And now I'm even double dipping!

(Edit: After learning of the amazingness of Your Next Stamp, this card is now for 3 challenges! w00t!)
This frosty birthday card is for three challenges. (That's pretty big for me!) The first challenge is the Pollycraft Monday Challenge. The challenge this week is to use winter/christmas stamps on a birthday card. So, I pulled out my DCWV Holiday matstack and my trusty Inkadinkadoo Snowflake stamps and made my own patterned paper (under the beer glass). I colored the beer glass with colored pencils and popped up the beer foam. I used light blue shading and some clear embossing powder to make it look a bit more enticing. Yum-o! Fantabulous embossing on the foam makes this card YNS #7 - Embossing worthy! Score!
 I then used my making memoried magnetic stamp set (and the Rummage Alphabet) to make my sentiment. After I decided what I wanted to make, I decided I needed a sketch. I'm a little predictable with my layouts! So, I headed over to Tuesday Morning Sketches and found the perfect sketch. To make the sketch fit my bubbly beverage I pulled another piece of patterned paper from the Holiday matstack and cut out some equal sized snowflakes.
I think I've finally made a card for a guy without using glitter, ribbons, pink, or flowers. I'm beaming with pride now! And it worked for three challenges. Lovely!
Card details
Paper: All from DCWV Holiday Collection
Sketch: Tuesday Morning Sketches
Stamps: Magnetic stamp set by making memories, Grunge Alphabet
Embellishments: Clear embossing powder from A la card, Snowflakes cut from DCWV Holiday Collection paper, 3-D foam from 3L adhesives, colored pencils by Crayola, image from stash

Embossing is exciting!

I have a secret confession. Sometimes I make cards that I don't like. What's worse is that I give the cards I don't like to people that I would otherwise buy cards for. I think Belinda can relate to the phenomena of spending so much time on a card that you can't bear to give it away let alone think of what the recipient might do with it.
So, I'm sure you can guess the background behind this card. I had just received multiple crafty items in the mail all at once and I felt that I had to try them all out at once. So, I used my new rollerstamp (PeachyCheap), my new clear inkpad (The Scrapbooker's Schoolhouse), my new embossing heat gun (Joann's), and my new metallic embossing powders (Joann's) all on the same unsuspecting 5x7 card. It never saw it coming!
I must admit though, it was a good exercise. I figured out how much I need to heat the powders, played with new stamps, and felt redeemed because I hadn't technically wasted paper. (A real pet peeve of mine is wasting supplies such as paper and ink.) I had also forgotten about a friend's birthday. So, I grabbed the "card" and a random bottle of booze off of the bar (unopened, thank you) and had an instant birthday gift put together for her. Fortunately, I chose to give it to my least crafty friend who thought it was an amazing feat that I was able to handmake the card. I think it was amazing that I was able to pull off unloading that card! :P
While making this card I did learn that there should be a limit to the amount of embossing powder that can legally be applied to one sheet of paper! Oh, and that if you heat it for too long your embossing powder will bleed through your paper. Most importantly, I learned that embossing is fun, and exciting! Although I think I may need to steal Laurie's ideas for decking out my next bottle o' booze!

The first of many "card swap" posts

I am happy to bring you the first of many card swap blog posts. Laurie, Belinda, Ren-Yi, and I are now on a crafty adventure! Laurie and Belinda are exhilarated and enthused. (Of course, they've been entering card competitions!) Ren-Yi and I are just frightened! (But eager, we did agree to this!) So, here's how it works: each month one person sends the same supplies to the other three people and we all post our creations using the same supplies. This is month one, I promise nothing.

So these are my cards. I recently bought an embossing tool and some buttons so I used those on the cards for the first time. Oh, and thanks to my CutterBee piercing bug, that is real stitching on the lower card. :)

I like the one with multiple buttons better. I used a nice blue and green pattern with the buttons and actually sewed them to the paper (the glue was failing me). The one with the star on would have looked better if I had used an embossing powder that was visible to the human eye. But, hey, I'm calling it a "creative decision" and chalking it up as a "learning experience". In other words, I'm not going to emboss on paper that has already been glued to the card anymore!

The supplies we were sent (that I wasn't smart enough to photograph) were 2 6x6 patterned papers, a green paper star, a length of blue ribbon, and some green and yellow square brads. I didn't use the ribbon or brads and I have a sliver of paper left. I may be posting another card soon! :)

Hope you are enjoying this little adventure of ours! I know I am!

Steph

The blog list, so you can see what the others have created for your viewing pleasure!
Belinda
Laurie
Ren-Yi
Stephanie