Happy Birthday, Julie!

Hey there! Today I’m hopping along with Ellen Hutson and friends to wish the mega awesome, super fabulous, amazing MS. JULIE EBERSOLE a happy 50th birthday! WOO! I still cannot believe that she is 50!!! Can you? (Shakes head in disbelief!)

So when I sat down to make her card I was thinking to myself that it just *had* to have washi tape on it. Because, well, Julie and I both agree that you can never have enough washi — we frequently get washi’d away! Ha.

Then I thought hmmmm, what else does a Julie card need? Well, I thought it needed to be a little clean and simple — not too much stuff. And it should have some color — yeah lotsa color! And most of all it should be happy and fun, so that when she sees it, it’s like getting a big ole hug.

So, here’s what I came up with!

I wanted to make the washi tape look like crepe paper streamers, so I taped some down to my cutting mat and then used a craft knife to cut them into strips — making lots of wavy lines — I ended up getting 4 streamers per piece of tape, like so:

Then I just pulled up the cut pieces and popped ‘em on the card — here’s a closeup so you can see it better!

Next, I had to put a bird on the card — because if you know Julie, you know that she loves birds on things. Ha. So in this case, I went with  a sassy owl – love her expression! —  And I just had to put some bling in her hair. *wink*!

Here’s a closeup of the coloring on the message! Just love this message! To do this, I scribbled markers on an acrylic block, then picked up color with a wet brush.

After I colored over the message, I splattered on some leftover color all over the background to make confetti.

Last but not least, I trimmed a piece of triangle washi tape — actually, this tape inspired the colors for the whole card, ha! — and put a gem on the white triangle to point out the YOU. Just seemed to me like something Julie would do, no?

And that was that! As Julie would say *hugs self*.

Well Julie my friend, hope your birthday is as fabulous as you are! You really one fabulous chica, you know? Sending you a mondo squishy hug, sure wish I could give you one in person! Hope you have a super great day filled with lotsa love and laughter. And cake, of course! And here’s to 50 more!!!  xo

Now, on with the hop! Your next stop is the super sweet Maile Belles — Hi Maile! You should have arrived here from Shari’s blog, but you can always head back to the beginning here in the CLASSroom with Ellen. Before you go, please feel free in leaving a birthday wish for her in the comments — I know she’d love it! :)

Supplies:

Inspired By: Studio Calico wood birds!

Hey you guys! How are you this week? Is anyone out there taking the Kick Start Your Creativity class with Jennifer and Kristina? I am honored to be one of the guest artists for the class, so I’ve been hanging out and watching the videos — and I must say, it’s been very inspiring so far! (And, you can register at any time for the class, so come and join us.)

Anyhow, in one of the lessons, Kristina talked about how she is inspired by craft supplies in and of themselves. So when I was finishing off a birthday card I was sitting there thinking to myself “Hmmm, this really needs something. I sure wish I had a wood veneer heart to go with these Studio Calico birds…” and then CLICK! a light bulb went off and I decided to try and make my own. It was really super easy!

Here’s the finished card!

Don’t the hearts just make the card? Here’s how I made them:

First, I used the Holiday Shapes die to cut out one set of hearts from birch paper — it’s real birch wood, too cool! (I’ll admit that I’ve been hoarding this paper for a while, but now I know what to do with it, ha!)

Then I wanted to make the hearts as thick as the birds, so I cut two sets of hearts from some chipboard that I’d saved from a package of 12×12 paper. (I like to save this chipboard, it always comes in handy!). I found that by using a metal shim adapter plate the die cut through the chipboard and the birch paper like butter. WOO!

I stuck two chipboard hearts together with glossy accents, and stuck a birch heart on top. Next, I colored the edges of the hearts with a brown marker to make them look like the Studio Calico birds. Here’s a top-down look so that you can see it better:

I added a little pearl on top of each heart to go with the doily and the white embossing — and to hide the little “pimple” from the circle in the die cut, ha ha! Note that when you cut these out of cardstock you usually don’t get the zit, but since the birch paper is thicker it does show — you can see them in the photo above with the marker. But add a pearl or a gem and no one will ever know! :)

Supplies:

*Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember HOLIDAY SHAPES Hearts Stars Craft Die S131 *Simon Says Clear Stamps STAMPtember HANDWRITTEN SENTIMENTS Exclusive [Ellen Hutson] Circle Lace Doily by Hero Arts [Simon Says Stamp] *Hero Arts Designblock CIRCLE LACE Rubber Stamp [Ellen Hutson] Real Birch Paper [Ellen Hutson] Studio Calico Wood Veneer Birds [Simon Says Stamp] Wood Veneer Tweets *Hero Arts Dye Ink Pad NEON PURPLE af232 *Hero Arts 36 Count 5mm MEDIUM ACCENT PEARLS ch137 *Hero Arts 48 Count 3mm SMALL ACCENT PEARLS ch136 *Colorbox FROST WHITE INK PAD Pigment Stamp 150801 MS210 *Hero Arts EMBOSS WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER *Sweet Bella Washi Tape WAMON SET MT06P001Z *Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Dimensional Adhesive *EK Success POWDER TOOL Applicator EKT001 [Ellen Hutson] Memory Box Metal Adapter Plate [Simon Says Stamp] *Memory Box METAL ADAPTER PLATE For Intricate Dies 981009 *Tsukineko Marker 4 Memento Ink Markers ARIZONA CANYONS Dual Tip

If you’d like to see some more posts where I’m inspired by something you can check them all out here. There’s not very many yet — I should do more!

STAMPtember at Simon Says Stamp!

Hi! Have you heard the awesome news? Simon Says Stamp is having a HUGE celebration all month long called STAMPtember™! Woo!

Here’s a little bit about STAMPtember™!

Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. Over the past 10 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a “STAMPtember” ™ event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media and many forms of altering and expressing art.

I am so honored to be a part of the celebration! You see, I’ve been a huge fan of Heidi’s for years now, as she is one of the most kind, caring, and generous people I know! Getting an email from Heidi is like getting a ray of sunshine — her notes always make me smile. And when a package from Simon Says Stamp arrives on my doorstep I just can’t wait to stamp! So, when she gave me some new washi tape and dies of course I had to play! :)

I got a little carried away and made two cards to share — both featuring two of my favorite things to use with STAMPS: washi tape and neon ink! Here’s a little peek at what I did:

To see the cards along with some tips and tricks, including a new-to-me way to use washi tape, click on over to the Simon Says Stamp blog!

And that’s not all! Heidi gave me a coupon code to share with all of you for 25% off washi tape!!! WOO! Just enter code LSWASHI25 to save 25% off washi tape, valid from 9/6/12 through and including 9/9/12!

Click HERE to start shopping for washi tape! And, here are just a few of my faves — yep, I’m a washi addict ha!

(This woodgrain washi is perfect for manly cards, NEON washi — Heidi calls me the Queen of Neon, ha ha! – newspaper that’s great for collage, a super nifty washi looks like a safety pin holding whatever you tape it to since it’s translucent — love!,  this wider one comes in a set with other different widths and is so great for birthdays, asterisks that can double as retro snowflakes, lattice washi in grey and dark red – so classy, metallic silver and gold for Christmas or weddings, and of course, the Halloween chevrons, orange polka dots – which you can use year-round,  spider web, bubbles, and magic multi dot. I could keep going and going, but I better stop there…!)

Happy STAMPtember™, and happy shopping!

xo,

Heroes Card Drive!

Hi everyone! My friend Laurel let me know about the Heroes Card Drive — her husband left this week on deployment with the U.S. Navy and the Lawnscaping blog is having a card drive for the courageous men and women who serve along side him on his ship.

They are looking for handmade cards for the troops to send home to their loved ones. This is such a good cause so I am happy to help — and it gave me the perfect excuse to try out the new Star Border die cut from Simon Says Stamp!

Here’s what I came up with — three cards on a theme!

I love using Hero Arts notecards for this, since they are white on the inside and allow the stars to really show up, plus it makes it easy for people to write on the inside of the card. And I love how the stars inside the heart go perfectly with the star die cut!

Another little trick I wanted to share is that you can tie the twine through two of the stars — so cool!

Then for the white card, I added some washi tape to the inside for a little added color. And, I white embossed the Newspaper Background and the greeting.

And then! I had a pile of the little stars punched out on my desk and I thought they looked like magic stardust. I couldn’t let them go to waste, so I came up with this fun card that uses another one of the new dies: Brilliant and Strong!

I just popped the stars into a glassine envelope, then added the “be” with the Lily Bee Designs Double Dutch alphabet stickers, but you could always handwrite it.  Oh and a little stamping with the Hero Arts Life of the Party Stars and white pigment ink too. Love how white pigment ink looks on kraft, don’t you?

Want to join in the card drive? Check it out right over here. Note that you don’t have to use any special stamps or make your cards red, white and blue like I did — I was just feeling patriotic. :)

Hope you can join in this great cause!

Special thanks and hugs to all the servicemen and women and their families for all that you do.

Supplies:

Washi Man!

Have you made your Father’s Day cards yet? I did! Here’s the one I made for J’s dad, I call him…

…Washi Man!

Yes, that’s a washi bow tie, ha. Made out of woodgrain washi tape. I love woodgrain. And I think it’s great for masculine cards — or well any card really. :)

I got the idea for making him after seeing Julie’s “potty people” post, hee hee. This guy hadn’t seen ink for a while, was totally time to remedy that!

And the background? It’s a woodgrain mask + Studio Calico Mister Huey’s in barnwood (can’t find barnwood anymore, but clay looks to be pretty close if you were wanting to try this.)

I made the “Dad” using the Hero Arts-Studio Calico Stepping Stone Alphabet – love how you can combine the solid + outline letters to get different colors! (I almost stamped it over since I got the outline of the “a” a bit high, and then I thought nah, because Washi Man doesn’t mind.)

And of course, I had to finish it off with some more tape — this time good old Smash swatch tape.

And there you have it: Washi Man!

And the very best thing? I’m going to be home in Ohio for Father’s Day — so I get to hand deliver this card, yay! (Not showing the card I made for my dad here since he reads my blog sometimes. Hi Dad!)

Supplies