House Mouse Challenge #28: MEN

As usual...I enjoy all of the challenges...even the card for the men. I almost always make my husband a handmade card for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and His Birthday. He doesn't go nuts over it but I think he really likes them. The bigger challenge was making a masculine card but keep the holiday theme out. Father's day is easy......I chose a card to share with a Friend. The House Mouse Stamp is a new one for me "Autumn Sprinkles". I think anyone who struggles to "nicely" stamp the large stamp images like House Mouse or other's - getting in a weekly challenge definitely improves your skills and you get to read everybodies tips on inks and papers. I nailed this one in one try. I stamped the image on Neenah Cardstock and Memento Dew Drops in Rich Cocoa. I colored the image with Copics in a spring theme vs. fall theme. The cardstock is SU! Naturals White, Baja Breeze, and Basic Grey. The Designer Series paper is SU! but I can't seem to find it in the catalog - may have been in the winter mini. The brads and h/w are SU!. The ribbon is MJ Trimmings - one of my favorites....jeez I need another trip to the Ink Pad, MJ Trimmings, and Dick Blick Art in NYC. The sentiment is an SU! Hostess Set "A is for Adorable".

House Mouse Challenge #27: Chipboard

I'm late and was watching Stickles and Crystal Effects dry last night.... :-(. I was afraid to take pictures for fear of messing up or drips. New HM stamp for me and I LOVE IT. "Birthday Cupcake"!! I stamped the image with Memento Dew Drops. Colored with Copics. Finished with crystal effects on the candles and Diamond Stickles on the frosting. My chipboard - fun buttons from Michaels that I had purchased for the Feb VSN but never used. The sentiment is from the SU! set Upsy Daisy. All cardstock is SU! Kiwi Kiss, Naturals White, Designer Series Urban Garden and the purple is textured Soft Subtles but I'm not sure which one. Finally, the ticket corner punch and the silver twine are from SU! I keep trying to make different color brown mice but in the end they always look the same. I really need to beef up my color collection.

My Copics:

Cupcake: YG01, R20, E21, E43, E53

Mouse #1: E00, YR24, E43, E33, E53, R20

Mouse #2: E00, YR24, E43, E53, R20, E21

3 Clovers Design Challenge #3: Green and Pretty

Hmmmm.....not a lot of green choices in my craft pile. Definitely no stamps in the spirit of St. Patty's Day. But here's my card. All cardstock is Stampin' Up Naturals White, Kiwi Kiss (LOVE IT!!), and Designer Series Urban Garden. My 3 embellishments are Medium Sized Eyelets from Micheals, Corduroy Green Velvet Ribbon from MJ Trimmings, and Aged Copper Hodgepodge H/W from Stampin' Up. The stamp set is also one of my favorites - Pocket Silhouettes. The inks are all Stampin' Up - River Rock, Mellow Moss, True Thyme, and Kiwi Kiss.

Three Clovers Design Challenge #2: B+B+B

Blue, Brown, and Buttons!! I was inspired reading the Three Clovers Blog and looking at the Inspiration Team cards and LOVED the Linus Card. Peanuts are one of my favorites. Just yesterday I was thinking about how soon I could put away my 4 Runner for the winter and pull out my Beetle Convertible. Mine is light blue with a grey convertible top. My "girl" car!! Here is my entry with one of my Stampabilities Peanuts stamps. Two lessons on this card :-( I used SU! Wisper White to stamp the image and wasn't too happy with Copics on Whisper White and I use glue on my letters which was a bad choice on my grosgrain ribbon since it is showing spots. I have tried a XYRON with my Cuttlebug Letters and I wasn't crazy about it - but probably would have been a better choice for this card. My cardstock and designer paper is from Stampin' Up. The image was stamped with Memento Dew Drops Tuxedo Black and colored with Copic Markers. The grosgrain rickrack ribbon is from New England Scrapbook Company. The letters are Cuttlebug Hippie Chick. The buttons are Michaels.