To You. From Me. With Love.

I'm loving me some crafty time! I pulled out some Limeade Ice cardstock to go with some teensy Kraft strips.

After white embossing the sentiment, I ran the Kraft strips through my 1" Xyron and then through my Fiskars crimper. A bit of spattering and done!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Limeade Ice, Kraft
• Stamps: Mini Blooms
• Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)
• Other Tools: white embossing powder (Filigree), paper crimper (Fiskars), Winter Pine Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels), Opaque White Mister Huey's mist (Studio Calico)

Cards Using MME's Collectible "Remarkable"

- using MFT's Loopy Blossom Die-Namics for the first time...

These are the cards we'll be making using the 6 x 6 pad of My Minds Eye Collectible "Remarkable" papers.

This first one I'm showing you I had to remake three times! I almost didn't include it for the class, but I don't have the time to make another or try to fix it for the fourth time...lol.

 

The chipboard boy was cut using the store's Accucut machine. It's actually a chain of 5 children that I cut to separate the children. The double layered balloons are stamped using the balloon from MFT's Cupcake Cutie. In the next photo you can see how the balloons are layered.

The next card went so much easier. I made a simple card that has many paper layers.

The heart tag/charm is another chipboard item cut on the store's Accucut machine. I used Cuttlebug's Polka Dots folder to emboss the kraft.

OK, this next card has a lot of details.

I die cut 5 each of two greens, with the MFT Leafy Flourish Die-Namics. I'm going to be busy die cutting for the kits for this class! Several are tucked in behind the circle cut out, some being popped up a bit. I also used Loopy Bloom Die-Namics by MFT to create those Mum-like blooms. There are a few close ups to see.

 

And a side view...

I used some Liquid Pearls for this final card.

 

Teal, red & yellow are the colours for this card. Lots of layers, some of which are popped up. You can probably see it better in the side view.

I love working with that crepe ribbon. I used MFT's Leafy Flourish again on this card. Only a single one this time. I cut it in half to get two pieces from it. The lower right piece I used Sellbinder's Labels 20 to get the shape at the bottom. Buttercup Liquid Pearls trim the circles and the banner shape at the bottom. The butterfly stamp is a very old one from My Sentiments Exactly!, that I love, and is no longer available. I might have to break down and get another similar butterfly stamp as this clear is beginning to not stick to the clear bock as easily as it used to.

Well, thank you for joining me today for a look at the long post. Happy papercrafting!

Father's Day Cards

- getting ready for the fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers that are dads

I always love making Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. As a matter of fact I remember that it was the case even as a very small child. But, we're not here for me tell you stories of my childhood. These four cards are for a Scrapbook Parade class coming up in early June. So why don't I show them to you.

These are the four cards we'll be making. To begin, we shall have a look at the card on the left, a vintage look.

You can see that I even did a little something on the inside of the card. For the outside, I used Fancy Pants' "Swagger - Powerful" and Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress ink to colour the pattern paper and age it. The three stamps are "Inspired By Travel" from MFT and stamped with the same Vintage Photo ink.

To get the corners this way I used a 1/2" circle punch and placed the corner in 1/4 of the circle and punched.

For the second card, I again used Fancy Pants' "Swagger - Success" this time.

After die cutting the circle, I edged it with both Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass Distress inks from Tim Holtz. I used a nib and the same inks to create a water look at the bottom of the circle. The sailing ship is a stamp from MFT "Inspired By The Sea". I stamped it, colored the waves showing at the bottom of the ship and in between the sails, and then cut it out and popped it up on the circle with dimensionals. Here's a closer look at it.

 

I decided to try and remember how to make a Macrame Sailor's Knot, which took me a while, and use that on the card for something different. I love the look and know that I figured it out I realized that I could have checked on line, silly me. I like it a lot and will do it again and maybe investigate some other macrame knots that could be used on a card.

Here's a close up of the knot...

...and a view from the side so you can see the layers.

For the next card, I wanted to make a square card. This one has a lot of paper layers and popped up layers, and has just a hint of a vintage look.

I really like this one. For this card I used Authentique's "Strong" paper from the 6 x 6 pad with some coordinating Bazzill cardstock. The stamp is from MFT titled "Inspired By Lighthouses". I just stamped it onto the designer paper and love the look. I again used Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo Distress ink for both the stamping and the edging of the paper.

Hopefully you can see the layers here. 

And for the last Father's Day card, I wanted to be a little more playful.

I again went to the Fancy Pants' Swagger - using "Mustache Fever" & "Gallant". Added the pewter brads and used MFT's Die-Namics Tool Charms.

Well, that's it for this set of class cards. Hope that you are getting some inspiration for your Father's Day cards. Thank you so much for stopping by to have a look. Happy papercrafting!

Happy Birthday

I whipped together a quick bday card for my hubby while he was out picking up Chinese food. I go back and forth about making cards for my husband. It doesn't seem like it's important to him until I DON'T do it!

Some quick stripes and a tag. One piece of advice received from the hubs:  The simpler, the better!

I'm really digging the little stitched flags in Kraft smudged with brown ink. Looks kinda leathery!

I've really been craving some crafty time so perhaps I'll get some more done this weekend!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock:  Kraft, Stamper's Select White, Enchanted Evening
• Stamps: 2012 Birthday Tags, Distressed Stripes
• Ink: Enchanted Evening, Dark Chocolate, Spiced Marmalade Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Ranger)
• Dies: Limitless Labels - Circle (1-3/4"), Stitched Sentiment Flag (L'il Inkers)
• Other Tools: 1-3/4" circle punch (Marvy Uchida), ink blending tool/foam (Ranger)

Lighthouse in a Clock!

- a Father's Day project for a June class

This is a real fun project to make for a fun gift for a special man, and ideal for Father's Day. You've heard of a ship in a bottle, right. Well, when I saw Tim Holtz's new clock, I thought lighthouse in a clock! Don't ask me how that thought came to be, it was just there. So this is the end result.

White capped waves in layers with a lighthouse silhouette laser cut from black chipboard. Because of the shape of the clock, as you get closer to the front glass, the circle narrows a bit. So, I had to make different sized circles for every two layers. I cut  total of three layers using the top and bottom of each circle to create six layers of waves. Each wave sequence I drew is different.

Before I tell you more, why don't you have a look at some of the photos.

The anchor and ship's wheel are also laser cut from black chipboard, but I then heat embossed them on both sides with silver.

Now, let's take the back off and show you more.

To get the whitecaps I used my little Studio gesso bottle and gently squeezed out a little and in small circular motions while spreading it around. You can just barely see the shine reflected from the Glossy Accents that I applied in the same way.

Here you can better see the layering.

I tried to load the short video for you to view, but for some reason it's not working today. So I'm trying to link you to YouTube so that you can view it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPHZP7lqknk
Hopefully this will work.

Thank you for stopping by to have a look. Happy papercrafting everyone!
 

For The Men In Our Lives

...so fun to make masculine cards

I'm back! I've had a pretty busy few days with a two day class, some very detailed project classes and a couple of others that I had to make kits for, etc. So, today I'm back with a new class for the end of May. A masculine card class. We should do that more often, because I forgot how fun they can be to make.

The cards for this class all measure 3 3/4" x 8 1/4". They are black exterior with a white interior and come with charcoal envelopes. Each package has five in it, so each person gets to make 5 cards in class. I based these cards on some of the elements that men like or associate with in their life. Leather, wood, stone/brick, metal, and the sea. These are they.

I have two favorites, and will start and end in showing them to you. The first is one that make you think leather, and maybe jungle.

I used the old Cuttlebug embossing folder "Mosaic Tiles" and since the paper was considerably longer than the folder I had to turn it and emboss it again. By not going over the edge of the folder, I was able to keep the inevitable 'edge bump' from appearing, and even matched the rows. The pattern will not match, but I covered that with the twill ribbon.

To get the leather look after using the embossing folder, I completely covered the paper with VersaMark ink and covered it all with clear embossing powder and heated it up until all melted.

Here is a closer look at that part of the card.

 
The leaves are actually from MFT Die-Namics Poinsettia which I cut up. The tag I cut out of chipboard using the store's Accucut. I then heat embossed it twice (2 layers) with copper embossing powder, and while still hot from heating, immediately placed my choice of clear stamp into the very hot embossed tag to give it that engraved look. The hemp cord I wrapped around one of my small brush handles and heated the cord with my heat gun to hold the 'ringlete' shape better.

On to the next card.

  
You guessed it. This is the 'wood' card. Again I had to trick the paper using a small embossing folder "Woodgrain" from Sizix.  The using Tim Holtz's Distress ink pad in Vintage Photo and passed it gently over the embossed wood grain to darken it. The maple leaves are from an old die from Cuttlebug that came with a little mini embossing folder to emboss the leaf edges and veins which I darkened with Tim Holtz Distress inks Shabby Shutters for the lighter leaf and Peeled Paint for the darker leaves.

Now let's check out the Stone/Brick card.

Here, too, I used a folder and had to trick the paper. But this time I inked the folder with a white ink before embossing it to help define the bricks and make it look more like mortar between the bricks. I punched out some tiny little hearts and used the white ink pad around the edges of the hearts.

OK. Let's have a peek at the 'metal' card. Another tall and skinny one.

I thought that I'd use the sophisticated black, gold and touch of cream for this one. I didn't have to fudge around with the paper on this one as the size fit into the folder nicely. Actually, it wasn't paper but Spellbinder's Precious Metals foils sheets and Cuttlebug's Script Texture embossing folder. I then sanded the gold off of the script to expose the silver underneath. I added a lot of tiny little gold brads along the side of this.

The MFT's DC Giftcard Greetings was gold heat embossed and then line framed using a ruler and gold Gelly Roll pen. I did the same with the banners.

And, now, for my other favorite, and last card of this set. The Sea inspired card.

I took some designer graph paper, second stamped the left corner, and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Stormy Sky. Using Spellbinders Standard Circles I created the lifesaver ring and attached the hemp cord while wrapping the blue ribbon around.

The waves I drew onto three different blues and cut them out. Then with some Studio Gesso I squeezed lightly out and spread around in a circular motion with the tip of the nozzle on the bottle. It didn't take long to dry, and that's when I used my Glossy Accents to quickly draw wave and added in a circular motion again, over the white caps I created with the gesso.

Each blue layer I popped up with some dimensional foam squares, and then added the lifesaver. Do they still call those ring "livesavers"? I always wonder beacuse of the candies. lol

So there you have the five masculine cards. Hope you are inspired to make your own masculine cards. Happy papercrafting everyone.

Just a Note

Another typewriter-themed card; this time Hero Arts.

I can't help it with the pink!

I'm putting this into the Simon Says Stamp Happy Mail challenge.

{Supplies}

• Cardstock:  Soft Stone, Smokey Shadow, white (Papertrey Ink)
• Stamps: Just My Type (Hero Arts), sentiment--Just My Type (My Favorite Things)
• Ink: various

Thank You

I made this up a couple of weekends ago but haven't had time to post.

I made this card for a particular purpose but ended up forgetting it! I'm sure another use will pop up for it.

Some rustic cream and white cardstocks and my favorite vintage typewriter!

{Supplies}

• Cardstock: Rustic Cream, Rustic White (both Papertrey Ink)
• Patterned Paper: Studio Calico (?)
• Stamps: Just My Type (My Favorite Things)
• Ink: various
• Dies: Just My Type (My Favorite Things)
• Other Tools: vintage twine (Papertrey Ink), sewing machine/thread

Nearly A Month Ago...

- I love colouring!!!

Nearly a month ago I took my second class in learning to colour with Spectrum Noir markers. So if I want to share it with you, I think it's about time I post the results, don't you? We received the next two sets of colours - yellows and the essentials set which includes the blender pen.

These are the cards we made in class.

 To see them better, I'll show them to you one at a time,

 

 

We learned a few fun techniques like using the blender pen & refill to create patterns and texture, so I'll show you my practice sheet with the techniques on it.

In the circles, from left to right, dots created by using the blending pen tip, stripes using the narrow and wider ends, cobblestones & bricks, fur, and denim.

All the stamps and dies are from My Favorite Things.

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my colouring progress.