Mr Cardmaker Believes in You

When I saw Tim Holtz's new Bird Crazy stamp set, I knew I HAD to have it, asap.
These images?

C'mon, you KNOW these things are gonna speak to me--
So, I went and I GOT it!

I made this--

This little bird (chick, maybe?) just screamed PETER LORRE to me...
Uh, THIS guy---


You know, from The Maltese Falcon and stuff--

Anyway, he always played the kind of guy who looked so stressed out that he hadn't slept in a week, so I went with the red eyed, sweaty-browed look on him.

Glossy Accents are my best friend here! I filled in this guy's eyes, to make them all glazed and watery. Tiny dots of GA then hit his brow, to give him that sweaty look.

As you can see, I am still having issues with my fillers getting hung up in my shaker. Whatever. They look dead all empty, anyway...

I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, and I stamped some eggs on that wood grain piece behind my bird. There's also a silhouette of a bird in flight inside the shaker, just ever so faintly.
I do believe in carrying on with a theme, don'tcha know...

And inside--

 Another SSS sentiment, and some feathers do the trick here. The feathers and the eggs on the outside are from a GinaK stamp set called Nesting.

I kind of dig the juxtaposition of the encouraging sentiments and bright colors with the frazzled, stressed-out looking bird. I imagine that the person who needs this cared could have some of that look about them...

I am IN LOVE with these bird images. Stay tuned for a SUPER irreverent series that makes me giggle like a twelve year old.  Get ready to either laugh, or roll your eyes, BIG TIME!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Makes the Mostest for the Hostess

Well, we were invited to dinner last week, and I didn't happen to have a good bottle of wine hanging around the house. The temps were well below zero ALL DAY, so I was NOT about to head out in the cold to shop around for a hostess gift, so, of course, it was off to the craft room!

My hostess had given us some lovely flowers at Thanksgiving and with the flowers came a lovely little gift card.
A handmade gift card, mind you, which I had not made.
Now, this girl has received MANY a card from me, so she KNOWS that I make cards. Oh, she KNOWS....

Now, I managed to restart my breathing, and got my vision cleared, and I decided that I would give her the benefit of the doubt, and believe desperately cling to the idea that she got this card as a GIFT from somebody, and did not seek them out herself.

HOWEVER, I was not about to let her go wandering the streets with only some interlopers gift cards on her person.

I had to make her these--

So, do you make cards like these?

DO you make them a 3" square like I see so many people do?
Can I just ask, WHY?
I guess the answer is clear, if you're starting with a 12x12 piece of card stock. Then, mathematically, you are perfect.
I don't have heavy weight 12x12 card stock, so I used my 8 1/2 x 11 usual stuff, and it occurred to me that if I made these cards 3" square, I'd chop up a ton of paper, with tons of waste, for nothing.
HOWEVER! If I did them at 2.75", I could get SIX cards out of one sheet of card stock, with a tiny 1/4" strip of waste.

It's the evil card stock hawkers at work, with these 3" cards, I tell ya...

Anyway, the cards are super simple, a couple of stamped leaves, some washi tape, a die cut leaf and banner, and a punched and stamped flower. And some white gel dots, because they make everything better. Easy.
I did punch up the flower a bit by adding some white enamel accents dots around the center pearl, but you could go without, no problem.

Now, these would have been a lovely gift, right?
But, no. I HAD to do more. Because I'm crazy like that.
Because I needed envelopes if I was going to make those other gift cards look puny and insignificant.
And, that's REALLY what I was making here...
But we all knew that, didn't we.....?

SO, out came the vellum, which DID make me have a TON of scraps, because I had to make those big enough to HOLD the perfect sized cards I so cleverly came up with...
Lots of glue dots, perfectly lined up so they all just make one dot on the vellum....and some of that Lick&Stick liquid envelope glue, so you can seal the envelope.

BTW--This is taking WAY more time than I allotted for this project, as you can imagine...

BUT WAIT! Whatever shall I deliver them in? I just used the last of my acetate boxes for my last gift....
I'll make a BAG! Because of the aforementioned "crazy like that."

So, more vellum (oh, and I ripped the first one by scoring too hard, so DOUBLE that effort), some scor-tape and some washi.

Then you have to pack it up so it looks gorgeous, with SOME of the cards IN the tiny envelopes, so you can see how that works, but some of them OUT of the little envelopes, so you can see the card through the BAG, and one of those has to face the FRONT of the bag, and one has to face the BACK of the bag, and the empty little envelopes have to be hidden in the middle of the whole thing, so they don't look all lonely....

Oh, and the cherry on TOP of the crazy--

I just couldn't walk away until I had clear embossed my name and website on the outside corner of the bag. 
Really?
REALLY?
Apparently...

So, lifting my exhausted, sweating, got-nothing-else-done-today butt off the craft room floor, I go to the front of the house to see that Charlie has come home with a lovely bottle of wine for our hostess that night.

We brought the wine with us. Just the wine.

Yeah.
I left the cards at home.

Anybody wanna buy a set of gift cards?

*SIGH*

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

Mr Cardmaker's Monochrome Meadow

Back in 2013, I played around with this technique called "pulling pastels." It was the coolest thing, only I did it with blackboard chalk, because, well, because that's what I had.  Read more about it HERE.

Well, I loved the idea so much, that when CASology came up with a monochromatic challenge, my mind went right there again.
I am also joining the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Anything Goes.

I made this--

 

The sentiment came from a Heidi Swapp mini set on clearance at Michaels. I found two sets, which are wicked cool, because they come with a mini STENCIL! I haven't used the stencils yet, but, boy, I sure WILL.

 

The flowers are an ooooooold set from Stampin' Up called Upsy Daisy. I am almost positive this has been discontinued, but if I remember correctly, the image appeared in a best of flowers set they did a while ago.

 

Anyway, this could not be simpler.

 

I stamped and clear embossed the sentiment, because I knew I wanted it to be the star of this show.

Then, I just took a piece of chalk-I'm talking plain, white, chalkboard chalk-and rubbed it all over my panel of dark gray card stock, going pretty heavy handed with the whole thing.

I used my fingers and an almost-dry baby wipe to wipe the chalk off of my letters. Easy-peasy.

Moisture is NOT your friend on this kind of project. Trust me.

 

After that, it's all you, your stamp, and your versamark ink pad. 

For the darkest flowers, I got the stamp really juicy-fide, and then I stamped right over the chalk.

Lift the stamp off, and BAM!

Now, I knew I wanted those flowers to stay really dark, but with tiny bits of chalk in them to soften them, so I quickly clear embossed them to lock in that image permanently.

After that, it took me about six seconds to re ink my stamp, and stamp the image three more times in succession without reinking.

 

Aaaand, DONE!!

 

 

A quick, LIGHT shot of aerosol hairspray helps lock the chalk in place, but be LIGHT in coverage from way far away, or you'll make the whole thing wet, and everything will vanish on you.

Ask me how I know this.....

 

A gray card base, and oh yes, the inside--

 

The other Heidi Swapp stamp, simply stamped in gray ink...

 

SO, a really different look in a big hurry!

Speaking of, I am just about to get this in at CASology under the wire, so I'm off...

 

TRY this idea--Try it on navy and black cardstock, too, or even on a forest green (Oooooh, I may have to go there now!) --and try different colors of chalk!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best--

Richard

 

 

 

Mr Cardmaker Has Color on the Brain

Well, I'm still needing color in my life, and feeling the need to share it with others. Snow is pretty, but oceans of white can get soooooo BORING after too long. And we're getting to that too long place in a big hurry. If you live in New England or Canada or any of those places with the giant mounds, you know what I mean.
Had to bust out of that!

I made this--

So, this one is very much like my last card; in fact, some of the papers are the same. I was happy with that last one, and I know enough to strike when the inspiration is hot!

I think one of the things that I really like about this card is the fact that it's sort of seasonally ambiguous. It sort of looks springy, but boy that orange and that teal are DEEP, and spring is sort of more, well, pastel. The pastels are there, but they're sort of being tugged into another place, too. Something , well, juicier.
I kinda dig that.
I also dig that sweet felt flower.

Funny thing, but this is one of the few times I have done a larger edge around my panels on a card. That orange was so yummy, I really wanted to see more of it. It DOES feel weird breaking that 1/4" idea, though, I have to say.

Oh, and the inside--

Where I apparently did NOT break that 1/4" rule.  I just noticed that! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hope you have a colorful day.
All Best-
Richard

Mr Cardmaker Needs Something COLORFUL in His Life

I am not a hot, wet summer person. To that end, I make it a point NOT to whine about the cold, the snow, or winter in general.

Instead, let me whine (if you will indulge me) about the fact that we need SHORTER seasons all around. Why cant' we have six, or even eight seasons? FIVE, even, if only to shorten the boring, boring, BORING days of sitting and staring at the blinding WHITE landscape in front of me.

COLOR. I NEED some COLOR.

I made this--

Well, I stamped. I die cut. I used my foam adhesive and liquid glue and twine AND sequins.
I mention what I DID use, because I have been staring at this card and sort of alibiing for the fact that I didn't do any matting for any of my layers. Did you notice that lack of cardstock behind my layers?

Anyway...
The more I look at it, the more I think I was crazy to worry about it.  I think there is a lightness that happens without the matts. I think my laziness foresight worked well here.

I actually used stamps that have never seen ink on this card, and they're stamps from some of my oldest sets! I was really pleased to finally find a way to use them.

So, after winter comes the season called Whitus Interruptus. Mark it in your calendar.  Somewhere around February 15 until the first flowers of spring. Lots of lemons and all your bright colored clothing, and every happy colored thing you own hauled out and put on display. And, of COURSE, cards to friends.

 

 

And the inside, of course--

What do you think? Up for more seasons?
This one is going into the Lawnscaping 100th Birthday Challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard