Dino-rific Birthday!

Happy FRIDAY!!! Yes - I am excited - can ya tell? Well - I recently started working part-time. I have been a stay-at-home-mom for 7 years. I was nervous getting back "out there" - but it is turning out to be a fun experience! So TGIF has a re-newed meaning to me. It means I get to spend the whole weekend with my boys (my 2 little men and "Daddy").

Speaking of my two little men, I thought it would be FUN to make a Happy Birthday banner for a boy's party. So - what do little boys like? DINOSAURS!!! Both of my boys think they are pretty cool. So I reached out for my stamp set Dino Mite by Our Craft Lounge. It SCREAMS "make a dinosaur themed birthday party"!!! I sat down and really thought about what I wanted my end result to be. I knew I wanted to use my Nestabilities - and that I wanted to embellish each letter - but had to keep it "masculine".

I figured out what Nesties I thought would be good for the dinosaurs and went from there. I chose to use two different shapes - Labels Four and Curved Rectangles. I LOVE the end result of how they worked together!

For the alphabet, I used a stamp set by Technique Tuesday - Main Street Lowercase Letters, Extra Large. For alphabet stamps, Technique Tuesday is truly a step above!! They are fantastic for special projects and scrapbook pages. And because they are clear, I was able to cut out the shapes using my Nesties and then stamp later.

Once I started thinking about colors, I decided to see what embellishments I had that could be "masculine" - but matched cardstock and ink that I had. So through my embellishment drawers I went. I kept going back to BUTTONS! My friend Lana *hearts* buttons - and she has kind of made me develop a bit of a sickness for them also. So - I had a plethora of buttons to search through -and found 3 main colors that stuck out at me: dark brown (matched my Chocolate Chip cardstock by SU!), olive green (matched my Old Olive by SU!), and blue (matched my Baja Breeze cardstock by SU!). I found the coordinating Copic markers and went to town.

Additional accessories used include chocolate chip grosgrain, Extra Large eyelets (SU!), aged brass hardware (SU!), and some hemp twine. I really had fun embellishing each piece.

I hope you find it as fun as I do!!! My youngest (3 year-old) LOVES it and wants to touch it all the time. Aaaah - what torture it is to look and NOT be able to touch because Mommy doesn't want grubby little fingerprints all over her work. LOL

Have a FANTASTIC weekend!

Dino-mite Featured Stamper

Well hello there! I've been MIA - I started a new job and also had an Open House - all at the same time. So I've been SUPAH BUSY!

I found myself wanting to stamp today - but had no MOJO. So what's a girl to do? Check out the FEATURED STAMPER on Splitcoast - that's what! My friend Bethie hosts this challenge - and it is always a great one!

This week's Featured Stamper is Minnidr - check out her gallery! Lots of eye candy. I chose this card to CASE. I turned her card onto its side, changed the colors, and changed the stamp set used. I used the stamp set Dino-Mite by Our Craft Lounge. It's a PERFECT set for me, as I have 2 boys. There are so many girly sets - but sometimes it's really fun to do something different. I often have my boys in mind. :)

I love to distress. So on this card, the two "blue" stripes are sponged with 2 different inks and then distressed on the edges. The rust piece of cardstock was run through my Big Shot with one of my Texturz plates, then I sanded the raised area. FUN!

I colored the dino in with my Copic markers - and I used my BRANDY NEW BG0000 for the sky color! I sure was lucky to get the new colors from eclectic Paperie! I love Daisy and Joy!

Sure hope you had a fantastic weekend - and Happy Monday!

A Sketch and a Dog

Greetings and Salutations! :) I can't seem to stop playing with Pat the Dog - he's cute and fun - and I love adding some texture to him!!!

Sometimes when I stamp, I can sit down and play with papers and come up with a layout. But I LOVE to have a sketch to work off of - I find it very inspiring. Occasionally it may lead to something else altogether. Today I decided to play along with the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge (SC236). I decided to use Pat the Dog (by Our Craft Lounge) as the main image. So what better to use for patterned papers than dog themed papers? I dug out my Die Cuts With a View pad and it was fun and easy from there.

For my main image, I cut it out using my Nestabilities. I colored Pat in with my Copic markers - and added some FLUFF with my Coffee Bean Brown Sparkly Fluff. I just love the sparkle that it has - and the fun fluffy texture it gives my project. I popped my main image up on dimensional foam tape.

Hope you have some time to stamp today!

Who's Your Doggie?

Happy Friday! It is weekend FUN time! :) LONG weekend fun time! Happy 4th weekend fun time! Are you going to see any fireworks displays? I have always loved fireworks. It is a great family event. We always pack up some snacks in the cooler (grapes, watermelon, drinks) and head out to enjoy the evening.

Today I've got a cute and sparkly card for you. The stamp set I used is Pat the Dog by Our Craft Lounge. Pat is super cute and fun to color! I cut him out using my Nestabilities - oh how cool they are!

So how did I make Pat even more special? I colored him in using my Copics - and then added some Coffee Bean Sparkly Fluff to Pat's dark brown patches. Then I added some Chunky Crystal Crafty Sparkles to the heart for some added bling - and I loved the result!!

For the pink background paper, I ran the Pretty In Pink cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the Heart Blocks embossing folder and then sprayed it with some Gold Glimmer Mist. Add some ribbon and a bunch of brads all in a row - and I was happy!

On the inside, I stamped the row of paw prints and the sentiment "Who's Your Doggie?" - so fun!

I hope you have a WONDERFUL day and Happy Fourth!!!

*Heather*