[Swapping Sisters] December Swap

If you already saw the other Swapping Sister posts and were wondering where mine went...they posted early! Can you believe them?! Just kidding. I ran late creating my card and was struggling to balance my holiday prep, work, and guest hosting from China. But, dear Swapping Sisters, it is my new year's resolution to try harder to be on-time.

So for the Swapping Sister's second card swap I actually made a card (more like three, but who is counting?) To top it all, this is my first time creating cards solo. Stamping Around and crafting with an instructor doesn't really count, since there is always a teacher to tell me what to do next, and there is a prototype card to show me what it should have been.

Just a quick disclaimer: this post contains three cards and it's quite long. If you just want to see the pics, just scroll on through or head over to my flickr page for more pics. If you want to re-live my n00by card-making journey, read on.



This time Swap Sister Laurie sent out supplies which included a few fun items: Bazzill's Blue Swiss Dot paper, Quick Quotes' Pink Striped paper, Making Memories' Polka Dot paper, ribbons from Martha Stewart and Michaels, blue brads, pink buttons and a fun metal flower.

To make matters sweeter, I was visiting Belinda for a very extended weekend. And being at Belinda's is like being in stamping/crafting heaven. It means that I got to play with hardware and learn new technique. Let me just say that after this long weekend, my Christmas wish list just grew a few feet... ;)

The first card is a simple "thank you" card. I knew I wanted to use the pink ribbon as my sentiment. From there everything kind of fell in place: pink pairs well with black, and the polka dot paper had some nice shades to match the whole get-up. So out came the 3/4" circle punch to pull out the perfect shades of dots from the polka dot paper for the card. I also ran the black cardstock through Belinda's Cuttlebug to emboss the "Spots & Dots" design on the card to tie the dots and circle theme together. My "cherry ontop" was the metal flower embellishment.


Paper: Black (Recollections), Polka Dot (Making Memories)
Embellishments: Pink Thank-You Ribbon (Martha Stewart), Metal Embellishment Flower (Making Memories), Dots and Spots Embossing Folder (Provo Craft)

I quickly found an assembly problem when the ribbon went down onto the black cardstock. It was too sheer for the sentiment to really stand out, so I cut a piece of white cardstock strip to match the width of the ribbon and backed the ribbon onto it. And voilà, the ribbon is able to convey it's message.

The second card is an ode to the Quick Quotes pink paper and my Swapping Sisters. I have been dying to ink up my "Trendy Girl" set from Sweet & Sassy Stamps, and Belinda generously shared a stack of pattern paper that she had. I used various select regions parts of the paper to design three of the purses that I pulled from the set, leaving her with funny-shaped holes in the most random parts of the paper ;) Additionally, the border punch adds a nice "girl" touch. At that point, the black card stock felt too much, and I corner-punched the bottom edge to trim a bit of black away. I also knew I wanted to use the white ribbon to create the winning pink-black-white classy color combo and went about to create a fun non-tying ribbon. (Ha, just ask Belinda how horrified I get when tying ribbons -- they always look lopsided and sad!)



For the sentiment, I tried stamping it with a cream color pigment ink onto the pink, but that didn't show very well, since this pink has loads of white stripes. So I decided to stamp it with black and punch it out using a 1 3/4" circle punch. On a side note, I chose to rotate the paper for the sentiment, so that the white stripes were horizontal, rather than vertical. This allows the sentiment to stand out more from the background pattern.

Incidentally, the previous night, Belinda and I played with the Glimmer Mist that she picked up and we tried it on black paper. That stuff is awesome and created a nice subtle shimmer effect, and since I didn't want to "waste" that piece of paper, I punched out a scallop to back the pink circle, so that I could add a layer between the pink background and the pink circle. The shimmer gives it an extra dimension without actually adding another paper layer.

The card needed some "white" to balance, and since I discovered the awesome-ness of eyelets and I need to make use of my newly acquired crop-a-dile, I decided to "frame" the sentiment with some white eyelets. I like how it gives it a little playful touch. At this point I thought I was done, but the polka dot paper looked so neglected, and I liked how the dots had different patterns and textures printed on it. So I punched out the dark pink ones, and created a background paper. This of course meant that I was able to use the whole and non-whole circles.  Yeah -- I like to do things backwards ;)


Stamps: Trendy Girl (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: Black (Recollections), Pink Striped (Quick Quotes), Polka Dot (Making Memories), various pattern paper
Ink: Black (Staz-On)
Embellishments: White Ribbon (Michael's), Floral Lace Edge Punch (Martha Stewart), Corner Punch (EK Success), 2" Scallop (Marvy Uchida), 1 3/4" Circle (Stamping Up!), Gold Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels), White Eyelets (Making Memories)

My stay in Pittsburgh made me miss the warmer weathers. I drove in a snowstorm, walked around in the cold to run errands, and when I was inside staying warm, I watched it snow. This was probably why I avoided the Bazzill blue swiss dots paper. However, while I was working on another paper craft project, the little penguins from the imaginisce "A Shore Thing" line kept looking so happy. So the inspiration to make a fun summer card (in the middle of December) starting coming together.

I secretly had so much fun embossing the first card, I wanted to find any excuse to play with the Cuttlebug some more. I love love the d'vine design and decided it mimics the water waves at the beach. I knew I wanted to use the white ribbon to separate the swirl and non-swirl part of the paper, which became my base.

Pepé and Pia (yes -- I gave my penguins names) were stamped onto white cardstock and colored with pencils. Belinda happened to show me the neat blending trick with odor-less mineral spirits, which I immediately put into use :) Just don't try to watch TV and blend at the same time! The penguins were my only chance to give the card some bold, warm colors to offset the cool color background. So their swim gear and accessories were colored in yellow, reds, oranges, and pinks.

To give it a whimsical take, the penguins needed to be positioned so that they pop off the card. The perfect way to create that effect is to pull out some nesties to provide a "frame" for the penguins to leap of. I liked the large scallop nestability and then happily pulled out the Cuttlebug again. I felt that the penguins needed another layer or so and my eyes strayed to the chalk paints that Belinda pulled out for me to play with. Penguins, fun background, and chalks! The shade of blues in the box were perfect and I set out to look for swirl stamps among Belinda's collection to create that background, so I could emboss the stamp onto white paper and run the chalk over the design. The penguins looked happy, and to make them look warm, I added a little sun (yep, it was punched out from the polka dot paper!).

The card needed a cute sentiment to tie it together and would be perfect in conveying a "just sayin' hello" message. I found two sentiments "hello" and "friends," where I masked out the "s" on the latter word. In addition, I drew in the comma and exclamation point, trying to mimic the style as much as possible. Did I fake it well? I tried a little paper piercing to emphasize the word "friend," but could have just as easily left it out. To tie it all up together, Laurie's blue brads were the last perfect "blue" addition to the card.


Stamps: Penguin Dude (imaginisce Snag 'em Stamps), Penguin Chick (imaginisce Snag 'em Stamps), Swirl (?), Doodle Flower for Sentiments (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: Black (Recollections), Light Blue Swiss Dots (Bazzill), White (The Paper Company), Polka Dot (Making Memories)
Ink: Black (Staz-On)
Embellishments: White Ribbon (Michael's), Square Blue Brads (Making Memories), Scallop Nestabilities (Spellbinders), d'vine Swirl Embossing Folder (Provo Craft)

Now that you have made it through my long post, I really want to add one more quick thing: i owe a big thanks to my girl Belinda! Without her toys and her quick techique demos, I would not have been able to create three fun cards. I had a blast hanging out and playing, and because of that, I know exactly what new hardware I want to acquire :)

To help me feel less bad for posting late, do me a favor and hop back to these awesome posts to see what these creative girls have created:

Belinda

Laurie

Stephanie 

Interesting take on the same supplies, right? I love how everyone uses and emphasizes the colors of the paper differently!

[Swapping Sisters] November Swap

One of the reasons I was so easily convinced to go to "Stamping Around" with Belinda was because I signed up to do this card craft swap with Belinda and two other girls. Seeing that I know nothing about paper and crafts -- I figured it'd be a good learning experience. I'll have to post those projects later with some of my fun learning experiences.

Anyway, I digress. The card craft swap is actually a neat idea, since we are all spread across the continental US. A fun way to stay in touch with old friends and new friends, and make new friends.

So the deal is each month one of the girls creates four identical kits and sends them out. We each make something out of the stuff in our kit and then post (ideally) on the same day. Most of you guys know that I'm not (yet) a paper crafter, and since the girls were so nice to "loosen" the card craft swap to a craft swap, I decided why not! It's a great way to learn something about making cards (without buying all the crazy hardware) and keep myself accountable on the crafting.

I mentioned earlier that we would all post "ideally" on the same day. This first project post date was November 9 and, well, we know what today's date is...To my defense, it's all because of the traveling and working.

So here is a breakdown of Project Craftiness with the Swapping Sisters. Belinda started with Round 1 and sent us a kit with the following ingredients: yummy Cosmo Cricket Paper (Early Bird), a nice long strand of dark blue ribbon, some yellow & green brads, and a punched out star.

Stamps: Blast Off (Sweet 'n Sassy)
Paper: Beige (Recollections), Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket)
Embellishments: Dark Blue Ribbon (?), wooden stars (Michael's), Blue Awning letters (K&Company)

I had planned to convert this blue, fabric journal I had picked up from Border's. There were a few challenging issues with this: hardback, fabric, and for a boy. Here is what I came up with:



I found some chipboard letters to spell out the recipient's name on the journal. I actually had these purchased before the card kit came in. I decided that I wanted to create a fun three-panel with the green Early Bird pattern paper. The other pattern paper were really fun and hot, but too busy for the boldly colored space shuttle to stand out. The space shuttle is from the Blast Off digi set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

To keep this project from too much girly, I needed to come up with an idea to incorporate the ribbon and decided to wrap the panels. I like how the dark blue ribbon adds another shade of blue to the green paper -- a nice and simple effect. Last, the whole thing was finished by adding a moon and a few wooden stars.



By the way, all coloring was done with my trusty Prisma markers & pencils--which I have had since 10th grade in high school. At least there is one unexpected high point in paper crafting: going back to using my art mediums is making my mom happy. She always questioned why I needed such expensive pencils...

So now that you have seen my project, hop on the other gal's blogs and see what other fun & creative ideas they have come up with:

Belinda
Laurie
Stephanie