The Scissor Struggle: When to Cut Loose

Copy, Paste. Copy, Paste. CTRL C, CTRL V, it's what I do. All Day. I'm an Accountant, inundated with spreadsheet maintenance and the "office guru" when it comes to Excel, no less. It's monotonous, all the copying and the pasting but it's necessary and makes my job easier.  It also requires no thought, no technique, no need for questioning if it's right or will work. At the end of the day, it's finished and I don't go back over it and wonder if there was a better way to do it. It is just simply copy and paste. When I go home at night I don't think about it, I focus on my family, my chores, my means for keeping my house from collapsing. Then I focus on what shouldn't require Copy and Paste: Creating.
I've thought a lot about why and how that outlet for creativity has changed and evolved over my crafty lifetime.  I've dove deep and headlong into what I call 'Scissor Crafts': crochet, embroidery, card making, mixed media, scrapbooking, quilting, art journaling, and sewing. I've spent countless hours reading books, blogs, magazines, and anything I could get my hands on regarding the minutia of a new craft. I've learned the techniques, the terms, the tricks, built the stash that goes along with it and occasionally turned out something for the world to see. People ask if I do 'X' other craft and I say 'No, not yet' and in the back of my mind I try to convince myself that  'X' craft won't be the next thing I fall into which finally causes the stacks of supplies in my stash to topple and drown me while searching for a missing pair of scissors.
So, why do I do it? Why do I keep bouncing to new crafts?
Why do I fretfully wander into a new section of the craft supply store, feeling like an outsider; like I'm a lost tourist, hoping that no one will see me peeking into the next aisle, not yet a member of that craft's secret clubhouse. Why do I make my head spin the first time I read 'A Beginner's Guide to 'X Craft' and when I've plowed through the sixth version of the same basic how-to, and spent well over what I make in a month on supplies, and then spent a week obsessing on how I can possibly re-arrange my already too small room to fit these in, do I then realize that now I have to actually create.
Or do I?
Reading how is easy, making the supply list is easy, swiping my credit card is easy, opening packages, plugging things in, and sorting things into storage tubs is easy. It's the same process every time for everyone. Copy. Paste. So why is is so hard to make that first scissor cut?

I believe that there exists a spectrum in creating. At one end are the basic techniques you use over and over. Ink and stamp, sharpen a pencil and draw a line, cut out a square and sew it to another square. Copy. Paste. As you move across, there are harder techniques and more advanced versions of the basics that require more skill, more time, and more supplies but you're still copying and pasting until you reach the point where the crafting hits an advanced, recreating the wheel, genius kind of level. Maybe I'm naive, but to me, every craft in the 'at-home' industry has a settling point on that spectrum for the masses and the elite - that accepted point, and its distance from the copy paste stage, where people like me and people who are instructors, authors, and lead bloggers are producing their day to day body of work.

This is why I've stopped paper crafting. I can't copy and paste.
This is why I've started sewing. I can copy and paste.
This is why I kept cycling through crafts.

A sewing blogger can take a bolt of fabric, notions, and a vintage pattern book and make a dress and a blog post every day. I can take a bolt of fabric, notions and a vintage pattern book and make a dress and blog post it every day.
A card making blogger can take the stamp set she was sent three months before its release, and various other supplies from her sponsored stash and make a card from her original design and blog about it as part of a sponsored blog hop. I can take a stamp set, paper, ink, scissors, and a tape runner from my local craft store and create the exact same card and blog it and I'm a copy cat and I feel icky.

Maybe its because sewing, quilting, crochet, and embroidery are such vintage crafts with such functional applications that it's all been done. Fashion and trends change but at the end of the day you're still creating a nine patch or a pair of pants. Mixed media, scrap booking, and card making are relatively new crafts with much less practical applications. It hasn't all been done and unless you're recreating the wheel every time you post, it's not interesting and no one in the industry wants to see a copy and you better not enter it in a challenge. I can't expect myself to invent a new technique or start with a blank slate every day and create a masterpiece in the hour I have at night to craft to be on level with the industry. But, I can expect myself to follow directions and produce a button up shirt that in most aspects is a copy and for some reason I'm on level with the lead designer of a pattern company.

So, now what do I do? Should I haul all my paper crafting supplies to the to curb or set up a yard sale and pawn it off to the next person who will feel let down every time they pick up my old ink pad because its not the newest release and they can't use it to copy a card they saw on a blog post? Do I just say screw it, and start making replicas to give to my parents for their birthdays? I bought the stuff, right? My parents will never know I didn't really design it even though I have 'designed by' stamped on the back of every card just above where I sign my name. Or do I continue to beat myself up every time I stare at a blank sheet of A4 cardstock because I expect myself to be a creative genius like the bloggers I follow? Or, should I just keep sewing dresses from patterns already made and accept the fact that all I really need to satisfy my need to create is copying and pasting? It sure makes it all a hell of a lot easier and picking out my outfit in the morning for work is a snap.

Even better? Where does the paper crafting industry go from here? We all know that it has taken a dive, local shops are all but gone and I think it is due to the simple fact that the barrier to entry for Betty Doe who wants to start making scrapbooks is set too high. There isn't a single industry blog remaining that isn't at an unattainable level of genius. There's no place for new entrants to start and be allowed to feel any level of success by just making something with limited supplies from her local big box store. She simply cannot copy and paste. So, she doesn't bother with that aisle or she stops shopping there and goes to a different one. It's what I've done and once I finish the hem on the dress I'm making, I'll know what I'm wearing to work tomorrow.
And I'll bet you I'll get a few compliments on my copy.

Mommy & Me

Hi again!
   Here's the Mommy and Me page for my niece's book. It contains a fun game called, 'Find all the Doilies!' I might have gone a bit overboard on this one...
   I started this page by picking out the background 12 x 12 papers. I just loved the vintage shoes, dress form and fancy clothes! I went with a pink, yellow, and green color scheme for the pages in vintage shades to match the background papers and made the accent color black with a tad bit of gold. The ephemera on the pages is from Tim Holtz's new packs and the washi tape is from his collection and a few other designers. These lines look a bit crooked on the page, but luckily that is due to the photo and not an inability to see straight on my part. My favorite part of this page is the little silhouette of the girl with the tiniest bow I've ever tied around her neck. I used a piece of ephemera and added glossy accents to the entire piece and let it dry overnight. Then I added a bit of embroidery floss and Ta-da! I like how it jumps off the light pink paper, but doesn't  look lonely since it's next to the distressed black matting squares. (Those squares won't look so prominent when they are filled with wonderful pics of my niece and sister-in-law)
   I didn't added any specific journaling sections or prompts to this page because it could be used for so many different scenarios. I thought the black and yellow strip spaces would work well for pictures but the pink and green pieces and yellow tag could be for pictures, more ephemera or journaling about places they've gone together, things they like to do or any great memory. There is also blank space by the dress form on the background page that could be used for photos, journaling or ephemera as well.
   I hope you like the page and will visit again soon!
   Rachel

12 Tags - January

There is a first time for everything, right? Currently, I'm doing roughly 6 things right now while writing this post. And yes, watching hockey, house cleaning, texting, and cooking are all involved (in case you are curious). I think that's not a personal best, but if it is, then hey, another first time!
What I really mean, though, is that this is the first time I've played along with the 12 tags by Tim Holtz. I love the monthly inspiration and played along this time!
Using Tim's techniques that you can find here, I made this card for my brother's 28th birthday which is next week. So, Happy (Early) Birthday, little bro! (The card is in the mail!)
In making the card, I really stuck to the techniques and just added a few of my own touches to the elements. One thing I wanted to try was to add paint to the glittered numbers, not just ink. I was really pleased with the way it turned out! I think using the metallic paints makes a huge difference, though, since they have their own shimmery finish which compliments the distress glitter. To apply, I just added a bit with my fingers here and there and buffed it with a paper towel before it dried.
Another change I made was adding some smears of paint to the background after applying the glue and seal behind the numbers and 'eight'. This added some contrast to really make the 'eight' stand out since I used many different shades of blue on the background. Just a smear of bronze paint really made a difference.
I had a lot of fun making this card and selecting the birthday wish related words to add to the back, especially the 'happy', 'day' and 'brother'.
I hope you like the card and, just as an update, the Mommy and Me pages of my niece's book will be up soon!!

My House & My Room

    Hi again! This past weekend was filled with so much crafty goodness, but none of it involved papercrafts. I think I may have worn myself out with these pages, but Christmas cards need to be made so I'll be back into it this week while my few remaining Christmas crafts will fill in the gaps in the time remaining until Christmas. Luckily, I think I am ahead of schedule and will hopefully be able to share some of those gifts here soon too. There was paper involved in both projects, just not the finished result. That still counts, right?

    Anyway, on to pages 4 and 5, My House and My Room! There isn't much but the obvious on these pages. I did select colors for each page based on my niece's house and bedroom so that the photos would match. Plus, it gave me a good starting place for paper and embellishment selection. I also found a card that had 'Places I've Lived' written at the top to add since my niece has lived in a few places so far due to their house being built and finished around the time she was born. I also wanted to add some matting that could be used for small pictures like one of their porch swing, the mail box, the house number or the front door. Those pictures could also line the pavement stones die at the bottom of the page and the matted areas could be used for journaling. Just some ideas!
 

    These two pages also started the ever-obsessive doily presence throughout the book. I am still picking doily bits out of my carpet. I also found out that you can use Distress Paint in the metallic colors to make letter stickers look almost gilded. Just leave them to dry for a while on their own stuck to a craft sheet. They are so lovely! I also did myself a favor and went through my dies, mostly Tim Holtz, and cut out a plethora of ones I thought went with the book's style to use on future pages, which I will be adding to the blog soon! See you then!

Rachel

My Story Begins

    Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made some memories. I kept very busy with family and friends who were visiting for the weekend and decorating my house but now I have switched back to a more normal schedule of watching hockey, making Christmas crafts and blogging pictures of THE book! 

    Today, I have the first full 2 page 12 x 12 spread to share! 

  

   

    My idea for this page came from the idea that every person has a story and it starts even before they are born. It involves many people and those people's lives are forever changed because of that person. So, I included some matting for photos, but mostly journaling prompts like, About My Birthday, About My Name, and so on. I also included a card with the words 'Some Memories' to serve as a catch all for other things that the other prompts didn't cover. 

    I don't have much to include in this post regarding the papers that I used or the specific product lines I pulled the elements from because of my technique in making the book, so I'll share that instead. (If you do want to know where an element or item came from, just hit the comments and I'll try to go on a treasure hunt for you!) My idea in making the book was to make an entire cohesive unit that blended well and had similar tones and motifs. So, to make it easier on myself, I made a list of page titles and then went through my entire stash of papers and pulled together anything that 'belonged' in the style I wanted. Then, I yanked out sheets of paper that went with the topic of the page, like the typewriter paper I used here for the 'My Story' page and worked to find a mate for that page. I also pulled out sheets that had ephemera or lettering or journal cards that matched the overall motif and made stacks, and stacks...and stacks.  It kind of made a huge mess but with a few post-its it was manageable and having my entire stash whittled down to a theme and a subset made it so much easier to choose what would go on those chosen 12 x 12 pages! I'm very fond of collage and grouping a ton of items on a page to fill up the area and this works well with this style of scrapbooking since I wasn't working from pictures or specific stories. My goal was to make very cohesive, pretty, blank pages and was able to do that by just sifting through my stacks! There are lots of items and collections that are repeated throughout the book, but I think that just helps give it more of a special project feel. 

    In putting the pages together I stayed very consistent on the use of a few products, the first being Distress Ink. There were many papers that I pulled together for each page that had unmatching undertones (shudder) and using Antique Linen, Old Paper, Frayed Burlap, and many other inks gave the pages a similar undertone and made me happy! There is very little in the book that does not have Distress Ink on it somewhere. I also consistently used ribbon, twine, or some type of trim to each page. I also made sure to add some type of ephemera and small metal items to each page. For instance, on this page I used a metal word band and paper clip and some butterflies an the clock. Little touches like these are my favorite :) 

    Anyway, I hope you like these pages and some of the ideas I shared here. If you have any questions or just want to say HI, just send me a comment below. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

THE Scrapbook

   Roughly four years ago, I was out shopping for a very special gift; a baby book for my soon to be born, first ever, niece. I flipped through stacks of pages of books with family trees, registers of gifts, lists of people who visited and places to list all of her 'firsts'. But then the pages stopped and it seemed like there was just so much missing from those pages. I never found a book that gave audience to the stories: how my name was chosen, what my parents said when they first met me, what my favorite foods, toys, and stories were growing up, what was on my Christmas wish list. They missed what made a baby a unique person. 

   So, being a paper hoarder and very inexperienced paper-crafter at the time, I thought, why not make my own baby book. It won't be hard! I'll come up with a few scrapbook pages and buy an album and give that as my gift. I'll leave spaces for journaling those stories and matted areas for adding pictures and trinkets and ephemera from her day one on, well past the first days and first steps and exhausting lists of shower gifts. Then my imagination took over and my brainstorming got out of hand, and I found myself frantically gluing and cutting and vowing to not rise from my chair for hours at a time so I could finish 36 perfect and unique 12 x 12 pages that I couldn't live without having in the book that must be in a shabby chic style before she was born...and then I gave it to her a month after she was born...and then I realized that if she were to have a sister, I was in big trouble. 

   Her sister was born January 13th...I finished her book on November 24th...

...did I mention I am also a procrastinator? 

    If you're anything like me, you probably can't wait to show what you've made to everyone around you and since it's just you and your husband, he's plenty tired of seeing all the things you made that started out as, "Just plain white paper, honey! Honest!". He smiles and nods and mumbles a few things but he's just being nice and that's OK. You may be flabbergasted that you were able to make a vintage looking viewfinder out of glossy card stock and the packaging from your thickers but he really has no idea what alcohol ink is or a steel rule die, so it's a futile effort...and that's where you all come in! I've photographed all 36 pages of my second niece's book which I will, 'God willing and the creek don't rise', give to my niece tomorrow at Thanksgiving and over the next who knows how long, share here on my blog! 

   So, without further rambling here's page one! 

   

   I wanted to start the book at the beginning. Shocker, right?! I love vintage looking anythings so I picked this paper because of the style of the announcement section. It also already had a completed area for a newborn picture. Of course, we can't just leave well enough alone, so I added butterflies covered in glossy accents and clear rock candy distress glitter, some ribbon, buttons, pearls, and two small paper word bands. This page should have taken ten minutes...it did not. But, I'm happy with it and its simplicity. This was probably where the simplicity stopped, however, which you'll see on the next pages that I will begin sharing later this week because tomorrow is Turkey Day and deliver the book day!!! (of which I am so very thankful!)
Rachel

Gigantic Project Coming Soon!

  For roughly the last year, I've been hacking, pecking, inking, cutting, stamping, procrastinating, and slowly finishing a gigantic project...emphasis on slowly. I finally finished it last night! {does happy dance}
Today's goal is to photograph the entire monstrosity and then start sharing it on the blog after I upload the pictures which will more than likely happen while watching the hockey game tonight because let's be honest - I cannot do just one thing at a time.
  So, basically, I just wanted everyone to know that I have not been a lazy blogger because I haven't made anything in eons. I've been a lazy blogger because I have been spending time on just one gigantic project that I can now share with all of you! So excited!
  Hope to see you all tomorrow (if you're still out there!)

Lawnscaping Embossing Challenge

Hi!

I wanted to make some cards for this week's lawnscaping challenge because the theme is embossing and I have a jar of embossing paste that I wanted to play with...and I love embossing!

    So, I decided to play the embossing paste + ? game. I used the same scribbly stars stencil from TCW and used Wendi Vecchi's white embossing paste and then I sprinkled embossing paste, distress glitter, sticky embossing powder, and glitter over the paste and let it dry. I took the results of the two I liked best and made these cards. The first card uses paste + sticky embossing powder + gold leafing to create the background. Then I pounced Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar Distress Stain over the panel to create the background. I also embossed the 'make a wish' sentiment and the small stars with embossing powder. 

On the second card, I used distress ink on white paper first and created the blue tones. Then I added the embossing paste + glow in the dark glitter powder and let it set to dry. I also used the same process on the crescent moon. The card also uses embossing powder on vellum to create the sentiment.

 I hope you like the cards! Thanks for stopping by :)
Rachel

A Shore Match

Hi!

Today I'm posting a card I made last night for my friend's wedding tomorrow which is also in the theme of Distress which is the Lawnscaping Challenge this week. I haven't played along with them in forever and this one just fit perfectly.

I'm not drawn to 'cute' things so much, but when it comes to Lawn Fawn's Critters sets, I want one of each! This card uses the Critters by the Sea set and individual letters from the phrases on various other critter sets.

I started the card by stamping the little crab and then mirroring his friend next to him with Memento Tuxedo Black Dye ink. I tried the technique many times with many different inks and found that Memento stayed wet the longest to ink the stamp, then stamp it on a solid stamp and then onto the card. I had to use and XS Pitt Artist Pen to fill in the lighter areas of the little guy but it works pretty well.

Then came the distress! I die cut a cloud and it's negative and varied the placement of both along the skyline to make the puffy rolling clouds with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. Then i cut a half circle and used Antique Linen ink to make the sand. Then I grabbed my Copics and colored the two crabs and used the brush point to make lots of dots to add texture to the sandy beach.

Finally, I die cut a little heart, painted it, and added glossy accents and cut the banner and used a Distress Marker in Black Soot to ink up each letter to stamp out the message.

I hope you like it!!

Rachel

CCC3 - Distress Glitter

    I've been patiently waiting for my new copy of Tim's Compendium of Curiousities Vol. III and Linda Ledbetter's Challenge since I read about the Volume II challenge a few years ago. I missed out on last week's challenge but didn't want to miss this one! This week she's chosen page 56 and the winner of this challenge gets a gift card to the Funkie Junkie Boutique. What a great company name?! I haven't checked them out but am very curious :)

   So, onto my lack of blogging and what I've created. Since discovering the wonderful Dina Wakley and her art journaling, I've really spent some time away from card making and delving into paint, doodling, and drawing. A lot of the early stuff has just been practice and technique building so there wasn't much to blog about but lots of messes to clean up. But, since CCC3 has started, I wanted to pull things together and make a blog-worthy page (or some semblance of it)

    I started with white gesso and used a paper towel to put down my first few layers of paint I mixed from just red, blue and white in different combinations. Who needs a brush anyway? Then I added some tissue tape with multi-medium which gave me the idea for music and a songbird. I cut the bird from grunge paper and Tim Holtz's Caged Bird Die. I removed his branch (which I promptly lost...it's probably glued to a shoe by now), gave him some feet, and covered him with gesso. After he was dry I painted him with varying mixes of my big tubes of basic acrylic paint in red, blue, yellow, black and white. (It's all you really need, right? :) Then to make him just fancy, I added faded jeans Distress Glitter to his back and wing. While I was in the glitter, I cut the stars from grunge paper and Tim's Crescent Moon and Stars die and used the technique with Pumice Stone Distress Glitter on page 56 of the book. 

    I wanted to add a few more layers, so I used Picket Fence Distress Paint and yellow paint and added some stenciling with The Crafter's Workshop's 6x6 stencils in Ledger and Star Fall.  Then I added the bird stamps and the flower stamps with some Archival Ink and added my message to finish my journal page. 

    I've never been one to follow the popular and my little bird doesn't either. 

    I wanted to play  a bit more with die cuts and my colors of Distress Glitter so I cut the Eiffel Tower and Fleur de Lis from Tim's Bigz Die from grunge paper as well and covered them with Black Soot and Antique Linen Distress Glitter. The background of the tag has some stamping in Picket Fence Distress Paint and some stenciling in ink using the Harlequin stencil. I wanted to ground the tower, since you know, it's on the ground, so I used some matching tissue tape from Tim. 

    I'm so happy to have been able to play with my new glitters and can't wait to see what the next challenge will be. Now, I'm off to visit some more blogs and leave some comments.
   Thanks for stopping by!

Rachel

Sassy Birthday

    Hi! I made today's card for my Aunt's Birthday and since she requested a funny card I used Dyan Reavele's Say It How It Is Set as it cracks me up. Then I kept with the theme and used Dyan's mists in Lemon Zest, Postbox Red and Bubblegum Pink and her smaller sized stencil, Dotted Flowers for the flowers.
    I started with a white standard sized piece of watercolor paper and used the sprays from a distance to make a mottled look. Next, I sprayed the edges with water through the flower portion of the stencil and pulled away some of the ink with a paper towel to create a watermark look. Once that was dry, I stamped over those areas with the flower stamp from Dyan's Background Love set in Charcoal Hero Arts Ink. Then I got to Doodle!! All of the white around the flowers was just added ad lib. To finish the card off, I stamped the sentiment on a white piece of cardstock scrap and sprayed it with yellow mist and cut each piece apart and adhered them. Finally, I adhered the panel to a white card base and all done!

Dynamic Duos Challenge #59

    I've been waiting for this duo since I've started doing these challenges because I've wanted to combine grey and orange. I've seen it pop up so many times lately in patterns and papers and decor. It's a really great unexpected combo that I just love for some reason :)
   So, here's the LINK to the challenge where you can see all of the submissions.

    There are just a ton of really great combos on this challenge. Grey and hot pink would have been fun to do as well. But, I'm under the wire so here's my one shot!

    I the base of the card is made with American Crafts cardstock in Charcoal and the paler grey and white are from my scrap stash, as was the ribbon. (I love when I can finish off scraps!) I embossed the background with a folder from Cuttlebug and I die cut the light grey panel with my brand new My Favorite Things die, Peek-A-Boo Trio. Now I have those three little circles to make something else! From there I stamped the 'smile' sentiment from My Mind's Eye's set Be Happy. For the 'inside' I stamped the flower and butterfly from a Martha Stewart set and the heart and dashes from Mama Elephant's So Breezy set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. To add some orange, I used my new inktense pencils set and picked up the Tangerine and Ink Black pencils and my water brush to create the color and shadows. I added a few more details with my white gel pen and a dash of Stickles in Silver to the heart because it was getting a little lonely being just grey.
    I hope you like the card and have a happy 4th of July!!
 ~Rachel

Runway Inspired Challenge - Burberry

    I'm sneaking this one in under the wire tonight! Here's the challenge LINK and the inspiration picture which you can always click on to see the challenge as well. This time our challenge is from Burberry! Love them.

    And here's my take on that lovely skirt in my card!

    This one was a toughie for me. I just love, love, loved that skirt and the embossing and I racked my brain to try to come up with a way to make it. I think I came really close in using a piece of Bazzil cardstock in Pear and two colors of Distress Stain in Pumice Stone and Brushed Pewter. I sprayed water over the piece of cardstock and liberally applied the stains. Once it was dry I added the embossing with a folder from QuickCuts (Sorry, I don't have the actual name) and some Heidi Swapp mist in Gold to pick up the zipper in those fabulous shoes. After that came the hard part...what to put on the card. I had really no sketch or idea where I was going with this one so I started with the paper flowers and the paper doily. They were inked in Antique Linen Distress Ink and then the flowers were stamped with a script pattern. I added the pearls after adjusting their color with alcohol inks and then decided on the lace, pin, jute and tiny tag that happened to be on my desk. Once that came together, I was able to add a few more pearls to fill in the gaps and to draw attention to that lovely ribbon from my stash. I seriously think that came off of a set of stationary...
    Here's a closer look at the inset of the card.

    I hope you like the card. I wish it would not have taken nearly as long, but it's a process and one that I'm learning. I think I'm going to go quilt for a while to relax my brain...or maybe sleep :)
    Hope you have a great weekend!! ~Rachel

Dynamic Duos #58

    Hi! I'm entering in a new card for the Dynamic Duos Challenge #58. Here's the link to the challenge or you can click on the challenge colors below.

    And here's my card!

    I made my card base with three Copic Markers in Y68, R08 and YR20. I drew lines across a white sheet of cardstock into a plaid pattern. I added a bit of ribbon and buttons from my stash and a small strip of the background under a sentiment from Hero Arts.
    I hope you like it!

Tuesday Trigger Vintage Vagabond

    I was so sad last Sunday when I thought I had missed this Tuesday Trigger. It's a great picture. I had a lot of ideas but making buttons like the plates was my favorite. So, I was in luck when I found out this was a double week! So, here is the link to the challenge and the trigger photo.

    And here's my take on the trigger.

    My favorite parts of the card are the embossed buttons I made using the letter 'E' from an alphabet stamp  based on the plates and the hammered brads in the center. So, I wanted to make them the focal point of the card and made sure by cutting the rectangle from the background. I made the background with a crackle stamp from Impression Obsession and embossed it in black. I also edged the banner and filled in the background with Brushed Corduroy and Frayed Burlap inks. Finally, I wanted to make the card a bit softer so I added a pin and some jute twine on the edge of the banner.
    I hope you like it!

Dynamic Duos #57

    Happy Thursday everyone! Today I'm submitting my newest card creation, not the second newest, because that one stunk to the Dynamic Duos challenge #57. You can play along with the challenge by clicking HERE or on the badge below, which is much more fun in my opinion. 

                                            

    But, I'm kind of late to the game this week due to the copious amounts of family event cards I make in June. It's crazy, everthing is in June, including my mom's birthday which is today! My dad's is Saturday so I'll probably load that card sometime soon because it's a riot! Anyway, onto my card which uses inks to create the color combo this week.

    Sorry for the wonky picture. I keep trying different rooms of my house to take the pictures and I've just not gotten the right one yet. I did find a new setting on my photo editing program to get the blue out of my picture though this morning, while I was running really late...

    Anyway, to make the card I just stamped four of the images in the Hero Arts So Kind stamp set in Memento Black Ink and Color Box Chalk ink in Lime Pastel. Then I white embossed a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp July Card Kit stamp set and adhered it with some dimensional adhesive. The only trick to this card, I think, is to make sure the center points of the diamonds are all on the same parallel which I kept straight by adhering my card back to my grid cutting mat while I stamped. That was just enough guide to keep them in line. 

    I really love this stamp set and had pined over it for a while because it reminded me of a design that I think Famous Barr used to use in maybe the 70's or so on their shopping bags. I haven't been able to find any images of it but it was the bag we used to keep some camping storage in when I was little  and I always loved the vintage design of that bag. Someday I'll come across it or I'll ask the right person about it and find that image again. So cool!

    In the meantime, thanks for stopping by! I'm going to keep trying to figure out where my first card went wrong...but it's making my brain hurt.

Runway Inspired Challenge #37

    Hi again! I'm posting today to play along with the Runway Inspired Challenge #37. You can play along using the link (Here). The fashion this time comes from Fashion East and is quite fabulous. I just love those shoes :)

    And here's my card:

    I wanted to recreate the 'newsprint' and 'read all about it' feel of the image so I started with the obvious, newsprint. :) I also wanted to recreate the feeling of stacked lines running across the page like the words are on her dress. So, I used some newsprint snippets for the letters, the A Birdie Told Me Stamp set from Lawn Fawn and Hero Arts ink in Wet Cement. I also cut strips from some scraps of watercolor paper and ran across them with a Cherry Red Gelato and only smudged it a bit and a Black Soot distress marker and only blended it with a water brush a bit. I added the word bubbles with a bit of dimensional adhesive to have the words 'pop' out and all was done. But then I looked at it sideways and realized I missed an opportunity for doodling...and we just can't have that so I added the free handed lines around the outside and then called it done!

    I'm really happy with how it all came together and I hope you like it too!
    Thanks for stopping by!

Pink and Brown Birthday

    This week I'm playing along with the Dynamic Duos Challenge and making my mom's birthday card at the same time. You can click on the image below to play along!

    The colors of this challenge reminded me of classic shabby chic cards with lots of textures and definitely ribbbon. I don't think I've ever made a shabby chic card that didn't include ribbon. Like ever. So, onto my card:

    One day I'm going to get this whole 'take a great picture of your card that actually looks like your card' thing down. For now, here's the best I could get with the cloudy day we have here.

    For this card I used my brand new Distress Paint in Victorian Velvet. After I stamped the background from Impression Obsession, I daubed a bit of the paint on my craft sheet and added a few spritzs of water to make a white wash type consistency and covered the background and set it aside to dry. After it was dry, I added Frayed Burlap Distress Ink around the edges. To create the ribbon, I cut a piece of seam binding in half and colored it with Distress Stain in Victorian Velvet and lots of water. I love the sun bleached look you get when using the stains and water. So pretty. Finally I die cut a scrap of white cardstock with a Sizzix die and covered the die with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain and Stamped my Sentiment on the negative from the die in Frayed Burlap. Then added some distressing in the same two colors and put all the pieces together.

    I hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday Trigger - Feather Weather

    Hi again! I'm trying out a new challenge this week from the Moxie Fab Blog. There's some really, really great inspiration on this blog and this week's Tuesday Trigger Challenge is based on this amazing photo:

                                                   

    It's just beautiful and you can check out the challenge and all the submissions here: Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Challenge. 
     So, here's my rather close interpretation of the challenge. 

    I just loved the birds the way they are and I loved the grey tone on tone and how it worked so well with the gold beads. I was able to pair Hero Arts's Wet Cement ink with Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold to create the background and the image of the bird.

    Here's a close up of my birdie and the Perfect Pearls together:

     First, I stamped the bird from Martha Stewart with Perfect Medium on watercolor paper and then applied the Perfect Pearls and spritzed it with water to get them to set. Then I colored the bird with a combination of Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Inks and my Tim Holtz water brush. Once he was dry, I fussy cut him out and he was ready to go. I created the background right on my card base with Hero Arts Birds and Flowers background stamp in Wet Cement ink and lightly dusted it with the same Perfect Pearls and set it with water. It gives the whole image a beautiful shine when it hits the light.

    Then, I moved on to the branch by cutting it from Grunge Paper and Tim Holtz's Bird and Branch Bigz die. I applied Frayed Burlap Distress Embossing Powder to the whole branch and once it was done went over it with Pumice Stone Distress Ink to fill in the gaps left by the release crystals. The flowers were made with McGills' Paper Punch in Mini Petals which again I applied Perfect Pearls to and some actual pearls that I tinted with a Copic Marker in Y28. Before I adhered anything, I also created the background panel from Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Five and inked the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and stamped the love. from My Mind's Eye's Be Happy stamp set in Wet Cement Ink.

     Finally, I pulled it all together with some jute tied in a bow and my Tombow Stamp Runner and Mono Multi Glue and a few dimensional adhesives for the birdie.

    There were quite a few more steps to this card that the last few I've made which I will hopefully create posts for in the next week! Anyway, I hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by. Feel free to comment and let me know if you love it or hate it or have any questions!

Rachel

A Little Birdie

I have three great stamp sets that all have the cutest little birdies on them! Lawn Fawn's A Birdie Told Me and Critters on the Savannah and Mama Elephant's Rustic Spring. This week at Dynamic Duos the colors are a very pretty blue and black (Click here for the challenge). Here's the badge for the challenge:

I also noticed that the Lawnscaping Challenge for the week (Click Here for the Challenge) is a clean and simple design with Lawn Fawn products, which I love!

So, here's what I came up with:

The only trick to this card was to stamp the sentiment and the 'talking' birdie first on the card and on a piece of separate cardstock and a piece of masking paper. I stamped the sentiment next and then applied the fussy cut mask to the word bubble. Then I just stamped the other birds randomly to create a background from the three stamp sets and then peeled back the mask and added the birdie that I colored with two Copic markers in B06 and W3. I finished it by adding the birdie with a pop dot and covered him with some glossy accents.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like my card and have a great day!!
Rachel