Father's Day Cards

Fathers Day is less than a week away!!

So I was happy to get these cards finished and sent off. I used some CTMH stamps for this one. I went to a big sale a few weeks ago. She was selling stamp sets for great prices and I got this one for $3.00 y'all! 

Three bucks!! 

I couldn't leave it there. I love to make masculine cards and I knew these stamps would be perfect. So here are my two Father's Day cards. 

I actually used some other background stamps I already had. One is the written page and the other is the alphabet stamp. I've had the latter one for years, but it's the first time I've used it. It worked perfectly for this card. The typewriter and the sentiment were part of the set. I added some washi tape and metal brads (which made it heavy...postage was double plus 10c, but they're worth it).

A bit of a close up on the papers coming out of the typewriter. I also popped it up a bit.

There's the inside. I used the written page stamp and used the 2nd generation to stamp it. The pointing finger and the sentiment are also part of the set.

Here's the second one I made:

It's very similar to the first one, except I used a key, a corner brad and a ribbon for embellishments.

I added some paper to the typewriter and popped it up as well.

Inside I used the written page stamp again and did the edges with blue and then black ink. 

Then I wrote them both up, addressed them and off they went. I hope they like them! 

Have a great week everyone~

Blessings,

Carmen

Black and White Ink Card

Another card for you today. This one is a bit different because all I did was use black ink on it. I actually made it one way, then added more. Now I'm not sure which I prefer, so I'm going to show you both and maybe you can let me know what you think?

The photos below are a bit darker, but if I lighten it, some of the detail is lost. 

I think if I make this one again, I'll do it a bit differently. You can see what it is I'm trying to do, but I don't think I was completely successful. I'll ink up my pad before I try again.

I did a bit of masking to get this effect. In any case, this one was a fun card to make.

Have a good day! 

Blessings,

Carmen

More Birdie Scripture Cards

Hi there,

I've sure been having fun with this latest stamp set. Remember the first cards I shared? I love the vibrant colors of ink in the background of the one and thought I'd make a few more similar cards.

Here's the card I made first:

And here are the three of them together. 

I don't always show you the insides, so I will here. This is the one with the button and it's inside.

Then there's this one with the chain and the inside.

To be honest, I just about threw this little bird out after I took the black ink to the sides as I thought it looked overdone. However, I'm kind of glad I decided to use it anyway. Once the card came together, it didn't look that bad. 

I also stamped a bird the outside of the envelopes and used clear embossing powder for a bit of a different look. Each of my cards are signed on the back in white or black pen.

Here are all four cards I made.

I've had lots of fun with these stamps. Now to come up with some designs for the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Stamps! 

Have a good weekend! 

Carmen

Birdie Bits

June is here and along with it came some much needed rain. I actually don't mind the rain. It seems everything smells fresher afterwards. Since it was pretty rainy, I stayed home and played with some new stamps I received for my birthday in May.

I also made up some really quick sentiments to go along with them. I will leave them for you here, but technically, they're not digital stamps as anyone can make them up in Word. I just wanted a few Scriptures to go with the cards. 

I used the same birds on both cards, but there are quite a few more in this set. I also received the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamp set. I'll use those another time. Both sets also came with stencils. I'm going to have fun!

Here's the sentiments....

Well, that's it for today. Have a great week! 

Blessings,

Carmen

My Little Prayer Pocket

Hello,

On April 16th, 2018, I shared with you a prayer pocket that my sister in law made. I included the measurements she used so that you could make your own if you wanted to. Today I am bringing you my own little prayer pocket which I completed today. I used Janell's measurements.

Next I will show you photos of the tags front and back. In the middle is the pocket which has been sewn together. Surrounding it are 6 tags, one of which is actually a pad of paper to write on. 

Here are the backs. There is space to write on the back of most of them, with one having about 6 sheet of lined paper. 

Another photo of the pad. I have enclosed the pad in some cardstock to make it a little sturdier and to hide the staples at the top. 

Technically I should have another tag in here and I may still make one, but it doesn't need it. 

The idea is to write down any prayer requests on the pad and pray for them. Then when a prayer is answered, you can write it on the tag. Any used papers from the pad can be saved in the pocket and attached on the inside of the first pocket with the little clamp I have there.

When you compare Janell's and mine, you can see that we used different embellishments. Since mine will probably be a gift to someone local, I bulked it up with flowers, etc. Janell kept hers a bit flatter as she sells them in her Etsy Shop, CreateBcuzURpricless. This way they are a bit easier and cheaper to ship.

To see the original post with the measurements, click HERE

I hope you'll try and make one too. They are quite easy. Since I saw Janell's I've looked around and found different versions of these: Travel Pockets, Mother's Day Pockets, Valentines Pockets, etc. Some call them Loaded Envelopes. 

Check out my Pinterest page under Prayer Pockets, Loaded Envelopes to see more. Thanks for stopping by! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Metal Tape Card with some tips on how.

Good morning,

I have another card to show you today. This is a personal card I made for my father in law. His birthday is coming up this week. I believe he will be 88. He’s a jolly fellow and an endearing guy. 

I decided to play with my aluminum tape again and see what I could come up with. For at least a few months I was in search of the retired Stampin’ Up Going Global embossing folder. I was about to pull down my posts when someone responded. I got it at a great price and it arrived last week. So this is my first try with it. 

Someone asked me how to do this, so thought I’d share. It’s super simple. All you need to do is pick up some aluminum foil tape from a hardware store. It comes in a good size roll and is usually pretty cheap. 

Cut a piece of cardstock to the size you want (I went with the size of my embossing folder) and then cut a few strips of the tape about a 1/2” larger. Pull the backing off the tape and secure it over the cardstock smoothing it as you place it on and leaving a bit of overhang all around. You’ll have to do three strips for most cards. Then just wrap the overhang around the cardstock. You’re ready for the next step. 

Choose an embossing folder and run the taped cardstock through your cuttlebug/BigShot, or whatever you have. That’s the shiny part done. Now embellish your card from there. 

If you like a grungy look, you can put black acrylic paint over the tape, let it dry and wipe it with a Wet One. This works particularly well with a decorative folder as the black paint stays in the crevices. I’ve used this method with my cogs and gears folder. 

Another method is to smear inka gold here and there over the foil or alcohol inks. Check out the pictures below of some of my old projects using these methods. Also, go on Pinterest and search for ‘metal tape art’or "Metal Foil Art"- you’ll be amazed. 

This was the inside of a card. It is just the metal tape and black acrylic paint. The texture underneath the tape is that adhesive netting.

Here are a couple of frames we did up. I think I had my grandkids and daughter in law with me at the time. This one was done with the inka gold on it as well as different items under and on top of the tape.

You see how you can use different folders with the metal tape and run them through the cuttlebug before you peel the backings off. It's a different look. We used lots of different colors of inka gold on this Malma Mirror.

And these last two are portions of the same card. I can't find the photo of the whole card. Lol. Anyway, this card I used different embossing folders, adhesive netting, gears from old watches, etc. Plus, I used the black acrylic paint, and the inka gold. 

I hope if you haven’t already, you’ll give it a try. Enjoy the process!

Well, I hope the FIL likes his card- 

Blessings!

Carmen

Teacup Cards

Hi there,

This is going to be a quick post. Last week I showed you some ways to stretch your digital stamps so today I'm going to show you a couple of the cards I've made. I hoped to make more, but I've also been working on a custom order that I just completed. I'll show you that later since I'd like to show the customer first.

Back to the cards. I used the cup stacks on these ones. There are two different cup stacks that I offer for sale in my Etsy Shop. I used the blank ones for these cards.

I had to go back and fix the sentiment. It's funny how sometimes things don't stand out until you see them in a photo. It's all nice and smooth now. I haven't worked with vellum in a long time and love the look of it with an embossed sentiment. 

Note the little tea bag coming out of the cup. This one is going to my mother in law. Mother's Day is only two weeks away...

A couple of simple cards today. Have a great week!

Blessings,

Carmen

Getting Creative with Digital Stamps

Good Morning Everyone,

I've been selling my Digital Stamps for quite some time on Etsy now. Someone recently bought the Tall Ship/Schooner that we have in the Etsy shop and left me a nice comment, to which I responded and then left her a creative tip that I'm going to share here. 

In fact, I will share a few tips on some ways to get creative with your Digital Stamps because running off a Digi and coloring it in can just get a bit passe after a while.

TIP #1

This is a very easy tip but it takes a bit of cutting. First I ran off the digital stamp on white cardstock (you could just use white paper for this one instead of cardstock), and again on blue cardstock (only). I ran off two of each, ready to use on a couple of cards.

Next, I carefully cut out the large sails from the white cardstock. I want to stress carefully because with all the lines in there it's very easy to cut the sail in half, and you don't want that. 

Glue them in place on the image with the blue background matching up all the lines. Any kind of glue should work. Then I took a white pen and filled in the sails that were still wrapped. I'm giving you a large picture as it's kind of hard to see in the photo. I also painted the little box at the end of the ship white.

And you're ready to incorporate her into a card. 

TIP #2

Next I'm going to show you a technique with my Stacked Cups Digital Stamp. I inserted one image onto the background, sized it, then copied and pasted the rest into place. I wanted five because there are five cups in the stack. Leave this image up on your computer because you will need it again.

Next cut out some designer cardstock that will fit over a cup stack. Five different pieces that work together. Tape them to hold them in place making sure you don't put the tape over the area to be printed. Again, I've done twice the amount for my own use. You would only need to do one sheet.

Now place the sheet into the printer and run it off again. Here is my one sheet ---

And here is my other sheet. A good example of what not to do. Make sure you place the sheet into your printer correctly and not upside down, like I've done below.

Ya, I did that. Sigh. OK, nothing to see here, move along. 

Since two of the stacks above came out alright I just re-did three of them. Note how my paper got shifted a bit when I put it through a second time. Make sure you cut the cardstock wide enough to allow for a bit of that. I'm not using the bottom portion, so it's totally ok.

I suddenly became very aware of how many mistakes I made, but hopefully my mistakes will encourage you to not repeat them. 

Next mistake  step. You'll have to do a bit of fussy cutting with an exacto knife for the cup ears. I also recommend you do that first, as it makes it easier not to cut them right off. 

When done, cut out the cups (again, you'll only have 5 to do). I left the saucers on the bottom cup, but you could cut them out too. 

You'll notice my tape got into the print area on some of the cups, both on the top and bottom. 

Oops. 

Again, try not to do that.

Now just re-stack them. I haven't glued mine onto cardstock yet, this is just to show you.

Also, who says you have to have five cups in a stack? Go ahead and play---

And that's the second tip. 

Now the third tip really doesn't need any photos. 

TIP #3

Print off your digital stamp.

Rub your image with a bounce sheet or one of those anti-static bags. 

Using an embossing pen (I just use clear), outline your digital and throw some embossing powder on there. I usually use black powder but get creative if it suits your fancy.

Use a heating gun on the powder and go ahead and color in the image when ready.

It just adds another dimension to your image and makes it stand out a bit more. 

I use whatever embossing pen I can find because I live in a community where choice is a byword when it comes to some things. They run about $10 CAD here. It's a worthwhile investment if you like to play with digi's. 

Okay, well there it is. 

Hopefully I get creative and make some cards soon with these images. 

Until then, 

Blessings,

Carmen

Prayer Pocket with Measurements

Hello there,

I have a little treat for you today. 

My sister in law, Janell, loves to work in her scrapbook room making cards and playing with papers and ink. Watching over her are a bunch of monkeys because Janell loves monkeys. There's even a nasty rumour out there that she sleeps with one, but you didn't hear it from me --- Shhhhhhhhh. 

Ok kidding, seriously though my sister in law is one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet. My brother is a lucky guy!! 

We chat back and forth all the time and share our crafts and ideas, and recently she showed me something that she made for a couple of ladies. I had never seen one before and so I asked her if I could share it here with you. 

Without further adieu: This is a Prayer Pocket.

What is it's purpose? To write down who or what you are praying for.  To encourage you, to help you keep track.

I really just want to look at it for a while!

Note the stitching and the embellishments. It is just so cute! 

There are several pockets in there. Here they are dislodged from the pocket- 

Love the turned over corner and the little ribbon pulls on some of the tags. I especially love the dragonfly embelly....I have to ask her where that came from. Super cute!!

Below she shows us the back of the tags. Plenty of space to write and make lists. Perfect!

Isn't it lovely? I think this is a great 'just because' gift idea for a friend, someone that goes to church and someone who loves to pray. 

When Janell sent this to me I asked her if she had any measurements for these. She sent me some photos with measurements included. It will sure make it easy for you us to duplicate this beautiful prayer pocket. 

Measurements for Prayer Pocket: 

Measurements for the Three Part Pocket.

Again, LOVE the stitching! 

Want to know where to get Scripture Stamps? I'l link below.

I just love the edge punch on the bottom of this tag!

The dragonfly!!! Ka-ute!!

Sweet little corner punch

Love the ribbon on here.

I want that 'Joy" stamp!! 

Here's what she attached on the back of the little boy and the dragonfly tags. They are 2.25 X 2.25

  

Adorable, right?

Love it!

Here's where I've bought my Scripture stamps from. I have a couple of sets and I know Janell has at least one set of them. Check out Our Daily Bread Designs.

Do you want to see what else Janell and her monkeys are up to? Check out her Etsy Shop 

                                                     CreateBcuzURpricless 

I looked around to see if I could find anymore prayer pockets. There was only one I could find, which is where I believe Janell got her inspiration from. There is no link to a blog, unfortunately, but it was on Pinterest, so I will share the photo for ideas. This one was shared by Jeannie Phillips.

Thanks for stopping in -  

Oh, and someone wanted to say good-bye! 

Blessings,

Carmen