Remaining “class” cards

 I spent the rest of the afternoon creating these three cards for my Mom and her friends. The first one actually has watercoloring on it. If you know me well, you know I don’t like this coloring medium. I am pleased with this image though. I used cold press paper which I think made a big difference.

The image and sentiment are by GinaK. I wanted it to have a summery feel. I layered the image with SU Pink Pirouhette and Regal Rose. Behind the patterned paper is Pesto coredinations.

The next card uses the shaving cream technique. I used Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss re-inkers for this. The sentiment is new from JustRite Designs. I used coordinating paper for the sentiment and popped each one up on foam strips.

The final card used the shaker kit from Impression Obsession.  

The wild flower image is from Penny Black, the sentiment is from IO and the butterfly inside the shaker is from Memory Box. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see that I lightly colored the wings and added some microfine glitter. Inside the shaker is Sweet Pea Flower soft with a hint of lavender.

I think the ladies will enjoy working on these, don’t you? Now to just cut out the kits!

Stockin’ up on cards

Every now and then I need to make some cards to have on hand. Birthday cards are always on that list, but sadly lately I also have needed many sympathy cards. The card below is the last one of my stash and I really liked how it turned out. In order to make more, I took a picture of it.

I can tell it has been in my card pile for awhile, as I didn’t use any nesties to cut out my layers. That will change with the next round of cards made. I do like the colors though, PTI Summer Sunrise cardstock and ribbon. The other layers were just Basic Grey papers. The stamp and sentiment is from GinaK Comfort and Peace set. Putting it together is easy enough…just a lot of layers.

The next card I am showing you today is one I started before the holidays and just wasn’t happy with. I wanted to try making a ribbon blossom. I studied the tutorial over at SCS and watched the short YouTube video but I just wasn’t happy with my blossom. Until today…

After many tries of tying the ribbon I think I have been successful in making a blossom. I began with SU cardstock in Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red. The patterned paper is also SU Raspberry Tart. For the embossed panel I used SU Pretty in Pink and the CB Happy Birthday folder. The image is by IO, called birthday martini and I used my copics to color it in. For the blossom I used 4 different ribbons, 6 pieces of each. I will have to admit, if I go to mail this card, it is going to be bulky so extra padding and postage will be required.

I have a few more ideas I would like to complete today, so I am off for now. Hopefully there will be another post later today.

Reindeer Food and a Christmas Card

I saw this idea on a couple of blogs now and thought I would make up a batch for my nephews in Georgia. I had the pail from Stampendous and it was the perfect size for Reindeer Food. I used a strip of patterned paper that I had in my collection for a while now.

I stamped the image and colored it with my copics then cut it out with my nestabilities. The snowflakes are also a variety of nestabilities. What you can’t see are the cute buttons I glued all around the pail. The saying was printed out on the computer.

The second project I finished today was a simple Christmas card. I saw the layout at Heartprints blog and fell in love. It lets me use my Cuttlebug and ScorPal.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see the details better. I began by cutting out the nesties Label 9 and the ribbon tag. The sentiment is from The Cat’s Pajamas. The image is by Impression Obsession and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. I used the following copic colors: c1, yr07, B0000, BV0000, Spica pens in yellow and clear. I used the swiss dots CB folder on the card base first, then lined it up and scored in 1/4 increments. This really came together fast tonight and I just might look at my images and see what else would fit on that nestie to make this my Christmas card for this year. I know many of you are probably saying….it is almost Thanksgiving and you have not designed your Christmas cards yet? I work much better under pressure. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving week. If you are traveling….safe traveling wishes go out to you.

Purple Butterfly Wishes

 Next month it is my turn to demo at Stamp and Deliver’s Make N Take Saturday. I choose to use the Basic Grey clear stamp set called Dragonfly. No you don’t need glasses, there is not a dragonfly on the card so stop playing I Spy! I picked this gorgeous paper from Harlee Quinnz Designs called – what else – Butterfly Garden. The entire sheet is beautiful, so no matter which section you use, your card will turn out fabulous. 

I inked the stamp in Versamark and sprinkled pearlustre Amethyst embossing powder from Stampendous. You can’t see the shine in the photo, but it is really shimmery IRL. The image is stamped in a soft shade of green Bazzill paper, sorry I don’t know the correct color name. I punched a fancy corner from the same green paper and a scrap of purple Bazzill bling. A strip of purple ribbon, some raindrops and a sentiment finish the card. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession. This was a rather fast card to put together. The longest part was cutting the stamped image out.

I loved working in my newly organized craft area tonight. Everything is neatly put away….I just have to remember where that place is. That will be next weekend’s task…labeling the cubes. Here is a quick shot of the Expedit cube system we got from Ikea. Please excuse the weird light in the middle of the picture. That is my Ott light. I have 24 cubes that store everything (almost everything…my stamps and inks).

Super Sketchy Butterflies

It seems I am still a day late on the Sunday sketch at 365 cards. It is Day 141 and I worked on this tonight while watching Raising the Bar on TNT.

Above is the sketch we were given to follow. Below is my take on it.

I began with a piece of June Bug paper from Basic Grey. Add a strip of ribbon, a left over red oval from a creation that didn’t work. I stamped the sentiment and the butterflies in VersaMagic Mango chalk ink. The sentiment is from IO and the butterfly from SU. For the butterfly I stamped it first on white cardstock and again on vellum.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your week!

Under the sea

My youngest has been bugging me to make a card using a seahorse image for his girlfriend. Well, first I had to purchase a seahorse image which I did at Stamp and Deliver. The main image is by Impression Obsession and the background is June’s stamp of the month by Great Impressions.

I began by cutting out the scalloped circle with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Large scalloped circle dies. Next I cut out a plain circle die from Dusty Durango (new 2009 SU in color) for the backing. I stamped the main image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink since I would be using my copics. I colored in the image using these markers:

 I started with E11 then E08 for highlights. The seaweed was YG03 with YG63 for highlights and the water effects were BG01 lightly feathered on with BG10 as filler. I went over the seahorse with Chocolate Atyou Spica pen and the seaweed with the Melon for sparkly highlights that are not showing well in the pictures sorry. The background paper is a new sheet from the Basic Grey Lemonade 6 X 6 pack. I took the GI stamp and inked it with SU Bermuda Bay. I sponged a bit of Dusty Durango near the bottom of the paper.

 I popped the main image on foam squares and added Pewter Kaiser pearls on the bubbles. I wrapped a bit of twisty ribbon around the BG before gluing it to the front of the card. The card is 5 1/4 square and I used a piece of Bazzill for the base.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Impression Obsession Class

Last week I was fortunate to attend a class by the owner of IO herself, Mitra! She was in town for the Stampfest show in Orlando and our wonderful store owner Claire of Stamp and Deliver invited her to do a class.

Mitra had four tables set up with all the supplies needed for that card and we rotated around. The card above was by far the easiest card for me as it didn’t involve watercoloring. It used Copics!!! We began by stamping the stripes in chalk ink and then on the green cardstock. Next we took the watermelon stamp and stamped it once in pink then flipped the circle around and stamped it again in black. The sentiment was added and then quickly assembled the card. Not very hard at all.

Now on to the cards I struggled with.

This stamp is a very cute scene with the wooden chair, towel and shells. We stamped it on a piece of kraft cardstock then used markers and a water brush to color it in. Once that was done, we used a scor-pal to score a frame around the image. We also scored the background paper that we created with a bubble stamp. The sentiment was stamped and cut out. We added a bit of diamond glaze and sprinkled sand for a realistic effect. Miniature shells were added as a final touch.

The third card was a fun card to color since it was images of candy! Again we used markers and a water brush to color. Once that was done and the two layers assembled, we used diamond glaze with vintage glass glitter so the rock candy looked good enough to eat.

 

The final card seemed to be the favorite of most of the ladies.

To save time for us, Mitra had already stamped and embossed the image in gold detail powder for us. She also pre-made the cute shrinky dink sentiment. This was a bit easier to color with the lines being embossed. I still am not very happy with my sky but I was tired of painting at this point. We attached the sign with a piece of hemp and set the eyelets. I will share a tip that Mitra did with us for watercoloring. She gave us each a square of white plastic tablecloth to use as our palette. Just swipe the marker on the plastic cloth and it is easy to pick up with your water brush.  

 

Mitra is a super sweet lady and very talented. I am so glad she agreed to take the time and teach us this class.

Happy Hour

The next challenge I was able to participate in was called Happy Hour. Oh Great! I had just used what I thought was my only good drink stamp on the last challenge. It was like my mind was knowing what type of challenge was coming up and made me use that item too early. Remember the gold panel at the beginning of the day I used, then the next challenge was Gold. I use a drink stamp and the next challenge was drinks! Well I sat stumped for a bit, but not too long as you only have 45 minutes to complete the challenge. I was pulling out my stamp drawers and lo and behold I found my IO birthday martini glass. YES! I inked that up, colored it in and used a new Gypsy pad of Basic Grey paper which is very colorful I might add. Since the image is rather long and skinny, I chose to make a longer card. The fibers are actually colors for their cupcake line (but shhh....don't tell) I made them work on this.

Get Well Flowers and a new fold

The second Monday is fast approaching and that means it is La Costa Ladies time. They requested general cards for this month and behind curtain number one is ……

This first card is the same size as a regular card (A2) or 4.25 by 5.5 for my non-crafty readers. The new fold part is that it doesn’t open like a regular card, from right to left or from the bottom. Instead it does this -

the bottom flap opens down and the top flap opens up. It really isn’t confusing in real life. The cardstock is Bazzil and the patterned paper is from DCWV Garden Party. The stamped images are new ones from IO Sarah Phelps collection. I colored in the flowers with the two copics shown, R08 and G24. I used Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and sponged around the cream layer. You can’t tell from the picture but Clear atyou spica was used for the flower middles to give just a hint of bling. Cream organdy ribbon is tied around the top panel.

I am off to cut out these cards and design the second card. Enjoy your Saturday night!