Cocoa and Friendship

Happy Thanksgiving week!  Here in the U.S. we're busy getting ready for a holiday.  It's been unseasonably warm where I live, so I'm having trouble believing we're coming up on the end of November so quickly.  Christmas (my very favorite time of the year) is just around the corner!

Today's card is a quick and easy winter card.  I collect coffee and hot chocolate stamps (and snowman stamps...do you see a wintry pattern emerging here?), so hot drinks appear quite often on my cards during this time of year.  One of my favorite ways to embellish a stamped cup of hot chocolate is with puffy white Liquid Applique.  This is such a fun (and easy) way to add a bit of fluffy whipped cream!

Here's my card:

I stamped my mug in Rich Cocoa on some light brownish card stock (it was in my stash and I have no idea what the color name is).  I added the steam in Close to Cocoa.  The steam is from a different set.  I love to mix and match my stamp sets to make them more versatile. 

I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa, then die cut it and inked the edges with Rich Cocoa.  I used a dewdrop-sized pad this time because the smaller size makes it so much easier to ink the edges on a small label.  I added some baker's twine to my panel and then attached my sentiment piece with Stampin' Dimensionals over the twine.  I adhered the panel to a dark brown card base (also from my stash) and applied Liquid Applique.  I allowed it to dry, then used my heat tool to puff it up.  I decided it needed just a bit more so I added more Liquid Applique over it and puffed it up with the heat tool again.  I love that you can add layers and continue building the "foam" if you want to.  I thought it needed a little something else, so I added a red striped straw over the foam.  Unfortunately a bit of the red got on the foam (those new SU ink pads are JUICY!), so once again I added some more Liquid Applique and heat set it.  See how great this stuff is for covering up mistakes and creating dimension?

I am leaving this card as a "friendship" card by not adding any other sentiment, but I could easily change it to a missing you, thank you, love you, thinking of you, etc. card just by adding a sentiment to the inside. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Products Used:
 

Stamps (mug and sentiment): Close to My Heart

Stamps (steam and straw): Like it a Latte (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Close to Cocoa, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)

Tools and Accessories: White Liquid Applique (Marvy); Baker's Twine (unknown); Nestabilities Labels One (Spellbinders); Big Shot (Sizzix); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

Misty Autumn Leaf

Full disclosure: Today's card is not one of my favorites, but I like some of the elements so I decided to share it anyway.  I have been making so many winter and love cards lately (mostly for Operation Write Home) that I wanted to step back and make an Autumn card.  I love Autumn, but I really, really, really love Christmas!  I seem to rush into the Christmas season faster and faster each year (much to my husband's dismay, I switched the ring tone on our house phones to "Jingle Bells" months ago!).  I am also running behind on my monthly cards for the Divine Design Bible Verse Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers, so this will be my October verse card for the challenge. 

Here is my effort to refocus on Autumn as we approach Thanksgiving:

I started by die cutting a circle from a piece of scrap paper, then used the negative of the die cut as a mask.  I placed it over my card stock panel and sponged Ancient Page Saffron, Memento Desert Sand and Memento Potter's Clay in the open space of the circle.  I thumped Summer Sun, Garden Green, Always Artichoke and Handsome Hunter markers on my leaf stamp, then misted it with water and stamped it over the circle, then removed my mask.  I stamped the sentiment in Ancient Page Pine and adhered the panel to a piece of Ultrasmooth Vanilla and a brown card base.  I used a distressing tool to rough up the edges and sponged some Distress Ink over the panel (I forgot to write down which Distress Ink I used).  I think if I made this one again I would use less Distress Ink and maybe an add embellishment or two. 

I apologize for not keeping track of the card stock and Distress Ink colors as I used this time.  I've tried to get into that habit but my memory slips now and then!

If you're like me and overwhelmed with pre-holiday planning and shopping, I hope you will take a few moments for yourself to create something just for your own pleasure.  If you're crafting for the holidays (or in my case, for the holidays and my daughter's upcoming birthday), it can start to feel like work or a chore.  If I can do some crafting just for fun and relaxation, it helps balance out all the stress-inducing "have to" items on my list.  I am hoping to sneak away for a bit of crafting every day or two during this busy season, just to maintain my sanity!  I hope you will, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Products Used:
 

Stamp: PSX
Paper: Various sources

Ink: Summer Sun, Garden Green, Always Artichoke and Handsome Hunter markers (Stampin' Up!); Ancient Page Saffron, Ancient Page Pine (Clearsnap); Memento Desert Sand, Memento Potter's Clay (Tsukineko); Distress Ink (Tim Holtz/Ranger)

Tools: Big Shot (Sizzix); Circles #2 (Sizzix); Edge Distresser (Close to My Heart)

 

The Snowman's Second Life

Today's card was created for "What Are the Odds?", this week's Ways to Use It Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  The requirement for this card was to use an odd number of some element on the card.  I used three snowflakes for my "odd".  Here's my card:

I have a box of unfinished projects in my craft room, and every once in awhile I will unearth a piece of a project and give it a second life.  For this card, I dug into the box and found this adorable snowman image.  I had stamped it, colored it with watercolor pencils, added some Stickles and layered it on red and black card stock, and then for some reason I never finished whatever project I had intended it for.  It's nice to repurpose your own work sometimes, so I decided to use this piece to make a new card.

I cut a larger piece of the same textured red card stock and adhered it to a black card base.  Using a black gem, white fiber and dimensionals, I attached the image to the card by hanging it from the gem.  I die cut three snowflakes and added them to the card.  I stamped the sentiment on white card stock and layered it on black card stock, then adhered that piece to the card base.  I finished by adding more Stickles to the snowman and snowflakes.  It's hard to see in the picture, but those Stickles really add some snowy sparkle to the card.

This card has reminded me that winter will be here soon, which means I really need to get cracking on my Christmas shopping!  That sounds like the perfect excuse to go shopping this weekend, doesn't it?

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Products used on this card:

Snowman Image: Snow Angels (Stampin' Up!)

Sentiment: Close to My Heart

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Snowflakes: ProvoCraft

Other: Watercolor pencils, black gem, white fiber, Stickles



Clean and Simple, or Dirty and Frustrating?

This week's Sketch Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers *should* have been easy.  (You can see the original sketch HERE.)  The sketch requires a card base, one additional layer, one image and one sentiment.  Pretty straightfoward, right?  Well, it didn't come together easily for me.  I couldn't decide on an image, then I couldn't decide on a sentiment, and then once I settled on those I couldn't seem to keep my inky fingers from leaving stray marks.  I must have stamped at least 8 panels before getting one that was free of stray marks.  My "clean and simple" card became quite dirty and frustrating!  The final result is a card that looks deceptively simple:

Now that I've finished my card, I can see how versatile this sketch can be and I think I will keep working with it.  By changing the image and/or the sentiment, you can easily create a card for any occasion.  This card is great for mailing because it is lightweight and free of embellishments. 

I made a card base from a piece of textured Bazzill brown card stock.  I cut a panel of Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock (Stampin' Up!) and stamped the mug and steam (from Close to My Heart) in Memento Espresso Truffle ink on the right side of the panel.  I added the sentiment (from the Elegant Greetings set by Stampin' Up!) using the same ink, then rounded the corners of the panel with a corner rounder punch.  I adhered the ivory panel to the card base and added a liner to the inside of the card.  (Whenever I use a dark-colored card base, I add a light-colored liner for writing on the inside.)  The sketch called for the sentiment to be lower on the card, but with my image it would put the card off-balance to have the sentiment in the lower portion.  In a sketch challenge you are allowed to make minor adjustments and changes to suit your project, which allows for some creativity while following a basic formula.

One thing about Clean and Simple cards: It's very, very hard to hide mistakes!  Most of the time when I'm stamping a card, an extra embellishment or an added layer can cover up mistakes, but a CAS card is just so...naked!  It definitely challenges a stamper to do her best work (and keep those fingers clean!).

Thanks for visiting!

You Warm My Heart with Polka Dots

This week's Clean and Simple (CAS) Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers was a sketch challenge (they provide a sketch and we use it for the card's design).  The Try a New Technique Challenge (also at Splitcoast Stampers) required us to use polka dots somewhere on our cards.  I combined both challenges in this card:

 

The stamps are from a Close to My Heart clear stamp set.  While I normally prefer rubber stamps, I absolutely love CTMH clear stamps.  They stamp quite well with a variety of inks and I think they make a very clean impression.  I bought this set because of the coffee images in it (the coffee cup in my previous post is from this set), but I thought these mittens and the tiny snowflake were adorable.  I hadn't even noticed the polka dot stamp in this set until tonight, and it worked perfectly for adding the dots required by the challenge!  I love stamp sets that have multiple uses.

The images are stamped on white card stock using classic dye inks from Stampin' Up! in Rose Red and Handsome Hunter.  (I don't think I will ever get those tiny snowflakes to stamp in a perfectly straight line!)  The white card stock is adhered to dark green card stock, and I used a thin piece of that same card stock to make the solid strip under the polka dots.  Because my larger piece of dark green card stock was not big enough for a card base, I trimmed it to fit as a card front and adhered it to a white card stock base.  The benefit of a white card stock base is that you won't need to put a liner inside your card for writing your message.

This card is quick and easy to make. Cards like this are perfect for making multiples at one time, and you can always vary the sentiment, colors or image if you didn't want duplicates. I like to keep extra cards on hand or add them to my box for Operation Write Home, so I try to make duplicates of "general" cards. (I don't tend to make duplicates of birthday cards for family and friends, as I try to make each birthday card specific to the person receiving it.)

One of the biggest difficulties I face in creating Clean and Simple cards is leaving all that white space!  The idea behind CAS is that you will have lots of open space and little (if any) layers or embellishments. I think CAS cards look deceptively simple sometimes.  If you make mistakes, they are easily seen on a CAS card. You can't just add an embellishment to cover them up!  I really love the clean look of a CAS card, especially with bold, vibrant colors.

That's all for today. Thanks for visiting!

Coffee and Pumpkins: Autumn is Coming!

For this week's Sketch Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers I created two cards: a coffee card and a pumpkin card.  I have quite a collection of coffee-related stamps (coffee is this insomniac's friend!) and I love working with brown hues, so this first card was really fun to make.

I started with a brown card base. I stamped the coffee cup (Close to My Heart) in Stampin' Up! (SU) Chocolate Chip dye ink on Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock (SU). I cut the image out with a circle die on my Big Shot, then layered that circle on another piece of brown cardstock. I used an old SU tool, Layer Ease, to outline a layer around the stamped circle and cut that out by hand. (On a side note, I am seriously thinking I need to purchase some nesting dies. Trying to cut a perfect layer by hand in the middle of the night is no fun!). I attached two panels of coffee bean patterned paper to a layer of Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock, then attached them to the card leaving a gap between them. However, the circle is so large that it looks like I just used one large panel. If I were to make this card again, I would just use one large panel across the page rather than taking the time to make two separate sections. I adhered the circle between the panels using dimensionals to help it "pop" off the page.

I stamped the sentiment (Art Impressions) on a piece of Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock, layered it on a piece of brown card stock, tied some jute around the lower portion of the card and adhered the sentiment over the jute with dimensionals.

You will see more coffee-themed cards on this blog in the coming weeks, and since the weather is turning cooler, hot chocolate will probably make an appearance, too! I stock up on a lot of brown paper during this time of year!

Here is my pumpkin card (sorry for the picture quality...I was trying to capture the embossing):

This card was more challenging for me.  I rarely use orange in my crafting and rarely create Halloween-themed cards.  The image is a stamp I picked up at Michaels.  I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle dye ink on white card stock, then colored it with markers.  I cut the circle with my Big Shot and inked the edges with a brown marker.  I embossed a piece of brown card stock in my Big Shot using a Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder.  I cut that into two sections and adhered it to a piece of orange cardstock.  I attached a brown card front to a tan card base, then attached the orange panel to the card front.  I adhered the pumpkin image in the space between the embossed brown sections.  I stamped the sentiment (Unity) in Memento Espresso Truffle on white card stock, layered it on orange card stock and adhered it to the card front. 

I actually re-worked this card so many times that I had to put it away and work on it again this morning.  Sometimes putting a project aside and coming back to it later gives me a new perspective and fixes any "creative blocks" I'm experiencing.  I have a box of images and started cards that I keep on my craft table, and every now and then I will dig in the box and give one of those projects a second chance!

Do you ever just get "stuck" on a card?  How do you spark your creativity and breathe new life into an abandoned project?  I'd love to hear your comments!