:o)
For the Handmade Cards blog hop in September 2013.
We were asked to make cards using a certain number of supplies, and my number was three. The three supplies I chose: cardstock, stencils and embroidery floss [basic tools and adhesive didn't count].
For most of my card's elements, I used stencils from an American Crafts kit. For the blue flower centre and "hi", I paper pierced the cardstock freehand. The flower from the stencil was a simple outline, but I wanted to add a bit more detail, so I pierced one hole in the middle so that I could have stitches radiating from the centre [like I did with the blue piece]. One option was to cut the designs out before stitching, but instead, I decided to stitch the designs before cutting them so that I'd have a slightly larger piece of cardstock to hold onto as I did the stitching.
Next up is Naptime Santa Card...
:o)
For the Holiday Cards & More: Volume 7 blog hop in September 2012.
We were asked to create projects using the free sentiment downloads from the issue, and I chose to use the "Holiday Cheer" banner.
The napping Santa and couch are stamps from Starving Artistamps. I love colouring on patterned paper, as I did with the couch there. It's an easy way to add detail/another colour without having to paper piece! To create the baseboard, I scored a piece of cardstock and then trimmed it. I found it easier to score the cardstock first and then cut it into a skinny strip, rather than trying to score a fiddly, skinny piece of cardstock.
Humble, Napping Champion, was napping on the couch when I made this Santa card. :D
Next up is a Before and After set of cards that I made for the Card Design Handbook blog hop in August 2012. The idea behind the blog hop was to show how a project can go from "good to great" by following the rules of design explained in the issue. I decided to work with the "rules" of Fun & Cute, my favourite crafting style. Some of Paper Crafts' tips for crafting Fun & Cute are to incorporate the following:
- happy colour scheme
- sweet sentiment
- uncomplicated design
- whimsy [i.e. cartoons and doodles]
- simple shapes [i.e. hearts and stars]
- friendly patterns [i.e. polka dots and gingham]
Here's my Before card:
Here we've got the uncomplicated design and cartoon. The main thing that looks a little "off" is the sentiment -- the font is a little too fancy for a Fun & Cute card.
Now for the card makeover!
:o)
That sentiment is WAY better, right? Punny sentiments and Fun & Cute are like the best friends of card making. :D This time, I covered the card base with a slightly brighter blue that's embossed with dots, and I stamped polka dots on the "sky" to add more of that friendly pattern. I rounded the corners of the card to soften it a little.
The moose and polka dot background stamps are from Starving Artistamps. The sentiment from them is really "That's Amooseing", but I did some selective inking with it and a different stamp to get this sentiment.
My last reshare for today is a card I made for the Card Creations: Get Inspired blog hop in December 2011. We were asked to make cards using something from our homes as inspiration. I chose one of my favourite vintage finds, this adorable bunny mug...
:o)
This little guy makes me smile every day! Here's the card he inspired...
:o)
Jumping for joy!
For added dimension, I trimmed around the upper body and lower body separately, then I attached the lower body with one layer of foam and the upper body with two layers of foam. The cloud paper in the background is shimmery -- fun stuff!
Again, I used stamps from Starving Artistamps. If I had to pick one favourite stamp company, it would be them. Their stamps make me laugh, and I just have pure fun using their stamp images. They have lots of cat stamps, too, so it's impossible for me not to be in total stamp love. :o) I used some of their cat stamps on a couple of my favourite blog hop cards, but I'll save those for a future cats-only reshare post! :D
Before I go, I wanted to share some news that made me giddy! Humble will be appearing in Holiday Cards & More: Volume 9! :D Hoo-hoo!! I crossed all fingers and toes hoping that one particular card would make it in. I don't mention this to brag or anything -- I'm just happy about it because I love Humble the most. :o) I'm still grinning like a fool.
Thanks for stopping by for this gigantic blog post -- hope you have a crafty weekend!
