Category: Cards

Scraps into Cards #2

So I killed another STC kit and made cards with the leftovers. In addition to my kit scraps I only added in a stamp set by Lawn Fawn called “So Much to Say”, ink and pen-work.

To make these cards I had quite a bit of leftovers as I used the October kit and had ordered extra pattern paper. I am discovering that the paper to embellishment balance in the kits has varied for me quite a bit. Ordering the extra paper for this kit was unneeded. Plus, I have to admit that there was a sheet of paper in this kit that I did not like at all. That pink dog paper in the bottom photo. Not my thing at all. Neither was side “b”. I guess they can’t all be winners. I hope future kits don’t have something that makes me dislike it as much as I disliked that dog paper. But… that dislike was balanced with an uber like. That multicolor wood-grain chevron paper was THE BEST. Noticed I used pieces of it on 4 of the cards. I still have some left to play with later. Yeah!

And here is what I still had leftover. Everything has been sorted and filed. And that dog paper… straight in the donation bin!

Scraps into cards

Here are the results of the card making I did that I talked about in my last post. I used scraps leftover for a kit club kit. As I end each kit I have decided to create cards. At this point I think most of these cards will be gifts or donations. I like to just play and create but don’t have a million people to send cards off to. This way I can play and create with things that might otherwise go wasted and turn it into smiles for someone in need. Win-win-win.

So along with those scraps I also added a bit of ink, some washi tape, enamel dots and a stamp set.

My favorites are the one on the far left and the “family” white on white card, right back. Some are less than favorite, but that is okay. Everyone’s taste is different and what I don’t like may make someone else smile!

This batch of cards went off to my brother who is currently stationed in Kuwait. He can use them for himself or share this out with his fellow soldiers. I included envelopes and stamps so it takes no money for a soldier to send a card home to a loved one. Sweet!

Road Blocks & Solutions

One of the things that keeps me from blogging more regularly is getting the quality and quantity of photos I want to post. Taking them, transferring to the computer, editing and uploading all seem to bog down my process. So I have options in dealing with that.

  1. Don’t blog.
  2. Blog less often.
  3. Use less photos.
  4. Use convenient but lower quality photos.
  5. Make photo taking a priority in my crafting experience.

I’ve done plenty of #1 & #2. But I’m wanting to change that (we will see how it goes!). Number 3 doesn’t work for me since this hobby is a largely visual one for me and many others. Maybe one day #5 will be an option. But for now I am going with #4. I will be using my phone to take more photos which automatically upload to my dropbox account and can easily be loaded onto the blog. So you will see more low light and poorly composed photos.

I’m working to kill my September Scraptastic kit that I have been meaning to get to. I’ve decided that I will end each kit with a batch of card making. Here is a photo of what I have to work with. I will follow up with a post of the projects that I made.

I had bits of paper left, plenty of tags, plenty of alpha stickers and just a couple of other little goodies. I added in plenty of plain cardstock for bases and a few items from my stash. Stay tuned for the final results.

Valentine’s Day

I’m not a huge Valentine’s Day celebrator. Why do we have only one day to tell the people in our lives that we love them? I think it should be an everyday event! Flowers, and dinner and movies are all nice, but wouldn’t it be nicer to randomly surprise someone with something heartfelt and meaningful? That is one of the reasons I love cards. They are made by me, for that someone special, with love. Now that is something to celebrate!

Recipe:

cardstock, dye inks, corner rounder punch: Stampin’ Up
watercolor paper: Strathmore
punch: EK Success
alphabet: American Crafts
other: twine, straws

Lay blobs of ink color on a palette. Use a spray bottle to really wet your watercolor paper. The wetter it is, the more the colors will move. Dip the end of a straw into a puddle of ink and blow the droplet onto the watercolor paper. Start with light colors and work your way through to the darker colors. Finish with accents that pop off the colorful background.

Star Shine

I was very inspired by the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World recently. I took this photo…

Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World

and turned it into this card…

What I found most interesting about the trigger was the gold dots on the fabric. I turned that idea into sparkles in the sky for this shiny star card.

Recipe
cardstock: Stampin’ Up (blue), Staples (white)
ink: Ranger
stamp: Stampin’ Up
gems: Imaginisce
pearl paint: Ranger

I arranged the gems in straight lines to represent a meteor shower and made the one big star the focal. I used the tip of the paint bottle to create lots of swirly texture. And here is a tip for you. When I stamped my sentiment it was crooked, so I fixed it by mounting my layer slightly crooked on the card base. That made the sentiment straight and added a bit of visual change to the card. So fun!

Matching card and envelope

Today’s post is brought to you by the matching card and envelope challenge over at The Paper Variety. The inspiration for the focal on this card I CASEd from a Moxie Fab World post. I also used pieces of technique for the background base on Tim Holtz’s Creative Chemistry 101 class.

Celebration Cake Art by Carey Hanes

So, with those three things in my brain I came up with this card and envelope set.

Recipe
carstock: Stampin’ Up (green, black), Staples (white)
stamps, embossing powder: Stampin’ Up
die cuts: Cricut
inks: Ranger
bakers twine: Boxer Scrapbooks
markers: Copic
gems: Want2Scrap
modeling paste: Grumbacher

First I cut the cake + stand image on my Cricut. I then emossed the stand with copper embossing powder to give it a metal quality. I dabbed a scoop of modeling past on my craft sheet and colored it with a drop of brown dye ink. Using my Cricut spatula, I spread the modeling paste across the cake to give it a frosted texture. While it was drying I inked my background, created my candles and built up the card. Even then the cake was not dry. In the process of working with the modeling medium I learned a few things about it.

  1. Don’t heat it with a heat gun. It will bubble. Allow it to dry overnight for this kind of application.
  2. If it is applied to a single layer of cardstock, it will warp and roll up as it drys. Then it will crack when you unroll the paper. Try adhering it to something more solid to allow a good flat drying.
  3. It was fairly solid once dry. I thought I might have to mail the card in a padded envelope to prevent it from crushing and flaking. But once I felt the texture I decided to send it straight in the matching envelope (external embellishment removed for the sake of the Postal workers!).
  4. I think I would add a second layer to the cake but I didn’t have time to wait another day for drying.
  5. Most of all, it was fun to add this kind of texture to a project. I am going to experiment with different textural backgrounds.

Use it, don’t lose it

In this Moxie Fab World challenge we are encouraged to take pieces (non-paper) that we might otherwise throw in the garbage. Off my craft table I grabbed a few pieces of satin ribbon that were trimmed off the ends after wrapping a package. I also have a few small lengths of bakers twine and floss. When I fist grabbed the ribbon ends I thought I would turn them into little banners and stitch them down with the floss. However, after trimming the ends into points I thought it looked like butterfly wings. From there I trimmed both ends of the ribbon and used the twine and floss to tie the middle for the butterfly body and antennae.

Recipe
cardstock, ink: Stampin’ Up
stamp set: Close to my Heart
other: ribbon and twine scraps

Handmade embellishments

Another Moxie Fab World challenge this week is to use a handmade embellishment as a focal point. I decided to go big and bold with this one. I needed an anniversary card for some friends and was stumped as to what I wanted to do for the focal. A heart makes a lot of since so I cut a large heart from my Cricut and gave it some real oomph. I painted it with Distress Crackle paint, added another layer of paint to create a sentiment backdrop and covered the whole thing with embossing powder for thick depth and shine. Plus when I stamped my sentiment into the warm embossing powder, it gives a bit of a debossed impression.

Recipe
cardstock: Stampin’ Up, other
paints: Ranger
inks: Ranger, Tsukineko (Staz On)
embossing ink: Versa Mark
embossing powder, punch: Stampin’ Up
fibers: We R Memory Keepers

Using scraps

The next Moxie Fab World challenge is to use your paper scraps to create a project. I had a pile of paper scraps leftover from cutting out my computer printed cards from the last challenge. Since I printed a card that is 5.5 x 8.5 on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper there were plenty of leftover pieces.

I decided to use the scraps as a mask and create a pattern to ink over them. Once done I decided to use the positive mask pieces on a project as well as the negative masked and inked piece. I got two simple yet pretty cards out of one pile of scrap pieces.

Recipe
cardstock: Staples (white), Stampin’ Up
inks: Ranger
stamps: Stampin’ Up
punch: Fiskars