New fold

It's amazing to surround yourself with papercrafting friends who like to share ideas- my coworker was trying to explain a new fold to me, and I was having a heck of a time trying to get what she was saying... I am more of a visual person, and do better with hands-on than someone explaining something to me. So, after work, I went to one of my favourite sites- Splitcoast Stampers- to find the instructions for the tri-fold shutter card. It's a really pretty card, and does take some time and calculation (not my strength, but fortunately my husband comes to my math rescue!).

As this was only an experiment, I grabbed what was close at hand, and didn't really have much rhyme or reason for the materials I used.

The sentiment is Tim Holtz, the dragonfly stamp is from the $1.50 bin at Michael's, the paper flowers are from the dollar store, and the dragonfly brads are from a local liquidation store.

The only change I would make to the directions of the card is to make the 1 3/8 by 1 3/8 card pieces a little larger so they fill up a little more of the space.

Dog lover

I have several friends who are dog lovers, and I made this card for one of them.

This card was designed around the ribbon- my husband picked out the ribbon he wanted me to used, and the rest is history. I haven't sent my friend a card in a while, and decided to do one up for her- the stamp was a freebie with one of the UK stamping magazines I bought, and I coloured it in using Copics. I then cut out the dog, attached it to a 3 inch circle and adhered it to the card base. Easy, peasy, quick and dirty.

Sunday, Less is More and Mice

I was very busy at work this week, and had to work yesterday as well. I did check out the Less is More blog this week to see what the challenge was. This week, we are to pick a square- one quadrant of the card- and place the image there. I immediately had  several ideas, but had to wait until today to create. I have also saved a couple of the blogs for future ideas! I love sharing creativity with other crafters- it's such an inspiration to see what everyone else has created, and how many variations there can be on the same theme.

I created two cards for the challenge- the first is a House Mouse stamp that I have had for a bit.

The mouse is coloured with Copics and attached to red shiny cardstock. Looking at this card again, I likely could have out the sentiment up the side of the mouse, where his tail is. Ah, hindsight, what a wonderful thing! The balloons are brads I've had for ages, and the lines were drawn in.

This second card is for my cousin's wedding shower, which is next week. The mouse was stamped and coloured with Copics. The top part of the umbrellas was stamped on patterned paper and cut out, then I attached it with foam tape to make it stand out a little more. The white card was placed on a piece of the same paper the umbrella was cut from, and placed on Bashful Blue from Stampin' Up.

I am really enjoying participating in the Less is More challenge- it is pushing me out of my comfort zone and allowing me to experiment with different cards. In North America, we usually make 4.25 by 5.5 inch cards. I am really liking playing with square shapes and simple designs. Thank you Chrissie and Mandi!

Sunflowers- two ways

This is one of the new Flourishes stamps I recently bought. Coloured with copics, and layered on a dark yellow and brown cardstock.

The ruffled ribbon is held in place with tacky tape- I put small pieces on the ribbon to create the ruffles, and then used more to stick it to the card.

This second card is a recent purchase, found in the dollar bin at Joann's on a recent trip to the US with my friend.

 

The flowers were coloured with distress inks- wild honey and scattered straw. Colouring with distress ink is quite easy. I smooshed the ink pad onto an acrylic block (you can use a craft mat or piece of glass or acetate- anything really). Then, I took my aqua pen and picked up the colour and painted it onto the paper. I didn't use watercolour paper, just regular cardstock. I really like the way it turned out. The only issue I had was that I didn't let the paper totally dry before I taped it to the card base- it was slightly warped, but flattened out once it was dry. 

The dragonflies are brads, and the ribbon was adhered with tacky tape. I've left the card face sentiment-free so it can be used for any event.

Butterflies- version 2

I picked up this stamp a while ago at Scrapyard in Stonewall- I really liked the way it looked and was a unique stamp. It was lots of fun colouring and incorporating into the card.

The butterfly wings were coloured using copics. The background paper came from a tag book. I don't usually use patterned paper, but thought the it brings out the orange of the wings.

Baby boy

This was a fairly quick and dirty card- made for a coworker who is expecting any day now. Several months ago, she made a comment, and immediately, the idea for the card came to mind.

I specifically was looking for a turtle stamp, and couldn't find one I liked. Fortunately, a friend had this set I could borrow. The comment made by my coworker was along the lines of 'close to the end, you don't care if the kid comes out a turtle, you just want it out.'

The stamps are by Recollections (Michaels), and the paper was in a multi-pack. My coworker knew she is having a boy, and the jeans background was just perfect. I coloured the animals with copics and cut the square out with Nestabilities. I tucked the animals behind the card to give it a little more interest and dimension.

Brother's birthday

My baby brother celebrated his birthday last Saturday. He really loves woodworking, and he is very talented with it. I decided that his birthday card needed to involve his favourite hobby.

The base of the card is a 4.25 by 5.5 piece of adhesive cork. I picked it up from a local scrapbooking store around Christmas and finally got around to using it. The first piece, I stamped the sentiment in black and didn't like it at all, so I tossed it to the side and cut the second piece and used brown. I like it much better- it looks like it was burned into the cork.
The tape measure is some creative re-using. We got a mailer from a local phone company with the tape measure wrapped around it- I decided to save it from the recycling bin and used it on the card. The stickers are from my favourite store in Stonewall, and I coloured them with my copics so they had a little different look to them. I really like the way this card turned out, and I am sure my brother will like it, and the little something I stuck inside for him as well.

Long weekend, new toys and creativity

I went away this weekend with a friend, and we hit many a craft store. It's so much fun to get away with a like-minded crafting friend.

Coming home with many crafting goodies resulted in a great deal of creativity today. I ended up making several cards today, which I will share over the coming days. This one was probably my favourite creations today. I love the way the colours turned out:

The stamp was purchased at Joann's this weekend. I cut the card to a 5.25 inch square and stamped the flower four times. I used Broken China, Stormy Sky, Spun Sugar and Wild Honey distress inks to colour the flowers with an aqua pen which gave a nice water colour effect. The butterfly was stamped in black and then I used four colours of distress inks, all in the orange family (Rusty Hinge, Marigold and a couple of others) to colour the butterfly. Then, to add more dimension, I cut it out, embossed it with clear embossing powder and attached it to the card with foam tape. This card puts me in mind of spring, which finally seems to be here, after a long, cold winter, and a slow-starting spring. It is also my entry into the the Less is More challenge here. I am glad to be able to play with the Less is More challenge again- and actually finally post my entry.

Apparently...

Procrastination begets more procrastination. I have been busy with work, cleaning my crafting area, cleaning the house getting ready for a gigantic yard sale in a couple of weeks (including purging my craft space). My crafting area is now an organized, relatively clutter-free zone, and I hope to be able to keep it up.

I was actually able to see the entire top of my desk, and it was nice to be able to use my paper cutter and not have to push stuff out of the way.

Here are a couple I created a while ago, and haven't gotten around to posting. I've been in a creative spin lately, and will have some more posted soon.

This technique was one I posted a while ago, and played with it in a different colour. Both stamps are Tim Holtz.

First, I stamped the background in black ink and clear embossed it.

Then, I wet the paper, and smooshed distress inks all over it, wet it and crumpled the paper. I then wet it again, added some more ink, blotted the paper with a paper towel and gently (VERY gently) rolled it between my hands like I was making a play dough worm. As a result, the paper is rather leathery. I then dried it a little with my heat tool, and ironed it to smooth it out a bit. 

As it was embossed, I ironed it face-down on a piece of cardstock and very carefully lifted it off.

For this one, I stamped onto white in a rusty colour and ran the inks around the edges as well. I tilted it for a different perspective and added the ribbon and sentiment (which I think is Stampin' Up). 

I'll be posting more soon, I promise!