Wishing You Well Card

I made this card following the sketch for JustRite's 88th card challenge.

And here's the card I came up with:

I used JustRite's Vintage Rose Medallions for all the stamping, including the smaller stamps on the backing paper and flag.  I used a purple Stampin' Up marker for the stamps, but included a second Crayola purple on the roses of the main tag.  The circles were cut with Spellbinders Standard Circles small and affixed using pop dots, and I cut the flag ends by hand.  I finished off the card with a piece of purple ribbon I bought from a fabric store.

Blast Off Interactive Card

I've been very lucky this holiday season, as I found myself winning several contests I entered.  One of them, via Papercrafts Connection, was for the following stamp set by Cas-ual Fridays, named Countdown.

My first thought on seeing the countdown wasn't for New Year's, but for a rocket ship (I think my love of SF is showing).

But I wasn't thinking of just any rocket ship card, I was thinking of an interactive one.  I cut the penny slider track freehand with a craft knife and used several pop dots and some cardboard to make the slider.  I stamped the rocket ship on white cardstock and coloured it with Crayola markers before fussy cutting it out.

For the background, I added stars and a planet from my space set and a galaxy from the Countdown set and coloured those in with markers too.  Then I stamped the countdown  At this point I realized I should have used dark paper for my background as my space was white.  So, I inked the paper with dark blue memento ink, staying away from the coloured areas so I wouldn't ruin those.

Originally I'd made the card so the slider didn't have a backing, but it was harder to use than I expected, so added the black backing after the fact, being very careful where I put the pop dots so as to not interfere with the slider.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections, thin cardboard
Stamps: Cas-ual Friday - Countdown, ? space set (alas I threw away the packaging for that set so I don't know what it's called or who it's by)
Crayola Markers
Memento Ink
pop dots

Fluorescent Style

I made this card for Faber-Castell: Design Memory Craft's January challenge: 

CREATIVE RESOLUTIONS.*

Document your creative resolution(s) for 2013 in some form of art.

The first challenge I faced was finding something from Faber-Castell to do the challenge with (as it didn't seem right to not use one of their products. The first thing that came to mind were these:

Yes, those are fluorescent Color Lites pencil crayons.  My father bought them for me in West Germany back when I was a child (and there was a West Germany).  I loved them so much I tried not to use them, because once they were gone they'd be gone for good.

So, what are the resolutions I'm fulfilling with this card?  

1. use more (homemade) flowers on cards

2. use fancy paper for backgrounds (ok, post it notes aren't 'fancy', but it is an unusual choice for me)

3. push my boundaries and craft in ways I'm not entirely comfortable with (fluorescents fit that bill)

I used the pink to colour crepe paper (the rolls you hang from the ceiling for birthday parties) and punched out flowers.  A also used the pencil crayons (all but the orange) to colour my girl.  

I painted over dollar store rhinestones with glow in the dark fluorescent yellow nail polish for the centers of the flowers, so they'd match the theme, and used post it notes for the backing/framing (both yellow and pink).  And yes, I used a tape runner on them, knowing their own stickiness wouldn't hold up.  Finally I tied a very bright fluorescent green ribbon on the bottom.  Voila.

And here's a close-up of the flowers and her face.

I was a little afraid the fluorescents would burn your eyes when I came up with this idea, and if the colours were all as bright as that ribbon, it would.  But I'm really happy with how this card turned out.

I would love it if Faber-Castell brought these pencil crayons back (I'm assuming they're no longer available as I looked for them in Germany last year and couldn't find them).  I'd also like to get some of the new Faber-Castell Gelatos.  They look pretty cool. :)

Supplies:

Papers: Recollections cardstock, post-it notes, crepe paper

Stamp: There She Goes: Sparkly and Bright

Pencil crayons: Faber-Castell Color Lites, Berol Canadiana (for the black)

Tween Brands glow in the dark fluorescent yellow nail polish

thin wire (for holding the flowers together)

rhinestones

*Whoops, I forgot to add the link when I posted this.

Flower Flourish Window Card

I think this is the best card I've ever made.  At the least, it's one of my favourites (and so will be staying with me for now).  And I made it out of a mistake.

This was supposed to be a medallion card.  I'd cut out Spellbinders Medallion 4, only I did it wrong (I made this a few weeks back and can't remember what went wrong with it).  In order to not waste the cardstock I cut out the shape entirely, not sure how I'd use this large window card.

Then I got some ideas.  I ran through some other dies and got the idea for this card.  With the dies still on I inked the flower with white ink and the leaves and flourishes with metallic green ink.

I cut a strip of parchment paper and stamped Thank you! and put a butterfly to cover the tape spot (I used vellum tape, which was supposed to be invisible but wasn't.  I'd wanted the butterfly at the top of strip not the bottom). 

Voila:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections, parchment paper
Stamp: Stampendous - Proud Peacock
Spellbinders Dies: Medallion 4, Aster Flower Toppers, Jewel Flowers and Flourishes
Ink: Versa Magic white cloud, Encore ultimate metallic green
Jolee rhinestone

Blue Rose Card

Despite feeling horrible I managed to do some crafty things today, including making 2 cards.  Here's the second card I made, using the first of my Um Wow Studio embellishments.

I started by die cutting and embossing the oval out of white cardstock.  With the metal die still in place I stamped both the rose (using markers) and notation (using ink).  I tried to sponge tan ink around the edges so it would go with the corrugated cardboard heart better, but I forgot to wipe the excess black ink off the die first, so it's much darker than I'd intended.  Live and learn.  I used pop dots to affix the oval and glue tape for the hearts.

The hearts and embellished paperclip are from the Um Wow Studio December kit. :)

I've posted a close-up of the rose stamp.  Normally when I colour stamps with markers I only use one shade, this time I added a second blue and green making the rose a bit more realistic.  I really liked how it turned out. 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections
Stamps: Close to My Heart - Sweet Moments, Stampendous - Cling Music Score
Ink - Memento
Markers - Stampin' Up, Crayola
Um Wow Studio Embellishments
dollar store rhinestones
pop dots, glue tape

Um Wow Studio December Kit

The first of the three kits I won from Um Wow Studio arrived last night.  Here's a picture of it:

And yes, it arrived wrapped in a pattern.  I'm wondering if I can incorporate that into one of my projects...  The kit uses a lot of embellishments I've never used in card crafting before, a fabric flower, a wire nest, painted corrugated cardboard.  In fact, shy of the doily and the printed heart I'm not sure I've used anything like these at all.  DeeDee just unveiled the January kit, which is so pretty - pink and white (and I'm not generally a fan of pink).

So, another goal for this year: Use all of the products from the Um Wow kits on projects this year.  That should help stretch my creativity. :)

I also took a trip to a bead store in Toronto yesterday and picked up some pin supplies for those embellishments.  If things go according to plan I'll made up some pins to use on upcoming projects.  I've also decided, again to push my creative boundaries, to enter more challenges.  I entered a few last year and had a lot of fun with them.  It's time to get crafty!

Crafty Resolutions

Well, I hope everyone had a nice New Year's Eve.  Now that the new year's begun, it's time to think of what we want to achieve this year.  I've found if I don't make goals I don't accomplish them, so here goes (note, I decided my resolutions were too generic so I've edited this post to make them more specific, and thereby easier to judge whether I'm achieving them or not):

1. learn new crafting techniques
    - how to make paper flowers
    - use more fancy ribbons and pins on my projects
    - use my new die cuts on cards
    - learn paper folding techniques from the craft book I got for Christmas
2. practice the techniques I've already learned and master them
    - improve my 'ink painting' (or is that called sponging?)
    - keep making some clean and simple designs but also make some fancier designs
    - do more ink resist cards
    - make my own patterned papers
3. use products from my stash (the ones I tend to forget I own)
    - shaped buttons
    - patterned and specialty papers
    - beads
    - background stamps
    - stickers
    - rub ons
4. start drawing and using pencil crayons again
5. use watercolours or acrylics on my cards or paint actual pictures again
6. have fun!
7. keep my crafting area clean

Now to put this list next to my crafting table so I remember these. :)

What are your resolutions for the year, crafty or otherwise?