mim#144: heat embossing on vellum

Just a quick post to share a card that I made for Melissa’s MIM#144, heat embossing on vellum. I was so happy to see this Make It Monday because I had asked Melis to share her secrets on this technique. I just wish that I had time to make a few more cards.

 

I blew the entire concept of using vellum when I covered it with a Flea Market photo overlay. Even though the softness of the vellum was lost, I do like how the card turned out, especially with the gold border. The sentiment is actually stamped on the overlay; the candles are embossed on the vellum.

The last three weeks I’ve been slacking on commenting on blogs, for which I apologize. My daughter had surgery to repair a torn ligament in her ankle and has needed someone to fetch and tote for her. During that time, Brianna fell (literally) into the ‘if it can go wrong it will’ group with the latest thing being catching a brutal case of the flu during an ER visit. With her stomach settling down today, we decided to look on the positive side and agreed that it was good that she has gotten the flu out of the way and lost about five pounds in the process. It always helps to see the silver lining.

nancy

joy

While making Thanksgiving cards, thoughts about the upcoming holidays kept popping up. One thing led to another and an idea for an Advent card came to mind beginning from a glassine bag by Melissa Phillips that had stayed with me.

The card is going to my two young great-nieces who love the colors purple and pink, which works out perfectly for an Advent card. I planned on sending it to them the third week of Advent so that I could use the word “joy” on it. The die cut is glittered using Heather’s MIM#141, applying glitter via heat embossing. After several attempts at different variations, I ended up mixing fine glitter into clear embossing powder and heating that. It required extra heat to melt, so the paper did get scorched. I’m sure that Ayla and Zoe won’t notice.

I don’t like to push my beliefs on others, but, since this is an Advent card, it really needed a verse or prayer that had something to do with Advent. (My niece and her family are the same religion as I, so I wasn’t concerned with insulting them in any way.) The prayer that I had on hand was too advanced for my great-nieces, so the Internet came to the rescue. I found a song, sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, that hit just the note I wanted.

So often cards do not turn out the way I imagine, but this surpassed my imagination. It shares a message of faith while being fun and girly. Even better, when I showed the card to my daughter, she started crying. No, I am not a horrible mother. It was the reason for her tears that touched me. Brianna immediately thought of my mom when looking at the card and shared, “Grandmère would have loved this card. It would have brought a smile to her face.” And that is one of the reasons why I make cards.

nancy

thank you

A few weeks ago, one of my religious ed students and I had a conversation about rainbow bracelets and the friendship bracelets from my daughter’s generation. Last Sunday, Amanda came into class with a rainbow bracelet she made just for me. I wanted to let her know what her kindness means to me, so I thought a fun card in bright colors would be just right for a note.

My inspiration for the card came from two places – a sketch from Studio Calico’s Sunday Sketch based on a layout by Shanna Noel and Dawn’s MIM#139, which is to create a square frame with Papertrey stamps. The arrow from tag-its #11 was used for the frame.

Thanks so much for taking time from your day to visit my blog.

nancy

blessed

Last week’s Make It Monday was the starting point for a card for my DRE. This week’s influenced the design of a card for a fellow fifth grade catechist and her husband. A mood board from Studio Calico’s LOAW picked the colors for me.

 

Pam and Kevin allowed me to vent after my challenging class last Sunday. More than that, they offered me sound advice and pushed me to move forward rather than giving the situation just one more week. I often need that nudge.

One of the things that I enjoy about card making is the ability to put a piece of my heart into the process. I like to think about the recipient of the card while choosing colors or sentiments or even while taping down a strip of paper. Cards seem to be my version of a prayer shawl.

I always like to add a little something to the inside of the card, even if it is a strip of washi tape. On this card, the dotted paper used on the front added a pleasing softness inside, so I went with it. And those little pumpkins are just cute.

Enjoy your weekend.

nancy

trick-or-treat

Just quickly stopping by to wish everyone a happy Halloween and to post an entry for this week’s Make It Monday, using inlaid die cuts.

The design is simple, but when making multiples with all of the die cuts involved, I don’t think I could have added more and mailed the cards on time. Brianna saw me cranking the handle of my Cuttlebug and asked if there wasn’t a motorized version I could buy. She is ever so practical.

To me, what makes this card is the patterned paper used for the eyes, mouth and stem. That detail added a little bit of whimsy to the pumpkin. And, with shifting the triangle dies ever so slightly, each pumpkin had its own personality.

I live on a busy street, so only the most diehard trick-or-treaters, adolescent boys, make it to my door. I’ve been tempted to shut off the floodlights, since the buying of candy, etc. seems almost too much trouble for two or three kids, but I just cannot allow myself to turn into that old fart each neighborhood has. Hope you get lots of children in fun and original costumes gracing your door.

Happy Halloween!

nancy

ever so grateful

Melissa Phillips is hosting this week’s Make It Monday and she created the most enchanting card with its focus being a dimensional leaf wreath. I had hoped to play along and use some of the vivid colors that are so prevalent this time of year. Well, I’m playing along, but the colors I used are of the softer, muted side of autumn.

I also managed to incorporate into this card a challenge from Studio Calico to use three stamping techniques with one stamp set. The set that I used is Papertrey Ink’s Autumn Acorns. The outside of the card used the stamps with embossing and paper piecing.

Tucked on the inside corner, the leaf stamp was inked using the rock-n-roll technique.

Today’s religious education class presented me with a test of my patience and, unfortunately, I didn’t pass. This card is going to our DRE to tell her how much I appreciate her help with the situation. (Yes, I am intentionally being very vague here.) I should be sending a card to Linda each week to let her know what she means to me. This is a start.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a great start.

nancy

papertrey september blog hop

From Nichole’s blog: The holidays are just around the corner and in any store you stumble into the aisles are decked out with new decor, including wreaths. Dig out a favorite wreath stamp set, layer small die-cuts & punches or even use unconventional materials like buttons or rhinestones to create a wreath on the front of a festive card. You can choose to make your card fall-themed, embrace the upcoming holidays or just something pretty to use for an everyday greeting.

 

I had forgotten all about the blog hop until Leigh mentioned it on the PTI forum on Monday. Thank you, Leigh. It just happened that I was working on a card that included a wreath in its design, so it seemed a good idea to actually post a picture of it on my blog.

 

This autumn blessings card is one of my monthly thinking of you type cards that I send to family and friends. They are my excuse for buying stamps and patterned paper.

Go here to see the incredible variety of creations from the talented Papertrey customers. Thanks for stopping by.

nancy

PS - I think that one of the reasons I stopped blogging is because of my frustrations with how the photographs appear on the blog. They look so much better in iPhoto. Really.

supplies:

paper:  vintage cream c/s (PTI); patterned paper from my stash

stamps:  Rustic Branches and Autumn Acorns (PTI); Happy Thanks (Hero Arts); Autumn Harvest (TPC Studio)

ink:  aqua mist dye (PTI); pumpkin pigment (MSC); pearlescent chocolate pigment (Brilliance)

dies:  turning a new leaf and LL: 1¾” circles (PTI)

extras:  tin types impression plate (PTI); gold and peach ColorShine (Heidi Swapp); sequins (Darice); enamel dots (MME); gem stickers (Paper Studio and Recollections); blue zircon and topaz gems (EK Success); gerbera daisy stickers (MSC)