Striped Birthday Card

Today I have a striped birthday card to share. It's a great way to use up your scraps, too!

This card went to one of my nephews. I always find it a bit tough to make cards for tween/teenage boys. I played around with a few color combos before I came up with this one. 

While I'm using this card for a birthday, I think it would make a neat graduation or congratulations card, too. I chose the "hooray!" stamp from SRM's Birthday Plans Stamp Set. I used a oval from My Favorite Things Dienamics Wonky Oval dies to create the base for the "hooray!" I decided it needed a bit more color, so I stamped a few stars (also from Birthday Plans) and colored them in.

This striped birthday card is a fun way to wish someone a very happy birthday!

I wrote this post while participating on the SRM design team.

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

There just happen to be a lot of birthdays in May in my husband's family. Add to that Mother's Day and graduations, and May is a big month for card making for me. Today I wanted to share a clean and simple birthday card I created for one of my nephews.

I've seen a simple plaid created with card stock many times, but never tried it. I love the clean look of it, and it really is such a simple technique. I love shades of blue, so I used 2 complimentary shades of blue and a pop of orange to add some contrast.

I used SRM's Birthday Plans stamp set for my greeting and candle. I used Copic markers to add a bit more color to the greeting. I used some Pop Up Glue Dots® to add my card front to my card base. I love the clean look of white on white, and the Pop Up Glue Dots® help give a tone on tone layer look with a little extra dimension.

This clean and simple birthday card is just one of 3 I'll be making this month. Do you find that you have a month where you tend to make a lot more cards?

I wrote this post while participating on both the Glue Dots® and SRM design teams.

Masculine Birthday Card

My dad's birthday was at the beginning of August, so of course I needed a masculine birthday card. One of my favorite birthday stamp sets right now is Altenew Birthday Greetings, so I grabbed it to see what I could come up with.

I like that even in a simple birthday greeting stamp set, Altenew offers some options for layering up stamps to create some depth. In this set there is a balloon stamp and a stamp to create the effect of light shining off the balloon. I decided to use those stamps to create the background for my card.

To keep a masculine feel to the card I wanted to keep the colors a bit more masculine so I used blue, orange, and yellow. I used 2 shades of each color, one lighter and one darker. I stamped the balloon first in the lighter color, and then the shadow on the balloon in the darker shade of the same color.

I finished up with a simple birthday greeting. A straight font also helps lend a masculine feel to the card. When is the last time you had to make a birthday card for a guy in your life?

Stamping on Yupo

I've talked about creating a marbled background with Yupo paper, die cutting Yupo paper, creating an alcohol drop ink background on Yupo, now today I want to talk about stamping on Yupo.

I started my card by creating a marbled Yupo background with Copic markers. Then I used and Echo Parke die to die cut the edge. Finally, I stamped a simple greeting on the card.

 Since Yupo is a plastic paper, you can't use just any ink on the card. I have tried a few different kinds and found that Ranger Archival Ink works the very best. Give your stamped greeting or image a full 20 minutes to dry, and you'll be good to go! I did try Stazon Ink, and that worked as well. However, if you want to color an image in with Copic markers after stamping on Yupo do not use Stazon. Stazon and Copics don't play well together, and you can ruin your Copic marker.

As you can see, there are lots of fun ways to use Yupo! Have you tried any of these techniques yet?

Marbled Die Cut

Last week I shared a tutorial on how to make a marbled background with Yupo paper and Copic markers. Today I wanted to show that you can also die cut the marbled paper and make pretty marbled die cuts from Yupo paper as well.

 
I created the simple marbling with 3 Copic Markers on Yupo paper. Then I ran it through my Evolution Advanced Diecut machine. I find it's best to use a metal shim plate with the Yupo paper. Since it's a plastic paper you get a cleaner cut if you use a metal shim to cut against.

I used my die cut as the centerpiece for my card, since the marbling is just so pretty. I added a stamped sentiment from Altenew's Halftone Happy set. I added a little extra interest by scoring a frame around the die cut and layering it up on a pop of colored card stock. Since Yupo is a slick paper, I used some Micro Glue Dots® to attach my diecut to the card. Some Pop Up Glue Dots® between paper layers help add some dimension to the card.

Have you tried out this technique yet? I'd love to hear how you used you Copics with Yupo Paper.

This is a personal blog. All editorial content and projects are intellectual property of Taylor Stamped. I do receive financial compensation and material product from  Glue Dots® to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

A Colorful Birthday Card

My father-in-law and my youngest share a birthday. I love that they get to share a special day. Both of their birthdays are coming up in less than a week, so I need a card for my father-in-law. I decided to go with a colorful birthday card for him.

I used the same Poppy Stamps Stitched Borders die that I used on the birthday card from last week. I used 2 of the dies from the set (there are 3 total in the set) to cut out a section from the center of the card. Then, I layered 1/4" strips of colored card stock in the empty space.

I wanted to share a picture of how I layered up my card stock strips. I marked straight lines to help me get my card stock lined up straight. I put my adhesive on my white card stock and then just layered the colored card stock over the top of it. 

When I was all done layering my colored card stock, I placed my die cut white card stock on top. I used a happy birthday stamp from Altenew's Birthday Greetings for my sentiment that I colored in with matching markers.

A few simple enamel dots put the finishing touches on my colorful birthday card.

Birthday Card

We have lots of birthdays coming up in the month of May, so I've been working on some birthday cards. Today I have a fun, masculine birthday card to share with you.

I needed a birthday card for my nephew, so I wanted to keep the colors masculine. I also knew I wanted to use my stitched borders die. I began by die cutting the same stitched border multiple times, but in different, coordinating colors.

Since the layered die cutting adds a lot of interest to the card, I wanted to keep the stamping simple so the card wouldn't look super busy. I chose the Altenew Halftone Happy stamp set for my stamped images. I love the look of blue and orange together, so I chose those as my focal colors for my stamps.

 I finished up with a simple enamel heart from Bella Blvd.

This birthday card has already been signed and dropped in the mail. I'll be sharing a few more birthday cards in the upcoming weeks just in case you've got a few birthdays coming up, too!

Pokemon Party

This is a personal blog. All editorial content and projects are intellectual property of Taylor Stamped. I do receive financial compensation and material product from American Crafts and A Walk Down Memory Lane to develop my craft posts, but all ideas and opinions are my own. Some links are affiliate links.
This year my oldest son wanted a Pokemon theme for his birthday. He also decided that he wanted a small party with only family. But just because it was a small affair at our house, doesn't mean I couldn't have some fun decorating for his Pokemon Party! We R Memory Keepers just released their new DIY party collection (you can find the whole release here), and I put it and a few other crafty tools to good use for this party.

You can find 2 of my favorite decorations in the photo above.  I'll talk first about the honeycomb Pokeball. We R Memory Keepers now has honeycomb paper and some great honeycomb stencils.

I used the largest circle on the circle stencil to trace and cut out a red 1/2 circle and a white half circle. 

I glued them together with some Sticky Thumb Liquid Glue, added some black and white paper for embellishments, and hung it up. The best part is that once the party was over, my son moved it to his bedroom for a decoration.

I also created a super simple Pokemon Happy Birthday Banner with the Banner Punch Board.
I used some thick red and white Stamp School Pop Tone card stock for the base of the banner. To keep life simple, I  cut the paper right in half (making each banner piece 8 1/2 x 5 1/2) and used the banner punch board to add a fishtail to it.

I cut the letters out with my Silhouette Cameo. 

I also used the Silhouette Cameo to create my son's birthday name banner. I have an Ikea photo clip board that I rotate banners through. A few years ago I made a themed name one for my son's birthday, and now it's become a bit of a tradition to make one for every birthday.

I put the new We R Memory Keepers Garland Punch to good use too. We made lots of  garland in Pokemon colors to hang over the windows.

This punch is so easy to use, that I actually just handed the punch and some paper to my mom and she punched everything for me and my son's helped her put it all together....no instructions needed! 

My last Pokemon Party photo actually has nothing to do with paper crafting, but I wanted to share it anyways. I'm by no means a cake artist, but so far I have made every one of my kids' birthday cakes. My husband is a really good at drawing, so I often enlist his help. This cake was a team effort. I baked and frosted it, and then my husband piped on the black detailing, the 9 and Jaxon's name. It was really fun and tasted good too! 

I lucked out that We R Memory Keepers came out with their DIY Party collection just in time for my son's Pokemon Party. I was able to add so many extra hand made touches without it taking tons of extra time!
Thanks for stopping by!

Father's Day Cards

I can't believe it's June already, but that means it's time to start thinking about Father's Day. I've got my gifts, so now it's time for some Father's Day cards.

I wish you could see these in person. Therm O Web's Deco Foil is so pretty, and it just doesn't come across right in photos. For these cards I used the ocean blue foil. It's really striking in person, and looks great on those big, bold stripes.

I chose Avery Elle's The Man stamp set for both cards. It has lots of fun options for Father's Day cards for both outside and inside the card.

I used blue foil on both cards, but decided to mix up the accent colors. I went with red for the card on the left and orange for the card on the right. It's a little different than my standard blue and green combo for man cards.

I kept my embellishments pretty clean and simple so the foiled paper could really shine (pun totally intended!).

Have you made you Father's Day cards yet? I'd love to see them.
Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for Helping Me Shine - Teacher Thank You Cards

My kids just finished out the school year. I made two different sets of thank you cards for teachers and aides using We R Memory Keeper's dies and Embossing Folders. Today I'm sharing my Thanks for Helping Me Shine teacher thank you card set.

I knew I wanted to use the We R Memory Keeper's Gems dies. I also knew I wanted to go for a clean and simple look, so I decided to pair the diamond die from the Gems die set with the WRMK Next Level Embossing Folders.

I just want to note that these embossing folders are amazing! The dimension that you get from these is excellent, and there are different levels of dimension from the same folder, so the 3-D look of them is the best. I really haven't seen anything quite like these. I used a mix of folders from Geometric, and Gemstone.

I have found that you get the best, most defined results from heavier card stock, like the Stamp School Pop Tone card stock from A Walk Down Memory Lane. I cut my diamonds from American Crafts Glitter Paper to add some sparkle to the card. I recommend using a metal die cutting plate whenever you cut glitter paper. It gives you a much cleaner cut.

I printed my "Thanks for helping me shine!" from my computer using the same card stock I used on the cards.

I love how quickly this set went together. Each card is different, but made from the same basic components, so I was able to put them together faster. These clean and simple cards were a hit with the teachers. Will you be busy making teacher thank you cards this year?

A Trendy Christmas Card

Since Christmas is this week, I thought I'd share a trendy Christmas Card, just in case you're making up some last minute cards to hand out to teachers, neighbors, or the like (or if you're an over achiever and already looking for idea for cards for next year).  I actually think this might be my favorite Christmas card of all of the ones I have made this year. 

If you're a trend watcher, you know we're seeing gold everywhere (in fashion and in paper crafting).  I carried that trend through to my card here with some gold snowflakes and a strip of gold card stock at the bottom.   The snowflakes are from Avery Elle's Noel Stamp set, and besides the gold, I also stamped them in red, pale blue, and pink. 

We're still seeing a lot of vellum (it's such a soft and pretty trend), so I layered a bit of that on my card to act as a base for my greeting.  The "merry" is cut with WPlus9's Hand Lettered Holiday die set, and the "Christmas" is stamped with the coordinating Hand Lettered Holiday stamp set.  Make sure to use an ink like Staz-on when you're stamping on vellum, otherwise your ink won't dry properly. 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas week!  Thanks for stopping by.

Plaid Alcohol Ink Background

A little while back I heard about a technique that used alcohol inks to create a plaid background. It sounded so cool to me, and I had to try it out for myself. You know what? The technique is super fun and really, really easy. Check out the card I mad using this technique:

 ...and the possibilities are endless, since you can chose just about any color combo you want! Want to see more about how I created this card? I'm blogging over at A Walk Down Memory Lane today, and I have a video tutorial over there showing how to make a plaid background with alcohol inks. Click here to head on over to AWDML's blog  tocheck out the video and to check out more about the card below. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Folder Mini Album

I really like making mini albums. However, I don't like making them out of the same old things all the time, so I'm always thinking about how I can turn something into a mini album.  Enter these cool mini file folders from Authentique:

I saw them and thought, "Hey I could turn those into a cool mini album!".  I layered them up and used a bit of twine to bind them together, and ta-da! a mini album was created. I didn't think to take any pictures during the book binding process, but it was really easy. If you're interested in trying binding something like this, just search "book binding" on the web, and you'll find lots of great tutorials on different ways to do it (or feel free to shoot me an e-mail, and I'll do my best to explain what I did). Here are a few of my favorite pages from the album:

I grabbed a number of pieces of paper and a bunch of the embellishments from the Authentique Renew Collection, which made this album come together quite cohesively.

Thanks for stopping by!