A New Toy

A few weeks ago, I bought a new punch from EK Success. Oh how I love it! It's so very versatile. You can do all sorts of cool stuff with a nice, big punched shape to make wonderful clean-and-simple cards.

You can bling it up.

You can stamp a background on it.

Or you can stamp some birds on it.

I don't know why Picasa doesn't like the third card. It just wouldn't let me get the colors right. Trust me. The red is Memento love letter and the gray is Memento gray flannel. It's pretty in real life, I swear!

Anyway, tomorrow I'll show you a couple of other ways to dress up that tree punch with some shimmer and shine.

Supplies
stamps: various
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey Ink white
accessories: Christmas tree punch by EK Success, dimensionals, rhinestones

Well-Behaved Relationships: Before and After

Having different elements of a design relate to one another in a sensible fashion is key to successful card making. Anybody can slap images and embellishments and a sentiment onto a card, but if the different components don't relate well to each other, the result is visual chaos.

If you just want everyone on your card to play nicely, that's one thing. If, however, you want truly polished and refined cards on which everyone plays together with perfect manners, then you have to pay really close attention to placement.

Consider the first card, which is, well, not perfect, but definitely not rude either.

BEFORE

The three leaves (from Papertrey's Mighty Oak) are related to each other in a fan shape above the sentiment. BUT they are just a bit too far apart to be playing perfectly nicely and ever so slightly uneven in spacing, too.

Notice how close everything is in the sentiment (which is very well-behaved, by the way). To get along well with that sentiment, the leaves need to be closer together, too.

Closeness will make a nice, tight relationship and unify the design in harmony and goodness.

Compare the BEFORE card to my revised effort, which is much more unified. Notice how the curves of the leaves are a nice contrast to the lines and angles of the sentiment, but their more organized and unified layout feels so much more intentional than the first arrangement.

AFTER

Now, a perfectly acceptable alternative to the right angles of my after card would be to keep the fan concept but bring the three leaves closer to each other, with the right and left ones at equal angles. Getting the angles completely equal, however, would be hugely difficult. Not impossible, but very, very, very difficult. Right angles are very, very, very easy with a gridded acrylic block, which I used.

I'm all about easy.

But then, you already knew that, didn't you?

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Might Oak (leaves), Mum's the Word (sentiment)
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: gridded acrylic block

Love Fruit

These stamps were given to me by Dare 2B Artzy, with no obligation on my part whatsoever. But I'm loving them and hope you are, too!

Today's card combines two different sets from Dare 2 B Artzy: Retro Pattern and Giving Spirit.

First, I stamped the stem of leaves from Retro Pattern repeatedly over the left third of the card in shimmery pearlescent thyme ink from Brilliance. LOVE this green! (You can see the shimmer at the top of the card pretty well.)

Then, I inked up the sentiment from Giving Spirit in pearlescent ivy (a much darker green) and stamped it in the "sweet spot."

For a sketch of the Rule of Thirds, scroll down a bit on THIS POST. The "sweet spots" in designs are the lower right and upper left intersections of the vertical and horizontal lines drawn to divide the card into thirds. When you follow the rules, designing a card like this one is easy as pie.

Mmmm. Pie.

The heart-shaped bling is the whipped cream on the pie slice.

Mmmm.

I think I need to eat breakfast.


Supplies
stamps: Dare 2B Artzy Retro Pattern, Giving Spirit
ink: Brilliance
paper: Papertrey White
accessories: heart-shaped rhinestones 

Two Treatments for Outline Stamps

Today's duo of cards shows two different ways of treating the exact same outline stamps...in this case from Dare 2B Artzy's Home Sweet Home set.

First up, stamp the outline stamps in colors. This is the simplest, easiest (and therefore my favorite!) treatment for outline stamps. Don't ever be afraid to try this because the results, as below, can be extremely satisfying. In this case, I chose colors that were rich and fairly dark so they would pop off the white card stock and show off the lovely swirly detail of the stamps.

Next, stamp the outline stamps in black and color them with Copics/Bics/Sharpies. I didn't do any fancy shading here, although stampers who enjoy coloring would find this easy. For coloring, I picked lighter shades that would highlight the swirls rather than over-power them. You still get great detail from the stamps that way. Keep in mind using colored pencils might dull the black details since there's no way not to color over those fine lines (at least I always found that to be the case).

Do you prefer to stamp in colored ink or color outline images?

Supplies
stamps: Dare2BArtzy Home Sweet Home
ink: VersaMagic (first card); Memento (second card)
paper: Papertrey white (first card); Gina K (second card)
accessories: Copic markers

Birdie Welcome

I'm tired, and this card is cute.

I just love those cute little birdies, the picket fence (border punches rock), and the Dare 2B Artzy set called Home Sweet Home.

This card is going to be in my in-laws' welcome basket when they visit in November. Not sure what else will be in the basket, except for some blank notecards because my MIL asked for some. But I'll find some other little things to put in it.

Suggestions?

Supplies
stamps: Dare 2B Artzy
ink: Memento, VersaMagic Rocket Red
paper: Papertrey White
accessories: Copic markers, dimensional, picket fence border punch (Martha Stewart), glue pen

Two Techniques, One Stamp, Lots of Fun

Last week, I received an order from Gina K Designs that included the set Elegant Florals. Then I proceeded to go a little nuts. These were the first two cards I made, using the same stamps but two totally different techniques. The difference in feel of the two cards is pretty striking.

First up, FLOCK.
I stamped the stems in waterproof green ink, and after dabbing each leaf with a glue pen, I sprinkled on lavender flock. It's darker in the photo than real life (photo editing software limitations) but the close-up shows the fuzzy effect perfectly!

Next: THUMPING
I used SU markers in pumpkin, mustard, and summer sun...dabbing the pumpkin and mustard over the summer sun. Then, I spritzed the stamp with water to blend the colors and give this wonderfully autumnal watercolor effect!

 

 

 

The first card could be used for almost any situation. But the second one is absolutely perfect for the Thanksgiving Crusade. I just love how two different techniques can yield such different results with one stamp.

Cool Tip: To create the banners, I used a 3/4" square punch...just the corner of it. Hold the punch upside down so you can see where the paper is positioned, put thin edge of the strip into one corner of the punch at a 45-degree angle, and punch the divot out. You could use any size square punch, I imagine, but the smaller ones are easier to hold.

Supplies
stamps: Gina K Designs
ink: Memento bamboo, Versacolor Sahara Sand; SU markers
paper: PTI white
accessories: flock, Quickie glue pen, dimensionals, square punch; SU markers, water spray bottle, dimensionals, square punch

A Reminder of the Thanksgiving Crusade

Today's card is a happy reminder to get crafting on those Thanksgiving Crusade cards!

This card demonstrates how you can cut off the bottom of a one-layer card when you place the image a little too high.

It also demonstrates the value of bling.

Don't forget about the OLW this week. It's over on Heather's blog, and it's Fly Away with Me. I'm hoping to play along tomorrow!

Hmmm, can you make a one-layer Thanksgiving Crusade card that ALSO has something with wings on it? Not necessary, of course, but turkeys count, I suppose!

Supplies
stamps: Waltzingmouse Blessed by You, Papertrey First Fruits
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey White
accessories: rhinestones