Masculine Birthday Card

Because of the college classes I'm taking, I tried to get a good head start on cardmaking this year, and had today's Biblical Impressions design team card finished a week or two ago. However, as is very typical for me, I suddenly remembered a family birthday - myhusband's - is today! It's almost a family joke how I tend to forget my own family member's birthday cards until last minute! So Saturday morning found me hastily making a card while my husband shoveled the driveway! Bruce is not really into cards, but some time ago he saw me with a stack of notecards I was beginning to color in, and he requested I make one for him to give someone ... but he liked the black and white, and asked me to put just the smallest dash of red somewhere on the card, and leave the rest without color. Remembering that, I decided to make him a card with the same color scheme, though I did use some grey as well. I used the plaid stripes (second row) and the happy birthday for a simple, masculine look.

Snowman Block

When I was making this Snowman card last week - about the only snowman I've seen in this strange winter - I had some blue, white, and silver plaid ribbon that I thought would make a really nice blue and white card. The snowman is so charming, he doesn't need any coloring. But then I decided to just add a little color by doing paper piecing with the scarf (using a red marker every other panel). Oh, and wouldn't it be great to do the hat in with black glossy cardstock? And by the time I had embossed the hat portion of the image, it seemed obvious I should continue with the rest of the snowman "parts". I am a word person, so I put this greeting of blessings underneath, backed with a scrap of the same paper used for the scarf.

Biblical Impressions Blog Hop!

Welcome to the next stop on the Biblical Impressions blog hop! If you are arriving here from Jessica B.'s blog, then you are at the right place! If not, then head to the QKR Stampede blog for a complete hop order. This month’s theme is winter!

This was a fun card to make! First, I used a square punch on a scrap of paper, to give me a “frame” to stamp in; I also could have created a frame with four post it notes. I stamped the upper part of the pine grove repeatedly (re-inking only after stamping several times) inside the punched out area. Then I sponged blue ink for the sky, and removed the scrap. Next, I used white embossing ink to stamp the snowflakes repeatedly over the image (stamping off onto scrap paper before re-inking so as not to get colored ink mixed into the pad), deliberately allowing a little overlap into the white space of the card, and embossed with white embossing powder. I then embossed the Thank you in white, cut out the oval, then sponged the same blue ink over that. I used the cuttlebug to emboss a snowflake panel, which I then tore and glued to the panel, attaching the layered oval.
This could very easily be a card without layers. The thank you could be embossed right on the card, sponged over, then masked with an oval. Multiple snowflakes could be embossed in white down the side, the mask removed, and then the outer edges of the card sponged in blue.

Thank you for coming by, now it's on to Jessica S. for the next hop!

P.S. Jessica is going to mention the lack of snow we've had here in Western NY ... but it's coming down hard this morning! So pretty!

Ooops!

We have lived in our present location for about fifteen years. We have an unfinished basement that, because we live on a hill, will flood after heavy rain. If rainfall has been particularly heavy, it may take overnight for the water to drain out. Last month, the town replaced the culvert for a ravine that goes under the road. In this strange winter that should have been depositing snow, we had a huge amount of rain. Our basement filled up about five inches ... and stayed that way for two weeks. Clearly, it must have been because the work on the culvert; presumably the drain had somehow gotten blocked. We called the town highway super's office, and asked if they could check to see if something they had done had caused it. We were not irritated, these things happen. But wow, I'm so grateful we were not! The superintendent himself came over with another gentleman, and actually located the drain pipe as further down the the property than the culvert. They sent a snake up through, discovered that something had gotten lodged up in the drain and were able to dislodge it. How embarrassing! While our assumption may have been logical, we should have searched harder for that outtake! But it was really neat to see what a genuine public servant the highway superintendent is!

It seemed appropriate to use a local map for a thank you. The only thing we had was a simple full county map, in really bad shape. So I decided to scan it, and crop it down to focus on our town of Wellsville. I deepened the color a little, sharpened the image, and mounted it onto a red panel. For the thank you background, I cropped the picture down even further, and significantly "faded" the image. I had planned to add some embellishments after attaching the thank you to the card, but suddenly felt really subconscious about that, and left it unadorned.

Eureka Blog Hop!

Love and Valentine’s Day.

Cards like these make me realize just how limited my crafting skills are, lol! I thought these lovecats needed a porch swing, but I wasn’t very confident I could make it happen, so I used a pair of cats that were rather messy as I tried to work out the project, planning to replace them if my idea looked like it would work. Of course, by the time I got it together to my satisfaction, I had forgotten I needed to make a new cat image, but it was already glued to the “swing!” Anyway…

The bench is just about 1” wide, and just over 2.75” long. After cutting it, I scored lines across for a wood plank look. I cut the cat image about a quarter of an inch from the bottom, folding right where the tails begin. The top quarter inch of the image was attached to the back of the bench at the fold. I used embroidery to me an old tarnished chain from a necklace would work nicely too. Because of the light weight of the floss an the bench, I had to weight the bench down to pull the floss straitght. For the porch roof, I used a thin wood laminate sheet. It’s very fragile, so had I soaked it in water, then bent it to attach one side to the frame, and slant the other side for a roof look (I realize it does not appear slanted in the photo, but it actually worked quite well). I used an eyelet setter for holes to pull the “rope” up through.

If I were skilled/efficient with crafting, I could have created porch walls as well, creating a box frame for it all. However, I’d already spent an embarrassing amount time figuring out this much, and I just couldn’t go that last step. So, I propped the frame up against designer paper to photograph. However, I hope I’ve inspired some of you to try your hand at making a truly adorable image! If you had a scenic photo from the recipient’s honeymoon for the love cats to look at, it would make a sweet anniversary card!

Thank you for stopping by, now it’s on to Molly for the next hop stop!

The Wonderful Names of Jesus III

As I was creating cards for the design teams, I came across a damaged panel using Stubby Stamper's Names of Jesus stamp. As you can see, I did some kind of watercoloring on this Eureka rose, and evidently I used too much water, and the panel warped significantly. Still, I never got rid of it. Already posting two companies' NOJ stamps, I decided to see if I could use the panel after all. I attached it to some beautiful marbled green glossy cardstock, placed it under a large pile of books, and left it for a couple of days. Hurrah - the card flattened out smoothly! I wish the glossy cardstock showed up better, it's truly a beautiful pattern, giving added beauty to the card.

By the way, another name for Jesus is "Rose of Sharon," part of why I chose a rose to place in the center. :-)

The Wonderful Names of Jesus II

As a design team member for both Biblical Impressions and Eureka, I thought it might be fun to occasionally post similar images from each. My first post featured Eureka’s Names of Jesus image; here is Biblical Impression’s Names of Jesus image.

This was one of those designs in which what I planned to do and what I ended up doing were very different. I had embossed the NOJ with clear powder, planning to ink not quite to the border of the stamps, so that the border words were legible, but sort of fading off into the background. Then I planned to iron off the embossing, and tear the edges. But in an ADD moment I forgot my original plan and did a more traditional inking (using Brilliance ink pads), and having already messed up my original idea, went for straight edges. While most of my cards are standard A2 designs, this one is slightly larger so that I could frame the stamp better, and cover up less of it with the smaller scripture, which is Psalm 113:3, available on the full sheet, Be Still.

The wonderful names of Jesus

After nearly a year and a half of very little card making because of my return to college (online this time), I am actually involved with two design teams! Biblical Impressions and Eureka are actually sister companies, and I have been using their stamps for years.

I love Names of Jesus stamps, they give reminders of the many facets of the Lord; he is our Savior, our King; he is our Shepherd, and so much more. The script-like font of Eureka’s Names of Jesus image is very classy looking. Starting the new year by reflecting on the character of Christ is a great way to go!

For this card, I used metallic/mica powders to achieve an embossed copper effect for a masculine recipient. The green powder (not what is sold at Eureka or BI) has some flaw in it, and smears on any cardstock used. However, I deliberately used it here to accomplish the aged effect. I had planned to add a small scripture text stamp to the card, but when I finished the NOJ panel, I decided the antiqued, elegant appearance did not need anything added to it other than the miniature brads.

It may be my own lack of photography skills, but embossed images never seem to photograph as well as I would like. The text is actually very readable, despite what you see in the photo.