Dad's Birthday Card

I'm really glad I decided not to use this card for my Dad's birthday.  When I was talking to my mom the other day, she mentioned that both she and her sister have that sailboat stamp too, and between all of us the image has been used on cards for my Dad lots of times.

So instead I went for a Stampin' Up set that is new to me, so I KNOW he has never had a card with this stamp before:

I adapted an older sketch challenge design (can't find the right one to link just now).  I like an image like this because it can be done up into a masculine or very girly or kid-oriented card.  The papers I used here were from s.e.i. for the zigzag background and the solid pieces behind the image.  The striped piece is actually stick-on fabric from Elsie.  The card would probably work better at the smaller standard size (4.25x5.5") rather than this size but I was out of cream-colored cards in the smaller size!

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

Inspiration Challenge: Creative Wallcovering

I skipped last week's Splitcoaststampers' Inspiration Challenge but this week's inspirational site was pretty cool: a wallpaper site called Creative Wallcovering.  Since the wallcoverings include things like murals and cutouts and quotations and textured papers, there was quite a variety of inspirations.

The available items include Wallies, which are pre-glued wallpaper cutouts sold in various themed packages and advertised as being usable on virtually any surface.  This reminded me that I had picked up a couple of packages of Wallies on clearance a few years back, intending to use them as stickers for cards, but had never gotten around to it.  So rather than making cards based on creative wallcoverings, I ended up making them out of the wallcoverings themselves!

Here are the cards:

The first is a sort of "congratulations on your new dog" card, because the exuberant dog wallie coordinated well with some pet-themed scrapbook paper I had on hand, and I went from there.  I think this card would be a good general "congratulations/good job!" kind of card with a different background paper, but otherwise the same.  The dog just looks so happy and excited!

The second uses three different flowers and got a little crowded but I still like it.  Both cards are on the larger size pre-cut cards generally available, which I think are around 5x7" rather than 4.25"x5.5".  The wallies are just too big for smaller cards.

For both cards, I decided to go ahead and activate the adhesive using water, then stick them to cardstock and cut out the shapes with an X-acto knife.  They would probably work on their own, but that risks having the card turn into a slimy mess if it ever got a little wet.  I had to experiment a little to get the right amount of water--using a small sponge wrung out well worked the best, as well as allowing them to dry completely so that the adhesive was completely bonded before starting to cut.

After that I just layered the wallies onto the cards with foam tape.  The pet-themed paper on the dog card is from KI Memories and the "congratulations" stamp is from Hero Arts.  The designer paper that the text is stamped on is actually the reverse side of the pet paper.  I finished it with some ribbons and brads.

The background paper on the "Bloom" card is from s.e.i. and I love it.  I'm sorry I only got one sheet of it because it's very pretty and versatile.  I accented the flowers with flower buttons from Making Memories.  The text is my first experiment with stamping a word using individual letters from a new lower-case cursive alphabet I got recently.  I really like how the letters are shaped to make it easy to hook them together.  Not sure of the manufacturer because this is another set from the large box of used clear stamps I recently acquired, but if anyone recognizes them, I'd love to know who made them.

Thanks for looking, hope your week is off to a great start!

Birthday Cards and Christmas

Christmas?  I know what you are thinking, didn't I just finally put that last box in the attic?  Well, yeah, but I am working on having lots of cards on hand by next holiday season, so I am doing a few per month.  It's part of yet another SCS challenge.  I signed up for 8 per month.  I made 4 of this card this week (but all the same design so for this project I am counting it as only one card):

This uses a collage stamp from Inkadinkado that I have had for several years and haven't done nearly enough with.  I really like it.  You will be seeing it (or at least pieces of it) again, I am sure.  The designer papers are all from the Global Views pad by DCWV, which aren't Christmas papers but their designs and colors certainly lend themselves to holiday cards.  The bling bits are from the Target Dollar Spot Valentine assortment, which I have certainly been getting my money's worth from!

This card also is for this week's SCS sketch challenge:

I modified it slightly by making the circular piece smaller.  If I were to do this card over, I think I would make the center piece the part of the card that opens for a message inside, so that the little round piece becomes the tab to open it.

I made a stop at the dollar store this week, which is often bursting with useful stuff for cards.  I used some stickers I picked up there to make this birthday card:

It is hard to see but the cupcake and border stickers have glitter on them, and the heart has a silver swirl.  I added the rhinestone to bling up the cupcake a bit more.

I also found a packet of 4 Lisa Frank notepads shaped like t-shirts, which were meant as party favors for a girl's birthday party.  I got the idea to use the notepad as the focal piece of a birthday card, so that the recipient can use the notepad but leave the last piece in place so that the card stays intact too:

The designer papers are some of my older ones and I don't know where they came from.  I used tape runner to attach the last page of the notepad to the pad backing so that the rest of the pad could be removed for use, then attached the pad to a rectangle of violet paper, which was then layered onto some striped paper and backed with more of the violet.  I added pink flower eyelets at the corner of the piece, then used mounting tape to attach it to the rest of the card.  The "Happy Birthday" on this and the previous card are stamped in Vivid purple ink.  The stamp is from Stampendous, I think.  It was with a set of used stamps that didn't have any packaging with them.  I intend to use the other notepads to make more copies of this card--a good design for the 'tween girl in your life, or maybe the 30-something hipster chick who still likes rainbow and unicorn motifs, only ironically.

I have more cards to show you and more stuff to make today, but that is enough for now.  Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

Feelin' Blue

I have been feeling sickish and kind of punky since Sunday.  My sweetie has had a cold since early last week and is just now starting to shake it off.  I haven't come down with it but feel like maybe I am trying to as I have been a little sniffly and coughing, but mostly just feeling poorly and tired.  So I have been doing more sleeping than stamping of late, but did have a very productive day yesterday.  In addition to the cards I blog here, there was one more, for a total of 5 cards!  However, a neighbor came over to buy several other cards from me, saw that one (unfinished!) on the table and decided he loved it, as is, and bought it on the spot.   I didn't even get a picture of it!

The ones I did get pictures of are for two different challenges this week.  The first is this week's teapot Tuesday challenge, where a photo of a teapot is the inspiration for the challenge.  In this week's picture, the teapots were stacked to become the base of a floor lamp.  Thus the challenge was to make something camouflaged, concealed, etc. on a card, with an extra cookie for using a heart in the mix.  This was tough!  After racking my brain and looking at some of the creative solutions others found with their cards, I broke out an old Rubber Stampede stamp and my watercolors and came up with this:

This is one I wasn't sure I liked at first, but it has grown on me after letting it sit for a while. I haven't decided whether it is a bunch of leaves and flowers disguised as a pear, or vice versa.  I stamped the image in Versamark watermark ink on watercolor paper and embossed it with Stampa Rosa detail gold powder.  This EP comes out looking more brownish yellow than gold or metallic but it is great for a detailed stamp.  I watercolored the image then cut it out and backed it with some dark brown.  The card itself is made from kraft cardstock, with some new (to me) K & Co designer paper layered on (the green and wood grain layers).  I decided I wanted a little more pizzazz behind the pear and added a strip of brown striped and solid brown paper from my scrap pile, and used the Fiskars threading water punch to ad the scalloping.  I distressed the edges of the green paper slightly before adding all the other layers and mounting the pear piece with foam tape.

The other challenge yesterday was a color one, with a favorite color combo of mine:  navy blue, light blue and a light or sandy brown.  This color combination always makes me think of seashore and nautical themes, so while my watercolors were still out, I made this card:

The image is one of my oldest stamps, a PSX image that I have used in lots of cards over the years, and one of my favorites to color.  The image is stamped using Memories black ink (waterproof!)  I mixed up some darker and lighter blues for the water and the sky, and added some light brown to the boat itself.  Another kraft card base, layered with navy cardstock and a bit of light blue mulberry paper, with the watercolored image mounted with foam tape.

For the greeting I stamped the sentiment (Stampin' Up) on a piece of light brown twill.  I used tape runner to put it in place on the card, then added the dark gold brads to finish it off and also hold it down for the long haul.

I initially thought about using this card for my dad's birthday next week but I am pretty sure I have used this image on plenty of past birthday cards and Father's Day cards for him!  I will come up with something new for his birthday this year.

Still feeling the navy/light blue/brown love, I started another seashore themed card, which was the one my neighbor bought from me.  I decided to make another card using the same designer papers I had started that card with, and use my new (to me) Stampin' Up set, All I Have Seen.  I started with another kraft card, inked the edges in midnight blue ink, and added a piece of designer paper from an old Provo Craft paper pad, inking the edges of that as well.  I used the same midnight blue ink to stamp the dragonfly image on a piece of light brown striped paper, rounded the corners and layered it onto some navy cardstock.  I finished the card by stamping the sentiment in dark brown ink on the same light brown striped paper, attached it, and added a navy blue organza ribbon bow.

Finally, as  I was winding down, I noticed the cardboard piece from a just opened box of tissues had a nifty circle pattern in--guess what!--dark blue/light blue/light brown.  I just had to make one more card using it.  I layered some more dark blue designer paper (same Provo Craft pad) onto yet another kraft brown card, and trimmed and added the cardboard piece.  Not only did it match well and fit the theme of the challenge, the perforations add a neat little detail along the edge of the piece.  I stamped the sentiment (Michael's/Studio G) on some more of that brown striped paper and layered it onto navy cardstock and then onto the card.  I finished it off with a blue flower sticker.

I think I have the navy/light blue/light brown color combo out of my system now for at least a little while!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Valentines with no Pink or Red

My cards for yesterday and today were in response to yet another challenge: to make a Valentine card with no pink or red in it.  This first one doesn't even have any hearts!

This was a pretty quick and easy card.  The designer papers in the background and behind the owl are both from s.e.i.'s Madera series from a few years back (still digging into that stash!).  I stamped the owl in brown ink (owl is from Chatterbox's Botanica set of clear stamps) on the circle piece of paper, then again on cream cardstock and cut out the cream piece.  I attached it with mounting tape over the original image for a 3D effect.

The text was made by stamping the typed alphabet from the Stampin' Up Alphabits set several times (I needed a bunch of O's!) and cutting out the letters I needed.  Then I laid down a strip of taperunner adhesive on a scrap of brown cardstock and laid down the letters.  Finished off the piece with a couple of copper-colored brads.

Cool thing:  my sweetie has been photographing and advertising my cards on a local Facebook buy/sell/trade group and I sold 4 cards this week, including this one last night, before I even had a chance to blog it!

My second non-pink/red Valentine also took on this week's SCS sketch challenge:

I recently got a 6x6" pad of Basic Grey's Out of Print paper collection and all the papers on this card came from that, making it super easy to match up.  I started with the idea of using the green flowered paper on my non-pink/red Valentine and built the card from there.  The stamp is from a set I bought used, and I don't know who makes it.  It is stamped in Vivid black ink.  The card was finished with several hearts from a Jolee's set.

I am really happy with both these cards!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

On a Roll

My card for February 8th is a birthday card based on a sketch in the current issue of Papercrafts magazine (sorry, no online pic of the sketch!).

I started with an ivory card and rounded the corners, then inked the edges and sponged light brown ink onto the card for an "antiqued" look.  I added a strip of designer paper down the folded edge (it's hard to see but the paper has raised/glittered surfaces) after sponging some light brown ink onto the paper to tone it down as well, and inking the edges.

The flower chains are Doodlebug rub-ons, I just rubbed them on, leaving openings for the flower gems to be added afterwards.  I glued on the "bling" flowers and stamped the birthday greeting (Stampin' Up Wow Flowers) in the lower right hand corner with pink chalk ink.  I finished it off with a rhinestone in the center of the flower.

My card for February 9th was in response to a SCS challenge to make your own striped background using strips of paper.  I also incorporated a second challenge, which was to make a card about fish or fishing.

I started with a piece of brown textured cardstock, cut just a little smaller than the card I was using.  Then I went to my scrap drawer and pulled out an assortment of brown and brown-green toned papers and cut strips off the likeliest ones.  Since fish and fishing were involved, I had to mix in the paper with the bugs on it!  Then I played with the strips til I had a pattern I liked with a mix of solids and patterns that blended into a background with a pond sort of feel.  A tape runner made quick work of gluing down the strips, then I just trimmed the ends and attached the piece to the card, adding some brads in the corners to finish it off.

I didn't have any fishing stamps so I settled for some fish.  The fish stamp is a batik-style stamp from Impression Obsession, an image I love but haven't done nearly enough with.  I stamped the fish twice on another scrap of designer paper, attached them with mounting tape and was finished.  I love the way it looks like the fish are swimming through a background of reeds or pond vegetation.

Both cards went into a set I am donating as a door prize at a neighborhood function this afternoon.  I hope the winner likes them!

More Charleston Garden Inspiration, Another Valentine, And a Sympathy Card

I was on a roll after Saturday's Inspiration Challenge using the Charleston Gardens website.  I made a second card using this wall grille as my inspiration:

I have an ornamental stamp that looks very similar.  I used it to make a quick masculine birthday card:

The stamp is from Stampa Rosa.  I stamped it in Marvy dark brown three times on light tan patterned paper (it has a very subtle stripe on it) and punched them out with a square punch.  Then I turned them on end and glued them on a piece of patterned paper (unknown origin, possibly from a DCWV autumn stack) and added the fancy brads in the centers.  The fabric-look paper and card were edged with the same dark brown ink.  I finished the card off with the sentiment (A Muse) in the lower left.

Yesterday the Clean And Simple challenge was simply to use hearts on a card, in honor of Valentine's Day.  I offered the cards I posted earlier this week, plus this one that I haven't shown here yet:

I was on a black/white/red roll, obviously!  The black card has a strip of white card stock, topped with three red squares (that punch again) which are heavily inked on the edges grunge-style.  I split the "Me & You" sentiment between the first and third square, and used the middle square as a backing for two hearts cut out of some DCWV patterned paper.  A red Prima flower and a black brad topped off the hearts.  I finished the card with a white grosgrain ribbon and some shiny red eyelets down in the corner.

Finally, I have a sympathy card I made for a co-worker who recently lost his father:

The tulip stamp is from Anita's.  I had been wanting to play with my Prismacolor pencils for a while, so I stamped it in Stazon black ink on watercolor paper, and experimented with using several shades and then using a blender pen to pull them together and make it look more like watercolor painting.  I am pleased with the overall effect, especially on the flower.  It really looks like some of the variegated tulips you see in the spring!  I would probably go darker with the leaves if I did this over again, but overall I like it.

I tore the edges of the watercolor piece and layered it on a muted green piece of card stock.  I layered that onto a light green striped piece of patterned paper (unknown origin) and added a strip of some Basic Grey paper for contrast (yes, it's the same as the turtle's shell in the previous entry!).  I used medium brown ink to stain the edges of the card and papers, and tied a copper colored ribbon around the focal piece.  Once again I went to my A Muse sentiment stamps for the "Thinking of You" text.

Thanks for looking!

Caught Up Again!

Finally caught back up.  Today's card is for the Splitcoaststampers weekly Inspiration Challenge.  Today's site was Charleston Gardens, which sells mainly outdoor and garden decor and accessories.

As always, I saw a lot of items that tickled my brain with card ideas (and as always, I have saved a bunch of pictures promising myself to return to them later when I need further inspiration), but this turtle print really grabbed me:

It gave me an urge to attempt some paper piecing with some of my colorful paper scraps.  This card is the result:

I started with a piece of olive green cardstock and stamped it repeatedly with a fern image from Autumn Leaves, using soft leaf ink for a tone-on-tone look.  I layered that piece onto an ivory card and added a strip of background paper that looks like brown woven fabric.  Then I pieced the turtle from my scraps, mainly Basic Grey.  I especially like the paper in the turtle's shell!  I finished him off with a drawn smile and a wiggly eye, and used mounting tape to pop him up off the card.  Finally, I stamped the birthday greeting using Adirondack Pesto ink and a Stampendous text stamp.

Thanks for looking!

Two Quick Card Sets

For February 2nd and February 3rd, I have two sets of multiple cards, which I am counting each for one day since they were super quick and used the same design for all the cards in each set.

First, some simple Valentine cards:

These are all square kraft cards, layered with patterned paper, and topped with these really cool laser cut felt hearts that came to me as leftover Christmas ornaments languishing in the 70%-off clearance bin after the holidays.  I knew they would make cool Valentines, but had been staring at them for weeks trying to figure out how best to attach felt to cards.  I tried to use spray adhesive, reluctantly, because I hate how messy it is but figured it was the only thing that would give sufficient yet invisible coverage.  Fortunately, my very old can (I told you I hate to use it!) didn't work anymore.  Then I hit on the idea of cutting off the thread hangers and replacing them with brads to hold the hearts onto the cards.  That way after Valentine's Day the heart can be removed and hung with thread or ribbon to be a decoration, or even an ornament for next year's Christmas tree.

Once I figured that out, it was quick work to make six cards, three with red hearts (all using the same gold-foiled background paper from SandyLion) and three with hot pink hearts (using the text background paper from Flair and an old scrap of striped paper of unknown origin).

Making the square cards left me with six 3.5" x 11" strips of kraft cardstock.  I tried folding them vertically and it turns out that size strip makes a smaller 3.5" x 5.5" card that fits into a standard envelope of the sort used to pay bills.

I decided to make a set of cards to send to my sis with her birthday card and whipped these up using Basic Grey papers, image and text stamps from the Stampin' Up Mini Mates set, and a tag and miniature heart punch.  After finishing the cards I added envelopes and bound the set with another strip of Basic Grey paper, and was able to get the package in the mail today.

Here's what they looked like:

A closer look:

The whole set, ready to send off:

It was really fun working with this unusual card size, I think I will be returning to it!

Happy Saturday, and thanks for looking!

Valentines!

I finished out January with some Valentine cards.  Here are the cards I made for January 29th-February 1st:

Clean and simple style using some punched squares, dimensional stickers, and a rub-on for the text.

This card started with background paper from a DCWV paper stack.  I love the look of the white on black letters as a background!  I have no idea where the heart came from, it was part of an assortment of wooden heart embellishments (Target $1 bin maybe?) attached to the card with mounting tape.  Another rub-on on the tag, finished off with a screw eyelet.

I stamped my Hero Arts 12-square shadow stamp on a piece of kraft cardstock with red Vivid ink, then added an assortment of Jolee's hearts to fill in the squares.  The final text stamp is some kind of funky vinyl that adds some cool texture.  The whole piece was then layered onto a white card to finish it off.

And finally:

I confess that I really love this card.  It starts with a base of glossy black cardstock, over which I added a band of pink textured cardstock (probably Bazzill).  The embellishment started as another from the packet of wooden hearts, this one pink, on top of which I layered some text and a photo, both salvaged from thrift store books, and added some ink and sanded the edges to distress.  I topped the heart off with some Prima flowers with silver square brads for centers, and layered the heart onto the card using mounting tape.  The X's and O's are from Hero Arts round letter set.  Definitely my favorite card of this set.

Thanks for looking!

February, Really?

Wow, that, um, week and a half flew by, didn't it?  Never fear though, I have made plenty of cards, I have just been lax about updating here.  So today and this weekend there will be several updates to get things caught up.

Set the wayback machine to January 26, 2012.  The Splitcoaststampers weekly sketch challenge featured this sketch:

Which inspired me to make this card for my sister's birthday:

A gloomy rainy week made me really want some bright happy colors in my cards.  This card uses Flair Design patterned paper (stripes and argyle) and a Dollar Tree chipboard flower sticker.  It's hard to see but the orange layer is lightly stamped with a Stampin' Up leaf stamp from the Petal Pizzazz set.  As always, brads from Making Memories, and I'm not sure where the fiber originated, but I love the way it matched the card.

Continuing on the same color palette, I made another birthday card for the next day:

For this card I used more of the same patterned paper and chipboard stickers, and the same circle punch I had used to make the window in the first card.  The text stamp is from A Muse and I used black Staz-on ink on the glossy surface of the sticker.

Card for January 28, 2012:

This was for the weekly Inspiration challenge.  This week the site was Everything Turquoise, a blog that features all sorts of design ideas that include shades of turquoise.  I love that color range, so I found LOTS of inspiration on that site and saved a bunch of pictures for later cards.  The photo I picked for my challenge was this one:

Now this photo is meant to show both sides of a reversible duvet cover, but I loved the divided look and was excited to use that in my card.  I started with a kraft brown card and stamped leaves and flowers from an Inkadinkado clear stamp set, and added color with pencils.  On the other side of the card I used some s.e.i. patterned paper that echoes the pattern on the blue side of the comforter picture.  The word stamp is from the  Michael's dollar bin.  I finished off the card with a felt flower and button from the Chatterbox Artsylicious embellishment assortment in peacock blue.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the weekend!