Tea & Cookies

Time for another shindig with my fellow "smART Cookies." This time Dina challenged us to make a matchbook card, and I continued on my quest to make cards I actually need and came up with this lovey concoction.

I started by making my matchbook base - I cut a piece of cardstock in half at 4 1/4" and then flipped one end over just a bit. I trimmed the edge with scalloped scissors, did some faux stitching, and adhered the flap. Next I brought the other end up and scored with just the very end clipping under the "matchbook." Hopefully that makes sense - I promise it's very easy, and a fun, unique closure!

I then stamped the heart collage onto red cardstock with black ink, then sprinkling the entire image with UTEE. I heated from the bottom (so it wouldn't blow around), and ended up with a very cool textured piece. I didn't cover it completely, and I love the contrast of the bare and coated cardstock. I decided to use some BasicGrey (Scarlet's Letter) and I wrapped it with some red eyelash yarn then mounted the heart. I was planning to spell out "love" using some letter brads, but realized I didn't have the L. Out comes the grungeboard! I coated it with versamagic ink, added texture with a CB folder, and then went over it with gray ink. I added my three brads, glued everything down, and another valentine's card has been completed.

Seek what the others have created, too - they'll all be posting their matchbook creations today. We'd love to have you join in the fun, too!

In the Works
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Dee's Studio
Sweet Somethings
Susiestampalot

CSSC

I have a new button on the sidebar. So are you a Cyber Stamping Sister in Christ? Get all the details here.

I haven't shared all that much lately, but I promise I'll be back tomorrow with a card for the "Tea & Cookies" challenge. Later!

Encouragement

I haven't done the past few Salt challenges, but I knew I definitely wanted to play along this time. The theme was Encouragement, and it's very neat to see everyone's different spin on it. To me, it's about building one another up, helping our brothers and sisters in faith keep things in perspective when life gets crazy. And what better way than with scripture? I have a friend who could use some of that encouragement right now; she's also very musical, so I wanted to use a verse that somehow referenced that.

I started by stamping the verse (Biblical Impressions) onto a scrap of Fabriano notecard, and then cut it down. Next, I stamped the heart (Inkadinkado) onto a scrap of harlequin paper, and the music (Rosebud) onto some white. This layout is a great way to use up scraps! ;) I used some textured gray cardstock for the base, and lightly went over it all with caramel ink so that it more closely matched the harlequin print. I then glued everything down, and accented the four corners with some tiny black rhinestones. Nothing overly fancy, but I know it will encourage my friend!

Hang In There

One last Avalanche card to share. This one is amazingly simple, but I love it. My hubby even gave it the thumbs up! I stamped the snowflake with blue onto the card base, then drew a line with my gray glaze pen. I then traced over a few parts of the snowflake with stickles, and finally stamped the sentiment with Brilliance ink. The photo doesn't do it justice - the shiny, sparkly elements are much brighter and really pop IRL.

Back later, hopefully with a card for the latest SALT challenge.

More snowflakes

Here's another card made with the avalanche set. This time I started by stamping the teal snowflakes onto a white panel, then I accented it with some gray polka dots (made by stamping with a new pencil eraser). I then cut the panel apart; for this design, I really didn't mind if they were exactly the same width, so I just cut them at 1 1 /2 inches each, then laid them out by centering the middle one on the teal cardstock and then working out from there. I then glued the teal cardstock onto the card base and trimmed the edges. I stamped the single snowflake onto a white scrap, then trimmed it down and mounted it with pop-up glue dots. I stamped the sentiment but omitted the "one" when I inked. The digit is from a grungeboard elements pack - this stuff really is amazing (learn about it hear if you haven't already heard all about it!). I kept it pretty simple for this card - I just inked it up with versamagic and then adhered it with mono multi. Very cool stuff, and I look forward to playing with it more. Anyway, hope you all are having a great Monday!

One of a Kind

We had our first snowfall of the season last night, so I thought I'd pull out some of my snowflake cards that I made last month.

This is a really simple card, but the neat thing about it is the acrylic piece is actually a necklace. The acrylic piece one of the Tim Holtz fragments (idea-ology), and I had my hubby drill a hole in the corner. I stamped the snowflake with royal purple Stazon, and then threaded some silver cord through and set the necklace aside. I stamped the snowflakes onto the white panel (also using Stazon, but stamping off once first) and the sentiment, then spritzed the whole thing with snowflake glimmer mist. I'm really liking the soft shimmer that product adds! I knew I wanted to somehow frame out the necklace on the card, so I decided to mount it on the white and purple squares. I punched a hole on the white base to thread the cord through, and then glued the squares down. I also mounted a small plastic bag to the backside of the panel to keep the cord in place. I put just a dab of mono multi glue (which remains tacky when dry) in the center of the white square, which holds the piece in place. The final step was to adhere the white panel to the card base; I did leave the top free just so there's enough "slack" in the cardstock to easily remove the necklace. I'm definitely going to be making more of these in the future - I know my niece would one - or two or three :)

All images from smARTworks Avalanche set

Tea & Cookies

Time for another tea party with the smART Cookies! This week was my turn to host, and I kept the sketch pretty simple.

I had a couple ideas in mind when I actually sat down to create. First of all, I knew I wanted to make a Valentine's Day card for my honey. I know it's shocking, but I'm actually planning ahead! I had some epoxy stickers that I've been kicking around since last year, and I thought I'd pair it up with a crown. BTW, did you know that smARTworks has some really cool embellishments for sale? Yep, there's more than just rubber there! Anyhoo, I played around with that idea a bit. Ended up layering it onto a white square with 2 corners rounded, then layering that onto black with the opposing 2 corners rounded. Kind of a fun effect! The black layer along the side has text (Vert. Love Comes) stamped in gold. I layered some sheer ribbon over that, and then the final touch was the sentiment (Combo Sentiments). It's much nicer looking in real life - I photographed this card about 20 times and just can't get it to come through (just picture sophisticated gold against the rich black and pomegranate papers, and a non-fuzzy word!)

I decided to switch things up a bit for the second card, and turned the sketch on its side. I pulled a few papers from my BasicGrey 2 Scoops pad and let those dictate the colors. I stamped the flowers (Sunny Delight) with watercolor crayons onto watercolor paper. I then spritzed that panel with gold and latte glimmer mists. It really shimmers now, and reminds me of a fresco. I went back over the leaves with my wc crayons just to add a bit of definition, then trimmed it down, punched the corners, and matted it. I stamped the sentiment (Flowers Everywhere), and then just glued everything together. I accented it with some very pretty yellow/white ribbon (from Oriental Trading), and mounted the floral panel on pop-up glue dots just to give it a bit more dimension.

Wow, I was really chatty today! Congratulations for making it this far :) We'd love to have you join us - just use this sketch to create a card of your own, and leave a comment so we can all enjoy it! And be sure to check out what everyone else has cooked up:

In the Works

Mama Dini's Stamperia

Dee's Studio

Sweet Somethings

Susiestampalot

Encouraging Heart

I wanted to get a card out to someone, and nothing I had on hand was quite "right." I ended up combining this week's technique and color challenges on SCS, and came up with this!

I started by cutting the heart template out of the double sided printed paper. You can't really tell in the photograph, but I also went over the white flowers with my apricot pad so it pulls in more of that background color. I stamped the sentiment (God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them), then trimmed it down into a tag. Matted it, and then added the little pull tab. I made the faux brads on the heart by punching out pieces of the apricot paper, then covering it with matte accents (Ranger). Simple, but a nice touch. I stamped the background onto the sage paper, then layered it with some lace (Making Memories) and finally added three real brads. Hopefully it will encourage the recipient!

(SU stamp sets - Words of Wisdom, Aida Cloth, Totally Tabs. Heart is from Times to Treasure by Technique Tuesday)

Happy Birthday Little Girl!

Well, our baby turned three today. She's growing up so fast! Like any good mom, I threw a card together approximately 13 minutes before she opened her gifts. Obviously, I needed to keep things pretty simple :)

I used the BasicGrey Two Scoops paper (pre-ordered before I cut myself off, and it just arrived today!) I used a rub-on from American Crafts for the words, and then added the 3 with white acrylic paint and a foam stamp. It was pretty murky around the edges, so I accented it with the black spica pen. (Ordered the same time as the paper - it does work very nicely, but no more for me!) Final touch was a bit of ribbon - and thankfully the birthday girl was very happy to get one of "Mommy's cards!"

Shabby Sunflowers

OK, one last sunflower card to share. This time I went for the shabby look, and I love the results! I started by stamping the sunflowers onto some textured ivory paper, carefully inking only a portion of the base. I then added some soft color with watercolor crayons, and then overstamped with script (from One Smile). The final touch was tearing the edges and inking them up a bit to add to the distressed feel. I then mounted the image onto the printed paper (BasicGrey, from the 6x6 Stella Ruby pad). I stamped the sentiment onto another paper from the same pad and tore the edges (but this time I tore downward so that the edges are cleaner). I knew I wanted to add some sort of dimensional embellishment, so I reached for my box of goodies. You know, the cool and/or pretty stuff that's too good to actually use, so I just collect it and occasionally peek in. Well, I forced myself to use this hat pin with the keyhole top, and tied on a scrap of ribbon to add some softness. You know, that wasn't so bad. In fact, I think it looks even better on the card than it did in my box! ;)

Well, hope you've enjoyed the sunflower journey. This won't be the last time you see it! I have some other things to share that I created back in December, but have yet to post. Back soon!

Bright Thank You

After the I made the simple, soothing card that I shared yesterday, I channeled my inner child-o-the-80's and reached for hot pink. Sunflowers are similar to gerber daisies, right? :)

I stamped the sunflowers with black versafine onto white cardstock, then colored it with prismacolor pencils. Kind of fun to reach for those vibrant (and admittedly lesser-used) tones. I love the shininess of images that have been colored in this way, I guess from the wax in the pencils. Anyway, I then matted the panel with black, layered a bit of gray (had to cover up just a bit more of that obnoxious card base!), then added the sentiment (Time To...).

I have one more "spin" on this image to share tomorrow, and it happens to be my personal favorite. I even managed to use one of my "too pretty to actually use" embellishments. See, I'm working on those resolutions!

Sympathy Sunflowers

I played around with my Sunflower set last night, so finally have some new things to share! Today's card couldn't be any simpler - I stamped the image onto a fabriano notecard then added a sentiment. I originally planned to use black ink, but it just seemed too stark. I debated about adding a bit of color, but decided to leave it alone and simply tied on a bit of narrow ribbon (Rusty Pickle). Simple, but I think it conveys the appropriate "feeling" for those difficult times.

I'll be back tomorrow with a VERY different approach to the flowers!

How blessed am I?!?

Just wanted to send out big "THANKS!!" for the lovely Birthday and Christmas cards I received. There's nothing like a handstamped card to really brighten my day!

Feeling Resolute?!?

I'm not exactly sure why, but it seems as though the simple act of swapping out the wall calendar brings out a sense of optimism. You know, the commitment to improve. Whether we're talking about eating habits, saving money, or staying in touch with friends, we all want to do "better." And of course that same drive is found in the papercrafting community.

So I'm going on the record. I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. I've been doing a lot of sorting and have sold/passed on quite a few items that I know I won't use. But I still need to force myself to get all the other stuff organized. You see, I'm quite a lazy person. And I'm all too content to work amongst the clutter (although admittedly it's frustrating). So not only do I need to use the stuff that I have, I need to have it in some semblance of order. And it sort of goes without saying that I shouldn't be buying more in the meantime (but I really did *need* more adhesive, and since I was so close to getting free shipping anyway...)

Anyway, I'm usually not big on resolutions, so I'm looking at this more as continuation of my quest toward being an organized, responsible adult. Will continue to report on my progress. And just in case you'd like to join in, Kimm will be posting challenges, tips, and stamping workouts throughout the year. She always has some great ideas, so I'd highly recommend checking it out!!

Tea & Cookies

Well, the smART cookies took some time off for the holidays, but today is party time! Heidi hosted this time around, and provided a very fun sketch. In fact, I liked it so much that I made two cards :)

With the coming of the new year, I guess I had "time" on the brain, so I pulled out the watch (Eccl 3:1) and saying (Oppportunity Trio) and created this very simple card. For the circle piece, I trimmed the watch face, then layered it with black and silver. Everything else is pretty straightforward; I did texturize the gray base with diamondplate (Ellison).

The second card is also pretty simple, but I just love the way the colors came together! I started by stamping the deer (Horizon), coloring with Pearl-Ex watercolor paints, and then punching out the circle. I stamped the verse (Job 37:14) onto the cream panel, and rather than accenting with a triangle, I used three rhinestone brads. I love the serene "feel" of this card, and I think it would work really well for a masculine birthday card with some minor tweaking.

So do you feel inspired yet? See what YOU can make from this sketch. And be sure to check out what everyone else has created, too!

In the Works, Mama Dini's Stamperia, Dee's Studio, Sweet Somethings, Susiestampalot