Using Your Punches: Embellish?

While contemplating my collection of border punches, I got the idea to create this card:

It's so me! All that crisp white space, a lovely little embellishment from Doodlebug, and a word in a fun font. The scalloped curve at the bottom adds a bit of interest, but I wondered if the scallops faded into too much white and needed to be emphasized a bit.

So I pulled out my red Memento marker, opened up the pen tip, and added some dots to each scallop.

The dotted version definitely shows increased unity between the elements: the single holly berry, the dot over the "j", and the dots of the decorative border work nicely together.

But I really prefer the plain version for its simplicity. What do you think? Dots or no dots?

The strip was cut to fit into the Martha Stewart border punch. It's 1 7/8" wide. It's positioned on the one-third line vertically, and falls just short of the bottom third line horizontally.

Here are the Doodlebug holly stickers, just in case you want to know what to look for. They are adorable!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Designer Alphabet (retired)
ink: SU real red (best red on the market in dye ink!)
paper: Neenah Solar White, 80# and 110#
accessories: Doodlebug holly sprinkles shapes, Martha Stewart border punch, dimensionals, red marker

Shades of Blue and Green

I adore the Impress Fresh Ink color freesia...a lavender blue that is just perfect. Their celery is lovely also, and don't they look amazing together?

Here's a little challenge for you. Pull out two of your favorite colors and create a pattern with a single stamp to make a border or focal point design. Then stamp a simple black sentiment.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could try a bunch of variations. I'm lazy, so there's just one version.

But I'm sure you're a better person than I am.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Square Prints
ink: Impress freesia, celery; Memento Luxe black
paper: Papertrey
accessories: gridded acrylic block because no way would all those squares line up so perfectly without one. Not. Possible.

Feathers and Ink

Several people have asked about inks lately...which to use and when, what are my favorites, and so forth. You can read more about my feelings on ink HERE, but my bottom line on inks is this: you have to try them out for yourself and figure what works for you. It's a confusing mess, I know, and can get expensive, but the best way to figure it out is to plunge right in and start playing.

Individual results WILL vary.

Today's cards, inspired by a random boxed-card set I saw at Barnes and Noble featuring feathers, explain why I like thicker inks so much. I've written before that I store dye inks (runny inks like SU classic, Hero Arts, Kaleidacolor, and Memento) separate from my thicker pigment/chalk inks (Memento Luxe, VersaMagic, Impress Fresh Ink, Brilliance). The two categories look different when stamped. Dye inks are translucent, while the thicker inks are opaque. Thicker inks tend to work better with detailed stamps, stamps with fine lines, and clear stamps in general.

As these two cards demonstrate:

VersaMagic turquoise gem, Impress Tangerine, VersaMagic Rocket Red

VersaMagic tea leaves, Memento Luxe pistachio, Fresh Ink island,
VersaMagic jumbo java

The opaque inks give good coverage, preserve fine details, and have a richness you can't usually get with dye inks.

So what are the drawbacks? Certain techniques (spritzing with water, for instance) don't work well with thick inks, and though the brands I use are supposed to dry quickly, sometimes they don't, which can lead to smears and smudges and the occasional temper tantrum.

If you really want a LOT of information about inks, check out Jennifer McGuire's many videos on the subject. She's an excellent source of information and has tried far more brands and types of ink than I have.


Supplies
stamps: Waltzingmouse Funky Feathers, Gina K sentiment
paper: Papertrey white
inks: see photo captions
accessories: dimensionals

With or Without Bling?

Wow. This long holiday weekend kicked my butt. I've been sick. No stamping. No fireworks...I slept through them. I think I'm coming out of it and starting to feel better, but don't be surprised if posting is spotty this week.

Today's card was made last week, and it's deceptively simple. I think there's a lot going on, but the design itself is so straightforward.

The border was made with a Martha Stewart pine bough border punch, and the oval was cut using an old Creative Memories oval cutter system. It fits the Papertrey stamp perfectly!

The border was just too subtle all by its lonesome, so I added a few rows of silver twine wrapped around it. These really give some definition to the border and unify the design by connecting with the silver ink and border on the oval.

I really liked this soft and simple card, but it definitely lacks color. While I contemplated various ways to add color to the design, these strips of green bling practically jumped onto the card.

I'm agnostic on whether or not the green bling improves the card. I like the card equally with and without. I'm interested to hear what you think.

Techique Tip: While I could have layered the oval with silver paper for a mat (the CM cutter system makes that fairly easy), I drew the silver border on with a metallic Prismacolor broad-tip marker. This takes a steady hand, but it works. Just set the broad tip at an angle against the edge of the shape, and slide it around. If you get too little in one place, you can go back over it. After the card was finished, I wished I'd tried to draw a silver border rather than use the twine, and perhaps I'll try that on a later card.

So many ideas, so little time.

Here's hoping you had a safe, healthy Independence Day weekend.


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Brilliance silver
paper: Neenah Solar white in 80# and 110#
accessories: CM oval cutter tools, Martha Stewart border punch, silver twine, silver Prismacolor marker, dimensionals, rhinestones

Using Your Punches: Grab a Fence Post

Several of my border stamps make excellent fences for cards, but the fine detail of them offers a challenge. My usual paper of choice is Papertrey Stampers Select white card stock, which is extremely heavy. It often sticks in the more detailed border punches. So for using these particular punches, I switch to two different weights of Neenah Solar White card stock: 80# and 110#. The lighter 80# gets the punch, and the heavier 110# makes the card base.

Solves the problem nicely.

As you can see, the 80# card stock punches cleanly with the border punch and doesn't cause the punch to jam at all. This Martha Stewart lattice punch gives such a pretty, delicate feel to the card, and coordinates nicely with the stamps from Papertrey's Botanical Silhouettes anniversary set. The butterflies were made using a Martha Stewart punch with vellum.

On the second card, the stamps are much more stylized and modern, so the Martha Stewart fence border, which is heavier and more angular and solid, feels more appropriate.

These stamps, from Papertrey's Trendy Tree Tops, are so fun! I love the sentiment, but there's no comma on it. I pulled a comma from an old Hero Arts clear alphabet set and added it.

Note that I used color and bling/pearls to unite the sentiment and the image on both cards. I love the little butterflies but I'm not so sure about the pearls added to the curls on the second card. Those seem a tad goofy to me. Oh, well.

If you want a chuckle and to know where the title of the post came from, check out the Bugs Bunny cartoon HERE.

"Hit 'im again, the critter ain't dead!"

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Botanical Silhouettes, Trendy Tree Tops; Clearly Besotted Happy Days
ink: Fresh Ink, Memento Luxe
paper: Neenah Solar White 80# and 110#, vellum
accessories: Martha Stewart border and butterfly punches, dimensionals, rhinestones, half pearls, glue pen

Use Your Punches: Making a Parenthetical Banner

As part of my Use Your Hoard (UYH) challenge, I'm pulling out my punches. Since I don't have a die cut machine, punches are really the easiest tool I have for cutting shapes to use on cards.

But punches have their down side. They are bulky and hard to store, taking up a lot of space. Also, like rabbits, they've multiplied over the years. Well, not exactly like rabbits. I've been paper crafting for about 13 years now, and I have roughly 130 punches. Ten a year doesn't sound too bad, does it?

Anyway, I have border punches, circle and square and oval punches, scallop-edge punches, nesting punches, label punches, flower punches, snowflake punches, corner punches, tag punches, bird punches, butterfly punches, fish punches, large punches, small punches, and medium punches. I even have a mitten punch, a pumpkin punch, and a bow punch.

I need to use them! So I've started my UYH Punch Challenge with border punches. When I pulled out my Fiskars parentheses border punch (that's what I call it, at least), I got an idea to make a banner out of it. Like this:

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but here's how I made it.

1. Start with this punch. Note how the shape it punches looks like a string of parentheses. There are other border punches that might work equally well for this...just explore what you have!

2. Turn the punch upside down, and punch a single parenthesis on the edge of a 1/4 sheet of card stock. Turning punches upside down is the single most brilliant tip I've picked up for using punches.

3. Then, flip the paper to the other side and repeat step 2.

4. Using the straight cutting method of your choosing, separate the banner from the sheet of card stock. (I use a quilting ruler and x-acto knife.)

5. Then, using a pair of small scissors, snip the corners to tidy them up.

 

 And that's all it takes! Here's the same card as above, just in a completely different color scheme:

Since the parenthesis is exactly 1" wide, you could cut the strip first and then stick the ends in the punch. That might actually be easier, but I didn't think to measure it until I'd finished making two of them the hard way and taking all those pictures!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts starbursts; Gina K (sentiment on gray and red card); Papertrey (sentiment on green and purple card)
ink: Memento Luxe, Fresh Ink
paper: Neenah Solar White 80# and 110#
accessories: Fiskars border punch, dimensionals, rhinestones, scissors, quilting ruler, x-acto knife

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #18

July is my month to host the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge, and you'll probably not be surprised by this one. It's so easy and fun!

Sparkle and Shine

Just use something sparkly or shiny on your one-layer card! There are so VERY MANY products to choose from for this challenge. Just click on over to One-Layer Simplicity for the details!

I have a completely different card over on the challenge blog (it uses Clearly Besotted's Scientifically Speaking set), but I wanted to share a second OLS18 card here, one that uses my favorite form of glitter: Stickles.

I have so many colors of Stickles, and since the circles on this border stamp from Papertrey are just a tiny bit too big for my largest rhinestones, I went with random glitter that coordinates with the spectrum ink colors. Sparkly, indeed.

You're invited to click on over to the Challenge Blog and play along with us this month. I expect we'll have quite a sparkly, shiny collection of cards when the challenge ends on July 24th!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Big Hugs, Background Basics: Circles
ink: Kaleidacolor
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Stickles