Category Archives: stamping

Nov15

Out of This World!

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Out of This World!

This card was a lot of fun to make. Want to see it made, from start to finish?

Cara Miller’s copic coloring class is available here. It’s a great introduction to copics.

You know how sometimes you have a vision of a project, and the end product is something that matches your vision? Yep, that was today’s card.

Beam me up!

Now I have to just remember to leave it out in the light to see if that glow in the dark embossing powder really does glow in the dark.

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card in the mail, you need to sign up for my email list!

Nov14

Inspired by Crafty Friends

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Inspired by Crafty Friends

I have met some pretty wonderful people through scrapbooking. They are fun, interesting, and downright inspiring.

Take my friend Jen from Caffeinated Papercuts. She’s a riot at crops, full of energy and good humor. She’s also the owner of an adorable etsy shop filled with cute and useful handmade items, from things like gift tags and decorated coasters to wedding invitations.

Anyway, she taught her very first class at the last crop I went to, and she did an awesome job demonstrating a lot of Tim Holtz inspired techniques. ( I posted the page I made in her class here, and you all loved it!)

So, today’s card is based on that class.

Tim Holtz inspired Dragonlfy

 

Rather than the red, orange, and brown for the fall leaves pages, this uses pink and blues and green. Plus, once I got done, I realized it needed shine (after all it is a dragonfly!) so put a thin coat of water color iridescent medium over the top to give it some sparkle.

The most useful thing I got from Jen’s class? A reminder to layer images. Adding foam dots to a fussy cut image, adding some cute patterned paper? Those are things Jen would do. I know HOW to do it, it’s just I don’t always put things together that way. When I do, I LOVE how they turn out. Thanks for the inspiration Jen!

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!

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!