Mr Cardmaker is All Set

Here in New England, when you don't want what's being offered to you, instead of saying "no thanks", people tend to say, "I'm all set."  I don't get this.  I also don't get/like/appreciate/admire using "no problem" instead of "you're welcome", or even "my pleasure", which is my own prefered phrase.

Anyway, putting my soapbox aside, I made this set--

 These are A2 (4.25"x 5.5") bases, with 4"x 4" white cards attached to them.  I used GinaK Designs "Garden Fresh" set, and My Mind's Eye "Ooh La La" 6x6 paper pad to create these.  To do the carrots, I masked and stamped three of the carrot image, then paper pieced them, popping the center carrot off the surface with some foam adhesive.  You can just see where I used an edge punch to do a pierced scallop edge.

 The red of the mellon is popped up on this one.  Same edge treatment on all of the bases; hard to make out in the photos.

 I love these pears.  I was worried about them at first, because the "skin part prints the color of the ink, and I didn't want to switch away from the black I had been using, but the patterned paper with a bit of green and lots of white carries it all off, I think.

 For the peas, I did a two level dimensional treatment.  The peas are popped 1/8", the pod is up 1/4".  I like the way it looks.

 For this one, I had to mask off the core part of the stamp in order to get a "whole" apple look.  Yum!

The "pulp" part is popped up on the dotted one, and the "pits" are above those.  I am just about "fussy cut" out!!!
The white card stock is from PTI.  These cards don't stand by themselves so well.  I really don't care so much about that.  This may be my favorite thing I have made to date.

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

PS--I hope to be able to give you a positive report about our ventures in Real Estate next time I write!!

Mr Cardmaker has an Announcement!

Well, the big news here is that Mr Cardmaker and his DP Charlie are MOVING!  We have a great opportunity to move out to Michigan, near Charlie's family.  He starts out there on April 1st!  We are headed out to Detroit this weekend to search out a house in the Bloomfield/Birmingham areas.  I am sad to be leaving my Boston-area stamping buddies, but whithersoever he goest.... It's been so much fun.  I hope I find some Michigan stamping buds, too, and that they are half as great as the gals I befriended here!

We'll be staying with Charlie's mom, and, of course, I can't go empty handed.  I was raised in the South, where you show up with something for your hostess.  Yes, you do.

I made these--

My apologies for the terrible pictures.  I could NOT get these things to stay closed to save my life, and it was impossible to get anything any better shot.

SO I made this little collection of cards and tags.  I used SCRAPS!  These are pieces of GinaK Designs Pure Luxury Cream card stock.  I basically went with the sizes that they were, scored (thanks, scor-pal) and folded them, then ran the fronts thru the Cuttlebug with a sizzix embossing folder. 

Then I got out some dp that I have had forever (and lost the cover of the pad, so I have no idea who made it) and my Labels 4 dies from Spellbinders, and went to town. One of the pieces is adhered directly to the cs, and one is popped up with foam tape.  It was tons of fun playing with the placement, and trimming off what was overhanging.  I just used my snips to do that.

The sentiments are from Stampendous, the Everything Happy set.  I like the font so much.I used my SU words window punch on some of them, and for those that didn't fit, I trimmed off the bottom of the card.  I stamped them in Memento Rich Cocoa, to go with the brown in the dp.

Some rhinestones from ACMoore finish them all off.  Because these are weird, random sizes, I don't have envelopes for them.  I have had the itch to make some, though, and if I get the time before we go on Friday, I may just have to give them a go.  I do still have more of that dp.  They ARE tags, for the most part, so if they don't get envelopes, I think it'll be okay.  They can be inserted inside a giftbox or something like that.

So, onward goes my plan to use ALL my stamps.  I also got rid of lots of scraps!

We could sure use a good thought from everyone out there, that we sell our condo here in Boston, and that we find some wonderful house to buy! 

And, hey, holler at me if you live in the Detroit area.  We can stamp together!

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker has a Mojo-free day...

Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to hear Vidal Sassoon speak about his long career in hairdressing.  He spoke most passionately about "process", and how you have to do something all the time, whether it's good or not, so you can make breakthroughs and come up with something really great.

So, with that in mind, on a very NON-MOJO day, I pulled out a stack of DP I hadn't used yet; Cotton Bloom from DCWV.  Pretty, happy paper, some glittery, nice stuff. 

I made these-

This could not have been simpler.  The top strip is popped up (doesn't it make you giggle when you accidentally write "pooped up"?)  with some foam tape, and is edged with a strip that was punched with a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is SU, and the swirl stamp is GinaK Designs.  Blah blah blah, you gotta card.  I am going right now to round those bottom corners.  Be right back.

Ok, done.  Sorry about that.  Next!



This one has a bit more effort, working the ribbon under the dp strips.  Again, simple, simple.
It's sometimes nice to just let the pretty paper do the work for you.  I will remember these ideas when I am pressed for time.  I think I would definitely round all the edges on this one if I recreate it, though. 

Thanks for stopping by.
Next time, I have some MUCH more involved projects to share.  Stay tuned!

All Best-
Richard

Mr. Cardmaker is a User

I have been collecting all kinds of stuff for a couple of years now.  Paper, brads, stamps, inks, paper, cutters, glitter, stamps, paper, embossing powder, paper, stamps......oh, and some paper.  Other stuff too.

Anyway, I am making it my mission to use ALL of my stamps this year.  Of course, I will also buy more.  I feel it is my duty to support the stamp-making community.  I am going to drag out each set, one-by one, and use them!  I also have a love-it-or-die rule going on.  Sorta self-explanatory there, right?

However!  I did pull out a set that I have not given much use, and I did create a card with it.

I made this-

This was made with GinaK Designs set called Nesting.  I have previously used this set on THIS POST, and decided to see what else I could come up with.  I liked the nest image, and I like how the eggs on the yellow piece sort of reinforce the eggs in the nest.  There's just a little copic action happening on the nest and eggs, too.

The DP is from DCWV, and the card stock is all from SU, with the exception of the scalloped oval.  That's from DCWV as well.

The flourishes are done with an Inkadinkadoo set called Dot Flourishes, and they're stamped with Versamark.

I am also experimenting with doing MORE layers.  I am always so impressed by these cards I see with SO much great stuff going on. 

This could certainly be an all-occasion card, but I did stamp Happy Birthday inside. 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr Cardmaker is a Love Kind of Guy

For my DP Charlie--My Valentine.

I made this thing--

This was done with My Mind's Eye papers on GinaK Designs Kraft card stock.  The brown is SU, and that is attached to the striped band.

I then adhered the  pink strip with the Martha Stewart punched leaves (from PTI)to the underside of the green piece.  The green piece is popped up from the brown with foam tape.  To do the glitter hearts, I punched the hearts in the green paper, and then took a scrap of whatever else, ran my adhesive runner across it, and sprinkled some pink Martha Stewart glitter on it. I think they would NEVER look this crisp done on top of the paper. Oh yeah, that's a SU scallop punch used on the top of the green piece.

The frame for the sentiment is GKD, and the sentiment itself is SU.  I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa to go with the background.
The background script stamp is from Joanne's, I believe, and the heart punch is from AC Moore's dollar bins.  I STILL love poking around in those dollar bins! The pink pearls are also from AC Moore.

The tiny pink heart stamp in the sentiment is also from GKD, the same All Occasions Greetings set as the frame. That's a Spellbinders grommet tags die that cut it out.  Tiny piece of SU white satin ribbon through the tag holes.

That's my Valentine's valentine.  Hope you like!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard