Thursday, March 27, 2014

I totally missed the date!

So I totally missed posting this card. I was the winner of a Paper Crafting Challenge a few weeks ago and was given the opportunity to be the guest designer for the week, this week! I was sick and I celebrated my birthday and found out we bought a house and I completely forgot to post the card and link to the challenge.

So here is a quick blog post about it all. ;)

Paper Crafting Challenge 6


Unity's In a Pickle Itty Bitty and some Scrap papers a few brads and my new favorite Copics created this adorable Pregnancy card.


 Based on this sketch!


There is about 1 1/2 days left to play along so go for it! I know I'll be making one for the challenge tomorrow.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Where have I been you ask? ... Knee deep in cards!!!

I had an order for 36 cards. 36 cards that needed to be thank you and birthday themed. The customer loves history, geography, vintage, antiques and all those types of things so when I went to create his card sets I used that to my advantage. I made 24 thank you cards using some map themed papers from The Paper Studio's Uncharted Pack.





I heat embossed the sentiment, thank you in silver using Ranger Super Fine Detail Embossing powder.  A banner was made from some of the scraps and a single brad was added from Recollections mini brads metallic collection in silver.




Then I used the spare pieces of the map papers and was able to create 4 birthday cards. These were simple and fairly masculine and they were finished off with three Recollections brads on the upper left.

So that would be 28 cards...


These two cuties were made using the same two pieces of paper from a Doodlebug Design 6x6 paper pad called take note. The papers are two sided and this offers so much in the way of whimsey to the cards although the cards are created with structure, they scream fun!

The spellbinders die cut image panel is held in place with four yellow Recollections brads.


A bit of additional whimsey is added to this card with those Recollections brads, in black, on the edge of the image panel.



And now we are at 30 cards...


These two cards were created using The Paper Studio's The Great Circus Company Paper pack and some Unity Itty Bitty stamps. I used some Spare parts and recollection star brads on the little elephant stamp. The star brads fit perfectly inside the stamped image. Then I trailed the stars upward to fill in the space. One tiny star dots the I in wish Big and a single star holds the bottom part of a circle in place to anchor the three circles.





I normally color but these papers scream for line drawing style stamping so there really isn't too much coloring going on between the two. The package is shaded with E40 though, just to help add a little dimension. Three little Recollections brads finish the card off at the bottom.



Here that same image has been colored brightly with Greens and Blue-Greens to match the fun background paper by Doodlebug Design. This is why I love stamps. They are so versatile, the same image for two different audience. A few silver brads The Paper Studio's Spare Parts line finish this fun card.



A scrap left from those Doodlebug Design papers, a piece from DCWV and a little pink card stock make the base for this fabulous card.

The cake and the sentiment are stamps by Jennifer Ellory from the set Bake a Cake. The cake stand and the cake layer were stamped and the cake was colored with E40, E41 and E43. The Flowers were stamped with a Stampin' Up marker Melon Mambo. The brads were Recollections in yellow. A panel was cut out using the spellbinders oval die and then the oval with scallop.


 The total sits at 34 cards...

Then it was on to some GinaK. I love the "Tickle your funny bone" You Know You're Old When set and have had it since about 2007. It is my go to card for those "middle aged" men in my life and it gets used several times a year for those "MUST HAVE" funny cards.

The first one is the man
These papers are by Basic Grey's Bowties paper pack. I found them at my local Big Lots. The mountain of Copics used to color this old geezer was ginormous and I should have taken a photo so I remembered what they were. Sorry... The inside of the card says: When your ears are hairier than your head. I'm sure we all know someone who would appreciate the humor in this one.

And then there is this fabulous lady

Same stamp set used here on this lady. The inside of the card says: When getting lucky means finding your car in the parking lot!...  The papers here are also Basic Grey but are from the Clippings pack.

I sure hope the gentleman who ordered these cards will be happy with the amount of energy and creativity that went into all 36 of them. ;) Night all! Oh and I'd love to read your comments. Tell me which is your favorite. Did one tickle your funny bone?


Sunday, March 9, 2014

How does a card come together?

Normally I work in the "scatterbrained" style. Yes this exists, ask any crafter. Tonight I actually had a plan, a method, a path! I felt like it deserved to be written down and documented for future generations ;) (just kidding, I thought it would be neat for me to remember how this works for the future)

So the first thing I did was decided what stamp I wanted to use. I chose this Itty Bitty by Unity called More than Ice Cream.







 After it was stamped on white cards stock it was colored with Copic Markers.
E000, E31, E35, E40, E41, E43, B12, B41, B45, R14, R20, YR06, Y15, N4 & N6

I decided to cut the image out in a circle

Then I chose a sketch. A sketch is a pattern for the making of a card. The sketch I chose was this:


Although the Ice Cream truck isn't from the Circus, I thought these papers would be fun to use for the card. I chose three patterns and a red card stock to back the Ice Cream Truck Image.

 
 I used a die to cut the frame circle from red for the main image panel.



After everything was colored and cut, I layered it into this fun card. A single brad represents the small circle in the sketch above. Sketches serve as a starting point for your own creativity. If you haven't had the opportunity to work with one, I highly suggest it. Although it is fun to make something on your own, you end up with a quality card when you start with something as "skeleton". I hope you like my little creation.







Friday, March 7, 2014

Reflecting on Reflection

So I absolutely love all the cards made by Stampin'Up's Lovely as a Tree stamp set and when my best friend had the opportunity to get the set she did, just because she knew I'd love to play with it. I fulfilled an order for 10 thank you cards for a local artist/ photographer tonight. I used the reflection technique and made this stunning set for her.


After stamping the image both from the stamp and from the acetate used to do the reflection technique, I colored the images and then used a nestie to cut out the rectangle with docked corners shape.

Then it was all about the layers. Image on black, then that panel on white and then black and then on the white card blank.



I added some brads to the corners of the image panel. Used the stampamajig to place the thank you sentiment perfectly and glued them down to the bases. The back, is of course, stamped with the Because of Delaney Jane stamp.


Here, take one more look at these awesome cards.

I entered this card in the Paper Crafting Challenge seen here: Paper Crafting Challenge Keep it Cool

Then it was about fulfilling other orders tonight, Mother's day cards. The request was, one with a doe and fawn and one with a hummingbird.

I think I nailed it!



 It is hard to see in the picture but the background creme has some sparkle and shine to it. I thought it needed this sweet ribbon knot and those three darling brads to finish it off.

And then the hummingbird. It is an Inkadinkado Image and if you look closely at it you will see hidden images inside this bird.
I did some paper piercing on this card (which I normally don't do). I love how it looks around the image. The sparkle silver banner adds so much to this in person, giving it lots of shine. The inside is stamped with Happy Mother's Day.




And finally, a Cancer Cannot Card. I know, seems like a theme with me. I get this stamp inky at least once a week, most of the time several times a week. Such a sad reality really. I love that I can bring a smile to someone with a card like this. This one is going to a little girly-girl. I hope she smiles real big.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Paper Crafting Challenge Try Two

I am so inspired by this sketch. found here @ Paper Crafting Challenges 


Sketch Challenge 2


I have actually used it several times this week. You will see the skeleton of this sketch in several more cards, I'm sure, before I find another that inspires me like this one.

Today, as well as yesterday, was about fulfilling all these orders I have. I love making cards and each one made and sold is one closer to the headstone for my beautiful baby girl.

The first card I made was for a client who is celebrating her Dad's 60th birthday with a Vintage Dude 60 theme. I found the perfect graphic for it, distressed it and paired it with some amazing papers by BasicGrey.

 I used this cool typewriter number paper to make the stripe and one of the banners as well as a coordinating black patterned vintage paper. the background has a pattern on it but reads like solid to me. I thought these brass brads were the perfect embellishment for this masculine birthday card.



The second card I created with this same sketch is a card for a new baby. The woman who ordered this card has such a huge heart. I couldn't let her down, I had to create a cute card for her friend who had an adorable little girl yesterday. The terms were, she had a girl and she likes Mickey and Minnie Mouse. So this is what I came up with. This is another digital image but I colored it with Copics. The papers are StudioG and some BasicGrey scraps left over from some other cards made today (there will be a sneak peek at them at the end of this blog. The sentiment used was from the Little Peanut set from A Muse.

 Then we had my Dad's Birthday. He turned 61 today and I HAD to MAKE HIM this CARD!

I figured we use these banners with the inverted point all the time but why not use the arrow. I love how this turned out. Papers were by American Crafts and the image is a digi. I colored him with Copics. The inside of this card has a Fiskars stamped sentiment that says, There is no cure for the common birthday and that is a quote by John Glen.



It seems that I make one of these Cancer Cannot cards at least once a week, this week it has been once a day. I Love this stamp by Chatterbox. It says a lot. And I used the ribbon from A Muse's Cancer set that they give out every year in October for just the price of shipping!!!

Teal is the color of Ovarian cancer and if you look closely you can see that stamped in Tim Holz distress ink Antique Linen. It is this woman's motto, FIGHT LIKE A GIRL, also from the A Muse set. The Bg paper was a BasicGrey and the teal was one of those buy a pound of scraps for a few bucks packs. I heat embossed the ribbon in clear on that teal paper before framing the top of the Cancer Cannot panel with it.



With this Cancer card a housewarming card was ordered. I have a few of those on the list to do yet but I loved this Unity house stamp. It came in one of the grab bags recently. I also used a sentiment by Fiskars. These stamps were surprising. They are actually sticky. They are thin but have foam and rubber and stamp very cleanly. The papers were BasicGrey and a few little brads finished off the card. I cut the frame out of that second layer and was able to conserve paper that way. I think this simple card works well. I hope it is loved.


And now, I have been fulfilling orders like a mad woman. I love that each one is different but because of that, it takes a while to make cards. These were the cards that went into an order last night along with a few that were already in my blog the other day. I hope these cards are all received and sent with love.

















Sunday, March 2, 2014

Fulfilling orders

I'm not sure everyone is aware but I make and sell these cards. The profits go toward the purchase of a head stone for my baby girl Delaney. She was born 10-22-13 and passed away 11-01-13. She suffered from several heart defects as well as a chromosomal abnormality. She was an angel here on earth. I started putting the profits into an account and will, hopefully, have enough to purchase a head stone for her soon.

So tonight was about fulfilling orders and confirming designs. I love when I get creative freedom with an order but when someone has specifics that is fine too.

I played with some Unity, Chatterbox, and digital images tonight as well as some sentiments from A Muse and Gina K.



This card was created using the Array of Bottles Itty Bitty by Unity. I started with a sketch but that didn't last long. I created my own version of the sketch I guess. Actually, this card has more going on than I usually like, brads, twine, banners, polka dots oh my!  I colored the image with Copics, the brads are Colorbok and the twine is tan and white.  The inside of this card is stamped with two sentiments by A Muse, one says "it takes a long time to grow young" - Pablo Picasso the other is a simple "Happy Birthday"...



This card was created using a digital image. I colored the truck using Copics B21, B23 & B24 and then E70 & E74 for the seat, N0, N1, N2 & N4 for the chrome, there was a touch of Y00 used in the headlights. The sentiment is Gina K from the Masculine set.  A few little black brads in each corner and this beauty is done.



This one hits that soft spot. A cancer card. I have never had cancer, but I feel drawn to make these. This stamp by Chatterbox has been inked more times than any other stamp in my collection. I was asked to do a cancer card for a retired police officer. I didn't have any police themed stamps and didn't really want to put the wrong thing on it but I felt that this dp with the stars was just patriotic enough for a retired police officer's card. The purple ribbon, it represents pancreatic cancer :(


And finally:


Some Angry Birds Love. This design was approved tonight for 15 invitations. The back of this one flat card has the birthday information but this front was colored with Copic Markers. Can you believe that she would have had to pay $40 for 15 cards plus shipping?!? That seemed crazy to me and I can create them for just a little more than 1/2 of that so I went to work finding the perfect digital image and the right color combinations for the birds. I sure hope her little man has a wonderful birthday party and can't wait to create the rest of these.