With Sympathy

My card today has been inspired (and pretty much CASEd) from Diane Cramer. I found her card on where else? Pinterest! ha

Thankfully I don't have a need for a sympathy card at the moment, but I have launched my cards for online sales, and want to make sure I always have a stock of all types of cards. I'd love for you to check out my online store... it's a big venture for me and I'm very excited! Still have to upload some inventory, but take a look:

www.icraftgifts.com/hofkissed

Now, here's my card:

Paper: Naturals Ivory, River Rock, Sahara Sand, So Saffron
Ink: Early Espresso, VersaMark
Stamp: Simply Soft (RETIRED Hostess)
Accessories: Linen Thread, Naturals Designer Button
Techniques: Sponging

I just loved Diane's card the moment I saw it. The simplicity and beauty of it really spoke to me. I chose a subtle colour palette and thought the addition of Linen Thread and a Naturals Designer Button was a bit rustic, but worked well with the images too.

Would love to hear what you think!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Tranquility for Sunday Stamps

It's Sunday, so that means it's another challenge over at Sunday Stamps! This week, Hayley has a great colour combo for us - Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple & Pumpkin Pie. Not a colour combo I would've ever thought to put together, but I love it now!

Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes, Sincere Salutations (retired)
Techniques: Sponging, Inking with Multiple Colours

I masked off a section of my Whisper White piece with stickies and then sponged from lightest to darkest. After removing my mask, I inked up my stamp from Serene Silhouettes with my ink pads, making sure to ink my stamp starting with the lightest colour. This is important because you don't want to get a dark colour ink on your light ink pad! I know there's an official name for this technique, but I can't remember what it is. :)

As I was looking for a sentiment, there just wasn't one I owned that worked other than the retired Sincere Salutions. It's such an elegant stamp set and the sentiments are perfect. I couldn't resist using it for this card.

To finish off, I popped up my piece on my Whisper White card base. I wanted this card to have lots of white space...

Hope you'll play along with us this week!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Serene Silhouettes for FMS

Today's card is inspired by both the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, and my upline, Leena Girsa. In fact, my card is pretty much a CASE of Leena's beautiful card (see it here), but with a few twists.

First, here's the sketch:

When Leena designed her card for our monthly team meeting, I just fell in love with it and knew I had to one day recreate it. I just didn't want to completely copy it, so here's my version based on the sketch above:

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Marina Mist
Ink: So Saffron, Old Olive, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, Cherry Cobbler, Black
Stamps: Serene Silhouettes
Tools: Big Shot, Woodgrain TIEF, Post-It Notes
Accessories: Naturals Button, Twine

Aside from the tree image from Serene Silhouettes, I sponged the entire image. When I saw the three layers in the sketch, I had the idea to carry the image across all three... kind of like the Triple Time Stamping technique I featured last week (see card here), but with a twist.

I first sponged all three layers with So Saffron and after masking my sun with a 1-3/8" circle, I started adding my layers of colours until I achieved the look I wanted.

I decided to add a tiny black border around all layers - a last minute decision - and I think it works. I glued the initial layer to the card base and then popped up each additional layer. To finish off, I added a button with some twine and I just love how this card turned out!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

The Son of Man

Most of the time, I enjoy being asked to do custom work because when someone wants something custom, it means they can't find it anywhere else. It also means that I have to sometimes work out of my comfort zone and do something I wouldn't normally create otherwise.

Well, I was asked to create a custom birthday card based on the painting The Son of Man by René Magritte. You might have seen it in a gallery, or in the 1999 film, The Thomas Crown Affair (good movie, by-the-way!). In case you still don't know what I'm talking about, here's my card:

Paper: Well Worn DSP, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Blush Blossom
Ink/Markers: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Blush Blossom
Stamps: Papaya Collage, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Tools/Techniques: Heat Gun, Gold Embossing Powder, Sponges

Do you recognize the painting now?! :)

When I was deciding what to do, I thought "How cool would it be to use the fancy frame from Papaya Collage and re-create the painting inside of it?!" So, that's what I did! I used gold embossing powder on Chocolate Chip card stock and heated it, then I fussy-cut it all out. I sponged a piece of Whisper White card stock with Bashful Blue and Sahara Sand ink to try and re-create the background of the painting. The man was put together with five separate pieces - the jacket, shirt/tie, face/neck, bowler hat & apple. I hand drew and cut out all the pieces and then used my markers to add shadows and dimension.

I think it turned out pretty cool!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph