Sentiment cards

I chose a couple more sentiment stamps today and made cards with them.  I have found that I can cut a 6X6 sheet of paper into 3 strips 2" X 5 1/2", add layers and turn them into cards.  I do allow a lot of the 'white space' to show on the cards.  On these cards, the base cards are Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink.

This was my first card today.  I found a roll of 1/16" wide ribbon and wrapped it around the strip of paper, then tied a knot.  I didn't like the knot, so I covered it with a punched star, then added 3 smaller stars to balance the design.  I still wasn't happy with the card, so I made another without the knot.  The ribbon ends are taped to back of strip of paper.

This still didn't please me, so I used a star brad over the ribbon center for the final card.

Once I had this figured out, I made three cards with another piece of paper and another sentiment.

Friends

Before I start on another card style, I decided to use the scraps from yesterday's cards.  The patterned papers are by Ki Creations - a 6X6 pad from Wal-Mart.  These cards use the rest of those papers.  I made 2 blue ones and 2 pink ones.

The sentiment is a rubber stamp by Penny Black.

Miss you cards

Today was another one to use a Stamper's Best sentiment stamp that I hadn't used.  I bought a lot of stamps and never got around to using them.  I love the quality of their stamps, but this one is very large so it consumes much of the card.

I made these 2 cards first and learned some things.  On the blue one, I wrapped the ribbon around the card front and tied a double knot.  The sentiment panel is flat on the card.  On the pink one, I glued the ribbon on the card, then tied a short ribbon around the flat on and glued it in place.  This makes a flatter know.  These rhinestone gems are thicker than the flat blue ones, so I added foam tape under the sentiment panel.  I liked this process, so used the rest of my paper to make a couple more cards.

True friends

This project started with using the left overs on my desk and turned into using stamps I had purchased and never used.

This sentiment stamp is by Stamper's Best.  I like the sentiment, but it is so large that it takes up much of the card.  They sell a lot of nice rubber stamps.  The additions on the first card are copper stickers.  The flowers on second card are punched with a gem in the center.

Masculine cards

I took a few more days off card making to do some house cleaning.  I decided use up some of the scraps on my desk.  Here's what I came up with for today.

I had stamped this animal (I think it's a moose) last week and didn't use it.  I had also embossed the stripes while testing a friends embossing folder.  I added some ink to the raised strips, but the scan makes it look like the top ones are darker - not true.  The light colored ones are raised and dark strips are down.  I added more texture with the green and then ran the background through another embossing folder.

I used another strip of the embossed stripes, but added a different stamp to this card.  The horse is stamped on a coaster and then cut out with a spellbinders die.  The coaster is pretty thick, so I didn't emboss the background on this card.

Embossed stripes

When my friend came over to introduce our dogs and talk cardmaking, she brought an embossing folder that she was having problems with.  This embossing folder is by Darice and called Vertical Stripes.  It seems to tear the paper, as if embossing is too deep to give good images.  Has anyone else had this problem with this folder?

I suggested she distress the embossed paper to make it appear intentional.  I made this card to demonstrate this result.  By rubbing ink over the embossed cardstock, the cracks show up more.  You do have to add a lot of adhesive to secure the torn cardstock.

I stamped the image with a Stamper's Best stamp and fussy cut the image, then mounted it on a circle.  The trees are made with some very old textured paper and a Sizzix die.

We tried several methods to improve the embossing.  It seemed to work better with 2 pieces of cardstock in the folder.  The top piece was this one, while the lower piece was more intact.

This is a bit of an optical illusion because the ink is on the raised stripes.  You can see a bit of the torn look on the light blue stripes.  The zig-zag paper is to cover where the cardstock was completely torn.  Once again, I used lots of ATG tape to secure this paper to the card base.

The image is from Cowtown Stamps and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The sentiment stamp is also from Cowtown.

I have a few more pieces of cardstock that we used during experimentation that I will use on cards when I get to them.

My dog

I've taken a break from cardmaking lately because my dog has an injury in his neck.  This is a big problem for dachshunds because of their long spines and love of food.  They have a tendency to become overweight and Tex is no exception.  He's had a lot of skin allergies and has been on medications and food which are high in fat. 



He's been spending a lot of time in the last few days sleeping near my computer.
He's beginning to feel a bit stronger and had a visit today from my cardmaking friend and her dog.

While the dogs got acquainted, we talked about cards.  I now have some new challenges to stimulate the mojo.  Let's hope it works.  I hope it works.

Red, white & blue cards

After making a card yesterday with OWH Sketch #206, I took another challenge to use something found on my desk to make a card.  I found a piece of red cardstock that I had embossed with stars and didn't use earlier, so here's my card.

The stamp is from Hero Arts and the dies from Spellbinders.  This card bothered me because I didn't include a blue frame around the red, so I made another card with this technique.

OWH Sketch Challenge

I've been stuck with no mojo lately.  I'm trying to shake myself out of this slump.  Once again, I'm trying to use a sketch.  This is Sketch 206 from the Stars & Stamps blog.

Now, here is the card I made using this sketch.

I'm not pleased with this card, but it's a start and I'll see if I can work on some cards that I like better.

More B&W cards, with color

I'm still working with my black and white paper.  I seem to like the cards with a bit of red added.

I added some punched borders on these cards because the paper is narrower than on the earlier cards.

With these cards, I used paper from a Ki Creations B&W pad and some different sentiments.

B & W thank you cards

In an effort to use up current supplies, I decided to work with black & white cards.  The paper is from an 8"X8" pad from Making Memories.  I've had it for a long time.

These were OK, but I decided to try the same design with a pop of color.



The B&W cards are scans, but I decided to take photo of the ones with red.  The gems really are a better color than they look, but neither scan nor photo really captures the true color.  The sentiments are cut with Cuttlebug dies and the circles with Spellbinder's dies.

Thank you cards

It's time to move on to a new year.  Yesterday, I took down my Christmas tree to help me free myself of the holiday season.  I decided it's time to say Thank You to all who have helped me grow in my cardmaking and in my life this past year.  Of course, these cards will go to our heroes that are deployed and also want to say thank you to all who have supported them in their efforts to keep us free.

This card is simple to make, if you have the right supplies.  This is a Cuttlebug embossing folder used on Core'dinations cardstock - Chocolate Box collection.  This cardstock has brown fronts and colored core and back.  Once embossed, I use sandpaper to remove the brown layer over the embossed portions, allowing the colored core to show through.  Just mount it on a base layer that co-ordinates with the core color.  This is all mounted on a white card base.

This is an old clear set of stamps and I can't remember who made them.  I have learned that it is wise to write the manufacturer's name on the storage sheet to give them credit.  I didn't do that and no longer remember.  It has several circular designs with sentiments that fit inside the circle, so it's very versatile.  The patterned paper is by Ki Creations, purchased at Wal-Mart.

Top 13 of 2013 - OWH Bloghop

This hop is to show our top 13 cards that we have made in the past year.  This is always a fun challenge and helps remind us of all the inspiration during the year.  I decided to choose my favorite cards.  Others may like different cards better, but I'm picking them and these are the ones I like best.  They aren't in any order, except that I went through my blog chronologically to choose them.

 

 





This process of choosing my favorite cards tells a little of what I like to make.   I prefer cards with stamping and without much patterned papers. I tend to like clean and simple cards. I don't enjoy coloring and don't do much of it. 

I like cards with texture, so use a lot of embossing.

 It will be interesting to what kind of cards others chose for this hop. Check them out on the Stars & Stamps blog.