Throwback Thursday — Cards from the Vault

I’m been loving the old photos friends are sharing on Facebook for Throwback Thursdays. Thought I’d share some cards made loooooong ago when I first started stamping. I found these cards while cleaning out my mother’s desk. I had apparently given her a stack of handmade cards years ago — guess she couldn’t stand to part with them!

Remember your first discovery of vellum? Here’s mine:

Although this card looks so unsophisticated and … well, not very good, I do remember how excited I was to discover this technique. I stamped and embossed in white, then colored the birdhouses on the back, using markers. The image is from Hero Arts. And I still love it (although I haven’t used it in years).

This flowery heart was one of the first stamps I ever bought! Very simple — stamp, emboss, color. I don’t even know where that stamp is now. It may have been an old PSX stamp. Anyone remember that company?

This next one doesn’t seem all that long ago. It was a popular technique introduced by Hero Arts — Shadow Stamping:

So easy — stamp the block, over-stamp it with an image.

Thanks for joining me for this trip down memory lane. I like to think I’ve evolved from those early days!

From the Vault

While cleaning out my closet recently I came across some cards I made when I first started stamping.

This was one of my first background stamps (from Hero Arts). I didn’t keep track of what I used back then, but it looks like I stamped in purple and used a holographic powder for the lines. The jester is from Judikins. I think I acquired the jester at one of the first stamp shows I attended — the Original Rubber Stamp Convention in Carson, Calif. I also bought a matching stamp, a ballerina. I embossed the jester in black, then colored him in using gel pens (which I borrowed from my daughter. I had much fewer supplies back then!!).

Here’s a close-up:

And simpler still:

My sad first embossing attempts. Sigh.

Weave What You Write

A handwriting challenge on the Moxie Fab blog (a fun site — do check it out) inspired me to use an old card making technique that I recently saw revived in a workshop at the Paper Source. It’s fun and easy and you can use up scraps! (Yay!)

Here are the basic steps:

1. On a piece of plain paper, create your weaving base. Figure out your sides, top and bottom margins (I used 1/2 inch here).

2. Using a permanent black marker (I used my favorite Faber-Castell PITT Artist pen, medium point) begin to write. Write anything you want, no one will be able to read it! Or copy a poem or words to a song ….

Here’s a look:

3. When done writing, lightly pencil in vertical lines — these will be your cutting lines. (I made them mostly 1/2 inch, making just a pencil tick at the top and bottom of my vertical margin.) Using a sharp craft knife and a metal ruler, slice into your paper, making these vertical slices. Do NOT cut into your margins!

4. Carefully erase all pencil lines.

5. Cut some light-weight paper (wrapping paper weight works well) into strips (they can be all the same width or varied) long enough to fit across the width of your base card, with a little extra.

6. Begin weaving. (Leave the ends long, you can cut them when you are done.)

7. When finished, secure the ends of your woven pieces, then attach this piece to card base.

My supplies included: WorldWin paper for card base; Paper Source decorative paper for the weaving; Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen for the writing. Stamp sentiment is Hero Arts, stamped in black VersaFine.

Here’s a large piece I made as wall art:

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Hearts on Parade

Yowzas, I love this new die from Simon Says! It’s Heart Parade and playing with it makes me want to march with a band! What a Fabulous Find!

Here’s the first card I made:

Easy peasy. I first cut out the whole thing, which gave me the frame (the outline of the hearts) and the “inner” hearts (which I saved for other projects.) Using some scraps, I cut it a few more times to get different patterns for the inside, then re-inserted the cut pieces in the heart outline. (Don’t throw out those partial frames, though! You’ll see how I used them.)

The sentiment is from Inkadinkado’s Occasions clear set (a set I use VERY often). The base paper is from WorldWin. I glued the small pieces down with Elmer’s fine line glue pen.

**Tip: After cutting the die, save the unused pieces in the same envelope as the die. Then when you want to mix it up a bit, you already have some cut pieces.**

My next card was bolder:

I love the blue pearlized paper (WorldWin)! I cut the pearlized paper using Spellbinders’ A2 Curved Matting Basics A S5-171. I stamped the white base card using Hero Arts’ envelope Pattern S5507 inked with Imagine Craft’s Platinum Planet Brilliance. The sequins, from Doodlebug Designs, were attached using Glue Dots’ micro dots — perfectly mini sized for these sequins! And no messy liquid!

I stamped a scrap piece of white with the same envelope pattern, then added the sentiment (Hero Arts) in VersaFine black. I wanted more bling, so added a piece of silver glitter tape (Close To My Heart).

This next one didn’t turn out as I expected, but it worked.

I tried to cut the die on a thicker piece of cardstock and it didn’t cut all the way through. I started to painstakingly cut out the pieces with my Xacto knife, when I smacked myself on the head and said, “Just leave the pieces in there, doofus.” (I often call myself names.) The large heart popped out easily, so I switched it out with a patterned piece, but left the others in plae. I rounded the corners, stamped a sentiment (Hero Arts) and stick a fork in me, I’m done.

One last trick before I go…. When you keep cutting out the heart to get different insides, you get several outlines, too.

Naturally, I save them, stashing them with the die. I trim what I need and use these smaller pieces for tags:

Whew! This is a loooong post! But as you can see, I’m crazy about this die.

Thanks for indulging me.