Pop-Up Twirl Birthday Card

Dustin Pike has a challenge this week to create a birthday themed card or project using two colors from his blog header.  Good grief how hard should that really be?!?? LOL!  Well I've spent the entire week brainstorming and coming up with what I thought would be great birthday themed projects but every time I try to limit my rainbow to two colors I end up banging my head on the wall.  I was really stuck but I was also really determined.  I decided to call in help and I asked my 5 year old daughter (who at the time happened to be dressed all in pink complete with a tutu, pearls, chunky bling rings and a tiara) what one color she liked best from the header and (of course) she picked pink, and then I asked her what kind of card she wanted and (of course) she picked princess.  She could not be more girly girl if she tried, LOL!  So off I went brainstorming again.

I decided to try a new card I just saw last week on Split Coast Stampers called Pop-Up Twirl Card.  Oh-My-Gosh this has got to be the absolute coolest card I've ever made!  I did a test run with scrap paper first to be sure it would work and it did!  I used yellow as my second color, added some dark pink mirror paper for matting, used my Prisma pencils to color (and NO blending solution which was my own personal challenge that I added), printed the sentiments on my computer and popped up the castle on the cover for a little dimension.  When I took pictures to post I really could not convey the amazing twirling movement so I did a quick video and I hope it posts ok for you to see. 

See it in action!!

This was really fun and actually quite easy, well the mechanical part was easy at least - the color limitation is another story, ugh!  I did stick to all pinks and yellows except for the charcoal in the windows of the castle, and even though the rooftops look a bit purple they are a raspberry pink.  I admit I may have stretched the rules a bit with the grass at the bottom of the castle though because I did use a very yellowy'ish light green.  Slap my hands if you must but I'm sorry - pink and yellow just don't look right for grass!

I might still add a bit of stickles and some faux stitching, but my daughter will probably wear the card out before I get a chance, lol!  I guess she approves!


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Birdie Birthday Card

After fighting off a migraine all week (and not winning a couple of the days) I finally finished my birthday card for Dustin Pike's current It's A Party challenge.  What made the brain pain even worse was that I had my fancy schmancy new Prismas sitting on my table all lined up purty and staring at me the whole time just waiting to be played with.  I used my first two images that I was finally able to color for the card and WOOHOO how I love these pencils!  I used odorless mineral spirits with them and I'm amazed at the blending effect.  I did figure out some tricks to the blending and shading while coloring these images, but for me these are really so much easier than the Copics and Bics that I've been struggling with.  I think I've found my favorite coloring tools!!

For the card I decided to try the swing design that I have seen so many times and it totally amused my 5 year old, lol!  It is really such an easy pattern I'm not sure why I've never tried it before.  Paper is by K&Co (recognize it deb?? heehee! ).

CLOSED CARD VIEW

OPENED CARD VIEW

"SWINGING" CARD VIEWS

Another fun challenge in Pike's Playground!


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Easter Checkers Game

I'm entering another of Dustin Pike's challenges and this week he has challenged us to make an Easter themed non-card project.  Oh I love non-card challenges but gosh Dustin, this one week time frame is killin me, LOL! 

I decided to make a checkers game for my 5 year old using some of his pre-colored images.  I used an Easter digi for the regular side of the checkers and then I used a different image on the other side and added a crown that I cropped out of yet another of his images to make the checker "Kings".  I was afraid that the checkers would be difficult to grasp so I decided to put a foam pop dot in between the front and back layers and this made them just thick enough to easily pick up. 

For the board I cut strips of two patterned papers and wove them together and then glued and zig zag stitched the edges.  I didn't think through the board design well enough beforehand because the checker part of the board ended up 12x12, so to make a mat border I had to cut strips of paper on the diagonal and then glue under the edges of each side and trim.  I kind of got stuck when it came time to find chip board the right size too, oops.  I used cardstock pieces to fill in under the entire board and it did turn out pretty sturdy but a 5yo is kinda tough on toys so we'll see how long it stays flat, LOL!

I also made a little box to put the checkers in and I used another Dustin digi that I added the text "Checkers" to on the banner.  This image is colored with my Bics and Copics and I added stickles and a bit of Diamond Glaze too.  There's also some stickles on the checkers.

My daughter has driven me crazy the last couple days asking if it was ready to play with yet, and I kept telling her that I had to finish it and take pictures first.  But when that time finally came - I was missing ONE checker!!!!  It appears that this morning my darling daughter could not resist stealing one of the checkers to play with when I wasn't looking.  She had misplaced it and it took 20 minutes to find it tucked inside one of her coloring books, yikes!  I guess I should have made extra checkers to begin with...  LOL!


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Dance in the Rain

Dustin Pike's challenge this week is to use his digis with a "Spring Showers" theme.  I wanted to do something different than a card and decided to make my daughter a small wall hanging for her room.  I used the same quote that I put in her high school yearbook when she graduated.  I love this quote.  Words to live by indeed.

It was fun doing a non-card project again, I miss that.  I was going to hang this in her room at home but she is stealing it for her dorm room instead and that is ok with me because that means she really likes it, yay!


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What is better than a Dustin Pike digi?

SEVEN OF THEM! 

I've been wanting to make a stair step card for a while and decided to finally try one for my mom's birthday card.  I knew I wanted to use one of Dustin Pike's new spring digi's so I could enter his challenge HERE, and then I decided to challenge myself  further and combine a bunch of them into a scene.  I ended up with ... count them: SEVEN! 

Dudley: FebDay24B
Background: TreeB
Flowers: BottomB
Rainbow and Sun: JanDay6B
Butterflies: vbflysb
Dragonfly: Dragonflya
Flower circle border: RingB

This was fun.  I mean really FUN!!  It is one of those projects that you start tinkering with and keep adding to and then when it is done you don't want it to be because you had so much fun in the process. 

I used my BIC markers and Copics together, sitckles and glossy accents, and I used foam to pop up Dudley, the dragonfly and the front sentiment.  The butterflies were printed on the background and then also printed and cut out separately so I could overlay them and pop up their wings.  The back sentiment is edged using the Martha Stewart Deco Shell punch around the page set (absolute  fave!!).  I fussy cut everything I could and it took quite a while but I love to do it so I didn't mind.  I put what would normally be the inside of a greeting card on the very back of the card.  To be sure it would stand up and not droop, I cut a strip and, running it under the entire card, I glued one end behind the first layer of flowers and then tucked the other end in between layers glued on the very back accordion piece (when I glued the greeting part to the back of the card I left a small opening on the bottom for this tab to tuck into).

I have to make another of these for myself now because it is taking every ounce of energy to pull my grubby paws off it to give it away, lol!  It certainly won't be my last stair step card!

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Thanksgiving Card

My hubby's aunt had some ankle surgery and has been stuck in a cast for 8 weeks, ugh.  It's coming off this week, (YAY!!) but she may not be able to make the two hour drive to spend Thanksgiving with us so I am sending her a little card.  She's not the kind of person to sit still much so this has been a long two months, and I wanted to put some humor in it for good cheer in case she does have to stay up north.  I don't usually get to make Thanksgiving cards so this was fun to get to use some of the turkeys from Dustin Pike.  Pattern paper is K&Co, border punch is Martha Stewart's Lattice Arch and I popped dotted the turkey on the front a bit to give some dimension.  Nothing fancy, just fun, and I hope it gives her a good chuckle!

Happy Turkey Day!!


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