Beary Bubbly Birthday

There are so many cool techniques out there using reinkers in various ways! Here's another one I found that uses an every day household product - liquid dish soap. It makes a great background.

This will be messy, so do it over newspaper and don't wear good clothes! To make the background: mix 1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 cup of waterin a small mug or bowl. Stir them with a straw, then blow bubbles up to the top of your mug. I kept blowing for awhile so they were running over the side to make sure there were plenty. Then carefully add a few drops ofre-inker to your bubbles. Touch your cardstock to the bubbles so that they pop, the ink will stick to your cardstock in an interesting pattern. You will probably need to reblow the bubbles a few times to get the effect you want. Experiment with it, this was my second try. I used Real Red ink which made a really pretty, delicate pink background - not really appropriate for a little boy's birthday card.

Children grow up WAY to fast. My baby will be twenty on Tuesday (her older sisters would probably not appreciate it if I told you how old they are) and my grandson just turned four. This card is for Wyatt. In addition to the Not Quite Navy bubble backgound I used the masking technique to line up the balloons and added Crystal Effects after I colored them. Ingreients: Cardstock: Whisper White, YoYo Yellow, Real Red and Not Quite Navy. Ink: Basic Black classic and craft. Stamps: Beary Best Friends and Beary Best Wishes. Other: Black Stampin' Emboss Powder, Real Red brads, Not Quite Navy, Real Red, YoYo Yellow, Sahara Sand and River Rock Stampin' Write Markers.

I still need to come up with a fantabulous idea for cards for a few daughters' birthdays, think I'll look for some more reinker techniques. Stay tuned!

Second Life for a Dryer Sheet

I've missed stamping, I've missed blogging. So I'm treating myself to both again. I hope to have some readers, but for now I'll just enjoy the crafting and writing. Here is my welcome back project:

Yesterday I spent awhile looking for technique ideas and ran across the Glittered Dryer Sheet technique. Many, many years ago I'd done the same thing and stuffed a tiny drawer with used dryer sheets just so I could try it out but I never did. Packrat that I am, I still have that tiny drawer full of dryer sheets and finally put them to use.

This is an incredibly simple technique. Just stamp your image on whisper white cardstock. Let the ink set for a few minutes then cover the cardstock with a used dryer sheet and smooth it over the image. Then, sprinkle with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and press it into the glue. Shake off the excess, let it dry for awhile, trim the excess dryer sheet and finish your card. Stunning results, but very simple.

Ingredients: Stamps - Pony Pals and the party hat from Sock Monkey which found it's way into the wrong stamp box. Cardstock - Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. Ink - Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi and Melon Mambo. Other - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo markers, Stamp-a-ma-jig and Early Espresso 1/8" taffeta ribbon.

Have fun trying this technique yourself, let me know if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help. I'll be back soon with more ideas.