Thursday, March 27, 2014

OCC Day 3 & 4 - Masking

Again, I'm bouncing around in the card class...lol.  My last post was Day 7 and today is Day 3 & 4.  As usual, things didn't work out as I had planned and I didn't have as much time as I wanted to spend on trying all these great techniques I saw in the class.  I did want to try this one for sure.  Jennifer McGuire had some  neat masking ideas.

These cards were definitely trial and error.  Maybe more error than trial..lol.   But I learn from  my mistakes!  The first one I cut out my masking paper with a spellbinders die and then cut the circle out of the middle.  I tried the same technique Jennifer did with the Tim Holtz marker mister thingie (<--technical name).  I wanted all my inks to match so I used the CTMH alcohol marker in Sky to try to give a light background to the exposed area.  It turned out more like a spattering than misting.  I'm not sure if it was the marker or the way I had it in the mister.  It's definitely a great new toy that I will be practicing with.  I then used the pigment inks from CTMH and the SSS September '13 card kit stamp set, Life is a Journey, to make the flowers and sentiment.  In order to get the definitive outline of the cutout I should have maybe used more mist or daubed on some ink to make the edges pop.  It was new and fun and I'll be trying this technique again.



The card below was inspired a card by Kara Vrabel.  I cut out a star from the masking tape and then built around it with stamps.  I used the SSS July '13 card kit stamp set, Cupcake Party, and CTMH dye inks on this one in Moonstruck, Cranberry, and Honey.  Another fun and quick card.  Practice makes perfect, right? 


The card below started out to be a one layer card inspired by Laura Bassen's cards.  I thought instead of using my masking tape I'll just use post it notes.  Generally, that would be fine, but not today.  After I got my rectangle masked off and stamped all my circles, I discovered that somehow ink had gotten under the post it note.  So, this is my rescued card.  

I loved the look of all the dots on her card.  Dots are very in I think.  Sadly, I don't have many solid dot stamps in various sizes.  But what I do have is round shaped stamps.  I took my round shaped stamped and flipped them over and used the cling side as my stamp.  Voila!  Circle stamps.   I used CTMH inks in Pacifica, Lagoon, Honey, Cranberry, Gypsy, and Whisper.  It was kind of an odd color combo, but this was about trial and error, so I went with it. When I got through and stamped my sentiment, I really wanted some more black.  I didn't have any black enamel dots, but what I did have was black Enamel Accents.  You can squeeze some out in little  dot like forms on some waxy paper and let them dry and  can make your own enamel dots of any size you want.  That's what I did here. 


I still have tons of techniques from the card class I want to try out.  I'll be sure to share my trials and errors when I do. 

That's it for me tonight.  Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

OCC Day 7 - Thank You

It seems as though, I'm a bit behind...lol.  Even though the class is giving us a few extra days to get some cards made, it seems I'm still falling behind.   I tend to bounce around anyway.  I guess my AAADD kicks in.  I'm terribly distracted by shiny things!

Day 7  class featured a card by Kristina Werner that used a Copic colored piece of vellum behind the negative space on the card front.  It was a lovely effect. I didn't have any vellum on hand, but I did have Copic markers and a great "thank you" die from Hero Arts.   The heart dies are from Lawn Fawn.


I cut my card base as a side fold landscape standard A2 card from White Daisy cardstock.  Because I didn't have the vellum, I colored another piece of White Daisy that was cut just a bit smaller than my card.  I then glued it to the back of my card front so the pretty colors could shine through.  I finished it off with a few iridescent sequins. 

This was a very simple and fairly quick card to do. You could really do a lot with this idea.  

That's it for me tonight.  I hope to be getting back to the craft table soon.  I have no less than four unfinished/half finished cards over there.  I see all these ideas in class and get started on one and then....oh shiny things!  Lol...as soon as I get them done, I'll be sure to share. 

Thanks for stopping by!  



Wednesday, March 12, 2014

OCC Clean and Simple 3 - Day 1

Online Card Classes has done it again!  They started their Clean and Simple 3 class on Monday.   These classes are always filled with incredible techniques, information, and inspiration.  Day 1 had a couple of ideas I wanted to try.  Debby Hughes showed a wonderful card with inlaid word bubbles and Shari Carroll had an inlaid striped balloon.  I loved the look of both cards.  I have done some inlaid stuff before, but not much.  I realized about half way through why that was.  It's tedious!  Lol.  It wouldn't be so bad it you had less loopy words.  I picked a short word at least.  This is a technique which I'm sure would become easier with practice and familiarity.  I do love how it turned out. 



The colored cardstock was from an old Martha Stewart paper pack I had.  The colors were perfect for a baby card.  The hearts are dies from Lawn Fawn and the Baby is from Simon Says Stamp.  I took a cue from Shari Carroll and cut the cardstock in tiny strips and glued them on to one sheet and then cut my strip for the inlay at the bottom of the card.   Here's a closer look at the inlay. 


When I got through with the card I thought it needed just a little something, so I added some opalescent sequins that came in the SSS March card kit. It is the only element that is on top of the card.  The rest of it is completely flat.  I thought about stamping a sentiment across the inlay, but there is no way I was going to risk it after all that work..lol.  I may get brave and try it the next time.

That's it for me today.  I can't wait to try more from the class.  I'll be sure to post when I do. 

Thanks for stopping by!



Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Friends Forever

Happy hump day my blog friends!  Just a quick post tonight.  I wanted to share a card with you I had made for a friend of mine for her birthday.  I love the colors on this one.  And I thought the stamp suited us.


The stamp is from Penny Black, Mimi's Many Loves.  I colored it with Copic markers to match the paper.  This paper is from a stack called Uptown Flair from the Paper Studio.  This whole stack is made up of these bright colors.  I absolutely love it. The sentiment is from that stamp set as well.  The banner was cut from the tilted banner die from SSS.  These little banners are great.  I thought it added to the whimsy.   And of course, no card is complete lately until I hit with my Wink of Stella glitter brush.   I added some liquid glass for a few glossy effects, too. 

That's it for me tonight.  Thanks for stopping by!