The musings and offerings of a burgeoning greetings master

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Mr Cardmaker is All Watery About Love

Well, it's Valentine's Day! Kisses all around! Hugs, too!

I made some tags for the Mr. We are not big on presents for V Day, but I like tags, so there it is.

I made these--


TOTALLY in love with Avery Elle's Circle Tag die.  I stamped with Papertrey Ink's Grand Ampersand set and I clear embossed that beautiful ampersand. 
Using Distress Inks, I just quickly dabbed red and pink inks (and a touch of grape) all over my watercolor paper tags.
Super random, but WOW, what an effect!
 
I thought they were a bit plain and lonely by themselves, so I die cut some pink tags to go with.
 
Now they look like this--
 
I also did two more in white, which I glued to back the tags, because the watercolor paper got slightly warpy from all the water. I taped the tags down to my surface to paint, but they warped anyway. I'll have to figure that one out.
 
Oh, and that's the gift there, holding everything up. I love a brown paper package, tied up with strings. And TAGS. Don't forget the TAGS that I worked so hard on.
 
PS-Don't you LOVE a big, clear sequin? I love layering them over the sentiment, because they're CLEAR, and you can read right through them!
 
Well, that's about it for me and Valentine's day/week.
 
Can we do Spring cards yet? PUH-LEASE????
 
Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Friday, February 13, 2015

Mr Cardmaker DOES get Weary

This was SUPPOSED to be published tomorrow, but my big fat fingers pushed publish by mistake. This is my second post for the day! Scroll down to read the other one!

Red and Pink. Pink and Red. YES, it IS Valentine's season, but COME ON....

Ok, rant over.

I can appreciate all the red and pink that happens during February, but I gotta be able to break it up SOMEHOW.

SO, with thoughts of impending Spring, I made this--

Whew. something, ANYTHING to cut through the ....oh, I did say "rant over" before, didn't I?
Carrying on!

So, yeah, another shaker card.  I should be out of pink sequins soon, I think....
Stamps and dies, and punches are from Unity and Stampin' Up.

So, this card came about from scraps left on my table from another project. (though, I have no idea what that project WAS....hmm.....Mr. Cardmaker may be losing it.)

I  like the idea of putting the shaker as more of an interior panel, as opposed to popping it off the surface. That way I can pop up other elements, and it get to be more interesting (if only to me!).


A view of the inside--

 All those kisses and hugs? Well, that STARTED as a very well placed single stamp in a perfectly selected place just under the sentiment.

Yeah.
Except, I stamped it upside down. OXOX. Who puts OXOX on  card?  It's XOXO!
OXOX is some insult to a pair of chubby twins, for crying out loud...

So, now we have a very much OVERSTAMPED series of kisses and hugs. Because love, right?

SO, see the sequin right in the middle of the E? how nicely it hung there for the photo?
IT WON'T COME DOWN!
I have no idea what is so sticky in there, but that sequin found it, and is hanging on for dear life.

But, I fixed it!


I added two sequins to the OUTSIDE of the acetate, so that other one wouldn't look so weird.
Besides, when all the sequins are just lying there, waiting to be shaken, the card looks a little dead, don't you think? And that's NOT what I'm going for, so much.
Funereal shaker cards don't have too big a market, I'm thinking....

So! That's my Valentine's OTHER Valentine.
I'm entering this in the Virginia's View shaker card challenge. My third!
I made a couple of tags, too. I only have one gift. One tag left over. Hmmmm....
Come see those, next time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best!
Richard

Mr Cardmaker DOES Have a Heart, After All..

Yup, yup. I do have a heart, and it beats for my guy, my friend, my husband. Oh, and for the beagle, too. (Had to mention him, the beagle I mean, because he's sitting right next to me as I type this.)

So, with it being Valentine's Day, and all I made a card. Well, TWO cards, and a couple of tags, but I think on this post I'll just share the one. Look around for more!

I'm offering it up for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Red and Pink. Since it is. Red and pink, I mean.
And since it's still open, it's another entry for Virginia's View shaker challenge.

I made this--

Now, honestly, pink and red are not my go-to combo, but hey, VALENTINE'S DAY....
So, this card was one of my first shaker attempts, and once I figured out the size and shape it all needed to be, (which took surprisingly long) I was pretty well set.

I think I am sort of sequin heavy in this thing, but to be perfectly honest, I'm trying my butt off to use up some of the zillion sequins I purchased!

I used Lawn Fawn's Love you a Latte set to do the sentiment, but when I went for the take out cup image in that set, I found them to be too small, so I went for my Fiskars Latte Love set instead.
The hearts on the shaker panel are from Julie Ebersole's  Cozy Christmas set (Hi, Julie!), and the dies are from two Spellbinders collections.

SO, as I do, I started with the one element, the shaker thingy, and went from there, filling in with panels and buttons and punched hearts, etc. When it was all done, it was cute, but as I mentioned in my last post, I will often look at what seems done, and feel the need to attack it with something else.

That's where my scribble lines come in. doing this always makes me nervous, because I feel like at any minute, I'm going to have a spasm or something, and ruin two hours worth of work, but I sallied forth. Not too shabby, and no disaster, so that's good.

I took some photos, and put it to the side, waiting for V day (NOT VD; that makes me laugh and nauseous at the same time).

About a week later, I saw it laying there.
Taunting me.
You REALLY think this is done? it seemed to say, sneering at me.  It sneered at me, I swear!

Well, I take my sneering cards both seriously and personally, so I grabbed my fine line marker, and went BACK to work--

(Thinks it can be all sneery with ME.....I'll show 'em...)

I came up with this--


Compare!

SO!
I gotta say, MORE black sketchy-ness really adds a nice, slightly gritty feeling to this easily sickening sweet card. Even on the coffee cups...
Since it IS for a man, I think this is a welcome element!
And, how about those felt hearts?
Winter warmth, warm and cozy, cozy and cuddly! How could THAT be wrong?

Once more--

Less glare on this one.  I like it better.

So, that's my Valentine's valentine. I hope he likes it, and shakes it to his hearts content.

I am off to the market, to buy something luscious for our dinner. And more chocolate.  Because Valentine's.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Happy Valentine's Day to you!
All Best-
Richard



Monday, February 9, 2015

Mr. Cardmaker Just Can't Leave Things Alone

This week I am jumping into the shaker card challenge at Virginia's View. This one is nice and colorful, so I'm also joining the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, too!
I have some shaker cards that I am holding back, because the hubby reads my blog (good hubby), and they're Valentines for him, so...

I made a new card! I found some stamps that I wanted to play with, and with no more planning than that, I got started. 

I first came up with this--

Pleasant, fine, whatevs... But, snoozeville.  Whomever I sent this to would probably appreciate it, but I wasn't happy, really.  (And, when Mr. Cardmaker ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  Ask the hubby.)

Basically, there was too much negative space, and the pattern was really overwhelming.

So, while I was thinking about what to do, I went and did the inside.
It looked like this--

I stamped the You, and then grabbed my white gel pen and highlighted it, and added a few dots.
So, yeah, that happened. Whoopie, but not much.

Anyway, I had to add SOMETHING before I fell asleep on this thing ,so I did this--

Better, right?  RIGHT?! Some little white dots on the frame, the veneer hearts, and extra chevron....
Better! (Scroll back up and compare. You'll see...)
But....
Yeah...
Meh.
Still not there.  

Meanwhile, on the inside---

Can I just say what a difference a few white dots makes??? For reals, though.

Before--
After--

Crazy, right?  Moving on...

Okay, so I FINALLY was able to get this thing where I wanted it, and all it took was a couple more little pieces of paper--

I made (and finally walked away from) THIS--


Ahhhhhh......Sweet, sweet, artistic relief. The pattern of the background paper has been broken up and balanced, and there's enough visual interest overall. Ta-DAHHHHHHH!

Wait, let's do a quick recap of this journey, shall we?
Oh, come on, you know you wanna....

 
ZZZZZZZZZ....
 
Better, but, not really....
 

Now , THAT'S what I'm talking about!!! (Are we still saying that? I'm thinking not, actually....)
All I had to do was change the chevron at the top, and add those striped pieces.  SO crazy how the simplest things work to your advantage...
 
So, there's my (VERY LONG and SUPER picture heavy) tale of how my card happened.
I guess, in a nutshell, the lesson here is --don't give up on these crazy things. Unless you rip it, or maybe light it on fire with your embossing tool, you can probably make anything work in the end. WORK IT!
 
Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard
 
 


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Mr Cardmaker is Not So Shaken

Well, there is SO MUCH to be said about shaker cards these days. I have two of my own here, waiting to be posted after Valentine's Day, because I don't want to ruin it for a certain husband...

But people are MAD about these shaker cards; MAD I tell you! They are making them in every shape you can imagine, and stuffing them with anything they can grab that will fit under the acetate.
I have been interested in all those fun things, especially the hand cut confetti I am seeing.

Well, our nephew Elliot had his birthday, and of course, I made a card.
I wasn't really moved to do a shaker for him, but the idea of that confetti stuck in my head. So...

I made this--

I made the balloon panel using Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics stamps. I love layering that balloon stamp--they look translucent like real balloons!
The streamers use the coordinating die set with the stamps on top. 

I didn't want to bling this card up, being that it was for a guy, but I did want to make it more dynamic, so I was very glad when I remembered the idea of homemade confetti.
Two punches (a 1/4' circle and a ribbon slot punch), and a few scraps, and I was golden. I just dabbed some glue in the places I wanted the confetti, and threw it on. You're looking at what stuck!

Here's another view--
You can see the dry embossing on the black mat better in this shot.

I have been spending more time with my interiors lately, so I came up with this for the inside of this card--

Please excuse the weird messy junk on the red part--I forgot to get a photo before we wrote in it. Clearly, I possess no Photoshop skills AT ALL...
I wanted to show off the inside, because I was really happy with the way it spoke to the outside design. It references all the parts of the outside, and though smaller, keeps most of the visual impact.

SO, you CAN have confetti without the shaker! I think the other way (shaker with nothing in it) would just be confusing...

Be sure to come back to see the REAL shaker cards I did!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Friday, January 30, 2015

Mr Cardmaker is Tagged

Just a quickie post to share the tag I made for the Tag, You're IT Challenge, and for the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

I made this--

Isn't this FUN?!  Love the colors, and the liquid platinum embossing powder gives it such a nice shine.
I think the real fun, though comes at the bottom section, where I popped up a star in the DP, and added a wood veneer star.

Wait. Wha...?

Yes indeed, a wood veneer star. I dipped that sucker into some versamark, and triple embossed it with more liquid platinum embossing powder. Use a post-it to hold that tiny thing for you, unless you have Teflon fingers. Ouch!
Looks like it's made of metal though, right?

A close-up--



The inspiration comes from this tag by Debbie Hughes--


I gravitated toward the idea of the highlighted bottom area more than anything else, and substituted my sentiment die cut for an image one.

One more long, skinny, ribbon-y look--



I had so much fun creating this tag, and I am ready to make MORE!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Mr. Cardmaker Is Gaga for the GooGoo

It is always a happy day when you get to make a New Baby card!

My friend Kristin had her second child, a sweet, beautiful little girl. I HAD to get a card together.

Have I mentioned that my mojo has been on the fritz since the holidays? I think I might have blown a fuse, or something.

I have had very little experience doing baby cards, because the kids in the family were well beyond that place when I took up this card making thing. I DO like a challenge...

I made this--

I hand cut the onesie, (is that what it's called?) form pink cardstock, and found a teensy star stamp to give it some pattern. I used my piercing tool on the edges and added a tiny bow.

Do you LOVE that sentiment?!  I did it in liquid platinum embossing powder. Looks like my ribbon did some drifting while I did these pics...

I had JUST bought some felt in various colors, and what a perfect chance to use some to make flowers for this card.  I used a mini brad to hold the layers together, and I found if I pinched the flappy-part UP, it actually pinched the whole flower into a really attractive place.

Another view--

I think the baby liked it.  Her Mama said she did, even though I didn't see her eyes open up too much during my visit. I guess drool says much more these days than it once did.

Welcome to the world, little Miss!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Monday, January 26, 2015

Mr Cardmaker is Making the Most of Hibernation Weather

I don't know about you, but wintertime means indoors and hibernation as much as possible.
Max the Beagle keeps that from being true at my house, being privy to TWO two-mile walks a day. You definitely learn what 11 degrees Fahrenheit  feels like when you have an active dog. Oh, AND he gets up early, so no sleeping in, either. Good thing I love that good, good dog.

Outside or in, I have always been a HUGE house nerd. I love architecture and interiors, classical and modern. Give me a house, I'll tell you how I want to improve it, paint it, Christmas it up, whatever.
It made TOTAL sense to get my hands on Papertrey Ink's Boards & Beams stamps and dies. They came with my big box of Christmas goodies.

I was actually sort of slow to play with them--I don't know if it was a "sacred cow" syndrome or what. But, I did bust them out, diecut, stamped, and water colored a farmhouse and two town houses .  And then, they sat. And sat. Finally, after lots of staring at them, I came up with some cards.

I made this--
I think the painting turned out rather well on this guy, if I say so myself. LOVE my Distress Inks!

I borrowed a small stamp from a favorite Stamendous set to do that little grass/sidewalk-looking strip.
I love the chunky font of the hello die from Lawn Fawn. I did three layers, and did the top one from cardstock that was clear embossed. Hard to see the shine here, but it looks pretty good.
The house is also three diecuts, layered together, and the tree is on foam adhesive.

When I first stamped the fence and trees on the yellow card stock, I had to laugh at myself, because it looked like I stamped on a post-it!  My scallop punch gave it a more upscale look.

I thought it was done at this point, but I can't leave well enough alone, and I thought the card base was too plain.  I decided to add some stitch lines around the card with a white gel pen.

It looks like this now--



Better? Not better? I just don't know.  I need either a more steady hand or a better pen, I think, but it IS a handmade card, after all, so I don't worry about such things.

Then I made this--


I actually did a mix of stamps here. The background cityscape is from Jillibean Soup, called You Move Me, and the sentiment is from Stampendous. Everything else is from PTI Boards & Beams.

Another view--

Layers of the house diecut, glued together, pops the houses off the card front.
I think those tiny trees are so cute...

So, I am off and running with this set, and I'm happy with my start. More to come, I'm sure!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Monday, January 12, 2015

Mr Cardmaker has Finally Lost It...

I have had this tradition, for the past several years, of making calendars every year--one for Charlie, and one for his mom. 
These take me forever to make, for some odd reason, and I usually don't manage to get them done until the middle of January. This year, though, I had them done for Christmas! They still took WAY too much time to make, though, and I have vowed I will find a better way to do them.

For Charlie's mom, I made this--

I used The Stamps of Life's Calendar to Build stamp set to do the calendar pages.  Oh, my lawdy bees, this was a job.  Never again. way too much finagling with the 29th -31st on ALL of these months, and lining it all up just gave me heartburn.  I will find a calendar to download and print next time, fo' sho'.
Nana is a fan of the purples, so I went to town with my scraps and a butterfly die that I got for ONE DOLLAR at JoAnn's a while back.  It will come to me who made it...
Oh, and the tiny butterflies are done with my tiny heart punch on the fold of some paper scraps. SO easy, and a fun trick.

Another view--



For Charlie, I made this--

So, yeah. Stars and telephones.  You know, your usual, classic combo.
Yeah...
So, CLEARLY my brains had slid into my shoes on this one.  Call it "Holiday Fatigue", or whatever...
I liked the image, I like the glittery stars....So sue me. He likes it.
(Honestly, it occurred to me that he would be bringing it to work, where he uses the (WHAT?) TELEPHONE (!)--All day long. SOOO...)

Another view of this one--


And, so now Charlie will know what day it is. Tah-DAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Mr Cardmaker Makes Post (Card) Holiday Thank Yous

Well, this posting is rather late for the season, though, happily, these cards went out in a timely fashion.

Did you have a nice holiday season? Get lovely gifties? Take a trip? Get hammered on New Year's Eve?

We are very fortunate to have a generous family, who not only favor us with gifts, but also share their time and talents with us throughout the year. Making "Thank You" cards is always a pleasure, and I like spending lots of time on them, trying to get them to be "just so."

I made ten of these--

I LOVE old post cards.  I found this stamp (minus the Thank You sentiment--I added that) at Michaels after Christmas sale, and I snapped it up. I will get LOTS of use out of this over the coming years.

So, on white card stock, I used several Distress Inks to age the edges, watercolor the greenery, and add the "light in the window".  I also aged it more with some water drops, and then some black ink flicked onto the image.  Some shredding of the edges, a matte, a base, and there you go.

Then came the glitter.  OH, the glitter! Sadly, it is SO difficult for me to capture that shimmer in my photos.  you can just make out some of it in this shot..


Maybe a bit better now?  Look in the trees.
Oh well.  They were SHINY SHINY SHINY. For reals. Just sayin'. The roofs, the trees, the snowbanks...*sigh*...


Anyway...
This stamp will be great in a soft tan on cream card stock, or in red or green on matching card stock as a subtle background. SO much can be added on top of this, along with using it as is.  I look forward to doing many things with this stamp for next Christmas. 

My Michaels had several left this week at 80% off (!), so you might have a look at your local store...

Oh yeah, did you know that the CHA (Craft and Hobby Assoc.?) show is this week?  That means more NEW GOODIES coming available!  Oh my aching wallet...But what FUN! Watch for all the new releases coming up.

I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, and Darnell's NBUS #3 challenge, because they want something NEW.  My stamp was just the thing!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard


















Monday, December 29, 2014

Mr Cardmaker's Holiday Card Wrap-Up

...
..................................This is my second post today. Scroll Down for more!.......................................

Well, I wanted to get the rest of my Holiday cards on the blog for future reference, since you never know when you're going to crash your computer.

Skipping the ado,
I made these--

 This was a "happy accident" card. I did all the stamping and coloring, then I screwed it all up by trying to color a background in.  Well, happily, my glue pen and some glitter hurried  to my rescue, and I ended up with these guys. Leaving the image UN-glittered was a fun and different look.

I made several--






And with a different snowman from the same SU stamp set, I made these--

 Same idea, slightly different execution.





Okay, moving right along--
I made these--



These were some of my favorites.  I love this set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson.
I think this card has a very late sixties feeling to it; like this card is something my grandparents (who were VERY hip) would have sent to friends back in the day.


 I love the shine that the Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder gives these bells!
This one (the prototype) got an extra bell. More merry, anyone?
 
Then, finally, I made these--
 

I love this Lawn Fawn set, with the happy messages in the steam coming off the mug of goodness.
It's hard to see, but I coated the mugs with both clear Wink of Stella AND Glossy Accents, and I used a white gel pen to pump up the marshmallows a bit.
 
It's such a shame that shiny stuff doesn't photograph well.  The background paper is all glittered, the stars are shimmery papers, and the doilies in the first shot are glitter paper as well.  Kinda all falls flat in the photos. Wop, wop... 
 
Well, that's about it for me for the holiday cards.  If you feel like you missed some (because they happened all through the year) and would like to see them, they are all found here--
 
And a non-card post--
http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/05/and-now-for-something-totally-christmas.html

Thanks so much for stopping by!
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your spending time with me, and especially your comments!

All Best, and Happy New Year!
Richard