Back to that Challenge Card

Here's a pretty color combination straight out of the CTMH Color Guide - Pansy Purple, Garden Green and Bamboo. The card measures 5-1/2 by 5-1/2. The scalloped circle element is 3-1/2 inches. All of the cardstock pieces were sanded, and the edges of the bamboo sentiment circle were distressed with Bamboo ink.

I like the distressed look, particularly when you want to give your card an antique look. Shabby chic is fun, too, but it's not for every card. I use the Edge Distresser from CTMH's new Distressing Kit quite a bit but still grab for my old discount store sanding blocks. I also have an old-style Bamboo ink pad that is seasoned to perfection, and I would be lost without it. As with embellishments, if distressing is not going to improve or add something to the overall design, I don't do it. Maybe I've said it before, I stamp the way I dress and decorate my house - simple.

Prototyping

As I was making my way to the bottom of my desk, I came across the tutorial for this pull-up card. In the mood for paper engineering today, I thought I'd give it a whirl. While Amy's tutorial is great, it doesn't appear to include all of the dimensions, so I had to do a little thinking for myself. It worked out fine with the exception that I'm going to adjust the slots so that the pull-up pulls up a little higher on the next card. I'm also going to make certain my stamps are more appropri-ate. The slots are created with Stampin' Up's awesome Word Slot punch, but it if you don't have it, you can easily cut slots with an X-acto knife. The ends don't have to be rounded. Also, the generic term for "Dimensionals" is foam tape. As all of the materials are still out on the my desk, I think I'll try another one of these, making the adjustments I mentioned. This one was my prototype. Later!

Moving On

The idea for this card was provided by a talented CTMH consultant whose name escapes me. The colors I used are Bamboo, Desert Sand and Barn Red. The patterned paper is from the Harvest paper packet, which is being retired at the end of 2007. The stamp sets I used are Nature's Vein, Legendary Moments, and Treasures of the Heart. I inked up the leaves with Bamboo ink and then rolled the edges of the stamp on the Barn Red ink pad. I goofed when distressing the sentiment, initially picking up the Barn Red ink pad and swiping it across the lower right-hand corner before discovering my error. Instead of starting over, I finished distressing the piece with the intended Bamboo ink and decided it was OK. Finishing the card off is a jute bow, a rustic touch that coordinates with the torn paper and distressing.

Needing energy for Trick or Treating tomorrow evening, I'm heading for bed. Whether Halloween is your thing or not, have a good one!

Catching Up . . .

Blogger is having issues with photos again, so once again, I'll write first and post the photo later.

Catching up, Marv, Bjorn, Mathias, and I went to Beltrami on Saturday to visit with my brother and his family from the Twin Cities as well as other family members who came by while we were at my mom's house. Rob's kids have grown so much since I've seen them. They're delightful kids - friendly, polite, typical of their ages - Grant is 13 and Olivia (shame on me) is either nine or 10. As I spent a good portion of my time chasing after two and three-year-olds, I didn't get to visit as much as I would have liked, but they hadn't seen the boys since they were one and two, so I'm glad we had them with us. My mom put out, what to me, was an unbelievable spread of baked goods in the afternoon, and little Bjorn had to have one of everything and more than one of some. That one's got a sweet tooth. As it was such a nice day, the boys got quite a bit of fresh air, which may explain why, even with all that sugar in them, they fell asleep on the way home and didn't wake until Sunday morning.

Sunday, Cameron joined his sons and his dad and me until it was time to take the boys to their mother's house. In the evening, I had stamp club. The photo is one of the cards we made this month - almost. While making the Santa (October Stamp of the Month) card, I used the last of the Liquid Applique I had on hand. That was kind of a bummer. As I told my stampers, the scalloped circle on the Thanksgiving card was cut with my Cricut (Mini Monograms cartridge). If you don't have a Cricut, there are several companies that make scalloped punches. While the cards were simple (same sketch reversed), club members got to use the new Edge Anchors. I really like them, and they're easy to use - easier yet, probably, if I'd remember to get a new piercing tool, one that doesn't have a bent tip!

Evidently, stamp club (or the weekend as a whole) provided too much excitement for me, as I had a heck of a time getting to sleep Sunday night. That resulted in my "napping" last evening and then wandering around until the wee hours of the morning again. I tell this story every week. Is there a pattern developing here? Tonight, I'm dead tired tonight, too, but I'm determined to keep my head off the pillow until a time when I will go to bed and stay there. After taking care of a little communication chore, I'm hoping to make my way back to Kathi's Corner and stamp a little more tonight. Thus, later!

Playful Petals N' Feathers

I didn't think I was going to show up here today, but I had a couple of cards stuck in my head and wanted to make them before I forgot them. While I would like to take credit for the designs, I cannot, as they are spinoffs of cards made by others. This top card was inspired by a card I saw on another blog. That one was made with stamps from Stampin' Up in a pretty peach/aqua blue color scheme. For my card, I used the Playful Petals set again, this time with bright summer colors - Holiday Red, Dutch Blue, and Topiary. The flower centers and sentiment tab are Sunflower. The circles used to stamp the flower centers and blue background are from the Star Struck stamp set, a new set with cool circles, stars, and arrows that I purchased with thoughts of male scrapbook pages.


Another Close To My Heart consultant came up with this original Thanksgiving card. Looking at the petals in the Playful Petals set, I did not see feathers. I'm glad someone else did, however, because I thought her card was about as cute as a card gets. I hope my rendition of her turkey does the original justice. I don't do a lot of freehand drawing anymore but once I got the body size right, it was easy after that (but not so easy I didn't make a pattern for next time). The colors are Cocoa for his body; Goldrush, Sunflower, and Autumn Terracotta for his feathers; Orange for his beak; Barn Red for his wattle; and the obvious Black and White Daisy for his hat and collar. Topiary textured cardstock serves as the base. If I added a sentiment, it would be a simple "Gobble!" He was fun, and I wouldn't be surprised if his "brother" doesn't end up on a Thanksgiving scrapbook layout.

I finally got to spend a little time with my grandsons this evening. As Mathias had to go to the clinic late this afternoon, dinner ended up being a trip to the Dairy Queen. No one minded. We had fun. It was a good day . . . for a Monday!

Man, this paper is bright . . .

I don't know if I like this card or not. Looking at it now, I wish I'd layered the Garden Green and Sunflower pieces on Smokey Plum the way the sentiment is layered. That would have made for a lot of layers, but as it is, it looks like something is missing. One more thing, the new Enchanted paper is really bright. I notice that the patterns are used in smaller chunks on the Enchanted scrapbook pages shown in the catalog. That might be the key with cardmaking, too. I did attempt to tone the stripe and Sunflower cardstock down a bit with Bamboo ink, and I think it helped a little. As for the Goodness of Life stamp set, it's nice with nice sentiments.

Unless I have absolutely no control, this is going to be it for the stamping today. I need to go retrieve my fall/winter clothes from a Space Bag. While I'm hopeful, I'm doubtful that my clothes will just spring back to life the way clothes do on the television commercial. Nevertheless, Space Bags are cool. Instead of packing clothes away in several totes, I was able to fill one jumbo and one large bag, suck the air out of them with the vacuum cleaner, and slide them under the bed. They're definitely a solution for small-space living. As for my clothes, what can't be fluffed up in the dryer is going to the dry cleaners. I know where my iron is but use it as little as possible.