*Birthday Bash Instagram Hop*

 Things have changed a little bit with one of the monthly Instagram Hops I participate in. The Birthday Bounce Hop has become the Birthday Bash Instagram Hop.  In addition to the name change, we also have a moodboard to add to our challenge theme... this month, our theme is "fresh start"/"minimal" and our mood board was some lovely shades of blues and silver.

I chose to make a clean and simple card using those colours... grounding it with black.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Seaside Spray; unknown silver sparkle

*Stamps:  MFT Essential Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words

*Tools:  Perfect Layers

*AAACards #235*

It's time for a new challenge at AAACards...  for the next two weeks we'd love to see your clean and simple cards that are decorated only "along the edge"... you can add the optional twist of ink blending if you'd like!

I did some ink blending with only three colours of Distress Ink, overlapping them to create more of a rainbow effect.  I set it aside to dry a bit before cutting out the word "happy".  I cut three extra layers of the word out of just white cardstock and layered all four layers of letters together before adding the letters back in to where I had originally cut them out.  I placed the "insides" of the letters flat on to the original panel and finished it all off with a stamped "birthday".

Card Info

*Images:  MFT Essential Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean

*Dies:  Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words

*Challenges:  AAACards #235

*CASology #407*

It's the first Tuesday of the month which means there is a new CASology challenge.  Our cue for this month is HAPPY!

The cue is easy for me as the majority of the cards I make are for birthdays... I pulled out some rainbow colours and an alphabet die set and created this for you!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Pacific Point, Highland Heather

*Dies:  Concord & 9th Tall Type Alpha; Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words; MFT Stitched Rectangles

*Tools:  Perfect Layers
*Challenges:  CASology #407

*Ombre Stripes*

Another quick post from me as I am dealing with a seized muscle in my back and sitting at my desk might kill me...  thankfully I have a few cards made and ready to share since I can't sit here long enough to craft (and creating while in pain isn't easy... creativity doesn't flow)

I have a die by Pink Fresh that does slimline strips and I like to use that when making thin strips because I know they will be accurate.  I Played around with two of the three sizes and some of that great Stampin' Up! ombre glitter paper for this card.

*CASology #376*

Happy Tuesday everyone!  We are coming off the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada and I hope all of my Canadian friends are FULL from some yummy meals!  We had a beautiful weekend here in Calgary and we are all back to the regular day to day today.

It's time for another challenge with the team at CASology.  For the next two weeks, we want to see your clean and simple cards using the prompt of DRY.  I decided to make a card using some DRY embossing.  Check out what the other members of the design team came out HERE (and be sure to link up your creations over the next two weeks for your chance to win a prize from STAMPlorations and to be a guest designer on an upcoming challenge!  Our guest designer for this challenge is Jasleen!

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Studio Katia Birthday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Scor Pal; Big Shot

*Etc:  foam tape

*Happy Happy*

You might need to zoom in on this photo to get the full effect...  I can sort of see it on the photo "as is" but I know what I did to the card so I know to look for it LOL!

Did you see it?  I stamped with Versamark ink on the rainbow strips to create a watermark effect... so the cardstock is just slightly darker than it's regular colour where I stamped the AlteNew Hennah Elements flower on the strip.  In person it gave a neat effect... but it was difficult to photograph.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; assorted Lawn Fawn

*Images:  MFT Essential Sentiments; AlteNew Hennah Elements

*Ink:  Versamark; Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words

*Embellishments:  Stampin' Up!

*Alcohol Ink Happy Birthday*

I was playing around with alcohol inks a few weeks ago... instead of doing full on backgrounds, I played with patches on the paper instead.  I really like how this one turned out.  A little muddying in the middle, but hard to see with the stuff over it.  I need to buy more colours....

The one thing I did learn is that Versafine Clair ink does *not* dry on Yupo Paper  (thankfully I tried it on a scrap) so I used Versamark and black embossing powder once my alcohol ink was super dry!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White 110lb; Stampin' Up Basic Black, Lucky Limeade; Yupo
*Images:  AlteNew Sincere Greetings
*Ink: Versamark; Alcohol Ink Sailboat Blue, Citrus
*Dies:  Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words
*Etc:  Black embossing powder; Ink Blending Solution; Alcohol Ink Air Blower; Perfect Layers

*Another Rainbow Birthday*

Today I am sharing another card that uses scraps that I had left on my craft desk.  The original card I made can be seen here....  and the second card I made can be seen here.... and this is the third and final card using this rainbow!

I'm so happy I didn't waste any of this great circle rainbow I created....

Items Used
*Cardstock:  assorted cardstock from my stash; Stampin' Up! Basic Black; Neenah Solar White
*Images:  Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Dies:  MFT Stitched Circles; Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words
*Tools:  Big Shot; Perfect Layers Tool

*Birthday Splotches*

Let me come clean with you, right from the start... this is *not* my card idea.  A lot of my cards are born from ideas I see in other places.... and in some cases (like this one) it is an almost exact match of something I've seen somewhere else.  In this case, it's a card from The Card Grotto... and while I used different stamps and dies and slightly different colours, I can't take much credit for how this card turned out...

I used two colours of Catherine Pooler ink (All that Jazz and Suede Shoes) and did both first and second generation stamping using some MFT distress pattern stamps.  I added the stamped words from the Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy set stamped in Nocturn VersaFine Clair ink and then added the Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words die cut out of white cardstock on the front.  I stamped everyone on to the front of the side fold card, no extra layers.

Thanks for the inspiration...  I hope I made it just different enough :-)

*Black and White One Layer*

I am playing along with the AAA Cards Challenge #142... so glad I was able to find some time this week to create this card.  Their challenge for this time around is to do a one layer card (and for them, that means no dies or embellishments either) with the added challenge of black and white.  I decided to do both of the challenges and honestly, I really love how this card turned out.

It was so simple to do.... what was hard was stopping and not adding more to it... no punch of colour (which I love to do), no sparkle, no bling....  I used stamps from AlteNew and Hello Bluebird and black VersaFine Claire ink.

*When Skies Are Grey*

It's hard to believe that we said goodbye to Dad 13 years ago today.  I miss him so much.  I can picture him so clearly, like I only saw him a day or two ago.  The hint of a smile, the twinkle in his eye, the shape of his hands.

This isn't a masculine card, but the sentiment makes me think of my Dad...

I used some Gina K stamps that I honestly don't think I've ever inked before.  I coloured them quickly with some Copic markers.  I added the sentiment by Hello Bluebird, stamped in light grey ink so that it wouldn't take away from the floral image.

*Sunshine and Rainbows*

I wanted to play with some old Stampin' Up! patterned paper and ink to see what I could do to change it up a little.  So I used my Catherine Pooler inks in Lime Rickey, Fiesta Blue and Tiki Torch with my Picket Fence Studios blending brushes to create the strip along the side of the card.  I then added the Hello Bluebird sentiment stamped in the Fiesta Blue ink.

I dunno... feels like it needs something...

*Mandala Maker*

I had some fun with my GinaK Mandala Maker and some Catherine Pooler inks... I added a sentiment by Hello Bluebird to finish it off.

After the card was done, someone was looking at it and said "it makes me think of hedgehogs"... and while I didn't see that while creating the card, I totally see it now (and can't unsee it LOL!).