Monday, April 18, 2016

Birthday Celebration with Stampin Celebration

Nothing like my child's birthday makes me happy and yet so sad at the same time!  I love that they are growing up and that our interactions grow and mature.  I am trying not to think of the next stage in our lives, empty nest and all.  So today we will celebrate her day and not think about what will be.

Given that my creative time has been somewhat limited of late, it was great to be able to use inspiration already available from Stampin' Celebrations newest sketch challenge (SC127) to help me create a card for my daughter's birthday!

She is sweet 16 today!  Can' believe it.  Anyway, since she isn't really into cars, I decided to make her card more festive for the occasion.

For some reason the Big News stamp set (Stampin' Up! 2015-16 Annual Catalog) was on my desk and the birthday greeting was looking me in the face. Then, when I went to pick a paper for the background, the Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper was right in front.  I loved the polka dots and I couldn't believe how easy the card came together in my mind.


A festive card for my daughter's big day!  

My project is pretty true to the sketch, and I am glad the other designers provided additional interpretations to help provide further inspiration!  I am looking forward to seeing what inspires you from this sketch!

Monday, April 4, 2016

Dancing with Stampin' Celebration!

Wow, April here in Chicago came in like a lion!  I know it's supposed to be April showers, bring May flowers..., but the snow and wind this weekend made it feel more like early March rather than early April!!

Anyway, speaking of April, I am loving the April inspiration challenge by Stampin' Celebration (SC126).  The fun bright colors should help urge spring along!


I was drawn to the the raindrop effect in the lower right-hand image and decided to try to make this come to life.  I also liked the bright colors of the orange, yellow and green watercolored together so I also wanted to use this effect in my card!



For the rain drops I started with a base of whisper white cardstock and used my Versa Marker to create the circles and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Then I took some alcohol and a few drops of Daffodil Delight, Pumpkim Pie and Wild Wasabi reinkers and added them to alcohol. Then I used a medium sized paint brush to paint the colors on the card.  I started with yellow, then orange and finally green.

The sentiment is one from Tim Holtz (not Stampin' Up!).  I love this sentiment and it fit perfectly with the theme!  I heat embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder so I could watercolor over the sentiment.

For the raindrops I found a semi-raindrop shape in the Pyramid Pals framelits from the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog (I think it is supposed to be an ear).  I just rounded the bottom and turned the ear into rain drops!

Well, that's my card!  Bright and cheery.  I don't think the raindrop effect worked out all that well.  I probably need some shading or something.  But, it was fun to try!

Can't wait to see what caught your eye!