Relax and Chill - It's your birthday!

Aaaah this little dog image is just the 'coolest' I cannot help but chuckle when I look at it.

It is simply brilliant!

I found it in Art Impressions' 'Reel Great Guys' Set (4900)

I needed a summery birthday card for a male relative and decided this dog is perfect for it. I coloured him with watercolour pencils (by Derwent) and added Liquid Embossing (by Plaid) over the entire tube to make it shiny and slightly dimensional.

The dog really needed to have a relaxing time, so I decided he might like to be floating down a little river or canal...just enjoying the ride while chilling on the tube. To get enough water for him to float on I made my card 8.5" x 4"

I cut a slit using the Silhouette Cameo and proceeded to colour the water, muddy bank and grassy edge using Distress Oxide Inks. These inks allowed me to lift colour for waves and spots for bubbles and splashes. I enhanced those with a white gel pen. I also added a bit of coloured pencil details to the bank.

The sentiment is from the 'Lake House Tryfolds' set. I stamped it onto tan cardstock, embossed it and then added a little brown ink to bring out the woodgrain from the embossing. Cutting a slit into the card front allowed me to slip the stick through to the back and 'plant' the sign in the stream.

I trust the recipient will have no doubt as to how I expect him to spend his summer birthday!

I think I should make one of these as a decoration on the wall...I know I will get a chuckle from it every time I walk past...

I'm entering my card for the Art Impressions 'Summer Vibes' Challenge

Edited to add : the card won an Honorable Mention. How fun is that?!? Thank you!

Real Great Guys

Giant Acorn...

or cute little box?

The other day I just wanted to make something for the fun of it...now I have a tiny little gift box as a result! We had a dry sunny day, sadly so far a bit rare this spring, so I headed outside for a few bright pictures.
The papers are from a Christmas themed paper pack I picked up a few years ago from Michaels. The cardstock is from a Recollections multi-pack

The box is straight forward and easy to put together. Using patterned paper is optional, but I think lining the rounded shape with paper, even be it plain card stock, is a good idea to mimic the smoothness of the nut.

The finished size of my box is 3.5" (9cm) excluding the stem. The total length is 5" (almost 13cm)  At this size I used letter size card stock, but of course one could easily scale it up or down.

The box measures about 2.75"(7cm) in diameter across the opening

It is the perfect size for a small gift of jewelry or even just a little snack. A collection of acorns each containing a different coffee or chocolate, all piled into a bowl would make a great gift. It would also be a practical container for a hostess gift.

I used the Acorn & Pinecone box cut file from My Scrap Chick

 I will definitely have to give that pinecone a try...

This is a Gloop

A Spotted Bellied Gloop to be more precise.

I got it from the 'Curiosity' Cut set over at Lettering Delights. (affiliate link) And I liked the colours so much, I stayed pretty true to them.

I've had this set for a long time, and every time I see it, it begged to be made into a 'hello' or 'hi friend' card. 

I'm glad I finally have Gloops on the desk...

Do you see the reflection on the glasses of the Gloop on the right? I put acetate behind the frames to help my Gloops see better. No pretend glasses around here, no way...

And here is that cute goofy face up close. I wonder how many different types of Gloops (or is it Gloopi?) there are...hmmm

Milestone Birthday

90 year young. That sure is a milestone to reach!

So what sort of card do you send a flower lover for her 90th? A box full of flowers of course!

I cut my box for the flower bunches from kraft card stock and stamped the woodgrain on using brown dye ink and a stamp by Heidi Swapp that I picked up from Michaels.

And really once that was assembled all I needed to do was decorate the different inserts and that was done with cut file flowers and punches pieces. I did add a lacy die cut to the front of the box to soften the design and to bring a bit more white in, while repeating the lace detail of the doily on the back panel.

A little organza bow finished of the tag. Besides, who gives flowers without any ribbons or bows, right? I love all the dimension these box cards have.
We added a sentiment and handwritten notes to a panel at the back of the large panel on the card.

I used :

Christmas Box Cards - SVG Cuts (affiliate link) Mary includes plain box cards for you to customize. For my card I used the Christmas Tree Box Card style.

In Bloom - Lettering Delights

Happy Birthday Titles by Miss Kate Cuttables

Veels Geluk (Congratulations)

Time for a birthday card again. I was going to say this is for someone special, but all the cards I make are for somebody special, so that seems to be a rather pointless observation!

I used pigment inks for the watercolour look on the background. I find they blend pretty well with water, if not as readily as the dye inks. And I'm pleased with the results I got. I apply ink to the work surface, spray with water, mix it in and just press the cardstock into the mixture. The last step was splattering gold paint over the entire surface - only a little though! I just wanted a hint of gold on there. Finally I trimmed the card front a little smaller than the card base and inked the little strips on either side of the panel using the same pinkish red ink pad (ColorBox Ruby) For drying I like to put it into or underneath a book to dry nice and flat.

For the cut out I used a Silhouette Studio Design Store file by Jamie Koay called  'Roses Bunch Lace'  . The sentiment is stamped and white embossed onto black. (I think the white powder is getting old - it's looking a bit 'creamy' to me. Yikes!) and sandwiched a bit of black thread between the sentiment strip and the card. The thread is squiggly, did you notice that? I was replacing a zipper in a garment last week and thought how cute the squiggly thread look - and it ended up on the card front. Just a variation on the pristine new thread look one normally sees. I also stitched the tag to the edge of the card just to add a bit of interest.

A trio of sequins finished it up and the card is ready to be sent!

I'm off to write a little letter to mail with the card...see you soon!

Birthday Card - Boy

Even after many years of making boy cards I still find it a challenge, so I was very thankful to have the 'Leaping Lizards' cut set from Lettering Delights. I was able to make yet another card that I expect will bring a smile to a boy's face. It makes me smile anyway ;-)

The lizard came together very quickly with simple layering and just a bit of shading with pastels. I put him on a strip of kraft card, stamped with a Heidi Schwapp wood grain stamp. The card looked a bit bare so before I adhered anything on there I sprayed it with a couple of green alcohol inks.

The sentiment was written with the Silhouette Cameo and a Sharpie pen and coloured with colour pencils. I did the same for the inside of the card -

In the end I enjoyed the challenge and process of making another boy card!


The Cut Set used -  Leaping Lizards (Affiliate Link)

Hybrid Cards - New Baby

I have no stamps that are particularly suitable for a new baby type card, so the logical alternative for me was to go 'hybrid'. By that I mean using digital images (in this case digital scrapbooking supplies) and making a real life card from it. Besides, my old (very old) printer died recently and I wanted to try the new one for size!

I started with a digital kit by Kristin Aagard. To me,  nobody does 'cute' quite like Kristin does. I'm sorry I don't have more reason to buy/use her cute designs! (even so I have more of her goodies than I probably need...)

I used her 'Peas in a Pod'

I designed the card in Silhouette Studio, working on a card base from LD - Step Cards. Which worked just fine. 

The front panels for the card I designed in Photoshop which enabled me to add shadows to some elements. That meant I could reduce the bulk seeing as both cards were to be mailed internationally. For a hand delivered card, it would be much nicer to make it more dimensional!

I used the 'print and cut' feature to get the Cameo to cut the elements for me. The light wasn't good when I snapped this quickly, with the tablet, but you get the idea.

All that was left to do was to assemble the bits and pieces.

The alpha letters used for the names are also from the digi kit.

The only item actually popped up with a bit of foam tape, is the little bear on the front.

I like how it has the illusion of dimension even though it is flat for easy and safe mailing

I added a sheet of pink copy paper to the back of the cards as I did not like to look into a 'black hole' when the card is opened.

I was very pleased indeed with the results. And that printer? It is welcome to stay with me in my studio!

Sheila Scarf Box

A little gift box to contain a crocheted scarf for a friend

I used the 'Summer Holiday' Kit from SVG Cuts

I stamped the chipboard before assembling the box. The trim was embossed for interest and lightly inked on the edges.

Flowers and a few sprigs finished off the top. The cut files are from Lettering Delights.

I added sequins and beads to the flower centers.

And the scarf peeping out from inside the gift box.

I used the train truck cut files from 'Summer Holiday' by  SVG Cuts

And remember the latest SVG Cuts set Spring Blossoms is still available free with purchase.

  Click HERE to learn how to get 'Spring Blossoms' free with purchase.

Christmas Photo Album

Every year over Christmas we take a family picture. This is a 'tradition' we started when our first son was born and we're still doing it, even if we are not able to all be together over the holidays. I thought it would be nice to have a pretty album to house all those pictures. Something can can be a keepsake and also be 'decorative' over the holidays.
I really really liked the look of the Graphic 45 '12 Days Of Christmas' Collection. The papers are beautiful and the little extras charming. Plus - it is not overly cute nor too frilly (for a house with more guys than girls!) I like the traditional colours and the touch of dramatic black is perfect.
I settled on using that for my album and decided to make my own album from scratch. I have some ideas of pages I want to make. I have a line up of idea I found on You Tube and then I found a very nice 'foundational' cut set to get the ball rolling.  The December Album files from Designs on Cloud 9 (these are still available here until the end of February 2015, after that date it will still be available at Michelle Currie's Silhouette Cameo store HERE)

I set out cutting a few pages and a bunch of words , borders and shapes 

I've only just started decorating some of these. It is a long term project, but I'll be updating this as I get stages done. I want to take my time to enjoy the process of making it and being pleased with the end result.

I'll be posting updates to this as I get pieces done.