Purple and Rust Experiment

This week I was experimenting with a technique that was new to me. It involved emboss resist, which was not new, and removing the embossing to reveal what was underneath. In order to remove the embossing you put the embossed piece under some paper and iron it. After I had done the ironing I was about to throw away the paper containing the remnants of embossing, but thought I would throw some ink over it just to see how it turned out.

I liked the result so much that I cut the paper into 2 pieces for background paper.  One of the pieces is what I used here.

Since this background is primarily purple I decided to use it to make a card for Color Throw Down. (Their colors this week are purple, rust, gray and white.) I am currently obsessed with a stamp set from SU called Country Home.  I used it to stamp the bouquet in the milk can which I colored with Dusty Durango, Concord Crush, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke and Lucky Limeade from SU. I used CTMH Charcoal to stamp the sentiment on the can. I couldn't bear to cover too much of the background, so I cut a tag from vellum using CTMH Fancy Tags thin cuts. I stamped another sentiment on to the vellum using VersaMark and Dusty Durango, then I clear embossed it. Unfortunately I lost a lot of the color when I embossed it, so I used a Dusty Durango marker on the back side of the vellum to bring back the color.  I simply popped the whole thing on to a white card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

CTD 530 and Stamp Nation Swap

Probably for the first time ever, I got to use a card for dual purposes.  I joined a swap with Catherine Pooler's Stamp Nation in which the theme was "Think Pink".  Simultaneously, this week's Color Throw Down uses dark pink, gray and black.

When you look at my card you may think I missed in the DARK pink, but it actually is there, in the flowers and the shadow.

I have been in a glittery mood lately, so pulled out my Nuvo Mousses.  They had been neglected for so long that I had to reconstitute them with water. That process takes a lot of patience!  On this card I used Peony Pink for the background and Pink Flambe for the flowers and shadow.

The stamps are SU Country Home. Inks are SU Smokey Slate and Catherine Pooler Midnight. I also used a Sharpie white paint pen, Copics and a watercolor brush.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

CTD 529 (Fearless)

Lately I have been acquiring loads of new stamping supplies but using precious few of them.  Time to put the new things to work!

The colors for this week's Color Throw Down challenge are yellow, red and orange. I did some ink blending using Catherine Pooler's Sauna and Mandarin Spice inks together with Real Red from Stampin' Up. I think I was a little heavy handed with the red and orange,but there's a little bit of yellow in there!

The sentiment is stamped using Real Red ink and a stamp from Catherine Pooler's "Fearless Pursuit" stamp set. The palm trees were cut using the matching die set.

Prior to making this card I had spilled some ink from a new Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen onto my work surface (a paper calendar). I did my ink blending right next to the spill, not realizing that the glitter was mixing in with my ink blending. As a result my entire card front is glittery! I actually like it that way so maybe I've learned a new technique!

Thank you for stopping by!

~ La

Let's Raise a Cup!

A birthday card for a friend who loves tea cups (but doesn't drink tea!)

Following Color Throwdown's lead, I used Real Red from SU, Aquatini from Catherine Pooler and Silver from ColorBox.  Stamps we're Catherine Pooler and Verve, none of which are currently available.

I love this color combo which I probably never would have thought of. This card was put together quickly because I needed it, but I think I'll use these colors again.  Hopefully someone will post something I can copy!

~La

Difficult colors

I'm rushing to load this before the contest closes!

Alas, I missed it by about a minute. Oh well...

As the title says, these were difficult colors for me to use. I thought about them all week and on the last day decided to just give it a try.  The prescribed colors were dark teal, rust and cream. I love blues but rust? Not so much.

Oh well, I have an extra card now which I may or may not use.

Modern Merry Christmas

As usual, I went to Color Throw Down for inspiration.  Here is their palette:

I've decided to work primarily on Christmas cards for now so that maybe I'll get them out in a timely manner this year.

With that in mind, here is my card:

Feeling quite happy with the layout but wanting something with more sparkle, I went all out for modern Christmas colors and made 2 more cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

Serenity

After saying I was only going to copy cards, I immediately went back on my word and made one up. The reason is I haven't found anything I could copy in this week's challenge blogs.

The blog challenges which inspired this card are Color Throw Down and The Card Concept.

Initially I wanted to use Catherine Pooler's Plaid Background stamp to make a piece of background paper. I stamped it in 3 colors on 2 papers but didn't love any of them. So I thought I'd cut them into strips and line them up.  That looked awful. Then I thought of weaving them and - ta da! I think that worked. The effect reminds me a bit of a country fence which I thought worked nicely with the inspiration photo from The Card Concept.

Obviously the inspiration photo also gave me a chance to use my sunflower stamp! (From Our Daily Bread Design's Be a Sunflower set)  I love sunflowers but struggle to use fall colors.

Thinking I would give the card today to someone in a bit of life turmoil I chose the sentiment "Serenity" from Our Daily Bread Design's set The Waves on the Sea. I didn't complete the card in time for our lunch date, so perhaps I'll mail it.

Here is the inspiration photo from Color Throw Down:

I chose inks from Stampin Up today: Peach Parfait, Chocolate Chip, Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry.

The papers I stamped the background stamp on were miscellaneous scraps I had laying around.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

My New M.O.

I decided to use a new method of card making. I visit the challenge sites that I've been relying on for inspiration but, rather than try to create a card, I'll choose some cards others have created and copy them. It's a great plan because I'm not exactly artistic/creative. I won't enter contests and I'll give credit to the original artist so I don't think I'm breaking any rules.

For my first card I decided to copy this simple yet pretty card made by Rosemary:

I'm in love with my new stamps from Catherine Pooler's Stamp of Approval Tropically Yours collection, so that's what I used.  I do have to say, I think the leaves Rosemary used work better for this card, but I think mine work too.

I stamped all of my leaves on to one piece of 4 x 5--1/4 piece of white cardstock using Catherine Pooler's Lime Rickey, Grass Skirt and Juniper Mist inks as well as SU's Smokey Slate.

I cut the panel in half and made two (nearly) identical cards.

I noticed that Rosemary had a sparkly strip under her sentiment panel, and it just so happened that I had sparkly silver trim sitting in front of me - perfect! I tried mounting the panels on gray cardstock but mine was darker than Rosrmary's and I didn't like how it looked. Instead, I mounted them to a piece of navy cardstock which I then mounted on to a white card base.

Just like that I had 2 finished cards! Copying is definitely a better idea for me.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ La

Here's a card that was not made for any challenge, I just needed to make it for someone.

Catherine Pooler stamps again.  I'm just loving everything from her. I used Close to my Heart ink for the sentiment and water,  Tim Holtz distressed ink for the flamingo outlines (because it's the only black I currently have that has any ink in the pad!!) and I colored the flamingos with Copics.

Hope your day is going swimmingly.

~La

My card for Color Throw Down.

I found my way to Catherine Pooler Designs a few months ago and fell in love with a plaid background stamp she had. Since then I have become a big fan of her stamps and inks. I made this card using stamps from the following sets of hers: Leave me in Paradise, Fearless Pursuit and Tropically Yours. I also used the following Catherine Pooler inks: Aquatini, Lime Rickey, Eucalyptus and Royal Treatment.

CTD 505

This week's colors from Color Throw Down were pink, teal and gray. I thought they would work nicely for a sympathy card I needed to make.

I used an image of cherry blossoms which I bought while living in Taiwan and a sentiment from the SU set "Thoughtful Branches".  For ink I used Versamark, SU Smoky Slate and Versa Color's turquoise (with which I stamped the sentiment and did a bit of a watercolor background around the cherry blossom branches.) I used a copic marker to color the flowers and highlighted a few of the petals with Spectrum Noir's Crystal Clear sparkle pen.

All paper is from Stampin Up. I added a few simple accents with Liquid Pearls.

Father's Day

The colors in this week's Color Throwdown Challenge worked well for a Father's Day Card. I looked first to my new favorite Catherine Pooler inks from which I pulled Lime Ricky and Aquatini. I also used two Stampin' Up inks: Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight.

I wanted to keep the stamping simple, since this was a masculine card and was already going to be quite colorful. So I chose just one image from SU's Mosaic Madness stamp set and, using my MISTI stamp positioner, I alternated the colors across a piece of CTMH white cardstock.

Next I chose a stamp from Verve (one of my favorite companies which has, sadly, recently stopped producing stamps) which simple said "Father's Day". 

For "Happy" I used a die cut from Our Daily Bread's Happy Birthday die set. I cut it out 3 times from scrap black cardstock and glued all 3 together.  Then I covered it with Crystal Effects both to make it glossy and give it a little extra dimension.

I finished by simply adhering the decorated panel on to a folder piece of Stampin'Up black cardstock.

Thanks for looking!

~La

CTD #485

Above is my card for this week's Color Throwdown.  Their inspiration photo is below.

I love the current trend I'm seeing of black and white gingham in farmhouse style.  One local home builder actually did a tile floor in it, and I was over the moon in love with that floor!

I immediately thought of using my favorite new stamp from Catherine Pooler Designs; it's plaid rather than gingham, but the two seem closely related to me.  I didn't end up leaving much of the background showing, perhaps I'll make another and adjust so that more of the background shows.

I then stamped some poppies from another new-to-me company, Marij Rahder for Krazy Kreations  (the stamp set I used is currently on sale for $2.00!), using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Using my limited selection of Copic markers I tried to color them coral; I'm afraid they went a little too far into orange territory, but I don't have anything lighter.

The verse is from Verve Stamps; inked in SU's Calypso Coral.

I sewed around the edges, then resisted the urge to fill the white space with... something.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

First time making trifold cards

I actually HAVE been making cards recently, just haven't taken time to blog.  Honestly, the only reason I put them into a blog post anymore is so that I can upload them to challenge blogs.

Yesterday I wanted to learn how to make tri-fold cards.  I LOVE how they look, although thus far I'm finding it difficult to include a sentiment.  That's okay, it gives me something to work toward!

Yesterday I made 2 tri-folds; this was my second.  I used the colors from Color Throwdown: navy, aqua and pink.  I used several of my new dies from Our Daily Bread Designs, and some old SU stamps. All of the patterned paper is from one pack from Stampin Up.

Autumn hello

I realized recently that part of why I haven't made cards in forever is that I was trying to design my own and generally being unhappy with the results.  So I decided to find cards I liked that others had made and copy them.  "Quit trying to reinvent the wheel."

This card is a compilation of at least 4 sources of inspiration.

1. Case This Sketch #244, for the general layout.

2. The Card Concept #80 for the Autumn leaves.

3. Unfortunately, a blogger I don't know and can't remember to credit.  Someone posted a tutorial about new SU alcohol pens in which they colored leaves on Kraft paper.  I liked her colors so much that I copied the idea with my Copics.

4. My all-time favorite card designer, Andrea Ewen.  Sadly, she disappeared from the blogosphere quite some time ago.  I miss her beautiful creations and I worry that something awful might have happened. Pinterest has lots of her cards and I've pinned a good number of them because they are each a work of art.  

Here is the sketch from Case This Sketch. I started with a literal interpretation in a clean and simple card, but that evolved considerably!

Here is my card.  I had a lot of fun making this!

Back...again...with Thanks

I haven't blogged and, in fact have probably not stamped, for over a year.  Very sad!

In an attempt to keep my mind off of food thereby stick to my diet, I headed to the craft room today and have thus far created 2 cards.  In an effort not to try to reinvent the wheel, I looked at cards of other bloggers I admire. Then, low and behold, I vaguely copied an idea but actually designed my own card - yeah!

I'm not going to bother with details since I'm my only reader.  Every time I come here I say something about getting back at it.  I'll skip that this time and just see what happens!

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Droid

CTS #179

I've found a new-to-me blog from which to draw inspiration.   It's called Case This Sketch.  I've been looking at it and loving their sketches for quite a while, but I haven't stamped for quite some time so today was my first chance to play along.

Here is the card I made:

As you can see from the sketch below, I didn't get one bit original!

I actually tried something original first but hated it, so into the trash it went and I decided not to reinvent the wheel.

My color inspiration came from ColourQ;  however, I inadvertently left one color out of my card so I'm not entering this card into their blog.

The colors used for this card are midnight muse and lucky Limeade from SU and sunset from CTMH.  The patterned paper came from a pad called Ready Set Go by American Crafts; the white is from CTMH and the orange from SU (Dusty Durango?)

Thank you for stopping by! 

~La

Star Studded Birthday

Time in my craft room still happens in fits and starts. The last few days have afforded me plenty of time there, which makes me so happy! I finished all of the cards I needed for occasions, so now I can work on building a stockpile.

Today I made a birthday card. I wanted to get away from floral because I use them all the time. I didn't stray too far - I stamped flower pots but used stars for the flowers.

I chose colors using ColourQ.   I love bright pink and orange,  especially at this time of year. I don't have Kraft ink or paper so I substituted with Crumb Cake.  I'm not a fan of the color and never would have chosen it, but I have to say I think it anchors the wild colors quite nicely.

I almost always use MOJO Monday for layouts.  Left on my own cards generally don't turn out looking too great.  I strayed ever so slightly with the background; I was afraid the card would get too busy.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

One more graduation card, and I think that's it for this year. I went to Color Throwdown for inspiration because I knew they had blue and white this week and those are the colors I wanted to use. Here is their color board:

Santorini,  Greece.  I'm pretty sure I want to live there.  The crisp white buildings with beautiful blue roofs call to me.  A visit, at least, would be delightful. 

I went for clean and simple with this card.  (AKA crisp and white.)  Using CTMH's Charming Cascades, I masked an area of the card front and stamped the star cascade twice with Dew Drop ink in Platinum Planet.  For the sentiment I used the only thing I have that comes close for a graduation card which comes from CTMH's Springtime Wishes.  (I actually combined 2 sentiments from that set.) I simply stamped the sentiment with CTMH Pacifica pigment inks right across the stars.

To finish it off I found a perfectly matched skein of embroidery thread which I tied through a little coin-looking piece I found in my stash of embellishments.

The inside of this card is almost fancier than the front!   I always mount panels to write on, but I noticed that I had somehow smudged ink on the upper half of the inside and it looked tacky.  So I covered it up with a piece of SU's Pacific Point and now all is well.

Thanks for stopping by!

~La

Our kids youth pastor and his wife both graduated from Bible College this weekend and I decided they should each have their own card. I don't know if I ever made a graduation card before; if I have it was a long time ago. I don't have any graduation stamp sets so I set out to find inspiration. I found it at Poetic Artistry; you can see the card I copied here.

I pulled out some watercolor paper, wet it down and rubbed green, blue and yellow distress ink on it. Next I used a wet brush and forced the colors to combine a bit. I picked out some old glittery powder I have, intending to sprinkle a bit here and there. Instead, a rather large amount plopped onto the paper. I did my best to remove the excess but I ended up with fairly glittery paper. That's ok, glitter is rarely bad. That paper served as the main panel for both of my cards. On one card I embossed flowers in pink, orange and green while the on the other I embossed a leaf stem in green.

Next I got a little bleach out.  Using a stencil and a sponge, I bleached out a design on the "male" card.  For the female card I used a small brush and removed a bit of color inside the flowers.

On another piece of watercolor paper, after wetting it down, I rubbed in orange and yellow distress inks and again brushed to combine.  I didn't add any glittery powder to this piece,  but there was enough laying around my counter to glitter up this paper just a bit.  (Without trying!)

I stamped the sentiment for both cards using black ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder.

For the male card I tied some black embroidery thread near the bottom then distressed all of the edges pretty heavily.  I mounted it onto a while panel which also has distressed edges and green distress ink around the edge.  I chose a copper metallic paper for the card base - I wonder where I got copper paper?!

For the female card I embellished simply with a flower brad on which I stuck a rhinestone.   I mounted this one on Melon Mambo cardstock after heavily distressing all edges.  This time the card base was simply white.

I don't think the glittery effect shows in the photos.  Oh well!...  I was quite pleased with these cards.