Thursday, June 28, 2018

Enjoy the Little Things!


Do you subscribe to any card-making newsletters?  The most recent SCS newsletter contained a link to this Double Triangle Card tutorial, so I had to try it for today's card for Stamp Simply!  I love that this interesting fold uses one piece of 8.5 x 11 card stock, sliced diagonally in half to make two cards.  By reversing the direction of the folds you can change the orientation of the card. It's kinda fun and different.

The real trick with this design is to make sure that the focal point is adhered only on one of those diagonal panels.  Otherwise the card won't open.


It offers lots of opportunity to use up those pretty prints of coordinating paper.  I am really enjoying this Authentique Seafarer paper and had to squeeze in one more sorta patriotic card since Summer is officially here and it's almost the 4th of July.  I was going for a nautical, sandy beach/splashing waves/sea salt and spray kind of a feel.  Some fishing net and sea shells would be awesome on a design like this too!


If you look closely you can see that the sentiment is stamped with a mixture of the Delicata silver and gold inks.  That seemed to match the grey-beige colors in the paper better than either color alone.  I also rubbed the ink pads onto my craft mat and used lots of water with an old paint brush to splatter the colors onto the white card stock.  After all, the beach is pretty messy!  ;)

I hope you enjoy your weekend!  And if you are one of my fellow Americans, Happy Independence Day!  

Here are the supplies I used for today's card:

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Happy Birthday!


Today's easel card for Stamp Simply was inspired by my mom! Today would have been her 90th birthday were she still living.  She loved books, and in fact, worked for many years at the Westlake Branch of the Calcasieu Parish Library.  She had a wonderful collection of books on a wide variety of subjects.  There were always stacks of books on the stool that sat beside her rocker and on her nightstand.  She kept one at arm's reach in just about every room in the house, including the kitchen!  She especially loved cookbooks!


There was a special of Little Women on TV not long ago, and I was really excited to watch it, mainly to see the costumes (in the midst of sewing my own 1860s attire, you might remember)!  I look at this vignette differently now than I would have before, noticing the details of the trim on their dresses, the collars and cuffs, the way their hair is worn.  When I was stamping, I was happy to find a way to nestle things together without having to cover anything significant, because this paper is SO lovely!


Here is a detail shot of the floral cluster.  The green of the leaves, orange of the flowers, the yellow burlap string, yellow pearls and vibrant blue faux canvas ribbon bring all of the colors of the paper together into the embellishments, while the tulle and lace add femininity and softness.  


The birthday greeting on the front is echoed by the traditional greeting that peeks from inside when the easel card is propped open.

Here are the supplies I used, all from Stamp Simply:

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Happy Flag Day!


Happy Flag Day!  Today's card for Stamp Simply was inspired by those painted palette projects that you've seen all over Pinterest. This is the same paper that I used for my card last week, this time cut into strips and glued to a piece of white card stock.  The star is die cut from white card stock, inked with distress oxide ink, then sprinkled with water.  After stamping and heat-embossing the sentiment, everything was splattered with diluted gold ink.


You can see the embossing and the barn wood texture of the patterned paper a little better in this close-up.  I had planned to use some gold glitter-dot ribbon and blue faux canvas ribbon, but in the end decided that clean and simple was the way to go!


And here's the inside.  Again, clean and simple.  I love this stamp set!  And the nice thing is that there's still time to order it for patriotic cards for the 4th of July!  

So blessed to live in this great country and so very proud to be American.

Here are the other supplies that I used, all from Stamp Simply:

Thursday, June 7, 2018

You are the BEST!


Father's Day is just around the corner!  I really miss my own sweet daddy, but I still enjoy making cards for my son to give my husband.  In his book, less is more...he is definitely a no frills kinda guy.  


Because of that, I wanted this card to be bright and colorful but still clean and simple.  This sentiment from Stamp Simply All Occasions Sentiments 2 and the designer paper from Authentique Frontier gave me the idea of a "Home on the Range/County Fair Blue Ribbon" style of a card.  I figured he would not object to this ribbons-without-bows design.


The inside of the card is "leather" designer paper, so I thought it might be cool to make the sentiment appear "branded."  I stamped it first with white chalk ink, then moved the paper ever so slightly before stamping it again with Tuxedo Black.

My cuttlebug cutting plates are in really sad shape, so there are some rough spots on those gold foil stars.  I really need to order some replacement plates!  

Here are the supplies I used: