Delicate Floral Frames

The cards I'm sharing tonight are ones I originally made to send to two of my cousins' daughters for their Confirmation. I don't have many religious stamps or dies, so instead I made two general cards using the Delicate Floral Frames stamp and die set (Simon Says Stamp). As it happens, I ended up not using these cards, so I'll just add them to my stash. 

I stamped the frame images and sentiments on watercolor paper using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. Since watercolor paper is textured, I used a stamp positioning tool so I could stamp multiple times and get a good image. Then I embossed them with clear embossing powder. I used Karin brush markers to watercolor the leaf and flower parts of the images and to add a touch of light gray for a shadow. When the paint was dry I cut out the images with the coordinating dies. (I did have a problem with a little bit of the embossing coming off after I die cut. Luckily it's not too obvious since the embossing powder was clear.)

For the card bases I used kraft card stock and splattered them with a bit of gold watercolor. (It's hard to see in the photo, but I promise it's there.) I made loops of gold thread and placed them behind the focal images, which I attached to the card bases with foam tape. I finished each card with a few gold sequins.

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Time to Party

I always seem to be in need of birthday cards. I don't usually make specific birthday cards for specific people, so I like to have a nice variety in my stash to choose a good card for each recipient. So the Time to Party stamp set (from Simon Says Stamp) was perfect for creating a few fun cards.

For the first two cards I focused on masculine color combos. I often turn to shades of blue, orange, and green when I make cards for guys. They can be earthy, vintage, or, in the case of these cards, fun and vibrant. On the first card, I scored a panel of white card stock in half each direction and then stamped a main image and confetti/star images in each quadrant. With the second card, I stamped polka-dot party hats all over a white panel and filled in the white space with little stars. Both panels are layered on blue card bases, have a word bubble sentiment, and are finished with a few sequins.

For the next card I wanted to make a balloon rainbow. This is a really clean and simple card and, I think, pretty self explanatory. I will mention that I used a few more sequins than I usually would -- two or three of them are covering up little ink smudges. Mistakes are just opportunities for embellishment, right? :)

For the last card I focused on sweet treats. I stamped and die cut a cupcake and an ice cream cone from the stamp set ... and then I didn't know what to do with them. I played around with several different layouts before finally settling on this one. I used a white die-cut frame on a dark pink card base to set off a "Happy Birthday" die-cut sentiment (from Gina K Designs). Then I placed the cupcake and ice cream cone in opposite corners and finished the card with a few blue sequins.

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Two gel print cards

I have a quick post tonight to share two cards I made with gel prints from my last gel print session.

This is a 5" x 7" card, rather than a standard A2-sized card. I loved the way this gel print turned out, and I didn't want cut it down. I did trim it to about 4-3/4" x 5-3/4" and matted it with a 5" x 6" piece of black card stock. I adhered the panel to the kraft card base, lining up the top and bottom edges and centering the panel from right to left.

I wanted to add a little detail, so I used a white paint pen to doodle a border around the edge of the gel print and a loopy line on the empty edges of the card base. I used foam tape to add a sentiment strip, and finished off with a handful of clear droplets.

This is the only Easter card I made this year. And I actually made it back in January to include in a set of cards I was giving as a gift. I used a stitched rectangle die to cut the gel print and then layered it on a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of white woodgrain textured card stock. That panel was attached to a white card base.

I die cut the words "hope" and "love" from silver card stock and glued them to the gel print between the words that were part of the gel print. I cut a silver doily into small pieces and glued a piece to the lower right and upper left corners of the gel print. Two small punched yellow flowers add a pop of color on the cross image, and a scattering of mini pearls finish the card. 

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Versatile card sets

This spring the parent association at my school is holding a silent auction fundraiser. Last year I donated a set of handmade cards to the silent auction, and they sold quickly, so I decided to make a set again this year. Well, actually I decided to make two sets: one with a retro swirl design and one a more traditional floral.

I love the way these cards turned out. I used the Retro Swirls A2 die from Erin Lee Creative. There are five “sections” of the swirl so I used five colors of card stock to make a bright rainbow and heavyweight white card stock for the card bases. I ran the die through my die-cutting machine with each piece of colored card stock and separated the pieces for each card. To glue the pieces, I started with the middle, chunkiest section of the swirl and then worked outward.

For the sentiments, I used the On Occasion stamp set and coordinating dies from Taylored Expressions. I like how the style of the font works with swirl, and there are five great sentiments in the set — one for each card. I stamped and die cut each sentiment, and then I cut each sentiment die two more times out of plain white card stock. I glued the pieces for each sentiment together in a stack and adhered them in the lower right corner of the cards. I finished each card with a few sequins.

Since I really liked the way these cards turned out, I decided to make five more in a different color combination:

I chose these beachy colors for a more neutral or masculine option. The only other change from the first version is that I used dark brown ink for the sentiments instead of black.

I debated making each version into a separate card set, but for some reason I like my card sets to have an even number of cards. So I went with one set of ten cards.

For the second set of cards I wanted to do something floral, but not too elaborate. After trying a few things, I settled on this layout. I used the Full of Flowers background stamp from Taylored Expressions to stamp four A2 panels of white card stock using black ink. I cut each panel into thirds to make ten patterned strips (with a little left over). I glued each strip along the bottom of a top-folding heavy white card base. Then I added a 1/4" strip of black card stock along the top of the I patterned piece on each card.

To make the colored flowers, I used the matching Full of Flowers - Singles stamps and dies from Taylored Expressions. I stamped the flowers and leaves several times and used the "filler" stamps (that come with the background stamp) to add the color. I die cut the elements and mixed and matched the pieces into ten groups.

Before adding the flowers I stamped a different sentiment on each card just above the black strip and toward the right side. (The sentiments are from the Sending Love Mail stamp set from Hero Arts.) Then I used glue and foam tape to add the flowers to create a little dimension. for the finishing touch I added three clear droplets around the flowers on each card.

I packaged each card set, with envelopes, in a small gift bag. I had planned to use clear card boxes that I have, but the stacks of cards were too thick. Unfortunately I didn't discover that until the night before I had to bring them to work; if I had realized it earlier, I would have made a cute holder for each set.

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March Christmas cards: Christmas mice

Goodness, my blog posts have been few and far between this month. But I did manage to finish my March Christmas cards -- just in time to post them before the month ends.

This month I used the Wonderful Time stamp set from Colorado Craft Company. I love the adorable illustrations by Anita Jeram, and this is the first set I've bought with her designs. I chose a simple layout -- just the main focal image and a sentiment -- because I didn't want to distract from these little mice decorating their Christmas tree. 

I don't love coloring the same image multiple times, so I only made eight cards of this design. I intended to make them all in horizontal orientation, but I goofed and stamped one of the inside panels vertically. Instead of throwing away that piece, I made two of the cards vertical -- and I think both layouts work.

I used Prismacolor pencils to color the images. I didn't do anything fancy with my coloring -- just some shading and a little color layering. I die cut the panels with a stitched rectangle die and adhered them to red card bases. For embellishment I placed a small twine bow on the base of the tree and added three sparkling clear sequins. 

The stamp set also included a couple of smaller images, so I decided to use one of them inside the cards along with a sentiment. I cut these panels out with the same stitched rectangle die so they coordinate with the front panels.

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