Cupcakes and Sprinkles!

What is the haze like in your neck of the woods? I am smack dab in the middle of the country, but our sun is a bright orange, veiled by a gray smoke. If it's this bad here, I can't imagine what it's like where the wildfires are raging. My heart goes out to those of you who are impacted and on the west coast. 

Whilst living in the cover of darkness, I thought it would be the perfect time to spend a moment in my craft room. I'm popping in quickly to share my make. 

My stash of birthday cards is running quite low and so I thought I'd stock up my stash this weekend. Seize the Birthday is running a die cut challenge, so I looked at my magnetic wall and found a fun die I haven't used in a bit. 

I don't craft with die cuts very often as a main focal point, but what better way to stretch your crafty muscles than to try something out of your comfort zone? I found some lovely patterned papers and used the Cupcake Builder #1 set from STAMPlorations to get to work building layers. 

I find mixing and matching patterns both relaxing and challenging, but I loved the way all these patterns wound up. To finish off my card, I added some beads for "sprinkles". 

Thanks for stopping by! 

InkaGold Mixed Media Card for Guys

When I found out the latest challenge for Seize the Birthday was Circles... well my mind started spinning. 

You see... I'd been working on an art project a couple of months ago and had cut out an excessive amount of die cut circles. Like WAY more than I wound up needing. So now I have a bag full of a gazillion circles that make me mad every time I look at them because they were SO MUCH WORK. 

Well, they came in handy because I'm guest designing for Seize the Birthday through the end of the month. 

Their Toppings theme this time around is "Circles". You can really make any kind of birthday card you want and link it up to their challenge, but they give you an optional theme every time, too.

I created a shiny background using a wet paintbrush and some InkaGold. I'm definitely going to be making more backgrounds like this because, in the end, it looked like brushed copper. So pretty! 

I ran my painted background through my embossing machine, using an embossing folder with a clock print. 

The circles were cut out on white paper, then I used my fingers to slather some green, gold and copper InkaGolds all over. Looooove the textural look of the circles. 

I stamped a sentiment and old-fashioned car from a Unity kit to complete my design. 

I'm going to play along at:

More Mixed Media Challenge - Anything Goes (option of black)

I also used the color scheme from The Color Throwdown.

So. What's circling in your brain? Give the latest challenge over at Seize the Birthday a try!

Seize the Birthday Surprise Party Guest

That's right, folks, you get not one - but TWO - lovely postings from me today. 

That's because I'm the Surprise Party Guest for Seize the Birthday's latest challenge. 

I'm so thrilled to be playing along with their uber talented team again. 

For the "toppings" this go round, they want you to create a card using a kraft base. But don't worry, if you don't feel like getting krafty, you can just create ANY kind of card with a birthday theme and still link up. 

I wanted to play with my new Feathery stamp set from STAMPlorations (available for 20% off in the STAMPstore by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA) so I pulled out a sheet of vellum and got to embossing. 

To give my kraft background a little pop of texture and dimension, I used some Ranger Texture Paste through a Winnie & Walter stencil. 

I loved the sketch put out by CAS Colors and Sketches this week and used the heck out of it. 

Taaadaaaa here's my full card.

I'm also going to play along at:
Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes


Thanks for popping by! Now go check out the rest of the awesome creators over at Seize the Birthday!