Stampendous Party Balloons and Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023

Hi and thanks for stopping by :-)

I made a clean and simple boy's birthday card - well, I actually made this card twice!!  I had finished colouring up my image, then proceeded to ink up my sentiment with the black ink pad, but somehow dropped the ink pad on top of my image.  Oops :-(   Do you think I was grumpy??!!  So, it was back to the drawing board........  At least, it was a quick and easy image to colour - if it had been something very detailed, my head may have exploded!!  Note to self:  add sentiment before colouring images!!  Anyhow......

I used the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC266 - the Stephen Joseph Gifts website - as the basis for my colours from this particular item on the website.  I really loved the colours and the circles reminded me of balloons and my circles border die.

I am also playing the Splitcoaststampers Fan Club January Challenge - but as the Challenge is only open to Fan Club Members (ie: you have paid to join the SCS Fan Club), part of the rules is that you are not allowed discuss the Challenge Themes and details outside the Fan Club  - which is not to exclude you (my Blogging friends), but merely following the rules.  I joined a few months ago so I could put something back into the website which I love so much!! 

I coloured the image with Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils + OMS.  I added some fine crystal glitter to the highlights on the balloons, plus the coloured dots around the strings.  I decided to underline the sentiment with my red and yellow pencils because it seemed a little "lost" and I wanted to draw your eye to it.

Here is a close-up piccy of the balloons:

The gorgeous blue border was diecut with my Cuttlebug and one of the border dies from my NEW Nellie Snellen border set MFD-023.  You use the same sandwich as for Spellbinder Nestabilities.  I love this particular die - it is so suited to masculine cards, so I can see myself using it alot.  This particular set is not on Fat Cat's Card Corner's website at the moment, but I'm sure it will be very soon.  You can find all their other Nellie Snellen dies at this link here.  Note that I was careful to attach the border evenly so that the edges matched.  You can always trim down the sides of your card to even things up.

I added a Scor-Pal line above the border - I often do this to just "finish" the edge before I attach it to the rest of a card.  Lastly, I corner-punched the top corners of the white cardstock.  I thought about adding a ribbon, but in the end decided to keep things simple.

And here is my stepped up version:

I stamped the image twice, then cut out just the balloons and popped them up on mounts (dimensionals).  I used various sizes of mounts so the red balloon is the lowest in height and the blue balloon is the highest.   After diecutting the blue border and adding the Scor-Pal line, I ran the blue cardstock through my Cuttlebug using my Swiss dots embossing folder.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  Here is a close-up piccy so you can see the dimension of the balloons:

Thanks again for stopping by!  

Jocelyn

ETA:  In response to Shaz's question: I use Google Picasa (free download from the Internet) to add my details on my photos. 

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous 'Party Balloons' CRY008 cling rubber, Sentiment from Penny Black 'It's your day' 30-046 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen Border-2 MFD023 die set, Swiss dots embossing folder, mounts (dimensionals), Derwent Coloursoft + Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Odourless Mineral Spirits, Scor-Pal, Bow Easy, ribbon, fine crystal glitter, Designer Dries Clear adhesive (for glitter), cardstock:  sky blue, KW Doggett Knight white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch

Stampendous Star Lilies + Nellie Snellen Multiframes and border dies!

 

Hello Blogging friends!  I made a Mother's Day card using a fabulous sketch from Taylor Von Bruggen of Taylored Expressions (USA) from way back on June 11, 2010:  Sketch Challenge #117.  I am a big fan of Taylor's Sketches and a few days ago, downloaded her 2 x Sketch Books which are on the RHS of her Blog listed under the Baker's Dozen Design Team members.  It is a PDF file so you will need Acrobat Reader (free download from the Web) to open it.  I have a folder with Sketches which I love to look through when my mojo has gone missing or I just need some inspiration.  THANKS Taylor!!

Anyway, onto the card.  The stamp is a beautiful NEW stamp by Stampendous called "Star Lily" and was coloured with Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils + OMS.  It was really easy to colour as I just coloured the centres of each petal and left the white as highlight.  I added a tiny bit of pink here and there on the leaves and stems which was something I learnt from my Decorative Painting teacher many years ago.  If you add some of your flower colour to leaves, it really "lifts" the whole picture.  I didn't draw on the colour with my pencils: I just used my paper stump that already had the pink colour on it + OMS, and just "smudged" it on.  I lightly coloured around the image with blue chalk.

I decided to add some fun flock to the pollen on the stamens.  At first, I added some glitter, but it didn't look right, so I scraped it off and went with the flock instead.   Here is a close-up piccy:

The rosepink punched border was made with one of my NEW Nellie Snellen border dies - you get 2 in a pack.  Isn't it pretty?!!  You use the same sandwich in your Cuttlebug as for Spellbinder Nesties: A plate, C plate, die, cardstock, B plate.  This particular set of border dies is not listed on Fat Cat Card Corner's website at the moment, but will be soon (although there is another border set there).  I added a Scor-Pal line just above the punched border (bit hard to see in the photo).

I ran the designer paper through my Cuttlebug using my Jamara embossing folder just because I LOVE texture - but really any folder of a similar nature would work equally as well.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements, and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

I added the tiny punched hearts which are the leftover punchies from using Arrows border punch (you know how much I love these little hearts LOL!!)

And here is the card inside:

I used the largest of my Nellen Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes to diecut the rosepink cardstock, and the matching plain circle (from the same dieset) to diecut the sentiment circle.  The sentiment is a retired Elzybells stamp.  And those tiny hearts just had to added!

Check out the button!  I used a new product called the Epiphany Button Studio which is for making your own buttons, ie: you buy the matching clear see-through buttons (in my case, I used 20mm buttons) and peel off the film to reveal a sticky side.  You slide your cardstock or designer paper into the Button maker, put the button on top (sticky-side down), then press the top of  the Button maker and it punches your cardstock/dp to the same size as the button, sticks the button to it and punches the centre holes.  Confused?  Well, here is a video from You Tube - I am a visual learner, so found this easier......  I tried to "embed" the video, but couldn't work it out, so I'll just have a link here for now and try to work it out later.  It really is a very easy product to use and great if you need a matching button, but don't have one in your stash.  Fat Cat's Card Corner have 2 sizes of the round buttons:  14mm and 20mm.

And there is even a flower button maker - this is next on my list of "must-haves".  The size is 20mm.

You-Tube video of how to use the Epiphany Button Studio button-maker

Here is a close-up of my button.  I used the same rosepink cardstock to make my button and threaded some pink and white twine through then popped it up on 2mm mounts (dimensionals).

Phew - that was a long post!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous Star Lilies CRP115 foam-mounted cling rubber

              Happy Mother's Day sentiment - from Kaisercraft CS916 Occasions clear set of 3

              Beautiful Day - Elzybells 03-252 (retired)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Designer paper:  Daisy d's Sweet Baby Jane Collection - Sleepy time

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Nellie Snellen dies: Doily Flower MFD020 and Border 2 MFD023, Cuttlebug Jamara embossing folder, Scor-Pal, Bow Easy, grosgrain ribbon, pink/white twine, OMS, Derwent Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, 2mm mounts, Kaisercolour chalk, Stampendous Fun Flock - Lemonade yellow, Designer Dries clear adhesive (for the flock), Epiphany Button Studio 20mm, Button Studio clear round buttons 20mm, cardstock: rosepink, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch, EK Success Arrows border punch