Mr Cardmaker Figures it Out





 

 

Do you ever find, in your stamp collection, that sentiment stamp that you look at and say, "WHAT am I going to do with you?"   Well, I bought Stampin Up's Smarty Pants set ages ago.  I really had just about signed off on it as a "what was I thinking?" moment when I ran across it, and decided to challenge myself.

 

I made this-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am NEVER one to feel obligated to stick to one stamp set when I'm making something (uh, unless somebody's gifting me the set and asking for samples to show).  If the image works, I'm pulling it out!  The clouds and the orange sun rays that are peeking out from behind the vellum are from two Papertrey Ink sets, (Up, Up and Away, and Funky Florals) and the birds are from Melanie Meunchinger's Gifts from the Sea set at GinaK Designs.

 

Doing the clouds was an interesting exercise.  The darkest ones are actually done with pink ink, not orange, and after stamping the first row, I just kept going up and up, letting the ink get softer as I went along.  I did the same pink with a flower stamp to make the sun's rays.  Totally reads orange.

 

The grass die is from Amuse Studio.  That bugger is tough to work with, because it almost always makes a mark on the bottom of the cardstock you're cutting.  Putting it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder fixes that problem!  That's a green ribbon, darker than the one in front, separating the layers of grass, btw.

 

It's pretty hard to see in this photo,but the yellow circle living under the vellum has also been dry embossed, Swiss dots this time, and that little yellow brad holds it all together.  Foam adhesive pops it off the surface.

 

I think it looks like some scene from the Serengeti or something, minus the rhinoceros.  Sooooo...for what occasion is this appropriate?  And for whom? 

 

Is this suitable as a graduation card?  I guess the sentiment could be one of those things you'd shout after someone, before adding, "...and don't let the door hit you in the ass!"

Graduation card, it is!!!  ( I promise I WON'T put that on the inside.  Wouldn't that make a GREAT stamp, though?)

 

Now that I think about it, it could be a good card for someone starting a new job, or even, HEY!  How about your local doc who's about to do a Doctors Without Borders stint?  Or a teacher? Ok, so this is pretty applicable, after all.  Cool.

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

All Best-

Richard

 

 

 





Friday Fix 2

So, it seems that I do indeed make enough "wop wop" cards to continue with this "Friday Fix" idea!
While I ponder whether that is really a good or bad thing, let's forge ahead!

Anyway, I made this--

 

This is done with Papertrey Ink's Up Up and Away stamps and dies, and A*Muse Studio's Cloud Duo dies.  I used the cloud stamps to make what should be treetops there on the bottom.  Really, not a bad card, but just nothing really special about it.  Yawn, even.

 

So, I got out some patterned papers, and the cloud dies and got to work making this more interesting.

Now, my grand scheme is to be able to make stuff better without having to rip stuff apart. Time will tell, as I go on, whether or not this will be possible.  Stay tuned.

 

Anyway, here's what I came up with-

 



Better, right?
There's just more "There" there. Why?

The patterned clouds give you a more eye-catching visual, not to mention that more clouds are just "more" to look at. 

The "treetops", whether your eye sees them as trees or just ground or bushes or whatever, have a stronger presence, and makes the whole "airborne" feeling of the balloons even stronger. I love that I got so much "landscaping" done from only two die cuts! (and the award for most quote marks in a single post goes to.....!)

No really huge changes here, and that, is my point.  Often, it doesn't take a huge amount of changes to improve your work.  Sometimes, it just wants a little "flair"!  (Yes, I used them again.  Keep on reading, I may do it yet again!)

So, dig out some of those cards you aren't sending because you just don't love them, and get your flair on.

More to come!

Thanks so much for dropping by!
Happy Weekend!
All Best-
"Richard"

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

I have been saving these cards until today when I am entering the Black Background challenge at PTI.  My friend Melanie Meunchinger actually put me onto this "Pullin' Pastels" technique, and I loved it INSTANTLY!  You can see her post about this technique HERE.

I don't have any artist chalk or pastels, but I do have some colored chalkboard chalk, and that seemed to work just fine!  I scribbled onto a scrap of paper, and used a cotton ball to work it on my black background.  I used veramark to stamp, and this is what I got--

Is this not the COOLEST look??? 
So, the leaves are the stamped part here.  Isn't it amazing how much pulls off of the card stock, when you use versamark? 
The flowers look just like the same technique, but if you know this Rosie Posie set, you know that can't be.  That's a POSITIVE image, not a negative one. 
I stamped the flowers onto more black card stock with blue chalk ink!  I was so happy with how well it matched up!
The sentiment is a die cut.  I clear embossed the black paper before I cut it out.  Love that shine!

But wait!  There's more--

With this one, I used yellow chalk.  It turned out more yellowy-cream on the black, and I like that!
I used the Funky Florals set here, with a Think Big Favorites set for the sentiment.  Pale Yellow chalk ink helped with the flower centers, and the dots.

Then this guy--

This one was more yellow chalk, and the Harvest Berries set.  Instead of more chalk ink, I used my Sakura glitter pen.  This photo makes it look gold, but it really is much more silver in person.

And finally--

Back to blue chalk, and the Up, Up and Away set.  This almost reminds me of the black and white part of the Wizard of Oz.  I love the clouds, and look how crisp the lines are on the balloons!  That's merely Versamark lifting the chalk off of the card stock!  No embossing!! (except for the sentiment, of course)

It was SUCH fun doing a new-to-me technique, especially when the outcome is so fast, and so cool!!
Try it!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Ready for His Big Break

I know we all have our mojo-free periods.  No energy to create, we force things, we hate everything we make, yadda, yadda, yadda....Oh, and that'll be me, over here, raising my hand to say, "Yup.  That's me."

A good friend of mine always has maintained that those times are our brains and spirits gearing up to have a big breakthrough, which will take you to a new and better creative place.  As this has borne true for me in the past , I have taken this on as part of my creed as well.
So, ok.....  Let's get ON with it, already, shall we???  Sheesh...

Hey, what do YOU do to break your Mojo-free moments?  Any great ideas out there??  SHARE, please!

Anyway--

If you made it through the pitiful post about THIS CARD, (for which, I offer up my apologies) you may remember the whole thing started with eight card bases I put together in order to finish up some paper from My Mind's Eye that I had been hoarding.  A sad end to that particular card base, I must say.  It never did anything bad to anyone....

HOWEVER!!

I had seven more to work with.  One became Charlie's Valentine.  I will share that later.  (It's not bad.  Not bad at all)

The remaining six made it out alive!!!  Aren't you glad this story has a happy ending?!

I have this really sweet stamp set from Papertrey Ink (PTI), called Funky Florals, which they GAVE you if you spent $100.00 at their online store.  I had a wonderful gift certificate from Christmas, and was able to get in on this deal.  They do not sell this, btw, and I am actually not sure if there are any left.  Be worth a check, however.

I used the stamps to make these--

Isn't his SOOOOO much better than the other thing?  I love that sentiment, and the flowers are so fun and pretty. 

PTI sells coordinating dies (from the Notched Flowers stamp set) that also go with this stamp set, but they rapidly sold out of them.  What I found, however, is that I could easily use my Nestabilities dies to cut the basic circle, and then my snips made easy work of the notches.  You just follow the image.  DUH!  There are no leaves in this set, so I used the leaf stamps and dies from the Rosie Posie set (also PTI).

When I adhered the flowers, I used foam adhesive, and put the medium flower on a 1/8" foam dot, while the other two flowers are on 1/16" foam.  I like the extra dimension.

I think my favorite part is the little "giggle of bling" that I sprayed across the bottom.  I like the mix of pearls and gems here, and the lighthearted placement.

Oh, I should mention that these are 4"x 5 1/2", and not the standard A2.  I wanted a little extra room to allow some of the leaves and flowers to go off the edge a bit, and still fit in a regular envelope.

I will decide later whether these go solo or as a set.  I am pretty happy about they way these came out, though!

I am back to a low mojo period after making these, however.  I threw three cards away this week.  *SIGH*  That's 3+ hours down the tubes.  It happens, I know, and then it goes away.  I am READY for it to go away now, thank you.

I think I will go dig out a favorite card, and either CASE myself, or just do the same thing in a new colorway or something.  That should get the juices pumping!

PTI is doing a "black background" blog hop on the 25th.  I made some COOL things for that, and I have been saving them for this.  Stay tuned for that!

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  I so apreciate you putting up with my ravings.
Have a great, creative, and love-filled day!

All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is having a Yummy Casadia

Well, I couldn't be happier.  I was put into the roster for Wida Miller's awesome Casadia (A CASE + an Idea) at Beachorado.  I am in a line of VERY good company, and we are all working off a super cute card by Laura Bassen..

This is Laura's card--



and waaaaaay down the line, I was given this card to CASE by Jaclyn Miller--

.....NICE, Right???

So, here's MY take on that one--

This circle card was cut with Spellbinders dies, and the letters are PTI dies.  The hearts are a Stampin'Up punch, cut from paper that I coated with clear embossing powder for some shine.  Sadly, that doesn't play in this photo.  they are also popped up with some foam adhesive.  The black card stock was run through the Cuttlebug with a hounds tooth embossing folder.  Cute and mostly simple.  It did take me three tries to get something I really liked.

 CASEing is not for the faint of heart.  You really want to honor the idea you're working with, but at the same time, you want to make it your own.  However, it is SO much fun, and so rewarding when you finally rise from the work table triumphant!!
I love the word "hiya"; don't you?   It immediately makes me feel chummy and welcomed.  I use it whenever possible in real life.

Just so you get an idea, I figured I'd leave you with a peek at my prior iterations.  They just didn't blow my skirt up, if you know what I mean.  The first one loses impact because the letters are too diffused, and the second is better than just okay, but just not really a home run, either.

They look like this--

So, that's my story.  Check out the rest of Casadia's projects, and stay tuned for more to come.  Somebody is CASEing me next!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Averts(?) Disaster

So, as promised, I have a card that probably should have hit the heap.  I started poorly, had a bad initial execution, and many mishaps along the way.  I'm not even sure I shouldn't let this poor thing rest in peace after all of this after all.  BUT!  I promised to show you, and show you I will!

I made this--

OK, so I started this whole sordid affair by making several card bases with these really lovely papers from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary set.  These are the 12''X12" pages, which have a larger scale and more texture than their 6"x6" pad counterparts.  These were gifted to me a while ago, and I ran across them and felt the need to work with them.

So, my initial idea was to cut a large panel out of the base, and then fill it back in with the leaf idea that you see in the photo.  The leaves were going to span the space, and be nice and lacy, and magically hide the second part of the sentiment, so it would be a surprise when you opened the card. Or some rot like that.

......Yeah.

SO--

I did all of this inside--

THIS part is not so bad. I actually kinda dig it.  The idea here was for the stamped leaves to appear behind the die cut ones on the front with the die cuts on the inside tying it all together, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

The lower sentiments were the big surprise.  They would be hidden from view through the cunning use of ginko leaves! 

SO, I die cut out a nice long rectangle from the front.  Crooked.  Nice. This is probably the REAL first indication to toss the thing.  I made 8 card bases with this paper, however, and I had no more paper.  Time to get creative if I wanted to make a set of these things.
I managed to re cut it and straighten it out well enough.
But, then I realized that the hole was WAY too big; the leaves would not cover the sentiment in the way I had envisioned it.  Even if I did do some serious magic with some leaf die cuts, once you went to write in the card, you would have NO PLACE TO WRITE.  I had ENOUGH of that nonsense when I made THIS CARD!

OK, so this is about the point where I really should've tossed the thing.  Well, the second time I should've tossed it.  I am NOT someone who gives in so easily, however.  I sallied forth!

So, I knew I had to fill in some of that gaping hole I made.  I dug out the first die cut that I did, and cut off the top.  Now, because I had cut it incorrectly the first time, and then recut the hole, the die cut was too small to properly fill the hole.  *SIGH*

But wait!  I can SUSPEND the little bugger in the space!  Yes!  (Right?)

So, I die cut and stamped these pretty ginko leaves from PTI.  Then I painstakingly placed them across the span of the card front, lovingly adhering them to the little panel.  Bleah.  Bor. Ing.

Make a, a.......A what?  OK, a  frame!  Okay, not enough! Now what? Uh...... DOILIES, of course!

Now, the nice thing about the doilies, is that if you attack them with a two-way glue pen, they just about perfectly melt into the paper you're adhering them to.  It's AWESOME, really!
I also attached a BIG piece of doily behind ye olde panel and the space it left around it, so the message that will finally (hopefully) be written inside is well hidden from the outside.  Oh, and what the heck, throw some dang rhinestones on the thing.  Razzle-dazzle, baby!!  Maybe the shine will temporarily BLIND them or something!  yeah, yeah, that's it.....

Well, anyway.  I now have a card.  A. Card.  If you think I was going to go through all of that to make a set of eight of these monsters, you are more cuckoo than I am.  Like I said, this thing may YET hit the heap.

Can you believe that you actually READ all of that?  I LIVED it!  What a nightmare....

I said I would show it to you.  So.  You've seen it.  And that's the story.  You know sometimes you go through all of that crazy nonsense, and it comes out a masterpiece.  And, sometimes, it comes out junk.  The jury's still out on this one.  It happens like that.  When in doubt, try to work it out a little.  If it starts to happen, keep going.  If it doesn't save yourself and TOSS THE DANG THING.
Sometimes, though, it's like a train wreck.  You just can't turn away from it.  Good thing I'm NOT a surgeon, for so many, many reasons.

Thanks for stopping by, and staying with me through this ordeal.  If ever you should get this in your mailbox, think of your poor, crazy friend Mr Cardmaker, and, please, be kind.

All Best!
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is a Calendar Guy

No, no pin up pics of me.  I know you're disappointed.  Your breakfast will thank me for being allowed to remain in your stomach, trust me.  =)

I made a couple of calendars!  Early last Spring, I went to a craft show, and hit the Stamps of Life booth, where I picked up a couple of stamp sets, including Calendar to Build.  I thought this was a cute font, and I liked all the little things you could play with to really liven up a calendar.

Well, as much as I like this stamp, the calendar was TOUGH to work with.  You're supposed to be able to shift the days back and forth to make the month start when it should.  That DOES work, but only in months with 31 days.  30 day months (or 28/29 day February) really fouls you up.  I worked like a fool trying to line stuff up for hours until I finally decided to just cut the stamp up.  Muuuuuch easier! 

 Anyway, here's what I came up with--

I used white card stock from Staples for this project.  I found nice, smooth heavy weight card stock on the shelf there, and it has been a good staple card stock for me.  I cut it to 3"x 3 1/4", just large enough to hold the calendar.  I did all my numbers stamping first, starting with the easy 31 day months, then making myself cuckoo with the 30 and 28 day months.  I won't go into all the machinations that I went through, but suffice to say it was not so much fun.
I then went back and added the days header over the numbers, and the month headers above that.  It took me a while to decide to do the year and the flourish and little architectural stamping, but it all looked kind of naked.  The flourish is from PTI Menorah Medley  and the architectural stamp is from Stampendous' Tiled Quad Cube.

After getting all of that done (WHEW!), I gathered them together, and held them tightly at the top.  I laid down a big fat bead of hot-melt glue, and then dipped the tops into it, making sure I hit all the surface of the edges with glue.  I then let that cool, and trimmed off any extra with my snips.  It looked kind of messy still, so I added a strip of my patterned paper to the top to make it look nicer.

Here's a more face-on view--

Originally, I had this great idea to bind them all together with brads.  I even pierced some holes with my paper piercer to get started.  However, my lettering in several of the months was too high on the card stock to make that work.  Wop, wop... Of course, I already had hole in my January, so I added the brads and twine anyway.  Unfortunately, it will be gone once January gets ripped off.  Oh well.  This is a prototype, and it's going to DP Charlie, and he won't mind.  Good lesson learned!
ALSO-- I am worried about what will happen in February when it's time to rip off that first sheet.  Will the hot-melt glue be too strong to tear, and mess up the whole thing??  Maybe some of you know a better glue to use, or can tell me everything's gonna be okay?  I will tell Charlie to use scissors, just to be sure, I guess.

Oh, the brads are from Michael's, and the twine is from We R Memory Keepers.  The ink is Iced Spruce Distress Ink.  I also used Ranger Archival black ink, and Memento London Fog ink on the leaves.

The background is a 4"x 4" piece of Pink Paisley DP, with a stamped die cut from PTI, the Harvest Berries set. It's mounted on TWO pieces of GinaK Designs 120# white card stock.  I placed one of the pieces in my Scor-pal, and scored about halfway up the center.  I then cut from about an inch to one side of the score line to the top of the score line to create a stand for the calendar.  It stood a bit too ramrod straight up and down for my taste, so I snipped just a teeny tiny sliver off of the bottom of the "foot" so it would lean back a bit.
That looks like this--

See that little line at the top of the foot there?  That's where I assembled the front onto the backing without looking at where things were.  That's why there's TWO pieces of card stock at the back. (dumb, dumb, dumb...)  Actually, I like how sturdy it is with the two pieces.  I recommend that.

I also made another one.  This is the first one, actually.  It looks like this--

This is made with My Mind's Eye paper, and I hand inked the purple.  The numbers dies are from PTI.

So, I am glad I worked out all, well, most, ok, several of my problems with these guys.
I found a free print out of a 2014 calendar online, so I can try more, and save them for next year.  If I do one or two a month, I'll have gifts or something to sell somewhere.  These are pretty time consuming, even with all the adjustments I made.  We'll see how it goes.

PS--I just read on a blog somewhere that not having a good supplies list was a real bummer for readers.  You'll notice I linked to most everything I used on these projects.  There has to be a better way to do this, as well, I think.  Today, I went and looked up each and every one of these items and made a link to them. (Ouch!)
Who has a better idea about this?  Is a supplies list even important to you??  Let me know your thoughts, please.

Thanks for stopping by today!
All Best-
Richard

Mr. Cardmaker is Getting (Senti)Mental

Last week was a big one for taking down and storing all the shiny Christmas goodness that makes the house so warm and pretty for the holidays.  Boy, does your house look as lonely and boring as mine after you put everything away?  Boo, hiss...

Anyhow, I did start the year with a card project, but it has taken until now for me to get the photos ready to post.
Nephew Elliot has his 19th birthday (don't EVEN get me started on THAT span of time) on Friday, and the family gathered this past Friday to celebrate, since he's back to college this week.  He's the big skier in the family.  (You may have seen THIS POST last January for him,and if you haven't, check it out!).  I try to make him a card that has snow and thoughts of skiing in it, even if there are no actual skis to be found.

I made this--

This started with a 4"x4"  piece of Stampin'Up cajun craze striped  DSP, with a circle out of the middle using a Spellbinders die.  I then cut a slightly smaller circle out of a 4"x4" piece of light blue paper from the rack at AC Moore.  I think it's a Bazzill Basics sheet.  Those two pieces were layered together.
Then I cut a piece of Nearly Navy DSP (again, SU)to 4"x4", and stamped with a snowflake die from PTI's In the Meadow set, and I heat embossed it with some holographic embossing powder from Paper Source.


I tore some scraps of white shimmer cardstock for PTI into strips, leaving lots of high and low places in each strip.I highlighted them with some Stickles, and when it dried, I layered them onto the blue piece, using glue and foam adhesive.  I just found a set of two mini punches at Target, and I used the tree punch to create the tiny trees.  I added snow to each tree with my handy-dandy white gel pen.  I added those to the scene with glue and more foam adhesive.  Then I added the circle cut pieces with foam adhesive, to act as a frame for my winter scene. That was all then layered onto a 4 1/4"x 4 1/4" piece of chocolate brown piece of card stock.

To do the clouds, I took scraps of two different shades of gray card stock, as well as some silver glitter paper (from Michael's), and die cut several clouds with my A*Muse Studio Cloud Duo dies.  I sponged some gray ink onto the bottoms of the clouds, and added some Stickles for more shine.  I adhered some clouds to the blue sky, and some to the outer circles, using both glue and more foam adhesive.  I like that the glitter clouds are just peeking out, showing off their "silver lining!"  Last, I added some snowflakes punched out of vanilla DCWV glitter paper with my new Martha Stewart snowflake punch-around-the-page set.  I like this one, because it punches two different sized snowflakes!

The sentiment is taken from PTI's Winter Penguin set, and that is stamped in black Archival Ink onto some of the lighter gray card stock, and layered onto a circle of brown card stock.  I used my Sakura glitter pen to trace a shiny outline around the gray piece, then I adhered the whole thing to the card front, and then adhered THAT to a white card base.

So, sort of elegant, fun and shiny, right?  Well, I just can't leave good enough alone.

I had to mix it up a bit, by adding my own special brand of irreverence to the inside.

I did this--

I did the (ahem) sentiment on my computer, and printed it out on some card stock.  I cut it into a strip, and layered it onto scraps of paper used on the front of the card, then cut it all out with a Labels Four die from Spellbinders.I edged it just a touch, and then adhered it to the inside of the card.

Elliot liked this card a whole bunch, though I am not sure he appreciated the jokester in me so much.  Some people get me, and some don't.  Oh well.  I got a million of 'em, folks!

All in all, a pretty good way to kick off 2013's card making.

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  I hope you got some inspiration, and maybe a laugh.
All Best to you in 2013!
Richard

Supplies:
Card stock and paper-  Stampin'Up, DCWV, Bazzill Basics.
Ink-  Versamark, Ranger Archival Ink, Memento London Fog, sakura white gel pen and clear glitter pen
Tools-  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders dies (Small and Large Circles, Labels Four), A*Muse Studio Cloud Duo dies, Martha Stewart punch-around-the-page snowflakes punch, scor-pal, marvy embossing heat tool.
Other-- tape runner, foam adhesive, Paper Source holographic embossing powder.

Mr Cardmaker is Having an Affair

I have a real love affair with stamp sets that have coordinating dies.  I say love affair, because I also have a crazy, nut-case addiction to punches, and it's just not like that with the stamp/die thing.  I REALLY love these things.  Like, really.  ANd, I am super selective with what I do and what I buy with these things.

This year, I bought PTI's In the Meadow set, and the dies that went with it.  I loved these the moment I saw them.  I also bought a set of two Sizzix embossing folders somewhere, and I really liked those SO much as well.  oh yeah, and the PTI Wonderful Words Holiday stamps and dies too.

Anyway, I put them to good use, I think. 

I made these--

 Doesn't that sledder look like he's flying? 
To make the letters pop, I used white pigment ink direct from the pad, rubbing ever so gently over the raised portions.  I did it on the snowflakes in the blue card above, as well.  The branches are done with Martha Stewart's branch punch, and the birds are actually die cuts!  The snow is torn shimmer paper.

The snowflakes are so pretty in this set.  The tree is stamped onto its die cut.  All the figures in these die cuts are from a pewter colored shimmer paper by DCWV.

 

The green version of the sledder.

This one is just stamping, with no die cuts.  The tree is done in Versamark, and embossed with MS gold glitter embossing powder, then topped with VersaPEN around the edges and re-embossed with holographic embossing powder.  The snowflakes are in gold embossing powder and white pigment ink.  The photo doesn't do this justice.  It was one of my faves!

 

 



 

Another fave.  This embossing folder really blows my skirt up.  The aqua shimmer paper die cut against the the River Rock  card stock, and the placement of the sentiment stamp....me likey.

The white is popped off the surface with foam adhesive, as is the feeding deer, to push him into the foreground a bit.  So is the word "peace."

 

So, what's NOT to love about these stamps and dies?  See what I mean??

 

Well, it is snowing like crazy out my window right now, and everything is gorgeous.  What a solstice! 

 

I don't have much more to share, and I am out of here for the weekend.  I'll share the last of my cards soon! 

 

Happy Solstice, everyone.  Welcome back to the sun!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr. Cardmaker is Getting Tryp-y With It

My sister-in-law Susie is a very clever gal.  She finds the most clever cards to send us, and she even makes them every once in a while too! 

She sent us a very clever card with her initial cut out of it.  I can't find it, otherwise I'd show it to you.  Anyway, it inspired me to make a couple of these things. 

I made this--

So, nice, cute, whatever.  This is done with a Recollections set for the light strings, and a Sizzix stocking stamp and die duo set.  The glitter paper is from Michael's.I used a red spica pen for the stripes on the stocking, and the top are there is flocked, using my Glossy accents and some Funky Flock from The Rubber Cafe.  The sprigs are pieces from a snowflake I punched with a SU punch, and there's a punched red dot with a dollar bin pearl, as well.

 

 

But this is just the beginning!  Looks kind of small, right?  Well, this is how it looks when you open it!

 



Ok, I didn't get a great shot.  But, it's THREE panels.  I used a 4 1/4"x 5 1/2" piece of white card stock, and I scored it on my Scor-Pal on the marks with the little arrows on them.  These are just shy of 3 3/4" and just past 7 1/4".  If you don't have a Scor-Pal, you can probably just play with it a bit before you make your creases. 

I used my Cuttlebug and a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles die to cut and emboss the front panel.
Then, I took some post-its with all over adhesive and masked two panels on the other surfaces.
I stamped the lights, and colored them with copics.  Then I grabbed my Glossy Accents and coated the lights to give them some shine.  When that dried, I took some Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and a blending tool, and colored the front surface of the card.  I added my sentiment on the third panel, and left the middle one plain, for a handwritten message.

For the panel that shows through the front opening, I cut a piece of glitter paper that covered the back of the middle panel, and adhered it.  Then I added my stocking.

This makes such a cool effect, when the image disappears as you open the card. 

But wait!  There's more.  I got fancy with the next one.
I made this--

This is exactly the same idea, only with a die from PTI's In the Meadow set.  I stamped and gold embossed some of my many many snowflake stamps onto a green glitter sheet from DCWV, and I used a Stampendous holly stamp to do the surface of the card.  I hand painted the berries with red ink and my aqua painter, and topped them with Glossy Accents.

The inside of this one looks like this--(sorry for the blur.  This would NOT photograph well, for some reason.)
Here you can see the masking and the center panel.  That sentiment is from PTI as well.
I somehow screwed up something on the front panel, so I tried to fix it with a mask and more ink.  I think it worked out pretty well, all in all.

This turns out to be much smaller than a regular A2 card.  I may figure out the proper dimensions to make one that is a larger size, but I really like the fun you can have with this.  I would probably stay with an 11"x whatever  size, though, if you're going to use your Scor-Pal to do the EASY scoring.

SO, two more of the sixty.  Hope you got some ideas.  Hey, you know, this is just about small enough that if you did a small hole through all the layers and tied a string or ribbon through them, you could have a seriously cool gift tag, as well.  Try it!

More to come! 
Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Keeps His Christmas (card) Promises

Well, I promised some Christmas cards.  Now, I promise not to show you all sixty of them.  That would be ridiculous, you know. 
However, I will show you a good handful. 

The majority of these are made with papers from My Mind's Eye, and with PTI dies.  There's also some Stampendous stamps, Stampin' Up stamps, papers, and inks, as well as my Martha Stewart branch punch and sizzix embossing folders. 

Let's start the show!

 

The glitter paper used on these cards is from Michael's.  This is super sturdy card stock (which is actually more like card BOARD) and actually, when I tried to use my dies on it, it really didn't work at first.  I solved the issue by peeling away half of the backing on the paper.  Once I got rid of some of the bulk, it worked just fine.

 These snowflake punches are from Stampin' Up and Martha Stewart.  The background paper is from Basic Gray.

Shimmer paper used in the die cut is by DCWV, the Shimmer Stack.

Photo corner punch from EK Success.

The silver swirly paper is from AC Papers.  The swirly stamp (in red) is from PTI.

The globe stamp is from Jillibean Soup.  

Peace ON Earth.  Get it?? 

 

 

This is the first batch.  I have more.  I STILL promise not to show you all sixty.  On account of that would be ridiculous.  And, on account of I still have to make about 8 more to reach sixty.

Back to work!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

 



Mr Cardmaker is No Longer a Blue Ribbon Guy

Just a quick posting for the end of the week, to catch you up with some ideas I've been playing with.

My local JoAnn's had some Jenny Bowlin for Fiskars punches on clearance, so I grabbed a couple.  Sadly, I dropped one that made really cool blue ribbon cuts, and broke it.  Wop wop.  I was able to put it to use to make this card, though, and the bird punch, also JB for Fiskars, survived.  There are lots of stamps going on here.  The background is Jenny Bowlin, the phone is Claudine Hellmuth Studio, the So Retro set  , the "You are pretty amazing" is Papertrey Ink, and the "you inspire me" is by Stampin' Up.  The papers are all SU, as is the binder punch.  The card base is GinaK Designs.  I also did some dry embossing on my ScorPal.

The buttons and pearls are dollar bin specials, and the twine is from Paper Source.  Notice how I used my hole punch to make a spot for the twine to rest in? 

This was so fun to make, and I am sad my blue ribbon punch is dead. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker CASEs Himself

A couple of years ago, in my "early days" of cardmaking, I saw a video about using the masking technique, and decided to try it out with my shiny new stamps and $1 Studio G ink pads. 
I made this--

This was made with Inkadinkadoo Flowers and Stampendous Happy Everything sets, and I am sure this is on discount card stock, with DCWV paper as the mat.  I thought this was kind of cute, especially for a beginner.

Now, as a semi-beginner, I decided that I really liked the way it all turned out, so I went back to it and tried to see what else I could come up with.

So, I made this--

So, immediately I notice that my new, homemade lightbox is working pretty well!  Boo-yah!

I like this well enough, and I think there is at least SOME progress being made. 

I still have DCWV paper on there, but I have graduated to much better SU and PTI card stock. 

Surprisingly, my StudioG stamp pads still have some ink, and I LOVE the colors and coverage.
 
The bottom of the card is punched with an EK Success punch, and if you look closely, you can see the white dots on the inside of the card.  I could NOT get a good shot of the thing closed.

The pearls are from Kaisercraft, and the ribbon is the LAST of my roll from AC Moore.  No ACM in MI, and I am sad that I can't find any more of this stuff.  Wah.

So, what do you think?  Any progress happening here (other than my photography skills), or was I better as a newbie?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is an Anniversary Guy

Twenty-one years today.  That's how long I've been with my DP, Charlie.  Last year, for the Big Twenty, we went to PARIS!!!  Ooh, la la, fo' sho'!!  This year, after moving to Michigan, and all the MIL health drama (which always comes with EXPENSE, don'tcha know), we are staying home and having a nice dinner out.  Can't wait!  

We are not big gifts-for-anniversaries people, although I did get a lovely bunch of irises this morning.  I made him a card (as you do).

It looks like this--

So, while in Paris last year, I picked up these SWEET little Moulin Rouge windmill paperclip things while at Montmartre.  I THOUGHT I had gotten Eiffel Tower ones.  I planned this card to have a nice wire Eiffel Tower clip on it.  THAT'S why I have the cityscape right there with the natural environment.....Bleh.
Anyway, he got the idea, and he really liked this card.  It TOTALLY reminded him of Paris, which is what I was going for, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

This windmill moulin actually started out not so ROUGE, and not nearly so sparkly.  It actually started out as a plain, paperclip colored moulin.  I went after it with my R29 Lipstick Red Copic marker, which I dried with my heat tool.  Then I pounced my Versamark pad onto it and covered it with my holographic embossing powder, which I reheated to make it stick.  Warning--I DID get some red ink on my Versamark pad during this.  Hopefully, it won't transfer.

So, to make the card, I started with a base of PTI orange zest cardstock.  Added a layer of a sort of rust colored cs, then a piece of My Mind's Eye Out of the Blue DP.  I like the sky and the balloons!
I used an old script background stamp with some SU crumbcake ink to "french" it up a bit.
I punched a circle of yellow dp scrap to make a sun, using a Studio G $1 stamp, and red and orange inks.
I used Jillibean Soup's You Move Me set to get the skyline.  I sort of twisted this stamp around when I put it on my acrylic block, in order to get a wavy line.  I fussy cut it out and then adhered it to a piece of DP (with the trees ) that I hand cut into a wavy line.  Before I attached the to one another, I die cut some grass from some Old Olive (SU) dsp, and pieced that around the edge.  after putting all that together, I popped it off the surface with some foam tape.  Then I added the paper clip.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.  I also curved it as I attached it to my acrylic block, so I could follow the shape of my sun.  That took care of the outside.

I wrote a lovely personal message on the inside.  I can't show you all of that.  What I can show you is the rest of the sentiment and what I did with it.

It looks like this--WAY magnified.

This was about 2"x3" in real life.  The sentiment is, again, PTI, but the "happy anniversary" is by Stampin' Up.
I used the same papers and background stamp, but I also fussy cut balloons out from the BACK of the DP used for the background, and I used an A*Muse Studio cloud duo die to cut out a cloud.  I used the die to trace around in order to make the outline around the die cut, so it would look a bit more like the clouds on the dp (see the front of the card).  I recreated the hill and the grass, and mounted it on a scrap of dotted paper.

So, that's my card.  Hope you like it.

PS--I have a light box now!  I am hoping it will greatly improve the quality of my card pics.  I made it myself, from a storage bin, some clip lamps, a poster board, and some white fabric. 

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is a Begging for Advice Guy

So, here's the plan--

• I design a bunch of samples that I think I can recreate in a great number.  Birthday, Holiday, Wedding, etc...Maybe even some boxed sets would work here.
• I make a presentation book of these samples, and take them to boutiques and gift stores in my area.
• I send copies of these samples to gift stores in the resort areas to my north.
• People are (at least) mildly wowed, and order my cards, give me cash, and I get to do what I love and make money at the same time.

So, what am I missing here??  HELP Mr. Cardmaker.  There have to be THOUSANDS of things that I missed in this very sketchy plan, including things like angel policies (which really could be made simpler, folks!  And WHY doesn't everyone make a stamp that says "© mycompanyname" for this purpose??), marketing plans, production schedules, yadda, yadda, yadda....

ANY and ALL advice would be SO appreciated!

But back to cards and stuff--

My dear friend, Miss Betty Ann Grove, former star of the Broadway stage, had a birthday this past Sunday.  I made her this--

This is a pretty simple card, for the most part.  I used almost all SU! card stocks and DPs, with the exception of the light green piece.  That, I believe is by Fiskars, and I bought a single sheet of it ages ago. 

The fun stuff happening here is all the die cutting I did.  I cut the oval (Spellbinders Classic Ovals), and then the grass with A*Muse Studio's grass die.

Then it begins to get tricky! 

I used a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles die to start the cut of my "hill" piece.  This was done by sticking just one edge under the cutting bar, and leaving the rest out of the way.  It didn't make a big enough cut, so I grabbed the oval die that I used for the yellow piece and used it to make the second "bump".  there was a tiny portion that didn't connect the two, so a quick snip with my Cutterbee snips took care of that.

I would NEVER have been able to make such clean cuts with my snips.  I definitely like how that happened to work out.  It definitely makes your dies work in a MUCH more flexible way!

Since I was going crazy with my dies, I used the wonky rectangle die to cut the white piece for my sentiment.  It had to work on this a while, because I was not thrilled with the results I was getting, but it all finally worked out pretty well.  I stamped it with a Think Big stamp from PTI with Memento Dandelion ink, and then edged the piece with a foam applicator in Memento Cantaloupe.

I used a Jenny Bowlin for Fiskars punch to make my bird from some pink DP, and adhered it to my sentiment, which I then popped up with some foam tape.

To finish up, I ran some blue card stock through the Cuttlebug with my swirls embossing folder, layered that on a piece of pink DP, and put the whole thing on a green card base.  Last but not least, I added some bling in the form of some sweet little felt and rhinestone flowers I got from the dollar bins at Michaels.

This is a fun card for a birthday, but I'm thinking I could also do this for Easter, or just as a spring card, since these colors certainly fit the bill. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and a BIG thanks in advance for the advice you have!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is a Revisiting Kinda Guy

So, I am really a big, big fan of banners and flags, when used as a celebratory sort of thing.  Bright colors in the wind, flashing in the sunshine, just makes my spirits soar!

I have the banner punch from SU!, and I really like it so much.  I have the banner basics stamp set too, and I do use it sometimes, but I tend to like to use DP when I do use the punch.

Anyway, for my youngest brother Joshua's birthday, I made this--

I have all kinds of fun stuff on this card! 

On the card base, I stamped with PTI Background Basics Medallions set, that really pretty (and SO easy to get great results from) medallion(duh) border at the bottom, and then rounded the bottom with a 1/2" corner rounder.  This is SU! More Mustard CS, btw.

Then I cut a piece of blue CS, Stamped the sentiment (GinaK Designs, Follow Your Dreams)in Night of Navy ink (SU!), and added the strip of DP (American Crafts Patterned Paper, the Play set) at the bottom.  I cut some clouds with A*Muse Studio Clouds Duo die, and Then cut the long banners from SU! Designer series paper, in both the Brights and Royals collections.  I used my SU! heart punch to do the hearts.

I arranged the banners and clouds, then adhered them.  Some I attached to the card stock, some I popped up with foam tape.  The hearts are adhered with the foam tape.  Last, I wound some red and white bakers' twine (Paper Source) around a couple of times, adhered the blue piece, and called it a day.

At this point, I thought it looked okay, so I put it aside.

THEN!

When I went to add my message and send it, I thought it looked kind of flat.  I remembered the additional layers I did on my Fourth of July card (seen HERE), and decided that I could beef this puppy up, too.

That's when I decided to add a heap more banner triangles to this project.  I went into my scraps and chose different papers than the ones I used on the card already.  (These are mostly DCWV, and AC papers, with one Fiskars paper, I think.)  I grabbed my banner punch and went to town, arranging the pieces as I went to look like the breeze had caught them.

I cut another length of red and white bakers' twine, and, using more foam tape, adhered the pieces to the card.

I am happy about this second shift of creativity.

I have decided to take a look at some previous cards that I am holding onto, and seeing if there aren't some other missed opportunities to add some wow factor.

I'll let you know if I come up with anything!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard