Happy Birthday, Bro

I'm fairly certain my brother doesn't read my blog, which is good because I'm about to post his birthday card. Bro? LOOK AWAY, just LOOK AWAY!

Okay, remember when I said if I make a card for someone I actually know it has to be special? Well darn his luck his older sister makes cards. And darn his luck if this isn't a milestone birthday. Okay, it's not THAT bad, so let's get to it, shall we? First, the card:

Put your thumb over the 55 before you decide this sux. I liked it better without the numbers, but it NEEDED numbers. NEEDED. Sigh.

This is the first Gelato background I made yesterday, and I wasn't as happy with it as the one I used here, But I also planned to cover up more of it, so it was perfect. Plus, "shabby" goes with "old", right? :D

I have to say I love this hobby. Where else does a mistake turn into an opportunity for embellishment, RIGHT?!?! I die-cut the happy four times out of white and started gluing them together, and made one heck of a mess. Kept one, tossed the rest, and die-cut one out of thin chipboard, then glued the white one to it. Better, but not great. I moved on.

The three banners are from a set of Fancy Pants Trendsetter Buttons I had to have the moment it was orderable. Just now opened them. Yep, true. I declared the colors close enough to work with that background.

I knew I needed bold numbers, so I used my MFT By The Numbers to cut some OMG YES I HAVE BLACK glitter paper. I may or may not have snagged one of each color several years ago, and thankfully one was black.

Washi, it needed washi, but where? Under the happy? Nothing worked. DING DING DING: Cut the happy out of black glitter paper! I did and I liked it. I stamped, then smeared, the birthday next to it. Shhhh, don't tell him. Also, adding the black happy on top of the others made it even more dimensional, and I totally meant to do that.

NOW washi tape would work. I cut a piece of dark grey tape in half and stuck it under just part of the word. Here it is up close and personal so you can see some of the detail:

I even used some Enamel Accents on the tags and didn't mess up! You should have heard me talking to myself: don't do it ... leave it alone ... no no no... be strong ... okay, then take a photo of the BEFORE so you have something to blog ... ... then I went for it and it worked. *phew*

And because I can't leave well enough alone, darn my brother's luck, but I have some snark. I was going to stamp this on the inside, but instead I made it into a tag he could wear, though I'm fairly certain he won't, so I'll suggest it can alternately be used as a bookmark. Or trash. Lookie:

heh I'm also pretty sure 55 doesn't qualify you for much other than AARP, but still, it needed to be done. This tag is made from a UFO (yes, I am very proud) some washi tape (duh) and a sentiment I received from the Stamp Fairy because SOMEONE thought I needed it.

Now, aren't you glad you aren't related to me? :)

Oh, and I got the idea for the layout from Dixie's card here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products used: Um, I'm tired. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll link you up. :)

SOS #112: Oldest Punch

It's Tuesday, and time for another challenge over at Shopping Our Stash. This week we ask you to dig out your oldest punch and use it. This challenge was timely for me since I'm in the midst of a major purge and sell-off, and though I'm down about 20 punches, I knew I'd actually saved one of the first punches I bought:

Old. Very old. Here's what I made with it:

I know, it's (gah) pink, and froo-froo-y, too, but that piece of pink is now gone. There is a method to my madness.

Here's the heart up close and personal:

I die-cut the tab (from MFT) several times from scrap card stock to make it thick, and I made the heart a few layers thick, too, for substance. There is a teeny tiny piece of dimensional adhesive under the outer edge of the heart. You can also see I barely rounded the corners here (with my 1/8" corner chomper) to soften it a bit. It is froo-froo-y, after all.

The sketch I followed was the long-expired sketch at The Sweetest Thing:

Now it's your turn! Go dig out your oldest punch and use it! Then come back to Shopping Our Stash and link us up so we can see what you've made!

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Please note: I included both small and medium MS stamp mounts in my products list below because I ended up with the small one when I really wanted the medium one. I'd planned to do a comparison with the compact Fiskars stamp press I have. Let me tell you something about the small MS stamp press: it's small. Small enough that an ink pad doesn't fit between the foam feet, which is why I used my brown Big Brush pen to ink up the sentiment. Don't be like me; read the fine print before you buy. ;/

Products used: ancient folk heart punch, SU pearls, misc paper doily (that I actually cut in half and saved the other piece!), and the following:

InLinkz.com

Small Gang

As you may know, I have a few Gelatos on hand, and I'm always looking for new ways to use them. Today I caught this video using Gelatos and a stencil and I decided to try it. It's crazy-easy to do! Check out what I just made:

1. Scribble several colors of Gelatos onto a regular piece of card stock.
2. Rub with your finger(s) to blend.
3. Place a stencil over the Gelato'd background. Hold it or tape it into place.
4. Go over it with a baby wipe.

You're done. The wipe removes some of the color from the openings in the stencil and leaves the negative behind. Like I said: crazy-easy. Just think of the possibilities with all the stencils in your growing collection. :)

I decided to leave the background as it was and just add the image and sentiment from a Mama Elephant set I HAD to have when I first saw it, and yes, I just now used it. AND I broke my 50% rule since I pretty much only wanted those two images. heh heh I inked the images in Versafine Onyx and clear-embossed them. Done.

I really like how this turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: More triangles = another link-up over at Moxie Fab World Trendy Triangles.

Products used: Clear embossing powder from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (it was a pint bottle of the stuff - I will never use it all), and the following:

InLinkz.com

Just Playing

Today was a bust in several ways, so I decided on a no-pressure approach to crafting and took out some things to just play. I grabbed my still unopened Crafter's Workshop Mini Tri Mosaic stencil and some old old old Dreamweaver embossing paste that I bought at my LSS to use with my collection of brass stencils, but I've maybe used it once.

Here's what I made, then I'll explain:

I started by applying the embossing paste over the stencil onto a piece of Kraft card stock, then let it dry. While it was drying, I read the jar to get a clue of what to use to color it. I was pretty sure alcohol markers were out. The jar said one option was to stipple some ink (or was that paint?) onto it, so I did! I grabbed a stipple brush and several Hero Arts inks and applied a sorta rainbow of color across the triangles.

Note: Put the stencil back over the white triangles before you stipple so only the triangles get the ink.

I trimmed down the Kraft card stock, then cut a mat from Hero Arts Punch layering paper. I rounded the corners of both the red layer and the white card base with my 1/8" corner chomper.

I had a piece of the Punch paper left, so I white-embossed the sentiment from the MFT Right On Target set. It looked nekkid so I added a wooden heart and arrow that I colored with Copics.

I love how this turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

07/29/13 ETA: I knew there was a Moxie Fab challenge for triangles, but just now found it (stoopid day job), so I'm linking this to the Moxie Fab Trendy Triangles challenge.

Products used: Dreamweaver white embossing paste, and the following:

InLinkz.com