Mr Cardmaker aka Mr Caffeine

As it turns out, the best way to avoid caffeine crash is just to keep your level on an even keel. Sounds easy enough, right?
The nuance comes when you're able to maneuver well enough to gauge it so you keep energy all day long, but quit at the exact level that just might actually let you sleep a good portion of the night ahead of you.

I have not reached this level of expertise.

I do make cards about coffee and tea (and drinking in general) on occasion.
Like now.
I made this--

Now that I have returned to Stampin' Up and the catalogs that go with that, I have relearned to appreciate the non-standard sized card. A2 is a good friend of mine, but it's time to branch out.

This is a 4 1/4" square card, so my branching out here is more like a "sprigging" out.

So, I'm back to the Balloon Celebration stamp set for my sentiment and stars, with the mug die cut with the Cups and Kettle framelits.
I probably had to trim my last card, so I had the strip of wood grain to play with. Add a fun striped scrap, and there you go. Dare I say "boom!"?

The little steam heart is also in that stamp set. As I remember, it was a bit of an "oh, I don't like that negative space" afterthought.

But wait! There's more!
I made this--

This one is similar to the one I shared last time (scroll down to see that post), but much more colorful, and with a bonus SPOON!
Not too sure about that washi tape bow...It'll fly, but I don't know that I'd do it again.

I did some playing around with the depth of the elements and I used my stylus tool to press some depth into the bowl of the spoon. That didn't photograph as well as it could, though.

I did sneak in a second stamp set on the blue cup in order to do the dots. I gotta mix it up--that's how I roll...

SO many more possibilities with these stamps and dies. I do love it when I have great tools with an amazing amount of flexibility.(Wait until I show you the balloons! All with the same stamp set!)

But, I have one more cups card to share. Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Mr Cardmaker and the Mystery of the Lost Mugs

I always love seeing that people bring treats with them to enjoy while crafting. I have never been one to bring  food into my craft space--I have enough trouble keeping my projects clean without chocolate or grease marks on them. I think some gummy bears would be nice, from time to time, though...
I have, however, been known to bring a hot cup of what-have-you in with me when it's time to create. I think it gives me that needed pause when I want to contemplate an idea, that breather when I'm getting frustrated with that thing that's not quite working, or that welcome stalling tactic when the mojo is just NOT flowing.

So, it's no surprise that I have to go hunting for the dead soldier tea and coffee cups on a regular basis. Luckily, for the most part I can always find things on my work table. It's on days when I paint a wall or a room, or on housecleaning day when I have to run recognizance, hunting all the corners where I may have had too many things in my hands. I have yet to have a total loss. I wear that badge proudly.

My love for warm beverages spills over into my craft work on occasion, and that makes me smile. Do you know about Coffee Loving Papercrafters? Check them out-There's a fun Facebook group for them, too.

I made this--

I joined Stampin Up recently, just for the deal and discount (as you do),and I got some wonderful new things to play with!

I LURVE the die set--THREE different cups, a teapot and other stuff. And, it pairs so nicely with the Balloon Celebration stamp set, thanks to the wonderful sentiment stamps!  The "tea" can be replaced with champagne, coffee and hot chocolate, or if you are really hardcore, you can leave it without adding anything. That can lead to ugly mornings, though. Don't ask how I know...

Now, there is a stamp set that goes with the dies, but I am too cheap uh frugal uh, financially limited to buy everything I like, so I was happy to see this set working with other elements. I DID buy the balloon punch. Birthdays and New Year's and stuff, you know..

(PS-Yes, I am selling this stuff, if somebody asks, FYI. Check out the catalogs in my sidebar and ask me about getting $155.00 worth of stuff for $99.00 [for a limited time] if you'd like. I loved it first, though.)

The decorations on the cups are from the Balloon Celebration set- I think my favorite is the little dandelion sprig thingy on the top mug. Love it with the yellow AND white!

The background stamp is from Hero Arts, but SU also does a wood grain background. And a doily because, well, teacups. We are piss elegant POSH around here!

I have more of these cards to share, and I will do just that. After a cup of tea. Or three...
And then, the mug hunt...

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker LOVES a White Pencil

You know how when sometimes you make a FAST card, and somehow it turns out to be something you really love? AND it's because of the very last thing you do?

I made this--

So, this is an older set from Stampin Up called Wetlands, but it's new to me. I love the images.
There's a goose that I need to do something with soon, too.

So, this is simple, simple stamping, with an embossed greeting, and some dry embossing on the top part of the panel.
It's the white underbellies of the sandpipers that makes this whole thing for me. And, yes, it's the last thing I did. and I barely did ANYTHING at all, but wow, what a big difference. And, it's even kind of messy. it works, though, IMHO.

I can't believe I only made one of these. I WILL be going back and doing more. I always have need for a masculine card, what with all the uncles and nephews.

Since I seem to be pumping out a good few birthday cards these days, and the family is just about already covered, I'm going to be jumping on the #bringbackbirthdays campaign. Spreading happiness around just sounds good to me.

Keep that white pencil close at hand. You never know when it'll work magic for you...

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Builds a Birthday Stash

So, I REALLY don't care for that feeling you get when you realize you need a birthday card yesterday, and there is just no time available to make one.
What usually happens in this instance is, I end up sending some old card from my stash that I made AGES ago, and, too often, I have to see just how much I don't like my old stuff.

So, in order to avoid that lousy feeling, my thing for 2016 is PREPARATION. I am doing LOTS of cards, multiples when I can, and really building my stash. I will continue to make one as I want/need one when I can, but having something to rely on in a pinch will be a HUGE load off my mind.

To that end, I made this--

This is a big mash up of stamps--Wplus9 gift, Lawn Fawn sun and sentiment, Tim Holtz bird, Unity cloud, and Stampin' Up grass.
I love those birds by Tim Holtz. I just get so tickled by those facial expressions.

I colored the bird and gift with colored pencils, and I coated the bird's eyeballs and beak with Glossy Accents. Shiny is good..

The sun, bird, and gift are all popped off the card front with foam tape.
Pretty simple card, really, but it certainly fits the bill for a handy birthday card, suitable for anybody.

So, I made four of them!

The big challenge I can foresee with making ahead too many cards, is the possibility of running into next year and sending the SAME card to somebody TWICE. 
Ooooooh, yeah, that would probably suck. I will have to ponder how to avoid that issue...

At any rate, I am off and running with my stash, and there's many more ahead.
I'm entering this card at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge.
Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best,
Richard

Mr. Cardmaker is (Nearly) Heartless

So, weird thing-

Heart-shaped things are not my groove. Just don't feel the whole heart shape thing.
Give me a square, a circle (yes!), even a rhombus. Hearts? You can keep those, but thanks just the same.

So, it makes Valentines day sort of difficult.
I did, years ago, break down and get the triple heart punch from Stampin' Up, but I find that being without heart dies is making V-Day creativity harder and harder. I may have to suck it up and find some used dies, somewhere. Anybody overloaded with heart dies out there? Helloooooo...?

Anyway, I managed to come up with a Valentine for my Honey--

I made this--

Well, I started with a deep discount bin stamp on the background of my card base. I then sponged a scrap of the same card stock with some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, letting it fade out at the bottom, and die cut my "love" with a Little Yellow Bicycle die.

Well, this is where I had to start being creative. I could've folded and hand cut some hearts like we did in grade school, but my little eye spied the negative of my die cut, which caused ol' Inspiration to slap me upside my head.

Stencil! Yup, yup, yup!
A sponge dauber and some more ink, and away I went, all over the background.
I was really happy I hadn't popped out the little chad things from my die cut's letters, because when the time came to mount it, I was happy it looked more like the background stencil.

So, finally, it was time to pull out that heart punch o'mine. I had this hot pink, glittered paper saved from a gift bag given to me ages ago, and it was the perfect time to make use of it. I lined a bunch of hearts up on a banner shaped piece of pink striped paper, popped that up on top of a gold foiled banner piece, and layered all of that on top of a sweet 4" doily.

Doilies must have been super cheap when I was coming through grade school, because memories of them when we made valentines sure do fill my brain. I love them on a valentine!

I popped up the die cut "love" with some foam tape, and to give it more presence, I coated it with a thick layer of Glossy Accents. I do love me some shine!

I felt like the left side of the card was a bit of a snore, so at the last second, I stamped a textured stripe, and hit it with some gold embossing powder. Because, shiny...

And there you have it!

My sweet Charlie sure did love it, as I loved the ARMLOAD of roses, both yellow and red, he brought home to me!
I'm not worthy....

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and if you get the day off tomorrow for Presidents Day, enjoy it! (Go make something!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Comes a Glimmer...

Well, after all the wretched photos of Christmas cards I foisted upon you, I actually have a decent photo of ONE card that I did for a shoebox swap with some very wonderful crafters at my dear friend Liz Ballard's home.

JUST ONE!

We had one person not able to come to the party, and so I had her kit left over. I assembled it, and THIS is what I made--

So, this is still not the VERY best of photos, but you can at least SEE the thing.

I like that this is sort of on the masculine side, even with glitter and rhinestones. I think the skinny red racing stripe look with the wood grain stripe is what makes me think that.

The subtle background is done with SU's Winter Wishes set, and the sentiment panel is done with SU's Cozy Christmas set. These were 2015 Stampin' Up Holiday Catalog sets, and they really blew it out of the park with stamp sets this year! LOVED the whole catalog!

I loved it so much, that I signed up to be a demo! I do this every once in a while, usually during the Sale-a-bration time that happens to be going n RIGHT NOW. I find that I moss out on much of the great Christmas stuff, because the Holiday catalog tends to be gone by then, but the deal is amazing!

The Occasions catalog is out now, as is the Annual catalog.
The big thing right now, though is the Sale-a-bration brochure, which has FREE stuff that you can choose from for every $50.00 dollars you spend.
NOW is the time to sign up for Stampin' Up, too, because new recruits get $155.00 of product for $99.00,with no shipping! (That's an extra $30.00!!)
I think that's an amazing deal.

Anyway, if you get a moment to browse these catalogs, and you find you can't possibly live without something, I would be SO pleased to help get these things into your crafty little hands. You can email me (link in profile), or go through the website and list me as your demonstrator. That's me, Richard Breaks in Westborough, MA.
No pressure; just want to be available for you.

Anyway, just wanted to share my card, really.
Hope you like it.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best--
Richard

Christmas Card Recap, Part Two

So, continuing on a theme, I have more Christmas cards today. You were all so great to hang with me and my last (bad photo) photo-heavy post, and I hope you have the strength to do it again.

Getting on with it--

I made this-

Playing around with some older dies here. My favorite part of this one is the embossed stamping on the ornament die cut. Can you make out the cabin in the background? Kinda tough to see, really (I had to point it out to Charlie, who had it in his hands), but I love it. The rest of the card is okay. This was definitely an early trial...

Next--

Okay, so this is the stamp that the cabin came from. Can you see it on the other card now? Anyway, TONS of fun sponging this guy, and the inside is even better--

I just LOVE this for some reason. Maybe the red lettering?

Anyway, I liked it so much, I made these--

I really liked these.

So, in a totally different vein, I decided to try some water coloring techniques, and I came up with these--

I love pink at Christmas, especially with gold. These were fun, but I am slow with them. They need LOTS of drying time!

The next few were fun, fast, and easily reproduced.

 I like the two different red papers used to make these deer.

I mish-mashed up all kinds of things on these, but I really love Julie Ebersole's Christmas sets from Ellen Hutson, and cutting the sentiments into little pieces like that made me smile. And, foil paper, because shiny.

Moving along, I liked this one where I played around with repetitive stamping--

And, to literally wrap this up, these two, that were inspired by a Kristina Werner card from a few years ago--

I thought they were kind of silly, really, but my champion Charlie loved them, so...

ANYWAY--

Okay, I was going to do one more post with the last couple of cards, but I'm just going to add them.

These are the Hanukkah cards--

 I love white pigment ink on dark card stock!

Home, community, world religions, candles, winter parties...Get it?

Next year, I will need at least six Hanukkah cards, so my designs will have to expand greatly. I have just a few stamps for this, so creativity will be key!

AND FINALLY--

The thank you cards looked like this--

I love this Winter Wishes stamp set from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from Another Thank You, also SU.

Okay, so, again, so sorry for the lousy photos; its what I get for waiting until the VERY last second to take pics. Some cards weren't worth showing here, which is sucky for me, because the cards themselves were pretty nice.
Oh, well, there's always next year...

And, hopefully, I'll post before then!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Death by Red

Well, not my death, though you'd have been wondering; it's been so long since I ventured into Blogland.

I don't blame you for wondering.

Well, Christmas came and went, and so did the cards and things that come with it. I made  record (for me) 80+ cards this year! Some of them were pretty darn good; I was happy, overall.

HOWEVER--


I realized at the LAST possible moment before needing to mail everything that I hadn't photographed ANY cards!
I really like to have a record of them all, even if I don't blog about them. It is really nice to see creative progress, as well as maybe revisiting an old idea that you think you can make better, or even just make MORE of.
Anyway...I grabbed my camera, and hunted for a spot in our new home to take some photos.
Yeah.
That.
Well, long story short, I ended up with a corner with weird lighting and a RED tablecloth as a background.
BAD IDEA. So bad...For whatever, reason, the red background really messed up everything, from focus to saturation...weird and terrible.

Anyway, I have a few cards to share, and away we go.
I made these--

This card was based on an idea I saw somewhere online, and I apologize for not remembering the source. Maybe Kristina Werner? I always like red on white, not just for Christmas, so this little group of every tiny Christmas stamp I own was lots of fun to make. I made a small bunch of these.

This idea actually came out of this card (or is it the other way round?)

I like the glow effect from sponging over the images a bit. And glitter pen is always nice, too!

I made a BIG group of cards I could sort of pump out quickly. They looked like this--

A close-up--

And the one I salvaged after smearing the heck out of the bottom of it--

Not a bad save, right?

Another small group of cards, using Lawn Fawn and Wplus9 stamps and dies with some Tim Holtz dies--

I love that green stripe paper, and adding that small bit of ink blending behind the sentiment (Papertrey Ink) piece really gives that simple oval some real presence. I just LOVE those greenery dies.

And, finally (for now)--

ARGH! BLURRY!!!

MORE blur--

I absolutely love this idea, using a die cut popped up in the middle of a sentiment. I think these some of my favorites. I am sad I don't have a good close-up of these, but you can get a good idea from the group photo.

I will be back soon with more, I promise!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday, whatever wonderful means to you during that time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

2015 Fall Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop!

Well, it turns out I AM alive, after all, and I am still making cards...

I am joining the Fall Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop for their Autumn madness!

And so, sans ado,
I made this--

I began with the "thankful" die cut, which has two, count them, TWO colors of glitter coating the bottoms. I do love me my sparkle!
I wanted the diecut and the coffee cups to be the stars of this card, so the rest went dark, dark brown.
Coffee cups are stamped on the background, and leaf diecuts were passed through some embossing folders add some texture.

My Lawn Fawn "Love you a Latte" stamps and dies in autumnal colors indicate almost all of what I am truly grateful for--COFFEE! (I DID manage to get a "for you" on the inside of the card. Can't have my recipient thinking I'm thankful ONLY for coffee....)

Right at the end, I felt the need for some extra shine, so I water brushed some Delicata golden glitz ink on many of the surfaces. I'm so happy so much of it actually photographed!

So happy to be back with the Coffee Lovers, and I'm loving seeing SO MUCH wonderful work out there!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Gets All Man-Style with 12 Kits of Occasions

Well, I was SO tickled and honored to have Jeanne at A Kept Life ask me to join the 12 Kits of Occasions crew for the May Kit. I have been no where near my blog for AGES, due to our big move to Massachusetts in June. What with cleaning up for showings, and cleaning OUT for the move, my days have been full ones. I had no idea whether I would be able to take the time to make anything, but when things like that are offered, it is hard (and somewhat stupid, really) to say no. So, I said YES!

Anyway, I was able to make a few not-so-short stops during all this madness to make a few cards using this amazing kit.
Oh, the KIT! There were beautiful papers, different and wonderful diecuts, twine, sequins, stamped sentiments and images, and SO MUCH MORE...A veritable cornucopia of fun, inspiration-stimulating goodness! Jeanne, FAB job!

Be sure to go see previews and links to all the rest of the great work  at the 12 Kits page by clicking HERE!

So, I guess I will start with what I made first, and go in that sort of order.
I made this--

Can't get much more masculine that this without adding real DIRT. Note how much good COLOR you can cram onto a man's card with it remaining just as masculine as you please...

I love the detailing on those boot diecuts. I popped out the details, watercolored them with ink, and popped them back into the boots.

The silver foiled horseshoe diecut goes so well with the silver stars, and the wood grain sequins are perfect with the veneer stars. I also hand colored the image with colored pencils.

Next up, I made this--

These birds on this oh-so-graphic background look so hot. Reminds me of city birds perched on some abandoned metal works.

Now, the gems are not the first thing I would reach for when doing a man's card, but they look so SMART here (if I say so myself), I had to do them. I think the dark blue makes it all okay...(these were from my stash. I hope that's allowed...)

Then, off to this--

Now, these lure diecuts were done in these bright, happy colors, and while they didn't exactly go with any of the papers, I loved them, so I had to make them work in a card.

I started with the "dad" diecuts, and originally, I layered up the three that you see behind the red one, and it was looking pretty good. Once the card was just about finished, though, I found them just a bit flat by themselves, so I colored and triple clear embossed the red one, and that puppy WORKED!

Some Glossy Accents on several of the lures really helps give this card some life. Oh, and, more veneer stars, because Dad deserves them.

Oh, and this one has a good inside, too--

And finally, this one--

 

I HAD to use that "epic" diecut collection. HAD. TO.

More triple clear embossing on that top one. SO rich and shiny looking.

More colored pencil on the image. My eraser was as big a tool here as anything else. Softens things up perfectly.

Oh, and since I COULD. NOT. leave the candle flame as the only yellow on the card, I stamped a little banner piece and slid it in. Now I can breathe again. (Of course, I COULD have just made the flame orange instead, but, well, now, that would take some SENSE.)

 

And, the inside of that one, using a couple stamp sets in my stash--

 

 

 

Well, I am sorry that I couldn't devote more time to this kit, but I will definitely be digging into some of my leftovers when I finally get into my new space.

 

Huge thanks to Jeanne for the invitation to play and for the kit! I don't know how you all manage such collections of fab things!

 

I'll leave you with a pic of my collection of cards--

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard