Playing with my Cuddlebug - Mother's Day Card

Do you get in a rut?  I sure do so I was looking at my dusty Cuddlebug and realized how lonely the poor bug was.  I pulled it off the shelf, dusted him off and put the little darlin' to work!



To begin this card I had colored my image with Primacolor Pencils.  I used a Classic Scallop Small Oval Nestability to cut it out and emboss the edge.  I figured out that Stampin Up's Certainly Celery color matched the leaves and Orchid Opulance matched the purples.  So I cut a layering oval out of the Certainly Celery and a used one of the Label Eight shapes to cut out the purple shape. I embossed the purple layer using a Cuddlebug embossing folder.  I inked all the edges using matching inks and gently rubbed over the embossing with a sponge dauber and Orchid ink.

Another stash find was my pack of Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock. (Forgot I had this!)  I cut a mat and embossed it with the swiss dots folder.  After I sanded the top the green dots came to life.  By now my Cuddlebug needed a nap!

I put the card together and wanted to add the heart pins but they were in a really gross orange color.  I had found them at a garage sale last summer for $.25 and at the time thought I'd find some use for them.  I   stared at these gross looking hearts for the longest time and finally remembered a tip my friend told me about. 

I dug out a violet pigment ink that was sitting in a drawer.  Then I inked the heart end of the pin with the violet ink and quickly dipped it into clear embossing powder.  Carefully using my heat gun I set the embossing powder and TADA... Violet heart pins! 

So keep digging through your stash and use up what you have!  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Perfect Pearls Mother's Day Card

In these tough economic times I have challenged myself to use things from my stash.  I was rearranging some of my inks and embossing powders and came across 2 pots of Ranger's Perfect Pearls that I had purchased last year.  I'm also on a mission to make my own background patterns instead of buying patterened paper.



To Create the background for this card I started with a 4" x 5.25" piece of Stampin Up Whisper White Cardstock.  I inked the cardstock starting with YoYo Yellow in the center, gradually blended in Marigold Morning and finished the edges with Rose Red.  After this dried I used a background stamp that I inked up with Destress Ink in Mustard Seed.  Destress Ink stays wet longer than dye inks and works great for applying Perfect Pearls.  I chose the Mustard Seed color so that it would be very subtle. 

While the ink is wet use a small paint brush and dip the tip in the pot of Perfect Pearls (I used Copper) and brush over the sections you want to highlight.  When you are finished adding the Perfect Pearls use a larger paint brush and brush over the entire image removing the excess.  What you have left is a shimmery pattern. Click on the top picture for a larger view.  It shows the pretty shimmer. 



I finished the card using a digi image that was colored with Prismacolor Pencils and cut out.  I also created a tiny Mom charm using Shrinky Dinks.  Hope you try using Perfect Pearls soon.  You will be amazed at how cool the finished image is. 

Here is a link to Ranger Perfect Pearls Embellishment Pigment Kit, Metallics so you can see all the cool colors it comes in.   Enjoy!

Mother's Day Card

I have ventured into the card making phase of this hobby. My first card is a Mother's Day card. I used the double pocket fold to create the card. This shows the card with a tag in the back pocket.



















Here is the card with the tag beside it. You can put anything in the pockets.