Thursday, March 29, 2012

Anniversary Card

This is a card I made for my husband for our 21st anniversary. The character image is from Bugaboo Stamps. If it doesn't look exactly like the original, it's because I sometimes edit the images (in Photoshop) to suite me. In this case I took out the jagged line on the heart and a couple of swirls. The jagged line made me think of a broken heart - not quite what I was going for - and the swirls were a little too girly; I didn't think my husband would like them. This is another one of my early marker coloring experiments - using Prismacolor markers and blender. I cut the circle and scalloped circle with Nestibilities and lightly inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Just behind the image, I used a friend definition rubber stamp on white card stock, ripped the bottom edge and inked it with Antique Linen. The titles across the top and bottom were done with the Xyron Design Runner. I used Cuttlebug Embossed Tags to cut the tag, stamped the sentiment, and inked it.


The clear acrylic tile is from Tim Holtz Rectangle Fragments. I used Adirondack Alcohol Ink and Blending Solution to create an aged effect on the back side of the tile. On a piece of white card stock, I stamped the Love seal in red then stamped over it with our anniversary date in black. I mounted it on the back of the tile using Glossy Accents then cut off any extra paper around it. I bought the red paper at Costco (one of my favorite stores!); they used to sell hand made scrapbooking paper in 12x12 sheets but I haven't seen it in a while (although I haven't really looked either). I'm not sure where I bought the blue paper - likely Michaels or A.C. Moore.

If you want to make perfect looking bows, try the Bow Easy. I use it for most of my bows.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Purple Birthday Card

Another card from my archives: this is a birthday card I made a couple years ago for my friend Becky. She and I both like purple. For the background, I used purple white core paper, embossed a piece for the bottom half, and sanded both the bottom and top pieces. I covered the dividing line with a polka dotted sage colored ribbon and added a few eyelets for interest. On the green card stock, I stamped white swirls and green dots and lightly sanded the edges. On the cream colored card stock, I stamped swirls in purple (the color doesn't show well in the image) and green dots then inked the edges in green. The sentiment looks much better in person - it's embossed with a glittery purplish embossing powder.


The flower was cut with a Sizzix die, sanded, and attached with a green brad. The brad looks much more green in this image than it actually does in person. The textures and reflective properties between the paper and the brad are different. The camera picks up light reflecting off of these varied surfaces differently from our eyes. The result is that something that looks like it matches to our eyes may look totally different when photographed. I could have fixed this in Photoshop, by desaturating the color in the brad some before posting, but I'm feeling lazy today. The glittery sentiment is another difficult element to photograph. I typically use a polarizing filter to remove surface glare (e.g. in the eyelets) and bring out the colors (although this worked too well on the brad). Of course this also tends to remove the glitter effects. So, basically, I'm showcasing the design of this older card; I'll probably get a bit fussier with the colors on my newer cards. Heh.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Grunge Flower Mother's Day Card

Tim Holtz made grunge flowers in one of his 12 Tags of of Christmas series. I just had to try this technique. This was my first attempt. I used regular card stock; he used grunge paper, which is probably a bit more forgiving. The sentiment was printed from my computer, using Photoshop to create the circle text. I stamped the flower (colored with watercolor) and heart circle decoration. I used Spellbinders Nestibilities to cut out the sentiment circle (mounted with dimensional tape) and two scalloped circles behind it.


For the background, on the left side I lightly ran a pink ink pad across parts of the lighter pink paper for a grungy look. On the right side, I used the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder (on my Sizzix Big Shot Pro Machine!) to emboss magenta white core card stock, sanding it to give it more texture. I decided to add a little bling by stringing a few beads on coordinating wire, bending the wire into corkscrews and swirls, and mounting them behind the flower. A couple of overlapping ribbons complete the look.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you will find inspiration here and maybe even some useful tips. I enjoy making cards, sketching, painting, and in general, being creative. I recently started using Copic markers and love, love, love them! I'm signed up to take the official standard certification class in a month or so - I'll let you know how it goes! I use a variety of tools, some of my favorites (besides the Copic markers) include Prismacolor pencils and markers, Staedtler watercolor pencils, Brevillier's Creatacolor series (pencils, aqua crayons, watercolor pencils), Spica glitter pens, Copic Multiliner SP pens, Sizzix, Silhouette, Cricut, Bazzill card stock, K&Co paper and card stock, Canson papers, Strathmore papers, Martha Stewart punches, Magnolia stamps, Winsor & Newton products (esp. Iridescent Medium and Sansodor), Mod Podge, and just about anything Ranger/Tim Holtz. Whew! And those are just off the top of my head! (Insert smirk here.)

To start things off, here is a card I made last summer. The image is from Bugaboo Stamps. It was one of my first attempts at shading with Prismacolor markers and the blender. I was looking for an image with a flower and didn't even realize until it was done that she is sitting upon a shamrock (thanks to my sister for pointing it out). Oh well, better luck next time.


The flowers were cut with my Cricut. I hand painted the yellow/orange/red ones with Distress Reinkers (Tim Holtz): Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Barn Door. I topped them with a coat of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. The blue flower was painted with Weathered Wood crackle paint and tipped using Ranger's Adirondack Acrylic Snow Cap Dauber. I hope to post a tutorial on making flowers in detail at some point. The decorative borders were done with Martha Stewart punches. The textured papers are Bazzill.

Thank you for joining me on my first day!