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