I went a little nuts with OWH sketch 10. I kept getting out supplies trying to decide what to put on the little tags it called for. Then, I found that I had enough tags to use all of the elements so I made up this sketch 6 ways!

Here's the sketch:

I selected some puffy acrylic stickers and green tags for this version. Playing off of the stickers I chose a pink patterned paper background and a light pink sentiment block, treated like a tab.

I added a black and white patterned strip for the crosspiece.

The layering pieces got black bordering but I did not put a border on the background paper.

Ddd

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

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Back to the OWH sketches for a while. I can say confidently that they will be posted for a 'while' since I already sat down and did a whole slew of them in one sitting.

Today I'm sharing sketch 09 shown here:

Some of these sketches are really simplistic so they do require some additional creativity to make them interesting. In this case, I accomplished that by a combination of interesting papers and use of bordering.

I also changed the image block to the sentiment and created a tab block where the sentiment was designated.

I also added a thin washi tape across the bottom of the arrow print and added three rhinestones in the tab block for design balance.

Ddd 

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

Updated: Tuesday, 14 January 2014 8:37 AM PST

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Assignment: Make a paper embroidery card in a different shape.

OK, I choose 'round'.

I love the way the heart takes shape out of a simple circle when stitched in two layers. This is a free pattern from Pinbroidery.com and I chose to use verigated thread.

After stitching I cut the piece into a circle. Then I cut the same size circle from a folded card base, overlapping slightly to keep the fold inside the top arc.

I sandwiched cotton lace between the stitched layer and the card base as I mounted them together.

Ddd 

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

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The stitching on today's card is simple, but that is where the simplicity ends.

I started the base with violet to match the right hand stitching and then tore successive layers of lace paper and coral papers. I added some strips of torn washi tape and added color to them with alcohol marker. A strip of cotton lace layered with rhinestones finishes off the left edge.

I added two heart-shaped rhinestone stickers in pink as the finish.

Ddd 

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

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I got in a little time for stitching cards. I had a challenge to make a card featuring a dog. I love this free pattern from StitchingCards.com too so I decided to use that.

I don't do the stitching as the pattern was designed as I like the body parts to be open rather than filled. I decided to use verigated thread to add interest.

A dark brown was used as a border around the dotted base and the stitched panel. Then, from a page of printed tags I punched a half-circle text piece and added faux stitching around it.

I used a couple of heart brads, colored them black with alcohol marker and added white highlights with paint pen. These make the eyes in this love-struck puppy.

Ddd 

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

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Here's where we went off the rails! OWH sketch 08:

Now that is just too boring for words! So I kept ONE element of the sketch - the diagonal line and went off in my own direction.

I cut the two halves down so I would have a border showing from the card base. Then I mounted the diagonal pieces. I arranged the first card with the patterned paper was on the upper left. This was followed by a large chipboard rose cluster. The yellow of the roses picks up yellow from the patterned paper. I used the green from the leaves and stems for the card base. Instead of placing the sentiment as it was on the sketch, I added it to the lower right corner using more of the yellow from the roses.

The second card was turned on its head so the patterned paper was on the lower right. I used the same paper for the sentiment as the backing paper which appears to be more restful. I added a white dashed border around the plain blue paper with a gel pen.

Initially, I had planned to make only one card from each of these sketches but sometimes if the materials are at hand it is just as easy to make 2, or 3, or 4.

Ddd

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

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I am enjoying working from sketches on this self-assigned mission. I hope the pleasure holds out!

Today I worked with OWH Sketch 07:

You can see that the original idea was to use 5 different papers across the span but I liked it much better with a symetrical look so that is what I used. I have few stamps that use a vertical sentiment but this one is large enough to be a focal point and I had it already stamped on 3 different bits of cardstock. These gave me the color keys to start selecting papers. I decided the center of each one would be a strip from a single piece of patterned paper and cut it apart into color range strips.

I started with the blues. These were all out of the scrap bins and look nice together without being matchy-matchy.

Yellow was the next sentiment color. I chose to go with a range of values from pale to vibrant and the blues in the floral calm the piece a little.

The last strip of feature paper was in the red range and my sentiment was stamped on a creamy white. I went to the scrap bins for reds but it was all too nerve-jangling so I opted for cream and black instead and let the interest all be in the patterns.

I brought the red back in as the card base color.

Ddd 

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

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Sometimes a sketch just hollers out what it wants to be! Such was the case with OWH sketch 96:

When I saw this I immediately thought of a paneled door with a wreath on it. The effort was all in execution.

I had an awesome woodgrain scrap and cut that up into the 4 panels. Since I did not have any more for the door base I created some on glossy paper with ink pads and markers. It did not have to be precise because so little of it shows in the end.

I used a scoring board to score 1/8" from all the edges of the panels and turned them back to crease. I had to clip the corners so they would not wrinkle or bunch up.  Each panel got a full coverage of foam tape on the back and was adhered to the door base. I then used alcohol markers in warm greys to shadow the sides of the panels (Copic W7 for right and bottom, Copic W5 for left and top).

The wreath is a clear sticker adhered to a green printed background and trimmed out. The same green was used to back the clear text sticker.

I added tiny green rhinestones to the wreat as a finishing touch.

Ddd

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

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Using OWH sketch 05 was rough going until I found a little snippet of paper left on the desktop that fit the scale perfectly.

Here is the sketch:

I followed the sketch faithfully until I got to the oval sentiment. The little bird on a script background was paired with a floral paper over a woodgrain. Then I simply added a sentiment strip with a flag-cut end.

I had a bit more of the bird paper but not enough to make the block as tall as the sketch. So I just narrowed that whole strip, keeping all the background papers the same as before. I framed up a stamped sentiment with some of the floral and popped it up on foam tape.

I decided to try out some detailing on this version and bordered every piece with some faux stitching in brown pen. I think this gives it a more rustic look.

Ddd

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

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I saw this idea on a blog somewhere a long time ago and sketched it to try later. Well, what do you know? Later is here!

The plan starts with a couple of large heart punches or diecuts. I had neither but I did have an old Coluzzle with a heart shape. Yep, I can use that!

For the lady I cut hearts out of pink and salmon shimmer cardstock and ran both through the Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder. I used a round punch to open up the neckline, added three tiny brads for buttons and a paper rose for a corasge.

The man is made with white and black shimmer cardstocks. The black is embossed with the twill folder and then cut halfway down the center. This allowed me to fold back the lapels. I tied a knot in a folded black 1/8" ribbon and then attached it to the white heart. The black heart is then layered over top of it.

With a black border, the background is metallic silver run through the hearts embossing folder.

This would make a good anniversary or valentine card, but it is actually going out in a swap.

Ddd

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

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For a swap I needed a card using nothing but white. Well, short of turning in a single piece of white cardstock folded in half, the only way I know to do this effectively is to use lots of layers and textures.

I used dies to cut roses, butterflies and words and I used folders to emboss the butterflies and a background. The roses are embossed with the same die that cuts them.

Foam tape raises the floral frame off the background and the butterflies are glued only at the centerline.

Ddd

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

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A challenge over at the OWH blog was to make a card with a penguin - and to use your most original image so everyone wouldn't make near duplicates. No problem there - the only penguin stamp I have is the one I carved several years ago.

I started with plain white cardstock and used masking to stamp the penguin three times. The only bit of coloring is the little bit of blue in the snow underfoot. I trimmed the panel so I could give it a red border and made a matching bowtie for one of the birds using 1/8" ribbon.

I used some little peg stamps to make the sentiment and added lines with black pen to turn the squares into cubes. This got bordered in red and popped up on foam tape.

Ddd

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

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Well, here I am, up to #4, and I haven't followed any sketch exactly yet. No surprise there, huh?

Here's the sketch I was supposed to be using:

Those lopsided borders weren't doing it for me so I cut my main panel down even further. Then I didn't have any sentiments with the right dimensions so I cheated on that, too. And finally, the 'ribbon' was way too high on the card for my taste so I changed it to twine and dropped it down.

I keyed the colors off the bird printed paper. I think this is originally from a set of Christmas papers. I added some woodgrain paper for wide borders and then pulled a mossy green from the bird print to use as borders and for the twine.

Just the text block is up on foam tape.

Ddd

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

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For the OWH sketch 03 I fiddled a bit with the sizes of the parts so I could work with what I had on hand. Here's the sketch:

Actually, there was only one dimension specified but I adjusted 'relative sizes' not 'absolutes'. You notice that when the sketches started there was very little bordering shown but I am to a point where I like the definition it gives, so try to include it if possible.

The three circle elements are chipboard stickers from the Tea For Two kit I used a few months back. There was a striped 'sampler' page with one section using the same motif so I snipped that off for a bottom border. This disguised the fact that my red bordering paper scrap was not big enough for the whole card front.

I used complementary papers and a stamped greeting to finish this off.

The text panel is popped up on foam tape which raises it to the same level as the thick diecut circles.

Ddd 

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

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Sketch 02 from OWH was too simple to leave it alone as designed:

After choosing a large text stamp (already stamped on blue cardstock) I sorted through old 6x6 pads and selected a vintage floral on coral and a strip of music. These got some red and blue borders and left me with a very plain card.

In going through desktop scraps I came up with a cloud stamped on patterned paper, a scalloped circle that I cut down into a parasol (and added a handcut handle), and a punched sunshine.

These touches, as well as the coral twine called for in the sketch, gave the card more pizazz. The cloud and the parasol center are popped up on foam tape.

Ddd

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

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Sometimes I need an ongoing challenge to give me some direction when I want to create but don't have anything specific in mind. So I decided to start making at least one card from each of the Operation Write Home sketches in order beginning with the first.

They may not necessarily be done on consecutive days - in fact they probably won't be - but it's a direction anyway.

So, today I started with sketch 01 which is this:

I had a large text block left over from a previous project back in November and decided to use that for the feature panel. I chose a couple of papers from recently used 6 x 6 paper packs and did some bordering in a warm grey to go with the printed lines in the floral paper.

The text block is popped up on foam tape for dimension.

Ddd

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

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In a new bath we added to the house we needed to have curtains for the window. Since the window glass is frosted the curtains did not to be concealing, but only decorative.

A beautiful shower curtain from a previous bathroom was on hand and matched the theme and coloring in the new bath. So I cut it up to use.

The window has a 'box' over it that conceals plumbing from the upstairs bath so I created a valance to cover that. Then a separate rod was used below the box for the side curtain panels.

To keep the side panels off to the edges where they belong I created a rod cover that is gathered on fairly tightly.

You never really know what's coming next on this blog, do you?

Ddd

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

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I recently picked up this book from the library and was inspired by the title and the colors to create some winter nail art. 

The book spends some time in Alaska where the characters are enthralled with the vast amount of stars in the sky. I painted my nails with blue and then created the starry sky with an overlay of gold glitter in clear polish. The wintery portion was to create snowflakes with silver glitter polish.

These nails don't match a single thing in my wardrobe so I might have to carry this book around everywhere until it's time to change them out! LOL!

Ddd

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

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More scraps laying on the table so I decided to make more of the very early Christmas cards.

For the first one I had used the front side for experimenting so I had to turn it over and play with the side where the pattern was indented instead of raised. This also put the border strip on the left. coloring was more challenging since I was coloring into the indented areas but it worked out fairly well. I couldn't stamp the text onto the background because it would have missed where there were sunk in dots. So I stamped on a buff paper, cut a fishtail and raised it up on foam tape. I liked black bordering for this.

I had one more of the embossed panels left but no more of the globes or diecut word. So I just colored it up and left off the ground line. I stamped the full greeting on the background and added a star in the sky which I colored with yellow.

This needed a bit of pizzaz so I used three different colors of Stickles to add over the snow ground and dots, colored background dots and the star.

Black bordering worked really well on this one, too.

Ddd

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

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You've probably seen those TV cooking shows where the participants are given a basket of ingredients and an inspiration theme and have to create something edible. Well, in a twist on that I started with THIS fabric:

...and the assigned inspiration theme of ''Wrestlers". Actually, I didn't get a 'basket of ingredients' so this was from the 'pantry and fridge'. I was sent a wrestler action figure to make clothing for and the assignment was under way.

This was the piece I made from the flashy red sequin fabric... trunks!

Very manly, huh? And this is after a lot of pattern drafting and test garments. When I made clothes for my teen dolls and later for my daughter's dolls, they had fully moveable parts, small hands and feet and no molded on clothing. For this doll his arms tend to move away from the body, he has balled fists and booted feet, non-moveable legs and he has bulky undies. These things make for great wrestling action but a challenge in fitting clothes!

I found some advice on the internet on drafting clothing patterns with no shoulder seams, built in sleeves, and one-piece legs on pants. A bit of experimenting with sewing order and I was ready to roll.

After making the trunks I decided to add a crop-top shirt to match it:

Then, because most of my 'pantry' is quilting fabrics, I needed to have stretchier fabrics to allow for dressing him around his physical challenges. I went to the fabric store and got 6 stretchy knits. Another nice thing about these is that the edges don't have to be hemmed and they still won't fray. YAY!

I now had one shirt pattern and one pants pattern and just made whatever adjustments were needed for styling other clothes. I made him a sleeveless tee and slacks:

He got a standard tee and another pair of pants (which are actually green):

Then I went back to my own stash and made him a few capes towear into the ring. This one is a crispy red with glitter in it:

This wrestler dude is really ready for anything now.

Ddd

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

Updated: Tuesday, 24 December 2013 9:25 PM PST

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