Category Archives: cards

Going for a Ride

Posted on by

I really love serendipity. I would never have planned this card (at least not without seeing someone else do it first). I have a piece of cheap cardstock that I have cut to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 that I use as a template. If I’m designing a card I lay the pieces on the template and move them around or make sure they fit (it was what helped me realize my butterfly card would have to be on a different size card).

Anyway, I have a bad habit of doodling on said template – but I try to keep it to one side so I always have one clean side. Last week I traced a spellbinder rectangle die with a copic. Being a copic on cheap carstock, it bled through – but only very very lightly and normally I don’t even notice it…but today – today it was a lifesaver! I had die cut and stamped the car, but that was all I had figured out. As I was moving the car around I saw the frame and instantly this card formed.

I have the hardest time with solid stamps – from every company. I rub with an eraser to remove the residue, I use padding / I don’t use padding, I ink up until my test comes out clean, I hold my tongue just right – but I never get a good solid image. I would love to buy SU’s Medallion but I just know I’ll never get a good impression…so why spend the money? I stamped this image until my scratch paper was perfect (about 8 times) and as soon as it hit the real paper…I get that. ARGH. Any suggestions are welcome.

Despite the inept stamping, I like how the card turned out. It is for my hubby, hence the lack of anything fun girly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Days
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Enjoy the Ride, Up Up & Away, Wonderfully Whimsical;
Ink: Enchanted Evening, True Black, Fresh Snow;
Paper: Kraft, Spring Rain, New Leaf, White, Black;
Other: Car & Balloon dies; Copics (color balloon), black pen (stitching & birds), white gel (road markings);

Butterfly Four Square

Posted on by

The wrap-up for the CAS DT Search was Friday. During the post-park fireworks show (i.e., the reveal of the new DT and the guest designers), Jen posted a couple challenges. Winning a challenge would earn a guest spot! This weekend has been really wonky for me, so I didn’t get my cards done on time, but I wanted to play anyway – so I did!

The first challenge was to use bold colors and make them pop with black. The second challenge was to use bling. I combined the challenges to create this card.

I had another idea, but it went terribly wrong. I wanted to stamp a solid reverse-image on colored paper with black ink, but my black ink just didn’t make a solid imprint. I got great results on white, but the colored paper just wasn’t working – so I had to regroup and creating a die window is where I ended up.

I’ve been lamenting that PTI hasn’t come out yet with a second edition to their popular Bitty papers – to include all those new colors (3 of which are used here). Thankfully, with the release of the new Geometrics Background set, I can now make my own! (Though lining up that tiny grid was sooooo hard!)

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, I didn’t make the DT, but I did earn a guest spot. The DT is only a few months, so I’ll be trying again next round.

Thanks for peeking!

Butterfly Note Card
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Background Basics: Geometrics; Polka Dots;
Ink: Fresh Snow;
Paper: White, Hibiscus, Orange, Chartreuse, Hawaiian, Black;
Other: rhinestones (various, with blue being copic colored); Friend texturz plate (Sizzix/SU);

Congraduations

Posted on by

Yes, I do know that isn’t how it is spelled. But I love the blog Cake Wrecks and every year about this time the posts tend to highlight bad spelling. I’m a horrible speller, but I love laughing, so the blog is on my list of favorites! So anyway….

My nieces and nephews are getting older. This is the second to graduate (and there are 10 more to go, 12 if you count my own kiddos). I finally decided to invest in a graduation stamp set. Thankfully PTI just released one – how convenient 😉

The idea to turn the image sideways came from Maile (card). While she used a different image in the center, I kept the original but cut a second out so it would be oriented properly.

Making guy cards is hard! I knew I would use twine like Maile did so the woodgrain embossing just followed that. What came next I wasn’t sure. I really really wanted to use argyle but I didn’t think that would suit the recipient. So a simple pin-stripe is what my hubby suggested and I went with it.

I really wish New Leaf ink matched the paper! I tried to doctor mine with Spring Moss (a tip I found on the PTI forum), but it still isn’t right. It is definitely better, but I think I’ll add a bit more and see if I can get it right.

Congratulations
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: For the Graduate, Around & About Sentiments, Faux Ribbon (pin-stripe);
Ink: True Black (learning to love this), Pure Poppy, New Leaf;
Paper: White, Kraft, New Leaf;
Other: Mat Stack 1 die; Woodgrain Impressions Plate; twine, brads, dimensionals;

Sew Inspired

Posted on by

Yes, another lame post title…oh wait, you won’t see the other lame title for a few more hours (hee hee, I scheduled a post for later…gotta spread the goodness out). Sew, yes, lame title – I love puns, what can I say?

It is a new month and that means a new challenge in the Papertrey Pixie blog group. This is my month to host (PTPC2). I love inspiration challenges – mostly because there are so many different directions you can go that you get a great variety in cards and that makes it fun (to me). I found this fun selection of fat quarters (hence the sewing pun).

What drew me to the selection originally was the colors, but when I started making my card I found I also liked the arrangement of patterns. I stuck with the same design on each square (unlike the inspiration) because I think with cards it helps unify it when stamping (had I had the right pattern paper, I would have used different patterns). I also went with a scallop die because I don’t have pinking shears.

Now if I could just learn to sew! I recently bought the Janome SewMini. I love the machine but it really likes to *go* so I have a hard time controlling the paper as it goes. Oh well – wonky is charming, right?

And by using my Damask set, I’ve also accomplished another challenge – inking up those heretofore uninked images. I love this set and everything I’ve seen done with it…but I must say my previous attempts at using this set have ended in the trash. I like this one though – so yay!!

Thank You
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Damask Designs, Borders & Corners: Square;
Ink: White, Hibiscus;
Paper: Kraft, Raspberry, Chocolate, Chartreuse, Orange Crush, Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus;
Other: buttons in colors above (PTI); sewing machine & thread (not PTI); Scallop Square die (Spellbinders);

Butterfly Says Goodbye

Posted on by

Mom is having a “going away” stamp camp in June and she asked me to help her with the projects. I’ve had Garden Whimsy since it first came out (not that long ago). I like the set and have used it a few times. So many good things are being retired that I thought I would incorporate a couple of them on the card.

Sage Shadow is an excellent color, but as I don’t use it often and I don’t see it often, so I can understand why SU is retiring it…but it still makes me sad! And can you believe – the cardstock is already sold out!! Thankfully I have a pack in my stash 🙂 Apricot is another coloring going. I have high hopes for the new Peach InColor (but I’m reserving my opinion until it is in my hands). Of course since those colors are retiring so are their ribbon.

I’m not much for glitter (I almost entitled this post Bah, Glitter!) but mom’s customers love it (as in they’ll add it to everything 😉 ). Since this card was a bit plain, I figured some glitter would be a nice touch.

** ETA ** To glitter the wings I used Tombow liquid glue on the top left wing but didn’t like the gloopy look, so I used SU’s glue stick for the rest of the wings. I thought it turned out really well. HOWEVER when my mom opened the envelope after mailing all the glitter from the glue stick wings was gone! I guess I won’t use that any more 🙁

Finally the background was embossed with a Texturz plate. Kind of a pain to get the card base without doing the back too, but a little maneuvering and it worked. Hopefully mom won’t kill me for it!

Sheesh, I must be in a chatty mood. Thanks for taking a peek!

Best Friends Listen
All supplies StampinUp unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Garden Whimsy;
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink;
Paper: Sage Shadow, Apricot Appeal, White;
Other: Sage & Apricot ribbon, glitter, Texturz Plates #4;
Technique: Rock-n-Roll on butterfly;

Celebrate in Orange

Posted on by

This is my other card for the CAS DT Search. The challenge was to use pop-up dots to add dimension and height. I used dimensionals to keep the wings of the butterfly up.

Celebrate Today
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: With Sympathy, Butterfly Dreams, Mega Mixed Messages; Vintage Labels 4 (WMS);
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette); Orange Zest;
Paper: Kraft, Cream;
Other: butterfly die; rhinestones (Kaiser); label 4 (Spellbinders); dimensionals (SU);

Moving Birthday

Posted on by

I made it to the next round of the CAS DT search! There are two challenges this time. One challenge is to make a card with a moveable part. To me interactive cards always end up not CAS, so I was a little stumped at first, but then this very simple idea came to me! I stamped the arms on another piece of paper, cut them out and added a brad. Lifted the layer with dimensionals and now I have a simple card with movement!

The best part is this is a stamp set that I *had* to have (a few years ago) and never inked up! Gotta love that!

Birthday
Stamps: Windmills (TAC); It’s Your Birthday (SU);
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); markers (Copic);
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Rustic White (PTI);
Other: twine, brad, dimensionals (SU);

Sending Smiles

Posted on by

I got a chance to play with my new sets today! I am in love with this set! I’ve been wanting a good rainbow image and clouds. The die cuts make working with this set so easy.

I colored the rainbow and balloon with Copics. I’m still not sure I know what I’m doing, but I do like working with them. I’m not sure I like the highlights on the balloon – I’m thinking since nothing else in the scene has highlights or shadows I shouldn’t have created them in the balloon. That’s what happens when you create on the fly!

Sending Smiles
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Up Up & Away, Up Up & Away Sentiments;
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); markers (Copic);
Paper: Lemon Tart, White, Spring Rain, New Leaf, Lemon Tart Bitty Dot DSP;
Other: balloon & cloud dies; Sunshine impression plate; Distressed texturz plate (Sizzix);

Hoppin’ with Felt

Posted on by

This month’s PTI Blog Hop is about felt. I’ve had this idea in my head since they released the egg die, but until May’s release I didn’t have enough colors of felt. Thankfully my box of PTI goodies arrived yesterday and I was able to pull this off (though we won’t talk about how many cards I ruined trying to accomplish the frame embossing!).

Easter Wishes
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages;
Ink: Hawaiian Shores;
Paper: White;
Other: Felt & Buttons in Hawaiian, Raspberry, Chartreuse colors; Egg & Ric-Rac dies; rectangle die (Spellbinders); texture plate (SU);

Summer Sunflower

Posted on by

This week’s Clean & Simple challenge on SCS is all about summer (cas68). Usually summer means sleeping in for me and more tv time for the girls. Not exactly something that you need a card for 😀 One thing I miss from back home are the giant sunflowers mom has in her garden. Sunflowers are my favorite flower.

This card was pretty simple – just a few die cuts and a sentiment. The label is actually a Canvas Cut from StampinUp that I grabbed from their clearance rack for just a few bucks (what a deal!!). The flower center is a giant brad that I added dots to using my Galaxy Marker.

Smile
Stamps: Say it With Style (PTI);
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette);
Paper: Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise (PTI); Kiwi Kiss (SU);
Other: Canvas Cut label (SU); Woodgrain impression plate (PTI); Leaf die (SU); Flower die (CB?); brad (SU); Galaxy Marker (Am.Crafts);