Thinking Inking

Minimalist Note cards

Remember that I mentioned cleaning off my desk the other day?  Well, I am at it in earnest today! While digging through the piles and donating scraps to my son (so that I can find them cut up into tiny bits on the floor and pick them up again, no doubt), I ran across this trio of unfinished note cards that I had begun about a month ago. Bliss: it was blog-fodder!  I merely stamped a word and tied a ribbon around to finish them--how easy was that?

Stamps include Petal Prints, Art of Life and Small Script (Retired SU Hostess Sets),  and retired More Petal Prints. I love these flower stamps, and they will probably always be part of my collection. I simply colored the rubber with my SU markers, spritzed with water a couple of times, and stamped. The paper is special enough to warrant such simplicity: Fabriano Medioevalis Note Cards from Cindy Lyles--which I had to have a few months ago because Queen Julie once said so. . .   I should get back to the desk-cleaning job. Who knows?  I may uncover more blog-fodder!  Thanks for reading.

Sueded Fall

For the Technique Junkies among you, I am posting a Soused Suede card; this technique is available in the October Technique Junkies newsletter. If you are one of Pat's Ultimate Subscribers, you can use your universal password to access the October issue online now. If not, your paper copy is in the mail. . .

For the non-TJ'ers among you, this technique uses Liquid Applique, and it feels amazingly like suede when you finish! I used my Lovely as a Tree set once again, this time just watercoloring splotches of Fall leaves on. I think that this set will always be a keeper for me because it's a classic and it's pretty much fool proof.  Because the background was so busy, I kept the embellishment simple--just a Circle of Friendship with gold cord. 

Tomorrow I hope to post some baby things; I am still working on them, not quite satisfied with them yet.  Have a creative day!

Toadally Flipped. . . Over You

Life Lesson: Occasionally you are better off just ditching an idea rather than spending an inordinate amount of time trying to make it work.  I had an idea earlier today that I'd like to make just one more froggie card before putting that set away for a while--a spinner. I had the lily pads all watercolored before noon--painting away while I dictated my son's spelling words.  But I wasn't quite sure what words it should have or how I would embellish it.  No worries--those little problems usually clarify themselves!

I put it aside and worked on a baby lunch tin this evening because I need to finish a baby gift.  By about midnight, it was quite clear that the tin would not be finished in time to be tonight's blog-fodder. So I put away the tin and came back to the frog card. By 1:30, I knew that it just wasn't working. But after I'd spent that much time on it, I was determined to make it work anyway. I won't bore you with all of the unprofitable steps I went through on this card, but I will tell you that it wasn't worth it! I still like the basic concept, but something isn't working for me--the words being too large? No room for a ribbon or much embellishment?  I'm not quite sure.  The lesson that I took away from this was that some nights, it's just more profitable to go to bed. . . Here's to getting one's groove back!

Oh Hoppy Day!

I ordered the froggie wheel in my very first SU order of the year, but I just got around to playing with it last night. I love this wheel!  Why are the frogs on a file folder?  To tell the truth, my desk is a disaster, and I started to clean up a bit. Now when I start to clean, it's a bit like my six-year-old cleaning his room.  Two hours after he starts, he has made virtually no impact on the mess because he has been distracted by his toys.  I know who he gets that from, but please don't tell my husband that I confessed!  Back to the file folder: because it was there.  That's all.  I had an inked wheel in my hand and was ready to roll. To be totally lacking in planning, it was a pretty fun card!

Because I was working on kraft card stock, I needed a coloring medium with which I could use white. Yes, I could have used my watercolor wonder crayon neutrals, but I felt like being in control tonight: Prismacolors to the rescue. If you are wondering, yes, I like the SU solid color pencils; but after having owned Prismacolors since my college days, it's hard to get used to a limited palette. Does anyone really need 120 colors? Probably not, but it sure is fun to have all of those options!

I colored my image in with Prismacolors, then used Gamsol (odorless mineral spirits, basically) and blending stumps to blend. I added some glitter glue to the bottoms of the lily pads just for the bling factor. I colored and cut out those frogs--definitely the most time-consuming part of the card, cutting around froggie toes. . . (I would not recommend doing this for a card swap.) The letters are Karen Foster snap letters which I was tempted beyond measure to get by Taylor, I think. (Speaking of Taylor, check out this froggie card; I knew that I had seen one somewhere that was off-the-scale cute, and I just found it!) On the snap letters, I wish I had ordered the 1/8" size rather than the 1/4" size.  I think that the tiny letters are just plain cuter. The only thing that I drew in by hand (with my much-loved SU black journaling marker) was the movement line under the leaping frog.  I needed it avoid the appearance of frog levitation. The file folder was cut from a Coluzzle file folder template.  I hope that you have a "hoppy day" too!

Bodacious Evening Wear

I am not typically an out-of-the-box stamper; I use the stamps just as they were meant to be used.  Perhaps I've just spent too long admiring that amazingly clever Lockhart veggie couture on Ellen Hutson's website, Simple Dreams. Last night as I was stamping with Bodacious Blossoms, one of my stamps happened to be turned upside down. And I saw a skirt. . . Hmmm.  Did I have anything that could be a top?  How about a couple of leaves? Bodacious evening wear was born!  Thanks, Ellen!

This is a pretty straightforward card; I used the coordinating jumbo wheel for the background, along with Linen. For the greeting I used one of last year's level three hostess sets, Fashion Statements. For the dress I used two blossoms and two leaves, coated pretty liberally with two-way glue and dazzling diamonds glitter.  I made the clothes hanger out of wire and mounted the elements on a 3" circle, then matted them with the Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle punch. Silver brads attach my circle to the background. The tiny flower is a Quickutz Spring Gifts die cut, layered four times and connected with a brad. The black lines are my first attempt at doodling--kind of fun! Card stock was Basic Black, Whisper White, and Pretty in Pink. Ink was Pretty in Pink, Staz-On Jet Black, Regal Rose, and Going Gray, stamped off once.

My six-year old was not convinced that this was a dress; and here I thought he had a better imagination than that. Then again, he may be thinking of the story The Emperor's New Clothes. . . Thanks for reading!

Christmas Card Box

Is it still too early for Christmas?  I've been playing with my Christmas papers and decided that I needed a place to store the handmade treasures that I receive every Christmas. I started with a ProvoCraft blank lunch pail (www.Creativexpress.com, among others). I used about two 12" x 12" sheets of my lovely new SU double-sided Christmas designer paper, Holiday Thyme. (Does anyone else have a hard time actually using the paper?  I find myself using my least favorite pieces first so that I don't use up my favorite. How sad is that?) There are many ways to adhere paper to a lunch box, but I prefer using a coat of Royal Coat Decoupage Finish both under and on top of my patterned paper. [Warning: Don't even think about coating the top until the base coat that glues the paper on has dried thoroughly--preferably overnight.  If you put a top coat on before your bottom coat is dry, the paper will wrinkle.]  For the top of my box, I usually cut a piece of paper about 4" x 7" (always measure your box top), round the corners, and slice it in half lengthwise.

Next I place my paper right up to the handles and carefully mark the place that I need to cut out for the handles. I use my 1/2" circle punch to get a decent radius for the edges of the handles--easier to experiment on a scrap than to explain in words! Then I make my straight cuts and adjust the fit so that both halves meet in the center.  I have always trimmed carefully round the front hardware on past lunch boxes, but I tried the 1-3/8" circle punch trick this time and was satisfied with the results.

The C and the star hanging from it are faux chipboard--four layers of kraft card stock cut with my wonderful Cricut--Basecamp and George cartridges--and glued together. The rest of the letters are also George cuts. I used twill as a scarf around the sweater's neck and raveled its edges for a fun look.  (Stamps: SU's Bundle Up, a set that I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of!)

In unrelated ramblings, I have only one day left of my 30-day blog trial period; it has been both more work and more satisfying than I had expected! I truly appreciate the kind comments that you have blessed me with, and I plan to continue for now.  I may have to miss a day here and there in order to fulfill my higher priorities--like teaching our son without being cranky from having stayed up half the night stamping.  But I will do my best to keep creating and babbling as long as it seems like a good thing.  Thanks for the ride!

Bodacious Slider

Trivia for the day: did you know that the word bodacious, more commonly used in the South, is probably an amalgam of bold and audacious? Its shades of meaning range from the positive to the negative--unusual for one word. The bodacious of Bodacious Blossoms is definitely a positive sort of bodacious--what a super-fun set!

For this slider card (yes, another motion card), I used Beate Johns' tutorial from SplitCoastStampers.  I have seen several good templates for a slider card, but Beate's produces a regular A-2-sized card and has the directions broken down into many small steps--always a plus when one is motion-card-challenged. Thanks, Beate!  I won't rewrite her tutorial here, but I will list my supplies below. Important: If you are not a logged in member of www.Splitcoaststampers.com, you may not be able to access Beate's tutorial. What are you waiting for?  Log in--it's free unless you decide that you'd like to see the amazing creations in the Dirty Dozen Gallery. . .  Picture at the bottom of this post is the opened card.

Stamps and Supplies Used
Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, It's Your Birthday, Be Happy
Card Stock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cool Caribbean
Inks: Cool Caribbean, Real Red, Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Old Olive Eyelet, Choclate Grosgrain, dimensionals, plastic grocery sack, redline tape (Super Sticky Tape)
Tools: Quickutz flower in circle die, ticket corner punch, extra small Carl corner rounder, real red brad

Thanks for looking!

A Bodacious Celebration

Fasten your seatbelts: I made a card with neither ribbon nor brown ink tonight!  Who would have thought it possible? I recently acquired the Bodacious Blossoms set, thanks to sufficient temptation from Taylor and atomicbutterfly, among  many others. I am not typically drawn to very graphic flower images, but this one is an exception. Mixed Bouquet, move over: Bodacious is in the house!

I started with the new In-Colors chart because I'm still experimenting with the new colors. I decided that this one could not have Cool Caribbean (even though it's my favorite). One of the combos was Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive, and Brocade Blue.  I wasn't able to gracefully work in the Brocade Blue, and I added some Marigold Morning for variety; but overall, I simply followed the chart. Remember the JoAnn's 40% off of one item coupon a few days ago?  Well, the Marvy Giga Scalloped Square has now come to join its cousins at my house, and it worked well for a square format card (4-1/4" x 4-1/4" finished size).

I first stamped a Marigold Morning background with Paisley in Marigold Morning Classic ink. The band of color across the middle is Cranberry Crisp CS stamped in Cranberry Crisp classic ink with Linen. Initially I meant to use some orange sheer organdy with white polka dots across the middle, and I couldn't layer that successfully directly on the Cranberry. That necessitated the strip of white which I stamped with Pumpkin Pie ink. The ribbon was too much though--had to go.  The white band, however, stayed.  I tried some Cranberry stitched grosgrain as well--again, too much.  Some things are just better left alone! After a bit of stamping, cutting, mounting images on dimensionals, and embellishing with brads, I added the word celebrate in the lower right corner as the final piece of the puzzle. Tomorrow I have a Bodacious slider card for you--my first!  Thanks for reading.

Sage 'n Violet

I played with the new In Color chart again tonight, this time settling on Vintage Violet and Sage Shadow. I had intended to work in Rose Red as well, but thought better of it. Almost Amethyst worked much better for me without shouting, "She's trying to use all of the colors!"

The Paisley background is stamped in Vintage Violet ink on Vintage Violet card stock. (How did we live without Paisley for a year?) I inked the Close as a Memory flower image with the corner of my Vintage Violet pad, then stamped off once before inking the flower stems and leaves with Sage Shadow and Forest Foliage markers.  Why? Vintage Violet is fairly dark; I preferred a softer, lighter look. In fact, I spritzed the stamp again and stamped a third generation of flowers to cut out and layer for more depth and variety of value. 

Using the handy-dandy Perfect Layers tool (a very useful tool as opposed to a drawer-filler), I matted the flower image with a 1/16" Vintage Violet mat, then a 3/16" Sage Shadow mat stamped with a leaf pattern and distressed on the edges.  I used my cool new ticket corner punch on the White Naturals CS edges to create a little spot for pewter brads, which I like so much better than silver!  I used a dab of my son's yellow glitter glue for the insides of the flowers. (Note to self: Must order Stickles so that he can have his glitter glue back. . .) I ran the Watercolor Joy wheel across the Almost Amethyst strip in Versamark, then pierced its edges and distressed them.  After mounting the Almost Amethyst Layer and the matted focal image, I tied it all off with Vintage Violet stitched grosgrain and finished it with a washer. (I adore Riveting and Circle of Friendship; they are perfect sets to use when a card needs  an indefinable something.)

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day!

Fall Splendor

Have I mentioned once or twice how beautiful the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) is in the Fall?  When I lived down South, Spring was my favorite season.  But here "up nort," my favorite season hands down is Fall.  I saw a card by Amanda Kennedy  in a recent Onstage, an SU demo magazine, that had used watercolor crayons on this particular stamp.  Why hadn't that occurred to me before? Hers weren't Fall trees, but her idea was perfect for a fall card. 

First, I used watercolor paper that I spritzed a couple of times with water so that I wouldn't have hard lines when I stamped it. Next I spritzed the rubber on the stamp and started coloring directly on the rubber with my watercolor crayons. After covering every area, I spritzed once more and then stamped on the slightly damp watercolor paper. It was still a bit sharper image than I wanted, so I used my aquapainter to dampen and blend color a bit. When the images dried, I added (very carefully) a bit of sky blue toward the horizon line, blending it up into clear water by the time I reached the treetops. I also dry-brushed a few tree limbs back in where all of my spritzing and brushing had eradicated them. I tore the watercolor paper at the top and bottom because I like a somewhat ragged texture.  (If you're using pretty paper, you may as well flaunt it!)

For the tag, I simply stamped the image and punched it with the label tag punch, then sponged some brown on  it so that the label would stand out from the background.  To thread my twill tape through the label, I used my x-acto knife to make a slit right beside the stamped image.  Card background is stamped on Mellow Moss with True Thyme ink using the Flannel Plaid background--a comfort stamp as surely as a baked potato is comfort food.  The Ruby Red strip is stamped in Close to Cocoa ink with the Linen stamp, then distressed on the edges. The best part about this card?  It took perhaps 15 minutes.  As Martha would say, "It's a good thing."

A Single Snowflake

True Confessions: This was a four-hour card. . . I could make it again in 45 minutes, but the trial and error card that preceded it and the time it took to let the glitter and glue dry--it all adds up.  That's okay if it works in the end, right?

I pretty much reinvented the wheel here. If you are a Technique Junkies subscriber, you can find written instructions on Pat's website in the Technique Junkies April 06 Newsletter online bonus technique, a floating spinner card. (This link works only if you are a TJ subscriber.) 

But instead of going online and just looking it up, I spent twice as long figuring it out myself. Smart, huh?  So, I'll share in a nutshell how I did mine anyway. After embossing a snowflake stamped in white craft ink in Iridescent Ice embossing powder on a window sheet (transparency), I used a coluzzle circle template to cut the circle out.  [Note: Not all transparencies are created equal. Some will melt when you heat them with a heat gun. I used a Stampin' Up Window sheet.]  I cut a larger circle in my base card stock after embossing snowflakes on it. I cut a second panel about 1/16" smaller all of the way around than the base, and cut a circle in it (same size as the one on the base CS). This became my "sandwich" layer so that I could hide my string ends. (I used white quilting thread; fish line would be better.) I cut another circle with my coluzzle circle template in whisper white card stock, then centered it in my Marvy-Uchida Scalloped Circle Giga Punch to cut the scalloped frame.  (Enabler Alert: Joann's has a 40%  off of one item coupon code posted today--SEPH6402 which is good through midnight Wednesday, 9/20.)  After adhering the frame to the base, I covered it in two way glue pen and dazzling diamonds glitter. 

Now I still had a problem. . . I needed a way to attach the thread to the transparent snowflake. I embossed another snowflake on a scrap of white CS, then used a 5/8" circle punch to punch out the center of the snowflake. On the underneath side of my transparent snowflake, I put a dot of Crystal Effects, positioned my thread, then covered the CE puddle with the 5/8" circle.  After letting this dry for about 1/2 hour, I centered the mechanism in my window and attached the string with sticky strip (redline tape). When it was positioned correctly, I adhered the mat layer to cover the strings. The little snowflake thumb handle with white organdy was an afterthought because it still seemed to need just a little something. (If my explanation was too confusing, you should check out Pat's.  It has step-by-step pictures!) I really enjoyed making this card; thanks for letting me share it with you!

Cutting on a Curve

I thought I'd post a quick card today; I've been playing with a complicated one for tomorrow! If you need to get a lot of Christmas cards made in a short time, try the new double-sided Holiday Thyme paper.  All of the color coordination is done for you--it's super simple.

On this card I was playing with my new cutter kit. Now you'd have to know how many cutters/trimmers I own in order to appreciate the irony of my "needing" another. . .  But, you see, this one is different. [Rationalization alert.] The rotary blade is a very small one, so it is quite maneuverable. You can whip across paper or card stock in a tight curve. (Try that with your large material-cutting hand-held rotary blade.)  When I cut curves, I generally line up two of the same size sheets of background paper or card stock and cut through both. Then with one cut, I have completed two backgrounds, taking the top from one paper and the bottom from the other. If I want a swatch of the background paper showing, I simply deduct 1/2" (or whatever width of white space I want showing) from the height of the papers.  That way I have no waste.  (Hey, I'll need those scraps for the Holiday Thyme card tin that I'm working on!)

Supplies and Tools Used
Stamps: Wishing You
Ink: Old Olive
Card Stock: Whisper White small note card,  Whisper White, Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive
Paper: Holiday Thyme
Accessories: Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Cranberry stitched grosgrain, two-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter
Tools: Perfect Layers and Cutter Kit