PTI Challenge #8 - Ink Blending Techniques

It is time for another Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  This weeks challenge (#8) is all about ink blending techniques.  This is something that I have been experimenting with more and more as my card making skills increase.  However I was still positively awed by Betsy Veldman's card in the video on Nichole's blog for this week.  Take a look here to see the video.   I started to do something similar but got a little off-track and will finish that card later. 

On to the birthday card that I did finish.... 
I needed another birthday card for a friend so I decided to try some ink blending techniques on various elements.  The card base is fairly basic with two patterned papers and a piece of lace. 

Next I made a large flower with my Tim Holtz tattered floral sissix die and began distressing the blooms by crushing them in my hand.  Then I started using some distress inks to color the edges of the flower layers as well as blend into the entire surface of each section of the flower.  Next I stamped with a "cherish" phrase stamp on the surface of the flowers before putting the flower together and adding some twine in two colors and a button.  I topped it off with some stickles.

After making the flower I also inked a heart diecut with two colors of chalk inks taking it from white to the lovely turquoise shade it is now.  I also created a patterned paper diecut and added an additional layer of paper to it and distress inked it also.  Lastly I added Riptide glimmer mist to 3 sets of leaves cut from some mint colored cardstock.  The glimmer mist added sparkle and shine to the leaves and turned them such a pretty color.   

Still feeling like I don't have my crafting mojo.  Lots happening at home right now and I am tending to only make cards I need which is harder than just making something for fun.  Plus I have the most horrendous cold this week!  Ugh!  Anyway thanks for looking! 

Enjoy each moment!  : ) Jill

A little scrap of this and a little scrap of that birthday card for my sister....

I decided to spend a little time this Sunday afternoon making another card for the PTI challenge #6 because I needed a birthday card for my sweet sister.  It surely isn't the best card I have ever made but a homemade card is always more special than store bought don't you think?

I wanted to try out my new "Just the Ticket" stamp set and the coordinating die and impression plate.  I sure do love this set but boy did I struggle with my card today.  Do you ever start a card and not know how to finish it or just have so many little things go wrong that you want to take a break?  Today I had that problem.  I just couldn't seem to make the card come out right.  I wish I had taken pictures of all my different ideas as maybe someone could give me some cardmaking feedback.  I think I am just having an off day today and the fact that I am lacking sleep is probably contributing to my lack of crafting mojo.

Anyway here are some pics of my little birthday card attempt...

I used my scoring board to make lines on the left side of the card base and the impression plate to impress the right side of the card base.

After trying lots of different tags for the sentiment I finally made one because nothing was looking right.  I made a birthday cake out of some leftover glitter paper that had been trimmed with a Martha Stewart edge punch and was sitting in my "scraps" basket on my desk.  I think it kind of looks like a cake with candles on it but my "faux" stitching is crooked and the sentiment is a little bit low and I couldn't find anything that I liked to fill in the space above it....maybe I will look for a baby stamp again later...maybe I can find one that says "Sister" in my stash.

Anyway that is it for me today.  It is 6ish and I am watching Toy Story with my son and then we are going to have bath time and an early night.  One thing I will say is that no matter how something turns out I always enjoy my time in my little crafting space in my basement - especially after having a nice walk and play time at the park earlier in the day.  It is just fun to get cozy at home on a Sunday afternoon and get my fingers all inky!  Happy Birthday to my sister Diana tomorrow!  I love you my sweet! 

Blogging off....until next time...smiles - Jill

Make It Monday Challenge #6 - Impression Plate Tricks #1

It is time for another Make it Monday Challenge from Papertrey Ink.  Challenge #6 is titled "Impression Plate Tricks #1".   You can see the posts regarding all of the PTI challenges on Nichole Heady's blog at  http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/ .  See the post for Monday March 14th for the current challenge video and post. 

I chose to use an embossing folder to go with the flower I had planned for this card as I only have 1 texture plate from PTI called "Admit One" and it did not go with the theme of the card I wanted to work on.  (NOTE:  If I have more crafting time this weekend I may make a birthday card using this impression plate and upload a second card.  I love these challenges!)

The flower is made using the Tim Holtz tattered florals sissix die with lots of stamping, inking, glitter, and a brad in the center to hold it all together.  I found some velvet leaves at my local thrift store a few weeks ago and added these to the side of the flower and used stamps from the Mat Stack 4 collection with the new banner die from PTI.  This card is another thank you note that I am sending to one of Stuart's cousins who has been helping us very generously during Stuart's illness. We are so blessed by our family and friends. 

Here are a few more pics of this card:  
 
                           

Thanks so much for looking!  I am having fun learning to make cards and the PTI challenges really help expand my techniques!  Plus they are so fun!  Have a great day!  Each day is truly a gift so celebrate it!

Smiles,

  Jill

Card Making night with my son...

Hello it is Tuesday night and my son and I were making cards together and he wanted me to post his and mine to our Greenwood Girl Cards blog. 

We used a "Pure Innocence" stamp set called Warm Fuzzies from My Favorite Things to make our cards.
My sons card has two bunny kids on it and he helped color them and I cut them out.  He made the sun with orange rays and the clouds and grass.  He picked out (and I helped him stamp) the sentiment which is from Michael's and says "All U need is Love".    We have the occasional craft night when Papa is off with the guys and it was fun making cards together.   Here are a few pics:

This is a picture of the two cards side by side.  My son's is on the right and he added the orange sunrays at the last minute.  He wanted the card to be very sunny!  Which is a good thing since it hailed, rained, showered, and poured today with thunder and lightning!  Quite something for Seattle!

Here is a close up of his card.  It was his idea to place the sentiment on the cloud and to make it two layers - the first layer is felt and the second is white cardboard tile from PTI with the sentiment.  You can't see the felt on the large cloud because it is behind the sentiment completely.

Here is a close-up of my card.  Some of the dies used are from My Favorite Stamps and some are from Papertrey Ink.  

I have one more card to share today.  This is one I made as a thank you for my neighbor and her sister who have been helping my family since my husband's diagnosis with cancer back in July of 2010.  Here are some pics:

The stamp is from Hampton Art and the flower was made using the Tim Holtz floral die and both patterned paper and tissue paper.  I made the leaves with a Martha Stewart punch and used too much stickles glitter glue to bling the card up.  The butterfly is made from the "Love Lives Here" dies from PTI.

Thanks for looking at my little card blog.  I decided to make a blog for my cards in 2010 so I could see how my skills progress over time since this is a fairly new hobby for me.   Until I blog again - be happy!  Each day is a gift!

 

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge #5 - Distressing Edges

Whoo!  I finally got a chance to sit down and make a card for one of PTI's Make it Monday Challenges.  This one is challenge #5 - distressing edges.  I have been lacking my crafting mojo the last few days because of a nasty migraine but I wanted to get a thank you card made so I pulled out some of my new stamps and dies.  I used the new Flower Fusion stamp set ( Here ) and the coordinating die to make the flowers on this card.  This is such a fun little $5.00 stamp set and so versatile! I also used the new Buttoned up #2 dies to make the flower centers.  An embossing folder created the background of diamonds and I used the new doily edge to create the "grass" at the bottom of the card.  I used a pair of scissors to do my distressing on the edges of the card and the background paper with the embossing.  After stamping the 3 flowers on my white cardstock I cut them out using the mat stack die.  I then cut several flowers with the die and popped them up on top of the stamped flowers for dimension. 

I colored the top part of the mat stack 4 diecut with my Frost Blue (B00) copic marker and blender pen to create a little bit of "blue sky" but it is hard to see in the pictures. The sentiment "a note of thanks" is from the mat stack #4 set.

Here are a few pics:

I hope you enjoyed looking at my card today.  I am really going to try and join the challenges more frequently in the coming weeks.  They are a lot of fun!   Thanks for looking!  : )  Jill

Card Supplies:

Stamps:   Flower Fusion #1 by Melissa Bickford and Mat Stack 4 Collection  - PTI
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow (edges of pink embossed paper)  Versamagic - Spring Pansy; Studio G - pink pigment ink; Archival Ink - jet black.

Paper:   Cardstock:  pre-made card: Paper Zone; Patterned papers:  My Minds Eye and Jillibean Soup.  Cardstock for doily edge diecut:  Quikcutz strips. 

Other:   Dies:  PTI; Twine:  The Twinery; Glue Dots, Ad tech adhesive, Foam "Pop-UP" Tape - dollar store. Scissors for card/paper edge distressing.  Button - craft supply

Finished Size:   Approx 4.75" x 3.5"