SIP Sketch Challenge 67 with Clear & Simple Stamps and a Sheared Lamb

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Mine has been busy and strange so far.  LOL.  Today started off with a visit to the vet for Bella who has to have two screws in her mouth removed on Thursday.  The strange thing was that they had their first lamb arrive to be sheared.  You have to admit that you don't get to see this every day at the vet...unless you live in the countryside.   

Friends of ours do a scrap/stamp charity class each month and this past Saturday I had the pleasure of teaching a class for them.  About 20 women had a lot of fun making a mini accordion album.

I also had the pleasure of being named one of the "top picks" over at the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog for my "upcycled" Christmas tree ornament in their challenge last week.  You can check out all the winners HERE and you can check out my post on the ornament HERE.  Thank you to the ladies over at the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.

Now...for today's card....since it's Tuesday there must be a new challenge over at the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge Blog!  And this week - Challenge #67 is a Sketch -

All the stamps used today are from Clear & Simple Stamps - the Rag Doll collection.  I started with a side folding A2 card base of white cardstock.  To the front I adhered a piece of patterned paper from the Loolah pad by Creative Imaginations (an old one from my stash).  Then I cut a strip from another piece from the same paper pad, mounted it on black cardstock, and adhered it across the card front.

Then I stamped the "tire swing" from Rag Doll: Scenes 3 set on a piece of white cardstock, and the phrases from the Rag Doll Emma: Banner set, and adhered it to a piece of black cardstock.  

Then to the card front - 

Lastly, I stamped Rag Doll Willa from the Rag Doll Willa: Enjoy set, colored her in (with bright colors), put some pop dots behind her and adhered her to the card front sitting on the tire swing.

That's it!  Done!  Easy peasy!  I hope you enjoyed this card.  Feel free to leave me comments below.  If you want to make a card for this week's challenge at Stamp Ink Paper, just click HERE to be taken to the challenge page.  Until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

Michael

Stamp Ink Paper - Anything But A Card Challenge - 3D "UpCycled" Ornament

Hello everyone!  It's getting hot here!  Although our spring starts here this week, it's already feeling like summer.  And, as much as I love the heat, it would be nice to have a bit of spring first.  LOL  Today is Tuesday and that means there is a new challenge on the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge Blog.  This week's Challenge #66 is Anything But A Card - 

And....since the stamps I am using in this project are older than dirt (LOL) I am also entering this into this week's Challenge 47 on the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog, which is "Anything Goes" - 

I don't know what part of my brain came up with this project - "upcycling" a roll from packing tape into a 3-D Christmas tree ornament.  The idea is really the fault of my friend Ana Stela who was here one day and saw me throw a roll into the garbage.  She told me I was crazy for not holding on to these for future projects and asked if she could have them.  

Well...she was right!  Thanks Ana!!

I know this seems like a long project and it looks difficult.  But it really isn't.  It's just me and my crazy step-by-step tutorials with photos.  LOL  Also, I am not giving exact sizes in parts of this project because it will all depend on the size of the roll you are using in your country.    

To make the project - start with an empty roll from packing tape, measure the width of the outside, cut a piece of holiday themed paper and adhere it to the outside of the roll.  Then, using a Crop-A-Dile I or II (We R Memory Keepers), punch a hole in the top center and adhere an eyelet in the hole.

Next, using a piece of navy blue cardstock, I cut a strip for the inside of the roll and I cut a circle for the back of the roll with Stitched Circle Layers (Memory Box).  One of the circles in this set is the perfect size for my roll.  Then I placed the Floral Confetti stencil (Memory Box) over each of the pieces and embossed with glossy white embossing paste (Dreamweaver).  Set aside to dry or use a heat gun to speed things up.

While those were drying, I cut the Fresh Pine Curved Border die (Memory Box) - twice - from green cardstock and one of the circles from the Stitched Circle Layers (Memory Box) set out of white cardstock.

Then I glued the two tree cuts together to make them more sturdy.  Don't worry if they are not perfect since we will be trimming later.  I also distressed the moon using mustard seed, fossilized amber, and spiced marmalade distress inks. Then I adhered the moon behind some of the trees.

Now, before we adhere the navy blue pieces with the snowflakes, we have to trace the tree section we will use on the inside.  Place the roll over the trees until you have the section you want to use in the center.  Then trace - on the INSIDE of the roll - with a pencil and cut the piece along the traced line.  I also like to apply Frosted Lace stickles to the trees and along the bottom now instead of later because it's easier.  Allow to dry or use a heat gun.

Now adhere the navy blue strip to the inside of the roll.  Then apply Multi Medium Matte to the back of the roll and adhere the navy blue circle with the snowflakes.  I like to use a glue that will dry transparent.  Pop a hole through the eyelet (carefully) and run a piece of ribbon through the top to hang the ornament.

Next I cut two pieces of heavy weight kraft cardstock, 1" x 2", and scored on the long side at 1/2" on each end.  Fold them into a "Z" fold.  Apply glue or double sided tape to one of the ends and adhere to the back of the moon and landscape.

Then apply glue or double sided tape to the other side and adhere to the center of the roll.  Make sure that your scene is straight and keep an idea of where the top of your ornament is!  I also like to apply more stickles along the edge where the two pieces meet for a stronger bond.

Now for the final step - I used two retired sets from Stampin Up called Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories.  I stamped the truck, colored it in, and fussy cut it out.  Then, like we did with the scene, I cut a piece of heavy weight cardstock, scored at both ends and adhered one side to the back of the truck.  

Then  I stamped the tree from the Loads of Love set and the presents from the Accessories set.  Colored them in, fussy cut them, and adhered to the back of the truck.  Then I adhered the end of the heavy weight kraft paper to the inside of the roll.  I also applied some glue under the truck so it glued well to the outside of the roll.  

I also applied Glossy Accents to the windows and Clear Wink of Stella Brush marker to the whole truck to give it a shimmer.

Done!!  I have to admit, this was a great project for me to do because now I have so many other ideas for ornaments to make.  I think this would be a beautiful gift to give someone for the holidays.  And you are upcycling and keeping something out of a landfill!!  

I would love to know what you think of this project.  Please feel free to leave comments below.  Also, if you can find some time - make a project for this week's Stamp Ink Paper Challenge - Anything But A Card!  I would love to see what you come up with.  Until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

Michael

Bugaboo "Pup Balloons" Birthday Card

Hello everyone!  Happy Sunday!  I wasn't planning on doing a post so late today but we got up early and headed out to find a field of sunflowers we had heard was in bloom.  Sunflowers are my favorite flower and after getting a bit lost we found the field.  And spent hours taking photos and roaming.  

Here are a few of the shots I got this morning.

I made this card last night after purchasing a bunch of digi stamps from Bugaboo Stamps that I had in my wishlist.  They are having a sale - 70% off - until....I think midnight tonight...and this was a sale I could not pass up. Bugaboo is one of my favorite digi stamp shops and I hope you check them out.  

I am entering this into this week's challenge over at Addicted to CAS, which is their Challenge 97 - Stitched -

I started by printing the "pup balloons" digi image by Bugaboo Stamps on a sheet of A4 white cardstock and trimming it to an A2 card size.  

Using the other half of the A4 cardstock, I die cut the All-In-One-Frames - Rectangles 2 by Impression Obsession and adhered the largest stitched rectangle section to the card front.

Next I stamped the words "Happy" and "Birthday" from Label Maker Sentiments by MFT Stamps, cut the phrases out, put some pop dots behind each word, and adhered it to the card front next to the image.

Last thing I did was to pull out my Bic Markers and color the pup in.  

Done!  I think my pup came out looking adorable and certainly meets the criteria of Clean and Simple with lots of white space!   I hope you enjoyed this quick little post!  Until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

Michael

Quick Stenciled Thank You Cards

TGIF everyone!!  What a crazy week this has been.  Crazy in that no matter what I tried to get started or finished, something else jumped in my way and I got derailed!  I am really looking forward to a nice easy going weekend.  I hope!!    

Yesterday a bunch of packages had to go out and I wanted to include a "thank you" note but I did not want to spend forever making a card.  While I was cleaning up my station I noticed a pile of stencils from StencilGirl Products sitting next to my case of distress inks and...well...this idea popped into my head.  I made 4 cards in less than 15 minutes - and so can you - let me show you how easy this is!

I started with a scrap piece of white cardstock that was laying around.  I also grabbed a bunch of my mini distress inks (salty ocean, seedless preserves, cracked pistachio, fired brick, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, and blueprint sketch) and a bunch of stencils from StencilGirl Products.  I built layers of different stencil designs with the different colors of distress inks.  

There is no right or wrong here - just start layering and change colors.

I started with the Fractured Glass stencil and mustard seed distress ink - 

Then I grabbed the salty ocean distress ink with the Past Present Future stencil and salty ocean distress ink - 

Then I used the Gigi stencil with spiced marmalade distress ink -

Then I used several other stencils for the final look - Quilted Flower Garden, Eddy Rose, and a small stencil from one of the club kits. I also went back with the Past Present Future stencil to fill in areas and highlight the words with the blueprint sketch ink.  

When I was happy with the look I cut the design into 1 1/4" wide strips, some black cardstock into 1 3/8" strips, and I cut Lawn Fawn's "scripty thanks" die out of the black cardstock also.    

Next I made an A2 card base out of white cardstock, adheres a strip of the black cardstock across the card, then adhered a strip of the stenciled design on top of the black cardstock.

Last steps were to adhere the word "thanks" on top of the stenciled design, apply some Clear Wink of Stella to the thanks to give it a shimmer and then adhere a few sequins to the card front.

Done!  Easy Peasy!  I made 4 of these cards in about 15 minutes.  You can even use other dies like the word "hello" in place of the word thanks.  Well, I hope this easy post has inspired you to grab some stencils and some inks and make a quick and easy card like this.  Feel free to comment below and let me know what your thoughts are.  I am working on a few other projects so - until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

Michael

SIP Challenge 65 - Monochromatic Blues - Happy Hanukkah Card

Hello everyone.  What a crazy week it's been.  Our friend Daise came for a few days to plan a class she is going to give.  She works with MDF so we had to drive to Pedreira, a town about 30 minutes away, to see what was new.  For crafters, Pedreira is a dream come true - stores filled with naked MDF products to alter, paint, etc.  Who wants to come for a visit?  LOL

Here are some photos from our favorite store, Vitrine Madeira - 

Stacks of boxes!

They even sell furniture - end tables, lamps, chairs...

Imagine painting or altering this Eiffel Tower!!

Panetone boxes screaming for paint or paper!

The store just keeps going....and going....and going....

Wine boxes waiting to be altered, painted, etc.

Thank God I made this card last week or I would have nothing for today.  And, since today is Tuesday, that means a new challenge over on the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge Blog.  This week is Challenge 65 - Monochromatic - 

As some of you know, I have issues with colors.  Seriously!  I hate being forced to use specific colors or a specific color palette.  Like monochromatic.  I shut down!  Then I bitch about.  Then I figure it out. Then I make a nice card.  Then I apologize and wonder why I do this.  LOL.  So, after looking at the blue colors in the sketch, it hit me....Hanukkah is all about blues.  And, because I do a lot of baby mini albums, I have 3 shades of blue!  Duh Trent!!  

I started this card with a piece of navy blue textured cardstock, 5" x 5".  Then I cut a piece of the middle blue color, 4.5" x 4.5".  Using the largest die from Avery Elle's Double Pierced Circles Die set, I placed in the center of the middle blue and die cut it.  

Before

After

Then I put this piece into the Moroccan Fresco Embossing Folder by Vintaj (Sizzix), embossed it, and adhered it to the center of the card front.     

The next step is to place the two largest dies from the Avery Elle Double Pierced Circles Set and cut using the lightest blue paper.  You will end up with two circles but we are only going to use the smaller circle.

Before

After

Now to finish up the card.  On a piece of the navy blue cardstock, I heat embossed the Happy Hanukkah image (retired by DRS Designs) with Versamark ink and Silver Opaque Embossing Powder by Sparkle N Sprinkle.  Then I cut it out and adhered it to the center of the lightest blue circle, which I then adhered to the center of the card.  Last steps were to adhere a pearl in each corner and a piece of white cardstock on the inside so there was someplace to write.   

Not as difficult as it was in my head!  I hope you enjoyed this card and idea. Feel free to leave me comments below!  I hope you can find some time to make a project for this challenge too.  You have until Sunday, September 18th, to make something.  Just click HERE to be taken right to the challenge site.  Until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

Michael