Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Simple Scripture Card


I needed to make a quick scripture card, and had this verse already stamped.

Vellum is one of my favorite papers to use. I use a basic glue stick, specifically Scotch brand repositional. I found it rather by accident, using it to temporarily place something, then discovering the glue did not show through, and when I tried to see if it would continue sticking, had great success. Vellum tapes sometimes show through the vellum, depending on thickness, color, and pattern below. But I've never had a problem with a glue stick. I do make sure to weight it down overnight to secure the job. And I still secure it when it works easily to, such as here with the leaves. :-)

Monday, September 28, 2009

Another card re-do


This card has been around for awhile, with the dark blue layer actually being the card, with a paper liner for writing. I re-did this a week or so ago, and it's appropriate to post it now as tomorrow we bring our sailor to the airport where he'll head toward Sigonella, Sicilly for two years. We've been blessed to have him home for a little over three weeks, and it's been great. We'll miss Stephen, of course, but it's exciting to anticipate getting to visit him there next year!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Fall Birthday cards




It seemed appropriate to post birthday cards today: it was my daughter's birthday Wednesday, and it's mine today. In celebration, we're cleaning the house - we are feeding a group of college students after church tomorrow!

Moving along ... I have had so much fun with my Cuttlebug leaf dies! I also really love wood ... whether the look comes from stamping, wallpaper, or this beautifully embossed wood cardstock.

The multi-colored leaves came from a cardstock panel on which I had done the polished stone technique.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Buck card redo


When I first began selling cards, I lined the inside of dark cards with paper. But I no longer do that; I wasn't satisfied with the look, and it for some reason it was just one of those aspects of cardmaking that really irritated me. As I prepared my first "batch" of cards for "Crafy Crafters," the place in which I am now selling my craft supplies, cards & journals, I went through all my older cards, chopping off the fronts of dark cards, and carefully washing the text off of old labels that had my former e-mail address (I use the clear Avery address labels which wipe clean with a damp cloth - much easier than attempting to peel off labels from the card!) Some cards I rejected altogether. The green panel on this card actually was the card. I cut and trimmed it down, and attached to a bronze-laid card, which blended nicely with the flax-laid panel.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

salmos 91:11



Normally I focus on bright, bold colors for Latino cards, but I had this pink bookmark I had made a couple of years ago that I wanted to make into a card, and this is what I ended up with. There was a nasty mark in the upper right hand corner, which is the reason for the flower in that odd spot!

"He will give His angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways" is the translation. Our American culture is a bit infatuated with angels, and dramatically misrepresents who and what they are, so I do not often use this scripture in cards. However, it is the Word of God, and so is good. :-)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Romanos 13:15


In English, this reads "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him." Romans 13:15

The embossing powder is a line called "Antiquities," no longer available, but it has a textured look like Tim Holtz Distress powders.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

God keeps his promises!



This is an image I've had for forever, but never used ... coloring does not come naturally to me, so I don't do it often. As basic as the job is that I did with this, it's a big deal to me, lol! Thanks to my friend Jacki, who has so encouraged me in this area!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

another Spanish birthday card


I often cut extra pieces when making a card, thinking I may create duplicates, or mess one up in the middle of a card and need to have another on hand. I had done so with the papers in this card. With the time press I'm under, I've really tried to make card that were essentially already begun. :-)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bendiciones


Monica commented that red liner tape might work for my letters ... I used a double sided sticky tape, but with the narrowness of the letters, it was difficult to apply, so I had switched to a liquid glue. I also was cutting the letters with sizzix dies in my cuttlebug which is rather challenging, so I still don't think I'll ever do this again!

This is one of the cards I rejected before completion, then decided today that I should at least finish it for personal use.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Hola


I made about four cards using this glossy cardstock, but some I had not examined closely to realize the gloss was scratched, and I had a difficult time with the adhesive getting all over the letters. So, this is the only card that survived. :-( Perhaps it is time to get a Xyron?

I used the build-a-flower set for the exclamation marks.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Gracias in Green


I am going to be selling cards at Houghton College, and they are very interested in foreign language cards. Spanish is the easiest for me, with a husband approaching fluency, and a good number of Spanish stamps. This card will look familiar to those of you who follow my blog regularly; the images were left over from a few cards I made a couple of months ago. A good thing: I have very little time to make cards in all the requested languages: Spanish, Swahili, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Wallpaper cards!





I hadn't made any wallpaper cards in ages, but when I found this design in a wallpaper sample book I just got from Sherwin Williams, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it! For those of you who have never worked with wallpaper, I encourage you to see if your local wallpaper store will give you their discontinued books. At the end of each month, our local Sherwin Williams allows people to come claim them. I nearly always forget, so often there are no books. But I finally remembered a couple of months ago.

Anyway, I decided to use my cuttlebug for these. Wallpaper is not firm, so I glued it onto cardstock before die-cutting. :-)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Floral Sympathy

Some time ago I posted some roses that I had done with a really neat technique, posted here. I finally got around to using a couple of the flowers with these sympathy cards. The text is white pigment ink embossed with white embossing powder, donated by my friend Jacki Jones. Not all white embossing powders give a crisp image, and some that do are not truly white. She gave me some of hers when I was visiting her in Atlanta. She put it in a recycled prescription bottle, and we got a laugh imaging airport security wondering about my white powder!



Monday, September 7, 2009

Back home!


It's great to have our son, Stephen, home! The leave that could possibly have been cancelled ended up being extended due to flight issues! So, he'll be home for 3.5 weeks. :-) Hopefully, he'll get to work one week with the recruiter, so that the extra leave won't be taken from his time in Sicily. :-)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Masculine "praying for you" card


Most sympathy-type cards are flowery and feminine, so I wanted to make one more masculine. This one was a breeze to make ... I already had the wood background. I'm not sure where I learned the technique, but it's very easy. Simply slide a brown ink pad down the card a couple of times, then repeat with a white craft pad. Perfect!

Tomorrow we leave for Great Lakes, Ill. to attend our son Stephen's graduation from Corpsman (medic) school. Supposedly, we are taking him home for two weeks, but he just skyped tonight to tell me he still does not have his orders, so he may not be able to go on leave after all. :-( At any rate, we'll be gone a few days, so I won't be posting again 'till Saturday.