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

 

 

 

Hearts Full of Love

Today's card is a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) card for the Featured Stamper Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  Every week a stamper is chosen to be the Featured Stamper, and the challenge participants choose one of his/her cards to CASE.  It is always inspiring to look through a Featured Stamper's gallery! 

Here is a link to the Featured Stamper's original card: Wish Big

And here is my card:

When you CASE a card for this challenge, you are asked to change at least two elements.  I chose to make several changes while still following the design of the card.  I used her layout almost identically and I matted the card front to a white base card, just as the original card maker did.  The original card had pink and blue and a "wish big" sentiment.  I wanted to make a love-themed card for Operation Write Home, so I used heart papers and a "love" sentiment.  I used a slightly different border die and a Nestabilities label for my sentiment.  The original card maker used a flourish of rhinestones and I just used a small row of them, as that's what I had on hand. 

I dry embossed the sentiment panel after cutting it with my Nestabilities.  I just love how a little detail like dry embossing can take a basic shape up a notch.  But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get those rhinestones to sparkle in my pictures!  You'll just have to trust me that they are clear rhinestones and they add just a touch of sparkle and shine to this card.

I always find it very challenging to mix patterned papers, but these hearts were similar enough that I thought they would work together and complement each other. It's fun to stretch outside of the box of my usual style and borrow someone else's ideas for a card!   

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Products Used:

 

Stamp: Hope Is... (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)

Paper: Unknown

Tools: Big Shot (Sizzix); Nestabilities Labels Eighteen (Spellbinders);

Die-Namics Dainty Lace Border (My Favorite Things); rhinestones

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!

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!