Same Paper Swap

This card was for a Paper Wishers Message Board "Winter Same Paper Swap".  We were to make a card & send a partner the same materials we used.  Our partner then completed a project & posted it - then we posted our card.  It's so much fun to see the two, usually very different cards made using hte same materials.  This is my card.  And the next picture shows the inside:

Here's a picture of the original supplies (though the brads are a little hard to see).

There were seven small brads, 3 larger ones, and one star shaped one with a gold design printed on it.

Next up is the card my swap partner made from these same materials.  She made a shadow box card that is just lovely:

Winter Materials Swap

Today's card was created using supplies from a "winter materials swap." 

Materials from my swap partner were (the patterned paper was double-sided, so I show the other side in the 2nd picture):

As you can see, I made an easel card from the materials with the Santa as focal.

Here's what the card looks like when closed for mailing:

The focal was edged with black ink.  The doily was cut in half to fit top and bottom.  Border was cut using a Spellbinder's Edgeability cutting die - my favorite one called "Classic Bracket".  Chipboard was covered with white ink & heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Red gems don't show very well in the picture - they are a sparkly red - not black!

Here's the inside:

The "Christmas" was a stamp from a large set from HOTP - no name.    I cut the square piece down to form this shape, and attached with fun foam. The other sentiment was from their "Christmas Tags & Trims".

And here's the card my swap partner SamB made.  It is a cutaway card with the bottom border showing through from the inside:

As you can see, it is VERY different from what I did.  That's the fun you can have with double-sided paper!

Another Color Challenge

This one was a little easier than some - purple, lavender & yellow.  I pulled out these Hunkydory toppers found some purple mulberry paper and lavender & yellow card stock and I was in business!  Die cuts used: Sizzix Side Stepper Card, Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles Two.  Quick & Easy.

Nature Scene Challenge

Here's another challenge card - this one had to meet these criteria:

1. 1=Red
2. 24=Thank You
3. 30 Switch one number to one of your choice (I switched #29 - see next item)
4. 29=tag focal - switched for 6=flowers
5. 28=nature scene

In addition to the Hunkydory art pieces, I added strawberries from an old HOTP border (fussy cut them), and several colors of card stock.

Stamping challenge & Christmas Card Challenge

This post combines 2 challenges.  This first card is for the stamping challenge.  It asked that we stamp our own background paper.  As I was thinking about it, I came across the Artful Card Kit called "Santa Baby" from HOTP.  I remembered a stamp set that came in a cardmaking magazine several years ago ("Happy Holidays: 21 Vintage Christmas Stamps"). I was also able to find similar colors in my inks ("Cracked Pistachio" Distress Oxide ink, "Barn Door" distress ink, and Versafine black ink) & watercolor pencils, so I was set. 

Both the background & the focal were stamped using stamps from that Happy Holidays set. The sentiment was stamped on a tag from the Artful Card Kit using a stamp from "Christmas Labels & Trims" (HOTP). The focal was die cut & stenciled around the edge using one of the dies from Spellbinders "2012 Heirloom Ornaments".

The inside made use of a couple of die cuts from the kit.

 

The next card was created for a very simple challenge - simply "Make a Christmas Card".  I found this focal in a Hunkydory Set (Snowy Season) and matched it with papers from a 6" x 6" "Welcome Christmas" Paper pad by Pebbles. I also used some red suede paper & white border Dazzles (HOTP). I decided to make this card closer to a square than I usually do.  This one was 6 1/4" x 5 3/4".

Color Challenge

The colors were: Pink, Coral, Craft & Green.  Tough combo for me!  The paper is from a watercolor papers book from HOTP - old one.  I added a bit more coral color (Distress Oxide Ink) to try to help ensure the coral was there and that it wasn't just orange!

Inside:

The coral papers are scraps from "handmade" papers I've had for ages.  Ink used was "walnut stain" distress ink.  Craft & green card stock from my stash.  Tag die in front is from Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tags Trio Two".   Inside I used some "Labels One" dies (Spellbinders).  Stamps are from JustRite - "Get Well Labels Four" and "Cast All Your Cares".

Sketch Challenge

This was created for a sketch challenge.  It used papers from a HD Little Book and misc additional paper & ribbon from my stash - along with a piece of fun foam for a bit of dimension.  I believe this is the first project that has used this punch - called Cherish by Martha Stewart.

Masculine Card Challenge

This card was made for a challenge.  It had to meet 5 criteria:

1. Masculine
2. Ribbon
3. Foil Element
4. No Patterned Paper
5. Orange

Looks pretty simple, right?  It was a pain to make this card!  The foiled element is what got to me.  I decided to use some black foil that was supposed to be applied by using glue.  I decided to try stamping with glue.  It MIGHT have worked out if I had let the glue dry some before applying the foil, but the instructions with the glue pad said to apply it right away. So . . . It was such a mess I had to cut a smaller square to cover it & stamp the focal in black VersaMark instead. 

I still needed a foiled element, so I used a glue pen to go around the scalloped edges of the focal, let it dry a bit, then applied the foil.  That worked better, but not great.  No wonder hot foil has become so popular!

Anyway, next I had to add ribbon - I wanted it to help form a border along the edges of the embossed paper & yet not hide too much of it.  I also wanted the ends folded over so there would be no raw edges.  I guess that worked reasonably well. 

Oh yes, the stamp I used was from the set "Birthday Cheer" by HOTP.  The scalloped die was a Spellbinder's one.  The embossing was done with an embossing folder from Darice called "Woodgrain A2".  The curlicues were a small punch from my stash.

One Sheet Wonder Challenge

These are 7 of the 14 cards created by the one sheet wonder challenge on the Paper Wishers Message Board.  The rest of them are here:

The challenge was that we were to use any paper we chose, but we had to use the following cutting guide:

We were given sample layouts:

And sample cards:

Though we didn't have to use the layouts & samples unless we chose to do so, it certainly made it easier.  The cutting guide, layouts, & samples were first posted on the PaperCrafts Magazine blog way back in 2015 by Michele Boyer.

I found this far more challenging than expected.  I think it works better if you use a paper that has a lot of colors & a clear "use this color for matting" color - and I think black works especially well for mats if it's in the pattern.

The other thing is that for this to go quickly, you need to have some idea of the tools/supplies you will be using to create the focals. 

My materials/supply list:

• Peppermint Twist Foil card stock from K & Co. (this was the one sheet for my "wonders")
• A2 card bases (white glitter, light pink, medium pink)
• Card stock - medium pink & white
• Red pigment ink
• Kalaidascope embossing powder
• red glitter foam
• red paper foil
• double-sided adhesive
• Embossing folders: "Peppermint Twists" and "Scallops & Lines" by Sizzix
• Cutting dies: "Happy Holidays: Script" dies by Tim Holtz (Sizzix), "Joyous Celebration Collection" & "Happy Holidays" from Spellbinders, "Merry Christmas" & "10 Tags & Trims" by Paper Artist (HOTP)
• Stamps: "Christmas Card Scriptures" by Divinity Designs, "Christmas Cheer", "Christmas Labels & Trims", "Christmas Tags & Trims" by HOTP, 
• Small Heart Punch
• Bit of red ribbon from stash

Pick & Play

On one of the message boards I frequent, they hosted a "pick and play" event where they pick a theme and list categories within that theme that you pick from.  After you've picked your choices, they go back and tell you what each one represents.   For this card I had picked items that meant I needed to make a standard fold card with a square or rectangular focal, I needed to add bling, and the colors used needed to be brown, orange & pink.  Now I'll admit that color scheme is NOT my favorite, but I was reminded of a paper pack called "Grapefruit" from HOTP that used those colors.  While I didn't purchase that paper pack (because I don't like that color combo!), they did have a freebie downloadable page of coordinating artwork that I was able to use to create this card.  In addition to those freebies, I used: 

• pink card stock
• acetate
• brown fun foam
• brown glimmer paper
• stamps (HOTP - Just a Little Greeting, Birthday Cheer, Birthday Greetings)
• distress ink (Walnut Stain), 
• Warm Chocolate Liquid Pearls, 
• "diamonds" from my diamond painting
• microbeads
• fine pink glitter (don't use this again!!!!)
• embossing folder (A2 Swirl Background by Darice)

 Here's the inside:

This next card was SUPPOSED to have been my 2nd pick & play - but I made a mistake.  More about that later.  

Materials used:

• black card stock & white card stock
• printed vellum from the 8 1/2" x 11" HOTP book called "Painted Vellum" (an old one!), 
• black & white striped washi tape
• red metallic tape
• red jewel dazzles
• artwork from Cardmaker's Instant Card Art Classic Colors & coordinating papers (HOTP)
• embossing folder (5x7 Damask by Darice)

I had a really hard time photographing these as the red metallic tape often ends up looking black.  Anyway, here's the inside:

I had a lot of fun making this because what I had picked required me to use red/white/black color scheme, vellum for the focal, and ribbon or washi tape.  Since I seldom use vellum or washi tape, it was a good challenge.  The vellum I used came as a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet with a printed ladybug border. I cut up that vellum sheet a LOT to make the card.  However, I forgot the part where this card was supposed to be a gate fold!  OOPS!  

So I had to scavenge it to make a new gate fold card.  I pulled off the focal piece and remade the card base entirely.

I did the inside quite differently, including cutting out a bunch of the remaining ladybugs and gluing them to the inside (had to draw their feelers in with a pen since cutting those out would not have produced very good results!).

 

This meant I had the base card from the original left over.  So, I added some Hunkydory cutouts a silver hearts on black washi tape, some border stickers and some silver foil tag board, and ended up with this card:

Here's the inside:

Diamond Painting

Okay, this isn't really paper crafting, but is what I've done most recently.  I bought it from Amazon - NEILDEN 5D Full Drill Diamond Painting Kit, DIY Diamond Number Rhinestone Painting Kits for Adults and Children Embroidery Diamond Arts Craft Home Decor 13.7×17.7 inch.

It was fun, and turned out quite well with lots of sparkle but there were some issues with this kit, that I'll address in a moment.

One of the things I've been thinking about is if I can figure out a design that could be created with my leftover drills to make a small picture as a card focal.  I think, for instance, that a candy cane would work well (but of course I don't have that color of drills!).  Anyway, I think this could be fun to figure out.

Regarding the specific kit I bought:

They used letters & numbers & I was glad to see that they left out certain letters that would have been too close to numbers or other letters.  However, I still had real trouble distinguishing between some of them.  For instance, the #5 & #6 were very close in color and symbol & very hard to tell the difference.  Also, it was surprisingly difficult to distinguishing between the E and the F symbols.  Another thing I noticed was that the drills were not as uniform as one might like - extra resin around some, some smaller than others. However, I had plenty of drills to complete it and I really DID like the completed picture.  NOTE that despite the description, this was NOT 13.7 x 17.7 inches, it was a bit smaller at 30 cm by 40 cm - approx 11.8" x 15.7")

The rest of this post is a listing of tips I learned along the way as I checked out hints on you-tube & dealt with my own trial and error:

• While this wasn't bad, it would have been better at a higher resolution.  One you-tube video recommended that you buy canvases that are at least 50 cm x 60 cm (preferably 60 cm x 80 cm if fairly detailed) - and that you have them send you a preview so you can check for pixilation.   If having them create a design from your own picture, you might try checking the rendering with design rendering software to figure out how big you need to go for a specific picture. 
• Tiny Worlds of Wonder (link here) had quite a bit to say about using cross stitch rendering software to check out resolution for diamond painting - especially important if you want them to render one of your own pictures and need to know what size to go with. Here is a link to the cross stitch rendering web site you can use - it has a built-in setting for diamond painting: https://my.thread-bare.com/designer. A second rendering site, https://www.pixel-stitch.net/ requires conversion for diamond painting.  In regular cross stitch software, you will need to know how to convert stitches to centimeters. To do this, divide the size canvas you desire to render by .25 if you are using square drills (round drills are a bit bigger). Her example is for a 50x60 canvas: 50/.25 = 200 stitches 60/.25= 240 stitches. :)  Note that if you are using round drills, they are larger than the square beads, so you will need a larger painting to achieve the same resolution.  Square beads do take longer, however & are less forgiving.
• Before you start, if your canvas wants to roll, simply peel back the cover paper from each corner & replace it to straighten the canvas!
• For a right-handed person, it is recommended that you start in the upper right corner & work in small sections from right to left - this will help you protect the glue & the canvas as you work.  However, especially with a square drill pattern, you may want to start in the center and work out.
• I used my craft knife to lightly cut through the cover sheet to create horizontal strips, and then folded back the strip a section at a time - or simply cut a piece of the strip off with my scissors to open a new section.  My cover paper was a clear, so I found it hard to see where the section ended.  Because of this, I would often carefully (making sure not to get my hand in the glue!) work the first line or two of the left edge so I could see where to stop, before starting at the right side.
• Apply your diamonds using a checkerboard pattern where you start by applying diamonds in every other spot & then come back & fill in later.  Also, when applying your "diamonds", don't work in straight blocks (especially with the square "diamonds").  Leave an edge of "checkerboard" diamonds beyond the section you are working with to avoid obvious section lines in your work.  NOTE: When using light colors, gaps can sometimes show more easily.  To make them look best, place one at a time in a checkerboard pattern rather than using a multi-placer. And, when using a multi-placer, you can come at the beads from the side & push the drills up against the line in the tray to help ensure they are straight.
• Be sure to use a craft knife to let air out of any glue bubbles or your work will show those creases/rivers.  That will be more common with ones with the white covering over glue which are made with double-sided adhesive (the clear covers are usually glue poured on the canvas with a machine).
• Use an easel to adjust the angle of your work so you are more comfortable. 
• To help you see - especially for dark-colored squares - use a light pad at partial strength.
• After pouring your beads into the tray provided, gently shake them back and forth so they settle out and are easier to pick up.
• You need to prepare your application tool to pick up the beads - usually a red wax is supplied for this purpose.  However, instead of preparing your application tool with the red wax, you can you a small piece of blue tack (like you would use to attach posters to the wall).  This will last MUCH longer and speed up your process. Note that some tools have two ends - one to apply one bead at a time, the other to apply several at once.
• You may want to protect your work when finished by applying a clear coat to hold the beads in place in case the glue starts to break down. This will make your work a little less sparkly, but not bad if you use the right product.  Recommended for this are: DecoArt Triple Thick Brilliant Brush-On Glaze OR Mod Podge Super Gloss.  (Thanks, Studio Sam - to see her full video on this check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg3G-W41_Ug&feature=share.)