Mr Cardmaker has Thoughts of Spring

I got some lovely papers for Christmas from my DP.  I decided to put them and some stamps I hadn't gotten any ink on yet to work.  Besides, I'm cold, and I want to start thinking about Spring!

I made this--

This was made on an A*Muse Studio base.  I like the fact that their card stock has a white backing, especially for bases.  I DO wish they would come out with a heavier weight version, however, because once you get a layer or two, it is hard to get proper support .  A*Muse studio is known for their very simple styling, so they probably don't worry too much about tons of layers......anyway...

The DP is from My Mind's Eye.  I think.  Pretty sure.  Almost positive. 
I cut strips, and ran them through the ol' Cuttlebug with a distressed stripes embossing folder.  I LOVE the effect it gave to the striped paper.  Each panel was backed with some SU basic gray cs, and I stamped the sentiment (SU) with Memento London Fog.  The flowers are chipboard pieces from  from Me & My Big Ideas. 

I like the way the panels overhang the edges. I will use this for a birthday card, most likely.

Since I had everything out, I decided to make another one. 
I made this-

Same base, ink, and stamp.  I added buttons from my randon collection, and a flower and ribbon from AC Moore's dollar bin.  The top of the base is run through the Cuttlebug with a Sizzix embossing folder that looks like gauze or netting.
Strangely enough, that ribbon is straight.  The embossing folder sort of warped the base a bit for the photo..  This is what I mean about wishing A*Muse made a thicker CS.  Maybe one day!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker's Ski-Crazed Nephew has a Birthday

Nephew Elliot is a ski-all-the-time kinda guy.  The winter he learned to ski, he cried when the family came home from a Florida vacation to find all the snow had melted.  He pretty much hates Florida now.  No snow.

Anyway, he turns 18 this year.  He is co-captain of his soccer team, and a mean dude with a la crosse stick, let me tell you.  He is a great artist (like, OMG) and a really NICE kid.  Wicked smaht, too. That's a New England thing....not a typo.

So, I made him this--

This makes you happy about snow and skiing, right?  That's gotta be some black diamond stuff there....just sayin'. 

This image is from GinaK Designs, the Happy Camper set by Theresa Momber.  All except for the birds.  Those are also GKD, but from the Gifts from the Sea set, by my friend Melanie Meunchinger.  The sky was in need of something....Negative space is my nemesis sometimes, let me tell you...

So, to do this, I stamped the image onto the white card stock I was using, and again onto a scrap of card stock, which I cut out to use as a mask.  I like to use a good, heavy cardstock when I make a mask, so it doesn't get all mashed up when I do my stuff on top of it. I used repositionable tape runner to hold the mask in place.

I then used a foam applicator and applied some Iced Spruce Distress Ink all over the card stock, leaving it somewhat uneven, so I could make a subtle cloud look.  Then I used some Evergreen Bough Distress ink on the lower portion, and around the edges of my shape. 

The shape is a Labels Four die from Spellbinders, btw.  The white piece behind it is also a Spellbinders die, also edged with the evergreen bough.  Each piece is mounted on foam tape to pop it up a bit.

After I was happy with my ink, I removed my mask, and colored my image with copics.  I am NOT a copics expert by ANY means, but I do love the colors and I have a small collection.  I am LEARNING how to use them.  I did not pay much attention to the colors I used, so I can't list them here.  Oh well.  I did concentrate on making the mountain in the back a bit darker, to help it look further away.  I then added some Glossy Accents to almost everything to give it an icy feeling. 

The striped paper is My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found pad, and I punched some snowflakes with a Martha punch.  The base is DCWV, edged with more Rich Cocoa ink.  I did some faux stitching, added some of my dollar bin ribbons, mounted the whole thing on some white PTI card stock and viola!  Card.

I hope that Elliot likes it, and that it makes him want to go skiing.  Like he needs any encouragement from me.....

Thanks for stooping by!  I hope I inspired you, if not to go skiing, then perhaps to make a card!!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is a Quick-on the-Thanks Kinda Guy

Christmas came and went, and, at the moment, my condo is full of the (count them!) 14 storage crates (those 15 gallon babies) and 4 cardboard boxes that it takes to put the whole shebang away.  Oh yeah, we get hosed down with some Christmas around here! 

Christmas day, however, we were so happy to have so many gifts from loved ones around the country.  Needless to say, I wanted to come up with a really nice thank you card for everyone so I could express my gratitude. 

I came up with this--

Here is a really GREAT example of how that word "JUST" allows you to make a lovely, yet not-so-overworked and super-decorated card.  See it there in the sentiment?  Love that!

So, the base here is a 4 1/4" square, from PTI white card stock.  I love the 110# base weight.  I have used 120# in the past, and it is some really nice stuff, but I can never get it to stay folded, it's so thick!  Scor-Pal or not!  I now use my 120# for images I want to use my copics on.  Much better!

The blue cs is Baja Breeze from SU!, and it went through my devoted Cuttlebug with a swiss dot folder.  The designer paper is from My Mind's Eye, the Lost and Found pad.  LOVE this paper!  It has some really nice masculine patterns, and great colors--all very blue and brown and grey based stuff.  Pretty!

The envelope and the clouds were cut form the same collection of dp, and I used the envelope and cloud duo dies from A*Muse Studio. I popped the envelope up a bit with some foam tape.

The sentiment and note stamps are also A*Muse, from the Life is a Song set.  I am getting lots of use from that set!  I stamped them both with Rich Cocoa Memento ink.

I hand cut the tails on the sentiment strip, and edged it with some white ink.  I did the same edging on the piece with the notes.

I made 9 of these puppies, wrote them out and got them in the mail, PRONTO.  'Cause gratitude gets stale pretty quick.  Just sayin'. 

Hey, nephew Elliot's birthday is coming up.  I have a great card coming along for that ski-crazed kid.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by for my first posting of 2012!!!
All Best-
Richard

Very A*Mused, Indeed

Last Sunday, I was fortunate enough to make my way to Arlington, MA, to participate in an open house held by the lovely and talented Ms. Liz Ballard.  Liz is an A*Muse Studio consultant, and I happened to find her on my search for a copic marker instructor.  She led me into another area for the copic stuff, but she was kind enough to invite me to her open house, to meet some of her peeps, and to get acquainted with A*Muse studio. I had never been to Arlington, and I was definitely into seeing some new product lines...who isn't? 

Anyway, she had a small gathering, and together (more or less) we each made our versions of these really fun cards--

Adorable, right?  Notice I have no watermark on these photos.  These are Liz's design work, not mine.  I was just lucky enough to be able to make and take them with me!  Thanks for a great time, Liz, Andrea, Mary Sara, Amy and Kathy!!

Aren't those clouds just TOO cute?  Those were made with an A*Muse Studio die.  Had to have it, and the one that die cuts GRASS!!  And some Christmas stamps, and some paper......You know, I pretty much spent WAY too much money.  In fact, when Charlie asked me how much I spent, I had to tell him, "Nunya."  As in, Nunya business. 'Sright.

Speaking of the grass die, Liz was so sweet to let me play with hers.  I cut a couple of pieces, and smuggled them out with me.  I really liked them SO much.  I can't wait for my order to arrive, but I have to, because Liz is holding it until I am able to shop the Holiday catalog after Aug. 22.  Wah, I say.  Wah.

Now that the pity party is over, I'll show you what I did with the grass cuts.

I made these--

So, these had an interesting creation.  I had the two pieces of grass die cuts, each of them about 5 1/2" long.  I really had no idea WHAT I was going to do with them, but I really wanted to use them asap.  SO, out came all the inks, papers and stuff. 

I got out a sponge dauber, and I sponged SU grass green on the blades of grass. I set them aside, and on a piece of white cardstock, I put down some post-its to make a mask, and I sponged more grass green onto the lower 2/5ths of the paper.  I turned it around, and sponged SU Ballet Blue on the top part, leaving some light places to make some clouds.  I added the grass die cuts, popping just the bottom one off the cardstock, in order to give the illusion of depth.

Ok. Sky and grass.  Lots of empty space.  Lots of possibilities.  Now what? 

I pulled out some SU stamps, Pocket Silhouettes, to be exact, and went to town with some SU inkspots , and made the garden of flowers.  Then, feeling like it was a bit flat, I pulled out my GinaK Designs Follow Your Dreams set, and added the dragon flies, stamping them both on the card stock, and onto a scrap to be colored and cut out to stick on for more dimension. 

Ok. Looks pretty good.  Pretty good, but not great.

I cut it in half!  Way to give the elements much more importance! 

I knew I wanted to use some of the new A*Muse paper I had just picked up, so I pulled out a sage piece and made it the card base for both of the cards.  Then I grabbed some of my new papers from my friend Michelle, these DP pieces are from MME-Quite Contrary.  I scallop edge punched the checked paper, and pierced the scallops with my piercing tool.  Then I layered it with some DCWV teal card stock, and in the first card, I popped it off the card front with some mounting tape.  I think it almost looks like an awning. 

Then some more DP, with a green cs backing, this from one of my value packs.  Yup, still trying to use that bad boy up.  Truth be told, I really do like the lighter weight for layering; I just would avoid it for card bases.

Some ribbon and brads from AC Moore, and it's done! 

But wait.  Hmmm.....

I think it's still just a tiny bit flat.  Not to worry!  I have a Glitter pen!!!  After going over stems and dragonflies and flowers, I felt that the negative space was the thing that was still bothering  me, so in a moment of inspiration, I did the random flightpath of the dragonfly, my mind's eye's version of it, anyway, in the less populated areas of the card base.  Now we're talking.  Done and done.

I think my favorite part of doing cards is the organic emergence that happens when you just grab your stuff and get started.  There are definitely some cards that have hit the heap and will never see the light of day, for sure, but I even have a few early cards that just want some tweaking.  And I'll get to those one day.  Really.  But just stamp and cut.  DO it. I looked at that grass die cut for no less than 4 days before I got inspired.

My list of followers has really grown, thanks to my buddy Melanie's blog candy bribe (which is over, sad to say).  Thanks to everyone who's joined on recently, and continued love to my tried and true gang! 

I turn 48 (!) tomorrow, and having 48 followers to mark the day would be so cool!  That's only 4 more.  Surely you know a friend who could use some bloggy inspiration?  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Say hello, why don'tcha?

All Best--

Richard