Tag: Whiff of Joy

Sweet Valentine Ben

~ sproatmeyer ~ 17 Comments

I made this small box following the Labels 17 Box by Alice tutorial over at Whiff of Joy’s Inspirations & Tutorial Blog. If you haven’t been there, you seriously need to go visit! It’s the cream of the crop when it comes to inspiring ideas and fun how-to’s! Anyway, when I saw this cute box I had to give it a go.


I used the adorable Sweet Valentine Ben as the main image, and yes, just like the Magnolia’s, I gave him a nose too. 😀 I altered the box dimensions a little by making it only 1/2″ in depth because I’m going to use is as gift card holder. I added minimal embellishments because I wanted Ben to be the star in this show and the big white bow is what keeps it securely closed.


Challenge: Whiff of Joy – Guest Designer Call
Challenge: Pear Tree Designs – Challenge #32 (Free for all)
Challenge: Stamps R Us – Challenge #12 (shaped cards)
Challenge: The Creative Cottage – Challenge #31 (shaped cards)
Challenge: Color Chef Challenge #70 (B/W, ocean & bright green)
Challenge: Craft Your Days Away – Challenge #12 (Love)
Main Stamp: Sweet Valentine Ben (WoJ)
Patterned Paper: Oliver (BG)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Seventeen and Labels Ten
Copic Colors:
-skin: E000, E00, E11, E13, R12
-hair: E42, E43, E44, E47, E49
-clothes: B93, B95, B97 B99, T0, T2, T4, T6, G12, G14, G7
-other: R20, R21, R22, G12, G14, G7, R32, R35, R37, E39, T0, T2

Did you know? The American Quarter Horse is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name came from its ability to outdistance other breeds of horses in races of a quarter mile or less; some individuals have been clocked at speeds up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h). The American Quarter Horse is the most popular breed in the United States today, and the American Quarter Horse Association is the largest breed registry in the world, with more than 4 million American Quarter Horses registered.
[American Quarter Horse, Wikipedia.org]

Update: I was the winner at Stamps R Us for this challenge!

Jude and his Shenanigan Crew

~ sproatmeyer ~ 14 Comments

It’s the 12th and final challenge in the 12 Days of Christmas at Simply Betty Stamps and this one is all about Christmas Eve. The prize, like a beautifully wrapped present, is both divine and tantalizing and includes being a guest designer for January! So just like my kids, I’m huddled around the Christmas tree eagerly waiting for tomorrow. 😀


I made another fancy folded card but I don’t know what this was is called – it’s sort of like a step card on one side and a vertical card on the other half. Anyway it was fun to make and allowed for more images to surround the tree… including Mickey in the back hauling off the largest present before anyone else can!


This is my second attempt with Prismacolor Pencils and this time I used Linseed Oil to blend with. Linseed has a strong smell of something very old like a bookstore… nothing headache-inducing but noticeable. It blended easier than a paper stump but it was messy and the oil took overnight to dry out. However, I did notice that it smeared the image in some areas. I printed the digital stamps with a laser printer and usually don’t have problems but once I applied the Linseed Oil it would grab some of the toner and smear it around so some areas look dirty.

Challenge: Simply Betty Stamps – 12 Days of Christmas
Challenge: Paper Sundaes – Challenge #49 (Cut it out)
Challenge: Anything Goes – Challenge #30 (C is for Christmas)
Main Stamp: Jude and his Shenanigan Crew Elf Nelly, Chloe’s Cookies & Mickey’s Prezzie (SBS) and Christmas Tree (WoJ)
Patterned Paper: Signature Christmas (MME)
Prismacolor Pencils:
1018, 927, 944, 1019, 945, 926, 923, 1003, 977, 1033, 911, 988, 968, 941, 1025

Did you know? The Lost Boys of Sudan are more than 27,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced and/or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. In 2001, about 3800 Lost Boys arrived in the United States, where they are now scattered in about 38 cities. Most of the boys were orphaned or separated from their families when government troops systematically attacked villages in southern Sudan killing many of the inhabitants, most of whom were civilians. The younger boys survived in large numbers because they were away tending herds or were able to escape into the nearby jungles. Orphaned and with no support, they would make epic journeys lasting years across the borders to international relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya evading thirst, starvation, wild animals, insects, disease, and one of the most bloody wars of the 20th century.
[Lost Boys of Sudan, Wikipedia.org]
On the 12th Day of Christmas my Ghoul Love gave to me… presents galore!

Party Animals

~ sproatmeyer ~ 12 Comments

The challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts is Fancy Folds. Your challenge to create a card or project with a different fold-type… such as gate fold, triangular fold, easel card, etc. I chose to make a step stair card which are always fun to display, however, where the card part comes in, I’ve never been able to figure out.


I made this project using images from Whiff of Joy‘s Party Animal collection and Make it Crafty‘s new Secrete Garden Collection plus the Big Tree. On the back panel is Lou Celebrating Monkey hanging on the Big Tree; the center panel has Gerda Celebrating Goat with Petals and Palings; and the front panel features Mouse Under Hat and Daffodil Dell.


Here’s the side view which shows the fancy fold plus the easel support in the back. Each animal is attached with foam pop-up dots and each background was cut out without leaving a white border so help define each element. I went all out with embellishments that were scattered around the room… including (store bought) hand-made clay lily flowers around the base of the tree and near the title. A closer picture of the Happy Birthday title is shown below.


DT Challenge: Lollipop Crafts – Challenge #21
Challenge: Card Makin Mamas – Challenge #11 (Anything Goes)
Challenge: The Crafty Pad – Challenge #102 (Anything Goes)
Main Stamp: Lou Celebrating Monkey, Gerda Celebrating Goat and Mouse Under Hat (WoJ) and Big Tree, Petals and Palings and Daffodil Dell (MiC)
Patterned Paper: School Spirit Collection (Crate Paper)
Copic Colors:
-tree: E35, E37, E59, G40, G82, G94, G99
-monkey: E40, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, E04
-present: YR12, YR14, YR18, C3, E08, E09, E19
-goat: E50, E51, E53, E55
-goat’s stuff: BG72, BG75, BG78, YR12, YR14, YR18, W3, W5, W7, E08, E09, E19, R05
-mouse: W2, W3, W5, W7
-hat: YR12, YR14, YR18, BG72, BG75, BG78, E08, E09, E19, R05
-flora/ground: E41, E42, E43, E44, E47, E49, YR12, YR14, YR18, E08, E09, E19, R05, G40, G82, G94, G99, YR20, YR21, YR23, C1, C3, C5, G20, G21, G24, G28, BG93, BG96, BG99


Did you know? Ladle Rat Rotten Hut is the story of Little Red Riding Hood written using English words, but never the correct ones, in the genre called homophonic transformation.Howard L. Chace, a professor of French, wrote it in 1940 to demonstrate that the intonation of spoken English is almost as important to the meaning as the words themselves. It was first published in Gene Sherman’s “Cityside” column in the Los Angeles Times in 1953.
[Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, Wikipedia.org]

Knight Charlie

~ sproatmeyer ~ 5 Comments

In an effort to make more boy cards, I used Knight Charlie from Whiff of Joy and backdropped him with a mighty fortress, the Sandstone Citadel from Make it Crafty. However, by adding the stitching and ribbon I think it was disqualified in the true-boy card division. None the less, it was another fun card to make!


This castle is so much fun to color and I can see it done in the colors of Disney’s castle or the one from Beauty & The Beast movie – both great for a princess! Again I used the shimmering paper to give it an added sparkle!

The challenge themes entered were an Anything Goes and Feeling Blue (use the color blue).

Challenge: Digi Doodle Shops Best – Challenge #34
Challenge: Pollycraft Challenge #71
Main Stamp: Knight Charlie (WoJ) Sandstone Citadel (MiC)
Patterned Paper: scraps
Dry Embossing: Sizzix Tim Holtz Embossing Folders Checkerboard
Copic Colors:
-walls: W1, W3, W5, W7
-roofs: E08, E19, B91, B95
-foliage/wood: E43, E44, E47, YG13, YG17, YG63, YG67, YG91, YG95
-water/sky: 0, B0000, B91, B95
-knight: W0, W, W3, W5, YR20, E55, E57, E59, E00, E11, B91, B95, B97, B99

Did you know? A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a fortress, which was not a home, and from a fortified town, which was a public defense, though there are many similarities between these types of construction. The term has been popularly applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses.
[Castle, Wikipedia.org]

Shy Willow

~ sproatmeyer ~ 3 Comments

I made this card using Shy Willow and Fall Grass, both from Whiff of Joy, as a reminder for the Lollipop Crafts Girlie Girl Challenge. This week’s theme is piratically anything girl which includes cards with a girl, for a girl or look girlie girl. The other challenge entered was for three of somethings – the three flowers.


DT Challenge: Lollipop Crafts – Challenge #16
Challenge: Daring Cardmakers Wee Three Challenge
Main Stamp: Shy Willow and Fall Grass (WoJ)
Patterned Paper: Chicken Coop (October Afternoon)
Metal Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Seventeen
Copic Colors:
W0, W2, W4, W6, W8, G0000, R0000

Did you know? United States Department of Defense directive 5230.16, Nuclear Accident and Incident Public Affairs Guidance as set out in Air Force Instruction 10-206 detail a number of terms for internally and externally reporting nuclear incidents. Some of these terms include Bent Spear, Broken Arrow, Empty Quiver, Faded Giant and Dull Sword.
[US Military Nuclear Incident Terms, Wikipedia.org]

Mouse under Partyhat

~ sproatmeyer ~ Leave a comment

I made these cards using Mouse under Partyhat from Whiff of Joy. This was the perfect image to use for birthday card invitations and turned to color easily. I made 30 of them but didn’t do as much shading on the others, as I’m sure you understand. ;D


Main Stamp: Mouse under Partyhat (WOJ)
Copic Colors:
-mice: T1, T3, T5, E55, E57, E59
-hat: YR20, YR21, YR23, R20, R21, R22, B95, B93, B91, G24, G21, G40

Did you know? A rare textile made from the silk of more than a million wild spiders is now display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. To produce this unique golden cloth, 70 people spent four years collecting golden orb spiders from telephone poles in Madagascar, while another dozen workers carefully extracted about 80 feet of silk filament from each of the arachnids. In this unique lamba cloth, the individual threads used for weaving are made by twisting 96 to 960 individual spider silk filaments together. The resulting 11-foot by 4-foot textile is the only large piece of cloth made from natural spider silk existing in the world today.[Spider Silk, American Museum of Natural History]