Missing U

Hero Arts has been having a "Tic-Tac-Toe" challenge on their blog this month. I decided to make one final card for that, using the squares for heat embossing, die cutting, and my favorite color (blue) from the inspiration graphic.

I die cut a panel of pale blue cardstock with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. In Photoshop, I then created a blank "canvas" sized to a portrait A2 card. (I did end up later using my printed piece in a landscape orientation.) I copied one of the files from Hero Arts' "Artistic Circles" digital set onto that canvas, then used a hue/saturation adjustment layer to change the color to blue. Next I created a gradiant layer, and clipped those 2 layers to the "Artistic Circles" layer. In effect, this colored the design with a gradated blue, making the middle lighter than the edges. Finally, I printed the pattern directly on to the blue cardstock panel.

For the greeting, I stamped one from Hero Arts' "Year Round Sentiments" onto a scrap of white cardstock, & heat embossed it with Ranger's Liquid Platinum embossing powder. Then I die cut that with one of the "Hearts" dies by Little B, and also cut the little cross stitches with one of the other "Hearts" dies. I inked it with Stormy Sky Distress ink on an ink blender tool, making the edges darker than the middle. I traced the heart onto a piece of craft foam, then cut that out, slightly smaller than the cardstock piece. I glued the foam on the back of the die cut with Ranger Multi Medium Gloss.

I decided to pull out one of my Sew Ribbon tools, which I have not used in ages. After deciding where to place the heart (which I wanted over the ribbon), I pierced the slits into my background panel, and threaded some ribbon I'd gotten from Ellen Hutson through the slits. I finished that by taping the ribbon ends to the back of the panel. Finally, I glued the greeting heart to the panel, over the ribbon, and mounted the finished card front to a white A2 card base. I will be sending this card in my final shipment to Operation Write Home.

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

Operation Write Home June challenge: "Missing You" (sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"

Beautiful Day

Ellen Hutson is having their "Pin-spired" challenge, which ends today. (Nothing better for me than waiting 'til the last minute to participate! LOL) They posted the following mood board, and challenged participants to make a project based on it, using at least one Essentials by Ellen product:

I have the Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes "Styleboard" die set, which includes a camera. When I saw the camera in this mood board, that was the first thing I thought of! The colors also inspired me.

I began by die cutting my camera pieces, from peach, red, a dull silver, and white cardstock. For my background, I used one of the flowers from the Essentials by Ellen "Bold Blooms" stamp set. I stamped it numerous times on a piece of white cardstock, using the following inks: Hero Arts Fresh Peach, Butter Bar, & Green Hills; and Stampabilities Baby Blue dye ink. Because I wanted the colors to be pastel, I used second-generation stamping--stamping once on scratch paper, then stamping on my project without re-inking my stamp.

Once I had the cardstock covered with flowers, I die cut the camera out of that as well. I stamped one of the "Bokeh Dots" images, also by Essentials by Ellen, where the camera flash would be, then heat embossed it with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I also heat embossed the greeting, from "Mondo Magnolia," in gold. I backed the camera cutout with Scor-Tape, and then inlaid my camera pieces into that space. I coated the heart & the white pieces with Glossy Accents. As a finishing touch, I adhered some peach sequins by Doodlebug Design and a few 6mm Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.

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

I Really Really REALLY Miss You!

Splitcoast Stampers is having their Sketch Challenge #546. I had to work out the dimensions of all the elements, but I stayed true to the sketch. I'm also still working through my Prima "Doodle Deux" 6x6" paper pad, as I explained in this post. So I figured I'd kill both birds with one stone with my card, so to speak.

After choosing 3 patterns from the collection, I cut them to size. I decided to mat all my layers with black, to echo the black in one of the patterned papers. I adhered my layers to a piece of black paper, and used one of my Perfect Paper rulers to create a 1/16" mat on all sides.

I chose a greeting stamp from Stampabilities. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink on a piece of peach cardstock, and matted it with black. I die cut one of Spellbinders' "Ribbon Buckles" from metallic copper cardstock, and threaded some cream ribbon through that. After adhering my patterned paper layers to some more peach cardstock that I'd matted with black, I determined where to place my greeting panel. I used that to gauge the placement of my ribbon, then adhered the ribbon ends on the back of the matted peach layer. I adhered my greeting panel on top, and glued the ribbon buckle in place, so it won't shift around.

I matted a piece of blue cardstock with more black, giving it a 1/8" mat. Finally, I adhered my layers to that, and mounted it to a white A2-size card base. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.

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

One Sketch, Two Cards

I recently came across this blog post, on making a set of cards with one 6x6" patterned paper pad, plus cardstock. Since I have more 6x6" pads than I really have room for, I decided to take the challenge. Mind you, I have been using my 6x6" patterned papers, but only in dribs & drabs. Currently I'm focusing on using the rest of Prima's "Doodle Deux" pad, which I've had for a long time and haven't used much. These 2 cards are products of that project.

For both cards, I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #8:

Yes, I went WAAAY back in time for this one. I rarely use the earlier sketches from OWH, but decided this would be a good one to use big pieces of 2 different papers, which is kind of the first step in the larger process of using an entire paper pad.

For my first card, I cut the patterned paper pieces first. To add a bit of visual interest, I indented the cut at the corners by 1/4", rather than having the diagonal line go directly from corner to corner as in the sketch. I adhered them to a white A2 card base.

I die cut the dream catcher & feathers from white cardstock, using the "Dream Believer" dies by WPlus9. Using my MISTI, I stamped the corresponding images onto the die cuts, as well as one of the greetings from that set. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink for the greeting & inner part of the dream catcher, Chestnut Roan chalk ink for the solid part of the feathers, & Hero Arts' Cup o' Joe ink for the detail on the feathers and the frame of the dream catcher.

I die cut a piece of vellum with one of the "Nesting Scallops" circle dies by Lifestyle Crafts to back the main part of the dream catcher. This way, the background would be muted, and wouldn't compete with the focal image. I glued the dream catcher to that. I pierced holes in 3 spots on the frame, and threaded grey embroidery floss through each hole, adhering it on the back of the dream catcher. I glued the finished piece to my card front, and glued down the feathers with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, sandwiching the other end of the floss pieces between each feather & the background. That finished Card #1.

I created the base for my second card the same as the first, just using the opposite pieces. I stamped the peach & greeting from Avery Elle's "Berry Good" set on a scrap of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. Once the ink had dried thoroughly, I colored it with Inktense pencils, using a damp brush to blend out the colors. I die cut it with the coordinating die. I also die cut a piece of vellum with a "Lacey Ovals" die by Spellbinders. I glued the focal image to the vellum, and ran the whole thing through my Xyron Create-a-Sticker machine, to apply an even layer of adhesive to the back of the vellum. Finally, I adhered the panel to my card front. I will be sending both cards to Operation Write Home, as part of my final shipment during their "Finish Strong" campaign.

I'm entering my cards in Live Love Cards' June Challenge: "Vellum."

With Heartfelt Sympathy

A friend of ours recently had to have her dog, Lucy, put down. While Lucy was older and had been having physical problems, this was still pretty sudden and unexpected. It's never easy losing a friend, especially one you've known for so long. But when you have to make the decision to let your friend go in this way, it can be doubly difficult. So I decided to make her a sympathy card, just to let her know we're thinking about her.

I got my inspiration from this card on Splitcoaststampers. I started by finding a bone template online. I resized that in Photoshop, then printed it on a piece of tan cardstock (on the back side so the lines wouldn't show after I cut it out). I fussy cut that, and printed the greeting (created in Photoshop) directly on the bone. I then glued it to a piece of dark brown cardstock, and cut around that, to create a mat for the bone. Then I inked around the bone itself with Antique Linen Distress ink, to add some shading & dimension. (This was admittedly an afterthought.) I also inked around the mat with Walnut Stain Distress ink, to camouflage the white core of the cardstock.

For the heart, I punched the paw print out of a piece of red cardstock, using a Fiskars punch. I positioned one of the dies from Little B's "Hearts" set, so the paw print would be in the upper left, and ran that through my Grand Calibur machine. I traced around that heart on to another piece of dark brown cardstock, then cut out that heart, leaving about an 1/8" border. After erasing my pencil lines, I inked around that with Walnut Stain. I inked the edges of the red heart with Antique Linen, to add some shading to that, and adhered that to the brown heart with foam tape. (The idea is that there is a "paw-shaped" hole in her heart now.)

I ran a piece of pink cardstock through my Grand Calibur with the "Dotted Flower Rings" embossing folder by Sizzix. I inked around that with more Antique Linen, then adhered it to a white A2 card base. I glued down the bone & heart, and this card was finished.

So Very Lovely

A Blog Named Hero has a sketch challenge going on. They posted the following sketch, by Chari Moss, and challenged participants to create a project based on it:

To begin, I stamped one of the butterflies from Hero Arts' "Butterflies #3" stamp & die set 3 times on a scrap of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, using Ranger Watering Can Archival ink. I colored them with watercolor pencils, and blended the colors with a damp paintbrush. Once they were dry, I die cut them with the coordinating die.

I chose the plaid patterned paper from my scrap stash, and added a piece of patterned green cardstock from a Momenta 8x8" pad. I also punched a strip of pink cardstock with Fiskars' "Apron Lace" border punch. I adhered all 3 pieces to a scrap piece of cardstock, then stitched around the outside with my sewing machine.

I punched 3 butterflies from vellum, with Martha Stewart's large "Monarch Butterfly" punch, and glued them in place on the card front. I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte--a strong liquid adhesive--to layer the stamped butterflies over top of the vellum ones. I glued just the center portion of both the vellum and stamped butterflies, and slightly bent the wings of the stamped butterflies up to give them a bit of dimension.

For the greeting, I used one from Hero Arts' "You Make Me Smile" stamp set. I stamped it on the front of the card in Versamark ink, then heat embossed it with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I finished by adhering the card front to a white A2-size card base. I will be sending this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

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

Send a Smile 4 Kids "Animal Cards 4 Kids"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Live Love Cards June "Vellum" challenge

Home Tweet Home

We recently learned that some friends of ours finally sold their house, and will be moving at the end of the month. So I made a congratulations card for them.

I had found this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers, and thought it would be perfect for a "new home" card. I first created my A2 card base from burgundy cardstock. I cut a piece of patterned paper, by Recollections, to 4x5.25, and adhered that to the front, before cutting out the "window." I created a window frame from more of the burgundy, and glued that in place.

After lining the inside with a piece of white cardstock, I traced the outline of the window on the white. I opened the card, and stamped some of the images from Technique Tuesday's "Home Tweet Home" set (discontinued) within that boundary. I used Hero Arts' Cup o' Joe ink for the branch & birdhouse, Soft Pool for the bird, and Green Hills for the leaves. I drew the string for the birdhouse with a fine-tip black pen, and dotted the bird's eye with a black gel pen. I stamped the greeting, from the same set, in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Once that had dried, I erased my pencil marks.

I created the blind from a piece of double-sided patterned paper from the Teresa Collins Fabrications "Canvas" 6x6" pad. After scoring & pleating it, I used my Crop-a-Dile II to punch the holes in each end. I adhered the top of the blind to the back of the window with a strip of Scor Tape, and then adhered the card shut with more Scor Tape. I threaded some 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon through the holes in the blind, and knotted the ends, so it wouldn't pull back through.

For the valance, I cut a strip from one of the patterns in Prima's "Doodle Deux" 6x6" pad, and punched one long side with Fiskars' "Scallop Sentiment" border punch. I scored it and adhered it to the top of the window over the blind, with more Scor Tape. Finally, I adhered a piece of white cardstock to the back, where we could write our messages, and this card was done! I gave it to one of the recipients today, and she loved it!