it’s a beautiful thing

Last weekend, Laurie wrote about the time she used to spend in the card aisle and shared a card she made based on inspiration from a recent visit to said aisle. Many of the card makers that read Laurie’s blog related to her words. In fact, there were so many people commenting that Laurie put out a challenge to her readers to go and find some card inspiration and whip something up.

I too used to spend hours looking at cards. I would park myself at Hallmark or the now defunct Treasure Island (how I miss that store) or PAPYRUS searching for THE perfect card. So this week, while at Target, I took a detour through the card section to see if I could find a little inspiration for the challenge. Being totally honest, I have to tell you that I started out looking at not-so-fine cards so that mine would look better than the original. My eyes and hands were too well trained, though, and kept going to the PAPYRUS cards. Here’s the one that I chose for my inspiration:

You cannot tell from the photograph, but this card is wonderful in person. (I had to photograph the card through its cellophane package, and Target’s lighting is not conducive to furtive shots.) The card is white textured cardstock with a light blue border. There is a blue thread weaving its way through blue vellum flowers with blue seed pearl centers. The card has both a charm and elegance to it. If the card didn’t cost $5.95, I might have been tempted to buy it. Of course, I would have blamed Laurie for that purchase. We all know, I wouldn’t have been in that aisle in the first place if it weren’t for Laurie’s challenge.

My take on the PAPYRUS card is in pink since I don’t have blue vellum. I made a few modifications, but the card is fairly close to the original. My card is sweet and I like it, but I would rather it be charming and elegant. Perhaps, I need to try it again in blue.

The beauty of this sweet little card is that it didn’t cost me $5.95. All of the materials were already in my supplies, so nothing was spent. (Does that mean it cost nothing?) And because I used a stamp set and two punches, their per use costs decreased. Ah, rationalization is a beautiful thing.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  white c/s (Staples); passion fruit vellum (WorldWin)

stamps:  Thank You Sayings (Hero Arts)

ink:  silver pigment (Clearsnap)

punches:  traditional scallop edge (Martha Stewart); flower power (EK Success)

extras:  white mini pearls (Martha Stewart); floss #4180 (DMC)

play ball

There are only two seasons –

winter and baseball.

~ Bill Veeck

The seasons change today with opening day of Major League Baseball, a red-letter day for me, a Yankees fan. I thought it would be fun to send a card celebrating the day to three members of my family who are also baseball fans. Each roots for a different team, so I brought the team colors into the design in a small way.

Indians’ colors for my dad

Mets’ colors for my nephew Eric

Yankees’ colors for my BIL Michael

As I was making these cards, I was reminded of the last episode of Chopped All-Stars when the judges were critiquing the chefs’ dishes. A comment was made that each of the dishes had something wrong with it. That’s how I felt about my cards. The good thing is that it won’t matter to Dad, Eric and Michael. They will be happy at getting a personal, non-birthday card from me out of the blue and won’t care about the crooked stripes.

Go Yankees!

nancy

PS – I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m putting this in for Make It Monday #8, but hey, a free PTI stamp set is up for grabs people. After seeing the wonderful scenes people created with their ink, my card is a bit of a travesty in terms of the MIM#8 category. I read the challenge requirements several times and my card meets them both; it uses PTI product and has ink applied using a tool other than a stamp. You should check out the other entries here.

supplies:

paper:  kraft and rustic cream c/s (PTI)

stamps:  Postmarks (PTI)

ink:  Danube blue, tangelo, Paris dusk, lady bug dye (Memento); frost white pigment and creamy brown chalk (Clearsnap)

extras:  tiny type alpha (Cosmo Cricket); gold metal stickers (Mark Richards); vintage baseball player from The Graphics Fairy; vintage baseball bats from Google image

art and the city

There’s a challenge at Moxie Fab World – cityscapes are on the rise – that ends tonight. When I first read about the challenge, I thought of a minibook/card that my daughter made for “a friend” (wink) for Christmas. Brianna pieced a series of cityscape stamped images on to dark blue snowflake paper. The city in snow scene was striking – sorry, no pictures to share – and I told her that I planned on borrowing the idea one day. This challenge would have been the perfect time to incorporate that design, but I couldn’t find a scrap of the paper she used. (I think Brianna hid it, so that her project would be unique.) It was time to come up with another idea.

Bits and pieces of ideas floated about. The stamp was sure to be cityscape by A Muse. I fell in love with the image when I first saw it used on this card by Courtney Kelley. I thought that Glimmer Mist or some such spray could add interest, particularly after seeing it used by MandyKay Starner on this project, but still was having trouble coming up with what would make my card a bit different. During some brainstorming, graffiti came to mind as a type of art that could make up the buildings. Then the sentiment was eluding me. Would you be surprised if I told you that everything I tried was too wordy? So, Google came to my rescue when I searched for city and art quotes. “Nothing else exists when art does” is from an episode of Sex and the City. Here’s the realization of all of those bits and pieces.

Since I had never worked with Smooch Spritz before, I practiced a bit, trying to get the effect I wanted. Even with practice, I am not in love with my background. It’s too evenly covered for the grungy look I wanted, but decided to leave it as is rather than risk ruining it. I told myself that it gave a feeling of nothingness around the buildings that worked with the quote. I thought it would be fun to share a couple of my practice sheets. (Blogger wouldn't let me place all of the pictures where I wanted, so they are limited to two.) I’m going to tuck all of them aside for that day when I start art journaling.

This is my favorite of all, a simple B&W design.

Seeing how colored buildings looked against the black.

Back in January, I made a card that was “a little bit country” and said that I would try to channel my inner rocker. This card is it, since this is as close to rock as I get.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  avalanche c/s (Bazzill); white c/s for the buildings (Staples)

stamps:  cityscape (A Muse)

ink:  tuxedo black dye (Memento)

extras:  black velvet Smooch Spritz (Clearsnap); graffiti from online image; quote from SATC; Sharpies fine line pen

bright side

Those lime polka dot cupcake liners brought to mind a sentiment stamp I own that says to look on the bright side. First I thought of going the cupcake route because I am such a literal person, then thought of the flower that I’ve been using frequently of late. It has a polka dot center and the shape reminds me of a flattened cupcake liner. With the elements I was planning to use, I knew the card needed to be clean and graphic, no inked or distressed edges in sight.

The sentiment stamp is rubber, wood-mounted, so I finally needed to break down and use the stamp-a-ma-jig that I bought many months ago.  I now understand why people become converts once they try it.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  gingham (A Muse); white c/s (Staples)

stamps: Look on the bright side (Rubber Soul); Round & Round (PTI); Create Spring (Hampton Art)

ink:  moss green pigment (Clearsnap); tangelo and dandelion dye (Memento)

extras:  ribbon (Michael’s)

lemonade

Through the circuitous routes one takes while online, I came across a new challenge blog called hello cutie challenges. Although I think it would be cool some time in the future to say that I started participating with the first challenge, I probably would have skipped this inaugural challenge if not for the colors, particularly that incredible chartreuse.

Why was chartreuse the deal breaking color? Let me tell you a story. Brianna bought this funky little cardigan from J.Crew. Well, actually, she didn’t buy it; her dad did. Anyway, as I was writing… When she grew bored with it, Brianna passed the sweater on to me. I loved that sweater with its color so different from the usual shades I wear. This winter, when I pulled that sweater out of my closet, I noticed some holes in places where there shouldn’t be holes. (I had seen something similar on another sweater, but it was one little hole in an inconspicuous location. I just figured that I had caught the sweater on something.) I called Brianna right away and asked her if she had worn my chartreuse sweater. When she answered in the negative, I told her what I had discovered. It turned out the same thing had happened to a couple of her sweaters. Ye gads, our sweaters were being attacked by moths! Not since back in the day when my mom packed our winter clothes in those smelly mothballs have I had to think about this. Well, actually, I didn’t want to think about it, so I folded the sweater and put it neatly back into my closet. Then, last Sunday night as I was gathering trash and had room to spare in the bag, I decided it was time to toss the sweater. Because the buttons had great character, I cut them off to use on a future project, as any crafter would.

While removing the buttons, I was mentally sorting through my stash, trying to think of what would work with the color/feel of them. With that sweater in hand, I was bemoaning the fact that I wasn’t clever enough to do something with it. Then – Eureka! – fabric flowers came to mind, something I never thought I would use due to the patience and nimble fingers required to make them. I wasn’t sure how the material would stand up to that type of treatment, but decided I had nothing (more) to lose by trying it. So I cut strips of the material and tucked them into a bag for use on a future project.

Oops, too much glue.

Who knew the future would arrive the next day? (Well, we all did/do, but I needed a segue into the next part of my story.) That was the day my circuitous route landed me at hello cutie challenges with its opportune color palette. I decided it was time to once again follow the famous saying:  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  So I took some remains from that fabulous chartreuse sweater and made a card.

Now I’m pondering the question: Is this the most expensive card I’ll ever make when I take into account the cost of a J.Crew sweater or is that cost nonexistent since the sweater was headed for the trash? Hmmm.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  kraft c/s (PTI); Farm Fresh (October Afternoon); Quite Contrary (My Mind’s Eye); Lemonade (Basic Grey)

stamps:  Tiny Tags (PTI)

ink:  olive pigment (Clearsnap); rose bud dye (Memento)

dies:  Tiny Tags and Victorian Lace Border (PTI); standard circles large (Spellbinders)

extras:  button and fabric for flowers (J.Crew); coarse glitter (Martha Stewart); pink sorbet twine (The Twinery); ribbon (Michael’s and Jo-Ann’s)

cr84fn20: just wanted to say

Usually, the cards I’ve seen created from Hero Art’s Silhouette Grass and PTI’s Life sets have spoken to me. The projects tend to have a very welcoming feel to them. When I saw the challenge colors for CR84FN20, the silhouette cards made with those sets came to mind. Since I do not own either, I looked through what I do own to see if anything would work. Four sets of testing later, I came upon a stamp from a fall set that was a good substitute.

My mom has been sending out a large number of thank you cards lately and I’ve been trying to make some for her stash. So, in addition to the color parameters, the card needed to be fairly simple and require no extra postage to mail. I think it will meet with her approval.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  vintage cream c/s (PTI); Nana’s Nursery (DCWV)

stamps:  Autumn Harvest (TPC Studio); Thank You Sayings (Hero Arts)

ink:  wisteria and lavender chalk (Clearsnap)

extras:  tanzanite crystals (Jolee’s)

papertrey march blog hop challenge

Should you choose to accept, here’s the challenge PTI has issued this month:  Use embroidery floss, but it must be in a fun and inventive way. This could include stitching, wrapping it around and tying it like ribbon, braiding, accenting tags, embroidered patterns or anything else you can dream up! (Thanks, Nichole. You just gave away all my ideas!)

Because there are hundreds of cards to view, I’ll not detain with you with my witty repartee. Here, instead, are my cards. I call them variations on a theme, a play on the DMC Color Variations floss that I used. (Sorry, I couldn’t not write anything!)

 

Click here to see many amazing creations using embroidery floss.

nancy

supplies:

paper:  Tutu Pink, Fussy, Chablis, Passionate, Piglet and other nameless colors of c/s (Bazzill)

stamps:  Fillable Frames #1 and #5, Just the Ticket (PTI)

ink:  rose bud dye (Memento); midnight and pheasant gold pigment (Colorsnap); VersaMark (Tsukineko)

dies:  standard circles large (Spellbinders)

extras:  Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Color Variations floss #4190, 4180, 4065 and 4220 (DMC); buttons (PTI and Basic Grey); bridal embossing powder (Personal Stamp Exchange)