Father's Day?

Okay, so I KNOW it's still a long time until Father's Day rolls around again, but I got a bargain on the Masculine Collage Stamps from Hot Off the Press and couldn't wait to try them out!  I think these will be a real help in handling the challenge of making masculine cards.

For some reason, I really liked the arrow paper with the tools, so I started with that.  I decided to do my stamping on a tan piece of paper, mat it with white, and then do a partial mat with blue (all I had was a scrap anyway!).  My arrow paper was just a leftover piece and wasn't quite as large as I wanted, so I matted it on a striped paper that I had. I inked the edges of the two background papers.  Then, with a makeup sponge, I added a wider soft border of ink to the blue piece. 

The tan was cut and embossed with a Spellbinder's die, then stamped with the tools in black and the sentiments in dark blue.  The "Happy Father's Day" wasn't from the masculine collage set, it was from a small set of clear stamps from Studio g.  It was more complicated than that, however, because there was one block stamp with the three words aligned one on top of the other.  I had to carefully mask off part of the stamp as I applied my ink, so I could stamp each word individually as you see on this card. I drew around the edge of the embossing with a dark blue pen.  I matted this on a piece of white (created by drawing around the outside of my die and cutting it out - then lightly inking the edges).  I wish I had done a light stamping in the background of the focal or at least some shading, before I stamped my focal elements, but I didn't think of it until looking at the card just now.  Another idea for next time!

For the inside, I reversed the background papers, putting the arrows first, then the stripe (both cut with a Resplendent Rectangle die from Spellbinders so a place shows through for writing a note to the recipient).  Here is what that looks like:

Double Focal

Today's card is made in a very similar manner to the one I showed yesterday.  It essentially has two focals - one on the belly band, and one inside the card.  For information on basic construction for this card, refer to the instructions here. The patterned paper is from A Colorbok Paper Pack and the stamps from a set called "Faith Greetings Clear Stamps" from TPC Studio.

The focal on the band is a shape cut from the patterned paper. I stamped the sentiment on it with embossing ink and then heat embossed it with fine black powder.  My first attempt wasn't dark enough to suit me, so I went over top of it with an embossing pen and tried again. This time it stood out nicely.

This is what it looks like with the band removed.  I put a 3/4" wide ribbon on the folded corners like I did last time, but this time I added a black vine-shaped ribbon on top.  I was really happy to use the vine ribbon as it came in a set with other vine ribbons and I hadn't thought I'd be able to figure out a use for the black! I also cut 1/4" strips of black cardstock and adhered to the edges as you see in the picture.

When you open the card, this is what you see:

I love the stamped patterns around the edges. I can't tell you who made those stamps, because I got them second-hand without packaging.

Here's a closeup of the center:

It looks like I matted the patterned paper on a black piece of cardstock, but I didn't think of the black until the patterned paper was already glued in place.  So, I just added 1/4" strips like I did on the front.  The focal is a flower cut from the patterned paper and colored with pearlescent chalks before being attached with a "wobbles" fastener (a fastener with a plastic spring inside).  It's fun to see it wobbling around when you open the card.  The sentiment is stamped on a die-cut (Spellbinder's Resplendent Rectangles die) with clear embossing ink and then embossed with fine black powder. I then ran the embossing ink pad around the edges of the die-cut and embossed that in black as well.

I like this stamp set - it's got some really nice encouraging sentiments. I figure this card will be a perfect pick-me-up for a friend who's in a 12-step program.

Another Sympathy Card

As I mentioned last time I posted a card, I've needed too many sympathy cards lately!  Last night I got notice that I needed another - so here it is.  I got the idea for the card shape from a Hot Off The Press DVD called "Theresa's 100 Moveable Parts Cards".

It is really quite easy to make.  It starts with a 10" square piece of paper.  Fold in half on each diagonal. Score 2 1/2" on each side of these diagonal folds, fold and crease well, then open back up. At this point I did it a bit differently than the directions.  I simply folded the corner back until the tip hit my fold line and creased well, then opened it up and folded the corner back to the fold line I just made. Then I refolded to the line before it. After doing this for each corner, I had something that looked like an octagon (see picture of opened card, below). After folding back the corners, I bordered them with wide and then narrower ribbon before gluing them in position (see picture of card with belly band removed, below).  Then I simply folded a flap in to the 2 1/2" fold line, turned it, and folded the next one, tucking the top of it under the right edge of the first folded flap.  Repeat for the remaining ones, tucking each under the previous at the top. This leaves you with the square shape you see in the picture above.

I made the belly band by starting with a strip of gold glimmer paper (11" x 1 1/2"). Because the card I needed to fit was a 5" square, I scored it 2 1/2" inches from the center on both sides (giving me the 5" space for the front), then again 1/8" beyond that on both sides (to allow for the bulk of the folded card).  I glued the focal to the front, and a velcro closure where the ends meet in the back. It is loose enough that it can be slipped off the card rather than messing with the velcro, if desired. I stamped the focal, then came back with a darker brown pen and traced around the outer edge and over the letters. Then I cut and embossed the outer shape with a Spellbinders Die.

This is what it looks like with the belly band removed:

And here is a look at the inside:

with a close-up of the center:

I went around the inside of the fold lines with a water brush dipped in a cream-colored pearlescent chalk to create a bit of a frame.  The embossed mat was trimmed from a piece embossed with an Mbossabilities folder from Spellbinders. The words on each of the four sides were all on one stamp (from Faith Greetings set by TPC Studio).  I carefully masked all of the stamp (with pieces of post-it note) except for the words I wanted for each position before inking the stamp, stamping it, cleaning it, and repeating the process. This enabled me to stamp each line separately.

For the focal, as I did before, I stamped it and went over the words and around the edge with a darker pen. Next I cut and embossed it with a Spellbinder's die.  After removing the die, I used a water brush (mine is the Aqua Painter from Stampin Up) with ink from the ink pad, to color in the outside edge up to the embossed line.

To finish the card, I added a stamped embellishment (not sure who made this stamp, I got it second hand) in each of the corners as you see here:

Both the stamp used for the focal on the belly band, and the one used on the inside of the card, are ones I made with my Stampmaker and digital art from the CD "Card Greetings and Sentiments" (from Hot Off the Press). The patterned paper came from a Colorbok Paper Pack.

With Sympathy

It sure seems like I've been needing to send a fair number of sympathy cards lately - too many deaths among family & friends.  As I've mentioned before, I like to have quite a few made ahead as there may not be much advanced warning that they'll be needed.  However, I don't put a sentiment inside the card.  I have a bunch of possible sentiments printed up and ready to insert, and a bunch of cards made up without a sentiment inside.  This way, when the need arises, I can choose a card front to match the recipient, and then choose a sentiment that says what I want to say for that particular person.

However, in this particular case, I needed two cards, and only one of the two I had left would work. So, I needed another quick sympathy card - which you see above.

I started with the focal, using a scrap piece of glossy cardstock.  Using a stamp I had previously made for myself using my Stampmaker and a design from the CD "Card Greetings & Sentiments" (from Hot Off the Press), I stamped it with embossing ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Next, I colored over it with alcohol inks (Stream and Silver Mixative) using a pouncing motion with my applicator.  Then I came back with some of the alcohol blending solution on a piece of paper towel and removed the ink from on top of the embossed areas, so the white showed through nicely. Then I cut out my focal using a Spellbinder's die - then dry embossed the edge using the same die.

I decided to dry emboss the front of the card directly.  This is where my Grand Caliber machine comes in so handy!  I was able to just open the card, position my embossing folder where I wanted, and run it through.  In this case, I actually ran the card through twice, because my folder was smaller than the card front.  I simply lined up my folder with the last motif that had been embossed and ran it through again - worked great!

I had a squarish shape of turquoise color-core cardstock that I had previously die cut using a Marvelous Squares die and then embossed with the same embossing folder that I used for the card front.  I had then lightly sanded it to help the pattern stand out more.  I cut this in quarters to form corner embellishments, then trimmed the front edge with scalloped scissors to coordinate with the focal.

I wanted a wide band for the focal to sit on, but didn't like the patterned papers I tried with it so started going through my stash of ribbon and lace looking for something suitable.  I came across this scrap and thought it went perfectly.  I added a little 1/2" glitter ribbon on top, and glued everything together.  I added the focal using foam tape for added dimension.