Try it Tuesday

I have decided that I am going to try a new technique each Tuesday. There is a wealth of information and resources on Splitcoast Stampers, and it's about time I checked it out. So, each week, I am going to pick a technique to try out. It'll either be from SCC, a stamping magazine, or inspiration from a stamping friend. This technique came to me via my friend M.

This week, it's a quarter fold card. It's unique, and could be used to hold a simple wish for someone, a small gift or gift card.

 The finished size for this card is 4x4. To make it, I took two pieces of paper 8 inches by 4 inches each and scored them at 2 and 6 inches. I taped the back of one to the centre of the other to make a plus sign (see image below). The four flaps are closed like a box. Decorate the fronts of each piece. For this card, I wanted to decorate the front of it as well. To decorate, I cut the green pieces at 1.5 inches and the brown pieces were embossed in a Tim Holtz folder and highlighted it with vintage photo distress inks. The bird (Nature Walk, SU) was attached with foam tape.

The centre was decorated with Bo Bunny paper (top and bottom flaps) and cream cardstock. The flap pieces were cut at 1.5 inches by 3.75 inches. The trees are from the SU set Lovely as a Tree.

It would be easy to increase the size of this card, as long as the card is increased equally. A 5x5 card would need a 10x5 strip of paper -scoring would be at 2.5 inches from both ends. A 6x6 would have to be 6x12 - scoring would be at 3 inches from both ends of the paper.

Reflection...

Over the Christmas holiday, my friend M sent me a picture of a card she did, with the word puzzle in the subject line and the instructions not to google it to see how she did it. She sent me a card with the reflection of the Lovely Trees set from Stampin' Up. When we got back to work, she told me how she did it, and I had to try it myself.

This is my second entry for the Less is More one layer bird card challenge.

For this card, I used the bird stamp from the SU Nature Walk set. I stamped the bird on the cardstock, then stamped it again on a sheet of acetate. Then, I lined up the acetate image with the cardstock image and rubbed the acetate to transfer the bird onto the card stock.

I coloured the grass with shabby shutters and crushed olive distress ink. The water is broken china distress ink and the sky is stormy sky distress ink.

The birds were coloured with copics- E31 and E33 for the reflection and Y21 for the legs and beak. The top bird was coloured with E33 and E35 and Y26 for the legs and beak.

A tutorial for the reflection technique can be found here. 

I am really pleased with how this card turned out. I have to say, it's one of my favourites so far this year.

Bird is the word

This week's challenge at the Less is  More blog is a one layer card using birds.

Some days, CAS cards are no problem for me- others, it seems next to impossible. I checked out the LIM blog yesterday morning while I was waiting for the dogs to come in from their morning constitutional, and immediately had a couple of ideas, but I needed to get chores done first. I also wanted to go to Michaels yesterday to see if they had any new spring stamps out. I hit it lucky in the $1.50 bins. I picked up a new bird stamp, along with a couple of others that I can't wait to use.

I really like the look of a coloured focal point on cards, and I took a little inspiration from Chrissie's so happy for you card. For the coloured oval, I used Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Scattered Straw distress ink. The bird and sentiment were stamped in Archival black ink. To give the image a little dimension, I outlined the oval with N0 copic marker.

I have another card to fit this theme, but I'll have to post it later.

More new toys...

Yet another post-Christmas treat to myself- I have had my eye on this set from Flourishes for several months, and now, it's mine! I whipped up two different cards with it

 This first one was stamped on bristol card stock with black Momento ink and I lightly coloured it with Copics and placed the image behind the cardstock cutout with a Nestabilities die.

I much prefer this one. I love the vintage look of it. Again, it was stamped on bristol card and the outline was coloured with copics. The sentiment in both the pictures is a sticker, coloured with dark brown copics.

Shades of purple

When I got up this morning, I checked the Less is More challenge blog, as I usually do on Saturday mornings. I was surprised to see that the challenge for today is Predominantly Purple.

 It was particularly fitting, as I had planned to post this card later in the week, once I'd done the LIM challenge. I made this card for my dear friend Gail for her birthday.

I don't usually use purple, but my nieces were visiting over Christmas and they LOVE purple and pink. I have very little of those colours in my stash, so I hauled out what I had, and we played.

I taught my older niece how to use alcohol inks while she was here- she had a blast mashing the colours together to see what she could come up with. While she was playing, I made the card.

I used shades of purple alcohol ink for the background and stamped the image with staz-on. It was then layered on a light purple background that I ran through the herringbone embossing folder and placed it on a darker purple. The envelope was stamped with dusty concord distress ink.

Now that the snow is starting to fall here, I think I need to make some spring cards. My parents will be opening the greenhouse in a few months, and I need to get my stock built up for their clients.

The beauty of bling

I have an appreciation for beautiful stamps- stamps that can either be left as is, or coloured. I have had my eye on a Flourishes stamp set for quite some time, and with the after Christmas sale at my favourite store, it is mine!

I also like checking out the Flourishes blog for ideas, and this week, a new challenge was posted. I've never played along with the Bring Back Beautiful challenge, but it inspired me to create a card for my stash. The challenge... the beauty of bling.

The image was stamped with Momento black ink and coloured with copics.

The background paper was created with spray webbing sprayed onto white cardstock. I am pretty sure there's a lifetime supply of background paper there for me... one can will make a lot. I layered the snowman print onto silver mirror card and added two rhinestones for his buttons. The sentiment is a sticker, placed on black card and adhered to the card with foam tape.

We have very little snow, and warm temps this winter- very strange for this part of the world... this card makes me feel like it's actually winter!

Branching out

This Christmas, I branched out making different boxes to hold presents. My husband recently started to make turned pens, and we gave a few to friends and family, so they needed boxes (lots of tutorials here), I made pizza boxes to hold gift cards (tutorial here) and finally, I made this box for a good friend. 

I came across a really cute card at Curt's World, and remembered that I had the same stamp, so I decided to play. The inspiration was the first card on Curt's blog. 

Here's the details:

I made the box. Then, I cut a piece of white cardstock the same size as the top. I stamped the trees (Lovely as a Tree, SU) and sponged on some blue distress ink (I think Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans (I really need to start writing this down). Then, I tore a piece of white cardstock to make the snowbank and sprayed it with glimmer mist. I layered a sheet of acetate on top to create the window and added the cross bars to make it look more window-like. The curtains are made with a 3 inch circle cut in half and adhered together and then the valance is a piece that was punched with a MS punch. The elf was stamped, cut out and coloured with copics then adhered behind the window to make it look like he was checking up on everyone. I have a santa stamp, too, that I may use next year. 

Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

December was a busy month, with preparations for Christmas, work parties and events for our clients, and just general busy-ness.

Now, it's the new year, and time for a fresh start. I love the possibilities of the new  year- so much potential, and who knows where the year will take us?

I have a few crafty resolutions, including:

Try to update my blog at least once per week.

Get crafty at least once or twice a week- one of my non-crafty resolutions is to try to avoid snacking at night, and this might help with that, too!

Use what I have, including designer paper, stamps that haven't made it out of their packaging and other misc items. 

I also want to stamp each image I have to create an index of sorts.

Now, onto crafty goodness! 

The House Mouse and Friends blog had a new challenge posted this week, and I've really enjoyed playing along the last couple of months- the challenge this time around is to celebrate anything new... and I am celebrating a NEW STAMP!

My friend M and I headed to our fave store for some post-Christmas bargains, and I came home with not one, but two HM stamps... This little guy got inked about 10 minutes after I got home. 

The image was stamped with Momento black ink and coloured with Copics. I love the background paper- it's La banquise paper, called Vent Polaire. I cut the card blank at 5 inches square, and cut the silver mirror stock at the same. the Vent Polaire paper was cut at 4.75 and the House Mouse image was cut at approx 3 inches, with the silver backing 1/4 of an inch bigger. The sentiment is a sticker. 

My mother in law is here for a visit, and this little guy will make his way home with her next week. 

I've been busy in the craft area this week- there will be more coming shortly!