Card for Lovebirds - From the Archives

Hello friends,

A long-time couple I know have a marriage that is to be admired. This card was made for their last anniversary . . . A few new supplies had found their way into the house and I needed to play . . .

I have been a fan of silhouette art for most of my life, probably originating from the silhouettes my mother collected and displayed in my antiques-filled childhood home. 

This card came together quite quickly, once the idea took off. I die cut the people and a heart from black cardstock - (notice the shadow at the top of the heart) and another heart from red paper. It was all arranged and mounted on a vintage book page that was layered over black paper and then mounted on a cream card.

The sentiment and label outline were stamped on cream paper and added to the card.  The inside was penned with a personal greeting. Off it went to my friends . . .

It's golf season so . . . although I'm not creating much, plans for many things are swirling around inside.

Til next time!

S.

Julie Nutting Paper Doll Babies

Hello friends
I've been taken with Julie Nutting's paper doll stamps since they first appeared in the marketplace.  I've written about the dolls I've made a few times here . . .

Baby dolls arrived on the scene within the last year and since many of my friends are becoming grandparents (not me), I decided they would be a good thing to have. They arrived in the brown truck and I fiddled with them a bit, and that was it.

When the shower for the expectant Mrs. L was announced, I started making these little ones and as the time approached, decided to fashion them into a banner. I made one long banner, stringing it so it could be divided if necessary. And divided it was . . . one section was draped on the mantel . . .

And the remaining length was hung over the mirror in the foyer . . .

So, how did I do it? The dolls were stamped on white paper and cut into an oval shape.  Clothing was stamped onto patterned paper, cut out with fine point scissors and glued to the dolls. The shoes, hats, and accessories were added and the ovals were adhered to black "chalkboard" pennant shapes. Pale green seam binding was used to string the triangles together and a little "It's a girl" charm was knotted in between. The garland added a whimsical touch to the traditional decor of the party venue.

So I could remember how I dressed these babies, I took pictures of each of them before they traveled off to Virginia.

Here are the babies all dressed up . . . they all have hats because those bald heads didn't do it for me.  I played around with the hats, tilting them one way or another so they wouldn't all be identical.  Shoes and socks were all cut separately while sitting at the mezzanine watching/listening to my favorite TV programs.

And the babies ready to play . . .  I chose the areas of the patterned paper to stamp the clothes on so they would coordinate yet be different.

I think they are pretty cute . . . But wait . . . there were 19 of these little gals . . . so I apparently forgot someone! Good thing I'm done parenting!

Cheers til next time!

S.

Cards for today

Hello friends,

Here are two cards I recently made. The first is a clean and simple up-cycled card - an image was cut from a magazine, mounted on patterned paper and then adhered to a card base. There is a wealth of interesting pictures to be found in magazines, advertising flyers, travel brochures, glossy newspaper inserts and catalogs that can be cut out and easily made into cards.  I think this one is pretty cute.

The yellow patterned paper is a great complement to the flowers in the boots and brightens the weathered wood background. Since the card base is red, a piece of thin white paper is added inside for writing a message. Although this card is an odd size due to the size of the boot picture, it will fit nicely into a 5 x 7 envelope. Or if you are the proud owner of an envelope punch board, you can make a custom size envelope.

The next card has more of a vintage feel. This carved image stamp from Magenta was stamped in Ranger Red Geranium ink on off-white paper. The edges were torn into an oval shape and inked with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. I tore a book page to the approximate size to fit the card base and did some machine zig-zag stitching around the edges in red thread. The stamped image was glued on and the layers mounted onto the kraft colored card. This one also has a paper glued inside for message writing.

I am a fan of the look of kraft with red - the red stitching adds a bit of pop to a card that could otherwise be non-descript and bland. Images mounted on book pages are very "in" these days and a vintage look is easily achieved using inked and torn book pages.

Cheers til next time!

S.

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.

New Baby Keepsake Card

I was browsing around Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook one day, taking time to look at the many samples the store gals have put together using products from their inventory.

I was intrigued by a creation that is called a "Card in a Box."  It reminded me of a mini Jack-in-a-box with "stuff" in it.  I decided to embrace the challenge and look up how to make one.

Below is a photo of a similar card taken from the Sizzix blog (since of course I didn't photograph the store sample . . .)

See what I mean about the Jack-in-the-Box vibe . . .

There are numerous YouTube videos as well as diagrams, templates and written directions that appear after typing "Card in a Box" into a Google search box. 

Take your pick . . .

I chose one, followed the instructions and Voila! 

You are absolutely correct . . . the picture above does not at all look like the Sizzix  sample.  Did I  neglect to mention that the card has an open bottom and folds flat to fit into an envelope? 

Well it does. 

The photo above is what the recipients see when the envelope is opened.  The absence of a bottom to the box reduces bulk in the folding.  I'm told there was a bit of puzzlement initially after opening the envelope . . . but after a bit of manipulation, the surprise below emerged. Voila!

Card folded into shape

Left side of card

Right side of card

The stamps used for this particular "Card in a Box" are from the  Make It Market Mini Kit - Wee Folk sold by Papertrey Ink (online), while the heart paper is from a sale pack found at Michael's months ago.  Assembly involved folding and cutting paper for the box and then stamping and die-cutting the images for the pop-ups and for decorating the sides of the box.

This card was made specially for a new little baby boy found in a cabbage patch in Florida.

The "Card in a Box" came together fairly quickly and easily  . . . and was much appreciated by the little fellow's parents. 

Cheers til next time!

Chiara: Paper Doll of the Day

There have been eight groups of Julie Nutting Mixed Media doll stamps released  . . . I haven't bought many since release two . . . but in a visit to Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook last weekend, this gal was calling to me.  I tried to ignore her but was pulled back to that endcap. Sigh, must be fate. Her name is Chiara and I love her hair, stylish waist wrap and flippy skirt.

She had been stamped and dressed (twice!) before I went to bed that night. 

Chiara in the stripe dress is the original stamp image - I had this paper with a chevron design so took advantage of it. Chiara with the plaid leggings (love them) has trimmed hair and wears a slimmer skirt (snipped off the flip) which is more in keeping with a legging look.  The waist wrap is great . . . I made one to add as a neckline accent on one of the jointed gals . . . dresses up the pink tunic, I think.

I plan to draw up some trousers and bermuda shorts for Chiara - I think she would make a great golfer. :-) Most of the Julie Nutting doll stamps are in dresses or skirts and are "striking a pose" in the fashion sense. Their legs aren't trouser ready, so to speak, but Chiara is one who is.  

I'm beyond excited to be going to an all day "Painted Paper Collage" workshop on Sunday at Papercraft Clubhouse  with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (whose blog I've been following forever). INFO  I have done very little with paints so this will be a true learning experience for me. 

 An art journaling workshop is Julie's Saturday offering but that didn't call to me.  Journaling daily is way too much pressure in my life. Do a set task every day?  I'm not even good at taking vitamins!  The man of the house says I never do anything the same way twice. Lol. And I forgot to put my FitBit on today after my shower. Sigh.

Still to come - making a jointed paper doll (as soon as I take the right photos).

Cheers!

Paper Dolls Part 1: A China Head Doll

In the days when I was still playing with dolls, I wanted a porcelain doll desperately.  A catalog of porcelain doll kits came in the mail every so often (addressed to Mom) and I would spend hours poring over the choices of heads, arms and legs, picking out the ones I wanted to order.  The dolls were different sizes with black or blonde hair in various painted on styles. Owning one of these dolls was my heart's desire at age 10. The answer was always no. And life went on.

Doll similar to my heart's desire

Fast forward half a century  . . .  in my meanderings through cyberspace, what should I find but an online purveyor of rubber stamps offering a clear stamp for a china head doll named Lottie. All of those longings for a porcelain doll came surging back. Without hesitation I placed the order. Immediately. As a bonus, a template for Lottie's body as well as a basic dress were available to download.

Lottie from Pink Persimmon

The padded envelope containing Lottie arrived, I printed the body and dress templates and broke out the ink, paper and scissors.

Three of my paper dolls are shown below. Lottie is 8" tall with movable arms and lower legs. Small brads attach the arms and legs to the body and also secure the dress to her at the shoulders.  In traditional paper doll fashion, the dresses could be made with the fold back paper tabs of long ago, but I didn't choose to do that.

I have tweaked the dress pattern a bit, digging out my paper doll dressmaking skills from long ago and have several additional outfits in the closet. Lottie's skin is colored with Prismacolor colored pencils in shades of peach with pink cheeks and red lips.  A bit of blue dots the eyes. These are artist quality colored pencils (available at Michael's) with a waxy lead that can be blended to achieve many effects. I also extended Lottie's boots  to her knees with a black Sharpie marker.

So there she is. My first foray into paper dolls fas an adult.  (yes, there are more).

If you would like to make your own Lottie, you can find the stamp set HERE on Etsy or I can be convinced to share!

Cheers!