I had some assignments for swaps and sat down to do them all at one time.

First swap was for a 'masculine' card. Though I know of no men specifically that yearn for boats or the ocean my tendency is to gravitate to these themes. I designed this lighthouse stitching many years ago and stitched it up on cardstock that was run through the Cuttlebug with a Happy Birthday folder. I kept the colors in the primary range and gave the card a blue folded base to match the lighthouse.

The next swap was for 'Autumn Flowers". Other than cattails I think this sunflower is the only pattern I have that suits the theme. This was a pattern drawn up by someone on one of the lists I belong to but I always stitch it up differently than the pattern indicates. I stitched it on a 'ledger print' cardstock and added a cardstock sticker text. I rounded the corners of the stitched panel and mounted on a chocolate brown card base.

And finally, for the assignment of "Ethnic" I went with this Eiffel Tower that I patterned after a string art pattern from a library book. It is simplified greatly from the string art but maintains the overall feel. I stitched on a shimmery printed cardstock with a copper thread and added a copper metal text plate.

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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Yes, chopping, not shopping. I chopped up a jewelry catalog, cutting out really neat pins to feature on cards.

For this lovely I cut out a dragonfly with my craft knife and layered it on a ColorMe tag and a lively striped cardstock. The words are from a sticker sheet of mix and match phrases.

I selected a black cardstock backing for this and made Cuttlebug distressed stripes on it. A keyboard from the cover of a cardstock pad and a line of musical tissue tape form a backdrop for the flower from the jewelry catalog. The piece is mounted on foam tape. One petal and the center of the flower had rhinestone settings so I added some over the top of those in the picture. I used a deep red card base.

A dragonfly pin was my next inspiration. I set it on a square of printed card from the cover of a cardstock pad. Then, from table scraps, I compiled a collection of like-minded colored papers and cut stripes from them for a background. The feature panel is popped up on foam tape. I added golden stickles to all the rhinestones on the pin and a gold peel-off greeting.

The owl pin was added to a tag from my recent purchase of 'booklets' of tags, though I cut off the bottom for another use and re-rounded the corners with a punch. Because of the black eyes I selected a black accent strip and the black ribbon tied onto the tag. The burgundy printed background is a carker tone of the tag and the bright folded card base picks up the gold in the pin. I added stickles to all the rhinestone spots including black stickles for the eyes. The greeting is a gold peel-off.

I pulled another ColorMe tag as the background for this bird-of-paradise pin. Thr rich colors of the bird are echoed in the blue brocade background paper and the emerald green card base. I added a burgundy strip to anchor the tag and a gold peel-off greeting to the upper left. The rhinestones were again colored with stickles.

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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Not ONE of the 5 cards I did fit the scketch exactly but they do all use the proper size blocks in the background plus at least one embellishment or focal element. Here is the sketch:

To start with I pulled out some patriotic papers and cut them into the right sizes for the blocks. Then the blocks looked too regimented so I added some other color strips to relax the design a little. For this one I actually used a circle like the design showed but added little ribbon tails and then a definition sticker to it. I also make red doodle lines around the circle to integrate the color better into the rest of the design.

Then I used the same base color blocks but added different accent strips. For this one I used a scarecrow from my parts and starts drawer as the focal element and added a sentiment sticker to the lower block.

I still had small pieces of the original blocks but not enough to make the whole card. So I tossed in some solid color blocks and added a new patterned paper into the mix. This uses a cardstock sticker that looks like a sewn patch.

And in trying to use up the last of those scraps I added in still more patterned papers from the scrap bin and cut an image from a scrapbooking page-a-day calendar for the focal.

With the pattern in my head I went looking for more papers to play with. From the scrap bin I pulled this shimmery printed cardstock and found that it was exactly the right size to create the assigned blocks. The challenge for this was finding matching papers for the backing card and the rest of the elements. I found these vellum butterflies and applied them... good, not great. So I pulled out the silver outline butterflies and placed them as well... getting better, not quite there. Aha! When all else fails, add Stickles! I filled in all the outline butterflies with this glitter glue and added three silver "Happy" greetings to the right edge. Perfect!

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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When I was looking in the drawer for my metal foil tape for yesterday's projects I ran across a bunch of kits I had made up for a workshop. They were to make 1 1/2 x 2 inch sticky note pads into tiny books.

I pulled out a couple of them and threw them together to put in my box of "quick things to give to someone". They use thin chipboard for the front and back covers and the spine, pieces of giftwrap to wrap the covers, colored paper tape for the spine, and a lining of a different gift wrap. 

This picture shows them pretty close to life sized. I have instructions on making these over on my website.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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So I was quilting the other day. Actually I had designed a quilted wall hanging and had to work out the assembly as I was going along. I must have been more absorbed in it than I realized because I ended up dreaming up other quilting projects in my sleep.

But the projects I dreamed about were not quilted and they were extremely tiny. In fact, they were made up of 1/4 inch squares of fabric. Some of these squares were even to be cut in two to make itty-bitty triangle pieces. As many of my 'dreamed up' projects do, these worked out exactly like I envisioned. Here are the three projects I ended up with:

A necklace: squares of fabric were backed with Steam-a-Seam 2 then cut into 1/4 inch squares. These were laid out on a backing fabric along with those that needed to be cut into triangles plus a stem piece. They were ironed into place and a brown thread was used to stitch a grid where a real quilt would have had seams. I used more Steam-a-Seam 2 to adhere a backing fabric and trimmed the block down to 1 1/4 inches. This was sandwiched between two pieces of microscope slide glass and the edges sealed with silver foil tape. I adhered a bail with E6000 glue and added a rhinestone on the back of the bail.

A Pin: I used the same technique to adhere the fabrics but started with 1/4 inch strips of color and arranged them in a reversing pattern. Then I turned the block 1/4 turn and cut strips of varying widths. These were arranged from the center out using equal widths on each side and moving them up or down one color block to create a baragello design. I covered the back of a Tim Holtz 2-inch fragment with Glossy Accents and pressed it onto the fabric. When the glue was dry I cut around the piece, attached a silver cardstock to the back and bound the entire thing with silver foil tape. I used E6000 glue to attach a pin back.

A Card: For the last one I just played with strips and tiny blocks to create a fabric block. I created a backing by gluing fabric to a square of cardstock and attached the quilt block to it. This was popped up on foam tape on a scrapbook paper over a folded card base. A sticker text greeting was the finishing touch.

Now back to quilting in real size.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

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Months ago I ran across a card using this technique and made a sketch and notes to refer back to... scratch paper set aside and lost under other papers... suddenly unearthed... diligent attempts to decipher my scribbles... this is my best effort to replicate what I think I saw way back when.

I first stamped the focal image on the lower left of white cardstock. I then shielded the image with a sheet of paper at an angle and used a foam applicator to apply faded jeans distress ink to the lower right corner. This was repeated on the upper left corner. I used watercolors to color the image and trimmed to size. I backed the image with a thin band of black, bright yellow, and another thin black band. These bright bands enhance the illusion of a shaft of sunlight on the image.

I then used more of the yellow to stamp a sentiment and band it with black. This was glued to the panel front and a sheer green ribbon was knotted over it.

The feature panel was mounted on a folded white cardstock base.

I have no idea if this is what all the scribbles were really about, but I like the effect. In fact, I liked it so much I made a bunch more.

For these two, made with the same stamp, I moved the bordered sentiments on the right margin where I noticed the notes I made really had it. I kept it as a bordered item and matched them to the bright backing. I also colored the smaller flowers brighter than that first one I did and like this better.

I kept going with this stamp and coloring but mixed the sentiment colors to match the ribbons.

Then I went in a whole different direction, looking for other stamps in my collection that might be nicely featured with this technique. I started with a couple of vases of flowers. For these I stamped the sentiment directly onto the bright backing.

And finally, I used a berry stamp, again stamping multiple times to place it in a garden setting. I also tied the ribbon with two colors for added interest.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, 18 August 2011 5:35 PM PDT

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One thing that is fun about cruising so many blogs daily is the reminders of techniques that I haven't used for a long time and some that I have never got around to trying. Such is the case with today's cards.

First, I used a stamp that I have had for years but never used - the 6x shadow block stamp. Just inked this with extremely pastel pink and stamped on white cardstock. It made the perfect backdrop for the second technique that I had never done. It is called 'thumping'. You do this by inking a stamp with a dye ink and then tapping on the stamp with a darker tone of the same color using the side of a watercolor marker. The ink dries out as you do this so you breathe on it and then stamp.

AWESOME!

You don't get the full effect here but there are two tones of green in the leaves and stems and there are two tones of muted purples in the blossoms. I used a Nestabilities die to cut them out and chose the same soft green for the main background. The scalloped edge is a new punch I picked up on special. It cuts the scallop and indents dotted marks. I placed them on a piece of foam and used a piercing tool to prick through the indentations.

Then they diverge...  I used printed papers for the left edge of both, but one is a faux dictionary print and one is a script. Both use color blocking. I chose a shimmery purple card base for one and a wine card base for the other.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

Updated: Tuesday, 16 August 2011 10:32 PM PDT

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I had a dream...

No, nothing so earth-shattering as what comes to mind at those words! I just had a dream about making a particular card.

I used a new stamp set that I picked up at JoAnne Fabric and Crafts where they are stocking MANY more products from Tim Holtz. I  used Versamark to stamp the bicycle repeatedly over the background of a kraft colored cardstock. Then I stamped a single image in brown chalk ink and stamped the text with the same ink. I used a brown marker to draw a double base line and then used a black fine-line marker to create some drop-shadow lines on the image and the text. AWESOME!

I liked this treatment so much that I did the same thing with another image from the same stamp set. The major difference is that I used brown fine-line marker to add the accent lines to the text and vehicle on this one. Just as awesome as the first!

I love it when a dream becomes reality.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 7:00 AM PDT

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When I won a challenge online a couple of years back I was given, as part of the prize, a wee little packet of miniature scraps which was labeled 'inchies kit'. It got tossed in the parts and starts bin as I was not inspired by it at the time.

I recently ran across that kit and decided to challenge myself to create as many inchies as I could from it. I added only a couple of things from my own stash (button, punchouts, gold trim) and made 5 little miniature works of art, each one inch square.

That was step one. Then I set them aside for a couple of weeks until I challenged myself to make cards with each of them. This is the set I ended up with...

Inchie includes: doll image, ribbon scrap, paper flower, button, text sticker.  Card includes: printed cardstock square, cardstock strip, printed cardstock strip, Cuttlebug embossed background, cardstock text sticker, butterscotch folded card base.

Inchie includes: printed cardstock background, star punchouts, text block, gold peel-offs. Card includes: printed cardstock square, Cuttlebug embossed background,'old paper' distress ink, three cardstock stext stickers, rose folded card base.

Inchie includes: Textured cardstock, sheer ribbon scrap, cat punchout, star punchout, sunflower button with shank removed. Card includes: ColorMe paper treated with chalk ink direct to paper, A rub-on frame element, three cardstock text stickers, apricot folded card base, black fine-line marker faux stitches.

Inchie includes: violet cardstock base, graphic of violets with corners rounded, black ribbon snippet tied through punched holes, purple shrinky-dink stamped heart. Card includes: ColorMe paper background with sprayed coloration, fine-linemarker dots within pattern, rub-on frame element, cardstock text sticker, 'old paper' distress ink on edges.

Inchie includes: glossy color gradation background, two ribbon snippets layered, gold peel-off borders, shrinky-dink floral image. Card includes: ColorMe paper with sprayed coloration, Rub-on frame element, photo corners, clear text sticker strip, violetfolded card base.

These are all truly one of a kind as I will never have an inchies kit like that one again and many of the scraps I used to complete the cards were also one of a kind or last of the supply.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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When I was making the embossed card to enter in the fair I stamped and embossed a second copy of the cardinal image in case I messed up one. Since I didn't mess it up I set the second one aside to color up later - and later finally came!

I used watercolor markers to do the coloring - three reds, three greens, and gold for the beaks. Then I cut it out with the craft knife leaving a white border all around. This was adhered over a ColorMe tag which was sprayed with a shimmery color spray. I used foam tape for this mounting. For backgrounds I selected a green folded card base and some printed cardstock in a flourish and a woodgrain.

At the end I decided it needed a finishing touch so I added rub-on corners to two sides.

Ddd

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That probably should read "O is for Ornaments". This is the next entry in the stitching through the alphabet project.

I worked only in metallic threads (red, green, gold and copper) in outline stitch. This took me forever as I kept trying to stitch in the car and the lighting was too bright for that. I have to keep reminding myself how hard it is to stitch on dark backgrounds.

I punched the scalloped border and then backed it with a shimmery yellow cardstock and shimmery blue folded card base.

The text is a gold peel-off greeting sticker.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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I was working on an assignment to use hand carved rubber stamps and made three cards. These are the two that I did NOT select for the assignment - not that there's anything wrong with them, I just chose the other one.

First up is my carvings of a hummingbird and a flower. I stamped on glossy cardstock and colored with watercolor markers, doing quite a bit of blending with the pens. I added golden stickles to the bird throat and gave him an eye of glitter dot. The sky is colored in as well with a very light blue that does not show much at all. I used distress ink on all the edges and mounted to orange cardstock. The greeting is stamped.

Next up is the carved llama. He is also colored with watercolor markers. I used a nestabilities die to cut the shape and distressed the edges with ink. He is mounted with foam tape. I added a stamped greeting, a pen-stitching line, and three paper flowers with glitter dot centers.

His nose is NOT blue as it appears in the photo.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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Assignment: make cards using rubber stamping on the theme "Fairs and Carnivals"

My most memorable association with the fair was winning a blue ribbon for canned cherries over 30 years ago. So I decided to recreate the event. I used alcohol inks on acetate to tint it reddish-pink. I cur a jar-shaped aperture in white cardstock and mounted the tinted acetate on the back. I used pink cardstock ans stamped solid cherries in 5 shades all over it. Then I stamped in black some cherry outlines. This was mounted behind the acetate and, voila! - canned cherries!

I cut a strip of gold cardstock for the lid and used the scor-pal to create screw-top ridges. The label is stamped before adhering and I used fabric and a punched metallic blue cardstock to create a blue ribbon. The whole piece is mounted to a raspberry folded cardstock base.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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This was for a card swap with the assigned theme "sea life". This pattern was originally a 'string art' pattern that I found on the net and converted to paper embroidery. The stitching is just so simple and it looks elegant when done. I used verigated thread (pink, white, blue).

I brought in some coordinating scraps of paper and a couple of thick acrylic stickers.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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HA! I snitched the L is for Lantern card to send in a swap that required beading so I had to make another L card. I decided NOT to do the same one again and actually combined one whole pattern and part of another pattern to create this:

The heart is created by the method of stitching a circle and it requires two full rounds of stitching to do it. Love the way it works up. I took the birds from another pattern and stitched them last so their white threads would be the top layer of the design.

Heart stickers trim up the four rounded corners.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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I chose a cheery two-toned blue stripe to stitch a sailboat because, to me, it 'read' sky and water. I chose to do all the stitching in white for a fresh look that would be a natural for the sails and the waves. This pattern does not include the outline stitching but it really needed it to define the stitching away from the background.

I wanted to retain a masculine feel on this card so selected a distressed woodgrain backing. Then, even though I used a scallop punch on the bottom to mimic the waves, I used a strip of distressed text as a border that keeps it from looking 'girly'.

I punched some stars using the wood grain and leftovers of the text strip to add some interest to the sky.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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I have one more Christmas card from my marathon that did not fit any of the other categories. So here it comes on its own.

I used a recycled card illustration, a gold background on whick I had tested out a corner punch, and a punched circle from when I needed an aperture in something else. The illustration and gold panel are popped up on foam dots over a printed paper from last year's 6x6 pad. I stamped the round greeting on the blue dot and then brushed with distress ink to tone down the brightness of the blue. I added tails of grosgrain ribbon and used glue dots to affix it to the card front.

The background on the illustration is really very yellow instead of the orange it appears to be.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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OK, I admit it. Only ONE of these cards really has a stamped image. The rest are from a book of 'clip art' designed to be used for folk art painted plaques. NOT my thing - so I appropriated the images I liked and colored them with Copic markers for these cards.

For this first one I used the sketch rotated 180 degrees. I selected all the papers first and colored the image to match them. After gluing the strips and image I had a bunch of open space on the left so I added two gold foil stars. I drew in strings and bows to mimic the image and added a greeting with the same style of lettering. Then I added pen 'stitching' around the border and cross-stitch pen work on the strips. This was done with a Sharpie. The image is muted with distress ink:

I cut the strips with banner ends and added pen stitching around them as well as the stars for a country feel on this card. The muted tones make this feel quite masculine:

With a rotated orientation and angle-cut strips, this card is more playful. I added stars, drew around them in a style to match the illustration and added strings and bows with a pen. I used distress ink on the image to mute the tone:

This snow family is colored in non-traditional colors to match the paper strips. I flipped the sketch 180 degrees and used a longer illustration than the formula calls for. The greeting is stamped:

The same illustration with a different color scheme creates a more masculine card. The brown and cream snowflake strips are certainly non-traditional. Because the base card is so dark, I placed the clear oval greeting sticker on a lighter printed paper and trimmed it out before gluing it to the card:

THIS card is actually stamped. But NOT by me! I got it in a stamped image swap. I did color it, though. I used a lot of blue in the snow, bits of green to bring out the color of the base card, and strips of pinecone printed paper for the strips. There was not a logical place to stamp a greeting so I layered a punched star and a clear sticker to create the text feature in the upper left:

Does this mean I am ready for Christmas? NO! It just means I have my box ready to mail to Operation Write Home. I have yet to start making my OWN cards.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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Time for another Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps sketch (#79)

Since I also needed to fill 1/2 of my box of cards with holidays I made all of my sketch into Christmas cards. Today I will show those made with recovered materials. Tomorrow will be those made with stamps.

First up is an illustration from an old page-a-day scrapbooking calendar. This time the sketch was flipped 180 degrees to put the three stripes on the right. I used strips from an old paper pack and stamped the greeting on the illustration with its flourish falling on the base cardstock:

For this card I went a little funky and arranged the strips and the illustration off-kilter. The picture is recovered from a card received last year. I used the same stamped greeting:

This card is also illustrated by means of a recycled Christmas card. The 'merry' is a puffy acrylic sticker. 'Christmas' is a clear sticker:

I did a very tight trim on this recycled Christmas card image so it would fit the sketch. By mounting the image high I had room to stamp a larger greeting. I like the way the flourishes escape the edges of the card borders:

Another recycled card image - trimmed close to rid it of background. I cut the bottoms of the metallic strips to resemble a banner, for some added interest. A little dimension is achieved by popping the image up on foam tape. The same stamped greeting was used:

I rotated the sketch for the rest of my card set. The strips on this one are the last of piece of cardstock I stamped two years ago. It seems I get one or two of these same Santa images on Christmas cards every year. That's OK - I kinda like the folk art look of him. I stamped the greeting on the lower right:

This Santa face is from the page-a-day scrapbook calendar. I left the printed borders at the top and bottom for framing. The beard provided a handy spot for stamping the greeting:

The gold in this recycled card image looks so formal that I just continued down that path. I even chose black cardstock for the card base. The strips are gold on gold text and I created those banner ends again. The image is raised up on foam tape and the greeting is a puffy acrylic sticker:

This gold pinecone image from an old greeting card was paired with silver and white strips sor a fresh look. It looked so clean and simple that I did not want to mar it with stamping so I selected a clear sticker for the text:

More sketch cards tomorrow - using stamped images.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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In a swap of dry embossed papers I was sent 4 lovely Christmas trees. I decided it was time to use them and liked the first layout so much that I copied it for all the rest. I pulled out printed paper scraps from last year's 6 x 6 pads and used them to create a border on the left. Then I used the open scallop border punch doen the left edge of the tree, glued it on and trimmed the tree.

For this first one I used sticky-back clear rhinestones in a symetrical layout.

Theother green tree was decorated with sticky-back green pearls in various sized in an informal arrangement.

Two of the trees were on a bluish metallic finished cardstock with a linen texture. Very elegant. For the first, I trimmed the tree with red acrylic heart stickers.

Finally, I trimmed up the fourth tree with borders and sticker waste from gold peel-offs.

This is one of those embossing folders that I would like to have for myself. I've been relying on the generosity of others since it first came out!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 6:00 AM PDT

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