Wedding Cards

Well, I knew that we were entering wedding season in a while but I am not ready to go shopping for dress to wear to the weddings. I have gained so much weight after a heart procedure and limited exercise and medication that I am totally horrified and embarrassed at my body size right now. There that's out there....I'm at my all time weight gain...and am all time horrified....I am also working on healthy so no short cuts to dieting in any way for me. I'm riding my bike and the outdoor exercise is exhilarating. The weight results are not. I use to be able to instantly drop weight in my younger years but not now. I hate walking alone in this city with no lake. Anyway, wedding season...here are a few cards it necessitated so far with products I bought from Simon Says Stamp in preparation for this wedding season.

Both of these cards were
Made with Simon Says Stamp I think May card kit but I bought the items from the kit on my own individually and just the stamp set, Blissful Bloom and the Echo Park 6 x 6 pattern paper pack called Wedding Bliss. I used Waffle Flowers 5 x 7 rectangle die set, the Lacey one.

Here are two more wedding cards. I really had fun making all of these.

End of summer playdate with my craft room...welcome back to crafting....

Wow, I really did take the summer off from crafting and blogging! But the weather is looking fallish here with cool temps and all day rains. So I'm back in the craft room having a playdate! Here's the result from today: a fun play with some new and old items. The new: Honeybeestamp's Mermaid Song stamp set and Nuvo silver moonlight glitter embossing powder and the old: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and MFT cloud stencils with tumbled glass distress ink on Tim Holtz watercolor paper.

Two Tips: Cutting panels without waste from Bristol Smooth & Using Hero Arts Color Layering Stamps

Thought I'd also share two tips I used on the sea turtle card.

First on is for cutting Strathmore Bristol Smooth card stock with little waste.  I buy the large pad, I found mine at Hobby Lobby and bought it with a 40 % off coupon. It is 11 x 17 inches and has 24 sheets. With this size there is no waste if you plan to cut the sheets into 4.25 x 5.5 inch panels. Just cut the 4.25 from the 17 inch long side and you'll get exactly 4. Then cut each strip of 4.25 in half for the 5.5 inch side for 8 panels of 4.25 x 5.5.

Second tip: Figuring out the stamps to use for each layer on the legs of the turtle took me a while. When I had them figured out, using the back of the packaging diagram included with the stamps, I put each leg and head layer stamp onto an acrylic block. So one block had stamp layer two's stamps arranged on it in the shape of the turtle...forward legs near head and back legs at the far edge, and layer three had the same arrangement on a separate acrylic block. That way I could make a bunch of turtles without getting mixed up or having to figure it out each time I stamped a new turtle. I also arranged the mini ink cubes from lightest to darkest to match the order of stamping. The lightest cube was layer one which is one whole stamp of the turtle. Layer two adds some outline lines to the shell , head and legs and layer three is mostly the dotted parts on the skin using the darkest ink and it also adds the dark rings and edges to the shell. The shells were easy to keep track of so I didn't put them on the acrylic blocks. 

Hope this helps for the Hero Arts Color Layering Sea Turtle Stamp set and for cutting Bristol Smooth into panels without wasting paper. 

Hero Arts Color Layering Sea Turtle card for Father's Day: Husband card

Hey fellow card Crafters!

It's been a while but I'm trying to work on setting up my equipment to record videos and it's a learning process for me.

I did need to make a Father's Day card and although this one looks quite unconventional it fills my need to make cards personal for the recipient. I made two cards because the first one surprisingly turned out pretty good as my test run to figure out the inking process for the Layered Sea Turtle stamps from Hero Arts. Using a MISTI tool really helped but I don't think would have been necessary.

Products used:

Strathmore: Bristol Smooth
Hero Arts: Color Layering Sea Turtle Stamp set
Altenew Inks: Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades and Evergreen
Distress inks: Salty Ocean  and Peacock Feathers
My Favorite Things 6 x 6 paper pad Black & White Basics pack
Embossing Powder: Ranger White Super Fine
My Favorite Things: Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips Dies
Nuvo Jewel Drops: Sea Breeze
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
Spectrum Noir: Sparkle glitter brush: Crystal Clear

I cut the Bristol paper into a 5.5 x 4.25 panel and ink "smooshed" the distress inks onto the center of the panel mostly using salty ocean and reserving the peacock feathers ink for accent splotches. I did use the distress water sprayer and that worked great to give me just the right controlled spray of water onto the ink before using some acetate pieces to dab it onto my panel (aka smooshing).

I used the altenew inks in the order I listed them above to make the turtles and cut them out by hand close to the images using a black marker to darken the cut edges.

The sentiment was made from basic black card stock die cut with the fishtail strip dies and stamped with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing ink using a sentiment from the stamp set. I heat embossed this using Ranger White Embossing powder and my heat tool to melt the powder. I cut a strip of black and white paper from the 6 x 6 paper pad and glued the turtles, strip and sentiment down using Nuvo glue. That glue is great by the way.

I glued the panel down to a top folding 5.5 x 4.25 Neenah 110# card stock in white and on the one card I used that corner rounder chomper tool to round the edges.

Lastly, I couldn't resist adding some shine so I added a simple embellishment of jewel drops to add to the water look and dabbed the water splotches lightly with Spectrum Noir: Sparkle glitter brush: Crystal Clear..

Playing again with #mftstamps Sketchy Flowers Card Kit. I've only bought a few card kits and this one is perfect! I'm having so much fun with it! Please ignore the puppy photobombing this shot in the background!

Sketchy Flower Card Kit: 1st Card

Why don't I put supplies away as I use them in my craft room. That is the source of the chaos that eventually surrounds me as I work away on any project. The more supplies I use the smaller my work space becomes. For example, yesterday the My Favorite Things Sketchy Flower Card Kit arrived. I opened the kit after work in my then clean and orderly craft room. 

Hours later I came back into the craft room to take just a last look before bed. That's when it started. I had to try the stamps. That resulted in a bunch of ink pads being brought out and spread around one side of the desk. Later I needed to figure out the paper. That resulted in paper being spread out. Finally I decided to die cut the stamps...more supplies out and lastly I decided an embossing folder was all I needed to add dimension to my card. 

By this time I'd forgotten it was late, that I was only going to try the stamps and that I needed to get up early the next morning. When the card was finished my memory returned! Sleepy morning here....but am loving the first card from this kit and how fast it came together!

#mftstamps

Another card made with the Wild Cuddly Critters

Thought I'd try a card with a more masculine theme. The strip on the left is a silver foil stripe but when I take a picture of it the light reflects off of it to make different colors! Just love this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. Second entry in their May Wednesday challenge called Sparkle. #simonsaysstamp #ssswchallenge

I tried to get the silver foil a second time and it still reflected colors!

Oh and I have to show the back since I now have my personalized stamp from Village Impressions

More Wild Things....

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge called A Bit of Sparkle. This card features the Simon Says Stamp Wild Cuddly Critters set.This is take one..... #ssswchallenge

Dare 2B Artzy Girlie Challenge Cards

Raggity Rabbit Stamp Set from Dare 2B Artzy plus pattern papers. 

And entry two into the Dare 2B Artzy Girlie Challenge is:
Blooms

 and then the Be Yourself stamp set for entry 3

It's hot out today!

Finally time for a summery card. This one is made with the embossing folder Drapery by Tim Holtz and the stamp set by My Favorite Things called Soak Up the Fun colored with Copic Markers. Of course couldn't put down the Lawn Fawn Rectangle Fancy Scallopy Die so added that around the side. Sprinkled with some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkle Sequins. A bit of clear Wink of Stella on the water part and a die cut from Simon Says Stamp border hearts in foil to add more sparkle of course.

My first card with Dare 2B Artzy stamps

This company and its unique stamps and papers are new to me and intrigued me when I saw the products being used for cards. This is my first attempt and has been copied somewhat from one on their website. I made a few changes such as stamping the image a bit differently and using zig clear clean markers on  bristol paper. Then I cut out the top of the image and popped it up over an embossed panel with adhesive foam. The embossing folder is one by Tim Holtz and Sizzix also part of a two pack called Texture Fades Embossing Folders by Alterations, Time Holtz and Sizzix 2 piece Drapery and Woodgrain set. It was super hard to find only but I did find it still being sold at Creative Inspiration: https://creativeinspirations.ca/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_185_190&products_id=4717

Since I am usually run late on cards that need to be mailed I thought today I'd see if I could do a few last minute Mother's Day cards. These took all of thirty  minutes to make with a few simple stamps, dies and embossing folders. The dies, Lawn Fawn Fancy Scalloped Rectangle Stackables and My Favorite Things Sentiment Label Strip, We R Memory Keepers Bloom Embossing Folders, White Blizzard and Green Apple Nuvo drops plus a few stamps laying around. Oh and my first use of Dare 2B Artzy pattern paper.Two different sentiments were used, All Celebrations from Penny Black maybe and Message me from Clearly Besotted. Bunny stamps from Wplus9 Wishing You stamp set and boy from My Favorite Things Our Story Stamp set.

Just a few more Mother's Day Cards....

Cased this background from a card I saw somewhere online. Since I can't find it now I'm not certain it's the same. I wanted a clean and simple background for this Mother's Day card to focus on the image. The background layers are made with Lawn Fawn dies, Fancy Scallopy Rectangle and Stitched Rectangle Frames. The image is Wanderlust from A Random Fan and the sentiment is from one of the first stamps I bought which unfortunately I never labeled. I found a similar one to this from Craftin Desert Divas called Happy Celebrations. I also used Copic Markers to color the image and Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Crystal Drops and Glossy Accents with a touch of Wink of Stella pen on the moped for clear glitter. 

This next card is also a combination of products. Again using the Lawn Fawn Fancy Scallop Rectangle Die with My Favorite Things Sensational Stitched Flowers and a tag from their Blueprints 13 Die. Sentiment from Essentials by Ellen: Amazing Women by Julie and image from Stamping Bella stamp: Maisy and Madeline Have Some Tea, colored with Copic Markers and embellished with Nuvo Crystal Drops: White Blzzard Glitter. 

And this is a new and improved design of the one above....

And then I saw these bears and couldn't resist trying a bit of neutral designs...

Finally getting around to using this Tim Holtz Crazy Cats stamp set. I'm still using some parts laying around on my desk to make these hopefully male appropriate birthday cards. Also playing with the offset design where the card is not symmetrical which really fits the looks of these slightly dizzy cats!

A Mother's Day card made with Lawn Fawn's Scallopy Pop-Up Box Die and an assortment of stamps including Lawn Fawn's Easter Stamps, Stamping Bella's Thank You Hoppy Poppy and MFT stitched flower dies.

A few fun Lawn Fawn treat boxes

And another birthday party card with Lawn Fawn Scallop Pop-Up Die, Party Animals Stamp Set and Year Seven Stamps Plus 12 x 12 double sided Perfectly Plaid paper.

The challenges for this year

Last year I did a personal challenge to make a birthday card for everyone in our extended family that I knew. By the end of the year I was sending out a lot of belated birthday cards. I tried hard to make each card in some way to fit what I knew about the person. The year ended with me doing the same thing for Christmas cards. This year I haven't sent out many birthday cards! I wonder why...

Instead I'm doing the same thing different ways challenges. I'm trying out different designs for similar stamps. When I'm not doing that I'm doing different design techniques. So far I've learned to make box cards, gate fold cards, belly bands and clasps, wobble cards, paper layering die cut cards and to use a variety of patterned papers, materials, sketches, and to use color combinations out of my comfort zone. I've also dabbled with chameleon markers and a variety of watercolor techniques.

For the last half of the year, before Christmas card season hits again, I want to make slider cards, pop up cards, better shaker cards and to use different materials such as fabrics, metal, mousse, sprays and oxide inks. I want to learn to stamp personal names on cards, use numbers in the designs and make shape cards. So much to learn, so little time. Sigh.I want to mostly use my stash and learn to stretch it after that. Mother's Day cards are done so now on to Father's Day cards.

As far as business ventures I am planning to try selling some of my cards from the past at a sale this next week. Also, I'm doing a de-stash and hope to enter more challenges in the future that point back to my blog. Which means I've finally gotten my blog up and working in a way that makes sense to me with a name I like. Now I'm ordering a personal stamp for the backs of my cards and have learned to put an overlay watermark on my photos. Next I hope to get business cards made. Below is a picture of the first card I posted with my watermark. I now can do this via my computer but still have to figure out how to do it with my phone on instagram.

New card still using a recent order that keeps coming in bit by bit. This is the Simon Says Stamp: Wild Cuddly Critters Stamp Set, colored with Copic Markers in rainbow hues. The paper is from Lawn Fawn Rainbow Collection and Fall Collection. Dies used are MFT Scallopy Borders for the clouds/sky and Lawn Fawn Meadow Border for grass.

And below is take two on the same card. I was trying to get the lion's coloring right but still had troubles with it. Probably because I just grab the markers while looking at the caps. 

Mother's Day Cards

This card was made using Lawn Fawn's Guava and Storm Cloud paper with their Scalloped Rectangle Stackables for a frame. The stamp set is Jessica with her Horse from Your Next Stamp Company and is colored with Copics colors. 

I entered it in the Color Throw Down Challenge #ctd439 for this week but I did take liberties with the colors...pink for red and brown for orange and had to add green for the leaves and grass of course!

This is take one of this card for design. I have about four more to go and plan to make them all slightly different in design though similar in color and stamp set.  I'm enjoying making slightly bigger cards than normal. This one measures 5 x 6.25 and will get mailed in an A7 envelope. 

Card Variation Two using a background made with Distress Oxide Ink...very easy! I may or may not have gotten a bit carried away with the dots on the horses face :)

This third card is very simple. Light pink base with a warm grey accent to match the horse. Jessica and her horse are popped up on the card over the fence. I added some Pretty Pink Posh sequins. This card is sweet and gentle. 

My 4th Mother's Day card using this stamp set is below. I used an action wobble spring behind Jessica and the horse stamp. I propped up the fence separately to meet the height of Jessica and her horse. I used a MFT heart stencil and broken china and wilted violet distress oxide ink to sponge through the stencil in layers using broken china first but not drying between layers. Then I spritzed water over the ink and dabbed off with a paper towel Lastly I found a smaller Mother's Day sentiment in my Lawn Fawn stash to stamp on the top. I rounded the corners of the stenciled layer and the bottom of the doll pink base cardstock. This card is the exact opposite in final effect as the one above, bold, colorful and celebratory. 

Variation five on my Mother's Day cards. This one is sort of a gate fold card but the opening does overlap and is not centered. I made a belly band with a heart clasp to keep it closed and used Avery Elle's Dotted Border's Die three times for the trim effect on the outside. Inside I plan to write a personal message in the side panels and add a silver heart to match the trim around the picture. This card took the longest for two reasons: One I  had no idea how to make a gate fold ish card and how to keep it closed. Two when I stamped the sentiment I accidentally got black ink on Jessica's face and had to redo her part of the image.

Okay... I promise this is my last one: Variation six of my Mother's Day cards. A window card with silvery trim. The sentiment on the front says Hope your day is Amazing. I used MFT stitched Oval frames dies and stitched oval dies.

Valentine Cards 2017

I added a Daddy bird and another baby bird so that this card fit for my daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren for valentine's day. This is a Unity Stamp

I also sent a few Valentine's Day cards for other family members. Last year I made a goal to make cards for everyone in my family and extended family for their birthday's. That kept me scrambling for a whole year and by fall I was consistently sending out belated birthday cards.

This year's goal is to send out special day cards and thinking of you cards out of the blue. I started with Valentine's Day cards and around Easter I sent out Thinking of You cards and encouragement cards.

Here are a few other Valentine's Day cards sent out this year:

Dreamercraft Stamps and copic markers

Another Dreamercraft Stamp and dies by Mama Elephant plus Copic Markers

Your Next Stamp and Zig Clear Clean Real Brush Markers

Simon Says Stamp and MFT Scalloped Border Die.