September Birthdays Card Designs

A masculine card for my brother-in-law and my brother who both have birthdays in September.  Stampin' Up wood grain stamp inked in  Papertrey Ink's (PTI) Chocolate Chip dye ink on PTI Kraft paper was the base of the front of the card. The striped paper was from American Crafts Night Fall / Night Watch, a double-sided patterned paper I found at a shop called Beautiful Impressions in Westbrook.  I wrapped some brown grosgrain around the striped panel (Best Occasions self-adhesive 1/2 inch ribbon) and topped it with PTI Fine Linen Twill tape. I made a simple bow with the twill tape and added some hemp twine, attaching it all with a brown brad (JoAnn Craft Essentials neutral round brads).  I added a small metal charm to the bow with some hemp.  The charms read "Time, Time, Time" and "Time Is Measured in Moments".  Unknown source--from my stash!  I punched a real estate sign with an EK punch and distressed it with Chocolate Chip dye ink on a dauber and added the sentiment "Birthday Wishes" from Stampin' Up's Sincere Salutations set.  A corner rounder on the outside edges finished the card.

Inspiration card from Pinterest.  I like the changes I made. I thought I had some stitched ribbon but couldn't find it.

My sister and sister-in-law have September birthdays also.  I made this card for them.

The base of the card is PTI Fine Linen cardstock.  The frame mats are green on green gingham, and a  rust colored floral with some sparkle and shine from my stash (no known source).  These layers are wrapped with eyelet lace and jute string wrapped several times and tied with a simple bow. A Martha Steward satin photo corner anchors the top inside corner.  The inset background for the posie is cut with pinking shears from a brown on brown damask patterned paper.  The inner frame is Fine Linen. The flower is punched from a 1 1/2 inch circle and a 3/4 inch circle that were distressed on the edge.  The middle layer of the posie is stamped from a 5 petal Stampin' Up flower punch.  All layers of the posie were cut from a yellow and white polka dot paper with honeybees randomly printed on it.  The center of the flower is a button with jute knot.  The flower layers are dotted with a brown marker to simulate stitching.  The leaves are cut from a Stampin' Up die cut in the green on green gingham pattern.  The sentiment flys on a banner cut from yellow harlequin paper.  It has a vintage look with gingham and lace and a button.

Here's the inspiration card from Pinterest:

I liked the color combination in this card, but couldn't find the right colors and patterns in my stash. I didn't have the scalloped rectangle die cut and stamp or the small heart punch to make a border. I also don't have a 1 inch circle punch for the middle layer of the posie.  I like the banner on the longer stem.  It's great to have a starting place and then problem solve materials and techniques to accomplish something similar--but your own!

They were well received at any early celebration of three of the birthdays.

Card for a Special Girl's Baptism

These cards from Pinterest inspired a card I made for Samantha's baptism last weekend on Nantucket.

I made my own pattern and used a 1 1/2 inch circle punch to cut the neck and Stampin' Up eyelet border punch to create the trim on the hem and sleeves.  I used a Swiss Dots embossing folder to add texture to the the striped vellum overskirt. With a organza ribbon and a paper rose at the Empire waist, it was almost complete. The small pearls on the neckline reminded me of my Add-a-Pearl necklace from childhood.  And Samantha's paternal grandmother actually gave her one for her baptism!

I think she loved it!

Jelly Roll Quilting

I recently took a class in making a "jelly roll" into a "lasagna quilt".  I bought this jelly roll from Fat Quarter Shop. It's 30 strips of laser cut 2 1/2 inch wide fabric from my favorite fabric designer, Amy Butler. The roll contains several patterns and colors from her Gypsy Caravan line.

Here's the finished quilt which I gave my sister for her birthday.

It went together very quickly.  I added a border of  Gypsy Mum in Periwinkle to match the backing.

I added binding using Deco Dots in Periwinkle.

When it was done it reminded me of Suzy Latham's grandmother's front porch on 34th Street in my hometown. It was a large veranda in the Arts & Crafts Craftsman style that surrounded three sides of the house with deep overhangs and stone walls.  The wicker porch furniture was covered with florals and the awnings were striped. We used to play Canasta with her grandmother and drink iced tea and lemonade on summer afternoons.

 

Gypsy Caravan Hammock in Pesto

 

 

Nice memories wrapped up in a throw quilt!

 

 

Yellow and Black Theme Seems Like Late August

Today after terrible rains and winds and a microburst on Saturday, the weather settled down but was still hot and humid.  I opened the window and listened to the birds and watched the butterflies in the garden from my desk. I was inspired to make these cards with a yellow and black theme.

I used the new stamp set (a $5.00 special offer) from Stampin' Up:  Reason to Smile to create these cards. I did see a card by Rita Wright that inspired me. I used black, gray, yellow and white cardstock from my stash.  I had some black and white and yellow items leftover from creating my daughter's wedding scrapbook that came in handy also.  One of the items was the Silver Swirl design paper (brand unknown).  I used the Stampin' Up eyelet punch on the Making Memories Yellow Gingham paper and 3/8 inch yellow grosgrain ribbon to tie that layer together.  I stacked yellow and gray cardstock to frame the white centerpiece.  I inked the flower three times: first in yellow, then green for stem and calyx, and finally black for the outline.  I used a dauber to add some more color and to make the yellow fill shape more indefinite like a watercolor.

The companion card was the same color scheme with some different patterns.  I used Making Memories Small Dot in black for the background and gray for the eyelet trim.  I layered the yellow gingham, gray eyelet and mini polka dot background and tied it with yellow grosgrain ribbon.  I stacked black and yellow for the centerpiece frame and stamped it with the sunflower set. This set is three pieces:  the color smudge, the outline and the center.  I have already misplaced the center stamp so I used the dauber to make the center more colorful and also less distinct than the outline stamp. I popped one sunflower and the whole frame.

Spoiler alert!  Don't view the next card if you have an anniversary August 20th!

This card uses the Silver Swirl paper and some Wild Saffron adhesive paper ribbon on yellow gingham for the background layer on a gray card.  It's wrapped with 3/8 inch yellow gingham ribbon and 3/16 inch black satin looped ribbon tied up in a bow just like the tablecloths at my daughter's wedding six years ago.  The framed layer is yellow, gray and black cardstock. The centerpiece is stamped with the Reason to Smile sunflower.  I use a marker and a dauber to brighten and smudge the color.  One sunflower and the whole fram layer are popped for added dimension.

I had fun listening to an old, favorite Andrea Bocelli CD and using the leftovers from the wedding decor (great memories) to make some new cards on a yellow and black theme.

Other Card Designs from the August Workshop

Carol had a lovely design based on quilting. 

Very nice colors and loved the criss-crossing ribbon to cover up any mistakes gluing or positioning!

Bonnie had a similar idea but used postage stamp die cuts to form a quilt-like pattern.

This one reminds me of a beach towel with the flip flop brad and the twine ribbons.

Bonnie's other design was a floral in her new vase die cuts.

I loved the black, white and pink color palette.

Carol's granddaughter Kayleigh came to make cards with us--and to show us her crafts. She loves to make miniatures.  She is very creative, imaginative and talented--a future Martha Stewart!

Kayleigh brought a box of her creations including cotton candy made from cotton swabs that cleaned pink chalk off a chalkboard, cake slices made from sponges, a fortune cookie made with craft foam (fortune included), a felt chocolate candy bar and a tiny envelope containing a note.

Some more  Kayleigh creations up close:

Sushi platter with baked potato, noodles, California roll (small bead wrapped in black electrical tape) and toothpick chopsticks.

Parfait made from the top of a plastic bottle--with a cherry on top!

Miniature candy in bins. The wrappers were printed from Google images.

Veggies and dip from the soda bottle bottom!

And a little hard to see, but these are pencils made from toothpicks in their own clear pencil case.

We had a great afternoon of crafting--young and old alike!

Bleach Technique for Papercrafting

Hot August afternoon, so I thought I would try the Double Time bleach technique from the Make It Monday #76 video tutorial from Papertrey Ink's blog Capture the Moment. The bleached stamps are there somewhere since I added a lot of techniques to the cards.  Must have been the fumes from the bleach!

I used some inexpensive stamps I had of  pansy (from Autumn Leaves) and a branch with buds and leaves from a Hampton Arts set (with a dandelion and a bird also).  Both were in the dollar bins at local craft stores.  I found some pink paper, not sure the brand or color but the bleach took well on this color compared to other colors I tried.  I double stamped the same images in PTI dye inks Berry Sorbet and New Leaf. I also use some inexpensive cubes of pigment ink in maroon and purple for variety and to make the flowers seem to come forward (lighter colors) or recede (darker colors) in the pattern.

The card needed more pizazz as the bleach effect didn't show well.  I think a stamp with a wider line would have shown more white versus the background color.  Next time!  So I got out the markers and watercolors and a paint brush and started to make the flowers pop with color.  The white marks and the double stampig and off stamping gave the pattern additional texture and dimension.

I just added a lilac organza ribbon (5/8 inch) and a small purple (Bazzill Grape Delight) tag with a sentiment as embellishment since I wanted the patterned paper and the various techniques to take center stage. 

This second card is actually my first attempt.  The white bleach stamping shows a little more since the pattern is not all over the card front. The flowers are markers blended with water and a paint brush.  The strokes were too evident so I reached for the watercolors for the second (first!) card. I darkened the flower centers and added a Recollections Faux Pearl in lilac. Maybe I should go back to the card above and darken those centers also?  A double bow of Offray 1/8 inch purple satin ribbon and a little butterfly from the scrap bin perked up the sentiment and the lower left corner.  Maybe the branches should not all be at the same angle next time?  I added those in the upper left at the end because that corner had too much negative space.

Design can be tough, but it was a cool way to spend a hot day in my basement studio. 







August Card Workshop

Summer Fun card for tomorrow's workshop is a card with several pre-made embellishments. That's just what you need for summer--some easy shortcuts!  I used K & Company Color Basics Radiant Multi cards and envelopes in yellow, green, blue and pink. I borrowed Bonnie's wave die cut again.  I used our group's Top Note die cut from Stampin' Up to make the blue polka dot pop-up frame. The papers were from a designer paper pad called Everyday Flair from Six by Six by My Mind's Eye,  I loved the dots and checks because they remind of summer fun from my childhood. The beachball and flip flops were from Gartner Studios' Summer Fun Confetti pack of 30 shapes (no adhesive). The sentiment is stamped in Versamark black ink using one of three stamps in the Stamp Craft set from Plaid.  And lastly, the adhesive pennant border was from Momenta. This is not an A2 card so the only hard part was designing in a little bigger space.  That's where the pennant border came into the design!

The second card is masculine. We have a lot of requests for masculine get well cards in our community through our outreach committee.  I saw a tutorial on Pinterest by Dawn Olchefske for "Triple Time Stamping."  She used florals but I had some compass, gears and globe stamps from Stampers Best that I thought might work with Dawn's technique. It was successful I think!

I cut the 3 ivory stamp areas and 3 chocolate mats using these sizes:  2 X 3.25 and 2.25 X 3.5 for the center layer, 3 X 4.25 and 3.25 X 4.5 for the middle level and 4 X 5.25 and 4.25 X 5.5 for the outside layer. Laying the three ivory pieces together, stamp all over with background (I used Gears and Papertrey Ink Fine Linen ink pad) and then a larger, darker pattern (I used the Compass and PTI Dark Chocolate ink pad). I used ivory cover stock from Staples for the stamp areas and the card itself.  I also used Staples A2 envelopes in ivory.  I had some chocolate paper in my stash. I think it was from Wal-Mart since it had the perforations and extra paper at the top with a hole in the center of the stack.  I also found a scrap of teal paper for the tags to coordinate with the stitching in the Burnt chocolate stitched Offray ribbon.  I cut the tags out of a Stampin' Up die cut by Sizzix called Lots of Tags.  I had some jute leftover from last month's workshop design.  I stamped the compass again and cut it out with a 1.5 inch circle punch.  A bigger punch, maybe 1.75 inch, would be a better fit, but it worked to cut it smaller.  I popped it up with foam tabs and colored the needle red with a marker. I even got out the brown marker to make the stitching on the tag to reflect the stitching in the ribbon. I'm very happy with the results.

Thanks to Dawn for the idea and my stash and my friends for the supplies!  That's the way a summer project should go together.  Just a little effort --and no trip to the store in the sweltering heat and humidity!

Summer Sun Birthday Card

I saw some sandpaper at the hardware store and thought of using it for a beach!  I borrowed the waves and beach chair and sun die cut from a neighbor and scrounged through my stash and --

VOILA!

The beach chair and sun are die cuts from Sizzlits. The wave border is from Taylored Dies.  I used a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Framed Out #6:   Celebrate today.  I had an old die from QuicKutz which I had originally used for a bridal shower invitation.  When I was done, it was missing something in the upper right corner. I found a stamp from Hampton Art Ditto of a swallow--and hope that stamped in white ink it looks like a gull!  It had a tiny heart that I colored red to match the chair and umbrella stripe and pole and make that dark red "pop."  Happy Birthday, Amy!

Moose Sighting!

I finally finished the curtain project for my son's family's pop-up camper. The fabric was dark green with large moose.

It was a great fabric with a plaid border edged with wood. The moose were large and lifelike!  The coordinating print was a houndstooth check with teal, green and aqua.  The panels were attached by velcro to sliding plastic connectors with sticky velcro squares.  That's a pillow in the center.  I had just enough fabric left over to make it, too.

Here they are in place!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge 7.9.12

Stamping on Texture--

Two Variations on an Anniversary Theme

I needed two anniversary cards for two nephews and their wives who live in Indiana and Colorado.  I watched Heather Nichols stamp on texture on Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday and decided, for the first time, to join the challenge.  I used Papertrey Ink's Background Basics: Text Style to stamp on two different textures using similar themes on slightly different colored backgrounds.

On grey and white cardstock, I embossed texture using Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots and Lifestyle Crafts' (formerly QuicKutz) Diamonds and Dots embossing templates.  Using Penny Black's day-dreams stamp, I die cut and embossed the image in an oval with Spellbinders' Nestabilities' scalloped oval set. I then colored the stamped image with a variety of Marvy Le Plume markers, a blender pen from Stampin' Up, and ink pads from Plaid: periwinkle and citrus green. 

I used the Plaid ink pads to stamp the text style on the textures, using periwinkle on grey Diamonds and Dots and citrus green on white Swiss Dots textures. The white stamped texture did not contrast enough with the white oval so I distressed the textured and stamped background around the edges and near the oval with Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen Dye Ink Pad to make the oval contrast more with the stamped texture.

I added some faux pearls from Recollections, a sheer lavender ribbon and bow from my stock, and a sentiment from Stampin' Up's Sincere Salutations set: Happiness Always.

I hope the couples will get the same message--in different textures and colors!

Family Event Cards

I made this card twice, one for each new grand-niece to welcome them to the family.  I included a sterling silver spoon of my mother's inscribed with "CJ". Callie or Caroline Johnson was my mother's grandmother and the babies' great-great-great grandmother. I had each spoon engraved with the girls' initials.  Welcome, little girl cousins Samantha and Margaret, to the family.

My grandson, Craig, was 12 on July 5th.  He received this card in the mail.  I used the Rosie Posie hexagons from Papertrey Ink and some pre-made embellishments to make it fun for him to open.

This helped make it a twelve-year old boy's birthday card, too!

Greeting Cards for July

Bonnie brought this card design to our workshop and we all made a card from her kits. She said it was difficult to fit the squares on an A2 card.  I think she did it--and the colors are lively.

Bonnie's other design was a lovely color combination with lacey doilies and butterflies.  Even the background was embossed with butterflies.  Can't wait to send it to a niece for her birthday in July.

Carol's design used a floral border stamp that we colored with markers, some honeycomb yellow patteerned paper and a great ribbon.  I used Bonnie's bee stamp for some action.

I brought a design with two variations on a similar theme. I used the Rosie Posie stamps from Papertrey Ink and stamped directly on the patterned paper as shown in the most current Make It Monday from the same company.  I added a bee stamp and the turned up corner for some dimension.

My other design used more masculine colors to go with the brown grosgrain ribbon.  The flourishes were stamped directly on the patterned paper.  The sentiment was stamped with a flourish on the embossed oval die-cut.

We all have different styles, but together we make a great group and a wonderful bunch of cards.

New Cards for June Events

This card was made with newly acquired Rosie Posie stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  Love its versatility to make roses, mums, daisies, sunflowers and geometric honeycomb designs.

This one was for Sara's birthday.  I won't tell which one...

The butterfly was an embellisment by K&Company that I cut apart from a leaf.

This is the same stamp set with matching die cut for blooms and leaves.  I used the off stamping technique to increase the color values and used a few stamped cut-outs for dimension.

I sent a few older cards to Operation Write Home for use by military personnel to write to relatives and friends at home.  It's a worthwhile organization and a good way to clear out my "stash" and cards that haven't sold at the clubhouse to refresh the basket there for new designs.

Our group of card makers met this month to make some cards for our own Outreach Committee, to sell in the basket, to send to Operation Write Home, or for our own use.  Here's a masculine design I came up with from inspiration on a Make It Monday video from Papertrey Ink.

A big week for card making--and good to use my new space and test its organization.