Category Archives: cards

Nov13

Creating a Scene

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Creating a Scene

One of the things that was really popular when I first started stamping was creating landscapes and scenes that involved lots of masking and detail coloring. I tried a bit of that then, but I much preferred the silly scenes to the more realistic ones.

up a tree

The thing I prefer about this style of stamping is that I don’t have to mask. The stamps I used were small and clear, so I could see where I was stamping, and could leave spaces or work around the images I wanted to be most obvious. A little copic coloring, and the card is done.

Remember when you’re working with nature scenes, trees and grass and shrubs are shades of green. Vary and mix the colors you use on something like this, so you get a more attractive and interesting image. Wouldn’t this be lovely with lots of reds, yellows, and oranges to make a fall tree? Add a few loose leaves floating around, and you’d be set!

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card from me you need to sign up for my email list, and send me your snail mail address!

Nov12

Digging Thru Stash

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Digging Thru Stash

I have a confession to make. I could probably make a unique card every day for a year, and still have untouched craft supplies. There are so many things I bought with the thought that I’d use them immediately, and yet, they’re still sitting here, gathering dust and wrinkles and cat hair. (Why do my cats insist on sleeping on my work tables and chair? On top of partially completed projects? Do you have any idea?)

How about I use not one, but two of those so-called must-have items?

sticker and pearls card

 

This card started with the idea that maybe I should start a card with a sticker rather than a stamp. This set of stickers jumped out at me when I opened the drawer, and said “Use us! Quick, before the cat decides to climb into the drawer and sleep on us!” Well maybe not that exactly, but they were eager to finally get out of their packaging.

(Why, yes my supplies talk to me. Don’t yours?) 😉

Once the Magenta metallic outline stickers started talking to me, the Shimmering Pearls got in on the action too.

Shimmering Pearls are another version of all those pearl powders out there. These were originally in a liquid, but I’ve had them so long, the liquid evaporated, and I just had cakes of pearl powders on the bottoms of all the jars. I added some water to them, let them sit for a bit, and then attempted to stir them up. They’re a bit lumpy still, but very useable, as you can see. (I used them to color in the flowers on the stickers.)

Final touch of stash busting: the woven background. I had made a woven sheet using handmade papers for a project a few years ago. (Ha! Try more than a decade ago. I’m telling you, my stash is HUGE!) It seemed like a good compliment to the quilt like feel of the sticker image.

So, how big is your stash? What’s the oldest thing in it? Use it!

(I actually used my oldest stamp on the hexagon card just the other day. I’ve had that leaf stamp since, oh, about 1989.)

Nov11

Leftovers

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Leftovers

Who else has piles of scrap papers you know will work great on a page or card, but haven’t gotten around to using yet?

Good. I’m not the only one. (Right? Right!!?!?)

Let’s use some scraps, shall we?

scraps card

You know how Shimelle Laine uses starting points? Basically what you do is you think of your paper as simple squares and rectangles and circles, and overlap them to create a background. That style of layering papers is a great way to use lots of papers and scraps on both scrapbook pages and cards. (If you want a great class about using up your stash, you need to check out Shimelle’s class from the first True Scrap called Creative Stash Diving. (affiliate link) Excellent inspiration for using up all your stash.)

This card started with a scrap piece of test paper that I had used to practice for the hexagon card earlier. While it wasn’t good enough to use in a starring roll, it was good enough to use with this silhouette stamp. The colors from the stamped image then dictated the colors of the scrap papers chosen as well as the card base. By also using patterns that echoed the style of the stamp (circles & a bit of ornate flourishes) the card feels very unified and cohesive.

Final thought for you today: not all cards need a sentiment. If you have a purpose for making a card, that can dictate a sentiment theme, but if you’re just making a card because you like making cards, give yourself permission to leave off the sentiment. After all you’re probably going to be writing something inside it, aren’t you?

Have you been making any cards? Make sure you’re on my mailing list if you’d like to get one of these.

Do you have any techniques or questions? Ask away!

Nov10

Imperfect, But Finished. Maybe.

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Imperfect, But Finished. Maybe.

There are cards that are imperfect, where anyone can see the imperfections, but are still beautiful. That’s what this one is today.

imperfect paris

 

You can tell the image didn’t transfer completely, and that I attempted to double stamp it to get the rest of the image to transfer. Not too successful, but not horrible. Maybe this isn’t finished. Maybe what this needs is a sentiment that addresses the idea of doing life imperfectly, and with art and adventure. Or maybe I just need to pull my big girl panties up, and pull of the front, and redo the background. That’s why I’m reluctant to do the card over. I LOVE the background.

Well, what do you all think? Should I pull off the stamped image and start that piece over, or should I add a sentiment that makes the imperfectness of this a design feature rather than a flaw?

Comment below, or leave an opinion over on Facebook. I’ll do whatever you decide!

Nov9

The Importance of Test Stamping

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The Importance of Test Stamping

One of the easiest things you can do to make sure you get a good image when you stamp is to test stamp on a piece of scrap paper before committing to your project.

Case in point: Check out these images from a test stamped piece of paper.

test stamping scrap paper

If you notice, the top image is very, very blotchy. That’s because I was trying out using distress stain as an inking medium on a clear stamp. Definitely NOT a good choice for that particular stamp. The bright blue image a little bit below it is a test to see how well Distress Inks would work with the stamp. Still not good enough. Finally, at the bottom, the red is Hero Arts Shadow Dye Ink. That, if I do say so myself, is a gorgeous transfer. So Hero Arts it is!

One more thing. Check out the upside down image in the middle of the paper. Notice how it’s mottled pink and blue? Some ink colors are more difficult to remove than others. Apparently the red colorways in the Hero Arts Shadow Inks like to really cling to a stamp. Wash your stamp and stamp onto scraps until the ink no longer transfers. Otherwise you’ll get some odd colored images.

Final product:

write your story

This is such a simple card. But this is one of my faves so far this month. Wouldn’t this make a really cool insert into a pocket page?

Don’t forget, if you’d like to get a card in the mail, join my email list. I’d love to send you one!