Berry Happy Birthday!

This quick card was made using a freebie from Debbie Moore.  Most of the papers and cut outs were from that, though I added a lacy die cut along the border on the card front.  

Materials/Method:

• Card Front Background: I embossed the printed patterned paper using a "Damask" embossing folder from Darice.  I then hit the raised areas with red ink using a sponge applicator from Ranger.  After inking the edges of this with black and adhereing it to the card front, I die cut through both layers with a circle die (Quickcut), making sure it would line up with image I was planning to put inside.
• Border & Greeting: The checkered border strip & heart were from the freebie.  The lacy die was die cut from white paper (die from Spellbinder's Parisian Accents) & then added just a touch of distress ink to turn it more ivory in color. The greeting was from the freebie.
• Inside (see below): both elements on the inside were from the freebie.  I added a touch of black ink around the edges of the sentiment.
• Back (see 2nd picture below): another piece from the freebie - added with a strip of the freebie patterned paper.

Be My Valentine Materials Swap

For this swap we were to make a card, then send the same materials we used to our swap partner and see how they used the same supplies to make a card.  When I went to my Valentine materials, I found this background stamped & colored in my stash - had been there for I don't know how long!  I decided it was a good time to use it since I could easily stamp another for my swap partner.  

Materials used:

• White card stock
• Black card stock
• Silver metallic poster board
• Stamped image (JustRite Cupid Background stamp, stamped with Versafine Onyx ink & embossed with clear powder)
• Stamp from JustRite's Antique Valentines Tag One
• Stamp from JustRite's For All You Do Vintage Labels Three (sentiment)
• Dies used: JustRite Antique Tags One, Spellbinder's A2 Mat Basics, HOTP Love and 5 Hearts
• Pink fun foam
• Scrap of pink marbled paper (for small heart die cut)
• Small embellishments - 2 die cut hearts, several clear holographic type heart sequins, several colors of leftover diamond painting drills, a few sticky-backed rhinestones
• Versamark Ink for stamping, Worn Lipstick Distress ink for coloring & for stamping.
• Silver & Pink Smooch inks for coloring
• Silver embossing powder
• Heart die cut from stash

Method - I decided to make a shaker card:

CARD FRONT:

1. Background: I can't remember for certain, but I think the stamped background was colored with worn lipstick ink using a foam applicator. Then I highlighted parts of the design with silver & pink smooch inks. 
2. Card Base: I cut a 10" x 6.5" piece of the black card stock to use for my card base - forming a 5" x 6.5" card.  I cut a piece of the silver to be just a bit smaller than this to serve as a mat for my background image.
3. Shaker Element: Using a craft knife, I carefully cut out the heart shaped piece from the center of the background image - then trimmed it close to the printed lines.  This gave me a piece that was the right size width-wise, but not tall enough.  So, I sliced it through the center of the label shape and spaced it to the right size by adding a border strip of layered silver poster board & black card stock (taping all together on the back where it wouldn't show - using scotch tape).
4. As I usually do, I used a die to cut a piece from the center of the silver since it wouldn't show anyway - thus saving the silver to use elsewhere.  I used a slightly larger die to cut a piece from acetate packaging material to serve as my "window".  Then I layered the silver piece (with center removed), the clear acetate piece, and my background image (with heart removed) and glued them all together.  
5. Next, I cut the fun foam to just smaller than the silver & then placed the heart-shaped piece I had cut from the stamped background in the center - making sure to line it up with the stamped background image.  I traced around this & cut out the shape so the fun foam had a hole barely larger than the shape cut from the stamped image.  
6. I glued my fun foam to the card front - making sure to glue it very carefully around the hole to prevent my shaker bits from escaping.  I used my embossing buddy to remove static from the area & then added my shaker bits. 
7. After wiping the acetate window with the embossing buddy to remove static from it, I glued it in place - sandwiching the shaker bits in place (once again being careful to glue well around the shaker window).
8. Greeting: After brushing with my stamp buddy, I stamped a greeting on black card stock with Versamark Ink & embossed with silver embossing powder - then die cut using the matching die and adhered it in place with foam squares.
9. Finishing:  Three clear rhinestones finish it off.

INSIDE:

1. Using the silver cut from the mat used on the card front, I cut a frame using dies from Spellbinder's A2 Mat Basics.  
2. I cut a piece of white card stock a bit larger than the silver frame - then colored it using Worn Lipstick distress ink & a foam pad applicator.  
3. Next I stamped a sentiment using the same ink (from JustRite's For All You Do).
4. I layered the card stock & frame as you see in the picture & adhered to the inside of the card.  
5. After cutting a small heart from the pink paper scrap using the HOTP die, I took a heart die cut from my stash & layered it behind the die cut.  This required a bit of trimming of the one in back.  After all was ready, I adhered both to the lower right corner of the card.

I Will Awaken the Dawn

I LOVE how this double page layout turned out.  After coating the pages with clear gesso to protect from bleed-through, I first drew in the basic shapes with my Inktense pencils.  To create the hills, I did as I often do - cut a rough "hilly" shape from a scrap of paper, and then traced along the edge, rotating it to different angles and using different sections of it - sometimes even flipping it over to use the other side. 

Next, I scribbled lightly with my pencils - adding several different colors to create the various shades.  Then, with my water brush, I blended it section by section.  Tip: I found that if I turned it upside down when working with the hills, I could start with the lightest colors & keep blending down to leave the darkest colors at the base of the hills.

The words were mostly hand-lettered with black Pitt pens, though the word "Praise" was a stamp I had (Onyx VersaFine ink).  Lettering still isn't my strong suite, so I used my computer to print out some of the other main words in different fonts until I figured out how I wanted to draw them.  I thickened some of the lines using the rule of thumb "thicken down-ward strokes, leave upward strokes thin".  Here's a closer look at the first page:

I wanted to highlight the texts I was focused on using my clear Wink of Stella pen, but I couldn't find it!  So, I used "Sparkle" paint by Spectrum Noir.  It was my first time using it.  It certainly adds a sparkle sheen!  I finished the pages by scattering stamped music notes all around the pages.  Here's a closer look at the 2nd page:

Deepest Sympathy

Today I have 3 sympathy cards.  (I've been needing too many of these lately!)  This first one started with some old pre-printed cards from HOTP that I used as patterned paper.  The decorative elements are stamped with black ink (Onyx Versa Fine) and clear embossing powder - then colored with distress inks or markers.  Most were matted with black paper.  Here are the stamps/dies used:

• Sentiment on front of card - HOTP stamp from "Heartfelt Greetings" set, Die from their "9 Tiny Tags and Little Labels" die set.
• Focal on card front: JustRite stamp from "With Sympathy" set, die is Spellbinders "Decorative Labels One"

For the inside of the card:

• Stamps are from JustRite "With Sympathy" set - die is matching "Nested Oval Medallion" die.

Card #2:

This next card started with a background created using black card stock and some metallic gelatos - using the "baby wipe" technique (scribble gelatos on & blend with baby wipe).  The background was embossed with Spellbinders 3D "Roman Romance" - then highlighted with silver ink & silver embossing powder.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed with the same ink/embossing powder, using a home-made stamp made from a HOTP design.   This was cut with Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Oval die (parts that were on the outside of the silver edge were inked & embossed to match).  This was matted on a piece of purple suede paper (HOTP).

Inside:

Inside we have another homemade sentiment stamp - created the same way as the one on the front.  This one was matted on a piece of orchid paper & then framed with the leftover piece of purple suede paper.  I added a couple of scripture sentiments from JustRite stamp sets ("With Sympathy" and "Cast All Your Cares").


Card #3:

This last card started with a background that was colored with distress oxide inks.  It was embossed with a Spellbinder's M-Bossability folder ("Venetian") and the embossing was highlighted with darker ink.  After inking the edges and adding a ribbon border (2 different ribbons from my stash), I glued it to the card front.  Sympathy die cut sentiment was from ODBD "with Sympathy" set of stamps & dies" (now Divinity Designs), as was the small stamp used on the tag.  The small "with" was from Rosa "Love Words" die set.   Die for tag was from a Sizzix set (Bonjour Paris).  Mats for die cut words were traced from the die & fussy cut.

On the inside are more stamps from the JustRite and ODBD sets.