Wednesday, September 28, 2011
I'm sorry to say that someone has taken the opportunity to be rude and totally disrespectful through the comments of my blog (choosing, in fact, to add their disrespect to the post in which I discuss the passing of my grandmother...nice), so for the time being I am going to turn on the comment moderation function. I'm sorry if that means someone with a good heart decides not to leave a comment. Have a nice day.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
A Sympathy Bouquet
Hello, Blogland! This weekend was a whole lot of fun, but I'm tuckered so I hope you don't mind if I keep this short.
Earlier this summer my grandmother passed away and I noticed a few things at the time. No one ever likes to have an occasion to make sympathy cards. I don't even know anyone that likes to buy them, but they are an unfortunate necessity and I'm more comfortable having a few on had for those moments when they're needed. So I plan to challenge myself to make a sympathy card once in awhile, just in case.
I used Larger Than Life for the focal image on this card. I feel like there are certain situations in which simpler is most certainly better, and sympathy cards fit into that category for me. So to make today's card I started by stamping one of the branches twice and adding in small flowers from the set. I then tied a simple bow around the panel with Rustic Jute Button Twine and embellished the flowers with just a touch of dimensional paint. The paint adds just a little luster without making the card flashy.
Next, I made the base from Kraft stamped with Background Basics Woodgrain and watermark ink. I wanted to tie in the blue flowers again, so I die cut a strip of Spring Rain cardstock with the Victorian Lace Border Die and adhered it along the left side of the card base. I mounted the floral focal panel with foam tape over the decorative strip and added a sentiment to finish it off.
I hop you like today's card and I hope you'll join me in challenging yourself to have a few tough-to-make cards on hand. I feel like I'm better prepared already. Have a good day and I'll see you next time.
Recipe:
Stamps: Larger than Life, Background Basics: Woodgrain, Birds of a Feather - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft, Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Fresh Snow - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Victorian Lace Border Die, Rustic Jute Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; dimensional paint; foam tape
Earlier this summer my grandmother passed away and I noticed a few things at the time. No one ever likes to have an occasion to make sympathy cards. I don't even know anyone that likes to buy them, but they are an unfortunate necessity and I'm more comfortable having a few on had for those moments when they're needed. So I plan to challenge myself to make a sympathy card once in awhile, just in case.
I used Larger Than Life for the focal image on this card. I feel like there are certain situations in which simpler is most certainly better, and sympathy cards fit into that category for me. So to make today's card I started by stamping one of the branches twice and adding in small flowers from the set. I then tied a simple bow around the panel with Rustic Jute Button Twine and embellished the flowers with just a touch of dimensional paint. The paint adds just a little luster without making the card flashy.
Next, I made the base from Kraft stamped with Background Basics Woodgrain and watermark ink. I wanted to tie in the blue flowers again, so I die cut a strip of Spring Rain cardstock with the Victorian Lace Border Die and adhered it along the left side of the card base. I mounted the floral focal panel with foam tape over the decorative strip and added a sentiment to finish it off.
I hop you like today's card and I hope you'll join me in challenging yourself to have a few tough-to-make cards on hand. I feel like I'm better prepared already. Have a good day and I'll see you next time.
Recipe:
Stamps: Larger than Life, Background Basics: Woodgrain, Birds of a Feather - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft, Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Fresh Snow - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Victorian Lace Border Die, Rustic Jute Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; dimensional paint; foam tape
Friday, September 16, 2011
You Scream, I Scream...
Hello! It's been a busy week here at the Jones residence. This weekend is a fun outdoor festival that I've participated in the past few years and I'm really looking forward to it, but it will keep me occupied most of the weekend (in one form or another) so I wanted to take a moment to post today.
Who doesn't love ice cream, huh? Sweet treats are always appreciated on special occasions, making this little cone perfect for a birthday card. I started by stamping the polka dot pattern in white ink on Kraft cardstock. All you have to do to get the pattern is stamp the largest polka dot from the original Polka Dot Basics set and fill in the spaces with the next largest dot. Super simple, but it's a nice variation on the standard pattern. I then hand stitched around the perimeter of the panel with embroidery floss. I would use my sewing machine if I weren't afraid of it. I'm much better with my own two hands. Once that was finished I adhered it to a white base and set the whole thing aside.
Next I die cut the Half & Half strip and the ice cream cone pieces. The cone itself was then stamped with one of the patterned strips from the Half & Half stamp set while the scoop was given a sprinkle treatment using the dots topper from Cupcake Collection. The sprinkles were embellished with Stickles and allowed to dry before stitching on a button. The cone components and the Half & Half strip were then added to the polka dotted layer on the card front.
Finally I did the sentiment strip. I started by cutting a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock and scoring a line about 3/16" from the top and bottom edges. Next I stamped the sentiment with white ink and heat embossed using white detail powder. That strip was then mounted with foam tape just under the ice cream cone.
Well that's it for me today. Have a great weekend and if you're in the area come on by and say hello at Independents' Day!
Recipe:
Stamps: Half & Half, Polka Dot Basics, Cupcake Collection, Up, Up, and Away - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft, Berry Sorbet - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Fresh Snow - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Half & Half Dies, Sweet As Can Be Dies, Berry Sorbet Button - Papertrey Ink; Embroidery Floss - DMC; Embossing Powder - Filigree; foam tape
Who doesn't love ice cream, huh? Sweet treats are always appreciated on special occasions, making this little cone perfect for a birthday card. I started by stamping the polka dot pattern in white ink on Kraft cardstock. All you have to do to get the pattern is stamp the largest polka dot from the original Polka Dot Basics set and fill in the spaces with the next largest dot. Super simple, but it's a nice variation on the standard pattern. I then hand stitched around the perimeter of the panel with embroidery floss. I would use my sewing machine if I weren't afraid of it. I'm much better with my own two hands. Once that was finished I adhered it to a white base and set the whole thing aside.
Next I die cut the Half & Half strip and the ice cream cone pieces. The cone itself was then stamped with one of the patterned strips from the Half & Half stamp set while the scoop was given a sprinkle treatment using the dots topper from Cupcake Collection. The sprinkles were embellished with Stickles and allowed to dry before stitching on a button. The cone components and the Half & Half strip were then added to the polka dotted layer on the card front.
Finally I did the sentiment strip. I started by cutting a piece of Berry Sorbet cardstock and scoring a line about 3/16" from the top and bottom edges. Next I stamped the sentiment with white ink and heat embossed using white detail powder. That strip was then mounted with foam tape just under the ice cream cone.
Well that's it for me today. Have a great weekend and if you're in the area come on by and say hello at Independents' Day!
Recipe:
Stamps: Half & Half, Polka Dot Basics, Cupcake Collection, Up, Up, and Away - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft, Berry Sorbet - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Fresh Snow - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Half & Half Dies, Sweet As Can Be Dies, Berry Sorbet Button - Papertrey Ink; Embroidery Floss - DMC; Embossing Powder - Filigree; foam tape
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thinking of You
Hello, Blogland! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was one of my only show-less weekends for awhile, so I enjoyed it as much as possible.
Today's card is just a little "thinking of you" number. I started by stamping the newsprint background onto a piece of white cardstock cut just smaller than my base. Then I die cut a frame using the Mat Stack 4 and Fillable Frames #7 dies. I ran that through the Cuttlebug with the Woodgrain Impression Plate and placed it on the white layer to see how much space I had for the sentiment. I stamped the "thinking of you" in Dark Chocolate ink and then adhered the white layer to the card base. I then wrapped the ribbon and perle cotton around the base and secured them with Scor-tape. The frame was mounted with foam tape over those ends to hide them cleanly away.
Next I die cut and stamped the mug. Before mounting the mug I stamped the steam swirl using Spring Rain ink that had been stamped off once. That gave me just enough color to see the steam while keeping it transparent enough to be realistic. The mug was added (two layers of foam tape to give it extra dimension) and the steam swirls were embellished with flocking. A little extra texture never hurt anyone (especially if it was flocking! - guffaw).
Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful week!
Recipe:
Stamps: Warm Happiness, Warm Happiness Too, Background Basics: Newsprint, Pond Life - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Enchanted Evening - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink
Other: Spring Rain Saddle Stitched Ribbon, Mat Stack 4 Die, Fillable Frames #7 Die, Woodgrain Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Dark Brown Perle Cotton - DMC; foam tape
Today's card is just a little "thinking of you" number. I started by stamping the newsprint background onto a piece of white cardstock cut just smaller than my base. Then I die cut a frame using the Mat Stack 4 and Fillable Frames #7 dies. I ran that through the Cuttlebug with the Woodgrain Impression Plate and placed it on the white layer to see how much space I had for the sentiment. I stamped the "thinking of you" in Dark Chocolate ink and then adhered the white layer to the card base. I then wrapped the ribbon and perle cotton around the base and secured them with Scor-tape. The frame was mounted with foam tape over those ends to hide them cleanly away.
Next I die cut and stamped the mug. Before mounting the mug I stamped the steam swirl using Spring Rain ink that had been stamped off once. That gave me just enough color to see the steam while keeping it transparent enough to be realistic. The mug was added (two layers of foam tape to give it extra dimension) and the steam swirls were embellished with flocking. A little extra texture never hurt anyone (especially if it was flocking! - guffaw).
Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful week!
Recipe:
Stamps: Warm Happiness, Warm Happiness Too, Background Basics: Newsprint, Pond Life - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Spring Moss, Enchanted Evening - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink
Other: Spring Rain Saddle Stitched Ribbon, Mat Stack 4 Die, Fillable Frames #7 Die, Woodgrain Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Dark Brown Perle Cotton - DMC; foam tape
Friday, September 9, 2011
Poppy Birthday!
Greetings! I hope everyone is having a lovely week. Thank you all for the anniversary well wishes. We had a lovely day together. We went on a zip line tour (10 lines! still a tiny bit sore from that, by the way), went to dinner, and then came home and watched an old movie. Not a bad day at all. Anyway, to continue with the anniversary theme we have going this week I thought today I'd share a cheerful birthday card made using this year's anniversary set from Papertrey Ink.
This anniversary set is quickly becoming one of my favorites! The handwriting-style font paired with the relatively traditional block serif are such a fun combination. And the grouped poppies are simple and lovely. Anyhow, I started by stamping the poppies and sentiment on a piece of white cardstock. I love the way drawn frames give a ground to the images they surround, but I'm not always such a fan of the stark contrast that often results. So my solution was to score a frame around my poppies. I love how it still gives the boundaries, but it's super subtle. I matted that white panel with a piece of Spring Moss cardstock and set it aside.
Next I cut a card front from Terra Cotta Tile cardstock and stamped the Tin Types background with a little watermark ink. Once that was adhered to a white base, I wrapped the entire card with Rustic Jute Button Twine and mounted my poppy panel overtop with foam tape. The card still needed a little something, so I stamped a couple of extra poppies and added them to the main image panel with foam tape.
Thanks for checking in today. Have a wonderful weekend! See you soon!
Recipe:
Stamps: Botanical Silhouettes, Background Basics: Tin Types - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Terra Cotta Tile, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Melon Berry, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Rustic Jute Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; foam tape
This anniversary set is quickly becoming one of my favorites! The handwriting-style font paired with the relatively traditional block serif are such a fun combination. And the grouped poppies are simple and lovely. Anyhow, I started by stamping the poppies and sentiment on a piece of white cardstock. I love the way drawn frames give a ground to the images they surround, but I'm not always such a fan of the stark contrast that often results. So my solution was to score a frame around my poppies. I love how it still gives the boundaries, but it's super subtle. I matted that white panel with a piece of Spring Moss cardstock and set it aside.
Next I cut a card front from Terra Cotta Tile cardstock and stamped the Tin Types background with a little watermark ink. Once that was adhered to a white base, I wrapped the entire card with Rustic Jute Button Twine and mounted my poppy panel overtop with foam tape. The card still needed a little something, so I stamped a couple of extra poppies and added them to the main image panel with foam tape.
Thanks for checking in today. Have a wonderful weekend! See you soon!
Recipe:
Stamps: Botanical Silhouettes, Background Basics: Tin Types - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Terra Cotta Tile, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Melon Berry, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Rustic Jute Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; foam tape
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Thankful
Today is the eighth anniversary of the day I married my fella. He's pretty swell, that guy. We've been through a lot over the past decade, but we've learned and loved and become stronger for all of it. So today's card is, appropriately, a thank you card.
Sean, thank you for loving me, and holding my hand, and showing me how tough I can be when necessary. I adore you and I can't wait to see where life takes us.
Recipe:
Stamps: Iconic Images (special edition - not for sale), 2009 Autumn Tags, Faux Ribbon, Background Basics: Retro - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Kraft - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate - Papertrey Ink
Other: Half & Half Dies, Canvas Impression Plate, Rustic Jute Button Twine - Papertrey Ink; light blue ribbon - May Arts; foam tape; button
Friday, September 2, 2011
Fly Away Birthday
Hello, Blogland! Today I wanted to share a card that plays along with the most recent Make It Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink. This week's challenge was to create a project using colored pencils as the coloring medium (instead of, say, Copics or watercolors or something). Well, anyone that has spent any time around here knows how much I love my Prismacolor pencils, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to participate.
Today's card is a more masculine birthday card that uses the Fly Away and Half & Half Papertrey sets. I love that little airplane image! And the Half & Half stamps and dies seem to keep finding their way into my projects recently. Anyway, I started with my base on this card. First I cut a piece of Spring Rain cardstock just smaller than my white base. I stamped it with the birthday sentiment (from Rhythm & Soul) and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Canvas impression plate. Next I die cut two of the roundy ended Half & Half strips and stamped them with the coordinating stamp from the set in Pure Poppy ink. I adhered those to the Spring Rain layer and used my anywhere hole punch and eyelet setter to pop on a couple of navy blue eyelets. I tied gray baker's twine through the holes (which looks a little wonky in the photo, sorry) and adhered that entire panel to the white base.
Next I worked on the airplane. I die cut the shape first and stamped and colored second. My first attempt didn't exactly go as planned. I had originally wanted to color the entire plane with pencils and mineral spirits, but when I used the mineral spirits with the dark blue pencil the color changed in a way I wasn't thrilled about. So I started over, deciding this time to only use the mineral spirits with the silver pencil on the propeller. It took awhile to get the color built up in a way I liked, but eventually I was happy with the shading. I generally like to lay color down lightly (easy to add, not so easy to take away) so it can sometimes take a little longer. I also ended up liking the texture the pencil gave the airplane. It seemed to fit nicely with the canvas impression on the Spring Rain layer.
To round the whole card off I die cut a circle and stamped it with the clouds from Up, Up, and Away and mounted that and the airplane itself to the card front with foam tape.
I hope you've enjoyed today's card. See you all again soon!
Recipe:
Stamps: Fly Away, Half & Half, Rhythm & Soul, Up, Up, and Away - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Smoky Shadow, Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink
Dies: Half & Half, Fly Away - Papertrey Ink
Other: Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Oyster Baker's Twine - Divine Twine; Navy Eyelets - Making Memories; Colored Pencils - Prismacolor; foam tape; eyelet setter and anywhere hole punch; mineral spirits
Today's card is a more masculine birthday card that uses the Fly Away and Half & Half Papertrey sets. I love that little airplane image! And the Half & Half stamps and dies seem to keep finding their way into my projects recently. Anyway, I started with my base on this card. First I cut a piece of Spring Rain cardstock just smaller than my white base. I stamped it with the birthday sentiment (from Rhythm & Soul) and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Canvas impression plate. Next I die cut two of the roundy ended Half & Half strips and stamped them with the coordinating stamp from the set in Pure Poppy ink. I adhered those to the Spring Rain layer and used my anywhere hole punch and eyelet setter to pop on a couple of navy blue eyelets. I tied gray baker's twine through the holes (which looks a little wonky in the photo, sorry) and adhered that entire panel to the white base.
Next I worked on the airplane. I die cut the shape first and stamped and colored second. My first attempt didn't exactly go as planned. I had originally wanted to color the entire plane with pencils and mineral spirits, but when I used the mineral spirits with the dark blue pencil the color changed in a way I wasn't thrilled about. So I started over, deciding this time to only use the mineral spirits with the silver pencil on the propeller. It took awhile to get the color built up in a way I liked, but eventually I was happy with the shading. I generally like to lay color down lightly (easy to add, not so easy to take away) so it can sometimes take a little longer. I also ended up liking the texture the pencil gave the airplane. It seemed to fit nicely with the canvas impression on the Spring Rain layer.
To round the whole card off I die cut a circle and stamped it with the clouds from Up, Up, and Away and mounted that and the airplane itself to the card front with foam tape.
I hope you've enjoyed today's card. See you all again soon!
Recipe:
Stamps: Fly Away, Half & Half, Rhythm & Soul, Up, Up, and Away - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Smoky Shadow, Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink
Dies: Half & Half, Fly Away - Papertrey Ink
Other: Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; Oyster Baker's Twine - Divine Twine; Navy Eyelets - Making Memories; Colored Pencils - Prismacolor; foam tape; eyelet setter and anywhere hole punch; mineral spirits