Fur-ever Love

TGIF!!  What a week this has been!  The first week of a  new semester at school is  always hectic and this one has  been no different.  I'm left with almost no voice and am completely exhausted.  My bathtub is calling my name, but first I wanted to show you this cute card I designed for my techniques class last night. 

Cute Valentine's Card featuring the Friends Furever and P.S. I Love You Stamp sets.

  This card may look simple, but it sure took us a while to make last night!  Starting with the background, we sponged layers of ink from the  lightest to darkest shade on whisper white cardstock.  The colours we used were pretty in pink, real red and cherry cobbler.  Then we "inked" our circle stamp with bleach and stamped randomly all over.  The ink instantly disappeared revealing the white cardstock underneath.  Then we stamped with real red ink using the line-art heart image.  The result was the sort of whimsical DSP-looking background.  We then set to watercolouring the focal image using watercolour crayons and blender pens.  I really love using the crayons to colour and need to do more of it!  For the sentiment, we used a portion of one of the sentiments from P.S. I Love You for the "Love You" and part of one of the sentiments from Furever Friends for the "fur-ever" part.  The result was a cute sentiment, perfectly suited to this card. 
This is going to be my son's Valentine for my parents...they'll love it!
Now I'm off to that bath I mentioned...have a great weekend everyone!

Furever Valentine

First day back at work after two weeks off and I feel like I never left...hmmm...

Fortunately I did enough stamping over the weekend to provide enough blog material for the week.  Today's post is another card I did using the Friends Furever set.  I'm starting to do Valentine-themed cards in preparation for this month's classes and workshops.  So here is one candidate...

Cute Valentine using Friends Furever set and Playdate DSP!

Close up of the little doggie with his Valentine

Sentiment and retired epoxy brads I purchased during the online Clearance Rack Blitz!

Inside of card

Close up of sentiment from the Valentine Defined set in the new Occasions Mini.

I like this card because it is one you could send to pretty much anyone.  I also like that it is clean and simple...something I haven't done much of lately!  Here is what I did:

I started with a small piece of watercolour paper on which I stamped the images using Staz-On ink.  (I had to mask the dog to get the Valentine to look like he was holding on to it.)  I coloured the images using my blender pen and ink pads in real red and basic grey.  I sponged all the way around the edges of the watercolour paper with real red ink and then adhered it to a slightly larger piece of basic gray cardstock.  Then I took a piece of basic gray cardstock and layered the heart patterned paper from the Play Date DSP pack on it.  I then adhered the focal image using dimensionals.  The I added the brads and then adhered the whole thing to a real red card base.  The sentiment is stamped using basic gray ink on whisper white cardstock and is punched out with the medium jewelry tag punch.  I adhered it to the back of the middle brad with a glue dot.
For the inside of the card, I adhered a 4 x 5 1/4" piece of whisper white cardstock to the inside of the card and then added a narrow strip of the DSP along the left edge.  I stamped the sentiment in basic gray, cut it out using my paper trimmer and sponged the edges in real red ink.  I stamped the first part of the sentiment again, inking it with my real red marker, and then punched it out with the word window punch.  I adhered that piece to the basic gray sentiment using dimensionals.  I layered the whole thing on a decorative label punch out in real red, popping it up again with dimensionals.  Then I glued the whole thing inside my card.

This was a quick and easy card, even with the bit of colouring and masking.  It may just make my monthly card class line-up!  Tomorrow is my team meeting, so I likely won't have time to post, but I'll be back on Wednesday with more Valentine ideas.

I Can't Believe its over!

How is it that two weeks can fly by so quickly when one is on holidays, yet they crawl when one is at work?  I simply can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow!  I could SO use another couple of days to get caught up on all those household jobs that never seem to get done when one is working (you know...cleaning out closets, reorganizing etc).  I had a huge list and haven't even touched it!  Between Christmas preparations, visits with family and a wedding to attend, my list will have to wait until March break, I'm afraid.
I did manage to get some stamping time in and have some things to show you.  I'll start where I left off a couple of posts ago and show you the card my son and I did for my mom's birthday.  Well, he chose the stamp set and paper, I did the rest!

Card for grandma from my 3 year old using Friends Furever set

Close up of the cute little doggie focal image.

Inside of card with what my son told me to write to his Grammy.  This is a recordable sound card, hence the "press here" at the bottom.  We recorded my son singing Happy Birthday...my mom will LOVE it!

When the new catty came out last July one of the first sets that jumped out at me was Friends Furever...I just loved the little dogs and all the accessories that make this set so versatile.  I recently earned some free stamp sets through the Stampin' Start program and I finally got my hands on this sweet set.  When I asked my son to choose stamps to make Grammy's birthday card I was mighty pleased that this was the one he chose!  He also chose the Play Date DSP which made this card really easy to put together. Here is what I did...
Because I was using a recordable sound card, I began with a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of tempting turquoise cardstock.  I then layered a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of the DSP, which I had wrapped with a piece of so saffron grosgrain ribbon (left over from SAB 2 years ago!), on top.  For the focal image, I stamped the images on watercolour paper in black Staz-On and then coloured them using my blender pens and Stampin' Pastels.  I have to say I'm not the greatest when it comes to shading and colouring, but my mom won't notice!  I layered the coloured image on slightly larger pieces of so saffron and real red cardstock and then adhered them to the cardfront using dimensionals.  The sentiment is from the new Create a Cupcake set in the Occasions Mini.  I stamped it in tempting turquoise ink on whisper white cardstock, punched it out with the word window punch and then sponged the edges.  I adhered that to another word window punch out in real red and then adhered it to the card using dimensionals.  To add a little whimsy, I added a little real red button for the wheel of the wagon and three old olive buttons to the ribbon.
For the inside of the card I started the same way with tempting turquoise cardstock and Play Date DSP.  I then stamped the images on a larger piece of watercolour paper (the cakes are from the Birthday Bakery hostess level 1 set), and coloured them in the same way.  The sentiment is from another level one hostess set called Afterthoughts.  I punched it out and mounted it in the same way I did the sentiment on the front. 
My son was very pleased with how this turned out and must have played the recording of himself singing 15 times before I made him stop for fear he'd kill the battery before my mom even got the card!  I think she'll love it!