12/28/2020

Quarantine Baby Cards

We're down to the final stretch of 2020 and what a year it's been.  A lot has happened not the least of which are some quarantine babies in our extended family.  A girl born a few weeks ago and a boy due in early March.  So baby cards are in order.

I'm the hostess this week for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers and I chose colors that make great baby cards - Smoky Slate, Pool Party and Blushing Bride.  I actually used close colors (okay by challenge rules - not everyone has Stampin' Up! colors) because I had some Lawn Fawn and Queen & Co. papers in patterns with similar colors that were perfect!

The basic shakers come from a Queen & Co. shaker card kit called "Baby".  The kit comes with shaped shaker foam, acetate and dies for four different baby themed shakers.  The rest of the card - layout, paper choices and shaker elements - you provide yourself.

I love this little elephant and knew the Smoky Slate was perfect for it; the rest was just making it for a boy or girl.

Products Used:

  • Stamps and Dies: Queen & Co. Shaker Kit - Baby
  • Dies: Queen & Co. Foundations #6 and #10
  • Paper/Cardstock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Queen & Co. Sending Support, Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine Remix
  • Accessories: The Stamps of Life Gingham Ribbon

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12/25/2020

Nativity Pop Up Box Card

Merry Christmas!  I hope you are having a wonderful holiday.  I have a special card today - one that reflects the true meaning of Christmas.

I love making 3D projects and box cards are among my favorites. My favorite part of making this type of card is filling it.  I will admit that this card took some time and is not for those looking for a quick project.  But it is well worth the effort and makes for a truly special gift /card.
All my pieces are colored using Distress Oxide inks.  I think I used every brown Ranger makes to get a wide variety of shades!
For my night sky I used Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire along with Wilted Violet.  I left an area white for around the star and flicked water on the panel to add a few minor "stars".

For my sentiment I added my favorite verse of the Nativity from the Gospel of Luke - Luke 2:10-11

Below are some close in pictures of the card.




Products used:

  • Dies: Cottage Cutz Nativity - Mary, Angel & Baby, Nativity - Joseph, Shepherd & Animals, Nativity - Three Kings, Night in Bethlehem; The Stamps of Life Box Card 5 x 7
  • Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Born This Day
  • Inks: Distress Oxide

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12/24/2020

The Naughty List

Happy Christmas Eve!  I have a short post today featuring a card made for this week's challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  I definitely feel like this sometimes.  It's the night before Christmas and I'm thinking "...oops.  Did I really do all that?  It sure was fun!"

I chose the left column - Santa, Red, Wink of Stella (although this also works for the diagonal Santa, Die Cut, Green).

Here is a close-up of the Wink of Stella that I added to the fur on Santa's hat.

I love this Oddball Santa and know that most of my family would too - they have that kind of sense of humor.  I normally don't make Christmas cards in quantity that I have to color with Copics, but coloring him went pretty fast.  I've decided to start in January and make 2-3 a month so they're ready for next Christmas!  The coloring should take less than half an hour and the rest will go quickly as well.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!  Stop by tomorrow for a special Christmas card!

Products used:

  • Stamps: Stamping Bella Oddball Santa and the Missus; SB Holiday Fun (sentiment)
  • Dies: Queen & Co. Foundations #4, #8 and #10, and Holiday
  • Paper: Whisper White Thick, Pear Pizzazz, Stampin' Up! Heartwarming Holidays DSP
  • Markers: Copics R22, R24, R27, R29, E00, E11, E40, E41, E42, E43, N0-N9
  • Accessories: Wink of Stella

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12/21/2020

Winter Hugs

Tonight I have a card for Mary's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  She chose Pretty Peacock, Soft Sea Foam and Pear Pizzazz.  I love these colors and they look gorgeous together, so I'm not sure why I had a hard time this week.  It may be that I had a vague idea in my mind of what I wanted to do but nothing concrete.  That can lead to a lot of indecision.

I'm actually pleased with how my card looks, although about half way through I was ready to toss it out.  If I hadn't needed to get my Christmas tree up and decorated I just may have.  However, I had no time to look back so I forged ahead.

I was really unimpressed with the silver heat embossing because it didn't stand out like I wanted but ultimately it worked.  The wreath die was very difficult to line up so the fact that the silver embossing is hard to see ended up as a blessing.  But because the lines are hard to see the coloring doesn't "pop" like it usually does.  A trade-off.

I used blender pens and markers on acrylic blocks to color the image.  It has a very pastel feel enhanced by the silver.  My embellishments are linen thread and clear rhinestones as the Pretty Peacock rhinestones I was planning to use were just too vibrant.  The wooden plank background also provides a nice contrast to the delicate wreath.


 
Products used:

  • Stamps and dies: My Favorite Things Winter Songbird and Winter Wreath
  • Dies: MFT Stitched Rectangles
  • Ink: Stampin' Blends Pretty Peacock, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz
  • Accessories: Blender Pens, Rhinestones, Linen Thread, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder 

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12/15/2020

Adding Texture to a CAS Card

I have two cards for you today.  They were both made for last week's CAS challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  The theme was "sweater weather."  And what better way to say that than an ugly Christmas sweater!

Sometime in the last thirty years, those expensive (at the time), themed sweaters have become quite kitschy.  I gave most of mine to my daughter who works with adolescents.  They love when she wears her "ugly" sweaters.  So much for fashion....

Now to my cards.  I thought this die would be great for the challenge even though it didn't specify ugly in the title.  I started with one card and ended up making two because as often happens, two goes almost as fast as one!

Both cards are all die cuts.  I wanted to add texture to the sweaters so before I assembled them I ran the body pieces through my Cut 'n Emboss with an embossing folder.  It reminds me of boucle fabric - much like some of the sweaters I used to own!

For card #1 I used the sentiment that came with the die.  Since I placed the sweater on a cross-stitched square set at an angle, I added cross-stitched lines on the top and bottom.
For the card #2 I embossed a pattern that had a sweater feel to it.  The curves in the embossing mirror the curves on the sweater.

On both cards, rather than using foam squares, I popped up some of the die cuts using three layers of cardstock underneath.  Here you can see the texture on the sweaters.

 I think the second card is my favorite although I have to admit that I had a reindeer sweater VERY similar to card #1 years ago!

Products used:

  • Dies: Cottage Cutz Ugly but Cute Sweater, Cottage Cutz Cross Stitched Squares, Essentials by Ellen Stitching Lines
  • Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Poppy Parade
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up! embossing folders - Tasteful Texture and Little Details

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12/14/2020

Design Decisions - Patterns, Colors, Paper

Good evening!  My card this evening is for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  Chris picked Granny Apple Green, Magenta Madness and Black.  Let me first say that green and pink are among my all-time favorite color combinations, however Magenta Madness is a pink that I don't particularly like.  It's a bit bright for me. So when I saw these colors I thought "YIKES!"  However, I am of the opinion that ANY two colors can look good together in the correct proportions and with the correct third color.

And Chris picked the perfect third color.  With the addition of the black, there was the opportunity to play down the magenta. I actually decided to make black and white my focus with the green and magenta as secondary players.

The layout for this card came from Spellbinders, the makers of the dies I used.  They had a card on the packaging for this die that was very close, at least in layout.  It was in red, green, gray and white.

The first thing I did was cut all my pieces from white, then I used blending brushes to color them.  I assembled the individual items - the bird, the house, the flowers.  From there I moved on to the paper.

This took some time but was very fun.  I had a pack of all black and white floral/basic patterns as well as other black and white patterned paper so I had a lot of choices.

When mixing patterns for cards (or really anything) it comes down to color, scale, similarity and contrast.  

Color: there should be some continuity of colors between patterns.  In this case it was easy - black and white.

Scale: the scale should vary.  If everything is large or small the patterns compete rather then letting the eye flow from one to another.  A small pattern will substitute for a solid in many cases when against a large pattern.

Similarity and contrast: this goes hand in hand with the other two.  Things should be similar, but not TOO similar.  And there should be contrast in scale, pattern, color, etc.  Here I chose a floral and contrasted it with the geometric dots and stripes.  The floral is large and the dots are small.  The stripes are large as is the floral, but one is organic, the other geometric - similar/contrast.


I had a choice to make on the dot pattern.  I chose the bottom dot because there was some "eye relief" in the smaller dot pattern. The top one didn't seem to have enough contrast in scale.  In retrospect, I think the top one may have worked just as well if I had finished the card differently.

I did not use the button/bow seen in these photos although I think it coordinated very well.   I used more flowers in the lower left and used some simple hearts dangling from my bow.  They mirror the heart in my birdhouse.

I really do like this card although I'm not sure it's quite what I envisioned.  But I wouldn't hesitate to give this as a birthday or thinking of you card.  And it certainly made me think about the decisions I was making and why.

Products used:

  • Dies: Spellbinders Sweet Tweets, MFT RicRac Freebie die
  • Paper: Stampin' Up! Petal Parade and very old DSP
  • Ink: Stampin' Up! Magenta Madness, Granny Apple Green, Soft Suede, Distress Oxide Black Soot
  • Accessories: 2020-2022 In-Colors Enamel Dots, Heart Charms, Baker's Twine

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12/10/2020

Using Distress Oxide Spray

Greetings!  It's time for another Team O challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  This week I chose the bottom row - green, sequins, gold.

When I first saw this die I was struck by how pretty and versatile it is.  Although perfect for a Christmas card, it works great for a "thinking of you" or birthday card.  I left the front without a sentiment so I could choose how to use it, however since creating it I've decided that it will probably be for a winter birthday.

To create the background I used Distress Resist Spray which gave me some nice white snow-like sprinkles when I applied Distress Oxide ink in Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass with a blending brush.  I then used Distress Oxide Spray in Tumbled Glass for the blue sprinkles.

All of the image pieces were cut in white and colored with a combination of Distress Oxide inks, regular dye inks and Copic markers (the berries).    I used five different browns to get a variety of color and depth between the house, branch and pine cones.

I finished off the card by coating all the snow in Wink of Stella (it sparkles nicely in person but is hard to see in the photo), some gold thread and sequins.


Products used:

  • Die: Cottage Cutz Woodland Birdhouse
  • Markers: Stampin Blends - Real Red, Cherry Cobbler
  • Inks: Stampin' Up! Mossy Meadow, Old Olive; Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso, Gathered Twigs, Brushed Corduroy
  • Distress Oxide Sprays: Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters
  • Other: Distress Resist Spray, Wink of Stella

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12/08/2020

Lost Mitten Sketch and Color Challenge

It's time for the last challenge of 2020 at CAS Colours & Sketches and our 400th challenge!  Patricia has asked us to pick a challenge from 2020 and make it seasonal. And to make it even more special we'll be giving away a stamp set to one lucky participant!  So plan to join us this week.  After this challenge we'll be taking a break until after the new year.  On January 5 we'll have a new challenge and I will be your hostess.

I actually chose two challenges - one color and one sketch challenge although the challenge says you need only choose one, two is optional.  I'll admit that by choosing a color challenge with the sketch it made planning faster and I happen to love these colors - they were my pick back in March!


 

I really enjoyed this sketch challenge the first time around and thought these mitten dies would be perfect. I used a scallop punch to anchor them.  When laying out a grid like this there are several ways to do it but the one way I would NOT recommend is starting at the upper left and going left to right, top to bottom.  That is  a great way to have a slightly off kilter pattern.

To make it much simpler to get a good, even grid, I drew light pencil lines for my outside lines and glued down the corners first.  From there I started with the top center piece, aligned it with the pencil line at the top and centered it between the two ends.

I then moved on to the sides and bottom leaving the center piece for last.  I had also planned out where a wanted each color and right/left mitten before adhering, so I numbered all the pieces on the back to get them where I had planned.

Even with the measuring, this card went quickly.  When I cut the mittens I ended up with extra hearts and mittens (the hearts are left or right specific) so I have a few leftover that I'll use on another card.  A great bonus!

Products used:

  • Stamps: My Favorite Things Bitty Holiday Wishes
  • Dies: Fun Stampers Journey Lost Mittens
  • Cardstock: Soft Sea Foam, Blushing Bride, Shaded Spruce, Whisper White

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12/04/2020

How to Make Fringe for a Really Big Bird Card

Happy Friday!  I'm enjoying this new release of Safari dies from Cottage Cutz immensely!  They are wonderful for so many occasions and are perfect for both children and adults, and for male or female.  Today I wanted to use the ostrich and I wanted the card to have a fringe-y look  reminiscent of ostrich feathers.


This is what I came up with to accomplish that look.  It took a little planning but was actually quite easy and did not take much time at all.

I cut a panel from a black and charcoal grey patterned paper 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches to cover the front of my A2 card.  
I then cut a rectangle from white cardstock using the third largest of the Stitched Rectangle dies and stamped my sentiment.  I also cut two rectangles 3 x 4 inches and 3 1/4 x4 1/4 inches.  I placed the die cut piece in the center of each rectangle and lightly traced around the die cut piece in pencil.

Using my scoring board I made score lines on my pencil marks then erased them.

I cut my fringe with paper snips, clipping to the score lines.  I clipped each corner first since the the fringe there is angled and slightly wider on the outside edge.  I gradually made the cut lines perpendicular to the score lines.  Below is a finished one and one that I had just started.
Each fringe cut is about 2mm wide.  It actually went quite fast because you don't want it too even or perfect - you want it organic like feathers!
I folded the edges up and used a bamboo skewer to curl them.  A pencil would also work well.

My sentiment is colored in Copic R11 and I used Distress Oxide inks and blending brushes to color the ostrich. 

After gluing the black and gray panel to the card I centered each fringe panel and placed the sentiment panel in the middle. 

Then I popped up the ostrich with two layers of foam dots.  She needed two layers to sit up over the fluffy fringe.


Finally I added some black, white and pink sequins for a bit of sparkle.

Products used:

  • Dies: Cottage Cutz Safari Ostrich and Stitched Rectangles 
  • Stamps: Technique Tuesday Elsa and Eric the Emus (okay so they're not ostriches, but this sentiment works perfectly with this die!
  • Markers and ink: see above

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12/01/2020

Menagerie Mix-Up Valentine

This month starts off with a color challenge from Patricia at CAS Colours & Sketches.  She chose Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride and Silver.  I know that they are perfect for an elegant and subtle holiday card but I wanted to do something different.

I like sending Valentine's card to my friends and this little lamb is great for telling someone they are special.

There are two way to color this image.  You can color the parts separately, die cut and assemble as I did in this post, or you can mask the image and make it one layer as I've done here.  Honestly, the coloring and die cutting goes faster.  But I wanted to have a one layer card for this challenge.

I stamped the three main pieces on Post-It paper and fussy cut the masks.  Then I assembled them on the card front so I could get placement.  I put that in my stamping platform and aligned my first stamp (the one in front of everything) which is the fluffy head wool. 

From there it was easy.  I then removed all the masks and was able to align everything after stamping that first piece.

A word of caution when using the Post-It masking tape.  The ink does not dry fast on this. My wool piece picked up some ink and when I placed it on my card to mask off the head, I got a slight "ghost" line of the head.  I was able to color a bit darker than I intended in the wooly area so it's not super noticeable.  However, be aware of this when masking using this tape!

Products used:

  • Stamps: Stampin' Up! Menagerie Mix-Up, Hippo Happiness
  • Paper: Whisper White Thick
  • Ink: Memento Black, Versafine Onyx
  • Markers:  Stampin' Blends - Mint Macaron; Copic Markers R20, R22, N0, N1
  • Accessories: Silver washi tape

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