Teapot Tuesday's Scripture for Jean

Happy Wednesday!  I want to start by sending out a big "Hello!" to all of you, and a big "Welcome!" to my new followers!  It is always a joy to read your comments, and I love hopping around to see your blog posts, too.  My kiddos have really kept me running at full speed this week and I've fallen behind.  If I haven't made it by to visit your blog in the past couple of days, don't worry, I will be catching up in the next day or two!

Over at Splitcoast Stampers, our Teapot Tuesday recipient this week is a sweet lady who is battling cancer.  In addition, she has macular degeneration which prevents her from doing the knitting and crafting she has enjoyed in the past.  We were encouraged to use flowers or a cactus on our cards (if you squint really hard, you might be able to see the flowered outlines on the blue patterned paper), and we were told she would enjoy Scripture.  I wanted to use cheerful colors, so I reached for a sunny yellow and sky blue combination.  Only after I finished the card did I remember that the inspirational teapot was green and pink (yes, it's been THAT kind of week!).  But I did see a tiny bit of yellow on the teapot, so I'm going to call it good!!

Here's my card:

This is one of my favorite Bible verses.  I memorized it when I was a teenager and it provided great comfort during the "dramatic" teenage years!  Now as an adult, it provides me with lasting comfort in the midst of life's difficulties.  Last year, Our Daily Bread Designs asked stampers for suggestions of Bible verses to include in their upcoming Scripture stamp series.  I suggested this one, and they chose to include it in their Scripture Series 3 set (and I received the set free!).  I use this verse (and others in the set) quite often on my cards.

To create this card, I cut panels of two-sided patterned paper, wrapped baker's twine around the smaller panel and attached it to the larger panel.  I attached the panel to a heavyweight white card stock base.  I stamped the verse on white card stock in Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black (I find this makes the text a bit darker) then die cut and embossed it.  I die cut a scalloped circle from the patterned paper and attached the sentiment using dimensionals.  I attached the scalloped circle over the baker's twine with dimensionals, then die cut two flourishes and attached them behind the scalloped circle.  Finally, I added Stickles to the flourishes for dimension and texture.  And just for good measure (and to cover an ink spot!) I fussy-cut a flower from the patterned paper and attached it to the back of the card, using Stickles on the flower center.

I wish I could see the looks on the faces of the Teapot Tuesday recipients when they open their mailboxes to find them full of cards from all over the world.  What fun that would be!  If you want to check out the current Teapot Tuesday challenge, just click on the link above and jump on in...you're always welcome!

I hope to get a couple more cards made and posted before the end of this crazy-busy week I'm having!  Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you'll visit me again soon!

Products Used:

Stamp: Scripture Series 3 (Our Daily Bread Designs)

Paper: Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb. card stock (Neenah); 110 lb. white card stock (Wassau Paper); 
two-sided card stock (unknown)

Ink: Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools and Accessories: Nestabilities Standard Circles Large and Classic Scalloped Circles Large (Spellbinders); Scribbles Swirls Sizzlits (Sizzix); Crystal Stickles (Ranger); Daffodil Baker's Twine (Strands Etc.); 
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

Fussy-Cut Flowers for Martha

Happy Thursday!  I mentioned in an earlier post that one of my creative goals for 2013 is to try new techniques.  One of my other creative goals is to use more patterned paper.  Matching patterns and colors doesn't come easily to me, so I've found that paper packs and matstacks are helpful because they coordinate well with each other.  I used a matstack for today's card and it definitely took away some of the frustration of choosing papers!  I also used fussy-cutting to create dimension with the pattern, which is another technique that is new to me.

I created this card for this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  This week our cards are heading to Texas for a sweet lady named Martha.  Shortly after Thanksgiving, Martha and her husband decided to take a short,  impromptu trip to New York with another couple.  While they were there, Martha's husband said he didn't feel well.  Moments later he died of a massive heart attack.  Martha enjoys handmade cards, so the Teapotters will be showering her with our best thoughts and wishes as we mail our cards to her.  We were encouraged to use fields of flowers or other peaceful nature scenes for our cards.

Here's my card for Martha:

This card has very little stamping; only the sentiment is stamped.  I started with a card base in natural white (a lovely off-white color).  I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa on a smaller piece of natural white, then attached it to brown and green patterned papers from the Latte matstack collection.  I cut a large panel from the flowery patterned paper in the same collection, then used a second piece of the patterned paper to fussy-cut some of the flowers.  I popped those flowers  up on dimensionals and adhered them over the identical flowers on the larger panel.  

I didn't have the color of ribbon I wanted to use, so I grabbed some off-white ribbon and my New Sprout ink pad.  I dyed the ribbon by running the ink pad over it several times, then rubbing off the excess ink with an old cloth.  I adhered the ribbon to the patterned paper, then adhered the entire panel to the card base. Finally, I added my sentiment block over the ribbon with dimensionals.

It's hard to see the "popped-up" flowers in the first photo, so here's a slightly different view:

If you're inclined to make cards to send to others who could use a bit of sunshine, I hope you'll consider joining us for the next Teapot Tuesday challenge.  Everyone is welcome!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Products Used:
Stamp: Close as a Memory (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Memento New Sprout (Tsukineko)

Paper: Classic Crest Natural White 80 lb. card stock (Neenah), Latte matstack (DCWV)

Tools and Accessories: Ribbon (Offray); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

Seamless Tiers with Patterned Paper Experiment

Happy Wednesday! I'm in the midst of reorganizing my craft room and several other rooms in my house, so I haven't had much stamping time over the past several days.  I have a few cards I need to send out this week, so I took a break from reorganizing and managed a little bit of crafting time after my kids went to sleep last night.

Over in the general stamping forum at Splitcoast Stampers, we've been having a discussion about the best way to use the Seamless Tiers/Triple Time technique using patterned paper instead of stamped images.  I think the easiest way is to use nested rectangle dies, but since I don't have those, I thought I'd try just cutting the layers myself.  This did not work out as well as I'd hoped, but it was a fun experiment!  The top two layers are lined up correctly, but I didn't manage to get the bottom layer to match up with the middle layer.  I don't mind, though, because I know the recipient of the card will not be critiquing it.  It's easy to forget sometimes, in our quest for perfection, that the recipient is usually just thrilled to get a card that was lovingly (if not perfectly) created.  I am going to try this technique again to see if I can manage it without the dies, but I think the dies would sure make this easier!

Here's my card:

I have to apologize for the poor picture quality.  I use natural lighting through a window, and the winter is really making it difficult to find the right time of day to photograph cards.  The colors on this card are Night of Navy and white, although the navy color looks black here.  Also, the shadows and angle make the sentiment panel look off-center, but I measured it and it's centered pretty well.  Darn photo!

This card uses almost exactly the same measurements as the ones in this post, but this time I used patterned paper in place of stamped images.  Before adhering the final layers, I wrapped a band of white card stock behind the sentiment panels, then popped up the sentiment panels using Stampin' Dimensionals.  This is a very simple card, and if I had just gotten that pattern lined up better I would have been happy to have made an easy AND pretty card!  But it's given me a jumping-off point and I'm sure I'll make another card like this soon so I can figure out how to fix those layers.

This card will be mailed to a sweet lady with leukemia who just had a bone marrow transplant.  She has to spend 100 days in a hotel away from her family and friends to avoid germs and be near the hospital.  Can you imagine spending 100 days away from those you love?  The thought breaks my heart, so I hope this card will encourage her. 

I hope you have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Products Used:

Stamp: Scripture Series 3 (Our Daily Bread Designs)

Paper: Night of Navy card stock (Stampin' Up!); Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb. card stock (Neenah)

Ink: Night of Navy Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)

Holly Jolly Sparkly Snowman

Whew!  It's been several days since my last post but I finally have a new card to share with you. This card was so much fun to create!  I started with an idea in my head that actually worked out on paper, which is always exciting!

For today's card I decided to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) some ideas I saw recently and use them to make an original card.  I saw a project on Splitcoast Stampers that used embossed circles for a snowman's body (see the project HERE)  and I really liked the idea of embossing a snowman.  I also saw a card that used a swirled embossing folder with glitter glue (see it HERE), and I was inspired to add Stickles to my embossing.  This week's Try a New Technique Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers asked us to make our own snowmen, so I used these ideas to create this sparkly, swirly snowman card:

I tried photographing this many times and just couldn't get a picture of the whole card that really shows the sparkle on the snowman as well as the embossing on the blue piece, so here are a couple of close-ups:

I started with a Neenah 110 lb. white card base and added a piece of wintry patterned paper to cover the card front.  I die cut 3 circles from Whisper White card stock, then embossed them with the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder.  I created a hat from black card stock and attached it to the "head" of the snowman.  I stamped my sentiment on Whisper White in Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder, then attached it to a piece of black card stock.  I cut a strip of blue card stock and embossed it with the Swirls, Ribbons and Snowflakes embossing folder, then cut the end to a point.

Once I had all the elements cut and stamped, I attached them to the card front.  I carefully applied Star Dust Stickles directly from the bottle to the raised embossing on the snowman.  I wanted to add some dimension to the snowflakes on my blue piece, so I added Stickles to the centers.  I quickly decided I didn't like the way that looked, so I added tiny pearls to the centers instead. 

I set the card aside to dry overnight (and somehow managed not to smear my Stickles, which was quite a feat for me!).  I had so much fun with this card that I will probably make a few more using different backgrounds, colors and embossing folders. 

I am also entering this card for the Paper Players #124 Challenge (snowman cards) and the ABC Challenge #7 (holiday cards with bling).  Thanks for stopping by today!

Products Used:
 

Stamp: Merry Merry (Recollections)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)

Paper: Solar White 110 lb. card stock (Neenah); Whisper White card stock (Stampin' Up!); Arctic Wishes Matstock (DCWV); black card stock, blue card stock (unknown)

Tools and Accessories: Circles #2 die (Sizzix); D'Vine Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Swirls, Ribbons and Snowflakes embossing folder (BasicGrey/Sizzix); Big Shot (Sizzix); clear embossing powder (Mrs. O'Leary's); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger); tiny pearls (Zva Creative)

Thanks a Bunch!

I finally had a chance to spend some time in my craft room and boy, is my craft table a mess!  Looks like I will be doing some reorganizing this weekend.  Doesn't that sound like fun?!

I want to give a shout-out and thanks to my followers.  Some of you have just started following my blog, and I thank each of you for taking the time to follow and visit!

After a busy week without much creative time, I really wanted to get back to challenges.  I combined this week's Ways to Use It challenge at Splitcoast Stampers (make a "thank you" card) with this week's sketch challenge at Operation Write Home.  Here's the sketch:

I love the simplicity of this sketch!  I chose to make a few small additions but tried to stick closely to the measurements provided.  Here's my card:

(I apologize for the shadows on this card, particularly the one around the sentiment panel.  The shadow and the brown card stock really blend together and it's hard to tell where the paper ends and the shadow begins.  I didn't notice it until I had already deleted my other pictures...ugh!)

I really struggle with matching patterned papers, so I was pleased as punch to find this two-sided paper in my stash!  I used the flowery side for the larger panel and used the lighter side for the smaller piece.  I made a card base with Chocolate Chip card stock and added some brown and white baker's twine to tie it all together.  I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa on Crumb Cake, used watercolor crayons and a slightly wet brush to color the image, then layered that piece with Chocolate Chip.  I had planned to simply attach the sentiment panel to the middle of the long strip, but I made an error as I was adhering my layers and tore the flowery paper slightly.  Thankfully there's usually a way to hide errors like this, and it often involves adding more layers or moving elements around.  I moved the sentiment panel to the left side of the card to cover my mistake and adhered it with dimensionals.  I knew I'd need some sort of embellishment on the right side to balance it all out, so I decided to fussy-cut two of the flowers from the leftover patterned paper (I am not a fan of fussy-cutting, so I did not come to this decision easily!).  After cutting out the flowers, I added a small white brad to the middle of each and attached them to the card with mini glue dots.  To add a little dimension, I lightly rolled the ends of the flowers so they would stand off the paper a bit.

This is a simple and quick card that could be used for many occasions just by changing the sentiment.  I am sure I will be using this sketch again!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Products Used:

 

Stamp: Thanks a Bunch (Unity)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Paper: Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake card stock (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (unknown)

Accessories and Tools: Watercolor crayons (Staedtler); white mini brads, brown and white baker's twine