Making cards

I am card challenged.

I know it sounds odd, but I can whip out a 12×12 scrapbook page, a mini album or a home decor project without trouble, but a simple card can kick my butt.

But whenever I am challenged by something, I continue to push myself, trying again and again and again. I’ve discovered its not too hard with beautiful papers, like those from Graphic 45.

These are for my upcoming class at Scrap Tales. We’ll learn how to work with acetate to make unique cards with Graphic 45 paper, alcohol ink, Dies Direct dies, and more.

Contact the store for details … hope to see you there!

Fun with Alcohol

I have been wanting this stamp by Judi Kins for months and finally broke down and bought it. I imagined it warm, sunny and sparkly.

So, for the next challenge for Scrap Wars, I created a special tag to go with this special stamp.

Our challenge was to make a standard tag and use acetate somewhere on the tag. I decided just to make the tag from acetate.

I used Judi Kins Embossable Window Plastic to make the tag and added Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink to the back side. I then stamped the image on the front and heat embossed it with Zing embossing powder.

When I got done, I decided I didn’t like the fairy’s flesh colored in yellow and orange, so I used a Q-Tip and some blending solution to remove the color. In retrospect, an Alcohol Ink Pen filled with blending solution probably would have worked better.

I then added glitter to the backside, so it didn’t get in the way of the details. I used glitter and clear glue by Art Glitter.

Some eyelets and beads (by Maya Road) at the bottom and a ribbon up top completed the look.

Acetate Cards

A few months ago, I taught a class making acetate cards.

One of the students enjoyed it so much, she asked me to teach a private class to her stamp group. While I couldn’t do the original class because the supplies I used were no longer available, I created new ones using the same techniques.

The first one uses papers from TPC. I cut them out using the Tim Holtz flower die from Sizzix and attached them with a brad from American Crafts. A quarter circle on the inside and a few Robin’s Nest Dew Drops complete the card.

This one uses papers and rub-ons by Kaiser Craft. I love how the red paper appears to be floating on the patterned paper in the background. The effect was simple — I just attached the red to the inside of the card and the patterned to the outside of the card.

The final one uses papers and paper ribbon from the Olivia Collection from Basic Grey. I used them to create a pocket for writing and then tucked a tag inside the pocket. The flowers on the front were made using a die from Dies Direct and the stamp is from Northwoods. StazOn ink makes it possible to stamp on acetate.