Thank You Card Marathon Part IV

 It has been a while since I brought you lovely readers another instalment of The Great Thank You Card Marathon of 2015.  Today I felt an explosion of flower power was in order.  Nothing like flowers to brighten a gloomy day, right?

This batch of cards used the Flower Patch stamp set and dies which I was looking forward to trying.  They really give a strong pop of colour, but it really took me such a long time which I didn't expect.

It probably is faster for others, but Arthur makes things a challenge at times despite having a MISTI which makes stamping much easier.  With more frequent use, I'm sure I'll find ways of speeding up the process of stamping these lovelies.

I loved the background paper which looks like newspaper articles about tea so I had to leave a little showing, but not so much as to distract from the fact that it is a thank you card not something related to a kitchen tea or other such event.

 I also love placing the flowers so the petals and leaves extend beyond the card base.  I made sure (using an envelope) that it wasn't to such a large degree that the cards would be considered larger than standard size

 
 
I didn't layer the flowers with as much dimension as I would have liked, but it was important to remember that many of the cards would be going through the post and if they're too fat they'll incur extra postage or risk damage.

I am also not thrilled with the shade of brown ink I used for the flowers.  Maybe something a bit darker...and being less heavy handed with it!
 

 

Despite having to stamp layers of petals on to of each other rather than cutting a new layer, the different parts of each flower in the stamp set still really added an interest to the flowers and the ability to mix and match means unique blooms.

 I look forward to trying more combination with this stamp set and using a lot more layers.  I was surprised at how versatile it was - I have seem both modern and vintagey cards with the same flowers and it seems to work almost every time.

Paper Smooches January Challenge - Card 2

The challenge for January 2016 is any four colour combination (neutrals are "free"!).   Click HERE to visit the challenge page!  It runs all month long so join in the fun!  You only need to use at least one PS die or stamp.  Click HERE to visit the Paper Smooches web page.

I had the idea of using some of the paper pads and sets of DSP from the new Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue which was released on 5 Jan.  I chose the It's My Party paper pad this time.

Paper Smooches products I used were the stamp sets Super and Party Posse along with the dies Super 2 and Bam Bubble.

My colours for this challenge were pink (Melon Mambo), pale green (Mint Macaron), Yellow (Crushed Curry) and silver and black, grey and white for neutrals.

 The alternative name for this project could be "What Not To Do" and it's a card I'll definitely come back to and improve on at some point. :-/  So why blog it?  I find that learning from mistakes and the error part of "trial and error" are just as important as when things do go right.  Often art and craft involve experimentation and you can't grow and develop if you don't try new things.  So here's what I learned and I look forward to trying again and again until it looks the way I imagine.

I had some ideas using a superhero bursting out of the bam bubble, in a night sky over a city.  I liked the look of the confetti print on black for the sky and plain grey cardstock buildings using patterned yellow paper inside the windows was fine too.  Even the bubble looked OK.  That's when things went downhill.

Firstly, I wanted to switch out the head of the hero.  Sounds like an odd thing to do, but the retro, slightly old school face of the hero just wasn't doing it for me and when I thought about a suitable substitute, naturally a CAT came to mind.  The pretty kitty from the Party Posse set was probably the best option.  After I cut out the head and body. they just didn't look right together, but I was determined to make them work.

My first mistake was to stamp them with archival ink instead of memento since I wanted to colour with Copic markers.  I didn't notice my mistake til I started to colour and the ink started to run.  I figured I'd switch to Inktense pencils which aren't ideal on X-Press It Blending Card.  Head/Desk.

See by now most people would have seen the big flashing light telling them to re-stamp the image and figure out an alternative to the hybrid hero cat.  Not this Crafty Mama.

I did the best I could with the colouring and started putting things together.  Once again, I forgot I was using archival ink and managed to smudge the sentiment a bit due to the longer drying time.

The silver sequin stars were entirely unnecessary and can barely be seen.  Next time I'd either omit the stars or choose something more subtle for the sky.

Well, thanks for looking at my card and I hope if you try it, you learn from my mistakes and do a better job.

If you missed my first challenge entry for January, you can see it HERE

Thank You Card Marathon Part III

Well I'm back with another instalment.  I've been busy with lots of new stuff, but for now here is another taste of the thank you cards.


I'm not sure exactly why, but these cards weren't sure I did that particularly well.

I used Core'dinations cardstock to make it interesting without overpowering the paper.

The sentiment was a hassle but it was something i had been meaning to try.  I used the current Whole Lot of Lovely Hostess Set.  I wanted to emboss only the word part of the sentiment in gold, while colouring the rest with markers.

 I'm not sure I could have done it without MISTI since the markers leave a lighter impression and require repeated colouring and stamping in the same spot.  This was something I wasn't even going to attempt with the stamp-a-ma-jig.

We got there in the end and despite leaving it to dry and generously rubbing down with the embossing buddy, I still got gold powder particles over the rest of the sentiment, but not too severely.  I must admit I do sort of like that look!

The way to emboss only the text was to use a versamark pen but I had hoped it would be more juicy.

Lastly, some crochet trim, pearl and a gold doily to finish.  Phew!

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

A Whole Lot Of Lovely Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Snail Permanent Adhesive	Stampin' Dimensionals	Stampin' Trimmer	Embossing Buddy
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Au & Nz)	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Bone Folder	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock	Metallic Foil Doilies	Pearl Basic Jewels
Many Marvelous Markers	Big Shot

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Paper Smooches January Challenge - Card 1

I had so much fun playing along with the Paper Smooches challenge last month, that I couldn't wait to do it again!  Click on the Paper Smooches graphic to visit their site.

The challenge for January 2016 is any four colour combination (neutrals are "free"!).   Click on the cute retro telephone graphic above to visit the challenge page!  It runs all month long so join in the fun!  You only need to use at least one PS die or stamp.

I had the idea of using some of the paper pads and sets of DSP from the new Stampin' Up! Occasions Catalogue which was released on 5 Jan.

Paper Smooches products I used were the bow, dollar sign and "a gift for you" sentiment from the stamp set Retail Therapy and the starts in the background were from the PS Stars Dies set.

So this begs the question: "what do tea sets, nail polishes and gift cards have in common?  A perfectly logical connection in my mind.

I was commissioned to make another gift voucher.  It's for a nail supply store where we buy reasonably priced (by Australian standards anyway) nail polish in some of our favourite brands.  This store has an actual name but my sisters and I refer to it simply as "the nail shop" so that's what I put on the voucher.

I wanted lovely bright colours and out of the two paper pads I had pre-ordered, the Have a Cuppa was the better option.  My 4 colours were going to be pink (Melon Mambo), Turquoise (Bermuda Bay), Yellow (Crushed Curry) and Purple (Wisteria Wonder) and black and white for neutrals.  OK so the glitter paper on the nail polish bottle is a different shade of pink but it's still pink!

I layered a diagonal stripe from the paper pad on curry cardstock and splattered various spray inks over it.

I used the rotary stamp for the wording and hand cut it for a slightly messy look and the whole card had an 80s, retro vibe which kind of tied in with the retro telephones.  I love a happy co-incidence!

After inking the edges on the word strips and gluing them down, I decided I wanted the stars in the background.  After choosing a tone-on-tone, small scale print from the DSP pad in each of my four colours, I die cut the stars and adding them meant my word strips had to come up.  This is pretty much how I always work.

The nail polish bottle was pieced using a stamp from The Alley Way who sadly are closing their doors.  I covered the whole thing with Crystal Effects to give the impression of a glass bottle!  A bow and bling are essential for any worthy cosmetic.

Lastly a custom envelope (OK it was a bit of an afterthought since the voucher was a bit too long for the standard one) and leftover stars.  You can never have too many stars, right?  RIGHT?

Thanks for visiting and I hope to make a few more entries with different papers from the Occasions Catalogue,

Please check out my second challenge entry HERE

Thank You Card Marathon Part 2

If you haven't seen the first post about the Marathon, you can read about it here.

This is another set of 4 cards.  The first two pictured are made using the Afternoon Picnic colourway and the last two use Tea for Two.

I stamped a retired stamp called Love is Kindness and after stamping on watercolour paper using StazOn Ink, I used the Inktense pencils and the aquapainter.  I used the linen thread to tie around the bunch of tulips at about the same spot as the printed twine was.

                          

I added some layers and lace wrapped around the first 2 layers and stamped the banner (from the Endless Thanks stamp set) on vellum in StazOn before heat embossing the sentiment from the same set in gold.  Despite using the embossing buddy, some grains got on the black border, but I actually liked the way it looked.

The banner needed to be fussy cut since there isn't a matching die and a few pearls provided the finishing touch.

 

Thanks for stopping by and hope you visit again and read about some of the other cards from this set.

Stampin' Up! Products Used:

Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim	Linen Thread	Endless Thanks Photopolymer Stamp Set	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Aqua Painters
Island Indigo A4 Cardstock	Stampin' Dimensionals	Snail Permanent Adhesive	Bone Folder	Jet Black Stazon Pad
Stampin' Trimmer	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper	Heat Tool (Au & Nz)	Versamark Pad
Embossing Buddy	Paper Snips	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Vellum A4 Cardstock	Pearl Basic Jewels

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