Birthday Wishes to many

October is without a doubt my favorite month of the year. I love the crisp morning air followed by warm afternoons, the brilliance of the fall leaves here in Kentucky & Ohio, fresh apple cider and anything....absolutely anything flavored with pumpkin! 

Another reason it's a favorite is because so many people dear to me were born in October, so there's lots of birthday wishes to send and celebrate this month.
Below is a card I made for a few of those October birthday (girls) in my life with some variations. I used 2 gifts from my dear friend Nancy; a set of neon inks from hero arts (link is to online sale at Joann's for $5.99), and a great background stamp from Darcie Heater (i think...don't know the name of it right now). The HB stamp comes from a clear set by Hero Arts called Glow Girl and  I'm crazy about it (also a gift...from my sis, Jen).

You can figure it out, but I basically stamped the background in each of the 4 neon ink colors, then I cut all 4 of the images the same way (doing 2 at a time in my paper trimmer), then you just piece them back together mixing and matching the colors and before you know it, you have 4 card fronts :). I wanted a solid accent strip on each card, so I randomly chose one of the 4 neon colors and inked a strip of white cardstock so it matched perfectly. The butterfly is done the same way...inked a piece of cardstock then punched it with a very, very old butterfly punch and then again with a scallop punch circle (that i just snagged for $5 at a store that shall remain nameless because i really don't like to shop there or support them).

Thanks for looking....I'll be back soon to post about the MAIN reason I love October...stay tuned :).

Friday Mash-Up #73

I was thinking about a couple techniques and the Friday Mash-Up challenge while in the shower (i do some of my best thinking there) and I had an inspiration to combine a few ideas. So, my thought was to sort of combine Triple Stamping technique with  The TJ Embossed puzzle technique I did last week and make a Thank You card for The Friday Mashup Challenge #73. Here is the result:

Paper: Club Scrap: Blue panel-Gimme A Ring, White panels-Lotus Pond
Embossing Folder: Sizzix Tropical Paisley
Inks: Hero Arts: Pool & brown, Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink
Sentiment: Unknown
Punch: Butterfly
Other: perfect pearl spray

The Paper Players Colour Challenge #103

I needed a special card for a very dear friend who is having surgery this week. I found a great couple of techniques at DO stamping with Dawn and I was eager to try them out. Then, I checked in on The Paper Players and look at the yummy color combo they've challenged us with:

My substitute for Daffodil Delight is a much paler yellowish/ivory and the photo doesn't show how great the colors look together. My green is only on the leaves of my flower, but I hope it counts!

First, I followed Dawn's excellent video tutorial for Triple Time Stamping here. Then I added one of her Faux Suede Flowers following this video tutorial. She has so many great tutorials...you should check out her site!

The paper is all from a Club Scrap collection called Memoirs, which is only available now as a digi kit - no paper :(. The background stamp is HA Flower Dot Pattern and the Flower stamp is from this UM sheet of rubber from Club Scrap's Interior Design kit. The sentiment stamp is also an UM set from Club Scrap, but I don't remember the name.

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge Week 11

The challenge continues...we are on week 11 and the ever lovely Linda at Studio L3 has chosen a most wonderful technique called Blended Batik which is featured on page 36 of T!m's A Compendium of Curiosities book.

I chose to do my card in silvery blues & greys because looking back, so many of my submissions were red and yellow and orange (which is really not me at all). So, hold on while i bore you with all the details (that i can share). The flower shapes are from Outlines Rubber Stamps which I cut on my QK Silhouette (my most favorite toy...i mean tool, ever!) as is the leafy vine image. The flowers were inked with Broken China & Pumice Stone distress inks. The buttons and the butterfly bookmark are from my stash. Most of the papers are from Club Scrap's Destinations kit (with the silver from the Culinary kit). 2 of the stamps used on the flowers are also Club Scrap (Henna & Michael Strong Paisley kit), the other flower uses the friend definition stamp from Hero Arts...they are sprayed with Pearl Glimmer Mist (which is an absolute must to own..i use it VERY frequently). The ticket is made with Autumn Leaves ticketed stamp set. Oh...and last but certainly not least, there's a hint of faded jeans distress stickles near the bottom.