Happy 25th Anniversary

Some friends of ours are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary today, so I decided to make them a card. My inspiration came from this card I found through Pinterest.

All of the paper and cardstock came from my scrap stash. I'm glad to be using that up, but it seems like a never-ending activity! I first die cut the birds from light grey cardstock, using the "Bird & Leaf" die from Sizzix (no longer available). To get the birds facing in opposite directions, I simply flipped one of the die cuts over. I die cut the birds again from patterned paper, just to get the wings, cut those off and inked the edges with Weathered Wood Distress ink, and glued them in place on the birds. I also inked around the birds' bodies with Weathered Wood, just to give a bit of shading. Finally, I glued a googly eye on each bird with some Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I got that idea from the inspiration card, and I just think it adds a bit of cuteness.

I die cut the hole for the one bird out of my patterned paper, using a Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" die. I actually had to do this twice, because the first time I got it placed wrong. I just didn't think about it right! Thankfully, I had enough of the patterned paper left to create a second panel. I placed the bird behind the circle, just to test, and decided the wing blended in too much. So I inked around the edge of the circle with Weathered Wood.

For the branches, I die cut Impression Obsession's "Bare Branch" twice, from dark grey cardstock. I positioned the branches on the patterned paper panel, and determined which pieces to trim off. I ended up snipping off several pieces with my scissors, both so the branches would fit and not be so busy. I punched the flowers from light & dark blue cardstocks, using an old Marvy Uchida punch. Finally, using the left-hand bird to gauge placement, I glued down the branches & flowers with more Multi Medium. I glued the birds in place, backing the hole with more of the dark grey cardstock. I added foam tape under the left-hand bird's wing, having backed the open underside with more light grey cardstock. Finally, I added Silver Pearl Liquid Pearls to the flower centers. I then set that aside overnight, to let the Liquid Pearls dry completely.

I cut a piece of silver glitter cardstock and a piece of white, and punched one edge of each with my Martha Stewart "Daisy" border punch. I also cut a mat from the glitter cardstock. Because I didn't have much of that left, and I wanted to mat my greeting with it as well, I cut out the middle of the mat, since it wouldn't show anyway. I then cut the mat for my greeting from that piece.

I created the greeting in Photoshop, using a font called Vladimir Script. I printed that on more white cardstock, and adhered it to its glitter mat. Finally, it was time to assemble the card.

Because I wanted a 6x7.5", top-folding card, I had to cut two pieces of white cardstock for the base. I made one 7.5" long, and the other 8". I scored the longer piece at 1/2" from one end, folded it, and adhered the 7.5" piece to the flap. I glued my large silver mat over the flap, just for a cleaner look. By this time, the Liquid Pearls had dried, so I adhered my main panel to the card base. I glued down the upper border-punched panels, overlapping the main panel slightly. Finally, I adhered the matted greeting with foam adhesive.

Two Birthday Cards

I recently saw this post on Facebook about James Kuntz:

My name is Salena Catron - Mr. Kuntz is My Best Friend and Neighbor...This year June 15, 2015 Mr. Kuntz will be 100...
Posted by James Ralph Kuntz on Wednesday, May 13, 2015

I decided to make one card each for my mom & me to send. I am also entering these cards in the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Blog Hop, going on this weekend.

For my first card, I began by creating the background. I stamped the Hero Arts/Basicgrey "Capture Prism" background stamp on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Versamark ink. I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, to create a resist. I then colored over the whole panel with gelatos in blues, greens, & silver. I spritzed it generously with my homemade Perfect Pearls mist, to spread the colors on the unmasked portions. I started with a brush to blend the colors, but it wasn't getting the gelatos to "break down" like I wanted, so I ended up rubbing with my finger. That worked like a charm! After I finished with the coloring, I set my background aside to dry.

I used the cupcake image from the "Happy Birthday" mini stamp & die set by Tim Holtz. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink on a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, and clear heat embossed it. Then I colored it in with my Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolors. (I recently got a set of these tube watercolors, and so far, am loving them!) Once I had the color as I wanted, I let that dry for a bit, then die cut it with the coordinating die.

I decided I needed something to ground the cupcake, so I die cut a strip of black paper, with the pinked die from "Stitched Borders 1," and the straight die from "Stitched Borders 2," both by Pretty Pink Posh. I also cut the bottom of the background panel with the pinked die, and then glued the black strip on top. Then I popped the cupcake on foam tape above that.

I stamped one of the greetings from this stamp set on another scrap of black paper, and die cut it using one of the "Stitched Tags" dies by Pretty Pink Posh. I positioned it at the top of the card, overhanging the edge slightly, and stitched it in place with my sewing machine. I cut off the part that went above the card. Finally, I mounted my finished panel to an A2 card base.

For my second card, I decided to go a little wild & crazy, using a couple of techniques I learned in Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class. Since Mr. Kuntz is turning 100, I knew I wanted to use the "Stitched Filmstrip" die by Pretty Pink Posh, with the digits "1 0 0" in the spaces. So I die cut that first from purple cardstock. I then cut a piece of Mixed Media Paper to 4.25x5.5". I punched several stars from freezer paper, and cut another strip of freezer paper to just smaller than the filmstrip die cut. I ironed those on to the background, and then made swirls with masking fluid.

Once the masking fluid had dried, I painted over the masked panel with watercolors in the yellow/orange/red range, just letting the colors blend on the paper. I let that dry, and removed all the masking. I placed the filmstrip die cut in place, and lightly traced the openings with a pencil. Then, again with my pencil, I traced the numbers onto the background, using a lettering template I've had for several years. I colored in the numbers with a black marker, erased my pencil marks, and glued down the filmstrip. Finally, I coated the numbers with Diamond Stickles.

For the banner, I typed the letters to spell "celebrate" on a blank canvas in Photoshop. I printed them out on more of the purple cardstock, and cut around each letter in a banner shape. I used my centering ruler to place the "b," which is the middle letter, and then placed the other letters to either side. When I had the spacing right, I glued them in place. I ran a line of Ranger Multi Medium Matte along the top of the banners, and glued down a piece of yellow baker's twine. I finished off by tying 2 tiny bows with more twine, and gluing them with more Multi Medium. Finally, I added dots of Diamond Stickles around the background, for a bit of added sparkle.

I'm also entering my first card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Make It Masculine" challenge.

Rainbow Hello

I'm participating in the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Blog Hop this weekend. This is their third-ever blog hop, and Paulina (owner of Pretty Pink Posh) invited anyone who wants to participate. This is my first of 3 cards.

I began by die cutting a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. I then used my MISTI to help me position the "Delightfully Delicate Background" stamp by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (discontinued). Because the stamp is smaller than an A2 card, I had to stamp it 4 times. Without the MISTI, lining it up would have been very difficult, especially since I was stamping with Versamark. After each stamping, I sprinkled on Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, brushed off what stuck outside the faux stitching lines, and heat set it. That made it a little easier to see the design, so I could know where to stamp next. (This stamp was made to be extendable, so the pattern will line up.)

Once I'd stamped and heat embossed the entire card front, I used the "Pocket Border" die by Pretty Pink Posh to cut a section out of the panel. After I die cut the border twice, I taped the paper to my cutting board, making sure to space the 2 pieces as they would be on the final card, so the painted lines would match up. I masked off the edges outside the faux stitching lines. I used watercolors in rainbow order, and painted diagonal stripes across the card panels. Then I set that aside to dry.

After my watercolor pieces had dried, I cut a piece of dark blue cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I positioned each panel on top of that, and lightly traced around the circular opening with a pencil. I stamped my greeting, from this stamp set, in Versamark, and white heat embossed it. I cut pieces of fun foam slightly smaller than the 2 watercolor pieces, and adhered them to the back of the panels with my ATG gun. I adhered those to the blue panel, and finally mounted that on a white A2 card base. I will be sending this card in my final package to Operation Write Home, as part of their "Finish Strong" campaign.

I'm also entering this in Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday challenge: "Rainbow."

Mask-erade--3 More Cards

I have 3 more cards that I've made, inspired by lessons in Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class, which winds down this week. Even though it will no longer be a "live," interactive class, (I believe) it will be available as a self-paced class. I would highly recommend this class--or indeed, any of their classes! If you want to be notified of their upcoming classes, you can sign up for their newsletter here.

Another card by Shari Carroll, on Day 2 of class, inspired my first card. I had to veer from her instructions, since I didn't have an appropriate background stamp to use, as she had done. I first die cut a balloon, using one of Simon Says Stamp's "Balloons" dies, from one side of a piece of masking paper I'd cut to 4x5.5". I adhered the mask to a piece of white cardstock, cut to the same dimensions, and taped down a number stencil by The Crafter's Workshop (name unknown) on top. I sprayed that with Heidi Swapp's "Seafoam" Color Shine mist, and then set that aside to dry. I heat embossed a chevron pattern, using a Prima stencil, Versamark ink, and Zing! Blue metallic embossing powder, onto another piece of white cardstock. I die cut that with another of the "Balloons" dies.

When my main panel had dried, I peeled up the mask. I stamped the "Happy Birthday" from Lawn Fawn's "Grand Greetings" set in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I tied a piece of white embroidery floss around the bottom of the smaller balloon, coated the floss with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, arranged it to curl, and left it to dry. I poked a hole on each side of the bottom of the stenciled balloon, and tied more floss around that. After I matted the main panel with a piece of pale green cardstock, I adhered my smaller balloon with foam tape. I finished up by adding some sequins by Doodlebug Design with more Multi Medium.

I based my second card on Debby Hughes' lesson on Day 1--"Postive & Negative Masking." I die cut my mask from a sticky note, using one of Spellbinders' "Labels One" dies, turned on point. I adhered it to my cardstock panel, and added more sticky notes around the edges to make sure I didn't get any ink outside the mask. Then I inked through the opening with Shaded Lilac Distress ink. With my negative mask still in place to help me with alignment, I placed my positive cut-out mask inside the opening. I peeled up the negative mask. I used some of the stamps from WPlus9's "Spring Blooms" set & Paper Smooches' "Botanicals 2" set for my images "behind" the greeting area. I stamped those with Memento dye inks in Danube Blue, Desert Sand, Rose Bud, Cantaloupe, New Sprout, and Bamboo Leaves. Because of my masking, the flowers & leaves look like they're in the back. Once I'd filled in with the floral images, with my mask still in place, I spattered drops of Heidi Swapp's "Seafoam" Color Shine mist over the panel. Finally, I peeled up my mask, and stamped my greeting (from Hero Arts' "You Make Me Smile" set), in Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I finished my card by rounding the corners of my panel with my 1/4" Corner Chomper, adding a layer of fun foam to the back, and adhering that to my A2 card base.

For my final card, I again took inspiration from Debby Hughes. Day 5 of class was devoted to masking with embossing powder. Her lesson was on "Masking White Areas," with a homemade stencil.

To create my stencil, I die cut the 3 butterflies from My Favorite Things' "Butterflies" set from a piece of white cardstock, cut to 4x5.25". I taped my stencil over another piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, cut to the same dimensions, and pressed my Versamark ink pad over it, adding that ink through the butterfly cut-outs to my watercolor paper. I heat embossed that with Zing! Clear embossing powder, and taped my panel to my cutting board. I painted over the embossing with watercolor. When that was how I wanted, I set that aside to dry.

I die cut the first part of my greeting using Simon Says Stamp's "Sending" die, from navy cardstock. I stamped the "happy thoughts" (from this set) in Versamark on more of the navy, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail embossing powder. I then cut that into a small strip. I felt the "happy thoughts" was a bit "unbalanced," so I drew in a tiny heart with my white gel pen.

When my watercolor had dried, I used my iron and scratch paper to remove the embossing powder. I did have to heat it some more with my heat gun, and dab with a paper towel, to get the final bits of embossing off. I spattered the panel with watered-down Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, and adhered my greeting. I inked the sides of another piece of white cardstock with Chipped Sapphire, and glued my watercolor panel to that, matching the left and top sides. Finally, I adhered that to a white A2 card base.

Two Sympathy Cards

Recently, 2 friends of ours had deaths in their respective families. So I made a sympathy card for each of them. I also used techniques I've learned in Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class.

Shari Carroll's "Layered Stamping" lesson on Day 3 of class inspired my first card. I began by stamping the 3 butterflies from Hero Arts' "Antique  Butterflies and Flowers" set (discontinued) on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I coated each butterfly with masking fluid, and let that dry. Once that had dried, I inked up the "Faded Text Background" stamp by Stampabilities in Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. I dabbed the ink off part of the stamp with a damp baby wipe, so I would have a blank space for my greeting, and stamped that on my panel, over the butterflies. Next, I took a stencil by Prima (name unknown), and pressed my Cracked Pistachio Distress ink over part of the back of that. I spritzed the ink with water, and pressed it to my panel a couple of times, giving a soft pattern. I did the same with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, making sure to leave the lower right corner untouched.

After my panel was dry, I rubbed off the masking from the butterflies. Unfortunately, in doing so, some of the paper where the largest butterfly was peeled up a bit. So I ended up stamping that image onto another scrap of watercolor paper, again in Jet Black Archival ink, and fussy cutting it out. I "painted" around the edges with a black brush-tip marker, and mounted it over the butterfly I'd stamped on my panel with foam tape, covering up where the paper had torn. Problem solved!

I chose my greeting from Simon Says Stamp's "Sending Happy Thoughts" stamp set. I stamped it in Jet Black, and set my panel aside for the ink to dry thoroughly. For the mat, I inked the 2 long sides of a piece of 4.25x5.5" white cardstock with Hero Arts' "Granite" shadow ink, which I felt set the main panel off without being too "heavy." Finally, I adhered my watercolor piece to the inked cardstock, and mounted that to an A2 card base.

Kristina Werner's lesson on Day 2, "Masked Area for Greeting," was the basis for my second card. I die cut a mask from a sticky note with one of the "Labels Eighteen" dies by Spellbinders, & adhered that to a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. I taped my paper to my non-stick craft sheet, and taped the "Lace" stencil by Tim Holtz over it. I smooshed Distress inks in Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, and Peacock Feathers on my craft sheet, and mixed Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel medium with each color. I spread the colored medium over my stencil, going from light to dark as I made my way down the panel, to create an ombre effect. When I had covered the stencil, I carefully lifted it, and peeled up the sticky note mask. I set my stenciled panel aside to dry for several hours.

When my panel had dried, I stamped the greeting. I used Versamark ink to stamp the "sending" and one of the hearts from the "Sending Happy Thoughts" set, and heat embossed them with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I stamped the "prayers & love," from the same stamp set, in Versafine Onyx Black ink, since I wanted as crisp an impression as possible. I rounded the corners of that panel with my 1/2" Corner Chomper, and matted it with black, rounding those corners as well.

For the outside mat, I used my 3 Distress ink colors, and blended them on a piece of white cardstock, again creating an ombre effect. I adhered that to my A2 card base, rounded the corners, and mounted my main panel on top.

I'm entering my first card in a2z Scrapbooking's June Challenge: "New Beginning." (new technique)

Mask-erade Day 4--Freezer Paper Masking

Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class is wrapping up this week. While I have had my share of frustrations with some of the techniques not quite working out as planned, it has been fun, as all their classes are! I have 2 more cards to share today, both based on lessons from Day 4 of class.

My first card was inspired by Shari Carroll's lesson on "Masked Sentiments," and Kristina Werner's lesson on "Masking with Mists." I first die cut several arrows from freezer paper, using Spellbinders' "Shoot!" and Momenta arrows dies. I also stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Shoot for the Moon" set, on a piece of freezer paper. I cut that piece into a banner shape, and arranged it and the arrows on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I placed a piece of copy paper over the top, and used my iron (yes, the kind that normal people use for clothes!), set to a medium-high heat, to adhere the freezer paper to the watercolor panel. This melts the waxy backing of the freezer paper into the watercolor paper, creating a mask that will stand up even to wet media.

Once my pieces were adhered, I painted over them with watercolors in the blue/green range. I let that dry, and then peeled off the masks. They actually come up quite easily, & leave no apparent residue. All that was left then was to mat the panel with a piece of black paper, to the right of the panel, and mount it to a white A2 card base.

I did my second card with the same basic technique. This time, I used Spellbinders' "Butterfly Magic'" die. It cuts a pattern about 4x6", that can be extended if necessary by lining the die up with the previous cuts and running it through your die cutting machine again. For my card, though, I only needed to cut it once. I did have to try 4 times, however, before I got a clean cut through the whole die. On my last--and successful--attempt, I ended up running the die/freezer paper through my Grand Calibur 4 times, rotating the plates and die/paper to get all areas cut.

Once I had the die cut and all the inside pieces popped out, I ironed it onto my watercolor paper. This time, I used watercolors in reds and blues, which also mixed to create purples. When I finally had the depth of color I wanted, I let it air dry. Once dry, I peeled off the mask. I had a couple of spots on the butterfly's wing where the mask had not totally adhered, so watercolor had gotten underneath. So I took some sequins by Doodlebug Design and glued them down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I added more sequins, basically forming a line that corresponds with the angle of the butterfly, kind of like a flight trail that keeps on going!

I'm entering my cards in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's June Challenge: "New" (Sending Smiles card--new technique)
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Rainbow" (Butterfly card)

To My Lil Hoot

I've been taking Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class the past couple of weeks. On Day 5 of class, Jennifer McGuire had a lesson on masking with clear embossing powder.

I really can't say how many attempts it took to get this card right. I simply lost count! I would guess this is at least the 5th attempt, though. Part of the technique, since my owls are a lined image--was using a Versamark pen to ink over the colored image, which you then coat with clear embossing powder & heat set. On my first attempt, I used colored pencils. I discovered--the hard way--that apparently the ink in the Versamark pen reacts with the wax binder in colored pencils, and blends the color. My poor little baby owl got a black eye as a result! I next tried Inktense pencils, which are permanent when dissolved with water and let to dry. For some reason, the Versamark pen had the same effect. :(

For my final attempt, I decided I had to "fudge" a little. I stamped the owls (from Hero Arts' "Lil Hoot" set) in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink on to a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I then colored them in (again) with Inktense pencils, using a damp brush to blend the colors. I stamped the owls again on masking paper, and used that to mask them off. Then I masked off a circle around them, again with masking paper. I used Hero Arts Silver & Unicorn inks with sponge daubers to ink the moon, and coated that with clear embossing powder. After removing the mask from the owls, I melted the powder to "seal" the moon. Then I pressed my Versamark pad over the moon & owls, and clear heat embossed them. Finally, I removed my "moon" mask. I did go over a bit on the leaves that had been previously masked, with the Versamark pen, being careful NOT to blend the colors too much! Then I clear heat embossed that--now I was in business! :)

For the stars, I used Simon Says Stamp's "Falling Stars" stencil. I taped it over my watercolor panel, and applied Unicorn ink through the stencil with a sponge dauber. I clear heat embossed those. Next, I used watercolors to paint in the night sky. I had to go over the sky a few times to get the depth of color I was after. It still wasn't dark enough, so I ended up watering down some Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and going over the sky once more with that. The heat embossed stars, moon, and owls resisted the watercolor, so all I had to do was wipe the excess color off of those with a dry paper towel.

After I'd finished with the watercolored panel, I set that aside to dry. For the borders, I CASE'd the background on a card by Darlene Devries. I cut a piece of light grey cardstock, and ran it through my die cutting machine with Darice's "Diagonal Stripes" embossing folder. I trimmed the strip into 2 pieces, to go on either side of the main panel. When the watercolor piece was dry, I adhered that and the border pieces to a white A2 card base, lining up the embossed pattern on either side of the main panel as closely as I could.

I used 2 stamps for the greeting. The first part of the greeting is also from "Lil Hoot," and the second part is from Hero Arts "Shoot for the Moon" set. I stamped each onto a scrap of vellum, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. (I didn't want to use cardstock for the greeting, since that would not integrate as well with the background.) I clear heat embossed that, and cut each part of the greeting into a banner shape. After running them through my Xyron Creative Station to apply adhesive to the backs, I adhered them in place. FINALLY--after 3 days and several failed attempts, I succeeded in producing a card!!!! :)

I'm entering this card in the June "Vellum" challenge at Live Love Cards.