Birthday Creative Juices!

Wednesday was the birthday of my dear friend, Melinda (aka PassionFruit), and because he DH was on-call, we decided to have Creative Juices (our monthly-ish stamping get-together) on her birthday! Really, what's better than stamping on your birthday, right? *wink*

First up, I'll show you the card I made Mel for her b-day...if you've been to my SCS gallery in the past week, you may have already seen this:

The base is a piece of Wild Wasabi, cut to 8 1/2" x 7 3/8", then scored halfway on the short side to make a card that fits in a standard letter envelope (the Scor-Pal has special lines on it just for this kind of fold, marked with a small triangle/arrow). The finished size ends up being ~8 1/2" x 3 5/8". The background paper is from Scenic Route - I knew Mel would love the green, and to make it coordinate with my image, I colored some of the stripes in using an orange Prismacolor. (This is something I've been doing a lot to get 'custom' papers that coordinate with other papers or the way I've colored an image...check out Friday's post - I colored the polka dots in with orange there, too.)

The image and the sentiment were stamped in Chocolate Chip, and the image was colored with my Prismacolor pencils...now that I've fished them back out, I'm in love with them again!! I'm so much better at coloring with pencils than markers, especially with the Prismacolors, since they blend so well. I mounted both on Soft Sky panels, and adhered the matted image panel to the background with foam tape. The ribbon for the sentiment is adhered to the back on the right side (after I tied the knot in it), then runs all the way around teh back, and through the Hodgepodge Hardware loopy thing, then attached to itself with two more brads...love how that looks!

NOW - on to our Creative Juices cards. Mine was already posted on Wednesday (the 'Way of Travel' card with the cute little campers), so I'm just going to show the other two cards we made. (FYI: Kathryn (aka Spicy V-8) and Dolores (aka Jamba) were also there, but we don't all make cards to share, or we'd be up all night!! *smiles*)

This card was made by Chris (aka Razzleberry, aka my DMIL):

The image was stamped on an embossed white panel, then colored in with colored pencils. We added the two little black eyelets, adhered the black panel to the back of the image panel, attached some rick rack to the bottom, and then everything was adhered to the light blue base (I think it's Bashful Blue). Quick, but super cute, and a perfect masculine card.


Melinda (aka PassionFruit, aka the Birthday Girl) made this cute little cupcake card, using the new Cupcake Affair set from Verve:

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye (it's from Mel's huge pack that *she* bought at Costco...lol!), and is a full quarter-sheet size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4") on top of a white card base. The image(s) and sentiment are stamped using Chocolate Chip, and then we colored in the flowers with Blender Pens and a Certainly Celery inkpad, and accented the centers with some green Stickles. The image circle is matted with a Certainly Celery circle. We adhered everything to the patterned paper, and tied on some brown satin ribbon.

Thanks for another great night of stamping and fun, Juices!! {{hugs}}

Back in a bit with the card I made for today's LSC!
~Michelle

Supplies used (Indulge birthday card):
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, and Soft Sky cardstock (SU!); striped paper (Scenic Route)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); Prismacolor Art Pencils (Sanford); HodgePodge Hardware (SU!); grosgrain ribbon

Unity Polka-dot Challenge

This was a super-quick card made for a challenge posted in Unity's Hip Hop Thursday forum yesterday. The challenge? Make a Unity card, using polka dots.

I ran upstairs, found the blue polka-dotted background paper, and a scrap of Pumpkin Pie already cut to 5" width, and half a sheet of Chocolate Chip for my base. So I colored in the polka-dots with a Mineral Orange Prismacolor to match, cut a scalloped edge with my corner rounder on one side of the Pumpkin Pie, and adhered the two together. On a scrap of Very Vanilla, I stamped this tree from Giggle Grove, then stamped it again onto a coordinating, smaller-scale polka dot paper, and paper-pieced the circles, popping them up using foam tape. I matted it on Chocolate Chip, tied on some satin ribbon, and adhered it to the background with more foam tape. After it was stuck to the base, I decided it needed a sentiment, so I found this one from my July KOTM, and stamped it in the corner using my Stamp-a-ma-jig (love that thing!!).

Voila! A card done in less than 25 minutes, including taking a photo, editing the photo, and posting it on SCS! Whew!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back later with our projects from Creative Juices on Wednesday!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie cardstock (SU!); patterned papers (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Stazon Timber Brown (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, July KOTM (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: foam tape (3M); brown satin ribbon (Club Wedd by Target)

Scrap Apple

This one's just a quick little apple card I made from the many scraps that have accumulated on my desk. I found the polka dot paper first, and used other scraps to round out the card, using yesterday's Sketch Challenge, SC192...though I did change the main image panel to a circle instead of a rectangle.

I stamped the image in Old Olive, then colored it in with Prismacolors. Then I punched it out with my pink circle punch, and punched out a Pumpkin Pie scalloped circle with my purple punch. I folded a piece of Whisper White to make the base (the only non-scrap on this card), then a panel of Bayou Blue, then my two dp pieces, with some Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon across the seam. The scalloped circle is on foam tape for some dimension.

Then, it looked a litle naked...so I added the glittery 'hello' letters that I found yesterday in the clearance bin a Target, and to tie in the sparkle, added Stickles to each scallop and to the polka dots on the background paper.

And now I've got a question for you: How do you store your scraps, and does it work for you? Do you remember to use them?

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to go Hip Hop in the Unity forum at 10am CST (8am PST) today!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, and Blue Bayou cardstock (SU!); polka dot and green dp (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Old Olive (SU!)
Stamps: Mix-up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: glitter letter alpha stickers (Making Memories); Stickles (Ranger, Inc.); Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon (SU!); foam tape (3M)

Two more goodies!

First, another Unity Customer Challenge card, as promised earlier:

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. All the colored paper (other than the Chocolate Chip base) is My Mind's Eye DP from a *huge* stack I got at Costco months ago for some ridiculously low price...I think it came out to less than $0.03/sheet!

The trailers are stamped, colored with Prismacolor pencils, then cut out and popped up on dimensionals. (For those of you that are Creative Juices...this is my card for tonight!)

The second card is for this weekend's Inspiration Challenge (IC143 - Hotel Fox)...the challenge was to draw inspiration from one of the 61 rooms, each individually designed by one of 21 designers. I chose this room:

And here's my card:

The trees are paper-pieced on Creamy Caramel stamped in More Mustard, and the swirly 'grass' is actually the swirl from the Unity July KOTM journaling block (and idea I got from Cyndi Bundy in this post on her blog). It's paper-pieced from Really Rust stamped in Creamy Caramel. That entire scene is popped up on dimensionals, with the little owl from July's KOTM peeking out from behind the trees to say 'Hi there'! I wish the shimmer and sheen of that woven ribbon showed up on camera...it's got an amazing coppery shimmer to it IRL.

Thanks for stopping by (again)! Have a creative day!
~Michelle

Supplies used (Way of Travel card):
Paper: Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!); blue 'solid' and green and blue polka dot paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Prismacolor Artist Pencils (Sanford); dimensionals (SU!)

Supplies used (Hotel Fox card):
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Creamy Caramel, and More Mustard (SU!)
Stamps: Giggle Grove, July KOTM, Mix-up of Cuteness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Hodgepodge Hardware label holder, dimensionals (SU!); ribbon (Michael's $1 bin)

Show your true colors!

Lately (as I'm sure you've noticed, if you read this blog regularly!), I've been all about the Unity. You could say I'm a Unity Junkie since I got my first order...So today's Unity Customer Challenge is right up my alley! The challenge today is a color challenge: make a card using Unity Colors (chocolate brown and teal, with a bit of cocoa thrown in...check out their website or blog if you want a visual), with the option of throwing in *one* other color. I opted not to on this card...

Are you getting the not-so-subtle subliminal message? Let's just say that tomorrow is Hip Hop Thursday in the Unity Forum, and it'd be a good time to INDULGE in a SWEET THING! *wink* If you'd like to play along with today's challenge, you'll find the post for that in forum as well after 10am CST (8am PST).

This card is also a CASE of NikiE's card that you can find here, for this weekend's Featured Stamper challenge (FS82). I used the same layout and similar colors, but changed the stamp set and the sentiment holder, using a label holder rather than a die-cut tag.

I stamped my favorite cupcake from Cupcakes a la Yummy three times on Very Vanilla, cutting each one out after coloring with Blender Pens. Then I stamped the top three times on Chocolate Chip so that the icing would be *really* chocolatey. The cupcakes are on dimensionals on their Very Vanilla panel. I stamped 'indulge' on the Creamy Caramel background using Close to Cocoa. Added some matting and a sentiment in a Hodge Podge Hardware holder, and Voila! Easy peasy card!

Have fun looking at everyone else's offerings! I finished another color card last night, which I'll have up shortly.

And before I go, I just have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELINDA!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAM!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel, and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Cool Caribbean (SU!)
Stamp: Cupcakes a la Yummy, Remember Happiness (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: Dimensionals, Hodge Podge Hardware label holder (SU!); grosgrain ribbon

Feeling Yellow?

Today's Color Challenge (CC182) is to make a monochromatic card, using shades of *any* color. Sounds easy, right? Not so much...you have to decide which color!

So, I looked through my paper stash and found some flocked (fuzzy) yellow paper and matching vellum that I bought *years* ago, and decided I'd go with a monochromatic yellow card. The base is a 5 1/4" square (finished size) of yellow textured Bazzill cardstock, with the front edge scalloped using my corner punch. The layout is from this weekend's Sketch for You To Try from Jen del Muro's blog, I {heart} 2 Stamp, adapted to a square format.

I cut panels of the flocked cardstock and vellum, then matted them with Very Vanilla. Since it had a bit of an old-time/vintage feel, I decided on this little teapot from Mix-Up of Cuteness, and a comforting sentiment from the Unity August KOTM 'Remember Happiness'. Both are white embossed, the sentiment on a So Saffron panel, and the teapot on Very Vanilla, then colored in with a Blender Pen and Apricot Appeal ink. I punched a circle and a scalloped square from Very Vanilla, and a square from So Saffron, and assembled my card, adding white brads at the corners of the two background panels and white 'candy dots' on the sentiment panel. I used foam tape under the teapot and the scalloped square.

Thanks for stopping by! See you in the morning...my post is scheduled for 8am PST *wink*
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: So Saffron and Very Vanilla cardstock (SU!); textured yellow cardstock...not sure of the actual color, but it matches So Saffron! (Bazzill); Yellow Vine Flocked cardstock and vellum (K & Company)
Ink: Apricot Appeal (SU!); Versamark (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Mix-up of Cuteness, August KOTM 'Remember Happiness' (Unity Stamp Company)
Other: foam tape (3M); brads (Making Memories); candy dots (Pebbles, Inc.)

Lonely Love Bird

Another Unity challenge card! (I'm trying to beat Jeanne, the Queen of Challenges (aka Jeanne S on SCS)...which is hard, because this is her job, not just her hobby!)

This card is for yesterday's Technique Lover's Challenge (TLC184) - Black Magic. A fun technique, and I got to use my Prismas again! So I started with the image...the Black Magic technique is to stamp on a dark background with white or cream craft ink, then color in using Prismacolor pencils dipped in Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS). The OMS softens the pencil, giving you a really smooth, rich color. The resulting image often has a bit of a night-time effect, so I immediately thought of this image (So & So Loves... from Unity), because it'd be so cool to have the birch trees look like they were lit my moonlight! I used varying levels of French Grey to give the bark a moonlit look, using 90% on the left side, and gradually fading to 30% on the right side of each tree. Then I went over the lightest areas with Cream to add a slight yellowish cast.

Since I didn't have any 'red' paper that matched the bird I colored perfectly, I edged a panel of Real Red with the Poppy Red and Crimson red pencils I used on the bird, then lightly colored over that with the French Grey 30% to tone it down. The heart is from one of the sentiments in August's KOTM, and was stamped with Fired Brick Distress ink, then clear embossed.

(As a side note, the three jumbo snaps really are the same color IRL...but for some reason the middle one looks darker in all my photos!)

Have a fantastic day, and be sure to come back tomorrow morning to see the card I made for Unity's Customer Challenge Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle

Supplies used:
Paper: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, and Real Red cardstock (SU!)
Ink: Medici Marble (Fresco chalk finish); Fired Brick (Distress by Ranger)
Stamps: So & So Loves..., 'Remember Happiness' August KOTM (Unity Stamp Co.)
Other: Prismacolor Artist Pencils (Sanford); foam tape (3M); jumbo snaps (We R MemoryKeepers); black grosgrain ribbon