Artistic Pallet

Here it is the end of the week, and I'm just getting in a blog post. Again. I've been working on a couple of advent calendars that I need to get done, and then there are Christmas gifts to make and buy, cards to mail, and on, and on. There are so many things in my head, it's hard to get to my blog. But here I am with a couple of cards made with the Artistic Pallet background stamp from Unity Stamp Company.

For the first card (on the left) I stamped the background on cream card stock and then colored in the different portions of the stamped image with alcohol markers. I added some gold splatter, rounded two opposite corners of the panel, and adhered it to a dark brown card base. I tied hemp twine around the card front and then adhered a die-cut stem and leaves (with some of the little negative bits left in) to the panel. To make the sentiment I stamped "Happy birthday" on a small banner, and I finished the card with some gold sequins.

For the second card, I used the Sunflower Wishes stamp set (also from Unity Stamp Company) for the focal image and sentiment. I did all the stamping on kraft card stock, and I used colored pencils to color the sunflower. The embellishments on this card are the same as the first: hemp twine, gold splatter, and gold sequins.

To create texture in the center of the sunflower I added dark brown prills. They're kind of like tiny beads with no holes, except they're not uniform in size and shape. I just coated the area with liquid glue, added the prills, let it dry, and then shook off whatever didn't stick. I fussy cut the flower and used foam tape to adhere it to the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed media autumn cards

Well, election day has come and gone, and I'm so disappointed with the results of the presidential race. I'm also fearful and anxious about what the next four years will hold. So it's been a stressful week, and crafting seems like such an insignificant thing. But it does help me feel a little less anxious. And I hope that by sharing my work -- sending cards or gifting hand-crafted items -- I can put a little joy out into the world. So I'll keep making cards and sharing them here (hopefully a little more often than I did last month).

Today I'm sharing two autumn-themed mixed media cards. In September I ordered a few of the Paper Glaze sampler sets from Picket Fence Studios, and the Colors of Herbs set was perfect for some fall leaves.

I chose a leaf stencil for each card and applied the Paper Glaze to the card stock using a pallet knife. Starting with the yellow, I applied the glaze to random places of the stencils. Then I did the same with the orange and green pastes, blending the colors together in some places, and let the panels dry.

For the first card, I stamped a sentiment from Lighthearted Leaves (Stampin' Up!) on white card stock, die cut it with a stitched circle die, and adhered the circle to the leaf panel. Using the Autumn Leaves dies (Gina K Designs) and card stock that coordinated with the paste colors, I die cut three leaves and attached them to the panel (using foam tape) so they look like they're falling from a tree. I rounded two corners of the panel, adhered it to a dark brown card base, and finished the card with gold sequins.

For the second card, I used the Collage Backgrounds Hero Transfers (Hero Arts) to fill in the open spaces around the stenciled leaves. I die cut the Happy Birthday die (Simon Says Stamp) out of black and gold card stock and attached the sentiment toward the top of the card. For embellishment, I used my finger to apply Gold Hero Paste (Hero Arts) around the edges of the panel, added bits of coordinating ribbon with a tiny stapler, and finished with gold sequins.

I love the texture that the paste adds, and I'm really happy with these finished cards. I also made a few more backgrounds with the other Paper Glaze sampler sets I ordered, but I haven't turned those into cards yet. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft weekend

Last weekend I spent a few days at my friend Lisa’s house for our (sort of) annual craft weekend. We ate good food, watched Hallmark Christmas movies, and made lots of cards. I thought I’d share a few pictures of the fun we had. 

The weather — and the trees — were gorgeous. We took a few breaks to walk in the sunshine.

Works in progress!

At first Lucy was willing to share the chair. But then she said, “No, thank you.”

Dessert! Pumpkin cheesecake and key lime cheesecake.

My finished projects. I worked on birthday cards — I need to replenish my stash — and finished twenty of them. Hopefully I’ll get around to sharing better photos and some details in separate blog posts one day relatively soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween greetings

I think it's fun to make Halloween cards, so I try to make at least a few every year. This year, though, I went a little crazy. I had a pack of 6" x 6" patterned paper I wanted to use up, so I just kept making cards until it was gone -- I ended up with 26 cards.

Below are pictures of each of the different card designs. Since there are quite a few photos, I'm going to skip writing out details; if you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I'll respond as soon as I can. Here are the main supplies I used for these cards:

• Build-a-Scene Halloween paper (Taylored Expressions)
• Stayin' Alive stamp set (Taylored Expressions)
• Pumpkin to Talk About stamp set (Ellen Hutson)
• Happy Haunting stamps and dies (Ellen Hutson)
• Haunts and Harvest stamps and dies (Gina K Designs)
• Dressed to Scare stamp (Penny Black)
• Brown-Bag Monster stamp (Penny Black)
• Various sentiment stamps, dies, and punches

And there you have it! I tried to pick a favorite, but I couldn't. The next task is to get all these cards in the mail before Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!

Quick and easy card set

The last few weeks have been busy, and I haven't really had any time for stamping or blog posting. So today I have a short post with a quick and easy card set I made a while back and never shared.

A design like this is great for sets of cards: it's quick to make multiple cards, you get to show off pretty patterned paper, and you can use any sentiment. I started by choosing a pack of patterned paper with a variety of large and small patterns as well as multicolor and tone-on-tone patterns. I decided which papers I wanted to pair together and then chose coordinating card stock for the card bases. I cut the pieces of patterned paper (4" x 4" for the large pieces and about 1-1/4" x 4" for the small pieces), adhered them to the bases, and added a 1/4" strip of black card stock to cover where the papers meet.

I stamped the sentiments on white card stock and die cut them with a stitched circle die. Using foam tape I adhered a circle to each card base overlapping the black strip. I finished each card with two gold sequins.

I'll try to post some more cards soon. Thanks for stopping by!