Mr Cardmaker Puts it Into Reverse

Time again to throw my hat CARD in for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge. 

This week's challenge is #325 Reverse Florals. This basically means your florals are white or mostly white, and the emphasis goes to the leaves and other greenery.

I made this--

I just got these fabulous Floral Squares dies from Pinkfresh Studio, and I wanted to use them-well, at least one... I did manage to use two PTI sets in my card--Funky Florals for the sentiment, and Rosie Posie for my stamped/diecut leaves. I also snuck some small leaf diecuts from Spellbinders in there, too..

When I was doing the inlay of the white frame and yellow surrounding pieces, I was a bit worried about all the yellow, since we were charged with keeping our flowers white. 

However, I quieted my worries by popping up some extra diecut petals on my flower. Mischief  managed!

I also have a pretty piece of floral print vellum in there as one of the layers, but the design didn't really photograph. Wop, wop...

Another view, showing off more of the dimension--

That YELLOW cardstock from Fun Stampers' Journey is such a juicy shade. Totally love it! It sort of reads a bit orange here, but it really is YELLOW. Or should I say yell-OW!! (oh, the puns...)

Now I'm off to link up my project, before I totally forget AGAIN...

Go make something!!

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

Mr Cardmaker Remembers...

Well, last week I did it again, and I forgot to post my card for the MFT sketch challenge. I've done this before, a few too many times to mention. Tsk...

Anyway this week I am on top of things, and I made and I'm posting my card!

I made this -

Wow, simpler is definitely better sometimes. I am using "A Phone Call Away" from the MFT Pure Innocence line. I love these little girls soooooo much...

So, here's the sketch--

Well, now you have to tilt your head to the right to see how my card fits...Go ahead. I'll wait...
See? You get this--

So glad I remembered to post this week!

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

Mr Cardmaker Takes to the Skies

Well, these challenges really seem to have gotten hold of me, and if they get me to do some long-forgotten blogging, then so be it. It ALSO gets me to actually READ some blog posts from other, really fantastic bloggers, so even better!

Today I am playing along with Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge. Cascading diecuts is the challenge this week, and I have gone to the skies with Up Up and Away stamps and dies.

I made this--

I also slid in my cloud dies from Amuse Studio, which I used to both cut and emboss clouds into my background. A bit of sponged white pigment ink on the blue background helps to give some depth and realism.

I kept a pretty tight color pallet here; juicy warm colors against the cool blue sky. What reads as yellow in my photos is actually a bright lime--so much for my camera this time...

I really had fun making the sentiment fit onto my cloud die cuts--of course the masking part took me several tries, since I couldn't seem to remember to take the TAPE off of my stamp before stamping.

I know you know to what I'm referring, if you've ever tried to mask a sentiment stamp. Sometimes, I just thing stamp surgery is much easier...

In really GOOD news, I WAS able to capture my glitter pen in action! Well, at least, mostly...

See? I do love my sparkle, I have to say. Oh, and that green color is more evident here, too...
As you can see, lots of layers with lots of foam adhesive creating levels of interest.

I want to point out the little tiny beige mat under the focal image. I really like that it gives it a bit of gravitas, and gives, especially with that hot pink in there, the feeling that this card could as easily be for a man as for a woman or child of either sex.

Lots of fun with this card! Looking forward to the weeks ahead.

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

Mr Cardmaker loves the Concept of Coffee

Well, it's been awhile since I played along with the Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop, and I finally was able to put some time and thought into it.
So, I sat down at my crafting table, and thought and thought, and finally came up with this mad little idea.
I pulled out my Altenew coffee stamps, and stared at them for a while. They weren't speaking to me. So I pulled out a FLORAL set, and LIGHTBULB!
I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to accomplish what my mind's eye saw, but I decided to go for it and see what happens.
I had a CONCEPT.

I made this -

See? CONCEPTUAL.

THE CONCEPT PART!

So, in the real world, when we make small mistakes on our projects, we tend to want to do some creative covering on these things. Well, I've decided to go to the nth degree on this idea, and make a huge mistake/design opportunity on a pretty panel. There would be no covering that up. But I decided that I would make it look like someone had tried to cover up a big mistake in the way that you would cover up a minor mistake, but realizing, hey, this is COFFEE, dammit, so WHY am I covering this up?

And so, INSTEAD, we DECORATE, not disguise. Get it? Because it's COFFEE. 

AIN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH COFFEE. 

NEVER.

Aaaaaaand, pretty.

The 2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Bloghop. Play along, or just go see all the good stuff. Because, COFFEE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Phones It In

I have recently become interested in doing some of the challenge blogs, and today I am playing with My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge. The sketch for this week looks like this -

Looks like a simple enough sketch to follow, and the possibilities seem pretty much endless. 

I dove in with some of the Pure Innocence line, and I came up with this -

I've really been pulled toward deep blues and greens lately, and I don't think I disappointed myself here. I used a stamp from Amuse Studio which created the dots, and I die cut a circle out of that panel. I then went to a smaller circle die, and cut out a map paper from Martha Stewart crafts. There's a pretty silver outline on the states in this paper. Photos do it no justice...

I then layered my image, my "hello" die cut (which is layered about four thick), and the sentiment on the velum, which was heat embossed with white embossing powder. 

The center circle is popped up on foam, as is the panel around it, so it leaves an interesting channel between the two. 

All in all it's pretty simple, but I think the sentiment on the velum gives it a really nice point of interest. 

Simple seems to be where I am staying these days. I like it. 

I had a lot of fun playing along with this challenge; you should try it too! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 All best - 

Richard

PTI Make it Monday #322

Today I am joining Papertrey Ink with their make it Monday series, Above and Below. The idea is to have a centralized sentiment, which you then feature by placing images above and below it.

I wanted to use the older (and much loved by me) stamp set Boards and Beams, and I stamped and die cut a number of images. 

When I went to arrange my card however, I realized my images were way too big for an A2 size card, so I had to do a much larger size. I ended up folding an 11 x8 1/2 in cardstock in half and using the entire thing to make my card. 

I made this -

I really like all the blues and greens here, and the subtle country mouse City Mouse idea that is left to be deciphered by the recipient.

We are visiting my husband's sister and brother-in-law in June, so this card will come in very handy.

I was happy to have the opportunity to join and with this challenge for Papertrey Ink, and I look forward to joining into more of these Make it Monday challenges.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All best -
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Joins 12 Kits Again!!

I am SO happy to once again be joining my dear friend Jeanne Jachna as a guest designer at 12 Kits of Occasions! This year, Jeanne has January, and even though all the Christmas snow has flown, there's a whole winter to get through. Snow Days is the theme this month!

Jeanne's kit was full of the most wonderful, beautiful and fun elements to use for all sorts and styles of winter card. I was so thrilled to get it, and so glad I have plenty of materials left over, too! More cards, please...

Now, this year the DH and I moved to FLORIDA, so snow days are a thing of the past for me. We DID have some nights in the low 30s, which is dastardly cold for south Florida, but nary a flake.

After many years in northern climes, I believe my memory holds, for the moment, anyway. I think (hope!) that I have risen to the occasion.

I made this--

This beautiful die cut background piece layered just beautifully over some of the gorgeous papers in the kit. I had to go nutty and embellish it with some glitter, as I have been known to do...
I Copic colored the figures, using colors I found in the papers,and popped them up onto the scene with foam tape. I then added some stickles to my "pond" to add to all the iciness.
The sentiment is matted with some black cardstock scraps to make the pieces stand out. I used Glossy Accents to glue wads of clear sequins to the frame.

Next up--

I love this BIG stamped sentiment panel. I inked the edges, and combined it with the mittens from the kit. A couple of paper panels, a couple of snowflakes, and some pearl embellishments, and this one was done! I love letting the sentiment do all the work for you!

NEXT--

I was so lucky to get TWO of these skate die cuts in my kit. I'm not sure I was supposed to, but I'm NOT giving it back! Isn't it just gorgeous??

I gently ink blended some blue on, just for a bit of depth, and colored the laces with a Copic marker. I really wanted to just look at these skates, so a bit of a spotlight, via the yellow circle diecut, was in order.

When I went to assemble this 4"x4"card, I really wanted to carry the idea of the laces forward, so I used the same Copic I used to color the diecut to color a bit of white hemp string. I just kept running the tip over the string until it was all covered, and the right shade. 

I finished it all off with some snowflake diecuts coated with clear Wink of Stella, and the "brrrr" diecut which I coated with some Glossy Accents. 

Next-

Talk about gorgeous diecuts! These trees are just amazing. I stuck a big piece of post-it paper over the back and separated the trees from the background, and then VERY carefully inked the background pieces with Distress Inks. I spritzed it all with some water and set it aside to dry while I added just a touch of ink and some sparkle to the trees and hill.
I originally had reassembled all the pieces and was going to leave it as that, but then I found the little deer diecut, and HAD to add it.I think I would have been a little more BLEAK without it, and who wants a card that reads BLEAK?
I'm SO happy with how the inking worked out.

And finally--

That polar bear really spoke to me, as did the beautiful snowy frame diecut. I used a bit of glitter paper to create a snowy hill, and I did some VERY soft inking with minty green to set him off from the snow (Sorry that doesn't seem to show in the photos). The layered "Winter" diecuts are so lovely, and I was really glad I went with deeper shades there. I actually like the darkness of winter, in the right setting, as well of the play of light on things. ( I don't necessarily love it getting dark at 4pm, but you know what I mean...)
I gave him a bit of snowy forest to wander through, and added some big wooden snowflakes to the storm. A few grey and teal embellishments add some interest, and finish things off!

A HUGE thanks to the wonderful and super-talented Jeanne Jachna for asking me to play with these amazing crafters and to enjoy this fabulous kit!

Please head over to the 12 Kits Blog to see SO MANY more wonderful things to do with all these supplies!

Thank you so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard