Mr Cardmaker LOVES Summertime Birthdays

Boy, summer in Michigan is a BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL thing!  Warm, breezy days, lots of lakes around, gorgeous trees and flowers.   We have had a week of pretty hot days, but they come and GO, and then we have marvelous, open-the -window kind of weather for two more weeks.  I am a happy, happy cardmaking man.

Being in such a great mood, I am able to summon up my mojo and make a fun card for my little brother Daniel.  I think he's 16 now!  OMG.

I made this for him--

This started with a base of PTI Summer Sunrise card stock., which I stamped with Unity Stamp Co.'s Ippity stamp set, "Cuppy Cakes" in Memento Tangelo ink.

The next layer is MME's  Fine and Dandy Boy paper pad, with a backing of some of SU Marina Mist CS.  I stamped candles from Ditto by Studio G in SU Marina Mist ink.  I adhered these pieces to the base.

Then I stamped the receipt stamp from Jenny Bowlin Studio onto some PTI white CS, and stamped the Wishing You sentiment from PTI Simply You with Distress Ink festive berries (part of the 2011 Christmas ink bundle).  I stamped in black, then paper pieced more candles, and colored the flames with copic markers.  I also used a sponge dauber and some Memento Cantelope ink to make a glow around the flames. I hand drew the red line at the bottom with a red tombo marker, just to add a third bit of red (the sentiment, the red brad, and the red line).  Without any red in any of the papers, I thought I needed to make sure there was a big enough presence of red, so it wouldn't look like a mistake.

I added three brads from AC Moore.  The red one was actually green to start.  I dipped the head onto my versamark pad and then into red embossing powder, then heated it to get a red brad.  My first attempt there.  I think it needs work.  BTW--use tweezers or something to hold your brad when using your heat tool.  Trust me...  Anyway, that then got mounted onto a piece of patterned paper to wait for the next step.

I cut a 1.5" x 4.25" pice of numbered paper, adhered a small piece of turquoise ribbon to the back, and adhered it to the card.  Then I added some foam tape to the top layer and adhered it at an angle.  I like to carefully overlap some elements of the underneath layers when I do that.  You can see here I went off the edge a bit, measuring to make sure it would all fit into a regular A2 envelope.

That takes care of the front.  But my sentiment promises some more info....so I went inside...

I did this inside--

I cut a circle out of Marina Mist CS and stamped some candles and a Happy Birthday! (GKD Happy Camper set)on it with Stazon Black ink.  I adhered it to the inside, and then stamped lots more cupcakes around with more Memento Tangelo.  This ink is light enough on the orange card stock that I can write a message without it getting lost in all my images.

I like this card for Daniel, because it's fun without being juvenile. While these images and other items could be used for a younger kid, I think the layers and composition make it sophisticated enough for a teenager without being stuffy.

Next time I have another summer birthday card to share with you.   This one is for another teenager, my nephew, Jared.

I hope your summer is a terrific one, too!
Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker has a CASE of the Graduation Hooplas

SO after I made nephew Elliot's card, seen HERE,  I needed three more cards for my younger brother, my cousin, and another nephew.  Time was of the essence, so I made almost identical cards for them all.  They look like this--

This design started with a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest.  You can see the original with all due credits HERE.  I liked the idea of the partial mortar board hat, and the tassel, so I ran with it.

I started with a white card stock base, 4.25"x 5.5".  I then added a piece of DCWR cloud paper, trimmed down to 4"x 5.25".
With a Jenny Bowlin Studio "seal" (looks like a sun to me) stamp, I stamped a sun on SU Dandelion Delight CS with two yellow shades of ink (sorry, I did not note which I used).  Then I found a Spellbinders circle die that fit it, and put it through my Cuttlebug.
I stamped the sentiment "You" (Papertrey Ink's Simply YOU set) on the sun with gray ink, and then stamped the center circle and the second part of the sentiment with black stazon ink, just to get that amazing crispness.  MUCH easier to read.  I cut the circle part out with a Fiskars circle punch, and adhered it with some foam tape. I attached the sun with some adhesive, making sure to overlap the open edges of the background piece.
To do the mortar board, I used some DCWR Brights cardstock stack green and cut a square, cut it in half diagonally, then rounded the corners with a 1/2" rounder punch.  I used some gray ink on a foam dauber to give some texture to the edges. 
I used a 1 1/2" x 1" piece of the same CS, as well as a scrap of yellow in the same size, and used my snips to create a fringed edge.  I rolled the uncut side around a piece of yellow cord, and made a tassel.  I attached the end of the cord to the underside of the mortar board, and adhered the whole shebang with foam tape.  I secured the tassel to the card front with a glue dot. and let the cord move around freely.
I felt like there was too much negative space at the bottom of the card, so I stamped some birds from Melanie Muenchinger's Gifts form the Sea set, by GKD.  I find myself going back to that stamp often!
I happened to have two graduates with green and yellow as their colors, so I did two of them.  The other one was red and white, with navy. 
I made this one--

This one is the same idea, different colors.  I decided to overlap the sun and the mortar board on this one, rather than have the sun overlap the outer edge.  They both work for me, I think  The red one has a more pronounced tassel.  That would probably change every time I make this card.

SO, graduations are over.  On to new adventures for these guys.  I, myself, am very proud of each of them.

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Searching

This week is graduation for Elliot, one of the nephews.  Everyone else has happened already.  I am BROKE, shelling out for gifties!  I DO love my nephews...

I made Elliot this card--

This is a really cool stamp from Stamps of Life.  I ran into this company at the MegaMeet in Novi, MI, and I really like some of their stuff!  I stamped this in Memento Paris Dusk ink onto PTI white card stock, and then mounted it onto some navy cardstock (probably SU Night of Navy).  That went onto a layered background, using DCWV Cotton Bloom paper (oval) Basic Grey Boxer paper (the blue piece) and My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two Sunshine paper (the big houndstooth background piece.  The base is SU More Mustard (I think.  I also have a multicolor pack from PTI, and I may have used one of theirs).  All on a base of PTI white card stock.
I inked the edges of the puzzle piece with some Distress Ink Tea Stain, and I die cut the letters of his school initials with some sizzix dies, and used my glue pen to adhere them  That rhinestone is some random foundling.

The inside looks like this--

I used Spellbinders Labels Four and Labels Four Small dies with my old bud the Cuttlebug to do the center piece (Dollars to doughnuts there is some messed up stamping underneath it), and I used my pennant punch from SU to do the pennant pieces.  Stringing these puppies onto that twine was a pain in the butt, but it looks good, so, there that is.  The sentiments stamps are GinaK Designs and SU, and the twine is from Memory Keepers. 

So that's it!  Hope he likes it.

Thanks for stopping by! 
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is an Interactive Guy

I have entered the land of Papertrey Ink stamps and dies lately, and WOW am I having fun!
I have been ODing on their Rosie Posie stamp and die sets, and now I have some new PTI dies to play with.
The movers and shakers dies by PTI let you make interactive cards.  I made this one--

I used the PTI Simply You Stamp set for the sentiment, and yes, the flowers and leaves are done with the Rosie Posie sets.  I Wet embossed my white rose onto yellow CS, and the leaves are merely stamped. 

This is what you see when you pull the tab--(except not so blurry)

The key to doing this well is to use super strong tape on either side of the strip so it doesn't pull off while the tab gets pulled.  I used scor-tape on mine. 

This is a fun die, and there is also a landscape oriented one.  There are dies for things that pop up, and one to make spinners or sliding things with cool pathways. 

I am always psyched to find something new and exciting.  More, please!

Thanks for dropping by!
All Best-
Richard

Supplies-Card stock- Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink; Stamps and Dies, Papertrey Ink and Spellbinders; Ink, Memento, Distress Ink and Versamark; Baker's twine, Paper Source; Cuttlebug embossing folders.