Roaming around with Anything But a Card #48

I'm thrilled to be back designing for Anything But a Card after a two month break!  This months theme at Anything But a Card is Out & About so I made a neighborhood.  I am on a bit of a time crunch this month so I am actually typing this in advance so I am going to be done a head of time!  Since I am in a rush, I didn't take as many photos as normal (plus, this project is fairly cut & dry), but please do enjoy a stroll around my neighborhood.

What I Used to Make my Neighborhood:
Tim Holtz Artful Dwellings Movers & Shakers, Sizzix #657218
Wendy Vecchi Art Comforts Stamp Set, #SCS110
BasicGrey Paper, Scarlet Letter & Perhaps
Die from LifestyleCrafts/Quickutz Wildflower Spring Gift Set
Thin Cardboard
Golden Acrylics in Cobalt Teal, Pyrrole Orange, Titan Buff, Quinacridone Violet, Hansa Yellow, Phthalo Blue, Pyrrole Red & Burnt Sienna
Scraps of Ribbon from Stash
Piece of Foam Board

I had planned on doing a triptych so I had cut out a bunch of the little houses using the cardboard and the die cut.  I painted the houses with the different

acrylics and let them dry, then I painted all the roofs with burnt sienna.  I decided then that I'd rather have a wall hanging than a triptych, so I found a piece of Foam Board.  

I painted all of the houses and then I decided to use a few of the smaller houses as decorations on the larger homes.  I wanted to spruce them up a bit more, so I raided my stash and found some ribbon that I thought enhanced each house and glued it the houses.  I had cut out the "trees" using one of the dies from the Lifestyle/Quickutz Wildflower Spring Gift Set (it's retired, but you can find tons of them online), I'm not sure the actual die name, but it's in that set, and I used the Basic Grey paper. I had to leave out a few of my houses as

they wouldn't all fit on the foam board, but I've kept them and I'm sure they will debut on another piece.  The final step was stamping the sentiment using Wendy Vecchi's Art Comforts stamp set on a scrap piece of card, using a bit of brown ink to edge it and gluing that to the board.  

I hope you enjoyed your stroll around my neighborhood!! Please think about subscribing to my blog and helping me meet my goal of 100 new subscribers for 2015 ~ thank you Christi!

Another look - you can see the shine and brush strokes in the acrylic paint

I would like to enter my "Out & Above" piece in the following challenges:
Love to Create - #13,  Anything Mixed Media Goes
Stamping Sensations - Use Dies and/or Punches (June Challenge)
Allsorts Challenge - #316, Use a Stamp (no digi's) ~ entry #2
That's Crafty! - Housey, Housey 

Party Girls!!

If you have been reading my blog then you know that this is my family's birthday time of year so here we have another birthday card!  For this one, I used cheerful colors, some glitz and a fantastic chipboard piece by JittoBear.  I hope this puts you in a party mood, if you needed a reason!

What I Used to Make my Card:

Happy Birthday Chipboard Cut Out by JittoBear
Glossy Cardstock

Ranger Archival ink in Jet Black

"Girlfriends" stamp by The Stampsmith

Distress Markers in Gathered Twigs, Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemon & Mustard Seed

Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs

Glimmer Spray by Ditto (got this in the $1 bin YEARS ago)

Silver Cardstock

Core'dinations Bright Colors Card in Lime, Atoll Aqua & Love Potion

A Wink of Stella in Clear

Sharpie Water Based Paint Pen in White

When I made this card I knew what I wanted it to look like and after I picked out which Happy Birthday chipboard I wanted to use, I sprayed it with the

It really is pretty!

glimmer spray. I had bought this spray a long, long time ago and I thought it was like a black glimmer.  Surprise! It was silver but with a dark base to it.  No problem, I could work with that! I spritzed the chipboard a few more times and set it aside to dry.

Next, I stamped the image on glossy cardstock.  Set it aside to dry (it takes a bit longer than standard card to dry since it is on glossy card).  While it was drying, I cut the party hats out of the 3 colors of Core'dination card.  I swiped my clear Wink of Stella pen on the pink one, drew circles on the green one using the Sharpie pen and left the blue one plain.  I trimmed the image, then edged it with the Distress Ink using the Mini Ink Blending Tool.  I cut out a layer of the Love Potion card and then another of the Atoll Aqua to layer the image on. 

Before I layered the image I decided to give the girls a little makeover.  I colored their hair and lips using the Distress Markers and a cotton swab, a technique I learned from Tim Holtz's Blog. 

I layered the image on the 2 colors of cardstock but felt it still needed more, so I went into my stash and pulled out a piece of silver cardstock.  I matted the image the last time on that and glued my party hats onto the girls.  Lastly, I attached my properly glimmered Happy Birthday chipboard and I now have another card to mail out.  Two down and a hundred to go (no, it just feels that way!), why is it birthdays and holidays always creep up on me?!?

I hope you got some inspiration from my Happy Birthday Girls card! The weather here has finally been nice; today was the first day in ages we had no storm activity at all. I hope you are enjoying your weather. Thanks for stopping by ~ Christi

Another look at my Party Girls

I would like to enter my Party Girls in the following challenges:
Allsorts - #316, Use a Stamp
Fab 'n Funky - #264, Gorgeous Girls
Papertake Weekly - Oh So Pretty
Through the Craft Room Door - week of 6/16 - 6/22 - Anything Goes
The Paper Girls - #82, Happy Birthday

I am now going to get some much needed rest - I just got back from Michigan (literally 2 hours ago!) and my body is screaming for a rest!! See you all tomorrow, bright and early, for my Anything But a Card post - the theme is "Out and About" ~ Hugs!!! Christi

Hopping one more time with the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop with my Rough Night Bird ~

This is my final entry for the Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop - sadly, due to the blog crashing and preparing for an unexpected trip has basically left me all created out. But, YOU still have time to enter! The deadline is June 13th, so get those cards created and linked up!

What I Used to Make My Card:
White Square Card Base, 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy Set, #CMS212
Distress Markers in Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Spun Sugar and Festive Berries
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Lanaquarelle Watercolor Paper, 140 lb, Heat Pressed
SU! Blender Pen
Scrap of Matching Paper
White Card for the Sentiment
Computer Generated Sentiment

I continued my experiment that I talked about in my second entry post. Once again, I stamped the bird (this is my first time using this stamp) using the Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black on the 140 lb. watercolor paper.  I wanted this bird to look a bit more frazzled than the fellow in the previous post, so I chose shades of purple, using just a touch of the Red Berries in his eyes and a few spots on his wings.  I also used an old (I'm talking over ten years old) Stampin' Up! Blender Pen instead of the water brush - those things last forever. I have literally had ONE dry out on me, so now I dip it in water when I need really good control when water coloring. Works like a charm.  So, I have confirmed in my mind that the paper really does make a difference!

So this time after I colored in my bird, I fussy cut him and stamped him again on the square card and layered him.  Truth is, as I was fussy cutting him, I cut his legs off, but don't tell anyone, OK? Anyway, after I layered him I needed something to put the sentiment on, so I found a piece of Core'dinations in my stash and sanded it down a bit (sorry, I have no idea what color it is) and glued on the sentiment.   I think the card came out wonderfully, I wanted the bird to look like he'd had a rough night and he does.  Thank you SO much for stopping by and looking at my card - please consider becoming one of my followers so I can meet my goal of 100 mew subscribers in 2015 ~ blessings, Christi

I would like to enter my Rough Night Bird in the following challenges:
Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge Blog - #120, Anything Goes
The ABC Challenge - K is for Kritters
Buckwell's Crafty Challenge - (M) Things with Wings
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - Something Old & Something New (stamp set is new, everything else is old)

Crazy Bird Coffee Card Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - Entry #2

Here is my second entry for the Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop! 

 

 I want to apologize to all the entrants who came here to my blog, only to find that the blog wasn't here! I'm still not sure what happened, don't really know how it was fixed and honestly, since I am here now, don't want to know. Unfortunately, I won't be able to comment on everyone's entry, I'm so sorry. Anyway, on with the show!

What I Used to Make My Card:
Vanilla Card Base
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy Set, #CMS212
Distress Markers in Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Spiced Marmalade & Pumice Stone
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Lanaquarelle Watercolor Paper, 140 lb, Heat Pressed
Ranger Water Brush, Fine Tip
Vanilla Card for the Sentiment
Die-Namics (MFT) Stitched Oval Stax, MFT-521
Computer Generated Sentiment
Pop Dots

One of the qualifiers of the blog hop is to make your cards summery - I hope that my bird meets the requirement! I confess, I used the Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop as my guinea pig.  I was having huge trouble trying to water color with the Distress Markers, even when I used watercolor paper. Well, after much research, and the help of this blog, I found out that the TYPE of watercolor paper makes all the difference!  I typically used a 90 lb. paper and this time I used a 140 lb. heat pressed paper.  It was so easy to do!! 

So, I stamped my Crazy Bird on the Lanaquarelle Watercolor Paper using the Archival Ink in Jet Black then chose the Distress Marker colors to color him in (I don't know, all these birds look male to me).  I chose the three shades of pink for the actual bird, his beak is done in the  Spiced Marmalade, and he is shadowed with the Pumice Stone.  Shadowing is an entirely different animal than coloring, but I am trying to get the hang on if.  

The Inside

I found the quote online, and if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I rarely put anything on the inside of the cards I make.  However, this sentiment deserved to be on the inside as well as the outside.  I printed the saying on vanilla card and then cut it out with the Stitched Oval Stax. I put the front sentiment on with pop dots and used regular old glue for the inside.

So that's my second card for the Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop - I hope you got a giggle at the sentiment and a smile! I'll be posting my last card later tonight or tomorrow - thanks, Christi!!

I would like to enter my Crazy Bird Coffee Card in the following challenges:
Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop
Sweet Stamps - #225, Anything Goes!
Use Your Stuff - #187, Sentiment 
Lawnscaping Challenges -Calling all Critters
Addicted to Stamps - #106, Summer Colors

Tim's Tags for June 2015 AND The Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

Hi all - this is my monthly take on Tim's Tags of 2015 for June and it's my first entry into the Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop.

 It is one of my favorite tags thus far, I love iced coffee and tea, and I am SO proud of myself that I have been keeping up with this challenge the whole year.  I am actually enjoying this much more than I thought I would, so count on seeing many more of my takes on Tim's Tags.  

 

This month I didn't have some of the major components, but I made do pretty well with my Silhouette Cameo and stuff I had hanging around. As you know, you can go to Tim's Blog and see how he created his tag, so I am continuing to just list the things I did differently:

Things I Did Differently:
I made a wash using the Tea Dye re-inker 
Distressed using Scissors (I have to get that Paper Distresser Tool!)
Made my Own Stripes (see below)
Coffee Cup Cut File
Silhouette Cameo
Homemade Corrugated Cardboard
Little Vellum Envelope
1" & 2 1/4" Circle Punch
Tim Holtz Simple Sayings Stamp Set #CMS155
Round Tag
Gem Star
Scrap Ribbon
DCWV Burlap Paper Stack, 6 x 6 (and glued that on my tag)

The Stripes:
The hardest thing about this tag was trying to figure out how I was going to make the stripes. I had made a wash using the Tea Dye re-inker and  I don't have the stencil he used (I love how he used it!) so I thought maybe I could use the craft sheet and the same color markers he did to make my plaid.  I literally took the markers and hand made lines, going up & down, on the sheet.  I alternated the order of the colors and pressed the tag directly on the lines at first, then I misted them lightly with water and pressed the tag onto the sheet again.  I cleaned the craft sheet in between and repeated the process until I was happy with the tag.  Well, it didn't come out nearly as neat as his did but I'm pleased with the effect.  

The Coffee Cup:
I made the cup using a cut file I had and my Silhouette Cameo. The top is cut from a small vellum bag I had in my stash, I cut the bag, using the flap, with a circle punch that was 2 1/4" and then just folded and glued the layers.  I thought that was what Tim used when I saw his post, so when I found out he actually used plastic, I just went with my first thought.

The Rest:
I just used the items I had already to finish the tag, the green paper was in my stash. I used a piece of handmade corrugated cardboard, the little heart was leftover from a die cut, the straw was just cut from the same green paper the circle was cut from (using a 1" circle punch). I used my ever faithful DCWV Burlap Paper to show off my handmade banner. I printed the word coffee and glued it to the little circle tag and I attached that to the ribbon using a fastener

that I just got off a new pair of pants - it was holding one of the tags. I think that was one of my best finds ever!  

There you have it! My take on Tim's Tag for June 2015. I hope you enjoyed my tag and all my little tweaks to Tim's design - and you have to the end of the month to join in on Tim's Blog. And please, do pop over to the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - I am furiously creating more cards to enter, and there is more time for you to enter as it doesn't close until June 12, 2015! Please consider following my blog and help me to make my goal of 100 new followers - thanks! Christi

I would like to enter my tag in the following challenges:
Tim's 12 Tags of 2015 June
Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop
Not Just Cards - #21, Anything Goes
Silhouette Challenges - (M) #26, Anything Goes

So Christmas is 6 months Away. . .

and I have started on my cards! Honestly, I probably won't make another until after Halloween (my favorite holiday!) but, I like to delude myself sometimes. One of my very favorite things about JittoBear is their "alternative" items.  They make things for the quirky, a tad off crowd as well as the standard chipboard die cuts. I have had this adorable chipboard cut since I began designing for JittoBear and I am so glad I finally got a chance to use it. I truly think this fits my style, don't you? Cute little cared with a cute little attitude ~

 
What I Used to Make my Card:
Bite Me JittoBear Chipboard
Kraft Card Base
KaiserCraft paper from Yuletide Paper Pack
Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs & Fired Brick
Golden Acrylic Paint in Quinacridone Red
Birds Cards Cut File - Santa's Hat Circle (I only used the Santa Hat portion)
Ranger Glossy Accents
Scrap of Red Cardstock
Scrap of White Cardstock

First, if you have an electronic cutting machine, like a Silhouette, you HAVE to go to Birds Cards and take a look at the amazing cut files that Bird shares FREE! And the designs are always so cool!! OK, the first thing I did was gesso the

chipboard (truthfully, I had gessoed this a long time ago) and decided what colors I wanted to paint my gingerbread man and the saying.  I used Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs for the happy little bitten gingerbread guy and Fired Brick for the saying.  I was happy with the brown paint, and I liked the matte look on the gingerbread, but, I wanted a more red red for the saying. So, I broke out my acrylics and painted over the Fired Brick with Quinacridone Red. I like the shine of the acrylic next to the matte of the Distress Paint.  I have also decided no more gesso on the chipboard unless I know I need it - lemme tell you, that white stuck out like a sore thumb and I saw new white spots every day I looked at it! I think I finally have them

all covered, but if you see one, don't tell me! I used one of Birds Files for the Hat, it's called Santa's Hat Circle, ungrouped the files and just used the hat.  Cut the hat out of red cardstock and the trim and the pom pom, glued it together and then used Glossy Accents  to cover the red part of the hat.  It felt the hat needed a little pop since the card is so brown.

Next step was picking out the background paper. I wanted a holiday themed paper, but, I  didn't want it to over power the chipboard.  And no Santa's or anything jolly - just wouldn't fit.  I found the paper I used in the KaiserCraft Yuletide Paper Pack. I don't have the exact name of the paper as it was cut off

long ago, but I felt the music background added something as well as being subtle enough to not overpower the gingerbread man.  I like all the textures on this card; the shine of the acrylic paint, the matte of the gingerbread man and the pop of the hat.  Well, there you go - my first holiday card of 2015.  Now I must go back to making the birthday cards.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the gingerbread man! Please consider becoming a follower on my blog - I am trying to get 100 new subscribers in 2015. Blessings, Christi 

I would like to enter my Gingerbread Man Card in the following challenges:
Ink on my Fingers - Sunday Stamper, #358, No Stamping
Natalie & Amy's Challenge - (M) #33, Christmas
Brown Sugar Challenges - #139, Anything Goes
Loves Rubber Stamping - #154, Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - wk of 6/2 - 6/8, Always Anything Goes
ABC Christmas Challenge - K is for Keep it Simple

Whew, finished just in time for our daily storm!! Stay safe everyone!! :)

May Reveal for the Card Chain Challenge

Some of you may remember from last month's reveal that I had messed up and used the colors for THIS month LAST month - Oh well.  So instead of following the theme of anything goes this month, I went rouge and did my own thing (except the friendship part - I made a card as I would have for a friend.  Do you know I have NO stamps that say friend? Have any suggestions of a good set or stamp I can buy, please leave it in the comments!). Anyway, without further ado, here is my card for this months challenge, that I sent to Jo in England:

And I would like to share this lovely card I received from Joy.  Please stop by her blog and give her some love and good wishes as she is taking a blogging break (but plans to continue on with the CCC). Morning Glory Card Studio is where you can find her and her wonderful cards. She is so talented and has shared her cards with so many people! 

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Cardstock Base
Colorbox Metalextra Ink in Gold Rush
Gold Mirror Cardstock
Thin Gold Paper
DCWV Mariposa Paper Stack
Stampin' Up! Sincere Salutations Stamp Set
Silhouette Cameo
Butterfly Cut File used with Silhouette
Tim Holtz Sizzix Labels #660060

OK, so I got a new paper stack from DCWV called Mariposa and I immediately

fell in love with the gold sparkle butterfly paper, so I knew that was going to be

a part of my May CCC.  I have so much decorative paper (mulberry, vellum, etc.) from my stash, and then a good friend gave me all of hers, so I decided to continue the butterfly theme with some gold mirror cardstock (I have mirrored card in just about every color - they were a MUST have way back when). I have also had the Colorbox ink for years - that is one juicy ink pad!


I looked in my stash of cut files, found one that I hoped I could cut out and

sized it. Used the mirror gold cardstock to cut the butterflies out on my beloved Silhouette Cameo.  My blade isn't the sharpest right now but the cut came out awesome.  Some of the butterflies look sort of copper colored in the picture, but I assure you, they are gold. 

Now for the sentiment.  I am sorely lacking "friendship" stamps, so I thought I'd

use a "thinking of you" stamp since that is something I'd send a friend. I have tons of Stampin' Up! sets as I was a demonstrator in the '90's and I am so glad I saved this set - I use the Sincere Salutations set a LOT. Speaking of SU! sets, I just found 2 copy paper boxes FULL of old sets - if you are looking for an old set, drop me a line, I may have it and I'd love to give it to someone who would actually use it! OK, back to the card. I stamped the sentiment on white card and cut it out using the Tim Holtz Labels set.  I put it all together and made the card.  Jo said she really liked the mirror card butterflies - that made me happy!

Thank you for stopping by - it is appreciated! I hope you consider joining the June CCC (sign up's have already begun but you have until June 6th, 2015), it really is a treat to get a cool card and to send one to someone that really appreciates the work and effort that goes into making a card. Fondly, Christi 

I am entering my "Golden Butterfly" card in the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - #132, Anything Goes with a Twist of Die Cuts
Daring Cardmakers - Mirror, Mirror (I used mirror cardstock)
Fairy Tale Challenge - #118, Feathers and/or Wings
Fantasy Stampers Challenge - #37, Wings 'and Things