Thinking of Inking

It’s been a busy week with birthdays.  I’ve sent out 6 birthday cards this week!  I hope everyone who is celebrating has a wonderful, special day.

Today I’m going to share the first of the cards I mailed this week.  I used the Lizzie Anne Designs Weekly Sketch Challenge #103 layout and one of my favorite LAD stamp sets, Party Animals. I paper pieced the bird’s party hat using a scrap of the designer paper, so he coordinates with the rest of the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Naturals Ivory (Stampin’ Up!); designer paper from “Blush” 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: red grosgrain ribbon (Making Memories); Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Stampin’ Up!); Cutterbee scissors

I know, I know, it’s been a very long time since I’ve posted anything.  Three months, to be exact.  Part of the reason why is because it’s been a very busy three months.  Part of the blame lies with my being in a vast creative rut over the last few months.  There are a few more reasons but I won’t bore you with them.

I did make a card recently to send to a friend.  She’s a wonderfully unique person and I was hoping to represent her individuality with the red butterfly, standing out among the brown ones.  I hope she realizes that she is every bit as special as I think she is.

Supplies:
Stamps: Priceless, Spring Garden (Stampin’ Up!); Garden Inspirations (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Naturals Ivory (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: Cutterbee scissors, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Once again, I’ll be making birthday cards for the faculty and staff members of our local elementary school on behalf of the PTA Executive Board.  I’ve been looking for card layouts that are going to be quick and easy for me to make, and I think I’ve found two that will work.

Today’s card shows the design I’m probably going to use for the resource teachers, aides, cafeteria workers, and other school workers who don’t have a homeroom class.  This particular card was meant to be masculine, but it would be super easy to change the patterned paper and color scheme to something more feminine.  The layout is cased from a card here; I just added a little more ribbon and changed the shape of the sentiment panel.  Thanks for the inspiration, Taylor!

Supplies:
Stamps: Birthday Wish (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: white Paper Basics (Papertrey Ink); Going Gray and Night of Navy (Stampin’ Up!); “Buckle” patterned paper from Boxer 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Night of Navy (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: navy grosgrain ribbon, mini corner rounder (Stampin’ Up!); rectangle and scalloped rectangle dies (Nestabilities)

That’s a place I haven’t been for a while… the beach.  I enjoy walking along the shore and letting the waves tickle my feet, but I don’t care for having sand stuck in my swimsuit.  Ick.  LOL

I have a little confession to make about today’s card. I actually made the focal point several years ago.  Like probably 5 years.  Really.  It’s been sitting around, and I came across it last month and decided I’d finally put it to use on my parents’ anniversary card.  I stamped the “congratulations” on it and trimmed it up and matted it and got it on a card base, and ta-da… card done.

So how did I create it?  It’s honestly not quite as difficult as it might look.  It’s a technique that I’ve heard described as “palette stamping.”  I used a large solid rectangle stamp for the base.  I applied pigment ink directly to the stamp in random fashion.  (Hint: the “cat’s eye” or petal-shaped ink pads work better for this than a full-sized ink pad.)  Next I inked the large and medium shell stamps with dye ink and stamped them directly onto the pigment inked-up rubber.  Then I stamped onto the white cardstock.  Lastly, I added the little shell images with dye ink.

Now that doesn’t sound too hard, does it?  Hey, if I can do it, so can you.  :)  If you decide to try this version of palette stamping, please add a comment including a link to your creation so I can see it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Stipple Shells (Stampin’ Up!); Large Straight-Edge Rectangle (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Chocolate Chip and Really Rust dye ink (Stampin’ Up!); Dune, Harbor, and I’m not sure of the other color of pigment ink (ColorBox)

Hopefully today’s card will lighten the “down” mood of my last couple of posts.  I think the bright colors and the butterflies will do just that.

This is the birthday card my family sent my mother-in-law this week.  The layout was inspired by a card I’d seen in the gallery at Splitcoaststampers. I got the idea for the color scheme from my old Stampin’ Up! Fiesta spectrum pad.  I stamped off the blocks twice on a scrap piece of paper before stamping them on the cardstock. Cutting out the butterflies was a bit of a faff, but I really like the 3-D effect I achieved by slightly bending their wings.

I didn’t realize it until I was watermarking the photo, but this card does a good job of comparing two different brands of white cardstock.  I used Stampin’ Up’s Whisper White for the top layer of the card, and Papertrey Ink’s Paper Basics white cardstock for the card base.  There’s definitely a difference in the white-ness.  Can you see it too?

Supplies:
Stamps: Priceless, Sincere Salutations (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Summer Sun, Ballet Blue (Stampin’ Up!); white Paper Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Summer Sun, Real Red, Marvelous Magenta, Ballet Blue (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: Stamp-a-ma-jig; Cutterbee scissors

Well, that’s not exactly right.  I don’t think the card itself is bad.  But the reason for creating it definitely was heartbreaking.

I’ve mentioned before that I make cards for our elementary school’s PTA Board to send.  Most often I create cards for faculty members’ birthdays, but I’ve also sent cards to teachers who have had a death in their family.  I’ve also made cards for the retiring teachers.

This card was sent to the family of a student who died in an automobile accident earlier this month.  She was only 9 years old and would have been in fourth grade this coming school year.  I didn’t know this girl very well, but she seemed to be a good student and a well-behaved child, interested in learning and making those around her happy. 

The girl’s obituary stated that her favorite color was pink, so that’s how I arrived at my color scheme.  I colored the image stamp with markers to get the varied shades of pink and green. 

As much as I enjoy making cards, I hope I never again need to make one for this reason.

Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Linen (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Pretty in Pink (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: Pretty in Pink, Positively Pink, and Mellow Moss markers, ticket corner punch (Stampin’ Up!); piercing tool (Making Memories)

I’ve been feeling uninspired this week.  Normally I wouldn’t be terribly bothered by that.  But today it bothers me because I do need to make some cards to send out by the end of the week.

A lot of times when I’m feeling that my creativity has left the building, I’ll turn to an older card that I made and make something based on it - the same layout, or the same colors, or the same stamp set.  I’m beginning to think that maybe it’s time to revisit the layout of the card in today’s post.

This was actually a double challenge card at Splitcoaststampers - Sketch Challenge #177 and Color Challenge #167.  I don’t often think to stamp on designer paper, but this time it worked really well.  I lucked out with the Primas matching so well. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Everything, Linen (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky Prints designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Blue Bayou (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: ticket corner punch (Stampin’ Up!); Prima flowers; crystal beads; sponge

Here’s another birthday card I made not too long ago.  This time I used Choc-o-lot Shimmerz on the cupcake icing, and the camera really captured the shimmer!  The layout is Lizzie Anne Designs Sketch Challenge #78 and the stamps are from Lizzie Anne Designs, too.  This is one of my two favorite cards I’ve made with the Stampin’ Up Berry Bliss designer paper.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals, Sketched Sentiments (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Berry Bliss designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate (Stampin’ Up!); Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Wonderful Watercolor Crayons and Purely Pomegranate ribbon (Stampin’ Up!); Choc-o-lot Shimmerz; Windows & Frame Making dies for cutting the circles (Sizzlits); sponge

Recently I decided to try some of the newer items on the cardmaking market.  So I bought some Shimmerz paints.  I was a little dubious at first because I’m not one to go for a lot of glittery stuff.  These aren’t exactly glittery, but they really do shimmer.  They’re gorgeous!  I have only two colors right now, but I do hope to buy more in the future.

Here’s a quick birthday card I made for one of my friends who really loves cupcakes.   I used Opal Shimmerz on the cupcake icing.  The layout is my take on Lizzie Anne Designs Sketch Challenge #80.  I did a tiny bit of paper piecing for the cupcake wrapper. The sentiment is a rub on. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the package it came from. When I find it again, I’ll edit this post to include the manufacturer.

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: White Paper Basics (PaperTrey Ink); Pretty in Pink cardstock, Berry Bliss and Tea Party designer paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Wonderful Watercolor Crayons (Stampin’ Up!); Opal Shimmerz; scalloped circle from Cuttlebug “Harmony” alphabet; circle punch (EK Success); Textured Trios ribbon (Michael’s)

Hi.  I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I’ve had some blog issues, and it’s been a rather busy month.  But hopefully I’ll get back into a routine of posting on here again.  I’ll include two cards in today’s post in an attempt to make up for lost time, ok?

The beginning of June is always a time for celebration in my family because both of my parents have birthdays then.  This year they have both reached ”milestone” years.  I won’t embarrass them by saying just how old they are, but I hope that I will live as long and happy a life as they have.

This is the card I made for my dad.  The three trees are supposed to be symbolic of his three daughters.  I really like the versatility of this stamp set and think it could be used for lots of different occasions.  The layout is Weekly Sketch #81 at Lizzie Anne Designs, and it’s adaptable for a lot of different situations, too. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Birthday Whimsy (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: River Rock, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Western Sky designer series paper (Stampin’ Up!)
Ink: River Rock, Sage Shadow (Stampin’ Up!)
Other: River Rock ribbon (Stampin’ Up!)

Here is Mom’s card.  My mom has always kept her house very tidy and clean - in fact, the only person I’ve met who kept a cleaner house was Mom’s mother!  My dad and sisters and I have often teased her about how frequently she vacuums.  When I saw this stamp image, I just had to get it for a card for Mom.  It makes me giggle every time I see it.  I was able to deliver this to Mom in person, and it made her laugh out loud, too.  The sentiment on the front says “On your birthday…” and on the inside I’d written, “Relax! Take a break from vacuuming!”  The layout for this card is a sketch by my friend Taylor. 

Supplies for this one:
Stamps: Kindred Spirits Sara (Gina K Designs); On Your Birthday (Stampin’ Up!)
Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!); “Bless” from Euphoria 6″ x 6″ pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: petite oval and petite scalloped oval Nestabilities; Prima flower; Making Memories brad; Wonderful Watercolor Crayons and blender pen (Stampin’ Up!)