Birthday Cards

I've been following the newest Online Card Class: Stretch Your Dies.

Lots of great ideas! They inspired me to get caught up on my family birthday card stash. Don't worry, the intended recipients do not read my blog!

Here's the first:

Beautiful Bokeh background with Distress Inks and white pigment ink, plus home-made circle stencil. Then, those lucious-looking letters! These were inspired by Jennifer McGuire. The letters were white card-stock, cut with Avery Elle alpha dies, coloured with Distress Markers and inks to match the card, glossed with Wink of Stella, then covered with Liquid Glass for that shimmery, shiny effect.

Next up, one for my niece. This card is a shameless CASE of Laura Bassen. I used my rubber embossing mats to make the Polaroid impression with a Lil' Inker's die.  I masked off the edge, and stamped a photo-bomb scene, using Paper Smooches Chubby Chum Pals. Those were coloured with Copic Markers.

For the sentiment, I blended two Copic colours from the scene above, then die-cut the letters from Paper Smooches Sassy Script.

I tried a couple different colour combos before deciding on the blue and brown. Lining the dies up with washi tape helped keep them straight, even when using the magnetic platform.

One more view:

I am linking these up to:

And the Online Card Classes' gallery.

Have a crafty week!

Caroline

Radar Love

 Okay, maybe I meant "Radio Love."

I've been trying to follow along with Kathy Racoosin's 30-Day Colouring Challenge;

I can't say I've managed to do 5 minutes everyday, but the days when it DOES happen are feel-good days!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending all day creatively.

My friend Heather Telford organized a series of technique demos by the attendees at her monthly card-making workshop. Some great tips, and many more media avenues to explore.

My husband just returned from a two-day trip to Chicago. He told me he turned his suitcase inside out, and couldn't find a love-you/miss-you card from me ☹. Normally I manage to tuck one in while he's packing. How could that have slipped my mind?! So, I'm going to put the card featured here into his briefcase, for him to find at work tomorrow.

This one's nice and simple. 

More Copic colouring of those cute vintage radio designs from Create A Smile. Speech Bubble border die set from Lil'Inker Designs, and word dies from Paper Wishes.

I'm linking this one up to the Stretch Your Dies Online Card Class, too (another good thing about this past week!).

Hope your day involves some colouring!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Copic Coloring #3

Final post with Copic colouring homework.

I tell you, that Online Card Class: Copic Markers for Cardmakers was worth every penny. I’ve done the one-day Copic certification course (which was good) but the Online class has the advantage of all those videos that you can stop and start, review and digest at your own pace.

When I was a kid, I used to draw and colour all summer long (with my Crayola 24-pack of "pencil crayons"--so much more potential than the 12-pack…). I’d draw paper dolls, and then draw all their clothes and accessories, cut them out and dress them!  This class was a throw-back to those good old days, in a way.  There was a whole class on tips for colouring skin and hair.   The impact that some shading and implied texture make on a black-n-white image is almost magical.

 And those ballerinas… I have to admit I didn’t love the image we were given to play with at first (I’m not a huge chotsche-kind of gal), but once they started to emerge from the paper—wowsers! 

These were directly copied from the instructional videos (by Kathy Racoosin and Sandy Allnock); I can't take any credit for the colour choices or shading suggestions.

Make sure you check out Online Card Classes tomorrow--they promised to announce their next class...

Happy colouring,

Caroline

Copic coloring #2

While the Copic Coloring for Card-Makers class is officially over, you can still sign up for all the instruction, videos, PDFs, etc. Online Card Classes archives the content, so you can view whenever you like, and as many times as you like.

One really fun lesson was on colouring critters!

Suggestions were given for creating effects for fur, fuzz, corduroy, etc. 

I had particular fun colouring a dog to look like MY dog. He’s mostly white, with a little apricot around the ears.

He turned out so well (I think!), I had to cut him out and use him on a card…

 Also feeling a little guilty, as he did not get to make the trip out to PEI (we flew instead of driving, given the short visit). I added a little Liquid Glass to his eyes and nose.
Next summer, buddy!

Off to catch up with life, after a lovely four-day weekend...

Caroline

Your morning "blend"... Copics Day 1

Getting inky with Copics this week!

This is homework for Day 1, different colour combinations to practice blending.

I find it so Zen to sit and scribble away...

We're encouraged to upload our assignments, so I'm including my efforts.

A close-up of those cute little packages. 

I added some extra details with silver and white pens.

There's still plenty of time to sign up for the course!

Check out Online Card Classes.

Off to get inky again...

Caroline

From "Wallrus.."

The newest Online Card Class starts this coming Monday:

The Pre-class gallery is open, and participants are encouraged to share their work.

I went looking through my blog posts, and couldn't find this card.  I made it in January for one of my nephew's birthdays.  It features a great stamp set from the now defunct "Freshly Squeezed Stamps." It was kind of a build-a-bear set, with the makings for bears, penguins and walruses (if that's the correct plural!).  I had fun making the walruses different, using only three color families of Copics (coz that's all I had!).

I also included a bookmark with this card:

TTFA!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Paper Smooches bookmark dies and border dies

Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Copic Markers

Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad

Cardstock and alphbet stamps, CTMH

Flower Soft "snow"

Baker's twine

What's the scoop?!

Hello inky friends,
Here’s another card, made for On-line Card Classes’ Watercolor for Card-Makers.

This time, I “painted in” my stamped image.  Many of the beautiful cards in the class feature flowers. My floral stamp collection was a little thin, so I tried another, more whimsical image.

The cone and ice-cream scoop are stamps from The Stamps of Life.
I stamped the images with Distress ink in Walnut Stain, onto watercolor paper. I moistened the paper with water before adding any color, to allow the paint to flow more.  I scribbled some ink from my Distress markers onto an acrylic block, then picked up the color with a wet paintbrush.
You can build up layers of color, but you have to wait for the first layer to dry or everything kind of mooshes together... Patience is needed for water-coloring! Luckily, all that drippiness looked great on the ice-cream!

This was a lot of fun to make! The color and shading really added depth to the ice-cream cone.  I added a light color wash to the background with Tumbled Glass ink and a “horizon line” with Evergreen Bough.Off to BUY some ice-cream now, at Cow’s Ice-Cream on Prince Edward Island.  Sure sign of summer to come...

Happy painting,

Caroline

Feeling Hallow-weeny! Color My Heart Dare #66

The challenge at Color My Heart this week involves two complementary colours:

BUTTERCUP

and

GYPSY

I'm sure your first thought was NOT Halloween! But that holiday is a big deal around this household, with one son born on Oct. 31st. Two sons are going to college in other cities this year, so their Halloween cards had to be made sooner than later.  

Credit where credit is due: this card is a CASE of one made in a card-workshop a couple of years ago by my American CTMH buddy, Kristin.

I started by stamping random bats all over a piece of GYPSY cardstock. The focal image was heat-embossed with black, and then BUTTERCUP and GYPSY inks were sponged over top. I love the  effect where the two colours merge! I added some Liquid Glass to the eye sockets for more dimension and shine.

I've been paying more attention to the insides of my cards recently (since the Online Card Classes' "Insider").

So how do this week's colours inspire you?

Check out some great examples at Color My Heart, and link up your creation to share. This challenge runs until Thursday, Oct 31st (how appropriate!) at noon.

You do not have to use Close to My Heart products to participate--use close colours of ink or paper from your stash, but please do join us for some creative fun.

☠☠☠☠☠

On another note, just a couple more days to enter to win some blog candy! See my POST HERE.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies used:

100% Close to My Heart this week:

Card stock in Gypsy, Black and White Daisy

Inks: Versamark, Buttercup, Gypsy, Black

Stamp sets: B1429 Eek & Shriek

(retired) D1442 Thriller 

(retired) C1462 All Hallows Eve 

Ribbon Rounds Black Collection

foam tape

Paper Tumbling Blocks...

 I'm trying to catch up with my "homework" for the Online Card Class Pattern Play, this weekend.
Friday's class was all about weaving, folding and fussy-cutting patterned paper. A LOT like quilting techniques with fabric... A couple of the cards featured involved basket-weaving with strips of paper, at 90° angles. That reminded me of a reversible quilted wallhanging I did several years ago, with three different fabrics at 60° angles, which formed a tumbling block pattern.  I thought I'd give it a try with paper!

 I cut 1/2" strips and laid them out parallel, at a 60° angle to the vertical lines on my self-healing mat. My trusty Omnigrid 6"x6" ruler was invaluable for this job. Washi tape was used to temporarily adhere the strips to the work surface.

Then I laid out the next set of strips, following the opposite 60° angle,

then started weaving in the third set of strips vertically. I wish I could tell you a quick and easy rule on how to do this, but I basically just eye-balled it, developing a royal head-ache in the process!

Love the effect, though!  I ended up with a 2"x4" useable strip of woven paper, which as I had used two-sided paper, had a completely different design on the back!  I machine-stitched the edges together, and trimmed them with pinking shears, in keeping with the textile theme.  Here's the finished card:

The poster-style stamp is from Close to My Heart, entitled Home Sweet Home. I gave it the on-trend blackboard treatment, heat-embossing with white and then rubbing on some white pigment ink with my finger. The embellishment was fussy-cut from coordinating paper and layered with foam tape, along with a die-cut flourish from Marianne Design.

Here's a final close-up of the woven panel, with its intriguing 3D tumbling-blocks effect. 10-minute Craft-Dash this was NOT! More like an hour+. However, an interesting experiment...

Happy crafting!
Caroline

Supplies Used:
Cardstock from CTMH in Black & Slate
Patterned Paper from CTMH, For Always
Stamp set CTMH #S1302, Home Sweet Home
Black and Grey sparkles, CTMH
Versamark Ink, White Daisy pigment ink
Superfine white embossing powder and heat-tool
Washi tape
Omnigrid 6"x6" ruler, available at JoAnn's
Marianne Designs CreaTables cutting die
Red gems, Michael's

Whimsical Easter with Color My Heart Dare #

Hello Everyone!

Well it may be still snowing up in Ontario, but Color My Heart Challenge has some sweet blooming colours for you to play with this week:

BLUSH

BUTTERCUP

& SKY

I've been following Online Card Classes' Pattern Play this week, which features all kinds of ways to use patterned paper (aka: use up your STASH!). I dug through my old CTMH 6" sampler packs to find some bold and subtle prints in those primary pastels, and created Easter cards for my three sons.

I began with the adorable bunny from Paper Smooches stamp set, entitled Magical Spring.

I stamped him a few different ways, wanting to make him as chocolatey as possible.

I wanted to try stamping on the patterned paper, and created a negative egg-shape as a frame. I KNOW you should be able to just instruct the Cricut to cut the desired shape in the middle of the card, but I was too CHICKEN to experiment. So I just cut a 4" egg shape using the CTMH Artiste Cartridge and then used that as a template, cutting around it with a craft knife.

I used a variety of graphic image stamps from Paper Smooches, Geographic, Needle Little Love & Magical Spring to "decorate" the papers behind the egg recesses, then mounted the frame above them with foam tape.

The bunnies are sitting on grass cut with a My Favorite Things Die-namic. They are each holding different banners. Here's a closer look at each card:

Dark Chocolate Bunny with Lucy paper

Milk Chocolate Bunny with Chantilly

Some-bunny with Chantilly, Mayberry and Sophia papers

Now I just have to go out and find corresponding CHOCOLATE bunnies and I'll be all set for Easter!

Why not HOP over to Color My Heart and see what's cooking? The challenge is open until Thursday next week (March 28th). Perfect timing to create and share some Easter projects of your own, with the CTMH challenge colours, or as close as you can with your own supplies.

Happy Crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Will be up tomorrow!

To BOLDLY GO...

More fun with Online Card Classes' Pattern Play today. The theme was embracing big, bold patterns: cut them up, tone them down, use just pieces, etc.

One of my nephews has a birthday this coming weekend, so I got out my CTMH Superhero paper pack and chose one of the patterns I'd only used pieces of before (check out that project HERE).

Here's what the whole 12x12 sheet looks like:

Large, kind of random, its gonna compete with anything and everything it comes in contact with...however, its also fun!

I used Kristina Werner's idea of slicing a large-scale floral into strips and letting the solid-colour background card-stock act as the "grout" for the mosaic effect. She sliced her paper vertically. I chose to do DIAGONAL slices, to reinforce the "up, up and away" effect. Turns out diagonal is VERY tricky to re-align--some of the connections got off-set, but it just added to the sense of movement on the card. See what you think:

I stamped the birthday sentiment onto a rub-on that complemented the paper, matted it on black to give it some visual separation from the main panel and also popped it with foam tape. Again following Kristina's lead, I punched some small stars from a coordinating paper, matted and popped them as well. And who says a boy's card can't have some BLING? A few red jewels complete the look.

I added a third pattern to the inside of the card:

Hope the birthday boy, aka Super Sam, likes it.

The Online Card Class runs through the end of the week--there's still time to sign up, learn a few tricks and be MIGHTILY inspired!

Happy crafting,
Caroline

Supplies Used:
CTMH Superhero Paper pack and cardstock in Cranberry and Black.
CTMH inks in Cranberry and Black; also Staz-On black for stamping on the rub-on
CTMH stamp set Keyboard Uppercase
Paper Smooches stamp set Birthday Sampler
Paper Wishes bulk 5x7 card base
Michael's red crystal stickers