Sunday, May 9, 2021

Happy Mother's Day

 A happy Sunday to you! In the U.S. today was Mother's Day. I know part of the world celebrates this day earlier in the year, but I would like to take this opportunity to send my admiration and hugs to all moms everywhere. As a survivor of multiple miscarriages, I always remember those women who wanted so badly to give birth but never could. I guarantee you they've been mothering anyway. And my heart also goes out to those moms who have lost children, every parent's worst nightmare, certainly mine. My heart is full today for all of you!

I always look forward to making Honey's 91-year-old mom her card, as she is my biggest card fan and a wonderful mom to both of us. This year I envisioned what I'm calling an Accordion Fold card, although I'm sure it has another name that I don't know. I used 2 pieces of Office Depot legal-sized white index stock, cutting the width of each to 6" and then scoring the first one at 6" and 12" (which leaves a 2" attachment flap), and the second one cutting the length to 12" and scoring it at 6", then I taped them together at the 2" flap. 

Here is an overhead view. All images were colored with Promarkers. All papers used were from Basic Grey's 12x12 Gypsy/Romani collection, and all were ink-distressed using VersaMagic chalk inks. Each page has either solid pink or green base mats and a second layer of patterned paper matting cut with Stamplorations 6x6 Art Deco Fairmont Nestabilities dies. 

Here's how the inside looks when opened... 

and how the outside looks opened.

Now I will take you page by page in order. My card front uses a Sheepski digi called For Mom/Mum/Mam as the focal image printed on Springhill Digital white card stock and cut with a Stamplorations Scalloped Circle Nestie die. Tiny rhinestones adorn each visible scallop. Over lapping it is a hand-stamped, heat embossed and die cut floral bouquet from Avery Elle. Then, a shortened piece of the pink patterned paper cut with the Art Deco Fairmont die a size smaller, and on the very top in the corner is a Memory Box Madeira Corner die cut twice in white card and layered on just a bit imperfectly (on purpose as I liked the look of it). The white satin ribbon was attached on the front on the mats before adding the other layers. The two little butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch.

All images on the inside pages are from Gecko Galz, with lines from the Mother song added in PSE then printed in black and white and hand-colored by me. I cut this image with a Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle die. 

For this image, I cut it with a Spellbinders Circle die and matted it with a paper doily that was cut using a Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily die on some of the BG Gypsy card. 

For this image, I cut the image with a, Art Deco Fairmont Nestie a size smaller than the mat. I also created white text boxes for my song lyrics as there was no empty space on this image.

I cut this image with an even smaller Art Deco Fairmont Nestie in order to have some white space to sign the card. 

On the back of the card, I got a little artsy, using a couple of fussy-cut rose bouquets from a very old Inka's Altered Artifacts collage sheet and decorative flourishes from Spellbinders Decorative Floral Dollies set. The vertical pink piece was leftover from my mat cutting and I scored it in two places before attaching so the ribbon could slip through the back of it easily. I put a Gelatins hand-stamped and embossed punched siggie on top.

Close-ups to show the Gina Marie rhinestones that I received free in my recent order as a Thank You. They came in very handy as the color matched the flowers perfectly.

Close-up to show the heat-embossing on the hand-stamped die-cut floral bouquet...

And another overhead view.

This was another one of my organically-engineered designs (no tutorials) and thankfully it came off without a hitch. Mom loved it! Thanks for visiting and I hope we all have a great week ahead. XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
1.   Gecko Galz May Blog Challenge: Secret Garden  -- I've used GG single freebie images on all interior pages of my card: MD01-300, MD03-300, MD09-300 and MD13-300.
2.   Sheepski Designs Challenge #50: Floral Dance -- #1/3  I've used Sheepski's For Mom digi on the front of my card.
3.   Double D Challenge: Flowers of the Month January-June -- #1/3  Violets on card front
4.   Outlawz Twisted Thursdays 5/6-5/19: AG + Opt Twist-First Letter of Mom's Name -- #1/2 My Mom went by her nickname Cissy but her given name was Virginia, so I've used Violets on my Card front. Used sponsor Skeepski's digi For Mom.
6.   Creative Sketchy Girls #59: Bingo --  I went with diagonal bottom left to upper right Butterfly, Die Cut/Punches and Ribbon
8.   Happy Little Stampers May Anything Goes with Dies -- I used several dies as noted in post (Spellbinders, Avery Elle, Memory Box, Cheery Lynn).
9.   613 Avenue Create #5 May 2021: AG + Opt. Twist Mood Board Use any or all to inspire -- #1/8  I was inspired by the pink and green colors and the flowers and bling.  
11.  Gecko Galz Facebook May Color Challenge -- I used GG images on my inside pages and the color pink (and the purplish blue in center of graphic.)
12.  Try It on Tuesday: Inspired By a Song -- M-O-T-H-E-R
13.  I Love Promarkers Challenge #434: AG + Opt. Girly Card -- #2/3 Option played and everything colored with Promarkers, every page. Plus, I used a sponsor Sheepski image! ;-)
16.  Passion for Markers Week 590: Say It With Flowers -- Promarkers used to color all images on every page; flowers used on card front
19.  Double Trouble Challenge #83: Fun Folds -- Playing Thing 1 only  
Posted by at 19 comments:

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Butterflies, Watercolor & Sympathy

 Hope everyone is doing well and having a good week. I've popped in to share a Sympathy card for a high school classmate whose husband of many years passed from cancer. She lost her mother a few years back and I know she feels lost now so I felt like I should send her a card. 

Thought I would show you the side view first, lol. I found a really nice folded card base in my stash that measured 5-1/4" x 7-1/4".... a size I do not often use, but it had an envelope with it so what the heck. 

I chose SplitCoastStampers sketch SC90 because it reminded me of the cover plate die I was going to use and had the same few layers as I was planning. Hey, it fit the bill! 

   

I used a sheet of purple alcohol-inked card stock and some very light lavender Distress-inked card stock from the stack of backgrounds I've been collecting. I cut the purple card with a Stamplorations Butterfly Cover Plate die and I cut the lavender card with a Stamplorations With Sympathy sentiment die. I then got out my good watercolors and a half-sheet of watercolor paper, wet it, and made a background with blues and purples large enough to cover my card front. 

It was then just a matter of assembling and adhering the card front. I can give out a tip for gluing these cover plate type dies and other intricate dies: I use white craft glue that dries clear (Nuvo, Aleene's, iCraft, Tonic, Lawn Fawn, Gina K), and as an applicator I use those foam make-up wedges. I hold the foam with a binder clip so my fingers don't touch the glue. I pour some glue out on the upper corner of my craft mat (out of the way of what I'm gluing), then I put my die to be glued upside down on the mat, then I pick up the glue with my foam and gently pounce it on the die cut, over and over until I feel there is complete coverage where needed. Then I pick the die cut up and glue it down on my card and keep it under wax paper and a heavy book for 30 minutes to make sure it's adhered. And there isn't any seepage of glue like when I use the needle-tip applicator or a paint brush. I'm pretty quick to take the foam to the sink and wash/rinse the glue out afterward so that I can re-use it, but that's pretty frugal given how cheap a bag of those foam wedgies are at the dollar store. Still, they can be re-used if that floats your boat (and I was raised by two schoolteachers so I'm frugal and floating, lol). If the glue dries you can just snip off that part, being careful to cut straight for a smooth flat surface.

So I used a sheet from Colorbok's 12x12 Delilah paper collection and cut it down to mat the inside of my card. I hand-stamped SU and Pink By Design sentiments in Versafine Clair Warm Breeze ink. Then with the lightest pastel Memento ink colors I have, I stamped butterflies (Stamplorations, Urban Lily, The Paper Studio and Skipping Stones). That way, it was easy to write a handwritten note over the butterflies.

For the back, I found a scrap of Colorbok 12x12 Spray Paint collection card stock and paired it with a water colored scrap cut from my front mat. I hand-stamped an EK Success siggie and more Stamplorations butterflies with Versafine Clair inks.

I use a Sizzix Big Shot and the only other thing I've learned (the hard way) about cutting with these intricate dies is to definitely use the Precision Base Plate for Wafer Thin Dies.  End of Story, Period End Stop. 

I hope you liked today's card and I thank you for visiting. Stay crafty, well and safe! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
2.   Stamplorations Things With Wings Linky Party -- #2/7  I used Stamplorations products
4.   Stamplorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge -- I used Butterfly Cover Plate and With Sympathy Cutplorations dies on card front  
Posted by at 8 comments:

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Happy Birthday de Mayo for Love to Craft May Anything Goes Challenge #58

 Happy May, everyone! That's right, it's May 1st and time for the May Anything Goes Challenge at Love To Craft Challenge blog. Come play with us! We are an all-crafts challenge blog and welcome any and all kinds of handmade creations - from cards, tags, ATCs and scrapbook layouts - to 3-D projects, mixed media and altered projects - and even knitting, crocheting, quilting and jewelry-making! Our only requirements for your creations are that it be new (no back-linking of previous projects), family-friendly and not all digital. 

Here's my team make for this month. I've got a friend named Shelly whose birthday is May 6th. She of course begins celebrating on the 5th (if it were you, I'd dare you not to! lol). And that's Cinco de Mayo, so her birthday has become Shelly de Mayo! 

I have had this Fabrika Fantasy digital image, Cheerful Crab, for quite a while and just had to have him but have never used him. And he's perfect for this card, no? I chose to use the pre-colored image, in part to use my new printer, it's easier and because the colors look so dang good it's seems criminal not to use it! lol I did color the sentiment I computer generated with Promarkers, trying to make it like that fab sky. :-)

I chose to use this SplitCoastStampers sketch SC130 because the #2 rectangle was very close to the dimensions of my cheerful crab. I resized it to A7 in PSE. Since it's a pretty plain sketch, I was hoping I had some really good designer papers to use. I thought of brads or other small embellishments to fill the side, but I didn't have anything appropriate or sized right.

 In the end I was good with leaving it sans embellishment, because you can actually see some of the 12x12 Basic Grey Color Me Silly designer paper. And what I did not realize until after I had adhered everything was that the paper I chose for the card front had little triangles and so does the crab's hat! Love when that happens, heehee. All the papers including the card base are from Color Me Silly. By the time I added all of the paper layers (which are all ink-edged with black VersaMagic chalk ink), it made for a pretty sturdy and heavy card, almost 2 ounces. But I think they complement the focal image better than any other papers I have, so I feel lucky to have thought to use them.

I matted the inside with some of the pretty green designer paper and added a sentiment I computer-generated and then colored with Promarkers.

The back of the card -- more of the designer paper and leftover scraps from the front with a Gelatins siggie stamp.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this burst of May color and pun fun! And I hope you will join the fun at Love to Craft Challenge #58 for May with an Anything Goes theme. As always, I thank you for taking the time to visit me and I hope you are staying well and safe and crafty! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
3.   The Paper Funday Challenges #28: AG + Opt. Spring Has Sprung (Spring Themed) -- #1/4 Option played - Cinco de Mayo is a Spring Holiday
4.   Outlawz Twisted Thursdays 4/22-5/5: AG + Opt. Twist: Signs of Spring -- #1/2 Option played -- Cinco de Mayo is a Spring Holiday  
9.   Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #145: Mothers Day or For a Special Lady -- #1/3  Card is for a special lady
11. Scrapping4Fun Challenge #191: Ladies/Mother's Day/Girls -- #1/3  Card is for a special girlfriend    
Posted by at 25 comments:

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Mermaid Birthday

 Hello! I hope you are having a good week. I'm popping in to share this card I made for a friend. I'm calling it a mermaid-on-a-clam-shell card, heehee. Seriously, I believe it's called a rocker card, but I'm not certain. For a shaped card, I found it pretty easy to make as I saw it in my mind, so I once again worked like I like to and did it organically as opposed to looking up a tutorial.

I began by cutting a circle out of SU navy card stock using my Coluzzle as my circle dies do not go this large. This one is just shy of 6 inches in diameter to fit the envelope I was using. I cut the patterned paper one circle smaller. I scored the card base circle at its diameters, cut the patterned paper in half and adhered to the base. For the focal image mat, I used 2 smaller Spellbinders circle dies to cut the SU and the Scrapworks in the same manner. The 12x12 paper is some very old Scrapworks that has stripes on one side and quirky but very cute fish on the other side.

My focal image is Seaside Mermaid by We Are 3 Digital Shop.  She is colored with Promarkers and Faber-Castell Big Brush Artist markers and pens. The sentiment she's holding is by CC Designs and was hand-stamped and heat-embossed, then cut out freehand, colored with Promarkers and ink-edged with VersaMagic chalk ink. The ocean plant life was cut using my Whimsy Stamps Build An Ocean die cuts. I colored those with Smooch inks. I added sequins and Stickles. 

This photo is the circle base opened up and laying it on the focal circle. That's a CC Designs sentiment stamped with Versafine Clair and heat-embossed, then cut with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Banner die. 

The back of the card when displayed. Gelatins siggie stamp clear heat embossed and circle punched.


Here's the card flattened out on top of its 6-inch square envelope to show how I mailed it. I added a 5-3/4 inch square piece of cardstock to the envelope over the card front to protect it during mailing.

Here you can see some of the shine. I brushed clear Wink of Stella on her tail and yellow WoS on her hair.

And a final view. Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have a great rest of the week! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
2.   Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge 4/20-5/3 -- Option played! Blue / Green / Yellow + Die cuts
6.   613 Avenue Create April 2021 Challenge #4: AG -- #3/8  Optional Twist not played this time
10. Passion for Markers Week 589: Sentimental (Add a Sentiment) -- I used Promarkers and Faber-Castel Big Brush markers on my sentiments and mermaid
11. I Love Promarkers #434: AG + Opt. Girly Card -- #1/3 Option played and I used Promarkers to color my sentiments and my mermaid.
Posted by at 30 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)