Thursday, July 30, 2009

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!

Monday, July 20, 2009

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!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

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!

Friday, July 3, 2009

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*