Maple Leaves

All my Canadian friends seem to appreciate the maple leaves I've been punching lately. This one's for y'all.

DH and I spent our 20th wedding anniversary on Pender Island in British Columbia. It was an amazing vacation full of killer whales, bald eagles, seals, blood stars, kayaking, hiking, wine, food, and fun. I will always remember the maple leaves. Down south where I come from, maple leaves are about the size of my hand. Up there in Canada, y'all got maple leaves that could be dinner plates. No, not dinner plates. Chargers under dinner plates.

What I'm saying is that you Canadians do maples right. These piddly little punches don't hold a candle to yours. But then, yours wouldn't fit on a standard A2 size card, either, so I guess it's all good.

Happy Monday.

Paint with Smooch

Before we get started, I wanted to mention that I've updated my Favorite Products tab, if you're interested in what I have to say about card stock. Also, there are still stamps and SU paper for sale on my For Sale tab. Please buy my stuff so I can turn around and buy more stuff. Thank you. 


Smooch has quickly become one of my favorite products. It's an ink, but it works like paint, too, and you use it just like shimmery watercolor.

How-To Tips: First, I placed small dots of Smooch on a plastic palette. Using a damp, wide, flat brush, I painted some big squares of Smooch wash in kiwi and carrot on an Arches watercolor paper block (which helps keep the paper flat...you cut the paper off with a butter knife when it's dry). I made sure there were subtle gradations of color...not just a solid block of even color. When the ink was dry, I punched 3/4" squares out of the paper and created these three cards. I wish my photography captured the shimmer better. At least I tried!

The only difference with the second card is monochromatic color.I can'd decide which I like best, but then, I don't want to hurt either of my card's feelings.

The third card changes the orientation. I just wanted to see how it would look. Again, it's different, but not substantially so, and I love it just like I love the other two, no matter its orientation.

The half pearls on each card balance the off-set sentiment so nicely. And of course this layout is incredibly versatile. You could use it for any theme and with any small outline stamps. Solid stamps would look weird, I think.

But I could be wrong.

It's been known to happen before.

Often.

The end.

P.S. Happy Monday.

supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: Arches 90lb hot press watercolor paper block, PTI white card stock
accessories: Smooch (kiwi and carrot), flat wash brush, paint palette

Thanks, Scalloped Punch

I have quite a few sizes of scalloped punches...circles and squares. I find I rarely use them these days, but this scalloped square mat was the perfect something extra for this simple card.

Happy Sunday!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU chocolate chip
accessories: square scalloped punch, dimensionals

Remember the Crimper?

The fall issue of Take Ten includes a spread of colorful, highly embellished cards that use corrugated cardboard. Seeing them made me want to break out my paper crimper and see what I could do with it.

You could say that I went in a COMPLETELY different direction than the inspiration cards.

You would be right.

To make this card, I ran a piece of Papertrey white through the crimper multiple times, rotating it 90 degrees each time. This repeat crimpling breaks down the paper fibers and gives you a pretty soft piece of paper. There won't be problems mailing this. The small leaf is from Martha Stewart, the larger leaf punch is either EK or Marvy. Not sure. Everything is glued. No dimensionals needed.

All-white cards need texture. And yes, texture plates and expensive machines are more stylish and versatile than the old-fashioned crimper, but I don't have texture plates and expensive machines.

I have a crimper.

And I'm not afraid to use it.

What are your favorite "old-fashioned" stamping tools?

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memories Soft Silver
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Fiskar's Paper Crimper, leaf punches

Grateful for Friends

Tomorrow's post will start a week of Halloween cards (because I have five children to make Halloween cards for), and then I'm done with Halloween because, really. Just really. For those who, like me, would rather Halloween be like it was when we were kids (fun, not over-commercialized, with homemade costumes, yadda, yadda), I've got some fun ideas for quick and easy cards. If you don't do Halloween at all, you could just change the theme and use the ideas anyway.

While Halloween might be overdone (IMHO), gratitude cannot be overdone, so here's another Thanksgiving/Gratitude Collection card.

Burlap is big this year, if the magazines are any indication. It's a very cool way to add some fabulous texture to a card. I used 1/4" ScorTape to attach this, but it's still not terribly sturdy. Sewing is the only truly sturdy way to attach burlap to paper, and, alas, I don't sew unless someone holds a gun to my head...which would be a silly reason to hold a gun to someone's head, don't you think? This card will, therefore, be hand-delivered.

BTW, if you CASE this card, please use dark red floss in the button instead of a string from the burlap. I'm sure it would look even better that way.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey First Fruits
ink: SU cherry cobbler
paper: PTI vintage cream
accessories: punches, burlap, button, glue dots

Harvest Berries and Thanksgiving

My Papertrey order this month included the set Harvest Berries, which is fabulous...and fabulously easy to work with.

Here's the first installment of my celebration of Thanksgiving. Some of you may already know my irritation with the fact that Thanksgiving gets lost between the hyper-commercialism of Halloween and Christmas. That's why I send so many Thanksgiving cards...so people know how grateful I am to have them in my life.

So expect to see a lot of cards with this theme.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: SU bashful blue, black; PTI white
accessories: dimensionals