Mr Cardmaker has Finally Lost It...

I have had this tradition, for the past several years, of making calendars every year--one for Charlie, and one for his mom. 
These take me forever to make, for some odd reason, and I usually don't manage to get them done until the middle of January. This year, though, I had them done for Christmas! They still took WAY too much time to make, though, and I have vowed I will find a better way to do them.

For Charlie's mom, I made this--

I used The Stamps of Life's Calendar to Build stamp set to do the calendar pages.  Oh, my lawdy bees, this was a job.  Never again. way too much finagling with the 29th -31st on ALL of these months, and lining it all up just gave me heartburn.  I will find a calendar to download and print next time, fo' sho'.
Nana is a fan of the purples, so I went to town with my scraps and a butterfly die that I got for ONE DOLLAR at JoAnn's a while back.  It will come to me who made it...
Oh, and the tiny butterflies are done with my tiny heart punch on the fold of some paper scraps. SO easy, and a fun trick.

Another view--

For Charlie, I made this--

So, yeah. Stars and telephones.  You know, your usual, classic combo.
Yeah...
So, CLEARLY my brains had slid into my shoes on this one.  Call it "Holiday Fatigue", or whatever...
I liked the image, I like the glittery stars....So sue me. He likes it.
(Honestly, it occurred to me that he would be bringing it to work, where he uses the (WHAT?) TELEPHONE (!)--All day long. SOOO...)

Another view of this one--

And, so now Charlie will know what day it is. Tah-DAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr Cardmaker Makes Post (Card) Holiday Thank Yous

Well, this posting is rather late for the season, though, happily, these cards went out in a timely fashion.

Did you have a nice holiday season? Get lovely gifties? Take a trip? Get hammered on New Year's Eve?

We are very fortunate to have a generous family, who not only favor us with gifts, but also share their time and talents with us throughout the year. Making "Thank You" cards is always a pleasure, and I like spending lots of time on them, trying to get them to be "just so."

I made ten of these--

I LOVE old post cards.  I found this stamp (minus the Thank You sentiment--I added that) at Michaels after Christmas sale, and I snapped it up. I will get LOTS of use out of this over the coming years.

So, on white card stock, I used several Distress Inks to age the edges, watercolor the greenery, and add the "light in the window".  I also aged it more with some water drops, and then some black ink flicked onto the image.  Some shredding of the edges, a matte, a base, and there you go.

Then came the glitter.  OH, the glitter! Sadly, it is SO difficult for me to capture that shimmer in my photos.  you can just make out some of it in this shot..

Maybe a bit better now?  Look in the trees.
Oh well.  They were SHINY SHINY SHINY. For reals. Just sayin'. The roofs, the trees, the snowbanks...*sigh*...

Anyway...
This stamp will be great in a soft tan on cream card stock, or in red or green on matching card stock as a subtle background. SO much can be added on top of this, along with using it as is.  I look forward to doing many things with this stamp for next Christmas. 

My Michaels had several left this week at 80% off (!), so you might have a look at your local store...

Oh yeah, did you know that the CHA (Craft and Hobby Assoc.?) show is this week?  That means more NEW GOODIES coming available!  Oh my aching wallet...But what FUN! Watch for all the new releases coming up.

I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, and Darnell's NBUS #3 challenge, because they want something NEW.  My stamp was just the thing!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker's Holiday Card Wrap-Up

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..................................This is my second post today. Scroll Down for more!.......................................

Well, I wanted to get the rest of my Holiday cards on the blog for future reference, since you never know when you're going to crash your computer.

Skipping the ado,
I made these--

 This was a "happy accident" card. I did all the stamping and coloring, then I screwed it all up by trying to color a background in.  Well, happily, my glue pen and some glitter hurried  to my rescue, and I ended up with these guys. Leaving the image UN-glittered was a fun and different look.

I made several--

And with a different snowman from the same SU stamp set, I made these--

 Same idea, slightly different execution.

Okay, moving right along--
I made these--

These were some of my favorites.  I love this set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson.
I think this card has a very late sixties feeling to it; like this card is something my grandparents (who were VERY hip) would have sent to friends back in the day.

 I love the shine that the Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder gives these bells!

This one (the prototype) got an extra bell. More merry, anyone?

 

Then, finally, I made these--

 

I love this Lawn Fawn set, with the happy messages in the steam coming off the mug of goodness.

It's hard to see, but I coated the mugs with both clear Wink of Stella AND Glossy Accents, and I used a white gel pen to pump up the marshmallows a bit.

 

It's such a shame that shiny stuff doesn't photograph well.  The background paper is all glittered, the stars are shimmery papers, and the doilies in the first shot are glitter paper as well.  Kinda all falls flat in the photos. Wop, wop... 

 

Well, that's about it for me for the holiday cards.  If you feel like you missed some (because they happened all through the year) and would like to see them, they are all found here--

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/07/well-my-good-friend-lisa-minckler.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/08/mr-cardmaker-liked-it-so-he-put-wreath.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/09/mr-cardmaker-is-present.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/10/mr-cardmaker-finds-that-while-nothing.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmaker-case-es-his-way-through.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmaker-and-little-tag-of.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmaker-gets-punchy-and-stickery.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmaker-is-getting-thickers-in-his.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmker-finds-that-one-stamp-leads.html

http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/12/mr-cardmaker-has-been-tagged-for-good.html

 

And a non-card post--
http://mrcardmaker.blogspot.com/2014/05/and-now-for-something-totally-christmas.html

Thanks so much for stopping by!
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your spending time with me, and especially your comments!

All Best, and Happy New Year!
Richard

Mr Cardmaker has been Tagged for Good

Well, we interrupt our usual card making schedule too bring you some TAGS.  Never had been big on the tag thing before, but here we are. Can YOU say, "new addiction?"

But before we get there, how was your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/non-denominational, secular winter extravaganza? We had a nice day-- quiet morning, family lunch, quiet evening.  Except for the lack of snow, just lovely.

But now, the tags.
I made these--

and these--

These started with me finding a little box with the trees, saved from my FIRST! Christmas cards ever.
I stamped and fussy cut these puppies for hours, and finally figured out I had way too many of them, so into a box they went. Six years later, here they were, and, as I hate to trash anything,, they needed to be used for SOMETHING.
Lots of Distress Ink blending, stamps by Lawn Fawn, lots of washi. Twine. Viola!

Then these, with the same Lawn Fawn set--

 

 With a doily and deer from Papertrey Ink--

And with a tree (from PTI as well)--

I DO like the snowy tops on the letters on this one...I'll have to remember that idea.

SO along with this Lawn Fawn set that has coordinating dies, I also picked up the Tim Holtz set of tag dies, which has, like seven different sizes of tag.  I think I will be all set for pumping out plenty of tags.

I will be right back with the last of the holiday cards for this year. I would like to get them out in the blogisphere before the year ends!

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

Mr Cardmker Finds That One Stamp Leads To Another

So, at the beginning of card making season, I pulled out all my Christmas card stuff--the stamps, the papers the dies, the embellishments, all the red ribbons, the silver twine, the glitters, the metallic inks and embossing powders, the gold, silver and white pens. I put it all in bins and on trays so I could see it all splayed out in front of me as I worked and made decisions...My endeavor to get it all organized made such a freaking MESS!
I was, however, happy to have everything pretty much at arms reach, and while I didn't use everything, I was glad to be able to know I wasn't forgetting about anything. I think it helped...

Well, one of the things I did NOT have was a "joy" stamp. I was well into the season, and I didn't really have time to wait for shipping, so off to JoAnn's I went. Yup, right there in the dollar bin was a "joy" stamp.  Off it went to my house, in my hot little hands. And off I went into the craft room.

I made this--

Charlie bought me that beautiful star stamp two years go, I think.  SO pretty in gold. Looking back, I would like it better if the joy stamp was a teensy bit higher...and I would have inked the white panels edges...Look, they cant ALL be home runs...stay with me here...

I used my Stampamajig to do the "joy", because I wanted to stamp it a few times so it would get a super color saturation (and because dollar stamps are NOT mounted perfectly on their wood blocks). 
I like the red on the snowflake. It makes it sort of ecclesiastical, or something.

ANYWAY, using the "joy" stamp here made me think to use it again, but in a different way--

I made this--

This background stamp is from Hero Arts, bought last year, I think.  I inked it with Distress Inks, using ALL the reds going lightest to darkest, then went in with my blending tool and went over it all with the same colors.  The snowflakes are embossed with holographic embossing powder.  This stuff is SO cool, because at some angles, you don't really see it at ALL.  Made the medallion with the joy stamp and other stuff, and there it is.

Well, I loved that technique with the background stamp. I needed MORE.
It was nice in red. How about GREEN?

I made this--

What a difference a colorway change makes!  Other than the obvious change to the die cut, not so different...No snowflakes this time.  I have no idea why.  The gold glitter dots make me happy.
Another view of this one--

And because I can't leave a good thing, I had to go blue.
This one is my FAVORITE CARD OF THE SEASON.  Perhaps EVAH.

I made this--(drum roll, please)

 

Okay, so this came together is such a crazy way.  I did the background, pretty much the way I did the others, but I wanted a wood grain on it this time.  So I inked the stamp with all my blues, then spritzed it with water to make it softer.  Well, instead of layering on more color, it actually lifted the color that was there OFF!!
I am SO happy I don't do videos of these things, because there would be a record of me squealing like  little girl out there on the web!
I grabbed a tree stamp, and layered in some trees, triple stamping off in blue and gold.  I just LOVE it. The text looks like it's emerging from the mist, right?

Look in this direction--

The trees are so pretty, right?
Straight on lets you see the wood grain better, but not the gold--

I just love how everything layered up so well.  I will be doing this again, to be sure!
Wow, gush about your own work MUCH? Ahem...

Thanks so much for stopping by.
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker is Getting Thickers in his Bottoms

One of my favorite stamp sets is In The Meadow by Papertrey Ink. It comes with so many iconic silhouetted images AND there are DIES to match.  I just LOVE this thing.  One of my faves in that set is the kid on the sled.  I've done him completely airborne, like in THIS card.




That is my favorite way to use him.  He just gives such a feel of dizzying speed, the crazy stunts kids do, and the feeling of hurling your body through the freezing cold air.

Well, PRIOR to doing the Hanukkah card I shared this week HERE, where I also did a ton of over stamping, I made two cards with my little sled rider.

I made this (well TWO of them actually)--

I had SO much fun stamping this panel!  Pink and green are my FAVE Christmas combo, and I so love this pink card stock that I used to make my base.
I have been hoarding these Thickers letters for just about ever, so I finally decided to pull them out and use them.
See the tiny bit of sparkle in there?  I stamped and embossed some snowflakes with holographic embossing powder.  I also hit the letters with some Wink of Stella pen, but that NEVER shows up in photos.  My Charlie loved these so much, he requested I send him one!

Since I had broken the seal on the Thickers, I decided to keep right on.
HOWEVER! I was out of H letters, so no writing Holiday or CHristmas..Hmm...

Ever resourceful,
I made this--

BIGGER snowflakes, so even MORE sparkle, and a wonderful Tim Holtz die set that has just about every holiday word you would ever want.  I cut three words-two in red, and one in the green glitter paper. stacked and glued them together, but on this one, I let the red die cuts be ever so slightly offset, so it would be more visible.
I think one of the best touches here is the dots I drew in with my white gel pen.  It is subtle, but so effective in the right spots.
Cool thing about the holographic embossing powder--it can vanish in the right angles.

Just looks like a black stamp on the grey here, right?  Now go back and look at the shiny one...
That stuff is COOL.

Hoping your holiday season is MAGIC!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Gets Punchy and Stick(er)y

..................Hey there!  This is my SECOND post today--Scroll down for the earlier one!...................


SO, after my rant about eBay the other day, I return, hat in hand, to show you the cards I made with the mitten punch that I bought, you guessed it, on eBay! (Wait, whaaaaaaat?)

This thing is soooo cute, and it was a good deal, so I didn't fall into that crazy eBay trap.  I opened it up, tested it, then IMMEDIATELY ran and got a bunch of papers and sat down for a night of TV and crafting.

Oh, yeah, I also found these sweeeeet dimensional stickers from American Crafts at JoAnn's for $1.00 (!), so I bought eight sets, I think.  More on those later...

I made these--

These were so easy to put together, once everything was punched out.  My papers did so much of the work for me, some twine and glitter were all the additions that were needed.

Once I finished with my need for mittens, I grabbed my stickers and came up with these puppies--

I really love the graphic quality of these stickers.  Happy cards! And SO fast!

I find it really a really fun little challenge to see how many ideas I can come up with using the same collection of elements. 
Obviously, some turn out slightly better than others, but that's when I fall back this age old adage--

"They're getting a handmade card. They'd probably love it if you scribbled with a crayon." 

You DO know this old adage, right?
LIVE by it; make it your mantra!

Hoo, boy. I think my brains are suffering from working on a diet of coffee and Christmas cookies...

I'm getting a haircut today.  SO excited! You really don't wish to look at me in this "before" state...
Hope you have something to look forward to this weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker and the Little Tag of Inspiration

Well, I have this habit of taking a small element, and using it as the inspiration for a whole card.
It can be a scrap of paper on my work table that looks cool, it can be a die cut, or the negative of a die cut, it can be a stamped image that was snipped halfway off another project that just happened to catch my eye.  Or, sometimes I'll make a small element, and, like a small dog, I'll refuse to let it go.

So, I had these tiny tags.  I stamped a bell on them, embossed them in silver, and added a stamped red bow. So cute.  Now, how to use them...

Well I made these--

See the insides of the letters in "jingle" INSIDE the card?  Sorta weird when you open the card, but cute when closed...

Now, You KNOW how I am about using my flair pieces. I must have REALLY wanted that Santa on there...

Getting a little wild with the sequins...Oh, and there's the positive die cut from the first card...

Why not a color change?  Pink is my FAVE Christmas color...I must have been feeling free and easy with the flair, once it was opened...

Well, I ran out of my tags, but I was on a roll with this card style...

This one is my fave of this series, I think.  The ombre on the letters just works for me. My little wooden trees make me so happy..
 PS-these Tim Holtz dies are SO much easier to work with than I ever dreamed they would be!

Here's the inside--

 

Hey, when I say Winter Wonderland, I don't mess around!

 

More to come...

 

Thanks for stopping by!
All Best--

Richard