Apr 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
When at first you don’t succeed………
Fab Friday 134 posted a four color challenge consisting of Night of Navy, Soft Sky, So Saffron, and Powder Pink. You are thinking that sounds easy enough. It wasn’t, not for me, not this week. Suffice it to say that I have one card that came out more like CASE the designer, one that was posted for #tttc041, one that is still in pieces (and will be made into a card in the very near future), and this one today. I was in the blue room (craft room, aka room of random…..stuff) for a long while today trying to figure this out. Once I got it, it was just a matter of putting all the pieces together.
Here’s my card:
Here’s the challenge post:
Stamp sets, die sets, adhesive, oh my.
When I finally had the idea in my head I started searching for stamp sets to match what I was seeing. I started by stamping the So Saffron dots from the Timeless Textures stamp set. Then I went back with the larger floral stamp from Amazing You clear mount stamp set. I finished with the Powder Pink small flower from Petal Palette. I also used the tag die (top and bottom tags) and the die peeking out from under the top tag from the Petals and More thinlits. The amazing focal point is from the Celebrate You thinlits. Oh, and in my jar of bakers twine I found some Night of Navy twine from what must have been a Paper Pumpkin kit. Score!
Night of Navy for the win
Three of the colors were soft, whereas Night of Navy is regal. I knew the Navy needed to be the bold pop of color on this card, so I used it on the top, middle, and bottom for balance. The bottom “to me” tag was an afterthought, but I am pleased with the subtle impact it makes, while also grounding the twine.
My next challenge was giving dimension to the amazing die cut. Can you even begin to imagine how difficult it would have been to use mini-dimensionals for that? No way I could. I remembered some eclipse Christmas cards and some of the demos said they added layers to their letters for stability. So, I did the same thing for this amazing sentiment. There are four layers of the cropped word, which does give the dimension I wanted. Thankfully, I have a Xyron sticker maker, and it was relatively easy to get these layers to form one piece.
Here’s a close-up of the layers:
This close-up also highlights the Fine-tip Glue Pen dots for the centers of the pink flowers. It’s a bit difficult to tell, but I also went back and topped each and every yellow dot with Clear Wink of Stella. It is just so hard to get that to show up in pictures.
Feb 11, 2018 | Uncategorized |
CAS(E) the Designer for Global Design Project # 124
I just love the beauty of this flat stamp, free with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-Bration, and have used it a number of times. I’ve said it before, but it’s important to remember that you do not want to to over-ink this stamp for the best results. If you over-ink it, you will wind up with an ugly blob instead of a beautiful floral print. For this card, I used Basic Black and Pacific Point on Whisper White. I think this color combination is stunning, and it can also be elegant with the additional of silver metallic enamel shapes and silver thread for embellishments.
Copy and Selectively Edit for this CAS(E)
While I have been glancing at this sketch all week, this card idea literally popped in my head today. Nothing like last minute because the challenge link closes in 4 hours. Louise Sharp is this week’s designer, and her inspiration card follows:
The center element was created by cropping out the Bloom using the Layering Circle Dies, including the scalloped circle. Two layers of dimenstionals really allow this element to pop up off the cardstock. My first edit is with the thread, which I put behind the circle layers. My sentiment is on the bottom right corner instead of top right, mainly because it fit there. The silver metallic enamel shapes were a last minute addition because I felt the card just needed a little something.
Feb 11, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Freshly Made Sketches # 323
FMS sketches are always clean and simple. I pulled out the Picture Perfect DSP for the sketch, and then decided to use the sentiment from Magical Day. Pieces were cut, mats were trimmed, circles cropped, sentiment stamped, card assembled, then I felt something was missing. Enter Party Pandas, and the sitting Panda holding the balloon seemed perfect.
Here’s my card:
Magical Day
I just love, love, love this 6 x 6 DSP stack, so much so that I’ve already ordered another stack. The two sides of this paper coordinated beautifully, as always. The circles on the left and chevrons on the right are very graphic and seem to balance each other. I left open space on the black mat which gives the appearance of matting without actually doing it. The peach scalloped circle was cropped using the Layering Circle die set from the bottom mat to cut down on carstock waste. Whisper White sentiment base was cropped using Stitched Shape circle dies. A Bermuda Bay Stamping Write marker highlights the stitching in the ditch of the circle. Stamping Dimensionals gave some height to the sentiment.
Last Minute Party Panda
Once I got everything together, I started to think that there was nothing connecting the sentiment to the card. I have thoroughly enjoyed using the Party Pandas, so I thought… why not here as well. What could be more magical than a sitting panda flying off the large senitment circle layers? I stamped him, then fussy cut him out and popped him up using the mini-dimensionals, which allowed the string to tuck under the sentiment.
FMS323 sketch:
Feb 8, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Beautiful Peacock
I saw the sketch for CTS#258 this morning and decided to try out the SAB stamp set (free with a $50 purchase) Beautiful Peacock. I’ve seen some absolutely gorgeous cards on Pinterest using this set, and it was very helpful when trying to figure out how to use the set. I wound up using a mixture of full ink stamps with elements stamped off. Trust me, you want to play around with this set before you start on cardstock, and my current sheet of grid paper is a testament to playing around.
This stamp set is just gorgeous.
Color Choices
I knew I wanted something bold, and started with the DSP from Eastern Palace making Tranquil Tide and Dapper Denim the coordinating colors. Base and front of the card are Very Vanilla, which allowed the colorful peacock to shine. It’s a little difficult to tell in the picture, but there is a layer of Dapper Denim between the Very Vanilla top and Eastern Palace base. At first I was concerned these colors would be to intense. However, I’m pleased with the color choices for the body and feathers for this gorgeous bird, including the triple stamped off trailing feathers.
Extra Touches
I wound up fussy cutting the body of the bird and popped it up on mini-dimensionals for interest. The sentiment is from the Beautiful Peacock set and trimmed down to be a thin piece. When matted on Dapper Denim, then punched, the denim peeks out from the top and bottom. I didn’t want to create a dove-tailed banner for the sentiment and wound up using the Pretty Label punch. There are many videos on YouTube showing how to use punches for just the ends. Frankly, I was amazed that both ends lined up pretty much perfectly.
CAS(E) This Sketch #258 challenge
There are so many fun possibilities with this sketch. What will you do with it?
As always, I would love to hear your comments.
Have a Peachy Day!
Feb 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
An Inspiration for Fab Friday #130
Many thanks to fellow InKing Royal, Lucy McFarland, (her card can be found at the bottom of this post) for her entry in our current #royalchallenge. She used the “grass” stamp from the Sheltering Tree stamp set to ground the panda, and I quickly wanted to copy it. Once the colors from the Fab Friday #130 challenge popped in my head, the card pretty much created itself, and the Emerald Envy grass really grounds the panda. The colors just scream happy, and what could be happier than a cute birthday card? Layering these sweet colors for the balloons and the mats was easy.
Party Pandas
This absolutely adorable stamp set is free with a $50 purchase during Sale-a-Bration until March 31. I love each of the 3 pandas and the simple sentiments in this set. Cuteness overload!! I used the sitting panda and masked off the top half of the the string and the balloon. The balloons were created using the Balloon Bouquet stamp set and punch, then layered with dimensionals. The balloon strings were then easy to add using the Basic Black Stamp Write marker.
Lucy McFarland’s adorable Valentine’s inspiration card:
Isn’t this precious? Love it!
I’d love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below.
Above all else, have a Peachy day!
Feb 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Heartfelt Blooms and Beautiful You stamp sets
This Sale-a-Bration stamp set (free with a $50 purchase) is gorgeous. However, if you add too much ink to the stamp, it will just come out as a big blob. Really.big.blob, which I think I have said before but is worth repeating. The sentiments with the set are perfect for a sympathy card, especially the “Sending Heartfelt Thoughts”, but I wanted something a bit lighter for this card. The sentiment is from the Beautiful You stamp set andI was pleased as punch when I found that it fit on the Everyday Label punch. The versatility of this flowered stamp makes it a must have. Can’t you just see some fabulous birthday cards, thank you cards, thinking of you cards……….
Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge 033 board
The first column of sentiment, free, and ribbon spoke to me as soon as I saw the challenge board. I originally needed a sympathy card for the parents of a student who died very unexpectedly. I couldn’t bring myself to write a blog about that card, which I created using the school colors of black and gold (Crushed Curry), but I wanted to honor Elena somehow. Enter the Emerald Envy and Basic Black card for this challenge.
Emerald Envy and Basic Black
I don’t know why, but I have been using a lot of Basic Black as an anchor color lately. Tonight, I used it to accent the Emerald Envy as a mat for the card base and for the punch. After I punched a label out of the black and emerald to use for the sentiment mat, each label was cut in half to just outline the ends. I’ve found that layering halves on a variety of punches is easier using two-sided tape, which was also used to hold the ends of the ribbon on the back of the Whisper White layer.
We might as well DANCE
For as long as my daughter can remember, I have told her “I hope you dance”, and it’s one of “our” songs. The sentiment from the Beautiful You stamp set is perfect for the times life is a bit of a struggle.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.
Above all else, have a Peachy day.
