Administrative Professionals Day

One of the joys of being a crafter is being able to bless my daughter with custom cards for special occasions. As a new manager, she is keenly aware of the importance of thanking those who have been helpful to her in her career. Administrative Professionals Day is the perfect time to acknowledge just such a person. Trouble is, the only thing I was told was this woman is incredibly helpful and likes British royalty and wine. I input "queen" into my Evernote app and found a few stamps in my inventory that, when put together, seemed to fit the bill.

The Quietfire Design Queen of Everything stamp set has a number of lines to go with "Queen of..." and I thought this was best to convey how much this gal is valued.

I have a Stamp-it cube rubber stamp set with four crowns. I liked this crown because I felt I could add some gems to it to glam it up a bit.

A Distress Oxide Ink sponged background was run through my Cuttlebug with Spellbinders Framed Labels One embossing folder, then I sanded the high points with a sanding block. I used a watercolor brush and water to paint rays inside the label. Because Distress Oxide inks react with water, it sort of "bleached" the background to make soft rays.

Inside the card I stamped a coordinating Quietfire Designs stamp (Thanks Cuddlers) that says "Thanks for all you do."

Thank you for visiting today!

2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hello, blog! Long time no see! Here is my card for the 2018:

Today I have a chalkboard card. I forgot how fun these are! I used my MISTI stamp positioner to enable me to stamp and colour, then stamp again and emboss. I chose not to emboss the hearts so they would recede a bit.

I used chalk pencil crayons to add some subtle colour to the flowers and a slight drop-shadow to the "thanks" calligraphy. I drew the border by hand. I used striped washi tape as a temporary guide to help me space my dots in the border like this:

I used a sponge to smudge a bit of chalk ink in the corners and mounted with a few black and white layers to the front of a 5X7 inch card.

Thanks for stopping by. You can see LOTS more caffeinated cards at the official link up blog here. My card is number 860!

Bold and Blooming in Coral

I recently got the Bold and Blooming Stamp Set from Gina K. Designs. I really like it. Included are three large sentiments, for birthday and friendship, and this Thank You.

I heat embossed in fine detail white embossing powder and then coloured in with Zig Clean Color watercolor markers and moved the ink around with a damp brush. I added a few heat-set Swarovski crystals.

I am looking forward to trying this on kraft cardstock with pencil crayons and embossing in gold on black and painting with Twinkling H2Os. Lots of possibilities!

Burnished Velvet Thank You Cards

I think my favourite thing to do with my Silhouette Cameo is to make "die cuts" in cardstock and back them with tape, then burnish micro fine glitter into the tape. This fills the holes with glittery goodness that is soft as velvet and does not rub off.

This glitter technique is called Burnished Velvet and in real life these cards have a lot of wow factor. For the first one, the tulips, I backed the cardstock flower with white cardstock covered in double-sided tape and rubbed in iridescent glitter to create a glittery background. I wish this showed up better in the photo. (All photos expand if you click on them.)

Stamp: Stamp-it Australia

The tulip design was a cut file from the Silhouette store, as is the peony below. Here is what it looked like in the store:

Here is what I made with it:

Stamp: Waltzingmouse Stamps

I tried to do a little shading with a few pink shades of glitter. I need to practice that more. Basically I masked off sections of the flower (I used the Cameo to cut the mask from the tape liner) and sprinkled on the darkest hue in the centre, rubbed it in, then added the lighter sections. 

I used a milkshake straw cut on a diagonal as a scoop to pick up the glitter and place it (mostly) where I want it. The technique is magical because the glitter looks a bit dusty until you burnish it with your finger. Then it comes to life and really sparkles.

It is Administrative Professionals Day on Wednesday so these two cards are going to the people in my office who really deserve much appreciation for all they do for all of us!

You can see more Burnished Velvet cards by clicking on that label on the right hand side of this blog. You can find out how to do the technique here: Be Creative tutorials.

Carved Wood and Espresso

Yesterday was World Card Making Day and I was mostly battling a head cold but I did find some energy to try a new technique from Gina K at StampTV. She has a great video showing how to make a carved wood type of panelling for a background.

I made this card:

Stamps from Gina K Designs.

I am entering this card in the Kat's Scrappiness Blog contest that has no restrictions. There are prizes. Gina K is one of the lovely sponsors. You should enter, too!

Inspiration Challenge

Yesterday's Splitcoaststampers.com's Inspiration Challenge was to visit a board on Pinterest called Crafts - Tim Holtz and choose something that sparked our imagination. I chose this card. My take was a lot brighter, and I decided to skip the bead embellishments as the colour seemed enough busyness.

I did not have the wildflower die so I cut something on my Silhouette Cameo with a similar vibe, then applied Distress Inks while it was still intact on the mat.

It's a great Pinterest Board - I encourage you to check it out.

SCS Inspiration Challenge

Over at Splitcoaststampers the Saturday Inspiration Challenge (IC406) is to look at the Williams-Sonoma online catalogue, choose a photo to inspire your card, and upload the results. I think this is the first time I have played in this challenge. The item I chose was this La Med Melamine Serving Bowl:

Williams-Sonoma La Med Melamine Serving Bowl

I knew the perfect stamp set to work with, the Waltzingmouse Stamps Folk Art Medallion set. This is a "build an image" set with various options to layer to create the medallion. Here is my card:

I stamped the motifs on white Neenah cardstock after cutting the outlines on my Silhouette Cameo. I found it easiest to stamp onto the medallion shape while it was still on the sticky Cameo mat.

I easily created an offset cut file for the large medallion so I could have a perfectly matching yellow background layer. This is one of the marvelous things about an electronic "die" cutter. You can get a shadow layer for any image and you can decide how thick or thin the border will be! Here is a closer look:

It is way past my bedtime so I will sign off. Thanks for checking up on me today!

Thank You Chalkboard Style

This is another Splitcoaststampers challenge card. This Quietfire Design sentiment looks like chalk when inked in white pigment ink on black cardstock. The flowers (Autumn Leaves) were stamped in white and embossed on red cardstock. I accented them with a few pearls. I like the black and white diagonal stripes. 

Circular Thanks

Here' s a card where an embossing folder provided a textural background without competing with the main sentiment. I don't usually do Clean and Simple style cards, but I think this hits the mark.

I even made a matching envelope!

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink: Versamagic Thatched Straw, Encore Metallic Purple

Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, yarn

Cardstock: Purple and yellow from my stash

Sew Thankful for Friends

My dear friend Mary lives in California, but on a recent trip to visit here, she gave me my early birthday and Christmas presents. We are great ones for avoiding paying shipping costs! She presented me with a Hero Arts stamp called "Make it Yourself" and I promptly told her I would use it to create a thank you card for her.

I paired the stamped and Copic coloured image with October Afternoon Thrift Shop paper (a favourite paper pad that is sadly dwindling...) and used Antique Linen Distress Ink to age the edges. I used the Perfect Layers tool to mat the image. The small label was punched with a Stampin' Up! punch, stamped with a Waltzingmouse Sentiment and red brads echo the dress and border. 

I usually don't do much to the inside of my cards, but this Artful Stamper sentiment seemed just right! Thanks for peeking in!