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!

September Christmas cards: Nature's Christmas

Whew! I'm just squeezing in a few Christmas cards for September. I struggled finding a layout I really liked for this month's cards, so I made five cards with the same vintage look and feel but slightly different designs.

I used the Nature's Christmas stamp set (Stampin' Up!) for these cards. It's an older set, but new to me -- I recently got a secondhand set from a friend of a friend, so I wanted to try it out. I used the wreath and bird house images and "Merry Christmas" for the focal panels and colored them using Prisma Color pencils. I cut out the images with stitched dies and matted the panels with Cherry Cobbler card stock.

I used Crumb Cake card bases to keep with the vintage look, and I embossed each one with a different embossing folder. I don't use my embossing folders very often, but I love the texture. I used narrow green ribbon, gold rickrack, and gold sequins to embellish the cards.

Inside the cards I added a panel of vanilla card stock stamped with a sentiment in dark brown. I also stamped a poinsettia image in the lower left and upper right corners using Crumb Cake, and I think it adds a nice finishing touch.

September just flew by, and I know October will be the same. I'm not planning to make any Christmas cards in October, but who knows. I do want to make some autumn and Halloween cards, so hopefully I'll have some of those to share in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral pairs

In my last couple of posts, I shared some two-at-a-time cards -- cards that I made at the same time with the same stamp set and layout/design, and sometimes a few slight changes, such as colors or sentiments. (Often when I make cards this way I'm giving away one card and keeping one for my stash.) Today I'm sharing more pairs of cards made with the same stamp set. However, these floral cards show two different ways to use the images in each set.

For the first pair of cards I used the Forget-Me-Nots stamp set (Gina K Designs). To create the first card (left) I stamped the image on white card stock and colored it using Prisma Color pencils and Gamsol. I stamped a sentiment and cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die. I matted the panel with black card stock and then placed it on a light blue card base. For embellishment I added a simple hemp twine bow and a few blue sequins.

For the second card (right) I stamped the large image randomly across a piece of white cad stock to create a background. I also splattered the background with blue metallic watercolor. Again, I matted the panel with black card stock and adhered it to a light blue card base. This time I used a die-cut sentiment (cut twice and stacked together for a little dimension) with a vellum circle behind it to help it stand out a little more against the background. I finished the card with light blue sequins.

For the second pair of cards I used the From the Vault Flowers stamp set (Hero Arts). This set includes several floral images and sentiments in different styles. For the first card (on the left) I used a silhouette-style floral branch. I stamped the image multiple times on a rust-colored card base using coordinating ink and then sponged the edges with the same ink. To make the focal image, I stamped From the Vault Aged Shadow (Hero Arts) in pale yellow on white card stock and then stamped the floral image in the middle of the shadow. I added a sentiment (from a different stamp set) and tore off the card stock around the stamped images. I adhered the layer to the card base and added a few enamel dots and a twine bow.

To make the second card (right) I stamped the line-art daffodil image in the lower left corner of a piece of Crumb Cake card stock and “thank you” next to it. I colored the image with Prisma Color pencils — I’ve discovered I really like using colored pencils on kraft card stock — and then splattered the panel with Sparkle Silk. I matted the panel with dark brown card stock and the adhered it to a Crub Cake card base. I finished the card with a few sparkling clear sequins.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two-at-a-time all-occasion cards

I'm back today with a few more two-at-a-time cards. As I mentioned in my last post, during August, I was working on card collections for friends. When I got out a stamp set to make a card for one friend, I tried to also make a card for the other friend (or one for my stash). Today's cards are ones you could use for almost any occasion by just changing the sentiment.

I love the Cup of Tea stamp set and coordinating dies (Stampin' Up!), and these cards make me happy. I started with Crumb Cake card bases and added a die-cut white scalloped frame to each. I decided where I wanted to position the die-cut teacups, but before I glued them down, I stamped the greenery image on the card bases with Crumb Cake ink. I added tea-bag tags to the cups with crochet thread then glued the cups to the bases. I stamped a sentiment in the upper right corner of each card, added a die-cut lemon slice, and finished with a few white hearts.

I apologize that the lightning in this photo isn't great; I always have a hard time with cards that are mostly white. At any rate, I used the Organic Elements stamp set (Essentials by Ellen) for these two cards. They have exactly the same layout -- the only changes I made for each card were the colors of the solid shapes and the sentiment. I used the Spa Collection - Zen Garden set of inks (Catherine Pooler) for the colors. There are eight colors in the collection, so I used four for each card. (The one on the bottom right of the second card is a dark green.) I used a black pen to draw a border around each panel and attached the panels to white card bases using foam tape. I finished both cards with clear enamel dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two-at-a-time birthday cards

Whew! The start of the school year and going back to work has really thrown me off my game. I haven't gotten back into a good routine yet; I need to figure out how to fit in crafting/relaxing/fun time with work, sleep, and all the boring regular stuff like cleaning and laundry. So I don't think I'll be posting as much as I did in August, but I'll try to get back on track with sharing something at least once a week. Today I've got a few festive birthday cards for you.

During August I was working on a collection of birthday cards to gift to a friend. So when I made a card for her, I tried to make another one for my own stash. For these two-at-a-time cards I used the Pretty Party Decor stamp set (Trinity Stamps) with the Paradise Found collection of inks (Catherine Pooler). I wanted to use a gender-neutral color pallet, and I think these colors fit the bill. 

Each lantern image has two stamps: the full shape of the lantern and then the details. I stamped the full image onto scratch paper first and then onto my card layer to make it lighter; the detail image is stamped in the same color but "full strength." I used a ruler and fine-tip pen to add the strings for the lanterns, and I also added a little sparkle by coloring the lighter parts of the lanterns with a Stardust Gelly Roll pen. It doesn't show up well, but you can see a hint of it in this photo:

I layered the panels on black card bases and finished them off with yellow enamel dots.

For these cards I used the Make a Wish stamp and die combo (Taylored Expressions). I had this layout in my head (not that it's a unique layout or anything), and while the cards turned out fine, I don't totally love them. For the first card (on the left), I adhered the die-cut candle and flame images directly to the card base. I used a small blender brush to add a touch of yellow ink behind each flame to create a glow. For the second card, I attached all the candles and flames to the card base with foam tape. I like that better, but it still wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I think maybe I should have stamped the candles and flames on colored card stock so there wasn't so much white. Or I could have lightly blended over the die-cut image with the same color ink. Oh, well. Two things to try next time. At any rate, I stamped "Happy Birthday!" along the bottom of the cards and finished them with clear sequins or blue rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by!

Backyard flowers 2024

I’m finishing August by taking a quick break from cards to share some of the amazing flowers we’ve had in our backyard the past few months. Some are things we planted or knew were there from previous years, though even some of those have gone crazy with all the rain we’ve had. Others are plants or blooms we haven’t seen in the almost three years we’ve lived here. And I’m sure some are technically weeds, but if it’s pretty, I don’t care. It’s been a wild summer, and I love how green everything has been (although I don’t love the water in our basement or having to mow the yard so often). 

Note: I know or have figured out the names of many of these flowers, but I’m not going to put them in now for time’s sake. I may come back later and add them in. For now, here are lots of pictures!

Thanks for stopping by!