Thanks a Latte

My uncle & his wife spent a few days visiting with my mom & me this week. One day we went up to Dallas, where my brother and his wife live. After an afternoon of sightseeing, the 4 of us met up with them for supper at a local steakhouse. Quite unexpectedly, my brother paid not only for him & his wife, but the four of us as well! So I made this card to give to them as a thank you.

I turned to Operation Write Home's Sketch #249 for my design:

After cutting a piece of white cardstock to 2x3", I placed 2 of the stamps from Fiskars' "Latte Love" stamp set to judge positioning of my image and greeting. Remarkably, they fit perfectly! So I stamped both using Color Box Chestnut Roan chalk ink. I colored the coffee mug and steam with colored pencils, using Gamsol on a paper stump to blend the colors.

I pulled 3 patterned papers that were on my desk, left over from other cards. I wanted a bit of a vintage vibe, but not frou-frou. I chose a ledger-type paper for the background, and a blue with a slight visual texture for the long strip towards the left side of the card. I punched nine 5/8" circles from one piece of double-sided patterned paper, and glued 8 of them going down the card, 3/8" in from the left edge of the background piece. Then I glued down the blue strip, slightly overlapping the circles. I matted the background and my focal panel with a mid-tone brown cardstock, and glued the ninth circle peeking out from behind the focal panel. Finally, I glued the focal panel in place, and matted the whole piece with a dark brown cardstock (the only thing I didn't pull from my scraps). I adhered the completed card front to an A2-size card base, and I was done! This has got to be one of the fastest cards I've ever made--about an hour from start to finish. Everything just came together, like it was meant to be!

I'm entering this card in Operation Write Home's Sketch #249 challenge.

Thanks Poppy

The challenge this past week at Our Daily Bread Designs has been a pastel color challenge. They posted this palette on their blog, with the idea being to use at least 3 of the colors as the focal point of your card:

Though I prefer to use ODBD stamps for their challenges, I do not have many, and wasn't sure how I could work what I do have into a pastel color palette. But I have the "Poppy Single" stamp and its coordinating die, so I decided to see if they can be pink. (I've most often seen red ones.) So I did an online search for "pink poppy," and found out that poppies do indeed come in pink! Problem solved!

The inspiration for my design came from one of the cards by Linda Brandyberry in this blog post. She used an embossed frame, with an inlaid center panel. Because I was using the "Poppy" stamp, I decided to use my Cuttlebug "Poppy" embossing folder for the frame. First I die cut the center panel from a piece of white cardstock using one of the "Stitched Rectangles" dies by Simon Says Stamp. Then I ran the remaining frame through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine with the embossing folder. I was kind of concerned at first that the pattern would be too big for the frame, but I think it ended up working perfectly!

For the poppy, I stamped it on white cardstock using Hero Arts Soft Yellow ink. I wanted a light color, so the lines would not really show when I colored it. As it turned out, that color was almost too light, since I could barely see where to color! But I was able to manage. I used colored pencils to color it in, blending them with Gamsol on a paper stump, Finally, I cut it out with the coordinating die.

Initially I was going to leave the inner panel I'd die cut white, but when I put the poppy up against that, I felt it was just not enough contrast. So I blended some Tumbled Glass Distress ink over the panel instead. This also brought in a third color from the inspiration palette. After gluing down the poppy, I stamped the greeting from this Simon Says Stamp set using Hero Arts Charcoal mid-tone shadow ink. I wanted a darker ink to make the greeting stand out, but not something as stark as black.

I finished the card by adhering the frame to the front of an A2-size card base, then adhering the center panel in place. I will be sending this to Operation Write Home.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Virginia's View Challenge #13: "Embossing"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday challenge: "Spring"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Special Lady/Girly"

Thoughtful Owl

I love owls. I don't know why, but owls and penguins have a special place in my mind. When I saw this cute owl stamp by Hero Arts, I just couldn't resist getting it! I finally got it inky for this card.

I chose Operation Write Home's Sketch #200 for my design:

I stamped the owl on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then heat embossed it with Recollections Detail Clear embossing powder, and used watercolors to color him in. When I painted the background, I decided to put a light grey under him to ground him. It reminded me of the book, "Owls in the Family." One of the owls in the story is rescued by a boy. For some reason, the owl (named Wol) never flies. He just walks everywhere he goes! So the grey made me think of concrete, with the owl walking (or in this case, standing) on it.

I chose my patterned papers from Basic Grey's "Fiction" 6x6" paper pad. The greeting comes from Hero Arts' "Missing You" stamp set. I stamped that on a piece of cream colored cardstock in Versafine, and clear heat embossed that as well. Finally, I assembled the card according to the sketch. I chose a mid-tone brown cardstock to mat all the pieces, and a pink button from my stash for the embellishment. Once I got the card front put together, I mounted it to an A2-size card base. As a finishing touch, I added some Glossy Accents to the owl's eyes and beak, just to give a bit of shine.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Hero Arts' "Nature" challenge
Virginia's View Challenge #13: "Embossing"
a2z Scrapbooking's March Challenge: "Color It In"

I Thank My Lucky Stars for You

As I mentioned in this post, I received one of the tags Sandy Allnock created as part of a challenge. She white heat embossed a few images on each white cardstock tag, then sent them to card makers to use in a card. Since I have only one shot at getting the tag coloring right, I've been doing a little practicing. Since the tag is just cardstock, watercoloring is out. So I've been working with blending Distress inks instead. This card is the result of Experiment #2.

I began by choosing the newest sketch from Operation Write Home:

I decided to go with a star/space theme for my card. To create the background, I stamped a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the Hero Arts/Basic Grey "Tiny Star Background" stamp, using Versamark ink. I heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Then I used watercolors to paint a night sky background. The different colors don't show up especially well in the photo, but I went with mostly purple, blues, and black; with a touch of yellow in a few spots for contrast. Then I set that aside to air dry.

After die cutting a tag from white cardstock with one of the dies from the "Blueprints 13" set by My Favorite Things, I stamped one of the greetings from this stamp set in Versamark ink. I white heat embossed that, then stamped 2 of the stars from the same set several times around the greeting. I sprinkled on more white embossing powder, and melted that with my heat gun. Next, I blended Distress inks in Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, and Seedless Preserves onto the tag. I felt the Salty Ocean was too light, and the Seedless Preserves a bit too overpowering, though. So I ended up going over the whole tag with the Chipped Sapphire, to try and bring everything together more. Finally, I spritzed it a few times with water in a mister bottle. I also sprayed some water into the palm of my hand, and flicked it onto the tag. Then I blotted that with a paper towel. I did that a couple more times. The water kind of "bleached" the Distress inks, causing water spots, which I feel give a nice visual texture. I then set that aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card.

I used a 5/8" star punch by Recollections to punch a total of 10 stars, 5 each from 2 different patterned papers I have in my (overflowing) scrap stash. I used those in place of the 8 squares or banners the sketch calls for. I had to add a couple extra stars (10 rather than 8), because of the way I butted them up against each other.

By this time, my background had dried, so I matted that with a piece of light blue cardstock. I marked where my punched stars would go, and glued them down, alternating the patterned papers. For the strip running alongside those, I cut a piece of white cardstock, and inked it with Hero Arts' Navy mid-tone shadow ink. After I glued that down, I adhered the tag next to it. Finally, I inked another piece of white cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5", with the same Navy ink. I used that to mat my card front, then adhered that to an A2-size card base. I will be sending this card on to Operation Write Home.

I'm also entering this card in Operation Write Home's "Sketch #249" challenge, Virginia's View Challenge #13: "Embossing," & Hero Arts' "Nature" challenge.

Miss You

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their "Stella Says Sketch #304" challenge this week. This is the sketch for this challenge:

For the focal image on my card, I chose the "Theodore Hot Air Balloon" by Bugaboo Stamps. I figured this would make a cute kid's card to send to Operation Write Home. I also chose a greeting from Doodle Pantry's "Missing You" set. I've had this digital set for a long time now, and just rarely think to use it for some reason. I've decided I really need to make a more concerted effort to use my digital images & stamps!

I chose the striped patterned paper from Simple Stories' "Vintage Bliss," and the butterfly pattern from Basic Grey's "Hey Girl" 6x6" pads. To determine the sizes of my panels, I created a blank canvas in Photoshop the size of a landscape-oriented A2 card. I played around with different size blocks, until I found a size that would comfortably hold my focal image, and work with the patterned paper layers. I cut a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper for the focal panel, and printed the bear directly onto that. I also printed the greeting on Mixed Media Paper, and die cut that with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" die.

To color my image, I used my Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush, and watercolor to paint the sky. After cutting my patterned paper panels, I tacked down the striped pieces to my pink cardstock background with my ATG gun, then machine-stitched around the edges of those. I did likewise with the butterfly paper. Well, sort of. My sewing machine started not working right after stitching down one side of one butterfly panel. So finishing the machine stitching was not an option at that point. I could have started over, but decided to hand-stitch the rest instead. So I measured & poked holes along the remaining sides every 3 millimeters to create a zigzag pattern, then used the same sewing thread to stitch the remaining panels. It took a lot longer, but I think the added texture was worth it. And, of course, my machine started working again afterwards!

To finish the card, I inked the edges of the greeting die cut with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, and glued it in place. Then I adhered the completed card front to a white A2 card base. Hopefully one of our overseas military heroes will send it home to his/her daughter, to let her know she's loved and missed!

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Special Lady/Girly."

Happy Mother's Day

Sandy Allnock of Operation Write Home created 20 tags by heat embossing images on cardstock. She sent them off to random commenters from 2 videos she posted on YouTube about this, including me. The idea is each crafter will take the tag and decorate it somehow, then use it on a card for OWH. We have to send the completed cards back by March 31, and she will make a video featuring them. One of the kickers is, there is no do-over. I got one tag, and that is it. No pressure now! Sandy did suggest we could make our own tags to practice before working on the real thing. So that's what I'm doing.

This card is Experiment #1. I began by die cutting a tag using the "Stitched Duo 1" tag die by Pretty Pink Posh from 110 lb. white cardstock, which is what Sandy used for the tags she sent out. After taping around the edges with painters tape to mask them, I stamped a butterfly (source unkown) several times in Versamark ink, then heat embossed those with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

I then took Distress inks in Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass, and Cracked Pistachio and blended them on the tag using sponge daubers. Finally, I sprayed Perfect Pearls Mist in the Mint color over that. This helped blend & soften the colors a little more, and added a nice shimmer. I used a dry Q-tip to remove the mist off the butterflies, and let the tag dry.

While that was drying, I went through my collection of OWH sketches, looking for one that would work with this tag. I finally chose #93:

While the tag was a little smaller than the 3x4" panel in the sketch, I liked the layering idea, with a greeting over the top.

I cut another tag with the same die from a mint green cardstock. For the background and strip, I used 2 patterned papers in the "Canvas" 6x6" paper pad from Teresa Collins' "Fabrications" line. I cut them to size, and adhered the yellow strip over the background. I also die cut an oval using one of the "Stitched Tags" dies by Pretty Pink Posh for the greeting.

I used one of the greetings from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Mother's Day Sentiments" digital set. After scanning the oval into my computer, I opened that image in Photoshop. I sized the greeting to fit, then printed it directly onto the die cut. Finally, I inked around the edges with Shaded Lilac, just to add a little definition.

By this time, my focal tag had dried. I removed the tape from around the edges, and lined it up with the green tag behind it. I punched a hole through both tags, then threaded fibers through the hole, tying them together. I determined how far out to "swing" the green tag, then tacked them together with a little adhesive. I applied adhesive to the back of the tags with my ATG gun, and stuck them in place on the card front. I glued down the greeting oval, and finished off by adhering the completed card front to an A2-size base.

Unfortunately, I will not be sending this card to OWH. I noticed the Perfect Pearls mist does rub off. Cards with glitter that rubs off are not allowed, because the glitter makes our heroes in war zones visible to enemy night-vision goggles. I don't know if the Perfect Pearls would be like glitter in this case, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. So I will be giving this card to my mom for Mother's Day instead. I do like the inking technique I used though, so I may try it again with plain water. Or maybe with water splatters. But that's for another card....

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Virginia's View Challenge #13: Embossing

Morning Glories for Mom

The deadline for Mother's Day cards to be at Operation Write Home is March 31. That gives them time to get them sent out, so our heroes overseas can get them to their moms by Mother's Day. Cards that don't specifically say "Mother's Day" though, have a longer shelf life, since they can be sent anytime. So, while I am planning to make some Mother's Day cards, I started with just a general one.

I used OWH's Sketch #249 for my design:

I must admit, the small banners along the left side were the hardest to do. Because I wanted to use patterned paper, not only did I need small patterns, I had to hand-cut each 5/8" square banner! Thankfully I was able to find papers with small patterns in my scrap stash, 4 each of green and blue tones.

For the focal panel, I chose the "Morning Glory" and "Mother's Day Sentiments" digital stamps by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I created a 2x3" digital canvas in Photoshop, and sized the image & greeting to fit. After printing them onto a piece of white cardstock, I colored the morning glories with colored pencils, using Gamsol on a paper stump to blend the colors.

I used one of the papers in graphic45's "Botanical Tea" 6x6" patterned paper pad for the background panel. I felt the flowers in the paper coordinated well with the morning glories. After cutting the banners, I inked around the edges of the green ones with Peeled Paint, and the blue ones with Faded Jeans Distress inks, just to set them off from the background better. I matted the background with a piece of light teal cardstock, and adhered that to a piece of dark green cardstock cut to 4.25x5.5". I used the same green to mat the focal panel. Finally, for the green strip and square, I used another piece from my scraps, that was actually the flip side of one of the banner papers. I punched a heart in that paper, and punched around that with a 1" square punch.

To finish assembling the card, I determined how far from the left side to place the banners, then arranged & glued them in place. I glued the green patterned paper strip next to them, and adhered the focal panel in place. Finally, I glued down the heart-punched square, and adhered the finished card front to an A2-size card base. As an added touch, I applied tiny drops of Glossy Accents to the flowers & leaves in the morning glories, to simulate dew drops.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Operation Write Home's Sketch #249
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "No Rules"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Spring"