Garden Greetings

Well, hello there!

I bet you thought I'd finally been confined to that psychiatric hospital for the craftily insane hung up my ATG714 adhesive gun and called it quits. It's been so long since I've posted that I forgot my own password! I really have no excuse for my absence other than laziness--and a period of lack of inspiration.

The good (?) news is that I've found my mojo again. I'm really going to make a concerted effort to post more of my projects and keep the blog fresh. So, I hope you will bear with me.

Recently, I finally succumbed to the temptation (after spending the equivalent of the GNP of a small developing country) and became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I know, I know... It seems like everyone and there mother is a demonstrator these days. But, give me a bit of credit--I'm a MALE Stampin' Up demonstrator (lol). Seriously, I've been so impressed with the products and company that it is an honor to be a demonstrator. I know you have many options when looking for your Stampin' Up! products, but I hope to provide great service, perks and fun along the way. So if you are in the market for something, please keep me in mind. But enough about that. Let's make something.

I was itching to try a project with one of my new stamp sets--and yet wanting to do something "different". So, this is the card I came up with:

Materials List:

--Stampin' Up! Garden Greetings Set (#113716)
--Stampin' Up! Stamp Pad in Basic Black (#101179)
--clear transparency sheet
--mica cardstock
--decorative paper
--brads (4)
--adhesive
--EK Success corner rounder punch
--Tim Holtz piercing tool

To begin the process, I choose a lovely and large bloom stamp from the Stampin' Up! Garden Greetings set. Using the Basic Black Stampin' Pad, I cut a piece of clear transparency into a 3" x 4 1/4" block.



I then stamped the image several times in random places on the transparency and allowed it to dry completely.



The base of my card is going to be a standard A2 size. Therefore you need a piece of cardstock measuring 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". I chose to use a beautiful piece of mica cardstock that has an incredible sheen to it (that unfortunately does NOT photograph well). For the element pieces of my card, I needed a decorative paper measuring 3" x 4 1/4" (to mount my transparency stamping on). The paper I chose was from the Basic Grey Two Scoops collection. It has lovely pinks in it that compliment the base cardstock and the swirls provide a great backdrop to my blossoms.



To attach the transparency film to my decorative paper block, I decided to use brads--in this case four (4) Doodlebug Sugared brads (two pink, two white). Not only will the brads hold my elements together, they'll do double duty as stamen in my flowers. For easy attachment, I used my Tim Holtz piercing tool to make holes through the transparency and decorative paper where I wanted my brads to attach.



Once all four brads are in place, the element is ready to be adhered to the card base.



As a final decorative touch for my card, I decided to round the corners of my card using an EK Success punch.



Here's a look at the final card and a close-up of the detail.




Well, I hope this inspires you to think Spring! I know the weather is not cooperating in many parts of the country, but it's definitely time for us to put some flowers into our lives!

See you soon...and keep crafting!

Card Spotlight: A Rose Is A Rose...

I just received some new Stampin' Up supplies...so of course, I had to try them out. The result was this card. The base cardstock is textured Bazzill cut to 8 1/2" x 5" and scored at 4 1/4" on the Scor-Pal. I used two strips (4 1/4") of Bazzill textured white cardstock and the Martha Stewart Lattice Arch Border Bunch to create the edging. The decorative paper is from Die Cuts With A View Once Upon A Time paper stack. The particular design is called "Stained Glass Window".

The border strips are adhered to the decorative paper using my ATG 714 gun. I had carefully picked this decorative paper because I was dying to try out one of the new stamp sets I just received from Stampin' Up. The set is called 'A Rose Is A Rose' (#111560)--and I just LOVE it. It's designed for a two-step stamping process and it enhances the realism of the image in my opinion. I used some Stampin' Up Whisper White cardstock to stamp the image on.

I used Rose Red to stamp the base rose image and used Cranberry Crisp for the highlight image. The leaves were done with Kiwi Kiss and True Thyme. I then cut out the image and used All Night Media Pop Dots for the dimensional positioning. Two lines of the new Glitz Stickles in Ruby Slippers accent the border between the puched element and the decorative paper.

Pandamonium!

A recent project that I have to admit, I really love. The base cardstock is Bazzill. The decorative paper is from Basic Grey and is trimmed using the Martha Stewart Arched Lattice Border Punch. The panda paper is from Prima. A little touch of a Sakura clear glitter pen...and you just have to love a little pandamonium! :-)

Halloween Book

Here's a few shots from a 5" x 7" chipboard accordian book I made in honor of Halloween. Hope you ghouls and goblins like it!










Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Card Gallery

Here's a look at some of the card projects I've been working on of late:


Bazzill corduroy cardstock, Versamark, stamp by Basic Grey (Offbeat), Stampendous red tinsel embossing powder, K&C0. grand adhesions sentiment


Bazzill cardstock, Fiskars edge punch, Cuttlebug butterfly die/emboss combo, Perfect Pearls, Stampin' Up sentiment stamp (Dreams du Jour), Stampin' Up Stampin' Pad (Kiwi Kiss), Dew Drops Ink (Pearlescent Orchid)



DCWV glittered cardstock, Autumn Leaves ornament stamp, Stampendous red dragon embossing powder, Martha Stewart lace edge border punch, Versamark, All Night Media pop dots, Dew Drops Ink (Aquatic Splash)

Card Spotlight: Fall Is In The Air

It's about that time. Time for sweaters, hot cocoa, spiced apple cider and watching the leaves tumble off the trees in our front yards. Yes, friends, I think it's safe to say Fall is officially here.

Last night I was goofing around with a couple of card designs and decided I wanted to make a Fall-inspired card. Of course, for me the biggest (and first sign) of Fall is the changing colors of foilage and the piles of leaves that seem to end up on the doorstop quite mysteriously. The colors of Fall are a marvelous palette for cardmaking.

For this project, I used the following materials:

--Bazzill crosshatch textured cardstock in Burnt Orange; cut to 8.5" x 5.5";
--K & Co fall leaves decorative paper from the Fall Harvest mat pad designed by Johnny Yanok; Cut to 3.75" x 5.5";
--Cuttlebug 2" x 6" die "Leaves & Netting" set (now retired);
--Cuttlebug
--adhesive
--brown craft paper scraps
--Prismacolor markers: burnt sienna, dark brown, orange;
--white resist pen
--Sakura clear glitter gel pen



I used my Making Memories paper trimmer to cut down my Bazzill cardstock, my K & Co. decorative paper and brown kraft paper. I used my Scor-Pal to score my cardstock at 4.25" to create a bi-fold card base. I fell in love with the fall leaves design by Johnny Yanok in the K & Co. mat pad. It was the inspiration for the Cuttlebug die-cut leaves.

Using my Cuttlebug and the 2" x 6" die, I cut two sets of leaves out of the brown kraft paper. I wasn't sure how many leaves I was going to use on the card, but I figured having two sets gave me more wiggle room to play. The leaf shapes I cut (two of each) looked like this:



I used a little trick (which I may share one day) to decorate the leaf fronts. It basically consists of using a white resist ink pen to make miscellaneous doodle designs on the the leaves. After I've made the freehand designs, I used Prismacolor markers to put two to three coats of color on top of the white resist. I think the effect is very eye-catching and gives the piece a bit of whimsy and visual interest.



I used my ATG 714 adhesive gun to adhere the decorative paper to the front of my card. I then deicided that three leaves were plenty for the front of my card. I chose one shape in each of the three marker colors I used. I used my very favorite mini pop dots from All Night Media to attach the leaves to the card front. The mini pop dots give the piece a lot of dimensionality (which unfortunately is difficult to capture in photographs.




As for placing the leaves on the card, you just need to use your eye and experiment with different positions (obviously before you put your adhesive dots on). I found three leaves of various colors worked best. Once I found the layout I liked, it was easy to finish up the card. The only other element I added was a border of Sakura clear glitter pen along the edges of the decorative paper element. A couple of views of the finished look:





This card makes me want to run and jump into a giant pile of multi-colored leaves. Of course, it might be safer to wait until the leaves have actually fallen from the trees in my yard.

Create--and keep crafting!

Apologies & Drippy Goo

Hello dear crafters! If it seems I've done a disappearing act, I must apologize. It's been a long time (too long) since my last entry. There are many reasons for that, but suffice to say that I've been busy crafting in my absence. I have to--it helps to keep me sane!

I've been busy working on many different swaps that I've signed up for via the Cricut Message Board. I've been making ATC cards, greeting cards and layouts (yes, you've read correctly) for various groups I joined. I have to say that I really enjoy working on these themed based projects. For one thing, it forces you to keep crafting and to come up with (hopefully) new and original ideas. I cautiously started in one or two swaps--and now I'm in so many I have to keep a written schedule of when things are due and who they are due to. Yes, like many other things, swaps are highly addictive.

I do have to comment on one swap in particular. For the first time, I signed up for a recipe swap. I actually do like to cook. It's the clean-up I have a problem with. But nonetheless, this particular swap was a major challenge for me. It required a dip recipe layout in 8"x8" size for fifteen participants. I can't even remember what the last layout I did was. I've been so consumed with cardmaking and other papercrafting avenues, I really haven't done a "real" scrapbook layout in some time. So this was a challenging--and in many ways daunting--task for me. I have to say I think the end product came out well (and I will share some photos of it after my swap deadline passes). It was just an amazing amount of work. I used my Cricut for my page titles. But, the finished project involved some hand-cut embellishment pieces, stamping, construction and a lot of journaling. I have to admit, I was a bit rusty getting started. After about eight or nine layouts, the groove started returning. I just didn't realize it would be so much work to do fifteen of the same layout. Not that I'm complaining mind you. I had a lot of fun doing them and it was a good refresher--just very time consuming.

Anyhow, I felt I should drop in and update my blog and apologize for my MIA status. I hope to be more consistent in the future about posting on a frequent basis. Please hang in there with me.

Recently, I added the Martha Stewart Crafts "Drippy Goo" punch to my ever growing collection of her delightful tools. I have to say that this one is quite addictive. Obviously, it was designed for the Halloween season--but its uses are really only limited by your imagination. It's terrific for stylized grass, rain splatter, fringes--and so many other things.

Here are a couple of recent Halloween cardmaking projects that use the Drippy Goo punch. I think it's very eye-catching.

Create--and keep crafting!

Card Spotlight: Air Male

It's interesting to note that many paper crafters have a hard time when it comes to designing and constructing projects for a male recipient. I think it's safe to say that many of the leaders in the crafting industry cater to a mainly female clientele. As such, many of the designers collections are specifically created with that demographic in mind.

Of course, there are male crafters out there (obviously). It stands to reason that the larger the market share (customer demand), the more companies start to offer alternative lines and color palettes. I am very pleased with some of the new product lines being introduced for Fall/Winter 2008 and beyond.

I think the largest stumbling block some crafters face is the idea of avoiding certain colors (pink, pastels, etc.) and themes (florals, intricate patterns,etc.) when planning a male-oriented project. As a male crafter (and perhaps because of my own personal aesthetics), I do not have a problem receiving cards and projects made with florals or bright colors. However, right or wrong, there is a concern that a project be "masculine" enough. I hope such narrow thinking one day becomes the exception instead of the rule.

Oops, I guess that's enought of that rant...at least for a while. What brought the subject up for me was that I recently set out to make cards for a few of my friends that definitely skew toward the "manly men" end of the spectrum, lol. I thought I would share one of the cards I created in this card spotlight.

An interesting thing about this project is that it was all inspired by a piece of scrap paper from a DCWV paper stack: High School. The inspiration was this bit of design left over from another project. (I'm generally not very good about saving or using scraps, so this was a breakthrough for me.)



When I saw this flourish pattern, I was immediately drawn to the theme of flight and birds (wings) specifically. With that thought in mind, I hit my supplies and rounded up a few things.

For this project, you will need:

--one sheet of white cardstock cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
--one strip of textured cardstock cut to 5 1/2" x 2 1/8"
--one strip of decorative paper cut to 5 1/2" x 1 3/8"
--Tsukineko VersaMagic Chalk Ink Pad (Jumbo Java)
--Marvy Stippling Brush
--rubber or clear acrylic stamps
--Sakura Metallic Gel Pen
--adhesive (Xyron 510)
--Scor-Pal (or other scoring tool)

To begin, I took the white cardstock piece and scored it at 4 1/4" to create the card fold.



I chose to work in a brown palette for this card. For visual and color interest, I used a VersaMagic chalk ink pad and a stippling brush to create a textured background on the white cardstock.



Using the Jumbo Java chalk ink, I inked my stippling brush directly on the ink pad surface and pounced both the front and back sides of the card. After the initial application of ink in a circular motion, I used a few diagonal sweeps of the brush on the card face to muss the stippling effect slightly. I also inked all of the card edges using the VersaMagic pad.



Once you've achieved the desire color depth and texture on your card, allow the chalk ink to set before proceeding to adhere your decorative elements to the card. For my card, I chose a piece of textured Bazzill cardstock in Chocolate as the base mat for my decorative strip. As mentioned, the decorative strip for this project was a scrap from a DCWV High School paper stack.



This textured cardstock was trimmed to 5 1/2" x 2 1/8" and the edges were inked with the VersaMagic pad. Then it was run through a Xyron 510 and attached to the card face. The decorative paper was trimmed to 5 1/2" x 1 3/8", inked, run through the Xyron and centered on top of the textured cardstock.

To go with my theme of flight and wings, I used two stamps to finish the look of my card. The first was a rubber stamp (SeeD's) for the greeting that said "Air Mail". The second was a clear acrylic stamp (Autumn Leaves) from Rhonna Farrar's "Gypsy 2" collection of a bird in mid-flight. I used the same color chalk ink and stamped the greeting in the bottom right-hand corner and strategically placed the bird in the center of my decorative paper strip.



I like the symbolism on this card. The freedom of flight expressed by the bird juxtaposed with the wink-and-a-nod "Air Mail" greeting made me smile. I also think the bird picks up on the free-flowing airiness of the swirls from the flourish design.

As a final touch, I took a Sakura metallic gel pen in Galaxy Bronze and put in a few accent lines along the borders of the paper strips to add a bit more definition and visual interest. All-in-all, it was a fun and relatively creative project to put together.



Create--and keep crafting!

Card Spotlight: Boo!

There's something in the air. Fall, thankfully, approaches...and so do the ghosts and goblins. This weekend, I was inspired by pumpkins.

This quick and fun card is made from a 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece of DCWV textured chipboard in a yellow-orange color. (If you haven't tried working with DCWV versatile chipboard stacks, I highly recommend them.) The jack-o'-lantern is cut from a piece of Bazzill corduroy texture white cardstock. The die-cut is a Cricut cut from the "Stretch Your Imagination" cartridge cut at 4" on my Expression. The backing paper for the reverse side of the card is from the DCWV Old World paper stack.



I used Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils to handcolor the jack-o'-lantern. I used a black Sharpie pen to outline the image after coloring. The "Boo" greeting is done with black Making Memories alphabet rub-ons.



On the reverse side, I used a 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece of DCWV decorative paper adhered with my ATG 714. The decorative journaling sheet is by K & Co.

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

I'm by no means an expert on the whole phenomenon of Artist Trading Cards or ATCs, as they are often referred to in shorthand. However, it is a form of paper crafting that does appeal immensely to me. I think the intriguing thing about ATCs is tied to the size of the final project. The only die-hard rule of ATCs is that finished size of your project must be 2.5" x 3.5" (64mm x 89mm). Other than that, the design and materials to be used are as endless as your imagination. While, it is obviously a temptation to go crazy with the dimensionality, the key to a good ATC design is that it be "portable art", that is a trading card that is easy to store or take with you.

You can explore stamping, textures, paints, inks, sketching, stitching, papers, found objects, and so many other techniques with ATCs. ATCs can be modern or vintage, bold or subtle, themed or free-form. I've used my own sketched images, pieced collages, Cricut die-cuts, and various objets d' art in my own ATC collection. Of course, much of the fun in ATCs is trading with other budding artists and sharing your inspirations/works.

I recently joined a "Your Choice" ATC Swap through the Cricut Message Boards. The three (3) themes I selected to participate in were: "Love", "Asian", and "Black & White". Here is a peek at the designs I came up with.

For the Love theme, my design is called "Without End". It combines a Marah Johnson image stamped with Tsukineko Brilliance Rocket Red Glare and an accent paper from DCWV Rock Star paper stack. The edges are inked with StazOn Jet Black ink and the cards are accented with Sakura Gelly Roll Metallic pens.



The Asian theme is called "Asian Lamp". The base paper is from DCWV Far East collection. The card edges were inked with a crimson pigment. I used some kanji characters and a layered die-cuts of an oriental paper lantern as focal points. Kanji are originally Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system. Each card in the set, showcases a different lamp and kanji character combination.



The final set was an interesting challenge. Black and white is a restraint in that it means there is a lack of color. I decided the images should be stark and visually interesting. The card design is called "Life". The wording is done with a ransom styled alphabet stamped with StazOn Jet Black ink. The fingerprint (which is my own thumbprint) is also inked with StazOn. I used Sakura Glaze Pen in Black for the accents. The "messy" smudges were intentional--as Life is never without its messes. The thumbprint represents the "touch" of someone in your life.



I urge you to try your hand at ATCs. All you need is a stiff cardstock or chipboard base, your imagination and whatever embellishments strike your fancy. You can spend minutes--or hours on your designs. The finished projects look wonderful in frames, in cards, stored on a rolodex turnstile or cataloged in baseball card trading sleeves. Consider them mini-art projects for the soul.

Create--and keep crafting!