Hello Handsome

Several months ago I got the Ranger Tiny Attacher at my local scrapbooking store. Sadly, since putting it away where I decided it belongs, it has not seen much use. Since Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge this week is to use something that you don't use much, I figured this was a good time to break out my Tiny Attacher. And yet, I still kept forgetting to use it! So today I was determined to use it.

I figured, since staples can look more masculine than feminine, I would make a masculine love card to send to Operation Write Home. I used the following OWH sketch for my design:

Since the center panels in the sketch were 3x4", I decided this would also be a perfect opportunity to use my 3x4" Stitched Journaling Card die by Lawn Fawn. I wanted a patriotic card, so I pulled out my "Red White and Blue" 6x6" patterned paper pad by We R Memory Keepers. I die cut one of the panels from the blue star paper in the pad, and the other from a scrap of burgundy cardstock I had in my stash. I layered them and glued them together.

I stamped the greeting using one of the sentiments from this stamp set by Hero Arts, using Chipped Sapphire Distress ink on a scrap of white cardstock. I cut it into a banner shape, then glued it down to the die cut panels, adding 2 staples with my Tiny Attacher.

I chose another pattern from the same WRMK paper pad for the background, and matted it with a piece of navy blue cardstock. I adhered the die cut panels to the background, and then adhered the card front to a standard A2, side-folding card base. All-in-all, the card came together remarkably quickly.

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
a2z Scrapbooking's "Stars & Stripes" June Linky Party

Happy Birthday 2 U

After making a few technique-heavy cards, I decided to take a bit of a break and do something relatively simple. The June Linky Party theme at a2z Scrapbooking's blog is "Stars and Stripes," so I decided to do something incorporating that theme. I also decided I wanted to make a kid's card, since I don't do nearly enough of those for Operation Write Home.

I began by pulling out a new-to-me 6x6" patterned paper pad, "Boy Crazy" by My Minds Eye. I had picked this up at the Great American Scrapbook Convention this month in Arlington, TX, because I felt it would be perfect for kids' cards. I ended up choosing one of the star patterns from that pad for the main background.

I also wanted to use one of my newer die sets: Spellbinders "Labels One." So I turned to my binder of OWH sketches in search of one that incorporated either a square or circle. This is the one I decided on:

Besides the circle element, the main thing that drew me to this sketch was the large background area with the scalloped trim. I felt this large piece would showcase the patterned paper, without letting it overwhelm the card. To make my trim, I punched a strip of yellow-orange cardstock with the "Binding Edge" edger punch by EK Success. I felt the torn-notebook look was more gender-neutral than a scalloped border, and might resonate with someone looking for a card to send to his/her child. After I punched the strip & trimmed it down a little, I glued it to the back of the patterned paper piece and set that aside.

I used a greeting from this Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set, stamping it onto a piece of light grey cardstock. I liked the bold, graphic look of the stamp, and how it packs a punch. I heat embossed it with American Crafts Zing! embossing powder in Rouge, to pick up on the red in the star patterned paper. After it cooled, I die cut the label, and inked around the edges with Pumice Stone Distress ink, to provide a little more depth and dimension with no bulk.

Finally it was time to assemble the card. I cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and centered & adhered the background panel onto it using my ATG tape runner. (I did use liquid glue under the trim, to keep it from pulling up & snagging other cards in the package for OWH.) After that I glued the label in place, adhered the front to the card base, and the card was finished. Well, I thought it was finished.

I decided the design was just a bit too heavy on the right, and wanted to do something on the left to balance it out. So, as a test run, I penciled in dots in the upper and lower left corners. I liked the effect (and my mom concurred when I asked for her opinion!), and so I erased my pencil marks and replaced them using a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. THEN I was finished!

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Operation Write Home/Our Daily Bread Designs June Challenge: "Dies or Punches"

Can't Wait to Hug You

Since A Blog Named Hero issued their Challenge #46, "Bokeh," I've become interested in recreating a light effect using basically just color media and paper/cardstock. (I've done a couple of cards for this challenge already, which you can see here and here.) I got the complete set of Faber-Castell gelatos a couple of months ago, and had not used them much. I read this blog post this morning, in which she used gelatos to stamp with, and it gave me the kick in the pants I needed to break mine out. Since I had some free time this afternoon, I decided to give bokeh another go, this time with Distress ink & my gelatos.

Since I am going to send this card to Operation Write Home, I started by cutting a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5", the size of a standard A2 card. I taped Simon Says Stamp's "Falling Stars" stencil over it, and smooshed Versamark ink though the stencil. Once I had gotten enough ink on the cardstock, I removed the stencil, sprinkled American Crafts Zing! clear embossing powder over the cardstock, and heat embossed the stars.

To create the bokeh effect, I first blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink over the whole panel to set a light blue base color. Then I took two colors of gelatos and made random dots on the cardstock. I used my water brush to spread and blend the gelato colors, so they have a soft appearance. In hindsight, I wished I had used watercolor paper instead of cardstock, since I ended up using quite a bit of water. But I was very careful, and didn't have too much pilling of the cardstock, so it worked out OK.

To create the moon, I die cut a circle from white cardstock using one of the dies from the Spellbinders Standard Circles SM set. I scribbled yellow gelato onto it, and blended the color with my finger. That gave it a subtle, mottled look, which I must admit was a pleasant surprise, since I'd expected a more solid color.

I stamped the owls from Hero Arts "Li'l Hoot" set onto watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, and, after giving the ink a few minutes to dry thoroughly, colored them with Inktense pencils. I fussy cut the image, and went around the white edges with a black brush tip marker, to blend them in with the black stamping. I determined where I wanted my moon on the card front, and glued it down, going off the edge slightly. I glued the owls on top of the moon, and trimmed off the overhanging portion.

I decided I wanted to use 2 of the greeting stamps from the same Hero Arts set. I stamped each onto white cardstock with Versamark, and heat embossed them with Recollections "Snow" embossing powder. After cutting out the banner shapes, I blended Chipped Sapphire ink over them, and glued them to the card front. Finally, I adhered the whole front panel to a top-folding A2 card base.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "I Ought to Use This More" (gelatos)

Thanx Squash Fold Card

I decided to do one more entry for A Blog Named Hero's "Bokeh" challenge (#46). The other day, I saw an older video on YouTube by Dawn Olchefske on making a squash fold card. You can check out her original post on her blog. I decided to give it a go myself.

I began by making my card front panel. I smooshed Distress inks in Mustard Seed, Evergreen Bough, and Peacock Feathers onto my craft mat, then sprayed them liberally with my water mister bottle. I took a piece of watercolor paper I'd cut to size, and pressed it into the inks on the mat, creating a spotty blend of colors. When that had dried, I taped Hero Arts "Tweed" stencil over the panel, and smeared Golden's Fiber Paste over it. This paste gives the feel of handmade paper where it's applied. It picked up a little bit of the ink, but mostly stayed kind of a translucent white. I let that dry overnight, just to make sure it was thoroughly dry.

For my greeting panel, I stamped the "thanx" from this Hero Arts stamp set onto the smooth side of a piece of watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then heat embossed it with American Crafts Zing! clear embossing powder. I die cut the label with a die from Sizzix's "Labels, Wavy" set. To color inside the letters, I pressed my Wild Honey Distress ink pad onto an acrylic block, to use as my palette. I took a small paintbrush and used it to apply clear water inside each letter. After I wet each letter, I picked up some ink and dropped it in to the water layer, "guiding" the color down towards the bottom of the letter, to give a gradient effect. Finally, I blended Scattered Straw Distress ink around the word, out to the edges of the label, and went around the very edges with Wild Honey, to give it more definition.

The inside is where the bokeh effect happens. I took the larger star stamp from this set, and stamped it repeatedly all over the inside, using Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I thought this star tied in nicely with the small star in the "a" in the greeting. I matted 2 pieces of bristol paper with yellow cardstock, to use for writing on, and adhered them to the unfolded panels.

To finish the card front, I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4x4", then blended Wild Honey around the perimeter. I glued the stenciled panel, cut to 3-7/8" square, to that, then glued that to the front of the card base. I punched a hole in each end of the label and threaded a length of bakers twine from Maya Road (to keep the finished card closed) through the holes and around the back. I applied liquid glue very liberally to the back of the label, and glued it in place, placing a weight on top until it dried so it wouldn't shift. Since this wouldn't qualify as a "regular" card for Operation Write Home, I am going to use it as an AnyHero card, to write a thank you note to one of our overseas heroes.

I am also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.

Happy Happy Bears

Challenge #46 at A Blog Named Hero is to use a bokeh effect on a project. According to this article on Wikipedia, bokeh is  "'the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.'" Basically, with this effect, lights in the background of a photo are blurred. So, the challenge is to recreate that look, without using light of course.

For this card, I began by looking through my collection of stencils, and found this stencil by Donna Downey. I figured it would be perfect for this technique. Next, I went through my binder full of Operation Write Home sketches, looking for one with a large background panel to do my stenciling on. I also wanted a place for my greeting and somewhere for the bears to stand. This one seemed to fit the bill perfectly:

I chose my greeting from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Happy Happy" set, & paired it with the bears from Hero Arts' "Li'l Hoot" set. (I've had the "Li'l Hoot set for quite some time, and have sadly not used it that often. I will definitely have to remedy that, because it is a fun set, and perfect for cards to send to kids.) I stamped the bears first on watercolor paper using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I needed a waterproof ink because I would be coloring them with my Inktense pencils & water. This particular ink holds up well; doesn't bleed; and cleans off even clear stamps fairly well, though it does stain them slightly.

I cut strips of patterned papers using scraps from My Mind's Eye "Chevron" and Graphic45's "Botanical Tea" 6x6" pads. I heat embossed my greeting on the flip side of the brown dot patterned paper, using Recollections "Snow" embossing powder. I die cut that with a Spellbinders Classic Circle die. Then I set those pieces aside while I worked on my bokeh background.

I taped the stencil over a piece of white cardstock, and used Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Peacock Feathers Distress inks with my ink blending tool. I started by blending the Tumbled Glass over the stencil; then shifted the stencil slightly so the dots were offset from the first ones, went over the stencil again with Broken China; and finished the same way with Peacock Feathers.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 4.25x5.5" and glued it to an A2-size card. I adhered my background piece over that, then positioned & glued my paper strips and greeting. After fussy-cutting the bears and going around the edges with a black brush tip marker to hide the white paper, I glued them down, tucking the baby bear slightly under the greeting piece to ground the pair further. My last step was to use a Sakura white gel pen to do some faux stitching around the greeting circle.

I hope some hero overseas will use this card to write home to his/her son or daughter.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "I Ought to Use this More"
Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps "All About Animals"

A Wonderful Friend

After doing a couple of one-layer cards, I decided to go for one with lots of layers, which I think is a little more my style. My main inspiration for this card was actually a2z Scrapbooking Supplies' "Stars & Stripes" June Linky Party challenge on their blog. I had done another card earlier this month for this challenge, which was more patriotic. This time, I decided to go for bright, summery colors.

I based my design on one of Operation Write Home's sketches from May:

For the focal panel, I decided to do a technique I learned in the Watercolor for Card Makers class at Online Card Classes. Tim Holtz demonstrated how to use Distress inks and a stencil to create a monoprint. I used watercolor paper; Tim Holtz's "Stars" stencil; and Distress inks in Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Peacock Feathers to create my monoprint. Then I set that aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card.

For the striped background, I adhered strips of green & yellow cardstock to a blue piece, then ran the whole panel through my die cutting machine with the "A2 Tiny Stars" embossing folder by The Paper Studio. I stitched around the edge with my sewing machine and some turquoise thread. I love stitching on paper like this, and don't think to do it often enough. Usually it's more like, "Oh shoot--I could/should have added some stitching!"

I matted the background first with a piece of magenta cardstock, then with a piece of white cardstock I colored by blending Mowed Lawn Distress ink over it. I used the same combination for matting the focal panel.

I cut 3 banners from white cardstock, and white heat embossed the second part of my greeting on the longest one. I blended Peacock Feathers over that one, and Tumbled Glass & Broken China over the other two. I die cut the "You" from more of the magenta cardstock, using this die by Simon Says Stamp, which coordinates with the stamp set I used.

After gluing the matted focal panel to the embossed background, I adhered the banners, and glued the die cut on the upper two banners, slightly overlapping the third. I used a trick I learned from Debby Hughes in that same watercolor class. To glue down detailed die cuts like the "you," apply small dots of glue to the back, then tap the back side onto a piece of scratch paper to take off a little of the glue, and stick it down to your project. This way, glue doesn't tend to smoosh out around the die cut.

This card definitely took more time to make than the one-layer cards I did. But I had lots of fun doing it, too!

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "You Gotta Have Friends"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "I Ought to Use This More" (sewing machine)

You Should Be Playing!

I decided to shake things up a bit, by posting a scrapbook layout instead of a card. Scrapbooking was actually my first love in the world of paper crafting. While I don't do it nearly enough these days (especially considering the hundreds of photos I have to scrapbook!), I still enjoy creating layouts.

These photos are of our youngest cat, Barney, when he was a kitten. This "trackball" toy was his favorite, and he still plays with it 2 years later.

With the patterned paper strips, I wanted to have a "circle" theme, to complement the toy in the photos. I chose the blue papers by Me and My Big Ideas based on the color of the toy. I created the striped paper by blending Scattered Straw & Brushed Corduroy onto white cardstock, using Simon Says Stamp's "Diagonal Stripes" stencil. I mainly wanted to have a contrast with the circles and blue color.

I used an EK Success edger punch (sorry, but I don't know the name) to punch the scalloped banner strips using a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye "Boy Crazy" 6x6" pad.

After marking where my main photo would go, I adhered the patterned papers at a diagonal onto a piece of mid-tone grey cardstock. I adhered the focal photo even with the lower edge of the bottom strip of paper. Then I glued the smaller photos in a line above that. Finally I glued the banners in place.

For the cat embellishment, I stamped the image on watercolor paper using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, and colored it to look like Barney with Inktense pencils and water. I cut it out, and went around the edges with a black marker to cover the white. Finally I glued it in place.

I printed the title & date onto pieces of the paper I used for the banners, and the journaling onto a piece of blue cardstock. After adhering those, I die cut circles from patterned paper, and glued them in place to create a visual triangle around the page.

I finished up the page by adding faux stitching along the lower edges of the banners; around the date, title, and journaling block; and around the layout. I decided the background was still a bit stark, so I masked off the elements, and flicked White Linen Dylusions ink onto the background.

I'm entering this layout in Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes" challenge.