Happy Birthday Bro

Today is my brother's birthday.  I decided to make him a colorful birthday card using my aqua painter and a couple of Sale-A-Bration items. (SAB)  Hopefully it will brighten his day when opens his mail.

The ferris wheel from Feeling Sentimental, was stamped onto watercolor paper with black staz-on ink.  Then I took some ink in the lids of my stamp pads and used the aquapainter to pick up the ink and brush it over the ferris wheel in a rainbow pattern.

That patterned paper in the background is Sycamore Street DSP, also available during SAB.   SAB ends soon.  You have until March 22 to redeem any of these SAB items for FREE.  You can choose one for each $50 you spend! 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Feeling Sentimental
SAB




Watercolor Paper



Aquapainter



Jet Black Staz-On Ink Pad



Sycamore Street DSP
SAB



Miracles Happen

Yesterday I took a break from "chores" and had some fun in my craft room.  :)  I  needed a masculine card and wanted to participate in a challenge or two.  Here's what I came up with.

The sketch from Mojo Monday  was my jumping off point.  I thought it would look great with the bicycle from Feeling Sentimental (SAB). 

Next was the color choice.  Color challenges are often difficult for me to do.  When I saw this week's colors at the ColourQ I was pretty sure they would work for my masculine card, so I decided to give them a try.  They fit well together, and as I was working on it, I almost made a Christmas card too.  Perhaps I will try that another day.  This would make such a nice vintage feeling Christmas card.

Since the card is going to my uncle I wanted to use the sentiment "Miracles Happen" from the Bloomin' Marvelous (SAB) stamp set.  I stamped it before embossing with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  If I had to do it over again I would stamp in Black Staz-On or perhaps Early Espresso Embossing powder instead of Always Artichoke.  The sentiment gets a little bit lost. 

The "ribbon" I used is so fun to play with on masculine cards.  I've even used it in my scrapbooks.  It was pretty easy to fray the edges.  It's adhered to my cardstock with Sticky Strip.

My main image is matted with Always Artichoke cardstock that I cut out using a die I got for Christmas (non-SU) and then popped up using dimensionals.  I like the way the bicycle piece isn't embossed, while the other 2 circles are.  The cherry cobbler strip under the Natural ribbon is distressed using the new distressing tool.  Everything got a little sponging with Crumb Cake and/or Always Artichocke.

It sure was fun getting to spend a little time in my craft room.  Hopefully I will get some more time in there this weekend.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

P.S.  Sale-A-Bration (SAB) is going on right now!  For  every $50 you spend in my Stampin' UP! store you can choose 1 FREE SAB item!!!!  It's the best time of year to go shopping with SU.  Plus you can still get hostess benefits if your order reaches $150 or more. 





Feeling Sentimental



Miracles Happen




Natural Trim Ribbon



Square Lattice Embossing Folder



2 1/2" Circle Punch



Tax Woes

I think I need a sympathy card.  I've been working on our taxes.  Owning a small business is nice until you need to add up all those receipts and invoices and figure out where to input them on Turbo Tax.   Ay yi yi!  After working on taxes for 2 days I could sure use some paper therapy though.  It's been 5 days since I was able to make a card/layout.  I'm going through withdrawals.  LOL  Just kidding.  (sort-of) 



Feeling Sentimental

Tomorrow I might just take a break and play with some paper.  Taxes aren't due until April 15th, so I have time.  In the meantime, I didn't want to let another day go by without posting on my blog, so here's a new card for you.  This card was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to get all my Valentine's cards posted, so I haven't shared it yet.

When I first saw this, Feeling Sentimental set in the SAB catalog I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I didn't get it.  A customer asked me about it, so I decided to get it with my second SAB order.  I'm so glad I did!  In using it I realized that you don't need to "do" much with it.  The stamps shine on their own.

 

If you don't like coloring in images, then this set would be perfect for you!  I stamped on Sahara Sand cardstock with Basic Gray ink, then layered with Basic Gray cardstock.  The textured paper you see in the background has been retired.  (sadly... I really like textured paper.)



Basic Gray/Black Two Toned Ribbon


The cute bow was made with our new ribbon.  It's a very nice ribbon to work with and it comes in pink as well.  :) 

It may not have been on my first pre-order, but I'm so glad I added this stamp on my second SAB order.  It's great for almost any age and works well for masculine, as well as feminine cards. 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Scallop Square Duo



Scallop Oval



Extra Large Oval