A Glorious Fourth

As with Memorial Day, somewhere during the picnic, and in between the fireworks and chasing the fireflies, we need to pause and remember the ultimate sacrifice so many paid to create our young country and make it into the unique bastion of liberty that it became . . .

For several years, I’ve been saving these wonderfully graphic bulk mailing stamps as they arrived on the steady stream of junk mail that fills our box.  Art is where you find it, folks.  Happily, that’s just about everywhere!

Cardstock:     Bazzill White, Admiral

Stamps:         Motivet The glorious fourth

Inks:                 ColorBox Gold, Ancient Page Cardinal, Marvy Gold marker

Emb Powder:  Ranger Gold

Dies/Punches: Quickutz Window die, Fiskars Star Corner punch

Doo Dads:       Four recycled bulk mailing postage stamps, Patriotic ribbon

A Marvelous Birthday

Yet another manifestation of my love for all things Kraft:

So far, it’s been a Krafty year indeed (sorry, couldn’t resist!).  Is there any color that Kraft doesn’t  enhance?  Today’s card features an explosion of color via a handful of eyelash yarns.  The strands are slippery and very fine in texture, so I knew that once my friend Lynn pulled the card from the envelope, they’d be in a tangled mess.  Enter the fabulous Quickie Glue Pen from Sakura:  after gathering the fibers as they emerged from the top of the tag and tying them with a silver floss bow, I glued down the back of the tied bunch with a glue dot.  I then drew several short curved strokes above the tag with the glue pen and laid the fibers on them.  Voila!  End of the much-dreaded Fiber Flop!

Cardstock:     Marcos Kraft, Bazzill Teal, Beckett Iceberg

Stamps:          Inkadinkado ‘Wishing you . . . etc.’

Inks:                Whispers Sugarloaf Turquoise

Emb Folder:     Cuttlebug Forest Branches

Dies/Punches: Die-Namics Traditional Tags

Color Pencils:  Prisma Poppy Red, Process Red, Aquamarine, Orange

Doo Dads:      Multi-color eyelash fiber, Silver floss

Sparkle

My love affair with designer papers appears to be continuing.  I hope I can stop before I’ve no more room left for stamped images.  I just ordered five more 6” x 6” paper pads:  does this mean I need rehab?

I’m also getting happily stuck on tassels.  They add such a perky bit of whimsy that I’m enjoying sticking them on numerous cards.  Before trying this idea, I had thought it would make the card difficult to open, but that’s not the case at all.  Next, I’m going to try working with narrow ribbons and a few dangly charms to see how that works out. My guess is that I’ll need to punch two small vertical holes in the fold itself . . . I’ll do some in-depth research in my Rubber Laboratory downstairs and get back to you on this.

Cardstock:     Bazzill Lilac, Purple, White, generic Matte Silver, designer papers

Stamps:          Stampin’ Up ‘Sparkle’

Inks:                 ColorBox Frost White, Silver marker

Emb Powder: Judikins White Diamonds, Encore Purple

Dies/Punches: Corner rounder, Spellbinders Mixed Media Playtime: puzzle pieces, doll torso, Labels 8

Doo Dads:       Silver Stickles, tassel

Cuvee La Tour

Some of the most beautiful artwork and use of colors can be found not only on wine labels but also on the extras the vintners often use to grace their bottles.  I save all of them!

My stash includes scores of embossed and colored foil caps, neck wraps, and other decorative strips from assorted wine bottles and I plan to have me a really good time with some glue and various dies one of these days. In order to keep the embossed foil cap (lower right) from collapsing, I punched out six ¾“ circles from scrap cardstock, glued them together and then perched the cap over the stack, gluing it down.  As the martini glass and text banner are from thin text-weight paper, I cut them out twice each and glued the pieces together for slightly more dimension.  Sometimes, pop dots are too much and single layers are too little.  Happily, double cutting can make the perfect difference.

Cardstock:     Bazzill Leapfrog, Black, generic Parchment

Stamps:         Above the Mark Cuveé Latour wine label, VAP Martini Glass

Inks:                Distress Antique Linen, Ancient Page Coal, Archival Black, Gelly Roll Clear Star

Emb Powder: B’Muse Black

Dies/Punches: Spellbinders Large Label, Labels 20, Wplus9 Banner

Doo Dads:      Green eyelash fibers, neck strip and cap from a wine bottle, black dot stickers

Friend to Friend

Continuing in my infatuation with all things Kraft, I am exploring this wonderful color in combination with all others on the color wheel.  Today’s lucky partner is burgundy and I think it’s the greatest!  But then, I’ll surely say that with the next combination I try - and all others thereafter.  Hard to lose with such a wonderful stalwart as the humble but mighty Kraft, which is only too appropriate:  Kraft is a capitalized noun and your spell checker will go on Red Alert if you try and get away with a lower case initial.  I would say that it has certainly earned its prestige . . .

Today’s tip is to try using paper strips of the same cardstock to add subtle, non-competing texture and dimension to backgrounds.  The two strips I used above tie the ribbon, the text, and the focal point together into an actual composition:  without them, the three elements would look floaty and lack cohesion.  Scored lines can accomplish much the same thing.  Additionally, Kristina Werner [ kwernerdesign.com/blog/ ] often uses stitching lines drawn with a white or black gel pen to great effect.  Her post of June 8 shows both scoring and faux stitching techniques beautifully . . .

Cardstock:      Generic textured Kraft, Burgundy, Beckett Moonlight

Stamps:          Prima Songbirds, Rubbernecker ‘Friend to Friend’

Inks:                  Archival Black, Marvy Aubergine marker

Color Pencil:   Prisma Tuscan Red      

Dies:               Spellbinders Long Classic Scalloped Rectangle, Labels 16

Doo Dads:       Burgundy 5/8” ribbon, Burgundy tassel 

Swahili Tales

My friend Sandy is into all things African and has even become an accomplished drummer with an African band of drumming enthusiasts.  They have performed at several venues and if you think that a band of just drums could not possibly be interesting, you’d be way off the mark.  I went to one of her performances and it was one of the most thrilling events I’ve ever attended.

The Dark Continent is filled with extraordinary art inspiration in numerous media and thanks to Sandy, I love to play around with the many stamp images I’ve collected, primarily because of her interest.  I hope she’s got lots of birthdays ahead, because I’ve got lots of stamps I want to use!

Cardstock:     Generic textured Cocoa, Bazzill Black, Beckett Moonlight

Stamps:         Judikins African background, Hanko’s African UNM sheet (text and images)

Inks:                 Archival Black, ColorBox Cream White

Emb Powder:  Stampendous Ivory Pearl

Dies:              WplusNine Banners dies

Doo Dads:      Twiggy spray, a found object I have no recollection of finding but am sure glad I did.  Lightweight and flexible, it should get through the mail just fine.

Forever In My Heart

As it’s only a few days past our anniversary, I thought another card for this romantic occasion would not be amiss. 

Both Valentine’s Day and wedding anniversaries are fun to work on because we’re allowed to scamper away from the Guy Stuff and edge into the girly things that we tend to find so much easier to express.  We can save the hard core images of chain saws, hammers, and pickup trucks for their birthdays and Father’s Day and permit ourselves to wallow in hearts and flowers the rest of the year!  After all, how many stamps of chain saws do we really want to collect?  There would sorta be something missing from the usual thrill of acquisition were I to feel the need to collect images of chain saws.  For me, anyway.  I’m just sayin’ . . .

Cardstock:  Bazzill Leap Frog, Dark Green, Plum, Beckett Iceberg

Stamps:       Unknown text and heart (Sorry!  If I ever find either stamp, I’ll come back and edit this.)

Inks:             Ancient Page Plum Wine, Marvy Silver marker

Colored Pencil: Prisma Pink

Emb. Powder  Vippies Transcendence

Dies/Punches  Spellbinders Fancy Tags, EK Success Corner Adorner Slot Punch

Emb. Folder:    Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls              

Doo Dads:        Silver flower beads, burgundy ribbon     

Blessing

Igor, my husband of 19 years, is indeed my blessing and I am so grateful to have found a stamp that speaks my heart. 

I wanted the cream cardstock to match the dots in the printed paper but every color I had was off.  Copics to the rescue!  I stroked the E30 Bisque over the nearest match and voila!  Made-to-order indeed.

As feared, I’ve gotten hooked on designer/printed papers and have begun to incorporate them in my cards.  So far, I’ve collected just one small box of them, but I’m a stamper – so we all know where that’s going:  pretty soon TWO boxes, then a cabinet, and finally the whole room.  Sigh . . .

Cardstock:  Paper Cut Tivoli Green, Bazzill Leap Frog, Sugar Cookie, Michael’s Recollections patterned paper  

Stamps:       Prickley Pear: text from Dragonfly set

Inks:             Ancient Page Sage, Copic E30 Bisque

Emb. Powder Vippies Transcendence

Dies/Punches:     Joy Butterfly, Carl mini flower, EK Success Scalloped Corner, JustRite Square Charm               

Doo Dads:    Offray ¼“ green gingham*, Viva Pearl Pen Cream, Gelly Roll Clear Star pen

 *No, the ribbon is not blue:  the camera just decided to get creative and change the white to pale blue.  And here I thought that I was the one in charge . . .