Anatomy of 100 Cards!

I recently received a request for 100 of a particular card in my etsy shop!  My customer is the founder of You Matter!  which is a monthly subscription box to encourage young people who struggle to find their place in this world.  January’s box is music themed and she felt my card would be a nice addition!  I haven’t done a large card order in quite some time, so I jumped right in and got busy!  Be warned!  This post is picture heavy!  My first photo shows a number of the black base cards upon which I stamped my logo in white pigment ink.  I purchased it from Hello World etsy shop last year and just love it!

 

Here I’ve gathered my beginning pieces to assemble the card; the larger white stack on the left is 4 X 6 index cards which I trimmed down to 4 X 5 1/4″ and will form the white border around my central image.  The second stack of white is card stock cut to a quarter inch smaller than the border panel.  This is the piece which I’ll emboss with my Brutus Monroe folder called Petal Lace using Fossilized Amber distress oxide ink.  I die-cut my ovals using Gina Marie Designs Stitched Oval dies.

 

Thankfully I was able to cut two ovals at a time, which saved me some elbow grease with the Cuttlebug!  I stamped the sentiment from Brutus Monroe’s set called Break The Rules using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I colored in the little microphone using a gray Copic marker then…

 

…lightly stamped the music notes onto the ovals.

This is the faux Letterpress technique and it’s so pretty!  I rubbed my ink pad all over the flat side of the embossing folder then ran it through my Cuttlebug.  Unfortunately, this had to be done 100 times as I could only do one at a time!  UGH!

But look how cool it is!

I sure was happy to finish that step and adding more of the musical notes onto 100 panels went fairly quickly!  I realized when I was done that the original card in my etsy shop only had the notes inked down one side!  Oh well!

Back to the ovals!  I decided to add a bit of Glossy Accents glue to the microphone for a little additional detail.

At this point, I quit for the night and left them to dry!

I ran out of my Glue Glider Pro tape so tried using Elmer’s Glue stick to attach the inside panel; I didn’t love it but it was the best I could do at this point!

Today I was thrilled to get my tape runner refills in the mail!  Thank goodness!  😀  I have a monthly subscription through Amazon and it’s half the price of buying them at a retail store!  I love this tape runner because it’s lightweight and the perfect size to work with!  Here’s a link to Amazon for them.  I zipped right through this step of adhering my embossed panels and ovals to the fronts of the cards!

At last!!  Finished!!  I packed 100 cards and coordinating envelopes into a sturdy card box, stuffed bubble wrap in the gaps and covered with tissue paper to make it look prettier!

One of my favorite thank you cards went on the top and expresses my gratitude for the order and her support of my work!

And here’s one of the finished cards!  I hope that each person who receives this will feel special and sense the love that went into the creating of it!  Be sure to check out the You Matter! website and if you know of a young person who would benefit from such a meaningful gift, please subscribe!  Thank you for staying with me to the end of this time-worthy project!

 

Flames of Fall

Yay!!  It finally cooled down to a lovely 64 degrees which means long pants, a light jacket and no more flip flops!  I’ve been having lots of fun making all my fall cards but doing so in hot weather isn’t quite as satisfying!  I made this beautiful card a few days ago using the Tree Poem stamp by Stampendous!  It’s such a striking image and I decided to add “leaves” of flaming colors!

I started with a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and heat-embossed the tree in black.  I then tapped some Faded Jeans oxide ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and pressed my card stock into it, moving it around to fill in mostly the edges.  Next I tapped a small acrylic block into Fossilized Amber oxide ink then spritzed it with water and “stamped” it onto the tree in several places.  This allowed me to control where the “leaves” went.  I repeated this step with Fired Brick and Carved Pumpkin oxides, adding some to the base of the tree as well.

When my panel was finished, I die-cut it with Stitched Oval dies and mounted it to a vanilla base card which I’d run through the Cuttlebug with my Fall Leaves embossing folder.  I kept the overall design fairly simple so that the tree was the main focus!

The final detail was to heat-emboss in black a sentiment from The Ton’s Basic Labels set onto a scrap of white cardstock then attach it to a strip of orange floral paper.  I lifted it with a bit of foam tape for dimension.  The leaves are just beginning to turn here but soon they’ll be aflame!  I hope you enjoyed this card and are inspired to play!

Happy Hauntings with Glitterstock!

I’m having so much fun choosing which Glitterstock color to use for a new project and decided to use Tangerine for this card!  The color itself prompted a Halloween card with it’s gorgeous rusty-orange glitters!  To begin this card, I tapped Carved Pumpkin distress oxide ink onto my craft mat then spritzed it with water and dragged my watercolor cardstock through it.  After drying with my heat tool, I used Black Soot next, again drying before adding my final color, Dried Marigold.

 

If you look closely you can see the faint impression of Winnie & Walter’s Scenery stencil which I foiled using Thermoweb’s Deco Foil in Copper!  It made me think of a spider web!  Anyway, after dusting the surface with my Embossing Buddy, I heat-embossed my Inkadinkado stamp in black right over all the colors!

I have a skulls and crossbone stamp which I use on my biker cards, and thought it’d make a fun accent so stamped that in Raven Detail ink over the background.  Next I used my Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the panel and also cut the edge of a strip of Tangerine Glitterstock and attached them together with Thermoweb’s Sticky Tape Runner, then mounted it to a panel of white card stock.  I used my scissors to rough up the edges of the white paper.

I adhered the panel to a black card base which I embossed with Tim Holtz’ Gridlock Set folder, then added some copper sequins for a bit of bling to accent the Glitterstock on the left!  The sentiment is from a retired CTMH set called Thriller and I heat-embossed it onto white scraps, trimmed it down and mounted it with Thermoweb Sticky Dots!  I love how all the pieces came together in this card!  If you’re looking for a great glitter card stock, be sure to consider Brutus Monroe’s Glitterstock!  It comes in a variety of colors, doesn’t leave glitter “crumbs” at all and cuts like a dream!

Altenew Crown Blooms in Watercolor

There are so many amazing card artists whose work I admire, and especially those who can create clean and simple cards!  I don’t think I can create “clean and simple” if my life depended on it!  I started this card thinking I would keep it really simple, one layer, no texture.  HA!!  As usual, I strayed from the plan!  Sigh!  On a piece of watercolor card stock, I stamped and heat-embossed in white the blossom and leaves from Altenew’s Crown Blooms set, masking the flower in order to place the other images.  I then began coloring with my Zig markers, layer upon layer, using a wet paintbrush to move and soften the color.

  I know I’ve mentioned before that when I choose colors for my cards, I try to use the ones that are opposites on the color wheel for the most visual impact!  Blue and orange are always so striking together!  Anyway, when I finished coloring the flower and leaves, I filled in the background with an aqua marker and lots more water to spread the ink.  After drying it with my heat tool, I spattered some black, aqua and white ink over the images, then added “dew drops” with my Crystal Effects glue!  

 I trimmed the panel down with my trusty Gina Marie Designs Stitched Rectangle dies.  I found a butterfly embossed piece I’d made AGES ago, and thought it would make a nice “frame” for my card, so die-cut that with the Stitched Rectangles in a size larger.  I adhered the panels together then mounted them to a card base of aqua.  

Lastly, I heat-embossed the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp’s Beautiful Flowers set onto a strip of coral cardstock which I’d trimmed into a little banner, then attached it with some foam tape.  So much for “clean and simple”!!  I guess that’s just not my style!  But I love this card and think it’ll perfect for many occasions!  

It’s A Save!!

Hi there!  This card came about in a very unexpected way!  I recently bought a laminating machine and used it successfully a couple of times, but I had some trouble with it the other day!

I  started this card by taping down Brutus Monroe’s Paint Spots stencil to a piece of card stock, then covering it with a thin layer of Deco Foil Transfer Gel.  When it was dried I laid on a layer of Sunrise Foil Transfer sheet and ran it through the laminator but it got stuck halfway out!  I had to pull it from the machine and it came out all wrinkled and accordian-folded!  GAH!!  But those foiled dots stayed put so I decided to save it and go with a distressed look!

I twisted and wrinkled the panel to add more cool distress lines then got out the beautiful Wagon and Suede Surface Inks and sponged color all over it!  Next I used Raven Detail Ink on a sponge to go around the edges and to accent the wrinkles.  How awesome is that?!

From that point on, I was crankin!  I spattered some black and gold craft paint over it all, then die-cut my panel with a Stitched Rectangle die.  I added a layer of white behind it and adhered it to a black card base.  I die-cut the word “celebrate” from Tim Holtz’ Celebration Block Words  using a strip of black card stock, added the textured gold paper behind it and trimmed the end to a banner then mounted it to the card with foam tape for lift.  I rummaged around in my stash and found these black sprigs and thought they’d be a great accent, so glued them in behind the sentiment.

I absolutely LOVE how this came out!  What a save!!

As you can see, there are SO many ways to use the Foil Transfer sheets and the cute stencil!  You’ll find a really great assortment of both by Brutus Monroe!  Here are the links for the Inspiration Team projects!   Berina , Waleska  and I invite you to get inky and “create your own ending!”

One Martini, Two Martini’s

It’s Wednesday and we’re back with some great projects using Clear Toner Sheets!  I used mine as an overlay this time for not one, but TWO cards!  Now, I’m not a martini lover but when I made this fun background using Brutus Monroe’s Paint Spots stencil and distress oxide inks, the shape and colors made me think of martini’s!  I just happen to have Unity Stamps I Like It Dirty stamp set and pulled that out to play!  But first, let me tell you how I made the background ; on a panel of watercolor cardstock, I taped down my stencil then sponged over it with Pistachio oxide ink, shifted the stencil, added Squeezed Lemonade then shifted the stencil again and finished with Picked Raspberry!  Voila!

For the main image, I stamped out the martini glass onto a die-cut circle of cardstock using Raven Detail Ink, then colored it with Zig markers.  Next, I added a layer of Crystal Effects glue over the glass to give it shine!  I stamped out the funny sentiment onto a scrap of paper, trimmed it down and mounted it with a bit of foam tape.

To assemble my card, I trimmed down the Coffee Rings toner sheet to fit my card front and attached it to the dotted background with four pink brads.  I then adhered it to my black card base and mounted the big circle to that with another circle of fun foam.  I am so tickled with how this card came out!  Almost makes me want a martini!  😀

How freaking cute is this?!  After I completed the card above, I decided to make another background using the Paint Spots stencil!  You can’t see much of this one, but here’s how I did it.  On a panel of watercolor cardstock, I again taped my stencil down and sponged on Twisted Citron oxide ink, shifted the stencil, added Worn Lipstick and finally another layer of Squeezed Lemonade.  I love the look of Emboss Resist so shifted my stencil one more time and using a sponge dauber with Versamark ink, I filled in the spaces.  I heat-embossed them with clear  powder and the end result was a layer of shiny spots!  Next, I heavily sponged Black Soot oxide over the whole panel, then rubbed it off the embossed dots with a paper towel.  I die-cut the panel with a stitched circle die and set it aside.

On another die-cut circle of white card stock, I stamped the martini glass again but this time colored with Copics!  I added some stippled dots around the glass with assorted shades of pink for a little visual interest.  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the image.  An olive green card base was embossed with a large dots folder, then I die-cut that into a larger circle, keeping one edge flat on the fold.

I ran the Coffee Rings Toner Sheet through the Cuttlebug with the smaller circle die and stapled it to the martini glass circle!  As you can see, I layered them all together, attaching the layers with adhesive.  Finally, I added little pink and green ribbons to the staples for one more detail!  Phew!  This sounds like it was a lot of work, but it actually took me about half an hour to make, total!  I had so much fun making these two cards, and think the Toner Sheet adds a really great dimension!  But, just wait till you see what Marie, Berina, and Waleska have made!  We’re all going a bit crazy with the new stuff at Brutus Monroe!!