A bit of literary intrigue

Last Sunday I ordered a book from Amazon. Now, I don't order as many things from Amazon as some people do (ahem, my sister), but I've ordered my fair share. Especially books. I love owning, holding, admiring and arranging bookshelves full of actual paper books. I have two Kindle e-readers, but I rarely read books on them because it's just not the same. Come to think of it, I also prefer crafting with paper and other tactile items over digital options. But I digress.

I've always assumed that book orders are filled the same way any order is: there is a giant warehouse (or two or five) filled with ready-to-go stuff, and when you place an order, some combination of people and computers find the stuff you want, put it in a box and send it on its merry way. Right? Well, maybe not.

The book I ordered was The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, one of my all-time favorite authors. She wrote more than fifty books in three genres: historical romance (think Jane Austen), historical fiction and mystery. (I'm working on collecting them all.) The Black Moth was Heyer's first book, and I have never come across it in a store, so when I saw it on Amazon, I ordered it.

All the other items in my order shipped Monday and arrived Tuesday, thanks to my sister's Prime membership. But the book shipped Tuesday and arrived Wednesday. (Actually according to the UPS tracking info, the origin scan was 12:22 a.m. Wednesday, and it was delivered at 1:58 p.m. Wednesday. That's speedy delivery.) I wasn't in a hurry to get the book, so the slight delay didn't matter. But still, it seemed odd since the book was listed as being in stock.

Once the book arrived, I flipped through it, as I always do with new books. Lo and behold on the bottom of the very last page were printed a bar code and three lines of text: "Made in the USA / Lexington, KY / 07 April 2014." Wait a minute. I ordered the book on April 6, and it was printed on April 7? And the packing envelope indicated that it was shipped from Lexington. Does that mean the book was printed and bound after I ordered it? Was that the reason for the delay? Does Amazon print some books on demand, only after they are ordered?

This little mystery had me intrigued. The publisher listed in the book, Seven Treasures Publications, apparently does not have a Web site. Weird. And the publisher listed on Amazon, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, is actually an Amazon-owned self-publishing company. So I suppose on-demand printing is possible, but A) it doesn't necessarily seem the most efficient way to go. I mean, are they really printing one copy of a book at a time?  and B) I wouldn't have expected the turnaround time to be that fast.

But on the flip side, if this book was printed after and because I ordered it, that means it was printed just for me. Aw, that makes me feel kinda' special.

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Nature-inspired masculine cards

I like to use nature as an inspiration for masculine cards, and today I have trees, fish and a lighthouse scene to share with you.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Lovely As a Tree, On Your Birthday
Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Old Olive, Marina Mist
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Marina Mist
Accessories: Birch paper ribbon, Designer Naturals buttons, linen thread, sponges, Dimensionals

I stamped the tree image in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White card stock and then trimmed it down to create a smaller focal panel. I used sponges to apply Marina Mist ink on the sky part of the image and Old Olive on the grass and then layered it on Chocolate Chip card stock. For the background of the card I used a layer of birch paper ribbon from the Thankful Tablescape Simply Created kit.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: By the Tide
Card stock: Bordering Blue, Midnight Muse
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Midnight Muse
Accessories: Flower Soft - Ultra Fine Sand (Flower Soft), baker's twine - Cappuccino (Hemptique), Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

I bought a small container of sand-colored Flower Soft years ago to use as sand on beach- and sea-themed cards. And do you know what? I don't think I ever actually used it. But for some reason it popped into my head while I was trying to decide what to add to make this card a little more interesting. To adhere it, I simply applied Mono Multi liquid glue along the bottom of the card using the wide applicator, sprinkled the Flower Soft over the glue, pressed it down, shook off the extra and let it dry. I love the textured effect.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: World Map, Coast to Coast
Card stock: Bordering Blue, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; Bordering Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand markers
Accessories: Pewter jumbo eye let, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Dimensionals

I love the Coast to Coast stamp set, and I think the lighthouse images work well with the World Map background. I stamped and colored the lighthouse image and then added two simple embellishments: a jumbo eyelet and some baker's twine. (I like how both the lighthouse and the baker's twine have diagonal Cherry Cobbler stripes.) For some additional visual interest I rounded two opposite corners of the focal layer as well as the corresponding corners on the card base.




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Flowers for spring

We had a much-anticipated (and I feel much-deserved) gorgeous spring day today. Mild temperatures, plenty of sun and ever-shrinking piles of snow made for a great start to the week. So in honor of spring, here are a few clean-and-simple flower cards:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Spring Garden, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Cardstock: Soft Sky
Ink: Gumball Green, Real Red, Soft Sky, Soft Suede, white gel pen
Accessories: Corner rounder, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

Spring Garden is one of my favorite floral stamp sets; with just a few stamps, you can make a beautiful card that has a watercolor quality to it. For this card I used the tulips to make a splash of color on a layer of Soft Sky card stock, which is adhered to a Soft Sky card base with Dimensionals. I doodled a white border around the focal layer and added a stamped and cut-out butterfly with a Glue Dot.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Bright Blossoms
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Whisper White
Ink: Gumball Green, Melon Mambo
Accessories: 1" square punch, Postage Stamp punch, Brights Candy Dots, Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon, Dimensionals

I can never have too many tulips, and these three are perfect on this clean card. You can't get much simpler than a few stamps, punches and a couple of embellishments. I really like the combination of the white stitches in the ribbon with the white circles on the flowers.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Flower Shop, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Card stock: Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Chevron embossing folder, Pansy Punch, Secret Garden Framelits dies, Very Vintage buttons, 1/8" Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, Brights Candy Dots, bone folder, Dimensionals

The Chevron-embossed background adds a lot of depth and visual interest to this card. To create even more depth, I used my bone folder to curl up the petals and leaves and to add the "wave" to the banner. For embellishment I added a button tied with ribbon to the center of the flower and three Candy Dots in the top right corner.

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Modern and vintage

As someone who loves all things floral, I sometimes have a hard time creating masculine cards. Usually I rely on nature-inspired cards -- and I have a few of those to share with you next week -- but it's nice to have a little variety. Last weekend I came up with two masculine card designs that I really like: one with a modern look and one that's more vintage.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Bring on the Cake
Card stock: Whisper White, Island Indigo
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Island Indigo, Basic Gray
Accessories: 2-1/2" circle punch, Regals Candy Dots, cork stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), Dimensionals

To make the background I layered several images from the Gorgeous Grunge set in Kiwi Kiss, Island Indigo and Basic Gray ink on a Whisper White card base. When I make a card like this the trick for me is to not over think it -- just pick up a stamp and go. To help the focal point stand out against the busy-ness, I matted it with a circle of Island Indigo card stock. Two cork stickers and a couple of Candy Dots make perfect neutral embellishments.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Postage Collection
Paper: Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy card stock; Newsprint Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Crumb Cake
Accessories: Postage Stamp punch, sponge, Stamp-a-a-jig, Dimensionals

I love the combination of the "postage stamp" images with this vintage-looking Newsprint DSP. The postage stamps are actually three separate images: the border, the car and the "No. 1." I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig tool to line them all up, and then I punched them out with the Postage Stamp punch. I matted the three images with offset Bravo Burgundy postage stamp shapes to help them stand out against the DSP.

To add to the vintage feel of this card, I tore the bottom edges of the card front and the layer of DSP. I also sponged all the light-colored pieces -- postage stamps, flag and DSP -- with Crumb Cake ink.

I didn't add any embellishments to this card, but I wonder if it needs something. What do you think: add an embellishment or leave it as is? 

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Flowers all over

I'm back to share a couple of flower-filled birthday cards today. I used two of my long-retired-but-still-loved floral stamp sets to make my own backgrounds, a tried-and-true technique that I haven't used much lately.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Tropical Blossoms, Small Sayings
Card stock: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Poppy Parade, Summer Sun, Only Orange
Accessories: Sweet Stitches Big Designer Buttons, Playground Designer Buttons, white baker's twine, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, corner rounder, Dimensionals

I love the tropical feeling of this card, and right about now I wish I were on a tropical island away from the snow. For embellishment I used a punched strip of Kiwi Kiss card stock and three buttons in different styles, colors and sizes, each tied with baker's twine. Simple, but cheerful.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Sending Happy Thoughts, Petite Pairs
Card stock: Positively Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Positively Pink, Pink Pirouette, Pear Piozzazz
Accessories: Label Card Thinlits dies, pearls, Lucky Limeade baker's twine, Dimensionals

I haven't used my Label Card Thinlits dies very much because I have a hard time figuring out how to embellish the panels. But I think this all-over floral design works well.

Again I used simple embellishments: pearls in the corners and in two of the flower centers and a baker's twine bow.

I also tried a little trick I'd read about to make the flip card longer and provide an interior panel for writing a message. When trimming your card stock, cut it slightly less than 5-1/2" tall; I think I went with 5-3/8". Then when you line up the die to cut out the card shape, place the end of the card stock over the die instead of under it. That end won't be cut, so you can fold it in to make an extra panel.

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