Monday, March 29, 2010

Bunny Garden card

 
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Here's the card I made with the 100 first graders of Lindo Park Elementary School last week. This is a great project for little ones! Bunny Garden Card

Supplies
Cardstock (colors: white, light blue, dark brown, yellow, pink, lavender, light green)
MSRS Springtime Cameo
Versamark inkpad (or similar)
White embossing powder
Heat tool
Scissors
White glue
Pink colored pencil
Plastic sandwich bags (3)
Orange jellybeans
Green pipe cleaner (cut into three 3” pieces)

Print out the bunny on white cardstock and trim to 3 ¾” x 2 ½”.
Make a 5 ½” x 5 ½” folder card from the blue cardstock.
Cut the dark brown cardstock to make a piece measuring 5 ½” x 3”. Fold this piece in half lengthwise. Punch 3 holes in one side of the folded brown cardstock.
Cut a 5 ½” x 2” piece of green cardstock. Use your scissors to make one side look like a rolling hill (as shown).
Stamp and emboss five different colors of cardstock with the Springtime Cameo stamp with the versamark pad and the white embossing powder.
Cut each cameo out to make five “eggs”.
Glue the brown folded/punched cardstock piece to the bottom of the folded blue card. Make sure the punched section looks like a movable flap (as shown).
Glue the “green hill” above the brown panel.
Glue the bunny picture above the hill and set the card aside.
Put a few orange jellybeans in one corner of a plastic sandwich bag and twist one of the pipe cleaners to secure. Cut the excess bag away just above the top of the pipe cleaner to form a “jellybean carrot”. Make two more “carrots”.
Feed the three pipe cleaner topped carrots up through holes punched in the brown panel at the bottom of your card. The pipe cleaner “leaves” will be above ground and the “jellybean carrots” will be below ground (as shown).
Color the bunny ear. Optional pom pom tail and wiggly eye may be added to finish the card. Enjoy!

Bunny Garden card supplies

 
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Bunny

 
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Bunny Garden steps

 

 

 

 
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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Tulips

 
I had my last two classes of the month today at Scrappin' In The Hills in Anaheim. Thank you to all who attended, you made my day so fun! Now our thoughts are focused on our trip to The Netherlands. We will be attending the ArtSpecially Event again in Zeist. The Tulip picture is from our trip last year. Looking forward to seeing old friends, new friends and TULIPS!
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Thursday, March 25, 2010

First Graders are FUN!

 
I had the privilege of doing an art assembly at my daughter-in-law Kerry's school today. We made Bunny Garden cards with 100 first graders from Lino Park Elementary School. I had the best time! The kids were amazingly adept at figuring out how all the pieces fit together. Thank you Lindo Park first graders for inviting "Mr. Mike" to your school.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Blog candy winners!

Wow, that didn't take long. I checked the blog this morning and found 107 messages. That means three of you will be getting some fabulous (modest) paper in your mail boxes. Here are the winners chosen at random: Jennifer Willis, Diana Chavis and Christi Hicks. Congratulations ladies! Please email me at mike@strongstamps.com with you addresses. Thank to all who commented. Next month - some really fresh candy!

Friday, March 19, 2010

March Blog Candy!

 
Club Scrap & I have produced three paper collections (so far). Here's your chance to collect them all! Just add your comment to this blog entry, it's as simple as that. After we collect 100 comments, three lucky winners, chosen at random, will receive the papers you see in the picture. Good luck!
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Monday, March 15, 2010

Romeo & Juliet & Max

 
Our future son-in-law Max is playing Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet. Opening night is Friday March 19. You can read about the company here: www.poorplayers.com
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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sweet Shamrock Card

 
Here's a sweet and simple way to celebrate St. Patrick's day.
Materials:

Green cardstock (2 sheets)
Orange cardstock
White cardstock
MSRS Cloisonne Heart stamp
Pigment ink pad (Versamark or similar)
White embossing powder
Green Ribbon
Jelly beans or green M&Ms
Plastic lunch bag
Green ribbon
Scissors
Double sided tape or glue
Hole punch
Heat tool
Pencil

Step:

Fold one of the sheets of green cardstock to make a 5 1/2" x 7" card. Center and attach a 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece of white cardstock on the front of the card. Center but do not attach a 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of orange cardstock on top of the white. Set aside.
Stamp and emboss three Cloisonne Hearts onto green cardstock using Versamark ink and white embossing powder.
Cut the hearts out and position them Shamrock style atop the layered card as shown. Draw two side by side dots with the pencil on the orange cardstock just below the three points of the hearts as shown. Punch holes where indicated and thread a piece of green ribbon through the holes with the two ends coming through to the front of the card. Secure the orange cardstock layer to the card with glue or tape.
Pour a small amount of jelly beans or M&Ms into one of the points of the plastic bag. Use another piece of green ribbon to tie off a small bundle of beans as shown. Cut away the excess plastic above the tied ribbon leaving approximately 1" of plastic above the tie. Position the tied bag atop the ribbon coming out of the card and tie the bundle to the card. Tie a double bow with the ribbons. Enjoy!
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Sweet Shamrock card supplies

 
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Sweet Shamrock card

 
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Sweet Shamrock card

 

 

 

 
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Friday, March 12, 2010

New paper collection

 
My pals at Club Scrap and I have collaborated on a new collection of cardstock called Whirligig. Turns out the colors blend perfectly with some of the Mica Gloss inks from Judikins that I'll be using in my workshops this coming Saturday and next week. There are three cardstock color combinations. I'll be using the one called Spring Fling. You can see them all in the What's New! section at www.clubscrapcommunity.com Each 8 1/2" x 11" pack comes with a dozen gorgeous textured and printed sheets plus about two dozen clever punch-out tags. We had so much fun designing this collection. I know you'll have fun using it!
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Primrose Card

 
Walking through the Target garden center the other day I saw some bright Primroses for sale. I noticed the petals were heart-shaped. I thought I could make the flowers and leaves from cardstock and share with you how to do it. The resulting card also expresses the theme of our current card making challenge at EnjoyMichaelStrongStamps yahoo group which is to express the word "sweet" any way you wish. Here's how to make paper Primroses.

Materials:
MSRS mini heart
Yellow cardstock
Scrap if black cardstock
Green cardstock
Watermark ink pad (Versamark or similar)
Dye ink pads (red & yellow)
stipple brushes
scissors
double-sided tape
glue (optional)

Steps:
Stamp the mini heart five time using the watermark pad. (10 time if you want two flowers)
Carefully cut out each heart.
Use a stipple brush to add red ink to the top of each heart and a different stipple brush to add yellow to the bottom of each heart as shown. Note: To help intensify the color, I wrap the brushes tightly with rubber bands. This makes the brushes stiffer and easier to pinpoint where you want to put the ink.
Put a small piece of double-sided tape on the back of each petal as show. Attach the petals to the scrap of black cardstock as shown. Be sure to position the petals evenly. Each petal slightly overlaps the preceding one. Make sure a little of the black cardstock shows in the center. Cup the flower in the palm of your hand bending the petals up. This will make your flower look more natural.
Cut three leaves from the green cardstock. Tightly crumple each leaf as shown. Uncrumple each one, smooth them out and crease them down the center (This step helps mimic the texture of the natural Primrose leaf).
Attach the flower(s) and leaves on a card with double-sided tape or glue and add a message if you like. I used the Gigi font, 22 point size to make the Springtime message.
Enjoy!
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Primrose materials

 
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Primrose steps

 

 

 

 
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Primrose steps

 

 

 

 
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Primrose steps

 

 

 
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