The lessons continued when I got home... If you use a Crayola washable marker to stamp your image, it will smear when you try to use Distress Ink on it. Yeah, thanks for telling me! I took this little lesson to heart and intentionally smeared the REST of the image to match the first boo-boo. If fact, it then smeared those lovely student-grade colored pencils. So now we have a very soft image as a focal. All the papers I had selected for layering were now too bright so they all got distress ink as well. And now that they all match, again, we are happy.

A bit of sheer ribbon and a stamped and distressed sentiment are the finishing touches.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

If you go to visit someone you should always ask if they have any rubber stamps you can use. Then you get to stamp images that you do not personally own. I tried this trick with my grandkids and had a fun time stamping with them. Along the way we shared some stamping lessons: I taught them to use a black water-based Crayola marker to color their stamps and huff on it because we only had a red stamp pad. I taught them how to mask images so something else stamped would appear behind. I taught them to use stamps in unexpected ways as we had 'face parts' that became other things when turned upside down.

For myself I had to learn that is it OK to create even when you don't have your go-to supplies so I colored with student grade standard colored pencils. I stamped and colored on plain white computer paper and just mounted it to cardstock with Xyron when I got home. And when the kids got bored and moved on to video games I stayed and finished my work.

Lots of lessons learned!

I used one stamp twice and colored it two different ways for totally different looks. First is this fairly standard coloring of a little sheep. I gave him some background scraps in coordinating colors and pupped him up on foam tape. The lettering is made with a punch set I have but had not used for a long time. I don't know why I cannot use a sheep image without including the 'ewe' pun in some way.

For the second stamping I colored the sheep in blues to further the pun. This time I used the punches to create the words in patterned paper strips. I punched first on longer strips and then centered them on the card and trimmed the ends. Some little paper flowers that I had experimented in coloring a while back suddenly found a home on this card.  attached them with glue dots and filled the centers with blue rhinestones.

Oh, the silliness!

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

After the cross-eyed adventure of stitching yesterday's card (on dark, busy, complicated print in low light) it was a rest for the eyes to stitch on a plain blue background. Especially since this was such an intricate pattern.

The assignment was for a card with 'summer flowers' so I went with 'weeds' which are the only summer flowers I am capable of growing. The stalk on the right is supposed to be wheat but I changed up the color and I'm pretending it is lavender. I suppose the other two are bachelor button and dandelion.

I used white rub-ons from two different sets to construct the text and added a dragonfly punched from a paint strip.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

I needed to do a paper embroidery card with a 'train' theme and remembered I had this pattern of a famous toy train. I kept with the original coloring scheme but muted each of them for a softer look. I needed to keep it bright enough to be seen on the dotted yellow cardstock background, though. I layered with another patterned paper and a blue folded card base to bring out colors from the stitching. I used a couple of cardstock stickers for text.

NOTE TO SELF: No matter how cute the cardstock you want to stitch on, check out the back for overly busy or complicated prints. They are horrible to see your holes on the back and will cost you hours of frustration, especially if the lighting is poor - and if you insist on using it anyway, it will probably turn out that the lighting will be poor just to annoy you!

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Hooray for little vacations when you get dead time (sitting in airports, sitting on airplanes, riding in shuttles) to stitch cards like crazy... when not reading.

I had just such an adventure lately and the first project I whipped up was this Christmas card. I had never stitched this pattern before but I do like it. I used some ColorMe paper bor the background that had been tinted with silver Glimmer Mist. I thought with all the shine and the swirls it suited a skating theme well. The text is a rub-on and the snowflakes are clear stickers. They have a metallic finish to the flakes.

The base card has a pearlescent finish as well, making this a sparkly card in a low-key kind of way.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Better get your sunglasses, it's going to be BRIGHT today!

Lots of orange and yellow on the over-all daisy patterned waxed paper background. So I just kept going with those colors for the cards and added some unexpected colors for variety.

First up is an irregular striped background that brings in some teal, rust and grey into the mix. The, there's that crazy rabbit AGAIN!. This time I colored his flowers with rusty colored ink and gave the centers some yellow Stickles. The strip at the top is stamped with the same ink and popped up on foam. Then I added some faux stitching to this and the rusty strip of 'ground' at the bottom.

I gave the stripes on this one a more symetrical arrangement and added some greens to the mix. The string of dragonflies are punched from the blocks on a paint sample strip. The sentiment is stamped directly on the card face across all the strips.

For this last card I remembered a pierced cardstock in my stash. I centered the cut design on an orange card base and mounted the remaining bit of daisy chain paper horizontally on top of two layers. I stamped the greeting and then added some stamped daisies on the text strip as well ad inside the cut design. I jazzed these up by coloring them in with orange Stickles.

Now aren't you sorry you didn't get out your sunglasses like I asked?

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

First of all, I'd just like to say "Happy Blog-iversary to ME"! I started this blog 5 years ago today and have posted every single day of that 5 years. That's quite an accomplishment!

Now - on to the art!

Today I pulled out the waxed paper background with the repeating hearts. I gave it some table scrap layers and stamped the text repeatedly to echo the heart pattern. I pulled the rabbit out of the hat again and lightly inked it. Then, by sanding the surface, I revealed the raised dots. I added punched flowers over the stamped ones and gave each a Liquid Pearl center. The finishing touch was faux stitching around the edges.

Not only do I have lots of these waxed paper backgrounds but by judicious planning (or dumb luck) I can get multiple cards out of each one.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Today's card is JUST scraps. I've been matching table scraps to backgrounds to make little 'kits' to work from and ended up with several scraps that went so well together that they didn't need a background of their own.

I started with the lovely floral centerpiece and added strips to each side using colors from the illustration. For the crosswise section I used a lacy print and then scallop punched a border on it. The blue layer has been stamped then I distressed and black-inked the edges.

After mounting this I stamped silhouette flowers in opposing corners.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

So far I think these background cards are turning out better and better. Today I am using the Ironworks folder colored with blue-grey. With a stack of blue-grey and golden table scraps I just started layering them in stripes. I wanted a little more definition so I used black pen to make faux stitching on the golden and white pen to do the same on the center blue strip.

I used a tiny dragonfly punch to make 6 golden and 5 blue out of paint sample strips. I glued then on in ombre fashion.

I combined words from two different stamp sets for the greeting.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

I used a new-to-me folder with a clock-works pattern for this background. Then when I got ready to make a card with it I realized that one of the new Hero Arts stamp sets that partners with OWH has two clock images. Tah-dah! I stamped the images over the appropriate colored areas and added the clock hands to show random times. The dots down the right are cut from a Halloween paper and the tiny stripes bordering the text strip is the reverse of it. I backed the dots with an orange table scrap and the stripes with a piece of brown.

The same stamp set with the clock images also had the text for the greeting.

In my metallic miscellany bin I found the clock face and the big arrow. I layered them and attached to the card with a brad.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

This card may seem familiar, but it is just the same image stamped on the same block as yesterday's card. I did, however, add some extra partial-fish around the edges and lightly brushed the center one with liquid pearls for some shine.

For this herringbone background I wanted to emphasize the blues and browns so I bordered all the elements with chocolate brown. I cut the bottoms of the strips at angle to echo the pattern and tied scrappers floss around the strips.

The vertical strips are striped paper that just happened to have all the colors of the background. I didn't add a greeting to this card.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

For today's entry I used both of the argyle waxed paper backgrounds that I had created.

The first is made with the pastel version. I combined with dark grey patterned paper for layering and a strip of definitions scrapbook paper. I used some sticker letters that look like postage stamps and a silver peeloff to create the text greeting. I cut out another of those bunnies and popped it up on foam tape. Then I filled in all his flowers with Liquid Pearls in colors to match the background paper.

The second argyle background uses brighter colors. I pulled out lots of table scraps with coordinating colors and layered strips, scallops, a tag and a star. The star got faux stitching in gold pen, the tag was stamped with a greeting, the block was stamped with a fish image and then all three elements were mounted with foam tape. I added a tied piece of scrappers floss and placed gold 'nail head' sticker dots along the scallop.

I put this one on a blue base card to match the star.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

I couldn't wait to start using the waxed paper backgrounds I made the other day. This bright rainbow was my favorite.

I matched scraps of patterned papers to the bands of color in the rainbow. For the first one I cut a section of the rainbow paper about 3 inches wide. The patterned papers were laid out along the right side and a separator stripe was installed along their meeting edges. This was mounted to a bright gold folded card base and I made a text block with layered purple and red.

The bunny is left over from that recent paper piecing adventure. I attached some tiny purple paper flowers over the stamped ones on the bunny.

For the second card I started with the left over strip of rainbow background and the same set of table scraps. I did add a blue strip in this set. Before mounting to the moss-green card base I attached a piece of moss-green sheer ribbon and knotted it over the green area.

For this one I stamped a greeting on the left and a small bouquet silhouette on the lower right.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Another paper embroidery group is having a swap of cards with only purple and white. I started with purple cardstock, stitched with darker purple and white threads and mounted two layers of white flowers with a white pearl brad.

Very clean and simpl, which I think makes it look refreshing.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

On assignment for a 'tropical' paper embroidery swap I stitched up my pattern for a parrot. I haven't done this one for quite a while and it goes in a different direction than most might do - a beach scene.

I used a scrapbook paper with subtle tone-on-tone flowers in a diamond grid.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

For a swap we were directed to make a paper embroidery card that tells 'something about you'. I chose to feature my fascination with quilting and selected this pattern with a thimble and needle and thread. I think the flower is supposed to represent doing embroidery, but I'm using it for quilting anyway.

Other than the tools which are done with silver and gold metallic threads, I focused on using green and orange.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

When I ran across this technique for the third time in a week (on separate blogs) I decided to take a run at it myself. I had before made waxed paper backgrounds by crinkling waxed paper, flattening it, sandwiching between two pieces of glossy white cardstock, and ironing it to melt the wax. When this is colored with inks the wax resists the color leaving a lovely pattern.

The twist in this technique is running the waxed paper through the Cuttlebug using an embossing folder. Then, rather than having a random crackled pattern in the finished colored cardstock, you get a coloring with the design of the folder. Awesome! 

I cut a huge stack of cardstock, a big stack of waxed paper and got out several of my folders. Working in assembly line I impressed each of the selected folders 2 to 3 times. (Each will make two finished cards) Then I sandqiched them till I ran out of cut cardstock and then ironed the whole stack.

After this I got out the distress inks and started coloring up the backgrounds. I used two to four inks for each panel, applying them with a blending tool. After covering the surface I buffed with a paper towel to reveal the pattern.

I didn't use up all the prepared cards but here is what I have so far:

A soft argyle that will make a great background for a baby boy card

A brighter argyle for a masculine card

A brick texture with very warm tones

more brick with redder coloring

brocade with extremely pastel inks

reds and pinks on a circle/diamond pattern

clockworks on which I tried to color individual elements differently to define them

daisies in a blend of oranges

small diamonds in a rainbow

hearts in pink and orange

interlocking circles in a pastel blue/green

the same pattern with some brights in intentional placement

ornamental iron folder in greys and blues

stars in stripes

star background with flag coloring

stars with spot coloring

herringbone in muted masculine stripes

vines in browns and greens. notice that this one has the vines a solids. every folder has an indented pattern and a raised pattern. the card will come out of the 'ironing' phase as either the negative or the positive image depending on which side of the waxed paper sandwich it is on.

vines with yellow and green plus a few red 'berries'

I still have LOTS of waxed backgrounds I have not colored yet. I might try some other types of coloring agents to see what neat effects I can create.

In the meantime, I have some inspirational backgrounds calling out for me to get busy.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

I did lettering for the Vacation Bible School banners again this year. The came with the lettering on the left and the kids in the car.

To do these I measure the open space and draw a full-size block on the computer in CorelDraw. Then I look for fonts that suit the theme and type in the information. To print it full-scalee I have to move the text bit by bit over the 'page' on the screen, printing after each move. Then the pages are all taped together into a big sheet. I tape this to the patio windows and tape the plastic banner over the top of it using clear packing tape. Everything is then drawn on the banner using "Marks-a-Lot' permanent black markers.

I wanted to set off the information for the Kickoff Festival so I drew in a strip of 'tickets'. These I colored with 'lettuce' alcohol ink using a piece of felt on my blending tool. This has to be done very carefully because the alcohol ink will 'melt' the black marker and smear it.

I made two of these and always make them with materials that will allow them to be displayed out of doors without being in danger of the weather.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

I had some table scraps that had been set out for a specific purpose and then never got used. While shuffling them back into the mix of other table scraps I kept coming up with matchups I liked and finally put together this card.

The bunny is left over from the recent paper piecing session. I can't remember where the yellow circle came from but I cut the golden backing for it for this project. The floral band is the back side of a recently used cardstock and the shaped white piece is from my stash of die-cuts. I ran across it while looking for something else entirely! Two patterned strips in the background were the table scraps I started with.

I used a fine-line marker to add some fauz stitching and then tied two coordinating ribbons together for the bow.

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Another great sketch challenge from Operation Write Home. This is their 121st sketch!

I immediately thought of the patriotic papers I cut into for the lighthouses and cut strips out of them to mix and match for seven cards. For some I added a tiny strip up the center on the bottom part and for some I added a smaller strip at the top. I had a couple of different sticker sets with patriotic and/or 4th of July materials and selected from these as the focals. I also punched large stars from a matching blue cardstock. After putting all the pieces together I used a white gel pen to add stitching dashed lines around selected portions.

Aren't these fun?

Ddd

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

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink