The Paper Artist/Creative Card Design

This card was just a quick and easy card layout using the Pick of the Patch  stamp set from Stampin' Up combined with a  wood panel designer paper. The card base is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, Scored at 4 1/4 Designer Paper Layer - 4 x 5 1/4  Pumpkin Color Technique - stamp the pumpkin in the lightest color of 3 chosen colors. Use a finger dauber to add a mid tone color to areas of the stamp, and again to add the darkest color.  To avoid seams in the ink dab your finger where the 2 ink colors meet. Don't rub or smoosh it, just dab it.  3 inch Vellum circle 1/2 in strip for the sentiment Gold Twine, burlap ribbon or a ribbon of your choice.  Attach the pumpkins to the vellum circle using dimensionals.  Wrap the twine around your fingers a few times and attach to the card only adding glue where the sentiment strip will cover it. Attach dimensionals to the back of one side of the sentiment strip and glue to the other, and adhere to card front as pictured. The card ins...

"You're Snow Cool"! ~ What a fun sentiment to go with this fun card! We used this fun design to teach the basic concept of laying down some ink  with a blending brush. We want to make a background using just one color,  some blending and a stencil. Using the snowman as the focal point for the card.  

This card is so snowy and sparkly you can almost smell the frost in the air!! A deer in a snowy meadow all aglow in the light of a huge winter moon. I used a circle shape to mask off the moon and blended the snow sky with Boho Blue Ink and Salvaged Patina Distress Ink, leaving a nice dark ring around the moon so it would stand out on the card front. I used a piece of torn cardstock as a mask on the bottom section of the card and the Salvaged Patina Ink and lightly blended in a few snow ridges on the foreground of the card.  I stamped the deer from the Grassy Grove stamp set in Basic Grey Ink standing on the first bank of snow, and the trees ( also from the same stamp set ) behind on the second layer of snow. I removed the mask and blended using just the ink that was left on my  blending brush to add a little shadow or snowy cloud coverage to the  moon on one edge.  I added a few drops of water to a tiny bit of white acrylic paint to my stamping block and used a small...

A Beary Cute Card!  This card was created with the Beary Cute Stamp set from Stampin' Up and the Walk in the Forest Designer paper .  I'm not sure if you have taken the opportunity to have a look at this stamp set yet or not - if you have then you know that it's designed for Christmas!  As delightful as it is going to be create a few cute Christmas cards with, I wanted to be able to use it to create a masculine card, or a woodsy type card and for any occasion really, whether it was birthday, thank you or just anything... So it was clear I was going to have to choose a non Christmas designer paper or create a background of my own.  I certainly don't mind doing the later... however I wanted the card to be easy for you to make as well.   The first direction I needed to go was changing the bear image from a polar bear to brown bear, which was easy enough by choosing a few shades of brown to color him with. With that done, I just needed to figure out a cute fol...

How cute is this Picket Fence Pick of the Patch Card? Yes, your right, it's adorable!  And once again... I mixed and matched some stamp sets to create this fun card, along with a stencil for the background on the inside of the card.  Pulling products from all around the craft room encouraging you to do the same.  As well as created a bit of storyline like we talked about in the Snow Bunny card a few posts back. The see thru picket fence on the bottom of the card front creates an element of intrigue - the recipient wants to know what's behind that fence?! The card tents up like an easel which comes from our tutorial for the Glowing Autumn Card last week. Same measurements.  The story unfolds on the inside of the card with this lovely stenciled apple tree and a basket on the ground with apples tumbling out of it.  Die cut green grass acts as a place holder for the card when its upright position to hold the card in place for showcasing. I guess there would have b...

When trying to find inspiration to create a card - look around you. This picture on the left was posted by the Ontario Weather Network on Facebook  last night showing viewers a peek at the Northern Lights for those not able to  view them from their own location. Such as me... I've only spotted them once  and they were very faint, however still very cool to see.  What a beautiful sight! I knew when I saw the picture that today I was going to  try and blend a background that would look similar to the photo.  So with  blending brushes and ink pads in hand I set out to do so...  I think I captured it pretty well?! Just a few moments ago a friend of mine posted a beautiful of the sunset tonight,  it was absolutely gorgeous... and I know that's going to end up on a  card background as well.  Being the amateur photographer that I am, I spent a lot of hours  capturing  many gorgeous or interesting photos that I want to stand ...

I often think of Greeting Cards like miniature stories... Sending someone a cheerful story full of beautiful pictures and words. So often... my card front will start the story with certain images and sentiments and when opening the card the recipient will find images that continue on the inside - sort of playing out the story.  The card above starts with bunnies making a snowball, a very large snowball, and the image depicts that these bunnies sure are having fun!  The sentiment reads "A carrot & some coal to make a winter friend"... however you don't see a carrot or coal - this creates intrigue!! A 2nd sentiment seen thru a peekaboo window in the card front says " Just Add Snow", this is the page turner ( so to speak ), the recipient wants to know what happens next so they turn the page to reveal the inside of the card.  The inside of the card is filled with the same magical snowy background as the card front full of wintery splatter and snowflakes as well ...

These 2 stamp sets were an "unlikely pairing", however when they met they made a beautiful fall porch ready for relaxing on a warm autumn afternoon!  (Actually 3 stamp set were used) - Can you pick which ones? This beautiful fall card started with a 4 x 5 1/4 layer of Basic White cardstock . I stamped several sections of the floorboard stamp from the Lazy Days stamp set  in Soft Suede ink onto the bottom of the layer. Then used a blending brush with  some Soft Suede ( you would have to use Pecan Pie now ) to add a little blended  color onto the boards. I stamped a tree from the Pick of the Patch stamp set and a few of the falling leaves. For the falling leaves I used a sponge dauber to add daffodil delight, pumpkin pie and real red to the stamp to get a variegated color for the leaves. Also from Pick of the Patch, I stamped 3 pumpkins using the sponge dauber method in shades of Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie, 3 stems in Soft Suede (I know we don't have that colo...

Creating a background using ink blending, texture and splatters can not only be incredibly fun but can also turn into a Fa- BOO -lous card! Learn More in the next few days...  

 

  As paper crafters, there are some days that we want to create a card but we just don't want to get out all of the splatters, mica dusts, bells and whistles.  It's just not that kind of day, or maybe you need to create a card quickly, and don't have time to put a full 2 hours into creating your card?!  I mean for the most part the more fun stuff I can do with my card, the more creative I can get, and using as many fun products as I can - is definitely my jam!! But sometimes... you might just not be feeling it, or maybe you're stuck in a rut and can't quite figure out what to create?!  It's on these days I am grateful for beautiful background paper - paper that does the creative process for us. It's like a small cheat. Gorgeous designer paper allows us to design a beautiful card with little effort.  The cards above are perfect examples of that, created with the All About  Autumn Designer Paper ( DSP ).  1 sheet of paper, a circle die, and a sentiment ...