Happy New Baby

Dear friends of ours just had their first grandbaby...a little girl. To celebrate, I used the soft colors from CTMH's Whimsy Fundamental Paper pack plus stamps and the Mojo Monday Sketch #474 from Verve for this adorable card:

The colors are Thistle and Slate. To color the elephant ("Emory" by Verve), I squeezed a little ink into the lids of my ink pads and used a waterbrush to fill in color.  I didn't use specialty paper, so the outline image bled a little.  MISTI to the rescue!  I simply let the image dry, put the paper back in the MISTI, and stamped again over the top to re-oomph the outline.  Re-oomph.  I think I just made that word up...and I LIKE it!

The stitched edges around the image panel, the fishtail banner and the very outside panel were done using various dies from My Favorite Things.  For the finishing touch, I added three wraps of CTMH Thistle Thick Twine (discontinued now, darn it) and tied a knot.

Time to bundle up and make a run to the post office.  It's -1 outside.  I'm not sure how the cold affects glue and foam tape, but I'm not taking any chances.

Until next time,
Becca

A Note for Monday Mojo

It's time to get ready for church, but I can't resist popping in to show you a card I made using this week's Monday Mojo sketch.

A package of crafty goodness in the form of stitched die cuts from My Favorite Things arrived in my mailbox yesterday, so I spent the day playing. I started by pulling out one of my favorite stamp sets, "Take Note" from Verve.

I began by embossing the two envelopes in clear powder. I did a wash of color over my entire area then spent a long time deepening the color around the envelopes with more and more blue then a bit of black in the corners. Once that was done, I flicked some color over the entire panel and set is aside to dry (my least favorite part of making any card).

After cutting the fishtail banner (MFT Diecut) in Heavenly Blue cardstock (retired CTMH), I stamped the sentiment (Verve "Take Note") in Pacifica ink (CTMH).  Once the watercolor panel was dry, I used two more MFT Diecuts - "Inside&Out" Circles and "Blueprints 21" (4x5.25 rectangle).  I glued the watercolor panel to a 4.25x5.5 panel of Heavenly Blue cardstock, wrapped the sentiment banner around the entire cardfront, then glued everything to my cardbase.

I accented with some white sequins and a red glittery heart that I toned down with a dark blue-violet Copic marker.

Time for church!

Until next time,
Becca

Stick it in a Pocket

This month, Blog Hops with Heart is all about pockets.  Here's my contribution:

There's a great story behind this card.  My writing partner and I just signed a three-book (plus three, promotional novella) contract with Kensington Publishing.  We received a hand-signed welcome letter from the president and CEO.  It was such a classy touch, I decided to send him a thank you note. 

The card base is 4.25x4.25" which left room in a standard A2 envelope to allow the pen and pencil to hang over the top edge.  The pen is from Hero Arts and the pencil is from Verve.  The pocket and glasses were cut from the Artistry CTMH Cricut cartridge.  The pocket is 2" W x 2.25" H, and the glasses are 2.59" W x .72" H (turned 90 degrees to hang over the pocket).  I trimmed off one end piece (the part that goes over the ear) leaving just enough to stuff into the pocket to give the impression the rest of it was still there.

I finished the pocket by stitching with my sewing machine then adhering the edges to the card base but using a piece of foam tape under the pen and pencil.  It gives just a touch of dimension.

Like always, this month's hop is circular.  You should have come from Kelly's blog and now you're off to Shelly's blog.  If you get lost, you can always go to Amie Kiger's blog for a full list of all the participants this month.

I can easily see this as a Father's Day card...except I might have to find a way to put a grease stain on it for my dad.  Ha!

Until next time,
Becca