Mr Cardmaker Gets Negative (And Feels Really Positive About That)

You know how sometimes you get an idea in your head, and it just won't leave you alone until you do something about it? 

I bought these Labels Twenty-two dies from Spellbinders, and while making a die cut with one of them, it came to me that if I centered it just so, I could use the negative to make a card.  So I did. Oh, the card I could make with this!!
And it sat.
And sat.
I kept looking at it, putting it aside, contemplating just tossing it....and THEN!

 

I made this--

 



So, the problem with wanting to use a die negative to make a card is that there's a big hole in your card. uh, Hello!

 I decided to go Springy and bright, so I got out the Lucky Limeade card stock, and filled that sucker in, nice and tight, making sure it would NEVER fall apart.

Then, I decided to stamp. After. Wop, wop......

What followed was a lengthy series of masks and cursing, with a (finally) decent medallion motif at the end of it all. I sponged some white into the center of the medallions, and onto the edges of the sentiment tag.  I was sort of looking for an early morning mist kind of feel, despite my use of really bold colors.

 

The flowers started with Melon Mambo card stock, which I sponged with white ink to texture things up.  I crumpled them up in my hand (a good thing to do after the aforementioned stamping debacle) before assembling them with a white mini brad.  The leaves are more medallions, punched out, cut into sections, and crumpled up.  After adding the flowers to the card, I added tiny dots of Glossy Accents to make it look like dewdrops.

 

The sentiment tag is just a strip that I gave an edge to by slipping it into Modern Label punch from SU.  The punch itself would have been too small, so this works.  The sentiment is from GinaK Designs' Enjoy the Sunshine set.

 

A few green rhinestones, and that's that.  Oh, I will need to make a big envelope for this one, since it's about 1/2" thick.  No biggie. (Famous last words)

 

So that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.  Uh, PLANNING would be the watchword for today.  I would probably have been able to pump this baby out TONS faster, if only I had thought the whole thing through first.  Live and learn. 

 

 We're off to Chicago for the holiday weekend.  Any plans for you??

 

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 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 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

Thankful, Through the Pain and All...

My house is on a beautiful 3/4 acre lot, with many trees.  We love our lot, and we are smart enough to allow professionals mow the lawn for us, because we would either wreck it or be living with waist high grass.  We are also pretty frugal.  Okay, we're cheap, especially when it comes to doing stuff we really know how to do.  When we asked our lawn people about leaf collection, they came back with a quote that made my eyes pop.  Needless to say, we declined nicely. 

Let me tell you how we are DEFINITELY having them do the leaves next year.  We have already disposed of 27 lawn bags of leaves, and I bagged up 11 more yesterday.  There are probably another 20-something bags worth still out there on the lawn.  I love my trees.  I do.  I am NOT such a fan of all the leaves.

Of course, my favorite tree is the last one in my WHOLE neighborhood to change color, and while it is indeed magnificent, it makes me nuts to think I am going to be collecting those leaves well into the middle of November.  I am getting too old for this.  I need to move back to a city, I think.  Speaking of backs, mine is killing me.

I am able to break from the leaf nightmare to make a card or so every once in a while.

I made this--

I won a tutorial class from Beth at My Little Craft Blog, where she makes a wonderful card set and box.  The LEAVES are the real jewel of this class, and I will be using her technique until the end of time to do leaves from now on. 

This involves using inks and daubers to color your punched or die cut leaves, then coating them in Versamark and coating them with clear embossing powder, which of course you then heat with your heat tool.  They are gorgeous and shiny and just wonderful!

This card is on GKD Kraft card stock, and the papers are Stampin' Up.  The gold flag piece is done with Martha Stewart gold glitter embossing powder (which is just a bit chunky for my taste, actually).

The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo, and I used my Versamarker to get the tree to accept more glitter embossing powder.  I used a background stamp from Inkadinkadoo on the pale grey piece with some SU crumbcake ink to give it some interest.  Spellbinders dies made the framed window for the image, and the whole piece is raised off the kraft with some foam tape.

I like Thanksgiving cards.  I am entering this one in the Paper Smooches Thankful challenge.  I love their stamps, and I have NONE yet.  Wish me luck!

I have some pictures of one of the card sets I made using the instructions from the video class I won.  I changed up the design a bit, because that's what I do.  Those pictures will be coming up soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Some Call Me Mr. Mojo

No, not really.  I was able to get myself a bit of mojo though, in time to put together a card for Mojo Monday 261.    That sketch looks like this--

I made a card for my SIL Andrea, who is having a birthday with a ZERO in it!  Maybe it'l be lucky for me over at Mojo Monday.

I made this--

I went out on a limb and substituted my circle of leaves for the large circle in the sketch.  Gotta take some chances, sometimes!

This is on GinaK Designs Pure Luxury Kraft card stock. with random bits of very old card stock used in the other elements.  The leaves are Punched with an EK Tools punch from  scraps (mostly from Me & My Big Ideas), that I inked up using a "direct to paper" method.  I also curled up some of the edges of the leaves.
This picture doesn't show it, but they're all coated with some Brilliant gold Delicata ink, so they're really sort of glitzy.  I wish the picture was better at showing that, because it's sort of the best part.  *sigh*....

The gold flag started as textured white card stock, that I ran through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder, then inked with both sponge daubers and "direct to paper" on the raised surfaces.

I stamped the sentiment in Memento Espresso Truffle ink with a stamp from GKD Enjoy the Sunshine set, and stamped flourishes from inkadinkadoo, then cut it out with a Spellbinders Nestabilities die.  I stamped the flourishes both in Crumb Cake ink from Stampin' Up, and more Delicata ink.

The backgrounds stamp is from Ditto, and I got that pup at Michael's for $1.99!!  Love that!  The ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michael's too.  The button is an old one, and the twine is some random stuff from AC Moore.

This is actually the THIRD in a series using that embossing folder.  I made two others, that are more, Autumn/Thanksgiving themed.  I'll show you more of those next time. 

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 Challenging

Well, as promised, I was host of the Free for All Friday Challenge over at GinaK Designs during the span of July 13-20.  I did a "Man Style" challenge, asking the participants to come up with a card for an adult male, as opposed to a boy.  It was SO much fun, and SO many people joined in!  SEVENTY-TWO, you heard me, 72 entries!!  Everyone did amazing work, and I was really happy to be host.

I made two samples for this challenge, using GKD Follow your Dreams set by Theresa Momber.
They look like this--

I used DP from MME, and card stock from GKD.  My die cuts were done with Spellbinders dies, and the embossing folder is a Cuttlebug folder.
I colored the dragonflies with colored pencils, and also used the pencils to do some detailing on the trees, reeds, and other images. 

I took some ink and lots of water and flicked some speckles onto the first card with a paintbrush.  As my shadowy photos can show you, I used copious amounts of foam tape to pop up different elements on both cards.

I'll use one of these for my dad's birthday next week.  I love it when timing works out like that!

Sorry to be away for so long.  My MIL had some serious health issues this week, and I have been at both hospital and rehab center for almost two weeks now.  Hope to be free to post more in the coming days!

Thanks for stopping by! 
All Best-
Richard

More Summer Birthdays

I am really NOT a summer person.  I like the colors, and the sunshine and the long days, and all the flowers.  I DO NOT like the HEAT.  Re my last post about Michigan summers....yeah.....Not with this horrific heat wave we're having!  Lawdy, can we get us some SEPTEMBER already??

ANYHOW....

My nephew/godson Jared had his birthday, and I made him this card--

I was kind of digging this design, because the image happens at the bottom third of the card.  I don't think I find that happening most of the time. 

This card started with a base of SU card stock, with some layers of cut and punched MME Fine and Dandy Boy DP.  I did some detail with yellow and white twine from We R Memory Keepers.

I stamped Jenny Bowlin Studios seal stamp in two colors to create a sun on some SU daffodil delight cs, and circle cut it with a spellbinders die and my Cuttlebug. 

I die cut some clouds with my A*muse studio clouds duo die and sponged them with Memento cantalope ink to make them look like a sunrise, then popped them up with some foam tape.  That little kiss of aqua behind the sun is a circle sticker from Paper Source.

The truck is SU's Loads of Love set, and the dude and presents are from the Loads of Love extender set.  I hand drew the little swirls that look like exhaust/movement.  I stamped the truck both on the card stock and a piece of DP, then cut out the DP one and pieced it on top of the stamped image.  I used copics to color things in.  I mounted the whole thing on some random gray cs, and mounted it up with foam tape.

The inside looked like this--

Here I used sentiments from SU, both from the Loads of Love set (duh), and from Happiest Birthday Wishes (double duh)..
I repeated the use of that seal stamp to make my sun, and I used a piece of smashbook tape to help attach the blue banner piece.
I hand drew a border around the yellow cs with a superfine tipped marker.  I like how it personalizes it a little.

So-  That's my birthday card!

Thanks for stopping by!
Stay out of the heat, for heaven's sake.

All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker has a CASE of the Graduation Hooplas

SO after I made nephew Elliot's card, seen HERE,  I needed three more cards for my younger brother, my cousin, and another nephew.  Time was of the essence, so I made almost identical cards for them all.  They look like this--

This design started with a CASE of a card I saw on Pinterest.  You can see the original with all due credits HERE.  I liked the idea of the partial mortar board hat, and the tassel, so I ran with it.

I started with a white card stock base, 4.25"x 5.5".  I then added a piece of DCWR cloud paper, trimmed down to 4"x 5.25".
With a Jenny Bowlin Studio "seal" (looks like a sun to me) stamp, I stamped a sun on SU Dandelion Delight CS with two yellow shades of ink (sorry, I did not note which I used).  Then I found a Spellbinders circle die that fit it, and put it through my Cuttlebug.
I stamped the sentiment "You" (Papertrey Ink's Simply YOU set) on the sun with gray ink, and then stamped the center circle and the second part of the sentiment with black stazon ink, just to get that amazing crispness.  MUCH easier to read.  I cut the circle part out with a Fiskars circle punch, and adhered it with some foam tape. I attached the sun with some adhesive, making sure to overlap the open edges of the background piece.
To do the mortar board, I used some DCWR Brights cardstock stack green and cut a square, cut it in half diagonally, then rounded the corners with a 1/2" rounder punch.  I used some gray ink on a foam dauber to give some texture to the edges. 
I used a 1 1/2" x 1" piece of the same CS, as well as a scrap of yellow in the same size, and used my snips to create a fringed edge.  I rolled the uncut side around a piece of yellow cord, and made a tassel.  I attached the end of the cord to the underside of the mortar board, and adhered the whole shebang with foam tape.  I secured the tassel to the card front with a glue dot. and let the cord move around freely.
I felt like there was too much negative space at the bottom of the card, so I stamped some birds from Melanie Muenchinger's Gifts form the Sea set, by GKD.  I find myself going back to that stamp often!
I happened to have two graduates with green and yellow as their colors, so I did two of them.  The other one was red and white, with navy. 
I made this one--

This one is the same idea, different colors.  I decided to overlap the sun and the mortar board on this one, rather than have the sun overlap the outer edge.  They both work for me, I think  The red one has a more pronounced tassel.  That would probably change every time I make this card.

SO, graduations are over.  On to new adventures for these guys.  I, myself, am very proud of each of them.

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Searching

This week is graduation for Elliot, one of the nephews.  Everyone else has happened already.  I am BROKE, shelling out for gifties!  I DO love my nephews...

I made Elliot this card--

This is a really cool stamp from Stamps of Life.  I ran into this company at the MegaMeet in Novi, MI, and I really like some of their stuff!  I stamped this in Memento Paris Dusk ink onto PTI white card stock, and then mounted it onto some navy cardstock (probably SU Night of Navy).  That went onto a layered background, using DCWV Cotton Bloom paper (oval) Basic Grey Boxer paper (the blue piece) and My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two Sunshine paper (the big houndstooth background piece.  The base is SU More Mustard (I think.  I also have a multicolor pack from PTI, and I may have used one of theirs).  All on a base of PTI white card stock.
I inked the edges of the puzzle piece with some Distress Ink Tea Stain, and I die cut the letters of his school initials with some sizzix dies, and used my glue pen to adhere them  That rhinestone is some random foundling.

The inside looks like this--

I used Spellbinders Labels Four and Labels Four Small dies with my old bud the Cuttlebug to do the center piece (Dollars to doughnuts there is some messed up stamping underneath it), and I used my pennant punch from SU to do the pennant pieces.  Stringing these puppies onto that twine was a pain in the butt, but it looks good, so, there that is.  The sentiments stamps are GinaK Designs and SU, and the twine is from Memory Keepers. 

So that's it!  Hope he likes it.

Thanks for stopping by! 
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is an Interactive Guy

I have entered the land of Papertrey Ink stamps and dies lately, and WOW am I having fun!
I have been ODing on their Rosie Posie stamp and die sets, and now I have some new PTI dies to play with.
The movers and shakers dies by PTI let you make interactive cards.  I made this one--

I used the PTI Simply You Stamp set for the sentiment, and yes, the flowers and leaves are done with the Rosie Posie sets.  I Wet embossed my white rose onto yellow CS, and the leaves are merely stamped. 

This is what you see when you pull the tab--(except not so blurry)

The key to doing this well is to use super strong tape on either side of the strip so it doesn't pull off while the tab gets pulled.  I used scor-tape on mine. 

This is a fun die, and there is also a landscape oriented one.  There are dies for things that pop up, and one to make spinners or sliding things with cool pathways. 

I am always psyched to find something new and exciting.  More, please!

Thanks for dropping by!
All Best-
Richard

Supplies-Card stock- Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink; Stamps and Dies, Papertrey Ink and Spellbinders; Ink, Memento, Distress Ink and Versamark; Baker's twine, Paper Source; Cuttlebug embossing folders.

Mr Cardmaker has an Announcement!

Well, the big news here is that Mr Cardmaker and his DP Charlie are MOVING!  We have a great opportunity to move out to Michigan, near Charlie's family.  He starts out there on April 1st!  We are headed out to Detroit this weekend to search out a house in the Bloomfield/Birmingham areas.  I am sad to be leaving my Boston-area stamping buddies, but whithersoever he goest.... It's been so much fun.  I hope I find some Michigan stamping buds, too, and that they are half as great as the gals I befriended here!

We'll be staying with Charlie's mom, and, of course, I can't go empty handed.  I was raised in the South, where you show up with something for your hostess.  Yes, you do.

I made these--

My apologies for the terrible pictures.  I could NOT get these things to stay closed to save my life, and it was impossible to get anything any better shot.

SO I made this little collection of cards and tags.  I used SCRAPS!  These are pieces of GinaK Designs Pure Luxury Cream card stock.  I basically went with the sizes that they were, scored (thanks, scor-pal) and folded them, then ran the fronts thru the Cuttlebug with a sizzix embossing folder. 

Then I got out some dp that I have had forever (and lost the cover of the pad, so I have no idea who made it) and my Labels 4 dies from Spellbinders, and went to town. One of the pieces is adhered directly to the cs, and one is popped up with foam tape.  It was tons of fun playing with the placement, and trimming off what was overhanging.  I just used my snips to do that.

The sentiments are from Stampendous, the Everything Happy set.  I like the font so much.I used my SU words window punch on some of them, and for those that didn't fit, I trimmed off the bottom of the card.  I stamped them in Memento Rich Cocoa, to go with the brown in the dp.

Some rhinestones from ACMoore finish them all off.  Because these are weird, random sizes, I don't have envelopes for them.  I have had the itch to make some, though, and if I get the time before we go on Friday, I may just have to give them a go.  I do still have more of that dp.  They ARE tags, for the most part, so if they don't get envelopes, I think it'll be okay.  They can be inserted inside a giftbox or something like that.

So, onward goes my plan to use ALL my stamps.  I also got rid of lots of scraps!

We could sure use a good thought from everyone out there, that we sell our condo here in Boston, and that we find some wonderful house to buy! 

And, hey, holler at me if you live in the Detroit area.  We can stamp together!

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-
Richard

Mr. Cardmaker is a User

I have been collecting all kinds of stuff for a couple of years now.  Paper, brads, stamps, inks, paper, cutters, glitter, stamps, paper, embossing powder, paper, stamps......oh, and some paper.  Other stuff too.

Anyway, I am making it my mission to use ALL of my stamps this year.  Of course, I will also buy more.  I feel it is my duty to support the stamp-making community.  I am going to drag out each set, one-by one, and use them!  I also have a love-it-or-die rule going on.  Sorta self-explanatory there, right?

However!  I did pull out a set that I have not given much use, and I did create a card with it.

I made this-

This was made with GinaK Designs set called Nesting.  I have previously used this set on THIS POST, and decided to see what else I could come up with.  I liked the nest image, and I like how the eggs on the yellow piece sort of reinforce the eggs in the nest.  There's just a little copic action happening on the nest and eggs, too.

The DP is from DCWV, and the card stock is all from SU, with the exception of the scalloped oval.  That's from DCWV as well.

The flourishes are done with an Inkadinkadoo set called Dot Flourishes, and they're stamped with Versamark.

I am also experimenting with doing MORE layers.  I am always so impressed by these cards I see with SO much great stuff going on. 

This could certainly be an all-occasion card, but I did stamp Happy Birthday inside. 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr Cardmaker tries something new.....

Ok, so I have been all over Pinterest, looking for new and exciting ideas.  Don't know Pinterest?  FIND IT!!!  You will have sooooo much fun, and waste SOOOOOOO much time!  

I have seen really imaginative and creative cards, and somewhere along the line I got the idea to try something different.  Different for me, anyway...

I made these--

I did these with My Mind's Eye papers, on PTI white card stock bases.  The pink CS is PTI as well.  The ink is SU crumbcake with a SU stamp, and the hearts are from TPC Studio with Studio G ink.  The ribbons are from my AC Moore dollar bin stash.

To make the doily image, which is from SU, I stamped and embossed the image with white embossing powder, and cut out the center with a Spellbinder's die.  I then cut out the pink scalloped circles with another Spellbinder's die.  I saved the insides of the scalloped circle for the sentiment, and adhered the open circle to the back of the doily piece. 

Setting the inside circle took a bit of trickery, because I needed it to be placed perfectly, so no edges would show.  so, I used some removable adhesive, and gently stuck it to the pink frame.  I did this AFTER putting strong adhesive on the back of it, because I needed it stuck to the card base.  There was next to zero space to work with here, so imagine me cursing under my breath, because that's what happened several times while doing this.

The rest of the card front was given the big foam tape treatment, around the opening, and on the edges.  This was an adhesive nightmare to make work, especially since the inside circle kept falling off while I was trying to flip the whole shebang over.  DO NOT try this immediately after having coffee.

I finally got it all down and secure, and then I got to peel the bottom off, because, as usual, I forgot about RIBBON!...grumblegrumble.....It all worked out fine in the end.  There has to be an easier way, however.

I added the sentiment piece at the end, and trimmed the overhanging edge off by hand.
All in all, these look pretty good, but also look much easier than they were.  I think the idea is to LOOK hard and BE simple.  *sigh* 
But, I learned something, and I had fun, as always.  That's the name of the game.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my mad musings. 
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 has been a Working Guy

Clearly, I have been conspicuously absent from the blog arena.  I have been a BUSY card maker!

I got some new, fun supplies from Stampin'Up!, and have been trying to put them to work.

I made these--

I ran this one thru the cuttlebug with a SU! Sizzix folder, and I tried to mask off the doily/snowflake.  Big fail!  I almost broke my Cuttlebug.  There is LESS embossing on the doily, but it definitely did NOT do what I wanted....

Let me say how happy I am that I do NOT have to send one person a thousand different cards, because it would surely kill me.  I am very happy to lots of variations on a theme!

These are all made with the Hello Doily stamp from SU!, and some white embossing powder.  I LOVE this stamp, and how much it fills up my card!  I cut around portions of the doily to give some emphasis in areas, but I rough cut them (as usual) because I think the doily would get lost without a tiny bit of framing.

I also did a touch of copic coloring in some of the letters. 

The sentiment is from Studio G in the cards above.  Below is from Stampendous, the Holiday Home set.

Here is where I switched from stamping on Melon Mambo, and instead moved to patterned paper.  I love the combinations!!  These papers are American Crafts, Dear Lizzie set.  The shimmer paper is all DCWV.  The little snowflake punch is Martha Stewart, and the big one is SU!

The Merry Christmas above is punched out with the words window punch from SU.  I use this a LOT this season.  That, and the modern labels punch.  I'll show you those cards soon!

The sentiment above is A*muse Studio.

The tags here are done with GinaK Designs All Occassions Tags set, and Spellbinders grommet tags dies.  The sentiment is SU! Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The tag and the sentiment are both wet embossed to punch them up.  That frame above is one of those happy accident moments, where I used a leftover scrap to make a rectangle and got a fun little frame.  These things make me grateful for my two-way glue pen.

As you can see, my sentiments DO get to floating around just a bit.  Oh well....

I have plenty more cards to go, and more to show you.  Stay tuned. 

Sorry for the brief amount of explanation here, gang, but I gotta get back to work!!! 

More later, as soon as I can get them photographed!!!

I hope your cards are going REALLY well, and that PANIC MODE hasn't settled in at your house.  (I am not QUITE there yet, but I hafta get OFF this computer!)

Thanks for stopping by! 

All Best-

Richard

Mr. Cardmaker had BEST get busy...

So, my DP's sibs had their birthdays.  We met up with SIL Jan and her guy Ronny for Chinese and presents, and the morning before we went, I frantically made this--

(OK, I don't know what I did, but I can't seem to put my pics where I want them.  Please bear with me.)

This is a pocket tissue holder.  I used a template given to me by my friend Amy Corr, and went to town.  The base is some Mostly Mustard cs by SU!, and the dp is from M&MBI.  I used a scalloped square punch and a small circle punch to make the clasp-y thing, and I had some ancient chipboard cut outs that I inked up with some StudioG chalk inks.  The brads are from Michael's.  I love how it perfectly fit the center of the flower.







Here is a view of the inside.  I used the same inks as the ones I used on the flower, and I used some GinaK Designs stamps to make the design on the cs.  This is a cute and easy project.  Jan loved this.  I am making one for niece Jessica, who is coming to spend Thanksgiving with us.  I think I am about 90% done with it, but I need to get on it, since my list of stuff-to-do is about a million miles long.

Then, because the morning wasn't frantic enough, I made this, too--

Inside this puppy is a 2 1/2" by 8" notepad from PTI.  I used a piece of GinaK Designs onxy cs cut at 5 1/4" by 8 1/2", scored in the middle to allow for a depth of 1/8".  I attached the pad with some scor-tape to the inside, and used some snowflake stamps from ScrappyCat (from my Goodwill store, no less) and some K&Co stickers to doll it up a bit.  The whole thing is tied together with some white ribbon.  A red button on top of a white one, tied with some red and white twine finishes it all off. 

The inside---This could CLEARLY get really all jazzed up with some rhinestones and other colors, but I was really pressed for time.  Oh yeah, I also stamped a snowflake in pale blue on each of the pages of the pad.  'Cause I'm decorative that way.  Yes, I am.  I have a pack of ten (I think) of these pads.  I will do more!!!

Then, I have still been struggling to come up with a Christmas card style that I love.  I made a bunch, and I have some ideas, but there's SOOOO much work to do between now and when I have to trot these babies to the post office.  Oh yeah, the cards...

I made these--

Ok, so the skinny on these bad boys---sorry I didn't do individual pics.  I just haven't got the strength...If you click on the pic, you will be able to see it a bit larger.

The base is PTI cs.  I like the weight (110#, I think), and the awesome price!!  $6.00 for 40 sheets.  Anyway, I am using American Crafts dp, shimmer paper from PTI and DCWV, and glitter paper from DCWV.  The sentiments are from A*muse Studio and SU!, with some StudioG thrown in.   The snowflake punch is Martha Stewart, and the label design is from GinaK Designs, cut out with Spellbinders dies.I also did some dry embossing with Sizzix and Cuttlebug folders, and the ribbon and bling are from various dollar bins. 

Notice how there are only nine, count them, NINE cards so far??  I gotta get off this computer and go make some more RIGHT NOW!!!!  

Thanks for stopping by, and have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!  I am very thankful for YOU and your support!!!

All Best--

Richard