A thank you card for Grace! She's traveling on her own from Singapore and agreed to carry packages for me and my IG friend Trisha to swap. Isn't that so nice of her? I'm driving up to the city to meet with her briefly and swap the gifts. Trisha already treated her to dinner and I added a little Starbucks gift card in this handmade card. I was inspired by Simon Says Stamp's card kit last month. A lot of   Card makers seemed to make a design like this. It's so cute!

Happy World Card Making Day! 

A couple of weekends ago, I hosted my first card-making party at home! I don't have a lot of room at my house, but I have plenty of supplies. I figured it'd a good way to get together with my friends and use some supplies while having fun and eating food :D Teresa has made quite a few cards before, Lieh started making cards recently, and Alice had never made a card before! It was a great opportunity to try new things and work on whatever projects we had. I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again!

Straight up, I'm not so great about making baby cards. Last year I attended quite a few baby showers which was great fun minus rooms full of screaming children (lovely...). I am not in any way against children and I do love them I can't just be around a whole bunch of them for hours on end. lol. That being said, I love being an auntie! I have 8 nieces and nephews by blood and many more whom despite not being blood related, I'm close to and they still feel like family.

After I saw the release of Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby - I had to have it! I didn't care if I made cards for babies or for any other reason. I just LOVED the little animals!~ Google results have tons of adorable cards using this set.

Stamp: Lawn Fawn - Hello Baby
Dies: Lawn Fawn - Hello Baby lawn cuts, Impression Obsession - Spiral Flowers dies

I've been making cards for about a year now and my stamp collection has grown to crazy proportions! Some girls want handbags, some want shoes.. I LOVE stamps and other crafting things and I MUST HAVE them! I finally figured out how I can reference my stamps relatively quickly and it'll help me remember what I have in my stash. I made a sort of stamp dictionary. The closest example I've seen of this style is here on the sweet stamp shop blog in a post by Colie Kumar. I've come across quite a few examples of organizing but this project was more for my own ease of reference than full on organizing (because right now, most of my stamps are just in a bin ~ LOL).
I started by printing the stamp images on paper and cutting them out. Then adhering the printed images onto 4x6 journaling cards. I keep them all together with a binder ring in the upper left corner of the book. I have stamps from the same brand all together but not alphabetized or anything (maybe I should do that?).
I created a cover card with the list of categories I most likely would reference when digging through the book looking for just the right stamps for my project. I had a set of colored thin washi tapes from Michaels and used those as the reference colors for each topic. Every reference card has whatever colored washi tabs are related to the topics on that stamp set. This totally came in handy during my card party!


Stamp brands I have:
Paper Smooches, Stamps of Life, Avery Elle, Simon Says Stamp, Winnie & Walter, Papertrey Ink, Crafter's Companion, Hero Arts, Sweet Stamp Shop, Altenew, Wplus9, Penny Black, Some Odd Girl, Lawn Fawn, KaiserCraft, Technique Tuesday, Stampin' Up, Unity Stamp Co, Mama Elephant, Studio Calico, Studio L2e, Pink Paislee, Stampendous, Impression Obsession

Used my first feather dies! When feathers were all the rage in papercrafting, I was still on the sidelines shaking my head b/c I didn't understand the style. Maybe it was too bohemian for me? I dunno! I think even now, I'm just slowly getting used to it. I got suckered into buying the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Peacock Feather die set. It's out of my comfort zone but I want to love them! lol - I know.. I'm weird.
The dies have embossing lines in the feathers too which is a nice detail you won't notice on a patterned paper. I just realized that my embossed background looks like chicken wire when it's next to the feathers. BOK BOK!
Die: Spellbinders Shapeabilities - Peacock Feathers
Embossing Folder:

For these 2 cards, I embossed the background with sizzix embossing folders then blended distress inks using a blending sponge. Look! I did a background ASKEW! haha~ I'm a stickler for things being lined up so this was a challenge for me (like it is every time I attempt a skewed background).
Stamps/Dies: Stamps of Life - candy2share
Embossing folders: Sizzix - Smile, Sizzix - Polka Dots

As part of the card/gift, the recipient would be getting 2 gift cards. I created 2 gift card pockets out of fiber paper and die cut some extra sakura blossoms to decorate with. My friend requested that the recipient's name was on the card so I stamped "Charlene" using Milo's ABCs from Lawn Fawn and the  "Congratulations" stamp is from Avery Elle.


On the back, went with a humorous stamp from Sweet Stamp Shop. And of course I signed it in lime green to match the polka dot paper on the front.


I went one step further and made a coordinating sushi themed envelope. I stamped it in Memento Dew Drop ink Pear Tart.


Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Let's Roll, Avery Elle - Oh Happy Day, Lawn Fawn - Milo's ABCs, Sweet Stamp Shop - Made By #2
Ink: Memento Dew Drops - Pear Tart & Angel Pink, Hero Arts Dye - Black, Hero Arts Shadow - Bubble Gum

Last weekend, my friends and I went on an adventure.. a Scrapbook Expo adventure! It started at 8am when Alice and I arrived at the convention center first and got ourselves a golden ticket to enter for a grand prize drawing. Teresa came shortly after and we dropped in our tickets for the raffle. By 9am, the shopping area opened. I'm not sure angels attend scrapbook conventions but I'm pretty sure I heard some singing off in the distance when I walked inside. There was so much to see and tons of people there for shopping and cropping. We set budgets (which only Alice adhered to) and were on a mission. See it all and shop on the 2nd round. We didn't really stick to our guns on that either. Especially since some stuff was just worth getting right away if we thought they'd run out. After a few hours, we were spent (and had spent plenty!) and I went in to the office to get some work done. It was a crazy day.





 One of the last booths we visited on our first round through was the bee creative shop where Alice was the first to spot these adorable stamps from Crafters Companion. Teresa and I might've gone a little crazy at this shop. But the images were SO CUTE!
The image below is from one of the stamp sets I bought from the Everyday Barkley line called Scent of Summer. Super cute! I colored it with my prismacolor pencils and gamsol.

2 of my sisters, my parents, and I all have 2 cats per family. Meaning in my immediate family, we have 8 cats!

Oliver and Emma are my dad and mom's pride and joy these days. Aren't they sweet?

I wanted to make card for my dad that he'd want to keep and smile at which basically means it can't just be a generic card with regular dude stuff. Sweet Stamp Shop Stamps to the rescue!


Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop - Kitty Cat

I was on a roll this weekend since I got my Too Hip stamp set from Sweet Stamp Shop. Isn't it TOO cute!? Looking especially hip in his party hat. I spotted this tube of square colorful confetti at Michaels on the non-scrapbooking side of the store. I thought they'd be perfect for shaker cards! Aren't they fun? Love the colors and the variety of sizes. Go hippo, it's your birthday.. *doing the cabbage patch*.

My nephew Andrew just celebrated his 15th birthday! Here he is with his big sister Hailey. Love these kids <3
This is the masculine-est/hippest/coolest/gamer-est/coolest card I could come up with for a young teen boy. Contents: CASH! So what better thing to make for him than a money envelope with money inside for a kid whose obsession with socks might be finally waning and he might want something besides Nike Elite Dri-fit socks in every color available for his birthday or Christmas. It's literally just an envelope pocket with money inside. Full of win, basically.

I used my score board to score a 7x7 piece of paper to make the inner flap (to hold the money) + the outer flap (to cover the money). I didn't take a picture of the inside, but the inner flap is about an inch wide. Then I die cut the outer flap with the curved edge die from Simon Says Stamp. I trimmed up a piece of chalkboard art paper from my 6x6 Boys Rule paper pad from Crate Paper to add to the envelope which (by some miracle) fit this whole thing perfectly. I cut a small khaki piece of paper for the tag and used a curve edge punch on the top. Used 2 different sized hole punches to make the hole reinforcer. Stamped and cut the Happy Birthday label using Alpha Tabs from Sweet Stamp Shop. Then for some interest, cut some cassettes from a printed sheet in the Boys Rule pad. and glued them on the tag. Tied it all up with bakers twine. Masculine and NOT boring! WOOHOOO!! I feel pretty confident that this is my best masculine card so far. And it isn't really a card, I know. But still... I dig it ^_-

Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop - Alpha Tabs
Paper: Crate Paper - Boys Rule

BAM! Featuring 3 cards using Fresh Cut Florals and more fresh cuts from WPlus9 to give to my sister! This first one is following the design I saw on the WPlus9 website. My sister asked for wedding cards so this really fit the bill. And then all the ones after this I was flower happy so I guess they're all good for wedding cards!
For this one, I followed the idea from the WPlus9 blog on the fresh cut wreath stamp set release. I didn't use that stamp set because I don't own it (yet). I'd seen Jennifer McGuire do this before, draw in a shape with pencil then fill it with stamps. Worked great! This one was easy and fun.
I bought all of these square cards from Michaels for $1.50 for 10 cards. This particular shape was interesting to me but I realized afterwards, I almost wish the back was cut with the same curves as the front. Oh well. Went a bit stamp happy with this one!

One of my major challenges in card making is masculine cards! I dunno what it is, but flowers and butterflies are way easy for me. Masculine cards probably shouldn't have sparkly pretty things at all, ya know? *sigh* Anyhoo! I forged ahead when I realized I should be making more masculine cards I went for simple but with a soft look. That should work, right? RIGHT??? In any case, that's what I did.

Blue and black.. those are pretty masculine colors, right? (even if the blue is dainty and light!)
 

Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop - Too Hip, Happy Birthday, Lawn Fawn - Teeny Tiny Backdrops

My sister has requested another bundle of cards for her to use so I've done this once before where I made a bunch. They're mostly prototype-ish to try out new techniques and styles and oftentimes they're one offs. It's a great chance for me to play with designs then decide if I want to repeat making the design or if a particular design was just a one time deal. Maybe the design is too complicated or just plain ugly (this has happened a few times -_-)

This is one of the cards that I started with after seeing another card-maker (can't recall who) using punches to make cutouts - essentially using the negative space instead of the positive for the card. I went one step further and made it into a shaker card. I put a circle of adhesive foam around each of the flowers I punched and added different colored microbeads to each flower punch.

I love how fun this card turned out and I'd probably do it again. I'm in love with these microbeads! I've only used microbeads on my fingernails for nail art so when I started seeing them released as craft supplies, I didn't know what to do with them. But I think they're great for shaker cards! I think my sister will be happy with this one. She mentioned that she used some of the congrats cards I gave her before for birthdays also. "Let's Celebrate" is great for all occasions!
   

Punches: Stampin Up - Itty Bitty Punch Pack,  Petite Petals
Microbeads: Martha Stewart - Kunzite/Amethyst, Tourmaline, Fire Opal
Stamp:  Papersmooches - Sentiment Sampler

Using Dawn Woleslagle's technique of stamping in distress ink then rolling the edges in a second color for blending worked great. Love how this one turned out.


Stamps: Mama Elephant - Waterblooms
Ink: Distress ink in Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean

This is my first time really trying to freehand watercolor an image. I was really inspired by Jennifer Rzasa freehand style and Dawn Woleslagle's colors and roses. Really gorgeous stuff! I started with 3 circular-ish blobs of water on the watercolor paper. Then I used some watercolor paints to start the base colorwash. They were really light and not blending as much as I'd wanted so I started to use my Derwent Inktense pencils. I touched my wet brush to the pencil lead and the color was certainly intese but it gave the images so much more depth. I kept trying to think of the way that Dawn had painted her roses. This was quite time consuming but it was a good experience. I think the hardest thing about watercolor painting in general.. is the waiting! If you don't wait for parts to dry, the rest of the picture can get muddled. Definitely had to be patient for this one.

I'm still not so good at using Gelatos. Maybe I don't wait enough for the water to loosen up the stick. And sometimes I get little flakes inside of the color mixing with water. Weird huh?
I haven't put this on a card yet, but I will soon.

Stamps: Hero Arts - Large Open Flower, Sweet Stamp Shop - Elegant Flowers
ink: Faber-Castell Gelatos in guava, bubble gum, red cherry, lavender, grape, lime, green tea

I made this card for my friend Lieh for her birthday (which is totally belated - back in April!!). She's a boisterous and uber friendly girl so I chose a colorful watercolor background and put a few embellishments to liven up the card and create dimension. There are a few sequins, some coral seam binding from Talking Twine and Trim on Etsy, irridescent thread and a couple of small glitter butterflies I cut on my silhouette portrait.
Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop - Elegant Sentiments
Ink: Distress ink in peacock feathers, picked raspberry, wild honey, evergreen bough
Dies: Mama Elephant - Femme Frames

I painted the watercolor background with Derwent Inktense pencils first and let it dry. It was a bit bigger than I'd anticipated so I decided I'd trim off most of the white space (to suit the A2 card size) and used mama elephant stamps for the flowers. I let them run off the edge in anticipation of a black mat or card base. Also, because I didn't push down on the stamp as hard as I should have, the ink didn't get into the watercolor paper's crevices. It's ok though. It kind of has a rough feel to the stamped image.

Stamp: Mama Elephant - Waterblooms
Background: Derwent Inktense Pencils
Ink: Hero Arts Black Dye, Delicata Gold

Made this one for my friend Alice for her birthday. A few of us joined up to have a lovely dinner and dessert at La Fondue!
Alice is an uncomplicated gal so I picked a simple and elegant design for her card.
Stamp: KaiserCraft - Birthday Dies: Mama Elephant - Femme Frames Ink: Distress Ink in Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Worn Lipstick Embossing Powder: Recollections in Champagne

I used WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals stamp for this one. The technique was a mix of Jennifer Rzasa's from Day 3 and a technique by Dawn Woleslagle where she rolled the edges of the stamp in a secondary color to assist with blending. I'm pretty sure it was Dawn but now I'm questioning it myself since I can't seem to find the class video that references the technique.

Stamps: WPlus9 - Fresh Cut Florals, Lawn Fawn - Sophie's Sentiments
Ink: Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey