Herd You Had a Birthday

January 14, 2018January 16, 2018 Happy Ink Designs6 Comments

Howdy partner(s)!!! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Are you ready for another super fun theme this week at Always Fun Challenges??? If you’d like to see what I created for last week’s theme, which was One Layer, click here. Now, for this weeks theme, this was totally out of my comfort zone, but I made it work. The theme is Down On The Farm.

I didn’t even get this one completed until Saturday afternoon. I had a heck of a time coming up with this one. I’m so glad I did it though. Like I said, this took me out of my little comfort bubble, but check out the result.

I used a never before used stamp set (AKA NBUS) called Lunar Animals by Mama Elephant. I used a NBUS paper pad and a NBUS die from MFT. Too bad Darnell wasn’t doing her NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge right now, this one would totally qualify!! It may not be going on now, but you should check out her blog for the NBUS challenge that she does a couple times a year. It’s a lot of fun.

This was another one that I completely winged it as I went. I had no idea how this was going to turn out. While this is not my normal style, I still think it turned out ok. I think it would be perfect for a kid’s Birthday. The inside reads, “Have a Moo-tiful Day!!”

Another out-of-my-element fun fact is that I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens to color these cute little farm animals. I’ve had these pens for awhile now, but I’ve been quite intimidated by them. I tried them when I first got them and I just didn’t like them. Or I should say I didn’t like my results. But the more videos I’ve seen of people using them, the less intimidating they seem so I decided to give them another try. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I really like them!! As long as I had a water brush right next to me at all times and a super fine paint brush, I felt comfortable. I felt like I could handle it without holding my breath the entire time.

Anyway, I hope you’ll join us over at Always Fun Challenges this week by clicking here and linking your “Down on the Farm” creation.

Zig Clean Color Real Brush

Horse: Mustard 67 (body), Oatmeal 64(mane), flesh color 71 (nose), mid brown 65 (hooves), pale pink 28 (ears)
Pig: pale pink 28
Cow: black 10, light gray 91 (horns), pale pink 28 (ears, nose)
Chicken: Lemon Yellow 51, bright yellow 52, wine red 24, light brown 61 (beak)
Sheep: Blue gray 92, light gray 91, gray 90 (hooves and nose) cheeks pale pink

(Affiliated links used when possible at no cost to you)

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Let It Snow

December 17, 2017December 18, 2017 Happy Ink Designs3 Comments

Happy Holidays, my crafty compadres!! I’m back just in time to share a Christmas creation with you. I’ve joined back up with my talented friends at the Always Fun Challenges blog to share this months theme which is “A Christmas Carol”. I went with the obvious. Let It Snow is one of my all time favorite Christmas carols so this was an easy one for me this week.

This card was simple and quick, just my style. I’ll list the products I used below, as always. While I do love the song, unfortunately we don’t get any snow here in Northern California. I know some of you may be snowed in even as we speak. Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere that it snowed, but then again, I wouldn’t want to do all that shoveling…

Aren’t these snowflakes absolutely gorgeous??!!? I just can’t get over how much I love them!!

I’ll keep this short and sweet, but I did want to update you guys on what’s been going on with me. I had my surgery last month and while I did have a couple of little setbacks, I am well on my road to recovery. Thank you so much for the well wishes and prayers. That’s what gets me through all of these surgeries. I had a 6 inch cyst on one ovary and the other one was twice as big on my right. But they were able to save my ovaries!! I wasn’t expecting that. They also repaired a hernia that I got from too many abdominal surgeries. I guess when someone has as many surgeries as I have, it weakens the abdominal wall, making me more susceptible to hernias. Lucky me. What’s interesting, is they used biological mesh to repair the hernia. Biological mesh is also known as pig skin… Yes, I have pig skin inside of me now.. My dog kept smelling my belly when I got home (they cut me from below the breast to below my c-section). I don’t know if he could smell the wound or smell the pig. I guess I’ll never know. Anyway, I’ve been having a real hard time with the pain this time around, which is why it’s taken me so long to get back into the swing of things. But the important thing is, I’m here now, I’m healthy, I’m with my family and I no longer have to worry about whether or not those cysts are cancer!! WOOHOO!! Life is good. God is good!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. I hope you get to spend time with someone(s) that is special to you and I hope you all take a little time to reflect back on 2017. Cherish the memories that mean the most to you and learn from the ones that don’t. I’ll meet ya in 2018!!

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #86 as well. The theme this week is Anything Goes!!

Amazon, Simon Says Stamp, Scrapbook.com, Blitsy Disclaimer:

These are affiliate links. What that means is at no cost to you, I will receive a small commission if you purchase something from the links I’ve provided. That small commission will help me maintain my blog and youtube channel while still providing the links to all the products that I use. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it. And if you have any questions on any of these products, please feel free to ask!! I’ll always give you my honest opinion.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Lots of Layers Featuring SSS Feb. Card Kit

October 8, 2017October 7, 2017 Happy Ink Designs3 Comments

Hi guys!! Happy Belated World Cardmaking Day!!! It was October 7th, for those that may not have known. I just found out about 4 days ago, but unfortunately we were at an out of town football game so I didn’t get to craft at all. That’s ok, I’ll make up for it this coming week. The theme this week at Always Fun Challenges is Lots of Layers. This is why I love being on this design team. It makes me try things I normally wouldn’t try. I don’t work with many layers very often so this was a little out of my league, but I did the best I could.

I mainly used everything from the February 2017 Simon Says Stamp card kit. All the papers and sentiment are from that kit. I wasn’t sure where to even start so I used a sketch to help get me going. As you can see, this card was very easy to put together. Here is the sketch I used.

Once I had this, the rest was a piece of cake!!

For the circles, the smallest circle I used was 1 3/4″. The next one up was 2 1/8″ (craft cardstock). The bigger set of circles start at a little over 2 1/2″ and the biggest circle I used is 3″. The strip of pink card stock is 2″ wide.

The banners: Smallest is 1/2″ x 2″

Biggest: 1/2″ x 2 3/8″

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Misty

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants mentioned within this post might be using an affiliate link which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you buy something through that affiliate link. That said, I never recommend anything I don’t personally use and find to be a valuable asset to my business. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Playing with Oxide Inks

September 24, 2017September 27, 2017 Happy Ink Designs3 Comments

Hi friends!! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I had a crazy weekend, but I did find a little time on Sunday to play with the few distress oxide inks that I own. I will say that after playing with these, I’ve gone ahead and ordered 7 more!! I keep hearing people say how easy they are to blend and they are NOT exaggerating!! These inks are AWESOME!!! I’ve added a process video at the end of this post so you can see for yourself.

So in case you’re wondering what the theme is this week at Always Fun Challenges, it’s “Anything Goes”. My favorite!! I had so much fun playing with these inks, that I didn’t stop at just one card. I made three!!! Which is kinda crazy considering I didn’t even have a card made yet as of Saturday, the day I’m supposed to turn my project in (like I said, it’s been a crazy busy weekend).

I watched a video by Jennifer McGuire where she used stencils and oxide inks and it looked like a lot of fun so I gave it a whirl. This is my version. I only have 6 oxide inks at the moment so I started out using Cracked Pistachio and Broken China. I spritzed some water on my stencil and placed it on top of my blended background and left it alone for a couple of minutes. When I pulled the stencil off, I ooh’d and awed for a couple of seconds and then started on another one.

Once I got the feel for how these inks blend, I added in some Faded Jeans. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out. This next one I did, I used a more delicate stencil so I was a little worried that it wouldn’t turn out as good. I made this stencil with my Silhouette Cameo awhile back and I think this was my first time using it. The top part doesn’t pop as much as the rest of it, but I’m ok with that. While less of the surface reacted to the water, I still love it. It just has a more delicate look, is all.

I saved my favorite one for last. I made this stencil with my Silhouette as well and even though I covered up a lot of the background with the vellum, you can still see the awesome reaction to water!! I am in love with distress oxide inks. Not only do they blend so seamlessly, but they have such a cool reaction to water!! All distress inks do, but this is just sooo cool. I can’t wait to get more colors now. I added some vellum behind my sentiment, added a few clear Nuvo drops and tied some twine around the bottom and voila!! Card complete.

Thanks for stopping by!! Below is a process video where you can see for yourself how smooth these inks blend. Below that is a list of all the products I used. Until next time…

Misty

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants mentioned within this post might be using an affiliate link which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you buy something through that affiliate link. That said, I never recommend anything I don’t personally use and find to be a valuable asset to my business. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Build a Scene with Purple Onion Designs

September 11, 2017February 21, 2018 Happy Ink Designs4 Comments

Hi guys!! Happy Monday to you all. Hope everyone had a good weekend. We had our 2nd football game out of town on Saturday and unfortunately we didn’t win… Makes for a looong trip home, that’s for sure.

For this card, I used images by Purple Onion Designs. Tell me this isn’t the cutest fox and frog you’ve ever seen!! I absolutely LOVE all of Stacey Yacula’s images. They are just so stinkin adorable. All of them! The theme this week at Always Fun Challenges is Create a Scene. This background image makes it so easy to create a scene without even trying.

All I did was mask the “free spirits” image and then stamped the background and colored it. That was it!! I used copics and my polychromos colored pencils. I’ll add which copics I used as soon as I can. I didn’t have time to upload a video for this one, but I’m not sure I even should. It really was that easy. I may still add it to my YouTube channel, who knows. I’m kind of a rebel like that…

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll head over to the Always Fun Challenges blog and join us each week for a new theme. There’s so much inspiration over there, you just gotta check it out.

Until next time,

Misty

Copics for dirt road: E41, E42, E43, E44

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Back To School

August 27, 2017August 28, 2017 Happy Ink Designs5 Comments

Hi guys!! Hope all you parents are getting back into the swing of a routine. We started school last Wednesday and I think we’re finally getting our groove back. It’s amazing how every year, we seem to forget how to cope with back to school!!! We struggle with the getting up early, getting lunches made, early bedtime routine, as if we didn’t just do it the year before!! This year is particularly crazy because my husband is coaching football and I took over as the Vice President of the football league (first year even on the board so I have no idea what I’m doing). I’m here to tell you, it’s a lot more work than I thought it was going to be!! That on top of everything else in our lives is making me a little crazy. So school and football basically start at the same time. We’ve had Jayden’s best friend, Bubby and his Mom staying with us for a couple of weeks now so it’s been nice having another Mom here to help us function.

Speaking of “Back to School”, that is the theme this week at Always Fun Challenges. So bust out your back to school stamps and get crafty with them!! I don’t really have any school/teacher related stamp sets so this was the closest I could get. I absolutely LOVE these little birds from the Stacking Animals set from Simon Says Stamp. They work for so many different occasions.

Look how CUTE they are!!! And the glasses from the Geek is Chic die (by MFT) fit perfect on the biggest bird. I just can’t get over how cute they are. I added some Spectrum Noir Sparkle to the glasses and then topped them off with glossy accents.

This will go live after our hectic weekend, but right now I’m desperately trying to get my house clean for Jayden’s Birthday sleepover that we’re having Saturday night (so when you see this, that would have been last night). We just realized 2 days ago that we have to do it this weekend. My son’s Birthday is next week but next weekend is Labor Day weekend and I’m doing a 2 day craft fair, then we have football games every Saturday night from now until November. Our next home game isn’t until September 23rd. And I just realized all of this 2 days ago… Way to go, Misty!! My hubby is at the high school football game right now with Jayden and 6 of his friends so I’m taking advantage of this childless moment to CLEAN!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by. You guys always leave the sweetest messages for me. I really appreciate it. If you have time, head over to the Always Fun Challenges blog and check out last weeks participants. We have some beautiful entries. If you have some crafty time, I encourage you to join us this week for some Back to School fun! As always, AFC is open to anyone and everyone who’d like to participate. We have a fun, new theme each week.

Copics:

Blue Bird: BG10, BG11, BG13 Beak: YR12, YR21

Orange Bird: YR01, YR04, YR07 Beak: YR21, Y32

If you’d like to see how I made this card, just click on the video below. You’ll also find a list of all of the products I used below that.

Have a great week!!

Misty

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants mentioned within this post might be using an affiliate link which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you buy something through that affiliate link. That said, I never recommend anything I don’t personally use and find to be a valuable asset to my business. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Paper Piecing Challenge

July 16, 2017July 18, 2017 Happy Ink Designs2 Comments

Hello crafty friends!! How many of you love to paper piece when making cards? I know some people prefer it. And then some, like me, forget all about it until I actually do it again and then I say to myself, “Why don’t I do this more often?” I tend to say that a lot lately. All these new challenges each week have me trying different techniques and new ideas. I have to say, I love it!! If you’re ever lacking imagination or creativity, I suggest joining a challenge or two. That’s kind of crazy coming from me, who had only participated in 2 challenges before joining this design team. I like to do the Simon Says Stamp weekly challenge on flickr when I can and I LOVE my crafty friends’ NBUS challenge that she does a few times a year. NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) is the PERFECT way to dip your toe into the wonderful world of challenges. We all have stamp sets that have never seen the light of day, am I right?

Anyway…. I’m getting a little off track here. Let’s talk about this week’s theme at Always Fun Challenges. Have you guessed what that theme is yet??? Well, if you guessed paper piecing, then you are absolutely correct!! I decided to go with this flower image from Purple Onion Designs. I absolutely LOVE this flower image. From this angle, you can see the added dimension and how pretty that Victorian Velvet distress ink turned out.

I think floral images are fun to paper piece. As are clothes. I did a card awhile back using Stamping Bella’s Uptown Girls and I had a lot of fun paper piecing their dresses. You can check out that process video by clicking here.

Well ladies, I do hope you’ll check out the Always Fun Challenge blog this week and enjoy all the amazing talent from the rest of our design team and all the entries as well. Please join us if you can!! As always, these weekly challenges are open for everyone to play along.

If you’re interested in watching my process for this card, you can click on my YouTube video below. I’ve also added links to all the products I’ve used. Thank you so much for stopping by. I absolutely love hearing from you guys each week. Until next week….

Misty

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Father’s Day Card No. 2

June 11, 2017June 12, 2017 Happy Ink Designs10 Comments

Hi friends!!! Wow, I feel like I haven’t posted in ages!! I had some health issues and landed myself in the hospital for awhile and I’m just now getting my energy and strength back!! I’ve missed you guys!! I’ve also failed at staying up to date on my lovely friend’s blogs, but I’m hoping I can get back into the swing of things really soon. Especially now that school is out. I know I’ll have more time, that’s for sure!! I spent the whole last week at my kid’s school!!

Getting to it, this week’s theme at Always Fun Challenges is for a male/Father. And like I said before, I have 4 of them to make so I feel like I’m killing 2 birds with one stone…. Yeah, that’s a horrible saying, but you get my point, right? I made a pretty simple card Friday night, since I had a house full of kids. It’s really a miracle that I got a card made at all. We let Jayden have a sleepover on the last day of school so we had 7 boys here. The only one we were missing was my part time kid, Bubby. He’s my son’s best friend, but unfortunately his guardian is not very nice. We sure missed him though!! So back to my card… For not having any idea what I wanted to do, I think it turned out A OK!!

OH!! Before I go, I have SUPER exciting news!! Well, it’s exciting to me. I was picked as Blog of the Month in the June issue of Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine!!!! It’s a UK magazine and I would have never even known about it, if IsntSheCrafty hadn’t congratulated me!! Well, I FINALLY got a hold of someone and they mailed me out the issue. It’s not much, but it sure made my entire month!! I don’t even care that they misspelled my name!!! So thank you, Isn’tSheCrafty for letting me know about this!!!

Anyway, I hope you guys join in this week at AFC. I love seeing all of the entries. Thank you so much for visiting me today. I hope y’all have a fabulous week!!!

Misty

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Father’s Day Card No. 1

May 21, 2017May 21, 2017 Happy Ink Designs4 Comments

I’ve been chomping at the bit to use the Hipster set from Stampers Anonymous. I’ve had it for a couple of months now and I just hadn’t found the right card to make with it until now. Since the theme this week at Always Fun Challenges is Anything Goes, I decided to get a jump on my Father’s Day cards. I have to make 4 of them so if I start now, I might have them done in time for Father’s Day… Yes, as ridiculous as that sounds, it is the truth. These boys keep me busy!! If I’m not at the school, I’m either running errands or trying to make a card, edit a video, taking a pet to the vet, folding clothes, etc., etc. Once 3:15 comes around, MY day gets put on hold. It’s all about those 2 boys I love so very much. Oh, and my hubby too when he gets home at 5. I just don’t know where the time goes each day!! It seems like time is slipping by faster and faster as each day passes.

So yeah, I’m starting my Father’s Day cards now, in hopes that I will have them done by Father’s Day. I made this one for my Dad. If you watch my video below, it’ll explain why I chose this particular image for my Dad’s card. It’s fitting. I used distress inks to color Mr. Hipster and then after winging my way through painting the background, I added a stencil design here and there for some texture and dimension. Then I popped Mr. Hipster up on some craft foam and put it all together. I really like the way it turned out.

I didn’t do anything too fancy. The most challenging part of this card was painting the background. I used acrylic paints and I had no idea what I was doing. I’ve never done a background with acrylic paint before. It was looking pretty awful at first but once again, I persevered and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. At this point, I was pretty much panicking though..

I was sure I was just ruining this. What a hot mess!!! I thought the white would help me blend them together and it just didn’t. But once I started adding more of each color, I was starting to like it.

I loved using the stencil sporadically. I felt like I couldn’t really mess this part up even if I tried.

As an after thought, I added some Antiqued Bronze splatter and I was really pleased with the results. It was just what it needed.

And I just had to give him some wild hair because it would have been too boring not to!! I added some glossy accents to his glasses and I was done!! How cool does he look..??

For the inside, I just stamped my sentiment and then splattered some more Antique Bronze.

As always, you are welcome to join us at Always Fun Challenges. We have a new theme every week and the theme this week is Anything Goes!! If you can’t join us, at least check out all the oodles of talent you’ll find there. Thanks so much for your oh so valuable time. I really appreciate it. If you’d like to see exactly how I made this card, just click on the video below! It’s that easy. I’ll see you guys next week!!

Blessings,

Misty

Cardmaking · Challenges

Happy Mother’s Day Featuring Rosie

May 14, 2017May 14, 2017 Happy Ink Designs8 Comments

I’m back with another Mother’s Day card! Since I have 3 Mom’s, I thought I’d share the 2nd Mother’s Day Card with you too. I am in LOVE with Rosie here. She’s from Purple Onion Designs and she just makes my heart smile. Isn’t she adorable?? I wish I could create characters like Stacey Yakula can. She draws THE cutest images I’ve ever laid eyes on. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

The theme this week at Always Fun Challenges is Dry Embossing. I actually created 3 additional cards using embossing folders, before I decided I needed to up the ante a bit. I can’t believe how easy it was to make 3 cards in a matter of 5 minutes!! And I can’t believe that I hadn’t done it sooner!! But I wasn’t totally happy with my AFC contribution so I kept at it.

These are the 3 that I created in record time. They were just so easy to make!!

All I did was use an embossing folder, trim it down to 4″x5.25″, add a matching background and die cut a sentiment. Threw some Nuvo drops on one and a little twine on another and Voila! See what I mean? Easy peasy! This is good for filling up your card stash with last minute must haves. If you must have a card, you must have a stash. Every time I try and build up my card stash, I do another craft fair and then I’m back to bare bones. I see all these lovely ladies with boxes of pre-made cards and I’m envious.

Anyway, so after I made these super quick, super easy embossed cards, I turned my attention to Rosie here.

I used E0000, E00, E11 and E40 for the tan parts and W00, W0, W2, W4 and W6 for the shaded areas. I colored her cheeks and inside her ears with R30. The flower is E04 and G21 and YG63 for the stem. I used W0 for her cute little fluffy tail.

To finish off my card, I used my clear Wink of Stella on the hearts and that black part of the flower and then covered the hearts with Glossy Accents. That’s it. I hope you like what I did with Rosie here. I also made a process video which you’ll see below and as always, I’ve listed all the products I used below too.

Don’t forget to head over to Always Fun Challenges and add your lovely creations!! These challenges are open to anyone who wants to join in the fun. Even if you can’t participate this week, you can always head over to check out all the lovely talent. Between the lovely ladies that make up our design team and all of your entries, it’s overflowing with beautiful talent!!

I’ll see you next week!! OH! And Happy Mother’s Day!!!!