A Trio of Birthday Cards - Power Poppy inspired!

I seem to be totally hooked on Power Poppy images of late.  These three cards are all thanks to the artistic talent of Marcella Hawley who is the genius behind Power Poppy.  I think I have every one of her images and I am eager to enjoy all of them in time!  These three images were all print and cuts using the SCAL Pro 5 software and the Silver Bullet Platinum that features an awesome camera for doing print and cuts.  It makes what used to be a tedious endeavor a quick and fun project with instant results!

The first card spotlights the "Wildflower Mini" image.  I used Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to color this cute image.  It went to one of my very special friends (I am so blessed to have such amazing and wonderful friends in my life).

The background image is "Branching Out" clear toner sheets

from Deco Foil.  The stamped greeting is from Pretty Pink Posh.

Sequins from 28 Lilac Lane accent the background. And

the jar is covered with Glossy Accents to give it that "wet" look.

The second birthday card features Power Poppy's "Tea Cake with Strawberries" image.  I printed it on watercolor paper and used the Spectrum Noir aqua markers and FineTec watercolors to add color.  I am such a novice at this but I try to improve with each card....

A real paper doily accents this luscious looking cake pedestal.

The greeting is a Gina K Foil Mate and cut with one of her dies and foiled.

The image is embellished with Spectrum Noir shimmer pens and 

a black glitter gel pen.  The berries are coated with

Nuvo Clear Gloss.  The sequins are from 28 Lilac Lane.

And the last card uses Spectrum Noir colour blend pencils to highlight the image of "Irresistible Peonies".  This was for a very special friend who helped me when I first moved back to CA from Arizona and spent a lot of time with me after I lost my father back in 2004.  She was a special angel in my life then, and remains one now.  I love her dearly and am forever grateful for all she did for me.

The background paper is from First Edition and the card base is

Paper Temptress Leather.  The greeting is printed on Brother Label Tape

and the card is adorned with sequins from 28 Lilac Lane.  

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Cuppa Buttercups - Power Poppy

I am not even going to make excuses for not posting in a while because it won't change anything.  But rest assured I have been making a LOT of cards and doing a little baking and with fall around the corner the baking and cooking will increase.  I am so ready for fall!   So I am pushing myself to get back on track.  :) And I have some fun things to share that you will hopefully enjoy. So stay tuned!

I have been working hard this summer to try new things and get out of my comfort zone. I continue to work on my "coloring" -whether it be markers, pencils or watercolor - I want to enjoy it more and worry about how perfect it isn't less!  I plan to carve out more time to practice.

I love this buttercup design from Power Poppy. This was a digi image that I  printed on Paper Temptress cryogen card stock that has a lovely sparkle and handles markers so well.

This actually started as a challenge for Power Poppy - to use circles in the design. But I finished it way after the challenge was over. No surprise there!   I am  however glad I did it because it helped me think more creatively and I want to challenge myself more.  I like how easy it was to make the simple coloring have a dotted pattern, and then the glossy accents gave it a nice shimmer.

This shows the dimension created with foam tape and the great cutting job performed

by the Silver Bullet Platinum.

Glittered markers were used to add sparkle to the center of the flowers.  And the sequins added that final touch of interest.  

I love the final result and hope my friend did too!

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Family Birthday Cards.... Part Two - My Youngest Granddaughter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HALEY!!!

I can hardly believe that my youngest granddaughter will be 8 in a few days. How could that be??  I love this age - she is still a little girl, but there are glimpses (thank goodness they are quick) of the young woman she is becoming.  Please let the time slow down!!

A special note about her May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, birthday.  She was born on my dear father's birthday, her "Papa", as my children fondly and adoringly called him. Unfortunately, they never had the pleasure of meeting each other, but I have no doubt there is a special place in their hearts for each other.

So....what kind of card do I make for an eight year old?? After talking to her Mom, my card choices were anything related to Frozen (what a great movie!!), Monster High (I was clueless!), One Direction or Wonder Woman!!

After doing some searching for inspiration , I settled on the Monster High logo.  I am not a big fan of skeleton skulls, but the little girl was just too cute!!  So I found the same font on Dafont.com and tried to imitate the color patterns.  It is called Runy Tunes Revisited!  What a name!  I traced the logo in SCAL and made the cupcake with a variety of papers from Paper Temptress.  The gradient paper is actually a pattern made in Inkscape and printed on to Luster canvas text weight paper from Paper Temptress too.  I love the way the letters still shimmer through the ink.

 Just placed the letters randomly on a dark background so you could see the gradient color

in each letter - I loved learning something new....

This card was so much fun and I hope she has as much fun receiving it as I had making it!

All of the papers used are from Paper Temptress - the mica, luster and sparkle lines.  There are more details below under the pictures.

The cut pieces - using Paper Temptress Black Sparkle (shadow of cupcake) Luster for the skull and cupcake frosting (frosting embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder) and Mica for the wrapper...

A closer look at the Azalea Mica in the bow and wrapper and mat with the embossed Luster frosting (D'Vine Swirl - Cuttlebug) and embossing on the Laser Luster )Dotted Chevron - Teresa Collins) for the background.  I love the layers of texture.  Glossy Accents make the skull eyes shine!

Here are the printed letters matted on Canvas Luster  and then again on the Black Sparkle 

similar to the actual logo

The cupcake is on pop dots to give it a little more dimension.

And finally... the finished product.  A birthday card for a 

very sweet eight year old girl.

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A Neighborly Get Well

I am WAY out of my comfort zone on this project! Let me make that clear right from the start - the results will support that!

There was a time when I used my markers to color stamped images all of the time, but my first love was coloring with pencils and blending them.  After this marker meltdown, I am remembering why I loved pencil coloring so much  - I felt like I had more control and I really loved it. (and mistakes were easier to cover!!)  So the next project that I color will be with pencils!  Ok - enough of my excuses!

One of our dear neighbors had surgery Friday so he is off his feet for THREE weeks. I found the perfect digi image from Birds Cards to portray his current predicament!!  He will have to go through a series of boots as he begins the recovery process.  It's a long haul , but I am sure will be worth it when he can finally walk without experiencing constant pain.. Hopefully he will be up and around sooner than expected! (But he has to be really careful so his wife is on patrol!!!)

So on to the card.... I printed the image on Paper Temptress Cryogen card stock and used the Print and Cut method in SCAL - I love how easy it makes this process. I first printed the image on my laser printer , foiled the outside text in the circle and then used the print and cut to method with my Silver Bullet Professional to cut it out perfectly.

You can see the bronze foiling on the text around the circle. 

Have I said lately how much I love my FoilMaster???

 Then I printed it again, but this time used SCAL to make a shadow layer of the inner image and cut that out. This is when I ran into trouble with the markers. Even though I used a cardstock I have used before, the colors seemed to really bleed.  After I was done I covered the turtle skin in crackle accents so it would get some fine lines in it, and then used glossy accents for the eye and the shell. The green and bronze papers are both from  the Paper Temptress Mica line.

I love how the Crackle Accents gave the turtle skin some "wrinkles"!!

It really is a simple card, I think I have just forgotten all that I learned years ago about coloring with markers! So back to the colored pencils for me!!

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Stencil Inspiration

I have spent the past week trying to come up with card ideas. I need to get quite a few done and each one is totally different from the next.  This first one is a birthday card for a wonderful lady.  She comes weekly and cleans house for me and is just the sweetest, so I knew her card had to be extra special - just like her!

I started with a Dreamweaver stencil.  I have a lot of them and really do love them. I get mine from Stencils with Style. The customer service is awesome.  I created a shadow layer with the Sure Cuts a Lot  (SCAL) software to give the cut image a bit more depth. The Silver Bullet Professional did a beautiful job as usual!

Yes I need to clean my mat - I know!

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Here is a close up of the flower cut out.  

I love the shimmer of the Mica paper from Paper Temptress!

Once I had it glued in place I added a layer of glossy accents to the flower petals.  

I sprinkled a little fine glitter on the flower while it was still wet!

TIP:  This is something I have been doing for years, but I love how it finishes the look.

The black cardstock that makes up the shadow layer has a white core. So I took the Memento

Tuxedo Black marker and ran around the edges.  Up until now my favorite tool for this was a calligraphy marker, but it finally ran out of ink.  I have tried the Copic and Spectrum Noir markers and they do an okay job, but the Memento brush tip is perfect for getting into those nooks and crannies and wiping out the white core!

And here is how it all came together.  The flower has pop dots underneath to give it added dimension.

I am really happy with how it turned out!

And, by the way, she loved it!!

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My granddaughters are coming!!!

I am SO excited !  As I write this, my daughter and granddaughters are driving down from Fresno (about six hours away) to spend the weekend with me!!

I have been busy baking cookies and other goodies (stay tuned!) and making Valentine cards for them so we can celebrate early!  They are 12 and 6 and such fun. The oldest one has been wanting to learn latch hook, so I got her a panda bear rug and we will have  lessons this weekend!  Pandas are her favorite thing this week! Actually that love has lasted the past six months – so hopefully she will love the rug. And the youngest will get a smaller sun and rainbow latch hook to do.  Of course they both have to have similar gifts!

For their Valentine cards, I put my Silver Bullet Professional to work cutting a Scrappy Dew file called “Be Mine”.  And I used one of Penny Duncan’s amazing shapelie files for the background.  I thought these bears were so cute, so just accented them in different shades of pink and added dimension with foam tape.

In the closeup, you can see the shining eyes – they are accented with Glossy Accents, and the nose has black Sparkle Fluff to stand out!  The paws and ears are accented with Distress Inks.  And I double cut the paws so they would pop up a little.  

I also used the Stardust pen to accent the letters and bow to give them some sparkle!  I love bling!

My papers of choice are almost always from Paper Temptress – she has the BEST papers  and service!  And it was a perfect pairing with the Scrappy Dew file.

Here are the wrapped gifts with the cards, all ready for the girls to tear them open!!

We are ready for a fun weekend.

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