BabyThemed Note Cards

Hello friends,
Over the past several years, I have become addicted to rubber stamps. And there are so many wonderful ones out there. I had always loved stamps as a kid  . . . there's something about the images . . .  being drawing-challenged, stamps are a great way to create without having to put pencil (and mostly eraser) to paper.

Many of the stamps designed by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, especially his "mini" blueprint series, have found their way via the UPS truck to my house. ("What can brown do for you? Hah!)  I own the set pictured below, bought originally for the stack of books in the lower right (that librarian thing . . .)

The baby-themed images were perfect for making some note cards for the soon-to-be mom to use as thank you's or whatever.

Below is a grouping of some of the cards made - four of them using the blueprint stamps. I didn't take individual pictures of the cards . . . so squinting is necessary . . .

 The images were stamped on watercolor paper and color applied using Ranger Distress markers and ink pads (Spun Sugar, Faded Lilac, Scattered Straw, and Evergreen Bough). The ink pads were stamped onto a silicone craft mat and using a wet brush, the colors were picked up and slashed across the image . . . in all honesty I can't really call what I did "painting." Shading was added with the markers in places I thought shading should be. I do confess to watching a YouTube video or two to see how other people worked with the inks and just went from there.

After the images were dry, I tore ( the ABC blocks) and cut the images to fit on patterned paper that was layered onto a blank card. All in all, I was pretty happy with the results. And so was the mom-to-be.

The "onesie on a hanger" cards are made with a stamp I picked up at Michael's, stamped in red ink on white cardstock with a pink mat on cheerful paper. The clothesline card is made from some paper I unearthed from my thousands of sheets and added onesie puffy stickers to "hang" on the line.

For the "Where's Waldo fans, if you look closely and compare my bear card to the image on the bear blueprint stamp, you may notice a difference. It's the eyes.  Intended to be buttons, the original eyes on the stamp are way too big and spooky-looking for my liking.

So . . . out came the craft knife and those button eyes were history - sliced right off the stamp. (You can change anything with the right tools.)  A circle of black marker makes a much nicer eye while a heart punched from red cardstock and a bow tied from red DMC pearl cotton complete the look. One handsome bear.


Until next time!

S.

Made from the Printed Page - Three Cards

Hello friends,
Have you noticed all the items out there in the marketplace that have a "bookish" feel? As a "librarian for life," I have an affinity for all things "wordy" and there's lots out there to see. The emphasis on up-cycling and recycling certainly contributes to the longevity of book pages, sheet music, dictionary pages, document text and the like being incorporated into home decor, clothing, textiles, and more.

Here's three cards made using book pages . . .

Hearts were punched from various book pages and mounted on black paper in a "specimen" design. A red heart was added as a focal point. Then the hearts were outlined freehand with a black pen for emphasis and the panel was mounted on a gray card. The inside is blank for a personal message.

For the second card, an origami dress folded from a dictionary page has been mounted on a black card. Accented with red - ribbon and tape - as well as a lace-like strip punched from a book page, this is a simple but eye-catching design.  I left space at the bottom front to mount a strip of paper for the appropriate stamped or handwritten greeting such as Happy Birthday or Congratulations. When using a black card, I attach a piece of light paper inside the card to have an area for writing a message.

The third "bookish" card was made using a Scotty dog die cut from Sizzix, embellished with a ribbon and mounted on a dictionary page. Framed in black and adhered to a gray card, it is a clean and simple design. Inside is blank for a message or greeting.

Til next time . . .

S.

Vintage Style Note Cards

Hello friends,
Recently I was invited to a golf outing  . . . for those of you not into golf etiquette, it is customary to bring a gift for the person extending the invite (or invite her back to your own club) since she is covering the invitee's costs.  When I was asked to play, my hostess quite forcefully said "And I don't want a gift!"

Oh that can not be!  I can not appear "empty-handed!"  This lovely lady has been quite intrigued by and supportive of my creative pursuits . . . and was instrumental in my being included as a presenter in the Adventures in Lifelong Learning program at Three Rivers CC.  Since she enjoys writing and mailing notes and letters, what better gift than an assortment of note cards?

So I ruffled through my supplies (yes, it took some time), and made a set of six cards -
two of each design.

The branch with berries (Stampin' Up "Simply Sketched") was stamped in green ink with red dots and the edges of the paper torn.  The portrait of the 1920's lady (B-Line Designs) was stamped in black and cut into an oval shape. The pear image (Stampers Anonymous Classics) was stamped in sepia ink and squared with a paper cutter.  All edges were inked with Distress Ink in Tea Dye color to provide visual depth and interest.

Script paper was cut to size and layered onto a cream colored card base. The images were mounted to the patterned paper and voila!  Note cards.

Paired with matching cream envelopes and accompanied by the vintage thank you card described in yesterday's post, they were a home run with the lovely lady.

Just for the record . . . I experimented using sepia ink on the portrait card, but it does not work at all with the background paper. So it lives in the file labeled "Experiments - close but not quite"  until I deconstruct it and stick it on a different background.  Sigh - I can't just throw it in the trash . . .

Cheers!