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Cards for Ukraine

March 9, 2022 Handcrafted Cards

Cards for Ukraine–a movement in the papercrafting world to show support for the Ukraine.

As we watch the horror that is happening in the Ukraine, we all feel heartbroken. And helpless to change anything. Many in the cardmaking world have spoken of Ukrainian cardmaking friends who are either in Ukraine or have family there.

Personally, I don’t actually know anyone in or from Ukraine. But I have followed a miniature crafter on Instagram for quite some time who is in Ukraine. I’ve watched with sadness her Instagram posts as she and her family have huddled in the bathroom for safety while the bombs go off outside, watched her flee to an underground shelter with few belongings. And felt for her as she talks about how cold the shelter is and how scared they all are.

There is little I can do, though I pray for peace and an end to this madness.

#cardsforukraine

Many in the papercrafting and cardmaking world have turned to cards as a way to express support and love for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. The call has gone out, for those who would like to participate, to make cards in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and post them to social media.

So, I wanted to join in too. Will my cards solve anything? Likely, no. But as with all cards, they are meant to bring a little bit of joy into the world. So here is what I share–my #cardsforukraine.

Sunflower Card

Did you know that the sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine? I didn’t until the Cards for Ukraine movement began. I read somewhere that throughout the history of Ukraine, the sunflower as been a symbol of peace.

This card was made last year using stamps from a Stampin’ Up! set. I printed the sentiment from my computer. Gold metallic watercolor across the flowers and the dark blue background complete the card.

Make A Wish Card

I have had this Hero Arts Cathedral of Trees stamp for quite some time, but finally put it to use on this simple card. Ink blending for the sky, in the Ukrainian flag colors and a Hero Arts sentiment from one of last year’s monthly kits complete the card.

Sunshine Card

Of the three, this is my favorite. And I so wish I could send some sunshine to all the people suffering in Ukraine right now.

I used a stencil from the Simon Says Stamp to create the background. Then used stamps from a 2020 Hero Arts monthly kit to make the center image (on a circle die cut).

Praying for peace. молиться за мир.

Simple One-Layer Cards

March 2, 2022 Handcrafted Cards, Quick Tips

You can make really sweet and simple one-layer cards with very few stamps.

I love a really juicy intricate card. They usually take a while, but when you look at the final product you’re super satisfied with the results.

Here’s the thing though….you can actually make a beautiful, sweet card with a simple design. It can take less time and effort but it’s just as nice to look at when you’re done.

And, to be honest, sometimes I like a little empty white space on a card.

This type of design piqued my interest recently when I watched my mentor, Sandy Allnock, feature her Copic Coloring vignette cards on YouTube. I was convinced that this was one of the next projects I needed to try.

Why This Design Is Easy

Whether you call them “simple one-layer cards” or “vignette cards” the design idea in this case is the same: pick 2-3 smaller stamps that go together and pair them with a small sentiment.

In Sandy’s video, for example, she featured a very cute sea themed card with 3 sea critter stamps paired with “you’re turtley awesome.” Very simple, but very cute.

One benefit to this type of design is that it is very likely that, even with a small stamp inventory, you are will have something that works.

I very quickly looked through my clear stamp sets and found ideas right away. You can see below the pairings I came up with. I stamped the designs with Memento Tuxedo Black ink (so it wouldn’t run with the alcohol ink from the Copic markers).

Very few supplies are needed for this type of design. As I mentioned above, if you are using Copics you need to make sure the stamp pad you are using won’t bleed when you color the image in. But considering what all can go into making a card, using a stamp pad, a few stamps and something to color with is a pretty small supply list!

That Was Sweet of You

When I was planning out which stamps I wanted to use, I knew I wanted to do three. And I knew I wanted each one to have a different background color, just so I could try it out. The stamps I chose to use worked perfectly for this.

The first card I planned used some candy stamps from the Sweet Truffles set from Simon Says Stamp. I masked one of them so it would look like one was in front of the other. I paired these sweet stamps with a sentiment from the Hero Arts You’re Top Tier set.

After coloring in the truffles, I used some light pinks to color a bit in and around the images, fading out with a lighter pink marker on the edges.

I finished off the design by adding some gold accents with a metallic gold gel pen. And I used Nuvo Crystal Drops in red and white to add some dimension to the truffles.

And I took a tip from Sandy and used my Copic colorless blending marker in the pink shaded area. I drew small hearts.

You Are Fairy Kind

All three stamped images came from the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit from July 2021. This is such a cute set–full of gnomes and mushrooms and woodland accents. Just adorable.

Though I really, really, really wanted to do a gnome card, I just couldn’t get past the sentiment “you are fairy kind.” I wanted all these cards to be thank-you cards so I focused on the sentiment.

I used the mushroom house, the fairy, and the sentiment. Once they were colored in, I used light greens to do the background color…fading out again so that the green faded softly.

I added some Stickles clear glittery accents on the fairy dust. The colorless blender also added some dot texture to the background.

You Lift Me Up

For my last simple one-layer card, I chose to use stamps from another My Monthly Hero Kit. This one from June of 2021.

Another simple design, with just the balloon stamp, the cat stamp, and the sentiment. After coloring in the cat and balloons, I used light blues to fade out on the background.

As one last reminder, I recommend using high quality, heavy cardstock for your coloring. You’ll get much better results. I use 110 lb. Neenah white cardstock.

And you don’t have to have Copics. I’ve used cheaper alcohol markers than Copics (but I upgraded last year). You could also try using colored pencils.

And that’s it folks. Simple one-layer cards that can be made very quickly but are very sweet. If you have not yet tried simple designs like these, I invite you to give it a try.

Here are a few other simple card designs you might enjoy trying.

Using Airtable to Inventory Your Stamps

February 22, 2022 Quick Tips

Using AirTable can help you keep track and inventory all your stamps, dies, stencils, and more! And I have a BONUS idea at the end.

Hey there! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve blogged.

Where’ve I been? I took some time off (from blogging, not paper crafting) to rest, think, improve my skills, etc. And now I’m feeling so much better. And I’m ready to get back into the swing of things over here.

While today’s post is not a card or anything directly “artsy,” it does address a crucial component of being organized with paper crafting.

INVENTORY ORGANIZATION

Yes bins, folders, drawers, caddies, and the like are all important for physical organization. But I’m talking about the mental organization involved in know your supply inventory!

Like, do you even know what you have on hand?

How This Whole Topic Started (in my brain)

I watch a lot of YouTube videos on cardmaking. And a lot of those awesome crafters have WAY more supplies than I do.

And I kept thinking, “how on earth are they keeping track of all those stamps, dies, etc.?”

I have a lot of wooden stamps and they are all on display on custom shelves in my craft studio. But what about all those new clear sets I have hanging in page protectors (where my fabric used to hang….RIP sewing).

Searching on Pinterest only showed me notebooks full of “photocopies” (like, hello…no thank you! I need less work and easier access when I’m not a home).

But I’m happy to report that I found a great source for info on using Airtable to inventory my supplies. And while it’s a good amount on initial time investment to get things logged in, I am so excited to share why I think this whole thing is awesome!

First, How It Works

I thought about making a “how to” video for you but why do that when someone else already has?? I’m a firm believer in non-wheel-reinvention. (Check out Understand Blue’s tutorial over on YouTube for detailed advice and instructions on setting up your inventory.)

Setting up an Airtable account is easy, and there’s a free tier if you’re not sure you’ll like it–no investment other than time.

You basically have a highly dynamic spreadsheet at your fingertips to log product names, companies, themes, keywords, categories, sentiments, etc., for your convenience. Not to mention having a list of what you own in case you need to file on your home owner’s insurance.

airtable stamp inventory — Here’s a screenshot of part of my stamp inventory. You can see that I can search by company name, stamp type, sentiment (if any), keyword. PLUS (and all my visual learners will love this) you can attach pictures of the product!!!

What’s the point of all this? Yes, it’s nice to say it’s all organized, but here’s my main issue….

I have ADHD, which means I also have a lack object permanence. If I don’t see it, it ceases to exist.

Can you see how this would be a problem when thinking up card concepts and ideas? Or when you’re buying paper crafting products but can’t remember if you own it already?

As I started methodically entering all this info I realized how many stamps, dies, stencils, embossing folders, etc., I totally forgot I owned! This is crazy to me! (Like the cute Sunny Studio Happy Camper stamp I totally forgot I owned.)

I’m so glad I put the time in to do this because now, if I want to make…say…a sympathy card, I can come onto my Airtable and search “sympathy” and see which stamps I have.

This is going to save me a lot of time in the long run. I HATE searching through all my stamps physically, and I often miss small stamps and sentiments even when I DO look through them physically!

A Few Tips/Comments

Here are a few tips, recommendations, comments that I have regarding using Airtable to inventory your stamps:

Remember that you can make a tab for different categories of products. Right now I have tabs for Stamps, Dies, Stencils, and Embossing Folders.
While I did have to take a few snapshots myself of a few stamp sets, I was able to Google most of the product images, save them, and add them to my spreadsheet.
Type out every keyword you can think of. I made sure to have a word that represented what each object is and then what holidays or occasions seemed related.
As the YouTube tutorial advised, I added a “Retired” column in the spreadsheet, just so I know in the future for blog posts.
I divided up the work in chunks so it wasn’t so overwhelming. I did maybe 20 entries at a time.

BONUS Idea

I’m still working on this one because I have saved soooooo many card ideas over the years on Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. But I’m also doing an inventory of card ideas.

How does this work?

Well, I just made another “base” in Airtable (basically the general category…so I have one for product inventory and one for ideas). And I’m slowly chipping away logging them for future use.

What’s the benefit here? Can’t I just go browse through all those social platforms individually?

Yes, yes I can. But I don’t want to. I want a central hub. If I want to make an interactive card, I want to only be able to see the interactive card ideas. Endlessly scrolling is a waste of my time and energy.

So, now I can keep track of these ideas in one place. (next on my list is a Wish List inventory!)

Idea Storage, complete with images (yes you have to screenshot those and crop, but it’s worth it to me), source name, keywords, technique used, link to source and date added (which right now, will all be around the same time).

I’m almost as excited about this as I am about the product inventory!

So there you go. Not a tutorial because, somebody done been there and done that. But I’m here to tell you that this is an awesome tool with awesome results. It’s worth your time to get it going, especially if you struggle with object permanence like I do.

Oh, and did I mention, there’s an app too?

So get organized using Airtable to inventory your stamps! I think you’ll be glad you did.

Y’all take care!

Catching Up

May 21, 2021 Handcrafted Cards

After a break, I’m catching up on family event cards this week!

Well, hi!

Unfortunately, it’s been about a month and a half since I’ve posted to the blog. Wow, had no idea it was that long! I’ve been busy. Jumping rope, going on an amazing anniversary trip (30 years, woohoo!), starting a new business, surviving!

As a result, I completely spaced on keeping up with family birthdays and anniversaries! It just completely slipped my mind. And I am bound and determined to keep my commitment of doing all the family birthdays and anniversaries in 2021!

Therefore, this week, in an effort to catch up, I’ve made a couple of simple cards and looked through my stash of already-made cards to see what I can do to get all of May taken care of. I have four cards to share with you this week.

The striped “hello” card and the heart punch card are from previous challenges, and you can see more about them here and here.

The birthday wishes card is made using a Hero Arts background stamp with a rainbow stamp pad from the same company. The birthday sentiment and animals is from an Avery Elle stamp set. The tissue paper accents add a punch of color and tie everything together. And it’s fun!

The Cutie card is made using stamps and stencils from a My Monthly Hero kit. Because I’ve always loved the color combo of orange and pink this was a fun card for me to make.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some June cards to get to!

Happy Crafting! Y’all take care!

“Beautiful Blossoms” Challenge

March 9, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Look what’s blooming in the latest Simon Says Stamp challenge with “Beautiful Blossoms”!

Well, hi!

Spring is just around the corner (thank, goodness) so I’m grateful for some bright, floral fun with this “Beautiful Blossoms” card challenge. I used some new and some old to make three very different cards to enter the challenge.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Crow Picnic Card

For this “Beautiful Blossoms” Challenge entry I dove into my old Stampin’ Up! stash of stamps for this crow and sunflower set. I remember making tons of cards using this set back in the day. But I always used colored pencils. Now that I have Copic markers I find I use them as much or even more than colored pencils!

This is an anniversary card for a family member so I decided to use the ant stamp to stamp the word “LOVE” in the grass. It’s a little wonky, but hey, they’re ants…they’re not perfect!

I also used some red and white baker’s twine to add some interest at the top and bottom.

Thanks a Bunch Card

While I do love stamping, sometimes I just want to crank out a card with only paper and no stamps. So I used this Sizzix die cut in pink (four layers) to create the main focus of the card.

The background paper is from a Simon Says Stamp card kit. I used my Spectrum Noir glitter brush to cover the entire front of the jar of flowers. You can’t see it in the picture, and no matter how I angled the camera I just couldn’t capture the shimmer. But it’s there! You can see how it looks on another one of my pink/black floral cards here.

I love pink and black together!

Floral Bike Card

I’ve been wanting to use this die set from Sizzix since my daughter gave it to me recently as a gift. (The floral jar in the Thanks a Bunch Card is also from her! Thanks, dear!) What is it about bikes and flowers?

Anyway, everything was die cut in white cardstock. The bike has four layers for dimension. I used Copic markers to color in the bike and flowers. The background is made using an embossing folder.

I used an embossing mat in my Big Shot to press a flower image onto the matching envelope. Loving the look of this clean and bright card!

Alright, spring. I’m ready. You can come now. I guess while I wait I’ll just have to hope that Simon Says Stamp will do more spring-y challenges!

Y’all take care!

Spring Window Card

March 5, 2021 Handcrafted Cards

Just anxious for spring and sharing this Spring Window card I made with the most recent Simon Says Stamp card kit

Well, hi!

It’s normally my day to post challenge cards from the Monday Simon Says Stamp challenge. But, since the challenge this time is “Anything But a Card,” and I mostly do cards….well, I thought I’d just make this cute Spring Window Card instead.

We got a little taste of spring a few days ago and now it’s back to wet and cold. I’m so ready for warmer weather and some flowers. And a break from rain! So, I thought this nice Spring Window Card would brighten things up a bit.

I used stamps from the most recent S imon Says Stamp Card Kit. I just got it the other day.

simon says stamp card kit spring window card

So much stuff in this kit. Markers, paper, envelopes, patterned paper, stamps, dies, embellishments.

I used the brick stamps to create a background and colored some of the bricks in with some neutral colored pencils. The window is stamped on cardstock, colored in with colored pencils, and mounted with foam tape onto the card base.

Confession: the sentiment is actually from the previous month’s card kit. (All of the cards in this post feature something from that kit.) But all else is from the March kit.

I paired the card with a matching envelop and now it’s ready to be sent to a loved one!

Y’all take care!

No-Line Watercolor

March 3, 2021 Handcrafted Cards

Watch me on my first attempt at no-line watercolor.

Well, hi!

Welcome to this very rough but very fun first attempt at no-line coloring. What’s that you ask? Well, I’m no expert but here’s the basic idea.

You stamp in ink that’s light enough that when you are done painting or coloring in, you no longer really see the lines. It’s just a different look.

I’ve been wanting to try this for a long time but just haven’t gotten around to it. I believe that I picked stamps for this first time that were a little too detailed. Well, the surfboard, for sure. (But man, how awesome is that set?) But that’s okay. This little experiment was just for me. I didn’t really care if the end result was a masterpiece.

And clearly it is not.

Like I said. It’s okay. It was fun. And relaxing. No-line watercolor is something I hope to try with more stamps soon.

You can watch the sped up process here. I didn’t bother to narrate the video other than an intro and outro. I do, however, have some relaxing tropical music you can vibe to!

Watch my most recent video here, where I do some fun things with highlighters!

Y’all take care!

“Anything Goes” Challenge

March 2, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Simon Says Stamp “Anything Goes” Challenge with a few cards and a journaling entry.

Well, hi!

Sometimes it’s nice to have a specified direction, but sometimes I do love when I can just do whatever I want!

So this latest challenge from Simon Says Stamp being “Anything Goes” is just want I was in the mood for!

Welcome to my five entries. Here they are in no particular order.

Bees & Floral Journal

This is the front page to my Line Upon Line General Conference notebook. I’ve been showing some drawings I’ve been doing on my Instagram (on Sundays). But this time I thought I’d mix things up by doing some stamping and coloring.

I chose to use stamps from the Hero Arts January 2021 kit. Can’t believe I haven’t used it yet before now! It’s such a great stamp and die set. I stamped the large floral and the three different bees. Then I colored it in with colored pencils.

Pig Out!

Okay, here’s a chance to address something. Months ago, in an effort to increase my stamp and die supplies with as little money as possible, I made an Amazon experiment.

I ordered some really cheap clear mount stamps with matching dies. Do they work? Um, mostly. Would I do it again? No.

The quality of the stamps is poor. They do not stamp with very clean lines, but sometimes you can hide this. The dies are not as sharp or exact either. These “cling” stamps do not actually cling very well. Once you manage to pry them off their plastic backing page, there’s no stick left. Not great.

So the lesson is: spend the money and buy from reputable stamp companies. If the price sounds too good to be true, it very likely is.

Still, for a simple card, and since I have the stamps already and might as well use them, this card is pretty cute. Not great lines, but still fun to use.

Stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored in with Copic markers.

Gift Truck

Speaking of cheap stamps….yeah, here’s another example. I do love me a vintage pickup loaded with stuff in the back! But this set has the same issues as the pig. Blurry lines, dies are meh, and no cling.

But, again, still can be used. So I did. This set comes with gifts, pumpkins, hearts, presents, flowers, apples, leaves, etc.

The sentiment is from an Avery Elle birthday set. You can see the difference in quality between the crispness of the sentiment and the blurriness of the truck. I’ll not be trying the cheap Amazon stamp set experiment again! I mean, when I take on an Anything Goes Challenge, I don’t want the challenge to come from actually getting the stamps to work right!

Stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and colored in with Copic markers.

Topiary Hello

Let’s get back to great stamps, shall we?! I love Hero Arts, and this was a surprise freebie in one of my recent orders. I think this simple and sweet topiary makes a lovely card, don’t you?

It came with matching dies. I used the die for the greenery section to make a mask so I could ink blend the leaf area for a softer and more complete look.

The sentiment is also from that set.

Stamped using Ranger Distress Ink pads and colored in partially with Copic markers and ink blending.

Sea You Soon

Another Hero Arts win here. That watery background stamp is from Hero Arts and I’ve been itching to use it. I love it!

I paired it with an old Stampin’ Up! stamp set that features a school of fish, octopus, starfish, and lobster. The “Sea You Soon” sentiment is from another Hero Arts set.

I just love mixing and matching stamp sets! I can sometimes be too “in the box” and forget to do that.

Stamped with Ranger Distress Ink stamp pads.

Alright, all done. Hope you enjoyed this peak at my “Anything Goes” Challenge entries. You can check out other challenges here.

Y’all take care!

Lighthouse Rejects

February 26, 2021 Handcrafted Cards

Some Lighthouse Rejects prototype card fronts have their day in the spotlight!

Well, hi!

I was recently commissioned to do a custom order of cards for the amazing life coach, Denita Bremer. We conferred on the design and I offered a few options. She chose her favorite and the rejected prototypes got set aside. You can see the finished cards here.

Well, I figured it was time these lighthouse rejects got their own special card uses!

Thanks So Much

Each card features a lighthouse silhouette so the variations have to come with the placement of the lighthouse, the sky variants, and the position of the light. For this card, the lighthouse is an island and is in the center. The light comes out from both sides of the lighthouse.

Normally I like to print off a sentiment from my computer. But as the printer is on the fritz, I have to get creative! How about some words in each lighthouse beam?

When I have time, I like to do something to the envelope to hint at what’ll be inside. So I used the lighthouse stamp, without coloring it in for a silhouette, on the outside front.

You Are Loved

Okay, now this one is the actual approved prototype. BUT, when I first made it I got a smudge on the beam of light and tried carefully to remove it with a sand eraser. I was able to remove the mark, but I also removed some paper with it. Not good enough to make into a card for my paying client. So it went into my pile of rejects as well.

Words in the beam for this one too, but I decided to use a gold metallic pen for a more subtle message. I covered up the sand eraser boo-boo by drawing a small heart over it. Adding a few more hearts randomly helped to make that cover-up heart look more at home.

Added some gold star dots and some gold hearts on the envelope. It’s ready for sending now!

You Can Do It

This one is my favorite of all the Lighthouse Rejects! It never got an ink blended yellow light beam because while making this prototype I simply forgot to mask the area. But without a light beam, it was just so dark and dreary!

So, my gold metallic pen came to the rescue (I love my pen, I also used it on this Thanks card). I drew some lines out from the lighthouse and then added the words “You Can Do It,” one to each space. I wanted this card to be just a little more special so I trimmed down the image and framed it with gold metallic paper (using rectangle dies).

To add some drama to the card, I used gold metallic watercolor to add splatters and then added random, angled straight lines. I mounted the framed lighthouse scene with dimensional tape.

The envelope is decorated in a similar manner as the card base.

I gotta say, I love having a little box for card fronts that don’t quite make the cut in the moment. Seems like you can always recycle them for something else later. Never give up on a card!

Y’all take care!

Background Designs with Highlighters

February 24, 2021 Quick Tips

You can make dynamic patterned background designs just using highlighters that you probably already have!

Well, hi!

During a planner session the other day (I am in love with this planner) I was using my favorite highlighters to block off time slots in my week and a thought popped into my head.

“What if I used these for card making?”

Now, I have lots of markers. But they are special craft markers and not many people have those. When people ask me how to get started in card making I am always trying to think of what they can do with what they already have. Me? I want all the supplies! But not everyone feels that way.

Maybe you don’t have my 8-color highlighter set, but you may have a few different colored highlighters laying around. And you can certainly try making background designs with highlighters you have on hand! I think the benefit of this particular set, though, is that the colors are not super jump off the page. Well, the yellow is. But you get the idea.

Want to see some examples? Check out the video below. It’s a shorter one so it won’t take long to get the gist of it. Make sure to subscribe to my channel so you can see any new videos!

Y’all take care!

Here’s another background video for you to check out.