From the Vault … This Card Scores

Every so often I find some old cards I made.

Before there were embossing folders galore, I used a scoring tool to create texture on cards. For this card, I first scored one way, then the other. On the top part of the card, I scored in both directions (you can barely see the bottom cross-score, which shows up better on the bottom third of the card).

The sentiment is from Hero Arts; I’m not sure who makes the elephant, as it was stamped a long time ago at a friend’s house.

Thanks for popping over!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Technique Tuesday

I finally got to play with this fun license plate set (stamps with a matching die) from Technique Tuesday. I love this set because it is hip enough for any age or gender — great for kids, teens, men, dads, etc. And it’s versatile, useful for everything from birthday to graduation.

First, of course, I had to play with the die:

Isn’t that the cutest thing? I did a quick cut from a piece of scrap silver cardstock and stamped the coordinating image inside. (I made a card, but mailed it before I took a photo! Doh!)

Here’s another version I made using just the stamps (background stamped in Hero Arts Wet Cement ink:

The license plate was stamped in VersaFine Black and colored in with a silver metallic pencil (I’m not thrilled with that look, but live and learn). the “UR GR8” is from the die cut set.

I’ve just started playing with this set* and look forward to getting lots of use from it!

(*Disclaimer: this set was thoughtfully provided by Technique Tuesday. Thank you!)

Random Acts of Stamping

Oh, boy, is my desk a mess. It’s time to clean up and make a fresh start. For a cardmaker, cleaning means using up all those bits and pieces left over from other paper projects. What a great way to clean! Here are some Random Acts of Stamping:

Buried among other bits and pieces was this cool background piece made by rubbing Gelatos (see this post and this post for more info on Gelatos) on water color paper. The big fish is from Rubber Stamp Plantation.

Here’s another card made using random pieces found on my desk.

The birdcage (a stamp and die set) is from Prickley Pear; the quote is from Hero Arts; the die cut border is a Spellbinders die; the gold paper is, I think, Die Cuts With a View.

There is so much more to clean! Stay tuned….

Hats Off to a New Year!

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas … and here’s a big hats-off welcome to the new year!

Last year I found a template for these adorable hat-shaped cards. I am so sorry … I don’t remember where I found them (so if anyone knows, please alert the media, which means me.)

Here are my early attempts to create some fun shaped cards. (The top part of the hat is connected so that it opens. You can see the fold if you look really hard):

Background stamps: Hero Arts. Flower by Prima.

This flowery paper was a tissue-like paper that I scavenged from a gift!

Background paper by Me & My Big Ideas; punched flower by McGill; stamped flower Hero Arts.

Stamped backgrounds by Hero Arts; flower Prima; trim unknown.

Background stamp by Hero Arts, stamped using a Kaleidacolor pad from Tsukineko.

Happy New Year everyone!

Fun Friday … Note Cards

A short post on a fun project!

I recently took a workshop at the Paper Source* and we made these cool, fun note card sets along with a nifty folder to hold them all. The best part? We recycled and reused old calendars.

Check it out:

Below is the folder and some of the cards.

Don’t you love the string closure? Done with punched circles and eyelets. Can you see the butterfly envelope peeking from behind on the left? And the pretty poppy envelope liner on the right? Those were made using Paper Source templates — one for envelopes, the other just for liners.

Here are the notecards snuggled up in the folder:

And a little closer:

The butterflies were stamped, the flowers were cut from old calendars. It’s worth buying the calendars just for the pretty pictures! All the paper is from Paper Source.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Disclaimer — I sometimes work at Paper Source!

Random Cards, Mellow Yellow

The weather was gloomy, work has been hectic, there’s not much new to report and time is tight … so here are some random cards.

First, since I talked about some of my favorite embossing powders last week, here is a cheery card made using Zing! powders from American Crafts. Zowie, those colors are bright!

And more mellow yellow made from … yes, scraps!

I know, not terribly exciting, but fast and easy. Thanks for indulging me!

Fabulous Friday — More Paper Goodness

My last post showed how I took a bunch of scrapbook papers from Close To My Heart and used them to cover a book. But I had scraps left. What’s a gal to do? I could simply store the scraps (where they would languish with my OTHER scraps!) or use them all up. So I used them! Here are the results: (all decorative papers are from Close To My Heart Stella collection)

(all stamped images: Close To My Heart, stamped in Lagoon; frame is Spellbinders; friendship sentiment is punched using a McGill punch)

(woman and sentiment from Hero Arts)

(purse, sentiment from Skipping Stones; ribbon from Close To My Heart.)

(Everything from Close To My Heart.)

(stamps by Hero Arts.)

Here’s a little inking tip. These Ink Blushers from Tsukineko (rebranding itself as Imagine Crafts) is a soft, dense sponge that is great for inking edges. I love the feel, and the ink application is easy to control. This definiely qualifies as a Fabulous Find!

Have a Fabulous Friday!

Play Time!

A new friend came over to play this week. She is relatively new to stamping and although she has bought some stamps, paper, punches, etc., she was feeling overwhelmed — like, where do I start? What inks do I use? How do I pull together a card?

My mission was to get her to make a card — without scaring her away with the dozens of choices and techniques. I kept our supplies to a minimum, starting with just a black ink pad and some water color pencils. I also wanted to show her how easy it is to make a simple, yet eye-catching card, in five minutes.

I started with chalk inks (these happen to be from ColorBox) to point out that you can, indeed, create a card using one stamp and some ink. (All images Hero Arts.) She was impressed with the quick-drying chalk ink, which lets you layer color in a snap.

Next, I couldn’t resist playing with my newest Impressibilities texture plate (Spellbinders):

I wanted to show the fun and ease of texturing, and how it sets off a focal image. It was like magic! She oohed and ahhed appreciatively. The background was perfect for this scrap that I dug out of my stamped scrap box. (poinsettia by Hero Arts, Stickles glitter glue by Ranger)

And one more, again using a previously stamped image:

Again, using chalk inks and background stamps. (Crow by OnyxXpressions; background circle in circles cube by JudiKins)

And there … within a few minutes, we made three cards! Can’t wait to have another play date!

Thanks for stopping by … and stay tuned for some crafting news about new products.

Best Wishes Quick Card

Talk about a quick and easy card! This was it:

The flower (Stampendous!) was white embossed on vellum — love that look! — then cut out and glued onto a scrap of black corrugated cardboard. The greeting (Hero Arts) was black embossed.

That’s it! I think it took me longer to write this post than it did to make the card. Thanks for looking. Come back Friday for a sneak peak from CHA, the grand daddy of craft and hobby shows.

Friday Inspiration, Coasters and Scraps

I am getting a lot of mileage out of this whole desert thing! Not only did the flowers, colors and textures of the desert inspire me, but I also found some very cool paper at the hotel where we stayed.

Check out the colors and patterns:

The striped paper is from the little packet that held our room keys. (Notice the white part on the lower right — that’s where I tore it open. I almost cut it off, but just in the nick of time I realized I could hide it!) The coasters were such a delicious weight and color. They had the hotel name stamped across the center, but that didn’t stop me. Here is a card I made using the striped paper:

See how I hid the white scrappy part? To make this card I first ran my cardstock through my new Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folder (Sizzix.) I edged the striped paper with a black marker, then glued it to the card front, off-setting it to the left. I white embossed the Michael Strong pot on rust-colored paper (to match the rust-colored stripe) then cut the top part of the pot to make the little one. (I love the versatility of this pot, which I also used here)

The pot screamed for greenery, so I stamped the pod-looking flowers (Hero Arts CL338) on scrap paper in Old Olive (Stampin’ Up), then cut them out and cut them apart. I stuck them to the back of the pot, then glued the whole shebang to the bottom right of the card. I attached the smaller pot using foam dimensional tape. All that was left was to add the sentiment (Hero Arts) and three gemstones.

Next week I’ll show you what I did with that coaster!

Thanks for coming by.