LOTV Teddy Topper birthday card with heart banner

Hi blogging friends

The card I am sharing today is for my great-niece's 8th birthday later in July and is my card for the Divas by Design Challenge of 'Happy Birthday'.  It is my first time playing their challenge and I love that you don't have to use a stamped/digi image and you can make anything you want.  I find it difficult to find challenges where it is OK to use a topper.  You can find more details on the challenge HERE.

The main image is a an adorable topper from Lili of the Valley but I just checked their website and they don't sell this particular topper anymore; in fact, none of the toppers that I have in my stash are there and it doesn't seem that long to me since they released their Mini Masterpieces (?) - oh well!   
 
I added Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the ribbon around the cake, the candle flames, the cheeks on the teddies plus all the confetti - not that you can see the glitter very well in the photo due to the gloomy weather.  I took the photo inbetween showers of rain - and boy, it sure has rained here ALOT these past 2 weeks which has been fantastic after such a dry autumn.  I love going to sleep with the sound of rain on the roof - so soothing.

When I was at the Picture to Page Scrapbooking Show in May, I bought a La-La Land Heart Banner die which I have wanted for ages but every time I went to buy it online, it was out-of stock:  it must be popular - and I am not surprised as it is so pretty, don't you think?!   I did fiddle around with the Heart Banner die a bit and originally had a white banner with pink hearts but it just seemed to disappear into the designer paper background so switched to pink with white hearts - plus the diecut had four flags and I cut one off because it fitted around my main panel better.  I added Kindyglitz to the white hearts and added a pink rhinestone to each end of the banner and popped the banner up on dimensionals so it would be the same height as the main image panel.
 
The pink cardstock is by Coredinations and is from the Gemstones range - Pink Diamond - and has a lovely metallic sheen - so PRETTY!
 
For the bottom panel, I diecut the pink cardstock using a Nellie Snellen Lace Edge border die and my Big Shot.  I added a Scor-Pal line above this border so I had a nice straight edge to butt the designer paper up against.  The pink ribbon was added in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.   I added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.
 
The sentiment was stamped using Memento London Fog (grey) dye ink which looked 'softer' than stamping it in black and I think, looks nicer with the image.  I added 3 pink rhinestones underneath the sentiment then popped this panel up on dimensionals.  I can't for the life of me find the sentiment on the LOTV website which came in a set - perhaps it has been discontinued too (?).....sigh.....
 
All the borders were trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools.
 
Finished size is 5-1/2" square or approximately 140mm if you are metric.
 
Thanks for visiting my blog today
 
Jocelyn


Card Recipe:
 
Stamps:  Sentiment by Lili of the Valley UK - possibly retired
 
Ink:  Memento London Fog dye
 
Designer Paper:  Best Creation - Once upon a dream
 
Accessories:  Perfect Layers Tools, Big Shot, Spellbinder Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, Nellie Snellen Lace Edge border die MFD023, La-La Lands Heart Banner die #8026, Scor-Pal, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, ribbon, Fray Stop, Bow Easy, Kaisercraft SB701 pink rhinestones, dimensionals, cardstock - white, Coredinations Gemstones pink diamond, Lili of the Valley teddy topper (retired)
 
Punches:  Stampin' Up corner

Stampin' Up Dasher Christmas Gift Card holder

Hi blogging friends  

Well, my little Stampin' Up Dasher stamp is getting a work-out this Christmas season - you will be tired of seeing him!   I was really looking for an excuse to use my new Marianne Design die (an early Christmas present for me!) - oh my goodness, I LOVE it - it is so pretty and lacey - and as I have stamped a whole lot of circles with Dasher ready to pop on cards, the image was going to fit the diecut perfectly.  A match made in heaven!!  Love it when that happens!

This particular card is going to the family member that we picked out of the hat from our family's Secret Santa Sibling draw.  We don't buy presents for each sibling/sibling-in-law at Christmas.  Every November, everyone fills in a form of their "most eagerly desired gift" (we usually list 4 choices) and we put all the forms in a hat, pick one out and spend a decent amount for that one person.  With family spread all over Australia, many of us just ask for a Gift Card because it is much cheaper to post than something big and heavy.

Of course, all the little nieces and nephews get a Christmas present - and I LOVE to watch the delight in their little faces as they tear open the wrapping paper - and honestly, if I got nothing for Christmas, it wouldn't worry me:  just seeing my own daughter and the nieces/nephews have so much fun is a gift enough in itself.  They are only little for such a short time!  Anyway, onto the card itself............

Dasher is stamped with Colorbox Sapphire Silk pigment ink and heat-set with Satin Pearl clear embossing powder.  And I popped the usual tiny red rhinestone on his nose to turn him into Rudolph.  This main panel is up on dimensionals.

The burgundy side panel was embossed with my Big Shot and one of the folders from the Sizzix Winter Set #3 which I thought matched Dasher's antlers really well the way the embossing looked all swirly. 

I diecut some snowflakes and inked the edges with Sapphire Silk ink, added Ice Blue rhinestones and popped them up on dimensionals, then added the same colour rhinestones to the bottom RHS.

Before I did the card inside, I picked up the card to show my DH only to realise that my card opened backwards!  Yep, my frequent trick of NOT checking that I am layering the front of the card the way that I should.  Ack - I can't believe how many times I do it!!  Still, it is not hard to fix as I just cut the front panel off and stuck it to another card base; it's just annoying and takes up time - and at least I didn't do the card inside before I found out - or you would be hearing my screams from here 'cos it HAD to be in the mail THAT DAY!!

The card inside:

I used the same Marianne die for the sentiment panel and inked the edges of the white cardstock circle lightly with the Sapphire Silk ink and heat-set it so I didn't smear it (it takes quite a while to just air-dry and I have no patience!!).   The sentiment is a Kaisercraft clear stamp and was stamped with Sapphire Silk ink and heat-embossed with Satin Pearl embossing powder.  This Kaisercraft sentiment set is good value as they are around $2.00 and you get 4 different Christmas sentiments all in different fonts - plus they have a good range of sentiment sets to suit every occasion so I have a whole bunch of them.

Where the gift card tucks in, I stamped the Hero Arts Holiday Background stamp with Versamark Watermark ink onto the burgundy cardstock, diecut the ice blue cardstock using a Nellie Snellen border die which seemed to match the other Marianne die quite nicely and adhered just the bottom and sides of the panel so that the Coles/Myer Gift card tucks in nicely.  Here is a close-up pick of this section:

Finished card size is 5" x 5" or metric about 12.5cm x 12.5cm

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

The ABC Challenge - F is for Frosty - Use snowy scenes, snowflakes, a snowman, or anything you can think of to get your frosty fun out.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Last Christmas Card of the Year - this is their final festive challenge for the year.

My daughter is hoping for a white Christmas but well, it is Summer here and it is far more likely to be boiling hot!  Although I do remember one Christmas where it did actually snow on the Alps in my State and it was bitterly cold where we live - just a freak of nature that day!

My daughter loves snowmen and all things snowy as much as I do and this year, she wouldn't let me display my two (stuffed) snowmen that I always put out with the Christmas decs; she has taken them to bed with her every night instead!  They are about 12 inches (30 cms) tall and I usually put them up high on top of my buffet and hutch because my cat Ruby likes to grab them in a smothery hug and kick them with her back feet and bite them like it is some sort of prey that she has caught.  Looks cute but they wouldn't last long with that sort of treatment.  I have a sneaking suspicion that when all the Christmas stuff is packed away, they will still be sleeping with my daughter!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampin' Up Dasher, Kaisercraft Mini CS926 Christmas clear stamp set, Hero Arts Holiday Background CG-324 Cling Rubber

Ink:  Colorbox Sapphire Silk pigment, Versamark Watermark

Designer paper:  Echo Park - Wintertime

Accessories:  Big Shot, Marianne Design die CR1201 (lacey circle), Nellie Snellen border die MFD 023, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, satin pearl clear embossing powder, heat-gun, Basic Grey red rhinestone, Kaisercraft Ice Blue SB774 rhinestones, dimensionals, sparkly ice blue ribbon, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Sizzix Textured Impressions Winter Set #3 embossing folder, My Favorite Things 'Let it Snowflake' Die-namics dies, cardstock:  burgundy, ice blue, white

Penny Black: In a nutshell baby boy card and NEW Kingdom embossing folders

Hello blogging friends!  Thanks for stopping by :-) 

My blogging friend Sam from Ryemilan's Stamping and Scrapbooking had a little baby boy recently and this is the card that I made to welcome his arrival.  Sam has been a fantastic supporter since I started blogging and makes beautiful jewellery, takes spectacular photos and makes gorgeous cards.  I especially love Sam's punch art cards - I hope that you have a chance to have a peek at them!   

The hedgie is a Penny Black stamp (no surprise there LOL!) which I have had forever but is still as cute as a button.  I coloured the image with pencils and OMS,then added some glitter to the flower petals and lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk including some lemon and blue pearlescent chalks here and there (but you can't see it that much in the photo) - very pretty and shimmery IRL.

The embossing on the white cardstock was done with a new embossing folder by K Kingdom called "Flowers and Dots" which I had never heard of until recently, but the 2 that I have emboss beautifully and use the same sandwich as other embossing folders in my Cuttlebug.  

The lacey blue circle was diecut with my Cuttlebug using a Nellie Snellen Lacey Circle multiframe which I then ran through my Cuttlebug using my Textile embossing folder.  The lemon circle was diecut using a Spellbinder Circle Nestie.  The blue fancy edge was diecut using another Nellie Snellen die:  border-2 MFD023.

The tag was diecut using one of my Cuttlebug Tiny Tags dies then I ran my Sky Blue ink pad around it so it would stand out a little from the white background.  The yellow button on this tag is actually a brad which I bought some time ago from Target.  This sentiment is also by Penny Black and is up on .5mm mounts (dimensionals).

The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

The butterflies were punched and I added a pearl to each of them - but the pearl on the blue butterfly started life as a white pearl which I coloured with a blue Bic Mark-It texta as I didn't have any blue pearls in my stash. 

Here is a pic of the card inside (I'm still keeping up my New Year's Resolutions of doing the insides of my cards before I move onto the next card - yay!!):-

To do the embossing on the card inside, I took a separate white square card and simply embossed both sides, then attached them to the inside with double-sided tape - I did have to trim the LHS a little so that the cardstock didn't cover the fancy blue edge.  I mimicked the front of the card to do the sentiment panel, then added another punched butterfly.  BTW, this sentiment is a retired stamp by Elzybells Art Stamps.

Challenges:

I am entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge of "Anything goes" - nice and easy.

Well, that's about it for now.  

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black - In a nutshell 1754E, Sentiment from Penny Black - Bundle of Joy PB-30-043 clear stamp set, Sentiment #2 card inside - Elzybells (ret)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black, Versacolor sky blue pigment

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, Cuttlebug Tiny Tags die set, K Kingdom Flowers and Dots embossing folder, Nellie Snellen border-2 MFD023 die, Nellie Snellen Multiframes Lacey circle, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Kaisercolour blue chalk, I-Kan-dee pearlescent chalks, Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS), Derwent Coloursoft + Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Kaisercraft BR207 pearl (yellow), Kaiser Snow white pearl, Bic Mark-it blue texta, Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A, blue sewing thread, Bow Easy, gingham ribbon, yellow button brad (Target Australia), .5mm mounts (dimensionals), Cardstock:  sky blue, lemon, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Stampendous Star Lilies easel birthday card

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I haven't made an Easel card for ages - I guess I kind-of forgot about them - but I really love them and they are fun and easy to make.  If you have never made one before, here is a link to a tutorial on You-Tube by Splitcoaststampers.  There are lots of variations which people have done since the Easel Cards first became popular last year, eg: circle ones, twisted ones - just do a search on You-Tube and you will find lots of them.

The beautiful Star Lilies were stamped onto Watercolour paper with Stazon Jet black ink and watercoloured using Jo-Sonya Acrylic paints.  I love this stamp because you can use it for so many different occasions - very versatile!  

The side border was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the border dies from my Nellie Snellen Border-2 MFD023 die set - these are not on Fat Cat's website at the moment but keep an eye out - I'm sure they will be soon.  I added a Scor-Pal line just next to the border on the pink cardstock (which made it easier to line up my embossing folder so I knew it was straight - you butt the folder up against this line), then ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Flowers embossing folder from my Sizzix Dots and Flowers set.  

I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements then attached the side panel to my cardstock base.  The bow itself was tied with my ever-reliable Bow Easy (I did add some Fray stop to the ribbon edges so they wouldn't fray).   I made a 14mm button using my Epiphany Button Studio tool and the designer paper, then sewed it to my bow with pink sewing thread.  Isn't it just so cool that you can match your buttons to your card using this button tool?!  Here is a close-up piccy of the button and here is link to the tutorial on You-Tube for using your Epiphany button tool:

The fancy corner on the RHS of the image was diecut using one of the dies from my Vintage die set.  The sentiment is from Lily of the Valley and I added two tiny pink gemstones to the flower centres on the sentiment, then popped the panel up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).

For the bottom of the card, I again used my Epiphany Button Studio tool - except I used the larger size 20mm, to make the 3 buttons which hold the top panel in place.  I ran some pink sewing thread through the button holes just because I like my buttons to have thread through them (not sure why - I just like them with thread in them!).  I added 2mm mounts underneath the buttons so they would up a little higher to hold the top panel easily.  Here is a close-up view of them:

And here is a photo of the bottom panel without the top panel being held in place so you can see where the buttons go:

I decided to add a ribbon to this bottom panel as well and tied the bow with my Bow Easy.  I punched a heart from Best Creations Glitter cardstock using the largest heart from my Carl CP8 Heart duo punch and glued it to the centre of the bow:

And then just to "balance" the card, I added another fancy corner the same as the one on the top card panel.  I added a tiny pink gemstone to the 'i' on Birthday.  Oh, by the way, the designer paper is digital and is from Bearly Mine Designs - isn't just sooooo pretty!!  The size of the card square is 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" or 137mm.  And lastly, here is a side-view of the card:

Challenges

I'm popping this card into the following Challenge:   

Splitcoaststampers 'Ways to use it' Challenge WT309 of  'Happy Birthday'

Thanks again for stopping by!  Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous Star Lily CRP115 cling rubber, Sentiment (round) Lili of the Valley - For you - Happy Birthday set, Sentiment on bottom panel - Stamp-It Australia siset014 sentiment set

Ink:  Stazon Jet black

Designer paper:  Bearly Mine designs - BM Flower Delight 027, Best Creations Glitter cardstock 'Canna'

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Sizzix Textured Impressions Flower from Dots and Flowers embossing folder set, Cuttlebug Vintage Dies, Spellbinder Nestabilities: Circle, Scalloped Circle, Oval, Scalloped Oval, pink gemstones - Basic Grey, 1mm/2mm mounts (dimensionals), Epiphany Button Studio Tools: 14mm + 20mm + matching buttons, Bow Easy, pink organza ribbon, Fray stop, Scor-Pal, Watercolour paper - 140lb/300gsm, Jo-Sonya acrylic paint, #2 round paint brush, Nellie Snellen MFD023 Border-2 die set, pink sewing thread, Cardstock: white (for card base), plum pink, pale pink

Punches:  Carl CP-8 heart duo

Stampendous Party Balloons and Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023

Hi and thanks for stopping by :-)

I made a clean and simple boy's birthday card - well, I actually made this card twice!!  I had finished colouring up my image, then proceeded to ink up my sentiment with the black ink pad, but somehow dropped the ink pad on top of my image.  Oops :-(   Do you think I was grumpy??!!  So, it was back to the drawing board........  At least, it was a quick and easy image to colour - if it had been something very detailed, my head may have exploded!!  Note to self:  add sentiment before colouring images!!  Anyhow......

I used the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC266 - the Stephen Joseph Gifts website.

I am also playing the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club January Challenge - but as the Challenge is only open to Fan Club Members (ie: you have paid to join the SCS Fan Club), part of the rules is that you are not allowed discuss the Challenge Themes and details outside the Fan Club  - which is not to exclude you (my Blogging friends), but merely following the rules.  I joined a few months ago so I could put something back into the website which I love so much!! 

I coloured the image with Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils + OMS.  I added some fine crystal glitter to the highlights on the balloons, plus the coloured dots around the strings.  I decided to underline the sentiment with my red and yellow pencils because it seemed a little "lost" and I wanted to draw your eye to it.

Here is a close-up piccy of the balloons:

The gorgeous blue border was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the border dies from my NEW Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023.  You use the same sandwich as for Spellbinder Nestabilities.  I love this particular die - it is so suited to masculine cards, so I can see myself using it alot.   Note that I was careful to attach the border evenly so that the eges matched.  You can always trim down the sides of your card to even things up.

I added a Scor-Pal line above the border - I often do this to just "finish" the edge before I attach it to the rest of a card.  Lastly, I corner-punched the top corners of the white cardstock.  I thought about adding a ribbon, but in the end decided to keep things simple.

And here is my stepped up version:

I stamped the image twice, then cut out just the balloons and popped them up on mounts (dimensionals).  I used various sizes of mounts so the red balloon is the lowest in height and the blue balloon is the highest.   After diecutting the blue border and adding the Scor-Pal line, I ran the blue cardstock through my Cuttlebug using my Swiss dots embossing folder.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  Here is a close-up piccy so you can see the dimension of the balloons:

Thanks again for stopping by!  

Jocelyn

ETA:  In response to Shaz's question: I use Google Picasa (free download from the Internet) to add my details on my photos. 

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous 'Party Balloons' CRY008 cling rubber, Sentiment from Penny Black 'It's your day' 30-046 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen Border-2 MFD023 die set, Swiss dots embossing folder, mounts (dimensionals), Derwent Coloursoft + Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Odourless Mineral Spirits, Scor-Pal, Bow Easy, ribbon, fine crystal glitter, Designer Dries Clear adhesive (for glitter), cardstock:  sky blue, KW Doggett Knight white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch

Stampendous Star Lilies + Nellie Snellen Multiframes and border dies!

Hello Blogging friends!  

I made a Mother's Day card using a fabulous sketch from Taylor Von Bruggen of Taylored Expressions (USA) from way back on June 11, 2010:  Sketch Challenge #117.  I am a big fan of Taylor's Sketches and a few days ago, downloaded her 2 x Sketch Books which are on the RHS of her Blog listed under the Baker's Dozen Design Team members.  It is a PDF file so you will need Acrobat Reader (free download from the Web) to open it.  I have a folder with Sketches which I love to look through when my mojo has gone missing or I just need some inspiration.  THANKS Taylor!!

Anyway, onto the card.  The stamp is a beautiful NEW stamp by Stampendous called "Star Lily" and was coloured with Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils + OMS.  It was really easy to colour as I just coloured the centres of each petal and left the white as highlight.  I added a tiny bit of pink here and there on the leaves and stems which was something I learnt from my Decorative Painting teacher many years ago.  If you add some of your flower colour to leaves, it really "lifts" the whole picture.  I didn't draw on the colour with my pencils: I just used my paper stump that already had the pink colour on it + OMS, and just "smudged" it on.  I lightly coloured around the image with blue chalk.

I decided to add some fun flock to the pollen on the stamens.  At first, I added some glitter, but it didn't look right, so I scraped it off and went with the flock instead.   Here is a close-up piccy:

The rosepink punched border was made with one of my NEW Nellie Snellen border dies - you get 2 in a pack.  Isn't it pretty?!!  You use the same sandwich in your Cuttlebug as for Spellbinder Nesties: A plate, C plate, die, cardstock, B plate.  I added a Scor-Pal line just above the punched border (bit hard to see in the photo).

I ran the designer paper through my Cuttlebug using my Jamara embossing folder just because I LOVE texture - but really any folder of a similar nature would work equally as well.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements, and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

I added the tiny punched hearts which are the leftover punchies from using Arrows border punch (you know how much I love these little hearts LOL!!)

And here is the card inside:

I used the largest of my Nellen Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes to diecut the rosepink cardstock, and the matching plain circle (from the same dieset) to diecut the sentiment circle.  The sentiment is a retired Elzybells stamp.  And those tiny hearts just had to added!

Check out the button!  I used a new product called the Epiphany Button Studio which is for making your own buttons, ie: you buy the matching clear see-through buttons (in my case, I used 20mm buttons) and peel off the film to reveal a sticky side.  You slide your cardstock or designer paper into the Button maker, put the button on top (sticky-side down), then press the top of  the Button maker and it punches your cardstock/dp to the same size as the button, sticks the button to it and punches the centre holes.  Confused?  Well, here is a video from You Tube - I am a visual learner, so found this easier......  I tried to "embed" the video, but couldn't work it out, so I'll just have a link here for now and try to work it out later.  It really is a very easy product to use and great if you need a matching button, but don't have one in your stash.  

And there is even a flower button maker - this is next on my list of "must-haves".  The size is 20mm.

You-Tube video of how to use the Epiphany Button Studio button-maker

Here is a close-up of my button.  I used the same rosepink cardstock to make my button and threaded some pink and white twine through then popped it up on 2mm mounts (dimensionals):

Phew - that was a long post!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous Star Lilies CRP115 foam-mounted cling rubber

              Happy Mother's Day sentiment - from Kaisercraft CS916 Occasions clear set of 3

              Beautiful Day - Elzybells 03-252 (retired)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Designer paper:  Daisy d's Sweet Baby Jane Collection - Sleepy time

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen dies: Doily Flower MFD020 and Border 2 MFD023, Cuttlebug Jamara embossing folder, Scor-Pal, Bow Easy, grosgrain ribbon, pink/white twine, OMS, Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, 2mm mounts, Kaisercolour chalk, Stampendous Fun Flock - Lemonade yellow, Designer Dries clear adhesive (for the flock), Epiphany Button Studio 20mm, Button Studio clear round buttons 20mm, cardstock: rosepink, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch, EK Success Arrows border punch