Tuesday, July 31, 2007

1 Paper = 12 Cards...

A while back I bought a sheet of Scenic Route patterned paper. It was black and cream and had strips of different patterns and words across it. Tonight I pulled it out and decided to see how many cards I could make out of it. I got 12 cards from that one sheet, plus cardstock, stamps, and embellishments. I got some that were totally different from my normal style and I love them! This was such a great project for me to branch out on.

Okay. Without further ado, here are the dozen:


These are the first two that I made and, yes, they are very similar. I embossed and inked the cardstock, then added the pp, ribbon, rhinestones, brad, and ghost heart.


This is not that different from my usual style and, interestingly, is my least favorite of the bunch.


A birthday card in my attempt at an Elsie / Nisa Fiin style. I made that scalloped edge all by myself! I hand drew, colored, and cut it out and it marks the edge of the card front. The little hearts in the title are inspired by Heidi Grace. The font is Skinny Dip by Purple Onion. It's perfect for cards!


Another attempt at Elsie. I really like how this card turned out! I colored the SR pp and cut out one of the "hello"s into a little word bubble shape. Again, the scallops and doodles are mine, ala Elsie. This might be my favorite.


After I mastered the hand drawn / cut edges, I decided to try a stamped and cut out edge using one of my hand carved stamps. For this card I colored in the circles on the pp.



These two are Heidi Swapp inspired (and I used her ghost flowers) and I love the Thank You card. The little pink flower between the words is one of my handcarved stamps, also. These are simple cards, but I like the black and pink color combo along with the pink flowers. Very Heidi.


I don't have a whole lot to say about this card. I like it, but it's just a birthday card. It would be good for a boy.


I love these Purple Onion stamps! In fact, I just ordered more stamps from them and I think I got the set that accompanies these flowers... I love them!


Hee hee! I love this card too, but mostly because I think it's clever. It's a birthday card and it says "Going Up?". I do think it's funny.


This is the other card that might be my favorite. This color combination (teal and olive) is my new favorite. I love it. I especially love the teal Staz-On pad I got a while back. I honestly wish I had a Staz-On ink pad in every color. But I don't. *sigh* I used the Purple Onion flowers again and the large circle stamp is another one of my handcarved ones. I use this one a lot, though I haven't lately.

Anywho, there you have it. A visual summary of my evening. I'm pretty happy with how the cards turned out and now I have a stock pile again. Now... if only I'd spent that time cleaning up my craft room like I was supposed to....

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 5


So... this card is getting entered just for kicks. The wide green strip on the card is ribbon. The rest is my attempt at doing a card "Elsie style". I hand drew, colored, and cut the scalloped edge. The pp is Scenic Route, stamps are Purple Onion, and the star is Heidi Swapp.

This card is also part of my attempt to get as many cards as I could out of a single sheet of SR paper. I made 12 cards using a single sheet of patterned paper, plus cardstock and embellishments. I was pretty happy with that, and I got quite a variety of cards from it!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 4


I saw a tutorial on how to make ribbon flowers and that started me on a HUGE ribbon flower kick. It's basically all I've been crafting the past week. Lots of cards. Lots and lots and lots of cards going on in my craft room. Combine the new love for ribbon flowers with a new HS stamp, a new Sizzix embossing plate (that I learned works great in my Cuttlebug) and a few paper scraps and you get this card. I'm pretty happy with it and the kind folks at Caardvarks DID leave a comment saying I could enter as many cards as I wanted, so... I'm adding it to the line up!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon part 3

Inspiration struck last night, so I raced to the craft room to get my idea onto paper, er - cardstock. Another wedding / bridal shower card, but I love how it turned out. This ribbon challenge is great for getting my creative juices flowing!

The specifics:

This is a free form dress card cut from white cardstock. I sewed across the bottom of the neck/top of shoulders to form the card hinge. The dress has a silver embossed design, with an off-white script overlay (basic grey) over it. The ribbon ruffles at the bottom of the skirt are attached to the overlay, as is the stamped sentiment. The overlay seam is at the waist of the dress and is covered by a bow. The veil is made from a doubled over wide organdy ribbon gathered and sewn, and a scallop of lace for the top. I was trying to give the illusion of a bride walking down the aisle after the ceremony (thus the back of the dress...). I don't know if I succeeded in that, but I do like how the card turned out.

Here are pictures of the card:



I had some detail pics, too, but blogger seems to be having issues with my photo uploads, so I'll just have to post those a little later.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbons part 2


Rumor has it you can submit more than one card for the Caardvarks challenges, so here's #2. Again, four different kinds of ribbon, but more traditional uses this time. Plus flowers, Quickutz letters and Purple Onion stamps. The "BABY" arrangement is one of my favorite new techniques... the letters and flowers are held together only with ribbon laced through the flower centers and around the stem of the letters. Pretty fun if you ask me! I adhered the word to the card using glue dots. Most everything else is attached with machine stitching, except the other words, which are embossed on acetate and attached with staples. Now... if only I knew someone who was having a baby girl...

Friday, July 20, 2007

Caardvarks Challenge - Ravishing Ribbon

Well, I decided to participate in this week's Caardvarks challenge. The challenge is to use ribbon on a card. I decided to try to use ribbon in a way that I hadn't before, and I ended up using it a few new ways! Here's the card...


... and a detail shot.


I used four different kinds of ribbon for this challenge. First, I used a narrow ribbon and eyelets to make a scalloped edge for the card. Then I used a wide, funky, sparkly ribbon as the background, over the white cardstock. I've had this wide ribbon for for-ever and I've never really known what to do with it, but I love it. Then I used some black grosgrain to transition from the ribbon background to the scalloped edge, and I stamped a (handcarved original!) swirl between the rhinestone eyelets. I used Staz-On to stamp the (Michael's $1 acrylic) sentiment on some gray organdy ribbon and I layered that over a square of Hambly. I finished off the card with a rhinestone-centered black flower and I love how it turned out! It's got character, it's got class... and it might just be perfect for Dara's wedding tomorrow!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Happy Birthday, Eliana!


My baby is a year old today. Happy birthday, Sweetie! Enjoy it while it lasts, because you won't get birthday cake for breakfast every day. I love you! Here's a card I made just for you, just for today:


(card made using Heidi Swapp and Rhonna Farrer stamps with miscellaneous cardstock)