Friday Fix

Well, I took the plunge and signed on with my friend Brian King to be an Independent Stampin'Up! Demonstrator.  I am SO not a big salesman, so this should be interesting.  I am a big fan of SU! colors; all the cardstocks and inks and embellies coordinate beautifully, and the quality of it all is just amazing.  They also gather a really wonderful group of people to them, so I am in good hands, I think! 

I had actually signed up a couple of years ago, and I was just overwhelmed with this KIT of stuff and all the paperwork, and this demand of sales.  I quietly let the whole thing fade away, a sad and miserable death.  I have a better idea of what I'd like this to be, this time.  I hope.  I look forward to working under Brian's wing, especially.  We crafty men have to stick together!

ANYWAY!

The box with all my goodies came, and I immediately busted it all out and got to creating something.  I got the blossom punch, and the Mixed Bunch stamp set, along with some Baja Breeze and Pumpkin Pie inks.  I was ready!!  I decided to do a quick, CAS card. 

I made this--

The paper is not SU!.  It's My Mind's Eye, I think.  Anyway, I stamped and punched the flowers, adhered them, stamped and trimmed out the sentiment (Wonderful Words, a past Hostess set, I think), did the layers, added some pearls, and viola!     Cute, I guess, but, wop wop.....uneven spacing on the center flower.  BOOOOO!  I was kinda bored by it, too.  So, moving the flower just wasn't going to cut it.

So, time for the big fix.  I hate to toss something that is this complete, especially when I haven't done my famous trick of smearing ink across the front at the last possible second.  This could be fixed, and I went to it!

I did this--

I went back to the stamp set and pulled out the smaller stamps.  A few scraps of cardstock from the layering pieces  (which I could've punched out before making the layering pieces, had I thought of it),some extra bling, and some felt flowers from Michael's, along with MANY Stampin' Dimensionals, and I was set.  Hard to even FIND the center of this floral madness, much less find the fault of it all!!

And, let's face it, three simple flowers doesn't say "Amazing, Awesome and Talented" anywhere NEAR what a riot of blooms can do!

I am liking the idea of a Fix-it Friday feature.  I sure make enough stuff I don't "love" that could benefit from some improvements!

Please think of me when you are looking for your Stampin'Up! products.  I would love to help you get creative with this great stuff!  I will be setting up a webpage that you can go to to place your orders just as soon as I can figure out how to do it.  In the meantime you can email me, and I will hook you up!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best, and Happy Weekend!
Richard

Runway Inspired Challenge

Well, I decided that I was ready to do some new challenges.  So, I headed over to Runway Inspired.  Fashion becomes paper art.  Who'da thunk?

 

This week they gave us this photo for inspiration--

 





 

 

So, I made this--

 



 

Lining up those tiny, tiny yellow pieces was a time suck, for sure. What we do for our art!

The red flower was done by stamping with versamark, embossing in white, THEN re-stamping in versamark, and then in red embossing powder.  Red EP merely turns black on black paper.  YUCK.

The pink rose was done in a similar manner, but this time I stamped rose colored ink on top of the white, and just heated it again.  No pink EP here, sadly....

I actually like the imperfections in the flowers, because it gives a sort of "old world" look, I think.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.  You could try it too, if you have the time and inclination! 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Loves Leftovers

Sometimes, while crafting away, I will make one or two too many elements that don't end up on my projects.  They usually just get tossed into a dark corner somewhere, with scant hope of being used. 
However, I ran across a few of these things the other day, and I decided to put them to work.

I made this--

I found the little kraft happy birthday medallion in my scrap box while looking for something else, and I decided it was time to put him to work.  Actually, the envelope was hanging around, the blue scalloped piece and that dotted piece were left over from that disaster project I showed you HERE (not that THAT needs revisiting, really). 

In fact, I thin the only new things were the star and the heart.  Oh, and I did the blue "birthday" circle too.  Add it all to a card base with some twine and a button, and viola! a card. 

I have a ziplock bag with more "stuff" inside it.  I think I should drag it out and do some more of this.

Do you have little fun things hanging around your craft table?  Maybe they really go together, after all!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Pretty Squirrelly.....

Well, I have to apologize for being MIA for a while.  That mojo-free moment sort of blossomed, and I had to hibernate for a week or so.  I am BACK, though, so let's see what I have been up to.

I had an email from a former hair client about a week ago, asking if I could make him a card for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day.  I thought, oh sure, how easy.  Lovely hearts and a doily, and some lovely sentiment.  Easy, right?

Well, after I agreed to the project, he wrote back to give me his specifications for what he was hoping for.  The message went like this--

Ok, the basic pieces are related to the woman I am currently dating. My nickname for her is "chipmunk," and she works in a biology lab and loves glass beakers. Seriously, she is going to school to learn how to make glassware by hand. So something around a scientist chipmunk who loves beakers. She calls me "ogre" (there is cardmaker confidentiality, right?) so I was thinking something with a chipmunk in a labcoat working with beakers on the front and then inside getting squeezed by an ogre. 

(So, ok, apparently there is NOT cardmaker confidentiality.  So, sue me.  Who, of the people he knows, is going to read this, anyway? )

Uh, like, WHA'? I don't have STAMPS for that!!!   Who makes scientist chipmunk stamps, anyway?
Well, after my initial panic, I remembered that a couple of years ago I made a Frankenstein card by hand cutting and layering shapes.  I decided that I could adjust that design, and come up with the ogre part.  I did a mock-up and sent it to my friend/client.  I told him that I was a bit uncomfortable making a chipmunk, which I hadn't ever attempted, because I worried about it not being cute, and I didn't want to offend this young lady. 

He replied--

That looks amazing!!! I would only ask you give the chipmunk a try, my girlfriend is far from vain and she is going to just love this - she is a pinterest DIY junkie. It's your call but this is really great!

Ok, so HOW could I not give him a chipmunk?  Well, I put on the old (very old) thinking cap, and this is what I came up with. 

I made this--

 

So , Ms. Chipmunk started with a circle of brown card stock, with two more smaller circles for her cheeks.  The rest just sort of fell into place, especially when I borrowed an idea for the lab coat from Betsy Veldman.

See the "beaker" thing she is holding?  I had an idea to use a little glass vial that perfume samples come in, but the labels they paint on those things does NOT come off.  My answer?  That's a little piece of a glue stick! 

So, I know you're wondering what happened to the ogre, right?

Well, you have to open the card to see him---

So,  As you can see he's a lovesick ogre.  Jed (my client) has really blue eyes and very dark hair, so I HAD to do the same for this guy.   Jed is much more handsome, however!  I really had so much fun creating this guy.  His head, with his jaw and lips etc, is from a Spellbinders die that I cut pieces out of, and the hair and eyebrows are from the leftover side form an A*Muse Studio grass die.  I folded paper to make the ears (around some nasty ear hairs, mind you), and I used punches to make the rest of the shapes.  I do love the nose, I have to say.  The whole thing really came alive when I inked all my papers' edges; the eyelids are my FAVE !

I went so big on this guy, I had to put the space to write a message on the upper flap of the card!   I think there is some BIG impact in store!

Well, I have to say, this one took me more time to do than anything I've done previously.  When you have a client that you're working for, you really try to make everything as perfect as possible, and that definitely means a few more steps to make sure that glue doesn't leak, there's no fingerprints, etc... None of the regular stuff you manage around when you are doing for yourself.

This card is THICK, too.  I HAD to pop up that nose on the ogre, (how could you NOT?) and the ears had some depth to them too, so since all that had already happened, I decided to just go for it, and deal with the envelope later.  The chipmunks background pieces are popped up on foam tape in areas, and the hearts around her are, too.

Here's a look of her and the envelope I made--

I managed to get away with no bling and no ribbon, which is unusual for what I would normally do for a Valentine, but there is SO MUCH stuff already, I don't think it will be missed. 

Well, panting and sweating, I crossed the finishline on this project, and got it into the mail.  As long as the airports open in Boston before the 13th, I think we're in good shape!
I hope they both like this card.  I am pretty happy with it, I must say. 

You know, this may get me to do some more 3D type cards, especially now that I can handle making envelopes!  Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard