I have been doing small amounts of crafting here and there but have not been saving them in any way. Well for this card I decided to go ahead and get out the camera and record the whole process. Of course I edited it down so you don’t literally have to watch paint dry! Hope you enjoy.
So we were on vacation and I forgot to bring a thank you card for the owner of the home we stayed in. I decided to find the LSS and pick up some papers to make a card. With just papaer, a pen a ruler and a glue stick here is what I came up with.
I was back in my space recently making a birthday card for a clipper ship fan in my life. I had no clipper ship anything in my stash so I decided to try drawing one. I am not the best drawer and there are some technical mistakes to the piece but, heck, I am pleased with how this came out. Here is my “cheatsy” tip for you today: find a piece of clip art online and use it as a visual guide for drawing! That is just what I did. It helped me get some clearer proportions and better graphic detail.
Recipe
cardstock: Stampin’ Up, X-Press It Blending Card
stamps: Technique Tuesday
inks: Ranger, Tsukineko
glimmer spray: Tattered Angels
embossing powder: Stampin’ Up
pen: American Crafts
markers: Copic
clip art inspiration: http://www.clker.com/clipart-galleon-sail-ship.html
Before I began I cut my card layer, sprayed with different colors of glimmer mist and inked the edges. I added travel themed stamps with versamark and clear embossing powder. I then gave depth to the stamps with more ink. Once that I was done I went to work with my drawing. I used a 03 American Crafts pigment pen to sketch out the image. I then went back and darkened my lines and colored in with Copic markers. I inked in more blue around the waves. I used my Signo Uniball white pen to add some detail to the water and the sails. The edges were frayed and it was ready to go on the card. On the card based I inked more of the blue and brown. I added a scrip text stamp in a very light inking to add some textural and mood detail both inside and out. Remember you are not just sending a card you are sending a feeling captured on paper. The more detail you add, the more you capture that feeling.
The only crafting I have been doing lately is immediate gift/card items. I haven’t even been planning ahead for upcoming birthdays etc. In fact I actually {gasp} bought a birthday card for a party last month. Sigh.
At any rate it felt good to get down in my craft room and make something, even if it was atop a mile-high pile of mess on my table (reason #2 for not crafting right now).
Recipe
cardstock, stamps, punches: Stampin’ Up (separate image and text stamp sets)
ink: Ranger distress
ribbon: Ofray
Blend inks onto white cardstock, spritz with water and layer over card. Ink white ribbon and let dry. Ink up stamps for images, stamp off on scratch paper 2 times, then stamp for third time on white paper without reinking. Repeat with text stamps and stamp for third time over each image with different phrase. Punch out images. Stamp sentiment in full inking. Punch out. Adhere images, ribbon and sentiment to card.
It looks likes it has been about a month since my last post. Life has pulled my attention in different directions. I have only made 3 crafty projects in the past month and only photographed one of them. So I will share that one here with you today.
We had the joy to share some dog-sitting duties with another family to take care of a mutual friend’s beloved pet. This dog was such a treat to take care of. We had a dog a few years ago that was NOT such a treat in any way shape or form. So, to have this dog come into our house and be such a sweet creature was fantastic. We were only supposed to have the dog for a day but finagled our arrangement so we could keep her an extra day. I made this card to say thank you to a sweet young friend who was supposed to get the dog-sitting privilege a day early but had to wait for us so we could have that extra day.
RECIPE
cardstock, stamp: Stampin’ Up
ink: Ranger (green, black), Stampin’ Up (white)
die cut: Provo Craft (A Child’s Year– Cricut cart.)
border punch: Fiskars
I probably won’t have many projects for you in the coming months as the sun, gardening, family, my new camera, and travel plans will be my main focus. There are only so many hours in the day and I have to choose how I spend them and right now my crafty mojo is really low. Such is life. Enjoy your summer (at least in the norther hemisphere)!
I worked on Mother’s Day cards this week like many of you. Here is what I came up with.
First Up
This one I made to enter into The Paper Variety’s current challenge. The challenge is to use mists, inks or paints. I wanted to add just a touch of paint to stamp my greeting on. But in the process I squeezed my paint tube so hard that I ended up with paint exploded all over me. I don’t think that is quite what they had in mind with a messy challenge. Luckily I was in good enough of a mood that I didn’t use any explitives, but instead carefully reached into my pocket to grab my phone and snap a couple of pictures. Witness…
That was only about half the mess. The rest landed on my pants, the floor and my table. I’m happy to report that everything came out in the wash!
Recipe
well, of course, paint: Ranger
pattern paper: DCWV, Scenic Route, Creating Keepsakes
cardstock: Stampin’ Up
other: thread, fabric flowers from a fake flower bouquet
Next in line
I just played with my stamps and copics. I am still trying to figure the markers out. I thought I would be able to blend different shades better, but so far I can blend similar shades but not very different ones. I’m still exploring!
Recipe
pattern paper, stamps, cardstock: Stampin’ Up
card base: Petersen Arnes
markers: Copic
other: ribbon, floss, pop dots, thread, button
I’m back after my 2 week break with a new video for you. This one is for my non-crafty friends. I just wanted to prove that they too can be crafty and they probably don’t even need to buy anything special do it with either! If you have friends who think they can’t be crafty or think it is too expensive, then show them this video!
This week’s The Paper Variety challenge is a 1-2-3 recipe challenge. You pick any items and use them in the quantity of one, two and three. I wanted to see what I could do if I went really hard core with this challenge. So here is what I picked: one pattern paper, two stamp sets (an image and a sentiment), and three distress ink colors. I wanted to go all the way hard core and only use those things. But I just couldn’t do it. So the additional supplies I used were cardstock for the card base (though I probably could have worked in more of the pattern paper), a waterproof ink to stamp my images (so they wouldn’t bleed when water colored) and a punch to shape my pattern paper.
I used my three distress ink colors three ways to make them go farther in the design.
When you are restricted in your product choices – for a challenge, a small crop bag, a tight budget or whatever – make your supplies go farther by figuring out multiple ways to put those items to use.
No go cook up your own 1-2-3 crafty soup!
Every year (I think) I have won a prize attending my local CKC. This year I had gone all weekend long without winning anything. I figured my winning karma had just run out. As I was packing up my things to leave after the Saturday night crop, they announced that they were just going to draw for all the remaining prizes. I decided to stick around just in case. It is a good thing I did since I won a very lovely floral stamp set from Close To My Heart! So excited. I used it to play with my brand new Copics to create this card.
I drew outside of the lines on purpose just to experiment with what I could and could not do with my Copics in the color range I purchased. Just fun and play!
Recipe:
cardstock: Stampin’ Up, The Paper Company
stamp: CTMH (flower), SU (sentiment)
markers: Copic
ink: Versamark, Tsukineko (Memento)
ribbon: Cream City Ribbon
punch: SU
I’ve been busy getting myself ready for the Creating Keepsakes Convention in my region. I will have plenty of goodies to share with you on Sunday or Monday. For now, I’ll give you the last two cards I made.
This first card I made for my SIL’s birthday. I didn’t have the stamp I wanted to I actually cut the “r” off of a “for” stamp and added on to the end of the “you” stamp to create “your”. I cringed as I sliced the scissors through my cling-mount rubber. But everything worked out just fine. When I cling my stamps onto my block I can just add the “r” back on to it’s original word and it will look just fine! If a stamp isn’t quite what you need, don’t be afraid to alter it!
This next card was made for my friend’s son’s birthday. He is an animal lover so I wanted to go with a wild animal feel without being too cutesy since he is 11. I used my alcohol inks on glossy paper to get the marbled background.
Enjoy! And I’ll be back in a few days with tidbits from CKC!
craftysoup.com 