Sunday, January 25, 2015

Card for a Birthday Boy

Hello crafty friends,

So, here's the birthday card I recently made for a boy. Totally card lifted the layout from Nichol Magouirk with just a few subtle changes. Masculine cards are very hard for me personally because I love to embellish, embellish, and embellish some more. Anyway, I loved the card Nichol created and since I had the exact same card kit it was the perfect solution to my lack of card making mojo. So, here's my card.


The obvious difference between mine and Nichol's card is that I used the game remote stamp that came in the kit because the birthday boy LOVES playing video games (what boy these days doesn't? lol). The more subtle difference is that I used green strips of cardstock instead of red and I also used some sequin. The sequin was more out of necessity to cover up a smudge but I really hadn't intended on using any. I also didn't draw any faux stitch lines. 

Something I learned in the making of this card is that using a stencil is not as easy as it looks when you see it in a video especially when the stencil is smaller than the area you want to cover. Maybe it was just an off-day for me but, yea, I admit I had some issues. I probably should've followed Nichol's tutorial more closely because I didn't stencil & emboss in the same order she did, so, in hindsight, I could've avoided a few problems I had with embossing powder sticking to the stenciled stars, if you get what I'm saying? Ha! I shall say no more...lol. That's my card share for ya'll. Here's a bit of a close-up:


Thanks Nichol Magouirk for the inspiration and thank YOU for stopping by.

Hope you have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs,
Bettina :)

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Milestone Birthday Card

Hi there

Started off the year on rocky footing but I think now things are returning to our normal routine. My eldest daughter had a milestone birthday; she turned 21 and is officially an adult. We are all pretty much in denial including the birthday girl. lol. She liked the Christmas shaker card I made her so much that I decided I'd do it again for her birthday.


I used Tim Holtz watercolor paper which I cut out using my brand new stitched rectangle dies from Simon Says Stamp. I placed this rectangle on my Cricut cutting mat and cut out the numbers with my Cricut Expression 2 using the Cindy Loo cartridge. I figured out how to get the Cricut to cut out the numbers in the corner of the paper and even put in the size of the paper; all that without using my computer. My craft area is not ideal and it's a huge hassel for me to have to bring my computer downstairs. If anyone wants a tutorial on how I did that, I'd be happy to give it a try; just leave me a comment.

Anywho, I used my Avery Elle "Cake and Candles" stamp set to stamp and emboss the sentiment. I also used a black pen to write "st" since I don't have an appropriate stamp set. Then I used the cheap watercolors from Artist Loft, wet down the paper first with a wet brush and then placed soft pinks, yellows, and blues and let them spread out on the wet surface. I dried it with my heat tool and repeated laying down colors until I was happy. Then I used some gold mist and created some splatters. 

Next I glued down some acetate behind the numbers and used some Scott 3D foam tape to create an area to hold the sequins. Then I filled it in with pink and gold sequin from my stash and enclosed it with some scrap white cardstock. Finally, I placed the whole thing down on a top folding 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" white card base (Recollections 110lb cardstock) and "voila". The only finishing touch is the gold heart sticker which I had left over from my SSS December card kit (or was it November? lol)


If I had to do this card over I would use the smooth side of the watercolor paper because I think the stamping would have come out a little better and I also would line up the word "Birthday" a bit lower because the top of some of the letters look like they got cut off. But overall, I'm very happy with how the card turned out and my daughter liked it very much.

Hope you like it, too. I'll have another post coming up soon; it's a birthday card for a boy.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs,
Bettina :)