Card Seventeen - Berry Sweet

Another homespun farmer style. This is pure paper with one simple brad in the same Herb and Honey line. I used dimensionals to lift the two sections above each other. I did use some embroidery thread to sew on the top and a border punch for the bottom of the plain paper in the center.   This card is aligned perfectly, even if the picture doesn't show it.  I bought a new paper cutter that does a MUCH better job!

I bought a $40.00 sewing machine about a year ago to sew on paper but I don't know how to use it, so I just did a few hand stitches.  One of these times I'll sit down and figure it out.

This is a simple card for anybody to make and you can do it with any sort of paper. I think tomorrow I'll do a Christmas one and not a kit one, even though I do enjoy these. I keep remembering I'll ship them out in December so I think most people will be expecting Christmas cards....oh wait, no I won't.  Tomorrow is chemo.  So Thursday....

Card Sixteen - Old Fashioned Bottlecap - Twofer!

I ordered a warehouse box from Studio Calico, and was pleased to see I got two card kits, with the ability to make 9 cards from each kit. Because they use the same paper line and embellishments, they will look similar so I'm posting them in groups. Today, I made two cards.

The papers and embellishments are from the Herb and Honey line.   You can't see but I poked holes in the bottom right yellow paper, which gives it some dimension.

There was a lot of measuring, and I am pretty bad at measuring.  And I suck at gluing too - I really need to repeat kindergarten.

But still, it was nice to have instructions and not have to search Pinterest come up with an idea.   I am not as creative as you might think.  Still, for the rest of the cards I may not follow instructions so exactly.

I may see if I can scrape up the money and subscribe to the kit for a few months and see what I get.  My poor chemo rattled brain liked having instructions to follow.

Card Fifteen - Graphic Wedding

I have discovered the word "graphic" means black and white, at least in the crafts world.

My sister wanted a card for a wedding she is attending.  She wanted champagne colors and I started out using some champagne paper, and the card ended up blue and purple and not only that, off kilter. So I started again, leaving the colors behind.  Sometimes you have to follow where inspiration takes you!

I found this lovely black and white heart paper that I'd gotten from Pink Paisley warehouse sale, and started pulling out stuff that matched.  I used white cardstock, and some stickers I'd had, by a company called Glitz and Glitter - I found them at Tuesday Morning,  I think. And that wonderful leaf ribbon in black, that I didn't end up using but still love.  I grabbed some white Martha Stewart heart stickers, colored them black with a Spectrum Noir pen, popped a flat back pearl in the center and called it a day.

But it still seemed flat to me, so I backed everything with black cardstock. And there you go. Graphic wedding card.

Here is the inside using the rest of the sticker:

Usually I hunt for ideas on pinterest before I make a card and while they never turn out the way they started out, I usually have an idea to work from. This time, I just winged it. After I found that paper I did what felt natural.

Card Fourteen - Christmas Snowman

I am really at the mercy of light outside when I take photos.  For some reason it is overcast today and so my pictures look washed out.

Anyway, I got a digi stamp online, colored it with spectrum noir markers, used Stickle's glitter glue for the snowflake.  Added a vellum tag which I stamped with Merrry Christmas and used Wow white opaque embossing powder and heat set it. Secured with a flower with an enameled dot for the center.  Done.

I'm into coloring these days.

Close up of the sparkle

Spectrum Noir:
Flowers, scarf, heart and house:  DR1, DR3
Copic Green
TN3 wood
TB1 background
Birds were some colored pencils I had.
IG1 for the shadow.

Card Thirteen - Peacock Spectrum Noir

Today's card is a Peacock,  colored with Spectrum Noir Markers, brushed with clear Wink of Stella and Stickles Glitter Glue.

I've been finding coloring very therapeutic lately. In fact, I've become addicted to it. I've colored quite a few cards that I've yet to show but you'll see them soon.

Frustration has entered the building. I'm using my inexpensive but pretty Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I purchased the entire set at one time, but I've discovering that several have dried out, even though they have not been used. There is an easy fix, involving denatured alcohol (just adding a few drops to the pen and shaking) but I have to go to the hardware store and I've been too busy. Until then, I keep picking up a pen and finding it dry.

I bought the old first gen set, 72 markers - and this is a known issue. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.  The whole thing cost me $70.00 and a Copic pen is about $7.00 each so no way would I have had the range of colors in Copics for that amount.

The newest Spectrum Noir set has supposedly solved this problem with a new design and they are still cheap.  So I definitely recommend them if you want to use alcohol markers.

Anyway, the card:  I got a free peacock picture here. I love you people who put these free stamps out for us to color!

 I printed it on index cardstock. Spectrum Noir markers used were the BT line.  I used CG4 for the yellow part of the feather and LV1 for the background.   I didn't plan ahead for the background so figured I'd fill it with with the LV1, but that's the one that got dry. So I circled as best I could and went over it with Wink of Stella.  It is much prettier in person.

 Here is a closeup, you can just kind of see the Wink of Stella glitter on the bottom left above the bird's head but it is glittering all over the paper.

I added some Stickles glitter glue on the feathers in Blue/Green below the yellow which you can also sort of see above.  I used matching bling in the upper left corner with a Happy Birthday stamp in the bottom right.  I used a Hot off the Press Feathers paper pack for the matted background. I'm giving this to a friend whose birthday is tomorrow.

 Hopefully, she won't notice that I was running out of ink for the background!  It is a pretty card in person, very glittery.  I must figure out how to photograph these things.

Wonder if I should do a video of my making them?

Card Twelve - Simple Flowers

Sometimes, you gotta keep it easy. I had this blue paper from from HunkyDory, an English company. It was part of an Artful Card set.  So cut, glue, add flowers,  and done!

I cut it so that the dragonfly was in the upper right corner and mounted it on a plain card.  The paper in these HunkyDory card packs have embedded foiling which I like.   I have several that haven't been opened that are pretty spectacular.  One is of cats, very 50s, with their triangle heads and long tails, in foiled pinks and greens of that era.  I intended to make a card for my stepdaughter, who loves cats.

I haven't yet because the paper is so thick and heavy it is hard to cut and fold, even using a scoring board.

But I managed - with a new blade on my cutter.  

Of course, with a dragonfly you need flowers.  I used prima flowers.  When I buy things that will be used frequently, like flowers or enamel dots, that sort of thing, I always purchase them in white or cream.  That way, I can color them myself to match my pages. Of course, I buy other colors too but it is always good to have plain ones on hand to coordinate.

I took three cream flowers, one which had a silver foil detail, and used my Spectrum Noir markers to match the colors.  I put a holographic dazzle in the center of each flower, and used a silver word dazzle for "thanks."

It couldn't have been easier.

And yet, it still took me a long time.  I have called myself the slowest scrapbooker in the world and I'm sure that is true.  A simple card like this might take me hours.

I did a few others along the same lines, using the same products - dazzles and Hunkydory card papers.  The one below has dazzles along the edges, the flowers in the upper right.  The word "thanks" with the foiled edges was a punch out and part of a kit.

One thing to keep in mind as you, or I, make cards is they have to go through the mail.  So I try not to put too many dimensional objects on them.  Sometimes I'll go crazy and then use a padded envelope but for standard mailing you have to remember the post office.  So this is why I often choose flat items like Dazzles over other bling I could use.  

I needed an easy day and got one. I am hoping to do a 4th of July card but am not sure I'll have time. I have a lot of beautiful Americana papers too, so I'll try. If I don't see you, have a happy 4th!

Card Eleven - Shaker Card, Fishies

I had purchased the Fuse, which allows a person to seal plastics together.  Because my favorite project is December Daily, (the only books I ever complete) I felt like the tool would come in handy to seal sequins and glittery stuff into those pages.  But to be honest, it doesn't work very well.   I'm not sure if it's operator error or poorly distributed heat, but I often either burn the plastic or it won't seal.

However, I thought I'd try again.  I've been dying to make a little shaker card.

So I took some blue cardstock, stamped some little fish and bubbles on it, and heat embossed with a WOW white opaque embossing powder.  I cut the design into a circle using my trusty old Creative Memories Circle Cutter that I bought back 17 years or so ago.  (You'd think I'd be better at this by now, wouldn't you?)  The system is now discontinued but you can find it on ebay.   I have also been using my old creative memories cutting mat until just the past week, when I realized the scarring from knife cuts was too bad.  I still intend to use it for gluing.  Products that last 20 years are okay in my book!  Even if the creative memories style is long gone, their basics are still good.

Back to the card:  I plugged in my fuse and took a sheet of regular old page protector.   I slipped the fish circle between the page protector sheets and cut around it, but not closely.  I then opened it and slipped in some sequins.  By then my fuse was heated up so I freehanded the sealing around the circle, leaving an area so I could secure it to the card.  Now I had a shaker pocket.

The fuse worked!

I took my creative memories cutting system and cut the same size circle from a base card, and again from the piece of paper I wanted to use.  Although it was a botanical print, it reminded me of underwater plant life, and I wanted colors contrasting the blue.

I taped the shaker to the back and covered it with a translucent piece of vellum.

I stamped the saying, "When Life Gives you Troubles, Blow Bubbles" on the bottom left in blue, and inked the edges of the card in yellow. I took a few blue sequins and put them on the top right for the heck of it. Final product:

For the next few days, I may not post a card, or I may post one I've already made. The 4th is coming and I may, or may not, have family coming. A friends birthday is the 6th and we are taking a limo to wine country, and the 9th is my parents internment. So I am going to concentrate on household chores rather than card-making. I also have a post half written on my real blog and I need to finish it. I'm struggling in cancerland and am having a hard time expressing it. If you enjoy this blog, let me know! We all need some feedback.