The Many Layers that Are Mr Cardmaker

Ok, so there's two.  At least, in this instance.

So, I got this urge to make a project or two with some vellum.  I find vellum to be a tricky substance.  It warps if you look at it funny, and woe be unto you if you try to emboss it! 
Just stamp it, leave to dry (a looong time, just to be sure) and hope for the best. 

Anyway, I made these things--

One is note sized because I SMEARED it.  As one does. 

Anyway, see this lovely scene?  Flowers and leaves, and the sun, and a butterfly even.  Yeah, right, whatever.
But WAIT!  There's more to this than meets the eye!

Watch what happens when you lift the vellum--

 

Now go back and look at it the other way.  I'll wait here.  Go on....

 



Pretty cool, right?  I need to practice my sun's rays technique, I think, but isn't it kinda fun??
Like a "two-fer".  Sorta.

I thought this was fun.  I think if I go here again, I will try to avoid a huge flower over my sun and sentiment, but all in all, I kind of like this.

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

Mr Cardmaker is in Autumn Heaven

Autumn is my favorite time of year.  Not so surprising, really.  How could you NOT love the colors, the smells, the crisp air? 
Now, I once knew a man who got depressed when autumn came.  When I asked him about it, he said it was because "it only means that winter is coming."  Terribly unfortunate for him, to have that reaction to such a beautiful time of year. 

Anyway, I decided to do some autumn cards, and I came up with a Thanksgiving (or just a thank you) card that I am really happy with. 

I made this--

 

This card's inspiration comes from the little gold colored panel.  I started with a piece of cream cardstock, and hand colored it with a direct to paper technique, using Mostly Mustard and Crumb Cake inks (SU).  Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug in an embossing folder, and re inked it with more crumbcake ink, hitting only the raised portions.

 

I backed it with a panel of gray card stock , colored with more crumbcake ink and edged with Memento Espresso Truffle ink, and added some white brads that I colored to look cream with a copic marker (E53).

 

The background was stamped with my Inkadinkadoo flourish stamps in Versamark ink, then wet embossed in clear embossing powder.  Then, more crumbcake ink to make it all pop.

 

The leaves were the super fun part for me.  I grabbed scraps of designer paper AND the piece of scrap paper that was under the cardstock I did my hand coloring on, and punched leaves with my Fiskars leaf punch. 

The scrap leaf looks like this--

 

 

 

I did MORE direct to paper on the rest of the leaves, making them bright but streaky and worn looking.  Doing the direct to paper AFTER punching helped to give the edges more presence, and I didn't have to go back and add edging on each leaf with a sponge dauber later.

 

They looked just a bit flat to me, so I grabbed my Delicata gold ink, and hit them all with that.  WOW! what a difference!  Lots of life, and a wonderful little shimmer and glow. 

 

I curled the leaves around a pencil, with some edges going forward, and some going back, and I adhered them by adding tape only to the places where the leaf hit the surface, so lots of edges were loose, and lots of texture was visible. 

 

The label was made with memento Espresso Truffle ink on a stamp by inkadinkadoo, and punched with an SU punch.  I punched a second label out of Kraft card stock, edged it in the same ink, and cut it in half to add a backing to the sentiment piece. That was added with some foam tape for some dimension.

Here's a close-up of that--

 

 

 

All in all, I really like this one, especially because of the shiny stuff! 

 

I hope your autumn is a beautiful one, and that you are getting wonderful inspiration from Nature at its finest!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

 

Supplies:  Cardstock-GinaKDesigns, Bazzill Basics; Embellishments- Recollections(brads)Ink-Tsukineko Memento and Delicata, Stampin'Up, Studio G, Copic Marker;  Papers, Me & My big Ideas, My Mind's Eye;  Stamps- Inkadinkadoo;  Tools-Stampin' Up and FIskars punches, Scor Buddy, Cuttlebug machine and embossing folder.

 

 

 





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

Poppies, Baby!

I have fallen in love with my aqua painter.  It's true.  That thing can make magic, Baby!

It does, however take some time and patience, just like me.

Anyway, I made this--

I made this card by stamping Inkadinkado Flowers all over my background (SU Wild Wasabi), with both Stayz-on and Versamark inks.  Then I masked and stamped more flowers onto a piece of white cards stock, added a few leaves, and hand drew some stems.  I made the stems look hairy, 'cause that's the way poppies grow.

I also stamped another poppy onto another scrap piece of white cs.  That one turned out to be the one popped off the edge there.

I had so much fun painting these with my aqua painter.  The key is to go in very light to start, but also, not so terribly wet!  I imagine if I had used watercolor paper it would have been somewhat easier.  I have some, and I'll try it.  This are not watercolor paints.  They are inks from my ink pads.  I pressed color out onto my stamping acrylic blocks, and went from there.  There are several reds, some orange and some golds.  Didn't pay attention to which inks I used.  Sorry.

I probably made a mess in the upper part  of the background of the painted piece, or I didn't like the negative space, so I snipped around the images, and used foam tape to pop up that piece onto a piece of My Mind's Eye DP.  Then I used more foam tape to adhere the lone poppy.  I painted him while still attached to the scrap I stamped him on, and snipped him out later, btw.  I can see from this photo, I need to hit the edges with my black marker!  That whole deal went on a double mat of red and blue.

The flag pieces (is that what we call them, instead of banners?) are all scraps and a skinny piece of red ribbon from The Paper Source.  The sentiment is from Everything Happy by Stampendous.

This took SUPER long to paint, mostly because I was LOVING doing it.  Plus, the thing's gotta DRY!  This would never make it into my collection of  samples that I am making to sell.  However, my SIL is having a birthday in October, as is my own sister, so somebody will probably get this one.

Hey, thanks for stopping by today!
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 is a Thankful Guy...

My time for blogging sure gets awfully short when I have to MAKE things instead of blog!!! 
I have been up to my armpits in Christmas cards, so it has taken me a while to get to these Thanksgiving cards that I want to share with you.

I pumped most of these out in one looooooooooong day.  I really have to train myself to craft while sitting, or at least, perching on a stool at my counter. 
Anyhoo--

I made this--

This was mostly about the DP, as you can see. 
I went a little coocoo with the brads, but it worked out just fine.  The zigzag was done with an ek success punch.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo, the Harvest Expressions set.
The card stock is from SU, DCWV, and the DP is Me & My Big Ideas. Brads and ribbon are AC Moore. 
This card is actually much nicer than the photo, now that I'm looking at both....oh well. 

Kinda simple.  

Then I made this--
This was made on SU River Rock CS, and I stamped it with River Rock ink to make the background with Inkadinadoo's Autumn Foliage set.  Then I used the same image on a piece of white CS (GinaK Designs Pure Luxury 120#) inked with the same River Rock on the greens, but with an orange Tombo pen on the pumpkins.  Then I overstamped that with the sentiment, which was also inked with River Rock, but then I used a crayola green marker over it to get the sentiment to stand out.  die cut the whole thing out with a Spellbinders die and my Cuttlebug, and I inked the edges with some inkbox brown while it was still in the die.  I also edged the cardbase, while I was at it.I added a loop of orange ribbon (AC Moore) and the rhinestones (AC Moore again), and that was that.

This is the same idea with different stamps from the sets.  This background was done with versamark ink on GinaK Designs CS, and the pumpkin was stamped onto some soft yellow scrap and decorated with some orange Stickles.  I just used a corner punch here, instead of dies.

This is another quick one. This is an image from Inkadinkadoo, again....from the dollar bin, this time. The sentiment, I believe, is StudioG, but I may be wrong. (I can't find it to check at the moment. You should see my mess....)

The card stock is SU!, and the DP is M&MBI. Ribbon and bling form AC Moore.

This card also has a homemade background paper, using some StudioG stamps with SU River Rock ink on River Rock CS.  I really like how subtle this effect is.  I added a strip of M&MBI dp to the lower portion, and then added a ribbon (AC Moore dollar bin.  What else?).  The image is GinaK Designs, from the Enjoy the Sunshine set.  I colored this with copics, then cut it out with a labels four die from spellbinders, and used the same river rock ink to edge this while still in the die.  This makes a really pretty frame around the image.  I used brown on the outside edge to further punch it up.  This was mounted with foam tape.  I then stamped the sentiment first in orange, then in brown.  This gives it a shadowed effect.  I kind of like the sentiment put in on the vertical.  Change it up!  The buttons were a gift from my pal Michelle, and I used little strips of paper to make the stitching instead of twine or floss or something.  This seems easier for me for some reason.

Now, this one you may remember from when it was just a pumpkin--I layered up some of the papers I used previously, and added some buttons, and some Jolies leaves.  (Uh, I DID try to hide the "I" again, but things didn't quite work out....sorry about that!!)  This is a HUMOROUS card, not a "poison pen" thing by any means.  Oh PUH-LEASE--Like I would put THIS much work into someone I didn't like.  Riiiiiiiight....... 

SO!

Those are most of my Thanksgiving cards.  The others you've already seen, or they didn't photograph so well.  I liked them, and I think the people who will get them will like them too!

Hope you got some inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Feeling Sketchy...

Hey there.  I was making a bunch of Autumn themed birthday and thank you cards yesterday, and I decided to toss my cardstock into the mojo Monday and CPS arenas.  For this MOJO210 challenge, I made this--

For this card, I used SU chocolate chip cardstock, and the dp is from Me & My Big Ideas.  The other cardstock is DCWV.  The sentiment stamp is from Inkadinkado, and I used two colors of colorbox ink to ink it up.  Hard to see in the photo, but I also used my sakura glitter pen on the letters.  The pearls and ribbons are from AC Moore's dollar bins.

Then!  I found one of my birthday cards fit the sketch for CPS this week!  What luck!  I made this one--

For this card, I used SU CS for the base, and medalion, and the DP is from M&MBI and SU.  I used a new-to-me Sizzix embossing folder, and my nestabilities dies, as well as a fiskars leaf punch, and a punch from a million years ago for the tiny leaves.  Ink is Colorbox, and the embellies are from AC Moore's dollar bin.. Love that dollar bin!!

I have to say, I find sketch challenges to be sort of tough for me.  I guess I am a bit too literal.  This was a really nice sketch to use, thouigh, and I'm glad I tried it out!  I will have to get more practice!

Thanks for checking it out!

All Best-

Richard

Birthday Cards for the Last Blast of Summer, and Some On the Road Fun

Hey, Readers!!

SO, I know it has been a while since I was here.  I had my birthday, and got LOADED up with stuff for card making, thanks mostly to my Dear Charlie (DC).  I am up to my eyeballs in new stamps and paper and ink and tools!  Woo to the Hoo! 

I actually made eight thank you cards, but I got a late start on them, and I wrote in and sent them BEFORE I realized I forgot to take photos!  ARGH!  They were really cute too.  Some were loaded up with stickers, some were CAS, some were hot pink and orange.....SIGH.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  Oh, well.

ANYWAY--

My friends Susan and Karlah have birthdays coming up, on the same day!  So I made two of  these-

I just realized the colors kinda photographed funny.  They really DO all go together, I promise.

This project started with the bright orange cs from SU.  I took a background stamp with indeterminate words, and inked it up with versamark ink.  Then I put the paper on top of the inked side, and rubbed it really well.  I find this works better than stamping on the paper, because I invariably miss a spot of pressure somehow.  

I stamped some birdcages onto white cs with stamps from Amuse studio, the Life is a Song set, with orange and tan inks.  I added birds in blue and yellow, and then cut them out .  I highlighted the edges with more orange ink.  

 I used A*muse Studio card stock for the base of this card.  I really like their cardstock for bases, because the backs of all their cs is WHITE, so you can write inside it without any issue.  Looks very professional, IMHO.  Anyway, I really wanted to stamp with versamark ink a nice flourish all over the cs to make a nice design.  DANG, if my stamp wasn't filthy!  I don't know what I used with this stamp before, (inkadinadoo's dot flourishes, btw) but it did NOT come off, and left some nice brown marks on my cs.  SO lucky I was stamping with versamark!  I grabbed my white embossing powder and took care of that mess in a hurry.  Then I took a sponge dauber and did some resist technique with some studio g ink. 

Now, from the files of what NOT to do, I trimmed the edges of the stamped orange piece, backed it with  with some blue cs, wrapped it with a piece of blue organdy ribbon, and popped the whole thing on my cardfront.  With my permanent adhesive.  Oh.....wait..... I wanted to stamp a chain for the birdcage....oh poo...

Yeah.  It's all about doing stuff in the right order.  I was just kinda happy I actually thought about rounded edges and ribbons ahead of time. 

HOWEVER!  It's aaaaaalllllllllll fixable!  I just grabbed my stampamajig, and I stamped in my chain, right over the ribbon and everything.  What?  It worked.

I backed the image with the yellow bird onto more blue cs, and popped it up with some mounting tape.  The orange cage is popped on with some foam squares, which sit just slightly higher than the mounting tape.  I like the multiple depths that achieves.  I only wish I had used a darker ink on the sentiment, but I definitely know better than to try and restamp over something like that.  We're just gonna call it "subtle".

So, these turned out to be pretty cute, and I definitely got a nice lesson in PLANNING.

In other news-
I went to the A*muse Studio "On the Road" event in Nashua NH last weekend, and had a BLAST!  Yeah, I was the only guy in the room, no big surprise there....We made SIX projects that afternoon, and they look like this-

These were SO fun, especially the little favor box that was SO easy!  I really love the loose leaf cardstock, and the woodgrain, which comes in several colors.  They were kind enough to gift us the Life is a Song stamp set, so I used it to make the card in todays post!  I had a great time!

Thanks for stopping by! 

All Best-

Richard