Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Oh, poor little blog.  I know you are still here!  I have been creating, just not sharing.  For shame!

JMcGuire Does Inspire

I have been watching a LOT of video.  A LOT.  I have been laid up with pneumonia for the past week. The torturous part of that was that I had a great deal of inspiration, but I had absolutely no energy.  For example, this seemingly simple card for my son took me (no joke) 3 hours to complete.  Granted, there was a lot of self-creation of some things in Silhouette Studio, but it was not a three-hour card.  It is also stacked, like today's card, but I was not in a photography mood that day, as you can see.  That was a week ago, before my diagnosis.

Today, I created this card, completely inspired by the design of Jennifer McGuire.  Her card uses the word Hugs and is pictured below.  I TOTALLY dig how this turned out.  Click on the photo for a much better resolution.

I have, as of late, enjoyed stacking die cuts to create more dimension.  This one was too cute, as it used different colors to create the stack.  Jennifer used an alphabet die that she links on her website.  I created this sentiment using the Alexandria free font.  Using Silhouette Studio, I made the letters a wee bit "chunkier," as well as the base they are glued on, using the "offset" option.  Then, the machine did a whole lot of cutting. Underneath the panel, as suggested by Jennifer, I took strips of the colors I used in the stack to tie in a rainbow.  I used Love Your Guts from Cathy Zielske's Clear Stamps Simple Sentiments No. 1 for Simon Says Stamp. If you would like to see how Jennifer created this, and other cards that use the alphabet dies, take a peek at her video around minute 21.

Turnabout Thanks

The Triangle Turnabout background that I conquered the other day has turned into this! A simply lovely little thank you card.  I used some gray cardstock on white along with a Lawn Fawn die layered gray on white.  The turnabout what a challenge for me because I insisted upon rushing.  Once I slowed myself down, I was able to get a decent product.  

Loving this find for dimensional cards

My buddy Kim, as well as some online crafters, have a love-hate relationship with shaker and wheel cards.  These cards require the making of a "sandwich" that is usually created with foam mounting tape or craft foam.  The foam can look kind of icky on a card you invest a lot of time making.  Enter this product that Kim found in Florida:

Game changer.

Here is a card we made today with the Lawn Fawn Reveal Wheel.**

Check. It. Out.  Yes, the wheel still turns quite easily.  But no more horrific looking tape.  This can be used for a multitude of cards: shaker, reveal wheel, water color mounting...the possibilities are endless.  It was, surprisingly, not available through Amazon, but WalMart and Target supplied it.

This card was inspired by this pin.

**NOTE: The Lawn Fawn Reveal Wheel has its good moments and its bad.  There is an impression it leaves, especially on card stock, that requires a lot of care (and occasional curse words).  Here is a picture we took of the impression, which happened several times and most usually when we used cardstock.  It works better on patterned paper.  You must be cautious how you position the die through the die-cutting machine, and even then, there are inconsistencies.  Just wanted to be sure you knew before buying.  We have contacted Lawn Fawn about this flaw.

See, what had happened was...

I was minding my own business, admiring some cards, when I happened upon this current trend (or pendulum swing) of shadows on die cut sentiments.

Cathy Zielske's dies

Concord & 9th Stamps and Coordinating Dies

Honey Bee Stamps Dies

This reminded me of when I started considering buying sentiment stamps.  "I can write that myself," I said.  "Why would I buy a stamp?"  I soon realized that sometimes a stamp is quicker, cleaner, and more convenient.  But not cost-efficient.  One stamp makes maybe three cards unless you are in mass-production mode.  But we (yes, "we") get caught up in the cuteness factor, watch a Jennifer McGuire video, and suddenly need "all the things."

Lately, I have decided that this cycle is ridiculous.  Case in point: Concord & 9th has a turnabout stamp concept that is ingenious.  However, there are things that they have decided are important must-haves that they did not conceptualize before production.  Now, they are trying to sell things that make using the stamp set easier.  The stamp set, mind you, that cost $24 to the average crafter.  Now buy these two other things as add-ons?  Nah.  Or the wreath builder from the wonderful Gina K.  While I purchased the original wreath builder, I have since cut several different sizes of it on my own with my Silhouette Cameo.  It's two squares, people.  For real.

Back to the shadows: When I saw some of my favorites using shadows with their sentiments, and when I was ever so close to buying some of them, an epiphany hit: Hey, JoLynn.  You can make these.  And the tinkering began.  Please forgive these photos.  In my excitement, I literally did not wait for the glue (which dries clear) to dry.

First, I wanted to get a serif font look going on like my girl, Cathy Z.  Two things: kerning and cut blade.  I did have to go in to Photoshop to get the letters as close as I wanted.  The Silhouette software had its limits.  Second, I used a pre-cut that was in the Silhouette Studio software.  The white paper did not have as smooth of a cut as I would have preferred.  And, let's just say I need practice gluing a sentiment to a shadow.  It's a little wonky, but a good prototype.

Then came this beauty.  I was like, "Hmmm, let's use some script fonts."  A couple of tutorials later, and voila! Script font, with shadow, and a smooth cut after some tinkering with blade depth.

So, it may be completely real: I might never buy a word die again.

Apparently, I like rotations

Today's card is brought to you by the Concord & 9th Retro Petals Turnabout Stamp Set.  I was inspired by this card, which uses the stencils for this set (which are on their way from SSS).  I was also inspired by the recent offset shadow word dies I have been seeing.  This is my first shot at designing one with my Silhouette.  I plan to play a LOT more with this idea.  

Interested in the Turnabout stamps?  There are some things you must set up, but once you do, it creates a great background.  I am not a fan of all of the designs, but I like this one a lot.  Again, I will get braver as time moves on.

Stamp Platform Drama

If you have been actively buying stamp accessories in the last two years or so, you know that a revolution for perfection has taken place.  We now have the technology to stamp images well with very little error.

Stamp presses were definitely a rage I fed into in the 2000s.  Thank you, Fiskars and Martha Stewart.

   

Then the MISTI came out.  Just a gal trying to make large stamping jobs a little easier.  I am grateful, My Sweet Petunia, for your forward thinking.

The creator of the MISTI has a couple of US patents on it.  The design is a smart one.  And, of course, people tried to jump on board.  Some made COMPLETE knock offs that looked so similar, you would feel you needed to buy it off a truck somewhere.  However, Tonic and Tim Holtz came out with this bad boy.

I was using my MISTI, and having some minor inconveniences with it.  I have had it for a while, one of the plastic hinges was cracked, and I think the use of too thick bar magnets was taking its toll on the design. Still, I paid over $60 for it.  I was not about to buy another one.  The largest one is available for a mere $100.  Do you know how many stamp sets I can get for $100?  Not happening.

I read about the designer of MISTI suing Tonic and Tim Holtz.  I of course became intrigued.  Law suit = something to be sued over.  So, I ordered one.

There are approximately a gazillion videos that compare these two products.  I am going to lay it out for ya right here:

Tonic redesigned the stamp platform.  They took it and made a superior product. It wasn't a carbon copy.  It was SO much better.  I make less mistakes, have to restamp a WHOLE lot less, and I can use all sorts of sizes of paper.  It's made of better materials. And, it was less than $40.  The travel size is available as well which is even less.

Tonic amicably settled with My Sweet Petunia, and agreed to pull the product from the North American market.  They wanted to show support for small business.

This whole thing has me a bit bewildered.  Quite frankly, I am a little sour about it.  I see redesigns of products to make them better as technological growth.  I feel that Tim and Tonic did not steal the design...they remade it out of better products and made something that worked better.  I know it took them a year to finally settle.  I imagine there were all sorts of conversations. But I have a bad taste in my mouth right now toward the MISTI and its manufacturer.  Give her some of the profits for having the patent?  Sure!!  Take competition off the market?  Hmmm.  Not sure.  Now, My Sweet Petunia is suing Stampin' Up because of its Stamparatus, which I think is also markedly different from the MISTI.

I will state here and now that My Sweet Petunia was wise in getting a patent for its product design. But I hate to see innovation squashed because of it.

More Mandala Cards

Kim and I got together so she could finally break in her Gina K Wreath Builder templates.  She did great!  Here's my slightly remixed version of a Pinterest-inspired card.

Truth be told, I took it one stamp too far and the center was wonky, so I ended up cutting it out and putting a heat-embossed sentiment beneath it.  The inspiration card used a dark pink, which I neither had nor wanted to use, so Kim chose SU! Wisteria Wonder, which was delightful.  I started with a little Lawn Fawn Hippo ink, but moved to Wisteria Wonder as well.  We also used Gina K's Amalgam Black.  The sentiment it by the talented Dawn McVey for Papertrey Ink.  The mandala was made with Mandala Maker stamps from Gina K.  I believe the base is Wisteria Wonder...or it's close enough that it looks good.

The inside sentiment uses Lawn Fawn Hippo ink and a Papertrey sentiment.  Kim and I both decided that sympathy cards are some that are always low in our stash, so that is what we decided upon.

Not a huge fan of this card, but I'll show it anyway.  I was going for this color combo.  I feel like it was a near miss. I am not sure I am loving Gina K's black embossing powder, but it could have been user-end error.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

My MISTI and my SU! inks and my wreath builder were not getting along, so this card took forever.  I needed to start the images a little closer to the center, which you live and learn with the wreath builder.  I used SU! Pear Pizzaz at first, then changed to an Ali Edwards ink because I think my ink pad needed a refresher.  I just could not get a solid image, and with the repetition required, that adds a lot more time to the project, not to mention that if your paper moves in the slightest and you have to reink, you're done.  

Prayers

I was attempting a couple of things with this card.  I wanted to make a blended background with some Distress Oxide inks.  I wanted to see how the Mandala Maker set worked with white ink.  I wanted to use a die cut word that had dimension. 

If I had it to do again, I would rotate so the colors were horizontal.  I would also attempt either heat embossing the white or using Staz On white so the pattern stands out.  I used Hero Arts white, and it did not stand out on this background as much as I wanted (each stamp was stamped twice).  Otherwise, I love the basic concept of this card. This Hero Arts set and die never get old.

Wintry Day

Today was pretty cold, and Max and I had off of school.  Despite a trip to Springfield with Scott, I pretty much hibernated, which is my happiest thing to do.  I love sleep.

Max worked on finishing up a latch hook project that he started a few years back and for which he had just renewed his crafting fervor.

I worked on a card for his brother's birthday, using my SU! Starburst Sayings set (retired).

I CASEd this card, using materials I had on hand.  I tell you what, inking that big old stamp was no easy task.  My Not Quite Navy from Stampin' Up! just was not "inky" enough.  I finally used some Ali Edwards ink to get a nice, thick coat.  I was worries that the sentiment would not be as sharp, but it actually stamped nicely.  I went back over some light spots with a paintbrush.  I used the same ink on the smaller sentiment, and silver ink on the lower left image.  I had the foiled bar ready to go from a previous foiling session.

Let's talk about my love-hate Thickers relationship.  The adhesive tho.  The longer you have them in your stash, the longer the adhesive either rips your chipboard letters or completely stops working on your vinyl letters.  It's an easy, but annoying, thing to fix.

My kid is turning 22.  I can't even believe it. 

Hello Baby

Babies, babies, everywhere!  I needed a shower card for a baby boy shower.  So, I busted out my new favorite tool yet again.  The Gina K Wreath Builder.

Stampin' Up! stash, yet again, comes through.  Brocade Blue (or Bordering Blue...I get the two mixed up) and Crushed Curry inks and cardstock made a nice combination for this card.  I used Gina K's Mandala Maker and Ali Edwards' Baby 4 x 6 Stamp Set to create this 4.5 x 4.5 card.

Apocalypse Now - Plato Uses Pink

I hope all is well with your soul because between the lunar eclipse and this card, the end is nigh. One word: Pink.

More specifically: Stampin' Up! Cameo Coral, a color I tried to sell at the Crafters' Garage Sale because it still had the sticker on it.  These inks are FABULOUS with the Gina K Wreath Builder.  

I have some confessions, though.  I created my own 4.5 x 4.5 template for this one using my Silhouette and a transparency.  Gina K's currently only goes up to 4 x 4.  Also, I got more than a little inspiration from this crafter, Melanie Muenchinger:

Some light shading with a pink Prisma (I want to say Rose Pink) and Gamsol, and...voila!  Done.  Pfft.  I made a million mistakes at first trying it on my own, so I followed her pattern almost exactly.  That is a good way to get started with the Mandala Maker set.  It gets you comfortable with the different designs the stamps can form.

When Cardmaking is NOT Therapeutic

I wanted to scream in the process of making this card.  Full on, chest hurting, scream for the neighbors.  Here's my story.

This is the instigator.  Oh my, did I love this card.  I was going to try something a little different with the flowers since I did not feel like "experimenting" with my Silhouette and/or fussy cutting.  Things I learned:

• I have a crappy reserve of black cardstock.  Seriously.  It's the worst. And black cardstock is completely unforgiving when you are embossing (and yes, I brushed it down with the magical powder).
• I have two Versa Mark pads.  One is great and recently-purchased.  The other is currently in my trash can as I bought it ten years ago.  Guess which one I used first.
• Foiling on stamps is a hit or miss operation.  Tonight: miss.  Multiple times.
• If you stick an already-embossed stamped image through a laminator, you will ruin the image. 
• My Nuvo drops that I have not yet used have completely disappeared.  Poof! I bought them this summer.  I have a spot in the craft room where I put stuff like that.  Not there.  Not anywhere.  And that kind of crap makes me NUTS!

 I do love the card I finally made.  But for the love...what a ridiculous process when I just wanted to get my creative juices flowing.  The stamp set was one I fell in love with when I bought it.  I also used some glittery, tiny flipping stickers that covered for the absence of the Nuvo drops (Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony...).  Here's a closer view.  Yeah, it's sideways.  Because that is the perfect ending to this 2-hour ordeal of a card.

Cards for the Stash

I have officially been a full-on paper crafter for about 11 years.  "Full-on" meaning buying the goods and occasionally using them, making scrapbook pages and cards, and stamping with all the tools. When my mom visited last year, I encouraged her to go through a bunch of my card stash and take what she liked/needed. She has recently mentioned the need for sympathy, thinking of you, and kids cards, so I assured her I could hook her up.  As I went through my stash, I decided it was time for a purge.  I was never going to use some of these cards.  The design was meh, the ink was fading, or I just did not like it.  It was a bit freeing, but almost like throwing money in the trash.

Segue to this card.  I just got the Gina K Wreath Builder Bundle, and I decided to take it for a spin.  The result:

As a kid, I loved me some Spirograph, and I even have one in my classroom.  So this little stencil makes me quite happy.  The sentiment is from SSS inked with Hero Arts ink.  Pretty sure the red cardstock (it's either Real Red or Ruby Red) is SU! as well as the blue base (I have a LOT of Bordering Blue).  The white?  Part of a card I cut off so I could reuse it.  The other inks: The blue and orange/yellow are Distress Oxides, and the red is from Ali Edwards.  

Oh and...my Tim Holtz glass mat.  Holy guacamole.  I love this thing so much.  It actually helps my pens write better (I learned that accidentally). I strongly recommend it.

All for now.  Snow makes my crafting genes go nuts, so there may be more.

Happy Birthday to Me!

What could be better than a handmade card for my birthday?  Thanks, Kim Hall!  You make such great cards!

CZ Inspiration

Look at that!  A card!  Actually, I have made some, but I have not necessarily posted them.  Today, I will play catch up.

This card was inspired by the recent card explosion happening with Cathy Zielske.  Here is her original.

I learned with this card that I don't emboss enough.  White embossing makes everything pop.  I used a new stamp set that I got from Simon Says Stamp called Look for the Miracles. I also used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens, as Cathy did with hers.  Lots of color!  I did not shade, as I had a limited area to work with.  The sentiment, in the Handwritten Greetings set, was from SSS as well. I used Stampin' Up's white embossing powder and gray cardstock for the image layer and some Neenah 110 for the base.

A Joyous Card

A friend of mine is fostering two children in hopes of adoption.  We are celebrating.  It's so fantastic.  Here's the card for her shower.

Stamp set: Simon Says Stamp You Matter

Die: You Wafer Die from Simon Says Stamp (coordinates with stamp in set)

Die: Stitched rectangles (I think they are from MFT, but I cannot recall)

Cardstock: Neenah Solar White and Bazzill Kraft

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories #whatever #hahahano

Ink: Ali Edwards Black Butte

Stickers: Starfoam Hearts

Popped up with dimension stickers

Stamps: Papertrey Ink A Cheerful Heart and MFT Essential Sentiments (I think it might be retired)

A close up of the sentiment on front.

Happy Father's Day

This installment of Father's Day cards was inspired by the pin found here: http://pin.it/tP9YiK8

Lawn Fawn patterned paper was used as well as the Happy Everything set.  The fence was embossed with the Stampin Up Wood embossing folder.  All else was pieced together using the original as a guide.  

The card suits my husband to a T.

Thanks, Dude Teacher

My pre-student teacher was wrapping up his semester with me this week.  The students wrote thank-you notes to him.  I decided on a card.  

Stamp: Simon Says Stamp Solid Sentiments 

Paper: Echo Park Backpack

Cardstock: Bazzill Kraft

Ink: Stampin' Up!

Card Making As Well!

My church's Youth Ministry sponsors a "reverse collection" each Advent.  We take slips from a collection basket and bring in what is needed for the charity on the slip.  One of the charities we picked asked for cards.  I began making some, got to about 4 cards, and realized I had a stash that could also be used.  I really like the four I made.

This pin was an inspiration for this cute and simple card.

This pin inspired this get well card.

 Inside the card.

Got a new stamp set from SSS (Hand Lettered Encouragement) that I wanted to get inked.  I used the same basic design for this and the next card, just used different sentiments.

An older Stampin' Up! sympathy stamp was the perfect sentiment inside this card.

Used Simon Says Stamp Handwritten Greetings set for this card.

The remainder of what they needed was birthday cards.  I had an abundance in my stash, so I added them to my donation.