Thanks Just Not Enough

Ok, I think I need a break from these blasted thank you's. This one is pretty self-explanatory--a bit of dotted designer paper, a label for the sentiment, stamped and colored with Copics, some faux stitching and a piece of ribbon. Quick and simple.  Everything but the ribbon is from PaperTrey.

My one wish?  That I could get the darn lighting better for my pictures! The greens look really off, but they do match in real life. How that happens is a total mystery. Must be little gremlins in the camera--yeah, that's the ticket!  Ha!  No wonder the pro's use those ginormous lamps for their photo shoots!

Thanks for stopping by. Go do something creative, and if you know how to take decent indoor pictures in crummy light, please leave me a comment! Of course, even if you don't, comments are always welcome. 

Embossed Thank You

Just another thank you for the Mr. Wonderful to send. This one uses an older stamp from Magenta (I think) that I embossed in gold, then colored with ink and a waterbrush. I dry embossed a piece of rose cardstock, matted it with a piece of scarlet jewel, then swiped white ink over the edges to highlight the embossing. I added an embossed a strip of scarlet jewel, matted in white and attached the sentiment label that had been inked while still in the die (Spellbinders). A bit of  green satin, and a few crystals and another card down.

Ahh, how many more did he say he needed?  Yikes, better get busy.  Sure would help if I could make more than one of a card.  Naw, that would be boring....
 

Make Your Own Designer Paper

I often find myself studying designs I see in papers or elsewhere and trying to figure if I can duplicate it using stamps and supplies I have. This card is an example of such an attempt. The original inspiration piece was from some storage pieces at Target, and while I didn't buy them, I did "borrow" from them. Uh oh, hope that's not a crime--design snitching or something? LOL  Anyway, here's what I did.

Using a Spring Moss piece, I stamped the large daisy-like flower using matching ink, then filled in the center using Fresh Snow ink. The small flowers were stamped in Aqua Mist, and the centers filled in with white pigment pen. The die cut label was stamped with leaves in Spring Moss, and the flowers were added using the Aqua Mist again, then the centers were filled with pearl pen. The butterfly and label for the sentiment were cut from Aqua Mist cardstock, and the butterfly was stamped with the small flowers in the same color. I also add a bit more of the pearl pen to the butterfly's body. After stamping the sentiment and embossing in white--love that sharp crisp look of white embossing--I added a couple of brads and ta da! Another card for the stash.

So, are you inspired by some pattern or design? Try recreating it with your supplies (come on, you know you have a ton of them) and see what you can come up with. It's fun, it's creative, it's cheaper than buying more paper! (Wink, wink)  Go get creative. 

Water Colored Thank You

Hope you're having a good day. It's been raining and windy all day here, but that did help me get some time in the craft room so I guess it can't all be bad. 

I needed to make some thank you cards for Mr. Wonderful and spent all day trying to come up with a decent idea. This one started out with the stamped and embossed image that I colored with water colors. I thought I'd play up the turquoise, so I searched my stash and found the striped paper that has the same colors a the image. (By the way, the foliage in the image looks weird, but it really does match the bow.)  I felt the turquoise cardstock needed a little something. A dotted embossing folder took care of that. Then to hide the seam, I cut a scalloped border. The sentiment was stamped on a piece of cardstock and cut out with a Half & Half die from PTI. It seemed a little to turquoise, so I added the green dotted ribbon. I lined the inside and added bits of the striped paper for contrast. 

I don't know--something's still missing. But you know, sometimes you can spend too much time analyzing. Sometimes you just have to move on. So I am.



Sending Smiles

I know a lot of you have stashes of papers and who-knows-what-else laying around and it's a challenge sometimes to get these supplies used.  Me too!  So today's card was an attempt to use some DP that I've had for quite some time--BasicGrey's Lilykate. I really love this paper, and I'm not sure they still make it, so I've been hording it. Like what--I'll never find another paper I love as much? Unlikely, in fact I've got my eye on a number of new releases--I know, fickle, huh?

So, anyway, I took a deep breath, started trimming up a piece of my fav from the collection, and you know what? Using it on a card is a lot more fun than keeping it on the shelf!

 

Since I was on a roll with things I love, I dug out my new PTI Picket Fence die, and cut out the cute little fence. Then to add a bit more dimension, I die cut a scalloped label in white, stamped the flowers and stems, then die cut a blossom from blue cardstock and stamped it with its matching stamp. A button tied with twine was adhered with a pop dot, then the whole thing was adhered to the fence.

Using a piece of Lilykate that I'd adhered to white cardstock (to give it a little more stability), I stamped the butterfly then trimmed it out with my micro-snips.  Finally I added a few black pearls as "nails" in the fence and a center in a flower, and added black faux stiches around the edge. I matted everything on a piece of white cardstock, then to a PTI Lemon Tart card base. 

Ahhhh, much prettier than just sitting on a shelf, don't you think?

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Papertrey white, Lemon Tart, Spring Rain
DP: BasicGrey Lilykate
Stamps: Papertrey Floral Fusion 6, Sending You (sentiment); Magenta butterfly
Ink: Papertrey Enchanted Evening; VersaFine Onxyblack
Dies: Papertrey Picket Fence, Limitless Layers, Floral Fusion 6
Embellishments: button, twine, black pearls

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