Blog Archives
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:
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 17
Today’s video was presented by May Park. The idea of the video was to use a cover die as the background on a card and then add the pieces cut out of the cover plate back on to the card in a dimensional and pleasing design. May used a thread nest on her card which I have not used in a long time and I thought it would be fun to use this design element again. Sadly, time has not improved my thread nest making skills and my thread nest does not look that great. Otherwise, I like the card.
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 14
Today’s tutorial was presented by Debby Hughes. I would love to be able to watercolour just like her. Perfect realism with wonderful muted colours that I am so drawn toward. To my surprise though, the video was about “winging it” with no or minimal supplies to produce a child-like project.
This style is soooo far outside my comfort zone, that I was literally cringing as I made this card. I had immediately thought of this Spellbinder’s Large die of the Month kit that I had, well, because I had received it as part of my Value Club kit and thought that I would never use it. It did serve to make me feel less guilty about owning it though,when I actually used it. Debby was wondering what type of palette the students would use. She used her more usual muted palette even though she was making a rainbow, but wondered if others would choose a more traditional palette. I decided to use bright Colorburst watercolour, as I felt this was going to be a totally uncontrolled project and Colorburst is pretty much uncontrollable too, so it would fit.
At first, I thought this card would go to the big round file as soon as I posted it, but it is growing on me. I think two of my granddaughters would like and appreciate the rainbows and bright colours. In fact, maybe we will have a cardmaking session when this scourge is over, and make some rainbow cards together!
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 11
Today’s video was presented by Julie Ebersole. The theme of the video was “no coloring” (colouring if you are Canadian like me). I like colouring images, but realise it is time-consuming for sure.
I managed to “kill two birds with one stone” as I wanted to use this Picket Fence stamp set called Peony Bouquet because it was still sitting in my “new” drawer and because I could use it as a sample card at the store where I work and because it fits today’s theme very well. So ok, that is “three birds with one stone” but you get my drift.
DebSelby
Maverick Muses 