Multitudes of mushrooms

I am a sucker for mushrooms in crafts. I just think they’re adorable, and I love the forest and fairy themes that often accompany mushrooms. So earlier this summer I decided to make a card (or two) with each of my stamp and/or die sets that prominently feature mushrooms. It will take me a while to get through all of them (especially since I seem to keep collecting more), so today’s cards are the first installment.

I made these two cards using an old My Monthly Hero kit (Hero Arts). For the card on the left I used the stamps from the kit. I created the scene with masking paper (so some of the images look like they are behind others) and colored the images with colored pencils. I die cut the finished panel with a deckle rectangle die, inked the edges, and adhered it to a green card base. I finished the card with clear droplets and a bit of striped ribbon.

For the card on the right I used the dies from the kit to create a terrarium. It’s a shaped card, so I used the arched die to also cut the card base, leaving a small portion of the fold intact. The blue layer on the card front hides the flat fold. I also had to consider the bottom of the card because the piece for the base of the terrarium has little feet. In order to get the card to stand up correctly, I needed to die cut a base piece for the inside of the card as well as the front.

The most time-consuming part was creating the gravel layer at the bottom. I cut that piece out of dark brown for the dirt and two light colors for the stones. I glued the brown piece to the blue background and then pieced in the “stones,” trying to mixup the two colors. But I love how the card turned out, so I think the extra time was worth it.

Here is another terrarium-like card. Or maybe it’s a little fairy habitat. Either way, it’s cute.

I used two die sets to create the focal image: Cottage Terrarium and Mini Forest Plants (both from Poppystamps). I die cut the pieces in the mat from water color paper and then painted them. I used a white Posca paint pen to add the spots on the mushrooms and the lines on the left side of the jar. The lid of the jar is metallic card stock, and I used hemp twine to add a bow around the lid.

For the background I used the retired Tree Rings background stamp (Stampin’ Up!) and stamped it on a kraft card base. I think it’s the perfect background for this card.

This card and the next one were both made with the Nature Walk stamp and die combo (Ellen Hutson). To make this card I stamped the fronds and moth images on the card base for the background. I stamped the mushrooms and snail on white card stock and die cut them. I liked the idea behind this card, but I don’t love how it turned out. Something feels off with the background; I think maybe I should have stamped just one moth.

I decided to make this a belated birthday card, so I stamped “sorry I’m late …” on the front and “I took the scenic route” on the inside.

Now this card I really like. I used the Nature Walk stamp set again for the images and the Organic Elements stamp set (Ellen Hutson) for the solid shapes in the background.

I stamped six shapes in a grid on a white card base using four colors. Then I stamped five images from the set on white card stock, using the “filler” stamps to add color to the moth, mushrooms, and snail. (The filler stamp I used for the snail was actually the one for the smallest mushroom. I think it’s works for the snail, too.) I kept the frond and the flowers white. I adhered the images over the shapes, using foam tape for the colored images. I added a sentiment strip in the bottom right corner over the sixth shape. I finished this card (and the previous one) with some gold confetti.

I hope you enjoyed this first batch of mushroom cards. I’m not sure when the next batch will be ready, but I have quite a few other cards to share in the meantime. Thanks for stopping by!

Kaleidoscope collection

A couple of weeks ago I needed to make a birthday card for a friend’s mom. She loves hummingbirds, and I thought of the perfect products — several items from the Kaleidoscope collection (49 and Market) that I’d purchased as a bundle, but never used. I have rub-ons, ephemera pieces, layered frames, and washi tape. And since I was making one card, I figured I’d make a couple extra. Here they are:

I think they turned out really pretty. It amazes me when I see other people do collage so (seemingly) effortlessly because I always struggle with this kind of layering. My brain wants to do it the “right” way. It’s helpful with a collection of products like this because everything coordinates, so at least I don’t have to second guess that part.

Everything on these cards is from the collection except the gray card bases, the linen thread used for the bows, and the word “birthday” on the pink card. That’s a stamp and the only stamping I did on the front of the cards.

For each card I started by using the rub-ons to add interest to the solid-color panel. Then I chose which ephemera pieces I wanted to use and played around with the arrangement. Before I glued them down, I added two or three washi tape “stamps” to the background. I finished each card with a linen thread bow to add a different texture.

I had a lot of fun making these cards, and I’m looking forward to creating more. I think these would make great card sets, too.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Doodled flowers

Today I have a short post to share a card that I made without any stamps, dies, or even stencils. Crazy, right? Instead, I created a couple of doodle-y flowers with a pen and paints.

When I started this little project I wasn’t thinking about making a card; I just wanted to try drawing something and painting it. So I used a Micron pen to doodle a couple of flowers on watercolor paper. I don’t consider myself an artist, and I certainly don’t do realistic drawing, but I think these flowers turned out pretty well. I’ve found that if I keep the pen on the paper and draw as much as I can in a continuous line —  redrawing over lines multiple times in a loose style — I’m usually happy with the results.

Once I was done with the drawing, I painted the flowers with Daniel Smith watercolors. You can’t really tell in the picture, but the blue I used for the background has just a little shimmer, which is fun. When the paint was dry, I added some details and shading with colored pencils. I also added a little white splatter using Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White.

I decided the finished panel would look good as a card, so I adhered it to a kraft card base and added a handful of clear droplets. For the finishing touch I wrapped hemp twine twice around the left side of the card front and tied it off in a bow.

I’m excited to try more little projects like this to improve my watercolor skills. Thanks for stopping by!

A new chapter

At the end of May my best crafty friend, Lisa, retired from her job. I’m a little jealous but mostly excited for her to have so much time for crafting, reading, and whatever else her heart desires. To celebrate this new chapter, I made Lisa a book-themed retirement card.

I started by using the Layered Books dies and the Shelves dies (Waffle Flower) to die cut a whole mess of book pieces, three shelves,  and a few accessories. I used two shades of purple card stock, two shades of green, a neutral stone color, and white for the books and accessories and woodgrain paper for the shelves. I glued together all the layered pieces and then started playing around with a layout.

I had planned to make an A2 card, but I quickly realized that I needed more space for all the books. So I looked through my stash of envelopes for a long one and then cut a white card base to fit the envelope (it’s approximately the size of a slimline card).

I sprayed the card front with Antique Linen Distressed Spritz (Ranger, Tim Holtz) to add some shimmer. It got a little splotchy it places, but that adds to the charm, right? Once that was dry, I started arranging and gluing down all the pieces.

It was a lot of fun creating all the piles of books (I have quite a few piles of books in real life, so I consider myself a bit of an expert). And the plant, teacup, and pencil holder are the perfect accessories. I stamped the sentiment “starting a new chapter” under the bottom shelf and finished the card with a few purple sequins.

Once I was done with the card front I had a bunch of books left over so I decided to add some inside the card. (I also liked that it took up some of the extra writing space.) For the sentiment I die cut the word “happy” and then stamped a few words to make the phrase “incredibly happy for you.”

I love the way this card turned out, and I know Lisa appreciated it. It was fun to finally use these dies. And believe it or not, I still had several die-cut books left at the end of the project — I guess I went a little overboard. But I’d rather have extra than have to stop in the middle of a project to cut more pieces. I may have to use a similar design to make a book-themed card set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Graduation cards

This year I have three cousins graduating from high school, so I needed to make a few graduation cards. With the exception of a sentiment set I bought not too long ago, I don’t really have any grad-specific stamps. That meant it was time to be creative!

For the first two cards, I chose a travel/adventure motif and focused on using some prints from an old pack of patterned paper from Stampin’ Up! For the card on the left I chose two Very Vanilla and Sahara Sand patterns. On one of the pieces I stamped images from the Traveler stamp set (Stampin’ Up!) using dark brown ink, cut it out with a deckle-edge die, and adhered it to an Early Espresso card base. I used a strip of the second pattern to stamp the sentiment, matted it with brown card stock, added some twine, and used foam tape to attach it to the card. I finished with a few metallic enamel dots.

For the card on the right, I didn’t stamp any images. Instead I arranged three pieces of patterned paper in a modified grid on a Sahara Sand card base. To break up the largest blue piece (which is printed with airplane schematics, though it’s hard to see in the picture), I added a small strip that looks like a city map. I stamped the sentiment on a fifth piece of patterned paper, matted it with black card stock, and added a blue card stock triangle at the upper left and lower right corners to look like photo corners. I finished the card with a light splatter of Distress Spritz in Antique Linen and a few enamel dots.

For the third card, I wanted to do something book- or reading-themed. I had the perfect stamp set from a My Monthly Hero kit (Hero Arts) from last year. I love this tree image, with all the books and other images worked into the leaves and branches, and I think it works well for a graduation.

I stamped the tree using Toffee ink on a panel of Toffee card stock (Taylored Expressions). I wanted to stamp the sentiment over the tree, but I had to play around a bit to figure out the best way to do that. I finally realized that embossing the sentiment gave it enough “oomph” to help it stand out. (I used VersaFine Onyx Black ink and clear embossing powder.) I did stamp the sentiment a little too far to the left, so to help the balance I added the image of the stacked books at the bottom.

I debated adding color to the tree but eventually decided I liked the neutral look. Instead I lightly splattered some Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White and added a few sequins. I rounded the corners of the Toffee panels and adhered it to a sheet of shimmery black paper. Finally I attached the whole piece to a white card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cards to share

I’ve been getting back my crafting mojo little by little, but now I’m behind on my blog posts. I just can’t seem to get everything together. Oh, well. Today I’m going to share a bunch of cards I brought to work to share with my coworkers. I wanted to celebrate spring, so there are lots of flowers, and some rainbows and unicorns for good measure.

I used patterned paper for many of the cards to make the process a little faster (at least in theory; I still spent plenty of time deciding on just the right layout or paper combination). Then I just added a little embellishment — ribbon, twine, and/or sequins — and a stamped or die-cut sentiment.

I tried to use as much of each patterned paper as I could, so I made several cards with leftover strips or small shapes. Using packs of patterned paper makes it easy to coordinate colors and patterns.

This is a layout I’ve used before that I really like. It’s a great way to use different patterns and/or textures because the repeated shape ties everything together. You just want to use a shape that’s kind of “chunky” and not too detailed — hearts for Valentine’s Day, leaves for autumn, trees for Christmas. The colors on these cards are a little fall-ish, but they are still some of may favorite cards in the bunch.

I focused on making cards for a variety of occasions/needs, so I used lots of different word dies and greeting stamps. I also made some cards with no sentiment on the front so they could be used for anything. (I might make more of those next time.) All of the cards are blank inside.

A rainbow die is an easy way to get focal images for multiple cards — just cut the shape out of multiple colors of card stock and then mix and match the pieces. (The die I used is from Taylored Expressions.) I combined the rainbows with fun patterned papers and several “colorful” sentiments. And I have some fun unicorn sentiments, so I had to include a few of those, too.

These are actually the cards that started this project for me. I had an old card kit that had been my mom’s, and when I was struggling to find some creativity I decided to work on the kit. I used the kit directions as a guide and changed up most of the designs at least a little, including using additional sentiments. I liked how the cards turned out, but they didn’t feel like they were quite my style, so instead I decided to share them at work.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spectrum Gardenia

With my craft room temporarily out of commission, I decided to make some cards at the dining room table with minimal supplies. I dug out the necessary tools (glue, scissors, etc.), white card stock, some pre-folded card bases, basic embellishments, and a few sentiment stamp sets. For the “meat” of the cards I used a few products from the Spectrum Gardenia collection (49 and Market): 12” x 12” card stock, ephemera, and washi tape. These are traditionally scrapbooking products, so some of the items are tricky to use on cards, but I did my best. I also found a few odds and ends that I’d made and never used that ended up working for these cards.

There you have it! Did you catch the upside-down card in the last photo? I promise I made the card the right way; I just goofed up the picture. Ha ha!

I’ll admit that I used more supplies than I originally intended. I kept thinking of the perfect punch or twine or what have you and had to wade through the craft room to find it. But I’m happy with how the cards turned out, so the extra effort was worth it.

As a little back-to-school surprise, I brought all these cards to the school where I work for the teachers and staff to use. Sharing is caring. :) Thanks for stopping by!

'Seas' the day

In my last couple of posts I've shared cards I made after creating a variety of colorful card stock panels with Distress Oxide inks. On some of the cards I used the Distress Oxide panels as backgrounds, and on others I used the panels to die cut images. On today's cards, I did both. These also happen to be my favorite cards of the bunch.

On the mermaid card the background is one of the Distress Oxide panels, embossed with an underwater-themed embossing folder and then spritzed with a shimmer mist. I stamped the mermaid tail on another panel and then die cut it, along with a few tiny seashells. I used other Distress Oxide panels to die cut some coral, and I also used those panels to cut out larger layered seashells for two other cards (the white card above and one further down this post).

The mermaid tail needed some sparkle, so I used a Stardust Gelly Roll to color some of the scales and to add lines on the fluke. I finished the card by adding a sentiment (also stamped on a piece of Distress Oxide panel for perfect coordination) and a handful of sequins.

For the second card, I went more clean and simple. I spritzed a white card base with shimmer mist and adhered a die-cut white fishing net on top. I used three of the die-cut layered seashells and adhered them to the card with foam tape. When I cut out the seashells, I used different areas of the Distress Oxide panel (e.g., darker areas or places where one color was more prominent) for the different layers, which I think adds a lot of depth and realism. I finished this card with a sentiment and a few pearls.

The third card is kind of a mix of the first two: I focused on the seashells, like the second card, but also embossed the background, like the first one. (The embossing folder is technically going sideways on this card, but I don't think it matters too much. It still evokes the feeling and movement of water.)

I also spritzed this card with shimmer mist -- it reminds me of the sun sparkling on water. I finished this card with a sentiment and a few pearls.

My craft room is still out of commission while we're working on the basement. But I've moved some supplies to the dining room table so I can still do a bit of card making. I'll probably be posting just once a week for a while since I won't have as many cards to share. Thanks for stopping by!