Valentine Countdown #7: Dino Love

It's time for some little boy love! It could be little girl too. I mean I adored dinosaurs when I was a kid. I even thought about becoming a paleontologist for a while.Who wouldn't want to dig in the dirt and get paid for it?!

Yes, of course, I did more watercoloring in this card. I hope that is not boring to you all by now :) Even the dinosaur is a bit watercolor-y. Here is how I made this:

• Cut a piece of watercolor paper to 3½"x5". After squeezing some ink onto the lids of your Tip Top Taupe and Mossy Meadow inkpads, add a little water to each to dilute the ink a bit. Wet an area in the left mid and upper side of the paper while in a landscape orientation. Using an Aquapainter, pick up a bit of each color in turn and add to the wet area on your watercolor panel. Dry with heat tool and repeat as desired to get the look you are looking for.
• Find a scrap of watercolor paper that is at least 3"x4" Ink the solid dinosaur stamp with Tip Top Taupe, then tap the brush end of the Mossy Meadow stamp on the inked stamp. Then Spritz lightly with water.  Stamp onto the watercolor scrap, holding down for several seconds to allow the watercolor paper to absorb the ink. Allow to air dry or speed it up using your heat tool. Ink the dino bones in your favorite black ink. Either fussy cut the dino, or use Dies by Daves Old Bones die set to die cut the dino. 
• Cut a 2"x5" strip from one of the papers from the Going Wild DSP stack. Adhere to the bottom of the watercolor panel. Lay a strip of Tear & Tape along the top edge of the DSP and stick a strip of Mossy Meadow ribbon to it. Adhere to a 4"x5¼" panel of Mossy Meadow. Stitch around the panel on the sewing machine. Apply foam tape or a whole bunch of dimensionals to the back of the panel and adhere to a Tip Top Taupe card base.
• Use the Circles framelits to cut out a 2-3/8" vellum circle. Lay the dino and the vellum on the card front to figure out where you can put some Tear &Tape to adhere the vellum to the card base, then do so. 
• Apply dimensionals to the back of the dino and adhere to card. 
• Stamp sentiment on a ¾"x3" strip of Tip Top Taupe, then cut a dovetailed end. Adhere to card. 
• Punch some hearts out of some Black Glimmer paper with the Confetti Hearts punch. Adhere a few to the card using the Fine-Tip glue pen. 
• Stamp a few dino prints on the bottom of the inside of the card in Tip Top Taupe ink. 
• All Done!

Now isn't he adorable?! There is a lot of dimension on this card, and I think that is a good thing for guy cards. Dimension and texture add a lot of tactile interest :)

Very simple inside, and you could add whatever sentiment meets your needs at the time.

What do you think? Would you try this technique? I would love to see what you make if you do!!

And if you would like to purchase some of the items I used today, here are some convenient links to help you out :)  And if your order is less than $150, please use this month's Host Code: PCUN2KHD

Product List

No Bones About It Photopolymer Stamp Set

[138756]

$26.00

Tip Top Taupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[138336]

$7.00

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$7.00

Watercolor Paper

[122959]

$5.00

Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack

[138441]

$8.00

Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[101856]

$6.50

Black Glimmer Paper

[139605]

$5.00

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[133645]

$6.50

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[133651]

$3.25

Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad

[138325]

$6.50

Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[138330]

$3.25

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

$7.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$6.00

Aqua Painters

[103954]

$17.00

Stampin' Spritzer

[126185]

$3.00

Big Shot

[113439]

$110.00

Circles Collection Framelits Die

[130911]

$27.00

Confetti Hearts Border Punch

[137415]

$22.00

Mossy Meadow 5/8" Striped Cotton Ribbon

[138419]

$7.00

Heat Tool

[129053]

$30.00

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$7.00

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[138995]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Paper Snips Scissors

[103579]

$10.00

Army Men, Legos, and Robots

I have several nephews, and one of them just turned 8 years old. I have been trying to use the cards in my stash to send things, thinking that if I use my ready made ones instead of making a card specifically for each person right when I need it, that I might actually send more cards out. Ha! Nothing in my stash felt right for little Caden, so I ended up making a card for him, on his birthday... so it will arrive to him a few days later. Sorry buddy!

I needed a card for a rough and tumbled, totally boy boy. And what boy doesn't love army men, Legos, and robots?! So I quickly heat embossed these images in White embossing powder, grabbed 3 likely colors, plus the ever so lovely retired River Rock for the background, and quickly watercolored the whole panel with my Aqua painter. Heat emboss the sentiment on a skinny strip of vellum scrap, stitch the layers together, glue it to a card base, and voila! A card for Caden!

The images on the inside of the Thick Whisper White card base could not really be watercolored, but the blender pen work wonders here :)

I hope Caden likes this card, although be an 8 year old boy, I imagine he will be more excited about the money in the card than the actual card, lol!


Have you made any little boy cards lately? I would love to hear about yours!

If you would like to purchase some of the items I used today, here are some convenient links to help you out :)  And if your order is less than $150, please use this month's Host Code: PCUN2KHD


Product List

Boys Will Be Boys Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[134138]

$18.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[140272]

$7.00

Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[102482]

$7.00

Watercolor Paper

[122959]

$5.00

Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[101856]

$6.50

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[133645]

$6.50

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

[126949]

$6.50

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[131179]

$6.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$6.00

River Rock Classic Stampin' Pad

[126977]

$5.95

White Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109132]

$5.00

Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109130]

$5.00

Heat Tool

[129056]

$49.95

Aqua Painters

[103954]

$17.00

Blender Pens

[102845]

$10.00

Stars and Balloons!

I made so many projects with the Celebrate Today stamp set last month that I had to split up my shares a bit! There is some playing with texture paste involved here, and I find that I love that stuff too! I sure love a lot of stuff, don't I! Well, papercrafting is a fantastic outlet for creativity, and I wallow in it! In a good way :)

This card was made entirely of white cardstock. I used the Hearts and Stars stencil set and texture paste on the main panel. The gold layer had the outer 1" or so inked with Versamark and then embossed with Gold embossing powder. The balloons were stamped and die cut from white, and the little bow was a scrap of white that I covered in Versamark ink and again embossed with Gold embossing powder, then diecut. The word "birthday" was Gold embossed too. Yes, yes, I love embossing too :)

• Stamps: Celebrate Today
• Ink: So Saffron, Pool Party, Tangelo Twist, Gold Encore, Versamark
• Paper: Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Balloons framelits, Hearts and Stars stencil, texture paste, Gold Baker's Twine, Embossing Buddy, Gold embossing powder, Heat tool, dimensionals 

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 More of the same inside, and I used a PTI sentiment set to finish it off.

Ok, what should I share about myself today?! I am an avid Science Fiction/Fantasy geek. And one of my favorite authors is Michelle Sagara. Or Michelle West, she writes under both names. My favorite series of hers is the Chronicles of Elantra and every time there is a new book coming out, I have to read at least the 2 preceding. Or the whole series from the beginning :) I also read to go to sleep. And it is much more effective if I read a book I have already read, that way I don't stay up until the wee hours reading instead of sleeping, lol.

What are you reading today?

Stamp Review Crew: Amazing Birthday Edition

Here we are again, with another edition of the Stamp Review Crew! This time we are featuring a mostly words stamp set.  Those can be a bit challenging, but I think you will "amazed" by the goodness that we create with it :)

If you are following along the hop in order you just came from Kerry Willard Bray's blog. Lovely, right! If you started here, have no fear, the hop goes full circle and you won't miss a thing. If you ever get lost along the way, you can find the full "map" on the Stamp Review Crew blog, just click on the banner at the top of this post. While you are there, be sure to catch up on any of the previous hops you may have missed :)

OK, now on to my projects!

Let's start with this slightly different take on the oh-so-popular right now technique, Bokeh! I do really love the Bokeh effect and there are lots of videos out there on how to achieve it. Most will have you sponging the circles in varying intensity with a stencil and sponge or dauber. I had a faster method :) I have saved all of those circles of rubber that we pop out of our rubber stamps. I know I got at least two from the Daydream Medallions stamp set and I have a couple more that I can't remember where I got. I have them all in a stamp case labeled "Solid Circles".

 A peek inside, and a side view to show you the popped up front panel.

1. For this card, I sponged Strawberry Slush and Tangelo Twist all over a 3½"x4¾"panel of Whisper White in a random pattern.
2. Then I just started stamping a variety of sizes of circles in Whisper White. As you stamp and over lap the circles, the overlapping parts are a more opaque white. 
3. For the last layer of white circles, I used the Cake Circle and the It's For You Circle stamps from Amazing birthday. Heat set the white ink.
4. Wipe panel with Embossing Buddy, stamp sentiment with Versamark, and sprinkle with Black embossing powder, then heat with Heat Tool. 
5. Using a panel of Strawberry Slush that is about 4½"x5¾", diecut a scalloped edge  along the right side, then trim to 4"x5¼". By using a larger piece to begin with, you can adjust for a crooked diecut edge :)
6. Stitch stamped panel to the scalloped mat. 
7. Inside a white card base, stamp the Cake Circle and the It's For You Circle stamps in Strawberry Slush and Tangelo Twist along the right side, stamping off once for each image.
8. Use LOTS of dimensionals to adhere panel to a white card base.
9. Punch out some stars with Star Confetti punch from Glimmer paper. Adhere stars and Sequins using Crystal Effects. Done!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

 This time I wanted there to be some drama with the cake! I combined a couple of stamp sets and some embossing to get the effect I was looking for :)

The Happy stamp is very easy to ink with markers by the way, and you can see that I stamped it in the lower right corner inside.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Then I decided to make a little box to hold some votive candles.  I tried with the Gift Box punch board, but the sizes didn't match the candles well enough, so I went with a pattern I have come up with myself a couple of years ago. I thought I had posted it, but I can't find it now... I guess I will be doing a tutorial soon! This box holds 4 votive candles, and has a sleeve that slides on and off. The sleeve was sponged and stamped. The tag is embossed with three colors.
ETA: There is now a video tutorial for this here!

You can see the sleeve and box a little better in this view. I went a bit crazy with the sequins and stars, huh :)

I made a matching bag tag for this little box too, but left off the sequins and stars. As I put together the list of supplies below, I realized that two of the colors of embossing powder I used are no longer available, the Melon Mambo and the Tangerine Tango. So sorry about that. However, if you have been buying SU stuff for a while, I bet you have them in your stash ;)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Well, that is it, finally, for me. Now it is time to go see what Adriana has whipped up for us!