Time flies!

For the year and a half I was un-employed I had plenty of time to create cards and post entries on my blog. Now that I'm working in another city three hours away and I stay there monday through friday my creating and posting time has been reduced to the point of being almost non-existant. I can't believe that today was my first post since the end of June. I will have to make a better effort to do better.

Making the most out of a collection.

End of the season shopping is always great ... especially when you find entire collections (or at least the remainders) on clearance. Recently I found various K&Company products from the same line all in a clearance bin. It included everything from paper, to stickers to die-cuts to tags. It makes coordination and layering so much easier.

 

I started with an A2 size (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") white card which I covered with a portion of paper. I looked through several sheets and found the one that matched the other pieces best and also offered the best layout ... a fairly solid background with just a hint (in this case corner) of flowers. To create depth I edged the card with brown ink. In the opposite corner I trimmed and added a 3D tag with the same basic concept; which fortunately was a mirror image and provide perfect balance. I edged the tag with brown ink as well. On the flowers form the background paper I added glittered 3D stickers of similar flowers. To finish off the card I added a 3D glittered butterfly. All I need is to decide the occasion so I can select a text!

Copper metal embossing.

I like dry embossing but when using paper (especially white) the results are sometimes very hard to see. So I started looking around for other materials, including more masculine ones. I ended up embossing some of my 36 gage Amoco Copper tooling foil and here are the results.

 

The first card uses a simple band of embossed copper (Darice edge embossing folder) which was aged by coloring the entire strip with a black Sharpie pen and then rubbing as much ink off as possible from the raised surfaces. To add some interest I added faux gems from Stampendous to the center of some of the flowers. I then layered the embossed strip on a white strip of paper,which I edged with gold line stickers from Mrs. Grossman's when I adhered the strip to the card. The final touch was the addition of a tag from Martha Stewart/E.K. Success and a sticker text from Momenta. This card has a distinctive masculine look to it.

 

 

The second card uses the same design ideas as the first card, except that I colored the embossing (Darice edge embossing folder) with a variety of colored Sharpie markers and added small 3D sticker flowers from Jolee's/E.K. Success before attaching it to the card and adding a more flowery tag decorated with more of the small 3D sticker flowers. This card has a more feminine characteristic look to it.

 

 

The third card and final card is strictly masculine and used a watch themed embossing folder from Darice, which was again colored completely with a black Sharpie marker and then cleaned off as much as possible but still leaving a darker background. The watch is a 3D resin sticker from Jolee's/E.K. Success.

 

 

3D Creations

Creating multi layered cards using 3D stickers is quick and easy - but have you ever tried doing it yourself? The easiest way is to find multiple copies of the same image, cut the image out in pieces and then layering the pieces using raised adhesive dots. I recently found a company that actually provides you with pre-cut images to make the process more enjoyable.

 

 

This card uses the Reddy Company "antique rose" pattern. The roses, lilac and leaves vary in layers from two all the way to five and are attached to a background design using small adhesive dots (some which I had to trim down to mere slivers). I then trimmed the image background using a deckle edged scissor. For the card and background I used papers that matched the colors in the image. To add to the antique feel I edged the panels with a brown ink pad.  The Reddy Company "antique rose" package comes with six background images on one sheet as well as with a second sheet that has all the pre-cut layers neatly numbered. The punching out and layering processes due to the small fragile pieces are very time consuming ... but the results are well worth it. Try it!

 

Personalized card using initials!

I am a huge fan of letter writing and always used seals on the envelope with my initial and at some point even had writing paper with a gold embossed initial at the top. Sadly letter writing has gone out of style (I think) but you can still personalize your cards by incorporating the recipients initial in the design. Actually although I've thought about it for a long time I never did until I made this card!

The card was made using the Cricut "Art Deco" cartridge and incorporates two designs from the cartridge. The horse is made up of 3 layers (black, rust brown and tan) but sadly to get it to fit in one direction  it just wasn't large enough to really fill the rest card which is a simple white A2 size card (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"). So I looked through the images on the cartridge to see what would go with the horse and came across a medallion and the thoughts about what I could put inside the medallion. That's when I decided to use the recipients initial.  The initial is 2 layers (gold and black) and is in the same Deco style as the horse ... very masculine on both counts. The addition of a simple ribbon finished off the card.