Quick and Easy Big Boy Birthday Invites

These are the invitations I made for my son's 8th birthday party, which is being held at one of those places with giant inflatables to bounce in, and lots of big screen TVs with Wiis. Okay, I know what you're thinking.... why in the world would anyone do handmade cards for 8-year-old boys, who are very probably going to be the least appreciative recipients of anything artsy/scrappy? Well, I'll tell you my excuse(s)....1) the only invites available from the inflatables place were the kind you print out on a sheet of A2 paper (phfewie! these daggone things were u.g.l.y.!!) AND 2) they cost next to no time or money (no embellishments except for staples from a regular old desk stapler).

Anyway, the skateboarder image (and "Air") are from I Brake for Stamps, the guitar is from the Little Paper Shop, and the bingo numbers in the corner are from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous line at Michaels. A little stamping, a little ripping and tearing, a little distressing, and I was almost done. I computer-generated the "You're Invited" using a free font I found online (called S'Awesome), printed it out on regular letter paper, stapled it on, and DONE!! So it really won't matter that much that it goes into the trash almost immediately. As a card-maker, I just couldn't bear to send out a printed-out sheet of paper with ugly graphics... so I still have my pride :) Thanks for looking and have a great day!

SCS Inspiration Challenge - Chasing Fireflies

The Inspiration Challenge over at SCS was the children's clothing and accessories catalogue Chasing Fireflies. For my inspiration I chose this photo, because I just loved the rich colors in this outfit, and the fun combination of flowers and stripes. I used Scrappy Cat stamps for the flower images, which I cut out and pieced, and added buttons and twine from my stash as the centers. I free-hand cut the stems and some of the leaves (the leaves on the right are from a MacGill punch). I layered it all on a background cut with Nestabilities Labels One dies. I added striped paper from Basic Grey, layered with Kiwi Kiss (SU) and cut with Fiskar's threading water punch. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart, and the pearls are from Kaiser. Just a quick, cheery little card, for a birthday perhaps. (I haven't added a sentiment inside yet - may need a quick thank you some day!) TFL!

Warm Wooly Wallhanging

Yes, it would seem I am existing in a totally different season LOL!! But there's a reason, REALLY.... it's Cornish Heritage Farms' Summer Stamp Star Design Challenge Week 2, and the challenge is paper piecing.
My only CHF stamps that lend themselves to paper piecing also lend themselves to wintery projects :). The Warm Wooly Mitten Co. sign stamp really drove this project. Anyway, lots of different stamps and patterned papers went into this one. The CHF stamps I used were Primitive Sheep, Winter Vintage Signage, and The Homestead set (for the "Farm Fresh" and the tiny sheep). I paper pieced and popped up the sheep, mittens, trees, and snow layer. The panels are all distressed with Ranger's Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Brown Corduroy for an "old wood sign" kind of effect. The papers are from Chatterbox, K and Co., and Basic Grey (Wassail - LOVE that line!). I put a couple of huge eyelets in the top in order to hang it from the hanger (a craft store purchase from a trip to PA). The non-stamped wordage is all computer-generated, and yes, I meant to spell "shear" that way. :)

Hope you're having a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Winter Wonderland Week 6 - Christmas Past

Oh dear, late again... this one coming in just under the wire! We've had a busy week in our household (my kids started school this week - we're on a year-round schedule), so haven't had much time to craft. This week's Winter Wonderland Challenge is "Christmas Past." This was such a great theme, I was once again very indecisive - so many possibilities! I wanted to capture the anticipation of Santa flying through the air on a sparkling, snowy Christmas night... definitely one of my favorite memories from Christmas past! I finally decided to go with a scan of this lovely image from a Victorian Trade Card I purchased a few months ago. I used some Tim Holtz grungeboard swirls (painted with Distress crackle paint in Pewter) and Wish ticket, and some Little Yellow Bicycle snowflakes. The base is some PSX paper (don't laugh!), and the surround is crepe paper with Platinum Stickles (the best color they make, IMHO!). Thanks for looking!

SCS Featured Stamper Challenge

Sunday's Featured Stamper challenge over at SCS was to emulate Sandra, a.k.a. "B-gin-r". I chose this card from her gallery. The topiary image is from The Little Paper Shop. For her card, Sandra embossed her image in white, then applied distress inks to add color, with the embossing acting as a resist. I wanted to use chalks to add color (not sure why I had that idea....) Anyway, after much trial and much error, I learned that the best way to approach this design was to rub a few different colors of green chalk on a white panel, THEN stamp the image in VersaMark and emboss with white embossing powder. My other unsuccessful attempts were to emboss with clear and white embossing powder first, thinking that the embossing would act as a resist for the chalk. Not so, at least not in my hands!! Anyway, the rest is pretty simple. The patterned paper is by Anna Griffin, and the cardstock is SU's Soft Sky, Kiwi Kiss, and Always Artichoke. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Bling and ribbon are from my stash. Really, this would have been a 10-minute card if I'd done it right the first time, LOL!! Ah well, live and learn. Have a great Monday, everyone!