Oldie But a Goodie

This morning I was looking through my stash of DSPs and realizing that I have waaaaaaaaaaaay too much paper.  I buy a whole package, use 2 or 3 pieces (small pieces of each) then forget about it.  As a result of this, I have a whole desktop filing system dedicated to different DSPs.  Soooo...  How to use up some of the pieces.  I've done about 834 quilting cards (which I love to do but I'm bored of).  I can't imagine making a card with just DSP and a small sentiment (though I appreciate how lovely these simple cards can be).  Herringbone!  Yes!  Then my smarter side says, "Uh, remember how much cutting is involved?" and I scrap that idea (even though I really really really love those cards...).

Ah ha!  Candles!  I made a card like this ages ago and then forgot all about it.  It's a wonderful way to use up paper and it's cute as all heck.

Next month I'm starting with a brand new group of ladies (yay!  It's giving me a major crafting buzz) and I think this will be our paper card for the month (I'm thinking 2 cards with stamping as the main item, 1 card with DSP).

Making the card, though sort of time consuming is really easy.  Cut a bunch of 2" X 2" scraps of whatever paper you have lying around.  Use a skewer, Q tip, whatever you have that's about that size and round to wrap the paper around and roll away.  While the paper is still on the skewer, let it loosen up a little then use some liquid glue to seal the end (I love Tombow Mono glue).

To attach the candles I use my silicone sheet and smear enough hot glue for 2 candles then lie them on the sheet.  Add glue for 2 more, and so on until all 9 candles are attached, side by side, to the sheet.  You can then lift the piece up (carefully!) and run some more hot glue between pieces so that they stick together (just a little, you don't want it coming through the front).  Once that's done, flip it over and press down on the silicone sheet to smooth it all out and let it dry.  You've now got one piece that you can peel off and work with.  Using your liquid glue again squirt just a little inside the top of your candles so you can add a wick.  Since it's quite a bulky piece I use hot glue again to attach it to the card front.  Voila!  Super cute birthday card good for anyone, big or small, young, old, or geezer.

Snowy Backdrop

You know that feeling when you see a card you love but you don't have the supplies to make it?  Well, if you live in the city, no problem.  However, if you're a little country bird like myself, you make do with what you've got on hand.

I saw an amazing background that looked like a galaxy with all sorts of cool stuff that I don't have (embossing paste, Perfect Pearls, star stencils...).  I was determined to make a snowy background in the same fashion, so I set out rummaging through my stuff to see what I could find.

I sponged the background with Coastal Cabana and Lost Lagoon and was pretty happy with that as a base.  To get the snow, I used some pearly metallic acrylic paint I had on hand and mixed it with rubbing alcohol.  This made it nice and runny so I was able to pick it up with a paint brush. I then flicked my brush towards the page to get the misty look but the blobs weren't big enough for what I wanted so I just used the tip of the brush to add a few bigger dots on.  Turned out pretty well!

 After that dried I used some Staz On to stamp my image (and extended the trunks a little with a marker) from the new set Festival of Trees.  I usually centre everything on my cards but wanted to try something new this time and I'm really happy with the result.  The embossing folder is an old one but I just couldn't get rid of it.  Since there isn't a whole lot of the mat showing I wanted something on a small scale and this one was perfect.  Petals a Plenty would have worked as well, but I wanted to keep the snowflake theme going.

And what would a Christmas card be without a little ribbon?  This is the Lost Lagoon ribbon you can find in the Holiday Catalogue.  I layered a piece of white satin behind it so the ribbon stood out more than it would have on the monochromatic background.  Overall, I'm loving this card.  It could grace the homes of quite a few family members this December!

Traveling With Van Gogh

 

On Sunday I was dutifully drinking my coffee and looking up crafty stuff on the interwebs when I found a really beautiful card.   Like out-of-this-world beautiful (said card can be found here).  I was super blown away and wanted to make it immediately, but I don't have that stamp.  I started thinking about how nice it would look as a water scene...  maybe a sunsent...  ooh!  A boat on the ocean with a huge moon!  That's it!  Feeling rather pleased with myself with this stroke of genius, I plastered a smarmy grin on my face thinking about how impressive my card would be, I kept scrolling through her blog.  Hmph.  Seems she had the same genius idea that I did.  So, with some of the wind blown out of my sails (insert groan at corny joke here if you please), I finished looking and got to work.

 

As much as I was bummed that this ended up not being entirely my own idea, I was thankful to have seen hers since I wouldn't have thought to do the reflection in this way.  The card isn't perfect, and I'll need a few more shots to get it exactly how I want it, but it's still pretty awesome.

For anyone interested, I sponged the background to get it to reflect the colours I wanted; moon was So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, and Hello Honey; sky is Soft Sky, Marina Mist, Night of Navy; sea is Pool Party and Lost Lagoon.  For the squiggles reminiscent of Van Gogh I used the same markers but threw More Mustard into the mix on the moon.  Though the whole process didn't take as long as I thought it would, looking back at the card I was inspired by, I could have made my squiggles waaaaay bigger than I did.  I might try it again and see which size I like better.

Super excited for my hostess club ladies to see this!  I was thinking about surprising them at club with it, but it's too good not to share and I can't possibly hold off on it for another three weeks.

Happy Stamping!

Seize the Sketch & Funky Berries

Ok, so the first bit here is going to be about the card, the rest is about my hostess club last night.  Feel free to skip all of that if you don’t like hilarious/charming stories (however, you and I will secretly know what a killjoy you are if you do).

So since I’ve been back at making cards, I have stumbled upon Seize the Sketch.  I love their sketches and look forward to the challenges even if I don’t post them.  Imagine my sadness to rise this morning and find she’s moving on to other things (I hope your new adventure takes you wonderful places Jen-I-have-never-met!).  Anywho, since this is her last sketch I thought I’d hurry into my room before getting going on my should-dos for the day.

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew exactly what sets and colours I wanted.  I love when that happens (sometimes I sit and stare at my stuff for like half an hour before finally agreeing (with myself) on what to use.

Sponging/masking are two of my favourite things to do and this little set is pretty darn sweet.

Alright – enough card talk.  Onto the hilarity.  I know that all of you demonstrators (or whatever your company calls you) think your hostess club is the best, but I must inform you that you are wrong (feel free to fight amongst yourselves for who can take second place).  My club wins.  We started out maybe 3 years ago and have morphed a little with members but a few have been with me for the long haul and though they’re still my club ladies, they have also become dear friends.  I love the crafting part of our nights, but also always look forward to visiting and chatting.

One of my members (Misty) has three small people, and if you also have small people you know what HIGHWAY ROBBERY hiring a babysitter is.  She lives 35 minutes away, and we usually take about 4 hours or so at $8/hour, you can imagine how quickly that gets expensive.  All of us have kids at varying ages and I adore her little gremlins so she brought them over.  One of the other gals (Shannon) brought her a huge box of Kinex from when her kids were small and it was a hit.  So while we were making cards they played away in the living room nicely and left us to be creative.

After sometime they came in to update us on the progress of their creations.  At one point, the smallest person, Gavy, came in and offered Caren one of the berries the kids brought.  Sometimes Gavy is super shy so we were all paying great attention to him last night since he seemed in the mood for socializing, so when he offered Caren the berries we were all listening.  There’s Caren, eating the berries when Gavy says, “If it tastes funky, spit it out.  It’s probably poisonous.”

Oh.  My.  Lord.  All six of us lost it.  Snorting, crying, gasping for breath.  This went on for several minutes before we could get out you-know-what together.  I’m laughing right now just thinking about it.  They were Saskatoon berries, so we knew she’d be just fine, but it was just about the funniest thing you can possibly imagine.

Anyways, that had nothing to do with the card I posted but couldn’t help but share.   

Cheers to funky tasting berries!

Bird Nerd

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am pretty much a 92 year old woman inside a 32 year old body.  I like reading and sipping tea (with toast for dinner - completely reasonable), looking at quilts, cuddling with cats, going to bed at 8:30 whenever possible,  and birds.  Yep.  I love birds.  I was in Bella Coola with my hubs recently and I dropped (literally) everything to follow after a Stellar Jay (it was my first sighting - very exciting).  According to my son I have waaaaaaaaay too many bird things (mugs, blankets, pictures, laptop case, etc.), but I think Go Big or Go Home. 

So naturally, when I saw this noble little cardinal, he had to be mine.  Also, there's a Dicken's quote in this set.  What?!  I know.  Amazing. (It's a different one than what's showing...  Also, wouldn't it be funny to have a really skinny little bird at an empty feeder that says, "Please sir, can I have some more?")

At Christmas I send out a lot of cards, and it's a RIP OFF to send ones that are more than one layer up (like $1.75 or some darn thing) which is fine when it's one or two cards, but not 40.  So, this lovely specimen will be making the rounds to quite a few homes this year.

 Another thing I like about this card is the ability to produce a lot of them quite easily.  You could stamp your image and do the sponging, then head to the couch and watch Pride and Prejudice (or any Austen film of  your choosing) to colour.  However, if watching P&P, make sure not to have a marker in your hand when Mr Darcy graces the screen - he deserves your full attention.  (If you're a Bronte fan, the Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender would also be a suitable choice here).

 

Friends Forever

We all have the one friend that we would call in the event that we needed to bury a body need someone to share a secret with.  I love that this stamp says that, but in a sassy way.

I was at Michaels this weekend and they were clearing out acrylic paints for $0.75.  I figured I'd grab a few just for the heck of it and see if anything came of it.  Well, I started playing, and here's what I ended up with.  I cut up one of our sponges into 6 pieces and used them to apply the three colours I have here (pretty much Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Old Olive).  I like how the paint gave a little more body and texture than just sponging does (though sponging is one of my favourite techniques).  Since the medium is thicker than ink, I could leave it in the pattern that the sponge applied it in rather than blending it to make the colours transition into one another.  I'm really quite pleased with the result.

After I let it dry (sped up by using my heat tool on low) I used black embossing powder to add the stamp over top.  This would be really pretty using vintage colours and Early Espresso embossing podwer as well.  Hmm....  Maybe I need some more paints....

Nutty or Nice? (Freshly Made Sketches 149)

Things I should be doing this morning:
  1.  Mowing the lawn
  2.  Folding laundry
  3.  Vacuuming/mopping all floors
  4.  Changing bedsheets
  5.  Going for a run

Things I'm not doing this morning:
  See above list

Not everyday can be productive, am I right?  Of course I am.  So rather than submit myself to the shackles of slavery that are housekeeping, I am in my craftroom.  I meant to have a bunch of posts lined up before I went on a holiday, but it didn't happen.  Anyways, here I am again with Freshly Made Sketches to start my day off right.

I know.  This guy is hilarious.  He's the Tom Selleck of nutcrackers.  I originally had the card without the glitter, but I figured Tom was feelin' the need for a little glitz so I grabbed my spray glue and sparkled him up a little.  The inside of the card (which I was too lazy to take a picture of) says, "nutty or nice?"  It sooooo appealed to my super corny side that I needed to have this set immediately.  For the rest of you, you can order it come September.