Happy Mother's Day! (a card from my son!)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  My five-year-old son woke me up bright and early this morning informing me that I was going to sleep the day away if I didn't get out of bed at that moment. Little did he know I was up until the wee hours of the morning watching Gilmore Girls and that four hours wasn't enough sleep for me LOL  (Side note: I just started watching the show on Netflix and adore it! I love watching shows on Netflix b/c I don't have to wait days, weeks or months between seasons.)  Anyway, my kiddo let me sleep in a bit longer while he and my husband made some cards.  I loved when he tip-toed back into my room a half hour later whispering "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!" and giving me this beautiful creation of his.

I love it so much!  I'm going to have to frame this one for sure! He was so proud of it :)

Supplies Used:
Crayola Washable Markers
White paper
Scissors (no paper trimmer or corner chomper for this little dude!)
A whole lot of love and adoration

Thanks so much for visiting today. I hope you all have a great day, and if you're a mom,  keep on being a superhero :)

Submissions:
Blessings Ink--Mother's Day
Come and Get It--Flowers
Laurelcraft--How Does Your Garden Grow?
Great Impressions--Celebrate Spring
One Stitch at a Time--Anything Goes
Dragon's Lair--A Bouquet of Flowers
Frosted Designs--All About Mom
Digi Designs Challenge Blog--Load on those Flowers

Vellum Balloons -- Party Time Tuesday May Challenge

Hi there!

It's the first Tuesday of the month--can you believe it's May already?!?!--and it's the start of Party Time Tuesday's "Anything Goes" challenge!  Anything Goes challenges are the easiest to enter, so whip up something good and join us in the fun!

I really love this card. I love that the background is a great contrast against the colorful balloons and the splattered paint look.  I don't know what it is about this look, but ever since I was a little girl, I've always thought splattered paint looked so fun. It's imperfect and messy and just has an awesome result. Here's another card I made using this technique.

I actually used vellum for the  balloons because I wanted something transparent.  You can see through balloons, so it made sense to try to make a card with balloons that you could see through. This was messy and not really easy, but FUN!  I smeared Distress Inks on a piece of vellum and let it dry before using a variety of balloon dies. While the ink was drying, I smooshed the same colors of Distress Inks onto an acrylic block and liberally sprayed them with water. Using a paintbrush, I just flicked the paint onto the cardstock.  Wherever it landed is where it stayed :) If you're a bit of a perfectionist and don't like something you don't have a lot of control over, this might not be the best technique for you, but I would encourage you to try!

After the splattering dried, I glued on the vellum balloons. This isn't fun. Ever.  I didn't want to use tape or glue dots because you can see them through the vellum, so I decided that I would use glue all over the back of them. It was sticky and some of the ink came off, but it worked and that's all I wanted :)  I used a think tipped Sharpie to draw the balloon lines with a ruler and attached them with an adorable bow.  

Supplies Used:

Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean and Picked Raspberry

Impression Obsession Herringbone Background Stamp

Tombo Mono Multi Glue

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Sharpie Marker in Black

Mama Elephant Good Times Stamp Set

Paper Smooches Wise Dies

Thanks for stopping by today!  Don't forget to join us in the challenge at PTT!

Submissions:
Clear it out Challenge--Anything Goes
Everybody Art Challenge #323--Happy Birthday
Pinspirational Challenges
Crafty Cardmakers #138--Make Your Own Background
Lawnscaping Challenges--Watercolors
Crafting Musketeers #25--Use a Die Cut
Mema's Crafts--Anything Goes

Live in the Moment Tag--DS4J New Release

Happy Sunday :) Today DS4J has some great new releases for you! I adored the tree swing digi because it reminded me so much of being a kid.  I was outside all the time climbing trees and building forts. I just loved it. Now that I'm an adult with a child of my own, I often think of how fast time passes and how easily it is to spent yours days unhappy, stressed, or angry. Since this was such a happy image for me, I wanted to make an uplifting project.  I typically make cards, but decided on a simple tag this time.

I cropped a tree branch off of the image when making the tag, but I don't think it took away from anything.  I colored it with Copic markers, punched a hole in the top and added some pretty ribbon.  The sentiment is my own doing (made in PowerPoint) and is not a part of the digital image.  

Supplies Used:

Swing Image from DigiStamps4Joy Shop

Copic Markers (YG 09;  E 25, 27; W 2; RV 14)

Hole Punch

Ribbon from stash 

Thanks for stopping by today! Please stop by the blog to see what my teammates came up with!

Buttons, Bows and Bling!

Hello, hello! Today starts a new, exciting challenge at DigiStamps4Joy. I'm the hostess of this month's theme, which is Buttons, Bows and Bling :)  This is such a fun theme that I've been waiting for months to share with you!  Your options are limitless, so use your creativity and an image from the shop to be eligible for a great prize and join us in the fun.  I used the adorable Bettie Bow image from the DS4J shop to create my card:

Now, I just have to say, that I think this whole project turned out beautiful!  All of the elements are present: lots of bows, lots of bling on the bows, and I used a tiny button brad for the inside of her earring :)

Bit-by-bit:

*I printed the image on Neenah solar white cardstock, trimmed it to an A2 size and colored it with Copic markers.

* I sectioned off part of the card to do some stenciling with embossing paste and embossing powder to create a very thick pattern that had some shine.  (Tip: use painters tape to hold down your stencil! It won't tear your paper and the stencil won't wiggle around on you.)

*The Bow-It-All v. 2.0 tool was used to create the bow. I must say that this is one amazing tool! If you struggle with bows, it will be your best friend.

* I attached the pearly ribbon to my paper and added my bow with a glue dot.

* Attach the panel to an A2 card base.

Supplies:

Bettie Bow  (You MUST buy this digi! It's only $1.50 and it's adorable and very versatile!)

Copic Markers (E 000, 00, 02, 53, 55; Y 02, 06, 08; R 12, 14, 17)

Wink of Stella in ClearSpare Parts Metallic Button Brads

Prima Stencil in Flourish 

Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Glue Dots

The Ribbon Boutique Ribbon (7/8" thick; Item # 117333)

Dreamweaver Embossing Paste in White

Ranger Embossing Powder in Red

Palette Knife

(Note: I can't find the pearly ribbon at this time. We just moved and I think it may be packed away still, but I hope to update this when I do find it. It came from the craft store and was with all the other ribbon in the sewing department.)

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I hope I've inspired you to join in our challenge. Remember that you have all month to create something and enter, so please join us.

Submissions:

Digi Sketch Challenge--Buttons and Bows
Melonheadz Friends--Add Sparkle
Sparkle and Sprinkle--Use Glitter
Whimsy Stamps--Color an Image
Graph'it Colour Challenge #18--Ribbons and Lace
Kitty Bee Designs #46--Girly Cards
Simply Create Too #84--Pretty Woman
The Stamping Boutique--Ribbon and/or Lace

Let's Go Streakin'!!!

This month's theme at Naughty or Nice Challenges is "Friends". Ahhhhhh....friends!  If you're like me you have a wide variety of with varied tastes, with some being eerily similar to you.  I'm lucky enough to have some great friends in my life and am thankful for all of them! Although different, they all bring something exciting and fun to the table. Younger, older, male, female, you're all special and I'm fond of all of you :) Thanks for the laughter, advice, compassion, support and honesty you've all given me over the months or years that we've known each other!

Without further ado, here's my salute to my friends.  And this rings true with quite a few of them LOL

(Inside:)

Now this just makes me giggle! Isn't the naked guy hilarious?! It really reminds me of Will Ferrell from Old School.  

It's a very simple card and I thought for a while that I needed to add more color or something, but I didn't want to fancy it up. I liked it simple :) I love that it's gender neutral because like I said, I have some pretty fantastic male friends too. To execute the plan, I made an A2 card with Neenah Solar White Cardstock, stamped my image, then stamped the words. I didn't use a ruler or anything to make them line up perfectly since it was more of a silly card than a fancy one.  I started with the word "things" and then lined the other words up as best as I could in relation to that one.  I messed up the 'b' and the 'e' in the word "remember", but tried fixing it with a white gel pen.  It's a little darker than the other letters, but I think I fixed it pretty good :)  I stamped "...alone" on the inside because let's just face it, sometimes that's the cold hard truth!

That's about it! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Get out your supplies and make something special for one of your friends, then share it with us on the Naughty or Nice blog! You have all month to work on your creation :)

Supplies:

Man going streaking stamp that I got at a yard sale

Copic Markers (E000, 00, 02, 25)

Paper Smooches Alphadot Stamp Set

Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black

White Gel Pen

TIPS AND TRICKS:

When creating words using alphabet stamps, decide which letter is the middle letter of the word you're making, and stamp that near the center of where you want the word to be.  For example, the middle letter of "things" is 'i' so I started with that letter. 

Work from the inside out, then bottom to top.

Submissions:

Kleuren met Potloden--Men

Karleigh Sue Digi Stamps #3--Foolish Thoughts

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #105

Inkspirational Challenge #81--Space

Alphabet Challenge Blog--F is for Friends/Friendship

That's Crafty Challenge Blog--Let's Keep it Simple

Creative Knockouts #87--Complete the Inside

Cute Card Thursday #371--Use a Sentiment

DRS Designs #172--Put it in Neutral

Southern Girls #110--Get Wordy

Digi Choosday Week 17--CAS

Retro Rubber Challenge #13--Anything Goes