Paper Smooches December Challenge - Card 2

Paper Smooches - www.papersmoochesstamps.com has a monthly challenge and here is my second entry.  I thought I'd also use the opportunity to sneak in some peeks at the upcoming Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue which starts on 5 Jan.

The main guidelines are to use flowers somewhere on the project and include at least one Paper Smooches die or stamp.

I didn't intend to make 2 cards but I really REALLY wanted to sneak a cat among the flowers and it just wasn't right for the first card.

I loved the colours in the soon-to-come Love Blossoms DSP stack.  The flowers came from the Circle of Spring set in the Annual Catalogue which naturally I bought without the die thinking I wouldn't use it til I got around to buying the die.  Wrong.  Hello fussy cutting,  Have you tried fussy cutting tiny flowers and vines inside a circle?  My advice is...don't!

The cat came from the MFT I Knead You stamp set.  I also fussy cut her since I didn't want a white outline.  The whiskers do have a little one and I initially thought of colouring them black, but I coloured the the kitty to look like our very own Chubby Bubby Crafty Cat and she actually has both white and black whiskers.

 Since the images were smaller, I used Inktense to colour it and just washed over the white areas of the wreath with leftover Gansai Tambi.  The awesome thing is that the Inktense becomes permanent once it dries so it doesn't run when re-wet.

My initial thought was a blank Paper Smooches banner from the streamers stamp set but it felt too big so a stamp from the soon-to-come Bloomin Love set was used.  I wanted to cover up the leaves which stamp on either side of the banner.  They'd go with the card, but it needed more pink and more bling (doesn't everything??).

I felt hearts would go well with the sentiment but the hearts in the Hearts dies set were either too small or too big (Goldilocks much?) but the heart from the set of Bandaids Dies was just right - well near enough.

The sentiment came from the Good Gab stamp set and the bows on the wreath and Miss CC's hair came from the Retail Therapy stamp set.  Lots of small touches, but I used one die and two stamp sets from Paper Smooches on this one.

The card base has layers of DSP either square or die cut and corners rounded which I'm not so sure about now that I've done it!

Oh and lets not forget the touches of Wink of Stella, which while I've had in my stash for a long time, may or may not have something to do with the upcoming catalogue. ;-P

 And bling. I added a few gems but could happily add about 20 more.  LOL

I'm counting SIX items I've sneaked from the Occasions Catty between the two cards!
I'm happy overall with these two cards which usually doesn't happen so there you go.

If you havent already seem my first card, please check it out here

Paper Smooches December Challenge - Card 1

Paper Smooches - www.papersmoochesstamps.com has a monthly challenge and here is my first entry.  I thought I'd also use the opportunity to sneak in some peeks at the upcoming Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue which starts on 5 Jan.

The main guidelines are to use flowers somewhere on the project and include at least one Paper Smooches die or stamp.

Anyway...the Paper Smooches items I used for my first card are the Blissful Banners stamp set and co-ordinating Streamers dies.

I struggled a bit to find a way of lining up a stamp with a solid die and I found that cutting first then using a (not too strong) runner adhesive to stick it to my MISTI in order to stamp it worked best.  The adhesive rubs off afterwards if you no longer want it.  I didn't since I was using vellum and wanted the centre of the banner to come out from the card.

I started by stamping using the soon-to-be-released Rose Garden stamp set and watercolouring with my Gansai Tambi paints.  They're so rich and creamy that it took a bit of practise after being used to the traditional cake watercolours.  I felt more comfortable by the time I got to the leaves and background.

Next, I used the co-ordinating die and cut out of black glitter paper.  Oooh shiny!

The vellum banner was stamped with archival ink.  I tried embossing in black which was just TOO black and many other options.  I matted on soon-to-come PINK glitter paper onto a black card base and sprinkled iridescent tiny sequins for that finishing touch.

The only things I'd consider adding are gems or something else to cover the dots of adhesive holding the banner in place since it's more visible than I'd like.   :-/

Please check out my second card here

Thank You Card Marathon Part I

Well, lovely Readers I think it's high time I brought you those Thank You Cards.

Unlike last time, I decided to do several many different designs to keep from getting bored.  I must have done a good Job because every time NPCH walked passed and took a look he commented "overcommited yourself".

Granted, these cards came shortly before an infusion when I feel worst physically, so it was a bit of a struggle, but I learned a lot and enjoyed it.

These cards were commissioned by one sister to thank people who sent gifts for her new baby girl.  I prefer not to make the cards baby themed in case some are left over.  A more general theme makes them usable for any kind of thank you.

I had a couple of sets each of older DSP.lines:  Tea for Two and Afternoon Picnic



...which are basically the same pattern but in different colourways.

I was going vintage which is perhaps not surprising given I'm quite the Janeite.

I had a few ideas in my head, but when I started I had not yet finalised the number of designs or what they would even look like.  Since I was on a bit of a colouring kick,I stamped a bunch of flower images on both watercolour paper and vellum and put my new Inktense pencils to work

I'm afraid I'll have to break down these blog posts due to the number of designs so here is the first.

These cards have the flowers on vellum, a strip of DSP, dry embossed card from and the sentiment die cut from the gold metallic paper.  Burlap is still big at the moment and a bit of crochet trim and antique brad finished it off.

Tea For Two on Island Indigo:

Afternoon Picnic on Soft Sky

 

 

So am I happy with them?  Mostly.  I'm still not sold on the Indigo, although I did use colours from the DSP collections.  I also hoped to stitch over the fake quilting lines on the DSP but my sewing machine wasn't having any of it.  I managed to stitch on other cards, but the tension simply wasn't right no matter what I did to it.

I think a service is in order!

So I'd love to hear what you think and I'll keep adding more posts.

*PS apologies for the less than ideal photos!  The house photographer  (aka NPCH) was unavailable for this important assignment!

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

Stampin' Trimmer	Snail Permanent Adhesive	Big Shot	Greetings Thinlits Dies	Precision Base Plate
Bone Folder	Mini Glue Dots	Jet Black Stazon Pad	Paper Snips	Tear & Tape Adhesive
Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Vellum A4 Cardstock	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Island Indigo A4 Cardstock
1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon	Gold Foil Sheets	Aqua Painters

InLinkz.com

 

When you have to make a choice...

...between cleaning your craft area after the Great Thank You Card Marathon of 2015 OR putting together a quick little craft project using only what you find in the craftermath.

What would you pick?

Naturally I chose not to clean up and pick through the mess.  Not Pink Crafty Hubster loves shows like American Pickers and Small Crafty Dude loved Scrapheap Challenge way back in the day so I decided to see what I could come up with.

The back story is that it's become a kind of tradition to give my sisters a Lush voucher to spend on a Boxing Day when everything is half price.

No way way I going anywhere near the shops in the chaos, so I made my own "voucher" along with some cash.

My "rule"was that everything had to be found on my two desks or within arms reach. My Pink Crafty Butt was not to leave my Pink Chair.

Fortunately I had loads of DSP, watercoloured flowers and die cut bits and pieces left over from the card marathon...along with pearls, scraps of rejected ribbon and all sorts of other surprises.

I went with a flower and leaves stamped on vellum and coloured with Inktense pencils.

As it turned out, I didn't even cut any paper or cardstock.  I found bits in just the right size - even the vellum strip only needed a notch cut to make it a banner.

There was a box under the desk with alpha stickers not yet out away so on they went.

Miraculously I still had gold metallic thread in my machine...which reminds me to tell you that it DOES work in a sewing machine, BUT it is temperamental.  It's stiff and breaks and if you fill a bobbin, it looks as though there isn't a lot left on the spool, but it's worth trying.

That's all for this impromptu post and I'll be sharing the cards I made for my card ordeal...I mean order! ;-p

Awesome Teacher Thank You Card

How is it possible that over an entire week of school holidays has flashed passed?

Actually it has felt like an eternity due to a series of unfortunate events - Small Crafty Dude managed to get sick, I had an infusion about a week ago and it takes some time to recover from, rank (read hot and unpleasant) weather and of course my ongoing order of Thank You cards.  SCD accompanied me to the hospital (BEFORE he got sick) and we tandem-coloured during part of the many hours we spent there.

So as usual, I had a thank you card to make for Small Crafty Dude's teacher.  I also try to make cards for him to give to his friends but just didn't happen this year.

All his teachers (except one a number of years ago) have been amazing but this year's teacher was even more than that.  

His teacher is also a "spoonie" so we both understood each other limitations and what it's like to look "OK on the outside" but have a serious chronic illness that goes unseen.

I realised the cute stamps I had in mind had not been ordered since I was in denial and stuck in September thinking I had lots of time.

This situation called for stash diving.  I decided i wanted to colour a kiddo in what looked like SCD's school uniform.  Ideally a boy but failing that a girl would do also.

I came across Formal Luka from La-La Land and realised he's be perfect for the job.  His mop even resembled SCD when he's overdue for a haircut.

I "borrowed" the spoon from Sugar n Spice Marci and carefully separated Luka's hand from the the jacket and inserted the spoon that I excised from Marci.

The school themed "accessories" came from a bunch of stamps from

various manufacturers incl Taylored Expressions, Maya Road and more.

I removed the top layer of books thinking I'd  put them on top of the table, but I couldn't get it to look right so the beaker and conical flask went there instead (science and English are two of SCD's favourite subjects).

After some basic colouring (no blending on the smaller items (only Luka) ), I stuck them onto a 5x5 card.  Purple (blackberry bliss) partly because of the uniform and partly SCD's awesome teacher's (hence the sentiment from verve) favourite colour is purple.

A paper layer from an older DSP pack was an appropriate choice, but the current AC has one with similar pages so I'll link it down below.

I'm far from thrilled with the widespread sequins.  I prefer a more controlled sprinkle along the diagonal.  It looks more natural than this. :-/

Apologies for the blurry photo.  Shaky hands affected everything from colouring to sequin placement and I was against the clock to leave home to deliver the card and a small gift.

Over the next few days I'll be sharing the the order of Thank You cards that have taken up so much time lately and also info about upcoming Sale-A-Bration.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Heat Tool (Au & Nz)	Stampin' Trimmer	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder	Versamark Pad
Snail Permanent Adhesive	Stampin' Dimensionals	Fine-Tip Glue Pen	Paper Snips
Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock	Metallics Sequin Assortment	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper

InLinkz.com