As you all know, I’m on the design team for The Doodle Garden. This month, my card is using “Little Hoot Star Shine”. I actually have about 10 baby cards on my list to make right now. I finished one last week, but I’m not posting it until the couple gets it. I don’t want to blow the surprise.

    I make all the baby cards for my coffee group and this one is for them.

I’m using one of my favorite lines for baby cards. I found it in my local Michael’s store. It’s called Itsy Bitsy by K&Co.

Isn’t this little owl a sweetie? I like to think of him as cold so he’s wearing a blanket.

This is one of my favorite lines of sentiments! It’s actually from the Studio G line and I can usually find them in the $1 section of Michael’s or Joann’s. I stamped it on craft cardstock and then outlined it with a white gel pen.

There are a bunch of women in this coffee group, so the area for signatures has to be large. Plus, because I don’t exactly know who the card is for, I couldn’t personalize it more. “Congratulations!” is another of the Studio G $1 stamp line.

I decided to make another logo for the backs of my cards. I really like this one as it matches the font on my site. Plus, it’s really easy to read.

I really hope you enjoyed my baby card. I just LOVE owls!

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Copics Used

Owl: E53, E52, E51; B60 & B41 (layered on each other); YR14, YR12; YR31, YR30; E59, E57; E25, E23; R01, R20
Branch: E49, E47, E44
Stars: Y26, Y23, Y21
Background: W9, W7, W5

Non-linkable Items

Background Paper by K&Co. – Itsy Bitsy
Sentiments are by Studio G
Ribbon is 5/8″ Satin Brown ribbon
Font for my new logo is Smiley Monster

Supplies Used

The Doodle Garden Small Corner Rounder Memento Tuxedo Black Papertrey Ink Kraft Cardstock Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White Cardstock Copic Sketch Markers Best Creation 3D Foam Tape Adhesive Scotch 1/4x36yds Adhesive Refills 3M ATG 714 Dispenser Perfect Layers Rulers #11 Replacement Blades Exacto Knife Martha Stewart Score Board 13×13 Glass Mat Exacto Trimmer

   Well, since getting the new computer in the craft room and actually having to work off of it for everything, I’ve been getting more crafting done AND saving on my electricity bill! Because my craft room doesn’t get direct sunlight at any time of day, it’s the coolest room in the house. I’ve had the thermostat set on 78 every day and have actually been cold! Woohoo! This is awesome as we already pay enough for electricity being in the desert.

   I’m pretty excited about this card as I did the 3D part at my Mom’s house in Florida. She was so excited to be able to sit and watch me craft. I gave her her birthday card on this trip, so she was eager to see just how much work goes into the 3D cards.

   Recently, my godson, Ian, turned 4 years old! I cannot believe it! Where has the time gone? I haven’t seen him in a couple years and I miss him terribly! I also miss his mother, who is due to give birthday any day now to Ian’s little sister! Oh, I’m so excited! I wish I could be there for her, those rotten plane tickets cost too much.

As you can see, the card itself is pretty muted, which brings out the bright, vivid colors of the clown.

I started with Birthday Clown from Birdie Brown and made him 3D using the method in this tutorial by my dear friend, Mariska. Isn’t she SO talented? I just LOVE everything she creates! After it was complete, I added Crystal Effects to the balloons and his nose. Everyone knows a clown has a shiny, red nose.

This photo shows you a little bit of the depth from the side. As you can see, each finger on his hand was cut out and placed a little bit above the others to give extra character.

The image on the card is 1/4″ thick. The whole card is just under 1/2″ thick. I love that this glue can be used to build things up instead of having to put layer after layer of paper (which would add to the weight).

Back to the front of the card. We all know how little kids are SO proud of their ages and being able to read their names. I had to put a “4″ and his name on it just for that purpose. The alphabet stickers I used are called “Sticker Shimmer Metro Alpha Black” and are by Making Memories. I just LOVE this font as it reminds me of one of the fonts Mary Engelbreit uses. At first, the stickers were easily removed, but once they adhered overnight, they have been locked tight. I also like that the glitter doesn’t come off, but also doesn’t look like girly glitter.

Here’s the sentiment I put on the lower part of the card. For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with a sentiment that rhymed with the age 4, so I kind of cheated and went to the PX to see if they had a sentiment in a card for a 4 year old that I liked. Low and behold, this was in the first one I picked up! I chose a different font than the main image as I felt it would be okay with all the different fonts being used on the yellow background paper. Normally, I would’ve matched the font on the image, but I figured 3 different fonts on the card was a nice round number.

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Copics Used

Skin: E21, E01, E00, E000, E0000, R22, R20, R01
Hair: YG07, YG05, YG03, YG01
Lips/Nose/Bow tie/Red Balloons: R29, R27, R24
Hat/Shirt/Blue Balloons: B34, B32, B21
Yellow Balloons: Y17, Y15, Y13
Orange Background: YR14, YR12, YR04, YR02
Whites: C1, C00, Colorless Blender
Background: C5, C3, C1, C00, Colorless Blender

Non-linkable Items

Ribbon is from the dollar section of Target
Making Memories Mini Alpha
KI Memories Patterned Paper – Party Starry
KI Memories Patterned Paper – Yellow with Birthday Text

Supplies Used

Birdie Brown Digital Stamp EP Birthday Boy Stripe Olba Glue Syringes McGill Embossing Stylus Kit Olba Glue Pergamano Embossing Mat Gingher 4in Scissors Copic Brush Small Multiliner – Black Copic Sketch Markers Tweezer Bees Best Creation 3D Foam Tape Adhesive Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White Cardstock Zots small glue dots Scotch 1/4x36yds Adhesive Refills 3M ATG 714 Dispenser Perfect Layers Rulers #11 Replacement Blades Exacto Knife 13×13 Glass Mat Martha Stewart Score Board Exacto Trimmer

    It’s time for another Doodle Garden Monthly Challenge! This month, the Doodle Garden is so excited to be sponsored by Soft Pencil! Our theme this month is “School Days”. I’m pretty excited for my kiddos to be back at school, I tell ya.

    The challenge starts on September 1, 2012 and runs through September 12, 2012. I really hope you join us in this one as sadly it will be the last for a while.

Now for the card! I started out by coloring up Elizabeth’s “School Bus“.

   I ended up adding the road and a curb to the image to help ground it. All I did was take a ruler and add a horizontal line below the tires and another just above that, then colored the road and curb to the desired colors. I also airbrushed the background using BG13, BG11, BG10, & B00. I tried to make what I call “Colorless Blender Clouds”, but I guess I need to work on the technique a little more. Hopefully I’ll end up perfecting the technique and being able to make a tutorial about it. I ended up painting the clouds on with 2 coats of white acrylic paint and I really like how it turned out!

Isn’t this little sentiment adorable??? I used a sentiment designed by my crafty online sister, Jenny Suchin of Wee Memories. The really cool thing is the optional endings. It could say “teacher”, “friend”, “helper”, or “student”. These were sold by The Craft’s Meow, but they are no longer available.

Aren’t these little kids adorable with their heads sticking out of the bus?

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Challenges I’m entering

None at this time.

Copics Used

Skin: E21, E01, E00, E000, E0000, R20, R01
Hair/fur: (left to right) C10, C9, C7, C5; E71, E70; YR31, YR30; YR18, YR16, YR14, YR12; E49, E59, E25, E35
Sky: BG13, BG11, BG10, B00
Grass: G99, G46, G43, G40, YG09
Bus: YR19, YR17, YR15; 100, W10, W9, W7; R24; C3, C2, C1, C0, C00
Pavement/Curb: W9, W7; C3, C1, C00

Non-linkable Items

“Owl Be Seeing You In Class” stamp set by Jenny Suchin.
White Acrylic Paint
Apple Punch
Grade School Mat Stack by DCWV

Supplies Used

Soft Pencil Digital Stamp Best Creation 3D Foam Tape Adhesive Micron Pen Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White Cardstock Zots small glue dots Memento Tuxedo Black Westcott 5in Titanium Scissors Perfect Layers Rulers #11 Replacement Blades Exacto Knife Copic Sketch Markers 3M ATG 714 Dispenser Copic Airbrushing Exacto Trimmer Martha Stewart Score Board 13×13 Glass Mat