Running With Scissors...

One for the Boys

 

We’re sure seeing a lot of masculine cards all over Blogland recently, aren’t we?  Well, that’s what happens when we get close to Father’s Day.  We’re focusing on masculine cards for our Double D Challenge today, too – One for the Boys!  Now, it doesn’t have to be a Father’s Day card.  The card I made is for a birthday.

 

I used Power Poppy’s Move the Soul clear stamp set.  I don’t know much about motorcycles other than how I enjoyed clinging to my boyfriend on the back of his bike in the old days – pre-Rich, of course – but I’ll tell you truly I did enjoy making this card a lot more than I thought I would.  No designer paper, no dies.  Just stamps that come with the set.  I love when a set includes little extras you can use in the design.  I used six stamps on this card.

 

 

There’s some embossing across the top and a whole lot of ink smudging.  I was thinking “dirt bike” and hoping I’m not way off base with this particular type of bike.  Coloring was done with Copics.  See the inspiration board below.  I have Power Poppy sets that work for each of those tiles, but I know just who this card is going to, and the bike is perfect.

 

 

There’s a prize for a random winner, too.  Yay!  We like prizes!

 

 

I hope you can join us at Double D for our One for the Boys challenge.  Be sure to pop over to the blog for some fabulous design team inspiration.  I’m sharing this in two other challenges today, too:

• Cards In Envy – No Girls Allowed.  A cards-only challenge.  Must be flat enough to fit in an envelope.
• Power Poppy Power & Spark – Happy Mail.  Make a card with the express purpose of mailing it, and then actually put it in the mail.

See you again soon!

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Move the Soul  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack Sandal, Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Real Red, Versafine Onyx Black (sentiment), Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Sizzix Diamond Plate embossing folder

Can’t Stop those Happy Feet

 

Hello, friends!  I’m back to stamping as it was time to make a birthday card for a 30 something guy friend.  He doesn’t fish or hunt or work on cars, but he loves my dogs and he’s a kid at heart, so I made this for him:

 

 

He’s heard Wally sing with his squeaky so I’m sure he can imagine Wally dancing, as well.  At any rate, I think he’ll get a kick out of this happy pooch.  I used the sketchy version of Sassy Cheryl’s Don’t Stop the Music.  The sketchy illustration sure made coloring easy.  I just followed the shading lines that were already on the image.  He’s a cutie, isn’t he? 

 

 

Coloring was done with Copics, and some super cute dies and designer paper helped me put it all together.  The particulars (stamps, paper, ink, dies) are listed in the recipe below my signature.

 

I’m linking up to some favorite challenges today:

• Seize the Birthday (anything goes as long as it's a birthday card.  Optional topping of sunshine.)
• Let’s Color Linky Party 10 (anything goes as long as it’s colored
• Critters & Creatures Linky Party 5 (anything goes as long as it's a critter or creature)

I hope I’ll get to stamp again soon.  Thanks for dropping in!

 

Stamps:  Sassy Cheryl’s Don’t Stop the Music digital, SU Amazing to Zany sentiment (on bone)  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Cool Caribbean, Echo Park Fine and Dandy designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack Sandal (to sponge bones), Copics for coloring  Dies:  Poppystamps Happy Birthday Melody, Paper Smooches Dog Icons, Impression Obsession Grass

Chock Full of Chocolate

 

I challenged myself to reach into my cupboard and pull out the first designer paper pad my hand came into contact with, and that would be the start of my next card.  Now, I was a little disappointed when I didn’t pull out something prettier, but, hey, it was a challenge.  Well, then I remembered I hadn’t yet colored my Layer Cake digi from Power Poppy.  Perfect!

 

 

The designer paper is BasicGrey Life of the Party, and these particular pieces inspired me to make my cake decadently chocolate – my favorite.  Lemon cake with lemon frosting runs a close second.  I think this card could be used for a masculine birthday, but really could go either way.  I printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and colored with Copic markers.  Cut the layers with Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders and added a banner and some enamel dots.  Pictured below are the Copics I used for coloring:

 

 

Linking up to Seize the Birthday today with the optional topping of “coloring”.

 

 

Wishing you a wonderful day and I’ll see you again soon!

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Layer Cake digi  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Espresso Bazzill, BasicGrey Life of the Party designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Copics as pictured above  Accessories:  Enamel Dots, Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders and Banner Parade

Masculine Sympathy and Get Well

 

Hello, there!  Today I have a sympathy card and a get well card which I've made for my customer lady and will hopefully be suitable for a masculine recipient.  Both cards use BasicGrey Origins designer paper plus colored cardstock.  Dies on the first card are Memory Box Finnegan Fronds (bird and frond), and Impression Obsession With Sympathy.

 

 

Inside is a retired JustRite sympathy sentiment (Sympathy Nested Sentiments) and another frond from the Finnegan Fronds die set.

 

 

I have quite a few of the old JustRite sentiment stamps from back when they made them with the grooves to fit on the grooved stampers.  Remember those?  These days I don’t use the grooved stampers.  Rather, I trim down the stamp and use removable double sided tape to secure them to an acrylic block.  Works like a charm and they’re just like any other unmounted rubber stamp.

 

 

Pictured below is the second card.  The ovals in the center are Spellbinders Grand Ovals and Classic Ovals Large, left over when I cut the frames for the card I shared last Monday.  The smaller oval was a spare part I had tucked into my Origins paper pad.  The foliage is Poppystamps Sylvan Sprig.  Impression Obsession Get Well Soon and Memory Box Forest Bird.  The bird is rather plain – just a silhouette – so I cut it from patterned paper and gave it a little black eye dot with a Sakura glaze pen.

 

 

That’s it from me.  Now, back to the coloring…  See you again soon!

 

Little Brown Bird

 

I had a rainy weekend and a chance to make some cards, so I focused on sympathy for an ongoing card order.  My lady wants mostly sympathy, thinking of you, and get well cards.  She likes the handcrafted look with layers and accents, but I always aim to give her cards she can put one postage stamp on and walk it out to the mailbox.  No standing in line at the post office.  Rather than flowers I opted for cards that would be suitable for a male recipient.  They could go either way, really.  I love anything with a nature theme.  I’m just sharing one card today.  I used a Deep Red stamp called Springtime Sparrow.  I purchased this stamp locally, but you can see it here on the Deep Red site.

 

 

I Googled sparrows before I colored this and was quickly overwhelmed by all the different kinds of sparrows, so I went with browns.  Surely there’s a sparrow similar to this somewhere?  Coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits directly onto the 110 lb Neenah Classic White card base.  I chose Prismas so I could avoid an additional layer.  The coloring does not show through the other side at all.  I lightly sponged around the bird in pale yellow and added some green speckles with a retired Stampin’ Up! Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp.

 

On top I layered a Poppystamps Thicket Frame cut from Core’dinations cardstock onto wood grain designer paper with an oval window.  I cut a ring of designer paper to fit inside the oval for additional framing.  It is just a ring, not a whole layer – cut with the smallest Spellbinders Grand Ovals and the largest SB Classic Ovals Large.  A little die cut foliage in dark brown for contrast, and a circle punched sentiment finish it off.  Sentiment is Hero Arts.  I’ll list everything in the recipe below my signature.

 

 

Inside is this sentiment from another set, and two die cut leaves (Dee’s Distinctively Small Pair of Leaves).

 

 

I’m happy to say I’ve moved one more stamp (bird) from the not-yet-used basket to the used-at-least-once basket.  We all have that not-yet-used stuff, don’t we?  I organized my not-yet-used stuff this weekend – stamps, digis, and dies.  Just taking stock of what needs attention and how far I have to go.  Let’s just say I’ll be busy for a while.  Have a good day!

 

Stamps:  Deep Red Springtime Sparrow, Hero Arts Small Greetings, Stampin’ Up! Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Words to the Rescue Variety Pack 1 (inside)  Paper:  110 lb Neenah Classic White, green Core’dinations, SU! Barely Banana and Chocolate Chip, Simple Stories Wood & Notebook Basics designer paper, BasicGrey Origins designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Barely Banana, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip  Coloring Medium:  Prismacolor pencils – Light Umber, Dark Umber, Sienna Brown, Cream, Black, 50% and 70% Warm Grey  Accessories:  1 1/4” and 1 3/8” circle punches  Dies:  Poppystamps Thicket Frame, Spellbinders Grand Ovals and Classic Ovals Large, Memory Box Blooming Vine, Dee’s Distinctively Small Pair of Leaves

Hello, Goodbye, A New Challenge, and Happy Birthday, Power Poppy!

 

Wow!  I have lots to share today so stay with me till the end, okay?

 

News item #1:  Welcome to Power Poppy Friday!  This is, in fact, my final Power Poppy Friday with the Bloom Brigade.  I know!  It’s rather a shock to me, too, but I think the right thing to do at this time.  I’m taking off my DT hats and free wheeling indefinitely.  Just stamping willy nilly.  I hope you’ll still come visit me.  These last two years have been the best – always something new and exciting coming down the pike with Power Poppy, and a huge privilege to have been in on the launch of such an outstanding line of stamps.  I can’t say enough about Marcella and the team and the beauty and quality of the stamps.  The best testimonial I can give will be the frequency with which I use my PP stamps in the future.  And I will.  Use them.  A lot!  So I just want to take a moment to say “thank you, Marcy, for having me”.  It’s been such a joy, and will continue to be a joy every time I sit down to create with my Power Poppy stamps.

 

News item #2:  The Bloom Brigade gals have made samples for the new Card Maps sketches this month.  For a lot of great sketches all in one place Becky Fleck’s Card Maps is the place to go.  Really.  Check them out.  I had a fun sketch to work with (which I’ll show further down) and it immediately inspired me to get out my Play Ball set.  I’d almost forgotten what a kick it is to work with.  Lots of different stamps and sentiments to play with.  I paper pieced the pennants – stamped on designer paper and cut out just the triangle part – then stamped each edge on white, colored with Copics, cut out and glued over the pennant.  I added red glitter to the sentiment on the one pennant.

 

 

These are the Copics I used:

 

 

I had nearly as much fun with the inside as I did with the front:

 

 

Pictured below is the sketch.  You can see how I adapted, but how I was inspired, as well.

 

 

News item #3:  A new Power & Spark Challenge starts today, too.  The card I’m sharing today was made long before I knew what the challenge theme would be, so it doesn’t fit, but I think the challenge sounds like bunches of fun:

 

 

Intrigued?  I’ll send you to the Power Poppy Blog to find out more info about what Christine has up her very creative sleeve with this challenge.

 

News item #4:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POWER POPPY!

 

 

Two years old today!  Still just a baby, perhaps, but we’ve come a long way, baby.  Here’s a note verbatim from Marcy:

 

“Power Poppy is turning 2.  WOOHOO!  We want to THANK YOU, our sweet and encouraging peeps around the world, for helping us spread the botanical abundance and zest for life.  Your creativity, love, and generosity of spirit is SO STRONG!  We are thrilled to kick off another year of flowering and empowering together.

From Friday through Monday, we're offering 20% OFF all stamps, digital and clear.  Use discount code MARCELLA at checkout to receive the special savings.  PLUS, for four days only we have a special birthday digi for only TWO BUCKS!  Visit Power Poppy to learn more.”

 

Trust that I’ll have something colored up with Marcella’s never-fail-fabulous digi ASAP.

 

News item #5:  I can’t leave without providing a link list to all the Bloom Brigade sharing awesomeness with you today:

• Christine
• Julie
• Cindy
• Stacy
• Tosha
• Allison
• Katie
• Kathy
• Cheryl

Whew!  Told you I had a lot to share!   My final Power Poppy post was a biggie, wasn’t it?  You’ve probably had enough of me by now so I’ll sign off for today.  See the recipe below my signature for card ingredients.  Thanks for hanging in.  I’ll be back with you soon!

 

Stamps:  Play Ball  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, SU! Poppy Parade and Bermuda Bay, My Mind’s Out of the Blue and Notable designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics as pictured above  Accessories:  Holiday Red Stickles glitter, Die-Namics Star Stax and Stacking Stars dies, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Harv Has a Birthday

 

This is Harv.  He’s a fun old geezer who’s sending birthday greetings to a guy friend.

 

 

I made a shaker card with my Impression Obsession All-In-One Frames – Square and filled it with confetti-colored beads.  The frame has a sort of ombre appearance which is the result of Copic coloring, starting with the lightest blue in the center and working outward with one step darker for each frame section:  B0000, B00, B01, B02, B04, B05.

 

Aside from Harv, what really dresses up this card and makes it super fun is the Die-namites Hanging Presents.  I’ve developed a serious crush on Die-namites dies lately.  Have you taken a good look at them?  Dies R Us has pages and pages of Die-namites and they’re all simply fabulous.  Cute or pretty, take your pick.  You can see the whole lot of them here.  I made my Hanging Presents colorful with Copics and added an enamel dot to each ribbon knot.  I also went over the ribbon parts of the die cut with clear Wink of Stella.  Very fun and shimmery!

 

 

Inside is this sentiment.

 

 

The inside sentiment is by Inkadinkado.  Harv is an Art Impressions Golden Oldies stamp.  Harv and I have had some good times together.  He appeared three times in one post here, if you’d like to have a look.  I’ll sum up all this card’s ingredients in the recipe further down.

 

Just a reminder that there’s still time to play in our “Stitching, Real or Faux” Challenge.  Create with that theme and any die cut and then link it up.  Pretty easy!  There’s always something to see on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog, too.  Have a happy day!

 

Stamps:  Art Impressions Harv, A Muse Celebrate, Inkadinkado Only a Kid Once  Paper:  Neenah Classic White, clear cardstock, My Mind’s Eye Out of the Blue designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black (Harv), Versafine Onyx Black (sentiements), Copics for coloring  Accessories:  My Mind’s Eye Enamel Dots, beads, Wink of Stella clear glitter brush, fun foam  Dies:  Impression Obsession All-In-One Frames – Square, Die-namites Hanging Presents, Spellbinders Nested Lacy Pennants

For My Favorite Human

 

We have a new challenge starting today at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog – “Stitching (Real or Faux)” – so I’ve made a card with both.  I do love stitching on cards.  I’ve used a designer paper panel with a stitched design, did some zigzag machine stitching on that, and then topped it off with a stitched oval frame.

 

 

Our son’s birthday is in April so I’ll probably save this card for him.  He understands my affinity for dogs and he loves them, too.  You can’t not be a dog lover, growing up in our home.  Wally and LuLu are crazy about him.  They always look so sad when he leaves after a weekend visit.  They’ll stare at the door for the longest time waiting for him to return.

 

The dies I used today are:

• Cheery Lynn Dutch Daisy Boutique Stacker A2 Frame
• Impression Obsession All-In-One-Frames – Oval
• Impression Obsession Large Bow
• Paper Smooches Hearts

The frames were cut in white and colored with Copic markers to match the image.  The fancy rectangle was done with E23 and the ovals with BG72.  The “messy coloring” on the blue oval resulted in a suede-like appearance.  I honestly think it looks like blue suede.

 

 

The darling dog stamp was a gift from a friend.  I know it’s by Judikins and it’s older, but it does not have a name on it.

 

Jump in anytime this week or next with your “Stitching (Real or Faux)” card and maybe win some Dies R Us $$.  Have a happy day!

 

Relaxing in the Tree Top

 

It’s time for Challenge #159 at QKR Stampede, and it’s an easy one – “Anything Goes”.  I’ll admit I didn’t put a lot of thought or time into this card as I’ve got a lot going on right now and I need to see how quickly I can stamp and color.  Quick coloring, quick decisions.  Grabbed the first 6x6 designer paper pad I came to which, luckily, wasn’t all pink and girly, and when I saw this piece I didn’t give myself time to overthink it.  A simple layout, matching colors for the mats, and lots of stitching.  No die cuts.  Just a chunky wooden button and some baker’s twine.  I’ll be giving this to my husband for his October birthday, so I’m ahead in that respect, too.

 

 

My digi koala is QKR 6301 Relaxing, and the sentiment is from waaaaayyyyy back, a company called Alextamping.  Anyone remember that one?  I don’t, actually, and this might be my only stamp from them, but I’ve used it fairly often.  I do like it.  Not sure how it fits with the koala.  For that matter, I’m not sure about the stitching and button and baker’s twine, but, you know, dang it, I like this card!  All that time and effort I put into a lot of my cards, and who knew it could be this easy?  Sheesh!

 

Well, come on over and join our Anything Goes Challenge at QKR Stampede.  We’d love to have you.  Take good care and let’s do this again soon!

 

 

Stamps:  QKR Stampede 6301 Relaxing digi, Alextamping sentiment (very old)  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, BasicGrey Infuse designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Wooden Button, baker’s twine, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Olive and Oak, Peace and Strength

 

This is the time of year I’ll be out in the garden one day in a tee shirt and the next day I’m inside wearing a sweater.  Yes, fall is coming and Marcella is right on top of it.  If you’re a Power Poppy fan you’ve probably already seen a few samples with Marcella’s latest digital set, Olive and Oak.  Check the Power Poppy Blog here for a link list to some beautiful samples if you missed them before.  This is exactly the kind of image I’ve been looking forward to seeing with Marcy’s artistic touch applied.  It’s wonderful for masculine cards, and the sentiment is ideal for sympathy or any caring note.  Olive for peace, oak for strength.

 

 

I’ve printed on ivory cardstock and colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol.  A simple embossed frame and no frills keeps the card very masculine and mail-able.  You certainly aren’t limited to cards for the guys with such a versatile image, however, and you’ll see some fabulous samples of that here:

• Julie
• Stacy
• Christine
• Allison
• Cindy

This is my second post today, so if you’re of a mind you can scroll down or click “home” for more.  Thanks for your time!

 

 

Stamps:  Olive and Oak digital set  Paper:  Very Vanilla (Stampin’ Up!) dark brown Bazzill and Core’dinations  Ink:  Printer  Coloring medium:  Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol (odorless mineral spirits)  Accessories:  Sizzix Hearts & Vines Frame embossing folder (only outer frame is showing)