Coffee Break Friends

Happy Monday!  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.  It was a busy and productive one at my house.  I always feel better about the upcoming week if I've managed to get a few things checked off my to-do list over the weekend.  It was also nice to just spend some time together as a family.  We ate lots of chili and carved a pumpkin and went to a Halloween party...the perfect way to spend a few chilly days in Autumn, if you ask me!

And while my family slept, I spent a few hours in my craft room to work on completing a few challenges.  The first card I made was for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge, which uses the following sketch:

 

I combined this sketch with the Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown.  The current Midweek Throwdown challenge theme is "Celebrate Friendship", so I used both challenges to create this card:

 

 

This card combines two of my favorite themes: friendship and coffee! (Side note: I collect coffee stamps, so you'll see those quite often on my blog.  I also collect snowmen stamps, so I make a lot of winter cards!) 

 

Since this card will be donated to Operation Write Home, I wanted to keep the colors neutral enough that it could be sent or received by a man or a woman.  I made a card base from brown card stock and cut a panel of red card stock to run the length of the card. I stamped my coffee cup in Memento Espresso Truffle, then masked the cup to add the frothy milk. I applied Liquid Applique, then set the tag aside to dry. You're *supposed* to let the liquid applique dry overnight, but I never have that much patience!  After it seemed dry enough to me (an hour or two), I used my heat gun to make it puff up.  I love the texture it adds!  Because frothy milk isn't stark-white, I applied some metallic rub-ons with my fingers to change the color a bit.  Because I wanted the brown card stock to show through the vellum on my tag, I laid my tag on the back side of the red panel, traced around it and then cut out the area with my craft knife. I adhered the panel to my card base, then attached the tag to the card base using mini glue dots. I stamped my sentiment on white card stock in Memento Espresso Truffle and inked the edges of the white piece with the same color, then adhered it to the card. 

 

This old stamp set is just so much fun to use!  White Liquid Applique works perfectly for creating the frothy milk (which can also become a dollop of whipped cream for hot cocoa if you just change the sentiment). 

 

I noticed that in this photo, the red panel looks slightly skewed. It is perfectly straight on the card (I know this because I measured it...my darned astigmatism makes lining things up difficult so I rely on my trusty ruler!). I either need a better camera or I need to brush up on my photography skills!

 

Looking at this card today (when it's not the middle of the night!) I think I would like this a bit more if I had embossed the red panel to add a bit of texture.  I can definitely see several uses for the sketch and am looking forward to trying it with other images and sentiments.

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tackle another challenge or two.  I hope those of you who are hunkered down for Hurricane Sandy are staying safe and dry!  My thoughts and prayers are with all who are in the storm's path. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Products Used:

Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)

Stamps: Espress Yourself (Stampin' Up!)

Other: Liquid Applique (Marvy); Golden White Metallic Rub-On (Craf-T Products), heat tool, vellum tag

 

 

 

My First Midweek Throwdown Entry!

I completed my very first challenge for Operation Write Home!  I am so excited!!  I have started making cards to donate and decided using challenges will help me accomplish my goal faster.  I chose to do the Midweek Color Throwdown over on their blog, Stars and Stamps.  The challenge this week was to make a card using black and white with a "pop" of either red or green.  I was surprised at how difficult I found this challenge, considering that one of my favorite color combinations is black, white and red.  In fact, I've blogged about a couple of cards using these colors recently (HERE and HERE).  I'm going to blame my creative frustration on the fact that my baby is teething so I'm not sleeping much! 

I decided to make a "general" card, as our deployed servicemen and servicewomen can always use "any occasion" cards.  This stamp is from a set that really frustrates me because the font is intentionally messy. Whenever I use it I find myself trying to correct the ink mistakes, only to realize they are not mistakes, they're part of the design.  Being a bit of a perfectionist, this drives me batty! 

Here's my card:

See how it looks like my stamp skipped a bit or I wiggled it too much?  I promise that's how the stamp is designed!  I stamped the sentiment on white card stock, then die cut it using Nestabilities in my Big Shot.  I cut red and black card stocks with the same Nestabilities set, then layered the pieces.  I embossed the white card stock in my Big Shot, adhered the stamped piece to it, and tied some baker's twine around it.  I adhered the white panel to the black card base.  This is a quick Clean and Simple card, which seems to be my style this month.  This stamp set comes with four different sentiments, so I could easily make several different cards with this CAS layout. 

That's all for today!  We have a busy weekend ahead of us, but I hope to get some stamping time in to finish another project that's waiting on my desk. 

I hope you have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Products Used:

 

Stamp: That's Nice (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Various sources

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One; Divine Swirls Embossing Folder; twine