Awareness Inspiration

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness week, Bonnie asked us to use pink while making an inspirational card this week. This may seem like an unusual sentiment along with the cancer awareness ribbon but I thought of it as the perfect card to celebrate a treatment victory, big or small.

I’ve been making a lot of clean and simple or graphic cards lately so I was feeling the pull of freestyle collage and my simple shabby signature style. When I am trying to design in this style, I usually reach for Maggie Holmes and My Mind’s Eye. Today Maggie won! All the papers and most embellishments are from her line. The tag was cut at the top with Tag Classic 2 from Neat n Tangled and at the bottom with a die from Select-a-Size edge dies from Concord & 9th. Then I added a whole bunch of bits and bobs. The awareness ribbon die is by Lifestyle Crafts. I think they are now part of WRMK so you may not be able to find that exact die.

For this shabby/freestyle design, I first decide what elements I have to have. I started with the tag, the background and the awareness ribbon. Next I needed to fill some space in the background so I added the washi and glitter tape. Next I selected the chipboard element that looks like a banner with the heart and white sentiment. To bulk up the tag, I added some filler on both sides; on one side some corrugated cardboard with Finnabar patina paste, on the other a tag I decorated with lace, rickrack and twine. Last I added the flower die cut, vellum leaf, twine on the big tag, the tiny bit of mint lace and finally the sequins and gems.

This is the perfect theme for October. Come on over and play with us at Crazy 4 Challenges.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Puppies and Kittens in Windows, Oh My!

I’ve always loved Laura Bassen’s rainbow ink blending. It looks so smooth and makes her cards so fun. So I channeled my inner Laura while making this card for the Crazy 4 Challenges sketch this week.

I started by tracing my dies on my white card base then using Distress inks to add the ink blending. Then I tried to cut the openings in my light grey panel with to match. Oops! Turns out this is the backwards way to do it. I should have cut the openings first then traced them on my white card base to get the perfect placement of the ink blending.

Then I stamped the cute little critters, coloured them with Copics and die cut them. This looks like a shaker card but it’s really a faux shaker. I glued all the sequins in, it seems like it would take a while but it’s pretty quick actually. Then I added a acetate sheet between the windows and the ink blended card base. This uses far fewer sequins than a traditional shaker so it’s perfect if you only have a few of the sequins left that you want to use.

Then I added a few ink blended balloons and the sentiment. One balloon was even tucked under the acetate in the window with the poodle. I was going to add some Nuvo drops but I decided it was busy enough.

Don’t forget to drop by the C4C blog to enjoy out sketch this week!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Winnie and Walter WCMD Cards

I’ve got two cards for the W&W WCMD challenge entries and another that qualifies for Crazy 4 Challenges as well! So it’s a triple bill today!

First up, this card works for the W&W CAS challenge, the background challenge, the rainbow challenge AND for C4C! This week our challenge was to be inspired by dessert! I am always up for some dessert! I feel terrible that I don’t have any W&W products for my cards but I hope to get some really soon! Thanks for opening your challenges to any products!

For this card I used Ice Cream Dream by Simon Says Stamp which I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white on Bristol smooth cardstock. Then I used my Gansai Tambi watercolours to add deliciousness to these images! For the popsicle sticks and the ice cream cones I added some gold watercolour to the shade I mixed giving them some shine. When I was finished I also added some shimmer spritz over the entire panel.

Next up is a silver butterfly card for the W&W stenciling challenge. I used a Simon Says Stamp stencil for the background adding Distress inks in Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers. The die I cut in vellum is also by SSS and alongside it I arranged lots of sequins and Nuvo drops in Duck Egg blue. The butterfly die (Memory Box) was cut from a scrap of white cardstock to which I then added some glue that never fully dries but rather remains tacky. Then I added some silver gilding flakes. It’s a bit hard to remove the excess from such a delicate die cut so I placed it back in the die. As the die cut settles down into the grooves of the die, the excess sticks up and it has an edge against which you can brush off the extra!

Last but not least is my entry for the background challenge. This simple embossed resist with watercolour turned out better than I could have expected. And the Steel Navy embossing powder by SSS is exquisite! My new fave for sure! The die is by Papertrey which I cut with some navy cardstock. Then I added 3 layers of powder to get a really nice rounded effect that looks a lot like an epoxy word sticker! a few sequins finished it off nicely.

I hope you will play along with our challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges. I know it’s a busy time for anyone making holiday gifts but hopefully you can find an hour or two to spare!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Happy WCMD Weekend! Sparkle, Shine and Shake!

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed celebrating World Card Making Day yesterday! I had so much fun making my card I ran out of time to blog it!

Simon Says Stamp has a WCMD challenge to make a holiday card. I don’t celebrate any holidays so I made a winter card that could be used for a holiday, just not by me!

I used background paper by Kaisercraft with a subtle snowflake and flourish print. It’s so subtle the camera really doesn’t pick it up well especially with so much going on but it is very pretty. The frame was cut from grey cardstock with double stitched rectangle dies by Simon Says Stamp. I did some partial die cutting so the frame is a bit shorter than usual so I had room for my ribbon at the bottom. I used a silver Wink of Stella glitter pen to add some shimmer to the frame. Though I worried that the frame ended up too dark, when the card was completed, it gave the card some contrast it needed since it is so monochromatic.

I used Heat Resistant Acetate by Hot Off the Press to make my window. Even though I melted embossing powder repeatedly, there was only minimal warping so I was very pleased. For the main sentiment (SSS), I used white embossing powder first then after that was cooled, I stamped again this time using Hero Arts white pearl embossing powder. It worked out wonderfully! The height of the previous layer gave the pearl powder more dimension so it looked more pearl-like and the opacity helped it to look more white. You can see how the white pearl powder looks on the acetate by itself as I used it to stamp some snowflakes. It shows up best in the corner right above the bow in the previous photo. It has a bit of a silver pearly sheen while being still quite translucent.

For the goodies inside, I added lots of white, blue, clear and silver sequins along with some snowflake, heart and star confetti. Oh, and a few white iridescent and clear gems. I think that’s it! :) I didn’t use a specific pack but rather bits and bobs from a lot of bags of Lucy’s Cards. Then there is my bow using May Arts white crinkle ribbon, Stampin’ Up! silver ribbon from an eon ago and a final touch of Morning Dew Nuvo drops on the card and acetate.

Enjoy! Rebecca

Happy World Card Making Day! 2 Mini Product Reviews

Crazy 4 Challenges is happy to have a challenge right on WCMD! Awesome right? For such a happy celebration, our host this month, Bonnie Sharp gave us the best challenge of all! Just make a card! Since that’s what we all usually do, though tags, ATCs, packaging, mixed media pieces and other crafts are all allowed, it made creating super fun!

It only made sense to create a happy celebration card to go along with this holiday! (I wish it was an official holiday! Wouldn’t that be cool!) I used some balloon dies by MFT and my Gansai Tambi water colours to create the balloons on Bristol smooth paper. I added some foil by using a brush (an old one) and some glue that dries tacky. The kind you can use to make your own glue dots. Ooh, note to self: adding this glue in dots would have made for pretty foiling too! I am usually foiled by whatever foiling technique I use. But I love it so I was determined to get it to work. I’m quite happy with the perfectly imperfect way this turned out, exactly as I had pictured in my mind before starting. The frame was created with some fun Happy Day dies by Concord & 9th. It’s easier to show you than to describe them.

So, see how there is an outer frame then an inner one with a section missing? It allows you die cut a second time adding in either the flower die OR the happy die! Cool right? It’s partial die cutting ON PURPOSE! What??? :) In addition they have another set with a similar love add on and it includes a smaller frame, the word fits in a landscape position. If you are wondering how versatile dies like this are, you have to watch their excellent videos. Another C&9th set includes the word ‘Day’ which I die cut from some Tim Holtz glitter paper. I added the word to the bottom left, tossed in some sequins (Lucy’s Cards) along with some Martha Steward micro beads and dotted on some silver glitter Nuvo drops. Ta da! All done!

So back to the Tim Holtz glitter paper. It doesn’t shed at all, not even a bit. Which is awesome. But I smile every time I see glitter on my cheek so that’s not as big a deal for me as it is for some people. It is very thin so you’d think it would be easy to die cut. Nope! Unless you back it with cardstock, which kind of negates it being thin and self-adhesive, it refuses to cut cleanly. If you look at the bottom of the paper in your die you will think it’s cut cleanly. But that’s just the backing paper. It would work well with steel rule dies I’m sure but I have very few of those. My final thoughts; I will use it up but likely not buy any more.

Enjoy! Rebecca