My Superhero Obsession

For the past few months, I've had quite the obsession with superhero images on cards. Ironically, I've never been a big comic-book lover, but there's something about the graphic images that I can't get enough of.

In the July/August issue of Paper Crafts, I was lucky enough to have two superhero-themed projects in the issue. You can see one of the cards HERE. The other project was included in the online/digital version of the issue (in the Back-to-School section). Here it is:

They are lunchbox notes for kids. I started with some digital papers from Jessica Sprague, resized them, and printed them. Then, I adhered the papers to a colored cardstock backing before die-cutting the notes. I added an element on each one that will give me a small space to write a "good luck on the test!" or "I love you!" note (or I could write more on the back, too).

I added the O-ring so I could clip it onto my daughter's backpack and add a note to it.


You could use the same idea and make gift tags. I put some ribbon on a few to show you:

I love that even though they all look different, with the hybrid, they are easily mass-producible. Not that I'm going to be mass-producing these. ;)

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Jumbo Dahlia

First, I wanted to thank everyone for your support with Paper Crafts' Gallery Idol. Of course I would have liked to have made it to the Top 10, but it was all good. :) I got some of the sweetest comments and e-mails...thank you! You all rock! I really, really appreciate it. 


Today is my last day as the June Guest Designer for Stamp School. For my last project, I was assigned to make a tutorial. 


Here's a sneak peek of the jumbo dahlia I created (it's about 6" in diameter):

Once I settled on making a felt flower, and my daughter offered to videotape it for me (and the fact that my 6-year-old knows how to make movies on an iPad shocks me). The flower was made in stages, but it ended up taking over an hour to make. I didn't think an hour-long video would fly, so I made a photo tutorial.


Want to know how to make the flower? You can see my tutorial HERE and the little tag I made to go along with it.


Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend. :)

GDT at Stamp School

In all the excitement of Gallery Idol, I haven't posted about my Guest Design Team cards that have been on the Stamp School blog.

For June, Stamp School released two wedding sets. This month, I was assigned to pick a sketch for the sketch challenge, which you can see here.

I used the bells from one of the sets on this rehearsal dinner invitation:

I printed the text on patterned paper (yes, it's Echo Park patterned paper even though it looks solid) and stamped the little bells from the Down the Aisle set. I took a wood veneer frame and misted it in yellow and pink to blend with the papers. Here's a close-up:

If you'd like to play along with the sketch challenge, you can enter your card HERE. You have until the end of the month to play along.

Also, if you haven't checked out my Gallery Idol Round 3 cards, you can see them HERE. If you like the cards, you can vote by clicking on the widget on the sidebar. Thanks!

Have a great night!

Supplies

Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School

Papers: (Confetti from Pretty Party) Crate Paper; (cream from This and That Graceful) Echo Park; (pink from Delightful) Authentique

Clear stamps: (bells from Down the Aisle) Stamp School

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger

Mists: (Lemon Zest) Tattered Angels; (Pink Grapefruit Metallic) Maya Road

Accessory: (Wood Veneer Frame) Studio Calico 

Gallery Idol Round 3

I wanted to thank everyone for all the visits, comments, and votes for my Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol Round 2 card! It means so much to me! I was beyond excited to move on to the Top 15 round. Thank you!!

When I found out about making it through to the third round, I was out of state for work. It was hard to focus during my all-day meeting (which was particularly bad since I was leading the meeting!). I made it home Friday night and got to work right away. The theme for Round 3 is to make one masculine card and one feminine card, and Holly instructed us to use the same stamp or paper.

I used the digital panda stamp from the Hero Arts' Adorable Creatures set:

Isn't it too cute? Here are the masculine and feminine cards I created using this stamp:

Yep, it's the same stamp. The first step was recoloring the grey body white. After that, I went through about 186 steps to make each card. I'll save you the nitty gritty details, but we'll just say there was some definite trial-and-error.

First, I worked on the feminine card...I wanted it to look more like a teddy bear. I enlarged the stamp to create the shaped card, and while I used Photoshop, you could also enlarge a stamp using a copier.

Since the pink houndstooth paper is digital, I was able to use a trick to save a cutting step. I recolored the background and the body in a slightly darker color, which provided enough contrast for me to see the paws/ears/eyes for fussy cutting. This way, I didn't have to make patterns and cut the papers twice. I went around the edges of the paws and ears with a marker.

I made the little hair bow using a bow tie tutorial on Heidi Van Laar's blog. I also made the pinwheel by stamping the pinwheel image twice--once in yellow and once in Versamark on the pink paper. I fussy cut both and coated them with glitter. The handle is a 1/16" dowel that I painted and added glitter. The pinwheel is functional and does turn (it doesn't spin, but it does turn). Here's a close-up:

Next up is the masculine card. I thought about surf, space, and western themes, but decided to make a superhero hybrid card:

I started with a white base, colored the background blue, and added a digital half-tone overlay from the Super collection to get the cool background (I used "soft light" instead of "overlay"). I added my own sentiment.

For the skyline, I used the Hero Arts Silly Scape stamp and stamped it twice in black. Then, I went back and selected all of the non-window areas one-by-one to recolor them dark grey (I wanted just a little contrast from the outline). Talk about carpal tunnel! I fussy cut the skyline and intentionally didn't ink the white edges (it added a little more contrast). Here's a close-up:

Lastly, I focused on the panda. Other than recoloring his body white, I simply printed him out and fussy cut him. I made little Underoos and a red satin cape for him. My husband helped me figure out the cape (complete with a 10 minute explanation on the physics of wind), so the cape ended up wavy to look like movement. I heat set the edges of the satin (yes, after the first cape, I realized this was a very important step!). Here's a close-up:

I skipped several steps, but if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I did a lot of trial-and-error, so I'm not sure what I did was the most efficient, but I'd be happy to answer any questions.

There's a vote for the Top 10. If you like my card, I would be thrilled if you would vote for me! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar to vote or go HERE and vote (I'm #5). Thank you!!

Thanks for your support, and have a great day!

Supplies

You're Sweet Panda Card

Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School

Patterned Paper: (yellow gingham) Pink Petticoat, UK; (pink houndstooth from Quilting Bee papers) Robyn Meierotto at Design House Digitals

Specialty Paper: (premium matte photo paper) Office Max

Digital Stamps: (panda from Adorable Creatures) Hero Arts

Clear Stamps: (pinwheel from Life of the Party) Hero Arts

Inks: Versamark; (Canary) Versacolor

Accessories: (Hibiscus Burst button) PTI; (brad from This and That Graceful) Echo Park

Glitter: Martha Stewart

Other: wooden dowel

You're Super Panda Card

Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School; (red, yellow) Bazzill

Specialty Paper: (premium matte photo paper) Office Max

Digital Stamps: (panda from Adorable Creatures; skyline from Silly Scape) Hero Arts at Two Peas in a Bucket

Digital Overlay: (half-tone from Super collection) Splendid Fiins at Jessica Sprague

Other: red satin fabric

Gallery Idol Round 2

I'm so excited to share my card with you for the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol Round 2! My Top 20 card can be found here.

I was so excited when I found out on Friday...I don't think I got a minute of work done all day (don't tell my boss!). All I could think of was the Round 2 theme--you color my world. I was spinning--too many ideas...color blocking, die cutting paper, stamping a pattern. But, I went with my first idea and didn't look back. Here's what I came up with:

It was quite the process! I started with one of Splendid Fiin's digital masks for the birds. I had never tried stamping through a digital mask, but after watching a few tutorials, I was able to start. Whew! Then I sat...for the next 3 hours, misting with digital brushes so I had just the right colors, rotation, layering, etc. Here's a close-up of the misting...

On Saturday, I made a full page list of possible sentiments. I wanted to make a card for my mom...I considered rainbow bird poop for one but figured she might not appreciate that. I spent some time trying out the sentiments and finally settled on this Ali Edwards' sentiment--one of my favorites! It's a perfect thank-you for my mom!

After I had the card ready to go, I decided that I wanted to do some iridescent misting to give it that "pow." So, I cut out a mask of the water and misted over it with some Tattered Angels Pearl.

For the birds, I painting the mist over the birds and water droplets with the tiniest paintbrush you've ever seen. I think it has 2 bristles on it! It was worth it; the iridescence looks so cool! Here's a close-up where you can see a little bit of the glimmer:



Yeah, yeah, I know. You can't really see the iridescence, but humor me...I hit all those little droplets! LOL!

I mounted the card with foam tape but realized it was crooked. I did what you're not supposed to do and yanked the panel from the base. Yes, it ripped. Yes, I was completely devastated. Ugh. The second time around went much faster...

My mom is going to love it and I love it, and the bottom line is, that's what matters! :)

There's a vote for the Top 15. If you like my card, I would be thrilled if you would vote for me! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar to vote or go HERE, click on the image, and vote. Thank you!!

Thanks for your support, and have a great day!

Have a Dream...

On Friday morning, I found out I had made the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol Top 20. I think I started hyperventilating when I saw my picture on the PC Connections blog. I think my kids were scared by my response (well, only for a second, and then they ignored me and went back to watching Dora). Holy moly! Little ole' me! Thanks, PC!

All the comments and e-mails meant so much to me. Thank you, everyone, for your well-wishes! It's hard knowing how many well-deserving designers there were in the competition--there were some breathtaking cards in the gallery. It means even more to read those supportive comments from others.

Here's my card and I feel that the sentiment is appropriate:

I I love those subtle chevrons on the background paper...I think I'm certifiably a chevron/zigzag addict. :)  

It was a whirlwind weekend working on my card for the next round. Be sure to check back at 12:00 MDT today for my Round 2 card. I'm excited about it!

Thank you all again! 

Hemingway

Happy Friday! Yowsers...blogging 4 days in a row? I think that's a record for me. LOL! Thanks for your support and for the well-wishes for my son. He was fine by tonight--no pink eye in sight (lame pun intended).

Today Print Candee is having our monthly blog hop. I'm so lucky to work with such talented ladies:

Lisa

Kalyn

Therese

(Me)

Marion

This month, we're making projects based on a profile and colors from Design Seeds:

Here's what I came up with:

Now that I look at the inspiration photo, I realize my colors aren't the same. Oops! 

I used a bunch of Print Candee products to make this card. I started with a yellow base in Photoshop and then added the Pastel Bokeh overlay to look like water droplets. Then, I stamped away--the typewriter, the postage cancellation mark (above the typewriter) and even the dark orange brush marks are digital brushes from Print Candee. 

Finally, I made my own sentiment for my brother--he's an English professor and his area is modern American literature (he's not a super huge Hemingway fan, but I figured he would appreciate the humor). 

 Next up in the hop is the super fab Marion. Thanks for looking!

Supplies

Digital Stamps: (Photoshop Brush Typewriters) Adrienne Looman Designs; (Postage Photoshop Brushes) Pink Pueblo; (Photoshop Brush Corner Grunge) Adrienne Looman Designs

Digital Overlay: (Pastel Bokeh) Sonya DeHart Designs

Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School

Specialty Paper: (premium matte photo paper) Staples

Distress Inks: (Warm Lipstick, Tea Dye, Antique Linen) Ranger