colorwhimsy

Birthday Treat Box

Today is my birthday, and I felt like celebrating with a birthday blog post.  I have been using the new Gossamer papers for Valentines, but really, they work for all occasions.  Okay, perhaps not a boy birthday, but can't you see this paper for a bridal shower, Mothers' Day, or any spring event?  It is hard to tell from the first picture, but I made a little treat box featuring the Cupcake Bear (C984).  Here is a side view of the finished project:

I am lucky enough to have a local stamp store and access to an Accucut machine to cut the box.  If you don't have a box template or die cut machine, I found a link to a box template online.  You can find it here.

To make the box, I stamped the bear onto white cardstock using black Memories ink and colored him with Prismacolor pencils.  I then cut him out with a marvy blue circle punch and added some Raspberry cardstock behind the bear as an accent.  Finally, I attached him to a box I cut from some 12" x 12" Flitter paper.

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

 
Did everyone have a great Thanksgiving?  I brought some Memory Box supplies with me to my mom's house so that I could get a couple of posts done during the holiday, but I realized that I left my pearls at home.  I look at the card on this post and all I can see is how it could really use some pearls on the Christmas tree for decoration.  Oh well.

To make the card, I stamped the reindeer (Rockin'Around the Tree D1291) and the saying found on the side of the stamp onto kraft cardstock using brown VersaFine ink.  I colored the reindeer with colored pencils, added some paper from the Spiceberry collection, and layered everything onto a Vanilla Bean notecard.

Of course, I recommend adding some pearls to the tree!

I plan to post another project in my "reindeer series" tomorrow, so stay tuned...

December Tree Card

Has everyone made their Christmas cards yet?  We are running out of time.  How did it get to be November 18th already?!

Today I am posting a quick and easy Christmas card.  I used images from the CL141 Night Before set.  I don't know if you can read the script from the photo, but it says, "Twas the night before Christmas, etc."  I stamped the tree and word background as well as the December calendar onto cream paper using green Memento ink.  I colored part the frame of the calendar with a red colored pencil and highlighted the 25th with the same pencil.  For the tree, I added a bunch of cherry jewels for sparkle.  To finish the card, I added layers of dill and cranberry cardstock, some Spiceberry paper, and put everything onto a cranberry notecard.

Bird Huddle

Do you ever make a mistake and think, "I won't do that again."  And then you do it again.  Well, I can't tell you how many times I have put Stickles onto Colorbox Chalk ink only to find that it bleeds.  I love my Chalk inks, and I love my Stickles.  I just need to remember they don't work together.   In the case of this card, it even turned my brown ink a bit red.  Oops!  The good news is that I have few red birds as accents which match my reddish brown limbs.

To make this card, I decided to use the Bird Huddle (D1285), but I wanted to have more birds than the ones on the stamp.  I stamped the image twice onto patterned paper from the Dewfrost collection.  The only problem with that tactic was that I had a distinct line where the two bird huddle rectangles met.  Enter the brown ribbon....  Isn't it amazing how many things you can cover with ribbon?  I then colored the outlined birds with a red Prismacolor pencil and and added some Diamond jewels and Diamond Stickles onto the branches for extra bling.  To finish the card, I layered more pieces of Dewfrost paper and placed everything onto a Kraft notecard.

Okay, one more time...

Note to self.  Colorbox Chalk + Stickles = bleeding.  Let me see if I can remember that next time.

Black Christmas Card

I may be wrong, but I do believe this is the first black Christmas card I have ever made!  I tried layering my scene onto various notecards that matched the colors of the houses, but I ended up liking the black card best.  Who knew?

To make the card, I stamped the Neighborhood (D1289) onto white cardstock using black Memories ink.  I colored the houses with Prismacolor pencils and then cut out each of the houses to create a scene.  To make the snow, I cut out a piece of Frost Soiree paper so that it would shimmer and then added some Stickles to the top of the snowbank so that it would sparkle.  To finish the snow, I stamped Merry Christmas (B927) using black Staz On ink.  Staz On often works well when stamping onto metallic papers.

For the moon, I stamped Reindeer Run (B1288) onto Eggshell cardstock using Brilliance Coffee Bean ink.  I then cut out the reindeer using a circle punch and added a small dot of red pencil to the nose of the first reindeer (I needed a Rudolph).  The reindeer stamp doesn't have lines between the animals, so I drew some of my own using a fine detail black pen in order for it to look like Santa's sleigh.

To finish the card, I popped up the moon using foam mount tape and added some stars using a Stardust pen.  Finally, I added another layer of Frost Soiree paper and a Licorice notecard.  After all, nothing says Christmas like black. :)

Cat and Lamp

I have recently posted a few winter/holiday cards, so I thought it was time to post something for Halloween. The Cat and Lamp image (D1268) doesn't have to be a Halloween stamp, but when it is paired with the Twilight paper, it has a spookier feel to it. 

To make the card, I stamped the cat and lamp onto white cardstock with black Memories ink and colored it with Prismacolor pencils.  Here is a close-up of the table so that you can see the coloring better:

I paper pieced the lampshade with some of the Twilight paper and then added some more layers from the same paper pack as well as some 24K pearls.  Everything was then glued onto a Gourd notecard.  Done!

Long Time no See

 

Do you ever finish a card and wish you had done a few things differently?  Well, for this card, I envisioned one bird really towering over the other so that the saying would be a bit more obvious.   When I finished the card, I thought I should have "gone for it" with the height.  Oh well!

One of the things I would like to point out about this card is that all the birds in the Little Birdie Clear set (CL133) face the same direction.  However, I wanted my two birds to face each other.  I don't own a stamp that will create mirrored images, but I do own some Mastercarve eraser blocks.  I normally use these for carving stamps but found that they work well at reversing images.  I inked one of the birds with black ink, stamped it onto the Mastercarve, then stamped it onto my paper.  I did the same thing with the legs.  The legs weren't as long as I wanted them, so I stamped them low and then drew black lines so that the legs would reach up to the bird.  To finish the card, I added a saying from the giraffe party set (CL132), colored the images with Prismacolor pencils, added some daffodil pearls, and layered everything onto granny smith and ocean paper.

Long Time No See

Isn't the new Giraffe Party set (CL132) cute?  I love that it includes clouds and grass since creating "scenes" is one of my favorite things to do.

To make the card, I stamped the large giraffe onto Water cardstock using Black Memories ink.  I then stamped the branch around the giraffe's neck  using Artprint Brown Memories ink to emphasize his height.  I colored the giraffe and leaves using Prismacolor pencils and then blended them using Gamsol and a paper stump.

To finish the scene, I added some clouds and some green grass and then layered everything onto Vanilla Bean cardstock and a Kraft notecard.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Springtime Greetings

Yes, I am still on my Glitterati paper kick.  I can't seem to put the paper pack down!  For today's card, I stamped the birds (Espalier Birds E1261) onto white cardstock using black Memento ink.  I colored the birds with my BG09 (Blue Green) Copic marker and the leaves with my YG03 (Yellow Green) Copic marker.  I then outlined the branches with a green Prismacolor pencil and added some Pistachio jewels.  I layered my birds onto some Glitterati paper and trimmed the corners with a corner rounder.  To finish the card, I attached some blue-green ribbon and added my saying (Springtime Greetings B1226) with Deep Lagoon VersaFine ink.

On another note, Have you entered the Blinkie contest yet?  You have the chance to win a fun Memory Box prize.  Don't miss out!

Spring Leafy Tree

I decided to continue my series of Glitterati cards by using some of the paper from the pack that reminds me of tie-dyed material.  It is just so bright and happy!

Although the image (Leafy Tree E1266) is nice and large and would be easy to use with Copic markers, I decided to stamp it directly onto the patterned paper and then color it with Prismacolor pencils.  Prismacolors are nice and opaque so that they show up really well even when you are coloring over a patterned paper.  

Next, I ran some Sweet Corn cardstock through my Cuttlebug to add some texture and layered my pieces onto some Holly Berry paper.  Finally, I stamped my saying (Happy Spring B849), placed everything onto a Key Lime notecard, and added some berry pearls.

Here is a close-up of the tree so you can see how the Prismacolors look over patterned paper as well as how the pearls add a nice dimensional element to the card: