PAPERLICIOUS

Make A Wish

I offered to make a birthday card for a friend's mom and decided that kraft paper and white ink just didn't cut it for this particular woman.  I wanted a more traditional look.  And what's more traditional than flowers?

Card Construction Details:

1. Stamped smaller flower and little stamp (not sure what to call the frill) from PTI's Friends Til the End in Memento Tuxedo ink onto PTI white paper.

2. Colored with copics in between taking care of Mom and running craft sale! 

3.  Fiddled with assorted papers, ribbons, and ended up using PTI Berry Sorbet and SU Yo Yo yellow.  Colored the Yo Yo with a copic to tone it down..  Used Fiskars punch to get cute scallop trim.

4.  Stamped sentiment from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages, made tag and attached with twine.

5.  Added gingham ribbon in order to ensure trend stays alive.

5.  Remembered to stamp birthday sentiment inside the card.

Mood when done = more than satisfied

I'm not happy with the photo. It's a bit washed out. So here's a close up of part of the card.

BTW:  I'll post the results of my in home craft sale when I've recovered!!

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A personal note:

Thank you.  I'm sitting here trying to add to that sentiment but words fail.

S, ND and Flower Fusion Birthday

One of the best parts about going to CHA had nothing to do with stamping. It was getting away.  For 48 hours I was "S,ND" -- single, no dependents!  Love my child, love my husband, love my Mom, I even lovike my job, but sometimes it is nice to go to the "other side."  To me, stamping is the other side, where no one knows me very well and where I have no obligations. 

While I was at CHA, I tried out a few on line digital scrapbooking sites, including Scrapblog.  I couldn't really figure it out, although please do not take this as a review of Scrapblog or any other digital program. 

Photoshop and digital programs in general are like tax law to me.  No matter how hard I struggled, back in law school, I was one big dummy in tax class (until the very end, where I pulled off one of the biggest come from behind successes in the history of that class.  I did so well on the final that the professor called me to his office to ask me how I did it...but I digress.). 

Anyway, I'm determined to find an easy to use digital program that will work on my MAC.  Any suggestions for a digital newbie?  Should I get the SU program and try it out when it's available or is there an obvious solution sitting in front of my eyes???

Enough with the CHA already.

Card Construction Details

1.  Stamped the larger flower from Papertrey Ink's Flower Fusion (only available at CHA) with PTI's new REFORMULATED Aqua Mist pigment ink. THIS INK ROCKS.  Creamy, excellent coverage, but dries quickly.  If I wasn't married to Mike, I swear I'd propose to  Nichole...

2.  Stamped the black centers in the flower, but messed up, so I restamped the flower, cut out and added with a dimensional.  Fluffed up edges of flower to look like a real flower. Not sure about that...

3.  Stamped stem and leaves with SU Artichoke dye ink.

4.  Stamped sentiment from Flower Fusion with Memento Tuxedo ink. 

5.  The rest is all PTI Aqua Mist and White cardstocks; black gingham ribbon, button, except for using an SU corner rounder punch to make the scallops and SU Black cardstock.  

Mood When Done = A shade better than good.

Bella Bleu Birthday/Lunch Couple News

Yesterday I posted a sympathy card made with SU's Bella Bleu paper.  Last night I made a birthday card using the same paper, this time mounting it on a shimmery vanilla base.  I think I prefer this version.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Moved a boat load of mess around, clearing a 10" square of space on which to work.
2.  Cut and punched with a Martha border the Bella Bleu paper, So Saffron and Not Quite Navy papers, all from SU and glued together.
3.  Stamped the flower from Papertreyink Everyday Classics with So Saffron ink and added a sentiment from PTI's Damask Design.  Trimmed, rounded corners and adhered to a NQN scrap.
4.  Punched slot in sentiment, added ribbon.  Fiddled with ribbon for 20 minutes.  Adhered with dimensionals.
5.  Wondered if I should round corner of card.  Decided to quit while ahead.
6.  Glanced back at even bigger mess, and shut craft room door.  Thank goodness for doors!

Mood when done =  Happy

OH, And Breaking News on the LUNCH COUPLE

For those of you newish to the blog, I have previously chatted about a mystery couple who lunch at our cafeteria.  He's older, soft and besotted.  She's young, hip, and flirty.  They do NOT match.  However, they are together and my friends and I have nothing better to do than watch the show.

They disappeared for months but were back today.  My lunch mates were so excited that one of them called me from the cafeteria to make sure I didn't miss out!  What a hoot.

She had on the white eyelet dress, but thankfully did NOT wear her turquoise thong.  Whew, the guys were disappointed!  He spent lunch literally petting her arm and they played footsies for about 30 minutes.  How do I know?  Because my friends left me the prime "watching" seat, knowing that I live for these moments.  Sadly, I had to leave and go back to work so no chance to follow them outside and see where they work....

I have no idea what attracts me to these two.  I'm pretty much convinced that she's going to break his low down cheatin' heart some day, but maybe I'm wrong.  I hope I am. I hope they are both single and truly in love, get married, and live happily ever after. 

You just never know....

Indian Gems

I was trying to achieve an Indian look -- without investing in beautiful silks! 

Card Construction Details:

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Guidlines I and Birthday Basics

Paper:  Stampin Up Blush Blossom, Night of Navy and PTI Ripe Avocado

Ink:  Versamark, SU Night of Navy and Old Olive

Other:  unknown gems, PTI Ripe Avocado satin ribbon, adhesive, and late night energy

Gingham Friends

I love gingham everything, but I'm running out of my collection of gingham paper from Memory Box.  This paper was a different color -- pale green and white -- so I colored it with a Copic to match my leaves. 

I have to admit that the Copic markers have grown on me. I figured out why I did not like them at first --

1.  my blender Copic does not work. I think it was empty when I got it!
2.  I have no natural talent or patience.
3.  It helps to have the right paper and ink.  Memento Inks seem the best to me and I love the Papertrey, Gina K Luxury and some of the Stampin Up! Naturals for copics...

I had fun coloring this flower and leaves with the Copics and turned them into a birthday card.  I did not have fun making the card, however.  This poor flower was glued onto so many different versions I'm surprised it survived! 

The sentiment and the flower are all from Papertrey Ink. 

Happy Birthday Mom, with a Ribbon Fringe

Here's a fun card I made for my Mom's birthday.  She turns 87 tomorrow!  Her favorite flowers are daisies, so I am making believe that this flower is a daisy.   Work with me here.

Card Construction Details:  Watercolored (with Stampin Up Summer Sun reinker) the flower from Papertrey Ink's Friends 'til the End.  Scored and trimmed and cut the corners.  Added the black cardstock punched with a Martha punch.  Added SU Real Red brads.  Added SU ribbon fringe.  Popped up on dimensionals.  Stamped sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics onto a Real Red card. 

And I stamped a sentiment INSIDE as my Mom always says "oh, no sentiment inside."  Hey, she's 87 -- she can say whatever she wants.

Do something good for yourself or for someone else today! 

A "Cheery" Birthday Card

I was lucky enough to receive the Shady Tree Farms Fruit Basket set the other day.  It is designed for gifts of food.  I fell in love with the images immediately and think they are perfect for a variety of items.  (Think fabric and picture frames and serving plates.  In fact, I would love some place mats in this pattern...)

I made background paper with the cherries. I like the hand drawn images with this set -- they convey a homey feel that is perfect for coloring in. 

Card Construction Details:  Oy vey, what a day!  Was in major funk on Sunday ** and spent hours messing up paper with this stamp.  Almost finished a card and ruined it at the very end.  Finally, on Sunday at midnight I woke up and made this card! 

Stamped the image with Memento Black ink onto patterned paper by Memory Box from the Homespun collection (retired).  There is a subtle yellow print on this paper.  I colored in with Copics -- G99Olive Sketch, R29 Lipstick Red Sketch, and Y21 Buttercup Yellow Ciao.  Adhered to a Ruby Red card (Stampin Up). 

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics (including a sentiment on the inside), the ribbon is from SU and was Black and White -- but now has a Buttercup Yellow stripe courtesy of the Copics.  Button from Foofala. 

** Funk Explanation

First, we heard on Saturday that a friend's husband was laid off a few months ago.  Although my friend works, her husband's income was by far the larger of the two and provided the heath insurance for them and their children.  These folks are in their 50s and fear that no one will hire him.  This is the third person I know who has been laid off. 

In the Washington DC area, we always felt immune to economic hard times.  Government spending, both directly as hiring employees, but even more so with billion dollar government contracts, keeps this area afloat during harder times.  Not so this time.  My heart just breaks for anyone in this situation. 

Second, my Claritin D 24 works really well for about 6 hours!  I can't take 4 days worth in one day, so I'm coughing and grouchy. 

Finally, a dreary rainy day.  Like I said, a funk.  It helped ENORMOUSLY to create this card.  Hmm, it is now after 4 am however, and I have to be at work at 7:30 am.  Was it worth it to stay up half the night?  Hmm....you betcha!

 

Shady Tree Studios Meets Damask Designs

For this card I combined two stamp lines -- Cornish Heritage Farms and Papertrey Ink. 

The flower is Perfect Poppies from the Shady Tree Studio line.  I bought it in February and I've been waiting for an idea on how to use it. 

During one of my Claritin induced insomnia sessions this week, I decided to make a background with Damask Designs on vanilla shimmery paper and then color the whole thing with the same Copic markers I used to color in the flower.   I was unable to take or edit an accurate picture.  The card is more coral IRL and not as bright.  Use your imagination!  The center of the flower is filled with a couple of layers of Liquid Pearls and there are a couple of layer of petals cut out and adhered to the flower. 

I'm not 100% sold on the placement of the sentiment -- which is from Birthday Basics by Papertrey Ink,  but I ended up happy with the overall result. 

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I tried living without the Claritin D, substituting another allergy drug.  By late Friday, I was coughing non stop.  So, back to the Claritin.  I managed to get a decent night's sleep anyway, so maybe my body is just adjusting to the stuff! 

I {Heart} Mike

This card is for Mike's birthday.  He likes bold contemporary patterns and bright colors. He's not the fishing or wild animal card type!   I know the ruffled ribbon is a bit fem for a "guy" card, but Mike takes whatever I make and saves and cherishes them.  He's a keeper, the love of my life and the best Dad and husband!  Happy Birthday Mike!

I was lucky enough to receive a set of gorgeous Mimosa SEI papers and some coordinating ribbons from Kate at I {Heart} Papers.  I told her that I played with them for 2 hours before I realized that they are double sided.  Oops!  Some are full of glitter and shiny stuff.  Beautiful. 

Card construction:  Lordy, I wasted some of that gorgeous paper before settling on this.  Stamped the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Borders Rectangle with SU's Cameo Coral classic ink onto white cardstock and punched with a Marvy scalloped rectangle.  Added the ruffled ribbon by running adhesive on the paper and the ribbon first and then just pleated as I adhered the ribbon to the paper.  Added a Foo fa la button and then rounded the bottom corners.

If you'd like to hear a bit about my life, keep reading. Otherwise, enjoy your day!

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In many ways, I am in the best place of my life.  Good marriage?  Check.  Good relationship with teen son?  Check (most of the time!).  Good job?  Check.  Good health?  Check.

I'm struggling not to start the next sentence with "but" -- everyone's life has a "but" at the end of a string of good things.  In fact, I'm lucky to have the string of good things.  But...

My Mom's situation remains a struggle for all of us.  She doesn't have many friends left.  Betty died last week and Alice had heart surgery followed by a stroke.  These hit my Mom hard and she talked a lot about her friends dying and how hospice was there.  She's got death on the mind. I didn't want to sit and listen.  I wanted to go upstairs and stamp.  But.

And last night I couldn't do anything other than lose myself playing computer scrabble because she was extremely nauseous and throwing up. There was nothing I could do to help, so she shooed me out (and I was grateful for that), yet I couldn't run off to the craft room and play.  Too anxious to create.  (There was a time when I would fill that space with on line shopping, but!!).

So about 1/5 of my life is the "but," which I guess is pretty good! 

Gina K. Pure Luxury Compared to PTI Stamper's Select

Let's face it -- we are nuts about paper and are always on the lookout for the perfect white cardstock.  So I set out to compare the use of Copic markers on both Gina K's Luxury Paper and Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select.  Keep the following in mind:

1. my photography isn't the best. 

2. you are seeing a difference based on my skills using the Copics.  Others may get a different result.  That said: 

The basics.

Gina K -- Her Luxury 120 lb paper is $6.95 for 25 sheets, or 27.8 cents per sheet (I'm ignoring shipping as you can get free shipping with a $35 purchase in the US.).  Gina also sells an 80 lb. weight but I haven't tried it.  It's worth checking out as it is 25 sheets for $4.95 or 19 cents a sheet.

Papertrey Stamper's Select White $6.00 for 40 sheets or 15 cents per sheet (free shipping with $50 purchase in the US).

So, which is better?

First, (no picture) I stamped SU classic ink with a solid stamp and both came out essentially the same -- excellent.

Then, I made this card with the Gina K paper and Copic Markers Flesh Pink E95, Shock Pink RV04, and Chartreuse YG13 (Flower Garden set by PTI). 

To make the flowers I colored each petal completely with the Flesh Pink, then immediately went back over the lower portion of the petal with the Shock Pink, and then took the chisel edge of the Flesh Pink Sketch marker and rubbed to blend. By the way, I like this card!!

It is time consuming to color all the flowers so I colored only one flower on the PTI cardstock.

In real life, the Gina K flower is more blended and the color is more muted.  The ink does not seep to the back of the card.

Conversely, the PTI paper produced a more vivid color but not quite as smoothly blended. The Copics

seep into the back of the PTI paper. Also, the Gina K paper is whiter than it appears in the picture. You get  better view of the color by looking at the photo of the back of the cardstock.

The PTI cardstock is stiffer and works better as a base, although the Gina K's is a close second.

You can judge for yourself which effect you prefer. (I intend to maintain a supply of both).