Inspired by Birgit

Y'all, Birgit (a.k.a. Biggan at Splitcoast) is an amazing artist who creates consistently amazing works of card art. My card for today was absolutely inspired (pretty literally, in fact) by this fabulous card of hers.

Gorgeous Card by Birgit

Now, her layout and use of the beads really appealed to me, so I did a  CASE (copy and steal everything) of Birgit's beautiful creation, with only minor changes.

My version of Birgit's card is, of course, whiter, because, you know, I'm me. But the layout and all those heart-shaped gems would not have happened without Birgit's card for inspiration.

I chose the swirly heart from Papertrey's Heart Prints set because it's my favorite and it added white into the heart design, which seemed like a good idea for unifying such a simply colored card. Note how Birgit allows some white to peek out around the leaf on her layers...same idea. Also, the swirls on the stamp add a LOT of movement, which is almost always a great thing in a design.

The stamp set is designed to match a punch, which is great for me since I don't have a die cut machine but do have the punch.

All those little heart-shaped rhinestones are simply adorable, lined up both horizontally and vertically.

And I just need to say that my husband bought me some CuddlDuds for Christmas, and I couldn't be cozier or warmer. If you are always cold in the winter, these things are amazing. Just sayin' 'cause I'm a happy person, and no compensation coming my way for it.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan



Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Heart Prints, Altenew Sentiments and Quotes
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Hero Arts intense black, Archival vibrant fuchsia
accessories: punch, rhinestones

IC579 Prompts Colored Card Base. Details at 11:00.

Given how much white card stock I use, it's sort of big news when colored card stock shows up on my cards. These colored-base cards are the exception that proves the rule for me, I guess. But today's card absolutely needed StampinUp celery as the base.

Inspiration Challenge #579 is guest-hosted by SmilynStef at Splitcoast, and she chose a Tumblr page called I Don't Wear Dresses...which is all about dresses. Amazing photography and fashion! My inspiration came from this photo, which is certainly different.




The lines of beads across the stomach of this top look for all the world to my eyes like lines of text, which gave me the idea for my card.

Color and focal point, however, are a problem with this inspiration photo. Carrying off this much white on a card is tough without tons of texture and a strong focal point. Texture is tough for me since I don't have a machine and embossing plates, so I decided the solution for translating the dress to a card was to add color.  There's really no focal point here, but the droopy bow below the beaded stripes gave me an idea.

And of course, I wanted to use lines of text instead of beads. After checking out several stamps in my stash, I settled on a definition stamp of Christmas. The words and the Christmas theme dictated the colors, and I love how the definition describes giving wrapped gifts...which really unifies the text and bow, don't you think?

 I chose to put a bow on my card in a high-contrast color, making it the true focal point. The text strips are simply copy paper that I inked with Distress Ink old paper (which has a greenish tinge lost in the photo, sadly), over-stamped with Memento Luxe espresso truffle, and wadded up repeatedly to create wrinkles. Once the strips were cut, I glued them on using a Quickie Glue Pen. The unevenness mimics the inspiration piece.

(Note that I used my quilting ruler and an exacto knife to cut the strips. Post coming up on this, as several people have asked about them.)

I've never really read this definition stamp before, but it uses alarmingly incorrect grammar. Fragments, "it's" when "its" was needed, etc. Seriously? I cut out the incorrect "it's" (it was at the end of a line, thankfully, but still). The poor grammar dulled my love of this card a bit.

When I placed the panel on a white card base, all I could see was the bow...everything else washed out. On the celery base, the paper strips stand out more because they have a greenish tinge. You'll just have to take my word for it because I couldn't get the photo to represent the true color at all.

And there you have it. Click on over to the IC579 to play along. There are some incredible photos on the Tumblr page, especially if you click through about 15 pages like I did. Wow.


Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan


Supplies
stamps: unknown
ink: Memento Luxe espresso truffle, Distress old paper
paper: Papertrey white, StampinUp certainly celery, white copy paper
accessories: blending tool, quilting ruler and craft knife, glue pen, craft foam, ribbon

Snowy Day Daisies

As I sit at my computer this afternoon, big, beautiful flakes of snow are falling outside, and there's a space heater blowing cozy warm air on my feet. Snowy winter days are delightful when all my peeps are safely home and we have nowhere to go.

While it's the perfect snowy winter day, we can also dream about summer daisies.

This summery card was inspired by this card by Chantal de Kaste. Chantal's speckled background for a die-cut shape and a banner sentiment appealed to me so much, but of course I don't have a die cut machine and needed to use punches, making for much smaller shapes clustered in a trio rather than one large shape. The colors were dictated by the punched flowers...they needed to be summery and fun to fit the daisies.

My speckles also needed to be denser than Chantal's to help those small daisies stand out. The speckled background stamp is one of the very first stamps I bought so many years ago...from StampinUp's Itty Bitty Backgrounds. The other three stamps that came in that set have been sold off over the years, but the simple speckles stand up to the test of time for sure!

The banner is glued to the card under the large daisy but popped up on a small dimensional on the left. That little variation adds interest and dimension.

So sweet!

Our golden retriever named Daisy just came inside, covered in snow and happy as a dog can be. It's just lovely to have our own furry golden sunshine shining no matter the weather!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted Sentimental Type, StampinUp Itty Bitty Backgrounds
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Hero Arts green hills, intense black; Archival emerald
accessories: daisy punches, glue pen, enamel dots, dimensional

Custom Cards

One of the awesome things about making cards is the ability to customize a card for a very specific person. This can be as simple as making a card using the recipient's favorite colors or a favorite image, or much more involved, like today's card.

In L. M. Montgomery's brilliant Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley describes Diana Barry as her "bosom friend," indicating a particularly special depth of friendship. Well, I have been blessed by several bosom friends over the years, and one of them is a wonderful person named Tina. When I saw the inspiration photo for today's card, I immediately thought of her and wanted to make a fully custom card just for her.

Here's what resulted.

The layout was entirely inspired by an article by Sarah Donawerth from the current issue of Somerset Life. Here's the accompanying photo for the article:

Somerset Life, Jan/Feb/Mar 2017, page 24
This issue is particularly inspiring; my copy has
numerous post-it notes flagging pages!

These three embellished test-tube bud vases hanging on a wall are sublimely pretty and oh so feminine, just like Tina. But Tina is also bold and colorful, so instead of the soft, romantic neutrals of the inspiration photo, I went full color on my card.

To get everything lined up perfectly, I used a quilting ruler and marked four small pencil dots on the card. Then, it was easy to stamp the stem twice (slightly offset and in two shades of each color) so that they all lined up perfectly. Finally, I placed each punched circle over the pencil dots. Easy peasy, as they say.

Tina received the card in the mail and immediately texted me that it made her day!

I love our hobby so much! Why don't you consider customizing a card for a bosom friend in your life? Create it, mail it, and make their day!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Peaceful Garden, Simple Alphabet
ink: various dye inks
paper: papertrey white
accessories: circle punch, glue pen

Do Not Fear

Quick post tonight. The boys go back to school tomorrow and it's been a bit busy around here tonight.

I posted over on Transforming Common Days (my faith-based blog) about the fear that so many people are feeling these days, and this card certainly addresses the need for people of faith to work toward a more peaceful, compassionate, and just world. We can't do that if we're hunkered down in fear.

We aren't in this alone. We are much more powerful when we stand together for the cause of love in the world.

That's a pretty worthy cause to fight for, don't you think?

Blessings to us all at the start of a new year and a new semester for students and teachers.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Archival leaf green; Memento Luxe rich cocoa
paper: papertrey white, StampinUp old olive
accessories: none

In Case You Needed More Evidence

Sometimes I feel like I beat this dead horse, but truth is truth: bling makes things better.

Consider this simple and blingy card:

So much fun! These layered seahorses from Hero Arts look awesome in blues and greens, and the black label sentiment stands out nicely. But it's really the bling that brings this card together.

Consider the BEFORE photo:

Yep. It doesn't work, does it? Well, it doesn't help that the hello label isn't placed correctly and bisects the blue seahorse (poor baby!), but still. I hadn't attached it yet and just took this pic to show the difference between pre- and post-bling.

Are you convinced yet?

Now, I can practically hear you asking, "Why did you place the bling where you did, Susan?" I'm so glad you asked!

Several things went through my mind. First, having just two seahorses, identical except for color and slightly staggered, is a challenge. I wanted the bling to show a relationship between the two. It's nearly impossible to tell in the photo, but there are aqua green and blue rhinestones mixed up here. Plus, the fact that the seahorses face the same direction doesn't create much movement. I wanted the bling to create that movement as implied bubbles between the two animals. The five rhinestones are arranged in a very acute triangle with three clustered low in a triangle of their own.

Bling-placing trick: When placement really matters as much as it does here, I tend to cut the backing sheet of the rhinestones and move the little pieces around to see what works best. It's great because you don't have to commit to sticking them down, but you can still get the general effect.

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

For now.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Color-Layering Seahorses; My Favorite Things Label Maker Sentiments
paper: Papertrey white
ink: various Archival and Hero Arts inks
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals

IC578 Design Seeds, Part One

I started 2017 with the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoast. This week's challenge is to get color inspiration from Design Seeds, which is such a lovely website fully loaded with tons of color combinations. I started with the very pastel combination here.

My additional challenge was to use this combination on two different cards using the Papertrey set Warmest Wishes. First up, a winter scene with the cute little arctic fox.

I created a mask for the snow hill and used a stipple brush to swipe the sky blue and Lulu lavender, and then stamped everything. The panel is edged with silver metallic marker.

Next up, a simpler card with a fun bit of coloring using the colors of the combination plus some shiny bling.

What a lot of fun to play with a single color combo and get two different cards from it!

Supplies
Fox Card
stamps: Papertrey Warmest Wishes
ink: Memento Lulu lavender; Archival sky blue, cornflower, watering can
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: craft foam, glue, silver metallic marker, Copic markers

Tree Card
stamps: Papertrey Warmest Wishes
ink: Archival watering can
paper: Gina K deluxe white
accessories: Copic markers, rhinestones