Gone Camillia Crazy….

Must. Stop. Stamping. Camellias.

Here is the last batch from my Technique Tuesday camellia crazy card making spree.

This time, I used the stamp more as a background:

This top-folding card was really fun. I stamped the first camellia in the upper left hand corner, then made a mask and stamped all over the card using Wendy Vecchi’s archival Watering Can grey (from Ranger).

Check out the teeny camellia in the lower corner!

I stamped the camellia on scrap white card stock (using that same Wendy Vecchi watering can ink) then painted it using my water brush and Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Markers (Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet) and some leftover green ink on my palette from my Faber-Castell PITT brush markers. When the piece was dry I cut out the center of the flower, plus two leaves.

I stamped and black embossed “Beautiful” (Technique Tuesday) on a strip of vellum, which I attached by wrapping the band to the inside of the card, attaching with Scotch Brand vellum tape. I also anchored the vellum on the front, using the same tape, where I knew I would put the flower, which I attached with foam squares.

The final touches included a dab of Ranger Diamond Stickles on various flower parts a few Doodlebug Designs sequins, attached using Glue Dots micros.

And one last one …

So simple! Stamp the camellia in grey in the lower right corner of a white card stock panel, round the corners and mount it on a Paper Source cement card front (also rounding the corners). Die- cut “happy” (Technique Tuesday) twice, layer the two and adhere to top of card. I added some Ranger Glossy Accents for shine and stamped “everything” beneath it. A few Dew Drops from Robin’s Nest, a black Hero Arts gem and bam! I’m done. Everything was glued down with ScraPerfect Best Glue Ever.

Thanks for coming by!

You Saw the Beginning … with Avery Elle

In my last post, I showed my first experiments using Avery Elle’s nifty Custom Panels die set, which has so many possibilities!

Here are more finished cards:

To finish this top-folding card I stamped and embossed (in white) two flowers and a butterfly (both from Stampendous!). One flower was stamped on vellum, the other flower and the butterfly were stamped on a patterned paper from Bazzill Basics. They were adhered with Tombow Power Adhesive Tags, which I like because they are clear and not too thick. I stamped Celebrate! in the lower right hand corner using black ink. A little Ranger Diamond Stickles was the finishing touch.

This one was fun to build. The thank you sentiment is from Technique Tuesday’s Smile Borders (A fun set that I will soon be using with a pull-tab die!), stamped in Marvy #12 grey ink (an oldie but still one of my faves). The flowers were punched using Tonic Studios flower punches on scrap cardstock and the leaves are from a new Tim Holtz/Sizzix punch. I just punched and layered, adding tiny Candy Fix and Stix 2 foam squares for dimension. I added some Ranger gold Liquid Pearls to some of the flowers, which I regret (although it looks a bit better in person than in the photo.)

Here’s the last of that batch! Whew! And a very simple card, indeed. Using a Spellbinders Rose Creations die, I cut the three smallest petal shapes, plus the leaves, from the Core’dinations Gemstones paper, held them together with a brad from Eyelet Outlet, and attached to the card using Pop Up Glue Dots.

Bear with me … just two more cards

First, I gold embossed on scrap paper, then cut three pieces using the pie shaped die. I stacked the pieces on the left side of the card. Ad a sentiment (Hero Arts) and bam! Done!
The chevrons are from Lawn Fawn backdrops, the text from Hero Arts Old Letter stamp. I believe the sentiment is also Hero Arts.

Last one:

First, I die cut a piece from white scrap paper using the Avery Elle curved die, then dry embossed it with a Cuttlebug pattern. (Tip: Die cut first so you don’t flatten out the dry embossed portion when you run the piece through the die cutting machine.) The balloon animal and sentiments are alsofrom Avery Elle. The balloon animal was stamped in a denim blue, fussy cut, and popped up with foam squares. The embellishment pieces were die cut with that same Avery Elle die and glued randomly.

That’s a lot of dies in one package! Check it out.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Avery Elle

I have a cool new die set, called Custom Panels, from Avery Elle.
I love the versatility of this set!

There are so many possibilities! (I won’t bore you with the details, which are on the Avery Elle site. Also, check out this terrific video by the set designer, JJ Bolton.)

Now, let’s play. The first thing I do when I get a new die (or stamp!) is to use it, IMMEDIATELY. (They don’t call me the impatient crafter for nothing!). With dies, I have to cut something … STAT! I usually start by cutting whatever scrap paper I have hangin’ around. I like to get a feel for what these dies can do.

So that’s what I did here. I hesitated about posting this photo, but in the interest of honesty, I have to show the good, the bad and the ugly.

Anyway, here are my two early experiments.

I started by cutting the curved shape in various ways, then piecing them together. The scallopy-looking card was made using the little pie-shaped pieces. Just gettin’ a feel for the dies ….

I played around more with the pie-shaped piece … :

… first cutting four times into my card front. Ugh — despite the little cross-shaped alignment piece, I did NOT get these straight!
So I tried again, this time cutting the pieces and gluing them on top of my card front:

(the banner die is also from the set)

Next I went crazy with printed, patterned vellum (from a long-ago Hot Off The Press pack). Check out the random shapes:

After admiring the shapes, I turned them into cards:

The medallion is from Spellbinders’ Shapeabilities S5-114. I haven’t used this for a long time and had forgotten how pretty it is. I used the small and medium medallion, cutting them from Core’dinations Black Magic Core Basics paper. This die works best with two-sided paper. The die has little flaps you fold back, showing the underside. So clever! The smaller top piece was attached using Therm O Web 3D foam Squares, topped with a Hero Arts flower gemstone. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday “say it happy.” To keep the flap down on the card, I used a bit of double sided Copic X-Press It Tape, which worked quite well with the vellum.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the finished cards!

Thanks for stopping by.

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!

Another Set of Cards

In my last post, I talked about making sets of cards.

Here’s another yellow set — so fast and easy, using up scraps:

(The butterfly punch is Martha Stewart.)

And a different take, using a very old but well-loved hydrangea image from Hero Arts. (These were made a while ago):

A few close-ups:

Just basic stamping above. The hydrangea on the green card was stamping using an old Adirondack Mountain Lake rainbow pad. The white rectangle was edged with gold metallic pen. I love the way it came out.

The image on the pink card was just stamped in black and layered onto other cardstock.

The three hydrangeas were stamped in Tsukineko’s Memento black on a piece of torn white paper, then colored with pencils. A little color was stippled on the background using a Tsukineko Kaleidacolor blue rainbow pad. The pretty glittery cardstock is an old one from Paper Adventures. (Yes, I do hoard my papers for a VERY long time!!)

And last, but not least, some vellum cards:

The vellum on the green patterned card was pre-printed (yes, also from my old stash!) The hydrangea was stamped in the Adirondack rainbow pad (told you I love it!) I then ran the deckled edge against the card stock to get ink on the edges, then I used a water brush to blur and bleed the ink for a softer edge.

On the white-embossed image, I used an old trick of coloring on the back side of the vellum, like so:

(I always loved that technique!)

I have one more set coming up! Thanks for coming by.