PDO Birthday Gnome

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season!  It's been great to spend time with family and friends but I think I'm ready to go back to a more normal schedule.  Today I've got a card for you that I created using the Polka Dot Orchard Caroling Gnomes stamp set.  I'm going to show you how to use an image that seems only good for holidays and use it for non-holiday.  I love when I can stretch my stamps!

Let's take a quick look at my finished card and then dive on in to the details.

I love gnomes and I thought this cutie from Caroling Gnomes would be perfect to create a masculine birthday card.  You see, this gnome is singing.  He could be singing happy birthday, Auld Lang Syne, Christmas carols or just about anything!  That's why I don't feel like he's limited to just the Christmas season.

I started by printing the gnome out onto Bristol Smooth cardstock.  I knew I was going to do a little stenciling and watercoloring and this is a great surfact for both of those things.  I also needed a mask for my gnome before I could do the stenciling.  I printed him out onto regular copy paper and spread a thin coat of Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue.  Once it dries, it becomes a temporary adhesive.  Absolutely perfect for a mask.

I put the mask in place and taped the plaid stencil on top.  The stencil I used is from Echo Park and is no longer available but I did link up to another similar stencil below.  I then used a blending brush and gray ink over the stencil.  I concentrated the color around the gnome and then let it fade the further I went out.

Before:

After:

Next it was time to color up the gnome.  I used a combination of Distress Inks, Distress Markers, Tombow and Marvy water-based markers to add the color to my scene.  Sometimes I added the ink directly to the paper and blended it out with a water brush.  Other times I smooshed the ink onto a block and then picked it up with the water brush.  It just depending on the depth of color I needed.

Here he is all colored up:

Now down to the card making.  I cut the gnome panel down with a Stitched Indented Rectangle die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I set the panel asided and started work on the card base.  I used a  piece of black cardstock to create a top fold A2 sized base.  I cut a piece of patterned paper from the Echo Park Little Lumberjack paper pad down to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  I glued this to the black card base.  I added foam tape to the back of the gnome panel and adhered to the card base.

The Happy Birthday sentiment comes from the Polka Dot Orchard Floral Flourish Background 3 set.

This set has several great sentiments and really cool backgrounds!  I plan to make some foiled background when I find the time...

I printed the sentiment onto white cardstock.  I cut it down to 2 1/2" x 1".  I glued it to a piece of black cardstock just slightly larger and then glued it on top of the gnome panel.  I let part of the left edge hang off over the panel. 

For the final touch I added some black pearls in assorted sizes.  That's it.  One masculine birthday card in the books for the new year!

Close up detail

I really appreciate you stopping by and hope that you will check out all of the great digital stamps available in the Polka Dot Orchard store HERE.

Toodles!
~Kristina

Supplies used:

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Tonic Studios-Retractable Craft Pick Shop at: SBC | EH	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH	Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper Shop at: EH
Stitched Indented Rectangles - Elizabeth Craft Shop at: SBC	Barn Door Distress Ink Shop at: SBC | EH	Black Pearls - Kaisercraft Shop at: EH	Trinity blending brushes Shop at: EH
Little Lumberjack - Echo Park Shop at: SBC	Worn Lipstick Distress Marker Shop at: SBC | EH	Tattered Rose Distress Marker Shop at: SBC | EH	Fossilized Amber Distress Marker Shop at: EH
Black Soot Distress Marker Shop at: SBC | EH	Hickory Smoke Distress Marker Shop at: EH	Dark Jade 177 - Tombow Shop at: EH	Plaid Stencil - LDRS Creative Shop at: SBC

Coffee Lovers blog hop and Polka Dot Orchard

I've made it to day 7 and I have another card to share!  Did you know Polka Dot Orchard is a Super Sponsor?? And that four new coffee themed sets were recently released?   Head on over to the new webstore HERE and check out all of the great digitals stamps!

My card today features the new Sack of Beans set.

And now on to my card!

I wanted to show you that you can make a quick card using a digi stamp even if you don't have a lot of time!  I printed the stamp out onto Copic safe paper and then used just a few colors of Copics to give it a little depth.  And that was all I did for coloring!  Add some great papers, a bit of texture, sponging and a pop of color.  Then you've got yourself a card.  I'm also pleased that it has a very masculine feel to it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hop you are having fun playing along with the Coffee Lovers blog hop!

Toodles!

~Kristina

Masculine birthday

Hi guys!  Popping on today with a quick post to share the birthday card I made for my dear hubby!

I didn't create a photo tutorial for this card because I was in a bit of a time crunch.  I'll try to give you as many details as I can.

I used the Concord & 9th Plaid background stamp to create the background.  I first stamped it in navy ink.  Then I went back with the thin lines and stamped those with Versamark ink.  I sprinkled on gold embossing powder and melted it with my heat tool.  I then cut it down to 4" x 5 1/4"  I used a sponge tool and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink to go around all of the edges of the plaid piece.   I set it aside to dry.

To create the background for the diecut shape I started by cutting it out of watercolor paper using the die from Concord & 9th's Blooms fill-ins dies.  I then pressed Distress Oxide ink pads onto my glass craft mat.  I used Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans.  I added a bit of water and then just started smooshing the paper into the ink.  I did a layer, dried it with my heat tool and repeated the process.  I probably did that 3 or 4 times until I was happy.  I heated it one more time until it was completely dry.

Next I stamped the beer mug stamp from Stamper's Anonymous Beer stamp set onto the smooshed watercolor paper.  I used a black hybrid ink.  I did place it in my Misti to stamp as I knew I would need to stamp it a few times to get a good image over the Distress Oxides.  I stamped the beer mug 2 more times onto plain water color paper.  Then I started to color the beer mug using Fossilized Amber, a touch of Vintage Photo and Hickory Smoke.  I just squished my ink pads on my craft mat again and added water.  Then I used a small paint brush to apply the ink.  I did use my heat tool to dry in between layers.

Once it was all dry, I fussy cut out the entire beer mug and then just the foam.  I glued the beer mug down flat to the smooshed watercolor piece.  Right on top of the stamped image.  Then I put foam tape on the back of the foam piece and glued this on top of the beer mug.  I love the added dimension this gives.

Now I just needed a few more pieces for the card.  I cut a brown piece of cardstock down to 3" x 3".  I took my navy ink pad directly to the edges to create sort of a messy edge.  I put foam tape on the back of the smooshed ink piece and stuck it down onto the brown square.  I then glued these pieces onto the navy plaid piece.  I put a little bit of navy reinker onto my mat, added a bit of water and loaded up a paint brush to make navy splatters. 

While the splatters were drying, I cut another piece of the brown cardstock down to create a side fold, A2 card base.  I used the sponge tool to add Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink to all of the edges.  Then I went ahead and glued the entire plaid panel down to the card base.  Only one more thing needed, a sentiment!  I stamped Happy Birthday with black ink using a stamp from Altenew's Faux Veneer stamp set.  The sentiment is actually all in one line but I needed it to be shorter so I just cut the stamp in half.  You could just mask it if you prefer not to cut your stamps.  I then trimmed the white cardstock down to  2 1/2" x 1".  Again, took my navy ink pad direct to the edges of the paper.  Then I glued it in place.  There you have it!

I think my husband is going to love it!

Have an awesome day!

~Kristina

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC	VersaMark Watermark ink pad Shop at: SBC	Mini Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SBC	Altenew Faux Veneer stamp set Shop at: Altenew
Stampers Anonymous-Tim Holtz Wine stamps Shop at: SBC	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC	Concord & 9th Plaid Background stamp Shop at: SBC	Concord & 9th Blooms Fill-ins dies Shop at: SBC
Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder Shop at: SBC	Distress Oxide-Faded Jeans Shop at: SBC	Distress Oxide-Vintage Photo Shop at: SBC	Distress Oxide-Fossilized Amber Shop at: SBC
Mini MISTI Shop at: SBC	Hybrid black ink pad Shop at: SBC	Distress Oxide-Hickory Smoke Shop at: SBC

Awesome

Hey there everyone.  I'm popping in with a super quick post for a card that I am entering in two different challenges.  I have been enjoying the challenges and I feel like they push me to create outside some of my comfort zones!

I am linking up for the Freshly Made Sketches 372 #fms372.  You can find the link up right HERE.

The second challenge I'm linking up to is Color Throwdown 527 #ctd527.  You can find that link up
HERE.

Here is the list of supplies I used:

Distress Oxide inks in Faded Jeans, Lucky Clover and Hickory Smoke
White acrylic paint
Awesome die by Paper Rose
Sizzix/Tim Holtz Funky Floral #3 dies
Paper from Amy Tangerine Better Together paper pad
Altenew Beveled Squares stencil
Stampin up Petail Pair embossing folder
Mama Elephant Basic Set dies
Hero Arts Unicorn White ink pad

Thanks for taking a peek!
~Kristina

For the Guys

Howdy one and all!  I'm here today with my latest submission for the Altenew Educator Certification program.  The class I just finished was called For The Guys.  Yep, cards for the boys/men in your life!  This is an area that I definitely struggle with so I was thrilled to see it on the list of classes to complete!

There were lots of great suggestions in the class that I am filing away in my brain.  I decided to run with the idea of using a geometric pattern.  It sounded so easy when I came up with the idea!  Here it is...

I inked up another stamp set that has been sitting around waiting for me to give it some love, Trigonometry.  I thought this would be just the perfect set to use for a guy card.

I started by picking the spot on my cardstock where I wanted the bottom of the triangle to be.  Basically I just moved around one of the stamps until I felt it looked right.  Then I used a T ruler to draw a top and bottom line.  I needed these as a reference point to keep me going straight.  This is when I dug out my mini Misti.  I'm not sure I could have completed this card without it!

I used two different Altenew inks for the triangles, Desert Night and Dusk.  I placed my cardstock in the Misti, lined up my first stamp, inked it up and stamped.  Whew.  So far so good!  Then I cleaned off my stamp and turned it upside down, lined it up, and stamped the Dusk triangle.  I repeated the process until I had a strip all the way across.  

Let me interrupt with a little secret, I actually had to stamp this card out four times.  Yep.  It was a little tricker than I thought to get the spacing between the triangles just right.  Not to mention keeping them straight!  I persevered though!!  Once it was done (and dry!) I went back and erased my pencil lines.  

Next I came in with a copic safe black marker and a T ruler.  I wanted to add that extra bit of detail the black lines would add.  Then I used some gray copic markers to create the appearance of a shadow.  I used N3, N1, N0 and colorless blender.  I like how it makes it appear as if I have multiple layers but it is only one!

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same Trigonometry set with the Desert Night ink.  I also rubbed some of the Desert Ink onto a piece of white cardstock.  I wanted to have a dark blue layer to go between the sentiment and the cardstock.  Once that was done, I cut the pieces down to size and glued them onto the cardstock.

For the final touch, I cut off about a 1/4" from the bottom of the cardstock and mounted it to a dark blue card base.  This lets just a little bit of the blue base show at the top and bottom of the card.  I think it makes the blues pop!

Now it's time to move on to my next class.  See you soon!

~Kristina