Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Sending Hugs to Ukraine for Support


Makers from all over the world are using their creativity to show support for the Ukraine people by posting with the hashtag #cardsforukraine on social media. This is my small contribution.

I chose to make my card with blue and yellow to represent the colors of the Ukraine flag. Here are a few Ukraine facts (many from theFACTfile):
  • National flower is the Sunflower.
  • Population is just under 44 million.
  • Ukrainian civilizations date back to 4800 B.C. The country is located in an area where Trypillian and Scythian civilizations thrived.
  • Ukrainians wear their wedding rings on their right hands.
  • National costume is the Vyshyvanka, decorated with ornamental hand woven embroidery in floral detail. Both women and men wear the costume on various occasions.
  • The world’s longest musical instrument, the Trembita, originates from Ukraine.
  • With up to 1,500 cafes, Lviv is has the highest number of cafes per capita in the world.
  • Locals enjoy drinking stewed fruit, called Kompot, a non-alcoholic sweet beverage.
  • Ukraine has the fourth highest literacy rate in the world.
  • Lviv was the birthplace of the first gas lamp.
  • The lowest point in the country: Black Sea at 0 m.
  • Ukrainians drive on the right.
We all live on this planet together; let's treat each other with kindness and all strive for peace.

Disclaimer:  Please help support my work in this small way - just use my links if you plan to purchase anything - there's no extra cost to you. Here's the official jargon: links, affiliate links, and cookies may be used in this post and on this site. Using this site implies your consent. I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Share a Sale, and other affiliate programs; these affiliate advertising programs provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and/or other affiliated sites. This helps offset a small portion of my crafting addiction... uh, hobby. I am truly thankful for your kind support! I also receive free products from companies, possibly monetary compensation, and sometimes free products for review. Regardless, all opinions are my own. Google and Blogger use cookies to provide and improve their services. See Notice at the bottom of this blog for a longer description and/or see the full Privacy Policy for even more details.

Making the Card

1. Cut blue cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; fold in half to form a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card base.

2. Cut white cardstock 4 x 5 1/4 inches; I recommend a smooth one that is good for ink blending. Stamp world from Globe Greetings (Concord & 9th) using Mustard Seed Distress Oxide Ink. Heat emboss with clear embossing powder using a heat tool.

3. Using a blending brush, apply Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide Ink over and just outside the stamped world image. Wipe excess with dry paper towel or cloth.

4. Using a blending brush, apply Black Soot Distress Ink (not Oxide) over the entire white background, blending gently into the blue around the world, but not into it.


5. Optional: cut a 2.5" circle die from masking paper or Post-it Tape (may have to overlap tape to get right width; if using a regular Post-it be sure to include some of the sticky area to help keep it in place). Place mask over world. Use a spray bottle, brush, or your fingers to drip some small water droplets across the background. Dab with a dry paper towel to lift a little of the color. Don't worry if a little gets under the mask, it just adds a little more texture. Let dry. Next mix up some white gouache or white acrylic paint to a sort of milky consistency. Use a splatter brush to flick very small white dots across the sky. Add extra stars with a white gel pen.

6. Using VersaMark ink, stamp "SENDING" from Waffle Flower Oversized Hugs stamp set on blue cardstock strip and emboss in white with heat tool. Trim if necessary. Also with VersaMark, stamp each letter of "TO" and "Ukraine" on a strip of blue cardstock, using the Concord & 9th Perfectly Penned stamp set. Emboss in white and trim as necessary.

7. Using Waffle Flower Oversized Hugs die, die cut 4 or 5 copies from blue (or black) cardstock and one copy from yellow cardstock. With the yellow copy on top, glue each of the die cuts together in a stack, making sure to line them up carefully. Place on card as shown (don't adhere yet) - adhere "TO Ukraine" just under the "g" in hugs as shown. Next glue the hugs. Finally, adhere "SENDING" where shown using dimensional tape where it doesn't overlap the hugs.

8. Optional: Adhere star embellishments (note: I couldn't find the ones I have; I bought them quite some time ago and don't know the brand). I found these as well (see the link image at the bottom for the best match) - some look very close to the ones I bought.


Supplies


Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Doodlebug Design Quick Card - Stuck on You

Doodlebug Design Quick Card - Stuck on You

Here's another fairly quick card using Doodlebug Design papers. So Much Pun is part of their "punny" collection, along with So Punny. They have a page or two in each pack that can be cut apart for easy additions to cards. I made this particular card for my husband. I just love how cute and colorful Doodlebug Design products are!

Disclaimer:  Please help support my work in this small way - just use my links if you plan to purchase anything - there's no extra cost to you. Here's the official jargon: links, affiliate links, and cookies may be used in this post and on this site. Using this site implies your consent. I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Share a Sale, and other affiliate programs; these affiliate advertising programs provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and/or other affiliated sites. This helps offset a small portion of my crafting addiction... uh, hobby. I am truly thankful for your kind support! I also receive free products from companies, possibly monetary compensation, and sometimes free products for review. Regardless, all opinions are my own. Google and Blogger use cookies to provide and improve their services. See Notice at the bottom of this blog for a longer description and/or see the full Privacy Policy for even more details.

Making the Card

1. Cut red cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; fold in half to form a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch card base. Cut black cardstock 4 x 5 1/4 inches for mat; set aside. In the So Much Pun 6x6 paper pad, find the page with the smiling bandages.  Cut to 3 7/8 inches tall first, watching orientation of bandages (i.e. cut off top or bottom). Next cut to 5 1/8 wide, keeping the leftover strip of bandages for the inside of the card. Adhere to black mat then adhere to card base.

2. From red cardstock, die cut Linked Hearts. Adhere where shown on card base. You may want to wait until you do step 3 before placing and gluing hearts. Note: the hearts I used have been discontinued but I put an alternative in the Supplies list; you may have to change the orientation of these hearts and the pun in step 3.

Doodlebug Design Quick Card - Stuck on You

3. In the So Much Pun 12x12 Paper Pack, find the sheet of square puns and cut out the "I'm stuck on you" pun. Cut black cardstock slightly larger (I just put the pun in a corner of the cardstock, with the amount of space I wanted on the cut sides, then put pencil marks on the other sides to match, and cut). Use the Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper Tool to round the corners 1/4 inch on both the pun and the black cardstock; adhere together. Adhere to card base as shown using dimensional tape.

4. Optional, use Wink of Stella on main bandage. Once dry, add Glossy Accents over same bandage.

5. From white glitter cardstock, die cut triple hearts using Coffee Charms die. Adhere where shown.

6. Cut red paper with Envelope Liner die for A2 card (sorry, inside liner is not shown). Set aside small red hearts. Make an A2 envelope from white paper using Envelope Board - leave unassembled (assembly in step 7). Stamp bandage and face on front bottom left corner with Memento Tuxedo Black ink (may want to fold envelope temporarily to note where to stamp but lay it all flat again for stamping). Color image with colored pencils.

Doodlebug Design Quick Card - Stuck on You

7. Adhere liner to inside envelope then assemble envelope. Use a bone folder to help with folds.

8. For the inside of the card (image further below), cut a black mat slightly larger than the saved strip of bandages. Adhere together than to inside of card where shown. In the So Much Pun 6x6 Paper Pack, find the sheet of square puns (matching the 12x12 for the front of the card) and cut out the "I'm stuck on you" pun. Cut black cardstock slightly larger; adhere together then adhere inside of card where shown.

9. To add a little more detail to the small bandages on both the front of the card and on the inside strip, glue small red hearts (saved from step 6) as shown. You may have to look closely to see them. Your pattern may vary somewhat depending on how the pattern was printed and cut on your particular sheet. I recommend placing all hearts first then gluing then down once you like the placement. I put 5 on the front and 3 inside the card.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Quick Cards with Doodlebug Design Papers


Greetings! These fun, cheerful cards are fairly easy and quick to make. I made the card on the left for our postal delivery worker, the card in the middle as a thank you to a couple of friends, and the card on the right for my husband. I also made matching envelopes for the two cards on the right. For the card on the left, I put it in a pearlized metallic envelope with a piece of matching washi tape on the back.

The directions below are for making all three of the above cards, but you could make more or less depending on what you want. There are a lot of punny sayings included in these Doodlebug Design paper pads. Hope your day is full of pun!

Disclaimer: Please help support my work in this small way - just use my links if you plan to purchase anything - there's no extra cost to you. Here's the official jargon: links, affiliate links, and cookies may be used in this post and on this site. Using this site implies your consent. I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Share a Sale, and other affiliate programs; these affiliate advertising programs provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and/or other affiliated sites. This helps offset a small portion of my crafting addiction... uh, hobby. I am truly thankful for your kind support! I also receive free products from companies, possibly monetary compensation, and sometimes free products for review. Regardless, all opinions are my own. Google and Blogger use cookies to provide and improve their services. See Notice at the bottom of this blog for a longer description and/or see the full Privacy Policy for even more details.

Making the Cards

1. Use the main dies to cut the card bases as follows: use Stephanie Barnard/Sizzix Framelits Card, Kind Sentiments Step-Ups to cut one base from teal cardstock and Stephanie Barnard/Sizzix Framelits Card, Gift Card Flip-its to cut one base from teal cardstock then another from ultramarine blue cardstock. Note: Sizzix discontinues dies regularly but comes out with new designs continually. Search their website for card dies - and be sure to look at their sales and clearance sections!


2. Use the secondary, decorator, dies from the two sets to cut the backgrounds from the papers shown in the 6x6 Doodlebug Design paper pads (see Supplies for a listing of all pads used). Adhere to cards as shown.

3. Find the page of punny cards in the 12x12 packs - these are what I used as sentiment panels on the fronts of each of the cards. Trim them down to fit as shown. Use Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper to round the corners of the soda front (see photo above) and added a sticker over "cute" to make it "sweet" since I was giving this as a thank you card. Adhere the waffle panel directly to the card as shown. Adhere the other two using dimensional tape as shown.


3. Find the page of border strips in the 6x6 pads. Adhere where shown on the front or inside of the cards (the soda one is a little hard to see in the step card but it is inside the card - you could also put it on the back if you wanted to write your message there instead).


4. Add blue sequins to the front of the soda card where shown. Optional: add clear Wink of Stella to subjects of cards for some sparkle. I added it to the shooting star, including the tail, the waffles, and the sodas. Add Glossy Accents where desired. I added it to the star (shooting star), syrup (pancakes), and soda bottle but not the can.


5. Stamp soda bottles and waffle on the envelope flaps in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Color with Prismacolor pencils as shown below. For the shooting star, I used a pearlized envelope and coordinating washi tape on the back flap (not shown).



Supplies
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Monday, April 6, 2020

Till We Meet Again B&W Blended Coloring Thank You Card

Wow! It has been a while since I've posted! The end of last year was super busy - lots of travel, including a trip to Ecuador (and the Galapagos) for five and a half weeks. Preparing for the trip (planning, getting work done before leaving, etc.) took a long time. While in Ecuador, I caught two viruses back-to-back (colds - but they almost always hit me hard because I have asthma). Then on the way back home, just to add insult to injury, I got food poisoning at the Quito airport lounge, likely from some condiments left out all night. I was home for about a month, finally feeling better, then I caught Influenza A at a board game convention. Of course not long after that the pandemic hit and now I'm sequestered inside once again. Unfortunately, we had to move my husband to another part of the house - he's a doctor and likely to be exposed. Since I'm high risk, we had to quarantine him. Well, at least we have video chat! In case you are interested, I will put one of my more compelling travel photos at the end of the post. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!


Disclaimer: Please help support my work in this small way - just use my links if you plan to purchase anything - there's no extra cost to you. Here's the official jargon: links, affiliate links, and cookies may be used in this post and on this site. Using this site implies your consent. I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Share a Sale, and other affiliate programs; these affiliate advertising programs provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and/or other affiliated sites. This helps offset a small portion of my crafting addiction... uh, hobby. I am truly thankful for your kind support! I also receive free products from my design team companies, possibly monetary compensation, and sometimes free products for review. Regardless, all opinions are my own. Google and Blogger use cookies to provide and improve their services. See Notice at bottom of blog for a longer description and/or see the full Privacy Policy for even more details.

Making the Card

1. Cut Neenah Desert Storm cardstock (I used 100lb) to 7x10 inches; fold in half to form a 5x7 inch card base.

2. On a piece of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock (I used 80lb), stamp Till We Meet Again (Dreamerland Crafts) in Tuxedo Black Memento ink (leave enough room on top, bottom, and sides for die cutting). Color image with black and white colored pencils (optional: use a blender pencil to blend). Use white for the highlights and black in the shadows, leaving the paper for middle values. Use less pressure on the pencils to shade in between.

3. Die cut (or cut) image to 2 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches (see photo for spacing). I used Waffle Flower A7 Layers Die set to cut all the rectangles for this card. Die cut black cardstock one or two sizes up (3x5 inches). Adhere image.



4. Die cut black cardstock 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. Adhere to card base. Die cut hex B&W patterned paper 3 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches. I used My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad, Everyday Basics B&W, but any B&W paper with a small pattern will work, for example Doodlebug Design Petite Prints has some great basic patterns. Adhere to card base as shown. Adhere matted image where shown.

5. Die cut two copies of Thank You (Karen Burniston in Cahoots with Riley and Company) - one from black cardstock and one from glitter cardstock. I used Tim Holtz Deco Sheets but I believe the gold/silver version has been discontinued. Any matching glitter cardstock will work; if you can't find a light gold to match, try cream or white. Adhere the glitter Thank You to the black Thank you, offset so that it creates a slight black shadow below and to the left. Adhere to card where shown.

6. Die cut "my friend" from Neenah Desert Storm cardstock using Word Set 1 - Greetings (Karen Burniston in Cahoots with Riley and Company). Adhere where shown.

7. Adhere white enamel dots where shown.


Supplies


The photo above was taken by me while scuba diving with my husband at Gordon Rocks in the Galapagos, Ecuador. There were well over a dozen hammerhead sharks; you can't see them all in this photo. I was about 10 feet away, using a Canon camera with a fisheye lens in an underwater housing. The fisheye lens makes everything look much further away so it can get 180 degrees in the photo. As I was shooting the hammerheads, I almost missed about 7 or 8 spotted eagle rays swimming by.

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