Color Transformation and an Informal Poll

Today's pair of cards shows just how powerful color choices can be.

First up, I made this card using a coordinating die for the Hero Arts Christmas List set and my favorite colors of Copic markers. It's a nice card, but a little issue niggled at my design sense.

Note how loose and fun the sentiment is. That font isn't serene and soft...like the color scheme of the presents. The niggle came from a slight misfit of color, so I brightened things up with four happy, fun shades of green tending toward yellow.

The fun, bright colors fit with the sentiment perfectly now!

So why do I still like the first card better? Well, I love the energy of the lime and apple greens, but those serene blues fill my heart with peace. I crave calm and serenity in a busy, high-energy world.

May I remind you I live with two teenage boys? Oh, yeah. I crave calm. 

I think it would be fun to hear your input on this. Color has a powerful pull on our emotions, Few people are neutral in their opinions about colors. (May I remind you of StampinUp's orchid opulence, or as I like to call it, fairy vomit?)

So which of the two color schemes appeals to you most? Why? What other color scheme would you like to see with this design? (The theme is Christmas, of course, but I enjoy non-traditional color schemes!)

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Christmas List
ink: Memento black, Archival red geranium
paper: Papertrey white; StampinUp Baja breeze; random lime green
accessories: die, dimensionals, Copic markers

Sometimes a Thing Doesn't Work; Sometimes a Slightly Different Thing Does

While poking around on Pinterest, I saw several cards with gold embossing and watercolor, and felt inspired.

Sometimes, a thing doesn't work. 

Note how this gold-embossed image appears blotchy, messy, unkempt. The addition of watercolor did not help. It dried rather anemic looking. Urgh.

Sometimes, a slightly different thing does work.

After seeing how the natural, shaded holly stamp didn't work with the gold embossing, I flexed to a different set with cleaner images and a larger sentiment. Much better!

I've never figured out how to get perfectly smooth embossing, as both cards show. But this one at least looks tidy and allows the watercolor variations in shading to enhance the flowers. Those gold half-beads help, too.

If one thing doesn't work, try a slightly different thing.

You might score!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
Fail Card
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: VersaMark
paper: watercolor paper, Papertrey white
accessories: Peerless Watercolors, brush, extra fine gold embossing powder, Embossing Buddy, heat gun

Win Card
stamps: Simon Says Stamp For to Us
ink: VersaMark
paper: watercolor paper, Papertrey white
accessories: Peerless Watercolors, brush, extra fine gold embossing powder, Embossing Buddy, heat gun, Prisma gold metallic marker, ruler, gold half-beads

Simplicity with Die Cut

While not all my experiments with my new dies have yielded successful cards, today's card is one of my favorites, if only because it's so very, very simple.

card size 4 7/8" x 3.5"
standard small envelope from Marco's paper

At first, I tried the die cut of mistletoe on a standard A2 card, but it looked a little lost on all that white space. The scale worked perfectly on this smaller card.

To color the image, which is stamped in black, I pulled out my PrismaColor pencils. The berries are accented with Wink of Stella though it's hard to see in the photo. I stamped the image again on the envelope but left it uncolored there. To see the good stuff, you've got to open the envelope!

The Wink of Stella on the berries is very sparkly in real life!

That little satin bow took a while to figure out. I tried natural twine, red DMC floss, white embroidery floss, red satin, and finally white satin. The white satin reinforced the white berries with its color and its shimmer.

If anyone says simple cards are easy, whack them on the head with a skein of embroidery thread. 

A large skein.

Reader merryf asked me about my envelope line stamp. It's from Simon Says Stamp Envelope Sentiments. I keep it permanently on my craft desk, mounted on an old acrylic block I don't like (edges are too sharp for frequent use). I decorate coordinating envelopes more often having that stamp ready at hand.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and simplicity,
Susan


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Vintage Christmas Post
ink: Archival black
paper: Papertrey
accessories: die, PrismaColor pencils, dimensionals, satin ribbon, glue

An Unexpected Break

It's been a heck of a week. I'm fine but exhausted and very much in need of a break.

Back next week, hopefully refreshed and with some fun new cards to share.

In the meantime, here are a couple of dog pictures to make you smile.

Sorry this one is a little out of focus. It's hard
to shoot a constantly moving target!

Daisy is more dignified and focused, LOL!

Nostalgic Cardinal and Puppy Pictures

The cardinal die for Hero Arts Vintage Christmas Post set makes my heart happy. Here's the second card I made with it.

Looking at the card on my computer screen, I wonder how it would look if the branch were in front of the cardinal's feet. It has a stuck-on appearance that isn't ideal. But I'm having so much fun feeling my way into using die cuts! And that cardinal is just so gosh darn gorgeous wherever he is.

The banner isn't a die cut...I made my own. The banner dies I have are very small, and I wanted to use the wide real estate of this card.

These long cards are not very big...just 6.25" x 3.5". The envelopes are a standard business envelope available at Marco's Paper. Sue C. asked if they take standard postage, and the answer is yes. It's a nice variation on the standard A2 card, and it's lovely not to have to make envelopes to fit them.

And now for a Cooper update.

"Why do I need baths?"

He's getting so big!

Flop ears and gravity lip

Bright eyed and looking for trouble

Our pre-wash cycle

Those ears are hugely perfect

Whenever the world seems like too scary or unhappy a place, look at sleepy puppy pictures. It's hard to be sad looking at that kind of peaceful cuteness.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Vintage Christmas Post, Papertrey Keep It Simple Christmas
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Memento black, Hero Arts field greens
accessories: envelope, dimensionals, Hero Arts dies

With Sympathy for Our Nation

Y'all.

So much hurting.

My plan had been to post some Cooper pictures today, but instead, I'm going to save that for tomorrow and post a sympathy card for our nation. My sincere condolences to the family and friends of those who lost their lives at the concert in Las Vegas; my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the shooter (who are baffled and confused and hurting); my sincere prayers for healing for the hundreds injured in body and the thousands injured in mind because of this unspeakable, insane horror.

May God's peace that passes understanding and His amazing grace and love surround us and lift us and comfort us. And may each one of us be open to His love and care...and share it in a hurting world.

Amen.

Grandma's Cardinal

My grandmother loved flowers and birds, and she cultivated relationships with both. Her green thumb was the stuff of legend, and she used flowers and bird feeders to attract birds to her large dining room window, where she would sit, binoculars in hand and a bird guide nearby for those rare times she saw something she couldn't immediately identify.

Her favorite bird by far was the state bird of North Carolina, the cardinal. When I started stamping, it was perfectly natural for me to make a cardinal card every Christmas just for Grandma. After she died, I still made cardinal cards but sent them to my aunt or mom. They love them.

The cardinal stamp in Hero Arts' Vintage Christmas Postage set is simply delightful, and now that I have the die set, it's opening up LOTS of ideas for cardinal-themed Christmas cards...like this one.

The branch was stamped on the card base, but the cardinal was stamped and colored on a scrap, die cut, and mounted on the branch. To mount it, I put dimensionals on the top and glue on its feet, thinking that would add dimension yet ground the bird on the branch.

It wasn't my intention to use a banner on the card, but when I stuck the bird down, its little feet were NOT on the branch but floating in space. Glue is forgiving in placement, but dimensionals are not. The poor placement bothered me so much, I had to cover the feet up. Hence, the banner, which provides a handy ground for the bird.

There are no mistakes. Only opportunities for embellishment!

The card makes me miss Grandma and smile at the same time.

Do you ever use particular themes on Christmas cards for particular people? Please share in the comments!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Vintage Christmas Post, StampinUp sentiment
ink: Memento black, Hero Arts green fields and red royal
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dies (Hero Arts and StampinUp), dimensionals