Shaker Birthday Card

It is my Great-nephew Oakley's 12th birthday in July.  He is a fun kid and loves to tell stories.  I have called him my little monkey all his life because he can't sit still and bounces around.  So, I wanted to make him a fun card for his birthday.  I decided to make a shaker card and learned I have to rub the foam tape more or add cornstarch to keep the sequins from sticking.  Just a tip for you to have.  I wanted bright colors to match his personality.

Here's the front of the card.  You can see the sequins stuck all over.  Bah and it

still looks fun.  For the background I used Stampin Up (SU) Playful Backgrounds 

(141920) in SU Pool Party with some stamped off for a varied effect.  For the 

front of the shaker window I use Stamp of Approval's (SOA) Forever Young Collection

using the balloons and confetti in SU Daffodil Delight, Tangelo Twist, and Pool Party inks.

The highlight cardstock is SU Marina Mist.  The sentiment come from SOA's Forever Young

Collection stamped in SU Archival Black.

The inside of the card uses SU Remembering Your Birthday (R)

set for the scattered dots and the sentiments.

Here is the front again and the envelope.  I think it is

so much fun to decorate the envelope, especially when you 

mail your card.  Then you bring a moment of joy for all 

those postal employees who touch it and for the recipient

of the card.

I hope this gives you some ideas about color combinations, layouts,

or shaker cards.  Have fun creating and share your work with others.

Butterfly Stencil Card

One of the trends I discussed in my June class was the use of stencils in a variety of ways.  I also talked about people making their own stencils to create looks they like.  In case you haven't noticed, I love butterflies.  Using SU Butterflies Thinlit and Bold Butterfly Framelits, and one other die I created my own butterfly stencil.  I used my stencil to create the card below for my July SU Demonstrators class.

I started with SU Wisteria Wonder to lay a light foundation

for each butterfly.  Then I added Sweet Sugarplum 

followed by SU Perfect Plum and finally

by a light accent of SU Elegant Eggplant.  I added

more ink until I had the look I wanted.  I didn't like

the stark white background so very lightly added 

Wisteria Wonder and Sweet Sugarplum.  I edged the

card with Elegant Eggplant.

The butterflies are die cut with SU Butterflies Thinlit; the large 

one in Perfect Plum and the small one in Sweet Sugarplum.

The sentiment is from the SU November 2015 Paper Pumpkin

stamp set in SU Archival Black.

I'm going to try to make a few more stencils.  I hope you try it too.

You can use window sheets or  transparency sheets.  Use dies cuts and/or

punches to create the look you want.  These stencils aren't stiff

and can be a little hard to work with.  I think it is fun to 

create something of my own.

SU 2016-18 Watercolor card

For the class I taught in June, I had a simple sample of a watercolor card.  It was actually the birthday card for my 13 year old great nephew.  I needed a new watercolor sample for the class I was going to do for SU Demonstrators in July.  I love the new SU 2016-18 in colors and decided to use them.  I wanted to use the watercolor brush stroke stamp from the SU April 2016 Paper Pumpkin Everything stamp set.

I started by stamping the watercolor brush stroke in

each color slightly over lapping each color.  I started

with Peekaboo Peach, Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum,

Emerald Envy, and ended with  Dapper Denim.  

I thought I would stop there and then decided to go

one step further.  I spritzed the colors with water

first and then used a water brush to to spread the 

colors and emphasize the brush stroke.  I liked

the look and how it showed different shades 

of each color and added new colors when the 

colors blended together.

The sentiment is from the SU Layering of Love

stamp set in Dapper Denim.  I added SU Enamel

Accents in each color along the left side.  The accent 

panel is  Dapper Denim.

Many people have said that the new 2016-18

in colors don't go together.  I disagree.  I think they 

go together better than the in colors from the 

last few years.  I think this card shows how

they can go together.

Mood Board Card

When I am looking for inspiration I will often look for mood boards.  There are so many ways for me to be inspired to be creative; colors, one of the images, both, the layout of the image...  This card was inspired by the mood board below.  I love the colors of pinks and greens in many different forms. The image that most caught my eye were the roses.  I immediately thought of my SU Birthday Blooms stamp set and the new in color Flirty Flamingo and 2015-17 in color Mint Macaron.  I decided to do a simple card that highlighted the rose.  

Mood Board from Stamp Nation

So what do you think?  I love this card and plan

to make more in a variety of colors with different 

sentiments.  I hope you find some inspiration

from the mood board and the card.

Update on the Patterned Paper card

This is the fourth and last update card from the June 1st Trends and Techniques class to be used for a SU Demonstrator class in July.  The next posts will be new cards that I didn't create for the June 1st class.

Here is the original card I made for the patterned paper trend.  Both cards have a 

similar layout.  The difference is the second card is made with SU paper, dies,

 stamps, and inks.  I love both cards.

Here is the update card.  I used SU Moonlight Designer paper (R) for

the cut out arrow pattern.  SU Lost Lagoon is the accent paper and

used for the top 'happy' die cut work from SU Hello You Thinlits. I also

cut it out in black and used that as a shadow behind the Lost Lagoon.

 SU Whisper White is the card base and front panel. 

 The sentiment 'Everything'

is from April 2016 Paper Pumpkin Everything stamp set.

Do you have a favorite?

Update on Ombre and use of Dies card

This is third update card from my Trends and Techniques class offered on June 1st (see June 5th post) to be used at my July SU Demonstrators class.  This is the ombre/rainbow card that also included use of dies on cards.

This is the Ombre/Die card from the June 1st class.  I did the Ombre in rainbow colors and used a complimentary pop color for the die cut word 'friend' and the sentiment stamp.  On this card I added small flowers along with the hearts that were stenciled.

For the update card, the layout is similar.  I did an ombre of 

blue hearts using SU Soft Sky, Pool Party, and Marina Mist inks.  I 

scattered the hearts across the card and like this look better.

For the die cut 'hello' I cut it out twice; once in Pool Party

and once in Marina Mist.  I put the Marina Mist in the back

to create a shadow effect.  For the sentiment, I created a 

banner and popped it up.

I like both cards, there are so many ways to change

the layout and colors to create a different look.  I

hope this inspires you to create your own design.

Update on Copper Card

I took some of my cards from my June 1st Trends and Techniques class and updated them using Stampin' Up products for a Demonstrators class in July.  Here is another card I updated.  Copper is huge this year and can be found in ink, embossing powder, thread, ribbon, sequins....

Here is the card I made for the June 1st class.  This card was made with stamps and sentiments from the SOA Beautiful World Collection.  The sentiment is from a SU retired stamp set.

The update card is similar in style as the original card.

I use SU Flourishing Phrases stamp set and dies.  I love 

this stamp set.  You will probably see a lot of cards made 

from this particular stamp set.

The flourish in the upper corner was stamped and 

embossed.  The flower in the lower left corner was 

die cut, stamped with Versamark and embossed

in copper embossing powder.  The sentiment is stamped 

in SU Archival Black.

I love both of these cards.  I do think there is a slightly better

layout on the update card. These stamps were made to go

 together and that helps.

Busy, just haven't posted

I have really been busy stamping and playing; just not posting.  I am making a commitment to post at least once a week.  So, this will be the beginning of my posts for the cards made in June.

I taught my class on June 1st (see my earlier post on June 5th), so much fun.  Then I was asked to do a class on the Trends and Techniques I taught on June 1st for other SU Demonstrators on my team. That was really fun.  Talking and playing with other creative stampers, there is nothing better.  We ended the class by making the Butterfly Watercolor card from the class.  For this class I made cards that I didn't make as samples for the June 1st class.  I also updated some of the cards using Stampin' Up products.  So, here is the first of my posts for these cards.

Color Book Card Update:

Here is the original card I made using Stamp of Approval (SOA) Beautiful World Enchanted Garden stamps and Two Yous dies.

Finding stamps to use from Stampin' Up was more difficult than I thought.  I didn't have as many potential stamps so am on the look out for SU stamp sets to add to my library of stamps in the future.

I did find an unique array of stamps;  Everything Eleanor (R), Creative

Elements (R), and October 2015 Paper Pumpkin stamp set.  The pop of color is

SU Watermelon Wonder.  The die cut You is from SU Hello You Thinlits.  I used 

this die set a lot for these update cards.

Which do you like best?

Baby Bear Love

When I first saw the cards made with the SU Baby Bear stamp set I was a goner.  There were two babies on their way and I knew this was the card to make.  Be still my beating heart. I got to make one for a little girl and one for a little boy, lucky me.

Aren't they adorable.  Both bears were made with the 

same colors; SU Sahara Sand and Archival Basic Gray.

This is a three step stamp set.  The light color is 

Sahara Sand.  Next it is Basic Gray stamped off.  Last

was full Basic Gray.

So here is the card for the little girl.  The bow

is made with SU Blushing Bride and Flirty Flamingo.

The accent color is Flirty Flamingo.  The rest of 

the card is done in SU Whisper White.

The inside of the card.  The sentiments here and

on the front are Basic Gray.  The hearts are in 

Flirty Flamingo.

The front of the card and envelope.  I added a little 

glitz to the bow with the Spectrum Noir glitter brush.

Now, the card for the little boy.  The bow is 

done in SU Soft Sky and Pool Party with the 

glitz from the Spectrum Noir glitter brush.  The

accent panel is Pool Party.

The sentiments on the front and inside of the card 

are done in SU Basic Gray.  The hearts are Pool Party.

Here is the front of the card and the envelope.  I love the 

Hello Baby which is from the Tin of Cards stamp set.  The 

hearts are from the  Tin of Cards stamp set as well.

Babies are so sweet and so are these cards.