A Mermaid Card

Good afternoon!  I'm busy working away in my craft room today.  I can't tell you the last time my craft room has been cleaned top to bottom.  I can't even tell you the last time my craft table top has been spotless.  I've added so many fun craft paper and tools to my stash in the past year, I haven't had a chance to put it all away.  I actually plan on doing a craft room show and tell in the near future here in this blog so look out for that.

Let's get down to business!  I have another birthday card today.  This one is for my dearest friend Stacy.  She turned 35 years old last week and we celebrated over the weekend.  She wanted to be treated to dinner and a movie for her birthday so we ended up seeing Evil Dead.  What did I think of the movie?  I was entertained but it was more gruesome than scary.  That's pretty much how I feel about a lot of horror films of this generation.  I'm glad I saw it and will continue to see today's horror films hoping one of them will terrify me.  I hear they're remaking Poltergeist.  I'm kind of excited about that because the first one scared me.  Then again I was about the same age as Carol Anne when I saw it, had the same console television as her and was convinced I would get sucked into the damn thing.

Here's the fabulous birthday card I made for Miss Stacy!  I'm still learning how to color hair.  Unfortunately, I didn't have all the Copic markers to make the dark blonde that I wanted to.  Michael's had a limited selection and didn't have any in the E50's.  So I will be ordering some online soon along with a the colors for redheads and brunetttes.

The stamp came from Simply Betty Stamps.  It's a digital stamp from their Merkids line and it's on sale right now for $2, along with the rest of the Merkids.  I got the Christmas and Halloween stamps too.  

The sandy colored paper was from Core'dinations.  I couldn't find the actual name of it.  What I can tell you is I bought it from Joann's, it's kind of a sand color and it's glitzy.  

I bought the DCWV Linen Closet matstack cardstock pack that come in size 4.5 x 6.5 inches.  The pack comes with 72 pieces, some matte with texture, some shiny and some glittery.  For this card, I chose a matte blue with texture to place over the top of the sandy cardstock.  Then I chose a lighter blue glittery piece from the same pack and cut it into an oval shape with my Creative Memories oval cutter.   

Next I placed my Copic colored mermaid in the oval.  I adhered her with 3D stamps.  

I made the Happy Birthday tag with all three of the same paper, layered.  I used the boxy crazy scissors for the outside of the tag in hopes it would resemble a sand castle.  Nailed it!  

I found the My Mind's Eye "The Sweetest Thing" enamel dots at Michaels.  I placed them around the mermaid's head to look like bubbles.  

 I used some seashells for the bottom.  You can get these at most craft stores.  I just used regular Scotch glue.  

And to add some elegance, I adhered the Recollections Adhesive Faux pearls.  

Warning: Do not attempt to send this card in the mail! 

The sentiment comes from Fiskars "Make a Wish" quotes.

Stacy, the mermaid come to life!

Thanks for stopping by!  I loved making this card and I love the person I made it for!  

Whozits and whatzits galore, 

Jules

Embossed Birthday Card

Happy Sunday, all.  I took a break from blogging but am returning with full force!  March, April and May are busy card months for me.  And with the winter over, I'm itching to get out and about with other activities that I can possibly share.  

The first birthday card in this Spring series was made for my sister in law, Jill.  Jill turned 41 but according to her, she's 42.  Quite possibly the only woman to make herself a year older.  :)  

What I used: 

• black card stock
• piece of paper from the My Mind's Eye "The Station" paper pad
• clear stamps from Tim Holtz visual artistry Stampers Anonymous Collection
• Happy Birthday die cut from the K&Company 76 piece Beyond Post Marks Flora Die Cuts
• heating tool
• embossing ink
• embossing powder in ruby red
• scalloped corner cutter
• round corner cutter

The black card stock is cut down to 5 x 7 inch.  I adhered it to a 5 x 7 inch card and cut the right corners with a round corner cutter.  

I really liked the old look of the printed paper.  And I loved the bird cage.  I cut that paper down smaller than the black card stock and used the scalloped corner cutter on all 4 of its corners. I centered it in the black card stock and adhered.  

I found the cool Tim Holtz clear stamps at Michaels.  I chose the flowers and bird stamps.  I thought the flowers looked antique, almost like a pressed flower saved in a bible or a class year book.  I dipped it in the embossing ink and stamped it on the printed paper.  I wanted it to overlap the printed paper and black card stock.  Then I sprinkled the red embossing powder over the top of the stamped ink.  Next I shook the powder off, making sure the stamped ink was perfectly covered with the powder.  Then I used the heating tool over the powdered ink until it became shiny.  Since I was using a powder that had glitter in it, I had to be careful because it burns easily.  In fact, I did end up burning it so part of the flowers looked sparkly and part looked kind of like burnt sienna.  It actually ended up working well for the flowers, adding to that dried pressed flower look.  I did the same thing with the clear bird stamp.  

And lastly, I adhered the red "Happy Birthday" die cut at the bottom of the card, slightly over the flower stem.  

Happy Birthday, Jill!  

That was my card.  I hope you liked it.  I can't wait to do some more embossing in the future.

Coming up: 

• several birthday cards
• shadow box garden workshop
• outdoor stepping stones

You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real, 

Miss Jules  <3

Corpse Bride Birthday Card For Josi

Happy Tuesday, all!  I hope you're beating the heat.

Josi turned 11 years old on July 18th.  She loves Tim Burton movies and even dressed up as the Corpse Bride a couple of Halloweens ago.  So naturally I thought of her when I saw the Tim Burton line from Simply Betty Stamps.  I've been holding on to this stamp for a very long time just waiting for Miss Josi's birthday.  I don't believe the stamp is available in rubber form anymore but the digi stamp, along with a whole bunch of other cool Burton stamps, are available at the above link.  I used Copic markers to color in.  As you can probably tell, I need to get more blue pens.  I don't do so hot coloring white people skin and I can't say I'm too impressed with my ability to do corpse skin either.  Practice, practice, practice...

The purple paper with the dark purple swirlies is from My Mind's Eye/"29th Street Market"/Carefree Adorable.  It is a double sided 12x12.  I used my Creative Memories oval cutter to cut the other side of the paper which is the light lavender paper under the stamp. I then centered the lavender paper and stamp over an iridescent eggplant colored card stock from Recollections.  

I found the "oh happy day" stamp at Michael's (in the dollar bin, always!).  I thought it was funny and was perfect for this card because it doesn't really fit.  I distressed it with 4 different Distress inks.  They are Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters, Spiced Marmalade and Dusty Concord.  I put it in the corner of the card and slapped some cutesie bling on the side.  

I have a rubber stamp pack that I bought at Michael's by Autumn Leaves Clear Stamps by Rhonna Farrer called "Flowers".  I used black ink and stamped them on all four corners of the card, overlapping all the layers of paper.  I then went over the stamps in Stickles "Cotton Candy".  

Yay, she got it in the mail and she liked it!

Happy Birthday, Josi!  And I meant what I said in your card.  I totally want to do a Tim Burton marathon with you.  Popcorn, candy, Mountain Dew and all!

Nice effin' model (honk honk), 

Jules

P.S.  The soundtrack to making this card.

  

Birthday Owls

Good day, all!  It's been awhile since I've posted on here but that will be changing soon.  I have lots of birthdays in the Spring months so I'll be posting many a card.  Also, as you may know, I'm really into makeup.  And I want to get more into it with reviews and picture tutorials and such.  I understand if some of the 6 of you (lol!) are not makeup fans and will not be offended if you do not read.  I plan to keep all posts separate so you may see more than one post from me in one day.  I just wanted to give you a heads up.  


Also, still no job.  It's starting to get to me because I want to move on with my life but I'm still remaining positive. I have to admit that having all of this time to myself is getting me down a bit.  I find myself wishing I had a "daytime" friend who likes going for walks/hiking and drinking coffee but all of you are at work or are just not into that sort of thing.  Oh, well.  I'm finding other ways to keep myself busy!  And all the things around my house that I thought would be done in my first month off are slowly being started and/or finished which is making me very happy.  But if any of you want to go for a walk/hike, day or night, let me know.  I can use all the exercise I can get!


Okay, enough about me.  Let's get to this birthday card.  


This card was for my sister in law, Jill, who celebrated her birthday on March 20th.  Once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jill!  She is married to my oldest brother, Todd and is the mother to my nephew, Zach.  

The glittered polka dot paper is from the brand My Mind's Eye in their Lost and Found 2 line.  This paper was called "Sunshine Forever Dotted Paper".  I bought it from Archiver's and I believe it was $0.99.  I loved the colors and the glitter.  I just used your standard brown and tan card stock for the center.  


The owl stamps were Michael's Recollections brand.  The sticker pack came with 4 owls and the branch but I'm saving the other owl for another card.  


As you may or may not know, paper that has glitter on it is very hard to glue things to.  Because of this, I had to use the 3 brads in the corner.  Those are also from the Recollections line.  If you have any tips on adhering to this type of paper, comment below.  I would love your input because I've run into this problem more than a couple of times.  


I love owls but it's hard to come up with cutesie sentiments in regard to them.  You can ask my friends Jennifer and Nicki who helped me in my attempt to come up with something clever.  This is what I came up with...

Lame, I know.  But I think we all agree it was the best out of the ideas kicked around that day.  


That's my card!  I hope you liked it.  Also, feel free to comment below on what sentiment you would have used for the owls.  


Thanks, 
Jules