Graduation card

This week I made a card for my nephew's High School Graduation.  There were three challenges that my card would work with:
Mod Squad Challenge Blog: Charmed, I'm Sure!!
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: I ought to use this more

The thing I ought to use more is different card layouts and shapes. I was inspired by the Congrats! Grad card in the latest issue of CardMaker magazine. I was giving a gift card to my nephew and this card is made to hold a gift card. I used blue and white for the school colours. 

I started with a white piece of Colorbok textured cardstock and made the cuts where indicated in the magazine.  I then used some blue American Crafts cardstock and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Wedding Suite set. I cut it up and adhered it to the card. I used my Silhouette Cameo and cut out the 2014 and the grad hats. I inked up the 2014 with some VersaMark ink and used Clear Recollections Detail embossing powder to heat emboss the numbers. I wanted to give them a bit of shine which I think you can see in the first picture.

I used a sentiment from the Art Gone Wild Inspirations set and stamped it with Stampin' Up Brilliant Blue ink onto a piece of white cardstock.  These stamps have a border around them so I used Spectrum Noir marker TB5 to colour in the outside border. I think it matches the blue cardstock quite well.

I used my Cameo again with a white Sketch pen and drew Congratulations onto a blue piece of cardstock and mounted that onto a white piece. I tied a piece of gold cord around the white piece and tied another piece of cord onto it. For the charm challenge, I took two of the grad hats, inked the tassle with Tsukineko Brilliance Galaxy Gold and joined them together with the gold cord in between. I frayed the end so it looked like a tassle. I mounted that onto a blue piece and adhered it onto the left hand side of the inside of the card.

I used a 1 1/2 " circle punch from EB tools to cut out 2 blue circles. I scored them, folded them in half and glued one half onto the back of the middle section. I folded the other half onto the front of the card and glued just the top edge so that the gift card can go in the middle.

Colourful Friend card

This week on the Mod Squad Challenge Blog, the challenge is to colour your background or your focal image. At the Simon Says Stamp Blog, the Monday Challenge is Anything Goes, and the Wednesday Challenge is to make a card for a friend. Here is my card for these challenges.

I stamped the background image (Hampton Arts) on some white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured the flowers with Spectrum Noir markers using BP1, BP2 and BP6 for the pink flowers and centers, TB3, TB4 and TB5 for the blue, CT1, CT3 and CT4 for the yellow and PL1, PL2 and PL4 for the purple. For the sentiment I used a Hero Arts clear stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock. The ribbon was a piece of off-white which I coloured with the BP6 marker. I love how you can match the embellishments with the colours you use on the project.

I layered both pieces of white cardstock with some black and then pink. I layered everything onto a white card base and added a few Recollections rhinestones to the centers of the flowers for a little bling.

Stenciled Ocean card

I am finally getting around to posting this card after a busy week. There are two challenges I am entering with this card. One is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Stencil It and the other is the Mod Squad In the Ocean or On the Sea Challenge.  So this is what I have come up with.

For the Simon Says Stamp Blog challenge you have to use a stencil. I don't have any background stencils so I had to improvise. I took the netting out of the back of a bag of potatoes and used that as a stencil! I used some Versa Magic Sea Breeze chalk ink and inked through the stencil right on the cardstock.  had to go over some spots a few times to get it all covered. The big stamp is from Inkadinkado and I used Stampin' Up Cajun Craze ink.  The small shell stamp is one I picked up second hand and it doesn't have a brand on it. I also stamped it with the Cajun Craze ink. I used an EB tools 1 1/2" circle punch to cut it out. The sentiment is from Harmonie and I stamped that with the Sea Breeze ink.

I matted the sentiment and the large shell image with some blue cardstock. I didn't have another circle punch
to cut out a mat for the small shell image so I used some Spectrum Noir markers to colour the edge. I used IB2 first and it didn't look quite right so I added some BT2. I also didn't have any matching ribbon so I coloured some white ribbon with TB2 and BT2. It's not perfect but I don't have all of the markers yet and I think it is close enough.

I adhered everything together and popped up the sentiment and the small image.

Hummingbird card

I saw this bird challenge on the Tombow USA blog today so I thought I would make a quick and easy card.

I bought some of the Spectrum Noir markers last week and was eager to try them out. I stamped the Hummingbird from the Hot off the Press Hummingbird set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I masked it and then stamped the flower from the Inkadinkado Doodle set.

To colour the Hummingbird I used PL1, PL2 and PL4. To colour the flower I used TB1, TB3, TB4, LY1 and LY3.

I stamped the sentiment, Capture Joy, also from the Hot off the Press set. I then matted with some blue cardstock and adhered everything together with Tombow Mono Adhesive.

Anniversary Card

I got the idea for this card from Simply Cards and Papercraft. I wanted to do another card for the Mod Squad Anniversary Card Challenge.  This one is a little more feminine.

 I used blue cardstock and scored and folded it to make the front of the card. I attached a piece of patterned paper to the two front panels and a plain piece to the two side panels. I cut out 4 corner flourishes and attached them. I used a die to cut out the medallion and used a craft knife to cut out the middle of the medallion. I used the same patterned paper and made a rosette which I attached to the inside piece of the medallion. Then I adhered the left side of the medallion outer piece to the left front panel. Then I adhered the right side of the medallion middle to the right front panel. This makes a little lock that holds the front closed.
I stamped the love heart,cut it out and adhered it on top of the rosette.

I used the following supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts
Patterned paper: Floral Fantasy by Louise Tiler
Gold Foil paper: Recollections
Dies: Spellbinders Shapeabilities Die D-lites - Frame Two and Corner Flourish
Ink: Versa Magic Chalk ink - Purple Hydrangea
Stamp: Fiskers(?). It could also be Inkadinkado.  I got it a while ago, before I started making cards on a regular basis and threw out the packaging :(

Masculine Anniversary card

Today I am combining three challenges into one card. The Mod Squad Challenge is an anniversary card, the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to make something to do with magic and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is a masculine or Father's day card. So this is a masculine anniversary card with some magic!!

I started with this gorgeous stamp from Quietfire Design. I love what the sentiment says as well as the beautiful calligraphy. I stamped it with green Pamass pigment ink and embossed it with Recollections clear embossing powder. I cut it out with a die from Spellbinders Shapeabilities Jar Labels set. I embossed it and then while the paper was still in the die I sponged it with the green ink.

I decided to go with a monochromatic look so I chose some green paper for the background.  I stamped a music stamp, that I think I got at Michaels, a few times and embossed it with the clear embossing powder.  I used the Happy Anniversary stamp from Hero Arts and stamped and embossed as before. I used the Treble Clef stamp from the Hampton Art 7 Gypsies Very Beautiful set, embossed it and fussy cut it.

I layered the sentiment onto the background, added a piece of ribbon and popped up the Happy Anniversary with some half inch pop dots.

So what does this have to do with magic, you ask?  Well for me, music is magical. It can take me on a journey of emotions and memories. I also think falling in love is magical so the Anniversary card reminds me of that.