Monthly Archives: November 2013

Nov30

Thank YOU!

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Thank YOU!

This month has been so much fun! I hope you found some inspiring and useful information in this month’s card series.

Let’s finish up with a quick and simple card:

thanks you card

The card base was stamped with a large background stamp in an ink close to the color of the card base to create a tone on tone look. A single piece of patterned paper, with a piece trimmed off and reversed to create a contrasting line became the main structure, and a single phrase banner stamped and trimmed out became the focal point of the card. A few self-adhesive gems, and the card was done!

Which brings me to the main idea behind this card, and most of the cards I make:

Simple is lovely. While cards with lots of layers and papers and embellishments and techniques are fun, it’s not necessary to have it ALL on one card. Choose a technique or embellishment, and let that shine.

When you have time, and extra postage, play with adding lots of techniques and stash. When you want to get a lot done in a short amount of time, keep it simple.

Thank you so much for playing along with me this month! Let me know what your favorite card was.

If you signed up for my mailing list after the first of November, or if you haven’t sent me a reply to the sign-up email, you’ll be getting another email from me tomorrow. If you want to get one of these cards from me, make sure you reply and share your snail mail address with me. I can’t mail them if I don’t have an address to send them to! Cards will be going out on Monday!

Nov29

Spreading Some Sunshine

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Spreading Some Sunshine

One more card inspired by Raisin Boat’s True Stamp class:

sunshine card

This one started with yellow brayered onto the background. (More Dylusions ink.) After running it through the Sizzix in a Tim Holtz embossing folder, I then rolled on some orange on the raised surfaces. The orange was Studio Calico’s Mr. Huey’s in hot dog. That didn’t work as well. It didn’t flow as easily as the Dylusions did.

A sentiment done with a label maker (dictated by my son) and some Stickles stars, and the card was done.

Today’s tip: If you like to donate cards to Operation Write Home, you need to remember a very simple rule, for the safety of our troops. Do NOT send any cards with glitter on them. Glitter easily rubs off, and if it sticks to someone it could actually create a safety hazard. This card will not be going to Operation Write Home. Maybe I’ll send it to you, if you’re on my mailing list. 😉

Nov28

Simple and Sublime

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Simple and Sublime

Raisin Boat’s class on brayering during last winter’s True Stamp event was truly inspiring. However, I don’t have any of the re-inkers they used on hand. So what to do when you want to try a technique, but don’t have the supplies?

You improvise!

brayered poppies

Rather than using a re-inker, I spritzed a puddle of Dylusions misting ink onto my non-stick craft mat. I then rolled my brayer into the puddle, and began rolling the ink onto the paper. A few die-cut poppies from Memory Box later, and a card was born.

Don’t you just love the ombre effect on the background? The lines that you can see in the ink? That’s because I used a soft brayer rather than a hard one, I think. I had the soft one on hand, so used that rather than buying the hard one. I’m cheap!

Which brings me to today’s point: Say you want to try a new technique, but don’t have any of the supplies recommended by the instructor. Rather than going out and buying a whole bunch of new stuff, go through what you have on hand, and think about how you can make what you have work. Don’t have re-inkers, but do have spray mists or liquid watercolors, or acrylic paints? How could you use them to approximate the technique you want to try? That’s how you discover your creativity: by experimenting and playing. It’s really fun, you should try it some time!

To all my US readers: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is filled with joy and peace! Actually, how about a little joy and peace for everyone, no matter where you are! Thank you for being here!

Nov27

Getting Grungy

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Getting Grungy

Are you making anything yummy for Thanksgiving? I’m hosting this year, so that means the cooking starts today. Since I am guaranteed to be making a mess today, how about a grungy card?

grungy tower

This one was fairly quick to make with a brayered background, a couple of Tim Holtz stamps, a little additional inking around the edges, and some patterned paper. The background was inspired by this class taught by Bobbi Lemanski and Kim Ziehr of Raisin Boat for True Stamp. I didn’t have the exact supplies as used in the class, so I experimented with what was on hand. This one is a bit blotchy. But, it works for a grunge style card, don’t you think?

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card in the mail from me, you need to be on my mailing list! I’d love to send you one!

Nov26

Happy Accidents

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Happy Accidents

One of the things that will really make you happier as a crafter is learning how to let your mistakes marinate, and figuring out how to use them as a creative catalyst.

As I may have mentioned on numerous occasions before, I make a LOT of mistakes. Many of those mistakes are the result of simple user error. I either was not paying attention, or was fumble fingered, or just plain careless. It happens. It’s no big deal when it happens, unless I decide to let mistakes and errors stop me. Where’s the fun in that?

Today’s card is one of those mistakes that’s become a happy accident. I really like how it turned out, but you may not like it. The effect is very subtle. It’s really pretty hard to see in person, let alone in a picture.

subtle wheat

As I was making the background for this card, I was aware that I might have trouble with it, simply because I have been using different types of inks on different surfaces for ages. I experiment! It’s fun. 🙂

This is mirror cardstock. It has a very smooth, coated surface that resists most inks. Alcohol inks or solvent inks work fine on this. Other inks? Not so much.

Since I haven’t tried Memento ink on this surface yet, I decided to give it a whirl, and see what happened. Memento says it will dry on most surfaces, although some surfaces may require heat seating the ink. So I stamped this stamp in Memento black ink on the alcohol marbleized cardstock.

It wasn’t a perfect transfer (stamps tend to slide on super smooth cardstock like this) but it worked. I set it aside to dry and worked on other projects. After awhile I came back to it, and it wasn’t dry, so I heat set the ink for a little bit. Set it aside, and after waiting a bit more, checked to see how the ink was. Rubbed a tiny corner, and smeared a bit of ink. So I set it aside again, this time for a few days while I got other things done.

I find letting troublesome projects rest allows me to come back to a project with a fresh, optimistic, and creative eye.

In this particular case, I decided to just try to remove the still tacky ink with a paper towel. First I blotted it, and then I gave the background a quick rub. As I did so, I noticed that the spots where I had removed ink, had also taken the alcohol ink underneath off as well. The result? Ghostly wheat grass all over the background.

Cool!

A quick embossed, colored and matted wheat stamp, and the card was done.

What do you think? Can you see the ghostly grass? I’m having a hard time getting a good shot for you.

ghostly grass

Ah! That’s better!