BIRTHDAY CARD STASH - DESIGNER CREATIVE CHALLENGE

Hey guys! Welcome to my little corner of the world. Today I decided to join in on Craftin Desert Divas Birthday Card Stash Creative Challenge.

Even with as much crafting as I do, I always find I’m in need of birthday cards. Let’s be honest, you can never have too many. This time of year I have a slew of birthdays coming up for various family members so this was the perfect opportunity to add to my stash!

I thought I would share what I do to streamline my card making process when I’m making multiple cards. I am all about putting cards together assembly line style. I like to do everything in groups. For example I will color all my images, then cut them all out, work on all my backgrounds, add my images, and finally add my sentiments.

For today’s project I printed out all my images from Craftin Desert Divas Space Cadet digital set, grabbed a lap tray, and spent a little time multi-tasking, in which I mean I was watching a movie with the family while I colored away. I’ve had quite a busy week, so to save some time I started up my Brother Scan N Cut and let it cut out the images. I threw all my images in a little container then set to cutting up a couple sheets of black cardstock. I knew I wanted to do a Galaxy background for these cuties but that can be time consuming, so I opted for the quick and easy galaxy background. I used my black cardstock and added some Distress Oxide Ink for some color and splattered some white gouache and some Dr. Ph. Martin's Iridescent Silver Calligraphy Color for “stars”. Next I added the images that were going to be flat on the cards with some Multi Medium Matte and added the images that were going to be popped up with foam tape; then added my sentiments. Last but not least I finished off my cards with some Fairy Dust and Lollipop sequins.

Project Supplies
Stamps: Space Cadet Digital Set
Inks: Distress Oxide Inks in Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon for the background. For the “moon” that the cadets are standing on Antique Linen and Hickory Smoke.

Paint: White Gouache and Dr. Ph. Martin's Iridescent Silver Calligraphy Color

Adhesive: Multi Media Matte and Foam Tape

Accessories: Fairy Dust and Lollipop
I have to say that this was such a fun challenge and I got some much needed birthday cards out of it. Don't forget you can join Craftin Desert Divas Digi Stamp Club and get $14 worth of Digi Stamps for $7.

Until next time, keep on crafting!

Crazy Week

This week I didn't have time to take any pictures of the card process as it was an absolutely insane week. Between the hubby's birthday, my nephew's birthday, and my anniversary I was surprised I had time to craft.

How do you all handle a crazy week? I am honestly curious? How do you busy people find the time to craft or blog, or just relax?

I planned out as much as I could, but obviously somethings are just out of my control. I had been smart enough to get a head start on many of the hubby's birthday crafts, but not all of them. My week began with scurrying to finish up the remaining projects for the hubby's birthday. Next we had the hubby's party with my side of the family. Normally we would have just had one big party, but my super busy brother and sister in law wanted to do a joint party for my nephew and my hubby. My adorable nephew idolizes his uncle so a joint party was born.

See there is the nephew, didn't I tell you he is adorable. As you might be able to tell he is a San Francisco Giants fan, he loves Lego, Star Wars, his Uncle Don, and cake. 

See that corner of missing frosting? Told ya the kid loves cake! Any-who.... My card for the week is my nephew's birthday card. I apologize for the lack of pictures and quality of pictures, but as I said it was a crazy week. 

I used My Favorite Thing's Space Explorer stamp set along with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi and some Gouache paints to make this galaxy scene. 

Now go forth, craft, and have fun. 

Stranger Crafting

Today's post doesn't really have a lot of stamping involved, but there was a lot of crafting going on. This week is my husband's birthday and I had been procrastinating on his birthday card. I was struggling with what theme I would use and what I would do with it. The hubby and I are NERDS, as in married on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise NERDS; I have made him Star Trek cards, Zombie cards, and Star Wars cards. The hubby has a lot of interest, which you think would make it easy to pick something. I was really starting to get anxious that inspiration would never hit.

THEN BAM! 

Please note there may be minor SPOILERS ahead so proceed at your own risk.

Photo Credit: {Netflix}

As with all things in life, the hubby and I were late to the Stranger Things fandom, but we've dived right in.  

The hubby has also recently taken a shine to breaking out the old VHS player and watching movies on VHS; he's nostalgic. I decided to make him a Stranger Things card in a box using an adorable set of Stranger Things clip art I purchased on Etsy.  Now if you have never seen what a card in a box looks like, they are a pop up card that is meant to fold down flat to fit into an envelope. One side of the box stays up while the other three sides are bent down. Like this:

Photo Credit: {Splitcoaststampers.com}

I had this idea in my head that I wanted the outside and back of the box to look a little like Joyce Byers' living room. So, remember earlier when I said that there wasn't a lot of stamping, the only thing I stamped was both the inside and outside of the card in a box with a wood grain background. I then did some Google searching for something akin to her wallpaper and those lights. You know the ones I am talking about.

Photo Credit: {Netflix}

I also wanted the three flaps that are bent down to represent The Upside Down.

Photo Credit: {Netflix}

This is what I came up with after some light stamping, printing, fussy cutting, and gluing. 

I have to say that I loved the way it turned out, but I felt like doing just a Stranger Things card was not enough. I decided I wanted to do a snack pack with some of the hubby's favorite goodies. Since I was already doing the Stranger Things theme, I figured I would use an old/empty VHS case. I did some more Googling and found a couple of VHS covers, printed, and trimmed them to size. It wasn't until I was loading my pictures though that I noticed a LARGE typo on the back of the insert. Overall though it is adorable. I love the idea of giving small gifts or snacks in unusual containers. 

That's all I have for today. Next week we'll be back to stamping!