Wishing you blue skies

 Someone gave me the idea of doing an iris fold inside a stamped image.  I looked through my stamps and thought that this chickie was just the ticket.  I stamped the chickie onto white paper and cut out the body.  (On the stamp it's actually his bathing suit!)  I then overlaid the back of the stamped image onto a triangle-shaped template and chose three different colors of papers.  I think he looks rather festive!  To complete the card, I stamped another chickie onto yellow paper and paper-pieced his body.  I then inked the sky, added some grass and a sentiment.  This chickie can have a lot of different bathing suits!
Stamps by Hero Arts (chick) and Inkadinkado (saying).

Happy Fiesta!

Gettin' happy with die cuts! I used the Scallop Circle 3D die from Sizzix to jazz up the inside of this Happy Fiesta card.   This circle (cut from purple as shown in the picture above) allows you to have an instant pop up card.  I embellished the pop up structure with several colorful  die cuts using the Cricut and the Accent Essentials cartridge.  I stamped Ole! with an alphabet set and added it to the lower pop up shelf.  The papers on the outside of the card are available from Hobby Lobby, as is the circle die.   This card was tres fun to make and give.  I love the look on people's faces when they opened up this card!  I hope you are having a Happy Fiesta week!  Did you have a holiday today?  I know the schools were out and several businesses so the employees could enjoy all the fun.  I enjoyed a Fiesta dinner last evening with friends and ate way too much! The meal was delicious--chicken fajitas, beans rice, pico de gallo, guacamole, and all the chips and chocolate you could ask for!  I think the food and the colorful decorations are the best part of Fiesta here in San Antonio.  Hooray for food, fun, and friends!

Tulip iris folding

This iris folded tulip pattern came from a book called 460 Iris Folded Cards to Make:  The Complete Iris Folding Compendium.  All sorts of patterns--kites, cherries, balloons, cats, you name it, there is a pattern for it.  The tulip iris was fun and easy to make.  I do wish I had chosen a darker green for the leaves, but I was using paper I had on hand.  I think the Martha Stewart edge punch and the Magenta Peel and Stick strips make the central tulip focus really stand out.  One thing I will have to work on--the bulk of the folded image.  This card is really 3 dimensional, because of that bulk.  I saw several origami papers at Hobby Lobby--I think those would be thinner than scrapbook papers, but not the variety.  I think specialty papers would be the way to go--the thinner the better.  Now let me think--don't I have some of those in my stash too?!!

Iris Folding

I have been practicing my iris folding techniques.  It's amazing how much I've forgotten!  I made the above card with a hexagon template I found online.  I like the templates with numbers--it seems so much easier than planning my own placement!  The template called for six different papers.  I rummaged around in my box of scraps for suitable prints that would work together.  I cut lots of strips--enough for about six cards from the look of them--and that was only from half and quarter pieces of papers!  You can't really see from the above scan, but the center iris is gold metallic cardstock, as is the embossed embellishment below.  I also highlighted the design by adding very narrow peel-off strips to the edges of the iris folded design.  I had forgotten how thick the front of the card turns out from the folded strips.  Next time I make a card like this I will be sure to use a triple folded card so the "work" will automatically and easily be covered up.  For this card I just cut another piece of card 1/4" smaller all around for the inside covering.  Something else I forgot--you really have to plan the front of the card before doing the iris folding and maybe doing some embellishment first.  I have seen some really cute projects I want to try--balloons, kites, etc, rather than just geometric designs.

Playing with Peel Offs

The card above shows an interesting technique using Peel-Offs.  Peel-Offs are little plastic stickers, usually in gold or silver, distributed by a variety of companies.  The particular design above is from The Paper Studio, a Hobby Lobby brand.  For the central motif, I cut a 2 inch tile from white mat board.  I placed the heart design Peel Off in the center of the tile, then covered the entire tile with Versamark and then Zing red opaque embossing powder.  I then heated this until the powder melted completely.  Of course at this point the Peel Off is covered by the powder.  But now the magic happens!  I peeled off the sticker and discarded it, revealing the white surface of the tile in the design of the Peel Off.  I now used a gold metallic pen to color the white design.  After the gold ink dried completely I then used a gold pigment ink pad to color the sides of the tile and dipped the sides in gold embossing powder, and then heat embossed the edges, giving a gold edge to the tile.  I mounted the finished tile onto the front of a card which I covered with Valentine scrapbook paper and some red mulberry paper.  A few extra Peel-Offs to the sides and a few gold metallic dot embellishments complete the card.  And the recipient will wonder just how in the world that embellishment was done!

Cricut Birthday

I wanted to make some cards using my Cricut.  This card features designs from the A Child's Year cartridge.  I cut the base card from the Card option at 6 1/2" from white card.  I then covered the front with some striped paper from an old American Crafts paper pad.  The white tag, cut at 2" serves as a mat for the greeting, cut from red card and then covered with Stickles.  I added a couple of balloon brads and then the little girl birthday images cut at 2" from blue card, one in reverse.  I hope to keep up with birthdays a little better this year--before I know it, birthdays get away from me.  I think the first month of the year is a good time to get a head start!  Happy Birthday!

First post for 2013

And it is also my New Year's resolution!  I have been enjoying the sunshine in my craft room yesterday and today, and the image above is the result.  I sorted through all sorts of stuff (again throwing a lot away) and decided to use these supplies.  Repeat:  I am not a hoarder, I am not a hoarder, I am not a hoarder.....!!  I made a base card from my new Tea Garden paper pad from DCWV.  My intention was to make the whole card from the pad, but inspiration did not work that way.  I chose some older border stickers to decorate the left edge--they seemed to match perfectly.  I then stamped the Hero Arts collage stamp with the bird on the right side of the landscape folded card with Blush Rose chalk ink from Clearsnap.  Not happy with the way the image just sort of seemed plopped on the paper, I used some sponge daubers to sponge more Blush Rose and then Peach Pastel chalk inks around it, blending the sides and edges into the cardstock.  I then used a mahogany colored pencil to darken the central bird image.  I used a fine line black pen to emphasize the typed resolution and added gold Magenta Peel-Offs, a Hero Arts swirl stamp heat embossed in gold, and some fancy K and Co sticker to the far left side.
     This card is for myself as a "get well" from being sick this past week.  There's lots of sunshine out there, and I intend on soaking in as much as I can.  The bird on my card is flying sun-ward!