Valentine Paper Scrap cards with G45 and Creative Impressions

Happy February everyone!  Today I have seven Valentine's Day cards to share with all of you which were created completely out of paper scraps!  I had a small bag with leftover paper scraps from a wonderful class I took at Rocky Mountain Art Retreats last year.  We made a wonderful Birthday Planner paper bag book using Graphic 45's Time to Flourish paper collection.  The scraps were just too beautiful to throw out, so I stored them away and waited for the right time to use them!  Now is the time!

I love to challenge myself to make cards using paper I might have otherwise thrown away.  G45's cut-apart papers are so versatile as there are many designs on a piece of paper.  However, I knew that these cards needed some ribbon and fabulous embellishments, so off to my stash of
Creative Impressions embellishments I went!

Here is the first card I created.  As you look over the different cards, keep in mind that there is a lot of paper piecing going on!

To give you an idea of how I started the card, here is a photo of the different paper pieces I decided to use.  Of course I didn't have a big enough patterned paper piece for a background, so I overlapped two smaller ones together.

Now you can't tell there was even a gap in the background, can you?

The addition of some fussy cutting pieces as well as some Creative Impressions Double Stitch Gros Grain and Crepe ribbon and a Burgundy Country Heart makes this card pop, don't you think?  I had some tag "tops" left over from another G45 project that I had saved.  Now it looks like there is a tag.

Here is another card:

I forgot to take a photo of the "before" of this card, however, it started out in a very similar way.  The background paper only went part of the way down the card, so I used a strip from another piece of paper to "lengthen" it.  I had the two cut apart pieces plus a postage stamp.  I die cut a larger heart, placed it in the center of the card, adhered the two cut-aparts on an angle and then, using foam tape, adhered the postage stamp to the card.  It still wasn't quite right.  Creative Impressions Gingham ribbon tied in a bow onto each cut- apart along with an Antique Copper Country Heart  solved the problem!

Now for the third card:

I like the way this card turned out using cut aparts as well some die cut hearts and a fussy cut rose bush, however, it still needed something.

Creative Impressions Velvet Shimmer ribbon and a word stamp by B Line Designs to the rescue!  Now it "pops".

Now for something a bit different.  I only had a little background paper left, so I decided to try covering an ivory card panel with Natural Web Ribbon from Creative Impressions.  I used matte medium to adhere the mesh to the card panel in three strips.  I love it!

I trimmed off the excess around the card panel, added a G45 cut-apart panel, used foam tape to adhere another "cupid envelope" over the top of the middle one and finished the card by wrapping some Creative Impressions Thin Red Twine around the cream panel and adding an antique Copper Country Heart to the center.

Love this textured background!

This next card was pieced again using a background paper:

Again pretty paper, but too simple a card for me.  Here is the finished card:

A big difference, huh?    I added some brown cardstock as a mat for the patterned paper panel, a piece cut from a decorative border punch that was in my stash, a postage stamp matted with a piece of brown card stock along with the word "Valentine".  Creative Impressions finished off the piece nicely again.  I used their lovely Singe Stitch Gros Grain ribbon along with another Antique Copper Country Heart placed in the center of a die cut heart.  Five cards finished!

Now I was getting low on supplies, but determined to get another two cards made with what I had.  This card has tons of piecing on it!

Now I had two holes to cover on this card!  Once again I added a strip of border  punched cream card stock above the cut-apart border strip.  Then I decided to create a faux tag again using another leftover tag topper and a piece of burgundy card stock with postage stamp images on it.  I made a burgundy mat for the words "Hugs and Kisses" and adhered it to the card.  I used a fabulous Crepe Ribbon from CI to finish this card.

Finally I arrived at my biggest challenge!  This last card started out as nothing more than this:

 and ended up like this:

I truly almost surrendered with this card.  Nothing seemed to work with the pieces I had left.  Then I decided to take the postage cut aparts I had left and see if they would work for the card.  I am pleased with the way it turned out!  Of course adding some "bling" from Creative Impressions really finished the card off well.  I used light and dark silver pearls to different areas of the card as well as a small heart from Heart Bling for the finishing touches!  It worked!

Now it's your turn!  Take a look in that scrap paper drawer of yours, pull out some Creative Impressions ribbons and embellishments and have fun!

Susan

JANUARY ART ADVENTURE - "BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!"

Happy Winter everyone!  I know that a lot of you are not happy with this cold snap we have had along with the snow here in the U.S.  How has the weather been in the U.K.?  I was one of those moaning about it recently, however, I decided to turn things around and think of some positive aspects of Winter and especially snow.  One of my very favorite things to do when I was young was to go outside and catch snowflakes.  So, in honor of this winter fun, here is my project:

I decided to create a fat tag using one of my all time favorite B Line Designs stamps,  Dream Catcher.                          The stamp has a background, however, I  decided to cut her away from the background after coloring her with Prisma Color pencils and paint my own sky instead.

I incorporated one of my favorite techniques,  Paint Marbling.  If you don't know how to do this technique, you can find it on Page 43 of Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume III book.

I used four colors of Distress Paint,  Blueprint Sketch, Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood and Picket Fence and added a bit of each color to a craft sheet.  Then I spritzed the whole thing with water and ran my tag through the paint, swirling it as I went.  I dried it with a heat tool and then ran it through the paint again.  Love the way this turned out!

Since I'm from Colorado, I wanted to add some evergreen trees to the background behind my girl.  I used a Thinlits evergreen border die by Tim Holtz Alterations for Sizzix.  I die cut the border twice, once in a dark green and the second one in a lighter green.  Then I adhered the two together, slightly off-setting them to add dimension.

Next I added some gesso to the edges of the trees to look like snow.

Of course I needed a mound of snow for the little girl to stand on.  I took a scrap of white card stock and cut it in a curved fashion, then cut the edges to fit the tag.  I adhered my snow mound to the tag using foam tape.

I stamped just the snow mound from the Dream Catcher stamp, cut it out and adhered it to my larger snow mound cut from scrap card stock.  Foam tape was adhered to the upper part of the girl for dimension. I left the lower part of her legs free and used matte medium to adhere her boots and pantaloons to the snow mound.

At this point she needs some snowflakes to catch.  I die cut some small snowflakes from Cheery Lynn's Snowflake die  using white glitter card stock.  I then adhered the snowflakes randomly onto the tag.  At the same time, I created a loop and bow using one of my favorite ribbons from Creative Impressions, the white glitter ribbon.

I used gesso to add some snow texture around the edges of both of my snow mounds and sprinkled some Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over the top while it was still wet.  To finish the piece,  I added a slightly larger snowflake to the snow mound for interest as well as a purple felt Snowflake from Creative Impressions and a die cut snowflake over the top.  Here is a close up of the finished piece.

 And once again here is the entire piece.  Note that I created a black card stock mat for the back of the tag.

I hope you have enjoyed my Winter tag and that it inspires you to go out and catch a few snowflakes of your own!

We are all enjoying your projects for "Baby, It's Cold Outside!" here at Creative Carte Blanche!  Hope to see lots more!

Susan

JUNE CREATIVE CARTE BLANCHE ADVENTURE - WINGED THINGS

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my post for the June Winged Things creative adventure!  I hope you have been enjoying the projects posted by my wonderful cohorts here at Creative Carte Blanche along with all of yours shared here during this month.

I chose this theme as the I love "Winged Things" and the possibilities are endless.  Besides that, I had so many ideas going through my head!  I actually created two projects this month, very similar, using two different "winged" themes - I knew I had to get them out of my head and into a project, so here goes:

Here is the first and main project:

I have to admit, I LOVE to create with Altoid tins!  It's a good thing as my brother-in-law is addicted to them and goes through one tin a week.  Every time we visit them I come home with a huge bag of tins!

I had been saving this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson from an older G45 paper for some time as I knew the right project would present itself!  This was it!  I began by preparing the tin (I used just the bottom of the tin and removed the lid) by adding some mushroom alcohol ink with a blending tool along the edges.  I then adhered the quote inside, allowing it to bend inside the tin to give it some depth.  Then I used a strip of adhesive backed burlap from Tim Holtz's Textured Surfaces                            and adhered it around the outside edges.  This is great stuff!

I set this aside and cut a piece of my favorite Wallflower paper to fit within a Tim Holtz burlap panel, tearing around the edges and adding Vintage Photo Distress Ink to give it more of a distressed look.  I then adhered it to the panel.  I laid the tin in the center of the burlap panel so that I could determine the correct placement for the other embellishments.

Now to decorate the piece. I mixed some Peeled Paint Distress Ink with some modeling paste and used Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Traveler stencil to add the word "Explore" at the top of the piece.

I used a thin die - Savannah Border by Memory Box - and cut out two border pieces from green card stock which were then adhered to each side of the tin over the top of the Wallflower paper.

I stamped B Line Designs' Large Butterfly onto a piece of scrap card stock that had been previously colored with Distress Paints and cut the image out.  This piece was then glued to the very bottom of the tin.  (Note:  If you look closely, you will see that the butterfly's antennae were cut off and a small piece of stiff linen thread was knotted at both ends, folded in half and adhered to the butterfly.  This was a great idea that my creative cohort, Cheryl Grigsby, showed me several years ago.  Isn't it great!)  Don't know it you can see it very well in this photo.

I also painted one of the Adornments Nature metal charms by Tim Holtz with Distress inks and glued it to the top of the tin.

To finish the piece, I added some roses and leaves I created from Tim's Sizzix Alterations Tiny Tattered Florals die and several dragonfly brads by Creative Impressions.  Here are a few more photos of the finished project:

Hope you like it!  Now for the second project - It is made in the same way as the first one, except that I covered the inside of the tin with papers and used more stamped images by B Line Designs that create more of a scene inside the tin:

I used paper from Graphic 45's Once Upon a Springtime collection for the back and the outside of the tin and a handmade green paper strip for the inside.

B Line Design images were stamped, colored with colored pencils and cut out.

I began gluing the images to the inside to create a scene:

I used a piece of Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime paper torn around the edges as with the first project and glued it to the burlap panel.  Then I used more modeling paste mixed with Peeled Paint Distress ink to make the grass at the bottom with Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 From The Garden            stencil.

I die cut a bamboo shoot from from green card stock using Memory Box's die of the same name and adhered it to the right side of the panel.  A few small flowers from the Memory Box Flower Mound die were cut and hummingbird and dragonfly stamped images were colored and cut out from scrap card stock and adhered to the panel to finish the scene.

I think I am addicted to making these pieces!  I have even more ideas!

Thanks again for joining us for this month's adventure.  All of us at Creative Carte Blanche hope that you have enjoyed our projects.  Hels Sheridan will be posting all of the information for our July adventure, so stay tuned!
Susan

Winter Cheer

Hello everyone!  I thought I would get a last post in before Christmas!

I'm sure everyone is getting beautiful Christmas cards this time of year, but have you ever thought about sending Winter cards after the holidays to celebrate (yes, I said "celebrate") Winter and it's beauty?  After all, the kids and adults can go sledding, the skiers are thrilled here in Colorado and elsewhere and, let's face it, the snow is beautiful.  For those that aren't so crazy about Winter, a card can cheer them up and let them know you are thinking about them.  So, without further ado, here are several cards created by me and my talented co-design team member with B-Line Designs, Michelle Bodensteiner.  The first one is a beautiful sledding card by Michelle.

Isn't this a gorgeous card?  I love the fact that it is not a traditional rectangular card.  The oval shape showcases the sledders (Winter Fun HO20E) and creates such a beautiful frame.  Michelle doubled the scalloped frame (My Mind's Eye - this could be easily die cut as well) using pop dots which gives the scene a 3 dimensional look.  Michelle stamped the sledders with markers using the Direct-to-Rubber technique and then added some color pencil to the children' shoes.

For added texture on the children' image, Michelle stamped part of the pine tree small (HO103D) so that it looks like the little girl is holding it.  Then the Bough Duo (HO149F) was stamped randomly around the edges of the scene with green and red markers.

I love all the little details Michelle used to create such a lovely scene!  Even the deer on the side of the card is a stamp.  It is from the Gift Tag cube (HO106F) and is stamped in brown.  Then she used a Wink-A-Stella pen to add sparkle to the deer!  To finish the card, she used two snowflakes from Jolee's and lots of lovely crystals placed in the scallops.  Even the deer has a crystal tail!

This beautiful piece would also make a fabulous Christmas tree ornament or a tie-on tag for gifts simply by adding a ribbon loop to the top.  So versatile!

I created another winter scene using Dream Catcher (HO145F):

The card is a combination pop-up/shaker card that is fun to make.  I stamped the Dream Catcher scene with Navy ink and colored her outfit with color pencils.  Using foam tape and acetate I created the shaker box within the pop up.

I used the snowflake Border (HO141E) for the sides of the card and navy blue ink.  I punched multiple white snowflakes for the top and bottom borders of the card.  To finish the inside of the card, I stamped the word "Believe" (HO116C) with black ink.

Here is the front of the card:

I used the Pine Tree Small (HO103D), stamping them twice.  I had previously made a (snow mask) with plain copy paper to give the scene a little dimension.  To finish I stamped Let it Snow (HO143C) with navy blue ink, went around the edges with blue ink and finally added some ultra fine glitter to the snow.

Hope you have enjoyed these winter cards.  For more information regarding the stamps that where used, please stop by www.blinedesigns.com.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2016.  Stay warm and enjoy Winter!

Susan

Juggling Julia

Hello everyone!  I have been so busy lately "juggling" many different things lately but finally decided to take a break and create some play time for myself.  I just received this B Line stamp which fit my mood perfectly, so I decided to sit down and have a little fun making some cards with her.
Here are the results of my play time!

Isn't that the truth!  Sometimes life really can be a juggling act!  I found a circus tent template on line and decided to use it as a background for Julia.  I used Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks and watercolored the stamped image of Julia. I then used Evergreen Bough for the juggling balls after I had stamped them 5 times onto scrap card stock and cut them out.

I cut the tent pieces out of a heavy double sided patterned paper I had in my stash and adhered them to a piece of white card stock along with banners cut from coordinating card stock scraps.  I stamped out the saying onto scrap white card stock and cut apart the words.  After going around the edges of the words with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, I adhered the words and juggling balls with pop dots.

To finish this piece I added a final banner to the top of the circus tent and a B Line star with a gemstone to the center of the star.  Now my life is perfectly described with this card!

I was having so much fun that I decided to create some more cards using this same stamp.  Just look at the variety and different looks that can be achieved using one central stamp with various sentiment stamps!

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Now I have a fun birthday card as well as an encouragement card for someone special!

I used  Rhonda Palazzari Crafter's Workshop and Tim Holtz Bubble Layering Stencil for the background of the "fan" card as well as Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks.  It is hard to see on these samples, but I finished all of the cards with some Stickles placed on Julia's outfit.

I hope you can stop "juggling" things in your lives and take some time to play!  It's good for the soul! I know I sure feel better!

Susan

Altered Surfaces

We have arrived at the next to last challenge - No. 33 - for the Compendium of Curiosities III Challenge!  Say it isn't so!  I have been having so much fun with these challenges that I hate to say goodbye to them!

The current challenge, Altered Surfaces, can be found on Page 45 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities III book.  It's never too late to get your autographed copy which can be found here.  Tim and Mario are also providing a fabulous prize package to the winner chosen by the Curiosity Crew.

The wonderful folks at Inspiration Emporium also have a generous $50.00 shopping spree just waiting for the randomly chosen winner of this challenge. You will love their product selection and customer service!

Now all of us on the Curiosity Crew want you to participate, so head on over to Linda Ledbetter's site here for all the rules!

Here is my project:

A lovely blog comment was made that she enjoyed my use of family photos in past blog challenge posts.  It made be realize that I hadn't incorporated any for awhile! Time to dig out more photos! 

I have always wanted to do something with the above hilarious photo of my mother (center) with her best buddies, Pat (left) and Ginger (right).  She has tried to convince me that this photo was taken in Wenatchee, Washington at the carnival during the Apple Blossom Festival.  However, I know better as I have this photo that shows what happened to these naughty girls:

Now for the challenge piece.  I chose to alter the large number 3 as well as the arrow.  I thought the technique would be most effective on larger pieces.  The number 3 is from Idea-ology Alpha Parts  Numeric and the Arrow is from Alpha Parts Framed.  I attempted to use the technique on the framed sentiment, also from the Alpha Parts Framed, however, I think it is much more effective on the more solid pieces.  I can't tell you how I accomplished this look as you have to find out yourself by turning to page 45 of the book, however, here are close-ups of the two altered surfaces:

I began my project by placing patterned paper cards from Idea-ology Pocket Cards behind the photo and adhering them to my Burlap canvas (also from Idea-ology)  I then adhered  a red strip cut from Tim's Sizzix Alterations Frameworks Courtyard die so that it would peek out from behind my photo as well as another card from the Pocket Cards.   I adhered my enlarged photo over the paper and die and added some Film Strip Ribbon on either side of the photo.   This is how it looked at that point:

Now I began to add more details to the canvas, including a Flash Card with the word "Friend" (I added an "s" from Alpha Parts to the end) from Flash Cards Elementary, Two Remnant Rubs from the Numbers Sheet, several pieces from the Ephemera Pack (Thrift Shop and Expedition), some tiny playing cards from my stash and a Word Band.  I threaded Correspondence Paper String through the Word Band and adhered blue eyelets.  The Paper String was wrapped around to the back of the canvas.  I did the same thing on the right side of the piece as well.  Here are some close ups of the details:

I used Distress Paints to add color to the Alpha Parts Framed "Good Times".  The red ticket is an actual raffle ticket and the other two are from the Ephemera Packs.

One last look at the finished project:

Looking at this piece in my studio will definitely make me smile!

Ok, now it's your turn to create a project using Altered Surfaces!  I hope you have as much fun as I did with this project!  My mother will either laugh or be horrified that I chose these photos!

Susan