Starry Birthday

... Good afternoon! It's another dull, dismal day here in Northop Hall, so I've spent the morning making a birthday card for my great-nephew. Here's the card:

Stamps: My Favorite Things - Stars Above, Bitty Birthday Wishes, Distressed Patterns; ME - Mixed Wishes Greetings

Inks: Gina K - Soft Stone; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stars Above; Altenew - Featured Sentiments Dies

Accessories: White Card; Copic Markers

I'm submitting this card to Just Us Girls - JUGS#717 to use green and one other colour - I picked blue. I'm also playing along with AAA Cards - AAA#260 - a sketch, and to AAABirthday - AAAB#59 to use geometrics.

This is for Xander, my great-nephew, who will be 12 years old on Friday. I love making cards for guys and these geometric patterned stars are perfect for guys and tweens! The challenge at JUGS is to use green/lime green/one other colour - I picked blue for a boy. I used my MISTI to stamp the stars onto plain white white, took the card out and coloured the patterns with Copic markers. I returned the images to the MISTI and re-stamped with Versafine Clair black ink - this gives such a dark black line. I then used the matching dies to cut out the stars. I also cut out a number of plain white stars. I stamped a soft grey distressed panel down the side of an A2 white note card and adhered the stars. I adhered some stars flat and layered some stars to give depth. I finished the front with a simple birthday greeting in black ink, and edged the panel with green ink.

For the inside of the card, I cut two pieces of white card. I edged the larger panel with a green marker. On the other white panel I stamped a fun birthday greeting in black ink and stamped a couple more stars, which I coloured with Copic markers.

That's all for today - see you again soon.

TMR - Theme ....

.... Hello! We had a fantastic response to our last challenge at The Male Room, so I hope you enjoy this theme as much as the last. For the next couple of weeks we want to see STARS - TMR#60 on your masculine projects. It's coming up to graduation time for the seniors at our local high school, so I decided to go with a theme that would work for a graduate or someone starting a new job:

Stamps: MFT - Stars Above; Stampin' Up! - Gorgeous Grunge, Word Play
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze, Desert Heat; Delicata - Silvery Shimmer
Dies: Die-namics - Stars Above
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Tempting Turquoise; Glue Pen; Foils

I'm submitting this card to Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#110 where they want to see Grunge, CASology - CAS#248 where the cue word is Commencement, and to the on line gallery at Online Classes Sparkle and Shine - this features foils.

I was watching the foiling video from Sparkle and Shine class this morning and realised that I had totally forgotten that you can use glue pens to adhere foil to stamps. I stamped the stars on some scrap card and drew over them with a fine glue pen, allowed them to dry until tacky and then added foil. It's so easy and so effective. I cut them out with matching dies. I stamped a grungy background, stamped a bold sentiment and adhered the stars with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a mat layer of bright turquoise card, and on the white panel added a sentiment and some more stars.

Here's a close up of the foiled stars - so pleased how they turned out!

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the team. You've got plenty of time to join in - deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 23rd May. Bye for now!!

TMR - Theme ....

..... Good afternoon, I really am running late! I hope that everyone has recovered from their New Year celebrations. A change in my holiday plans meant that I didn't get back to the States until 2nd January and I was so jet-lagged that I couldn't stay awake, never mind make a project for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#51 where the theme is ANYTHING GOES. I did manage to pull myself together late yesterday afternoon and make a card but am only now posting it! This is not the way I meant to start the year!!! Here's the card:

Stamps: My Favourite Things - Stars Above, Essential Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Cherry Cobbler; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies: Die-namics - Stars Above
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey, Smoky Slate; Copics; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#269 but I turned it to make a horizontal card. The challenge over at House of Cards - HOC01 is to add a house and/or be inspired by the colours; well I decided to play with the colours as I think they are great for a masculine style card. I'm also submitting this card to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - SSWC04/01 where they want us to see New Something - mine is new stamps!

I started by cutting two strips of card, light and dark and adhering them to the card. I used a dark burgundy Copic marker to add an extra line on the thick dark grey strip of card. I stamped the simple sentiment in burgundy ink and then stamped the stars falling towards the sentiment. I used Copic markers to colour areas of the stars and added some sparkle with a clear Spectrum Noir brush. The two largest stars were stamped again on scrap card, coloured in and cut out with the matching die. I adhered them both with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale grey card. On the white panel I added a message and some more stars.

I took a close-up photo of the sparkle on the big star - the shimmer in the Spectrum Noir brushes is much more frosty/silver than the Wink of Stella brushes. So it's the perfect excuse to have both sets :)

I'm sending this card to my son Ben - he had a rough time at the end of last year, which is why I went to visit him. He's moved house and it's tough to get going again, particularly as it's been so grey and dull. I know that he loves getting cards from us, so this one is on its way today.

Do visit The Male Room to see more inspirational projects for the men in our lives. That's all for now - but I'm feeling much more awake today so you never know, I might be back later!!