Sunflower Days

When I get in a groove, I really get in a groove. I went back to AC Moore and got more paper to match the stickers I got for this card from last week. The whole collection has been on clearance, so I think I'll pick more up this week when I get paid. I really like the gold and brown and green in this set -- they seem like such perfect colors for August.

I made two new cards with the papers. In this first card, I used floral paper from the set for the side and sanded the edges. Then I punched a flower from cream cardstock and a French biology book and used ribbon for leaves, punched a brown flower for the middle and put a button with thread on top of that. I drew the beeskep on cardstock, drew lines and inked the one side to give it dimension; then I punched a circle from gold cardstock, drew black lines and punched a small dot from black cardstock. I drew the wings and the line. Finally I punched a heart from red card stock and drew stitches.



The second card was made from another floral paper in the set. I cut it to fit a square black card and sanded the edges, then punched a circle from black cardstock. I punched more flowers from cream cardstock and the French biology book and put a cranberry circle in the middle of the flower, then a button with black thread. Finally, I drew stitches around the edge of the card and around the circle.

The Little Lad Bids You Adieu

A co-worker is leaving for greener pastures next week, so I designed a farewell and good luck card for him. Nothing fancy -- just some inside jokes. He got the hugest kick out of the Starburst Berries & Cream little lad commercials. We would watch it on You Tube and he would do the dance and we'd all laugh. Now, those days are over. So I made this card. And got him a pack of Starburst Berries & Cream.

Front of the Card:


Inside of the Card:

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. Like Mother's Day, not a really big day as far as I'm concerned. I know, I'm selfish. I needed a card for my father and one for Onil's father, so I used two older cards. The first one has been posted here before, the second one hasn't:





I also made two other cards this weekend. The first card is a thank you to my sister, who gave us a strawberry pie the weekend we went to her house for my nephew's graduation party. She's got a Boston terrier and the one in this picture is holding a pie, so I thought it was a good fit. I printed the picture from the internet and mounted it on white card stock. I stamped "THANKS!" with individual letter stamps and the stitches are rub-on.



I made this card for my friend, Kevin. I'd been wanting to drop him a note for a while, and we both just had birthdays recently. I found this picture on the internet and thought of him immediately -- I knew he would totally crack up over it. Because, you know what? Sometimes it really can't. It's a simple card -- I mounted the picture on grey cardstock and layered it on handmade rice paper with silver and gold flecks. I got out the label maker again (yes, I really do love that thing) and attached "WORD" to the side.

Blue Mood.... and Pink. And Brown.

Actually, more aqua than blue. I made two cards this weekend, both in the same color scheme (but not on purpose). I had this first card rattling around in my head last week and put it together when I got home on Friday. I got out my watercolors and free-handed a branch in brown with green leaves on off-white paper. I then outlined the branch with a fine point black marker. I used my mini flower punch to make several pink flowers and painted a dark pink center in all of them. I drew black squiggly lines around the edge, layered it on dark grey paper, and tied a pink ribbon around it; then I mounted it on light aqua cardstock. Finally I cut out a small square of the grey paper and punched a larger cherry blossom in pink with a darker pink mini sun center.



I made this next card to send to my friend Linda, who I haven't heard from in a while. I had this striped paper and have been wanting to use it but just never sat down to work it out. The pink center of the flower is a brad and the "Hi" was done with rub-on letters.



This past weekend I got a few new toys at AC Moore. The first thing I got is a tag maker, which I can use to make my own metal-rimmed tags. I also got one of those old-fashioned label makers. I'd been wanting one for a while and Onil really wanted one too, so we picked it up. I also got this sheet of clear stamps to use on the inside of cards. This was all a great deal -- the tag maker was on sale for 40% off, and I used 40% and 50% coupons for the label maker and the stamps. So everything I got was like half price. AWESOME.

A Blast From the Past, Part 4: Spring Is Here!

I'm working on some new stuff to post here, but until I finish everything, enjoy some of my older cards, won't you?

First, we still have a little bit of snow to deal with. I used to run a message board and we had a secret santa. I sent this card with my gift to my santa and she thanked me for the card with drunken snowmen, which totally cracked me up. She turned out to be completely insane, but the observation about the snowmen was right on.



Here's a card I made for Onil a few years ago. He's a boxers guy, so this card is perfect for him. I stamped boxers on red gingham paper in black and little hearts in red, then cut them out and used mini clothespins to affix them to the string. The background was made with blue paper, white pigment ink and a stencil I made myself.



Now that the winter is overwith, let's celebrate Easter and spring with my fluffy little bunnies. I stamped them in black waterproof ink and painted around them with watercolor, a technique which I really love. Inside the card it says "Happy Easter!", although I guess if I wanted to be pithy I could have put "Hoppy Easter!" Ha! Ha!



Continuing in the stamp and watercolor vein, here are two more cards with that technique. They also show off a cool process which I think is called transference or something (maybe I just made that word up). Take a small picture from a magazine and lay a piece of clear packing tape over top, making sure to remove all of the air bubbles. Cut out the picture so there are no exposed edges, just packing tape. Immerse in warm water and gently rub away the paper behind the tape. The picture will remain on the tape but will be transparent. It's difficult to see how transparent the picture looks here, but it turns out looking pretty cool.





This last card was also made with clothespins and is very much like this baby card. The booties are little embellishments from Jolee's.

A Blast from the Past, Part 1

My first experience with making cards was with rubber stamps. A good friend of mine invited me over another friend's house for a card-making party. They all had rubber stamps and ink pads and paper. I had maybe two stamps and no ink pads, so everyone let me borrow some of their stuff. An obsession was born!

I went through some painful personal stuff for a few years, starting in 2002. I lost my inspiration for card-making and just stopped for a while as I tried to put my life back together. I finally began making cards again in 2005 but was having a hard time with rubber stamping. I found that previously I'd see a stamp and get inspiration to make a card, and then once that card had been made I wouldn't know what to do with the stamp any more. I began to experiment with other things, like punches, stickers, ribbons and brads. I also began incorporating photos with my cards. I feel pretty comfortable with my style right now and I'm happy to be creating again.

Anyway, this is a card I made in 2001, when we were still living in Roslyn. In spite of the bad situation we were in, I feel pretty good about this time in my life. I was at the top of my game in card-making and in my own home with a dedicated craft space. I don't remember where I got the crane stamps; it was a company on the internet which sells unmounted stamps by the sheet. The white feathers are the same ones that I used on my bookmark. I found this card in a drawer as I was cleaning this weekend, and when I find more old cards I'll post them here.

A Mixed Bag

Today I'm posting a little of this and a little of that. First is Onil's valentine, which I mailed to him last week and scanned in this morning. I'd like to scan in the card he got for me, but he didn't get me anything. Nothing whatsoever. Not even an email. He's an asshole.

Anyway, here's his card. I printed out the picture and the words, and drew the lines on the edges with a ruler and a black pen.



This is something I made for my mom this past Christmas. I gave her a gift card and I like to make pocket tags for them. I made this pocket tag and tied it on a gift bag with a candle inside. The "m" is chipboard, the lettering underneath is rub-on letters, and the round things above the m are brads.



Here are two cards I made a couple of weekends ago. The first one is a printed picture with Lita's favorite S-clip thingy and a butterfly sticker over top, and the next one is a birthday card.

Back From Vacation!

I was out for a couple of weeks over the holidays and just got back into work today. Because our scanners and computers are so much better here, I wait to update until I get into work. Anyway, while I was out I had the time to make some cards. This first card was made by printing a picture from the internet onto white linen cardstock. The snowflakes are stickers. I'm a little unhappy with the bottom bar on the side -- it's kind of crooked. I'd like to change it but I used permanent tape and by the time I noticed it the tape had set. If I take it off now I'll tear the card. Also, I'm not quite sure about the rick rack; I think a white organza ribbon would have been better.



A few years ago I realized that you could use CD envelopes to mail cards, and the cool thing about them is that the card will show through the envelope (the address and stamp go on the sealed side). The next two images are a card and the same card in a CD envelope.





I was inspired by the CD envelope and made six cards total in that shape (two are Valentine cards which I'll feature in another post later). Here are the rest of the cards; the next card also shows what it looks like when it's opened.

Old Cards, New Post

I found these cards when I was getting something out of my overhead bin at work and thought I'd throw them up here. I like the goose card, not so much the other card.

Birthday, Valentine, Thanks & General

I made two cards this weekend. This first card is a take on a card I saw in Card Maker magazine. It was a Happy Hannukah card but I liked the shape and made it into a birthday card. Both Amy and Onil asked why I made a tombstone card. Not what I had in mind. And not at all what you want for a birthday card. So I probably won't be making this kind of card again. I guess I'll save it to send to someone I don't really like very much.



I also made this card just for kicks. I've actually had it in my head for a little while and have just gotten around to making the card.



The next two cards are cards that I made a while ago and found over the weekend while doing some cleaning. The first one is a Valentine that I made back in February:



And this is a card I made a few months ago. The "Tank You" sticker really says Thank You but I cut the h out.