Father's Day Lighthouse

Today's card is one we will be making for the month of July at my local library card making class and I will be entering it in "For Dads" @ Send a Smile 4 Kids and in "Masculine" @ My Time to Craft. 

This is a 5 1/5" square gatefold card that came in a pack of 10 with matching envelopes from DCVW many, many years ago and I am just now getting around to using them...better late than never, right? 

The lighthouse stamp set is a long ago retired one from TAC that I still use often because the design is very classic and will never go out of style.

To start off, I die cut 3 of the largest tags from my old Sizzix steel ruled die using my Amaze machine...one from kraft cardstock and two from white cardstock. I then ran the kraft tag thru my Texture Boutique with the clouds embossing folder and then brushed the white Palette ink over the top using the direct to paper method.

Using black ink, I stamped the lighthouse on the 1st white tag, the "Happy Father's Day" sentiment and large birds on the 2nd white tag and the smaller birds on the kraft tag around the clouds. The lighthouse scene was colored using decorator chalks and applied with Q-tips for a soft, vintage look. The tags were secured to overlap with a bit of ScraPerfect's Best Glue Ever and tied with a piece of blue organza ribbon at the top.

I stamped the sentiment in black on a kraft scrap, adhered it to the front right bottom of the card and using foam dots attached the tag set to only the left flap of the card front....overlapping, but not securing the right side, so that the card can still be opened.

I had decided to stamp the large bird randomly over the front of the card in charcoal ink because all that blank space was bothering me...I just don't seem good at doing wide open, clean spaces, lol. I always seem to feel the need to fill them up, for some reason! To tie it all together, I wrapped the card with some skinny jute twine and tied it into a small bow -front and center. The inside tag was also edged in black ink to help it pop, glued on and then I declared that the card was finished.

Foiled Ribbon How -To in Support of Lyme Disease

Hello -Kathy here with my first post as a ScraPerfect Design Team member -woohoo!!! I have been having so much fun playing with all the new ScraPerfect products that came in my design team kit and can't wait to share my creations with you here and on my blog @ create.365 . 

Today's card was designed in support of May being Lyme Disease Awareness month. For those of you who may not know, I went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for over 30 years but began treatment early in 2015 with hopes of someday reaching remission. My young adult daughter was also diagnosed with Lyme within 6 months of me and so we travel this hard road together. This card is for her in our support of raising awareness for Lyme Disease - with hopes that in the future all will be tested, diagnosed and treated properly for this devastating disease that has no cure!

So let's get crafty, shall we? I used sketch #63 from the challenge over @ Your Next Stamp, but I flipped it vertically instead of horizontally. As you can see, I also went with a monochromatic theme (Lyme green), so I will also apply this card over at the Dragonfly Dreams Challenges blog for the month of May.

Gathering supplies is always a work in progress -as you just never know how a project will evolve -changing your mind several times along the way is just a given as a designer, right? The main stamp set I used is called "Fight Like a Girl" and is from Amuse Studio. While it is a stamp set designed for supporting Breast Cancer, (like I did in this card here) I love that it will also work for supporting any cause of your choice, just by changing the ribbon colors. The wooden ribbon stamp is from Stampin' Up! 

After trimming my cardstock layers to work with the sketch for my A2 sized card base, I cut the long tail off the small ribbon stamp and used it to randomly stamp a background strip in Twisted Citron Distress Ink. (Don't worry, the stamp is not ruined and the line will be barely noticeable when I use them together to get the whole original image. But after having had this set for 2 years and never using it the way it came, I decided to make the change!)

Using a scrap piece of acetate as my palette, I inked it up directly with the ink cube and sprayed it with water...carefully flipping it over, I then repeatedly applied the diluted ink to my watercolor panel until I got the look I wanted for my background. Once it was dry, I then spritzed it with some water droplets to lift some of the color off in random spots. As you can see with my first go around, I didn't add enough water and you can see the distinct square shape of the ink pad -no worries, I'll just cover that up with my layers later anyway...no one will ever know! (except for you all, lol)

While waiting for the watercolor to dry, it was time to get messy and experimental! I had an image in my head of what I wanted to do, but we crafters all know that our visions don't always work out the way we had imagined they would...this is one such instance. The idea I had was to sponge the Best Glue Ever onto the stamp with a make-up sponge, stamp it onto the cardstock, let it dry until clear and tacky and then apply the green Transfer Foils to it...in theory, it was a great idea -in reality, it was still a good idea, but took some practice to get it right. My first try I added too much glue and after I stamped it down, I went to pull it back off the paper and it brought a layer of the paper with it, lol. UGG -take two -lesson learned that this glue is really strong stuff and you only need the tiniest of bits to get it to work! So I tried it again and this time used the thinnest film of glue across the stamp's surface and it worked perfectly! 

While I waited for the image to dry, I immediately used the Best Cleaner Ever to take the left-over sticky glue off of my stamp...worked like a charm and removed every last bit with no sticky residue -YAY! Once it was "dry", clear and tacky to the touch I laid the green foil with the colored side facing up over the top of the stamped ribbon and rubbed it down to adhere the foil, pulled it away and enjoyed the "magic". Then I fussy cut my newly foiled ribbon out and set it aside. (If you want more specifics on using Transfer Foils, there are some great videos on the ScraPerfect website)

For the "hope" diecut sentiment, I wanted it to stand up off the card a but, so I cut it twice...once from Lyme green glitter cardstock and once from white fun foam.

I then simply used tiny dots of the Best Glue Ever to adhered the 2 layers together...if you've ever worked with fun foam before, then you know that it can be ornery to glue...problem solved when using the BGE!

To make the center panel of the card, I broke out a retired stamp set from The Angel Company to stamp the words that would be behind the foiled ribbon in lyme green ink, sponged that same ink along the edges and then used a distress tool to rough up the edges and add some texture to them. The foiled ribbon was adhered with mini foam dots.

Since the sequins were a last minute designer decision, I completely forgot to take a photo of them being applied, but with the help of the Embellie Gellie "magic wand" and the Best Glue Ever they were a quick and easy addition. (find video details on how to use Embellie Gellie here) The layers were all assembled using the BGE and the small ribbon stamped on the lyme green cardstock was inked in white pigment ink and then heat set to dry.

Inside I stamped the Amuse Studio sentiments and one more small ribbon in the same Lyme green ink. This card is now off in the mail to my daughter and will hopefully bring a smile to her face later this week!

Until next time ~Happy Crafting with ScraPerfect~

Never Give Up Hope!

Today's card was made using the sketch @ Mojo Monday , will be applied @ Watercooler Wednesday for the WWC117 - Heidi's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

 and will be the second card that I enter over at the Simon Says Stamp "Hint of Pink" challenge. I made it for the young mom of one of my former  pre-K students who will soon be undergoing treatment for newly diagnosed breast cancer. This disease has touched almost everyone's life...I lost an aunt several years ago and my Grandma is currently in treatment also. I am a firm believer that we need to raise awareness and support those in need all year long -NOT just during the month of October!

 The stamps I am using on the card front are from TAC (on the left + in the middle) and Amuse Studio (on the right). I trimmed all the card stock layers in pink, white and 2 shades of gray according to the sketch to fit the front of my A2 side folding white card base.

Next up, I inked the large Swirled background stamp in Versamark ink, making sure to first rub the larger of the 2 white squares (this one is from watercolor paper) with my ScraPerfect's  Perfect Crafting Pouch to remove any static from the paper that would cause the embossing powder to stick where I don't want it to....Confession Time...I didn't do this the first time around and ended up with a horrible mess! My whole square was covered in embossing powder and there was no way to salvage it with even a tiny paint brush! So I brushed all the powder off, turned my cardstock over and started again -using the Pouch before stamping this time, lol! I got a perfect impression and learned a valuable lesson! After I heat set the silver embossing powder, I used the Perfect Cleaning Cloth (not pictured) to remove any residual powder from the cardstock so that I could watercolor in the next step.

To watercolor over the embossed background, I smooshed my dye based ink onto my craft mat, spritzed it with water, picked up the color on my brush and painted a nice wash.

While that was drying, I stamped the solid ribbon to the left on the smaller piece of  white cardstock in pink Palette ink then lined up the outline stamp and stamped over the pink in Versamark so that I could heat emboss it in the silver powder. I inked the edges of that piece in charcoal ink for contrast and then stamped HOPE in Versamark on the darker gray strip and embossed it in pink powder.

The pink panel and light gray panel were both adhered flat onto the card front but the rest of the layers were popped up with some foam pop dots for added dimension. I then sponged around the edges of the entire card front with charcoal ink.

For the inside of my card, I stamped the top sentiment in pink ink and the bottom (I think this stamp came from a Close To My Heart sympathy set) sentiment in charcoal ink. This smaller ribbon is a wood mounted stamp from Stampin' Up that I stamped in Versamark ink on black cardstock and heat embossed with pink powder before I fussy cut it out and adhered it. As you can see at the bottom, my initial stamp bled through a bit from the back of the card...looks like it's time to invest in some heavier weight card bases, sigh.

Until next time~

Wishing You a Sunshiny Day!

Today's card is one we will be making at our library class for the month of July and was inspired by the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge #342 over at the Paper Players blog...this was my first time participating in that kind of a challenge and it was fun being presented with so many design possibilities to choose from! I went vertically with the first "down" column and chose "Circle-Sequins -Pink" for my card. I will also be applying it to the "Anything Goes " challenge at Word Art Wednesday and the Simon Says Stamps "Hint of Pink" challenge.

Using an A2 size side folding white card front, the first step was to create the circle background using dye based inks in two pink colors and "stamping" with the circular blender applicators. Once I had the alternating color rows laid out, I then went back in and blended the color a bit so that there was no white space showing. Next step was to take the mini mister and drop water onto the inked background to pull up some of the color for a very subtle pattern...also in circles, for the most part, lol. This showed up much better on the darker of the two pinks, but I just kept going until I got the look I was after.

Both of the stamp sets I used today are retired and from The Angel Company (TAC). I stamped in Licorice Black ink on white for the flamingo image and sentiments, then trimmed an aqua and a green panel to frame it with on the card front.

Before I put the blending tools tools away, I used the darker pink color to ink the white paper flower and added a mini white brad thru the center of it. After assembling the layers on the card front with the Best Glue Ever, I added a light pink organza ribbon tied into a knot to the spine of the card on the left side. I then used the ScraPerfect Best Glue Ever (also known as BGE) to make 2 dots of glue on my label sticker backing sheet...let them dry until clear and you have DIY mini glue dots -perfect for securing both the ribbon and the flower on top of the knot.

The coloring was done with several Prismacolor pencils and the 3 sequins were easily adhered with the help of the magic Embellie Gellie wand and a tiny amount of the BGE...using the large No Clog Writing Cap  with the thin needle tip made controlling how much glue ended up on my project super simple! 

The final touch to the card front was to trace the sentiment with the clear StarDust Gelly Roll pen and to brush clear Wink-of-Stella over the flamingos.

The inside of this card started out as a mistake...I first stamped the "Happy Birthday" sentiment horizontally -thinking that was going to be the final orientation of my card, but I later changed my mind and so decided to do a little bit of "word art" to remedy the situation, lol. The shell was added to bring the tropical theme into the inside and now it is ready to mail to another one of my sister-in-laws during the month of July.

Until next time~

Embossed Anniversary -Celebrate the Memories

Today's card is my first as a Design Team member for the new Mix It Up Challenge Blog...each month we will highlight a technique and challenge you to share a project with us -with or without using the optional highlighted technique. For the month of May, our technique is Embossing(Heat or Dry)...read on to find how how I incorporated Heat Embossing into an anniversary card I made for my in-laws.  

The first thing I did in designing was to determine what size card I would need to accommodate the large diecut opening I knew that I wanted...so this card ended up being about 4.5" x 6.5".  I cut the gold metallic cardstock to fit the ivory card front and ran both layers through my Amaze machine at the same time to make sure they lined up perfectly...just took a few extra passes to get the cuts complete. 

Next step was to stamp the Today Flower clear stamp from Technique Tuesday in Versamark ink 4 times on the gold card front panel -once in each corner - and once on the inside of the ivory card so that it would show through the diecut opening in the front. Using my 10 x 10 Stamp Perfect positioning tool made things super easy to get lined up precisely. I then heat embossed all 5 images with Gold Detailed Embossing Powder.

Because of the shine off both the embossing and the metallic paper, it proved to be a challenge to capture the beauty of this card in a photo (but I still tried, lol)!

I also stamped and embossed three sentiments on the inside of the card as you can see below. For the coloring, I used 4 colors of Spectrum Noir pens -2 for the flowers and 2 for the background.

To blend the 2 background colors alittle better (because my Spectrum Noir pen collection is still rather limited) I also added some iridescent light blue chalks around the flowers with a light touch, which you can see better in the last photo below of the inside details of the card.

One thing I learned in the creation of this card is that metallic cardstock shows no mercy when it comes to impressions...if you look closely, you can see the rectangular outline of where I had placed the washi tape to hold my diecut in place when I sent it through my Amaze machine in step one...I think this was in part because I had tried to send so many layers through at one time and the sandwich was snug...oh well, lesson learned! And here's to hoping that I am the only one who truly notices it, lol. 

Until next time~