Bright Birthday

Hi there, I'm still making cards just have been so busy I've not gotten around to posting them. Let's start with this one that I made back in April.

The layout was cased from another card. I have the picture of it but not the website or designer. I will add it as soon as I can find it.

This is how it was done -

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Brightside 6x6 paper (Lawn Fan)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Stamps: Bake Me a Cake, Sophie's Sentiments (both Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Basic rhinestones, Lemondrop twine (The Twinery), iridescent glitter.
Tools: Beautiful Wings embosslit, square punch, 2 way glue pen, dimensionals, glue tape

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is pretty straight forward. I used the 2 way glue pen to adhere the glitter to the cupcakes and butterfly. Here's a pic of the glitter, blurry I know but you get the idea:

Stuff Ups:
1. I'm not happy with the way I stamped some of the cupcakes. The cherry is lopsided and that swirl just doesn't look good.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The butterfly looked great with the glitter on it and the twine wrapped around it to make the body and antennae.

Double But Different Part 2

So the first twin card is in my previous post. This card I made for Emma. I hope both of them like their cards!

Here's the card recipe (I know I should say procedure but recipe sounds so much cuter):

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip.
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip, Versamark.
Stamps: Bliss, Itty Bitty.
Other: Top note die, big shot machine, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Hemp twine, Itty Bitty buttons, Victoria lace, modern label punch, basic pearls, mini glue dots.
Non Stampin' Up: sentiment stamp from CheeseCake Party by Penny Black, Zing gold glitter embossing powder by American Crafts.

Tips and Tricks:
1. There are small pearls on the vintage wallpaper embossing but the photo doesn't highlight them.
2. The butterflies were stamped by using the 'Rock and roll' technique. I'd recommend that you search youtube for a video demonstrating the technique. I inked up the stamp in Rich Razzleberry then rolled the edges around on a Chocolate Chip ink pad. Voila! Two toned stamping.
3. The Victoria lace is just some scrap ends I had left over that are tucked and glued under the top note die cut with mini glue dots.
4. I used a mini glue dot to anchor the middle itty bitty button to keep them faced up.

Stuff Ups:
1. The clear mount block I used for the 'rock and roll' technique was too big which inhibited my control over the amount of 'roll' I could do. I would use the smallest block I possibly could if I were to do this technique again.
2. I probably should have glued all three itty bitty buttons or none at all because it looks a little lopsided with just one glued.
3. The gold glitter embossing powder - while I like the gold colour it produced, the glitter in the powder caused the end result to be a bit lumpy. I would have liked a smoother end result. Ideally, a gold powder without glitter in it would be a better choice.

Another blokey birthday

It's been a month since I've updated this - I've only made one other card apart from this one. That's due to life and work issues, blah, blah, blah!

This card was for my husband's good friend. I was running out of card ideas for guys and looked for some inspiration. I found it through a card at Art with Heart by Claire Daly. If you scroll down, it's the second card - the shapes and style are simple but lovely. I changed it up a lot to make a not-as-lovely card (unfortunately, not deliberately!)

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White.
Ink: Stazon black, So Saffron (marker), Always Artichoke (marker), Crumb Cake (marker), Chocolate Chip (marker and ink pad), Versamark.
Stamps: So Happy For You.
Other: Hemp twine, sponge, dimensionals.
Non-Stampin' Up: Green jewel brads, paper from American Crafts: Merrymint - Peanut Brittle, Fudge, Birthday clear stamps - brand unknown, black embossing powder, heat gun, Fiskars corner punch.

Tips and Tricks:
1.  The 'birthday wishes' sentiment is stamped on a strip of Whisper White cardstock and adhered to the patterned paper.
2. The edges of the base card and the sentiment layer are roughly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.

Stuff Ups:
1. The twine is a bit too loose for my liking.
2. The cross hatch layer is not centred.
3. My black embossing powder started to clump due to moisture and was difficult to work with. It was good quality stuff but both my black and white have become clumpy. None of the other brands do this. I wish I could remember the brand but I put my embossing powders in plastic containers and throw out the little jars.
4. My Stampin' Up corner puncher is crap I'm sorry to say. Apart from the cover popping off and it being difficult to unlock, it kept biting into my corners too far. My new Fiskars punch only cost me $8 and is a breeze to use. That's 3 strikes so far Stampin' Up - my Crystal Effects, Corner Punch and SNAIL dispenser.