"It's Your Pig Day!"

This humorous birthday card features one of my favorite silly stamp sets. The card was created for Splitcoaststampers' sketch challenge SC650 which looks like this:

I had a hard time wrapping my head around the sketch until I flipped it so the sentiment would be on the right side of the layout as feels more natural to me, and my brain let out a sigh of relief. 

I used watercolor pencils to color the animal images on the card front, inside, and envelope, then inked them with VersaMark and used clear embossing powder to make them thick and shiny. The background for the pig is simple watercolor wash - I resisted the urge to add flowers and birds, etc. as I felt it would detract from the star of the show. I also clear embossed the balloons. Here's what is inside:

The sign reads 'Have a Moo-tiful Birthday,' which makes me giggle every time I see it. The facial expression of the pig on the front is silly, but I think this cow takes silliness up a notch. I'm hoping the soon-to-be 14 year old who will be receiving the card gets a smile it from it. Here's a close-up of the cow:

Naturally the envelope had to coordinate, so I stamped this goat in the lower left corner:

and put this on the envelope flap:

Stamps: Birthday Farm Animals and dies (Simon Says Stamp)
Papers: Recollections 110#; Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, Emerald Envy, Party Animal DSP (SU)
Inks: Tuxedo Black (Memento), VersaMark
Accessories: Circles Collection Framelits (SU), Balloon Bouquet Punch (SU), Watercolor Pencils (various), Aqua Painters, Clear Embossing Powder (WOW!), Stampin' Dimensionals (SU)

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Coming soon: Gelatos! There's a class going on at StampNation this month focusing on these creamy pigment sticks by Faber-Castell, so I rolled up my sleeves this last weekend and started experimenting. I'm hoping to have some cards made from the results soon, and when I do I will be sure to post them here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pig Smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce
           

Naturally Inspired Meets Extreme Cosmic Shimmer

A few days ago I posted a card on which I used a product called Cosmic Shimmer, an embossing paste packed with glittery goodness that creates a huge wow factor on any project. To create a blue paste, I added a bit of Something Borrowed, one of the awesome inks from Catherine Pooler Designs. After creating the background for that card I still had a lot of blue Cosmic Shimmer left - so I grabbed the Mod Squared stencil and another piece of cardstock and used up every last bit of the embossing paste. This resulted in a nearly 4" x 5.25" panel which I trimmed to fit on an A2 card base. Then I sat and admired the background for about two weeks. (Really, how could I cover up something so gorgeous?)

Finally it dawned on me that this background would play well with translucent vellum. I cut a piece of vellum using the Spiro Doily die from the Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval and placed it over the glitter background. Next I stamped some flowers from the Wild Garden stamp set in Grass Skirt and Party Dress and butterflies in Something Borrowed, cut them out with their coordinating dies, then adhered those onto the vellum. I placed adhesive strategically on the backside of the vellum doily where the flowers were attached and glued it to the background panel. I added a quick sentiment and called the card front finished. I stamped some matching flowers on the inside of the card and the envelope to pull it all together.

I'm disappointed that I couldn't quite capture the sparkle of this card in a photo. It really is magnificent!

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Coming up: A silly birthday card 

Sparkly smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce
          

Feather Cards

My second sitting with the Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval collection took me to the much-anticipated Birds of a Feather Stamp set, along with the Simply the Best set and the Lattice Frame die. I am in love with that feather! Naturally I had to use the purple family from Catherine Pooler's inks (Sweet Sixteen, Pixie Dust, and Flirty Fuchsia). I decided to CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) a card created by CP, but changed up the sentiment as well as a few smaller details. To create the diamonds background I used the Lattice Frame die as a stencil through which I sponged the ink. I used all three purple inks on the feather to create an ombre look, and situated a bunch of wee stamps to give the illusion that the feather is turning flying birds. (Those wee stamps were a challenge for my shaky hands, but I prevailed!) 

I used my MISTI to stamp the feathers as well as the sentiments. I waffled between using the "best" stamp or the "best" die, and ultimately went with the stamp. I was feeling brave so I pulled out CP's Midnight (black) solvent ink despite having had trouble with it before. I am now a big fan of it! Previously I had pressed some of my new stamps into the Midnight pad too heavily and created a mess! I thought I was using a gentle touch then, but my photopolymer stamps became so stained I could no longer see where I was stamping. I swore I would never use that horrid ink again (laugh with me!), but now I'm glad I got over myself and gave it another try. Once I got the right touch, I found the Midnight ink stamps so dark and so completely that I don't really need to use my MISTI to double stamp - it's a dream come true! 

As you can see, I wasn't very sure of the placement of the feather, so I tried it in a few different spots. I rather prefer the last card with the feather more centered because it makes the flying birds look better planned instead of squeezed into the corner of the card. 

I ultimately made two of each of the top two cards, and one "best friend ever" card to send to my friend who had popped over recently to surprise me with a big stack of Recollections 110# cardstock (from Michael's) that she had taken to the local office supply store and had cut in half. Now I have a box of super heavy white cardstock ready to score for card bases and my cutting blades will last a lot longer! Crafty friends really are the best, and this friend is the best of the best!!

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Coming up next: More Cosmic Shimmer, plus a silly birthday card. Stay tuned!

Feathery smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce
            

First Naturally Inspired Card

On Friday, June 9th, I received my Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval collection in the mail. A dear friend of mine also ordered it, and so I thought it might be fun to challenge her to see which of us could complete a card from the collection first. I tend to dawdle and get sidetracked, while she doesn't always get to her new toys right away because she has so much other stuff on her plate - so I figured we both could use the incentive to break open our boxes.

The box arrived and, as usual, I opened it up to look at each item and squeal with excitement. The first products I chose to play with were a big stamp set called Medallion Mix-Up, the Best die (which is the word "best" in a lovely font), and the Simply the Best stamp set. Catherine also included some exclusive-to-SOA embossing powder called Wanderlust... which knocked my socks off! I used the EP on the Best die after gluing four die cuts of it together to elevate the word from the card base. 

Here you can kind of see the shimmer:

The medallions were stamped in Something Borrowed, Tiki torch, Pixie Dust, Party Dress, and Grass Skirt from Catherine Pooler inks. The embossed words in white came from the Simply the Best stamp set and were raised using foam tape.

I finished my card around 10:30 p.m. that day, but was too pooped to take pictures and post, (and I secretly didn't think my friend would get to make a card that day). Turns out she had two beautiful cards done and posted by shortly after 11 p.m. - so she easily won!

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Next post: Feathers!

Sparkly smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce
        

A Card for Adeline with Cosmic Shimmer

I recently celebrated a first-year anniversary with my home health nurse, Adeline, and wanted to make a card for her as a thank you for her support and friendship. I wanted her card to be something super special - so I brought out my Cosmic Shimmer. Cosmic Shimmer is an embossing paste that is thick with fine glitter, and on a card it has a huge wow factor. I colored it with Something Borrowed ink and used it with the Mod Squared stencil by Catherine Pooler Designs to create a fabulous background, and was very pleased with how it turned out. I only wish I could have captured the shimmer better in the photos!

Since I had my Stamp of Approval Perfect Reason collection box out (that's where I got the stencil from), I decided to use other elements from the collection to build the card. The layer of leaves was made with the Perfect Vines dies, and then I used the Perfect Reason stamp set and coordinating dies to create the flower bunch. The sentiment is from the Everyday Mod stamp set.

Naturally (because I am so addicted to them) I used Catherine Pooler's inks in Something Borrowed, Party Dress, Grass Skirt, Tiki Torch, and Pixie Dust. The leaves were cut from Cucumber Crisp cardstock from Stampin' Up because it so closely matches the Grass Skirt ink.

Adeline was both impressed and deeply touched by the card, so I'd say the project was a success!

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Coming up next are several cards made with products from the most recent Stamp of Approval collection called Inspired by Nature, as well as another Cosmic Shimmer card. I placed an order from Stampin' Up's new annual catalog last night, so I'm hoping to be back to using SU materials again very soon!

Shimmery smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce