Thanksgiving Cards of all styles

I took a crack at making some cards for the upcoming eat-too-much holiday. I'm trying to get back in to some kind of schedule where I actually #sharehandmadekindness like I used to [note this is my 2nd blog of 2015. Yikes.] It's been stressful this year, so I really got off course. Most people only got their Halloween cards a day late... 

Although the holidays are usually chaotic, the lack of a reason to be outside helps keep me at the craft desk. The man and I did a little IKEA hackery to my craft desk: we moved a table leg so I could have access to a power receptacle, and drilled holes in the back of a drawer for cables. And now that the setup is 'perfect', I have no excuse not to make things. So here we go!

Both cards are watercolor over clear emboss resist. The embossing powder was ironed off after the watercolor dried. It doesn't come out of the Distress Watercolor Paper's thick texture as well as it does regular card, so I had to go back over the sentiment with pen to get the weak spots where there was leftover emboss. Idea from Case This Sketch #149. Sentiment from Lawn Fawn. Leaves from the latest Simon Says kit. I think the damask is from Inkadinkadoo. The watercolor has some metallic mixed in (thanks, gelatos) but it's hard to see.

Papers and stamps from Lawn Fawn. Sketch from Freshly Made Sketches #212. The "In To the Woods" papers haven't been touched for at least a year, if not longer... how's that for "in with the old?"

Papers and stamps from Lawn Fawn. My own layout, but I was remembering one of this nature I had seen before.



Some past cards that I made between blogs....

 

Stamps from Altenew. For the wedding of my friend, Ayako in Japan. I learned red and white are the best colors for weddings. I wanted to do a bunch of other symbolic Japanese things (the number 9, a special knot) but my supplies didn't match up to my ideas. Plus, I was still kinda recovering from surgery, so... this is what I ended up with.

This guy missed my Halloween post. I don't make enough distress ink backgrounds. White splats are from white Mister Hueys. Stamps from Lawn Fawn. (Anyone sensing a theme, here? No? Okay then...)

Halloween Cards: My first serious makes in forever!

It's been a long, long time since I have devoted some serious amount of time to paper crafting. This isn't to say I haven't done any, but that I've not given it a central focus for months on end. I decided to get back on the "holiday schedule" with cards for the loved ones outside of the immediate area. Here are the four I've made this past week. Lots of Lawn Fawn stamps, Spectrum Noir coloring, some We R Memory Keepers "Bewitched" papers, and some Wink of Stella here and there (both pen and brush). I think these all meet the "Too Cute to Spook" Lawnscaping Challenge. Maybe?

This is off of Get Sketchy #1.

This last card was a beast. I actually started the diagonal background stamping sometime last year. Gave up on the coloring because I didn't have the full set of Spectrum Noirs yet and it was getting a bit nuts to blend orange from the handful of colors I had. I also didn't quite know what to do with a sentiment. The small ones that came with the set were going to get lost. Found a bigger one from a different set, white embossed it, distressed it, and then added a dark purple "drop shadow" with a Sakura Micron to the lettering. That made it stand out enough for me to be happy with it. A few pop dots, and boom!

Blog? Who blogs? Here's over three months of stuff!

Basically, summer happened, Europe happened, and then I got viral vestibular neuritis. So I haven't blogged in forever  

But that didn't mean I haven't made anything. Here's everything I made (and took cell phone pics of) since the last time I blogged. 

 

Check This Out! Two Challenges in One

The current Lawnscaping Challenge is 'Back to School'. Well, I'm never going back to school again. [Grad school -- once is enough!] And since I don't have any human children, I wasn't sure what I would do for the challenge and thought about skipping it. But, thanks to a lot of the inspiration pieces using the Dewey Decimal kit, I decided to bust it out since I have it and take a stab at the challenge. I also decided to combine it with the current Freshly Made Sketch, #148. So, here's my creation.

I love the little library card. Stamped on ivory in brown to give a more worn look. I remember these things from grade school before electronic check outs. I used the Check It Out sentiment along with a few sentiments form a Studio Calico date/time rotary stamp. Really going for the "this is awesome" feel. And I added the month and year too. I love that the stamps are off-kilter, just like a librarian in a rush would do. I think it's a little busy overall, but I still really like it.

 

Hot Outside, Cards Inside

Yesterday, it was 104. Here's to happier things, all done indoors where it's safe and cool!

For the Lawnscaping color challenge I did a blended background with distress inks over a mask I made by chaining the wave stamp from Critters in the Sea. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the whale is on an Action Wobble Spring. He bobs right along the waves to say hello! I had so. much. luck. </sarcasm> making this card, the embellishments are all hiding little... surprises.

For Case This Sketch #84, I finally got to open my Henna Elements from Altenew. I think I would like it more if I had done the smart thing and masked the flowers so I could stamp the leaves on behind them. I wish the set had one smaller leaf in it. It doesn't so I faked it a little with some of the filigree and a marker. Silly me could have just stamped the filigree in green but that would have made too much sense!

Hello Chickadee!

I've been trying to do more one-layer cards lately. I feel like I have been focused on layering and cramming a lot of stuff in. Anyway, here is a card I made for Case This Sketch #83. I wanted to play with a Lawn Fawn set I have but haven't used yet. And sometimes, you just want to color!

I also made a series of 4th of July one-layer cards. They are all variations on this theme. This one was my favorite of them all. 

Boy Birthdays Everywhere

I made some cards for my friends who are twins on their birthday. We are all big fans of sushi and video games, so I thought these were appropriate. I also made a mini-album for another nerdy friend's baby boy birthday shower.

Colors and Sunshine

I've been behind in playing along with some of the kits I've been given. I went back to the Sunshine kit from March, and made a few cards. I hope you enjoy them.

This first one is for Freshly Made Sketches 138.

This is for Deconstructed Sketch 153. I used watercolor pencils on the crayons.

Easter Cards, round three.

Today I managed to get two made. Whoo-hoo! Considering I spent half the day asleep it is probably an accomplishment.

This is Deconstructed Sketch 146. I rotated it around and I made a fun rosette for the big circle. Can you tell I have only one Easter stamp set? You can barely see the light gray shading I did with my Spectrum Noirs. Papers are from Doodlebug.

This one is from Seize the Sketch #17. I had leftover sentiments that I test-stamped on vellum. I suppose, looking at it now, that I just could have stamped on the card. I made this mostly from scraps from my first two cards... pretty happy about that!

Easter Cards, round two!

I had this theory that I was going to make a bunch of Easter cards all in one day. Didn't happen. So I guess I'll be making them slowly. Papers from Doodlebug 'Springtime' and stamps from Lawn Fawn. Sketch from Clean & Simple 287. Enjoy!

Easter Cards, round one!

I have a major amount of Easter projects to get going on. This is only the first. If I make more today, I will come back and edit this post. That's the goal anyway...

First, one for the BF's mom using some supplies she just sent. A pack of blank 5x7 cards (of good quality, a rarity for packs I've noticed) and some pastel envelopes. Easter anyone? The stamp is from the favorite Lawn Fawn and the sketch is Mojo Monday 339. I attempted to make the rabbit look like he was jumping by shadow stamping him. I've never shadow stamped before. Does it work? Maybe? Kinda? Okay, okay. It's special...

The current Lawnscaping Challenge is to try something new! I did... I'm just not sure how I feel about it. Oh well!

Edited to add: This card was spotted by the Lawnscaping Challenge "Spotted and Hearted"" Patrol! Whoop whoop!