Thank You, Liz!

Okay, so I made a Thanksgiving card that turned out GREAT but photographed terribly, so I won't post it. I have my pride, and it would be pricked if you saw a photo that was so color-unbalanced coming from me. That's what happens when I use something other than white cardstock. *sigh*

By the way, if you have Apple Music, their 2015 Smooth Jazz Christmas playlist is festive!

So, my friend Liz, who's an OUTSTANDING graphic design artist and lovely human who drinks a lot of tea, gave me a gift card to Simon Says Stamp for my birthday. I bought two sets with it--one book-themed set from Three Room Studio and Gina K's layered eucalyptus because, why not?

Anyway, when I told Liz what I bought, she asked for a bookmark made with the book-themed set. The stamps arrived yesterday, and here's what I made for Liz to say thank you. Eeeep!!!!

Obviously, this is a GIANT cup of tea on VERY small books, but who cares about scale? Not me! Because this turned out even better than it was in my head, which almost never happens to me but must happen to Liz quite often because she's such a pro.

A few tips if you want to do something similar. Staples tend to rust (which would be sacrilege in a bookmark!), and I didn't have small ones anyway. So I sewed instead of stapled and pre-punched holes using a Stampin'Up mat pack and a fancy bookbinding awl. To reduce bulk caused by the fold, I used 80lb Neenah Solar White instead of my usual 110lb Papertrey.

The tea bag is made from a 2" x 5.5" strip scored at 2.5", 2.75", and 3". After stamping, coloring (with assorted Copics), and folding, I punched the corners with a Stampin'Up corner punch. After positioning the two holes using the mat pack template and awl, I sewed the paper-strip ends together and knotted the thread in the back, trimming one tail of the thread really short.

The tea tag is 5/8" x 1 3/4" strip scored at 7/8". Read is stamped on both sides, with the R at the fold end. I poked a hole in the middle, sewed the end of the long tail through to the inside of the fold, added a drop of glue, and stuck the end of the thread down.

And there you have it...my most favorite thing I've made in a long time. Thanks, Liz! I hope you love it like I love you, my friend!

Birthday Snowflake: When Inspiration Takes a Weird Turn

So today's card was totally inspired by THIS PIN by Kate Wilson. I love it so much...the red square, the white snowflake, the little gemstones, the subtle sentiment...basically, I love everything about it. Kate is a genius!

But here's the card I made. Hmmm.

Where, you might ask (with complete justification), are the red square, subtle sentiment, and tiny little rhinestones?

Well, I realized something as I kept cutting down a square of red cardstock to get the perfect balance behind my snowflake. My snowflake punch punches a chubby snowflake. Whatever punch or die Kate used is delicate, curvy, and beautiful.

Her snowflake is also not a natural snowflake shape as snowflakes have six arms, not eight, but really, artistically, should we be sticklers on this point? I'm not going to hold wrong numbers of arms against snowflake stamps anymore because it makes me feel OCD and obnoxious. Feel free to condemn inaccurate snowflakes yourself, of course. I'm not going to tell you what to think because in addition to being irritated by inaccurate snowflake stamps, I used to hate turning odd numbered years of age, which, honestly, is borderline pathological weirdness, so who am I to judge?

By the way, I just turned 53, which is both odd and a prime, and I'm just fine with it. I considered the alternative. I also credit the meditation I've been doing lately with overcoming at least a bit of my OCD. Yay, me!

Anyway, my snowflake is not delicate. In fact, its chubbiness was not flattered at all by a high-contrast background that merely emphasized its thickness. So I ditched the red square. Now, my snowflake feels better about itself.

Without some contrast, however, the card looked rather blah, so I decided the sentiment needed to be bolder, and instead of clear rhinestones, an iridescent red sequin layered over a snowflake sequin would add sufficient interest.

It's interesting how the sequin flashes turquoise in some light. That's real, not some weird photography trick.

I've used the word weird a lot in this post. Perhaps it's time to go to bed.

Anyway, I hope to have lots of time to stamp over this Thanksgiving week, and I hope in between stuffing turkeys and baking pies, you do, too.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Birthday Mission

Hey!

I'm a crafter on a mission.

I sat down at my craft desk today to start making birthday cards for next year. Christmas is pretty much a lost cause at this point (Barnes & Noble has some lovely cards anyway), so I shall forge ahead with a mission to make all the birthday cards I need next year.

That's about forty cards. Which is about twenty more cards than I've made this year. But maybe, just maybe, I can do this.

Today's card is a promising start, completely indebted to THIS GORGEOUS CARD.

You'll note the obvious changes and similarities. First, I increased the white space around the focal point with a horizontal card (6.25" x 3.5") because, you know, why not? The color scheme isn't very different, but I used hearts instead of flowers with a watercolor effect. Instead of a single strand of string, I used two to bring together the colors of the hearts and add a little interest...my hearts are much more basic than Kleine-stempe's gorgeous flowers. And orange and hot pink look so fun and fresh together, don't they? I kept the black sentiment on a banner. 

For the mechanics, I used circle punches (1.5" and 1.75"), and to ever-so-slightly pop the top circle, I punched a 1 3/8" cardstock circle to glue under it. The Memento markers blend so nicely with a single spritz of water. What a simple, beautiful technique!

The Birthday Mission is definitely off to a satisfying start. Yay!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan