Online Card Class – Day 1

DAY 1 – WHOO HOO!!

Haven’t posted in a while – life gets in the way! I decided to participate in the Holiday Card Workshop and WOW – information overload!! If you have taken one of the Online Card Classes, you know what I mean and if you are a card maker and haven’t taken one, I would highly recommend them. Each day focuses on a couple of different tips and techniques. (NOTE: My intent was to post each day and I just couldn’t make that happen. The 10 day workshop ended on Friday and I had yet to post day 1! So, I’m going to do a few posts highlighting some of what I produced during the workshop – hopefully!!)

Working really gets in the way! Each morning I devour that days class and itch to get to my craft room and start putting it to practice. Instead, I wait (not so patiently, I might add) for the weekend. Problem with that, I was truly in overload. My biggest challenge is focusing on just one thing at a time – I want to try all of them!! So, I’m going to try to post them by day and without all of the details of making them, so if you have questions, just ask! So on to DAY ONE….

One of the things I always forget about until the last-minute is small gift toppers. This is a 3×3 card that is perfect for that. One of the challenges presented in day 1 was coloring images. I love coloring… takes me back to school days. There is something really relaxing in it. I topped this off with Stickles on a few of the ornaments for a bit of glitz! Please don’t ask me what the ornament stamp is called…. I cheated – I had stamped the image LAST Christmas card making season and had never used it so I colored it in etc and now, I can’t find the stamp! I’m really sad cuz I really liked the stamp. I’m sure I’ll find it – if I ever straighten up my craft room!

Since I was feeling guilty about using   something that was previously stamped, I decided to make another 3×3 card (actually, I made 2 – guilt is a great motivator!)

The “pine cone” version was not technically coloring (Jeez - the guilt is going to consume me here!)  - I colored the stamp with Distress markers and then re-inked the stamp with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. After embossing, I inked over it with Vintage Photo Distress ink. In spite of using my Stamp-a-Majig, I moved slightly when I stamped with Versamark and when I inked over it, it resisted the ink and it looks like snow! Yes, of course I meant to do that…

Another challenge was to make the envelope for the small card. I love making envelopes! Once I figured out how to make them… a monster was created! The cool thing with envelopes on small cards (gift toppers – too small to go through the mail) is you can use fun patterned paper and embellishments if you like.

Fun isn’t it – and that was only part of day 1….

I think I’ll get this post up and show you the other project in another post.

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear from you and if you have any questions, please ask!

Later,

S

Masculine Birthday Card

Hi, I’ve been really lax in posting new projects the last few weeks … not sure where the time goes! Anyway, I’m finally here with a new one!

I have a dear friend with a birthday today. Sadly, but par for the course, I just made his card yesterday! I should make a batch of belated birthday cards to have on hand! He is as big a baseball fan as I – if not bigger, so the choice of a baseball theme was easy. I wrote on the inside : I struck out and missed your birthday -  hope it was a GRAND SLAM! Hopefully it will make up in creativity what it lacks in punctuality!!

On to the card:  I made the card base with Kraft card stock folded to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″.  I embossed a piece of brown card stock with my Bigshot and a Sizzix embossing folder “diamonds”. I lightly sponged it with Black Soot Distress Ink from Ranger. All of the other designer papers are from the MVP line from W R Memory Keepers.  I layered the  embossed piece on a “lightly” patterned piece (I have such a hard time covering up a great pattern!!) I would usually cut this piece about 1/4″ smaller on all sides than the base but I knew I wanted to do some faux stitching around it, so I cut it a bit smaller.

I then had fun with the patterned paper! I cut a plain piece of “typing” paper to approx 2 1/2″ by 3 3/4″. I cut the patterned paper into strip of varying widths and glued them on the diagonal to the plain paper. I trimmed off the edges and sponged them lightly with the Black Soot ink. I added brads to the 4 corners and adhered with dimensionals.  I tied hemp around and debated on having the hemp go on top of or underneath the  paper-pieced element – underneath won!  Both the brads and the hemp are from my stash of unidentified embellishments!

The baseball was stamped with a PSX stamp on white glossy card stock. I inked the stitching with a red Marvy marker and the ball with Chestnut Roan Chalk ink. I punched it out with a 1″ in punch and distressed the ball and the edges (it stood out like new white sneakers!!) with several shades of brown, blue and burgundy ink. I then covered it with Glossy Accents by Ranger. I mounted it on the same paper as the 1st layer and attached with a foam dimensional. I added my friends initials with Thickers that I sponged with the same browns, blues and burgundy ink. A little faux stitching with a white gel pen finished it off.

I’m adding this to the CAS-ual Friday Challenge this week which is to use embossing. Hope you enjoyed and that it inspires you to create!

Later,

S

Super CAS card – Lots of hearts!

Hi!

Today I’m going for a really CAS (clean and simple) card – partly for time and partly because I really like the simplicity.

I did something on this card that I didn’t realize would be a problem until I photographed it. I layered white card stock on top of a dark patterned paper. I love the effect in person but in the photo the deep blue of the patterned paper comes through the white. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get the white balance and went back to re-shoot it and realized that you could see the darker paper through the white if you look carefully … and the camera looks carefully! Oh well, the card works and that’s the most important part. However, lesson learned: from a blogging perspective try to avoid layering white over dark.

I used 2 stamps on this card, both of which came from the $1 bin at Michael’s! I love it when that happens – finding stamps that I really like (and use!) in the bargain bin! It balances out the ones that are a bit pricey that I just “have to ” have!!

I stamped the heart stamp across my white card stock using my stamp-a-ma-jig. Love that thing! I always thought I’d never use one – - –  until I used it the first time. It makes it so simple to get your image stamped in just the right place (especially useful when you need to repeat a stamp).  I stamped each row in a different color from a ColorBox pigment ink Queue – Jellybeans and one row with Stampin’ Up ink Brilliant Blue. Love was stamped with Stampin’ Up Tempting Turquoise. I highlighted the hearts around Love with Baby Blue Stickles for a bit of twinkle.  

As I said earlier, I mounted the white stock on the blue dotted pattern paper and mounted that on a white card base.

A fun self challenge, buy a bargain stamp like these and see how many different ways you can use it! It’s lots of fun and you feel really good about the money you saved!

Thanks for looking and I hope (as always) that you have been encouraged to be creative.

Later,

S

Beat the heat with frosty friends!

Hi!

Well, it’s summer in Phoenix which means HOT! It’s pretty common in Phoenix to have temps hang around the 110 mark for days in the summer but knowing it’s the norm doesn’t make it any less hot. I’m sure you’ve heard the routine answer to the question of the heat in AZ is to reply with “…but it’s a dry heat”…. NOT! Well, not always. Yes, I’ll concede that most of the time that is true and to those who have lived in humid climates will attest, being dry definitely makes heat more tolerable. However, what many don’t know is  that we have a monsoon season in Phoenix. Yeah, I know you tend to equate monsoons with a more tropical (rainy) environment but even here in the heart of the desert, we have a monsoon season. It last from mid June through the end of September and produces some pretty intense storms and some newsworthy dust storms.  During our monsoon season, we have a much more humid climate….. YUCK! Give me the dry heat any day!

Anyway, you didn’t come here to read a weather report – did you? I digress into the weather to explain why I’m making a card with snowmen in July. It is hot and I wanted to think of something that was not hot. I thought if I played with frosty friends for a while I could pretend it’s that time of year. It worked pretty well – until I had to go outside again!

I used the absolutely adorable stamp set from Lawn Fawn “Making Frosty Friends”. If you haven’t seen it, you should take a look. It has 2 cute basic snowmen and lots of fun accessories to build you own snowy friends. Also from Lawn Fawn, I stamped the sentiment using Sally’s ABCs set. It has become my favorite (and I’m getting better at using it!)

I wanted to keep the card pretty clean and simple with a bright pop of color. I stamped the 2 snowmen and let me tell you it took me awhile to get them right. (I have lots of discards!!). Because I didn’t want to color them in any way, I had to mask the image so I would not have the lines of one snowman cutting through the body of the other where I had the overlap as you can see in the image below.

I had a couple of options, the first being to add a cut out copy of the smaller snowman over the original but since I was going to add the scarf as an added piece I didn’t want to have another layer.

The second option (which I opted for) was to mask one of the  snowman when I stamped the other. With masking , you stamp the snowman that you want to use as a mask on your project and again on a separate piece of card stock. Cut out the spare and with repositional tape, tape it over the one you stamped on your project. Then, stamp your other snowman where you’d like and the mask will prevent the outline of the two from merging! Clear as mud?

The same process works for adding the hat. You want to think it out carefully before you start or you will have lots of out-takes   –   like I do! You need to stamp the top hat first then mask it off before stamping the snowman that you want to wear it. You really have to think in layers! I was starting to get really frustrated and had to stop and remind myself that I do this for fun not to make myself nuts! Another note, keep the masks and save them with the stamp set so the next time you want to do this, you already have masks!

Next step was to dress my little men. The accessories in the LF set are so cute. I decided I wanted to stamp the scarf and knit cap from another paper rather than stamping them directly on my card. I did stamp the scarf on my card first however, so that I would get the fringe without having to try to cut it out. I stamped the cap on white and pink and pieced the pink part on the white cap and then added both to my card. The set also comes with a set of ear muffs that are adorable and some mittens and a really cute broom … it was a hard choice! I think I will be making a lot of snowmen cards!

I finished the snowmen with their eyes, carrot noses, cute little smiles, coal buttons and limbs for arms – so much fun (kinda like paper dolls!!)  I then added their feathered friend and gave him a matching scarf.

I added the sentiment and free-handed a skinny border around the image and mounted it on the same pink card stock – I slightly distressed the edges. I mounted the pink on my white card base and there you go!

It was a little frustrating because I stamped before I thought. The one thing I would stress is to think out the card before you start to stamp. However, once I finally sorted it out, I was able to relax and have fun again. Make sure you have fun – that’s the idea!!

I hope you enjoyed this and that it wasn’t as rambling as it feels! Most of all, I hope it inspires you to try it – to create your own snow friends!

I look forward to seeing  you again. Remember, I love to hear from you!

Later,

S

A new twist!

 

This card took me in a totally different direction…. I drew it.

Often, I will sketch out a card design…. not that I follow it (!) but it gives me a jumping off point. Lately, I’ve been sketching them on my iPad.  My husband was looking at the sketches and said some of these “are” cards – why don’t you use them? My first reaction was “I can’t do that – I can’t draw!” These sketches are for me. As I looked at them, I had to agree that some of them were exactly what I wanted the finished card to look like. In many cases, the finished card doesn’t look like my sketch because the stamp I use isn’t like my drawing and the sentiment is definitely not like my handwriting .  I use the sketch as an idea – for example this sketch would remind me I wanted to make a “thinking of you” card with flowers and a layout “somewhat” like this and using the colors indicated.

So, I decided to test this. I printed out the sketch and mounted it on a soft lilac cards stock to pick up the color in the flowers and mounted both on Kraft cards stock.  I did this with a few of my sketches and will post them over the next few days. I feel a little like I’m cheating since I didn’t stamp anything! I think I will play around with ways of combining the two.

I hope you like it and that it will really inspire you to create and that you will also be willing to step outside your comfort zone and try.  Let me know how it works for you!

Later,

S

 

Just Saying……

Covers it all!

Hi and if you’ve visited before, WELCOME BACK and if it’s your first visit, WELCOME (and I hope you’ll like it here and come back often!).

This has been a crazy week, so I’m showing a card I made last month for a friend’s birthday. In spite of how many birthday cards I seem to make, I really like cards like this that you can use for different situations. These are great cards to keep in your “grab and go” (or the OMG, I forgot!) stash! I leave the inside blank until I’m ready to use it and then it only takes a few  minutes to finish the inside with the appropriate greeting.

The flower stamp I used is from a cling stamp set by Ditto for Hampton Arts. Cute set of 2 flowers, but for the life of me I can’t find a name for the set!!  I even tried my trick of scanning the barcode with my phone and got the “sorry we don’t have this item in our database” – grrrrrrr!

I stamped the flower multiple times on black card stock with my old friend VersaMark ink and embossed with a yellow EP from All Night Media. Really bright yellow, almost neon but lots of fun on black! Be really careful when embossing on black to get all the stray EP off or you will have lots of bright yellow flecks where you don’t want them! There are some tools out that are supposed to help with this but I have yet to try them. You can use a dryer sheet but I honestly haven’t found that to be a big help. Having said that, I don’t know how big a mess it might be if I wasn’t using it….  If you use one that you really like, leave me a comment and let me know.

After embossing, I cut the card stock down using Nestabilities Deckled Rectangles and my big shot. Honestly, I’m an eyeballer most of the time (which explains why my cards are often a bit crooked!). Not to say I don’t measure but with this project, I choose the size of the Nestie by picking out the part of the stamped area that I liked. I tried laying out the larger die and I didn’t like what was framed so I went with the smaller one which gave me more yellow card stock showing. I did measure the yellow card stock 1/4″ smaller than the black base card stock.

I love the “just saying” stamp. It’s from the Grand Greetings set by Lawn Fawn. I have developed a Lawn Fawn addiction! The stamp actually says “Just saying HELLO” but I only inked the just saying part. If you haven’t seen this set, you should take a look at it – really fun large sentiments.

I finished it off with a slim black ribbon, which I still can’t really decide if I like or not –  but what’ the point in second guessing it now – right? My friend Patsy liked it and that’s what matters since it was her birthday!

That’s today’s card, hope you like it and it inspires you to create something.

Later,

S

Another birthday card – must be June!

Welcome back!

Hope you had a good weekend. Mine was way too short. (how does that happen?)

Today’s card is another birthday card! However, it could easily be used for other things by changing the sentiment. For example, you could add a “you’re so sweet” or “Hey Cupcake!” or maybe “Hi Sweetie” or even “Everything is better with a cupcake!” or “life is sweet” or “how sweet it is” or just plain “celebrate”  ….. you get the idea. BUT, in this case, it is another birthday card!!

I got to use one of my favorite techniques again – emboss resist. I never get tired of this! (I hope you don’t either!) I stamped the cupcakes with a couple of cupcake stamps from Inkadinkado’s  set “Birthday Cupcakes” on white card stock with VersaMark ink. I embossed some with clear embossing powder and some with pink (clear is from Stampin’ Up – I really like their clear ep and the pink is Blushing Pink from Stampendous).  Using an ink blending tool, I covered the card stock with Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I use an almost dry baby wipe to remove any excess in from the embossed areas. I find if the baby wipe is too damp, it makes the card stock curl. I then let it dry completely before stamping a few more cupcakes with VersaMark and embossed with All Night Media’s blue embossing powder. You have to let it dry really well or when you sprinkle the blue powder, it will stick to anything that is wet…. trust me…..  :-)

I attached a blue polka dot ribbon to the front of the card stock with my tape gun  - wrapping the edges around the back about 1/2 in on each side…. no need to waste ribbon where it won’t be seen!

I attached the embossed stock to the red card base. I stamped the sentiment “Sweet birthday wishes” also from the Birthday Cupcakes set on the same red card stock with VersaMark and embossed with white embossing powder. I mounted it over the ribbon with foam dimensionals. I added the heart from “Lovely Hearts” a fun set of hearts by EK Success and the jewels that are from a big container in my stash!! I really don’t know who makes them …. but they sure are cute and come in really handy!  The icing on the cake (so to speak!) is Stickles from Ranger in Cotton Candy.

That’s the card! Hope you like it and that it inspire you to create.  Please subscribe if you’re having fun so you can get updates as I get to them.

Later,

S

Watercolor Fun!

Welcome back!

It is Friday – yippee!! Again in Friday Fashion, I wanted a friendship card. I wanted to make a card for my girlfriend in England (shhh, don’t tell her!). We Skype regularly (and lengthily I might add – God bless Skype!!) but we don’t get to see each other often. I also thought I’d play with water-color……

Lets start with the water-color image: this little puppy is just so darn cute isn’t he? He was from Playful Pets by Adam Pescott – it was a “freebie” with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine.  I’ve had them for quite a while but had not used them. I thought they were a bit too detailed for my liking – I usually tend to lean toward really clean simple lines but I decided to test one since it was such a cute image. I was really surprised at how much I liked it after I stamped it. Lesson for the day: always test new stamps – you might find something you really like!!!  Throw all of the tests in a box and when you need a quick card, you’ve got a head start!!

I stamped my new little friend on water-color paper with black Stazon Ink. I messily colored him with water-color pencils and “lightly” brushed the image with a water-color brush after applying each color to blend it. I’m not an artist, so water-color is a real “hit and miss” with me. I’m just learning how to shade colors so they are not just a blob! I really want to try Copic markers but to be honest, they scare me! I see people work with them and they blend and shade and make it look so effortless and I just know it will not be that simple – but I digress! Back to my little watercolor puppy!

I chose a pretty pink for my card base – cut and folded to 4.25 x5.5 horizontal. The patterned papers are from the All About Girls paper pack from DCWV. Fun mini pack – cute girly papers! I went with the green polka dot that is embossed and glittery (hard to see in the photo) for sort of preppy look with a kick!  I cut it 1/4″ smaller than the card base and round the bottom corners of the dotted paper and the card base so they would nest. I cut a strip from the colorful plaid paper – I turned the paper so it would be on the diagonal rather that a straight (squared) plaid  just for a bit of interest. I took a chance and stamped the sentiment “I miss you” from the Whimsy Greetings stamp set from TPC Studio directly on the patterned paper with ColorBox dark brown chalk ink. I held my breath while I did it. I’m always afraid I’m going to mess it up when I do that and then have to go into recovery mode!!

I adhered my watercolor puppy with foam dimensionals and added a little faux stitching with a white gel pen. It was really a pretty simple card.

Have a great Friday!

Thanks for coming by. Please subscribe if you’re having fun so you can get updates as I get to them.

S

btw, I’m liking this blogging business! Who knew?

Red, white and blue – not just for flags!

Hi!

I was intrigued by a challenge on Splitcoaststampers to make a card using red/white/blue and it did not have to be patriotic. I decided to up the challenge for my self and said it “couldn’t” be patriotic!

I started with red card stock as the base. I did an emboss resist technique on white card stock. I stamped the flourish stamp from Inkadinkado’s Organic Fabric Flourishes with my dear friend Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Using an ink blending tool, I inked over the embossed images with Stampin’ Up Brilliant Blue ink. I really love emboss resist – almost like magic!!

I mounted the embossed piece on a deep blue card stock . I rounded the corners of the base as well as the layers so they all nested together. I stamped the sentiment “Sending LOVE” from Lawn Fawn’s Grand Greetings in Scarlet pigment ink on white card stock. Added some faux stitching in red around the sentiment and mounted it with foam dimensionals. I finished it off with some baby pearls and flowers from my stash (sorry, not sure who’s they are – my guess would be Michael’s).

As always, thanks for looking and I hope it inspires you to create!

Later,

S

Let’s patch things up

Hi! I hope you enjoyed your weekend – they go by soooo fast!

This was such a fun card to make. I really love the Bright Side paper from Lawn Fawn – really colorful and fun. I wanted to use several of them so I decided to do a patchwork design. I cut the paper that I wanted to use in strips 1″ wide and adhered them to a piece of plain (copy) paper side by side. I then turned the paper so the “stripes” made by the side by side papers were horizontal and I cut across those stripes into 1″ strips. I then had 6 1″ strips made up of 4 1″ squares. (clear as mud?) I then laid these out so that it formed the patchwork pattern and trimmed it to a square.

I laid my new patchwork square on the Kraft cardstock and with a pencil traced the outline lightly onto the Kraft stock. This way I could move the patchwork out of my way while I stamped “im sorry” around the square. I wanted it to be simple, so I chose to use all lower case and to omit the apostrophe. (my apologies to those who grammar sensibilities I’ve offended!) I stamped this with Dark Brown Chalk ink using Lawn Fawn’s Sally’s ABCs (which was a birthday present to this Sally!) It’s such a cute font! I stamped the little heart with a tiny heart stamp from Lawn fawn’s Love N Breakfast. I stamped it with Color Box Chalk ink in Alabaster and it was really too light on the Kraft card stock, so I drew over it with a white gel pen.

I tied the lavender ribbon around the patchwork part before adhering it to the Kraft stock. I was originally going to layer the patchwork directly on the Kraft card base but I felt it needed a bit of color, so I cut a piece of lavender card stock the same size as the card front and attached it to the base. Then I adhered the Kraft card stock on the lavender.  I wanted the play on the word patch so I stamped it  in the upper case of Sally’s ABCs on a small square of the same lavender card stock. I stamped the rest of the sentiment using a set of itsy-bitsy letter stamps by Hampton Arts – Studio G. I finished up with some faux stitching.

I hope you enjoyed this card – I really had fun making it. At this time, I don’t have anyone to give it to – hopefully it will stay in my stash for a long time! But it’s so cute, I might have to pick a fight so I have someone to send it to!

My hope (as always) is that it will inspire you to create.

Later,

S

If you have any questions, you can leave a comment or send me an email through the contact tab above. Some things are just not easy follow without a visual (or is that just me??)!