Fabulous Finds Friday — Elizabeth Craft’s Soft Finish Paper

Paper artists are a tactile bunch and Elizabeth Craft Designs has given us something worthwhile to touch in — the new Soft Finish Cardstock. I mentioned this product on my blog here, but finally had a chance to play with it. And it is, indeed, lovely!

The paper, which comes in two weights, is almost velvety to touch with just a dash of texture. It’s not as heavy as most watercolor papers, but I found it held up nicely to various coloring techniques, including watery applications.

For example….

  

Here are four pieces of the card stock that I abused with Distress Inks, sprays, water, etc. (The trio on the left is the lighter 85 lb. weight, the blue/green piece is 100 lb.)

For the first pink piece on the left I smooshed Distress inks (Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves and Tumbled Glass) on my craft sheet, spritzed with water, then pushed my card through the inks. (I used the textured side of the card stock.) I heated it, then filled in some blanks with more color. The second pink piece was created with the left over pools of ink.

Here’s one finished card:

The dies are from Elizabeth Craft, the sequins from Lawn Fawn. The purple card stock is a discontinued Paper Source line.

The bright yellow/green piece below was created using Distress sprays (Marmalade, Broken China and a spritz of metallic Bronze). I was impressed at how well the paper held up. And here’s the card:

The Tim Holtz crazy bird was stamped and black embossed on the smooth side of the card stock, then colored in with Faber-Castell PITT Big markers scribbled on a craft sheet and applied with a water brush. The bird was fussy cut and mounted with a piece of fun foam (adhered with ScraPerfect’s The Best Glue Ever). The circle (Hero Arts) was stamped in grey and Hello! (Tim Holtz Bird Crazy) in black. I also added a few clear dots of Liquid Glass from Close to My Heart for a bit more subtle dimension:

By the way, the Soft Finish paper also cuts like a dream:

I used some of the leftover pieces for these great kimonos (Elizabeth Craft Designs).

I’ll have another card made with the same papers in the next post — a Halloween card.

Thanks for tuning in!

Boo! Gearing up for Halloween

Yes, ghosts and goblins are in the air as card makers gear up for Halloween!

Here are some quick cards using Bella Blvd’s new Halloween Magic papers:

Simple, but cute (and hot diggity, I used up some scraps!) I cut out the Best Witches, punched a few circles from some leftover paper (from the same set) and added it all together, using a few foam squares for added texture. Trick or Treat was stamped using a set from Close To My Heart. The “Halloween Magic” strip is the title on the 12×12 sheet. (Way to use everything!!!)

The same sheet also gave me this cutie:

Happy Halloween is from the same CTMH set as the small trick or treat. Such a useful set!

More to come!

The Last of the Valentines!

Ah, sigh… it’s finally Valentine’s Day. I had so much fun making and sending Valentines to my girlfriends. My friends are heart-felt treasures and life would not be the same without them. When I looked at the big stack I had to send, I thought, “What a lucky girl am I.”

Enjoy the last ones ….

Most of these were fast and simple:

I adore this feather set from Close to my Heart! I could make a dozen of these cards, leave off the greeting, and have a stack ready for any occasion! The feathers were stamped on white card stock using various shades of mostly Hero Arts Shadow Inks and a blue Distress pad.

This, too, was fast and easy using the CTMH Oodles of Doodles set, Hero Arts inks and Hero Art hearts (embossed using American Crafts’ Zing powders). The pretty sequins are from Lawn Fawn.

A clean and simple card using a die from Hero Arts:

And just to prove that crafting is not a perfect art, here’s one from my Imperfect Crafter side.
It’s actually cuter in person than it appears here. I needed ONE more Valentine, so I grabbed some leftovers on my desk. I’m showing this card because I always tell my workshop students that there are “no mistakes in crafting; only design elements.” So warts and all, here she is:

I was anxious to play with this tissue paper from Hazel & Ruby. And being the Impatient Crafter, as well as the Imperfect Crafter, I tore off a piece and glued it to my card base. I had a die cut heart that did not cut all the way through so I disguised the bad part with the Prima flowers. If you look VERY closely, you will see, peeking out from the upper left hand ventricle, part of the heart where it didn’t cut all the way through. But do we through anything away? Nope! We just carry on!

Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope everyone has a sweet Valentine somewhere. Have a fabulous Friday!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I truly have many reasons to give thanks.

Here is a Thanksgiving card that started out as a simple card…. but then I had to save it from my own havoc. Sigh.

I stamped and black embossed the image (Close to My Heart) on patterned paper, then layered it on black paper. Yup, once again, I messed up the cutting (on the lower right corner, which I disguised with a CTMH embellie.) I edged the yellow paper with a punch and added the glitter tape to finish (and hide a less-than-perfect edge. Sigh again). Everything is from CTMH.

May your holidays be wonderful!

And a hearty Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! May your candles burn bright and your home be filled with love, laughter and the smell of frying potato pancakes.

Oh, Baby!

It’s been a while since I’ve made a baby card…. so this was fun!

I love the bright colors in this card that I sent to a former co-worker on the birth of her first child. From Close to My Heart we have the coordinating papers (Baby Cakes collection), the stamped letters (framework alphabet E1027), the ink.
The letters were filled in with Art Glitter’s Designer Dries Clear glue (I love this for glitter — I love the thin tip and the consistency) and covered with Stampendous! Sunflower and Orange micro glitters. (Yes, I missed a few spots. But it’s still pretty glittery!) The “congrats” is from an old Inkadinkado set and the scallop punch is from Stampin’ Up!

Here’s another baby card that came together by accident:

The pretty leafy background is a lovely Spellbinder’s die that I have had for a while. I played with it when I first got it and made the pretty background. I got so far as to stick it to a card front. And then it sat. And sat. And sat some more. Along comes this cute Little Sprout stamp from Art Impressions. The sprout image seemed like the perfect time to play with another new acquisition — these cool Irojiten colored pencils from Tombow. I love the way the colors blend (and now I want all the other sets, of course.) Now I just need to add a cute sentiment and find another baby.

Boo! Scarin’ Up Some Halloween Cards

Yay! It’s almost Halloween!

I love this orange dotted paper from Close to My Heart (you’ll see it a lot on my Fall cards!). Everything here is from CTMH’s Charmed set. The main scene was black embossed on a scrap piece I colored with Ranger Distress Inks (spiced marmalade, wild honey and a touch of crushed olive.) I mounted the panel on a black scrap and trimmed it … but I goofed. I cut too close to the image and it looked odd. So I hung a punched spider web border (EK Success) on the top to cover my mistake. Then I added the orange Prima flower to cover another mistake. Sheesh. The center dot is a Doodlebug Sprinkle (I love these!)
The sentiment was stamped on scrap paper and rubbed with Distress wild honey and spiced marmalade. The diamond background was stamped in Hero Arts Wet Cement.

I don’t use a lot of cute animals, but I could NOT resist this House Mouse image from Stampendous! There’s that CTMH dotted paper again, broken up by a punched strip (EK Success). The sentiment is also CTMH. The mouse was colored with water color pencils and after everything was dry I added some yellow and orange Ranger Stickles. Mousie was popped up with Glue Dots. Fast and easy.

This is not my favorite, but embracing my failings as the Imperfect Stamper I’m including it anyway. It feels too fussy and overdone. I had a strong urge to use navy with orange and I gave in to that urge. (Which is why sometimes urges need to be held in check.) All images from Close to My Heart. The scene and the sentiment are embossed in white; the edge was rubbed with navy pigment ink and sprinkled with Psychedelic embossing powder from Judikins.

If you’re not tired of Halloween cards, check out these oldies or these.

Enjoy!

Fabulous Finds Friday — New Inks

New inks (from Clearsnap and Ranger) were introduced at the recent Craft and Hobby Show, and I love them both!
Today, I’ll play with a new palette of Archival Inks created by Wendy Vecchi for Ranger. The vintage-y colors coordinate beautifully with Ranger’s Distress Inks. These inks are permanent, which means they won’t react with water. Yay! You’ll see why that’s a good thing.

The Buzzing Bee image (from Close To My Heart) was stamped first in Ranger’s Archival Fern Green. I heated the image with my heat tool, then applied Ranger Distress Inks (crushed olive, broken china, fired brick) with a foam applicator. (When rubbing on inks, start off the paper to get a softer look. You can see how imperfect I am at this … I have one semi-harsh line on this sample.)

Now here’s the fun part: Using a dot stencil (The Crafter’s Workshop), I sponged water over the Distress Inks. Because Distress inks are water-reactive, I could take away color, leaving the cool ghostly imprint. Sponge over the stencil, blot with a paper towel, and there ya go. I also flicked a bit of water on it to get some ghostly spatters.

The panel was mounted on paper from Close To My Heart’s new Laughing Lola collection. The fun embellishing “dots” are also from CTMH.
I love the modern color combos!

Here’s a card that uses the same archival ink in a more traditional way:

The papers and embellishment are also new, from Close To My Heart’s Sarita collection.

Stay tuned for Clearsnap’s SurfaceZ inks, coming up!

Celebrate an Easy Card

Oh, how I love a quick and easy card!

You can’t get much easier than this:

When making a quick card, color is often the key. Here I stamped the flags from Hero Arts/Studio Calico set ST510 using the bright colors in Stephanie Barnard’s signature ColorBox line (Tangerine, Banana, Spearmint, Grape, Bubblegum and Sky. Yum.)

These were stamped on a white panel. The baker’s twine (Close to My Heart) is held down with a dab of Ranger’s Glossy Accents. Celebrate (Hero Arts) was stamped in black, and a few Dew Drops from The Robin’s Nest were added, held down with Glossy Accents. The panel was mounted on a piece of WorldWin card stock.
Bam! Done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ahhh…. Summertime!

I can’t believe summer is halfway over and I have not posted these cards yet!

Enjoy:

(Images on all cards are from Close To My Heart. The little Dew Drops are from the Robin’s Nest, attached with tiny Glue Dots or Zots (I use them both … a lot! The sentiment is from Hero Arts, the sun rays embossing folder is Sizzix/Tim Holtz.)

(Sun rays embossing folder from Sizzix/Tim Holtz; the sentiment is from the same CTMH set as the images.)

(I cut the car out using a Spellbinders’ Nestabilities die — the only way I’d get that perfect circle! Sentiment by Hero Arts.)

I am off to CHA — the big craft show in Las Vegas. I’ll be reporting on the show for Crafts ‘n things magazine’s blog beginning in August. Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Fun Friday — Very Pun-y

I love making cards, sending cards and giving cards as gift sets. So this set, Puns of Praise C1538 from Close To My Heart, is a perfect fit! I love the small, simple images and if I want to use the image without the “pun” underneath, it’s easy enough to mask off that part.
And ya know what’s also cool about this set? I was able to make a dozen cards in practically no time (AND I used up some of my scraps… and we all know how much I love using my scraps!)

Here’s a group shot:

The first thing I did was stamp a bunch of images on white cardstock, often using scrap pieces. I made sure to leave enough space so I could die cut around the image. I didn’t do much coloring — just a bit here and there. I used dies from Spellbinders and Sizzix to make layers. Take a look:

Both are pretty much the same, but using a different colored cardstock for the back layers offers a bit of a change. (The dots embossing folder is from Cuttlebug/Provo.

And a different look:

The chevron ribbon is also by Close to My Heart (attached using Therm O Web’s Super Tape); the die is Spellbinders Labels 8, raised on foam squares.

(die is Sizzix ???)

I have other variations … I’ll save those for a rainy (read lazy!) day!
Thanks for stopping by!