I'm Published!!!

My family does highs and lows at dinner each night, and my high yesterday was easy...one of my cards is published in a magazine!!! I can't even remember how long ago I submitted this Tiddly Inks card to Complete Cardmaking Magazine, but I found out it was accepted when I saw it in print for the first time yesterday! (Thanks for the pic, Lou!) 

Here's my photo of the card:

It's my typical card that has a lot going on, with coloring, sewing, fussy cutting, and, of course, my all-time favorite technique, distressing, but I created the entire background for the image on the computer. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. All the images came from Tiddly Inks, including the cool background. There are details in the magazine about how I made it. They are classifying this as an "advanced" card, but if you know your way around a photo editing program, or have worked with images in Word, it is really not that difficult to make.

And, here's the card in print:

The colors in the magazine don't look as vivid, but, see that little teal blue banner in the upper left corner of the picture? That's my name!!! Whoo Hoo! See...it's really my card! 

And, this is the magazine: Complete Cardmaking Issue 54. I have a copy ordered, but it's coming from the U.K., so it may be awhile before I see it for real. Joann's, or maybe Michael's or Hobby Lobby, may carry this magazine in the U.S., but I'm not sure about that. 

I haven't posted on my blog in over two weeks because I've been working on perfecting my bookbinding and boxmaking skills (I'll have pics of my projects soon!), but after today, I think I'm ready to get back to cardmaking, and this year, maybe I'll submit more often to magazines. This has been FUN, and what a fantastic way to kick off the new 2015 year!!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Something New
613 Avenue Create Challenge #106: 2nd Annual Block Party--1001 Techniques
Sugar Pea Designs SPD12: Anything Goes
Corrosive Challenge #215: Shiny and New
Fresh Brewed Challenge January: Favorites
Kit and Clowder January Challenge: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Crazy for you

Hello Friends, and TGIF! Do people even say "TGIF" anymore? Am I dating myself? LOL!

My card today is for three challenges: Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 3 Sketch Challenge, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #136 Challenge--"All Dolled Up," and Lily Pad's Bling Challenge--use any kind of bling.

I had more fun making this card today than any card I've ever made. It's as different as is possible from the last card I made that was inkless, crisp, bright, and clean. I'm not sure if you'd call this card grunge, shabby, or vintage, but whatever it is, I believe I've finally found my "style." Maybe I should call this "Kitchen Sink" style. On this card, I distressed with ink and a Distrezz-it-all, used my sewing machine, embossed and inked the raised areas, made a ribbon ruffle, used twine, paper pierced, used Liquid Pearls, Enamel Accents, eyelets, half pearls, and a metal charm, and made a "metallic" hinge out of cardstock and Perfect Pearls Mist. Here are a few close ups before I show you the whole card.

I used a page from an old dictionary for my sentiment stamp. First I aged it with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress Inks and Distrezzed the edges. If you look closely, you can see the paper piercing. It's a little hard to see because the paper is so busy, but it's there. Then I used Black Soot Distress Ink and a Quietfire stamp for the word, "Love." To distress it even further, I spritzed the stamped image with water to make the ink run. I drew the swirl by hand and put the half pearls on one at a time (I don't have ready-made swirls yet). I adhered this to a Beaded Circle die cut which I had inked while still in the die. I used Liquid Pearls in each of the "beads." I finally learned how to use the stuff, and all my dots actually turned out round this time instead of blobby. 8~D

In this picture you can see the embossed strip. I used three different color Distress Inks to ink the raised areas, starting with the darkest color on the outside and working to the lightest on the inside. I attached four large copper-colored eyelets to the top of the strip and tied a metal charm to it by running twine through two of the eyelets. You can only see a smidgen of the ruffle that is sewn to the bottom of the embossed strip. I made it by folding a length of ribbon in half lengthwise and gathering it with basting, then sewing it to the cardstock.

You can see the edge of the faux metal hinge in this photo in the lower left corner. I misted it heavily with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried it with my heat gun, then added four dots of black Enamel Accents. See that loose thread at the top of the photo? I did that on purpose. I stopped sewing there, pulled the thread out of my sewing machine and continued stitching to the end of that edge so that it would look like the stitching had come loose. The top of those panels are distressed the heaviest, so it made sense to me to have loose threads there.

And, here's the finished card. See the stitching on the outer edges? I kept changing from a straight stitch to a zig zag and back to straight as I went around the card, and when zig zagging, I randomly changed the length and width of the stitches to add just a little more shabbiness. 

On the inside of the card, I layered up different papers from the front of the card. If they look a little crooked, it's because they are. I purposely tilted the two middle panels just a tiny bit. The bottom and top panels are both straight and fairly centered (I seldom measure--I just eyeball things. I figure if it looks right to me, it will look right to anyone else, unless, of course, they are going to get a ruler out to check).  ;D I'm not sure why I couldn't bring myself to make all the panels be straight. I fiddled around with it for quite a while and just was not liking it all proper looking.

So just what IS this style? I don't have a clue. But, I sure had a blast making it!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've got a wonderful weekend ahead of you.

~Hugs,
 

Stamps: Quietfire
Paper: Once Upon a Time (DCWV); Que Sera Sera (K&Co); old dictionary page
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Large, Lattice Pendant, Lattice Rectangles, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Tropical Paisley embossing folder (Sizzix); ribbon (Michael's); embossed metal charm (Making Memories); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); Liquid Pearls; half pearls; large eyelets; household twine; Perfect Pearls Mist; sewing thread; foam dots; Distrezz-it-all
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Big Wish

Hello Friends! For today's card, I used the Viva la Verve September Week 2 sketch, turned on it's side, and the CR84FN38 color challenge colors of bright pink, black, and gray. 

My favorite card making technique is distressing. I love ripping, crumpling, sponging and smearing ink, and generally just aging paper. When I first started making cards, I think I used that technique a lot to cover up my mistakes. Now that I *NEVER* make mistakes, ;oD I just do it because it's fun! Well, I had a ball with this card--I used paint--something I hadn't done before. Check this out! 

As with most of my cards, I didn't start out with this idea. In this case, I felt like the pink Fair Isle border needed a dark frame behind it. I didn't want just a rectangle, so I decided to paint a swipe of black on the background. Because the bg cardstock is slightly textured, the areas that are painted thinly look a little like netting to me. I like the effect.

For the flower, I used Verve stamps, but they didn't seem big enough here, so I tore apart a silk flower and used two of the layers behind the stamped flowers. The butterflies are actually a dark burgundy color, but for some reason, I couldn't get them to come out any color but red in the photo.

The entire time I was making this card, I kept thinking, "this isn't going to work," but once I was finished, I really liked it. Hope you do, too.

And that's it for tonight. Thanks for stopping by!
 

 

Stamps: Sunny Days, Tag Time, Blue Skies (Verve)

Paper: Elegance (Creative Imagination); Sweet Threads (Basic Grey)

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-On; Colorbox

Dies: Peony, Fair Isle Border Petites (Spellbinders); Tiny Sweets Scallop (Verve)

Accessories: Classic Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart); embossing powder (Zing); ribbon (Michael's); acrylic paint (Ceramcoat); colored pencils (Primacolor); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); flower; twine (Twinery); glitter (Martha Stewart); button; Liquid Pearls; foam dots

Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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New Look, Spooky Tree, and a Gizmo Thing

Hello Friends! I hope you had a great weekend (here in the U.S., it may still be a weekend for you for the Labor Day holiday, so continue to enjoy)! I haven't posted anything in a couple of days because I spent the weekend changing the look of my blog and also celebrating my 12th anniversary with my husband.  

When I first began my blog, I designed my background and banner myself, and I was really pleased with it. I still liked how it looked, but lately it had started to feel a little crowded with all the stuff that was on it, and I wanted to widen my posting area anyway, so I decided this was a great time to make a change. When I'm visiting other blogs, my favorites, esthetically, are the ones that have "calmer" backgrounds. My new look is moderately calm. ;)  I hope you like the "new me."

My husband and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this past weekend. We had dinner at the Atlanta Fish Market. If you're in the Atlanta area and haven't been there, it is quite a treat. Thanks for your suggestions on which anniversary card I should give him. I went with the leafy card and he loved it. I showed him all three cards and he said he liked the leafy card best because it was more masculine, but he also liked the grungier card, which is actually my personal favorite.

I talk about making cards all the time, and in one of those conversations I must have mentioned to my husband that I might want to eventually get a Copic airbrush system. Apparently, he was paying attention because he tried to find one at Michael's. He said he described it to them as something that paints and has brushes on it and costs $99. He said no one knew what he was talking about. I don't think I'd have known from that description, either. :D  Well, he finally gave up and when I opened my anniversary card, this fell out:

I was very touched, and I almost don't want to spend the money. I'd like to keep it just like it is. But, of course, I will spend it. I wouldn't want him to think I didn't appreciate the gift! ;~D

Now, on to my card. I was going to make another Christmas card, but since Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I'd try my hand at a "spooky" card. I used the September Sketch For You to Try and played the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #133 Bingo challenge, using the center vertical row of piercing, pearls, and ribbon. I like how it turned out--a kind of "grown- up" Halloween card.

I stamped the tree with Staz-On ink, then sponged Vintage Photo, Wild Honey, and Faded Jeans inks around it. I used Pumice Stone ink around the inside edge of the circle and Black Soot on the outside edge of the paper. I typed "Happy Halloween" in Word, printed a mirror image onto a transparency and rubbed it onto the tag. The pearls started out as a coppery brown color, but I colored them with a black Copic.

I love the blue and gold strip on the inside of the card. It's the same paper as on the front of the card, but the gold looks metallic here. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

 

Stamps: Haunted Tree (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Plentiful-digital paper & Dinner Party-digital paper (Shabby Princess); Vintage Wallpaper-digital paper (Lost and Taken); Best of K&Co; Darice; Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-on; Copic markers
Dies: Std Circles Lg; Nested Lacey Pennants; Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Bird Call embossing folder (Cuttlebug); ribbon (Joann); pearls-colored with Copic marker (Studio 112); Corner Chomper; piercing tool; sentiment created in computer, printed on transparency and rubbed on
Size: A2 (4.25" 5.5")

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Grunge Anniversary

Good morning to you! Today's layout is from iheart2stamp's August Sketch For You To Try.

As you can tell from the post title, this is another anniversary card. My husband and I celebrate our 12th anniversary this coming Saturday and I've been trying to decide what kind of card I want to give him. I'm running out of time, so maybe you can help me at the end of the post. :D

I did some heavy distressing on today's card. The dark teal background paper was already a distressed pattern, then I embossed it, sanded it to expose the white paper, then used a couple of "dirty" inks on the sanded areas and edges. The next layer, with the music notes at the top, started out as a pale green, yellow, and cream paper. I stamped the swirl design along the left side in brown, then used Tea Dye ink on the edges, and a good bit into the paper. The next small horizontal piece only needed black ink on the edges, because the paper is a digital image of vintage wallpaper that was already so distressed it didn't need anything else.



The text layer is a page torn from an old Virginia Woolf novel I had from college. I never could get into her writing, so ripping the book up wasn't too hard for me. ;) I tore all the edges, used several of those dirty inks on it, then glued it to a piece of cardstock to give it some stability. The green stamp is a clock with wings, and the dark teal stamp is of two doves. It still looked too clean when I was done, so I crinkled the whole thing up and went over it again with ink to catch the creases. Then I sprayed Perfect Pearls Mist over it. I hadn't planned on the stamped image of the clock smearing, but after looking at it a little bit, I liked the effect. However, it was just too shiny for a grunge card, so I sanded it in several places, until it looked grungy enough for my taste.

Finally, I cut a fancy tag out of light blue cardstock, distressed the edges of it with ink, and stamped the sentiment on it. I sprayed it with a mist of Perfect Pearls and water, which made the sentiment ink smear, but this time I knew it would happen and was pleased. The little silvery dots on the ends are Liquid Pearls.

The inside of the card is just lightly distressed, with a simple Quietfire sentiment. I love that elegant font.

Now, my only problem is to decide which card I want to give him. I'm leaning toward today's grunge card, because I LOVE that style, but the leafy card seems a little more masculine, maybe, and classy. I like the brown digi paper card, but those big brown polka dots kind of turned it into a girly card, I think. What about you? Which card would you go with?  

Grunge card



Leaf card

  

Brown Digi Paper card

Thanks for stopping by and for your help. *~D  Have a fantastic day!

 

Stamps: Daily Junque (Pink Paislee); Quietfire; Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts); Wedded Bliss (Creative Imagination)
Paper: Spontaneous Delight (Shabby Princess, digital); Best of K&Co; Vintage Wallpaper (Lost and Taken, digital); Faith paper pack (The Paper Studio); Bazzill Basics; old book page
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox
Dies: Fancy Tags & Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Love is in the Air embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Mini Round Gems (Recollections); Perfect Pearls; Perfect Pearls Mist; Liquid Pearls
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Just because

Hi friends! Hope you enjoyed your weekend. I was looking back through the handful of posts I've written so far and I noticed that all my cards have been fairly intense with color, so for the Viva la Verve Week 2 challenge, I went with a more subdued vintage/shabby/grunge card. Actually, I'm not sure how to categorize it. Help me out, if you can.

Heads-up here--this gets a little sentimental.

When I think of vintage, I always think of my great-grandmother, Laura Bell (Ninny, to us kids). Not because she was a delicate, prim and proper lady, although I do remember her as a tiny thing. No, I think of her as timeless, strong, adventurous, artistic, and, well...cool. You know--vintage. You would have liked her. She would have been 113 years old next month. This card is a sort of snapshot of my Ninny:

For her femininity: the blue flower print paper and cotton lace
For her tough spirit: the brown and white plaid paper
For her humor and playfulness: the Swiss dot embossing
For her natural artistic talent: the embossed leaves on the blue panel
For her inner beauty: the flower and pearls
For the way I remember always seeing her--smiling and happy: the "smile" brad
For the hardships she endured: the dark ink spots
For the dignity and strength with which she wore every single wrinkle and scar: the grunge look
For her positive attitude: the sentiment

She's been gone from this earth for 38 years, and she's still missed.

Thanks for your visit. Come back soon!

 
Stamps: Sweet Treats (Verve)
Paper: Watercolor Bouquet (K&Co); Sweet Threads (Basic Grey); Recollections; Darice
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Accessories: Swiss Dots & Leafy Branch embossing folders (Cuttlebug); Classy Label Die (Verve); lace; Mini Rose (Recollections); pin; beads; pearls; metal brad (Studio K); Perfect Pearls Mist; dimensionals
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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