Book Lover

Good afternoon. I'm just tickled pink with the card I have to share with you today. It's for the Saturday Sketch Challenge #24, which I turned sideways. I not only used a pretty pink ribbon, paper, and ink, I also used a Flourishes stamp (From the Desk of) with books in it and a sentiment about writing, and I confess...I am a bibliophile. Books = Happy! If you've ever been inside my house, you'd know that right away, because this is the first room you would see : 

I have loved books for as long as I can remember, have been collecting them for about thirty years, and when we moved to this house a few years ago, I was lucky enough to get this living room-turned-library to hold most of my book collection. My love of books may have something to do with my love of cardmaking. It's all about the paper and the ink, you know.

The "gilt" on the paper edges and spine of the books was done with gold glitter embossing powder, and I tried to color the covers to look a little worn, like a good book that's been read many times would be--although I do try to keep real books in tip-top condition. ;) The Distress Ink around the inside of the die is Spun Sugar, and the gold edge was made with a gold opaque marker to go along with the gilted edge books.

Have a crafty (or maybe a literary) evening, and thanks for stopping by today!

 

Stamps: From the Desk of (Flourishes)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); Neutral Stack (DCWV); Coredinations; Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Memento; Copic markers
Dies: Curved Rectangles, Lattice Pendant (Spellbinders); Dimensional Butterflies (Cheery Lynn Designs)
Accessories: Ribbon (Michael's); Gold Glitter Embossing Powder (Zing); pearls; Gold Opaque Paint Marker (Marvy Uchida); Memory Thread (DMC); Stickles; dimensionals
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Zinnias

I recently bought the new book, Copic Coloring Guide, to try to improve my coloring skills, and I practiced on the card I'm sharing with you today. While I'm far from an expert, it was amazing to see how much better I colored once I understood better about the Copic numbering system. I also found that I had been way too heavy-handed with the markers in the past. and flicking isn't nearly as difficult as I was making it out to be.

This card is for two Tuesday challenges: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #129--Favorite Flowers, and Tuesday Morning Sketches #105. Here's the sketch:

For my flowers, I used a stamp from Flourishes' Zinnias set. What a fun stamp to color. Zinnias come in so many bright, festive colors. I think I used about 30 different markers for this stamp :). I'm sure I could have colored it with less, but what I did seemed to work okay, even if it probably took me way longer to color than it would have if I'd had more Copic experience. After coloring it, I used a pale yellow blending chalk for some of the background.

After spending all that time coloring, I was in a dilemma over what paper to use for the card. A lot of papers looked good with the flowers, but I really wanted the stamp to shine, so, in the end, I went with all white, with just a touch of black ribbon as an accent. (I apologize for how dark the photos are. I tried using brighter images, but any brighter and you couldn't see the embossing on the background paper.) I used two different EK Success edge punches for the left panel and adhered the Lattice Chain over a piece of black organdy ribbon. Even the butterfly is almost all white. I inked the die with black ink before cutting, and left it without any other colors. I embossed the main background panel with a Sizzix embossing plate (Squares), and added black rhinestones and crystal Stickles to the left panels for a little sparkle.

I layered two different Spellbinder dies behind the stamp because the first layer seemed too flimsy, plus being all white, I needed it to show up against the background. 

For the bow, I tied a bow with two loops on each side, then folded it in half so that all the loops fell to one side of the knot in the middle. I hot glued it to the edge of the main image, and rather than put a sentiment on the front of the card, I left long lengths of ribbon hanging to where the sentiment would have gone. I attached the white butterfly to the bow knot.

For the inside, I cut two black corner accents and put them in opposite corners, then stamped a sentiment (also from the Zinnia set) in the lower left corner.  

I've been wanting to make an all-white card for awhile, and attempted it about a month ago, but ended up adding color to the embossing before I was finished. I'm glad I stuck with white for this one. 

Thanks for visiting me today. Have a great weekend!  

 

Stamps: Zinnias (Flourishes)
Paper: Darice; Recollections
Ink: Staz-On; Copics
Accessories: Dies: Classic Circles Lg., Parisian Accents, Parisian Motifs, Lotus Pendant (Spellbinders); Dimensional Butterfly (Cheery Lynn Designs); Squares embossing plate (Sizzix); seam binding (Hug Snug); organdy ribbon (Joann); rhinestones, Stickles; Lattice Chain Lg Edger & Diamond Lace Edger (EK Success); Inkadinkadoo blending chalk; dimensionals
Size: A^ (4.5" x 6.25")

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Best friends

I hope you all had a great day today. School starts back tomorrow around here, so we've been busy making sure everything is ready for what is sure to be a hectic morning tomorrow--last minute shopping, packing the backpack, filling out forms, choosing the all-important first day of school outfit...you probably know the drill. But, now that that's done, I have a few minutes to share a card I was able to squeeze in today.

I used the Week 1 August Viva la Verve challenge sketch for this card, substituting a butterfly for the heart. Rather than use a stamp on the outside of the card, I cut the patterned paper so that the words "best friends" are in a prominent position. The butterfly, cut from a Cheery Lynn Designs die, was cut out in very pale pink paper, but I inked the die with a periwinkle color ink before cutting, to give it more detail.

On the inside, for the sentiment panel, I used two Spellbinders Floral Doily accent corners, inked the edges of the panel with Wild Honey Distress Ink, and finished it off with a few dots of Liquid Pearls.

And, that'll do it for me tonight. Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow...hope you will, too! 

 

Stamps: Friends Forever Quotes (Fiskars) 

Paper: So-So-Sweet (Paper Studio); Coredinations; Recollections; Paper Studio Textured Solids

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox

Accessories: Dies: Floral Doily Accent (Spellbinders); Dimensional Butterfly (Cheery Lynn Designs); Embossing folders: Polka Dots, Script Texture (Cuttlebug); ribbon (Offray); button; twine (Twinery); Liquid Pearls; dimensionals

Size: 4.25" sq.

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You've got a friend

Good Monday morning to you, friends! I hope you all had a good weekend and are looking forward to whatever this week holds for you. I'm starting off this week with a sweet card that almost didn't get made. It's for the sketch challenge at Sweet Sunday (SSSC128),

and the color challenge at CR84FN (CR84FN35).

I couldn't tell you what my problem was today, because I like the sketch and the colors are great--especially that lovely celery green color. ;)  But, I worked on this card for hours before I finally figured out what I wanted to do.

Both the inside and the outside are fairly simple.  

And, this simple card calls for a simple post. Have a Marvelous Monday! 

 

Stamps: Gem Stone Birds (Inkadinkadoo); Sweet Nature (Flourishes)
Paper: Pin Dots (Paperwhite); Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); DCWV
Ink: Colorbox; Stampabilities; Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels Thirteen die; Scallop Dot Edge Punch (Martha Stewart); Dimensional Butterfly (Cheery Lynn Designs); clear embossing powder (Zing); ribbon (Offray & Michaels); rhinestones, leaf pins (Maya Road); flowers (Recollections); Perfect Pearls; Dimensionals; sewing
Size: 4.25 sq.

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Tomorrow's Forecast

Hello there! It's our last weekend before school starts back here, so I spent time with my daughter today rather than make cards. She's a big reader, so we sat on the front porch in rocking chairs with bowls of ice cream and read books. She read the Narnia series last year, and her dad is reading the Percy Jackson books to her now, so she was excited to find a fantasy book about Greek gods that has a girl as the heroine (Pandora Gets Jealous). I'm working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo. Great book--I recommend it--but teeny tiny print and still over 1000 pages, so plan on spending a lot of time with it!

I eventually got down to the craft room and here's what I came up with for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge #30.

The Bright Blossom stack from S.E.I. is full of gorgeous designs. This was one of my favorites. I loved working with all the intense colors and glittery shine.  I got some new butterfly dies from Cherry Lynn Designs that I wanted to try out, so I put one on this card. It's the small one. I inked the die before cutting it, so the embossing shows up pretty good. The larger butterfly, underneath it, is a Martha Stewart punch. I originally put a few dots of Stickles on the MS butterfly, but I didn't like how it looked so, before it dried, I got a paint brush and spread it over the wings.

Here's the inside of the card with another dimensional butterfly:

The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.

Have a wonderful, crafty weekend!

 

Stamps: April Showers (Flourishes)
Paper: Bright Blossom (S.E.I.); Shimmer Stack (DCWV); Bazzill Basics; Recollections 
Ink: Colorbox; Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Accessories: Dies: Floral Doily Motifs (Spellbinders), Dimensional Butterflies (Cheery Lynn Designs); Monarch Butterfly Lg. punch (Martha Stewart); Diamond Lace Edge Punch (EK Success); Tropical Paisley embossing folder & Distressed embossing plate (Sizzix); roses (Recollections); Stickles; rhinestones; glitter
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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