Happy Birthday to Crafter's Companion!

It's Crafter's Companion fifth birthday, and we are celebrating with a CC Design Team blog hop!  The hop runs August 6 - 10.  Crafter's Companion is generously giving away a $100 gift card as the grand prize!  I'm also giving away a Popcorn the Bear birthday-themed stamp set!  Instructions for both are at the end of this post.

If you reached my blog, that means you came from Lisa Hunt's, and after me you will go to Stacy's.

I wanted to make Crafter's Companion a birthday card to celebrate.  I chose Popcorn the Bear and he's bringing an armful of daisies as a birthday gift from the Thanks a Bunch set.  Isn't this little bear adorable? 

 

I started by stamping in black ink on to white card stock.  I colored him with my Spectrum Noir markers.  Then, I layered him onto mossy green card stock.   

At that point, I embellished with hand stitching in yellow embroidery floss and lots of subtle white French knots. I used a hole piercer and template to keep the spacing even.  This was then layered onto cheerful yellow polka dot paper, and then on to a folded white card base.  The finished card is 5.5 x 5.5 inches.

Inside, I put a Happy Birthday greeting, layered in to a mossy green scalloped mat.  I reprised the stitching theme from the front of the card with yellow cross stitches.

  OK, now the rules to win prizes:

1. You need to be a follower of my blog
2. You need to be a follower of the Crafter's Companion blog
3. You need to leave a comment on this post
4. You need to find the secret letter on each Design Team member's blog that spells out a secret phrase.  HINT:  My secret letter is "W"
5. You need to be a US resident

When you have visited all the blogs in order and collected all the letters for the secret phrase, email the phrase to Bindy at bindy@crafterscompanion.com .  When the blog hop is over, Bind will select by random number generator the grand prize winner of the $100 gift card.

I'll select the winner for my blog's give-away (the Popcorn the Bear birthday stamp set) by random number generator from those who have left a comment here, and post the winner's name here on August 11th.  Be sure to check back to give me your mailing address if you are the winner (or have your email in your profile so I can contact you).

 

Sweet Daisy Girl

Aren't these new Morehead stamps just too adorable?  Today I chose the "Raindrops" image.  Like Meg Ryan in 'You've Got Mail', I love daisies - they are just an unassuming and happy flower.

I started by stamping the image in black on to white card stock.  I then colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.

I had a scrap of daisy patterned paper, and it seemed perfect to go with this image.  I combined it with tiny yellow polka dots and blue checked gingham paper.  I love the juxtaposition of the structured checks with the looser floral design.  The background of mixed papers was layered on to pink, and this was layered on to a top-folded white 5.5 x 5.5 card base.

For the main image, I put just a slim strip of the polka dot paper on the left edge.  This was then layered on to pink,  and then on to the background.

I used the "Hello" greeting from the Beatrix Potter Timmy Tiptoes set -- it was just the right size and cheery sentiment. I oval-punched it, then used a larger oval with a scrap of the yellow polka dot paper as a mat, to reprise it.  I adhered it with dimensionals in the lower right corner, being sure to overlap the image and the gingham as a sort of 'bridge' for the eye.

Finishing touches were three white buttons, each tied with embroidery floss in blue, yellow and pink respectively.  These were attached with glue dots.  I like to 'faux sew' my buttons.  To me seeing the holes in a button looks a bit naked.  ;-)

Now for my confession.  I used to stay clear of making the large square cards because I never had an envelope on hand that would fit.  But with the Envelobox Creator, making square envelopes is so easy!  I find that I'm doing more and more of the square cards. Start with 8.25" square of paper and use row G on the tool for a perfect fit.  I used a wavy yellow gingham for my coordinating envelope.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Sunset Scenes

I am loving these new "A Little Bit Scenic" stamps by Sheena Douglass.  Today I'm using both her new Silhouette Grasses and Silhouette Highlands sets.  I really love bold images -- they let me go crazy with the backgrounds!

I decided to dig out my pastel chalks which were getting a bit dusty.  I've been neglecting them since I discovered Spectrum Noir markers but I love the soft look that chalks give, so they got some long overdue love on this card.  I used yellows, oranges, reds and a hint of burgundy, from light to dark, and blended with a cotton ball.  Fast with dramatic results, and even faster when you do two similar designs at the same time!  The only drawback to chalks is that you get very messy fingers, so be sure to wash your hands between steps so you don't get smudgy fingerprints where you don't want them.

I added a glittery moon by 'painting' a circle with glue and then using yellow glitter. After drying, this was layered on to a black mat, and then I added a die cut corner element with a yellow rhinestone.  This then went on to a folded apricot card base for the island scene, and on to a burgundy folded card base for the wildflowers.


It really could not be easier than that!  (Which is probably another reason I love bold images, LOL!)

Hope you are inspired to make your own sunset cards!

Frosty Window Scene

Hello all!  Today I want to share with you a frosty window scene that I made with the Art-Kure Timeless Britain collection.  I used the "Clapper Bridge, Devon" image.  Just imagining sitting inside all cozy and looking out to the lovely stone bridge and snowy trees helps to take the heat off our MidWest heat wave.  (Well, that, and a whopper of an air conditioning bill, LOL.)

I started by stamping the image in black ink onto white card stock.  I colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.  I wasn't too happy with how the blue sky turned out...so after fretting and mulling it over a few days, I added white puffy clouds as a camouflage for my mistake.  Do you ever do that?  Tip: My clouds were done with a cotton ball dipped into a dab of white acrylic paint.  Blot it a few times to 'dry off' the cotton a bit before dabbing onto your sky.  I went from hating it to loving it!

As the paint clouds were drying, I added tulip snow and lots of glitter.  The tulip snow adds dimension, and it seems like every card I've done with this collection screamed for glitter.  What, your cards don't talk to you?  ;-)

When dry, I trimmed the image to fit behind the window die, which I did in a semi-gloss white card stock to emulate paint.  The rest was easy -- I layered that on to a light blue layer that had been run through a Swiss dot embossing folder (I seriously could not be without this folder), then on to a darker blue, and finally on to a folded white card base. Three tiny pearls at the base of the window are the finishing touch.


Hope you enjoyed today's card!

Kanji Friendship

Today I want to share with you a Friendship card that I did with the Kanji stamps from Crafter's Companion.  I love these stamps because the calligraphy images are so simple and elegant.  To keep with the elegant theme, I limited my color palette to white, black and gold.

I started by stamping the Friendship Kanji in black ink onto white card stock.  I used an oval die cut to cut and emboss it, and then mounted it onto a scalloped oval using brushed gold card stock.

I used tissue paper from my stash, with a simple gold-line rose design.  I crumpled it into a ball, lightly smoothed it, and then modge-podged it to a sheet of scrap card stock.  After it dried, I trimmed it and layered it onto more of the brushed gold, then black, and then on to a folded white card base.

I used dimensionals to adhere the oval kanji image to the card.  I added pearls below the image and reprised them in the lower left corner.  The final touch was a narrow black ribbon, to which I tied a white tassel aqnd a gold heart charm.

I love it!  Hope you are inspired to try something similar.

A Purr'fect Christmas

Today I have another of Ian Hallow's "Mulberry Wood" images to share with you.  This one is called "Purr'fect Christmas" and it would be great for the cat lover on your card list.

I was loving doing the snowy scene in the middle of this 100 degree Midwest heat wave.  Plus it was an excuse to use glitter again, LOL ;-) Finally the weatherman predicts the heat will break tomorrow. 

I stamped the image and greeting onto white card stock and colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.  When I stamped the greeting, I was sure to leave enough room to add a ribbon.  I used red glitter on the garland, and liberally applied Tulip snow and ultrafine glitter on the ground and dots for snowflakes.

I corner punched the top edges, and used a scallop punch on the bottom.  I had folded the white card base as a top fold, specifically so that I could do a scalloped bottom edge.  The white layer was then layered onto green, which I also scalloped, and then on to the white card base, again scalloped.

A snowy Sent with Love

Hello!  Today I am excited to give you a sneak peek of Ian Hallows' new "Christmas in Mulberry Wood" stamp line from Crafter's Companion. I chose this image of a little critter in an envelope to use - isn't he just adorable?

I stamped the image onto white card stock, and colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers. I cut out the upper outline, because I wanted to layer him on a Swiss dot embossed background, reminiscent of snow.  Before I did that, I added lots of Tulip Snow and ultra-fine glitter.

Then he was layered on to the white background with pop dots, and then onto a rose layer, to pull out the soft colors of the poinsettias.  This then was adhered to a folded white card base.

The greeting was oval-punched and layered onto a red scallop punch, to bring out the brighter red in his hat, and adhered with pop dots.


Hope you enjoyed this frosty scene in what has really been a sweltering summer.