Gogh have a Great Birthday

In other posts using recycled playing cards (Drama Queen), and King for a Day I promised to show more ideas. Any idea in the craft room for Gin Rummy cards is better than using them to play cards with my husband -- he always wins!

My son's good friend who studied art with him and is now in the art industry just had a birthday. Here's the card I made for him using discarded playing cards. The Van Gogh stamp is from Flax in San Francisco. Inside, my greeting was: "I hope you Gogh and have a great birthday!" Lightly sand the face of old playing cards, stamp an image. Sponge the edges using a Memories Brown Ink Pad to continue the aged look. Simple as that! The background paper is from Dollar Tree and is affixed to a folded sheet of white card stock. One stamped card image is set inside a sizzix copper cardstock frame and the one that overlays is attached with foam mounts. Just think, with just one old deck of playing cards (already aged and distressed), there are 52 opportunities to make something new without shuffling too much through your stash! Happy Birthday Craig -- was your birthday a Van Gogh?

My Little Pirate's Birthday

My grandson is celebrating a birthday this week and this was a quick and fun card that I know he will love. My fav Sizzix makes quick work of this although it did require a bit of piecing for the clothing and sword. The sand is torn and ink sponged cardstock. The background is a fall leaf stamp. The only thing missing from this scene is the treasure -- and that belongs to me! My grandson is my treasure! Happy Birthday Ryan.

An Award!

Rica's Haven is one of my favourite haunts and I couldn't be more delighted for Heather to have listed me as one of the recipients of this award. Heather's cards are perfection and she posts multiple cards faster than I can make one, or even think about making one. Please go by and visit -- you'll be glad that you did. As you all know, an award is to be shared and so here is where I send this lovely award on to a just a few of my favorites:

Sue Drees

SusieQ

Sandra

Fabricbutterfly

Mama Monkey

Sue from Oregon
Scrapper Julia

Coldwaters2

Plus many, many more of you wonderfully talented folks!

The Tulip Challenge

My friend Linda, and all her family are gathering to celebrate her mother's 90th birthday. To give me some inspiration for a card, Linda told me her mother's favorite flowers are tulips, peonies, gladiolas, and lilies. This was my challenge because of all the stamps in my collection, the only one of these I could find was one Hero Arts tulip stamp! While rummaging through the "flower" drawer, I found this adorable little old-fashioned girl (Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers) and wondered why it was there until I realized that the flower drawer was also labeled "Easter" and on her skirt were the words "Happy Easter" and her basket is full of little chicks. Ahhh, an idea hatched! I used the tole technique for dimension -- the bonnet and ribbon are separately cut out, burnished and raised. The tulips are cut out and inserted in a slit cut in the basket, and lay over top the chicks (which I colored green so there would be no sign left of them). One tulip drapes down with a wire stem and the tiny "Happy Birthday" is glued atop the "Happy Easter." Once the little girl was all assembled, for even more dimension, she was affixed with foam dots on top of the Darcie cottage scene. A Stampendous verse inside says: "Today I Celebrate You." So now I can truly say, I've met the tulip challenge and can happily send off Birthday Greetings to Dorothy on her 90th Birthday!

Really Red Roses

Penny Black has put forth a color challenge this week in honor of the USA's birthday: red, white, and blue for the American Flag. "Easy Peasy" as one of my blogging friends like to say because I still had out all those colors from my last posting. Another blogging friend, Heather, suggests using silicone for the tole technique and I agree it worked very nicely on the rose bouquet. Though the image doesn't show very well, I kept the kitties in their natural stamping color (Memories Midnight Blue) and only colored a slight pink tint on the ears, nose, and cheeks. The oval frame and flowers are Sizzix (still trying to justify all those purchases) and the frame is edged with pleated tissue paper. Other features: Cuttlebug embossing folder, blue sponging on the red flowers., rickrack and DCWV blue print. The really red roses are prisma markers. Be sure and stop by the Penny Black blog to see those gorgeous creations by the DT.

Now, I've really got to clean off the washer and dryer and do some real work. Ahh, do you think I'm kidding?

Happy Birthday Sarah and America

One of my dear friend's birthday is the 4th of July and for many years, we attended an event sponsored by mutual friends/associates who had a big "backyard" party that included bona fide fireworks (as in really up in the air displays). This celebration is now only memories from the past but I remind Sarah of this July 4th celebration and her birthday with this card. I used the same sketch from a recent House Mouse challenge to make easy work of this 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 card. The image is actually a Christmas stamp and I changed the snowflakes floating down on the mice into fireworks with Art Institute Glitter and now, the mice trio, with the little drummer, certainly appear to be independence singers. The perfect background came from a DCWV tablet, and the flag was composed from a sizzix die. Coloring with prisma markers. This House Mouse design is also posted here in honor of another's birthday. America -- she is on the design team for the House Mouse challenge -- please go visit her and wish her a happy birthday too! I had to delay the posting of this card because I didn't want Sarah to see it before I hand delivered it to her yesterday. And, by the way, the hand delivery was well-rewarded with a housefull of Sarah's family and friends and a goodly amount of food and birthday cake. Happy Birthday USA, Sarah, and America!

Testing

test Two

Pansy Painter

This week's House Mouse challenge is to create something using paper tole -- the DT has done the usual lovely, lovely work. This is a new technique for me and I can't wait to do more. Several of the flower petals and several leaves and one of the stems are raised through the paper tole technique. I also did the burnishing on the back of the mouse image though I didn't applique over it. The primary flower has a dollop of crystal lacquer and three seed beads in the center. The background is a cuttlebug embossing folder lightly chalked and the edges are gold cs - also cuttlebug. The circle seals and butterfly are stickers from the Dollar Tree. You will be surprised that I have no clever remarks for this one -- but my son isn't around to grimace.

My Hand