a roller date stamp.

For these cards I wanted to play with Happy Day stamp set from My Mind's Eye and surprisingly enough the paper comes from Crate Paper's Little Boy Blue 6x6 paper pad which is for little boys, but has some really versatile papers for use for men or women.  Other elements I used were die cuts from Studio Calico and labels from Basic Grey.

Hope you are enjoying your December!

Happy creating,
Shay.