Wildflower Garden

Do you ever find yourself returning to the same stamp over and over?  I absolutely love this image from the Wildflower Garden set, and I can't seem to resist using it often. Perhaps because it lends itself to a number of techniques, like this distress ink "smoosh stamp" technique (see this post for more information on the technique).

In this rendition, I was inspired by some scraps of designer paper I had on my table.  I wanted to make a card for Operation Write Home that could be sent to either a male or a female, and I think the stripes, dots and colors are gender neutral enough to work for either.

Anyway, I actually put the card front together before I considered what I'd use for my focal point and was stumped for a minute until I remembered this weed image from Wildflower Garden. I think the distress ink technique adds a nice softness to the rather stuffy stripes, and the colors help tie everything together.  I added a bit of paper piercing to the corner for a little detail, and tied it up with gold cording (another go-to favorite!), before popping the focal on with dimensionals. 

What do you think? Will it work for either a guy or a gal? Guess it depends on the eye of the beholder, but it works for me! 

So, how do you make gender neutral cards? Got any tips to share? Would love to hear your comments.

Oh, by the way, in case you're curious, here's the supplies list for this card:


Cardstock:  Papertrey Ocean Tide, Ripe Avacado
DP:  Die Cuts With A View Linen Closet 8x8 pad
Stamps:  Papertrey Wildflower Garden
Inks:  Ranger Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters

Shabby/Chic Botanical Silhouettes

Does anybody else stuggle with shabby-chic or distressed types of cards?  There are some amazing designers and card makers out there (Betsy Veldman comes immediately to mind) that have turned this style into an art from.  Sigh...their work is so lovely. 

On the other hand, I really struggle with this style. I don't know--it's something about the ink distressing or the multiple DP layers, or maybe the multiple details that always comes out, well, wonky.

Nonetheless, I wanted to try making a card using this style again (remember--practice makes perfect?) and here's what I came up with.

I was going for a sort of  "Grandma's kitchen" kind of look so I started with a couple of design papers that reminded me of old fashioned kitchen designs.  I layered them on a piece of Scarlet Jewel cardstock, then diecut a scalloped circle in green designer paper and attached it where to other two papers met. To cover the seam, I added a ribbon in Itty Bitty Dots Scarlet Jewel. 

The focal point was made by stamping the flowers, stems and sentiment on a piece of cream cardstock.  Because the designer papers had a slightly distressed look to them, I distressed the edges of the focal with Chai ink.  I then layered the cream piece with a piece of the stripped DP and attached it to the card front.

I felt it could still use a little something, so I decided to add pearls to the scallops of the die cut mat, and a tiny pearl to center of each flower.  Too much?  Not enough?  Hmmm, I'm not sure.  But, of all my attempts so far, I think I like this one the best.  Huh, maybe there is something to that "practice, practice, practice" stuff!  LOL 

Have you practiced a technique or style  that's been giving you fits lately.  Whatcha' waiting for?  Go ahead, you can do it!

Cardstock:  Papertrey cream and Scarlett Jewel
Designer Paper:  Making Memories 8x8 English Garden pad
Stamps:  Papertrey Botanical Silhouettes
Ink: Papertrey Scarlett Jewel & Ripe Avocado
Tools:  Spellbinders Eyelet Circle
Embellishments: Pearls from stash, Papertrey Scarlett Jewel Bitty Dots

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Blog Hop! It's my first time participating and I'm excited to join in the fun!  Supporting OWH is fast becoming a passion. I mean, how often can you do something you truly enjoy and benefit someone else in the process? The thank you letters OWH receives from grateful soldiers and their families are more than enough to let you know there is great power in a handmade card, especially one made with love and gratitude.

Our challenge for this hop was to create a holiday card without glitter! Say what!?! A holiday card without glitter? I'm sure there's a law against that somewhere!!! Yikes, talk about pressure!

But remebering these cards are for our troops, and we want to keep them safe, I put on my thinking cap and came up with an idea. Clean and Crisp! That's the ticket!  Oh, you want to see what I came up with? Ok, here you go:

Here's a closer peek at the details. (And, yes Virginia, that is a little bling--but it isn't glitter! LOL)

So, there you have it.  Clean and Crisp, with just a touch of bling.  By golly, maybe it is possible to make a Christmas card without glitter! Who'd a thunk? (Wink, wink). 

They asked us to keep these posts short, so that's it from me. If you have any questions on my card or would like a quick tutorial, just leave me a comment. You're welcome to look around a bit, or continue hopping and enjoying the other amazing creations my fellow bloggers have in store for you! Either way, thanks for stopping by!

Thinking of You with Floral Fusion 8

I've been noticing that OWH seems to always need generic Thinking of You or Missing You cards. So even though we're all busy preparing Christmas and other holiday cards, I thought I'd take a moment and create a simple Thinking of You to add to my next package to OWH.



Sorry for the funky photo. I'm STILL working on that!

I recently received a new stamp and die set from Papertrey called Floral Fusion 8 that was begging to get inked up. The set consists of a positive and negative flower, a stem and a couple of cute sentiments.  For my card, I decided to use the both flowers and the stem.  I die cut the flower shape in Hibiscus Burst, then stamped the negative floral image on the die cut in Fresh Snow. Next I cut a mat from white cardstock using Mat Stack 4, and stamped the stem in Ripe Avacado and the sentiment in black and matted with black cardstock.  I attached the stamped die cut flowers to the stack with pop dots and set it aside.

Next I matted a piece of Bitty Dot in Hibicus Burst in black, added a bit of white cardstock edged with a border punch, and tied on a piece of Hibiscus Burt Ribbon. After attaching to a white card base, and adding the focal piece,  I added three small black pearls and voila', a Thinking of You card is born!

                 

If you look closely, you'd see there's a flower stamped inside. I used the positive flower image and the stem to repeat the front motif inside the card. I like to do this when I can. I think it elevates an otherwise simple card to something a little more special. Do you decorate the inside of your cards? I'd love to hear what other ideas you have for making your cards just a little more special.

Ok, that's it for me today. If you need a break from making holiday cards, why not try adding a few Thinking of You or Missing You cards to the stash?  It's good for the soul!

Supply list:

Cardstock and Designer Paper:  Papertrey

Stamps:  Papertrey Floral Fusion 8, Sending You (sentiment)

Ink: Papertrey Hibiscus Burst, Ripe Avacado & Fresh Snow, VersaFine Tuxedo Black

Other: Fiskars border punch, Papertrey Floral Fusion 8 Die, hibiscus burst ribbon, black pearls

Masculine Card Using Magenta Scenic

Why is it making cards for men can be so challenging?  I guess it's one of those mysteries of life, but for what ever reason, I always dread making cards for men. Instant brain cramp.  Know what I mean?

Well, recently I needed to make a card for a friend's birthday.  I struggled coming up with an idea, and then I remembered this little scenic stamp by Magenta. I've always liked it, but could I turn it into a man-card (not to be confused with a man-cave, but I digress).  Once I started thinking about it an idea began to gel in my mind, and lo and behold, the actual card came together relatively quickly.  Go figure!

I started by stamping the Magenta scene and coloring it with Copic markers.  I then trimmed it, and added a kraft mat.  Next I stamped the text background on a cream piece of cardstock, distressed it a bit with Chai ink and matted it with black cardstock.  I trimmed a piece of kraft stock slightly smaller than the cardbase, embossed it with a houndstooth embossing folder, and matted it with black.  After tying on a black and cream ribbon, I added a green button and adhered the whole thing to a cream card base.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment and frame (PaperTrey's Little Labels) on to a scrap piece of kraft, timmed it and adhered it with pop dots.

Not too bad. And guess what? Our friend liked it too! So now I can relax until next year.  Next year?  Yikes.

Ok, now it's your turn to go overcome a creative stumbling block. You can do it!

 

Flower Power with Floral Fusion 1

I know some people get sick of flowers.  Me--nope, can't say I do. LOL  I think they're always appropriate, and they just plain make me happy.

Here's a little flower card I made that was easy, and the results are bright and fun.  Want to know how I made it? Ok, I'll tell ya!

(All the supplies used are from PaperTrey Ink, unless stated otherwise.)

I started with a plain white 51/2 x 4 1/4 inch card base (A2 size), and adhered a  piece of Ripe Avacado cardstock, trimmed to 5 3/8 x 4 1/8.  On another piece of white cardstock (trimmed to 5 1/4 x 4) I stamped the leaves from Floral Fusion 1 about an inch or so from the bottom, using Ripe Avacado ink. To add interest, I made sure the leaves were zig-zagged rather than straight across, and that some of them were stamped off the paper.  Next I stamped the sentiment from Sending You in black VersaFine ink and tied on a Ripe Avacado saddle stitched ribbon.

Here's a close up of the flowers.

To make the make them,  I die cut them using the matching Floral Fusion 1 die using a coaster.  This particular coaster stock from PaperTrey cuts beautifully with their dies and adds a little something that cardstock alone can't match. And it stamps beautifully too, which is what I did next.

Using the matching stamp from the Floral Fusion 1 set,  I stamped each die cut alternating between Orange Zest and Raspberry Fizz. (Who said orange and hot pink clash??).  Then I applied the finished flowers to the tops of the stems with pop dots.  For a final touch, I added twine to Orange Zest and Raspberry Fizz buttons, and attached them to the flower centers with glue dots.

See, I told ya--simple.  Bet you could do it too. Whatcha' waiting for? Go give it a try and thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Abundance

Today I thought I'd share another card I made for Operation Write Home with a fall theme.

For me, sometimes all the fall colors can start too feel a bit too much. On this card, I thought I'd try mixing kraft and white, with just a touch of fall color.  (Please excuse the fuzzy picture. So much to learn, so little time...)

The focal stamp is from Papertrey's Autumn Abundance and colored with Copics. It was then cut out with a circle Nestablities, then matted with a kraft piece, also cut out with a Nestie.  To add a little interest to the white background, I embossed it with a plaid impression plate from Papertrey.  Finally I tied on a little twine (which seems fall-ish to me) and added a small tag using Papertrey's Tiny Tags die.  Love that little heart the die cuts. I simply added a scrap of orange behind the heart to pop it a bit, the adhered the whole lot to a kraft card base.

A pretty simple card, actually, but I think it expresses the season. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.  Now go do something creative!

Adventures with Distress Ink

I don't know about you, but I love distress inks. They are so versatile.

Here's a sample I made using what I call the "smoosh and stamp" method.  I simply applied various distress inks directly from pad to my craft sheet (being careful to place the ink close to each other but not touching), pressed and smooshed my stamp into the ink, spritzed it lightly with water and stamped it on my cardstock.  I  stamped the sentiment, scored a couple of line on the left, and tied on the ribbon. Then it was simply a matter of matting it up with green card stock and applying it to my  blue card base. Pretty simple, but it has a nice watercolored look, don't you think?

Definitely a technique I'll be trying again.  How about you?

Thanks for stopping by today.  See you again soon.