Hello! Today I am posting two cards, simply because I've shown a few Build-a-Bear cards, so not much new there. This is the second card from the Stamp-a-Stack, so again I used the designer paper from the mini.

This next card, the last one from the Stamp-a-Stack, was a little different from most. I based it on a card that we made at Regionals last year. I liked that it was different from the usual half-page card that I make way too often. On this one, only the red piece opens. Although this makes a great card, it doesn't stand very well for display purposes. So it has beauty but no functionality (is that a word?). Oh well, you can't have it all! LOL

I sure wish I had some interesting story to tell you, but I don't! LOL So I guess I will end this here. Have a great week!
Donna

A Stampin' Up CASE

Stampin' Up has a magazine just for their demonstrators that we receive monthly. Often, they have great creative ideas for their latest products which I love, but never seem to get around to trying. This is one of the few that I've actually tried(yay me!)! I love this Build-a-Bear stamp set-the little girl and boy bears are so cute, and (bonus!)you can use them for either a girl or a boy birthday card. Here is the neat part about this project: as you can see, the image on this card is uncoloured. But wait! When the birthday boy or girl opens the card to see who would give them a partially finished birthday card, look what they find inside:

Isn't that a great idea?!? It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to fit the crayons in there without them falling all over, but I did it! Kinda. Now that the card has been completed and carried around to show various stamping friends, I have noticed that the crayons have been travelling a bit and marking the inside of the card. Hmmmm....so now I have to find some way to prevent that. The obvious answer would be to keep them in the box, but it doesn't seem as inviting (to colour) that way....so it may require a clear envelope somehow...I will be working on this today so that tomorrow you can come to see the tutorial, ok? Yes, I said tutorial! I will take pictures and measurements so you can make one of these little beauties too!

So until then, have a great day, and go diving into your stamp collection to find a stamp set you can use to make one of these! I'll see you again tomorrow!

Donna

Happy Bearthday!

This September, my nephew celebrated his 7th birthday. As I've mentioned before, I have a difficult time coming up with cards for males of all ages. Lucky for me, the month of October gives me the chance to practice! LOL I have no less than four birthdays, all male, to create cards for this month. Oh the stress! LOL

Fortunately, I have this new Build-a-Bear stamp set, which works perfectly (well for the boys in my family, anyway)! I love this little guy! The best part about him, is he has a "better half"! LOL A girl bear comes with this set, too, so any card I can think of for a girl, I can now create for a boy, and vice versa.

So for my nephew's card, rather than try to stamp a background, I punched out 3/4" circles in colours that matched his clothes, party hat and balloon, and adhered them to the main card. In this replica of my nephew's card, however, I had a bit more time (what, me wait to the last minute to make a card? never! Ok, maybe sometimes...) so I cut out his clothes and party hat. I just couldn't mask his head and party hat to make it look right. It either looked like he was wearing his hat on his forehead, or it was floating above him!

This picture shows how his clothes and shoes are raised above the bear image. To make the circles stand out, I followed my oldest daughter, Kaitlyn's advice, and inked around the outer edges so you could see the Green Galore circles on the same coloured background.

For the balloon, I punched a 3/4" circle of Real Red, raised it with a Stampin' Dimensional, put a couple of white gel pen lines on it to make it look like it was shiny, and then added more shine with Crystal Effects. I love using Crystal Effects on a card because of the kind of extra dimension it adds, especially to a balloon! It helps make the card more fun, don't you think?

I think I've mentioned before, that I love to colour, I find it calming somehow. Must be a throwback to my little girl days. So you can imagine how happy I was to pull out the watercolour crayons to colour this little guy and his party hat! I don't use my crayons enough, and there are so many different ways to colour with them. For this card, I coloured on the paper, then used my aqua painter to spread the colour around. When I wanted to highlight, I squeezed out the excess water from the bristles, and picked up colour directly from the crayon, and then painted it on the image.

Tomorrow, I am going to show you a cute little project for Hallowe'en that I've seen and finally tried!

Until then, have a great day!

Donna

Build-a-Bear part deux

As promised, here is my other Build-a-Bear card! Isn't he so cute? I couldn't resist putting together one of these little cuties! The dsp SU has for this die is priceless...I just love the plaid on this little guy. It goes so well with his jeans. He has no shoes because his mom spent it on his sister's bling. Poor little guy-good thing he's a bear!

It looks like he's waving at someone-must be the other bears I've been putting together for other cards...ah, but that's a story for another day.

Well, my first week without any girls during the daytime is about to end, and my girls are about to come running in the door to shed their backpacks and lunch boxes in a flurry of activity and chit chat. I'll end this for now, but I will be back!

Have a great weekend!

Donna

When my youngest daughter, Olivia, and I were looking through SU's Holiday Mini, we both drooled over the new Build-a-Bear Workshop dies and stamp sets. In fact, Olivia "put in" (more like commanded!) an order for all things Build-a-Bear! LOL Fortunately, I found them as adorable as she did, so I did order some dies and a stamp set or two, for both of us to play with. When the order arrived, Olivia kept thanking me for getting her the Build-a-Bear items! LOL If only she knew.... ;)

Of course, we were both equally excited to play with the new dies, and we happily played to our hearts' content. This card is my first bear-isn't she precious!?! SU has a special package of designer paper to use for the clothing-so smart! Here, I went with a pink plaid for the skirt and matching jacket, and a green herringbone for the cuffs and shoes (the shoes have to match, after all! LOL). I couldn't resist dressing up her shoes with little flowers, and then putting one in her hair. And since I am "all about the sparkle", I added a pink jewel to her hair flower. Isn't she so cute??

The idea of dressing little bears is somewhat similar to this Barbie designer thing my sister used to have when we were younger-and oh, how I loved to design outfits for Barbie and then add flowers or stripes to the skirt and shirt I had chosen, or to turn a skirt into the bottom half of the wedding dress...I had a lot of fun helping the Barbie drawing get dressed! Then many years later, when my eldest daughter, Kaitlyn, was about 4, my mother-in-law purchased this wooden puzzle set that had different fabrics for skirts, shirts and shoes that you could mix and match and dress the little puzzle girl. I had more fun with that than Kaitlyn did! (I wonder where it is now? hmmm....) Anyway, I have always had more fun dressing other people, both wooden and real, than I have dressing myself! (I really hate shopping for me). This new set of dies and designer paper are perfect for me! I get to dress adorable little bears now! LOL I really do have fun with these ones! There are going to be a lot of people receiving Bear cards from me-and all of them dressed differently too, no doubt! LOL

I've also put togther a little boy bear, but you'll have to wait to see him! Stay tuned!

Happy Labour Day weekend!