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Spring Card Camp 2 Day 20
Well, how about that? I have been through 40 days and 40 nights of cardmaking classes between Spring Card Camp 1 and Spring Card Camp 2. Somedays I feel like I should have used those 40 days and 40 nights to build the modern equivalent of an ark………………….maybe like a giant dog cone that fits on the top my head and goes down to my toes. Then maybe I could walk around wherever I want without fear of the scourge raining down on me.
Today’s tutorial was about paper weaving. I was afraid that it was going to be time-consuming and I wouldn’t like the result when it was all over. Luckily, I was wrong on both counts. It didn’t take that long and only one colour choice change, I was done.
Both cards turned out well. Take a look:
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 19
Today’s tutorial was presented by Dawn Woleslagle and was about Gel Press Printing. I admit my heart sank when I saw the topic. as I am very much a newbie when it comes to Gel Press. I was hoping to post a quick card and then get some housework done. Who am I kidding?……………………..but at least maybe get some weeds pulled in the garden…………………………………………or maybe at the very least get out of my Pj’s.
I had taken a class at Creativation about Mono Printing and came away excited about it enough to buy a full set of Gel Presses……………you guessed it………………the scourge came and I left Phoenix in a hurry forgetting all about my Gel Presses even though I did bring them home.
Well, I got them out and am I glad I did! Dawn’s instruction fit in well with my need for control. This method of using the Gel Press was not crazy messy and allowed me to use my Oxides and stamps and keep some degree of control over the resulting backgrounds. I ended up with many many backgrounds and I loved them all. I think I could make 20 cards in various patterns and colours. I will post here the 2 that make up the cards that result when you take images off the gel press for 1 card and then brayer over a blank piece of cardstock laying on the gel press for the second card.
I don’t think I have looked at the results of a technique with as much wonder since I discovered heat embossing many years ago.
Coffee Lovers Bloghop Day 2 and Spring Card Camp 2 Day 18
I decided to combine the theme of the Spring Card Camp 2 Day 18 tutorial with the coffee theme of the Coffee Lovers Bloghop.
I used several ink pads in uncontrolled smears to create a number of backgrounds. I am sure I have at least 8 more hiding somewhere on my desk. I did find as Yana mentioned that some of them did not look so good when first inked, but they improved considerably when they were dry.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 16
Today’s tutorial was presented by Ashlea Cornell. She was demonstrating easy watercolour backgrounds. when I do watercolour backgrounds, I always end up with twice as many backgrounds as I intended. I just can’t wipe away all the luscious colour that is left on my media mat, so I just make another background.
I had a bit of a minor miracle happen today too. The card I am posting today was teetering on the rim of the big round file, and then the miracle happened. I wanted to use a mainly black image on the brightly painted stripes. The stamp set I had in mind was Altenew’s Watercolour Half Tone set. The problem was that I had painted the stripes on the very textured side of the watercolour paper. I absolutely knew that the subtle gradations of grey/black on the Halftone image would not show up well on the texture but I stamped it anyway. Sure enough, it did not stamp well, and the card started it’s trip to the big round file. It was then that I thought if I could stamp the Half-tone image on smooth cardstock and put it on top of the watercoloured stripes, I could salvage the card. The next problem was that I did not have the coordinating dies for this stamp set and the image was a fussy cutting nightmare with its’ little disconnected curves and edges. That is when the miracle happened. I decided to see if my Scan n Cut would be able to cut out the image. It should not have been able to discern the edges that were not clearly connected to the main image, but low and behold, it did a fantastic job of cutting it out and the card was saved.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 15
It is back to my comfort zone today on Spring Card Camp 2. Kristina used a theme of using a basic circle to make a shaker card. Shaker cards are one of my favorite cards to make, and so I dove in to making one right away.
Recently, I got two new die sets from Paper Rose. They are dies of woodworking tools and are relatively small. As I was listening to Kristina talk about putting multiple layers of foam tape together to allow the shaker bits to move and shake freely, I realised that I could make shaker bits of these small tools if I made sure that I did NOT give the little tools enough room to flip over. The back of the tools are just plain white and would spoil the look of the card. Putting together the shaker card was easy using Kristina’s first method, and the one I use most often. The only problem that I had was that I have virtually no Dad/Father’s Day sentiments in my stash. Thanks to my print feature on my Cameo, I was able to print off an appropriate banner.
It just happens that late yesterday afternoon, I decided to make a shaker card out of a die that I picked up very inexpensively on a super sale. I decided that because it essentially uses a circle shape and the first method that Kristina showed for making a shaker card, I could also post it here.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 13 Card # 2
Sometimes, I don’t even tell myself that I am not satisfied with how a card turned out. What happens is that I just start making another one, without even being conscious of the decision to do so. That is what happened today.
As a result, I have a second card to post that I am much happier with. This time the elements flowed together well and it was much quicker to make.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 13
Today was one of those days where the idea of what to do came quickly but the said execution of the idea was rather difficult. The video today was presented by Jennifer Mcguire and a second set of cards was showcased by Andy Granick . I decided to make a card that incorporated the design ideas of both Jennifer and Andy. This is where the trouble started. I like to be able to “eyeball” things rather than do the meticulous measuring, but like it or not, this card required measuring. It took a while to do, but the real problem was that I got some graphite marks from the pencil I used on my card front, that left some dirty looking smudges. This took some work to erase. I even had to do stamp surgery on the sentiment I used, to make it fit the way I wanted. Finally, the card came together, however. and the end result is nice.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 12
Today’s video was about geometric shapes and who better to teach it than Laura Bassen. Throw in a rainbow and the world is as it should be (ok, there is that annoying exception to perfection right now, but this too shall pass).
I have been excited about slimline cards lately. They provide that extra real estate that you need to make your cards impactful. Some great slimline products from Pinkfresh, My Favorite Things and Trinity stamps to name a few, should be arriving in my mailbox soon. Luckily, today’s card looks good without some of the fancy edge dies that I am waiting for. 
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 10
Late, late, late today, but it is not because I made a 5 hour card. No, no, no………….I am late for a wonderful reason. One of my grandsons is 3 years old today and I was out for a “drive-by”, proper social distancing, no hug birthday party. Luckily the weather co-operated and we could sit on the deck and watch Theo play with his new toys from a safe distance.
Anyway, the tutorial today was about substituting images for certain letters in a sentiment emphasized card. At the time that I was watching the tutorial, I was in the midst of creating a donut card using an image from Picket Fence and the Wreath Builder stencil from Gina K. The donut on the stamp set was the perfect substitute for an “o” so it was a “no-brainer” to pick this image for my card when I got back from the birthday party.
It came together very quickly and it really is quite cute.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 9
I knew there was going to be trouble today. The theme of the tutorial by Daniel West was to let your imagination wander and envision your stamps/dies/stencils in a totally different way. This is precisely what I like to do with my supplies, but it is this very methodology that turns what should be a 10-minute card into a 4-hour card. The funny thing was that even though I like to do this re-imagining of stamps and dies, I drew a complete blank at first. When I finally thought of something, I said to myself…………don’t do it……………..it is too stupid and “out there”. So of course, I set about doing exactly that. I don’t know if the card “works” but I think there is an “E” for effort in there somewhere.
I will show you first the two dies that I started out with. Take a moment to guess what I transformed them into.
Now you can see the finished product. So ok, I know it is a stretch……………..Glass Catfish in an aquarium. It is my imagination and so I can do what I want with it. The one outstanding problem with this project is that I put so much clear glaze over the fish (Pico Embellisher), that it is unlikely to dry any time today. That is ok though as my newly acquired Spring Card Camp friend Sue Ellen says…………..drying time doesn’t count when determining how long a card takes to make.
I took about 10 pictures trying to get one that sort of reflected the transparent glisten of the fish. This was the best of the lot, taken in bright sunshine while the card was sitting on my partner’s jeep tire. I know I need to get some proper photography backgrounds
DebSelby
Maverick Muses 