World Card Making Day @ LOTV

October 1st was World Cardmaking Day... and I'm pleased to say that although I didn't finish it on Sunday, I WAS actually CARDMAKING that day! My personal crafty year got a slow start, but I have been playing with inking techniques the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I took the test too far and ruined things I liked, but that was the point of playing and not intending to actually make any cards. Yes, I finally used up supplies for no good reason but to practice and experiment! Shocking. =]

So I had seen this image popping up on blogs in the days leading up to October 1st:

and on Sunday, LOTV's Ideas to Inspire blog posted a special giveaway.  They asked us to post our favorite card made with an LOTV stamp, and, if we wanted, to make a new card with an LOTV image.  I had only made one card with an LOTV stamp, so it wasn't too difficult to choose and pull out this

from my Stamptember post. =)  But a new card... well, what better way to spend World Card Making Day? I started this card on Sunday, and worked a little bit on it every single day this week. It's been a stressful week at work, so whether it was the night I picked out the papers, or the night I glittered and dabbed and glossed, or last night when I put the finishing touches on, it was soul-satisfying to be a little creative, even if only for a half hour each night.

So here she is, my purple-and-green Rosie marching proudly with her birthday cake.

I purchased a Copics paper sampler pack from The Paper Temptress recently because I wasn't liking how my efforts with ProMarkers were turning out on Georgia Pacific cardstock. This is Heavenly Weight, I believe, and it really IS ultrasmooth. I used ProMarkers on a different image, but I got a few Copics before the prices went up in August and I must say that the Copics blended better for me than ProMarkers. Not sure if it's the colors I'm using or the technique or the paper... more experimentation coming soon for sure. I am in love with and inspired by the coloring skills of a number of cardmakers I've discovered this year, including this stunning work by Delphine (Delphine's Place). I think my crafty inner child wants to be her when I grow up... at least as far as her fantastic Copics skills go! ;) 

Anyway, I colored Rosie up with my teensy tiny new collection of Copics, used Deco's Snow Writer for the cake icing with a coating of Glossy Accents since patting down the snow to fill out the cake icing lines gave it a gritty texture I didn't care for on cake - very unappetizing - and some Ice Stickles in grape and orange.

 

The sentiment was made in Word. I really like LOTV's circle sentiments and some others I've seen, but I don't own any of them yet. I didn't want to recreate something too much like those stamps - feels like copying LOL - so I messed about with some Lettering Delights fonts I got recently. I dotted some grape Ice Stickles on the stars on the sentiment to tie it back in to the glittery bits on Rosie's headband. 

I don't have a lot of floral accents (will be shopping at the new Wild Orchid site soon, I hope!) or any of the doohickeys and swirl die cuts, so I chose a more fussy Nestie to cut out my image and went for a more simple look overall. I think sewing the papers together would have given it a bit... more, but I'm liking what I came up with. Although I've been planning  to get crafty since February, I haven't actually done a whole lot of cardmaking, so I'm giving myself a pass as a still-newbie card maker. LOL

The inside I left really simple also - The right side is a plain white lightweight paper for writing in my message.

I don't know if you'd call this a bonus (guess it depends on whether you like my work; my Mom will! hahaha), but I was also coloring another LOTV image this week... I'm not finished with the card... it was kind of an experiment also, as it has no intended recipient, and probably will just decorate a shelf in my craft room when I'm done as a practice piece. I think what bothers me is the bear's coloring... I chose a bad light source and then didn't quite follow it... and I used ProMarkers and they didn't blend as well as I wanted. Not sure what I did, but... practice, practice, practice! So I'm just sharing the image with you since I'm not sure I'll ever want to post a finished card. LOL  I did like the effect of using two light blues and a grey and dotting around the image. That technique needs work too (if only I was financially independent, you might never find me OUT of my craft room again! haha).

Anyway, I'm heading over to link this post up and see what wondrous creations everyone else has posted. See you soon... and til then, happy crafting! (And love ya, Mom!) =)

DI-mania and a little shabby vintage chic

Hi! I have been busy practicing this week! Yay! I signed up for Jennifer McGuire's Inspiration Showcase class online and have been playing at least a little bit in the craftroom every day.  I have several birthdays in my circle of friends and family this month, too, so it's definitely time to get cranking out the projects. =)

I must say that I am not a huge fan of vintage style. With no offense meant to Tim Holtz, all that antique advertising and aged, distressed, grunged-out artwork... well, I don't find some of it appealing (bingo cards, tickets, dress forms?) Sometimes I find myself ooohing and ahhhing, sometimes I just don't get it.  That said, I do like a certain amount of distressing and sort of shabbiness when they give character or make something really pop. Distress inks on edges and some of the slightly grunged but still pretty papers do appeal to me, so as I find my way into my own style, I decided to play a little on a card meant for a coworker's birthday this month.

The papers were really my inspiration for the rest of the card. The pink and brown butterfly printed paper in particular was the jumping off point for everything else. A little shabby and worn, but still pretty. =)

My base is textured cardstock liberally sprayed with Smooch Spritzes. The blue was clogged, which I didn't discover until I had started spraying, but once one edge got all spotted/drippy-looking, I just finished it off that way. Not what I really wanted, but it turned out ok, I think.

I embossed and cut a tag out of a bit of Nestabilities packaging and layered it over a tag of cream mulberry paper and affixed it on popdots. In person you can just barely see the hint of the pink butterfly on the paper through the tag, which is nice. I distress-inked the edges. It worked really well on the plastic; will have to remember that again. I DI'ed a Martha Stewart butterfly nearly to death with both inks and stains and added Distress Stickles for the body. I used distress inks on all of the flowers, too, and used the white Picket Fence Distress Stain to tone down the too-bright blue of a couple of roses.

I added a lot of pearls - large ones in the corners in pink and light blue, itty bitty champagne ones on the tag and the Nesties label for the greeting. They all looked too clean and new though, so I ran the tip of a Copics E35 over them and swiped it off before it dried completely. Definitely another trick to remember.

The inside I finished off pretty simply. I used a sheet of light turquoise vellum layered over a peachy-pink cardstock that matched the papers inside for the tag where I'll write my message. A few more play-time MS butterflies on the opposite side and voila!  My first non-cute, shabby sort of vintage collage-y card.  When I was building my card, I thought perhaps I needed some laces or ribbon bits along the same vintage feel... and I thought perhaps a few aged metallic charms might not have been a bad idea either. (Why is it that no matter how many crafty supplies you have, there's always something else that you need/want/are dying to have? haha)  Would it win any awards? Probably not. But as it always is with a handmade card, if the recipient likes it, then it's a success. =)  And I do love that the crafting universe is big enough for everyone to find something that appeals to their artistic senses and to take bits and pieces from other styles and bring it together into a creation of love.

Meanwhile, I am thinking that fans of Tim Holtz may want to start a trend in nail polish that looks like distress-ink splotches so that our inky fingers are always in style. ;)

 Happy crafting - see you soon! =)

Summer? No, STAMPtember!

Goodness, wasn't it just June a couple of days ago?  I have finally reached THAT age. You know, the one where you find yourself talking to someone about some event in your life and you realize that the event in question happened 20 years ago? And then,to make things worse, you realize that the details are clearer to you than what you did yesterday! Sigh.  Twenty years ago this month, I was off to NYC on my own for a college internship. I still remember my first day walking the streets of Greenwich Village as I headed over to Bank Street to the home-based office of the literary agent I worked for that semester. So, forget the Summer, where did that 20 years go?! haha

So, I've been reorganizing my craft room in the spare bits of time I've had in the past couple months as well as ordering up some supplies for my planned Christmas gift crafts. I wanted to get seriously crafty, but I realized that I needed to put some thought into it so I could really get into this the way I wanted to. Sometimes mojo requires a relatively clean slate. (I am notoriously NOT a clean-slate girl, but maybe that's something else that's coming with age. LOL)  I still have some work, but I think I'll be finishing it off --ok, from all the crafty blogs I've seen, there is no such thing as a "finished" craftspace... they always seem to be reorganized or tweaked on and off continuously!-- this weekend. 

So now STAMPtember is upon us according to the folks at Simon Says Stamp. =)  I kind of like that. Except I want EVERY month to be a stamping month! haha  I used the same background cardstock and papers for two cards. The first is a good luck at the new job card made with an LOTV stamp for a coworker who's taken a position at another location.

 

Sorry for the lighting... I'm learning that being patient and waiting til daytime for photos is a good idea. A virtuous idea. Probably not one I will really learn though. LOL

I used LOTV's Pom Fairy on Cryogen White paper and colored her up with my Promarkers. I do believe I managed to look as if I actually had a light source on this one. LOL  I definitely need to play with my markers.  I don't know why I have this hang up about using up my supplies practicing. On one hand, yes, ink and supplies are an expense; on the other, I'd rather not preface every card-giving occasion with "I'm still learning how to color, so don't be too critical."  It's kind of a downer. <grin>

 Papers are DCWV and have some glitter to them. I distress-inked the edges of the peachy pink cardstock with a little tattered rose as it was a little light to go with the papers and the rose played off that salmon-y pink cardstock I used. I used that same salmon cardstock and a stripped peachy-pink vellum with my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch to give my card some dimension. I also made another butterfly for the inside of the card and another one for the envelope to tie it together (no envelope pic, sorry). I also used a few of the flowers I won in the candy draw several months ago over at Donkey Smiles. And a bit of champagne Liquid Pearls for my dots. I glittered up my fairy's wings as well as my butterfly, and created a glittery circle for the inside, too. I think I have fallen in love with Stickles. Except that I just got some glamour dust to play with too.... is there such a thing as glitter-polygamy? =)

The other card I made with the same papers is this birthday card for someone at work. I just felt Tilda was perfect for her. I tried using Promarkers on some Colorbok white pearlescent paper. It was very interesting and very different than using the GP cardstock or the Cryogen White. The Promarkers seemed to cover up the glittery surface. You can see how the area around the stamp lines is much more shiny and pearlescent than the areas where I laid down marker ink as I colored and shaded. I do like it. It's amazing how changing paper or technique gets you such different results. 

I used a white DCWV card embossed with stripes - I wanted that stripey look on the inside of the card front, so I flipped it inside out to use it. And it seems like I forgot to take a picture, so you'll have to imagine it. =\  I Tattered Rose DI'ed the edges of the front to tie in with Tilda's dress. And then figured out how to get some dimension by humping up the sentiment. Plus it made it fit better on the card - bonus!

I know there are some other there who are Anything But Cute fans, but I just think that Tilda is sweet and feminine. It's not her fault, after all, that they drew her without a nose! LOL

So... this is my entry for the great STAMPtember bloghop challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show. My fingers are itching to get started on more projects and Christmas is coming! (yay!!!!!), so hopefully I'll see you again soon!

Happy crafting! =)

A Girly Pastel Birthday Card... with a cherry on top!

I had a very crafty weekend (and I think, as a result, I had a good workday even on a MONDAY!)

One of the cards I got done was a birthday card for one of my nieces. Her birthday is coming up in July and she's a fan of pink and purple and fun girly bright pastels. So, after checking out some challenges, inspiration hit and this is what I made...

My first card with an interesting fold! Card Pattern Sketch #119 and the accordion fold challenge at Scrapalicious combined in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  The card actually looks better than I expected for my first try at lining up everything so it works both closed and open.  Cardstock is Colorbok textured pastels, sprinkles papers in pink and white are digis from Summertime Designs, and the solids and striped/swirled dps are all from a ProvoCraft Slab. [As a side note, I'd wondered how long I'd had this paper so I did some googling, and it looks like 2004 or 2005 at the absolute latest. Scary how much time can go by without you really noticing!]  Nesties, a Heather Ellis digi stamp - such a cutie! - a little gloss on the cherry, some Sizzix'ed letters and a few little epoxy sticker dots and ta-da!

Cute girly sweetness, even without flowers and frou frou. =) 

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sweet Stampin - Food Glorious Food

Card Patterns Weekly Sketch Blog - Sketch 119

Stamp Something - Something Punched

Scrapalicious Challenge #6 - Accordion folds

This weekend was so much fun!  My carpet's rather hairy, there's dust on every shelf, but my soul is bright and cheery today, so it was definitely worth it. And I get to actually show these projects to my mom tonight in person! =)  

So, see you all soon... til then, Happy Crafting! =) 

Father's Day 2011

My dad is not a tie-wearing kind of guy, but I wanted to join in the fun at Hambo Stamps with their Hambo Hoedown. This week's image is one of three ties, combined for this challenge with a sketch:

Since my dad is also not big into cards and definitely not into a bunch of frills and doodads (much like my mom, see the relative 'plainness' of my Mother's Day card that she absolutely loved here), I feel a little less guilty about focusing on challenge requirements than my dad's tastes. Just a little. Hmmmm. A big bag of coffee nips or peanut butter blossoms to go with it, and I doubt he'll even remember I gave him a card. LOL

(Ok, Blogger, I give up. I've tried a half dozen times and it keeps rotating my card image from vertical to horizontal and I can't find any instructions on how to make it flip back, so... please don't get a crick in your neck turning your head to see my card! LOL)

Anyway, so I played with the color scheme from this week's Color Throwdown challenge... the colors match the Baja Breeze-So Saffron-Pear Pizzazz color combination better IRL than in my photos. The bit of argyle pattern, the green dots paper pieced into the tie and the green background dp are all from Summer Driggs' at Summertime Designs, color-altered in Word. I really love her stuff, and it color-alters so beautifully in Word. The "Dad" is a Word Art. A little textured cardstock, some oval Spellbinder Nesties and a few runs through the Big Kick and voila!  Simple, but bright and cheery.

So I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Hambo Hoedown - Let's Tie One On!

Color Throwdown - #145: Baja Breeze, So Saffron & Pear Pizzazz

Creative Inspirations - #115 Card for Dad

Crafting For All Seasons - #2 Father's Day

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Father's Day

My last couple of cards have used a lot of (or mostly!) solid-color cardstock, but I have lots of dps and digital papers to work with in my stash, so now that Father's Day is over and challenges start focusing on more girly or kid themes again, I'm hoping to get into more interesting backgrounds and combining patterns. I'm amazed sometimes what combinations some of these crafty queens - and kings! - come up with... papers I never would have thought to put together, but their final cards are stunning. And flowers - ooooh, the things I see on Wild Orchid Crafts challenges...  ok, deep breath. Beginners have to start somewhere... LOL

So, I have a couple of birthday cards to work on this week... will be back with those... wish me luck! And Happy Crafting, everyone! =)

Summer Beach Monkey =)

Hi! Well, on to my 3rd project/card for an online challenge...  the pictures still suck. I know, I know.. it's nighttime and not the best for picture-taking, but I think my camera's got some scratches on the lens. I think it's 7 years old, and for a digital camera, just like a PC, that's ancient. LOL So the colors aren't the greatest in my photos, but they're as close as I'm going to get tonight.

I based this on Card Patterns sketch #118, but missed the deadline to get it finished for that challenge (it's been a loooooong week with few moments in the crafty space). The final size was larger than my (lately) normal 6"x6" card as I intend to use it as a decoration instead of a card.

I used one of my Bugaboo beach monkey digital stamps.  I used a die-cut scallop and tumbled glass distress ink to make the sky trying out a technique Bev Rochester posted on her site All the things I love. I really like the effect even on my first try, so with practice and a better cloud template, I think I'm going to be quite pleased with this technique in my arsenal. I used some faded jeans and broken china distress ink to paint in an ocean.



Colored my little monkey with Promarkers and added a touch of sand to his castle as well as to the curved beach. I used gold shimmer Mod Podge so there's a hint of golden shimmer between sand grains. Doesn't show on the photos, but IRL it's a nice effect. The sun was made in Word using a circle and a 12-point star shape both formatted in gradient shades of yellow and orange. A bit of twine to hide the bottom edge over a Martha Stewart punch and voila - summertime!  I used a striped sheet from a Provocraft Seasons & Celebrations paper pack I've had for a while (bought when I thought I might get papercrafty a few years ago and didn't). And the cardstock is cheapy Walmart stuff from about that same time period.  

Since I missed the Card Patterns entry deadline, this little guy is getting linked up to

Catch the Bug Challenge "June Anything Goes" and

Craft Your Passion challenge #61: "Anything Goes"

I must say, although it took me a while and things are still a little tight on time, I'm enjoying getting into the crafty spirit of cardmaking and papercrafting. It's nice to be able to work at something creative and have a finished product. So much of my "creativity" at work (if you want to call it that) is just problem-solving... which is nice, but there's not really a final product, a finished thing to look at or point to and say, "I did that."  Just new problems and more stuff to do in a never-ending to-do-list parade.  Sigh.

Well, thank goodness for crafting!  And blogs! =)  Happy crafting everyone!  'Til next time... 

Papertake Weekly Sketch & A Graduation Card

The oldest son of one of my friends graduates this year. I was debating about what to make when I saw the Papertake Weekly sketch for this week:

Papertake Weekly Sketch #56

 As soon as I saw it, my card design popped into my head and the IRL card is pretty much as I first imagined it. (And much better than it looks in these awful pics.  Please forgive these horrid cellphone pics. My digital camera has gone MIA. Eek!)

The green and gold are his school colors.  The gold and black papers are Colorbok and have a delightful pearlescent sheen to them and the green is textured cardstock also from Colorbok. I used some Stickles in Platinum and Lime Zest for some sparkle here and there and to add some interest to the plain sheer black ribbon I chose. (How is it possible to have spool after spool after spool of ribbon and STILL not have just the "right" one?!)

I used my Spellbinders Nesties to create my stars, using the largest for the gold star and the next two sizes down together to make the black outline star. I paired those together behind my Pink Cat Studio Billy Graduate digi stamp which I colored with Promarkers and cut out. I didn't get too involved in shading. I keep smearing the printer ink when I use light colors (faces!); after some poking about online, I think I should try using the draft setting and see if that helps.  I used two layers of pop dots for lots of dimension.

On the inside I cut around the negative created from making the front gold star and made more stars out of my scraps. The larger white star is only glued down on 8 edges so there's space to tuck a check into it (under the little gold star.)

I stayed really simple with my papers. He's not a dp and embellishments kind of boy, so I used the sparkle and sheen and textures and dimension for interest. And, of course, the check that gets tucked into the larger white star on the left is the REAL focus anyway, right?  LOL 

The next projects coming up are all Girl birthdays of various ages and interests so I'll get lots more practice with mixing dps and embellies in the next couple weeks. =) Bring on the frills, fairies and flowers! =)

Happy Crafting!