Gute Bess(e)rung

I recent was fortunate to find a few House Mouse stamps in a destash and so I am back with another card using one of them. A dear friend of mine's father recent underwent surgery and so I wanted to send him a card.

I used alphabet dies to cut and inlay the sentiment, which is missing an E. Space was limited on this card to include it, thus Ms Monica Mouse is pointing it out there, despite me adding the apostrophe.

I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils. The card panel was a first try and blending and spritzing with Distress Oxide ink. I used Vintage Photo here and I love the faux leather look that I got. I cut the card panel with a stitched rectangle die, cut the letters out and a circle with the various dies. I then glued the card panel to the card base.

I fussy cut the mouse and added her into the circle. I cut the letter a second time from bright yellow cardstock and then inlayed them into the relevant cutouts.

General supplies:

Strathmore Paint Pad paper

Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base

White and yellow cardstock

Prismacolor pencils

House Mouse stamp

Alphabet, circle and stitched rectangle dies

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink

Entered into the HMFMC Anything Goes/Optional theme "Use Dies" challenge #267

Entered into the Stempelsonne Anything Goes Challenge #202

A color pop

If you follow my blog, you will know that I am a fan of monochrome images with a pop of color. And this card is just that.

I recently was able to purchase a few House Mouse rubber stamps and this little one is one of them. I stamped the mouse in the middle of a card panel sized at 3.75 x 5 inches. I then masked the upper portion of the mouse so that I could stamp the huge rose she is holding, but that the stem would be visible down her body.

Doing some more masking with the flowers, I stamped 3 roses in the top right and bottom left hand corners and one in the top left and bottom right corners respectively. I then stamped the sentiment to the left of the mouse. All stamping was done in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Strathmore Paint Pad paper and I used my DIY stamp positioning tool to get the placement correct.

I colored the mouse, corner roses and rose leaves with the Cool Grey color family from my Prismacolor colored pencils. Using a bright orange combo, I applied pencil color to the big single rose that the mouse is holding.

I completed the card by matting the colored panel onto black cardstock which I then in turn adhered to a white cardbase.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad paper
Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base
Black cardstock
Prismacolor pencils
House Mouse stamp
Rose and sentiment stamps from stash
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Inkadinkado masking paper

Entered into the HMFMC Anything Goes/Optional theme "Flower Power" challenge #266
Entered into the Power Poppy "Black and White with a Pop of Color" challenge
Entered into the Delicious Doodles May 2018 Flowers challenge
Entered into the Penny Black and More May- Anything Goes challenge
Entered into the Stempelsonne Anything Goes Challenge #202
Entered into the Stampers Swap Shop Buy/Sell/ISO/Share/Swap Facebook group May Masking Challenge

Taking the cake!

Today I have a new card with some new-to-me techniques. The focal image is by Sasayaki Glitter and she is called Mia Wants To Say Happy Birthday. She is the image to use this month in the Sasayaki Glitter Progressive Facebook challenge.

I cut a cardpanel at 4 x 5.25 inches and stamped gifts and candles on it with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. The stamps were smaller images from my stash of retired Stampin Up stamps. I then smooshed orange and yellow Memento ink onto my craft mat and spray it generously with water before laying the cardstock into the colored water. Although I did not use watercolor paper here, the cardstock held up really well to the wetness that I applied to it. I had never tried this smooshing technique before, so it was fun to watch the embossed images pop out.

I had printed the image onto Strathmore Paint Pad paper and colored it with my Prismacolor Premier pencils. I used my black Prismacolor Verithin pencil to redefine some of the details that had got lost during the coloring. I cut the image out with my Silhouette Cameo, using the PixScan mat. Since I already had the outline, I was able to create an exact offset and cut that out as a matte in white glitter cardstock. I colored the stars on the cake with a pink glitter gel pen. A girl cannot have too much glitter, right?

I then stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the card in Versafine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I thought the sentiment was just perfect for this image.

General supplies:

Strathmore Paint Pad paper

Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base

White plain and white glitter cardstock

Prismacolor pencils

White and pink glitter gel pens

Stamps from stash

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Orange and yellow Memento ink

Clear embossing powder

White embossing powder

Entered into the Sasayaki Glitter Digital Stamps May Progressive Challenge #33
Entered into the Kreative-Tanten Party challenge #17
Entered into the Southern Girls Spark & Shine challenge

Beary Thanks

Today I have another beary cute thank you card to share with you. I am again using a Bella image drawn by Conie Fong. Is she not beautifully girly?

I colored the bear with my Prismacolor colored pencils after printing it out on Canson Mi Tientes paper. I then cut the image out with a stitched oval die. I created a cardpanel of purple cardstock and embossed it with a dotted Darice embossing folder before applying it to a top folding cardbase.

I secured the image to the bottom left hand corner of the card so as to not cover up all the dots and also to leave sufficient place for my bold sentiment which I cut out 2x out of white cardstock with a thanks word die and layered on top of each other with the smallest offset.

Keeping the card very simple, I added only a little Wink of Stella to the word die cut and the bear's ear bow.

General supplies:

Canson Mi Tientes paper

Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base

White and purple cardstock

Prismacolor pencils

White gel pen

Stitched oval die

Darice embossing folder

thanks word die

Entered into the Conie Fong Art & Design Facebook Group May project challenge

Entered into the Alphabet Challenge Blog "D for Dots"

Entered into the Dragonfly Dreams Here Come The Girls challenge

Entered into the The Corrosive Challenge Blog Anything Goes May challenge

Swatch ring

The first time I had seen the idea of a swatch ring for coloring medium with a hole in the swatch for easy reference was on Kim Holden's website. I wanted to create a swatch set with only the main color on it and so I adapted her chart to a simpler one. This also brought the number of pages down to just 7. I printed them out on my Strathmore Paint Pad paper as I wanted the color to be on the paper that I use the most when coloring. I colored all the pages (which I have to admit, did take quite a while) and then I cut the swatches apart.

Once I had 150 little squares, I then punched a hole in the top white area for the ring and in the bottom colored area for a see-through hole to reference color more accurately.

I did eyeball the holes, so they are not all exactly in the same location, but it works for me. I then sorted the cards as per the 150 Prismacolor pencil chart. I may still change my mind on the sorting of my swatches, but I opted to start with this. 

Once sorted, I divided the swatches into three sections and threaded each onto a book ring. This allows the swatches to move freely and yet they are easy to keep together.

I am excited to see how this works for me to help with finding the correct color pencil when working off of a reference source. This is definitely a tool that would come in handy with whatever medium one works with.

You are welcome to download my simple Prismacolor Premier pencil chart for these little swatches here.

A feel better card

Here I am again with another Conie Fong Art image. This time Bella with her tulips.

I colored her up with my Prismacolor colored pencils and added the polka dots to her dress with white gel pen. I made another attempt on the Canson Mi Tientes paper that I have, but still am of the opinion that I prefer the Strathmore Paint Pad paper for pencil work. I cut the image out with a stitched rectangle die.

I partially matted the image onto a piece of purple cardstock and adhered  three half banners to the opposite side. This was then added to a patterned paper panel sized at 4 x 5.25 inches which in turn was adhered to a notecard sized pink card panel. The panel was then glued to a top folding card base.

I was creating a Get Well card and so used the FEEL better sentiment from the Power Poppy Daffodils stamp set. I stamped it with Versamark ink and white heat embossed it on purple cardstock. The sentiment is popped up with foam tape to add just a little bit of dimension.

General supplies:

Canson Mi Tientes paper

Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base

Pink and purple cardstock

Patterned paper from my stash

Prismacolor pencils

White gel pen

Stitched rectangle die

Stamp from Power Poppy Daffodils stampset

Versamark ink

White embossing powder

Entered into the Conie Fong Art & Design Facebook Group May project challenge

Entered into the Stampers Swap Shop Buy/Sell/ISO/Share/Swap Facebook group May Sketch Challenge

Entered into the Stempelsonne Anything Goes Challenge #201
Entered into the Aud Sentiments Cute + A Sentiment Challenge #203

Let's be square

Life has been rather busy and I had some custom teddy bears to make, so I was a few days behind on my House Mouse card for the current challenge. The theme is Let's be Square and so what better opportunity than to make a first attempt at a 3D popup box card.

I used the image called Catchin' Some Shade! I colored the image with my Prismacolor colored pencils. But as you can see, those guys forgot their sunscreen. They have red noses and red bellies - not good!

I cut the 3 mice and the umbrella out with my Silhouette Cameo, using the PixScan mat. They cut out very beautifully. I ran a black marker along the cut edge to apply a finishing touch.

I created the box part of the card with my paper trimmer and score board. I adhered decorative panels cut from sand patterned paper and also sponged the edges of the cardstock flaps. The umbrella was added to the longer back panel as part of the backdrop and the 3 mice on the various box inserts to complete the 3D look. The backside of the long part got a lighter colored panel on which I wrote my note to the recipient. I added a sentiment that I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossed to the front flap. I used a label die to cut the sentiment out with.

When folding the card to the side, all the popup elements lie flat. While I have the flaps still down in this photo to show how the inserts go flat, I folded them up to cover the contents before inserting the card into the envelope.

And yes, the 3D popup box card does fit into a standard notecard sized envelope as demonstrated here.

Warmer weather is finally arriving to those of us living on the northern side of the equator. But don't be like these mice - remember your sunscreen.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad paper
Medium and light yellow cardstock
Sand patterned paper
Prismacolor pencils
Stitched label die
Stamp from stash
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Clear embossing powder

Entered into the HMFMC Anything Goes/Optional theme "Let's be Square" challenge #265
Entered into the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge #81
Entered into the Little Miss Muffet Challenge Anything Goes Challenge #188

Your new home

Today I have a very exciting post to share with you. I have been chosen to be on the Design Team over at Crafting with an Attitude. This is my first time as a Design Team member and this is my first project with the team.

The sponsor in the current challenge is Lacy Sunshine and the image I used  is called Enchanting Treasure Cove Fairy House. I thought this was just perfect for a "congrats on your new home" card.

I printed the image onto Strathmore Paint Pad paper and colored it up with my Prismacolor colored pencils. Obviously some of the colors are less realistic, but is that not what one expects from an enchanted fairy house? Details were added with gel pens.

Once completed I cut the image out with a stitched rectangle die and adhere it to the front of a A2 cardbase. I cut the letters making up "your home" out on my Silhouette machine and glued them to the front in a whimsy arrangement.

Be sure to visit the Crafting with an Attitude challenge #39 Anything Goes and enter your project for a chance to win 3 of Lacy Sunshine's images.

General supplies:
Strathmore Paint Pad paper
Reflections 110lb heavyweight cardstock for card base
Prismacolor pencils
White, silver and gold gel pens
Stitched rectangle die
Black cardstock