A Bear and Some Birthday Balloons

 Anyone else struggle with making birthday cards?   I have some time to craft this Holiday weekend and when I saw that the current Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is Party Time, I decided it was good time to try and crank out some birthday cards.   I'm always on the hunt for some stamp set that inspire me to create a birthday card and when Penny Black came out with the adorable Together Forever stamp set, I had to have it.   

I first created the sky background by stamping weathered wood and tumbled glass distress inks onto my craft mat.  I spritzed with water and then dragged the card stock through it.   I colored the image with copics and fussy cut the bear and balloons.   I wanted to pop up a couple of balloons so I stamped again and cut those out and popped them up with foam adhesive.  I added some Glossy Accents to the balloons. I layer ed the balloons just outside the panel so the bear and his balloons could be floating up outside the panel.  I stamped a sentiment from the Papertrey Ink Just Sentiments: Birthday stamp set and heat embossed another sentiment from the Altenew Sentiment Strips 3 stamp set.  I matted the image pane in back and layered it over the confetti pane that I created using the cool Concord and 9th Celebrations Turnabout stamp set. 

Blue Floral Birthday

Playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog and the theme is "Party Time."   You can enter up to 5 times.   Challenge accepted for a chance to win a $25 gift card  Here is my first entry.  

Found a few of my old MFT background stamps which inspired me to make this card.  

I rubbed some weathered wood, tumbled glass, and old paper distress inks onto my craft mat.  I spritzed with water and dragged the card stock through it.  I dried it with a heating tool and repeated that a couple of times.  

Next I used an old MFT Sheet Music background stamp that sadly is no longer available.  I stamped that in black soot distress ink.  

Next I stamped the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers stamp set in Momento Tuxedo Black ink and colored the image with Arteza Real Brush Pens.

I heat embossed the sentiment onto some vellum with  some black embossing powder so it didn't get lost in the design.

  

UN-retired Empty Nester Returns to the Stamping World

Yep.   Call me Tom Brady.   I've UN-retired and rejoined the paper crafting world!   Unlike my boyfriend Tom though, I retired for a solid 6 1/2 years to finish raising my family.   

I was successful with this hobby of mine and was juggling the work of 6 design teams at one point, but I realized my attention to card making was WAY out of balance with the attention I was giving to my family.....so I walked away abruptly one day.   You can read all about it in my previous post HERE. 

Not sure who is still kicking around and who will even see this post, but for those of you who remember me, I do want to share an update on my family.  My husband and I are now officially empty nesters.   Our daughter Lauren is now a junior at Saint Anselm College studying nursing and running for their Cross Country team.   Our son Jack is a freshman at Stonehill College studying Sports Management and is a quarterback on the football team.  We are ridiculously proud of both of them!   Sadly, our sweet yellow lab Calvin passed away in 2020.  We now have 2 four-footed family members who fill our home with love....and fur and mud.   We have a 5 year old chocolate lab named Bear and 1 year old yellow lab need Tucker.   If you read my previous post that I linked above, you will see what the kids (and Calvin) looked like when I left the stamping world.   Here are a few pics of our family now. 

 

Now that I am officially an empty nester, I can re-join this world guilt free!   I have missed having the creative outlet of designing AND the people in this world!   The crazy thing is that things are so different since I left so I am learning about all the new trends, new companies, AND figuring out who I am as a designer all over again.  

My goal is to once again return to doing some design team work because I love the creative challenge of of helping a company to sell their products AND the connection to other design team members.  Psssst!   Wendy Ramlakhan.....I'm available!  Sounds like blogs are not even required by some companies now (MIND BLOWN), but other still require it so I decided to revive my blog and post some of the cards I have created since I returned.  Plus, I'm definitely interested in the Altenew EducatorCertification Program as a way to learn and master new techniques so that I can teach at a local craft store and they require a blog as well.

What is interesting to me is that things that NEVER interested me in the past have suddenly caught my attention.   I was a copic colorist when I left this world.  Here are few of the cards I recently made that were similar to my style when I left the crafty world:

Stamping Bella "Curvy Girl Loves Autumn"

My Favorite Things "Grande-Sized Love"

Stamping Bella "Mochi Party Girl"

Stamping Bella "Curvy Girl Baker" 

SugarPea Designs "Hey Winter"

BUT distress oxides are something that is new to the market since I left and I have become obsessed with collecting them....all of them.   3D embossing folders are also new to me AND stencils are really a big thing now, too!   It's amazing how the hoarding has picked right back up where I left off.  :/  

My interest in these products has also led me to be interested in learning new techniques and becoming slightly obsess with companies that never interested me in the past.....Altenew and Gina K Designs to be specific and I just got some new things from Pretty Pink Posh and Pinkfresh Studio that I need to put to good use.  Oh, and the Turn About Stamps from Concord and 9th are pretty cool!  Simon Says Stamp has EVERYTHING and I can get lost poking around the virtual store.  

Here are some cards that I have created with things that I would never have paid attention to when I was in this world several years back:

Pinkfresh Studio "Lush Vines" and sentiment from Gina K Designs "Pretty Posy"

Gina K Designs "Stitched Leaves" stamp set and coordinating die set. 

Altenew "Courageous You" stamp and die & simple coloring stencil bundle.  

Altenew "Courageous You" stamp and die & simple coloring stencil bundle. 

Look at me watercoloring!  That NEVER would happened years ago! 

Spellbinders 3D embossing folder and Concord & 9th "Hey Hi Hello" die set. 

Simon Says Stamp Tiny Ray of Sunshine (retired) and Concord & 9th "Star Turnabout" stamp set 

Simon Says Stamp "Magnolia Branches Embossing Folder" watercolored with distress oxide inks

Altenew "Leaves and Berries Stencil" 

Altenew "Craft Your Life Project Kit: Garden Rose" 

So there you have it.  You're all caught up to speed on my return to the stamping world.   THANK YOU for still being here!  I met so many great people through this hobby and I look forward to reconnecting with everyone.   I'm excited to continue to learn and grow as a designer and to see where the road takes me in this new chapter of my life.   Kim O'Connell Designs version 2.0 is here to stay!