Winter Is For The Birds

Hi Everybody,

I think the stamp set I'm using on today's card is so cute!!!  It is by Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps called For The Birds.  I don't usually make a lot of cards with birds on them, no particular reason why, but I can't seem to resist the birds on Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps stamp sets.  I used a bird set last week as a matter of fact called Season's Greetings.  If you would like to check out my blog post using that stamp set, HERE IS A LINK.  I made a cute shaker card with it. :)

It looks like this stamp set is currently 20% off so grab it while it's on sale!

It's Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps 10th Birthday Celebration.  You will get this Happy Stamp Set FREE with a $50 purchase.  You can use this alone or with another stamp set.  HERE'S A LINK to this set.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil called Holly Boughs.  I finally used my new Clarity Stencil Brushes that I bought a few months ago.  I had actually forgotten about them until today, when I was searching for something else and found them.  Shows you how organized I am right??  They give a softer look than the jumbo sponge dauber I usually use.  I tend to press too hard and go to fast with the sponge daubers but you can't really do that using these brushes.  You need to apply several layers of color because of the light touch it provides. I'm happy with them!  I used Memento New Sprout on the leaves and then went over it a little with Gina K Designs Jellybean Green. For the berries, I used Gina K Designs Dusty Rose ink. The paper that I used is Bristol Smooth Paper and for the bottom layer, I used Gina K Designs Kraft Cardstock.

I colored the tree branch and bird with Copic Markers and of course, I made the bird a Cardinal.  I lived in St. Louis 20 years so all birds will be Cardinals unless I do not have choice. Fussy cutting is not my favorite thing to do but I felt like it would look better to do it on this one. I added a little Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter Pen to the green in the scarf.  The sentiment was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa.

To finish it off I used some Brutus Monroe Bottlecap Sequins in Crystal. These sequins are magnificent I have to say.  I love how they are flat and have grooves.  The grooves create so much more shine. They were glued down securely with Brutus Monroe Glue.

I'll be using this stamp set in the future because I used a stencil to make a background that looks like a sweater so that one would be cute with this stamp set and I also made some simple watercolor backgrounds that would work as well.  I also like to use sets like this for after the first of the year as a New Year's type card. I think you'll have a lot of fun with it.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina

Happy Thanksgiving Wine Tag Using Colorburst

Hi Everybody,

I'm on the Brutus Monroe Blog today.  I have not received our new release products for the month from the post office so took some time to play with some of the other products in the Brutus Monroe online store.  You can check out the new releases for October HERE.

I decided to make a wine tag for a large wine bottle.  It is Thanksgiving/Fall themed so you can use this on wine to take as a hostess gift or to Thanksgiving, Christmas for whoever is having dinner at their house or can use on champagne bottle for New Years, just change up the color of the Colorburst and stamp sets.  I think it makes a bottle of wine seem like you put more thought and care into it if you make a tag for it, and you know they will keep the tag forever! Wine will be gone that night!  :)

I used the Brutus Monroe Jumbo Media Tags which are 4" wide by 8" long.  There are smaller tags called Media Tags if you prefer a smaller size for a smaller bottle of wine which are about half the size and come in a variety of colors and a rainbow pack as well. The smaller size works great on cards as well.

I decided to use Colorburst for my tag background.  Brutus Monroe has their own exclusive line of colors that match their ink colors.  How cool is that??  Colorburst is basically a powder that reacts with water.  Sprinkle Colorburst on your paper and spritz with water, simple as that.  Heat set and then do it as many times as you want until you get the effect you want.  You can also wet your paper first and then sprinkle the Colorburst on as well.  Either way, you will get a great result.

I only used Jack O' Lantern (orange) and Zest (yellow) here and look at all of the speckles of color.  After I put about 3 layers on and let it dry, I stamped some of the stamps from Autumn Thanks with Embossing Ink and embossed with Penny Ultra Fine Embossing Powder. I went around the edges of the tag with a sponge dauber using Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

I made something I have not made in years for this tag, a medallion.  I didn't want to stamp directly on the tag because of the Colorburst and embossing going on.  I wanted to somehow separate it. I just used some of a 12"x12" piece of paper from a big box store for the medallion. I stamped one of the leaves from the set with the Embossing Ink and also embossed with the Penny Ultra Fine Embossing Powder and fussy cut it out.

I used another stamp set called Happy Thanksgiving.  It is a 2"x3" set and I only used the sentiment from this one.  I embossed it also with the Penny Embossing Powder and cut the sentiment into strips.  I used the Brutus Monroe Glue to glue the sentiment strips because it held the strips on the medallion pleats. I used Gina K Designs Ivory Heavy Base Weight Cardstock for the leaf and sentiment.  I thought the ivory color would stand out well against the darker medallion color.

I am using beautiful, sheer ribbon with leaves on it that is so pretty and perfect for this I think.  It is easy to work with because it is wired. I got it at a big box store.

Did I inspire you to make a wine tag?  If not a wine tag, you can make a tag and put on a gift, with a gift bag, etc.  Endless possibilities! More ways to use Colorburst coming soon as well....

Be sure to 'Like' the Brutus Monroe Facebook Page and Fan Page to ensure you are in the know on new releases, etc.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina

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Fishbowl Shaker Card

Hi Everybody,

I have been wanting to make this Fishbowl Shaker Card from The Cutting Cafe for 3 months.  I saw it when I first became a Design Team Member and I asked for it and bought some of the embellishments from the shop so I am excited to show you my creation.

When you get your file, it will have a picture showing the different pieces that you'll cut out for the card and it was very self explanatory.  I decided not to make mine a shaker card, I opted to use sand and glitter from the shop and I'll have links for those.

I used Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea Cardstock for the folding part of the card and the back of the fishbowl which I embellished with a Cuttlebug folder. The top and frame parts are Gina K Designs Denim Blue Cardstock, one of my favorite blues in cardstock.  I used Clear Cardstock from The Cutting Cafe Shop for the window part of the card.

I used Brutus Monroe Glue (you really need to try this) for the sand and glitter.  I laid down a slightly thick coat and sprinkled sand on top and then laid down a layer on top of the sand and sprinkled the glitter.  That glue dries so fast, do you see that they hardly even mixed together??  I used Beach Sand Confetti and Swimming Pool Glitter by Doodlebug from The Cutting Cafe Shop and the Fish Stickers are called Mini Doodle Pops Cardboard Stickers by Doodlebug. I used Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes paper pad to cut out the pieces inside the fishbowl, starfish, seaweed, etc. and added some detail with a black Prismacolor Pencil and white gel pen.

There are a few sentiments to choose from with this set as printables so I printed one of them but took off the 'from all of us' part, printed it and cut it out with a Gina Marie Stitched Banner Die and sponged lightly around it with Gina K Designs Turquoise Sea Ink to match the cardstock.

I finished it off by adding some dots with a Sigmo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen.  There is also an envelope file with this so I cut it out as well and used 1/4" Scor Tape to tape the sides.  This is optional of course.  I wish I would've added something to look like bubbles in the fishbowl in hindsight.

Seems like fish, fish scenes, fish bowls, the sea, etc, are popular right now so try this shaker card as a cute card for someone or even as something special to put on a shelf in your craft room.  You don't have to feed these fish. :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina