Take Care of Yourself

  

Karolyn Loncon's lesson about white space on Day 5 of My Favorite Things' Summer School 2020 inspired this card design. I'll be the first to admit, I don't generally do CAS cards. I find I'm more of a "kitchen sink" crafter--as in, everything and the kitchen sink! LOL But I decided to give this a go, and my card actually came together pretty quickly, once I had a direction.

For the butterfly, I inked up a scrap of white cardstock with Dried Marigold Distress ink, creating an ombre effect. I let that dry before die cutting. When the ink dried, I lost some of the darkness at the bottom, so I inked over that part a bit more with the same color, then dried it with my heat tool. I die cut that using the largest butterfly from MFT's "Flutter of Butterflies - Solid" die set (discontinued). I die cut the corresponding "Flutter of Butterflies - Lace" butterfly from Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum, & the body from a scrap of a champagne-shimmer cardstock. This is actually my favorite way to layer these butterfly dies. I gently folded the lace butterfly where the wings join the body, and then glued just the body to the inked layer. Finally, I glued the body on.

I die cut the scalloped rectangle from "Blueprints 20" from MFT (discontinued) from white cardstock. I stamped the "Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots" background on that, with Lawn Fawn Kiddie Pool ink, then adhered it to a white A2-size card base.

For the greeting, I die cut the stitched banner from "Blueprints 20" from white cardstock, and inked it with Dried Marigold. I dried it with my heat tool, then stamped the greeting, from MFT's "Get Well Wishes" (discontinued), with Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink. I glued that & my butterfly centered on the upper part of my scalloped panel. I love how this card came out. Maybe I should do CAS cards more often! :)

Happy Birthday

  

The lesson on Day 1 of My Favorite Things' Summer School 2020 inspired this card. It's all about the visual triangle. I actually created more than one triangle on my card: 1. the balloons; 2. each individual group of sequins; and 3. the three groups of sequins overall.

I have a lot of people's birthdays coming up that I need cards for, so I decided to make a birthday card. I die cut the balloons from pattern paper scraps, using My Favorite Things' "Birthday Balloons" die set (discontinued). I die cut the greeting with My Favorite Things' "Cause for Celebration" (also discontinued).

I grouped my rainbow balloons in 3 areas on my card front, to form my first visual triangle around the greeting. I glued them & the greeting in place, slightly overlapping the purple & blue balloons with the birthday word.

The "Birthday Balloons" die set includes string dies, but I wanted to use real string instead. So I pierced a hole on either side of each balloon's neck. I stitched 2 plies of white embroidery floss around each balloon neck, & then extended one end of the floss to a letter in the greeting. For the bottom 2 balloons, I just wrapped the floss around the bottom of the panel & taped the end on the back. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I also tied 12 tiny bows with 1 ply of floss, & glued them to either end of each string. I felt this helped further anchor the strings, so it looked like they really were tied.

I matted my panel with a piece of mint green cardstock, & adhered it to a white A2-size card base. Finally, I added my 3 groups of sequins.

I'm also entering this card in Creative Knockouts Challenge #362: "Sparkle & Shine."

Joy

 

 My Favorite Things' Summer School is in full swing! Day 4's lesson was all about ombre. I decided to make a Christmas card, inspired also by Christmas Card Throwdown's August Color Challenge palette of orange, green, & gold. I based my design on the Sketch Challenge #501 from My Favorite Things.

The bands in the sketch combined with the ombre lesson made me think of faux dip dye. Kristina Werner had taught a lesson on this technique in one of the Spring Card Camps at Online Card Classes a few months ago. I found a scrap of Canson Montval 140 lb. watercolor paper in my stash that was already a great size. I trimmed it down just a smidge to square it up, and tore one short side. I then taped the 3 untorn sides to a cutting board to help keep warping to a minimum. I used only one shade of watercolor--Mijello Mission Gold's Hunter's Green--to paint the panel. I began by painting a very dilute mix for the first layer, and dried it with my heat tool. I kept adding more layers of paint, drying in between, and not going as far up the panel as the previous layer. For the bottom-most section, I went over the green with Indigo, which darkened it up considerably. I dried the panel one last time, removed it from my board, & die cut it with the stitched rectangle from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set (discontinued). I left the torn edge uncut, however.

I stamped the greeting, from My Favorite Things' "Joyous Christmas Sentiments" set (discontinued) in Versamark ink onto a scrap of off-white cardstock. I heat embossed it with Ranger Gold Super Fine Detail embossing powder, then die cut it with a circle die. I cut a dark orange mat with a slightly larger scalloped circle die, and glued the pieces together. I glued that centered on my watercolor panel. I matted the panel with more of the same dark orange, and adhered it to a white A2-size card base. Finally, I added 3 gold sequins for even more of a festive touch.

I'm also entering this in Creative Knockouts Challenge #362: "Sparkle & Shine."

One Sketch, Two Cards

The current sketch challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown inspired the design for both of my cards:

For my first card, I chose the ornament image from Sunny Studio's "Holiday Style" stamp set. I first used the coordinating dies to cut the ornament & topper 4 times from white cardstock. I placed the negative space in my MISTI stamp positioning tool, & temporarily adhered an ornament & a topper in their respective "holes." I stamped each with the first base color, then replaced them with unstamped die cuts, and stamped with the second base color. I repeated that for all 4 ornaments & toppers. That way, I didn't have to keep repositioning the stamps, which made things much faster. Once the first layer was stamped & dried (so the inks wouldn't blend), I positioned & stamped the second layers as I had with the first. I used Hero Arts Fresh Peach & My Favorite Things Coral Crush inks for the coral ornament; Hero Arts Pool & Memento Teal Zeal for the light blue; Altenew Vanilla Cream & Memento Cantaloupe for the yellow; & finally Memento Danube Blue & Lawn Fawn Deep Sea for the dark blue. For the toppers, I used Hero Arts Soft Granite & Black inks.

I glued each topper to an ornament, so I could maneuver them as one unit. After I adhered the patterned papers to my card base, I roughly positioned the ornaments. I went ahead and tacked them down with ATG adhesive instead of liquid glue, so if I had to move them I could pull them up easily.

I cut a banner from a pale cream cardstock, to echo the yellow ornament and coordinate with the patterned paper strip. I used Lawn Fawn's "Milo's ABCs" to stamp the greeting, using Teal Zeal, Coral Crush, & Deep Sea inks for the words.

 

I positioned the greeting banner, and repositioned the ornaments so everything was a bit more centered. To make sure the ornaments wouldn't detach, I did squirt some liquid glue under each. I tied a triple bow from metallic thread for each ornament & the banner, and glued those in place. After the glue dried, I adhered my card front to a white A2-size card base.

I used Paper Smooches' "A Blessed Christmas" stamp set for my second card. I stamped 3 of the images onto Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with Simon Says Stamp's Fog ink. After die cutting them with circle dies, I colored each with my Prismacolor colored pencils. To provide a little definition between the circles, I inked around the perimeter of each with Speckled Egg Distress ink. Finally, I stamped my greeting on another scrap of bristol in Gina K Charcoal Brown ink, die cut that into a circle, and inked the perimeter.

I adhered a piece of green "crackle" patterned paper from The Paper Studio to a 7-1/4x4-1/2" white card base. (I have a stash of envelopes for that rather odd card size, so I'm trying to use them up!) I cut a strip from a scrap of holiday paper from my stash and adhered it along the bottom. I created a banner grouping with another piece of that scrap & 2 other scraps.

I positioned my circles in the pattern I wanted, and went ahead & glued them together, so I could move them around as one unit. I positioned my banner grouping at the top of the card, 1/2" in from the right edge. I glued my focal circle unit down with the left edge 1/2" from that edge of the card. And that finished this card!

I'm also entering both cards in 613 Avenue Create's August Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist).

Happy Birthday

The current Fusion Challenge is "Summer." The ice cream cone image & overall color scheme in the inspiration photo provided the jumping-off point for my card.

I first stamped the cone from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Ice Cream" (discontinued) with Memento Desert Sand ink. I stamped it 4 or 5 times with my MISTI stamp positioning tool, to get good solid coverage. I stamped the detail layer twice with Memento Toffee Crunch after heat setting the Desert Sand layer.

I used Lawn Fawn's Sunflower ink, and Memento Ladybug & New Sprout inks for the ice cream scoops. I placed a strip of scrap white cardstock in my MISTI, stamped the solid scoop layer with the yellow, cleaned the stamp, moved the strip up in my MISTI, stamped the green, & repeated for the red. I stamped the green 3 times to get a darker image that went better with the embossing powder I'd chosen.

I dried the ice cream images with my heat tool, and treated the cardstock with my anti-static powder bag. I placed the strip back in my MISTI, and stamped the yellow scoop with Versamark ink. I heat embossed that with Wow Opaque Primary Sunny Yellow embossing powder. I repeated that process with American Crafts Zing Leaf powder, & Ranger Red Geranium powder for the green & red scoops, respectively. After the embossing cooled, I die cut the 3 scoops & cone with the coordinating dies.

For my card front, I chose a sand colored cardstock. I adhered a 1" wide strip of teal cardstock along the left side, and machine-stitched 3 patterned paper banners at the top right corner.

The birthday greeting in "Color Layering Ice Cream" didn't fit my design, so I pulled the Happy Birthday from another Hero Arts set (fittingly called, "Happy Birthday"). I triple-stamped it onto a scrap of yellow cardstock with Ladybug ink, then cut that into a narrow strip.

I went ahead & glued the ice cream scoops & the cone together, so I could move it around as one unit. I determined where I wanted it, and where it would intersect the greeting strip. I drew a light pencil line on the greeting strip just inside the right edge of the cone, & cut along that line. I adhered my greeting to the card, and glued my ice cream cone in place. There was a bit too much space between the cone & the greeting, so I used the small heart from "Color Layering Ice Cream" as a "filler image." I will send this card to a friend of ours whose birthday is later this month.

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

A Blog Named Hero: "Embossing"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #361: "Tic-Tac-Toe" (did the middle column: embossing, image, & sentiment)

Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Happy Birthday"

Dies R Us Challenge #150: "Just Desserts"

Two Christmas Cards

Christmas Card Throwdown's current challenge theme is "Sewing." I created 2 cards for this challenge.

For the design of my first card, I used the sketch from Catch the Bug's Stella Says Sketch Challenge #812. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees. I used Bugaboo Stamps' "Mistletoe Bell" image (discontinued), with a vellum overlay for my greeting. I first sized the image in Photoshop, and printed it onto a panel of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. I colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils. I used Gamsol to blend the first layer of color, then went in with more layers, finally using my pencils to burnish the color.

View of image panel under vellum overlay

 

I found 2 patterned papers in my scrap stash for the background. To provide visual separation between the image panel & the bell patterned paper especially, I matted the image panel with a 1/16" dark green mat. I used a strip of that same cardstock along the left edge of my card.

I heat embossed the greeting with Ranger Gold Super Fine Detail embossing powder onto a piece of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum that I'd cut to the same size as the image panel. I lined it up with the image panel, & poked holes along the top edge every 1/8". I use gold thread to stitch the overlay to the image panel. I adhered that to my card, and that finished card #1.

I used Sketch #SC727 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the design for my second card. I first stamped the lamp image from Inky Antics "Decorated for Christmas" set onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I die cut that with a "Large Stitched Oval" die from Lawn Fawn. I used watercolors to paint the image. I wanted to provide a matting effect, but didn't want to cut a larger oval. So I first inked around the perimeter with Speckled Egg Distress ink. That wasn't quite the right color, though, so I went over it with Faded Jeans Distress ink to darken & warm it up just a bit.

For the stitched strip, I used my We R Memory Keepers Sew Perfect tool (discontinued). I cut my strip longer than I needed, since it's basically impossible to know where the tool will pierce the holes. I lined up the Sew Perfect ruler along my cardstock, & ran the tool along that. Because the cardstock is thick, I did have to go back with my paper piercer to poke the holes fully through. After I trimmed the strip to 5-1/2" long, I followed the stitching diagram for that Sew Perfect roller head, with red & pale grey embroidery floss. I actually stitched the grey first, and realized my "error" when I went to stitch the red. I should have stitched the red first, since I wanted the grey floss on top. Thankfully, I was able to weave the red floss under the grey as I stitched, so no big deal. 😊

For the card front panel, I used one of the patterned papers from the "Believe" 6x6" pad by Authentique. I used strong double-sided tape to adhere my stitched strip to my card. I glued the oval in place over that. Then I adhered my card front to a white A2-size card base.

I stamped the greeting, from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Christmas Joy" set (discontinued), onto a scrap of the same cardstock I'd used for my stitched strip. I used an Essentials by Ellen "Stitching Lines" die to add some faux cross-stitching to the right end of the greeting strip. I cut the other end in a "v," and adhered the banner to my card.

I'm also entering my cards in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes" (first card only)

613 Avenue Create: "Anything Goes" (playing the twist on the first card only)

Die Cut Divas: "Christmas in July" (second card only)

Season's Greetings

I am very excited to be the guest designer at Christmas Card Throwdown for their July sketch challenge! Feel free to play along, and follow the sketch below. You can rotate it, flip it, or follow it exactly.

I decided to use the Poppystamps "Blooming Poinsettia" die set for the circle element in the sketch. I die cut the pieces from Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I ran them through my machine again with an embossing mat, to make sure the veins in the bracts (petals) & leaves were as pronounced as possible. Since I didn't want to color my flower just red & green, I did a search on Pinterest for pink & white poinsettias. I found this image, and decided to go with that color scheme. I chose a few of my Tombow water-based markers to color my pieces. I did some blending on the leaves, but left the colors pretty much unblended for the bracts, following the reference photo I'd chosen.

Because I wanted the bracts & leaves to have some lift, I decided to glue them only at the center parts of the flower & one end of the leaves. So that none of the white on the back of each piece would show, I did a rough coloring, emulating the front of each bract & leaf.

I chose a patterned paper from the "Rejoice" 6x6" pad from Creative Imaginations (long discontinued) for my background. I cut it to 3-3/4x5", added it to a narrow dark green mat, and adhered it to a beige cardstock panel that I'd mounted to my white A2-size card base. I added a banner of pale green cardstock to my panel to go behind the flower. Then I glued my flower & leaves to the lower right corner, letting one petal & leaf extend beyond the patterned paper layer for added interest.

I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts "Color Layering Partridge" (discontinued), with Versamark ink onto a scrap of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum. After I heat embossed it with Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder, I cut it into a banner. I applied small dots of liquid glue to the back, behind the words, and adhered it over my poinsettia, lined up with the green banner I'd already glued down. I love how this card came out! I encourage you to join in the fun at Christmas Card Throwdown's blog. Just think of how satisfied you'll be when your holiday cards are finished BEFORE the holidays! :)