Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Over the years that I have been stamping and paper crafting, I have so often been inspired by the ideas on other sites and blogs. I hope I can pay that back in some measure with my own. (In between laughs -- or cackles as my son calls it!)

March 25, 2012

Sunset Happiness

Today I have a different sized card that fits into a 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 inch envelope.You know, the size you buy at the drug store to pay your bills with (for those remaining dinosaurs among us that don't pay bills online!).  It uses the new Sheena's Sketch stamp, called "Happiness".

I started by stamping the image in black ink, onto white card stock. I punched a circle out of Eclipse masking tape for the moon, and positioned it over the quote. Then I colored it with the wonderfully affordable Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers.  I used the colors as shown. For this image, I mostly used the broad chisel tip, because I needed wide swaths for the sunset sky and ground. I carried a little of the lightest yellow, CT1, as striations over the moon.



I layered it onto black card stock, cut about an inch wider than the image so that I could use a decorative punch on the right side. (I amazed myself that I actually thought ahead enough to do that, LOL!) Then, it was adhered to a saffron yellow card base.  Three little black rhinestones were the finishing touch.


Hope you enjoyed my card, and that you are having a wonderfully relaxing Sunday!

March 18, 2012

Schoolboy Poppet

Today I have an adorable schoolboy Poppet card for you.  Doesn't this image just melt your heart?  I think it would be great to give a teacher as an end-of-year thank you, or to wish your son luck on his first day of school.  Or even for graduation, and you could write inside, "I remember when you were this tall..."
I started by stamping the image in black ink, onto white card stock. Then I colored it with the Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers.  I used the colors as shown.


I embossed a one inch strip of grey-blue card stock with a paisley folder, to reprise the paisleys in the wallpaper. I adhered the image, and then added a large antiqued brad and some ribbon flags.  Tip: if you have trouble poking the ribbon with the brad, use an awl / hole piercer to make the hole in the ribbon first. A bit of adhesive or a mini glue dot keeps everything in place while you are poking away.

I layered the image onto kraft and then red card stock, using a very narrow mat border. The card base is also kraft, with a layer of red. Can you guess what the plaid and paisley paper is?  Remember I am sometimes known as the frugal stamper.  It's cut from rolls of wallpaper that I got for a quarter at a garage sale!  How fun!

Because I literally have a whole roll of this wallpaper, I decided to do a matching envelope with the Envelobox Creator. I used a 7 3/4 inch square of paper, and grooves E and H.    That's all for today.

     

March 11, 2012

Traveler's Wings and Encaustic Wax

Today I have a dreamy card made with Stamp-It's new "Hummingbird Wings" stamp. You know how the image really dictates the feel of the card?  Well this lovely quote just said "artsy" to me, so I pulled out my encaustic wax supplies to do a background with lots of motion and texture.  Not to worry, if you don't have encaustic wax, you can get a similar feel with the polished stone, shaving cream or heated pearls technique, among others.


After making the background, it was layered on black and then on a lavender base.  I stamped the main image in black ink, onto white card stock. I did a border embossed swirl on the right of the image, to reprise the swirly tail feathers.  I then sponged around it with lavender, blue, and amethyst inks. I layered it on black, adhered it with dimensionals, and added some tiny pearls as a finishing touch.

This card went together so quickly that I decided to make a custom envelope with Crafter's Companion Envelobox Creator.

For an A2 size card, I get good results starting with a 7 3/4 inch square of paper and scoring opposite corners on the E and H grooves.  I found this purple and blue paper in my stash that coordinated like a charm. I love making the envelopes special as the finishing touch for the recipient.

I think this would be a great Bon Voyage card or a Graduation card, with a sentiment about "exploring your world" inside.

March 4, 2012

Happy Be-ribboned Birthday

Today I have another Anthony and Burt card for you.  I decided to do a birthday card, because I can always use more of those.  Doesn't Burt look like he is just drooling over that chocolate icing?

As with last week, I decided to keep my card today fairly flat and easily mailable.  I did add a ribbon treatment, but it isn't so lumpy-bumpy that it violates the post office's 1/4 inch rule.


I started by stamping the image and greeting in black ink, onto white card stock.

Then I colored it with the Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers. I was getting good results using DG2 and DG4 for the frog's body.


I layered the image onto cocoa brown.  Using a hole template, I used a pencil to mark 3 1/8 inch holes to the left of the greeting, and then punched them.  I tied three short lengths of three coordinating colors of gingham ribbon through and under and knotted them on the left, as shown.

I had some tan and green scraps of designer paper that I thought worked well.  I also made a paper "band" by folding the top and bottom edges of a strip of paper and layered that on for subtle added interest.  This then went onto a second layer of cocoa brown card stock.  I attached the image/ribbon layer to it with dimensional pop dots.  I then layered it all onto a mossy green base and the card was finished.  Oh, I did add some glitter glue to Anthony's wings.  You can't do a card with one of these images and not glitter the wings!