More Random Cards

Two more leftover pieces that finally found homes:

 

Fast and simple!

And this one:

 

The backgrounds on the stamped pieces were brayered and the larger background is the same as in the last post.  The images (Stampendous!) were black embossed.

Now these can go off to someone’s mailbox!

 

Easy Ombre Card

As noted in my last post, I’ve been playing with Hero Art’s new Ombre ink pads, which I love. These tri-colored pads are great for adding interest to one-layer cards, giving a quick burst of color with little effort.

Here’s another one:

This was so quick and easy it’s almost embarrassing.

First I took a piece of Post-it® tape, tore the edges, and created a mask:

I then brayered over the card front using Hero Arts’ Ombre Pink to Red and Butter to Orange.

Here’s what I got when I pulled off the mask:

Cool, eh?

Then I simply stamped the bicycle and the sentiment in VersaMark black. I made several blank ones to be used later when I need more specific cards. (Both stamps from Ken Oliver Crafts.)

Thanks for coming back!

Wonderful Washi

How wonderful is washi tape? This card was so fast and easy I could easily make a dozen! (In fact, I made about a half dozen in less than 20 minutes, using images I had already stamped and colored.)

I’ve had this Stampendous! image (which I loved so much I bought two of the matching images)for more than a year, but never did much with it. The washi tape did the trick, presenting a perfect platform where the image could shine. First, I used a rainbow Kaleidacolor inkpad (Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko) to brayer color on a scrap piece of cardstock. The image was stamped and embossed in black, then cut and edged with a Krylon gold metallic marker.
The sentiment is from Hero Arts CL480. And the washi is from the K and Company Smash collection.

Thanks stopping by here, where the temperature outside is topping 100, but the stamping is always a cool thing to do.

Setting a Mood with Color

There are several factors that set the mood for a card. Image, design and… maybe most importantly … color.

Bright colors seem festive while darker colors can denote different scenes and moods. Often, when I’m playing with an image, I will stamp it over and over, trying various colors, embossing powders, papers, etc. I’m a serial stamper! The good news is, I often have a stash of cards made at one sitting. Perfect for giving as a gift set.

Today I want to show a series of cards I made using only color to change the look — and mood — of a card.

My apologies for using an image (Bamboo Lake) from Kodomo, a company that is no longer around. Sad sigh. I loved their images. But there are several similar Asian images around.

The background on this (and most of these) was brayered on glossy cardstock using Kaleidacolor Autumn rainbow inkpad. I have had my Kaleidacolor (Tsukineko) pads forever and love them because the colors are separated. To use, you simply push the little tab in and the colors come together. My Kaleidacolor pads must be at least 10 years old!

The image is black embossed.

The pretty pastel pad changes the look — and placing the panel on a white card keeps it crisp.

Now I’m ready to try gold embossing:

This one also used the Autumn Leaves inkpad, but I concentrated on the other end of the pad, giving me a slightly different color combo. (Background also Kodomo, stamped in Ancient Page Sandlewood ink.)

Mixing it up a bit, I brayered Ranger’s Adirondack Mountain Lake (another pad I’ve had for ages!). Did you notice that the color lines run vertical on this one?) Bamboo lake is embossed in copper powder.

This one photographed darker than it really is… you can’t really see the subtle silver in the background paper or clearly see the silver embossed scene. The ink is Adirondack Winter Sky.

I love embossing in white on dark backgrounds! I used Adirondack Mountain Lake again.

This last entry is called “Ghost Lake” because the image was stamped on colored cardstock using Jacquard’s Castaway pad. This is not really an ink, but a color remover — sort of like bleach but without the stink and much easier to use!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday

Hello! I know, today is a FFF… and I got nuthin’! But (drumroll here) next week I will have my first blog give-away! (It will be a surprise for now… see the anticipation buiding?) Yay!

In the meantime, here is a little project I worked on a month or so ago:

First, I used a Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pad to stamp the brocade background (Hero Arts) several times:

 

Using the same ink pad, I brayered a piece of scrap paper and white embossed the bird image (Crafty Individuals/Magenta), rounded the edges, then layered the image on black paper. After gluing this on the card, I added some flowers (Imaginesce) and rhinestones, and rounded two corners of the card.

Please come back next Friday for my first ever blog candy give-away!

Friday Fiddlings — Brayer Technique

This is a short, simple post because…. I am in Greece! Opa!

But I couldn’t let a Friday go by without posting, so I am sharing  one of my favorite brayer techniques.

Here’s how: Tear a strip of scrap paper to  make mask. Lay the paper over the right side of the glossy card stock (the part you want to keep white.) I dabbed a bit of Zig repositionable glue on the paper to hold it in place. Brayer over the exposed side (Adirondack Autumn Sunset, using the blue area). Remove the mask and stamp the feather (Stampendous!) using the same ink pad. Gold emboss the sentiment (Hero Arts) over the brayered area. Edge in gold, layer.

Come back next Friday for a Fabulous Finds Friday — Bangle Bracelets!

More Cling-alicious Cards

In my last Fabulous Finds Friday post, I mentioned the joys of cling rubber stamps that have indexing on the back of the cling so you can see it through the acrylic block.

I have been having a great time playing with the images from Stampendous! and Hero Arts. In the card below, I again used my brayer and a pastel Kaleidacolor inkpad on Hero Arts’ Antique Brocade image:

The bird (Crafty Indivuals) was white embossed on a brayered background. Flowers by Imaginisce; gemstones by Hero Arts.

Below is the brocade image again, inked in black and used on a tag. Flower and gems also by Hero Arts.

Then it was time to make some cards using the Stampendous! cling images. I used fresh bloom  (CRQ130R) for a fast and easy card last week. Here are some others:

Are those crowns cute, or what? (Crazy Crowns CRV125R). Note the matching envelope! You can’t see it in this photo, but the middle crown on the card has Hero Arts gemstones in the tips, and the hearts are colored with American Crafts glitter markers. The paper (WorldWin Petallics) was run through the damask Cuttlebug embossing folder. The ribbon is from Catcus Pink.

In the next image, note how I got a smudge in the middle when I stamped it:

I almost tossed it out, but then decided, “hmmm… what if I just cut around the bad part? So I did, and here is how I used it:

(Images colored using watercolor pencil.

These stamps can be found at www.heroarts.com and www.stampendous.com