Sunday, July 24, 2016

Summer Update

Trying to find time to create is tough enough. Unfortunately, that means sharing outside of a quick photo on Pinterest is next to impossible.

I do have a couple of things I've done recently I thought might be worth carving out some time to share.

First, a remake of an old card

Recently, I took a look at cards I'd made a couple of years ago and never sent out. I realized there were things I liked but some were lacking something....

Original

 

So I started tearing it apart

Ripped a bit, but front still usable & the base was flimsy anyway.

 Remake

First I knew I wanted to add a bit of color to ground the front panel. I pulled some stock from my stash that coordinated with the blue in the marbled band.

I chose to only make the mat peak out the sides rather than all the way around.

Next, the center circle was popped up on small dimensionals that don't give as much support through the mail, so I decided to die cut a circle slightly smaller from craft foam



Then reassembled on a heavier weight card stock. I use the Recollections® Heavyweight Cardstock Paper Value Pack from Michael's. Even at full price, you can get 200 cards (4.25 x 5.5) at 7.5¢ each. 

Here's the after. Not too different, but I'm happier sending it out now. And more importantly, I'm not afraid to take apart an older creation to re-use the elements.



Multiple Techniques in One Card

For this card, I wanted to use a new set, try mirror stamping, and try my hand at shading with ink. Also, shaped with a stylus & added shine and dimension.

The stamp set I had to use was this from Stampendous:   Can't honestly remember where I purchased it.

Since the sets has two flowers together that seem to tilt in one direction, I wanted to make a bigger bouquet but had to flip them. 

Enter the mirror stamping technique. I'd seen a video Jennifer McGuire did on Mirror Stamping using the MISTI tool. (here

I don't have any of the mirror stamps she mentions (yet!) but did have a large enough silicone stamp that was almost solid so I tried. Results weren't perfect, but its hand made and I was going for a drawn/water colored look anyway.

Wishing I'd taken more pictures along the way. 

I started off with watercolor paper and the vase image. Stamped in a grey Momento ink & heat set with a bit of clear embossing powder. Don't think the powder actually embossed, but didn't wan the ink to run. 
Next, I used a Tim Holtz distress ink, stamped a bit onto my craft mat & used my water brush to paint in the mason jar, trying to add dimension and depth

 I did the same for the stems, although I used a green ink of the image and did not heat set, let the inks kind of work together.

By the way, all the images here are fussy cut.



http://i01.hsncdn.com/is/image/HomeShoppingNetwork/prodfull/spellbinders-tool-n-one-portable-crafting-tool-d-20140428164718753~345516.jpg
I've kind of fallen for shaping images to give them a more realistic feel. Using the Spellbiniders tool in one with a large stylus tip, I flipped the image over on a piece of craft foam and rubbed the back along the edges. You can't tell in the picture but it gives a bit more bow to the image.

Using the same outline ink, I stamped my flower images then colored with water color pencils and blended with my water brush. Shaped all the petals and leaves to curl out then flipped the images right side up & "pushed" the centers of the flowers in a bit.

I ended up using one of the original images and two copies of the mirror image. The imperfections of the first attempt are hidden behind other images. Again, hard to tell in pictures, but in order to get the layering to look right, I had to make a couple of slits between petals.

After adding the bottom shading for grounding (more watercolor pencil and brush to blend). It just didn't seem finished. That's when I grabbed some ribbon from my stash, slipped a smidge of a piece under the flowers at the rim of the jar.




The final touch was glossy accents.


Started out kind of sparingly, adding more to the front flowers and leaves. I was pretty happy with the result.