Since my son's birthday was a farm theme and we just recently saw Charlotte's Web, I thought it would be fun to make a birthday card for him inspired by the movie. I don't have many reinkers, so I used fluid chalk cateye DTP to make the faux wood for the barn door frame. The hay and grass are also fluid chalk DTP (masked with post-it notes).
Inspired by the children's book, Snowmen at Christmas! We've been enjoying it recently along with Snowmen at Night. I just love the fun illustrations in these books. I started by stamping the A Muse Snow Pals, then masked them and stamped the Brownstone several times. The tree was made by stamping all but the base of the A Muse Little Tree and then extending the lines on either side to make it look huge! I colored everything in and then added layers of sparkle to the tree using Stardust pens, Sharpie poster paint marker in gold and red, and Stickles. I also used Sharpie marker to make the lights outlining the buildings and windows. Snow was made by sponging white craft ink and some Pebbles Shimmer chalk. I colored the snowmen with a white Prismacolor pencil and then added shimmer chalk to them as well.
Inspired by The Muppet Show (one of my favs when I was little), here is Kermit and Ms Piggy (aka Petunia) on stage. Petunia and the sentiment are both part of the newest release of A Muse stamps! The red curtain was trimmed with cloud scissors and then I drew vertical lines with a Prismacolor marker.
Guess I just can't get enough of this choo-choo! Continuing in my children's book series of cards (were you missing them?), here is one inspired by Polar Express. The misty snow on the ground is pigment ink direct-to-paper (DTP). Then I smeared it with a sponge dauber and my fingers. The light and steam on the Engine are also white pigment ink DTP - using a sponge dauber for the steam and post-it notes to mask the area for the light. There is also some Pebbles shimmer chalk over the ink on those for a little extra sparkle. Inside sentiment says *believe*.
Inspired by Curious George. The balloons and bird are from the A Muse Simple Wishes clear set and the monkey is from the Purrr-fect clear set.
Inspired by The Little Engine that Could children's book. My son loves trains - so I had to choo-choose (*hee-hee*) between Thomas and the Little Engine. The Little Engine won since it was another fav when I was little. This is the train from the A Muse Dino clear set (so fun!). The little face is hand-drawn using a Sharpie Poster Paint marker and CM black journaling pen. Inside hand-lettered sentiment says "I knew you could... I knew you could... I knew you could!"
Inspired by lift-the-flap kids books. I dry embossed the door panels. The stairs are strips of cardstock cut at different lengths and then layered. I used the A Muse Snow Purse for the planters below the trees. Scribbled with a blue marker for a faux glare on the windows. Sharpie poster paint marker and Art Glitter for snow. When you open the door, you find.....
Inspired by X the owl in his big Oak tree from Mr Roger's Neighborhood. I used the dotted lines stamp several times to make the bark on the tree (on an A Muse Bark notecard). Then I cut out a small oval in the middle of the card using my Creative Memories oval cutter (I tried the Coluzzle once and I like the CM system better). Then I stamped the owl straight through the oval onto the inside of the card. I love that the A Muse notecards are white on the inside - made this so easy. It also is nice when you are using a dark color card - you don't have to add a sheet of white inside (or write with a gel pen) for your words to show up. Hand-lettered sentiment inside says "Hope your Birthday is a Hoot!"
Inspired by Goodnight Moon *grin* - one of my favorite books when I was little. I stamped the window on white and then trimmed it (after masking and filling in the sky with fluid chalk DTP). The bunny was also stamped on white and then cut out. I stamped the lamp once on the card and then again on yellow cardstock and then trimmed it down to only the shade. The balloon was made with a circle punch and some hand drawn details.
My Patch children's book series was so fun, I started thinking about what other books I could use as inspiration and viola - Babar! Might as well use the A Muse host again while I had it out for Patch - right?. I used a black marker to ink portions of the Fairy (for the crown), Ellie, Host, and "Happy 4th" stamps. Then using the fancy frame this way was inspired by Linda (thanks!) and the A Muse card-of-the-week email. I think this is my first card using the fancy frame and I love how it gave Babar that royalty look. I haven't actually read a Babar book since I was a kid, so now I'll have to look for it the next time we're at the library!
This is my *favorite* of my Patch children's book series cards. Patch masquerading as Clifford for Halloween! The scale of the parade kids worked perfectly to make Patch look huge! I used post-it notes to cover his spots prior to stamping (worked OK, but I'd stick with markers next time) and then colored everyone with Prismacolor pencils.
Here is the second in my children's book Patch series! This is based on the book Harry the Dirty Dog. The colors used in the book are similar to Fluid Chalk lime pastel and tangerine which I used here DTP and also with an aquapainter for the bird and flowers. I used the poppin' pastels technique to make Patch look dirty and for the little hole he dug for the scrub brush.
