Collage Snippits

 

I love making these small collages. I use them in my journals as an embellishment, on cards and as tuck spots on pages of my journals. 

These are to become greeting cards.  It's such a great way to use up odds and ends of papers and such. 

Purple is my new love

Why am I so obsessed with purple of late? I just can't seem to get enough of this color. For years it was blue. Now it seems to be purple. 

Anyway- this card was made with a kit I bought from Indigo Blu. It is a magazine full of ideas and has stamps, a bee die, a stencil and an embossing folder. The magazine also had a ton of paper to cut out of the magazine. All in blues and purples with yellows thrown in- very nice and a great deal for the money!  I used two the their stamps in this card. The wonderful butterfly/pencil and the word CREATE. The image behind the butterfly/pencil is a crockery label I grunged up and the flourish is from Crafters Companion, another company I love.  The background paper is this beautiful paper from 49th and Market called Vintage Artistry.  I stamped the CREATE onto washi tape. I also used purple glittler on the butterfly/pencil but the camera doesn't pick it up. The flourish is  glittered and embossed with a purple and a white embossing powder.  I am pleased with the over look.

I love pulling different items together to create a design. That's part of the reason I love making cards- the designing of them intrigues me.

Happy Crafting!

Making Cards for Spring

It's starting to warm up here at the beach in Delaware. That always gets me thinking about flowers blooming. I made these in the Anna Griffin style- elegant, feminine and pretty.  The dark pieces are gold foil - they print dark- think shiny gold!

Halloween Cards - it's that time of year

I've been traveling these last few weeks all over New England doing family genealogy with my sisters. We had great fun, as always and now I am home again. It's good to get back to crafting. I do miss it when I travel. Today I spent the whole day making Halloween cards and so enjoyed it.  

I used one piece of 12 x 12 paper I purchased called Midnight Madness by Reminisce. Each card is a standard A2 size. It works well to use the one piece of 12 x 12. It all works out with the math. I added bits and bobs of embellishments I had or made, some old and some new. 

I am pleased as to how they turned out and are cohesive as a group. I am thinking of selling these. If you are interested, let me know. 

This is a card I made to send to two of my small grandchildren who just spent a week with me at the beach. I used heartfelt creations Under the Sea paper and dies along with their tunnel card kit. I am very happy with the result. I love the tunnel card idea and will be using this more. They were on sale on the website and I got them for a steal!

Happy crafting!

Mixed media greeting card

I used several products and techniques to make this card. First I used inks to color the background. Then I stamped some hearts. Then came texture paste with stencil and HELLO was cut out of image glued onto card. I added some bling and flowers. I also added a punched out heart to finish.

I just experimented and went with my gut on this one. No real plan to start. 

Happy crafting!

baby card

I am all about Anna Griffin these days. I love her style, opulence, layers and classic look to her cards. I made this in her style. I used her background die, the rattle and the saying stamps and dies.
The roses I made using Altenew 'Vintage Rose' stamp collection. I fussy cut the roses and added a touch of glitter. I really love how it turned out.  It is 5x7 in size, which I currently enjoy making.

I was invited to a 'sip and greet' to meet a new baby. This is the card I made for that event. The mom is an English gal who lives in Connecticut and I think she will like the traditional feel of this card.

using up scraps

This card is a mix of leftover bits and bobs. I used background paper from Heartfelt Creations, And the yellow and pink flowers I made for a different card are also HC. The rest are from various companies that I thought all went well together. That's why I rarely throw anything paper away. I can usually find a was to use something.

I see my card making changing, evolving perhaps? Lately I am liking bigger cards, the 5x7 or the 6x6 cards. Maybe because there is more room to play. I don't know. I also like making matching envelopes to the larger cards. It makes a lovely set.

Happy Crafting!

Summer Birthday card

My oldest granddaughter is turning 18 soon. (How the heck did THAT happen??) I made this card for her. She loves that I mail her handmade cards and notes and ATC cards. She is an artist herself. It's how I stay in touch and connected to her. She is a busy, typical teenager, (read: she knows everything, we are all stupid, we do not understand her, she is all powerful.)  But she does work at two jobs, one full time and one part-time and she is planning on returning to college in the fall. (cross your fingers!) She graduated from high school a year early. (!!!)

Because the threads are tenuous in some ways from a teen to her grandmother, I use the classic snail mail as my way to strengthen the threads. It works. She recently told her mother, (my daughter), that I am one of the few in the family that actually 'gets' her. A compliment of the highest order.

Last month I sent her a package full of collage materials. If I never purchase another craft item I will have plenty to last me until I meet my maker. So I have been culling and going through my stash. I filled up a box and sent it to her. She loved it. She actually made me a beautiful collage card and sent me a heartfelt letter of thanks and it is something I will always treasure and take out when the fear bubbles up in me that she is heading down a wrong path.

I love making greeting cards. To me they are like cupcakes...meant for celebration, a little sweetness to brighten a day, are pretty to look at and fun to make. I never met a cup cake or a hand made greeting card I didn't love.

This particular card borders on that 'cutesy' look of which I do not particularly like.  But once I had grandchildren my 'cuteness' factor rose dramatically. I live near the ocean in Delaware and she was just here last week for a visit, thus the ocean theme. I used mostly Heartfelt Creations products with some other brands thrown in. I love how the tropical flowers turned out. I used a Sizzix dogwood flower die and the Hearfelt Creations Classic Rose die and stamp set to make the flowers and leaves. (That Sizzix die is now retired, but I've seen it on Ebay.) Use the right colors and a rose or a dogwood becomes a hibiscus or any other fanciful tropical flower. I used 'Frosting Powder' on the flower petals. I love Frosting Powder- it has shards of glass and tiny fine glitter- the variety is what I love about it.

Happy Crafting!

simple card. I premade the roses awhile back. I like to do that- make lots of embellishments. Then I have them when I want to put together a quick card, like this one. The roses are from Altenew. Another great company. There are so many out there! I love them all.

Happy Crafting!

making your own backgrounds

     I watched a video over at Hearfelt Creations about making your own backgrounds and then made my own. I really enjoyed the process and was happy to use my stamps in a new way. First I stamped an overall random background using an hombre green ink. Then I used a dauber to add pink Distress inks, Worn Lipstick and Victorian Velvet Pink. Once dry, I added small Distress Rock Candy glitter to the leaf areas and larger glass glitter to the flowers area, giving an overall beautiful sparkle. I also used Glossy Accents for the flowers for extra shine. (the bottom picture is my attempt to show you the glitter- it just does not show up well in photos!)
     When all was dry, I embellished with die cuts and flowers. The top card also has some pretty pink organza ribbon. I ended with some crystal sequins. I wish you could see the glittery effect, so pretty!
     The flowers are Prima flowers from the Wild and Free collection.
Happy Crafting!

It's that time of year

As soon as the weather turns, I turn...to Halloween, Fall, Orange, crispy leaves. I do love summer but I also enjoy the changing seasons. So now it's time for Halloween cards. I love making them! I have some grandchildren who will receive these. I used the new Tim Holtz 'pumpkin head' stamps for the awesome pumpkins. I colored them with orange markers. I used a brick embossing folder on the background and stamped random webs, spiders, bats and such. I added brads in the corners for a finished look. The fences are diecuts. 

Happy Crafting!

Finally doing some paper crafting

It's been awhile! summer came and with that came lots of company, as I live near the Atlantic ocean and so I get lots of summer company. Then I did a lot of traveling too. So now I have a pocket of days to craft before my next group of visitors arrives.

For the paper and flowers I used Heartfelt Creations paper and flower dies. The sentiment is from Altenew.  The flower centers are prills- so cool, they come in all different colors.  I stamped the flowers with a background stamp for more interest and each one also has wink-of-Stella shimmer on them.  I made this for a friend who's favorite color is purple.   
Happy Crafting!

ice cream cone cards

I copied this idea from my friend Diane . I loved her card and so I made two similar ones. I love both the folding and the ice cream cones. Perfect card for anyone, kids and adults alike.
I used glitter on these cones- heat embossed glitter. It gives a wonderful shine.

Happy Crafting! And stay cool! 

Black red and yellow card

I've been seeing this color combo a lot in the card making world so I thought I would try it. It reminds me of a cozy home kitchen for some reason. 

The stamp I used is by Rubbernecker and it called "Wildflowers in the Breeze", #713. Its a 3-part stamp. I used markers and misted the stamp with water before stamping to get that watercolor look. Then I used a dot background stamp with gold pigment ink for the background. The black dots I made using a product I've had for years, Black Enamel Dots, but Ranger. 

The black polka dot base is from a card stack I found at Tuesday Morning, by Mambo. The cards are while in the inside and are pre-scored, so easy to use. And the Get Well Soon stamp is by Tim Holtz.

Happy Crafting! 

watercolors and embossing powder

This is old school stamping! But all things come back around, yes? Embossing seems to be back.

To do this, I started with a small piece of watercolor paper. I stamped the poppy image (Heartfelt Creations) using versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. Then I wet the watercolor paper and sprinkled Brusho watercolor powder around, one color at a time. I used a water filled brush to help things along. Then when as I liked it, I dryed it with a hairdryer- NOT a craft heat tool, as I didn't want to re-melt the embossing powder.  Then I took a piece of 110 pale blue card stock and using a square the new Stampin' Up stitched die set, I cut out the square. (Ill use the stitched square in another card). I used glue to adhere the watercolor paper to the blue card.  

I love paper crafting!

 Paper Pretties

 Grundgy

 Pearly

 Glittery

 Shimmery

 Ready to assemble

Finished Card

Making a batch of cards is what I enjoy doing most in paper crafting. I find it so relaxing to get into my 'zone' and create paper "pretties". I make a whole bunch of the 'pretties' and then I can put them together to make the cards. 

The flowers are Prima and Recollections. I painted them with gesso, watercolors and grundged them up with Distress Vintage Photo ink.  The paper I used is "French Riviera", by Prima- love that paper! Its vintage and French and shabby and beautiful.  I used Stampin' Up and Tim Holtz dies and stamps and a Martha Stewart butterfly punch. The diecut bumble bee is a new Stampin' Up die from the Dragonfly Dreams set. The butterfly and the bumble bee match so well, you would think they were made for each other.  Happy Crafting!

Mail art

I love to send and receive mail art. This particular piece is going to my granddaughter. She is 16 and loves to receive my homemade cards. I usually send her one every few weeks. Its a great way to stay in touch with her. At this stage of her life, her friends are paramount, so this is an easy and unobtrusive way to stay connected through the teen years.

I made the collage and mounted it onto a card and then added the round dimensional circles for balance.