Christmas Invitation

Retreat time in WI is always relaxing and productive. Here is what the invitations to an upcoming holiday party will look like for 2017. The dies used are Nativity Shooting Star from Tutti Designs and  Night in Bethlehem from Stampin' Up. The designer paper for the background is from Stamping' Up - Year of Cheer collection. The words embossed in gold and are from Stampabilties.

Summer Posting

Wow! What a summer! Loved all of the traveling and time with family. Paper crafting took a back seat so now getting back into the swing of things! Our children and their spouses gave me a beautiful shutterfly photo book for my retirement. They contacted former colleagues of mine and the designed book was truly a memorable trip down memory lane. Thanks so much!!!

So, to thank those who contributed to the Shutterfly book, I created this card. Beach time has been a part of our summer fun with family so thought I would incorporate the time into my thank you card.

This is the card cover done on vellum using a Memory Box die.

The cover of the inside card includes a 'shell thank you' and small shells to round out the beach theme.

Headed down to see the grandchildren soon along with Oma's 'traveling dragons' (small stuffed dragons.) The dragons send letters to each grandchild with a note anticipating the visit and then again with a thank you note. Grandchildren send pictures or dictated letters back to their dragons. Love, love, love the Echo Park 6 X 6 sea paper and the grandchildren will as well. Aquarium visits are among the grandchildren's favorite activities as are fish in general - hence the die with a mirrored blue sheet behind the Memory Box oval die. Fun to create!

Happy summer,

May additions

Love, love, love the freedom I now have to play with my crafts! I have been making some dragon cards for our grandchildren to encourage letter writing and reading with these preschoolers. Here are the latest additions.

Then, I created a card for a new children's book author. The book is in production (I think!) but I wanted to send along some encouragement! Anyway, I love surprises!!!

Save those scraps! Create a paper quilt!

I always save my extra pieces of watercolor background that I create/have left from making other cards. I found this quilt idea on Pinterest. You start with a half inch wide by either 1 to 2 inch long scrap pieces 'zig zag' down the middle. Then, add pieces of different widths along the side of the zigzag. Once in position, glue pieces down. Then, select an embossing folder that you like and run the 'paper quilt' through. Adhere the 'quilt' to colored card stock and layer. I used vellum for the 'With Sympathy' saying and added the gold dragonfly diet for a bit of flare. The card is already on its way to honor the life of a friend's mother. Have fun with the quilting - so many options to try!!!

Easter Card Making

For Easter 2017, I wanted to try out a simple card and Tim Holtz's new distress oxide inks. Thus, this card was 'born.' I used a retired Stampin' Up saying, swirled on Tim Holtz's Distress Oxide wilted violet and broken china inks to white card stock, and cut a black Tailored Expressions Eventful - Bunny Border from die. Easy!

 

St. Patrick's Day card making

Next week, I am leading a beginning card making class with some colleagues at work over lunch. Each 'attendee' will have a prepared card 'baggie' that includes a belly band and dies from Spellbinders Celtic Accents (old set) and stamped images from Stampin' Ups Pinch Proof, Celtic Knots, and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets (not sure if all are retired or not!) I wanted the group to have some choice in background papers, accent dies and belly band but the inside will all have this cute leprechaun from Pinch Proof set (above).

Like others, I need an idea to go by initially for a card and found this gatefold one at Stampwitch.blog. I decided on the belly band or top card pattern to work with. Both card patterns are on her blog. While I don't know Natalie, I love some of her resources such as Adobe's Color Wheel. 

Below is how to cut out paper and score - a tutorial from Stampwitch.blog.

From there, I found a variety of designer papers for background and colored green paper from 'my closet stash!' Here are the initial samples I will share with them BUT will post their finished projects later this week. All of these will have the Teeny Tiny Wishes 'Happy St. Patrick's Day' saying in lower right hand corner as the upper left one currently does.

Other examples

Now that I have a background, then what?!?

Brusho allows you to do all of these interesting looking backgrounds that in their own right, look spectacular! But, as Mary asked, 'How do you then make the background into a card?' I do have to admit that a blank piece of paper or even a stunning Brusho background can be intimidating and difficult to answer the questions, 'Now what? Where do I go from here?' There are many ways to go but I admit, I spend hours trying to decide! Here are some tips that I have found helpful.

1) Make a decision first on card base and if you are going to put any accent color around the Brusho or other DSP (Designer Series Paper - Stampin' Up term) background that looks gorgeous in an of itself. I still have tons of DSP from years of Stampin' Up purchases as the DSP is just too pretty to use as a background to cover up!

 (First image with gold paper behind Brusho background, second with different colored cardstock and third sample with just purple cardstock)

2) Decide on theme of card such as thank you, birthday, just because, get well, thinking of you, or other theme. OR You might find a stamp or die that you really, really like and once it is the cover of the card, you then decide the sentiment and theme that it inspires.

3) If you want the background to 'stand out' more, choose an open die and small sentiment. I used a card on line from Linda Hoyt's Cat Tail Designs to get a basic card layout or pattern. Use Pinterest to start your own collection of card patterns that you like and organize in a way that it makes sense to you. I created a card of my Brusho background with the basic layout pattern from Linda's card.

My version

4) You can search for card patterns and then, find papers and stamps or dies to create the cover of your card. I used this card from Shannon Kay Paperie to pattern my design.

My Version

5) Use a large die or stamp to add to the cover of your card. I did this with a IO fish stamp that I cut out on the previous post. Debi Messiner uses a large dragonfly die in her card below. 

My version with white flower (probably needs a 'little something' yet)

6) You can add a panel with image and sentiment over part of the background. Here is an example from Jane's Crafty Cabin. 

7) Use a large background die in white, black or neutral color to go over the colorful background but allows one to still see background. I used this card image from Splashes of Watercolor for inspiration.

My version with muted colored background - ribbon on top

Brush using Spray Starch & ClingWrap

With my friend Mary today, we played with spray starch, cling wrap, and Brusho. What fun!!! We used a Youtube video - Brusho Techniques to learn the technique. The video suggested the Ultramarine and Turquoise Brusho colors and we used these colors to create several stunning examples such as these two samples:

Even if you make a mistake and dump too much Brusho on the spray starched watercolor paper like I did (see below), you can still salvage the background to create a card (see fish card below.)

The SU stamp is on the inside of the card with a small heart stamp. The embossed fish is from Impression Obsession F2328 and uses orange, brilliant red, and yellow Brusho.