Contest entries -- and a winner!

This weekend there was a stamp show in my neck of the woods. It's a show I've been going to for years; it's much smaller now than it used to be, but it's still fun to browse and see things in person. One of my favorite parts of the show is the card contests. There are two themes every year, and I try to enter two cards for each theme. Three winners for each theme receive money to spend with the vendors at the show. And this year one of my cards was a winner!

This is my winning card for the theme "Sunny." I won second place and got $75 to spend. Yippee! I wanted a layered, vintage-feeling card, so I used kraft card stock and earthy colors. On the card base I stamped a grid background stamp. (I purposely applied ink to the stamp unevenly so it stamped with sort of a blotchy look.) Then I stamped a sunflower image three times in a darker color. I used a script stencil with gold paste to add more texture to the background and sponged ink around the edges of the card base.

For the focal panel, I stamped the Aged Shadow stamp (Hero Arts) on kraft card stock, tore the edges around the stamp, and then inked the torn edges. I wrapped twine around the bottom of the piece and added the die-cut sunflower image (colored with colored pencils) and sentiment. I attached the panel to the card base and finished with some gold sequins.

This was my other entry for the "Sunny" theme. I used the Stay Golden stamp set from Ellen Hutson. I stamped the sun and the wavy water lines using dye (water-based) ink on watercolor paper, and then I used a damp paintbrush to blend out some of the color. Then, with the help of a stamp positioner, I restamped the wavy lines to make them bolder. I matted the panel with black card stock and adhered it to a yellow card base that I had splattered with gold watercolor. I embossed and die cut the "stay golden" sentiment and finished the card with silver stars on the wavy lines to look like the sun sparkling on the water. 

The second theme for the card contests was "Come and Get It." I'll admit I struggled with this theme. After some thought I decided to create a little picnic-y scene. I ink bended clouds on a light blue card base, added die-cut clouds and sun, and placed a grassy green hill at the bottom of the card. Then I stamped, colored, and die cut the bears and all their accessories and arranged them in the scene. I think these bears look ready to invite you to their feast of fish and honey!

For my second "Come and Get It" card, I went with a kitchen motif. I used the Flippin' Awesome stamps and dies (Taylored Expressions) and chose one color for each image. I stamped and die cut a bunch of images and then spent a lot of time arranging them on a white card base. I wanted to add a greeting, so I used an alphabet stamp to create the sentiment "What's cookin'?" then die cut it with a stitched circle and matted it with a red scalloped circle. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I glued everything down and filled in some empty spaces with enamel hearts.

I had some pieces left over after I made this card, so I created one more card to add to my stash:

Here’s a picture of me with the “Sunny” card entries:

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Monochromatic patterned paper card set

I'm back another one of the card sets I made a few weeks ago. This set features some pretty, monochromatic patterned paper and simple floral focal images.

I used the All Planned Out 1 dies (Taylored Expressions) to die cut the six patterned papers into two pieces, and then I swapped the piece for the same color patterns. I glued the pieces to white card bases and added a diagonal white strip to cover the seam where the papers meet. (The dies for white strips, as well as the circles, are also part of the All Planned Out I die set.)

For the focal images I used the Simply Fabulous stamp set (Stampin' Up!). I used one floral image and one sentiment for each color. I adhered the circles to the cards with foam tape and finished the cards with white enamel dots.

I had six strips of card stock left over from trimming the patterned paper, so I had to make one last card to add to my birthday stash. I trimmed each strip to 4" long and then adhered them to a white card base, leaving a large space between the second and third strips. (Tip: Start by adhering the top and bottom strips, leaving a 1/8" white border at the edges of the card. Then move to the next two strips in. Decide where you want the "empty" space and add the last two strips.) 

I stamped "happy birthday" in the open space and decorated the card with clusters of die-cut flowers. (Again, the dies are from the All Planned Out I die set. So handy!) Some of the flowers are glued directly to the card base, and some are popped up with foam tape. Finally I added some white enamel dots around the flowers. I really love the way this card turned out!

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More rainbow notecards

Last summer I shared a simple set of rainbow notecards I made using a rainbow die and sentiment strips. Well, I ended up putting that set in my card box and never did anything with it. Then a few weeks ago when a coworker asked if I had any card sets on hand, I decided to expand the set with a few more cards. Here are all the cards together:

I die cut some additional rainbow pieces and just made sure that I placed the colors in a different order than the original four cards. But I did make a little goof: When I was getting out the card stock, I grabbed the wrong purple. The original cards used Starry Sky, which is a dark, bluish purple. For the new cards I accidentally used the lighter Orchid Oasis. Oops. I decided as long as there were four of each, it wasn't a big deal. (Now, if there had been seven cards with the darker color and only one with the lighter, that would have been weird.) I did successfully choose a different sentiment strip for each card, and I finished them with the same placement of sparkly sequins.

I packaged the full set of cards and envelopes in a small white box. I had a few rainbow pieces left over so I glued them to the top of the box to make it a little more fancy and to match the cards inside.

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June Christmas cards: simple snowflakes

The month of June has flown by! We didn't finish our school year until June 10, then we had a couple of weeks off, and now we're into summer school. Whew! I finally sat down to make my Christmas cards yesterday so I could get them posted before the end of the month. And here they are:

I wanted to make something fairly simple (i.e., without a bunch of coloring or die cutting), so I decided to go with snowflakes. And I had received the die-cut panels (Orchid Oasis and Rich Razzleberry, Stampin' Up!) from a friend, so they were all ready to go. Even better! I spritzed the panels with iridescent spray, and then I removed the sprayer from the bottle and tapped the end of the plastic tube over the card stock to get bigger drops. When the panels were dry, I glued them to white card bases.

I used images from several different stamp sets -- I just looked through my stash until I found snowflakes that would fit inside of the circles. For the Orchid Oasis cards, I used Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky inks. It's a subtle difference, but I love this combo. For the Rich Razzleberry cards, I went for more contrast with Rich Razzleberry and Bashful Blue inks. When the stamping was done, I added silver sequins for a little extra sparkle.

I also decided to stamp a few snowflakes with the sentiment inside each card. I don't always decorate the inside of my cards, but sometimes it's nice to fill a little of the white space. And snowflakes are easy to add because they don't have to be perfectly placed or straight.

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Seaside Notions card sets

A couple of weeks ago at the end of the school year, one of my coworkers asked to purchase some card sets. I had some card sets on hand, but I wanted to make a few more so she would have additional choices. The two card sets I'm sharing today were made with the Seaside Notions stamp set.

I made both sets with the same general technique: I filled an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of cream card stock with stamped images from the Seaside Notions stamp set, using a different color ink for each image. For this set I also splattered the card stock with metallic blue watercolor paint and then cut it into panels for six cards.

I matted each panel before attaching it to a cream card base. I stamped the sentiments on strips of card stock, trimmed the ends of the strips, and attached them to the cards with foam tape. I finished off the cards in this set with clear droplets.

After stamping the sheet of card stock for the second Seaside Notions card set, I spritzed it with iridescent shimmer spray, which is really hard to see in the photo. Again I matted the stamped panels, but before adhering them to the card bases, I wrapped some hemp twine around the panels. (The ends of the twine are taped to the back of the panel so I didn't have any knots.) I glued a wooden seashell embellishment over the twine and attached the panels to colored card bases. I didn't add sentiments to these cards so they can be used for any occasion.

After I finished the card sets, I had two strips of stamped card stock left over, so I made two birthday cards for my stash. I matted each strip and adhered them to colored card bases embossed with a wave texture. I added a "happy birthday" sentiment and a few clear droplets to finish off these bonus cards.

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