Card A Day: Christmas Animals and Mojo Monday 314

It's my turn again to post a card for the Card A Day blog.  This week's theme is Christmas animals.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I found I had to focus on Christmas "animals".  I had a Christmas tree set of cards all planned out!  Hopefully, I'll get to make them someday soon.  All in all though I think my creation turned out pretty darn cute..well  I'll let you be the judge..

I looked to Mojo Monday's recent sketch #314 as a starting point!  I just love that I don't have to think about placement of elements by using these wonderful sketches.  This is the hardest part of putting together a card for me! Thanks Julee for this awesome sketch! I wasn't in the mood to do a traditional red/green card so I pulled out some My Mind's Eye paper (I think) and pulled a bright color scheme from the background paper.  My little penguin from my penguin tic tac holder file was the perfect focal point.  I even added some of my homemade colored fluff (see tutorial on how to make it here) to add some texture to the scarf and hat.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Bells and Boughs stamp set.  That greeting makes this card work not only for Christmas but also for New Year's...just in case I'm late mailing my cards this year!  I made that baker's twine by inserting a cup hook into a Dremel tool and twisting several strands of embroidery floss and crochet yarn (white)  into my own baker's twine.  Snowflake shaped sequins finish off the card. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy the rest of your week!  Please come back!

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PTI MIM #49: Ghost Masking and a few other cards

Hello,

When I saw this MIM video demoing a technique called Ghost masking..my eyes were glued to the screen.  I had never seen this done before and I loved how it added dimension to a flat card.  This would be perfect for Operation Write Home cards.  You can see the video here if you missed it.   I will say this technique works better with larger stamps I think.  Unfortunately, I do not have large stamps in my PTI collection.  So I made due by creatiing a flowering vine.  Overall I think it did turn out pretty cool.  I will definitely be trying this technique again in the near future.

I tried to leave this card alone as is after stamping but it just seemed to flat to me...I'm a sucker for embellishments!  Sooo I added one of my 3-D butterflies to fill in that empty space in the left hand corner.   I cut the butterfly out of white and used the same ink I used for the stamping to color the butterfly. 

Papertrey Ink stamps used:
Paper Tray (sentiment)
Mat stack 2 (frame)
Turning a New Leaf
Honey Bees (flowers)

Other supplies:
Momento Ink
3-D Butterflies by Shelly's Art

If you would like to purchase my butterfly file...please click on the preview below:

Next up we have a lovely card by creative design team member Johanne Larouche. She used my Birds of Feather file. I just love how she added the pennants to her sentiments.

Here is what Johanne had to say about her great card: "This card uses Shelly's Art cutting file Bird of a Feather - SS00075 and Aussie Caz Card Template 29. The paper is from Momenta (from Walmart). I used crystal stickle on the bird and mounted it on thick square to give it a 3D effect. The flowers were colored with copic and finished with distress ink. I added a bit of crystal stickle to give it a bit of sparkle."

If you would like to purchase my birds of a feather file please click on the preview below:

Lastly,  I have a card I made using my Scalloped card file.  I gave this to a wonderful friend who is definitely a cat lover so that is why I chose to substitute the items provided in the file with a digital stamp by Motivet.

For the background I used a PTI: MIM video technique coloring embossed images with Copics. I used Versamark ink but I should have used white so I could see better what I was stamping. I do like this technique though and the color options it gives since I don't have that many inks. I also colored the digi stamp with Copics. I added flocking to the flower and colored fluff to the dirt. The card is based on a sketch from Aussie Caz for my monthly card sketch challenges on Paperthreads. I added silver spacer beads and small brown rhinestones for an accent. I also stitched a little with yellow floss.

If you would like to purchase my Scalloped Card file please click on the preview below:

Thanks sooo much for stopping by! I hope you are making the most of the last few hours of this weekend! It snowed here so the kids were thrilled to play in it. I'll share some photos later in the week. Oh and please stop by on Monday for the next installment in my Mission Organizational series.

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Technique Tuesdays: Making Colored Fluff and freebie

Hello everyone,
I'm starting a new series on my blog called Technique Tuesdays. I will show you how to do different techniques related to paper crafting on my blog every Tuesday. This Tuesday I am featuring how to make your own "Colored Fluff". It is similar to a product currently on the market called Flower Soft. I originally got the technique from a member of the Scal-hints yahoo group. She posted a video of this technique she found on You Tube but I don't believe I'm allowed to share the video so you'll just have to do a search if interested....or better yet keep reading and I'll show you how. My son helped me to make this stuff the first time...it's very easy and inexpensive to make!



I only had 3 colors of reinkers. I did have some distress ink pads and remembered they work well with water so I used them to color the "fluff" and will show you how below.



Now I will share with you the results of each coloring method so you can see how it works.



These are just some of the options for coloring that I have tried. You can experiment with non-distress reinkers or food coloring. The styrofoam balls are very inexpensive..they are available at many department stores. You can even add glitter to your fluff. I will tell you though I tried using my homemade glimmer mist (combining distress reinker, water and perfect pearl powder)....it didn't work very well and I had to spritz the fluff with many sprays to get any color at all..so I recommend not using your homemade glimmer mist. Oh and I got the storage containers I used at the Dollar Tree. I have also seen people use the clear acrylic containers with screw on lids that stack or come in a large acrylic box. I had good luck with rubbing the styrofoam balls against each other but some have used kitchen graters with good results too. You just need to use a dryer sheet or anti-static spray to control the static.

Now I know you're wondering what to do with all this "colored fluff" you have made. I will show you the example I made for this tut below. I have to tell you though this card looked much better in the mental image I pictured in my head then it did when I actually made it. But...it is an example of how to use the "colored fluff" so...here you go!



I mixed together, yellow, red, orange and brown colored fluff to add to my card. I used the bowl and leaves from my build a turkey file. The tag is from my tags galore file. Click below if you'd like to purchase either of these files. It's hard to tell in the photo but I also added Doodlebug flocking to the leaves. Note: Michelle the owner of Paperthreads has an amazing video on how to do flocking on her blog..here. The berries were done with dimension paint. I also added some dimensional adhesive squares. Penny Duncan has an amazing tut on how to make these "pop dots" on her blog...here.






I'd also like to share with you a card I did using the Flower Soft I purchased. This stuff is a great way to dress up a store bought card if you're in a hurry. I also added some glitter after I put on the flower soft while the glue was still wet.




My membership club has officially started. If you'd like to see a peak at the first file...an explosion box...scroll down to the previous post. If you'd like to purchase the membership click on the preview below.



Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share this FUN technique with you. As a departing gift...I will give you a set of tags. I hope you'll stop back sometime soon. Hurry the freebie will expire approximately 24 hours! The zip file will include the AI, KNK, GSD, WPC and SVG formats. Even though this file is free I please ask that you don't share it. Send them here to download it themselves instead.



Link expired.

Have fun playing with styrofoam!
Shelly

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