A Noise with Dirt on it...

I needed a birthday card for little Ethan's first birthday.  I have some baby announcement stamps from Stampin'Up (SU), and since he's only one, I figured, close enough.  I also have the birthday cake stamp (SU) and it has only one candle, sooooo....
I have in one of my many discount card stacks, this AWESOME paper that says a whole lot of things, but I especially loved the one that says "Boy.n. A noise with dirt on it."  Cracked me right up!  Had to have it, and had to get that centered.  I am a fan of primary colors for kids, too, so the rest of the red, yellow and blue just seemed to be perfect.  I didn't want to do a ton of extra colors when it came to detailing, so I only colored the duck in the toy line, since it was the only traditionally primary colored (yellow, hello) one.  a splash of red in the candle to point up one year old, a flash of ribbon, and there it is. 

I haven't heard whether he liked it, yet.  No news is good news, though, right?

Since I had everything out, and I was digging the primary scheme, I decided to see what it would look like with the colors in different areas. I came up with this.

The teddy was in the same set as the toys line stamp .  I used my ticket punch on the edges this time.  I am always pleased when I use some sort of edge punch.  It makes everything look so nice and finished.
You'll notice that the swiss dot embossing photographed much nicer on the yellow strip in this one than on the red in the first card, but I did do it on both. 

Any baby boy out there need some greeting???  There's also some girl paper to be played with.  I will have to summon some strength for that one.  I'm feeling a whole lotta pink comin' on....

Thanks for stopping by! 
Best-
Richard

Spoils of the winner

So, when my FREE stamp set arrived form GinaK Designs, I was so geeked to get started stamping!  These shells are from the Gifts from the Sea set by Melanie Muenchinger.  She has been a real doll to me; so welcoming and helpful. 

Anyway, to create these two beauties, I stamped and colored the shells with colored pencils.  I wanted to keep them very soft looking, so I stayed away from the markers route.  I cut them out with my cutterbee scissors, and curled the edges ever so slightly to give them a rounded, more natural shape. 

Now, I know there is so amazingly sturdy and fancy cardstock out there.  I will work up to that, I swear, but meanwhile I am loaded up to my teeth with what I have.  So, my base cardstock is that stuff you find at every craft store, from The Paper Company.  You know, the value packs.  I also have some "stacks" and other things, but the majority is the value pack stuff.  Looks good, but I would like to quickly work through some of it and get a higher base weight paper. 

AnYWaY---
The flourish that makes up the cloud is a sizzix die cut.  I found it and the swirls embossing folder at GOODWILL!  I actually made a huge haul that day...made me decide I really NEEDED a cuttlebug!

One of these cards made its way to my friend Yasmin for her birthday.  I do have plans for the other as well, but she'll probably read this blog, and the surprise will be all ruined ....

If I go this route again, I will see what happens if I ink up my swirls folder with some white ink, and I may also see how some real shells work with the paper ones. There is definitely plenty of room for adding depth.  These were fun, though, for an early attempt. 

I really had fun coloring the shells.  Little boy time, I guess...

I have plenty more to share with you.  I'll tell you all about this card next!
Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see you again soon!

Richard

I AM a winner! ( My mom was right!)

Ok, so I just won my first prize EVER from entering a card contest.  Ok, it was a random pick sort of thing, but I still WON!!!  Special thanks to GinaK Designs for the loot!

SO-- this is the card I entered.  It was for a color challenge, using a tomato-y red, mango, and cream. This was made with Fiskars stamps-- Latte Love, and Friendship Garden.  I was pretty happy with this one.

I used yellow embossing powder on the coffee cups to give them some presence, and did NOT emboss the flowers, so they'd be more of a background element. 

As you can see, I am sort of possessed by my cuttlebug and nestabilities dies.  I have the circles, squares and ovals with the coordinating scallop edge dies, both large and small, and I am pondering whether I really need the regular rectangle dies, or if I should do the long rectangles set. I may have to go into die-cut rehab, at this rate.

Oh, and I did make some cards with the set that I won, but the photos stink, so that will have to wait for a later post, when I can reshoot them.  (See how I work a teaser in there? )  Next time!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Y'all come back now, hear?

Richard

Hey, I have FOLLOWERS!!

Well, I am SO excited to see that I have some really terrific comments, and even two FOLLOWERS in just one day!  Thanks, Ladies, for joining me.  I am so happy to have you with me. 

I was so in love with the gingham paper in my last post, I decided to go at it again.  I bought these papers at AC Moore, and they were single sheets.  I bought them too long ago to notice who made them.  I will definitely take more note in the future.   This card was made with GinaK Designs "Enjoy the Sunshine" set.  The button was scavenged from some ribbon that Anthropology gave as gift wrap. (I loved this ribbon.  It was seam binding with tons of buttons and bells sewn on.  You'll definitely be seeing more from that ribbon in the future!)  OH YEAH!  Neat trick--I clipped the button out of the ribbon, but left a tab of the seam binding attached.  Made it SUPER easy to attach to the card and retain the stitching!!

I found the little clothespins at Paper Source.  Love them!  I also used a textured background stamp in versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. 

I did some other berries in colored pencil, but while the colors go nicely with the papers, these don't look as good as copic markers, I do like the vibrancy of the colors.  I NEED SOME COPICS!!!  (Let me know if you hear about a giveaway, will ya?)
I have more cards to show off to you, so stay tuned!  Thanks for dropping by!

Richard

Here We Go!

So, this is sort of an accidental start, of sorts.  I have been following myriad cardmaking blogs, and participating in many of the challenges at StampTV, and I found I needed a blog url in order to play with some of the other sites.  SO!  Here I am.  I will be posting some pics and explanations about some of my work soon.  Above is a card I did for our dog sitter, Suzanne.  The stamps are 97725 Flowers from Inkadinkadoo.  Welcome, and thanks for reading.