PAPERLICIOUS

Done, with Digital Help

Ladies and Gentlemen -- I'm thrilled to announce.  Christmas Card '09 is over.  Done. Finished.  Whew. 

And it ended well. I made 9 cards on Saturday, courtesy of LINK DELETED.**  Designed for gift tags, I printed out one sheet and used the tags for cards.  Here are 2 of the cards I made:

Card Construction Details:

1.  Printed out the sheet of tags on SU Whisper White.  Stared at the page for about 3 days.

2.  Cut out the rectangle tags by hand and the circle ones with a scalloped nestability die.

3.  Each of the tags had one thing in common -- a dark burgundy color.  Bingo.  SU Bravo Burgundy -- it has a brown tone that I'm not fond of, but was a perfect match for these tags.  When I thought about the brown tone, I thought about Kraft cardstock.  Double Bingo.  Made 9 A2 cards Kraft cards.

4. The rest is obvious, but in case you care  -- used Fiskars punch for the burgundy strip, a Corner Chomper for the square tags and cards themselves and a white gel pen for accents on the burgundy strip.

5.  I added SU Old Olive eyelets on the green tags and just punched a hole on the blue ones.  Threaded ribbon and tied the ribbon with PTI Rustic Twine. Did some of this while my Mom was at the kitchen table in order to multi task card making with spending time with her. 

6.  Adhered tags with dimensionals.

Mood when done =  Beyond Happy.  Cards are finished.  Let Valentine's Day card making begin!

** I have reason to believe that these tags are very similar to a design that was marketed and sold by another artist.  I realize that most of you saw my original link through Google Reader.  I've chosen to remove the link on my website.    I'm not making any claims, just being careful. 

Sweet Holiday Hugs

It isn't often that I love one of my own creations, but I really like this one. The little gingerbread guys and the small scale pinking edge look so darn cute.  And the red, white and kraft combo is my favorite!

Card Construction Details:

1.  A2 Kraft cardstock from Gina K Designs.  Top notch quality!

2.  Stamped gingerbread from Waltzingmouse Stamps Oven Fresh Gingerbread Joy over piece of kraft cardstock with PTI Palette Pure Poppy ink.  I purchased this ink because the SU Real Red ink looks burgundy on kraft cardstock.  The Pure Poppy stays more true red. However, I'm not a huge fan of the Palette inks -- this one was a bit more smooshy than I like.  On the other hand, Palette inks are perfect for stamping on fabric (the twill ribbon).  Compromises everywhere!

3.  Add white dots with a gel pen and trimmed.

4.  Cut kraft piece with my Mom's sewing pinking shears (she would flip if she knew I had them cutting paper!).

5.  Cut white scrap with pinking shears and lined up and adhered under the kraft piece.

6.  Stamped ribbon with sentiment from same set.

7.  Adhered ribbon, then kraft piece.

8.  Tied ribbon with PTI twine.  Threaded button.  Adhered button with glue dots.

9.   Trimmed ribbon.

10. Went back and trimmed edge of card (right side facing it) so that the entire card would fit into an envelope without smashing the ribbon.  

Mood when done = Super happy!

Pink, Purple, White Festive Frames

I have a quick post this morning as I'm short on time.  I made 3 more cards with Gina K Designs Festive Frames.  The addition of Ranger Glitz Tiara Stickles to the pine cones made them literally pop off the page (if you add enough they pucker up the pine cones).  Copics, etc.

My pictures are not the best -- but I have new photo editing software to work with soon. 

Ok, off to work!  Have a fun day.

Soft Festive Frame

I went back and forth on getting Festive Frame from Gina K Designs.  On the one hand, I loved it.  It's a beautiful and clever way to get a lot of detail on a card without a lot of layers.  And I loved the assortment of sentiments.  On the other hand, I am allergic to the Stamp Ma Jig and couldn't stand the thought of placing the greeting in the center of the frame.  I imagined wasting a lot of paper. 

Light bulb moment.  I cut out the center of the stamp and placed the sentiment on the block with the frame.  Stamping a few times on scrap paper, I could see exactly where the sentiment was.  No Stamp Ma Jig needed.  

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped image and sentiment on cream cardstock.

2.  Colored with Copics.

3.  Colored space on outside of frame with a copic.

4.  Added swirls to on top of and underneath sentiment.

5.  Trimmed.  I meant to leave a border of about a 1/4" around the green and black frame but goofed.

6.  Adhered to SU Blush Blossom Cardstock and adhered to cream card.

7.  Added Dew Drops.

8.  Added Judikins Diamond Glaze to berries.

Mood when done = Festive!!

Vintage with a Modern Twist

Ok, so things are bit wacky.  But, they are also looking up!  The issue with my Mom's caretaker has been resolved.  She will return to work today.  That's a bit of a story for another day.  In the meantime, inner turmoil was matched by total chaos in my house.  I spent all of Sunday cleaning out paperwork -- my own and my Mom's.  Whew.  What an awesome feeling to get that done.

But for now, let's turn to the card!  I need a LOT of Christmas cards and I need them NOW.  I made 9 of these earlier this morning -- in the wee hours of the night.  I wasted a bit of time trying to get some ribbon on the card, but once I abandoned that idea, things moved quite fast.

Card Construction Details:  (Repeat everything 9 times in assembly line fashion)

1.  Stamp label from Waltzingmouse Very Vintage Labels One on PTI cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Ink.

2.  Stamp sentiment from Waltzingmouse Very Vintage Christmas in SU Real Red Classic ink.  White, black and red looked modern and also added to the slightly Scandinavian feel to this card.

3.  Die cut using Nestability label and Big Shot machine.  My Big Shot grabs onto labels and cardstock so that there is no need to use tape to get the paper and die to stay still going through Big Shot. 

4.  Added rhinestone from Gina K embellishment stash.  The card really needed something, but I didn't want to add anything that would make mailing difficult. 

5.  Cut and scored PTI Stampers Select White cards (when making something this stark, I try to use either my PTI or Gina K white cardstock, although I tend to save Gina K's cardstock for Copic coloring).  Having a sturdy base and die cut adds heft structure to the otherwise plain card.

6.  Mounted die cuts with dimensionals. 

Mood when done = Happy

Digital Christmas

I decided to try using a digital image.  I rarely am successful at anything involving my computer.  It is a MAC and always seems to have the wrong operating system or the wrong operating system version for whatever I want to do.  So, I wasn't very optimistic.  Plus, I figured the ink would smudge.  However, I am pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use a digital image.  Once I figured out that I could use Microsoft Word, and not have to mess with Photoshop, I took the leap. 

I got this image free from the Daisie Company here.  I right clicked on the image and saved it.  I save everything to my desktop so that I can find it, and then move it later.  I opened up Microsoft Word, clicked Insert, Picture, From File and found it on my desktop.  I was able to resize it quickly.  I printed it on white cardstock (not sure of the brand, but it isn't Papertrey and it isn't Stampin Up) on my Hewlett Packard Ink Jet printer, using the best setting.  I was surprised that the image printed as clearly as it did as my printer is a fairly old $99 model. 

I colored in the image with Copic markers, using colors that would coordinate with this patterned paper from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, which I sponged a tiny bit with the PTI Aqua Mist pigment ink.  Matted the image with PTI Aqua Mist cardstock.  Added Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter by first coloring in the snow with a Quickie Glue Pen and then covering with the glitter.  Added some white silk ribbon from May Arts and I was good to go. 

So, here's my first digital image used on a "real" card. I think it is wintery enough for a non religious Christmas card. 

Cutie Christmas and The Gambler

Slowly building up the Christmas card stash. Will I have enough? Yes. Because I will send what I make and be done. No stressing out over cards this year. 

Card Construction Details:

1.  Oh, it's 2:20 am!  Must be time to stamp.

2.  Trimmed paper from the Basic Grey 6x6 Eskimo Kisses paper pack.

3.  Yawn.

4.  Trimmed and punched SU Certainly Celery strip.  Adhered to patterned paper and adhered that to A2 white card.

5.  Stamped circle from Waltzingmouse Seasons of Love in Adirondack Cranberry ink.  (Ink pad so soaked with ink that I used bunches of paper towels to blot so I could get a clean image.  Anyone looking in my trash can would think I had quite the injury!)

6. Stamped sentiment from PTI Mega Mixed Messages in Celery ink. Cut circle with nestability.

7.  Added button and ribbon from stash.

Mood When Done = Happy

If you'd like to read about The Gambler, please continue. Otherwise, enjoy!

Project 100: 17/100: Fuzzy Winter Wishes

I wanted an easy to mail inexpensive card -- no ribbon, no embellishments.  But I also wanted something interesting on the card.  Notice the fuzzy cardstock? It looks and feels like felt.  Very easy to achieve this effect.  Read on!

Card Construction Details:

1. Took piece of white cardstock.  Split layers at corner with fingernail and gently separated the layers.  What is left is what you see above.   A nice felt-like, thin, cardstock.

2. All images are from Sewing Box - Christmas from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  Stamped snowman 3 times -- once on PTI Aqua Mist and once on the fuzzy cardstock and finally inked up the hat and stamped on Prism paper.

3. Cut both layers of snowman and hat.  Set aside.

4. Stamped PTI Kraft cardstock with large and small snowflakes from the set, with SU Real Red (looks cranberry on kraft), PTI pigment (new formulation) Aqua Mist ink, and SU Craft White ink.

5. Cut white cardstock with Making Memories wavy trimmer and stamped small snowflakes.  Stamped sentiment from same set (it's 3 separate words) with Adirondack Cranberry ink.

6. Trimmed and edged kraft piece with white gel pen and rounded corners.

7. Adhered everything.

I have several more snowmen already stamped and cut, so stay tuned for variations on this card...

Oh, almost forgot to upload the card!  Here it is:

Silent Night

I pulled out a Technique Tuesday set -- Peace, Joy, Love -- the other day and whipped up this card. Ok, that's a lie.  I fiddled around and made a big mess, but eventually settled on this.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped dove and sentiment on SU Bashful Blue cardstock.

2.  Colored in bird with clear embossing marker and embossed with white powder.

3. Trimmed blue cardstock, punched border on edge.

4.  Punched spot for ribbon. Tied silk bow.

5.  Matted to black cardstock.

6.  Adhered at angle to A2 white card.

Mood when done = remembering that the song, Silent Night, has a lot of memories....I feel a post coming on!

Holiday Thanks -- Before & After & After

The card above is "before". The card below is "after."

Card Construction Details:

1. A2 PTI Kraft card.

2. Repeatedly stamped thanks sentiment from Technique Tuesday Thanks for Everything set with Memento Tuxedo ink. Set aside and made dinner.

3. Colored in sentiments with Copic markers in Mom's room, listening to her trying to remember what she had just read in People Magazine. "He's a tennis player with a spanish name. He played with Andre Agassi. Come on, you know who I mean!" (Still no clue.)

4. Stamped small snowflake from Papertreyink Rustic Snowflakes with SU White Craft ink.

5. Wrapped card with red and white flossy twine from I Heart Papers. Thought card would be ok, but snoozefest.

6. Stamped larger snowflake from same set. Cut circle. Layered on red circle. Added red Liquid pearls. Set aside to dry.

7. Ate dinner.

8. Made first version of card. Ugh. Cord is twisted and it still doesn't sing.

9. Added green circle mat, fixed cord. (Make sure cord is knotted off at end or it will unravel).

10. Adhered circle with dimensionals.

Mood when done = glad stamping is such an awesome distraction. Card? Meh.  Snowflake and cord look a little bit like a bolero tie. (Thanks to Nancy for correcting my grammar!)

11.  Cut off twine tails. Version 3 below.

Mood when done = satisfied