Balloon Birthday Bash

Over on the Papertrey Ink blog yesterday, Laurie’s Fabulous Favorites was all about a favorite sentiment.  I’ve always thought that PTI did flowers and sentiments very well – you should see my stash!  It was hard to pin down a favorite for me, so I took my need for a birthday card for my son-in-law to the next level with one of my favorite designer’s birthday die. I love Dawn McVey’s Say It Simply series, and the Lovely Birthday die is a favorite of mine.  So, I did this card for both Joshua and for the Win It Wednesday challenge and contest.  I used some masculine type colors (I checked with my daughter about his favorite colors other than Duke blue!) and added a bright yellow birthday balloon to pop off of the mellower tones of blue and green balloons.  I liked how my card turned out.  I just couldn’t resist a bit of bling on this great sentiment die though. Sorry Joshua!  Your mama-in-law loves her bling!

·      Stamp set(s):  PTI – Birthday Balloons Stamp Set, Birthday Strings Stamp Set (inside)    

·      Ink(s):  PTI – Fresh Snow, Lemon Tart, Bright Buttercup, Stormy Sea, Pinefeather, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Weathervane

·      Paper:  PTI – Rustic White; Paper Studio – Aqua glitter paper

·      Dies & Embossing folders:  PTI – Say It Simply:  Lovely Birthday Die, Birthday Balloon Die

Thank you for stopping by my blog and taking a look. I do so enjoy making cards for my family and friends.  I have an anniversary card to do for my husband – we share our anniversary with our son-in-law’s birthday.  I’ll also be doing a birthday card for my granddaughter.  She is turning 4 years old next month.  I’ve gotta do a special one for her.  So be on the look out for some more eye candy coming your way! 

Inside Sentiemtn

Many Blessings,

Donna

Wintery Watercolor Birthday

          I have never tried water coloring with reinkers before but was inspired by the PTI’s blog post for Make It Monday on 1/7/2019 to try.  I wanted to get it in for that contest that goes with that but my DreamBox from The Original ScrapBox arrived on Tuesday.  I’ll have more on that later once I get my craftroom back together. I’ve got lots of arrival, building and before pics of my craftroom a.k.a. smallest of 3 bedrooms in out townhome. But I wanted to try my hand.  I had some trouble with the ink kind of settling and “staining” the paper.  I don’t know if it was my technique or paper or what.  I’m still pretty new to watercoloring with watercolors from Prima, Altenew and Zig Real Brush markers so…  Anyway, this is  how my final card looked though not in time for last week’s Make It Monday, but I did try something new!  Yeah for me letting perfectionism go.  I even debated whether to share it here, but I figure many of you out there are pretty much like me and as Jennifer McGuire said in one of her videos about watercoloring to not look for perfection but enjoy the moment or something similar (my take on her statement).

·      Stamp set(s):  PTI – Mountain Majesty SS;  MFT-Big Birthday Sentiment 

·      Ink(s):  PTI – Spring Rain, Blueberry Sky, & Enchanted Evening Reinkers; Enchanted Evening and Pinefeather Stamp Pads

·      Paper:  PTI – Spring Rain CS; Strathmore Watercolor Cold Pressed Paper, 400 Series 140#

·      Dies & Embossing folders:  PTI – Mountain Majesty Die; Signo White Gel Pen; SU – Frosted Retired snowflakes and sequins

·      Embellishments/Other things of note:  Wink of Stella Clear Pen 

Overall, I like the way the card turned out even with the uneven – to me – shading of the sky but it does have a wintry feel with the snowflakes and silver toned sequins.  Besides, my brother for whom I made this card will appreciate the effort – well maybe; he is after all my older brother and you now how they can be! J  That’s all for now.   Hope you’re having a great day!  

Many Blessings,

Donna

Masculine Spring Birthday

My husband has a late April Birthday so when it came around this year, I wanted to incorporate some of the lovely spring green with a mountain theme.  We prefer the mountains over the beach.  I remembered this Heartfelt Creations image I bought a while ago and it seemed the perfect fit.  I stamped it and went to coloring with my Copics!  I also used a new embossing folder from WeRMemoryKeepers.  I had seen this particular basket weave one on a blog, and since I used to sell Longaberger Baskets in another life, I just couldn’t resist. These Next Level EF are the best - they are so rich in texture!  I used the MFT Plaid Patterns paper to break up all of the detail from the embossing folders!  I liked how it turned out! 

• ·         Stamp set(s):  HFC-Mystic Hideaway
• ·         Ink(s):  Memento Tuxedo Black
• ·         Paper:  MFT- Plain Patterns 6x6 Paper Pack; X-Press It Blending Card;      SU-Hello Honey & Gumball Green(ret.)                           
• ·         Dies & Embossing Folders:  PTI-Limitless Layers 3.5” Ovals Dies; Cottage Cutz-Happy & Birthday
• ·         Embellishments/Other things of note:  Copic Markers(picture),  Zva Creative Crystals & WRMK Woven EF

 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Oh, the embossing folders from WRMK are newer; and I couldn’t find them locally, so I contacted Tupelo Designs, LLC.  They found it for me, and I now have 2 Woven folders.  They were only $9.99 for 2 6x6” folders!  They have them in stock on their website now!  Just a plug for a newer company!

Many Blessings,

Donna

Falling for MOJO Monday 312

 

If you are coming here from MOJO Monday 312, I had a DUH!!! Moment and posted the inside of one of the cards!  So sorry, but I didn't know how to remove the pic!  :-( 

          

          It’s really beginning to feel like fall around Central North Carolina so my thoughts have been turning to fall colors!  My husband and I love to head to the mountains this time of year to see the fall colors along the Blue Ridge Parkway, so with our son having a birthday today and the need for a special card to send some friends, I headed right for my Heartfelt Creations Falling Leaves set.

·       Stamp set(s):  Heartfelt Creations – Falling Leaves & Pumpkin/Autumn Vines; Stampin’ Up! – Blooming with Kindness & Word Play; Papertrey Ink – Wonderful Words - Memories

·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie & Cajun Craze

·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Core’dinations Early Espresso CS; Early Espresso & Pumpkin Pie CS

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Spellbinders – Pumpkin Nestabilities; Stampin’ Up! – Woodgrain EF

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Jewels Basic Rhinestones; American Crafts Ribbon

My card is 5½” by 4¼”.  I stamped the “background patterned paper” using the maple leave shaped stamp starting with the Crushed Curry inkpad.  I cut out the 2 strips of Core’dination Early Espresso and ran them through the Big Shot with the Woodgrain EF and then distressed them with Stampin’ Up!’s sanding blocks to bring out the woodgrain pattern.  I chose to run the strips of ribbon along the horizontal axis instead of vertically.  It looked too busy with the ribbon on the vertical axis – besides, I wanted to showcase the lovely fall colored leaves.  The inside panel of each card is below along with the MOJO Sketch for this week for you to compare my take on the sketch.  These cards have a masculine feel to them as the recipients are males – our son and an old high school and college friend of my husband’s and his wife, but would be great cards for anyone especially during the fall.

Thanks for taking a minute and taking a look at my card creations.  Please leave me a thought or comment if you are so inspired.  I love hearing from my visitors!

Many Blessings,

Donna