Cat in the Hat Card

I bet you were thinking something else from the title, hmm? That was what I chose to call this card using the adorable cat in the hat image from Barkley Everyday-Be Fabulous. She's too cute. I colored her in using my Spectrum Noirs ( BG1, BG2, BG4, IG1, IG2, IG4, EB1, Blender, CR8, CR10, CR11, BG8, CT1, CT2, CT3, CT4 and TB2). 

After coloring her in, I cut her in a square shape and inked around the edges to soften that up with my Distress Ink in Scattered Straw. I did add some bling in two spots on the image to give it a little sparkle. I then used some adorable patterned paper (American Crafts, My Girl 6x6 Pad). 

For the sentiment, I actually used my fingertip to dab on the Distress Ink so it wasn't uniform and kind of splotchy. I really love the layout! So fun. Hope you check out all the great products available at Crafter's Companion.

Merry Christmas Pennant Card

Another holiday card for you! This one is a simple card based on a sketch I found on Pinterest. GREAT way to use up your scraps, too. Which, don't we all have a ton of, or is it just me?? 

Here's the card:

Basically, you want to just cut a thicker strip for the top and cut a bunch of various sized pennants and glue them to the back of the strip. Then adhere that to your card base. Add your sentiment, which I chose this one from the Sentimentals Mistletoe Kisses and just cut around it and used some foam adhesive dots behind it! I added some pearls and spray mist (flicked on/dotted on vs. sprayed on). Voila! These would be great cards to send out to a bunch of people if you could do them assembly line style!

Thanks for stopping by and check out all the great holiday items from Crafter's Companion today!

Dahlia Sympathy Card

I have a sympathy card today. Lately, I've needed quite a few of these. This is one of those types of cards we should always have on hand, just in case. I like to use flowers for these as I think they're a beautiful symbol that goes along with a warm thought or prayer for the recipient during a hard time. 

I chose the dahlia from the Sheena's A Little Bit Floral-Dahlia. I colored it in using my Spectrum Noir markers (CT1, CT2, CT3, CT4, and GB6). The sentiment is from Crisalis Classics-The Rehearsal which I just simply stamped on white, punched out with a circle punch and colored with the colors I used in the flower with the Spectrum Noirs.

I fussy cut the dahlia, quartered a doily, and used some perfect paper I had in my stash for behind the flower talking about family and the importance of it, and assembled it all. 

Thanks for visiting! Check out Crafter's Companion today!

Crafter's Companion August Challenge: Animals

Welcome to the latest challenge for Crafter's Companion. This month's challenge is animals! There are a TON of great images I could have used. I wanted to do a holiday card this time, so I chose the set, Barkley Christmas-Friends and Family.

I stamped it, and colored it in using my Spectrum Noirs (EB1, EB2, BG4, TB1, TB3, TB5, BT1, PPI, IG2, IG6, IG1, IG8, DG2, JG1, JG2, CG3, DR5 and DR7.) I then just sponged around the outer edge after I cut around it with the Distress Ink, Old Paper.

The sentiment is from these AMAZING new sets called Sentimentals. This is from the Mistletoe Kisses set. Seriously. Get them ALL. They rock. You can buy them all here!!!

Behind the Barkley set, I used the 6x6 Embossalicious Embossing Folder, Christmas Elegance. I then just stuck some bling here and there in the centers of some of the snowflakes to add some interest.

Go play along with the Crafter's Companion challenge today!

Happy Birthday, Man!

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I have a manly birthday card here. I find that those are a challenge since most cards I find are not very manly! I love the way this came out. I dont' have a tutorial, but I'll explain how I achieved the ombre look. ;)

I knew I wanted a cool birthday card for a guy, so I chose the 4.25x5.75 Flames embossing folder from Crafter's Companion. What I did was use ink and a sponge to create the ombre flames. 

I cut out my white panel to emboss (4"x5-1/4") and I put that into the flame embossing folder and ran that through my Cuttlebug. I then took 3 ink pads and 3 sponges. I used Versamagic Thatched Straw (yellow), Memento Tangelo (orange), and Memento Lady Bug (red). 

What I did was I took the actual Thatched Straw ink pad since it's small, and lighter in color, and actually rubbed it over the embossed flame image. Just do that until it's the color you'd like. To build up the color and make a nice ombre look, I used the yellow about 2/3 of the way down the flame panel. This way, it builds up behind where you're putting your orange. 

Next, I took my Tangelo ink pad and rubbed my sponge onto that to pick up the ink. Then, I took my sponge with Tangelo and gently rubbed it over the paper/embossed image towards the bottom 2/3. You want to be darker down there since that's where it will fade into the red. Then as you use the ink you've picked up on the sponge, you can move your way up towards the yellow, using a gentle circular rubbing motion. It creates a soft transition from one color the next. 

Do the same with the Lady Bug ink pad with a different sponge and work your way up into the Tangelo color. Now you can go back and adjust wherever you need to add or blend your colors until it looks like you want it.

I used a few images from the Camden Town set, Male 2. Nothing goes better with flames than a racing flag and some tire marks! I kept it really simple using just black and white, no coloring, so the flame background stands out. 

Try out this technique today!