FUSSY FUSSY CARDS

I've been busy all day working on these cards. They are so fussy and they do take quite a bit of time to cut, emboss, stamp and layer together. I don't know if you can see from the picture, but I made them with clear Mylar. Actually the Mylar has quite a bit more visual clarity to it than the acetate I usually use. I also used the brightly colored vellum from Paper and More. I used the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Pendant and the Petite Ovals Nestabilities . The ribbon trim took forever to get in place, but it is worth it, because it really lends a rich look to the cards. I have found that the Fleur de Lis Pendant die can be a little fussy at times, but the Spellbinders site recommends that you add a piece of wax paper between the die and your card stock or vellum. That helps the problem of trying to remove the cut outs from the die, but I still have a problem getting the die to cut in the inside square. I have found 2 tricks that work for me that I will share. I take a thin piece of computer paper, cut it to the small size square, and place it behind the inner square only. I also have a magnet that is cut to the width of the plate. So I can run it through once in one direction and to run it in the other direction I only have to turn the magnet 1/4 turn. I'm making these as challenge gifts, I thought it would be cute to send them my $100 card! Lol. So girls if you see the color you want put your dibs on it quick! I have the hot pink I used for the Spellbinders contest already cut out, but not assembled as yet. And I have 1 more to make tomorrow, not sure what color that will be. I'm leaning towards the orange, I have another one of those pretty orange vellum flowers from the Cricut left over. I hope you are all enjoying your day. Thanks for looking ~Diane

SYMPATHY CARDS

I promised I would post some pictures later today, so here they are. Sadly 3 of my girlfriends have asked me for sympathy cards in the last 2 weeks. I will let Michelle pick her two, then I will list the others in my shop. This is a lovely Stampin Up set, Close as a Memory. I have had it for almost a year and this is the first time I have used it. The image has a watercolor effect, and my watercolors were a little too bright! I stamped the image in Mellow Moss SU, ivory and olive (I think) are Stampin Up. I should say I know for sure they are Stampin Up, I am just unsure of the names of the colors. I used the Spellbinders Labels 8 Nestabilities and the Spellbinders Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities. I stamped one in black ink, and the other three I used the black embossing powder, I like that better. I glued Cricut flowers to one, used a shimmery watercolor paint on another, used my Aqua painter and some Stampin Up ink on another, and my 2 way glue pen and glitter on another. Well I hope you like these. Thanks for Looking, ~Diane

MY CREATIVE PROCESS

This is what the finished cards look like.
These are all of my creative stumbles, failed attempts, none of these would work for me.

I am getting ready to start up in the card club again this year. I dropped out last year and gave it a break so I am excited to get back to it again. So much inspiration! We do a card swap when we meet, you make however many cards all the same, and you leave with the same number of cards, 1 from each player. It is so much fun, but I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of the 4 x 5 card format. I have been making the 5 x 7 cards for the last year and it gives me so much more room to create. I finished my cards, but I feel bad, they are not my best. I just couldn't seem to get what I wanted on to the paper.
I bring this up because a friend of mine asked me the other day "how long does it take you to make a card?" I tried to explain to her the physical making is not what takes time, it's getting the idea. Once I have the idea it's easy peasy!
For the swap I had this great idea to use some of my tie dye card stock. I cut some vase's with my Cricut and and some vellum flowers. I put these real pretty 1/2 pearls I found in the center. I don't like it, the vases are too big and they look dumb with the flower. Forget the vases, I'll just use the flowers. I cut some shapes with my new Spellbinders labels 8 die (one of my winnings from the Spellbinders contest). I embossed my cardstock with the Cuttlebug folder, then I decided to run through some stick and peel gold foil to add the bird as an element. I cut out all the birds and stuck them on the card stock and then I embossed the bird onto the card stock. Ok so I like the look of this but not the color of the card stock I chose. Change colors, I then use the Swiss dots Cuttlebug folder to emboss the frame I made with the labels 8. Then I decide the brown card looks too plain. I use a Sizzix embossing plate on that. But to emboss the front I needed to change the direction of how the card opens. Looks good, with the labels 8 rounded corners I decide it would look nice if I punched the corners round too. Ok I like that too. I add a ribbon, ok I guess. It needs something, and it's not the pretty vellum flower. The flower is too big! Ok go through all my embellishments to see what would look good. Problem, I now need to find something large enough to hide where I peeled the flowers off of the ribbon. Ok these pretty metal flowers are in the right size and scale (somewhat) but the centers are plain. Go through my bling and see what I can find. I tried rhinestones in red then green, nope! I see, the bright yellow seed beads! I put it on and say I'm done, but I'm just not that happy with the results. It's not ugly, I'm not fishing for someone to say oh, it's nice, I know it's ok. I just know I had something in my head and I could not translate that to the paper and it disappointed me. So that's what I mean when I say it's the idea that takes time. Am I the only one who creates cards like this? What do you do when you stumble and just can't seem to get it right?
Thanks for reading ~Diane

POP UP CARDS 4 more samples

Carole has a great challenge this week, pop up cards! I love making pop ups, they always bring such amazement to anyone who opens one up. They can range from simple to time consuming and elaborate. There are many ways to make a shelf, or you can buy pre made shelves to stick in your card. There is also the wire or plastic pop up that has your item spring forth and really pop out at you. I have pulled together some of my pop ups to share.

This is the inside of the card I made for this weeks challenge.
Card made with card stock from DCWV NANA'S Kitchen. Die cut flowers, grass and stems all made with Cricut Plantin Schoolbook, Cricut Accent Essentials and Cricut Walk in my Garden Misc supplies, mirrored butterfly, chunky black glitter, rhinestones, vellum butterfly with seed beads and Bazzil bitty blossoms.

Front of same card.

This is the inside of a card I custom made for a special customer in my Etsy store. I cut the balloons with my Cricut and stamped them, and added tiny strings to some of the balloons.

I made these with my vellum butterflies a while back when I was on a pop up kick!

This is an insanely detailed card, but I love it! I hand stamped the flowers, cut them out, stamped , cut and colored the bee, then covered it in Crystal effects. Like the balloon card I mounted the flowers in 3 layers.

For the front of the card I used an expensive napkin someone gave me as a gift. I found a technique make it into fancy cardstock. I separated the napkin layers, I then placed a piece of saran wrap on top of a sheet of cardstock and placed the napkin on top of that and ironed it until it stuck together. Did I say this was insanely time consuming? I used some of my vellum butterflies and dragonflies. I made 10 of these for the ladies in my card swap!

Well I hope you enjoyed my pop ups. Thanks for looking~Diane

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