maria's craft room

Happy Birthday, David!

Edited to add:  Correction!  The focal image is from Penny Black, not Stampendous.  My apologies!

So today was David's birthday.  In honor of the event Deuce made him a card.  I did assist by guiding his paws a bit when using the Marvy punch (the lack of opposable thumbs was an issue), but I swear to you that my dog is this talented.
Deuce started with a base of ruby red cardstock layered with a piece of the SU! Ginger Blossoms designer paper.  He then stamped the focal image in basic brown onto whisper white.  He used my SU! markers to color and my clear Spica glitter pen to accent the collar and flower.  Then he punched it out with my purple Marvy scalloped oval punch (this was where I assisted) and sponged the edges generously with close to cocoa ink.  He wrapped the card in May Arts ribbon, attached the focal piece with dimensionals, added the brads and the sentiment (again tracing over with the clear Spica glitter pen) and then wrote his heartfelt greeting inside.  I won't describe the presents that Deuce hid for David in the living room...just use your imagination.  I wish it had only been a figment of my imagination!

Until next time...M

Supplies:
Ink:  SU! close to cocoa, chocolate chip, basic brown
Cardstock:  SU! ruby red, whisper white, SU! Ginger Blossoms designer paper
Stamps:  Penny Black, sentiment from Papertrey's Piece of Cake set
Other:  purple Marvy scalloped oval punch, crop a dile, American Crafts brads, May Arts ribbon, clear Spica glitter marker, SU! creamy caramel, ruby red, more mustard and close to cocoa markers, SU! foam dimensionals

Piece of Cake

My father-in-law is celebrating a birthday today and this is what I whipped up to go with his gift.  I've been into my Marvy punches lately (still doing the floral thing - had to put flowers on the cake!!) and I thought it might be cool to offset the main image.  The card is pretty self-explanatory - what you see is what you get.  My card base is textured soft sky (the texture didn't show so well in the photo!!) and I used some more Basic Grey Two Scoops paper.  I think this one in particular is called Ice Cream Parlor.  I accented the flowers on the cake with my Sakura glitter pen and I drew little curved lines and dots on the scalloped blue bayou piece using my Spica at you clear glitter pen.  Just trying it out to see how it would look.  And I used my SU! ticket corner punch to create space for some Robin's Nest drops.  I have a few bottles of these Robin's Nest drops and I'm forever forgetting to use them.  Plan on seeing them more in the coming days.  I'm running out now for the party but I'll be back to spend the evening in my craft room.  Who knows...maybe I'll have something to share later.

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  SU! soft sky, close to cocoa, blue bayou, wild wasabi

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Piece of Cake

Cardstock:  SU! textured soft sky, blue bayou, whisper white, Basic Grey Two Scoops designer paper

Other:  SU! ticket corner punch, SU! soft sky double-stitched ribbon, SU! retired grosgrain ribbon, Robins' Nest drops, blue Marvy oval punch, pink Marvy scalloped oval punch

Happy Birthday From The Dog

I love my dog.  My husband and I spoil him terribly with attention, affection, and comfort.  Deuce is a smaller dog - an Italian Greyhound - and because of his lack of fur/natural insulation he requires a coat to go outside on cold days.  I think you're getting the picture.  I do feel the need to defend myself by stating that I do not have him wear anything indoors!  Anyway, I recognize that same behavior in others.  I work with a gentleman who ensures that his small dog has all the best that life can offer.  To celebrate this co-worker's recent "major" birthday I created a card for him...but I made it a card from his dog, Mr. Darcy.  Is that a fantastic name or what?!?!  I left the inside of the card blank and wrote my own message...with my co-worker's new age in dog years and what I imagined Mr. Darcy might say about that.

This card is deceptively simple.  I can't even begin to explain how much time it took me to come up with a 'masculine' card from a dog.  I pulled out my old Sizzix dog bone die...one of the big red ones!!!...and cut the bone out of SU very vanilla cardstock.  I sponged around all of the edges with SU sahara sand ink in an attempt to give it some depth.  Not sure I succeeded, but I gave it good effort and then tied it up with soft sky double-stitched ribbon.  The card base is SU really rust (with the bottom edge of the front distressed) and I distressed a strip of soft sky to layer at the top for interest.  The designer paper is SU Fall Flowers, the brads are SU vintage, and the Papertrey sentiment from their Piece of Cake set is stamped in SU old olive.

Until next time...M

Supplies:  all mentioned above.

Manly Birthday Wishes

So has anyone else struggled to make 'masculine' cards?  I normally have a tough time but this one almost created itself.  I had just been to a bridal shower and I had 'bride and groom' on my mind.  Think of a groom in a black tux with a silver vest, white shirt and black bow tie.  And then look at my card...see it?  Anyway, I have almost never used my SU Going Gray pad and I felt really good about digging it out.  And the silver paper is from an old Sizzix Texturz pack.  I've had the pack for over two years and never used it...it was one of those things I saw in AC Moore and had to have.  I guess I just had to have it sit in a drawer!!!

I started with my usual 4.25" x 11" piece of cardstock, scored it in the middle and folded it.  I stamped the Papertrey star image on Whisper White cardstock and used Basic Black classic ink for the sentiment.  I then used my SU ticket corner punch because...well, I was just determined to.  Anyhow, I went to mount it on the silver Sizzix paper and found the texture gave me the perfect excuse to use my favorite thing - glue dots!  I love these things.  When I went to add the brads I couldn't decide between pewter or black so I used both - pewter on top w/black on the bottom.  After that I mounted the silver to the black cardstock using - yep - glue dots.  I finished off the front of the card with some May Arts ribbon and then lined the inside with white cardstock so I had a surface to use for my message.  (Forgot to take a picture of the inside, but I stamped some little stars in there to balance the design.) 

Until next time...M

Supplies:

Ink:  SU Classic Basic Black, Going Gray

Paper:  SU Black and Whisper White cardstock; Sizzix Texturz silver

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Text Boxed

Other:  SU Vintage brads, May Arts ribbon, SU ticket corner punch