A Card and Heartbreak

My sweet sister-in-law lost her mother this week and I play with paper so I made a card for her. This is the first time in a LONG time that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with a card I’ve made. But let’s be honest, I just don’t have that many chances to sit and make a card anymore. At first, I wondered if I’d forgotten how, because it wasn’t working. I regrouped, tried something different and got this. I did really like the chance to make my son’s wedding invitations, but those weren’t “mine” as much as they were “theirs”. An awesome opportunity, but not in the same way.

So after this gushing, I hope you like it, too.

In a few days, I’ll be starting another, and it will be one of the most meaningful, but also the hardest that I think I’ve ever done. We lost my 25yo cousin this week and she earned her wings before she ever left this earth. I’m not sure how to pull this off, but I feel driven to do so. The world lost a light this week, but it seems a little bit of my cousin’s light was left with every person she ever met.

Anyway, here’s this one, and like I said, I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

I Had Time to Make Some Cards – and a Mistake!

I feel like I used all the things to make these 🙂

Most of the designing happened digitally in Craft Artist. Then I added those images to my Silhouette work space and cut them out. THEN I used some stamps and colored those images on the card front. Finally, I assembled them all.

Oh wait, I also used a metal die and my Evolution Advanced for one of the cards. See, I told you. I used all the things 😉

I was in a purple mood, so purple was the theme for these three cards.

First, the one I almost didn’t keep, until I played around with it a little more.

Before:

I tried to be tricky and mask the original stamped image so I could add another behind it. But I didn’t like how it turned out. I felt like it was kind of mashed together and it was hard to tell what you were looking at and where each thing was.

Instead of scrapping it, I got out my colored pencils and played a little. If I messed it up, it wasn’t a big deal, I wasn’t planning on using this anyway. All I could see was a winning situation.

Funny thing. I liked the image after I used my pencils. Although I stamped the flowers, I printed off two layers of pretty for my Silhouette to cut out for me.

After:

This next one I thought was kind of plain, but it turned out to be the favorite of someone else. So, yay! This card I printed and cut out two layers for the card as well as the bow. I also used my pencils to enhance the bow, because I like crazy details like that. The hello is stamped and I used a metal die to cut it out.

This one was kind of fun. I liked the butterfly 🙂 This card just had one printed layer. I also printed and cut out a butterfly so I could pop it on and add dimension. I stamped the orchid and used my pencils to add some shading and a little extra color.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Get Well Soon Blossoms

Life isn’t perfect.

Sometimes you need a get well soon card. But these are SO much better than sympathy cards, so I’m happy to do make them 🙂

I used Penny Black’s The Unfolding stamp for this. There’s masking, inking, platform stamping, watercolor blending, colored pencil work, markers, and just the tiniest bit of sparkle (which you can’t see in this picture but I wish you could).

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

That Time I Made Some Cards

 

So that title might be a little misleading…I seem to always be making cards, lol. But here’s some you may not have seen yet.

Trying my hand at water coloring…I think this was my first try. It’s okay. It’s not going to win any awards, but it wasn’t bad enough to toss.

I had THREE birthday boys in May…I need to figure out where the other card went. But here’s two of them 🙂 I was able to color the one on the left with copics as well as parts of the one on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, you just have to color a rose 🙂

 

And this caterpillar is *so* cute. I totally “borrowed” this idea from Sandy Allnock. She did it for Autism Awareness month back in April. I used it as a birthday card 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo

Social Worker Appreciation Month – Have You Thanked One?

Social work is a hard and often thankless job. The hours are long and the pay is low, but it’s some of the most important work out there. It takes someone special to do this kind of job.

We have been SO BLESSED to have THE SAME caseworker for the baby’s case the ENTIRE time. If you haven’t been in this world, let me tell you, this is HIGHLY unusual. Our case is almost 2 years old and our worker has been a stabilizing part of it. She made a tough, scary situation easier.

To thank her and show her our appreciation, I made a few things.

Here’s everything together. I made the boxes and bags, too, using my WRMK Template Studio 🙂

Up close of the shirt. I found the saying on Pinterest and designed something in Silhouette Studio to fit my needs. I use Siser glitter HTV in mint and now I think I’m in love with the sparkly htv 🙂

I used the same htv on the mug. Also a saying I found on Pinterest that I put into Silhouette Studio and played around with. I even got to use the conical warp tool!

I used my mug press attachment for the first time and I’m kind of in love with that, too! I do wish I’d made it a little smaller, but it’s a live and learn thing I guess 🙂

The mug says: You can’t fix crazy. All you can do is document it.

This card though.

It should have been easier.

I inked the flower stamp in different colors using a stamp positioning tool. But the effect was a little washed out. I did pick lightish colors though. So I grabbed my markers and inked up select areas of the stamp and stamped again.

I still wasn’t happy, so I got out my prismacolor pencils and added details and colors by hand until I was happy. And I LOVED how it turned out BUT I felt like there was too much white space. Hence the bricks.

I used my Cameo’s pixscan feature to cut out a mask for the stamped image. Then I ran some paper and a metal die through my Evolution Advanced die cutter to make a brick stencil. I masked off the flower and inked up the background. But it was a little, eh. So I got out my pencils and enhanced the bricks. Then I felt it competed too much with the flower. That’s the image you see right below.

So I did some fussy cutting (one of my least favorite things to do) to rescue the flower. Then used some other metal dies and an embossing folder to come up with what you see below. I was finally happy with it and called it a night. You can see the finished version below the bricked version 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, the flowers on the are mine because my husband’s awesome 😉

Xoxo

Christmas Cards Part the Fourth

Still working on fun 🙂

This card involved digital elements as well as an actual stamp 🙂 The background and the fairy are digital. I printed them off, colored, and then cut them out. Then I stamped the greeting 🙂

This is a stamp I bought a few months ago because, look at it 😉 This card is almost completely old school with no digital 🙂 I stamped and colored the image. Cut out all the papers. Used embossing powders and gel pens. When it was time to cut out the stamped portion, I tried to use my pixscan mat, but my machine and that function still don’t get a long. Which is a shame, because it’s such an awesome feature. Instead, I created and cut out two frames. One is the mat. The other I traced around my stamped image then cut the image out by hand. I got the right size by using the pixscan function, even if my machine wasn’t able to cut it out.

And we have a Christmas box card! I think I’ve shifted into the box card making part of my seasonal cards 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Links to the projects: fairy digi stamp, pattern/digi paper, postcard stamp, snow globe box card

Christmas Cards Part the Third – Here’s Another 3

I’ve been a busy little elf! While I waited for the ink to refill my Copics, I did some designing so I’d be ready 🙂

So, here are the cards 🙂

1. I used another Stampendous stamp and metal dies to pull this all together. But, I did try something new. This was my first try at no-line coloring. I’m happy with the results of my first try 🙂

2. The next card features a digital stamp that I LOVE. I used it last year, and I’ll probably use it at least once more this year, in addition to this card. I’m also in love with the saying. The mat is a digital paper I have from an old Craft Artist kit that I imported into the pattern folder in my Silhouette program. I printed the girl separately, colored her, then used the print & cut feature to cut her out and mat her on the front of the card.

 

3. This last card also features a digital stamp. The  backgrounds and mat for this are from the Silhouette Store. It’s all one piece I printed off then cut out. I colored the elf. This one I wasn’t sure about in the beginning. I started this card over at least three times  because I just wasn’t happy. This time, though, it worked. The little elf came out cuter than I hoped she would 🙂 I’m not sure how I pulled that off 😉

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Project Links

Card 1: Stampendous stamp

Card 2: One Child saying, Snowflake girl digi stamp

Card 3:  Holiday plaid pattern, snowflake pattern, Elf Mim

Christmas Card Making Has Begun

Last year, my husband asked me to make cards for him to use at work. Challenge accepted!

I’m starting early this year 🙂

I don’t have the attention span to make many of the same design, so card making doesn’t go as fast as it might. But I enjoy it more this way 🙂

So here are the first three 🙂

This one was  quick and simple. I cut out the image and matted it. The “paper” behind it is a pattern from the Silhouette store that I also had my machine print and cut out before layering it all on the card front.

Project links: Blue on Blue dot pattern, deer scene

 

This second one is simple enough, but there’s a tweak. Having the patterns available in the Silhouette Store is great, especially if you’re doing digital work to save a little time (Have I mentioned that I’m a little short on time these days?). But one of the drawbacks is that they’re NOT EDITABLE. For example, you can’t change red and white striped paper to something like the striped paper below…except I did. I figured out how to alter an unalterable item. Maybe some of you already figured out a way to do this, but I’m feeling a little magical right now 😉

Project Links: Red and white striped pattern, Deer ornament

 

For this third one, I pulled out some stamps to help finish things off 🙂 I forgot how much little things like that can add to a card.

Project Links: Card

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

I Made a Pineapple

School started Wednesday. It’s a weird mish-mash of schedules now, and I’m not sure how I’m going to make this school year work, but I’m sure it will 🙂

School break down:

3 graduated. Of those 3, 2 are enrolled in college classes. All 3 working and sharing a car.

3 in school. They’re spread out over 3 different schools. 2 of the 3 have extra-curricular activities.

1 still at home.

The one I’m most worried about is the little guy who started kindergarten this week. He’s had a rough beginning and that still plays out in cycles in our home. Right now, we’re in one of our good cycles. But change is SO HARD on this kiddo, I’m waiting for us to start spiraling downward again. Maybe he’ll surprise me, like everyone suggests while I’m gearing up for another round of power struggle battles.

In preparation for these rough times on the horizon, I made a paper pineapple box for his teacher. I put a few goodies in it. He has the same teacher two of my other kids had and I’m so grateful 🙂 But I want to show her my gratitude ahead of time while things are good 🙂

Here’s some pictures of the box.

We got him started in school and that first week went well. Next up is the solar eclipse and we’re in the path of totality, so the schools are teaching around it. My next success will be my boy getting through this amazing event with out burning his retina’s. I think this it totally doable 😉

Stamp and Die set, Pineapple

 

I Had Plans But….

I had a stamp set picked out to use.

I had a card sketched out on paper.

My card kind of resembles my sketch.

Here’s the sketch I did. I don’t know if you can really tell what it is, but that’s okay, since I didn’t really follow it 😉

Here’s the stamp set I planned to use…but I don’t think I used any of that, either.

From the sketch, I think I kept the background and the coral…

Here’s how the card turned out. I’m not disappointed at all.

The background is sponged on using multiple colors of multiple shades of browns and blues.

The white line around the card was done using a Silhouette sketch pen and a pixscan mat.

The mermaid was stamped and colored with copics and pencils.

I wanted to use my pixscan mat again to cut her out – but after the first cut, I could see the cut was off. I stopped the machine and rescued the image and ended up cutting her out by hand.

I kept trying to work in the sea horses I’d colored and cut out from the stamp set, but it just didn’t work. I dug through my things and found the bliss stamp and I’m jazzed how well it all came together considering it barely resembles the idea I started out with.

Thanks for stopping by!
Xoxo

Bliss stamp in a set from Serendipity, but I’ve had it forever and I can’t find the specific set. There is a stamp there that looks like it, but I have no idea how the size compares.

Mermaid is from a place called Coronado Islands stamps, but I don’t believe they exist any longer.

The coral is from the octopus set I used a while back 🙂