He's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack....

Wow.  Whew.  This is tougher than I expected.  Getting back into the groove after being away for so long is NOT an easy thing.   But, I'm back, I'm creating, and I hope that I will finally have something interesting to say, now that we are WELL into the new year!

So!  Where have I been?  I am back to work now, and I have one of those changing from week-to-week schedules.  It has taken me a while to get into the groove of that, while trying to do the house and laundry and groceries, etc.  It's the first of this that I have had to do since moving back to MI, and while it's no different than all the things we ALL do every day, I needed some time to "re-groove" myself, since it's been almost two years without work.

I think I (vaguely) remember promising Christmas cards when last we met.  Too late?  Well, you can pin them to your Pinterest boards and look at them next year, I guess.....
Without further ado, here we go--

I made about 60-something cards, all in all.  Some of them are in past posts, so please browse round the blog to see some of them. 
I went (or TRIED to go) really simple for the most part. 

 

I bought Paper Smooches' Christmas Words and Snowflakes dies this year, as well as a Sizzix snowflakes die set whose name I don't remember. 

 

I made these--



The washi tape is some past year's Martha Stewart Christmas tapes, as well as other stuff in my collection (mostly Queen & Co.). 
The letters were cut from this crazy vinyl stuff I found at JoAnn's, but it was so had to cut, I abandoned the idea pretty quickly.  It's wicked shiny, though, so I really wish it had been easier to work with.  I REALLY need to get one of those metal shims, I think, and all will be better.
Oh, and my fave parts are the white dots.  Those are done with Enamel Accents.  I LOVE that stuff!  I have the black kind, too, so watch out for some of that to appear in the future.

I really liked these cards. 
They led me to different versions on that theme--

 
 So , clearly, more color, and more "shtuff" going on. 
Those led me to another variation of my "words at the bottom" theme--

The "merry" die is Papertrey Ink, Wonderful Words, Christmas, and the stamped sentiment is from the coordinating stamp set.  Charlie found the hounds tooth stamp for me at an art store, and the dotted background stamp is from Amuse Studio.  The blue snowflake is an SU punch, and the little branch is a Martha punch.

 Letting the paper do most of the work here....Just adding a few die cut snowflakes and some bling finishes it all off.

Then I went a little wild.  I liked these next ones a LOT, but they were a bit of a time suck...

One of the first stamp sets I ever bought was this one by Stampendous, called "Holiday Home."  I LURVE this stamp set.  The images are amazing, and so crisp and tiny, the sentiments are perfect, and I use this set all year round.  The houses are great, the snowman is adorable....I could go on and on.  This is the set I grab during the craft room fire, for sure (craft gods forbid!).

ANYWAY--I used this set on this card, but I only used the sentiment on the front. 
Wait, you say?  You can see images, you say? 

But they're not ON the front of the card--I did some fancy junk with my square punch....
They're on the inside! 

That looks like this--

Is that sentiment not GORGEOUS?  I so love it.  great fonts, great semi-vertical orientation...I swoon.
I love the way a light blue copic marker makes the images come alive.

I made others like this one, I loved it so much--

These made me so happy, but they do take a long time to put together.
This one also took a good while (but I had SO much fun doing it)--

Same stamp set.  *Sigh*......
Oh, and then I did this. 

I really don't think this one turned out the way I had it in my brain.  Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.....Oh, and yes, the same stamp set.  Could you just DIE?  There's a second house, too...


Well, that's enough.  There are more cards, but it's a long year, and I will work VERY hard at finding the time to get my blog posts in at LEAST once a week.  Promise!

Thanks SO much for stopping by!
You make it all worth while.

All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Spreading Around the The Birthday Goods; Packaging and All

It seems like forever ago that I was here with you.  I hope your Thanksgiving was amazing.  We spend the early part of the day at Ford Field in Detroit, watching the Lions get a well earned victory over the Packers. 
We were treated to a luxury suite by Charlie's brother and sister-in-law, and we had turkey and pumpkin pie to go with our vat o' wings and hotdogs! 
Except for the 2+ hours it took to do the 40 minute drive (Yes, you read that correctly), with accompanying scream fest, we had a really fun time.  I did almost ditch the car and get a taxi home, but all was finally okay.
oh, and I may or may not have been videoed with a turkey hat on my head, acting like a fool during the game. With any luck, you'll never know for sure.

Later in the day, we all gathered at the brother's house to join in their Hanukkah celebration.   I am not Jewish, but it is such a lovely candle ceremony, and I can chow down on some latkes and brisket like the best of them!  Yum, YUM!

Anyway, back in late October and early November, my sister and Charlie's two sisters celebrated their birthdays.  I decided that they each needed a card set, so I got to work.

For my sister and one of Charlie's, I made these--

Sweet little packages!
I enjoyed making these every bit as much as I did making any card, ever!  They're big ol' envelopes, really, and they are super sturdy and oh-so-cute!

And inside--

I can't TELL you how much I love this Swallowtail stamp from Stampin' Up.  I stamped these cards in SU Soft Suede ink, and colored some areas with white and yellow colored pencils.  Then for even MORE fun!

I had been hoarding these bits and bobs for a good while now--
They're from the Fact and Fiction collection by Basic Grey.  One is chipboard pieces, and the other is all kinds of fun paper and vellum bits.  I kept like with like as I made the two sets, and I think they are just so fun!

Some close-ups--

 (Seems I missed taking close-ups of the chipboard ones...oh, well.)

They were VERY well received, and I got the required oohs and ahs about the packaging, too!

Then, for Charlie's other sister, I made this--(Still with me?  I know we are REALLY photo heavy here...)

Another cute package.  I am kinda digging the stenciled "4" on the tag.  Less goo-gahs than on the others, because the paper is so awesome.

That one held these--

Weird pic, thanks to my too small light box.  Cool shadows, though....
Maybe this is better--

This started with 2 gorgeous pieces of 12x12 paper.  I must really love this girl, because I hated parting with this ombre dot paper AND these cards.

They are SO wicked easy, and yet such a statement--

This stamp is the retired SU Upsy Daisy set, and it is embossed in gold powder.  I added some washi tape(one of which miraculously matched this green), and, upon finding it in need of something, I added a simple punched 1" circle that I put through a hounds tooth embossing folder. 

To  switch things up, I changed up the washi placement a bit--

Before packing it all up, I wound some twine around the whole set, and added a tab for decoration--

 

And that was that!  She HATED opening it, she liked the packaging so much.  I did get one back as a thank you, so that makes me happy!

 

These were GREAT fun to make, and I am glad they were appreciated. 

 

Christmas cards next!  I am back to work these days, so I may have to be a bit more sporadic with my postings.  I will do my best to keep up!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard

 



Happy Holiday Wishes

Taking a break from blogging this week, due to Holiday madness.  I'm sure you understand.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.  I, myself, am grateful for YOU!

As always-
Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

With 47000 You Get Eggroll



Well, you get another post about Christmas cards, not an eggroll.

Hey!  I just reached 47000 page views here on the ol' blog!  That makes me happy.

So, in keeping with the whole Christmas card theme, I wanted to share a couple I had made a while ago. 

I made this--

I made this with the Memory Box Catalina Wreath die.  I did two die cuts, and glued them together, and added a few rhinestones.  That die is a TOUGH one to cut!  I need either a metal plate for the Cuttlebug, or a new die cutting machine.  That new blue Big Shot looks nice.....

Great.  I made a wreath.

I needed a door!  So, out came the Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Squares dies (I don't remember if these are large or small, but really no dif, if they fit your card. 
I like the Nestabilities dies for this application, because I can emboss the edges of my diecuts without a lot of fuss, and it really makes it look like a paneled door. 

I left off anything that would resemble the door hardware; it just was going to interrupt the overall look.  (Door purists are going OCD-nutso at this moment, I'm sure.)

So, a pretty blue door.  With a wreath.

Next, I made this--

So, I really loved this Crate Paper, uh, paper...(?)  and if you have read the blog for, oh, about six minutes, you know I have a thing for doilies AND Papertrey Ink dies, so this was sooooo perfect for me. 
All those "merry"s ("merrys"?) are from scraps, and the snowflakes are from my now dead (read, the handle snapped off while punching glitter cardstock) Martha Stewart Alpine Snowflake punch.  (A moment of silence, please.  I LOVED that stupid punch.)  The killer gold glitter cardstock is still wedged in there, too....

Did I mention that pink is one of my FAVE Christmas colors??  Oh yeah.  Pink, red, lime green, aqua.  Perfect Christmas colors.  And whatever comes in "shiny."

Well, anything that helps the pile grow is a good card, now that the Hols are nigh. 

GO MAKE CARDS!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker LOVES a Quick Stash Builder

Well, leave it to us (me, I mean) to decide to remodel the bedroom in NOVEMBER.  Too cold to open the windows for the paint fumes, no TIME to do anything else (and we have leafpocalypse going on at our house right now--the last pickup of leaves was 75 bags!), and of course, NO CHRISTMAS CARD MAKING!!!

However!  The room is looking great, and we have very little left to do.  You should have seen us installing the plate rail moulding on Sunday.  You really did NOT want to HEAR us, especially if you have small children or ears.  It all came together somehow, and I have it all caulked and painted and it's DONE! 

Photos when it's all done, I promise!

Anyway, I lied about the NO Christmas cards part.  I did manage to get a few put together, but the list is going to shrink this year, I do believe.

I made these--

This is a wonderful and BIG stamp from Stampendous, that also comes with a big snow swirl stamp that I LOVE.   I stamped it in SU Soft Suede ink on Kraft cardstock.  A little color, a little white, a little Stickles, and Viola!

I did try a few different ways to go about getting there with these.

This one has some flocking on the hats.  I do NOT love that bit on the top left where the edge of the stamp got in there, but it sort of looks like a cartoon "action line", so I'm going with it.  The person who gets this will never even think about that.  Oh, and this one has white line detail on their scarves.

Trying to get even simpler, I left off the flocking on this one, and just used my white pen to "dot" in the fur parts.  It goes with the dotted shading that is on the stamp, so I went with it!  Oh yeah, test your red pen with your Stickles before you apply it.  Mine went a bit pink from the moisture.  No disaster or anything, but you might want to be aware of that!

Ok, so I went really lazy on this one, and my Stickles bit me in the butt.  Same general idea as the one above, but I dragged some color around with my Stickles bottle because I trying to see what I could get done as quickly as possible.  (Those leaves are not gonna rake themselves into those bags!) 
Also, notice where I got a "blat" of glitter glue  (I'm not writing Stickles AGAIN) on the little one's tummy. Rats.

Again, this is "fine", but I would never send it to a crafting friend.  This one goes to a more casual acquaintance, at best.

So, lesson here is, you can get 'em quick, or you can get 'em good.  But quick doesn't suck, either, some days.  Write it down.  This stuff is GOLD, I'm telling you.

Thanks for stopping by!
GO MAKE CARDS!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Bitten by the Ebay Bug

Well, a while ago, I clicked on the Ebay app icon on my phone, and got sucked in to all THAT entails.  I have now resigned myself to being a die-hard Papertrey Ink skulker, and Amuse Studio is up on the list, too.  Others will follow, I'm sure....

 

I lose WAY more auctions than I care to mention, and I find myself "watching" things and forgetting to bid at all, but I HAVE come away with a couple of fun things.

 

I won (I won! I won!) the Birthday Basics stamp set and dies for a reasonable price (which I don't remember), and I LOVE them!  The garlands and the balloons are terrific, and it all makes me happy.  Just like anything that comes with a matching die.

 

I made this--

 

 



 This one went to Charlie's brother George for his birthday last week.  I really like the bright colors popping off the dark grey, and the darker sequins are so fun.  I LOVE these candles.  Can't you see these garlands and the candles being used for Christmas and Hanukkah cards, too?

So, to continue with a theme, I made this--

Actually, this was the first attempt with this set.  I have some Memento Fireworks spray inks, and that's what you see there on the card base.

I think this would have been much more successful on a card base that was anything other than the kraft.  I don't know....It just leaves me kind of flat.  The white panel is too big, there are too many colors going on with the sequins...I'm just sort of "meh" about this one. 

I DO like the big, "so full of fun they're about to pop" balloons, however!  I may have to attack this one at some point for a Friday Fix card.  (Remember that short-lived series here on the blog?) 

So, I'm back to Ebay to find more goodies!  Actually, I better get my butt into the craft space and make some Christmas cards!  I am SO behind!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

SNOW!

We have snow on the ground here today in Michigan, and so it's time to start panicking thinking about Christmas and holiday cards.

I made this one--

This is my VERY favorite stamp and die sets, In the Meadow, by Papertrey Ink.   I have been hoarding the red faux bois paper for a while and I think it was the perfect choice here.  I have it on a base of watermelon cardstock from Amuse Studio.  Great match, right?  Who'da thunk?

I actually cut my sleigh diecut from red paper, and you can see a pee of it coming through the white embossing on the horse, but I used a sponge dauber to make most of it gold, to better match the embossed areas. (Plus, the red wasn't a good match for the background paper.)

I really like the way the sleigh sort of "interrupts" the sentiment.  EVERYBODY knows what it says, for pete's sake, so it couldn't really mater, and I think it gives a feeling of the sleigh moving across the card.

A few rhinestones for some snowy sparkle, and that's that!

Have you gotten started yet?  How many do you need?  I need at least 60, and I have a feeling I will end up needing more like 75-80 this year.  I best get buzzing!

Thanks for stopping by! 
Stay warm!
All best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Says Fare Thee Well to a Moxie Fab Lady

Well, today is the day I say goodbye to one of the loveliest ladies ever, Cath Edvalston, and her Moxie Fab World.  You should have arrived here from Stephanie Muzzulin's Blog.

I've had more trouble coming up with a card...How does one card say all the things you want to say?

Anyway, I made this--

 

And now, back to Cath...

If you've been anywhere in Blogland checking out people's cards and other papercrafts, you have no doubt been privy to Cath and all the wonderful things she and her blog Moxie Fab World have had to offer.

Whether it's your first exposure to a new (or OLD) stamp company, or whether you needed (and got) a blast of inspiration from one of the awesome pictures she posts week after week, or whether you were chomping at the bit to see if you maybe won one of the MILLIONS of giveaways she offered, or whether you were lucky enough to be named Moxie Fabber of the Week (like I was!), Cath was there for YOU. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--
There will be a BIG hole left when Cath leaves us.  Of course, she'll be popping up at folk's blogs from time to time, and I'm SURE she'll be asked to be a guest here and there, but that daily dose of all that is Moxie Fab in the world will no longer be at our fingertips. 

*SIGH*

But, as selfish as I am about NOT wanting her her to go, I could not wish Cath MORE ongoing success if I tried!
I'm sure there is a NEW world of Moxie Fabbishness just waiting for Cath to put her hand to it, and boy, you better WATCH OUT when she does!

Cath, my hat's off to you, my heart's out to you, and my mind will SO often travel back to the days of Moxie Fab World.
Be well, safe, and successful, Pretty Lady! 

Now, head over to Gretchen Belknap's Blog. 

Thanks, Cath, for stopping by, now and always!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Needs to Just Breathe

Just a quick post today to share a card I made for our friend Shannon and Jason for their anniversary. These are friends we haven't seen in almost 10 years, but we were able to pick up exactly where we left off.  I think that is the mark of true friendship.

Anyway, I made this--

I started with the clouds that were hanging out in the little bowl that has all my extra die cuts in it. That led me to the idea to use bold patterned papers.  Looking back, I DO wish I had used a pattern paper in the sentiment area, but at this point, what's done is done.  NEXT time...

I think the biggest point of interest on this one is the strip of red and green papers at the top of the green area.  If you look closely, you can see that it's actually popped off the green panel.  I have no memory of WHY I did that, but it turned out to look pretty cool.

The more I look at that sentiment, the more aggravated I become with it.  I want to hunt them down and make them let me change it.

Deep breaths...

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Gets Wet, Cold and Knee-ed in the Back...and Makes a Card.

We are back from East Lansing, MI as of yesterday, having watched Charlie's U of M Wolverines get heartily spanked by Michigan State.  We were asked to the game by his sister Sue and BIL Mike, and they threw an amazing tailgate at their home before the game. They went ALL out for this thing, and everyone LOVED it! They live within an easy walk to the stadium, so it is great to go to games from their house.  Most days.

 

Well, the weather was in the 40's and WET, and I must say, I met the whole affair with some serious trepidation, and by halftime, I was just about through with it all.  I had been squished into my 12" spot on the bleachers, my knees in my nose and the man-behind-me's knees in my back (I WILL hunt you down, buddy--hide and watch.); rain trickling down my face and off my rain poncho into my shoes, AND the un-bemused viewing of U of M's lack luster performance.  At halftime, I tried in vain to even find the LINE to the men's room in the vast sea of people on their way to wherever they were going, and I made my way instead to the exit. 

 

I walked back to the house, where half of our little party has ALREADY arrived (No one told me about this plan, by the way--.Charlie included.  Grrrrrr...) and made my way to a very steamy shower that lasted for about eight days, with a very large whiskey in tow.

 

So that was MY Saturday afternoon. 

 

Sunday was bright and sunny, and we had a lovely brunch and shared some birthday presents with Sue, before heading home.   Oh sweet, sweet salvaged football weekend! 

 

OK, so I made a card!  This was NOT for Sue, actually, but for another BIL, Ronny, who had his birthday a few weeks ago.. 

 

I made this--

 

I have some text print cardstock from Stampin' Up, and I inked a block of it with sponge daubers to create a grass and sunset sky on it.  I stamped it with SU's good ol' Lovely as a Tree set and some Archival black ink. That got adhered to a card base of white cardstock, and embellished with some washi tape strips.  The sentiment (from Papertrey Ink, Birthday Basics) was also stamped in Archival black ink. 

 

I die cut a tree out of black cardstock with a Memory Box tree die, and I went to mount it to the card, but it was really pretty flat looking. I decided a frame around the main image would be nice, and I used my Spellbinders Classic Squares dies (both Large and Small) to make it.  I played around with the different sized dies on the card to visualize things before I cut.

 

I mounted the frame to the card front with foam adhesive, and used more to add the tree die cut.  I used a glue pen to adhere the tree to the frame.

 

This really isn't that hard of a design, but the different blacks, the colors in limited use, and the strength of the frame really come together nicely.  I also like the juxtaposition of what is "inside" and what is "outside."

 

So, that's my card and my story for this Monday.  Hope your weekend was drier than mine, and that you had as much fun as I did (overall-wise).

 

Thanks for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard

Mr Cardmaker Has What Would SEEM to be the Last of the Autumn Cards

Well, I have been diving into Christmas cards lately, albeit slowly, because I have a ton of birthdays coming up right about now. 

I did have some Autumn cards that I wanted to show you, though, so here we go...

I made this--

I did this card with GinaK Designs Fall Foliage set, with a sentiment from, you guessed it the Enjoy the Sunshine set.  I stamped these leaves with various Hero Arts inks, and I have to tell you, that Butterbar ink (the bright yellow) has to be my favorite color EVER.  So rich!  I used it on the leaves, of course, but the I used it to sponge in that glow-y background.  I love this!
It went to my sister Lisa for her birthday.  She liked it.

I also made this--

 

4

 

 

 

 

Well, I seem to be using this stamp set a good deal of the time!   A different color treatment here, plus some fussy cut and foam mounted leaves.  Oh, and the sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo.  This was an exercise in trying to get some blue into my fall cards.  I also used daubers to get more than one color onto the images before stamping, and a bit of hand coloring on some, too. I like the teal in there, but this is a rather frenetic card.  Good thing that sentiment is there, or your eye would have no place to land.

APPARENTLY, I did not get enough of the blue idea pumped out of my brain.

Remember my blue Delft card I tried a while back?  This one....Oh yeah, and there's This one too...I did that for my friend Melanie Meunchinger's blog  a while back.  Love her!

Well, I made this--

Same stamp sets, ONE blue ink pad.  I was SO psyched at the way this one turned out! 

This was done with Memento Blue Danube ink, and I just stamped and restamped without reinking anything, and LOOK at what happened!!  I stamped some extra leaves and fussy cut them, as you can see, and mounted them onto the card with foam adhesive. Love this!  Notice there is a bit more breathing space on this one.

NOW I have enough blue in my fall cards.  The End.  Except for this photo, which shows two of them together....A study in blue, you could say.  (I wouldn't...)

On to the next season!  Snowflakes, anyone?  I DO think I'll have to sneak some non-seasonal things in, just to keep sane (ish). Just sayin'.

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Candy for Halloween! And a Giveway, of Sorts....

A while back, I stumbled onto a Pinterest pin of this thing called "Card Candy", and I was intrigued.  These are lovely bits of punchy, ribbon-y, embellishment-y goodness that you can add to a simple card to get a fun, more intricate focal point in one second.  (I'm inventing the words as I go along, folks!)

The best part is that you can make these with the millions of scraps you have lying around (and I KNOW you have them) in front the TV in an evening.  AND they make for fun gifts, too!

Well, I made some.  Dragged ALL of my favorite punches and my scrap box, plus a few stamps out to the TV room, and got busy.

They look like this--

Yes, there ARE four sets there.  I was busy!!

 

 

Do you like the packaging?  I made that, too.  And I did my signature stamp on the back--

These are mounted with glue dots onto acetate sheets from stamp sets that I have hanging about.  Lift them off like with any other packaged embelly, and adhere them to your project! 

I imagine these working nicely on a set of note cards.  Make the base, add some ribbon or twine, and pop one of these babies into a focal point.  Super simple!  All KINDS of ways to use these.  Oh! How about if you made your own cardmaking KIT, and tucked these in?  Huh? Right?

And now, for some close ups--

Well, now that they're all packaged so nicely, I can't use them myself!  I am not sure what I will do with them.  I considered doing a giveaway, but is there really anyone who wants this?  I'll be entering this over at the Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge Blog in their Anything Goes challenge, so I figure folks will see them at east a few times.

How about, the first four followers of my blog to ask me for them each gets one set?  That way, I am not foisting them onto someone who would like to comment, but has no interest in having them.  Just make sure I can reach you via email for your address.

Oh, and I will save one set until 10/31 @ 5pm for those of you who reach me only via Facebook.  Did I mention I have a Facebook page?  I need to add that to my sidebar!

Oh, and I thought I'd mention, for those of you who came looking for me last week--
I was on vacation!  They tell you not to post such things until you come home, lest the burglars read your blog.  That idea makes me laugh!  But seriously, you never know.
We were in the Pacific Northwest, and it was gorgeous.  If only I had time to hunt down my crafty peeps that live out that way!

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard