Let It Shine

Hey there! So glad you are back.  I hope you and your family are well.                                          

I have completed another Altenew Academy class.  The title for this class was Let It Shine!  And although I’m not a blingy shiny type of girl, I really enjoyed making this card.  I got to pull out some products and tools I haven’t used in a while, like toner card stock and my Heidi Swapp Minc Machine.  My inspiration for this card was Altenew’s Birthday Greetings Stamp and Die Bundle.  I wanted to do some shiny balloons…and so I did!  One of the things I learned in this class was the possibilities of what I could use to make something shiny.  Normally, the first thing we think of is loose glitter and embossing when we want some shine.  Loose glitter and I do not get a long well at all, so I try to avoid using it as much as possible; it has to be a customer driven request…lol.  This class made me think of other products that have some shine to them.  The level of shine just depends on how much shine you are trying to achieve. 

For this class submission I did a birthday card.  My card started with a small piece of self-made toner cardstock (you can purchase toner cardstock, toner pens, etc). I have a laser printer, so I made my own.   I used the die from the Birthday Greetings bundle and die cut 5 balloons from the toner cardstock.  I cut a couple more than I needed just in case.  I used some rainbow coloured foil sheets and my Minc Machine to cover all 5 of the balloons.  I anchored some metallic gold floss to the back of the foiled balloons then added a small piece of foam tape for dimension.  I centered and overlapped the balloons on to a 4 x 5 ¼ inch white card front.  I stamped one of the Happy Birthday sentiments on to a scrap piece of white cardstock with black ink, trimmed it down a bit, added some foam tape to the back and used the sentiment to hold down the balloon strings.  I took a 3 ¾ x 5 inch piece of Fun Foam attached it to the back of the card front and mounted the card front on to an A2 sized tent fold card base.  The white on white keeps the card sharp and professional looking without dulling down the fun of the card.  This card would be good for any age.   This is my favorite card so far!  This is a simple card to make even if you don’t have a foiling machine.  Altenew’s Birthday Greetings was the perfect stamp and die bundle for it.    Click HERE to start Crafting Your Life! 

Altenew Products:

Birthday Greetings Stamp & Die Bundle 

In this photo you can see the rainbow colouring of the balloons, the dimension on the balloons, the sentiment, and the card front. 

See you next time…Joyce

For The Guys

A Big Texas Hello!

Today’s card is out of this world!  I don’t know about you but most often my cards are more on the feminine side.  The For The Guys class over at Altenew.com gave us good ideas and inspiration for making masculine cards.   I did a card like the one demonstrated for the class.   What I learned was I don’t have to be so careful and calculated with inked back grounds all the time and still come out with amazing end results.

This card starts off with an A2 piece of white card stock as the card front.  I liked the inked results so much, I used the entire panel, so the final card size is a little larger than a A2.  I used a couple different shades of blue dye inks and some black ink to create my background.  I started by using the lightest blue ink all over my card front.  I added the darker blue ink starting at the edge and about halfway in toward the center blending the two as I went along.  I did this in random places on the card front.  I did not blend the entire card front.  I wanted the blues to blend in some places and keep their individual colour in random spots.  I added the black in around the edges of the card a little heavy and very lightly moved toward the center just covering the blues.  I used my spray bottle to add some water droplets on to the inked background.  Then I took a piece of folded paper towel and pressed down on my background.  This created the faded-out droplet appearance on the card front.  Next, I took a drop of white acrylic paint and a couple drops of water and mixed them together to make a thinned out white liquid.  I used my Tim Holtz splatter brush to splatter the thinned liquid all over the background.  I’m not sure if you can see it but some of the spots have tails which look like comets or shooting stars.  I let the background dry completely.

On some white cardstock, I used first generation stamping with Altenew’s Mini Moon Stamp Set and their crisp dye ink cubes Citrus Burst and Silver Stone to create my moon.  I die cut the moon using the Mini Moon matching die.   Before I attached the moon to the card front, I heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set on the card front with Versa Mark and white fine detail embossing powder.   I did a little extra on this card by carrying the theme over to the inside bottom of the card.   

For more information on Altenew products, inspiration, and classes click HERE. 

Altenew Products:

Mini Moon Stamp and Die Bundle 

Pocket Full of Sunshine Mini Cube Set 

Rock Collection Mini Cube Set 

Joyce

Gorjuss in Water Colours

Hello Everyone,

I am back with a simple tent fold card.  I was trying my hand at water colour painting.  It’s something that I’ve really wanted to get into but it just seemed so messy or disorganized. Over the years I’ve tried water colouring with Stampin’ UP! Ink pads, Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads, Tim Holtz Distress Markers.  I have to say, not a big fan of the water colouring using water colour paints at all!  And the use of water in an open container in my craft space is not a good thing for my mind.  More than likely, the water will get spilled and everything in the vicinity will be ruined!  If it’s not due to my tremors, it will be because I’m as graceful as a bull in a China Shop…lol.  I see a lot crafters and artist using the water colour paints and they make it look so easy.  I purchased some Michaels (Artist Loft) inexpensive water colour paints to give it one more try.  They were on sale for $5, so I bought the regular water colour paints as well as the shimmer (never even used the shimmer, I am sooooo over the paints period).  I thought if I don’t like them (and I did not), I haven’t loss that much and I could always donate them.   I like to blend colours and even with the 18 colours that come in the paint set, it just was not working in my mind.  It could be that I had already shut it out before I got started.  I think I was more focused on the messiness, spilling water, over saturating the paper, getting those paper fibers, etc.  I used some paper from the Bee Paper Company.  The package says Heavyweight Vellum Drawing, 90lbs (g/m²).  I saw a YouTube video and someone used this paper to do their water colouring.  For my project the paper held up pretty well.  I forgot to weight the paper down to get rid of the buckling after it dried, so I had a little difficulty getting it down on the patterned paper and you can feel a little of the buckling on the finished card.   I used one of the Gorjuss Girl stamps, #9-You Have My Heart.  It turned out okay but the water paints are just is not for me.  I did however, finish the image and the back ground and did not want to waste the effort so I turned it into a card.  The greeting and the sentiment are from the Mama Elephant Scripty Birthday stamp set.  The card base is some old DCWV textured card stock, the patterned paper is also extremely old paper from ColorBok (8x8 paper pack) called Antique Paperie, and I used a piece of white card stock for the inside sentiment panel, and I used a Copic Liner Pen to ground the image. The finished card size is 5 ½ x 5 ¾ inches.   Again, not a fan of the water coloured paints but I thought I would share my experience and the end product of my feeble attempt at water colouring using paints.   You can purchase Mama Elephant at Simon SaysStamp or on the Mama Elephant website You canjust about purchase a Gorjuss Girl stamp anywhere now but here is the official site for Santoro London (makers of Gorjuss Girl).

 

 

Til’ next time, Joyce

 

 

Galaxy Background

Hello from the Glenn,

I am back with another Electic Ellapu design team card.  November’s theme is “Anything Goes.   My DT card has a galaxy background made with Distress Oxide Inks.  I am really please at how it came out.    I used 5-6 Distress Oxide ink colours including Black Soot to make the background on Strathmore 140lbs cold press watercoloured  paper.  I think what really made it come to life is using Tim Holtz’s Distress Paint (Picket Fence) and my fan brush to make the white spots.  Once it was dry, to keep the colours from moving (if it got wet) I sealed it with some Distress Glaze.   I added some Wink of Stella Clear to some of the dots to make them glitter just a little.   Out of all the stuff I have in this craft room I could not believe that I did not have one stamp that had anything to do with space!  Well, it just so happened that our local craft store The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, TX was having a great sale today.   I found a Lawn Fawn stamp set called “Out of this World” that was just perfect for my card.  If you are ever in the area, it would be well worth the trip to stop by the store.   Other supplies I used for the card are 110lb White CS from Michael’s Recollection brand, Stampendous White embossing powder, Versa Mark ink pad, and Momento Tuxedo Black to stamp the sentiment .  The sentiment is from a Stampin’ UP stamp set called Bring On the Cake.  I’m not sure if it is retired but I know I’ve had it for a while.  The finished card is 4 x 5 ¼, slightly less than an American A2 card.  I think this is a great card for your little space enthusiast or even your big one…lol. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you’ll give the galaxy background a try and I look forward to seeing your inspiration in the November challenge.

 

 

Here is a look at the inside of the card.  I kept it simple.

 

I made a matching envelope using my We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board. My card is a little less than the standard A2, so I used the measurements for a 4 x 5 1/2" card.

 

 

For more great card inspiration, check out Jennifer McGuire's You Tube channel here…til’ next time

Joyce

 

 

Birthday Wishes Steampunk Style!

Hey everybody,
   Back with another post, this time I'm sharing one of my birthday gifts.  This year I challenged my paper-crafting BBF Lesia from Mema's Crafts, to make a b-day card for me that included (1) a derivative of my favorite colour (which is red), her challenge was to use PINK and (2) one of my favorite styles...STEAMPUNK.  She did a crazy amazing job!!! I-LOVE-IT! and I think you'll love it to.  She fussed about the challenge all through creating this card. So, I had no idea what it was going be like.  I was thrilled to def when I saw it.  The inside is really cute too, she kept the theme flowing all the way through. Wonderful job Lesi-Les!  You rocked it girly-girl, just like I knew you would.  To see more of her beautiful works, click on the link above and check out her blog.  Can you believe I was the teacher, years ago?  Now, she has totally left me in the dust with the card making.  I call her the Card Whisperer (lol).  When I want to make a fancy card, I usually consult her first.   Check out my b-day card below.   Enjoy, til' next time...

 

I love the hardware and the postage stamps. After she coloured the image, she popped it up on some foam, added some lovely WOC flowers, and she used several Tim Holtz dies.  The inking really gives a vintage feel.  Awesome!!!!!!!
 

Here is a view of the inside with my Panera gift card, thanks Lesi!