Happy Birthday Man!

Have you had a look at the fab colors on the menu at The Play Date Cafe? They have on offer a very cool serve of Charcoal, Ash, and Butter.    Love this trio of colors.  Needless to say, it was light work to whip up this masculine birthday card with such a spunky color combo.  Seeing that I am still crushing hard on Watzingmouse's Plaid building stamps (Pic-nic Patterns and Offbeat Backgrounds) it was a "no brainer" to go with them.  Masculine Motifs from Papertrey Ink is another of my go to sets when it comes to a bit of butch beauty.  So those "good ones" paired with Waltzingmouse Stamps Vintage Labels 18, and the Tim Holtz Texture Fade in Burlap on the Soft Stone cardstock (from Papertrey Ink), some crazed pinking shear action on the plaid layer, a few licks of ash colored acrylic paint to the card's edges,  some guy ribbon, and that was this bad boy done. No fuss no muss.

Thanks so much for popping by.  Here's to a fantastic day!

Love-N-Chain Mail?

Look, I am not even going to start to make excuses for this card.  I think it's a weird one and I cannot even begin to justify it nor can I honestly say that it looks any better in person. Ha! All I know is I wanted to play along with this Week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge for no reason other than for the very true challenge being that I could not think of a darn thing to make from this sketch that was even remotely clever or insightful. Nada. Zip. Zilch.  All I could think of was to play it straight.  Then I started crafting this card "playing it straight" and next thing I know I have got chain mail in my hand and Spellbinders Labels 4 Grand dies in my sights.  Uh oh.   So not playing it straight.   I just went with it and next thing I knew I was doing my best (or possibly my worst) Edward Scissorhands impersonation and that, as they say folks, was that. Maybe cards are like what is often said about people:  "That it takes all kinds to make the world go round." *prays*

Um, er...I did warn you.  But really, thanks beautiful folks for swinging by.  I hope your not too traumatized by what you've just seen here.  *wink*

Supplies:

• Stamps:  Waltzingmouse's Wanda's Pantry (Love Potion #9 Label) and Hero Arts Designer Woodblock in Canvas Stripe.
• Ink:  Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose, Old Paper, and Antique Linen.  Memento Rose Bud, and Papertrey Ink's Fresh Snow.
• Paper:  Papertrey Ink Cardstock in Spring Moss, Stampers Select White, and Vintage Cream,  and Basic Gray DP. 
• Accessories:  Spellbinders Labels 4 and Grand Labels 4 and Floral Motifs dies, Provocraft Embossing Folder in Roses (then flattened), Paper flower and vintage chain mail ribbon both from stash, Acrylic paint in Silver, Pale Pink, and Bubblegum Pink.  WRMK Corner Chomper in Scallops.     

Aloha! Surf's Up!

This was a fun little retro number I whipped up for this week's The Play Date Cafe, featuring my interpretation of what they have fabulously called Mojito, Peony, and Sand.  I had such fun fishing out and using a stamp set that I completely forgot I owned.  Crazy huh?  It really is a blast to use a set that I must of had grand ideas of using when I purchased it originally from Papertrey Ink called, funnily enough, "Aloha".  It has mainly sentiments in the Austronesian language of Hawaii that I had no idea what they actually meant and images (being the non-surfer that I am) that really had me thinking...what was I actually thinking when I bought this set a couple of years ago?  I am fairly certain that I have only ever used it once before in fact.  But, I do see the potential even now.  I must say that I love the font used in the set and that surfboard is pretty darn cute.  I also don't think I have a Hibiscus in my stamping arsenal either or at the very least, one as lovely as this one.  It was also kind of fun looking up the meanings in this sentiment set as well.  I had no idea the depth behind the true meaning of Aloha.  Very cool, indeed.

My interpretations of this week's colors were fairy literal which was actually kind of cool.  After all, what better color for sand than Sand?  (Golly, how I can complicate things)  I used my Peony-like in color Copics for the surfboard and so much Glossy Accents on the deck that Mr. Zog would be proud.  I thought it best to leave those darling unadulterated Hibiscuses in their pristine outline form save the smudge of white pigment ink on each pistil and stamen.   So, they were stamped quite simply in Papertrey Ink's new dye ink in Kraft.  I stuck my dunes in place, propped up my stick, nipped at the corners of the card, and that was this baby done.  Nice.


Thanks for stopping by the blog, it's always a pleasure to know that you have visited.  Gosh, does it ever make my day.  Aloha! 

A Corrugated Dogwood?

Corrugated Dogwood blooms aren't something you see every day, that is for sure.  And with a bit of luck you won't get to see them again any time soon.  Not sure if it's the prettiest of blooms, but it is different, I'll give it that.  I created this card for this fortnight's CR84FN Color Challenge showcasing Yellow, Kraft, and Gray.  I cannot tell a lie, Kraft and gray combined was a mega challenge for me.  It just looked wrong and kind of jarring placed together when I pulled out swatches of the colors in cardstock when constructing this card.  But somehow, out of my great big load of "no idea" emerged this card.  I decided to focus on mostly gray and yellow together and just accent with the Kraft.  But low and behold, the Kraft just took over and dare I say in a kind of a "so grotesque that it's groovy" kind of way at that.   I had initially intended to have only the touch of Kraft be in the wee bookplate, but stumbled on a bit of cardboard (and was obviously mesmerized by it) when looking for scraps to cut out my intended "yellow and gray" Dogwood bloom.  Crazy, huh?  So I just went with it and totally forgot that the bloom was meant to be wholly different and what do you know, "There she blows!"...a corrugated Dogwood bloom!  Go figure?

I love that about crafting.  You really (more like I really) don't know what I am going to end up with until I end up with it.  What did Forrest Gump's mother say? "Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get."  Well, I think the same can safely be said about card making for me.  Love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Here's to a mega inspired day for us all.  To chocolate! 

How Lucky Am I?

Thank you so much for the wonderful nods I have received in regards to the Liebster Blog Award.  Just know I am nodding right back at you, ever so crafty, folks with much esteem.  Hugs.   Some time early last year I was kindly awarded the Liebster Blog Award by the crazy talented Amber when she had originally received it way back in the day when she had less than 100 blog followers...so we know how long ago that was.  *wink*  Then, with an amazing stroke of luck,  I have received this blog award again, most recently from the uber talented Gayatri, Cathy, Kelly, Euna, Ang and Carol!   I know! I know!  How lucky am I?  Thank you all so very much.  You have no idea how thrilled I am that you all have given me this tremendous acknowledgement and shown me such crafting love.  And yes...in case you are wondering, I still have that silly, pleased as punch grin on my face.  *happy dance*

So what's the Liebster Lowdown, you say?

Liebster means "dearest" in German.  This award is a share-the-love arrangement given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.  The to-do list of any Liebster award recipient is to:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that those you honor forward it to their favorite bloggers.

It gets even better, because now I get to have even more fun and honor and award this cool bit of crafting love to several of my crafting muses (in no particular order), who continually inspire me no end:

Gayatri 

Cathy

Cindy

Michelle

Denise

Life is good. Thank you so much lovely ladies and do know how much I, absolutely, appreciate all of your encouragement, inspiration and kindness. Always!  x

Growing In Spades.

It is with great excitement that I write this post.  No, I haven't been asked to join a DT, been published, or had a win on the lottery.  Nope, I am excited for far better reasons than those, and that's because today's post is my first ever  papery contribution to this Mini Blog Hop with some of the most stellar and innovative papercrafters I know.  I bet you can imagine how chuffed (not to mention nervous) I was to be asked.   The challenge for this wee Blog Hop was to use Papertrey Ink's Garden Variety stamp set and Year Of The Flower Collection, both released last year.  Prior to creating my three cards for the Hop, my YOF Collection hadn't ever seen ink (Oh, the shame) and Garden Variety has so infrequently been used and not in its entirety either, that it could almost reclaim its Never Been Inked status.   The rules were really only two:  1) No opium smoking in the elevator and 2) that there were no real rules.  My kind of Blog Hop, that's for sure.

After getting over my initial anxiety about nothing springing to mind when it came to these sets, I just pulled out these sets, dusted them off, scratched my head a few times, rubbed salve into the cat's boils, finished my 20 year old's baby photo album, cleaned the gutters, thought about clearing out the garage, had a nap, watched the Simpsons' entire 55th season (and I hate the Simpsons!), flicked over to Antiques Roadshow (nope, not much better), made a cup of tea, then another cup of tea and still had nothing.  Sigh.

But after repeating the above cycle of procrastinating non-productivity with a few other variations on the same theme thrown in a couple more times, I finally managed to crank something out.  Phew!  I never actually thought I would get there, but I am so pleased I eventually did.  The following cards are, for the most part, a combination of both sets, save the last, where I, well and truly, ran out of puff.  In the case of my last card, I just went to my old trusty Spellbinders Rose Creations die and the Rose stamp from the YOF Collection.  How do I love thee, Rose Creations die? Let me count the ways. 

So without further ado, three cards for my inaugural participation in the Mini Blog Hop:

Thanks gals for letting me join in the fun and for motivating me to get out of my comfort zone and to have a bit of fun.  I do, indeed, feel I've grown thanks to you ladies and for that I am so grateful.

Here's the list of the other lovely and ever so talented lasses:

Kim 

Joyce

Renee

Gayatri

Marybeth

I am off to have a look and be amazed and beyond inspired, no doubt.  See ya there! 

On Your Engagement.

This is a quick little number I whipped up more to try out a couple of the new inks most recently acquired and for submission into this fortnight's CR84FN Color Challenge showcasing Chartreuse, Gray, and Lavender.   The Hero Arts Cling stamp in Wallpaper (can you see that cool dragon?) was stamped with one of their new Mid-Tone Shadow Inks called Wet Cement and then lightly edged in Old Paper Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.  The Hero Arts Mid-Tone Shadow ink in Wet Cement, as with all of the Mid-Tone Shadow Inks I recently purchased, is most curious.  Curious in the fact that this warm gray ink at first looked slightly sudsy (on the stamp) and a wee bit blotchy on first stamping, but once dry (which really is within minutes) it is smooth and semi-velvety.  Most of the blotchiness is gone.  The Mid-Tone Shadow ink is by no means blotch-free as some might expect or as perhaps advertised, but very nearly so and the bits that remain are somewhat endearing if you ask me and add character and charm.  I  kind of dig the effect actually.  They also can handle a liberal spritzing with Glimmer Mists or the like too, which is very cool.  Nothing worse than having your once crisp stampings blur into oblivion, right? My stamped Papertrey Ink card base in Soft Stone got a sogging with Pearl Glimmer Mist on this occasion and certainly stood up most formidably to the onslaught.

The other newy to my ink arsenal stamped with on this card was the Amuse Ink in Heather, which was used on that lovely Waltzingmouse Stamps frame from the Very Vintage Labels 10 set.  I have enjoyed these pigment rich inks and their luxe coverage.  They do seem to dry down a fair bit and get softer once completely dry which can take some time.  For the type of stamper I am, use of Amuse inks does take some forward planning.  I have found that I cannot be as cavalier as I habitually am when stamping with this brand of lush pigment inks.   For instance, if I am going to stamp like I always stamp, and get down and dirty, I need to distress ink first then stamp with the Amuse inks.  In fact, this is the opposite of what I normally do, which is stamp first then dingy up my card to my heart's content.  Perhaps no biggie for some, but I have had more than a few Doh! moments while getting used to this new ink.  Lucky for me though, I adore their colors and the pigment rich coverage.    So, I just have to slow my roll when using these I gather.

Well, that's this card done.  Thanks so much for stopping by and allowing to me to share with you some of my crafty musings.  I appreciate it tremendously.  Here's to an inspired day for us all!