PAPERLICIOUS

Color

How's life blog readers??  Hope you  are having a great week. If not, do something nice for yourself.... In the meantime, here is a happy card!

Card Constructions Details:

1.  Ran some Ranger Distress Ink pads over some scrap white cardstock.  Set aside to dry.

2.  Stamped with black ink and Stampin Up By Definition (retired background and the one I'd keep if I could only have one.  Love it!).

3.  Stamped with big flower from a Hero Arts set.  Cut out.  Added Ranger White Glossy Accents to center.

4.  Repeated with green and yellow inks and the leaves. 

5.  Assembled as shown onto a white Bazzill textured card.  Love that cardstock!

6.  Added sentiment from Paper Smooches.  Love those sentiments.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Apparently in Love! with everything

*****

Random thoughts and info:

-- loved your reaction to Train Wreck.  It is definitely going to be a series.  I'm not "brave" -- making cards is just a hobby for me.  I'm not trying to earn money or anything else.  Love it when it turns out great and I find analyzing the wrecks to be fun and informative. 

-- my Mom has turned into Little Miss Busybody at the nursing home, making "suggestions" and "advising" the other residents on all sorts of issues.  Duct tape please!

-- we are going to London in the fall.  Ativan for the flight please!

 

Heartfelt Sympathy

Glad I never sold Stampin Up!'s Close As a Memory set -- it is the set that I almost always use when I make a sympathy card.  In this case, I used the sentiment from the set and paired it some foliage from from Flourishes' Ferna and Fiddles and from a Hero Arts set.

Using Ranger Distress Inks in a variety of soft colors, including a bit of Milled Lavender, adds to the softness of the card.  The Lavender Moon border (PTI) is not a color that I use very often but it just fit here.

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Speaking of PTI, I sold a bunch of my PTI cardstock, almost all of the inks, and my ribbons.  When I did that someone wrote to me and said she assumed that I had switched over to all A Muse Studio.  Au contraire.  While this card uses A Muse Vanilla and I use my A Muse cardstock a lot, I kept a ton of Papertrey and Stampin Up cardstocks.  And I still have SU's ink spots and a host of other inks.  I could never stick to one company any more.  Variety keeps things fun and there are some inks that are perfect for one use that just don't work for another. 

*****

Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the US.  I was at work today (downtown DC) surrounded by Rolling Thunder.  Massive traffic jams but it really tugs at your heart to see thousands of motorcyclists in DC with American flags perched on the back, to pay honor to those who served and gave their lives so that the rest of us can be free. 

Thoughts on Sympathy Cards

Card Construction Details:

1.  4" x 5.25" cream cardstock.

2.  Stamp grasses and flowers in Antique Linen Distress ink.

3.  Stamp a retired Cornish Heritage music background in Tattered Rose Distress ink on a slight angle. Needed a background to soften the card and pull together the top left with the flowers.  Too much blank space would not have worked with a card full of distressing.  Chose a very pale color for the background so that it receded.

4.  Use colored pencils to color flower and stems over the ink.  

5.  Distress with a variety of Ranger Distress inks -- emphasizing the edges with Vintage Photo.

6.  Stamp sentiment in Fire Brick Distress.  Used my all time favorite sympathy set -- Stampin Up's retired Close as a Memory.  

7.  Punch holes in corners. Adds a little interest without making the sympathy card about the card and not the message.

8.  A little flat. Don't want bling on a sympathy card.  Think.

9.  Squeezed a bit of gold and pink Liquid Pears on the craft sheet and using a tiny paint brush, dotted the center of the flowers.

8.  Adhere to A2 cream card.  

More pictures:

 

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hero Arts Earth Flowers CL428; Stampin Up Close as a Memory; Cornish Heritage Farms Music Background
Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream
Ink:  Ranger Distress:  Tattered Rose, Milled Lavendar; Antique Linen; Fire Brick, and Vintage Photo
Other:  Ranger Liquid Pearls, Sponge, Ranger Craft Sheet, Prismacolor Pencils 

Soft Feminine Thank You

I needed a thank you card and decided to go soft and girlie.

Card Construction Details:  (this is a bit long...)

1.  Stamped two curved leaves repeatedly from Waltzingmouse Faux Fun Circles with PTI Vintage Cream ink onto PTI Sweet Blush.  Trimmed to a 3 and 3/4" square.

2.  Stamped Stampin Up French Script background with Ranger Linen Distress ink.

3.  Punched holes around the Sweet Blush square, edged with Tea inks from PTI and again with Ranger Tea ink.  Set aside.

4.  Stamped piece of off-white mulberry paper repeatedly with PTI Sweet Blush ink and the small leaf circle Faux Fun Circles.

5.  Punched 8 scalloped circles with the SU round scallop punch.  Folded each circle 3 times and made flower as described here by Betsy Veldman.  Added Ranger Tea ink on sides and stamped same leaf with Cream ink onto flower. 

6.  Die cut a piece of pale pink felt with a nestability circle die.

7.  Added pearls and rhinestones to button.  Sewed felt to the flower (felt is a little tricky to adhere -- I need some special glue just for felt.  Oy vey). 

8.  Added button and finished flower.  Found scrap Sweet Blush ribbon sitting right there! Trimmed and edged with Ranger Tea ink. 

9.  Stamped sentiment from PTI Damask Designs with Ranger Distress Tea ink onto mulberry paper.  Adhered with Mono Multi glue right under the sentiment.

10.  Stamped French Script background with PTI Sweet Blush onto PTI Cream cardstock.

11.  Made 4 and 1/2" square card from PTI Sweet Blush, stamped more French Script with Ranger Tea ink and then stamped circle border from Waltzingmouse Off Beat Backgrounds with Sweet Blush ink.

12. Adhered everything with super strong red tape.  

Mood When Done = Amazed at how long this took (3 hours) and what an enormous mess I made!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Faux Fun Circles and Off Beat Backgrounds; Stampin Up French Script; Papertrey Ink Damask Designs

Ink:  Ranger Tea Dye and Antique Linen Distress Inks; Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream and Sweet Blush and Tea inks

Cardstock:  PTI Sweet Blush and Vintage Cream

Other:  Mulberry Paper; pearls and rhinestones; button; Sweet Blush Ribbon, Stampin Up Scallop Circle Punch; Papertrey Rustic Button Jute Twine; Pink Felt from Vintage Vogue

Keep or Die!

It's my new favorite game!  The decluttering plan of 2010 has hit my excess stamps.  A lot of my stamps have not made the cut and they will "die" -- meaning that they are going to various charities.  However, Oh So Lovely by Stampin Up escaped the death penalty.  It is quite simply too beautiful to die.   

Card Construction Details:

1.  Got back from a 2 day trip with Mike.  Heavenly break, but itching to stamp!  Cut white cardstock to 3" x 4.25".

2. Stamped  flower several times, messing up each time. Why? Because design of stamp is top heavy and it was hard to get flower and stem to both stamp cleanly at same time.  The skinny bottom part of stamp wobbles.  Used Memento Tuxedo ink.

3.  Colored flower with Copic Sketch Markers YR04 Chrome Orange and R29 Lipstick Red.  Colored stem with SU Celery marker.

4.  Stamped sentiment from Technique Tuesday Thanks set.

5.  Wrapped panel with Pure Poppy satin ribbon from Papertrey Ink.  Fiddled with bow.

6.  Added crystal stickles to center of flower.  Pushed overflow of stickles with the edge of scrap paper back into the center of flower.  Set aside to dry.

7.  Cut strip of Celery cardstock with Fiskars punch and adhered to side of panel.

8.  Added panel with dimensional to A2 white card. 

Mood When Done = Lovely