Balloon Hello!

I hit a very busy patch at work, which kept me away from doing anything else for a few days. But the work week is now done, and I have time to be crafty again! And good timing, too, as I've got to make a card for a girl's birthday party that's happening tonight (I know, I know, I'm cutting it really close!).

Today's card features a fantastic digi from Meljen Designs called Hot Air Balloon. Melissa is still having a half-off sale on all the digis, so be sure to grab the ones that catch your eye. :)

I started by printing out the image onto some Copic X-Press it cardstock, and trimmed it down to fit a card front. I rounded the corners with my corner chomper, then got to coloring. I didn't do anything fancy with the coloring, just focusing on adding some fun color. After the coloring was all done, I went around the edges of the panel with a blending tool, using Peacock Feathers distress ink.

Since the stamped image was so lovely and bright, I decided to keep the rest of the card simple. I created a standard A2 base out of gray cardstock, then glued a strip of striped patterned paper. I adhered the strip straight to the cardstock, then adhered the balloon panel with foam tape. It seemed like it needed a little more detail, so I added a few dash lines at the bottom of the card.

I also wanted to add a small sentiment, so I grabbed Butterflies stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I inked up the round hello with pigment ink and stamped it onto some white cardstock. Once it was dry, I carefully cut around it. I added a small white dot border with my gel pen, and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

Supplies:
Meljen Designs Hot Air Balloon digital stamp
Simon Says Stamp Butterflies stamp set
Memento Luxe Bahama Blue pigment ink
My Favorite Things Heavyweight cardstock in Grout Gray
Ranger Distress Inkpad in Peacock Feathers
Ranger mini blending tool
We-R-Memory-Keepers Cropadile Corner Chomper
Imaginisce Perfect Travel 6x6 patterned paper
Tombow Craft Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
Copics (E33, E17, E29, E50, E53, YG13, YG17, YG67, B000, B00, B02, C2, 0)
Sakura Gellyroll White Gel Pen
Black pen

Mini Bright

This morning, I woke up with the flu, which is pretty awful. Aside from feeling generally achy, miserable and tired, my head feels like it's a bit stuffed with cotton and it's hard to focus and think. So, my post today is very brief and probably not very witty.

Luckily, before I got sick, I had made a couple of mini cards (3x3") that can go in a lunchbox or backpack. So I have something to post. The mini cards are meant to just brighten someone's day - and a light-bulb seems like a really appropriate image there.

The lightbulb is a cute little digital stamp from Meljen Designs - Little Light Bulb. Melissa currently has an awesome sale going on, where everything in store is 50% off. Just add it to the card, and you'll see the discount. And there's also a section with a few free stamps. Pretty cool. :D

After printing out the lightbulb, I trimmed around it and rounded the edges with my corner rounder. I colored the image with Copics, keeping it very simple.

For the card base, I cut and scored a piece of 6x3" cardstock in half, creating a 3 by 3" card. I glued a bit of patterned paper to the side and adhered the light-bulb panel with foam tape.

And that's it. I'm going to go lay down and rest now.

Supplies:
Meljen Designs Little Light Bulb digital stamp
Copic X-Press it Blending cardstock
Copics (C2, C4, C6, Y11, Y35, Y38, R11, R20, R32, 0)
White Gel Pen
Bazzill 6x6 cardstock sampler (pink)
Some Odd Girl Sunshine Sorbet 6x6 paper pad
Tombow Dot Adhesive Runner (pink)
3M Double-Sided Foam Tape
We-R-Memory Keepers Cropadile Corner Chomper

Autumn Flower Mouse

It's Saturday, and that means it's digi day! Also, while I've got your attention... My friend Kylie and I will be doing a fun mini-challenge this week. It's the Stamp Trio challenge, but with a twist! We'll be using one stamp set, but also just one patterned paper pad for 3 very different cards. It'll be interesting to see how different all the cards will look. I'm already hard at work on my 3 cards, and it's been very fun. Now, onto the card...

This week, I'm working with a digital stamp from Meljen Designs called Autumn Flower Mouse. You may remember this mouse from a watercolor card I made a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to report that you can find him in many digital stamps over on Meljen's site. Another thing I want to note is that there's currently a 50% off sale going on all throughout September. It's a really good time to grab a few of those must-have stamps! :)

I started by printing out the mouse onto some Copic X-Press it cardstock. I cut it down to size and colored in using my Copics. I went with richer, fall-like colors this time around, and created a dotty background. I then rounded the corners of the panel with the 1/2".

For my card base, I trimmed and scored a piece of Primitive Cream cardstock into a standard A2 card (4 1/4 by 5 1/2"). While I had my printer out, I also cut a piece of Olive cardstock to measure 4 by 5 1/4", and another piece to be just slightly larger than the stamped panel. For patterned paper, I used American Crafts' Autumn Crisp 6x6 paper, that I cut to 3 3/4 by 5".

I matted the patterned paper onto the olive cardstock and adhered it to the card base. I used foam tape to adhere the stamp panel to the olive cardstock, and rounded the corners. I adhered the panel to the card front at an angle, for a bit of added interest.

Lastly, I grabbed a yellow button. I tied some twine into a little bow and adhered it to the card with a glue dot.

Supplies:
Meljen Designs Autumn Flower Mouse digital stamp
Copic X-Press It Blending cardstock
My Favorite Things Heavyweight cardstock in Primitive Cream
Simon Says Stamp Heavyweight cardstock in Olive
American Crafts Autumn Crisp 6x6 patterned paper
Copics (R20, R22, E53, E35, E37, E29, E57, E59, E79, E07, R59, R89, BV29, Y21, Y35, Y38, Yr23, YG95, YG97, G99, YR68, R29, G43, YR21, YG63, W3, W4, W6)
Tombow Dot Adhesive runner (pink)
3M Double-sided Foam Tape
We-R-Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.