Buried Treasure

Buried in my file of gelli prints I found an alcohol ink piece adorned with stamping.  With some judicious trimming, I have another card! 

Bamboo

This is another card made from a gelli print.  I used a stamp by PSX to make the bamboo impression in the paint.

Gelli Print Cards

I made a few more cards from gelli prints recently.  Here are two that came from the same print.

Geisha Wishes

Card, 4 1/4" x 5.5"

Stamps on Deli Paper Gelli Print

Geisha by Recollections

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

I found that the best way to adhere a gelli print to a card is with a tape runner.  (Even a glue stick adds a bit too much moisture.)  I applied the tape runner to the card front, laid down the gelli print, burnished, and then trimmed off the excess deli paper. 

If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them!

Happy Birthday, Sloane!

Panda Stamp by Memory Box

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

This is a birthday card for my niece who will be six soon.

March's Calendar Project

It was my sister Dianne's turn to pick the theme last month, and she chose "things that fly".  It was a challenge to think of so many things that fly; I think I cheated a bit.  LOL

Stamping on Scrapbook Paper

Stamps by Biblical Impressions and I Brake for Stamps

Stamp by Time to Stamp

Stamp by Treasures from Paradise

More Clean-Up Cards

4 1/2" x 6 1/8"

Hydrangea by Great Canadian Stamp

Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)

One of the reasons that fun experiments ended up in the "Projects in Process" box is that they were too big to fit on a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card.  (This size is most often used by stampers because you can make two cards from an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock.)

I googled "standard card sizes", and found this short and informative post by Kate Harper Designs.  I cut some cards for the most common sizes, 4 1/2" x 6 1/8", and 5" x 7", and found that my projects in process all fit nicely on one or the other!  And envelopes won't be a problem either.

5" x 7"

Agapanthus by Stampendous

Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)

The Clean-Up Yields Some Cards

I like stamping and playing with the pencils, the mechanics of card making (measuring, cutting, matting, etc.), not so much.  Often my stamping ends up in a box labeled "Projects in Process".   During my recent clean-up of my office/studio, I vowed to turn these into finished product that can leave the house.  Kind of a "use it or lose it" pledge.

Here are the first two cards:

5" x 7"

Wheat Stamp by Hero Arts

Greeting by Biblical Impressions (Eureka)

Inchies

5" x 5"

Quilt Block Cards

I found some great patterns for quilt block cards on the Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild website.  Lynn Slevinsky, the contributor of the project, is a talented lettering artist who publishes some great books on easy marker lettering.

Edited to add:  I started with white piece of cardstock 3" square.  I cut patterned paper 1 1/2" square and then cut those into triangles.  This is a standard 1/2 sheet of cardstock card.

Even with a pattern, this took longer than I thought it would, but I love the finished result.  They're a bit fiddly but I just might try another!





Recycling Art

Today I'm recycling untraded Artist Trading Cards to make birthday cards:

Hand-carved Crocus Stamp

Greeting by Daisy Bucket Designs

Image by Snag 'em Stamps

Greeting by Hero Arts

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Faith, Hope, Love, Joy

 

These four Artist Trading Cards are images by Biblical Impressions.  I used watercolor paints to color them.  They were inspired by Dave Brethauer's book "Stamp in Color".

Masking Tape Backgrounds

I've seen this technique twice recently and knew I had to try it.  Masking tape is inked with an ink pad and used to "stamp" out each stripe.  Simple but ingenious.  These bird and flower stamps are by Christina Renee for Prima.  The greeting is by Biblical Impressions.

One Layer Cards Lesson

Earlier this week I CASE'd this card from Amusing Michelle.  I love its design and the "Spirograph" nature of those flowers.  Isn't it fabulous???

I learned a lot of lessons during this process, and finally came up with a version I can only describe as "not very spectacular":

I had 4 attempts at this.  Here's what I learned:

1.  When I CASE a card, I'm not using the same stamps, so I should test them on a scrap first.  I'll save a lot of expensive card stock this way.  For example, I didn't have a dot border stamp, and the ones I tried to substitute were too busy and had to be eliminated in the final version.
2. The same goes for ink. Now that I look at the cards together, my inks lack the punch of Michelle's.
3. Although I love pearls (and own them), I'm reluctant to send them through the mail, so I don't use them on many cards.  Here, I've used dimensional paint dots instead.  Lesson learned:  don't buy bulky embellishments.
4. What I thought were similar flower stamps weren't really vivid enough to make a one layer card like this.  I decided they were better suited to paper piecing, so I did this as well:

Flowers by Autumn Leaves

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

I like the punch of this much better!

Congratulations!

To my niece and her husband on the birth of their second child - a daughter.

Stamp by Magenta

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Enjoying the Spring

Spring is my favourite season, and this stamp by Great Canadian Stamp makes me smile.  I've stamped it in Versamark ink and let Pan Pastels add the colours.

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Using Up Scraps

Inchies are a great way to use up scraps.  They don't have to be used in a grid layout either.  Thanks to Simply Stamped for the great design.

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Caught Again by the Inchie Bug

This time I used some less than perfect stamped images:

Stamp by Crafty Individuals (Magenta)

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Mixing Stamps

When my creative brain is working I like to mix stamps from different sources:

Flower stamps by Kelly Panacci

Flower stem stamps by Autumn Leaves

Greeting by Biblical Impressions

Last Christmas Card of 2012

Greeting by Biblical Impressions