A Daughter's Birthday!

My oldest daughter had a birthday at the end of June.  I have been absent from my craft room for most of the last five months, except for a card here or there, and I have missed making many cards for the special people in my life.  So, I said to myself, "You really must get your creative mojo going and get a card made for your lovely daughter."  And, so I did.  Here is the card that I found a bit of creativity to create for daughter, Michele!  She was very pleased to get a handmade birthday card from Mom.  I think she was surprised and figured I was still avoiding my craft room!

And, here is the inside design and verse.  I am desperately in need of a new printer...it just won't print a clear font; therefore, it is a bit blurry on several lines.

I decided to use my daughter's favorite colors on her card...teals and blues.  I wanted to use a hydrangea bouquet and remembered Stampin' Up's Bouquet Bunch framelits.  I sponged them with similar colors, but added a touch of lilac in the flowers, plus sparkly glitter to the flowers and sentiment die-cut.  I did trim my flower stems and branches just a touch to fit the die-cut framing size that I used.  I offset the die-cut framing to the left side to add a criss-cross ribbon lacing that I learned from fellow cardmaking, Liz Thayer, several years ago.  I used Lots of Labels to die-cut a Shimmer White mat to host my bouquet and stamped it with splatters using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and Highland Heather ink.  

Next, I die-cut eight of the four-petal flower bunch to overlay and overlap each other onto my flower stems to give the bouquet depth.  I sponged them with Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise, and Highland Heather inks.  After overlapping them to form the bouquet, I applied Wink of Stella-Clear for shimmer, but it didn't seem enough, so before it dried, I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter, which is really sparkly, but unfortunately, it does not show up in the photo.  I sponged white cardstock in the same inks to make the sentiment die-cut and inside petite scalloped corners.  I used glue stick to apply the sparkly glitter to these pieces as well after I had die-cut the sentiment and punched the corners. 

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Shimmery White, Whisper White.  Inks--Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise, Highland Heather.  Stamps--Beautiful Bouquet.  Dies--Bouquet Bunch framelits, Lots of Labels.  Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  Other:  Recollections Purple Passion.  BoBunny Kiwi Double Dot.  Cottage Cutz Expressions: Happy Birthday.  EK Punch: Medium Scallop Corner.  Offray double-stitch pale aqua ribbon.  Queen & Co. Iridescent Purple Goosebumps. Chatterbox verse.  Size: 4-3/4 x 6 in. 

Sunshine on a Serene Scene!

One of my husband's best friends has a birthday at the end of November, and he wanted me to make him a nice birthday card.  Masculine cards sometimes play havoc with my mojo.  To get started, I focused on the current Splitcoaststamper Alphabet Challenge.  I am several weeks behind, so I had a variety of letters to work with.  When I saw Letter S/ theme: sunshine, I thought of a scenic card that I made back in January at a card class, using a new Stampin' Up stamp: Waterfront.  Our hostess-designer was Luci Kirschenbaum, and I decided to CASE her card design, because I loved it and the stamp set so much.  It fits the alpha letter/ theme perfectly as a lovely scene with its sun.

For my new card, I made my watercolor scene panel just a bit smaller so more of the deep green mat would show around the edges and contrast with the navy patterned paper background.  I watercolor-stamped my scene with less "stamping off" so that I would have darker and richer color hues...not quite so pastel as the design sample.  My changes to the scene were to position my trees closer to the mountain base rather than in the green meadow, and I moved the sun a bit higher in the sky to suggest more daylight and sunshine as though it was earlier in the afternoon.  I also added more splatters all the way down to the bottom of the panel...I just love splatters!  I also made my sentiment into a double fishtail flag instead of a rectangle.  

For the inside design, I also followed Luci's plan with changes.  I centered my birthday verse instead using her left offset.  I did stay with the left offset for my mountain and trees, but not as far off the edge, so my mountain range is longer. I also raised the images about 3/4-inch so the tree trunks did not sit right at the paper ege.  When I was done fussing with it, I was pleased with the end results.  Take a peek below, inside and out, I think my husband's friend will like his card.  It may remind him of some lovely camping spots he was visited throughout the years, as he and his wife loved to camp as well!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White, Crumb Cake.  Patterned Paper--Delightful Daisy.  Stamps--Waterfront, Perennial Birthday (sentiment/ inside verse).  Ink--Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzaz, Daffodil Yellow.  Water-base Marker: Black.  Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches.

Fun Birthday Splatters For A Niece!

One of my sister's girls has a birthday in my birthday month of August.  I thought I would like to try out the Splatter Technique that I was briefly introduced to just about a year ago in late August at a cardmaking/ teaching class given by the Stampin' Up duo. . .Dara Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum.  This first try was on a Christmas card, and it seemed a simple enough technique and quite effective so I thought I would try it again.  Take a look at my niece's finished card, which I cased using a card design by Darla Watson, a California Stampin' Up demonstrator that I visited during my trip south this past spring. 

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Bermuda Bay, Whisper White.  Sponging Ink--Pear Pizzazz, Bermuda Bay.  Stamp--Sassy Salutations (retired).  Stamp Ink: Old Olive.  Sequins--Metallics.  Splattering: Bermuda Bay Ink.  White Emobssing Powder.  Papertrey Ink stamp--Inside & Out: Birthday I.  Size: 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".  (Thanks Darla Watson for your lovely original design).

The Story & Tidbits

Darla's card that I chose to case was definitely a clean and simple style, of which I am not generally a fan, but this particular card used one of my favorite color combination: teal and pear green; thus, it really caught my eye.  The original card had a less splatters on the front, as it was achieved by stamping the splatters with Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.  For me, it didn't have enough splatters, thus the idea came to mind to use the Splatter Technique that I had learned and used that one time.  It achieves a similar look to spritzing as well, but I find it much more controllable and your splatters do not end up as large, which is what I wanted in this case. 

First, I heat-embossed my sentiment with white embossing ink.  Next, I sponged my ink colors onto the front area as shown on the card.  I sponged until I achieved the color depth I desired.  The final step is to add your splatters either by stamping with an appropriate stamp, such as Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge, or by using the Splatter Technique, which I describe below.

The Splatter Technique is achieved by using a water brush, (in Stampin' Up lingo, it's called an Aqua Painter), which has its hollow barrel filled with water, stamping ink, and the flicking motion.  For your color, you can use a bottle of stamp re-inker by dropping a few droplets onto the inside lid of its matching stamp ink pad, or by squishing your stamping ink onto its box lid, or dropping your ink onto a large acrylic stamping block (because it cleans up easily).  There are other ideas out there as well.  For the flicking motion: gently squeeze the water brush barrel to load your brush tip with water, dip the wet water brush into the re-inker drops, lay the barrel of the water brush across your pointer finger about one inch below its bristles, and finally, flick (or snap) the brush barrel below the bristles with your other hand.  Reload your brush with water as needed and with ink, and repeat the flicking motion until you get enough splatters to suit.  The distance the brush is away from your paper will change the splatter effect.  So, practice with it, achieve the color intensity desired, you feel comfortable with the flicking motion, and you achieve the look you like.  

If you do not have a water brush, you can also use a regular paint brush (like one that comes in a children's paint set),  dip and wet its brush well into a small container of water and then into your ink drops and flick.  For the most intense color, you can use a regular paint brush, dampening it just to moisten, wipe off excess water on a paper towel, and dip directly into your ink drops and flick.  You can also mix your ink color and water prior to flicking.  The formula I was told to use for this method was approximately one tablespoon of water to one to three drops of re-inker, depending on how dark you want your ink splatters to be.

As you can see, there are a variety of Splatter Techniques and even more than I have mentioned.  Check it out on Pinterest or YouTube videos. . .enjoy Splattering!!!