Warmest Wishes

Before we get to today's card, let me share that I'm writing again over on Questioning my Intelligence and transforming common days.

For those who do not know, Questioning my Intelligence is my personal web log, and transforming common days is a faith-based blog that encourages love and gratitude (though for the last year or so the few posts I've written have mainly been critical of politics and the media because, well, ugh).

Today's posts (here and here) on both blogs signal a return to regular writing and publishing on my part. Both posts are, of course, about the election. If you're feeling battered, worn down, or have felt afraid at any point in the election, I hope you'll find comfort and encouragement and a useful course of action moving forward in my words. If you're thrilled with the course of events, you'll also find a few thoughts to consider and a call to unity and cooperation that is desperately needed in our nation at this time.

And now for a card offering warmest wishes!

To make this card, I masked the bottom third, stamped the mountains repeatedly, covered the bottom with ribbon (attached with scor-tape), finished the stamping and added bling to the snowflakes.

Something was missing, so I stamped the penguin and his hat on scrap paper, cut them out, and popped them up. Adding bling to the hat and the sentiment unified the card.

Warmest wishes to each and every one of you!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Warmest Wishes
ink: Archival manganese blue, sky blue, black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, ribbon, scor-tape, dimensionals

Inspired by Packaging and Tips on Finding Inspiration in Magazines

Sometimes, it's pretty challenging to convert a three-dimensional inspiration into a one-layer card, but other times, it's pretty easy!

From A Somerset Holiday magazine

This packaging exhibits layers that are extremely easy to duplicate in one dimension. A simple mask and crackle background stamping, faux ribbons stamped top and bottom, and then branches stamped over top of it all...and leaking over the edges slightly as in the inspiration photo. Add some red nail heads and a sentiment, and you've got yourself a card!

This detail shot gives you a better idea of how this was done and a good view of the nail heads. Those little dots are flatter than bling for easy mailing and have a metallic sheen that is lovely.

If you've never thought of getting inspiration from holiday magazines, here's how I troll them to fish for ideas:

1. Have a pad of post-it notes and a cup of your favorite hot beverage by your side.

2. Flip through the magazine once without marking anything...just soak up the spirit of it.

3. Page more slowly through the magazine this time, with an eye for what might translate into cards or other paper projects. Look for layouts, color combinations, materials, balanced compositions.

4. Don't overlook really busy images. Slow down and look at the details. Sometimes that small detail of a single ornament on an over-decorated tree or just a part of a busy mantel decoration will speak to you!

5. Liberally sprinkle those post-it notes around. You can write on them to remember your ideas, although I don't. I tend to remove all the post-its once I feel that I've drained the magazine of all inspiration and reuse them on the next magazine.

6. Once you're through, head to your craft space, pick a random post-it note, and play. Sometimes, I get so excited about an idea that I have to run immediately to craft space and give it a go. Then, I'm down the rabbit hole and who knows where that will lead?

7. It's always fun!

Happy inspirational stamping!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Holiday Pine Boughs; Papertrey Keep It Simple Christmas and Faux Postage
ink: Archival red geranium, library green, fern green; Hero Arts sand, cup o' joe
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: red nail heads

Yippee Hip Hip Hooray!

Words and bling.

All you need.

Although a really cool color combination helps, too.

Note that this card REALLY takes advantage of the rule of thirds. The raised panel is roughly two-thirds of the card. The message is placed around the one-third horizontal line of the raised panel, and goes out to the one-third vertical line of the panel.

The bling is arranged in a triangle.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Supplies
stamps: StampinUp Endless Birthday Wishes
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Archival library green, olive, peacock teal; Memento Luxe nautical blue
accessories: rhinestones, craft foam, glue

Working It Out

Today, I found this lovely card by Amy Sheffer on my Cards Pinterest board and got to work creating two very different variations on it. I loved how Amy used the large Christmas die cut to ground her scene and the asymmetry of the layout. Her level of detail is incredible, and I had no notion of matching it.

My versions are cleaner and simpler, but hers is the work of a genius.

Amy's card has a lot of movement to it...curves in the die cut, rays from the star, the bend of the tree, the subtle curvy hills she sponged in the background. My first version sacrifices all that in favor of lots of points and right angles and a very graphic style.

A2 size; Stamps: Clearly Besotted Holiday Sentiemnts;
inks: Archival red geranium and emerald
accessories: red rhinestones

It's festive, and definitely looks like I made it, but I just wasn't satisfied with it. It felt as though the spirit of Amy's card died and got painted red and green.

So I went looser, and oh, my. This might just be my favorite card I've made in at least a few weeks.
(Y'all need to know I get excited about my stuff pretty easily.)

Size 7.25" x 3.75"

For my version, I went very horizontal. That Christmas sentiment is HUGE (from Winnie and Walter's The Big, The Bold, and the Merry), and I wanted plenty of white space. The pine bough (from Hero Arts' Vintage Christmas Post) is natural and organic, flowing, wispy, and loose...the perfect complement to the loose, bold cursive of the Christmas stamp. The pine cones anchor the movement and provide a natural focal point. Finally, the soft shades of green (VersaMagic sage and tea leaves) lend softness and peacefulness.

Eeep!

I'm so glad I didn't give up after the first effort. Persistence is a VERY useful quality in a stamper. When you see a good idea, don't give up on making it your own too soon. You just never know when you'll make your new favorite card!

One for Three: Modern Christmas

Next up in the One for Three Challenge (where I take one Christmas set and make three cards) is Clearly Besotted's Modern Christmas.

 added stamps: Papertrey Keep It Simple Christmas;
ink: Archival red geranium; Hero Arts ocean, tide pool;
Ancient Page neptune

The first card uses the three shades of aqua/teal in my crafty hoard, and isn't that the bee's knees? Aqua and red on a Christmas card is retro-ish fun. These three trees climb up a hill because of masking. Making mask for triangles is so hard! It took me hours.

added stamps: Papertrey Keep It Simple Christmas;
ink: Archival emerald and red geranium; Hero Arts lime green and butter bar

Here, I took the three trees on the horizontal and gave them a bit more breathing room and two shades of green (isn't the lime fun!).  There's an extra white mat on this one because the wide, plain edge looked strange with so much going on. The tiny bit of added detail worked well.

At least, I think so. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.

ink: Kaleidacolor field greens;
Hero Arts charcoal and lemon yellow

Finally, an almost one-layer card. The tree is popped up after having been sponged with two cheerful shades of green and cut out. The text on the trees blends into the sentiment underneath, creating unity. The star needs no reason.

One more Christmas set used! Yay!

Complementary Birthday

Ever get confused by the homophones compliment and complement? Here's the low-down on the difference.

 Compliment refers to either flattery or (in its adjectival form) free stuff.

• The teacher complimented the student's excellent grasp of the subject. 
• The soap and shampoo were complimentary, so Bob put them in his suitcase without guilt.

Complement, on the other hand, refers to completion of a set or group. You can remember this by the "e" after the "l" in both complement and complete.

• The centerpiece complemented the tablecloth.
• Blue complements its opposite on the color wheel: orange. Blue and orange are complementary colors. 

And thus we come to a Complementary Birthday Card...one that incorporates shades of blue and orange. Inside, one might write a note complimenting how youthful the aging person looks. Or not, because really, who wants to be reminded about his/her appearance on his/her birthday? Not I.

I already know silver my hair is, thank you very much.

But I digress.

Here's the card.

This color scheme came from this pin. The inks are Hero Arts soft stone, pool, and pumpkin pie...and what a great combination that is! A largish rhinestone and silver metallic line complement the design nicely, don't you think?

Remember that complementary color schemes generally add energy to a card, while monochromatic schemes are generally calming and peaceful.  Today's card would have more energy if bright blue and orange were used, but with grayed-down shades of each, the effect is a bit more subtle. I made this card after this mostly monochromatic hot-pink card, which is anything but calming and peaceful, and wanted a subtler feel to it.

Besides, bright orange and blue make me think of Boise State University, where I taught briefly.  I didn't want the card to feel collegiate...even though this card will go to someone on the east coast and I'm the only one who would notice!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Birthday Basics, Good Times
ink: Hero Arts pool, soft stone, pumpkin pie (yum!)
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: silver metallic marker, metal ruler, craft foam, glue, rhinestone

When the Sentiment Stands Alone

Note: The One-Layer Simplicity Challenge is up and running for November. I hope you'll join in and spread some peace around the interwebs.


Sometimes sentiments are designed in such a way that you can let them stand alone on a card...especially if you like white space!

The reverse block letters on the HAPPY stamp are lined up nicely on the stamp, but I wanted each square to be a different color, and by separating them, I could make them dance happily rather be locked in a rather staid straight line.

Isn't that wacky!?!? I'm such a rebel.

The colors come from another Kaleidacolor pad Caribbean sea, which is one of my favorite Kaleidacolor pads. Of course, there are a lot of great Kaleidacolor pads, so it's impossible to have just one favorite.

I have commitment issues.


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Birthday Bash Sentiments
ink: Kaleidacolor Caribbean sea; Hero Arts intense black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: scissors, dimensionals