But a birthday, I always feel, is a great occasion…

I needed a male birthday card so I turned to my trusty Bird Crazy stamps from Tim Holtz to make one up.

For inspiration on my layout I used the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  To create the line element I stamped out a sentiment from the Crazy Talk set.  I didn’t want to leave the background completely white and the ink splatters theme at Creative with Stamps gave me the idea of adding a party popper.  My placement of my ink splats wasn’t so great though as my party popper is at a bit of a funny angle for my crazy bird to have really popped it!

Because I am invariably terrible at picking colours the colour scheme for my card comes from the current challenge at Stampin’ Royalty.  I didn’t have the Stampin’ Up colours so I’ve substituted.  Unfortunately mint seems to mean every type of green known to man but on screen at least Tim’s Cracked Pistachio seemed to be a pretty good match.  You’d have thought navy blue would have been easier to match but my Chipped Sapphire had a tendency to turn a bit purple when dry so I added a bit of Dina Wakley Night in Archival Ink to darken up my blue.

I popped my somewhat drunkenly placed party popper off the page with a 3D Zot and added in some baker’s twine for the pull string as my only real embellishment on my card.  Loving a CAS crazy bird for a male birthday card!

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Layering Stencil ~ THS021 Speckles

Inks & Paints etc

Ranger Archival Dina Wakley Media ~ Night

Ranger Archival Distress Palette ~ Black Soot

Spica ~ Mint

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Chipped Sapphire, Cracked Pistachio & Mustard Seed

Papers

Bazzill Classic Cardstock ~ Nautical Blue Dark

Bazzill Monochromatic Cardstock ~ White

Papertrey Ink Paper Basics ~ Stamper’s Select White

Ribbons & Trims etc

Gorjuss ~ Baker’s Twine

Stamps

Activity Village Free Colouring Pages ~ Party Poppers

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS212 Bird Crazy, CMS236 Crazy Talk & CMS237 Crazy Things

Challenges

Creative with Stamps #4 ~ Ink Splatters

Freshly Made Sketches ~ Sketch #245

Stampin’ Royalty #338 ~ Colour (Blue, White & Mint)

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Art is an abstraction

I’m sharing a fun card I made using Tim Holtz’s Bird Crazy and Crazy Things stamps.

My card design follows the current sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches with my two circular (sort of) elements being my bird and my scribble.  I’ve cut the scribble out of designer paper scraps, which I’ve also used to cut the glasses to fit with the challenge theme at Less is More.

Edna is looking for quilting or paper piecing at the Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers so I’ve gone to town on the layers on birdie.  For something different I’ve coloured him with watercolour pencils and softened the look by stamping in Ground Espresso rather than a black ink.  I added in the glasses (which sadly didn’t fit on the birdie I chose) as the friend this is going out to wears them.  The somewhat snarky sentiment is a nod to the fact he is a few years older than me although, truth be told, I’ve forgotten what age he actually is.  He is an art teacher though so the artistic theme fits nicely.  I was going to go with an ink splat but have no idea where those dies went I even managed to lose the packet from the dies I used while making up my card, perhaps abstraction isn’t just in my card theme!

Ingredients:

Derwent Watercolour Pencils

Head, Hair & Wings 45 Mineral Green & 47 Grass Green

Beak & Feet 6 Deep Cadmium & 10 Orange Chrome

Body 32 Spectrum Blue & 35 Prussian Blue

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Thinlits Dies ~ 660954 Bird Crazy, 660953 Crazy Things & 660980 Festive Scribbles

Embellishments

Rub-ons from stash

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink ~ Ground Espresso

Tim Holtz Distress Markers ~ Frayed Burlap & Old Paper & Vintage Photo

Papers

Arjo Wiggins Curious Metallics Iridescent Cardstock ~ Cryogen White

Kaisercraft Kaleidoscope Collection ~ Scrap

Prima Craftsman ~ Scrap

Tim Holtz Idea-ology ~ Frost Film

Stamps

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS212 Bird Crazy & CMS237 Crazy Things

Challenges

CAS Colours & Sketches #171 ~ Sketch

Less is More ~ Designer paper in a CAS style

Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers #58 ~ Q is for Quilts

  

Thanks for stopping by!

There’s something in a huge balloon…

Sharing a card tonight I made for a friend using Tim Holtz’s Bird Crazy and Crazy Things stamps.

This card is going out to a male friend so I’ve kept it deliberately CAS and used the shapes and stamping to create interest.  The design follows the current sketch at Sketch Saturday, which I flipped as the crazy bird I picked seems to be looking up at something floating by so I used a balloon for the circle element over his head rather than at his feet.  To create the two-toned background I’ve used a stencil rather than designer papers.

Stencils are the current theme at CAS on Sunday so I am entering my card there.  For my colours I used the themed ones from CAS Colours & Sketches.  I don’t have Stampin’ Up inks so I substituted with Distress Inks, using Stormy Sky for the Marina Mist and Worn Lipstick for the Watermelon Wonder (which seem to match as best as I can tell through a computer monitor).  The Night of Navy I have covered with my navy cardstock base and mat.

By keeping my card CAS and using challenges for inspiration on the design elements I was able to create this card in under an hour.  The perfect thing for a spot of Monday night crafting when work in the morning means no staying up late to fiddle with embellies and selecting designer papers.

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

The Crafter’s Workshop Stencil ~ TCW456s Mini Sketch Grid

Inks & Paints etc

Ranger Archival Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Black Soot

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky & Worn Lipstick

Papers

Bazzill Smoothie Cardstock ~ Blue Note

Ranger ~ Speciality Stamping Paper

Stamps

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS212 Bird Crazy & CMS237 Crazy Things

Challenges

CAS Colours & Sketches #165 ~ Colours

CAS on Sunday #79 ~ Stencil It  

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #404

 

Thanks for stopping by!

People look at you differently if you wear a bow tie…

I have a very dapper bird, one of Tim Holtz’s Bird Crazy stamps, on my card today, which I’ve dressed up with some items from Tim’s Crazy Things.

 To make up my card I’ve followed the current sketch at Creaine.  Instead of paper layers I’ve done the elements in stencils going with a chicken wire theme.  I’ve got a bit of thing going at the moment with teaming Tim’s birds and chicken wire.  The final element I used a sentiment stamp from Stampin’ Up to create just to break up the background a bit.  The challenge at Creaine also required a hat so I gave my bird some character with a hat, flower and bow tie.

This card is going out to a male colleague hence the no fuss approach and Tim’s bird image – they are my go to for male cards this year.  Over at Crafty Gal’s Corner they are looking for male themed projects so am linking my card up there.  The current theme at Craft Rocket is feathers and/or fur so am flying in with my little feathered friend to enter their challenge.

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

The Crafter’s Workshop Stencil ~ 259s Mini Chicken Wire Reversed

Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Layering Stencil ~ THS005 Honeycomb

Inks & Paints etc

Ranger Archival ~ Jet Black

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick & Squeezed Lemonade

Tim Holtz Distress Markers ~ Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Broken China, Carved Pumpkin, Fired Brick, Mermaid Lagoon, Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass & Wilted Violet

Papers

Bazzill Monochromatic Cardstock ~ White

Brick Red Smooth Cardstock from stash

Stamps

Stamper’s Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS212 Bird Crazy & CMS237 Crazy Things

Stampin’ Up! ~ Happiest Birthday Wishes 1 (Retired)

Challenges

Craft Rocket #10 ~ Feathers and/or Fur

Crafty Gal’s Corner #61 ~ All About the Boys

Creaine #58 ~ Sketch and hat

Thanks for stopping by!