A Cheesy Card

After seeing a card in the winter 2018 Stampers' Sampler that used cheesecloth, I decided to pull that loose-weave goodness out to play.

Here's the result.

Cheesecloth always makes me think of the beach...fishnets. And I adore beachy cards. So I inked the mat board with Tim Holtz distress inks, wrapped it in the cheesecloth, and wondered how to proceed from there.

I'm here for you. That's the sentiment I wanted to use. Then I remembered the shell stamps in Hero's Color Layering Seahorse set. Two shells...I'm here for you...there are two of us...you are not alone.

Yep. That works.

And, of course, there's bling.

What does cheesecloth make you think of? How have you used it on a card?

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Technique Tuesday, Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white, mat board
ink: various dye inks for the shells, Tim Holtz distress for the background
accessories: coordinating dies, Scor-tape (to attach the cheesecloth to the mat board), cheesecloth, rhinestones, scallop scissors (to slightly round the sentiment panel)

Seven Days of Bling: Day 7

Well, I still had a lot of dark and light green rhinestones, so a Christmas tree sounded like a good idea. I started at the top of the tree, worked down through the center, and then filled out to the edges.

Adding random red gems made it extra festive, and some brown for the tree trunk made a tiny nod to realism.

Or not. It doesn't matter. It's bling!

So I hope this series has inspired you to use your bling. No sense hoarding. Use stuff. You can always buy more stuff. Just think how much fun that is!

Tomorrow...cheesecloth.

How weird is that?

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Mama Elephant silver fox; Memento Luxe London fog
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, tree punch, glue

Seven Days of Bling: Day 6

I discovered a few problems when trying to fill flowers with bling. First, I started the flowers after using up a lot of the diversity of bling in these colors. Left with few gems to choose from and a few VERY large, oddly colored gems, my ability to fill the curvy shapes of flower petals was severely hampered.

So I didn't fill at all but simply created a basic design with two colors. The results are vaguely reminiscent of starfish, but hey, that's okay.

The ground is a shadow stamp from Hero Arts, and the sentiment is from Papertrey. It's whimsical, fun, and vaguely abstract. I like it!

In the close-up, you see that there were different sizes of yellow-green and blue bling available. I worked with what I had.

Now, with the three VERY large, oddly colored rhinestones, I needed a slightly different ground and color scheme. Because the gems would only be in the centers of the flowers and because the flower petals were white, I needed them to stand out a bit more from the white background. I chose the wider shadow stamp and went with a darker green ink to heighten the contrast, but it was also shorter, so the stamped panel is smaller and the card base/mat correspondingly larger.

Notice that the two layouts are incredibly similar, but by tweaking just a few things, the feel of the second card is completely different from the first.

These bling are yellow but had strong charcoal undertones, so I went with gray for the sentiment. That's a subtle unifying factor for this card which made my CAS-lovin' heart go pitter patter.

Do you prefer one card over the other? Do you love them both? Loathe them both? Why?

Inquiring minds and all that.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey sentiment, Hero Arts shadow stamps
ink: Memento new sprout, pear tart; Hero Arts pool; Memento Luxe London fog; Impress Fresh Ink Tuscan olive
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, punches, glue

Seven Days of Bling: Day 5

Reader Connie asked what adhesive I use to attach the rhinestones. All the rhinestones I used on these cards come with adhesive backing on a transparency sheet. I just lift a gem off the backing sheet with the tip of a craft knife and place it where I want it. Easy as chips and dip. (Pie isn't easy. I've never understood that cliche.)

I have several containers of loose rhinestones without adhesive, but these are a pain in the butt hard to stick down. I use a sticky pickup tool to dip each rhinestone in a tiny dot of white Scotch tacky glue dabbed onto a scrap of cardstock, and then place it where I want it, holding the tool in place for forever a few minutes while the glue sets. It takes more time than I care to spend on a regular basis to do this. Plus, my fear is that after all this effort and time, these rhinestones won't hold in the mail, so I rarely use them.

Have you seen the t-shirt that says, "I love Jesus, but I cuss a little"? Well, I try not to put myself in situations where I'm tempted to cuss. To cover a large shape with loose rhinestones would stretch the limits of my self-control.

You (not me, mind you, but YOU) could try using sheet adhesive to cover cardstock, punch the shape out, peel off the sheet adhesive backing, and place the loose rhinestones that way. BUT there is enough space between the round shapes that you might run into the problem of having other things (lint, string, bits of paper) sticking in the gaps. Please see previous paragraph.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, Connie, but there you have it.

Today's purple dragonfly used up all my big purple bling...and I don't have a Copic or Sharpie that matches this particularly red-purple shade, so I couldn't make more. (I did try, though.) That meant no purple butterfly with which to create a visual triangle, as on yesterday's card.

With a few design tweaks, I was able to come up with an acceptable card (although I do think yesterday's card has a better design).

With only two purple points, the design worked better as a portrait-oriented card. This gives the design an upward sense of movement appropriate for a winged insect instead of the visual triangle unifying yesterday's design. I also chose a blocky, larger sentiment to anchor the bottom of the card and provide visual balance for that lone dragonfly.

I think it worked.

Note that there are a few large, iridescent rhinestones in the mix. Love those! They have languished in my stash for years, and now they finally have a purpose in life. Don't they look so happy?

I think so.

Obviously, using up your stash creates some awkward shortages of colors or shapes, but a little flexibility and problem-solving, and you can get those gems out of your hoard and onto cards.

So yay!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted With a Flourish, Papertrey Keep It Simple Birthday
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Mama Elephant silver fox, Archival purple (can't remember which one...maybe majestic purple?)
accessories: dragonfly punch, assorted rhinestones 

Seven Days of Bling: Day 4

Sue C., who is just full of fabulous questions, asked whether I start in the middle of filling in a large punched shape with bling or bling the edges first and then fill in toward the center. Yesterday's card is a good example of this.

With large shapes, I generally start somewhere off-center, so everything appears as random as possible, although I will say with the Christmas tree you'll see later this week, I started at the top, worked down through the center and then toward the edges. When the edges don't quite work out, I fill in with the tiniest rhinestones I have. A few times in this week-long extravaganza, I've had to color tiny clear bling with alcohol markers to fill in when I've run out of the right color.

That's a hazard of trying to use up your bling. Will you have enough to finish the whole project or run out mid-bling-fest and have wasted a bunch of pretty fake jewels?

It's as close as I get to risky behavior.

Fortunately, today's card showcases the very first shapes I blinged, and therefore we have lots of lovely rhinestones to choose from...before I started running out of some shades and sizes. It also showcases shapes that absolutely DO NOT follow the advice I just gave Sue C. at the beginning of this post. Each bling was carefully planned to be symmetrical and to vary the bling colors and sizes in a pleasing way that highlights details of the punched shape. There's nothing random about the butterfly and dragonfly.

I LOVED the results. LOVED. I'm shouting at you. LOVED.

I hope you love them, too.

The darker blue rhinestones are almost a Prussian blue and oh, so lovely! They ran out relatively quickly, however, which is sad, and I had no more after finishing this card and the bird card.

I'm going to need to add a Prussian blue Copic marker to be able to duplicate these beauties in the future. And this is how we get into so much trouble buying stuff. There's always something we need.

Always.

As you can see if you compare today's card to yesterday's, having dark, medium, and light shades of one color adds an ENORMOUS amount of interest to a bedazzled design. I just love the dragonfly and butterfly.

But I said that already.

Anyway, the bugs were so pretty I decided to use the lightest gray ink I had (Mama Elephant silver fox pigment ink) for the pretty swirl from Clearly Besotted's With a Flourish. The swirl anchors the design, bringing the three blue elements together with, well, a flourish.

Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

Note that the three blue elements are arranged in a visual triangle. Tomorrow we'll see a different arrangement for a purple dragonfly flying all by its lonesome.

And that's all I have to say about that. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Birthday Basics, Clearly Besotted With a Flourish
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Mama Elephant silver fox, Archival cobalt
accessories: rhinestones, dragonfly and butterfly punches, glue

Seven Days of Bling: Day 3

Reader Joan asked about mailing cards with bling on them. The lumpiness can be a problem, especially if the bling is on a raised panel on the card. My go-to fix is to put packing tape on the envelope over the bling. It keeps the envelope from tearing and adds very little weight.

Another fix is to put a 5.5" x 4.25" piece of cardstock over the top of the card and then put it in the envelope. This might push the envelope over the weight or thickness limits for standard postage, though, especially if you're using dimensionals or craft foam on the card. It might be kicked back to you for insufficient postage.

A third fix is to turn the card inside-out. That way, the back of the card cushions the bling. This will dent the back of the card, though, and might make it hard to read what you've written.

If anybody has other solutions, please share them in the comments.

A final suggestion for U.S. readers...keep a stash of forever butterfly stamps with your standard postage. Butterfly stamps will cover the added thickness or weight of cards with embellishments. You can drop these in a mailbox (although I wonder if they are machined after that) or go to the window at the post office and ask them to hand-cancel the envelope. That way, it won't get run through machines and smooshed.

I hope that helps, Joan. Perhaps it's more information than you wanted!

Today's card takes advantage of the fact that I have a bazillion purple rhinestones. I decided to make a purple valentine, because not all loving relationships are red-hot romantic, right? Well, that was my justification for being able to use more than half the purple rhinestones in my stash in a single go.

The swirls are from Clearly Besotted's With a Flourish and were stamped with LuLu lavender Memento ink. You're going to see that set again; it proved very useful for grounding these bedazzled shapes.

I'd already used up almost all the dark purple rhinestones (you'll see the others tomorrow). That means there's not enough color variation or shading on this large bedazzled shape to add interest. I did, however, have several large iridescent rhinestones that, if you look closely in the photo below, do add a subtle interest. The rhinestones were placed in a random pattern of small, medium, and large.

I'll tell ya, filling up this giant heart (after already using some purple on another shape) and still having a bunch of purple left showed just how serious my bling-hoarding issue is. But like reader Cindy pointed out, "Professors have large libraries, and no one expects them to use every book on the shelf every day. Same with bling, I'm sure."

Thanks, Cindy. I feel much better now!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted With a Flourish
ink: LuLu lavender Memento 
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, large heart punch, glue

Seven Days of Bling: Day 2

Before we get to the bling, I just want to thank Hero Arts for bringing back their nice, fat, printed catalog. The last year I bought the HA catalog was 2012, and it was puny...not worth the price. Not sure why I bit this year, but ohmygosh, it's a fabulous publication.

What a delight to turn pages and see such wonderful stamps and products displayed so prettily. This feels much more natural than flipping through an online version. Hero has long been one of my favorite companies, and I'm thrilled with this catalog. Thank you, Hero Arts. Print isn't dead...and you'll get more of my money because of this.

Now, onto the Seven Days of Bling. Sue C. asked where I get my bling, and a real-life friend said these cards look hard to make. Let's address these two issues.

My bling comes from all over ("Oh, shiny!!! Must buy!!!"), but my favorite place to buy bling is my Michael's. They have Recollections rhinestones, which are individually adhered to the backing sheet...meaning they aren't on a strip of adhesive that requires cutting each little gem off of the strip, trimming the excess glue in the process. Nope, that's annoying. The Recollections gems are quick and easy to use, they look nice, and when they are 40% off, I admit I go a little crazy.

Now, I used to buy all the colors I could find, but since getting Copics and Sharpies, I prefer coloring my own to match each card. The package of clear, colorless bling I prefer is THIS ONE, which has five different sizes of gems. Coloring them works best with very dark Copic shades or (preferably) Sharpies. Either brand marker can be blended if, say, you need a bit more blue in your purple. The Sharpies dry faster than the Copics and the colors tend to be more intense.

This new preference for coloring my own gems leaves me with a huge stash of hard-to-match colored bling, which in turn led me to have Seven Days of Bling, which in turn showed me that seven days are not nearly enough to put a significant dent in my hoard.

Now, as for my friend's comment that the cards look hard to make...but not at all. My handy, dandy craft knife allows me to pick and place gems easily. For many of the designs I'll show this week, I varied the shape and size and even color as I placed...because I had so many gems to choose from. I tried to make everything random when it called for it, or symmetrical when that seemed more appropriate.

And now for today's card. The rhinestones take their form from a punched shape, which makes arrangements so much easier!

The punch is StampinUp's bird and branch punch. I simply glued the wing onto the bird and started with the darker blue, then filled in around the wing with lighter blue, throwing in a black rhinestone eye for contrast because it seemed like a good idea.

The branch was a bit more challenging. If you select your own punches or dies to duplicate this, go for bigger shapes with less detail (like the tree in the photo above). It's much easier to cover them than smaller, detailed shapes.

One awesome aspect of creating these bedazzled shapes on punched or die-cut forms is that you can make a bunch of them and then design cards around them. When I tried the bird on a single layer, it really looked dropped-on and boring. The white mats were necessary to add a frame to the densely sparkling focal point. The resulting design works pretty well, I'd say!

The sentiment is from Papertrey's old Birthday Basics set. I love how the rounded letters looked with the bedazzled bird.

Do you think this idea justifies my hoarding of bling, or am I simply looking for any excuse to legitimize my hoarding issues?

Does it really matter?

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Birthday Basics
ink: Archival cobalt
paper: papertrey white
accessories: StampinUp punch, rhinestones, glue