a suncatcher? really?

Recently I posted about improvising with the L Letterpress plates. I remarked in the comments that these plates are not like clear polymer stamps; it had seemed to me that some folks had that mistaken impression. In trying to come up with a way to describe the texture of these plates it occurred to me that they're not that dissimilar from those plastic suncatchers that you can find in kids crafts sections of stores. I know, it's almost a sacrilegious notion, so real life printers, I ask your forgiveness and your indulgence. Turn away now. Ha! As if any real life printers would be reading. ;-)

So here's what I did....


Pictured above are my Big Shot, the multipurpose platform open to No Tabs, two clear cutting plates, a plastic suncatcher that cost me 48 cents, and a sheet of fairly thick handmade watercolor paper. The paper was torn from a tablet that I'd found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The impression that was made by running the suncatcher through is the image at the top left. I hadn't applied any ink. The color that can be seen is some of the black that had transferred from the plastic. It's tough to appreciate, but the debossed image was really quite distinct.


And here's the card that I made using the image. I colored the design with watercolor pencils, tore around it, then mounted it on a layer of Core'dinations card stock that I'd punched using an EK Success border punch and distressed using sand paper.

Now, I'm not saying that these can be used in place of actual letterpress plates. It's just something that I did on a whim. I'd have to say though, that if I come across other fun suncatcher designs, I'd probably pick them up knowing that there's a fun way that I could use them to add a different look to my cards.

smiling

Ugh. I think all of the gray days have been getting to me. Not much enthusiasm for crafting lately. The sun was out today though, and that put a bounce in my step. Got going early. Did a morning work out. Made a card! It was simple and quick, but maybe this will get me going.

The stamped sentiment and images are by Hero Arts and stamped using Memento ink. The embossing was made using the Japanese Scales folder by ProvoCraft. The "friends" punch is by EK Success. By the way, this punch was not with the other punches if you go looking for it. I found it at Michael's in the American Girl section near the kids' stuff. I added color to the owls with Spica glitter pens.

I'm ba-a-a-ck! :-)

I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging for the past several weeks. Life got busy and unfortunately crafting and blogging tend to be the first to head to the bottom of the to-do list. Thanks to those who have written to ask how things are going or to mention that they've haven't seen any new posts lately. It's nice to be missed. :-) I did a lot of catching up this past week and made time to do some card-making today. Felt good to get all crafty! :-)

Here are some of the cards that I made....


This first card was made using a couple of the large QuicKutz border embossing folders. The sentiment was added using the Joy border punch by Martha Stewart. The cardinal was also made using a punch by Martha Stewart then set off with dimensional adhesive. I also added a score line at the top so that the ornaments wouldn't just be floating on the card front.


I got on a roll using the border punches by Martha. Here's another card using the Frosty Village punch. I scored and folded a small "card" to attach to that A2 size blue cardstock that I'd embossed using the QuicKutz snowflakes folder. I punched out the border (both layers at once, actually) then added the stamped snowflakes and sentiment by Inkadinkado before attaching it to the blue layer.


Here's a card that I made in similar fashion to the one I just described. For this one I used some Cuttlebug embossing folder designs instead of stamping. The background is Winter Trees and the other Season's Greetings. (These were RAK'd to me, btw.)

For this last card I decided to add a bit of a twist. Okay. To be honest, I was going to follow the same design as with the other cards but use the evergreen trees edge punch in the background instead. Well, the frosty village ended up looking backward to me because of the way I'd punched it. Looked good when I folded it the other way. Hm. So, I decided that I'd try to go with that. I think it worked out. I added the stamped sentiment by Studio G to the bottom corner and attached it to the front of a card that I'd embossed using a Sizzix textured impressions folder. It was a nice change from the typical A2 card and a fun departure from the other two cards that I'd designed earlier. I love it when "mistakes" like that work out. :-)

That's it for now. Again, thanks to those of you who've written, and thanks to those of you who are still visiting and reading here despite my absence. I'm hoping that the holidays won't become so busy that I won't have at least some time for crafting and for blogging. :-)

scalloped frames with edge punches

A couple of posts ago, I showed the cards that I'd sent to Inkadinkado for their free stamp giveaway. MaggiLiz commented: Lovely cards. I have a question concerning the second card "Warm Wishes" I love the scalloped frame - but did you do that - was it a template or? It looks terrific.

It wasn't made with a template but with a border punch. Now I didn't come up with this idea. It's one that I'd seen while reading blogs, and I decided to see if I could do something similar. Naturally I hadn't taken note of any of the details, just the look. Oh well. More adventures. :-)

Here's what I started with....


That's a piece of scrap card stock, white card stock, and the Scalloped Scallops edge punch by EK Success.


I just wanted to show some of the measurements. When you punch, you're left with a 3/16" border.

The punched out area is 1 7/8" wide. I checked these to get an idea of what size to make my square because I don't remember how big I made the other one. Hey, it's been almost a month! LOL! But you need a square that's bigger than 2 1/4" on a side or you'll end up with a plain square frame because the inside scalloped part won't be connected at the corners.


This is a square that's 3" on each side. All I did was center the card stock in the punch using the silhouette on its base (I made the exposed design look symmetrical. That's what the arrows are pointing at.) and then I pressed the lever. I did that for each side.


This shows how squares of a couple of different sizes look. You can use any size that you want so long as you center your punch on the side that you're punching.


You can also use a corner puncher to add a little more interest to your frame as I did with the Fiskars scalloped corner punch up above.


You don't need to limit yourself to a square shape either. I made this rectangle frame by using a 3 1/4" by 5 1/4" piece of card stock. I punched the short sides as I described before. The long sides were punched twice.


And that's a quickie card that I made with a couple of the freebie Inkadinkado stamps and the rectangular scalloped frame. I stamped using Memento dye inks. The embellishments are Hero Arts bling and a Brides flower.

Don't forget--there's still time to get your cards in for the free stamp giveaway. They need to be postmarked with today's date, so just take 'em with you if you're procrastinating and mailing off your tax returns later tonight, too. :-)

Thanks for the comment and the question MaggiLiz! Hope that answers your question. :-)

a case of CASE-ing

Okay, I'm not gonna weigh in on what CASE-ing necessarily stands for, but for my purposes it means copy and share everything. My daughter recently received a thank you card for participating in a show. When I saw the design, I knew that I had to give it a try.

Here's my version....


That's how it looks straight out of the envelope. It's A2 size.


And here it is with the sentiment pulled out. The stamped images are all by Inkadinkado and stamped with Memento dye inks. The pull tab is a Sizzix Sizzlit die cut. The decorative borders were made using EK Success edger punches.

crazy spring weather

Just a few days ago we were enjoying such pretty spring weather here in Missouri. Trees and flowers were blooming. Buds were forming.


Our sunset maples were growing their little seedlings and getting ready to let those little helicopters take off.

Then Mother Nature decided to keep us from becoming too complacent about this whole spring thing and sent wind, freezing rain, sleet, and snow our way overnight.


We only got a couple of inches of the white stuff, and that was less than the original forecasts had predicted, but it still puts a bit of a damper on that spring feeling.


So, I thought I'd post a cheery card that I made a while back when I was playing with those new slim profile EK Success edger punches. This is the Swiss Cheese punch accenting the Hero Arts frog images and sentiment. The images were stamped on decorative paper, cut out, and colored. I left parts of the top froggy unglued and bent his arms (? LOL!) and legs out a bit to add some dimension. The embossing was made with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sundays. :-)

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