March Christmas cards: Postage collage

For my Christmas cards this year, I'm going to try to focus on using products that I haven't used before. That wasn't necessarily my intention at the beginning of the year, but as it happens my January and February cards fit that criteria, so I'll just keep going. This month I made eight postage-themed cards (four each of two colorways).

To make the postage images, I used the Postage Collage Christmas Stencils from Waffle Flower. The layering stencils, together with the coordinating die, create a panel of six "stamps." I used six ink colors: Sandstone, Cocoa, Robin's Egg, Lime Green and Forest from Hero Arts and Hollyhock from Close to My Heart. I also used gold paste to add a little sparkle and texture. After the ink blending was done, I stamped details, like postmarks and values, with the Postage Collage stamps.

With the ink colors I used, the postage images naturally divided themselves into two color groups. So I cut the stamps apart and created four cards with a blue card base and four with a green card base. I used a text background stamp on each card (A Little Christmas Carol (Unity) for the blue and Christmas Story (Penny Black) for the green), added a bit of white splatter, and stamped some of the detail images around the middle of the card base. Then I added the postage images with foam tape. I finished each card with a few clear droplets and a sentiment in the lower right corner.

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Friendship Stamp Along cards

Earlier this month I participated in the Friendship Stamp Along virtual event from Hero Arts. It was five live online cardmaking classes featuring different techniques. I had purchased the product bundle, so I had the main products for the projects, but I did substitute inks and some other basic dies. I didn't create all the cards during the event, thanks to a cat who was determined to lie in my craft space. But I did go back and finish them later (with a few changes here and there), and I’m excited to share them.

The first card we made has three panels. It’s typically called a trifold card, but that phrase has always bugged me because it has two folds, not three. (Just like bifold wallets and doors only have one fold. Who started this naming convention, anyway? I’d like to have a few words …). Anyway, this card is basically two A2 card bases facing opposite directions (one has the fold on the left, the other on the right) with the backs layered over each other and glued together. I hope that makes sense.

We used arch dies and acetate to create a window in the card front, and the floral panel on the inside flap is made with layering stencils and a coordinating cover plate die. We used the die to emboss the flowers instead of cutting them out.

For the second class, the new technique was splattering texture paste. We mixed a little water and paste and then used a paint brush to splatter it on the card base. I tried the technique, but I couldn't quite get it right — and then I dropped my paint brush and got paste on my pants and it turned into a whole thing — so I used Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White medium for the splatter instead. I love the bright spring colors on this card.

In the third class we actually made three cards. We started with a small piece (I think 2" x 4") of six colors of card stock then created a faux embossed look with stamping. We arranged several solid-style stamps on a stamp positioner and stamped them on one of the pieces of card stock using coordinating ink. Then we moved the card stock just slightly up and to the right and stamped the images again using white pigment ink. We followed the same steps with the rest of the card stock colors and then cut the panels into pieces to use on three cards.

For the fourth class we used an acetate card base and applied texture paste through a stencil to the front of the card. The back of the card has a panel of card stock on the inside and the outside (so the acetate is sandwiched between pieces of card stock).

The instructor pointed out that if you write  your message in the card with a black pen it would look cool peeking through the acetate. I agree — sort of like an extra script-style background. But if you don’t like that look you could write on the back of the card instead.

In the last class we created an ombre effect on solid stamps using a stamp positioner and a blending brush. Basically we stamped an image once then applied darker ink (or another layer of the same color) to part of the stamp, used the blending brush to tap the stamp and soften the edge of the darker ink, and stamped it again over the original image.

I haven't done a virtual stamping class or event in quite a while; in general, I don't love doing things virtually. But I really liked the product bundle for this event, and I'm very happy with how my cards turned out. Maybe best of all, it helped me get back some of my crafting mojo.

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February Christmas cards: Vintage postcard

I managed to sneak in a few Christmas cards just before the end of February — whew! I tried to keep the supplies to a minimum, and I only made six cards, but I think they turned out pretty cute.

I paired together a sheet of paper from the Toile Tidings Designer Series Paper pack and images from the Winter Post stamp set (both retired from Stampin’ Up!) for a vintage look. I die cut the postcard shapes out of Very Vanilla card stock using the Mini Postcard die (Honey Bee Stamps). I used a blending brush to apply Crumb Cake ink around the edges of the patterned paper and the edges of the postcard to add to the aged feel.

Here is a close-up so you can see the debossed details in the die-cut postcards. Brushing on the Crumb Cake ink also helped make those details more visible. The “cheer” sentiment is from another old Stampin’ Up! Set, Endless Wishes. To embellish the cards I used some hemp twine and a few sparkly green enamel dots.

Hopefully I will be better prepared for making March Christmas cards. I also really need to replenish my birthday card stash. I’d better get busy!

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Valentines from a kit

I’m back to share a few more valentines — this time the cards I mailed out myself. For the first group of cards I used an old card kit. I didn’t care for the card designs in the kit, so I decided to use it to create valentines instead.

The tropical colors are not the usual color palette for valentines, but I needed something bright and cheerful, so this was perfect. I started by applying white rub-on transfers to the card bases in a random manner to add some interest to the backgrounds. Then I used the papers from the kit to cut layers and hearts. I pierced a border on each heart and distressed the edges.

For the greeting on each card I used a sentiment strip. And I finished them off with a few black or white clay hearts.

To finish my valentines this year I made a few mini slim cards:

I used the Love Letters stamp and die combo (Taylored Expressions), and it was so fun to make those little  envelopes and sheets of lined paper. The background is the Weather Words stamp, also from Taylored Expressions. They’re simple cards, but I really like how they turned out.

That’s it for this year’s valentines. I just realized this weekend that I still need to make my February Christmas cards. Oops. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that this week!

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Valentines for seniors

It’s been a couple of years since I made valentines for my local Meals on Wheels chapter. But this year I made a group of cards for a different organization — one that supports senior citizens throughout Minnesota. I wanted to share them before Valentine’s Day, but better late than never.

With everything going on in the world, our country, and particularly in my state, I wanted to make valentines that had a little more meaning. I started with the scratch papers I used to clean off my grayer during previous gel print sessions. I cut free-hand hearts from the papers (a total of 20 hearts) and used a variety of Posca acrylic markers to add a stitched border around each heart.

For the sentiment I started by finding scraps of card stock that coordinated with each heart. Well, coordinate might not be the best word. I tried to find a color in each heart that I could pull out with the sentiment strips. It was satisfying to use up some of the small bits of card stock I always seem to save.

Anyway, once I had chosen the colors, I used a stamp set with a labeler-style alphabet to spell out the phrase “Do small things with great love.” I didn’t worry about lining up each letter perfectly; obviously I was going for an imperfect style with these cards. After all the words were stamped, I cut out each word, leaving a narrow border of colored card stock. 

I decided to use sheet music for the background, so I paged through an old songbook I have (I think it’s from the early 1900s) to find some pages that were visually appealing. I also scanned the lyrics to make sure they weren’t religious or offensive. Then I tore the pages (gasp!) into background panels for the cards.

For the card bases, I chose a card stock color that I thought looked nice with each heart; some “match,” and some don’t. I had planned to make all the cards in a landscape layout, but a few of the hearts were too tall. (These are A2 cards, which are 4-1/4” x 5-1/2”.) For the landscape cards, I tore the sheet music into a rough rectangle, leaving about 1/4” of the card base visible on all sides. For the cards with a portrait layout, I used the same size piece of music but glued it across the middle of the card and trimmed off the extra on the sides.

I glued down each heart in the middle of the card base and then added the words for the sentiment on the heart. Normally I would’ve used foam tape to adhere the words, but the organization requests non-bulky cards so I went with liquid glue. I also wanted to add some little embellishment so I pulled out a sheet of finely detailed gold stickers that I’ve had for ages. They were a fun little accent, and I managed to use the whole sheet. Yippee!

I was pleased with how these cards turned out (though I do sometimes wonder if cards like this don’t look “nice” enough). I also made a few valentines for friends and family, but those will be for my next post.

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