I think it’s really wonderful that I have so many kind and thoughtful viewers. One of them, sent me a box of embellishments she had created, as well as (literally) hundreds of small envelopes her girlfriend had sent to her. She had no idea what to do with them and hoped I could come up with some ideas. So today I sat down and started playing with them and have come up with two ideas that are fast and fun. I made small mini-albums out of some of them and then had the idea to use business envelopes for my card size, and create cards with a note in each envelope. I think I already talked about this (or maybe I just imagined that I did), and am really looking forward to getting started.
My cousin Shelli, and her good friend Linda, (from the fairy garden video), will be coming to visit this week, and we’re still trying to come up with ideas of things we can create together. Obviously we can make cards, but it’s always fun to find new crafts that we can try together, and that’s our plan. I’ve given her some ideas and so far we’re still thinking.
I got an email from a viewer, who sent me a box of goodies today. She and her daughter hand made a lot of small envelopes, and oddly enough, I’d been thinking about making some cards for people with small envelopes glued to the front, with each holding a small message inside. I owe a friend a belated birthday card and thought it would be fun to have four or five small envelopes with a tab that says “open” on them, then inside a one or two word sentiment. So now that I have lots of tiny envelopes, I’m going to get serious about making those cards. It’s weird how people unknowingly think along the same lines.
I didn’t sleep most of last night, as I had an idea of how to save the hummingbird card, and I genuinely believed that I could do it without any intervention or YouTube videos to show me the way.
This video of the hummingbird card is probably the longest, but funniest video I’ve ever made. If people didn’t know me, they would probably think I’ve been drinking, but alas, I was just having fun. I created a frame from my own design, which, in retrospect, might not have been the best idea, but I did it anyway. The frame is by no means perfect, but the card is kind of cute. It took forever to make, but don’t all masterpieces? (Insert coughing and gagging here.)
I really had fun creating the frame, and hope viewers enjoy it. I’m not sure if anyone will ever try to replicate it, but at least I accomplished what I set out to do. Rectify a card that was clearly in the hot mess phase, and almost certainly, destined to stay there.
I have been wanting to make a card with a hummingbird stamp for a viewer. I had a vision of making the bird really three dimensional, so today I worked on the card. The background was white, and I really didn’t like it. So I decided to watercolor it a bluish tone. BIG MISTAKE! At this point, I’m at the hot mess stage and not sure what I want to do next, but I think I’m going to have to cut the hummingbird and it’s flower out of the original card stock to eliminate the ugly blue background. I’m hoping I can edit it out of the end card, because it is really bad.
I cut out some different fiber type papers to maybe make a background that is almost like burlap, but that doesn’t sound like it will work well, so I’m on to thinking of other ideas. I might try to find some handmade paper that I can layer it on. All in all, I’m starting to freak out, but hope by tomorrow I have a plan that will save the hummingbird card. Cross your fingers, we’re in for a long and bumpy ride.
I wanted to make a floral card for a viewer, and liked the idea of doing something with vellum. I took a large floral background stamp (link to it: https://tinyurl.com/ybl4v54n) and laid it face up, and inked it with Versamark ink, then laid vellum on the stamp, and stamped it upside down. I used silver Stampin’ Up embossing powder and heat set it.
I bought a set of brush pens from Amazon, a set of 60 Tanmit brush pens for around $21. and thought we’d try them out of this project.
Flip your vellum upside down and use darker colors than you’d normally use and color wherever it makes sense. I used a bunch of colors of the brush pens and the only issues I had were these. 1. I couldn’t easily get the caps off and 2. the color I used for the sun put off some fuzz that wiped off, but was kind of odd. I even colored the entire background with a blue marker and pen still worked well.
To attach the vellum, I laid it on a piece of white cardstock, and trimmed the corners, put tape runner on the back of the white cardstock and wrapped the vellum around the white card stock to create almost like a book cover effect.
After wrapping the vellum, I used a hello die from the Hero Arts Hello Stamp set (that comes with a die), and used the same silver embossing powder and heat set it. I glued the hello die cut on a piece of black card stock, then used a corner rounder on the ends of the black card stock. I put the vellum front on fun foam (attached with Tombow wet glue), then laid it on a 4 3/4″ x 6/ 3/4″ silvery grey cardstock then put it on a black card base that is 10 x 7″ and scored on the 10″ length at 5″ to make it a 5 x 7″ card. I used a banner die from Die-Namics and put a sentiment on it with Versamark and used silver embossing powder to heat set it. It also came from the Hello stamp set. To use the banner die, you have to fold them and put a glue dot between the layers to hold the banner ends down but still give them dimension. You also need to add foam tape under the center of the banner to hold it up as well. I put this sentiment in the inside of the card, and laid the Hello sentiment on the front, but pushed to the right side of the card overlapping all layers of card stock. I used the corner rounder from Amazon that’s called Sunstar Kadomaru Pro, Corner Cutter and sells for under $9.
I used pegstamps.com jagged petal flower, string strand and a fern, and colored them with matching pens from the card, then stamped the envelope front and back.
Did I mention I’m going to make an envelope flip book for friends who are building a new home? I thought it would be fun to make a simple album that can be made in a few hours, and do a step by step video of it. I don’t have a lot of viewers interested in flip books, but I love making small albums, so am going to give it a try.
I realize that I am behind on cards I’ve promised to make, but sometimes I get obsessed with an idea, and don’t really want to do anything else until I’ve made what’s on my mind. So I’ll be making a card with a big hummingbird, as well as more floral cards….Why not? It’s a floral time of year and I want to make them while the making is good!
I wanted to make a card using vellum and some new brush markers I bought from Amazon. I know a lot of YouTubers use Zig Clean Brush markers, but they are expensive, and I really try to keep cost in mind for viewers when I buy products. I had done some research on which are the best brush markers in 2018, and the brand I bought were number one. And even better, I got sixty of them for a little over $20. I can’t say they are remarkable, but they worked just fine for the project.
I had been thinking about how to take an entire sheet of vellum and put a big background design on it, then how to attach it to the card without seeing a lot of glue. It occurred to me that if I made the vellum bigger, I could basically wrap it around a piece of card stock almost like covering a book. I have to say, that was my favorite part of making this card. It looks really unique. A friend had asked for a floral card, so I made this for her and although it isn’t super floral, I think she’ll like it.
I hope everyone had a great Easter. I ate a lot of food, then ate even more chocolate, and ended the day by eating Fritos, so I guess we can say I made the most out of the holiday. Actually, we spent the day with old friends and had a nice time reminiscing about family and friends and mainly discussed Ancestry.com, our family trees, and their two Newfoundlands. Let me tell you, those are big dogs. Sweet and gentle as anything, and very fast with the licks, especially on the face, while you’re talking. It was kind of funny, but mostly yukky, when you think about the other things they lick, haha. These dogs were huge and fun to watch as they ran around their backyard. It was a long day and we were glad to get home. Our dogs are much more manageable, but not too thrilled with the smell of other dogs on our clothes.
I’m glad to get back to making cards that aren’t holiday related. Although it’s always fun when holidays come up, it seems like I’m always starting too late, and end up putting up videos at the last minute. A friend card can go up any time, and I don’t feel the pressure that I normally feel while doing holiday videos. I’ve promised to make a couple of cards, and that’s going to be my focus for the next few days. Wish me luck!
I finally announced the name of the winner of our Easter basket drawing. Her name is Marjorie, and she made a sweet card with a large cross on the front. I’m waiting for her to return my email so I can send her the basket.
As for the rest of my day, I made a big batch of potato salad for dinner with our friends tomorrow and finished icing cupcakes to give to a close friend. After making a horrible mess in the kitchen, I cleaned and called it a day. Spent the rest of my day reading and watching videos. I’m a video junkie, and even if I don’t have any interest in the project they are making, I still like watching. It used to be that way with the Food Network, when they had half-hour cooking shows. I could watch those all day, even if I never had any intention of cooking whatever they were making. I guess Food Network decided people didn’t like to watch those kinds of shows any more, and now have all kinds of competition shows. I don’t really care who beats Bobby Flay or which little kid can make a gourmet meal without burning themselves to death. Somehow the Food Network has become a spin-off of “Survivor.” While I’m ranting about the Food Network, whose idea was it to pair Martha Stewart with Snoop Dog? Are you kidding me? Times are definitely changing, I’m not sure if it’s for the best.
On an up note, I hope you and your families have a wonderful Easter.
I wanted to make a small waterfall card and this seemed like the perfect occasion. I saw a video by Positively Papercrafts making a small waterfall card and tried to follow her directions. She was vague about a couple of important points, so I struggled a little bit toward the end.
I used Floral Doodle paper from Love Nicole from AC Moore for my background paper, and used Prismacolor and Caran d’ Ache Supracolor watercolor pencils for my coloring. I used a waterbrush to wet the colors.
The card base is white Recollections heavy weight paper that is 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″ to make a 5 1/2″ tall By 4 1/4″.
The yellowish color piece if 5 1/4″ x 4″ wide
The floral paper is 5 1/8 s 3 7/8″ wide and all are layered on each other with Glue Dots tape runner.
The next papers you’ll need with be:
2 x 2″ (you’ll need four of these) in the plain yellow paper color
1 7/8 x 1 7/8″ (you’ll need four of these) in white colored card stock.
You will layer these on top of each other with tape runner or whatever glue medium you prefer. Then set them aside.
You’ll need two more pieces in the yellowish color.
One that is 4″ long by 1″ tall
and one that is 9″ long by 2″ tall
Score the 9″ paper
at 2″, 2 3/4, 3 1/2, 4 1/4″ on the 9″ length.Take this and fold all of the scores back and forth so they are pliable. You will put tear tape directly below each of the scores on the short end. The long end of paper without scores will fold under and be hidden, so no need to put any glue on it. It needs to move so make sure you put no glue on the long end (that’s unscored).
I used Versafine Onyx Black ink for all of my black stamping and stamped “Love you” from my animal set on the long unscored length of the yellowish strip that’s folded under the scored part.
I used Dew Drop Memento inks–I used Stampin Up Tangelo Twist and in the Mementos, Dandelion, Tangelo, and Canteloupe.
You’ll need to stamp a design on each of your four white layered papers.
I took the 4″ x 1″ piece of yellowish card stock and used the Kadomaru Pro corner rounder that I got at Amazon and here’s the link to it. https://tinyurl.com/yb7axedw
Then used pearl brads — to insert them, I put a mark with a Sharpie and made a small mark on both ends, then turned my hole punch upside down, looked for the black dot, and punched the holes for my brads. Then you just insert the brads. I trim the legs of my brads with Tim Holtz scissors. After adding the brads, add tape runner on the back of it on either ends to hold it to our card base. I placed mine way too high on the card base, and recommend that you place it lower on the card base.
I made a mistake with the sentiment in the inside the card, so used some of the floral paper that was leftover and make a small card and glued it inside the card after rounding the corners of it.
I used the little Easter egg stamp to stamp on my animals, some were splotchy even after dry, so I re-stamped those colors. When I did this with darker tones, I also stamped the black over the darker colors, as the double stamping made the black disappear.
The first thing I did on the 9″ long paper is fold the unscored part underneath the scored part so I could remember how it looks when it’s on the card. Put tear tape right below each of the score lines then lay your image so the tape directly below the score line and rub so the glue adheres. Line them up so all four are in a row.
I put a mark in the center near the bottom of the long length of the strip so we can make a pull tab. I punched out a hole and then pushed the ribbon through and added a glue dot under it to hold it in place.
In order to make your waterfall work, you need that 4″ strip to be attached about an inch from the bottom of the card. You’ll add some tear tape to the middle of the 4″ strip and making sure it’s near the bottom of the strip. Then put the long flap under the 4″ strip and lay your scored part on top of the strip, making sure the bottom is lined up in the center and then press in place. Hopefully you will have laid the 4″ strip low enough that the waterfall effect will work..
I decorated my envelopes with the same bunnies as were on the card.
