Crafty Elves Countdown to the Holidays - February 2020

Hello everyone and welcome to the Crafty Elves Countdown to the Holidays - January 2020 Edition.  I am back with the other Crafty Elves (Debra, Lisa, and Jessica) to bring you 4 Christmas/Holiday projects. This month I made 3 cards and 2 envelopes that I think you will really like.  

For my first card, which I had so much fun making, I used several stamp sets from Reverse Confetti that are not Christmas stamps sets but I used them to make a Christmas card.  

I used the "Cured" stamp and matching die.  I stamped and die cut the two pigs using decorative paper.  Then I stamped and die cut the feeding trough using white cardstock and colored it with a gray marker.  I made a top-folding A2 card base, which I covered with decorative Christmas paper and then I cut a piece of white cardstock using a stitched rectangle die.  I stamped the sentiment "let's celebrate" from Fancy Word Coordinates and then I adhered the images.  The light pig was glued down and the feeding trough and red pig I adhered with foam dots.  The last thing I did was to adhere some Santa hat stickers (Hobby Lobby) and 3 red sequins. 

My second card came out much better and cuter than what I had in my brain!!  I used the Holiday Cheers stamp and Holiday Cheers die sets from Your Next Stamp, along with my BIC Intensity Markers.  

I cut a piece of white cardstock using a stitched rectangle die.  I stamped the sentiment and 3 of the images and colored them with the BIC markers. Then I applied Glossy Accents over the beer and martini images.  While they were drying, I stamped the other 3 images, die-cut them, and colored them in.  I put some foam dots on the back and adhered them to the card front.  Then I applied Glossy Accents over them also. 

For my 3rd project, I made a card using the Wonderful Winter Digital Stamp Set from Graciellie Design.  I printed the image twice on to white cardstock.  One of the images I cut using a stitched rectangle die, which I adhered to my card front.  Then I colored in the coffee pot using a Cloud Nine Grey BIC marker first and then blending in with a Stone Grey BIC marker.  Then I applied a dot of Frosted Lace Stickles to each of the smaller flowers in the pot. 

While those were drying, I cut the flowers from the 2nd image.  Then I colored them using Pink Flamingo BIC marker first and then blending in some of the Fandango Pink BIC marker.  I adhered this to the card front using foam dots and then I applied some of the Frosted Lace Stickles to the center of each flower.  

The last thing I did was to print one of the sentiments, cut it using a stitched banner die and adhering it to the card front using foam dots.

You can buy these markers directly from BIC by clicking HERE. 

My 4th project is not a card but two envelopes to put the cool Christmas cards into!!  I used the Christmas Envelope Dressup stamp set from Stamplistic.  I love these stamps and they are great for a card and for snail mail envelopes.  The set comes with two stamps.  One is a mailbox adorned with lights for Christmas and the other is a "place postage here" image with light around it.  

For one envelope, I stamped the mailbox in the lower-left corner and then I stamped parts of the "place postage here" stamp around the envelope. Because the envelope is for an A2 card, the stamp is a bit too big for it but it was fun to use the edges.

For the 2nd envelope, I used a stamp positioner to stamp just the lights from the "place postage here" stamp - around the whole envelope.  I colored both with BIC Intensity Markers.  

I think I need to do a video to show how I made these envelopes.  LOL

I hope these projects inspire you to break out some of your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Holiday stamps to make some cards.  Please remember to check out what the other Crafty Elves have up their sleeves this month - 

Debra (Meticulosity)

Lisa (Life of a BZ Scrapper)

Jessica (Polka Dot Orchard)

I'd love to know which of my projects was your favorite!  As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!  You can also follow me on my Instagram page by clicking HERE!

Until next time, hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael

Happy Birthday To You With Bugaboo!

Hello everyone!!  I hope y'all are doing well this Thursday morning.  Tomorrow starts Carnaval here in Brasil and not much happens over the next few days other than the big parties in Sao Paulo and Rio.  We are going to try and get away to the beach on Sunday and enjoy the quiet.

It's time for a new challenge over on the If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge Blog.  We are up to Challenge No. 136 and it's all about birthdays!  Who doesn't love to get a birthday card?  Here is the inspiration photo that the design team had to use when making our project.  

For my project, I am using a digital stamp called Birthday Critters Sign from Bugaboo Stamps.  I love this image, not only because of the pig, but because of the big letters that can be colored in bright birthday colors.  I love pigs and I love bright colors.

I started by printing 4 of them at 65% on to a piece of A4 white cardstock.  This way I can make more than one card and not waste so much cardstock.

I found an old pad (circa 2007) from Junkitz called Salsa with some cool colorful papers and I adhered one to the card front.  I also trimmed one of the images to 2 1/8" x 5.5".

Next, I colored the image using my BIC Intensity Markers (my fav) using as many bright and fun colors as I could.  LOL

Then I adhered this on to a piece of black cardstock giving just a little black border and then I adhered it to the card front. 

The last thing I did was to add some Stickles by Ranger to some of the balloons - to give some sparkle.

I hope you enjoyed this colorful card with all the critters on it.  Nothing makes me happier than creating something with a lot of color.  Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you play along with us on the If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge Blog.  If you do, let me know by leaving a comment below!  

Have a great weekend everyone and, until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael

I Love You!

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone is having a good February so far.  This Friday is Valentine's Day and, even though it's not really celebrated here in Brasil, I wanted to make another card and I had to use Word Critters Spring Birds and Cool Tag Banner Sentiments, both by Your Next Stamp, because they are sitting on my desk mocking me!!  LOL 

I honestly think this is probably the simplest card I have ever made!  

I cut a piece of white cardstock using a stitched rectangle die, which I put in my stamping platform.  I then arranged the branch and the bird couple (from the Word Critters Spring Birds set) and the sentiment "I Love You" from the Cool Tag Banner set, and I stamped them using Jet Black Amalgam Ink from Gina K. Designs.

I made a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock to which I adhered a piece of red cardstock.  Then I colored the card using Ultra Fine Tip BIC Markers - Yellow Blaze and Sunset Orange on the birds, Tiki Hut Tan and Key Lime on the branch, Rambunctious Red on the hearts, and Petal Pink on the bow.  

All that was left to do was to adhere the white cardstock to the card front.  

Simplest card ever!  But so much fun!  

I am entering this card into three "card challenge" blogs that I follow because 2 of their themes are perfect for it and the 3rd is an open challenge blog.       

The first card challenge is Less Is More, which is celebrating their 9th birthday!  Cool.  The theme is "tiny and few" and I am pretty sure this card fits that theme.  

The 2nd challenge blog is the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.  Their theme is Love and you have to use red, pink and white.  Although my card is not just those colors, I did use red and pink on the card and the card base is white and red...so I hope that works.  LOL

The 3rd challenge blog is the A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge Blog, which is an "anything goes" blog.  

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.  Let me know what you think of the card by leaving a comment below!  And, if you enter a card into one of these card challenges, let me know.  

Until next time...

Hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael

Tuner Syndrome Awareness Butterfly Week - Card 7 - Butterfly Napkin Card

Hello everyone.  Today is the Final Day of my Turner Syndrome/Butterfly Card Week.  If you have not seen my previous posts, I took part in the It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Blog Hop last Saturday.  Since the hop is running for a week to give people time to leave comments, I thought it would be fun to make a week's worth of butterfly-themed cards.  So, today is my last day, Day 7, of my It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Butterfly Week!

There are amazing creations from 57 artists and makers and a lot of prizes to be won.  It ends on February 7th so you still have time to enter.  Head over HERE to check out all the amazing cards made and to enter to win one of the many prizes up for grabs. 

I apologize, but, sadly, there is no step by step for this card.  I was going to make it yesterday, and then today, but life got in the way big time.  
I really love how this card came out and I want to share how I did it.

Here is another look to the card but with a black cardstock base.  

I love them both!  Which one is your favorite?

Today is the LAST day that you can leave comments on the It's A Girl/Turner Syndrome Blog Hop!  You can click on the THIS link to be taken to the hop where you can enter to win a boatload of prizes!!  

I shall be back soon!  Until next time....   

Hugs from Brasil -

~Michael

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge No. 135 - It's A Girl/It's A Boy Cards

Hello everyone!  It's time for a new challenge over on the If You Give A Crafter A Cookie Challenge Blog. We are up to Challenge No. 135 and it's all about babies...or Valentine's Day....or animals....or the color pink!  I went with the baby theme and made two cards - one for a baby girl and one for a baby boy.

Here is the inspiration photo that the Design Team had to use when making their cards should you wish to play along with us. 

I started with top folding A2 card bases of white cardstock to which I adhered a piece of decorative paper to each card front using the boy and girl versions of the Bundle of Joy A New Addition (Echo Park).  Then I cut two pieces of white cardstock using a Stitched Rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs.    

I went thru my box of baby stamps and found two sets from The Greeting Farm that I wanted to use. I've had them a long time, they are retired, and there are no names on the packaging, but there are many stamp sets on the market just like these that can be used to recreate these cards. 

I put the white cardstock in my Misti and stamped the baby onesie, first in the center, and then several times around it.

Then I went back and stamped different images for the front of each baby onesie.   It's super easy with a stamping platform because I was able to put all 5 images down at the same time and stamp. 

Then I colored the images using BIC Ultra Fine Tip markers.  I kept the onesies white except for the trim and the images on the front of them.

The last thing I did was adhere each of these to their respective boy/girl card front.  

I hope you enjoyed these two super simple ideas for a new baby card.  If you make something for the challenge, let me know by leaving a comment below so I can check it out!  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today and, until next time, hugs from Brasil!

~Michael

Tuner Syndrome Awareness Butterfly Week - Card 6 - Happy Birthday Card

Hello everyone.  Today is Day 6 of my Turner Syndrome/Butterfly Card Week.  If you have not seen my previous posts, I took part in the It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Blog Hop this past Saturday.  Since the hop is running for a week to give people time to leave comments, I thought it would be fun to make a week's worth of butterfly-themed cards.  So, consider today Day 6 of my It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Butterfly Week!

There are amazing creations from 57 artists and makers and a lot of prizes to be won.  It ends on February 7th so you still have time to enter.  Head over HERE to check out all the amazing cards made and to enter to win one of the many prizes up for grabs. 

For today's card, I kinda cheated!  Remember THIS card that I made on Day 3 - the big square card with the big butterfly?  After I adhered the small negative pieces to the card, I had a really pretty positive piece leftover and did not want to toss it.  So I made a card out of it using some of the same supplies as the Day 3 card.  

I started with a top-folding 5.75" x 4.75" card base. I adhered a piece of black cardstock to the card front and then I adhered the positive butterfly outline to the card front.  I really like how these colors are popping off the black.

I had a piece of the Brasilian paper that I used on the card front of the Day 3 card so I cut a piece to match the size of the butterfly, put double-sided tape on the reverse side, and die-cut the butterfly again.

Then I took all the negative pieces and adhered them into the positive butterfly.  And I adhered the crystals also.

The last thing I did was to adhere Dymo Label "Happy Birthday" washi tape to a piece of white cardstock so that the sentiment popped thru.  Then I adhered it across the butterfly towards the bottom using foam squares.

Don't forget to visit the "It's A Girl Thing" Turner Syndrome Awareness Blog Hop 2020  page to become eligible for one of the many many prizes.  You only have a few days left!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today and until next time, hugs from Brasil!

~Michael

Tuner Syndrome Awareness Butterfly Week - Card 5 - Happy Birthday Butterfly Card

Hello everyone.  Today is Day 5 of my Turner Syndrome/Butterfly Card Week.  If you have not seen my previous posts, I took part in the It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Blog Hop this past Saturday.  Since the hop is running for a week to give people time to leave comments, I thought it would be fun to make a week's worth of butterfly-themed cards.  So, consider today Day 5 of my It's A Girl Thing/Turner Syndrome Butterfly Week!

There are amazing creations from 57 artists and makers and a lot of prizes to be won.  It ends on February 7th so you still have time to enter.  Head over HERE to check out all the amazing cards made and to enter to win one of the many prizes up for grabs. 

Today's card is built around THIS roll of "Happy Birthday Dymo Label" washi tape that I found while rummaging thru my stash.  I forgot that I even owned it but I had an idea in my head.
   

I made a top-folding A2 card of white cardstock. Then I cut another piece of white cardstock to 4" x 5.25" and drew lines to find the center.  Then I adhered a strip of the washi tape across the center of the card and wrapping the excess around to the back.

I kept adhered strips of the tape altering where the words fell.

Until I had covered the whole piece.  And then I adhered this to the card front.

Now I need some butterflies!  I have an extra set of Butterflies 1 from Anthony's Paper Craft that I had cut apart some time ago and I stamped some of the butterflies on to a piece of white cardstock, which I then cut out using my Brother Scan N Cut (works perfectly).

The last thing I did was to color some of the butterflies using BIC Ultra Fine Markers,  adhere them to the card front, and then apply some yellow, pink, and orange Stickles to the butterflies.  No sentiment is necessary due to the washi tape. 

Done.  The card is now ready to send to someone!  I hope you enjoyed this card and the way I used the washi tape.

Don't forget to visit the "It's A Girl Thing" Turner Syndrome Awareness Blog Hop 2020  page to become eligible for one of the many many prizes.  You only have a few days left!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.  I hope it was worth the trip.  I will be back tomorrow with another butterfly card.    

Hugs from Brasil -

~Michael