An Easel Card for a Girly Thanks Ruby's Rainbow Challenges #114

The theme at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges for the next fortnight is to create an easel style card.  Please go check out the Blog for the wonderful creations of the design team.

For my shaped easel card I started with Spellbinders Labels Eight.  The largest size die is perfect for a 12” length of card stock.  The DCWV card stock was scored at 4”, 6”, and 8” and folded to create the card base.  The die is laid just outside the top edge as to not cut through all the layers.  Since this is a heavier card stock I needed to remove the die and cut from the opposite side as well.

The accent layers are cut from Basic Grey’s Mint Julep line, Charmaine and Ethyl patterned card stock.  It is two sided so reverse sides were used for successive layers.  Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8 die cuts the fancy labels.  The top two layers have a window die cut through the center to highlight the sentiment.  The sentiment is by Inkadinkado in the Thanks set.  Is is stamped in Colorbox Hunter Green.  The layers are adhered together with a combination of dimensional and regular adhesive.

For the interior of the card I used a label cut from the front frame to anchor two of the flowers.  All the flowers are from various Prima sets and a brad holds them together before they are adhered with glue dots. 

I learned a quick tip making this card . . . the darker pink frame was originally die cut from the opposite side.  But I was not satisfied with the layering look.  So I placed the die cut back in the die and ran it back through the machine with the tan embossing mat to reverse the edges.  Worked perfectly to reshape the die cut!

Please come join us at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges and share you own creation of an easel card!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Cuttlebug Mania No Squares   All die cuts were cut on my trusty Cuttlebug!

The Color Sisters Palette Color #24

Cherish the Journey Retro Rubber Blog Challenge #24

Retro Rubber Blog Challenge has another fun challenge for the next two weeks.  The theme is travel, which can be interpreted in many ways by using maps, different modes of transportation, or vacation images.  Go check out the blog and see what the Mod Squad has created for your inspiration.  So get out your retro rubber, older than a year, and give it a little inky love!  

 

I decided to make a map travel card that can be used for other purposes.   The journey can be a literal trip or the journey of life!

I found a map stamp that I have had since the late 90’s that is most likely manufactured by Art Impressions because it is grey rubber.  The sentiment is a mix of two sets by Technique Tuesday, “Cherish” and “Journey” are from Words We Love made in 2005 and “the” is from Celebrate Life made in 2007.  All the images are stamped in Ranger Van Dyke Brown on cream card stock and inked around the edges after being trimmed to size.

As for the layers I picked coordinating bits leftover from previous projects. Go check out these links and see how hanging on to a few scraps from previous projects can be incorporated into a new and fun creation!  The textured backing on the sentiment is from Masculine Thinking of You card.  The edges were torn with the help of a Plaid deckle ruler.  The first layer behind the map, wood grain textured Kraft card stock, is from the many practice sheets for the Advent Calendar stable.  The next layer of burlap texture brayer stamping is from the Celebrate Autumn card with deckle torn edges.  The bottom layer of brown Gelato colored card stock is from the Happy Thanksgiving Card.   

To assemble the card I laid the bottom four layers together and pulled out my Mini Janome sewing machine to stitch them together with brown thread.  Then the layers were adhered to the A2 size cream card.  The sentiment layers are adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.   

So come and play along and enter your project with us at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge!

I would like to enter the following challenges with this card:

Left of Center #97 Rip It Up (two layers have ripped edges)

Glad to say that this is a top three runner up at:
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #99 Stitching (real in this case)

Escher Birthday ATC

It is time to share another Artist Trading Card for a birthday swap.  The recipient happens to be male, so a masculine version was in order.  I have known him as a ATC trader since the Making Memories Forum days!  I have several ATCs from him and wanted to make something fun and special. 

I have been playing around with the Ombre effect and this started as one of the experiments.  The card size version didn’t meet my satisfaction, but when it cut down to 2 ½” x 3 ½” it is perfect!  

Front

The background is Faber Castell Gelato in Boysenberry on Strathmore Bristol 300 series.  I love this stuff for water intensive techniques!  After it dried I stamped the Stamp Out Cute Escher Birds to Fish image in a variety of inks.  Colorbox Oyster White was the base blended with Dragonfly black and Sepia Black.  The image was heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The background is black card stock embossed with Sizzix Dot Matrix.

Back

The small tag die cut is by Quickutz and is stamped with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black.  It is attached to the ATC with a bit of baker’s twine and a glue dot.  The fly charm is attached with glue dots as well. 

The following challenges provided inspiration:

Amusing Challenges Heat Embossing

Pile It On #86 Birthday

Quirky Crafts #19 Animal Magic

Hiding In My Craft Room #216 Super Scraps!

Stampotique Designers Challenge #212 Use only 2 stamps 

Top Three Winner at:

Ike’s World Challenges #46 One for the Men

Sketch Time at Ruby's Rainbow Challenges

We have a fun sketch to work with over at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges.  Play along with us and use this sketch to create your own card and come share it with us!

  

It didn’t take me long to decide on what papers and stamps to use.  I have a lovely set by Heartfelt Creations, Sun Kissed Fleur.  It was the first set that I purchased in the “I want it all” package. 

Since it is such lovely paper I wanted to use just one sheet and a scrap from another.  The sheets are variegated and double sided so it was easy to create multiple layers from one sheet.  Even the flowers are die cut from the same sheet.  The small strip is from another sheet in the set. 

The image is the Sun Kissed Fleur Swirls Pre-cut set stamped in Tsukinkeo Versa Magic Spanish Olive and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The image was colored with Memento Bamboo Leaves.  The flower layers are stamped in Tsukinkeo Versa Magic Gingerbread and were shaped prior to being adhered together with Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive. 

The centers of the flowers and the brads are covered with Recollections flocking.  I mixed Walnut and Coral together to get the color I wanted to match the rest of the card.  The Dries Clear Adhesive was used to adhere the flocking to the flowers and brads.  The car was adhered together with the top panels adhered with dimensional foam adhesive. 

Thought I would also share the hen who decided to waddle through my outdoor photo shoot!  Love our hens!  Stop by the Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges and see what the Design Team has come up with to inspire your creations.  

I would like to enter the following challenges with this card:
Crafty Card Makers #147 Flowers

Shining Star Ombre Effect for Retro Rubber Blog Challenge

The Ombre Effect is all the rage right now in fashion.  I just purchased a beautiful fall blouse that sports this lovely effect.  For our Retro Rubber Blog Challenge for the next two weeks we are challenging you to use this subtle effect in your project.  Join along and show us your creations!

When I thought about creating this effect I immediately knew I wanted to use my Fabar Castell Gelatos and create the ombre with water coloring.  

Since this is a water intensive technique I used Strathmore Bristol Board 300 series, which can handle a great amount of water and hold up well.  I started by die cutting the card shape with Spellbinder’s Grand Labels Eleven.  To protect the back of the card I placed a thin craft mat between the layers.  A bit of Gelato Blueberry colored across the top edge was spread by misting the entire card front with water then using a water-loaded paintbrush to complete the ombre effect.  I will admit the first time I added too much color and didn’t achieve the lighter tones I wanted at the bottom of the card.  The nice thing about Gelatos is that you can go back in with more color if needed.

After the card dried the front was stamped with a stamp I’ve owned since 1998 by Inspired Creations.  It is stamped in Tsukineko Versa Magic Cloud White and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  It is one of the many stamps I own with the angel theme and is perfect for the new die set I recently ordered directly from Spellbinders.  The Shining Star lines are cut from the Bristol board and the stars, sentiment and frame I die cut from Canson Silver paper.  The Canson paper is a little flimsy so the frame is backed with Bristol board.

The lines are adhered between the layer of Bristol board frame and the silver paper frame.  The frame is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.  The stars are also adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.  The small silver stars and sentiment were adhered directly to the card front with Zig Two Way Glue. 

I am hoping to give this card soon to some friends who are expecting their first baby any day now!  If it is a girl I will have to rethink my strategy!  Please come play along with us at RetroRubber Challenge Blog and share you Ombre effect creations.

Butterfly Birthday ATC

I will admit that the last few weeks have been filled with many things other than crafting.  My creative mojo was on vacation, and other priorities were higher up the list.  I have recently lost almost 30 pounds, which is a great deal of hard work in self discipline, meal planning, and daily exercise.  Along with that comes the cleaning out of my closet and the shopping for a fun wardrobe that fits the new me!  Now that school has started, school shopping is done, the boys’ rooms are de-cluttered, and the playroom given a thorough cleaning out I feel like I have a little time to play in my craft room.   (We won’t talk about the fact the craft room could use a little cleaning itself!)

This afternoon I sat down to create a Birthday ATC that is a little over due.  I like to use the snips and scraps from projects that were either experiments or didn’t make it for a card or scrapbook page.  This ATC used three leftover bits in its creation.    

I love how the bright sunshine brings out the shimmer!

 

The base Kraft card stock is embossed with Craftwell Teresa Collin’s Woodgrain Cottage and inked with Tsukineko Saddle Brown.  It is from the Advent Calendar I made last November!  The background is from the ABAC Celebration project in July and uses Imagine Crafts Fireworks in Dandelion, Tangelo, and Lady Bug.  More than a year ago I played around with Cheery Lynn’s Exotic Butterflies Small #2 and Angel Wings.  I think the Angel Wings is highlighted with Rexell Derwent Watercolor pencils with a bit of Liquid Pearls in Buttercup.  The new addition to pull the whole project together was the branch is Quickutz Wildflower with a bit of creative trimming.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkado Just Saying.  It is stamped in Tsukineko Saddle Brown.  

Just for fun, the reverse side.

  

The layers are adhered together; the branch is adhered with Zig Two Way Glue, which is perfect for small pieces.  After shaping the butterfly it is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive and glue dots. 

Proud to say that this ATC was a winner of this challenge:

Cheery Lynn Designs #202 Things With Wings

The following challenges provided some inspiration to get me going today! 
Pile It On #86 Birthday

Lacy Sunshine Winds of Change

Quirky Crafts #19 Animal Magic

Hiding In My Craft Room #216 Super Scraps!

Southern Girls Challenge Layer It Up (Five layers on anATC!)

It's a Man's World at Ruby's Rainbow Challenges

Our new challenge for the next fortnight is “It’s a Man’s World” at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges.  So create a fun card or project that celebrates the men in your life and join us!  Last year the birthday card I created for my dear husband was a rush job.  We were in the midst of school sports and his special day snuck up on me.  But being a card maker, I had to create a card STAT!  So this year I decided I would be ahead of the game (his birthday isn’t for another 2 months!) and use this opportunity to make him a fun card.   For me, steam punk screams masculine, and it was time to dig out my Tim Holtz stash and play a little. 

Front

The base card started as 8” x 12” card stock scored and folded into thirds.  The first diagonal is 1 ½” from the top and the second diagonal is 3” from the top edge.  After cutting the diagonals I decorated the edges, which would show from the front of the card.  I used Stamper’s Anonymous Steampunk set as well as an Inkadinkado Steampunk Collage image.  All the images are stamped in Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black then sponged with Ranger Distress Ink in Weathered Wood.  The inside sentiment is from Hero Art’s It’s Your Day set.

Inside

I selected 4 different tags to stamp with the same images and used Idea-ology Remnant Rules: Numbers and Elements to add variety.    To create the greeting I used All Night Media’s Rubber Stamp Poet set (“Time”, “for” and “a”) along with Hero Art’s It’s Your Day “birthday”.  Two Ideo-ology Fragments are decorated with selected rub ons.  Sprocket Gears, Mini Paper Clips, and Film Strip Ribbon add the final touches to the card.  If you look closely the Film Strip Ribbon has a “52” in two frames for dear husband’s birthday.   

 

Details of the tags

I made a pocket from the front section, which is covered with Coredinations Color Core in Weathered Wood that is pressure embossed with Sizzix Pocket Watches.  The inside pocket is created from a second Sizzix Steampunk Gears embossed card stock.  The embossing folders are only 5 ½” x 4 ¼” so the top edge was stamped and inked.  The embossed card stock was adhered to create the pockets.  The card was a bit flimsy with all the decoration so I backed the card with another piece of embossed Weathered Wood but choose to show the reverse side which was inked with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black.

Back

I had a blast creating this card!  Dear Husband has gotten many a hand-made card from me, but this is the most intricate and detailed of the whole lot!  Hope he likes it!

Come and join the fun at Ruby's Rainbow Challenges and play along with #112 "It's a Man's World"!

I would like to enter this very fun card in a few challenges:

Crafty Card Maker #146 No patterned paper

Clear it out Challenge Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Design Anything Goes

Crafting From the Heart #75 Anything Goes

The Cat's Pajamas #298 Anything Goes

Scrap Creations Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes

Anything Goes at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog w/ an Autumn Birthday Card

As I sit down to write this blog post for Retro Rubber Blog Challenge’s next topic Anything Goes, it is definitely feeling like FALL!  If you are in the Pacific Northwest you know that it has been a horrific fire season, and this week the very much-needed rain is coming.  Our temps have dropped by 15 degrees with a high of 65 today, and it is time for a little layering.

With that said it is perfect that my project for Anything Goes is this autumn inspired birthday card.   

I started with the Happy Birthday image that has been in my stash since about 1998 or 1999.  I am not sure of the manufacturer as I bought it unmounted at the Portland Rubber Stamp convention, and did not record that bit of information.  It is stamped in Tsukineko Encore Satin Rose on glossy card stock and heat embossed with copper embossing powder.  Using a brayer and Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves I inked up the panel.  I like the shadow effect of adding the ink AFTER stamping and embossing the image as I think it helps it pop a bit more.  The sentiment layer is trimmed to 3 3/8” x 4 ¼”.

The backing copper metallic card stock was trimmed to 4” x 5 ½ then one end was die cut with Spellbinder’s Classic Ric Rac.   The layer was trimmed to line up the design of the die cut.  Some variegated ribbon from my stash was threaded through the die cut and trimmed just beyond the edges.  A triple loop bow was tied using the Bows-It-All v. 2.

The base card stock in A2 size (4 ¼” x 5 ½”) is brayered with the Fiskars Burlap design and Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves.  The metallic layers is adhered to the base card, with the bow adhered with a glue dot.  The sentiment layer is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.

This was a fun and quick card to create and is perfect for a fall birthday.  Please join along with us at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge and create your own Anything Goes project!  

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Card Makers #146 No Patterned Paper (the background is stamped!)

Ooh La La Creations Challenges #186 Autumn Inspired 

 613 Avenue Create #139 A2 Card, Birthday, Metallic

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #95 Create your own background

Brown Sugar Challenge #161 Make the sentiment Big

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #124 Autumn Colors with Ribbon or Trim