humorous

You’re a Good Egg

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I know Sale-a-bration is over this year, but I had to play again with my favorite chicken stamp.  This guy just makes me giggle, and that is why I create things like this, to make me and others smile.  I do hope you got yourself this stamp set while it was available though.  I usually end up purging a bit after the sale is over since those products aren’t available anymore, but this Hey Chick set is a keeper.  That is why I got it in a wood mount set.

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This combination might look familiar since I just did a card with this kit making a floral thank you project.  This is the sixth of seven projects re-using left over workshop kits making them into something totally different.  Mission accomplished here once again.

The background was stamped with the Hardwood stamp in smokey slate and sponged heavily.  That is such a classic stamp.  I am sure it will be around for a long time.  The chicken was stamped in the upper center of the card front as to leave room for the ribbon and sentiment below.  Water color pencils came in handy for a quick color job and touched up with an aqua pen to blend the colors in.

Instead of a bow like the last card, I wrapped it twice around and gave it a little know. It looks great!  To keep with the sponged look of the wood background I sponged the card front equally well.  That also helped to draw additional focus to that awesome chicken, as if he needed help.

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The inside got a little stamp from the same set and a second sentiment.  The cute egg got the same coloring treatment and a touch of sponging around the edges of the paper.  It was a fairly quick project, always faster when the papers are all ready to go.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Blooms & Wishes Gone Wild

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Using a stamp set different than intended can lead to some lovely results.  The main image here is a flower base and the sentiment does come from the same set.  However, when you change it up some, and maybe create a silly creature instead, that same sentiment remains tender, but also very silly.  That kind of sums me up I guess.

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The background took some time, and I nearly tossed it when I was sure it was wrecked. Since I make myself walk away sometimes and return with a new perspective, I kept on. The colors came together nicely and I wish I could repeat it.  Sadly, I think this will be a one of a kind for sure.

The flower creature was stamped in black, leaving plenty of room for those little legs. He got a heavy brushing with gold wink of stella and a couple of google eyes.  I tried a mouth, kind of, but let it go.  It will just have to remain a mystery.

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The inside got some echo stamping with a smaller flower from the same set and that was all it needed. What an adorable card if I do say so myself, and I do.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sending Love and Lots of Hugs!

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This little trickster made me so cranky last Friday.  I had this vision, I was pretty sure I could make it work, I hated my water coloring but loved the stamping.  I do dislike wasting, so I set it aside and decided to come back to fix it later.  I love the fix, a lot.  I am looking forward to making this kind of fixed mistake again.  With better water coloring of course.

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A simple shaker card is what I had in mind.  I stamped these little monsters three times.  I even used my stamp-a-ma-jig for oh so tidy placement.  Then I did what I thought would be a quick water color moment.  It turned out too quick and I thought sloppy.  No problem, put a layer of velum cardstock up on some foam adhesive strips and make a fun shaker card. I was so unhappy with the painting that I just walked away.  I couldn’t see through my error.  Saturday night helped me through though.

I had the thought that the foam strips would look like a white border, and they did kind of, but I didn’t like how that looked. So I ran some glue around the edges, placed some guilding flakes on the glue and brushed them in place.  That covered that problem quite well.  I punched out plenty of hearts using the hearts border punch, adorable of course. Added in some glitter, which really wanted out the corners I might add.

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I was going to leave it with the ribbon and be happy, but I wasn’t.  It needed a sentiment, but I was already committed to the velum and didn’t want to hide the opaqued monsters. What to do? I found this adorable tag die in the window box thinlits die set, grabbed a tiny sweet sentiment from the sealed with love stamp set and attached it with some silver metallic thread. Then the basic rhinestones finished it off.  Phew!  Several days of work on that one, that was supposed to be a quick project.  Right.  Either way, now I have a fun way to put all of these products to use and send out the love!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Tasty Trucks

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Let’s taco ’bout how awesome you are!  What a great sentiment to use, right?  This adorable stamp set has many little food options to decorate with, hot dogs, cup cakes, ice cream cones, and pancakes.  They all fit in with this little food truck that can be decorated all kinds of ways.  And no, that is not designer paper, I stamped all those little tacos and gave them some color too.  It didn’t take long, but they are super fun.

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The truck made me giggle a bit, even more than the tacos.  My oldest daughter is all about the puns and today she needed a pick me up.  This is it.  Life isn’t always fun, but cards sure can be.  This one especially.

I stamped everything, followed that up with coloring in water color pencils and blended everything in super quick with an aqua painter.  How fun and easy!  Coloring the truck took longer just because I had some color choices to make, not much else though.  Simple and silly is the theme for today and I couldn’t be more pleased.  I think I will spend some more time at my desk making silly cards.  What a great way to spend the afternoon.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

I Hope You Feel Appreciated

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think I will ever find too many places to stamp this awesome chicken, ever.  There are two other adorable chickens and a little egg too, but this guy rocks!  So here he is peepin’ in a little window to say hello.  Too adorable.

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For a very simple card, I sure did use a lot of different products.  Really though, it went together quite fast.  The card base became a one layer card.  I stamped with white stazon onto the card base using the hardwood stamp.  So cool.  It gave me a subtle woodgrain look that was just right.  I die cut the window out of the card base and again out of whisper white. I glued those two windows together so when I nested them back into the opening, the white one would layer up just ever so slightly.

I backed the window with velum to create the ‘glass’.  I traced the window pane openings on my inside piece of cardstock so I knew where to stamp the trees and chicken.  They got a little ink and a little water color pencil activity and then I glued them in place.  I could have left them on the inside back of the card, but I knew I wanted to cover up the back of the window and have plenty of space to write to my friend.  So I adhered it to the inside top flap of the card and put another blank piece down on the inside back.  Then I had double the space to write and my window stuff all covered up.  Total win!

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Have a creative day!

Moana

First Time I Saw You

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Too adorable for words.  How can you make a masculine card adorable?  Just like this.  The catalog shows this product more in line with Father’s Day, but I seriously couldn’t wait.  I felt like making the die cut pieces and just playing with them, how silly.

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The background paper was stamped with the saw image in delightful dijon in a random but still kind of organized way.  I then layered that piece on a slightly larger piece of coordinating card stock.

The saw and sentiment were stamped on water color paper so I could paint on them without warping.  I used the same delightful dijon on the saw blade and went with a wash of early espresso for the handle.  I did go over the screws on both the saw and the sentiment with gold wink of stella.  Subtle, yet just enough.  You can’t do too much on a masculine card, kind of defeats the purpose.

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I touched each side of the sentiment tag in the ink to give a strong edge and still washed the rest of it in yellow.  It worked out nicely.  I tried to stamp the sentiment in early espresso, but my water coloring over made it too light.  I went back to my standby of black stazon. That is just my favorite!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hey, Chick, I’m Back!

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Well, I guess that kind of sums it up!  With two children’s weddings within six months, and a heavy dose of regular life, I just found myself taking a few things out of my day to help get through it all.  I have so missed this, it really does help keep me sane and happy.  I have still created, but not at the same volume and just haven’t taken the time to share.  Enough of that, so I am back to stay.

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What better way than to be greeted by this adorable chicken, right?  Last year during sale-a-bration there was a different chick stamp set.  Here is the new one, and it has taken my number one favorite spot once again.  There are others in the set, but this guy is the best! What makes it better than that?  The set is free with a $50 product order.  Free is cool, but I would have bought this one in a heartbeat.

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I stamped the chicken in black stazon ink on water color paper.  I knew I wanted the feathers on top red and decided to make the tail feathers match.  It really was a painting process here.  That is usually how my water coloring goes, layer upon layer.  I put out my colors, real red, pumpkin pie, and daffodil delight, and painted until I was happy.  I used a black marker to add some wild feathers and then hi-lighted with gold wink of stella.  His little eyes were a bit tiny, so I used my marker to make them a bit larger.

The tag was stamped on a scrap of water color and punched with the classic label punch. The stamped area was smaller than the punch, so I punched it again on one side to shorted it up a bit.  One quick hole punch and a double wrap of gold and black metallic thread and I called it done.  The water color is adhered down with a heavy dose of fast fuse while the tag got layered up a bit with dimensionals.  I forgot to include a photo of the inside.  I tipped the chicken a bit sideways and stamped him as if he was peeking around a corner.  I lightly water colored him to match the front and just giggled.

It feels good to be back.  Now, to make sure I give myself time to enjoy this lovely process every day once again.  It will be tricky, but worth it.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hang In There

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes I am just so this little frog.  Good intentions, high goals and all kinds of good things seem just out of reach.  So, push on and hang in there.

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I am absolutely in love with these jars.  The stamps and the framelits really are quite fun to create with.  I wish I had more time to sit and play, but the time I get is enough to keep me balanced.  I like stamping the jar in some blue tone, cutting it out and then cutting out another jar in velum to lay over the top.  It gives an opaque look and softens the stamping. I think I would like to use window sheets too, but for now I am all about the velum.

I painted this little frog with emerald envy and touched his eyes up with soft sky.  The fireflies were stamped in black stazon with the wings painted in soft sky and the body in gold wink of stella.  I love the sparkle.  You can’t see it, but trust me, it is so there. Adorable, just adorable.

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I stamped a little of the frog in emerald envy just inside the card insert.  Kind of like he was peeking out a bit.  So there you have it!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Well, This Just Stinks

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I think sometimes cards can just be funny and that is more than enough.  When I read the sentiment I used I knew I didn’t care what the rest of the stamps were like, I had to have it. Good thing it is really a great set with fun and sincere sentiments.  This phrasing, especially with the intro, is kind of an inside joke.  No pun intended…tee hee…

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The background stamping was pretty darn easy.  I used an element stamp from the Basket for You stamp set and just stamped my way across the card front.  I could have been a bit more careful to keep some of the edges better in line, but my desk is such a mess I just went for it.  Really, my desk hasn’t ever been this bad.  I think it will be top of my to do list tomorrow.  Summertime really gets me out of whack.  As you can tell by this very late blog.

Anyway, then the fun die cut letter had to get done.  I didn’t want those huge letters to take over my funny phrase, even though they are so large.  So, I decided to stamp them lightly in gold.  It kept them not as strong and allowed the rest to really catch your eye.  In order to keep them lined up I arranged them on the card front how I wanted them and laid a piece of painters tape across them, lifted them up, turned them over to put on dimensionals, and then placed them right where I wanted them.  It worked out pretty good.  The tape lifted some of the ink, guess I should have heat set it first.  Oh well, you can hardly notice it.

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I sponged all around the edges on the front and a touch on the inside panel.  All in all, this little project really makes me laugh.  There are times when life is great and sometimes it just stinks and it is more than okay to say so.  Even better to laugh about it.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sandlot Inspired Card

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

What sandlot do you think I am referring to?  Well, the awesome kids movie about baseball and friendship of course.  This movie was just watched in the P.E. classes at the school I work at and I thought of a card to go with it.  New for me, a movie inspired card.  It was sure a lot of fun to create.

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The card base and the fence is made from soft suede.  I stamped the hardwood image in early espresso and sponged the planks as well.  I also punched out a knot in the wood with the 1/4″ hand held punch to make a spot for a peephole.  So cute!  The grass is from a strip of garden green, snipped with the fringe scissors and sponged with early espresso as well.

The light paper is water color as well as the tiny little baseball in the grass.  It was a bit tricky to get the fence in the right place to let the boys peek over, but I did okay.  The interesting part was stamping an image to let a boy peek through the hold in the fence.  I think it would have been easier to just draw with a pen instead of trying to adjust my stamp, but I ended up having to do both anyway.

I glued the grass in place with tombo and placed the baseball in the grass with half a dimensional.  I did water color the ball a bit and sponge it too.  I had to hold it with tweezers during the sponging, such a small piece.  I totally had to fussy cut that one out. The 1/2″ circle punch was just too big, bummer.  I did some water coloring with soft sky on the background, pink pirouette on their faces and used markers to color in the rest.  It was a bit of work, but it turned out great.  I think it would be a great card to give along with the movie, don’t you think?

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello Perfect Plum

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Living in the country has its perks, but sometimes it can be frustrating.  For example, when you live far enough out you are restricted to satellite internet.  It is slower for one thing, but when it is very stormy the weather interferes. Sometimes it stops it all together.  That would be this last weekend.  Bummer.  Let’s catch up.

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I made this lovely little gift set for a friends daughter.  She had the role of Violet Boreguarde in a children’s musical this last weekend.  Of course the gift bag needed to be filled with gum, because that is what Violet is all about.  That was so much fun!

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I also dug out one of my old stamp sets from 2004.  I wanted to create the look of bubbles, for the gum of course, and this set came to mind.  I don’t even remember the name of the set.  When you purchase quality it lasts for sure.  This set is twelve years old and worked like a charm.

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I brought in perfect plum, elegant eggplant and some gold encore ink for this set.  Violet did indeed get a golden ticket after all.  When the scene came for her to change into the large blueberry, she had this inflatable suit that literally made her look so huge and round and most definitely violet in color.  It was a great night.  The grin she made when she looked in the bag was fantastic.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Hey Dude, Get Well

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Making a custom card can be fun, difficult and frustrating all at the same time.  Masculine cards are an interesting creature to say the least.  It doesn’t have to be covered in metal, fire or tools to have the masculine touch you are looking for, but flowers will just not work obviously.

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I used some stamps from two different Paper Pumpkin sets to give me the phrase combination I wanted.  How perfect is the word ‘Dude’.  It works equally well for both depending on the recipient, but is fantastic for a masculine theme.

I decided to create a grungy water color look instead of searching through paper, background stamps, or anything else.  That way I had control of the look and feel and could stop when it looked just right.  I spent quite a bit of time adding, sponging away, adding, drying and repeating it all.  Now I love it so much I don’t want to give it away.  It was a special request though, so it will get to be signed by a school staff and delivered this afternoon.  Good thing I have photos, because this one is going to get created again.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Neutral Toned If the Broom Fits

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I know today is Halloween, but I was just feeling a bit mellow about it.  Could that be a result of being with students all day that were super costumed out and completely mental about it?  Or maybe because I went back to take yearbook pictures that evening during the carnival and dance?  Sounds about right.  Let’s just settle down a bit, but still enjoy the holiday.

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This stamp is just too funny.  I think that I have shown myself that even though there is definitely a Halloween theme with the stamp, it doesn’t have to be used that way, and that always makes me happy.

Neutral Toned If the Broom Fits

Instead of focusing on the holiday, I went with a focus on the brooms themselves.  This included giving the background a run through with the woodgrain embossing folder, wooden handles on the broom.  Also, I did  a little piercing around the brooms themselves so I could thread some of the ever so lovely linen thread around the bristles and give it some dimension.  I think that looks pretty darn cool.  All kinds of dimension going on here.  What a great card!

Neutral Toned If the Broom Fits

Have a creative day!

Moana

Death By Chocolate

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Another card with this wonderful set.  How much fun is a stamp that says, ‘Death by Chocolate’.  I am sure many would agree that is more than a fun idea.

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I did think it would be nice to make it with non-traditional coloring though.  When I think of chocolate, these are the colors I come up with.  A pretty gold wrapper with something dark and rich inside.  Sounds like a winner!

Death By Chocolate

Stamping perfectly isn’t always my strength, so when I make a background like this I stamp off center on purpose just to take the stress off.  Has to be fun, right?  And this card was.  Some simple layering with a few embellishments to spruce it up.  I applied the ribbon in kind of a caution tape fashion giving the hint of Halloween, but not right out saying it.  Maybe a gift card from a candy store should go inside for the perfect grown up Halloween treat?  I like it!

Death By Chocolate

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sweet Hauntings

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

I was pretty darn excited to get this stamp set and even more to put it to work.  These bottles, they really make me laugh!  I normally don’t purchase Halloween sets because of the limits of use.  This one, I know I will be having fun with it all year long.

Sweet Hauntings

Picking the color pallet was the easy part, some of my favorites for sure.  I love fall and all of the colors that live there.  Creating my own patterns for background paper is one of my favorite parts.  I would love this in whole sheets.  Hmmmmm, perhaps that will be a fun activity later on.  I stamped each bottle again so they could be fussy cut and layered up.  Those fun little bottles, love them!

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Lots of sponging on the vanilla paper.  Early espresso gives a great vintage look, which is just what I needed.  I sponged everything, lots, even the ribbon.  It gave it  a great grungy look.  I did echo stamping on the inside as well, can’t get enough of these bottles.  Did you notice the tiny little rhinestones I put on the skull bottle stopper?  Way beyond fun!

Sweet Hauntings

Have a creative day!

Moana

I Cased Myself! Eeeek!

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I have the pleasure of hosting a card workshop for my club this weekend and decided I would use yesterday’s project as one of our projects.  I do like to give them choices and encourage a bit more creativity, so I cased myself to give them another choice.  Too fun I must say.

I Cased Myself! Eeeek!

Same kind of layout as yesterday, but I made my background paper instead of using designer series paper.  Choices, like I said.  And I love to encourage people to use their stamps differently.  This qualifies for sure.

I Cased Myself! Eeeek!

I used the pumpkin face from the seasonal stamp set Sparkly Seasons.  That is one diverse set, absolutely love it!  I stamped the faces alternate directions using black stazon first.  Then I went back over them to create a shadow/3D look.  It turned out fun.  I will use that technique again for sure.

I Cased Myself! Eeeek!

When I put the eyes on I placed them over the pumpkin eyes and got a mouth out of it.  So cute.  Then I had the eyes turned to face the word eek and the card was done.  I did use the same pumpkin face for a bit of echo stamping inside.  Just right if you ask me.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Larger Than Life Boo

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Halloween doesn’t have to always be about scary things.  Sometimes it can give you the feel of the holiday and be totally adorable at the same time.  Kind of like a few sweet children all dressed up singing “Trick-or-Treat” at your door.  Just too cute.

Larger Than Life Boo

The project began with a sheet of the Go Wild DSP stack.  I knew I wanted to sponge it up with a faded look so I looked for patterns that had more white than black.  This pattern was perfect.  I swirled and swirled until it looked the way I wanted and then sponged around the edges some more.  No layering, just adhered it straight to the card base.

Larger Than Life Boo

These Larger Than Life Alphabet & Numbers stamps really make me happy.  The only thing that would make me happier is having coordinating framelits.  But, that is not the case.  You guessed it, I actually did fussy cutting, twice!  Once for the letters and once again when I layered them up on more paper.  Where is my brain?  It had to be done, so I suffered.  My least favorite crafty task next to cleaning up.

Larger Than Life Boo

I touch of Dotted Lace Trim added such a soft touch.  Left the bow off and just did a simple knot.  I made some little eyes using the 1/2″ circle punch, punched circles using the 1/4″ circle hand held punch, and centered them with the largest size of basic rhinestones.  I sponged those pumpkin pie eyes and raised them up on dimensionals.  I also raised up my word ‘boo’ with dimensionals, but used a double stack on the center ‘o’ to make it stand out even more.  End result, adorable Halloween card, just adorable.

Have a creative day!

Moana

If the Broom Fits

~ moanaj ~ 3 Comments

I love halloween!  Well, all of the fun decorations and cuteness that can go along with it.  Orange is also my favorite color, so that makes sense too.  You would think that I make lots of halloween cards from the collection I have to work with, but, not so much.  Same goes for Christmas though.  I am a stamper, and I love stamps!

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So, the irony of today’s card is that today is my 25th wedding anniversary.  I don’t think this particularly applies to me directly, but the phrasing of it surely does make me laugh.  Well, giggle actually.  I do have someone I can give it to.  I don’t know if she would laugh or not, but I think she will.

If the Broom Fits

It was a very simple card to create.  One big stamp cut out with the largest smooth oval framleit.  I sponged the edges up and added it to the scalloped layer I cut out with the largest framelit from the same set.   It nearly didn’t fit on the card front.  I did do background stamping on the card base and sponged the edges as well.  A lovely little ribbon between layers to tie in the early espresso ink and it was nearly done.

If the Broom Fits

I managed to use the edge of the stamp to sneak one broom on the inside.  This lovely stamp is another image available in the coming catalog that goes live on September 1st.  Fun little sneak peeks!

Have a creative day!

Moana

No Bones About It

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

No, I don’t have little children, and yes, I did have to have this set.  I actually pegged it for a favorite when the new catalog first came out.  It really isn’t the speed of my card group I teach, but I wanted it for myself.  How cute is it?

No Bones About It

There are four different dinosaurs in the set, all with matching skeletons, some fossil plant looking stamps, some splats and these awesome footprints.  As well as a few super cool sentiments to go along.

No Bones About It

This card was done in mossy meadow and whisper white with no frills.  I embossed the base with the chevron folder and made my layered tag from the tags & labels framelits set.  Plenty of dimensionals for everyone and there you go.  I did accent it a bit with some linen thread using the 1/16″ hand held punch for the knot to show through.

No Bones About It

 

I am going to really enjoy this set a lot, and I mean a lot.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Game On!

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Know someone who is taking on a new challenge?  Me too, and this card is just right for her.  I guess it could go for a lot of different occasions, even a child’s birthday card, use your imagination.  I sure did.

Game On!

The card base is bermuda bay and I kept it just to that one color.  The card front has a narrow boarder with the stamped front layered on another piece of bermuda bay cardstock and lifted up on dimensionals.  The simple sentiment comes from the Dear Heart set, along with this adorable little boy.

Game On!

He is prepped for adventure with a mask from the Calling All Heroes set stamped in coordinating ink.  I punched him out with the 1 3/4″ circle punch and layered that again with a 2″ circle punch of more bermuda bay.  A simple accent of striped grosgrain ribbon finished it off nicely.

Game On!

I sponged color around the edges of the card front, the inside panel and the circle punches.  Just softening it a little bit.  Now I can’t wait to give it to my friend.

Have a creative day!

Moana