Last minute Easter Cards

 So, the try a new technique challenge at splitcoast today is to use on a single color of cardstock if I understand it right. no embellishments no ink, etc. just one single not white color.
and before I left for work I seen Sabrina's card and I just loved this design. it stuck in my head all day more or less so, when I went upstairs I knew I needed Easter cards, knew I had these new bunny dies I had not played with yet. and thought I was going to make a popped up frame around the bunny with an egg. ( but, this card took a whole sheet of cardstock to make and the scraps from the trims were not big enough to cut the egg bigger than this one. the bunny is up on pop dots. this is soft sky and its A-6 in real life.

and when I was done with that I thought, there is still enough day light to get another done and you still have all the toys out... so, I fully intended to make a second duplicate card. but, Squirrel I seen this piece of trellis die cut I had cut out on Sunday thinking I could tuck 3-d flowers into it for the FS case card but, I ended up discarding that idea because, this is kinda a skinny trellis die. so, okay its kinda close but, I still like it even if it does have a bunch of scraps on it. all the dies are edged with a micro pen and the center of the trellis egg has some gold pearls in it, this one is also A-6 in real life.

This weekends cards

 A closer look at the textures and colors of the card below. that was done inspired by this weeks featured stampers gallery where I found this card of Lisa's here.

 The changes are the sentiment banner is heat embossed moved to the bottom of the card with brads instead of buttons. the watercolor panel is up on pop dots. the color is from some derwent art bars and the darker dots were I had misted this with water when the first layers of color were dry and tried to sand off some dust off the darker shade of art bar but, most of it is stuck to the sand paper. ( its not dry enough to make dust) the gold is some pale gold pan pastels rubbed here and there. The Penny Black bloom was inked with distress makers and done over the top of all that after it was dry again. the embossing folder is from Sizzix ( argyle #2) . The base is blushing bride and this one is A-7 in real life.

The inspiration challenge on Saturday headed to a pinterest board of umbrella shots or a fancy Italian umbrella store online and I found this. I used an vintage dictionary page from a book that is really brittle and so, I did not get the paper wet enough for the ink to run. ( I barley got the ink wet enough to move a little) this is both some charcoal gray from Nick Bantock's line and going gray from SU. ( thinking both those inks are retired) the couple is from Unity Stamps and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession I did take a fine line pen and go over and around the sentiment a few times to make it more bold and a little thicker so it would not disappear into the text background. this is A-6 in real life.

I know are you shocked there was only two? me too.

Thursday's cards

 

So, the ways to use it challenge today Linda's challenge was are you an slow turtle or are you an speedy hare when it comes to cardmaking.  and or how long did it take you to make your card and such. so, I purchased this sentiment (Art Impressions) recently knowing that I owned the Unity crappy day itty bitty set and I had already stamped and diecut it. its been laying on the table for maybe a week? ( I lose track of time) so, when I went up the stairs after work the thought was make something cool. but, this sentiment was laying there waiting to be used. and so, If I "do" what the voices tell me to do, I end up being able to make quite a few things in one batch. they are not exactly the same card but, they take bits and pieces from each other. because, I reach for what is in front of me. this particular card took 36 minutes. the toilet paper roll was a little smaller than I remembered it being so, I stamped a few more so, I ended up with maybe 4 or 5 of them stamped and while the set was out I also stamped some of the sentiment that comes with it. ( see below) the sentiment panel on this is up on pop dots and the toilet paper rolls were edged with an grey marker because, sometimes when you cut things out you miss and cut the stamped line and sometimes the side being white just jars with the design. so, that is a reflex for me and I don't think about doing it anymore I just do it. the grey mat under it was laying on the table in the scrap pile and it was how the rest of the things were picked out. This is 5" square in real life.

 So, this stripe paper is the back side of the pinwheel paper from yesterday its base is 5" of red ridinghood and the sentiment was diecut with an slim tags trio die from mama elephant. popped a heart brad into the hole and popped this up on pop dots.
This card took 20 minutes.

 

So, then I cut and scored both scraps that were from the bases of the above cards. the sentiment on the left was stamped and diecut previously and the heart was poked through just because the jar of heart brads was out. the one on the left is you know just because, both of these cards are 3 1/2" square. 

 and because, I am getting ready for a booth, and these little 3" cards go over well for me and the tray is not full yet. a few more were glued together easily  from scraps, these bases are in a holder already cut and scored. the sentiments were stamped previously. diecut previously. ( I have a bowl full of them on the table) and so, its really almost as much time to line them up and shoot them as it is to make them.

 I will also be making an assortment package of something ( maybe little cards) for the booth raffle prize donated to the school to raffle off in May

 So, I am working on filling gaps in the tray of these some are still funny some more serious

 

and these all were done in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

7 more for Wednesday

 a new set from My favorite things called Picture this. ( love these sentiments, I tend to buy all the camera stuff the same way I buy all the coffee themed things lol)
this wood camera shape was pressed into an Versafine grey pad.

 the camera printed paper is a scrap from an altered paper bag card I did hmmm last year some time. the stripe printed paper is from Keeping Memories Alive and the greens are from Neenah. this one is A-6 in real life.

 received my sellabration order today and one of the thing in it was this lucky stars folder. the kraft is from My Favorite things and the sentiment is from the Hero Arts OWH set. the stars are from Unity stamps twinkle twinkle. the ribbon is from Martha Stewart and the string is May Arts.
this one is A-2 in real life.

 also in that order was this ruler background, here its stamped on some scrap paper ( maybe die cuts with a view ) with Rust Adirondack and the sentiments were stamped with terra cotta. and cut with an MFT stitched tag die, the ribbon is from Martha Stewart and the base is Gina K brick. this one is A-2 in real life.

 So, I have had this background paper from some time now and I was looking at the cards I have at work and thought you are making a lot of brown cards. ( or all the brown cards are at work haha) and I thought I am going to go home and make a not brown card... ( it didnt really work but, that was the intentions for this) I stamped the Unity pinwheels on a scrap of neenah and watercolored them with distress inks. ( this is up on pop dots) the sentiment is a new one from SU.

 a look at the dimensions.

 

and some gift cards. these are all 3" square in real life.

WOYWW #303 Paints and such

Hi, welcome to my mess.If you would like to play along with us head over to our hostess Julia's blog to join the link up and peek and other creative spaces on display today.

 So, this is a tuesday afternoon when I got home from work shot, I had hauled up the monday Paint purchase and ( its still on the table I need to check off on the chart I have from golden about which colors I bought) and I found this housemouse image I had matted on Saturday sitting there. to the left is a stencil I had used to spray ink through on top of a gelli print that turned into a card on saturday.
a peek at new Penny Black floral stamps I picked up with the paint. to the right is a pressed fern from my yard from 2003 ( ha my pressed florals are dated) lol and its very flat so, its prints were not that detailed. I am thinking I will try this again with jucier ones in a few months.

 Now this is really from last friday night. I broke my 6" gelli plate out of its packaging and made some prints.

and Saturday AM I re printed over the tops of some of them. and I seen a cool thing on facebook. someone had bought like a sock hanging (with clips) drying holder thing. ( think of a rectangular lamp shade frame with clips) and they had all the prints hanging to drip dry. I think I may start looking for something like that. these are mostly on dry wax deli papers but, a few were done on some old handmade paper that had flakes of bits of straw and floral petals in it. ( that stuff will flake off onto the plate if you are curious)

Tuesday's Cards

 

This has been on the table since Saturday night. ( the mouse with the mat under it) this one is A-7 in real life. the mouse image was colored years ago and the sentiment is from Penny Black

 Just a quick-ie. I picked up this Penny Black flower ( along with another flower ) at scrappycraft on monday and colored it with Distress markers direct to rubber. and I noticed I have cracked my Misti on the edge of the lid near the number 3 after I was done with this card. not sure how I managed to do that. I have only used it maybe 4 times so far, and I have not even gotten ink on the thing. so. so much for that.
the sentiment is from Avery Elle.
This one is A-6 in real life.

So, this card came next and I switched to the clear blocks I own to stamp these clear stamps.
this one is A-2 in real life. the set is also from Avery elle. the base is a cream linen texture and this is a single layer card the paper airplane has some white gel pen in it. I am thinking I will do this again with a kraft base so the plane can POP.

This was a few days in the making the gelli print was done last friday night ( more about that later ) and I used a dressmakers tracing wheel to make that grid pattern into the paint. the paper was some handmade stuff that has bits and pieces of pressed something ( floral bits) in it and I have way too many sheets of this all the same color so I printed over some of them. the acrylic paint is golden open paint ( because it takes longer to dry) so, this gives you time to make patterns while its on the plate. the featured stamper challenge this week goes to Kerry's gallery and I had come across this one. and knowing the Mix challenge was to use spring colors I knew I would stamp this onto one of the gelli prints ( but, it didnt happen sunday. ended up spending the bulk of the afternoon/evening fighting a head ache) so, then the monday clean and simple challenge was to do a spring bulb... lol so, now that I stole some time to play I had to laugh at my self because, I don't think I have ever had a card work for 3 different challenges. this one is A-6 in real life. the changes I made from Kerry's card was to flip it to portrait and switched the pearls to the vintage trim. the tulips (PSX) were colored with waterbased markers over the dried paint. the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

Saturday's batch of cards

 

The inspiration challenge this week goes to this store and I found this table runner here. (isn't that divine?)  love it, when I spun my laptop around towards hubs and showed him he was like stop shopping in that store... ( the price tags yikes) oh if a popup is there for you when you click it, you can closet that box from the X you dont have to join the site to view the products. :) but, anyways I pulled out my gelli plate for the first time on friday night and this print of deli paper ( on top of the corrugate under the medallion) is one of those. (it was done with Open acrylic paint and a tim holtz embossing folder) I used some matte multi medium to adhere it to the corrugate. the corrugate I had pressed into the gelli plate for a background on another print and I like the colors of paint on it and let it dry like that after. the medallion is heat embossed in gold on pale green and I used some broken china distress over the top of the sentiment so the cream was not so stark with the other colors. ( I don't own any brown paint yet so, the blues are just a contrast to all the brown textures. ) this one is 6" square in real life.

 the center piece under the stamped sentiment panel is the center that was torn away from the two corners on the card above. this stamped panel is also a print done on some handmade paper of which I had a huge stack of exactly the same paper. ( a million years ago I "won" an ebay auction for some handmade paper and I did receive as many papers as they said I would but, not all the variations of the colors haha. 20 of this 30 of that) seriously. so I printed over a few of them. had to remove straw that flaked off from it onto the gelli plate though.
this sentiment is from Penny Black. and the embossing folder used on the print was from Tim Holtz. with some very old basic grey printed paper. this one is 6" square in real life.

 

just because the pairing made me laugh. this print was also done with a tim holtz folder and then saturday am it was sprayed through a poppy stencil with some  sunshine (can't think of how to spell her name spray) (the bright cheerful ones ) anyways this one is A-6 in real life. ( sentiment is made by the same designer of the spray as the stamp) the type writer wood piece was pressed into a broken china pad.

and then for the heck of it, I opened up the tin of pre colored images. now, keep in mind these have been in there a very long time and the choice has become. use them or toss them... and I really did not like coloring this one. ( no clue why )so the idea of having to color it again was like No, just use this up. not sure who make the printed paper, the button is vintage. the sentiment? best guess is maybe Gina K.
its 6" Square in real life.

 another one that was in the tin, this hedgie was RAK'd to me a long time ago, if I remember right its name is just missed or missedyou something like that. the sentiment is from Stampa Rosa,

 These sketchy graduation images are from Outlines they were loosley colored with some distress ink and an aqua brush with some glitter gel pen.

 a few of the local schools colors are red and white or blue and white and silver or blue and white and yellow. so, these are just filler cards the cap panels are up on pop dots.

This drink embossing folder has been on the table for a while waiting for me to use it for the first time. the mouse I know was RAK'd to me before I bought this one and the reason I know this is because, its on GP110 paper... the sentiment is from Sweet N Sassy. the ribbon is May Arts and this one is also A-6 in real life.

I am starting to feel like just maybe I will have "enough" cards for the booth in May if it holds. ( they have had some vendor's back out and are looking to replace them if you are local and thinking about trying a booth.)

enough rope

the free for all challenge this week was to do your card on a dark or black background. so, I have had this prickley pear puppy colored on my desk since last year ( not kidding) and I recently cleaned and downsized the images and sentiments that were RAK'd to me over the years and I found this one. ( I have no clue who makes the sentiment I wish I did) This is 6" square in real life, the tim holtz kraft core paper was run through an Darice folder and sanded. the printed paper is from WeRmemory keepers and the lace is vintage.

Thursday's Cards

So, I got this riley&co. stamp in the mail the other day... and hubs requested a card he could hang up in his office at work... and I liked how this turned out so made a second one for the booth. they are both A-6 in real life.

Not sure if these are going to post correctly looking at this photo in the preview pane it looks very squished. these are all 3" square in real life and headed to the spring fair booth in May.

Speaking about the booth, they do have spots available for vendors if you are local.

the middle one is so me...

20 giftcards for Wednesday

 So, since the sentiments were all piled up on the table when I came home... started gluing some down. these are all 3" square in real life

 

 Think the wood camera is Studio Calico.

  all from scraps

So, I am starting to feel like I am getting somewhere with this... there is room for a few more to fill this tray and then I can go back to concentrating on larger cards. Stopped because, I ran out of pre cut scored folded bases and made a few more of those again tonight.

So this view shows there is room for a few more for the tray to be "full"

WOYWW #302 Still using up Scraps

Happy Wednesday Deskers If you do not normally have time for a drop by on wednesday you can read all about this blog hop at our hostess Julia's blog where the link up is and play a long.

 These are really my tuesday shots... they are kinda a time lapse instead of a one shot peek. (this is the desk I have behind my desk at work because, I found this box on my doorstep when I pulled out of the garage to go to work. and these words were facing out.) and it made me smile.

on Monday it was raining and I only got 3 cards done so, when I finished those cards I started randomly stamping sentiments on scraps and spread them all over the table to dry. ( I tend to use Versafine ink a lot for sentiments it just ends up looking more vibrant to me) and so, inside that box of happy was this camera set from MFT along with mostly cardstock and some pierced star dies.

 So, this is a during shot. I ended up upstairs for about 3 hours on tuesday afternoon. did not get any cards made but, I had been making some simple 3" cards for the booth last weekend and what I noticed about the prestamped & cut sentiments I have in the bowls is that the bulk of them are tag shaped because, when I do larger cards I tend to tie on the sentiments. and for those bitty square cards sometimes its easier to have ones that do not need tied on.

 a view to the left of the center.

 a closer look at what is above. the ones on the left were cut with scissors.

 a glance to the right. the camera ones were done last so, I was not sure they were going to dry enough to get cut on tuesday.

 now see that plastic box? in the winter when I attempt to do this, I run out of light so, I never get everything I stamped in one round of this cut so the extras always get tossed in this box. the thing is I had enough daylight that I got all but those 3 or 4 things left in the photo below cut and some things from inside this box previously stamped cut.

So, this is what I was left with when I called it a day. (today I will scoop them all up and put them in the bowl and continue with the bitty cards again) (have a booth in May)  Thanks for stopping by :)