The Magical Funghi

Greetings fellow crafters.  I have been working on some cards and wanted to share one with you today.  Scrapbook.com gave away a free Lawn Fawn stamp, Happy Funghi, with every purchase during National Scrapbooking Day and if you do not know, I really love Lawn Fawn stamps (and dies).  So I had to get this stamp.  On the way home from work Wednesday evening, I had an idea for the stamp.  Some may get it, others might not  (I was born in the 60s).  I used the Happy Funghi stamp,  masked it and used the two mushroom stamps from Gleeful Gardens, and a favorite greeting from Fairy Friends.  The background was painted using distress inks on Carson XL cold press and a Pentel waterpen.  I hope you enjoy it.

Peace out, Girl Scout!  :-)

Mike

The Ton Floral Borders

Greeting fellow cardmakers.  Today I wanted to share a couple of cards made using Effie Cho's new Floral Border red rubber stamp by The Ton.  Taking black cardstock, I used Versamark Ink and Ranger Gold Embossing powder.  I heated the cardstock and got the most beautiful embossed image!  I then used the SOA Young At Heart Birthday Diecuts to create greetings for both cards (I used Glitter Card Stock for the die cut).  I did try to place a white shadow behind Happy Birthday but was not as successful and I would like.

Thank you for looking and have an awesome day!  Mike

Lawn Fawn Chirpy Chirp Chirp

Good morning fellow crafters!  Today I want to share some cards I have made over the last week.  These are made using the new Lawn Fawn Chirpy Chirp Chirp stamp set, Meadow Borders Die Set and Stitched Rectangle Frame dies.

The above used the new die I got from Laurel Beard.  Thank you Laurel.  I really love the Peek a Boo look.

Papers are from the new Lawn Fawn paper series 'Let's Polka in the Meadow' and 'Perfectly Plaid'.  They are beautiful.

Have a Blessed Easter to all!

Mike

Good day fellow crafters.  Today I want to share a card using what I call the recycled ink on stencil method. I used a chevron stencil with Distress Inks to make a background on cardstock, and then took the stencil, spritzed it with water and flipped it and rubbed it on card stock.  The card below is the result of the process.  I really like the distressed visual interest.  The die cut is from the recent issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.  I hope you like it.

Have a great day!

SOA Happy Birthday

Today is a card I made using the stamps and dies from the first quarter Stamps of Approval kit.  I used distress inks to create the background and then spritzed some water on it and took that up after 20 seconds with a paper towel to give a distressed look.  I then used the various stamps and die cuts to create this fun card.  The cake is raised with foam squares.   I hope you enjoy it.

If you missed the kit, the separate components will be available in the near future.

Happy Birthday LawnScaping Challenge

Good day my crafty friends. I am entering the Lawnscaping Challenge #124.

My entry was made using Distress Inks over an awesome stencil and then using elements from the Lawn Fawn Party Animals set.  I used the new Spectrum Noir glitter pen over the cake and party hats.

I had lots of fun making this and hope you enjoy it.

Stamp of Approval Young at Heart

Good morning.  I wanted to share a card I made with Catherine Pooler's awesome Stamp of Approval Young at Heart Birthday stamp and die collection.

Using the Ring in the Celebration stamp set, I stamped regular Neenah White 140 lb. card stock with Tim Holtz Distress Inks (love the wilted violet!. This did give a lightly distressed look to the entire card.  I then embossed a piece of Core'dinations Color cardstock for a textured mat to co-ordinate with the inks.

I hope you enjoy it. Have a great day.

Mike

SOA and SSS

This card was made using the Winnie and Walter stencil from SOA release 1 and the Simon Says Stamp heart from last year.  I hope you like it.  Watercolors used on the embossed heart.

Lawn Fawn Little Stinker

Here are a couple of cards using the new Lawn Fawn Little Stinkers stamp (special Black Friday deal).  I hope you like.  They were a lot of fun to make.

Lawn Fawn and SOA cards

Greetings to all.  Today, I want to share some cards I made using an SOA stencil from release 1 Winnie and Walter and the new Lawn Fawn lightbulb stamp set.

Enjoy.

Working with Stamps of Approval Kit #1

Greetings to all my fellow crafties!  During this weekend's World Card Making Day (weekend for me), I had the chance to relax and explore the beautiful stamps and stencils on the Stamps of Approval First Editions Kit.  I normally shy away from the more feminine orientated stamps with 'girlfriend' type sentiments, but with the holidays approaching soon and requests for some card sets, I realized this set is a blessing in disguise and will be perfect for the recipient to use.  Focusing on Eva's Favorite Flowers and the awesome circle stencil, here are some of my creations.  For those who have interest, the Second Edition Kit will be offered very soon.  You can visit here to be notified of the next kit.

The possibilities of these stamps are unlimited.  I will be using these for many projects.  Thank you Catherine Pooler for such an awesome kit!

Have a great day everyone and thanks for visiting!

Winners for Laura's Shop and Hop

Good morning fellow craftys!  Today is the announcement of the winners for last week's Laura's Shop and Hop blog contest.
Please visit Laura at noon eastern time today to claim your prize.

1st prize winner is Sara Schumann.

2nd prize winner is Mary Borg.

Thank you.

Sponsored by http://www.lauralscott.com/

My card for the day is below:

The card was made with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I used Stampin' Up card stock. Hope you enjoy it.

Laura's Shop and Hop

Welcome to today's post in honor of Laura's Shop & Hop!

Today I am hopping with Laura over at Laura's Loft for the Grand Opening of her shop and First Blog Hop. We have some wonderful talent gathered today and I am sure you will love what they have created.

There will be prizes awarded and I will have that information below.

In honor of today's hop, I made a very simple card using the new Fuse Tool available at Laura's shop.  I created a background using some wonderful ColorBursts and let them dry.  I took a balloon die and die cut it from some printed card stock.  I then took a sheet protector (very inexpensive) and laid the balloon die on it. After ensuring the Fuse Tool was hot, I slowly moved the tool outside the die leaving the top uncompleted. I filled in a multitude of sequins and beads to match the card stock and background and then placed the die back on top and finished sealing the sheet protector.  I did a careful cut around the perimeter of the sheet and then using glue sealed it inside the front cardstock.  Then I sealed that to the background page and then placed that on an A2 card stock cut out of Neenah 110 lb. card stock.  The Fuse Tool is amazing and I look forward to creating many cards with it.  It is available at Laura's.

First Prize:  $30 Gift Certificate at Laura's Shop

To Enter

1. Hoppers must Follow Laura's blog and/or subscribe to her mailing list
2. Follow Laura on Instagram
3. Comment on Laura's blog

Second and Smaller Prize

$10 Gift Certificate to Laura's shop

To Enter:

Follow the hop and comment on each stop.

To Choose the winner, Laura will be using Random.org and verify the winner has visited and commented on each of the blogs

Prizes will be drawn on Wednesday the 30th. 

Please visit our members below:

Laura's Loft 

Deana Benson

Melissa Nash Oeters

Ellen Haxelmans

Kristy Dalman

Mike Bakeler-You are here

Thank you for looking and have fun!

Mike

LawnFawn Oh Snap!

It is that time of new stamps and even fresher ideas.  I received the awesome Lawn Fawn Oh Snap stamps and dies last week.  Last evening, while resting after a long day at work, a light bulb popped off in my head on how to use the stamp set.  Below is the result of that light bulb.

I used the Lawn Fawn Sweet Christmas stamp and die set.  I stamped out two houses and eight candy canes.  I colored the house with Spectrum Noir markers to match my own house on one set and only the rafters from the second set and die cut them.  I then fussy cut the second set that resemble lights. I attached the half of lights over the house and then let the second half hang as if dropped.  I then used the candy canes to create a ladder.  I then used the Lawn Fawn Oh Snap stamp and die set and stamped with Versamark on brown kraft paper and used Hero Arts white embossing powder.  I used the matching dies to cut out the pieces.  I used distress inks (Broken China and Mowed Lawn) on a piece of card stock to prepare for the background and then die cut it and the kraft brown card stock using Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies.  I die cut some grass and a rolling hill and assembled the card.   I stamped the sentiments using the Oh Snap stamp and the Get Well Soon stamp from the Lawn Fawn Get Well Soon stamp set,  I finished up with a few sequins to givee the allusion of snow flurries.  It may be wrong but I just had to do it.
Have a great day!

Lawn Fawn Day

Greetings to all.  While waiting for my special Stamptember Lawn Fawn stamps, I wanted to show a couple cards I made using stamps from previous collections.  Many will think they are cute but are for kids, like Trix, but in reality, that is not the case.  When I have a few Lawn Fawn stamp cards at work, they disappear out of my hand faster than you can say 'Jimmy crack corn'!  LOL

I hope you enjoy these two cards.  The first card was done with watercolors for the background and castle and Spectrum Noir pens for the rainbow and unicorn.

This second card was made for a hurt colleague.  It was kept very simple and clean and colored with Spectrum Noir pens.

That's it for today.  I want to wish you a great day.  I am going to work on some fall and Halloween cards and look forward to sharing with you.

Fall is in the air..somewhere

Greetings to you. We had a low of 74 yesterday so that is the signal that fall will soon be upon us in the Sunshine State.  In honor of the seasonal trigger, I have created some fall cards with new stamps from Penny Black and Whipper Snapper.   Here is the fall stamp from Penny Black.

I did a watercolor of the above stamp.  I then did a second stamping using Momento Tuxedo Black and used Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers to color it.

The sentiments for both of these cards are from Virginia Turtle Stamps (Crafter's Essentials) and I really cannot say enough how cleanly they stamp.

I then stamped my new Whipper Snapper stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Spectrum Noir markers.  Hope you like them.

Simon Says Stamp 2015 September Stamp Set

I hope you had a great Labor Day (Labour Day for those in the great white north!).  This weekend, I watched a video by Laurel Beard  and was inspired to try the alcohol ink method she discussed based on a video from Gina K.  I used the Simple Simon Says September stamp set for the first two cards.

 Above,  I did the angled vertical stripes.  On the card below, I tried to create a plaid using blue, red, and purple.

Next, I found a leaf stamp and did a card using purple, and orange.  The intersections created a really neat brown tone. I also did an inlaid die-cutting technique I learned from a Catherine Pooler video and used a very small acorn stamp for accents.

Then I wanted to use the SSS stamp set a bit more and created the two below birthday cards using the Balloon dies from SSS and the current stamp set.  The first one was done on water color paper.

This next card was created using Versamagic pigment inks (first time using them and I was pleasantly surprised at the coverage on the solid clear stamp).

I realize I need to work on my emblellishments but I had a lot of fun making these card.

Have a great day!

Another Birthday Card

Good day to you.  This weekend, I played with my new Sizzix Tim Holtz Mixed Media Dies.  Below is the first card that I created.  For the sentiment, I used the Simon Says Stamps Big Scripty Sayings stampset (it is becoming one of my favorites) and I used distress inks on Ranger Distress watercolor paper for the background.  Flowers were made using stamps and dies from The Ton.

I hope you enjoy it.

Honey Goes North! A composition in white.

Greeting fellow crafty friends.  Today, I present to you my latest brainstorm- "Honey goes north!".

Using The Elizabeth Craft Design (ECD) die Ring Accordion, I cut four rings.  I cut out the center from two and set them aside.  I then glued the second ring to the first to create a more stable ring.  I attached the two rings together.  Since this was a white on white challenge to myself, I needed to focus on textures and embellishments to help me.  I used Stickles in Icicle on the rings and let that dry(I hope this is not cheating since there is a slight pinkish tinge to the Stickles).  Using the ECD  All Seasons Tree snowflakes, I cut out many snowflakes.  Once the Stickles was dry, I glued the snowflakes on the ring for a wintery frame.

Next, I wanted to find the perfect white buddy for the card.  North, white, a fox maybe?  No, a polar bear!  I used the Honey the Bear die from ECD and cut him out in white.  I used a bit of Wink of Stella on the body for a highlight and to deal with the eyes, I cut out a pair of glasses from the Props 1 set using white glitter paper.  I cut another pair in regular white cardstock and covered the lenses with Glossy Accents.  Once all was dry, I assembled Honey the White and had him hold a snowflake that I cut out using the ECD Snowflakes set.

Now I took the two leftover circles and embossed them with a snowflake embossing folder from Crafter's Companion.  I glued the circles on the card and added Honey on the left side.  Lastly, I die cut Season's Greetings three times (once in Glitter White and twice in white cardstock) and glue them together for depth and mounted the sentiment on the right circle.  I attached the inner circles together and the card was completed.  I hope you enjoy it.

The closed card.

The open card.

Have a great day and keep on crafting.

Happy Birthday Sizzix Flourish Set

Good day to you.  I hope you are doing well.  Last evening, I needed to create a quick birthday card.  I recently acquired the Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder with Stamp - Flourish Set and wanted to use it for the first time after being inspired by a Catherine Pooler video (love her videos!).  Using y Misti, I took out the foam and inserted the background stamp.  For the first card, I used Ranger Watercolor cardstock.  I used various Distress Ink colors randomly on the stamp and lightly sprayed the stamp with water and pressed it into the watercolor paper.  I thought the results were beautiful.

I repeated the process using regular Darice 110 lb Note paper.  This was beautiful also.  I embossed both pieces using the included embossing folder through my Sizzix Big Shot.  I trimmed a piece of vellum and stamped it using the Happy Birthday script stamp from Lawn Fawn with Versamark and then applied SSS White ultrafine Embossing Powder.   For the other card, I then cut out a Happy Birthday using the Elizabeth Craft Die set and black glitter paper.  I used a Distress Inkpad and colored the edges of the card stock and mounted the completed embossed piece.  I finished off with a couple strands of embroidery thread.  I hope you like the finished pieces.  I tried to keep the cards simple due to all the colors of the background.

Have a great day.
Mike

Crazy Birds Part Deux

The Sizzix Tim Holtz Bird Crazy love is still continuing.  I stamped and die cut the other five birds from the set and watercolored these ( I used Neenah paper which was not made for watercoloring).  To ensure I did not ruin the paper when I used the Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen set,  I placed a bit of the ink on an acrylic block and using an aquabrush, colored the stamp.  I used various sentiments and finished the eyes of each bird with Ranger Glossy Accents.  I am pleased with the blending from the Akashiya Sai pens.  Thank you.

Thanks.

Mike