Ice Cream and the Beach Fun

Hi! :)

Today's card is a birthday one for a close friend of mine. I really enjoyed coloring it. :) The ice cream that the cute House Mouse mice are preparing to eat was interesting to color, since not much detail is drawn out. For some reason my roommates were sure it was a cupcake. They said it's because I picked blue for the ice cream color.. Although a quick Google search proved such ice creams exist. :) The recipient's favorite color is blue - thus the abundance of blue in the card. 

The bright flowers above were stamped and colored to match the ribbon for color unity. I also covered the petals with Perlen Pen Magic Transparent for texture. I love the way they look! Here's a close-up:

On the inside, I wanted to have a decent amount of writing space as well as some extra decorations. I decided to put four "mini-cards" inside the big card, and came up with this:

Each little card opens, and I had to put ties so that it's possible to have them all completely closed and enjoy the beach scene with the cat and the penguin. :)

The cat is being healthy and drinking pineapple juice while the penguin is drinking a Sex on the Beach cocktail - still chilled, thanks to Faerie Glass dewdrops. ;) It's really hard to notice in the picture, but the glass also has Diamond Glaze in the parts where there are no dewdrops, so that it looks as real as possible. :) This is the best close-up I could get of it:

The inside of the mini-cards only has clear embossing, writing, and Stickles (in star dust).

Overall, I am really happy with the card. I wasn't sure how well the mini-cards would work, and I had to adjust the crease of the main blue card into a little accordion so that it's possible to close it without any damage. I also had to use some string to keep the big orange accordion piece from folding the wrong way no matter what. The two string pieces are between each outside panel and the main blue card.

Thank you for visiting today! :)

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• House-Mouse - add some sparkle
• One Stop Craft Challenge - add flowers and ribbon
• Simon Says Stamp - summer food and/or drink

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Mice cream celebration; Magenta - Soaking it in; The Cat's Pajamas - Salud; Inkadinkado - Flower garden, Doodle flowers; Sarah Phelps - Lucky ladybugs, Make a wish; Hero Arts - Playful animals
• Inks: Memnto - tuxedo black; Versa mark
• Denami clear embossing powder
• Perlen Pen Magic Tranparent; Glitter liner - sapphire
• Diamond glaze
• Stickles: star dust, yellow, orange peel, firefly, waterfall, fruit punch, magenta, purple, golden rod
• Faerie glass dewdrops
• Copics, Faber Castell PITT pen (XS, black)
• Mouline string
• Beacon 3-in-1 glue, Scotch permanent dot roller

Skating Snoopy

Hello! :)

This is one of the few cards I've made that does not have any ribbon on it, at all. A pretty rare occurrence, because I love adorning cards with ribbon. And there are so many choices! Here, however, I used no ribbons, but plenty of other embellishments, like the gold foil. Probably to make up for the absence of ribbons..

My favorites are the balloons. I free-handed them and colored them with Copics. I used the Faber-Castell PITT artist pen and the Papertreyink white cardstock. There were no line-bleeding incidents, yay! Finally, one of the balloons is "tied" to Woodstock's bike handles for extra detail. :)

As always, I had lots of fun coloring the House-Mouse stamp. The frosting was a little tricky, but I love the way it came out in the end.

On the inside, I left space for me and my friend to write two different messages, and thought I'd play around with incorporating them into a little scene with Snoopy. :)

That's all. Thank you for stopping by! :)

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Birthday cupcake; Peel & Stick Stamps - Peanuts flying ace; Hero arts - Playful animals; Inkadinkado - All about borders; Recollections - Doodle birthday
• Inks: Memento - tuxedo black
• Stickles - star dust, lime green, yellow, golden rod, orange peel
• Pearl pen - magenta, magic transparent
• IndigoBlu mega-flake - autumn blaze, attached with FlitterGlu
• Diamond glaze
• Copics, Sakura pens, Faber-Castell PITT artist pen (XS)

Raining Cupcakes

Hello!

Here's a card that I actually did around the turn of the year, so a few months ago, for a friend's birthday. It also has a New Year's bit, because that holiday had just passed when I was making it. I got to use one of my favorite - by design - papers here, produced by Hanko designs. I happened to have the same design in three different color schemes, so I carefully cut out and arranged three pieces so they would connect perfectly to form a picture. They make up the background for the front image. The image itself is a stamp by House-Mouse, colored with Copic markers. :)

My friend who this card was for bakes awesome cakes, so I thought it would be fitting to put some cupcakes on the inside. :) I stamped some out in different ColorBox chalk inks, masked them and sprayed the paper with two kinds of spray. One was the Tattered Angels in pashmina. The other I made myself by mixing some regular red and blue acrylic paint with water in a little spray bottle I got at the drug store. I think it came out as a nice background. :)

Inside, I put a mini card with a snowman for the New Year. I thought I'd change the color I wrote in, too. I love the abundance of colors that Sakura gel pens come in, and I usually theme the color according to the surroundings. :)

That is all for now. Thank you for visiting! :)

Products that I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Confetti rain (Amanda); Inkadinkado - Birthday cupcake; Hero Arts - Create your own (CL 368); Stampendous! - Chick family
• Inks: Memento - tuxedo black; Colorbox chalk
• Glitter: Gitter Ritz - purple, buttered yam
• Stickles - orange peel, star dust, fruit punch, turquoise, yellow
• Tattered Angels - pashmina, marshmellow 
• Fiskars paper edgers - ripple
• Crinkle ribbon, Hanko paper, Diamond glaze, Beacon 3-in-1 glue, acrylic paint, Sakura pens

Mouse Tea-Time

Hello!

I've been even more behind on making (and blogging about) cards than usually.. But here's the latest one. :)

It was for a friend's birthday, and it's pretty simple. :) The image is by House-Mouse, colored with Copic markers. I just realized that the card I posted before this one also used this image! However, there I colored it with Prismacolor pencils. I just started coloring with Copics this summer, and I love it so much. :D As opposed to pencils, the first thing I noticed is that they don't break (..obviously) and that is wonderful. With pencils, that was always a huge problem for me. Also, I definitely love the multitude of different shades of gray and beige that Copics have!

The tea tag is propped up on thick double-sided tape, so it really pops out. I also covered the sugar cubes in Glitter Ritz cool highlights glitter, so they look more like sugar. :) The roses I made myself, pretty much just twisting the ribbon while wrapping it around, very simple.

I love the little chicks! I think they add a lot of liveliness to the composition. :)

The letters on the inside of the card I also made myself, just draw them, color in with a Copic marker, put thin double-sided tape on, cut them out, and put glitter on. I colored them before the glitter so that the white of the cardstock does not peek out from under the glitter. (This was easier than looking for matching cardstock and glitter colors..)

When I first got this House-Mouse stamp, I had no idea how to incorporate it, but when I started putting the inside of this card together, it looked so natural for the mouse to hold one of the letters. :)

That's about it. :) Thank you for stopping by! :)

Products that I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - We're "mint tea" be together, Party mouse (Monica); Stampendous! - Chick family; Inkadinkado - All about borders; Hero Arts - Untitled postmark
• Inks: Memento - Tuxedo black; Versa mark; PearlEx - Metallic color (gold)
• Glitter Ritz - regal red, granny smith, lime green, buttered yam, purple, sand, cool highlights
• Stickles - lavender, star dust
• Dimond glaze
• Embossing powders: Denami Design - clear
• Dry embossing: Cuttlebug - With love; Sizzix - Checkerboard
• Paper, ribbon, Copic markers
• Shaped scissors - Provo Craft; Fiskars - ripple
• Be Creative double-sided tape; Beacon 3-in-1 glue

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello! Today is Mother's Day in the US, and the card I'm sharing was made for this holiday. I made it using a sketch from Peachy Keen. The theme color was purple (my favorite!), so it's mostly purple. :) The main image is from House-Mouse. Aren't the little mice so cute, using the tea as a jacuzzi? :D As always, it was colored with Prismacolor pencils. :) So, here's the front of the card:

The teabag tag pops up, and the string is made from a piece of twine. There's also some Diamond Glaze to make the tea shiny and watery-looking. However, that didn't show up well in pictures. :/

The dry-embossed candy serves as design for both front and inside. I figured it would fit well, even though the candy is from a Halloween embossing folder set. But candy is so perfect with tea! :) And here's the inside:

The butterflies were heat embossed with a clear powder, so they are raised and shiny. It doesn't show up well in pictures though. :( And, of course, there's some stickles framing the white writing space.


That's all. :) Thanks for stopping by, and happy Mother's Day to all moms! :)


I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge #17 - sketch

Products that I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - we're "mint tea" be together; Sarah Phelps - lucky ladybugs 
• Ink: Memories - black; ColorBox Chalk - warm violet
• Stickles - lavender
• Diamond glaze
• Crinkle ribbon; twine
• Heat embossing, powders: Denami - clear
• Dry embossing: Cuttlebug - mini monsters
• Prismacolor pencils; fixative
• Thin double-sided tape by Be Creative

Mouse Game Night

Hello! :)

This yet another easel card. I really enjoy them lately! I used a sketch from Sunday Sketch & Stamp, and had some fun picking out papers to use (I wanted to do it in shades of red). :) This card is for a friend of mine, and whenever I visit her we end up having a game night with cards and board games or a jigsaw puzzle, so I thought the little mice playing cards would be perfect. :)

This is how it looks when it's completely folded:

The bow is actually two bows, both from crinkle ribbon. I just inserted the green one inside the red one, after both have been made separately.

I free-handed the "Happy Birthday" with a white Sakura pen, since I don't have many sentiment stamps and could not find one that I wanted to use. I am really happy with how it came out. :)

As always, the stamp was colored with Prismacolor pencils. And the dentist mirror has some Diamond Glaze on it so that it looks more like glass:

And here it is in its easel form:

The strip of flowers on the bottom was done with Glitter Ritz micro glitter. I masked it with a flowery ribbon to get the design. :)

The inside is very simple:

That's all. :) Thanks for stopping by! :)

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Sunday Sketch & Stamp #98 - sketch

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - card sharks; Inkadinkado - doodle flowers 
• Ink:Memories - black; ColorBox Chalk - warm red
• Stickles - golden rod
• Glitter Rits - regal red, sand, cool highlight
• Diamond glaze
• Crinkle ribbon
• Hanko paper (the flowery quarter-circle on the front)
• Dry embossing: Sizzix - checkerboard
• Prismacolor pencils
• Thin double-sided tape by Be Creative
• Sakura white pen; Faber Castell PITT artist pen, black

Blossoms and Balloons

Hello!

Today it's another easel card. I really like how they can be propped up for display, so I tend to make them lately. :)

The stamp I used is a digi from A Day for Daisies, and this is my first time using one of their stamps. It's a cherry blossom, and doesn't it look so tender? I just love the way it's drawn! :)

I used a sketch from Digi Doodle shop as my inspiration.. However, I didn't make it early enough to enter the challenge. Buuuut here's how the front came out: 

In its easel pose, the card looks like this:

Too bad I didn't have a blue ribbon to use instead of the purple one so it would match the bottom blue part.. :( On the inside, however, it looks a bit like a landscape, with the ribbon as the grass, then the sky, and the hot air balloons. :)

Overall, this was a really fun card to make, I loved it. :) Thank you for visiting! :) 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

• A Day for Daisies - #37 (color)

Products I used:

• Stamps: A Day for Daisies - Blooming cherry branch; Hero arts - Past times
• Inks: Memories - black; ColorBox Chalk - pink pastel; Distress - vintage photo, broken china, peeled paint; VersaMark clear
• Stickles: fruit punch, waterfall
• Denami clear embossing powder
• Prismacolor pencils
• Crinkle ribbon, vellum
• 3-in-one Beacon glue
• Art-C bead mix (ATC-707)

Too Many Jelly Beans...

Hello! :) 

Today I'd like to share a card I made for a friend's birthday. It was lots of fun! Although coloring the jelly beans took forever - I kept missing some and had to go back and color more even after I thought I was already done. I love the stamp though.. So cute! 

It is an easel card, but here is the picture of how just the front looks:

I used a sketch from Willow Sketchie for the layout and the photo from Peachy Keen stamps as inspiration for the colors. At first, I had some trouble figuring out how to incorporate the dark violet color from the photo, but then it all came together with the beautiful Hanko paper with flowers and the dark purple crinkle ribbon. :D

Aaaand here it is propped up like an easel: 

(I just realized that I should have taken this picture from an angle... Next time!)

I put Diamond glaze over the jar so that it looks like it's made of glass. It's such a large surface for putting a layer of Diamond glaze over it! I was really worried that I'd get bubbles or it wouldn't be even, but it came out nice. :) 

Finally, the inside of the card has been decorated with some ColorBox Chalk inks in shades of purple. I also put in a white space in the middle for the text to go there. The yellow strip is mounted with a thick double-sided tape so that it can hold up the front of the card like an easel. :)

That's it. :) Thank you for stopping by! And Happy Valentine's day to all. :)

Also, I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Peachy Keen Stamps - #04 (photo inspiration)
• Willow Sketchie - from Feb. 9th (a sketch)

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Sweet sensation
• Inks: Memories - black; ColorBox Chalk - pink pastel, warm violet
• Stickles: orange peel, purple
• Diamond glaze
• Prismacolor pencils
• Hanko paper (the one with purple flowers)
• Crinkle ribbon

Mice Gone Trojan

Hello! :) I haven't posted in a long time.. But I have been working on some stuff. Here's a card a friend of mine asked me to make for her. It's supposed to be a thank you card that is USC (University of Southern California) and football themed. Their colors are red and gold, so those are the prevalent colors on the card, too. :D

Here's the front:

*click on the image to enlarge*

The stamp that I used was not USC themed. It was actually "Party Animals" by House-Mouse. But with a little coloring and fitting a Trojan hat over separately over the image... (Trojans is the USC mascot).. It became very much USC-themed. :) The red part of the hat is actually 3D, too, made with Flower Soft. :)

And here is thanks to my apartment-mates for giving me the idea to make "USC" a part of the little mice's the party hats' coloring. :)

The grass, too, is not just color pencils. It is fun flock, so it's a little fuzzy. :)

And here's the inside:

*click on the image to enlarge*

I tried to make the top part look like a football. Evidence would be the stitching on the inside and the two yellow stripes on the outside. And, of course, the shape. :D

The sign, "Fight on", I carefully free-handed, outlined with Stickles, and then filled in with Diamond Glaze to make the letters glossy and darker than the background. :)

That's all for now! Thank you for visiting. :)

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Party animals
• Inks: Memories - black
• Stickles - golden rod, star dust
• Diamond glaze
• Fun flock - tree green
• Flower soft - meadow (colored dark red with acrylic paint)
• Prismacolor pencils
• Ribbon

Marshmallows and Mice

Oh, I've missed making cards! I have finally taken enough time out of this weekend to make a card for my friend's birthday that was on Sunday. And I love the way it came out. Yay! :)

I used a bunch of micro-fine glitter and my favorite Hanko paper with a fall design to decorate the front. The stamp is from House-Mouse, and I popped the middle mouse up on foam tape so she actually is in front of the tin. :) Colored with Prismacolor pencils.

*click on the image to enlarge*

Here's the inside:

*click on the image to enlarge*

I put some ColorBox chalk inks on the CuttleBug folder before embossing the yellow part. For the purple inside rectangle I just dabbed the chalk ink pad right on there.

To make the glittery pattern (on background), I first put thin double-sided tape on the base cardstock and then masked it with a ribbon that looks like this:

I then put the purple glitter and took the ribbon off. Now, the golden glitter can fill in the area that was masked. :) So, the golden lines are basically what the ribbon looks like. I did the same glitter/masking technique for the diamond pattern that's in the middle. (Except I used a different ribbon and colors!)

Thank you for stopping by! :)

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• House-Mouse and Friends - #107 (fall)

Products I used:

• Stamps: House-Mouse - Marshmallow bounce
• Inks: Memories - black; ColorBox chalk - rouge, warm violet, rose coral, warm red
• Embossing: CuttleBug - Swiss dots
• Glitter Ritz - purple, sand, lime green
• Ribbon
• Hanko paper