Birthday Version of the Scarecrow Card

It usually takes a while to get that first version of a greeting card done because you have figure out all the supplies and colors you are going to use, so its always nice when the design lends itself to multiple purposes.

One of the cool things about this stamp set is that the words can be used as a set or you can use the outside words as a lead in to an old age birthday card and take the inside words and use them on the outside for a get well card like the one I posted yesterday. Click on the image for full directions to the card if you want to know more about how make this card.

Fall Get Well Card

Here's a fall card that you easily use as a get well card or to send someone going through any kind of difficulty at this time of year.

Click on the image for full directions if you want to know more.

New HoneyPOP Get Well Card

It's been a while since my last post. I have been uploading stuff but it was all changes to make the website more compatible with the latest html specifications and trying to improve some of the web site infrastructure. One side effect you may notice if you have memorized the card positions is that a bunch of cards that got edited will shuffle around position when I put up the next set of indices later today because they are actually computer generated by the file modification time.

I do have a few new cards to put out too, starting with this new Inky Antics HoneyPOP get well card. This one is kind of interesting. I actually used marker and colored pencil on the inside because there were areas I didn't want to bleed though and show on the other side. I didn't do a lot a shading and blending on this one. I did some (applying a second layer after the marker dried and using the blender to lighten the other side) but I was more concerned with color matching the image to the cardstock so I only used the one marker color for each area instead of full blending set.

As always, click on the images for full directions including the stamps used and paper sizes.

New HoneyPOP Cupcake Card

I found a leftover HoneyPOP cupcake from my previous card and you can't let a cupcake go to waste so I whipped up this new card design using it. Enjoy!


Outside Front

Inside of Opened Card


As always, click on the images for full directions from the website.

HoneyPOP Happy Birthday Cupcake

Here's a really cool card I designed using another of the Inky Antics HoneyPOP stamp sets with a honeycomb cupcake on the front that folds down for mailing. The recipient opens it up when they get it and folds it over so they can display it open and then close it back up when they want to store it. To add more dimension the bird is mounted using dimensional foam. The cherry was stamped again, cut out and then mounted on top of the other cherry on the mounted bird, which helps get the image up to same dimension as the honeycomb cupcake. The foam I used is very squishy so it collapses down in the envelope.

You can use almost any color you want for the cupcake top. I started out by using yellow so it was gender nuetral. The pink went best with the cherry theme though so that's the one I am sharing here.

As always, click on the image if you are interesting in reading the full directions.

HoneyPOP Hoppy Easter Card

Here's the cool follow on to the previous post. This uses the same HoneyPOP set as last time and a second Easter one. The set includes a stamp for a normal carrot image, which I used last time, and the stamps for the honeycomb paper, which is what I used this time.

Here's the outside front of the card.


Opening the card, opens the honeycomb paper to reveal this surprise inside. The inside here is mostly following the standard pattern established by the set. You have to put the carrot in the middle so it will open, and the sentiment goes with the carrot. If you ran out of the honeycomb paper, or opted not to use it like I did in the last post then you use the full carrot image instead and you can put it anywhere even on the outside like I did last time.


As always, click on an image for the full directions and supplies.

Tomorrow, I'll start working on the post of a card using a different set, where I figured out how to put the honeycomb image on the outside of the card!

Carrots For You Easter Card

I wasn't planning on posting any more Easter cards this year, but then I saw the new HoneyPOP collection Inky Antics had in person at a stamping convention and had to get them, so now I have 2 more cards to post before Easter. This card is actually made with the stamps that they designed for the inside of the card, but I flipped things around and used them on the outside to make a card that doesn't actually use any of the new HoneyPOP paper. Here's the card:


I'm still working on the post and web page for the other card that does use the new HoneyPOP paper. Stay tuned, I hope to post it tomorrow night.

As always, click on the images for full directions including the stamps used and paper sizes.

Two more poses from Mille for Thanksgiving

Millie couldn't quite decide how she wanted to be presented, so here are two more cards with Millie (click either image if you want the instructions). Of the three I think the first one in portrait mode ended up being the best one.

I like the parts of the card but these two present a dilemma. Millie is mounted on the first third line so do you put something to the right or do you leave well enough alone and let all the Happy Thanksgivings on the beautiful paper show through?

In retrospect if I were making these again I would probably put a strip of paper in the center and move the image over to the second third line. That would take away that empty feeling and lead you to the image, without taking away the paper. If the strip were added now it would lead you away from the image to nowhere.

What are your thoughts? Can you live with empty space like this and if not how would you fix this dilemma?

Millie's Back For Thanksgiving

Remember Millie from last August? She's was offering us a bandage and then had a special note for us. She's back again to celebrate Thanksgiving. As usual, she's a really generous mouse and never leaves home empty handed. This time she got all dressed up in her pilgrim outfit and baked us a nice pie. She really liked posing in front of these Nestibilities labels and insisted I share this one first. If you would like to spend a little more time with Millie, just click on the card.

More Mice!

Millie's back!



This time the patterned paper worked out. Considering I brought it about a week ago it just for this card, that was a good thing. I was even able to cheat and cut one 12x12 sheet into 6 card fronts and then make up the difference with a clever border at the bottom.

What didn't work out is I was trying to use up some pink cardstock. I have been on a male card making spree and the pinks and purples from the multipacks are starting to pile up, so this was supposed to be a pink card not a red one.

I tried some other coloring techniques, but quickly realized Copic markers were the only way I was going to get a bright image and be able to match the colors in the paper so she's wearing Copic markers again.

As always with my posts, if you want more details about the card itself click on the image for the supplies, directions and the bigger pictures.

Mouse Invasion!

Millie the mouse has invaded the craft room! There are mouse images everywhere. Here's how I took care of the first one:




The scallops are cut using a scallop blade in a rotary trimmer. This is the fastest and easiest way you'll ever find to put a border on paper. If better cuts in thicker paper don't appeal to you, this might be a good reason to upgrade to a rotary trimmer if you are still using a pull type blade.

I couldn't find any coordinating paper that matched the markers. I thought I had some but it didn't work for me after I finished the image. So what was I to do? Make my own of course using stamps. It didn't translate well to the smaller blog image but if you look at the larger image on the website (by clicking on the image) you can see I stamped an XO image with a bandaid type pattern in versamark on the paper. Versamark is very useful for doing this because its clear and the paper simply becomes a darker shade of itself once it dries.

Duct Tape - Even Useful for Cardmaking

I ran out of plastic store brought metallic looking squares while make the last few copies of this card I previously posted. The craft store that sells them is 20 miles away and they aren't open late at night when I usually make stuff, so I made my own from foil duct tape. Here's the duct tape version.



I stuck the duct tape onto a thin sheet of paper to stabilize it first. It is too flexible and gets wrinkles in it too easily otherwise. Then I punched the remaining squares I needed with a 1/4 inch square punch and put some dimensional foam on the back. They don't have the domed look of the plastic but they get the job done.

Consider Yourself Hugged or Coloring Techniques Part I

I didn't manage to get any new cards made this weekend but I did finish the web entries for one I made about two weeks ago. The layout and stamps are based on a card Inky Antics was doing for a make and take at a stamping convention this summer. They had one of the better make and takes that showcased a lot of the products they were selling. One of those was Gamsol, which allows you to color with colored pencils and then blend the colors together. You didn't get to do the actual coloring (time was limited) but you got a precolored dog image. It's a fairly inexpensive technique since you can get the big 132 color sets of colored pencils for just over $100 with a 50% off coupon so I wanted to try it.

I, of course, did not have any of the paper they used - just the stamps, blending stumps, the Gamsol and my completed sample so I went through the 12" x 12" stacks I had and found two papers that would coordinate well. Next I picked a base color and scallop color and got busy. It's not totally obvious from the pictures but the dog lifts up and the words go under him. It's really two cards that fold into each other. The bottom part folds down and you place it inside the dog card while slipping the dog under the scallop tag to close it. There is a picture of the open card on the website if that didn't make sense, just click on the card image to get the full directions. The directions are available exclusively from this blog entry for the next couple of days. Here are the two new cards:

      

Prior to blending I basically colored next to the black lines in the areas I wanted to be darkest. I used the blending stump, damp with Gamsol, to blend the color out into the white area. As you can see it does do a fairly good job of breaking down the colored pencil and allowing you to move it across the page and get a blended look. It didn't cause any visible paper damage either on the 110 pound Georgia Pacific white cardstock I used. The only real trick is I got the pink by blending the red tongue and using the residual color on the stump. Inky Antics' PDF explains Gamsol blending so much better with step by step pictures so click on the card image and go to the card instructions and then follow the link there if you want to read more about how to do it.

I like the technique's results but I did feel like it took a little more blending effort than other techniques. The technique is really set up to blend and create a gradient from dark to light like you see in the samples. I tried to color in some larger areas from another image but didn't have much luck in getting it to blend out the pencil marks. Part of the problem is the lead in the colored pencils I was using was very hard and it was difficult to get it to get this brand to go down evenly so I was hoping I could solve that with this technique but the color mostly stays where you put it in the first place.

Next up will one be of the following:

• A Copic version of the same puppy love stamp on an original card layout, or...
• A watercolor version of the same puppy love stamp and the Dove blender pen from another Make and Take, or...
• A non blended colored pencil card puppy love?