Early Halloween-y Fun! *NOW WITH PHOTO!*

We'll, keeping in the theme of challenges, I am entering the Simon Monday challenge blog, where the theme is Kraft and Halloween.   This is a quick post, because I am in Chicago with friends, and we're seeing Avenue Q tonight. Should be a blast!

Anyway, I made this--

This tag was a blast to make. Kraft card stock, lots of glitter adhered to dots of Scor-tape.  I have a roll of the 2" stuff, so my small circle punch works great with it.  My stamps are Studio G and Close to my Heart.  The top was done with a large scallop punch; I lined it up in the center, and it worked beautifully.

Ok, so that was great fun!  Off to have more!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Throwing Down

Well, the very first challenge I ever entered was a color challenge, and by virtue of a random pick, I WON. You can read about it HERE. Since that was AGES ago,I figured it was about time to try another one!

I am entering the Color Throwdown Challenge #307
I am also doing the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where Anything Goes. 

For the color challenge, we were to use the Stampin Up colors, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, and Pacific Point. 
Yeah. Old Olive I have, but not the others....
Not to worry!  Get as close as you can, they said. Yay!

So, employing the closest I had, I made this--

Well, my yellow looks really green here, but I DID start with some Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise cardstocks, and I tried to drag them toward the prescribed colors with my inks. Distress Inks Mustard Seed, and Salty Ocean really helped out here.

 

I have all kinds of die cuts going on here, as well as a Spellbinders embossing folder, and there are so many, I'll forgo naming them.  I do think my favorite part is the bright blue wood grained piece.  Reminds me of the TARDIS (yes, I'm a Doctor Who geek).

 

There's LOTS of tiny flecks of foam adhesive in here.

This shot can show you some of the dimension-

 

 

And then, I managed a non-blurry interior shot for a change--Mind you, I was holding it in one hand and shooting the photo with the other--

 

 

Well, THERE'S the yellow wheat.  Told ya.

 

This one took a good while, between composition, tiny flecks of foam, and even tinier dots of mono-multi adhesive, AND the sunflower that just never found the right spot. I am pretty happy with it, though, and it will definitely work for one of the fall birthdays coming up for me.

 

 





 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr Cardmaker Liked it, So He Put a Wreath on it

Well, if anything is going to get me onto the computer to write a post, it's a challenge!  This week, I am joining in with the Merry Monday challenge blog.  "Put a wreath on it" is what they asked for, and put a wreath on it I DID!

I made this--

 

 

I had coveted that Memory Box Catalina Wreath die for AGES, and I just LOVE it.  It is super detailed, so my metal shim REALLY helps cut it out, and even then, I had to do a tiny bit of snipping.

 

My background paper had that tiny bit of pool color in it, so I added to it with a Papertrey Ink sentiment stamp, and kept the color going with my wreath ,including the tiny bling. These are Heidi Swapp papers, I do believe, except for the wreath, which is an ancient DCWV pad. This is a 12x12 pad, and I am really digging how big the lettering is.

 

I REALLY wish the photo showed how shiny my sledding kid is, because I am PSYCHED about how I got it.  I used scraps of photo print paper!  Whoa! I was using my trimmer to trim some photos that I printed (which I NEVER do), and I really loved the shine of the paper.  I have yet to try to stamp or watercolor on it, but I LOVE it for this die cut.

 

I am also following the Festive Friday challenges, or trying to, anyway, so with any luck I will have a great stash of Christmas cards well before the rush of the season. That would be good.  This one doesn't fit in with their challenge at the moment, but I will get on the ball with them soon, I hope.

 

I'll leave you today with just a small detail of my card--

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-

Richard

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Mr Cardmaker is Feeling (Cutting) Edgy

Well, I'm back to join The Cutting Edge Challenge with their latest task.  I have so many photos edited, watermarked  and ready to go, I am hoping to get back up to my old self here on the blog.

The challenge was to follow this inspiration--



Isn't Kay's card just beautiful?  Well, I looked at it, and I broke it down to pieces-- Flowers, leaves, and sentiment, with a panel. 

So, my brain went off, and we veered a bit to the left with the inspiration, but I came up with something I liked.

I made this--

So, DEFINITELY not anywhere NEAR where Kay is with the clean and simple thing, but I DO love my colors and ALL those die cuts!

This is done with WPlus9 dies and stamps, sentiment and card stock (mostly) by Stampin' Up.  The purple leaves behind the panel are done with a Sizzix die.

The background paper is from one of my first ever crafting purchases. (Meeeeeeemorieeeeeees, light the corners of my miiiiiiiiind....)

Thank goodness for these dies.  I would go cuckoo if I had to fussy cut all those tiny flowers!

This was a fun one, and it went to my VERY best high school friend, Karlah. We haven't seen each other in years, but my heart is with her always. We were totally inseparable, back in the day, and there is still dents in the restaurant booth were we sat drinking gallons of coffee and planning our amazing lives to come.

Thanks so much for stopping by! More to come, and SOON!
All Best--
Richard

Mr. Cardmaker has been Tagged

Today I'm entering the Tag You're it! challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

This is the inspiration photo--

I just got the mini Distress Ink pads, set, 1-9, and I've been playing around with them a bit.
I pulled out my Jumbo Peony stamp from Stampendous, and got to work using some watercolor techniques.
I made this--

 

 

I black embossed my image, added water within the individual shapes in the flower, and then floated color in on top of the water.

There are so many colors in there, but Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw, and Worn Lipstick are among the majority.  Tumbled Glass is the majority of the background. 

 

I worked this pretty hard, and I am really happy that I used watercolor paper instead of cardstock, or I'd have had a huge wet mess. 

 

The sentiment is also black embossed onto vellum, with tiny dots of glue used just behind the letters.

 

The tag is subtle here, but it seems to work.

 

This is my first time at this challenge blog, and I hope to get back here again!

 

PS--I have a new photo setup IN the craft room, instead of way down in the basement, so I am hoping to get back to the blog post haste!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard

 



Mr Cardmaker is Dieing on the Edge

 

Well, if THAT isn't a provocative title, what is?

Playing with Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday Challenge again this week, and the challenge this time is to make a die cut border without using border dies.

I played around with several of my stamp and die sets, and finally came up with something that worked--

I made this--

The coloring got away from me on this baby, but I ultimately still like it.  I was able to take the flower die from the Rosie Posie die set, and maneuver it so I could get a good partial die cut just on the edge of my card base.  I cut away the remainder of the edge with my snips, and got these three flowers.  If you have this die set, you know this can be tricky, because the dies are all together on a rather sturdy sheet of metal, so separating them is not an easy task!

I stamped the flowers onto the shapes, and used markers to shade and highlight them.  That middle leaf is really bad.  I did coat everything with some clear Wink of Stella, but that doesn't help here because it doesn't photograph. Normally, I would just paste something over it, but as the sentiment is stamped right through it, I am sorta stuck with it.  Oh, well. I am going to go with, the old, "it's a handmade card, they're gonna love it anyway" idea, and just ignore that leaf.

The sentiment is from the Movers and Shakers stamp set.  Lots of fun pieces to play with and combine here.  It looks so great layering them over the flowers. And that leaf. (That LEAF! But, I'm ignoring that...)

The inside is also the right side of the card.  For that I used a piece of Crate Paper paper, and just went with it on the simple. 

Here's just a look at the opened card--

The left side of the card is some washi tape and a bit of satin ribbon.  A few clear sequins are the final touch. I like layering them just slightly over the text.  Fun, right?

So, there it is.  A leaf, with a nice card around it. (But, I'm ignoring that....)

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard