Dim Sum Birthday Card

This card is for a no-frills kinda gal so I kept it simple.  My new Mama Elephant dim sum stamp set was a perfect fit.  I started by texturizing the light blue green background with a Sizzix embossing folder.  I think the woven texture looks a bit Asian and reminds me of the woven tops of dim sum steamers. Because the cute dim sum characters were left white, there was very little coloring to do. However, I did have to do a lot of fussy cutting as I don't have the matching die set.

I decided to decorate the inside of the card too.  After a bit of searching, I found my old Lawn Fawn stamp set with the fortune cookie stamp, fortune strip, and chopsticks.

Because I had extra stamped and colored food characters, I decided to make a mini calendar.  (It saves time to stamp and color extra pieces for a later project.  I store them in the stamp package.)  I circled the birthday girl's birthdate.  Yay! I used up another calendar, only a few more to go. *wink*wink*  Hope this post gives you some inspiration for a quick local style card.  See you again....soon! 

 

Birthday Donut Magnet Card

It was my goal to make a vintage birthday card for my 'young' girlfriend.  While we don't exchange gifts anymore, I do like to include a little something-something to make the card special.  This year I decided on a magnet. I started with a coaster from Celebrations(next door to BFC Mapunapuna).  I stamped the Whimsy image right onto the back of the coaster and colored it in with Copic pens.  For the dress I stamped the image onto a yellow printed paper and fussy cut it out before gluing it down.  For a little more dimension and sparkle I decorated the double donuts with white Nuvo dimensional paint and fake sprinkles.  I colored the tiny spaces with colored pencils which was not the best idea because when I sprayed the decorated coaster with a protective coating, the pencil colored areas bled a little.  That's why I colored in the background a bit rather than leaving it white as planned...*wink*wink*

For the card front I used a Whimsy dotted stencil, Color Box rainbow ink pad, and Hero Arts blender brush.  I liked the comic book look of the dots.  After gluing on a magnet sheet  to the back of the coaster, I added some Heiko double stick tape to adhere the magnet to the card.  The magnet can be removed easily from the card and used as a refrigerator magnet.  I tried hard not to put too much on the magnet so that it would still work and not be so fat that the post office will charge me extra postage.  (I think I'm under the 1/4" thickness.)  I like the way this card turned out and I hope my friend will like it too. I have plans to make more magnet cards....keep visiting this post to see them!

 

Daiso Lucky Cat Notepad Magnets

About the same time that I purchased these twine bound Japanese notepads from Daiso (only $1.50!!!), I saw the cutest Mama Elephant stamped images on Eunice's (A Star for Chiemi) blog site. (I am a follower of Eunice's posts because she has the cleverest projects that are always done to perfection!)  The Mama Elephant images were just the perfect size for the note pads and using the dies made the work super easy.

By gluing on magnetic sheets (form HM Ben Franklin Crafts) these notepads will be easy to access and find.    I think these decorated notepad magnets will make great tuck-ins for happy mail.  They would be sweet table favors as well.  HAPPY CRAFTING!                     

 

Snarky Cat Resin Magnet Calendars

Ah, yes.....more calendars....what to do?  Well, I've been itching to ink up the Tim Holtz snarky cat images so I thought I'd give them a test run on some resin magnets.  I had some leftover Asian coaster from Celebrations so I decided to use them as the base.  I trimmed them down a bit to fit the images and words and to cut down on the weight that the magnets would have to hold.  The backs of the coasters were plain white so I just stamped on them with permanent black ink and colored them in with smudges of Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  I liked the messy look of the inks on the porous coaster surface, but if you prefer more bleeding and splotching, I recommend you stamp onto a watercolor paper and then color and adhere that to the coaster back.

Magnet sheets were glued onto the back of the printed side. Although the sheet magnets do have a sticky adhesive I felt a little extra glue couldn't hurt.  Next LED 1minute setting resin was applied to the front of the magnet and set with the LED light.  

Although the resin did warp the magnets a bit, I loved the shiny surface.  The calendars adhered well to the resin surface and covered up the words which will make a cute reveal at the end of the year. HaHaHa!

                                       

 

Serendipitous Finds

Can you believe I'm still making calendars in April?  Well, I 'found' more Vippies calendars buried under the scrap papers on my desk and at the same time I discovered an uninked wooden handle Mari and Me stamp in the back of a drawer.  How did it get there?  Also on my desk were newly purchased Daiso origami paper packs....they were so cute and pretty...and cheap...only $1.50!

These three serendipitous finds seemed to be destined to be used in a project.  As with other small folded calendars that I've shown in previous blogs, I started with a 4"x 10-1/4" strip of solid card stock.  This strip was scored at 4", 8", 8-3/4",and 9-1/2".  After folding the calendar base tab was glued in place. Next, two sheets of origami paper were cut into 3-3/4" pieces and glued onto the front and back of the calendar base.

The animal image was stamped onto marker paper and colored with Copic pens.  I fussy cut the images and adhered them with foam pop dot adhesives.  

I plan to tuck these calendars into anything I mail to friends and family. There are only a few more to give away *wink*wink*!   

 

Enjoy the Bubbles...Mother's Day 2021

A new Hero Arts stamp set, two Whimsy paper packs and an old (the thick type) Sizzix die were the inspiration for this year's Mother's Day card.  The swivel effect of the card makes it interactive but super easy to do....just one pass through the Big Shot machine for the card base.  The die was also used to cut the moving part from both printed papers.  The Whimsy paper that looks like bubbles is perfect for this card.  A little of the shape had to be hand cut after gluing to the card base.  To add more dimension to the card I applied light blue Stickles paint to the tub water.  The small pieces were stamped, colored with Copics and then die cut. The Lawn Fawn script words were stamped and heat embossed with gold powder on the bottom of the front bubble paper piece.

The back of the swivel floral piece was decorated further with a circle of vellum that was stamped and heat embossed with the words from the KaiserCraft stamp set.  Tip: Don't press too hard while stamping on vellum or the image will smudge and result in messy heat embossed words.

Here are two other color combinations of the same card.  They are for two hard working moms.

Do you have a favorite?  Hope you have a relaxing Mother's Day even if you're not a mom. Hugs!

 

Boy's Day 2021 Treat Boxes

Traditionally, Boy's Day is a Japanese tradition celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month, May 5.  In recent times I've seen that date referred to as Children's Day even though there is a Girl's Day on March 3rd.  Because I have only sons and grandsons, I have chosen to make Boy's Day treat boxes this year.  I started by cutting out the boxes with a Sizzix die.  I used a medium weight card stock purchased in Japan because I loved the faux fiber look.  After assembling the boxes, I crinkled strips of card stock using a hand held crinkle tool and glued them around each box.  Next, I stamped the images (Boy with Fish, Mari and Me) (Koi fish, Dandelion Designs) with dark blue permanent ink.  I carefully applied ink onto the words and stamped them onto a lavender card stock, then punched out the circle.  The images were colored in with Copic pens and part of the boy's kimono was paper pieced.

The boy images were adhered with foam adhesive dots and the circles were glued on with Beacon 3 in 1 glue. (Both adhesives can be purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.)  For more interest I tied on some dyed paper fiber yarn (from Japan). The 'yarn' was sold in Japan during the summer and was used to make lightweight hats and basket handbags.  I think these treat boxes are perfect for holding goldfish crackers, Swedish fish candy, or perhaps older boys would prefer gift cards or money $$$$!!!  I hope you enjoy this day whether or not you have boys in your household.  Don't forget to fly your carp (one for each male in the home) to display your pride on Boy's Day.

 

Mahalo Orchid Card

A very dear friend of mine recently gave me this beautiful bag from Mohala (a sunglass company started by her daughter).  The amazing part is that my friend designed the graphics on this bag. Isn't it gorgeous?  To make a thank you card for this super birthday gift, I chose some stamp designs by Hero Arts.

I wanted the overall look of the card to be light and delicate so I chose not to use all the elements of the HA stamp set.  After stamping, I was pleased that the card had a Japanese cherry blossom print look (maybe I should have used my 'arigato' stamp instead of the Rubber Stamp Plantation 'mahalo' stamp). The floral stamps used were of orchids which I chose because they matched the bag.  I used a variety of inks and gold embossing powder to achieve the finished look.

For the back of the card and on the envelope I added special touches with little stamps and a piece of washi tape (from Daiso).  It just take a few extra seconds to do this but I like to think the recipient will appreciate the effort.