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

OLW63: We're Back, Baby!

This week's OLW is to make a one-layer baby card...and there's a give-away, too! Check out Jennifer's blog post here for details of the A Muse product pile that she and Krystie Lee are giving away to a random particpant in the OLW63 challenge. Oh, my.

Now, I wish I had some appropriate A Muse stamps for this challenge, but mine are all ocean/beach/dude stamps, a deficit I will be correcting on my next order.

Instead, I decided to get back to my roots in stamping with a very old stamp and a little heat embossing. This congratulations stamp is from PSX (which sadly went out of business years ago). It's also one of my earliest stamp purchases. I used ColorBox pigment inks and PSX silver pearl embossing powder (which joined my stash before 2003...that stuff lasts forever!).

The boy card was stamped in Royal Blue ink. The silver pearl embossing powder softened the blue to a lovely shade appropriate for a baby card.

I tried the silver pearl over a dark red, but that didn't give me the soft pink I wanted, so I used a pink ink, which came out lighter once embossed.

Photographing the EP up close proved difficult, but you can get some idea from this shot how the pearly sheen of the embossing looks. Look at the mid-ground of the photo for the most accurate effect.

I hope you'll play along with the OLW63! Click on over to Jennifer's blog for details and to link to your entry!
supplies
stamps: PSX
ink: ColorBox
paper: PTI white
accessories: Silver pearl embossing powder (PSX), heat gun, Corner Chomper

Halloween Week: Day 3...Plus an Announcement You Don't Want to Miss

Today's card is destined for my nephew Grady, who is a round, roly-poly almost three-year-old.

Here's Grady just a few weeks ago.

Can you see the resemblance?

This is the same kid whom I asked you to pray for a few years ago when he was born prematurely. Remember when he looked like this?

Amazing what almost three years can do to a little human, eh?

As for the card, it's pretty self-explanatory. The jack-o'-lantern stamp is from A Muse, a set I bought before they went direct sales, but it's in the catalog, too. The punch is Fiskar's. I used pumpkin pie for the pumpkin (that's seems obvious, doesn't it?), old olive for the leaf, and artichoke for the stem. The sentiment is from Hero Arts October clear set.

The last time I sent a card to Grady, he carried it around for a few days without destroying it. I can't imagine a higher compliment from a toddler, can you?

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!

One-Layer Wednesday is BACK!!!! As of Wednesday sometime (whenever Jennifer gets her post up), the OLW will be ON!!!!!!!!!

*SQUEAL*

AND THERE'S SOMETHING REALLY COOL that Jennifer has to share. CHECK IT OUT!!!

Was that enough bold shouting and exclamation points for you? Sometimes it's so much fun to be egregious.

Halloween Week: Day 2

Today's card creates a scene using Home Is Where the Haunt Is, a set (discontinued) from StampinUp.

This card required fearless use of a stamp positioner and a bit of bling at the end of the fence. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it's purple bling to match the purple house and sentiment. My niece will love this card!

I enjoy using black ink on white cardstock with a vivid color added for interest. The purple works for Halloween (a bit non-traditional, of course, and nothing wrong with that!). Black, white, and a bright color can be used to achieve a variety of effects, depending on the color.

And to all my commenters using old-fashioned spelling, I just love seeing y'all type Hallowe'en. Grammar gurus, however, says that either spelling is acceptable. So pick your personal favorite and stick with it confidently and consistently. If you don't have a favorite, do as I did and say "eeny, meeny, miney, mo."

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

Ginkgo Gets Framed

A few large post-it notes to mask, a scattering of pearls, and Bob's your uncle.

What does that mean, exactly?

Nevermind. Or never mind.

Whatever. Or what ever.

Take your pick.

For those of us in the U.S. and Canada, it's Labor Day weekend, and I'm never in my right mind on a holiday weekend, especially when it's so blazingly hot all I can think about is an ice cold Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Be safe. Have fun. Peace be with you.

And if you want to shop this weekend, Mark's Finest Papers is having a nice sale on stamps, paper, and ribbon. So is Coffees of Hawaii, only their sale is on, well, coffee (20% off, plus free shipping on orders over $80 after the discount).  I get nothing for telling you these, by the way. Just trying to enable be helpful.

Supplies
stamps: Framed, Harvest Berries, Mega Mixed Messages (all Papertrey sets)
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: large gridded acrylic block, light brown half pearls

Color

My recent Papertrey order included Think Big #7 because, really, can you have too many big sentiments? Of course not, especially when they are just $5. I needed a few get well/thinking of you cards, so I pulled out a floral silhouette stamp from Clear and Simple Stamps and played with color.

First up: Monochromatic

The soft purple here is so soothing and calm. This would be a great card for someone who's going through a really stressful time, especially if there's no quick fix for it, don't you think?


Next: Happy Colors

This card, in contrast, has a lot of energy in the colors. Bahama Blue and Pear Tart are perk-me-up colors, and seem to imply that the illness is short-term and easily overcome.
I once received a sympathy card, handmade by a friend, that really should have been a birthday card. It's cheerful, perky colors shocked me in my grief and felt inappropriate. The friend's expression of sympathy in person was very appropriate, but I still remember that card.

Do colors affect you emotionally, beyond just a personal preference? Do you think about the effect of color and how it relates to the message of your cards, or is that too obsessive-compulsive for you?

Supplies
stamps: CSS, Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: PTI
accessories: Corner Chomper