Happy New Year to all of you party animals!

My mom used to use a saying "Putting on the dog."  It's not something we hear anymore, but Wikipedia defines it as an expression that means 'to make a display of wealth or importance, especially by dressing stylishly and flashily'.  And isn't that what we do when we get out our fanciest party clothes for New Year's Eve?  I took it just a tiny step farther with today's card.

This fancy pooch is ready to party!  You can find her on the Hounds collage sheet at the DIY Design Studio web site..  That tiara she's wearing makes me giggle whenever I see her.

The background paper and embellishments I used on this card are all shiny and add to the festive feel.  The clear florals were stuck on more of the same red paper and then cut out and layered.  The tiniest of them are attached with foam squares to give it more dimension.

Because it's New Year's Eve, I thought a clock would tie the theme together.  The Celebrate sticker sheet has a few beautiful clock designs.  You can even choose which clock hands to use.  All of these were layered with black card stock and scraps of patterned paper and collages cut into geometric shapes.  I added a couple of Dew Drop centers to the White Gold flowers.

And the words "Time to Celebrate!" make the inside of the card bright and shiny, too!  Just sign it with a gold gel pen and it's ready to give away.  Happy New Year to one and all!

Supplies used:
Celebrate and White Gold sticker sheets  and other fun gold glam designs
Red Satin Shimmer paper
Hounds digital collage sheet
Dew Drops and glue dots
Foam  squares and double sided adhesive tape
Card stock

Christmas tags

Many crafters (including me) have been making Christmas cards to send to friends and family.  It's a wonderful way to show those you care for how much you love and appreciate them.  Another way is to create special tags for your gift boxes and bags.  The three tags below are each different styles.

This one uses a single focal image with a scrapbook paper background and a couple of embellishments.

Another style is to use a large image and either attach it to a shipping tag or simply cut your card stock into a tag shape and embellish.

And the last is a collage of themed collage images.

Whichever style you choose to create, your presents will have a little pizzazz to make the person receiving it feel special!

Check out your Christmas collage images at DIY Design Studio.  And don't just stick to Christmas.  There are collages for all types of themes and occasions!  The files are digital so it's not too late to order and start creating your own personal art!  

Supplies:

Shipping tags

Art tags

Music pages

Christmas images

Threads/ribbons

Chipboard snowflakes

Christmas with Graphic 45

All paper artists and crafters understand how supplies can accumulate when you aren't looking.  I swear they multiply all by themselves!  When I buy scrapbook paper it's because I think it's pretty and /or has great greeting card potential.  This year as I was thinking about what to make for Christmas cards, I found a few sheets of an old Graphic 45 pattern called Twas The Night Before Christmas that I had forgotten about.  It was finally time to use them.  Enjoy!

Want to go for a ride?

I love the style of this old-fashioned bicycle.  It's one of the chipboard die cuts available at DIY Design Studio and it is a lot of fun to use.  

My first idea was to try and distress the image with ink.  The StazOn is good for distressing chip board because it's permanent and dries quickly.  It just wasn't the look I wanted today.  So I decided to paint them instead.  Perfect for my project.

I liked the gold bike so well that I decided to paint the other one, too.

I added some rhinestones just to blint them up a little bit.

For the gold bike, I chose the Life Time pad of Prima paper.  You've seen me use this one before.  It's one of my favorites because of the range of shades and splatters.  They are beautiful papers.

I needed a piece of paper 6 x 4 1/4.  I opted to make the darkest section the body of my card and then use the part with the sentiment as a layer.  

I added some light brown ink to the edges of each piece so that they stand out once they were pieced back together.

This paper pad has a sheet of tags and embellishments.  I wanted to use a mini brad on the mini tag.  I could have used the cream color but it matches the paper a little too much.  I painted it the same gold as the bike to pull it into the card more.

Because the bike is chipboard it really stands off the page.  Foam adhesive squares hold the little embellishments up off the page to balance that out.

Card one - great for a note card or special occasion.  But it's almost Christmas and the other bike is red, sooooo...

I painted some chipboard snowflakes white to go with the second bike.

I found this piece of snowy scrapbook paper in my stash and added a washi tape sidewalk, then glued on the chipboard pieces. 

Products Used:

Die Cut Chipboard Bicycles

Die Cut Chipboard Snowflakes

Inks and/or Acrylic Paints

Adhesive Gemstones

Prima Life Time paper pad

Dimensional Foam Squares

Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

Glue

Scans of each card

Merry Christmas, ferret style!

I'm not really obsessed with ferrets, it's just nice to create cards that help out a cause.  All of the ferret cards featured here on Robin's Birdhouse are donated to Motor City Ferrets.

In Camelot!

I went to see my first play during my Freshman year of high school.  What better introduction to theater than to see Camelot?!  I love the romance and the action and, oh the music!  

I wanted to capture that Medieval feel with today's card.  Castles always have tapestries and banners so I used two different size banner dies with three of the images from the Mists of Avalon collage sheet and two pages from the Life Time Prima paper pad.  

What is royalty without a little pomp and circumstance, right?  So I added shine to these tapestry banners with some gold glam stickers and gems.

I just happened to have a crown and sword die cut in my stash and it really gives this card the Camelot feeling!  Both shapes were cut out of gold paper.

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave a comment if you have a moment.

Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year!  I know for a lot of people Halloween means decorating their home inside and out, but for me it is a great time to make spooky art.  DIY Design Studio has several fun Halloween collages for your art projects.

Both of my cards started out with plain card stock and a piece of punchinella.  Green ink with green paper and white ink with black paper...just to give the blank space a little texture.

I used a strip of washi tape for a background element but a strip of scrapbook paper or a piece of ribbon would also be great.  I just wanted something fun behind the main collage image.

I added a few highlights to the Halloween damsel with a white gel pen.  There is shading on the pumpkin eyes and noses.  And tracing around the skull and crossbones on her cloak and the grid on her dress really make them stand out.  

A few Dew Drops make a nice dimensional highlight.  

For the card below, I used the washi tape again and also added embellishments to the skeleton's crown.

Be sure to come back again soon for another DIY Design Studio project!  Happy Halloween!