Card for the blind

My aunt recently went blind.  I wanted to send her a card letting her know I was thinking of her but didn't see the point.  Then I decided I could make one she could enjoy -- I just had to put in as much texture as possible into the card!  So I sprayed on some Goosebumps spray (this gives a slightly bumpy feel), added some of Tim's rock candy, smeared on some white acrylic paint, added a couple different types of brads, some canvas stickers, and some fuzzy white wool.  Lastly I stamped Mike Strong's smallest hexagonal stamp into some Stampin Up! clay and added that to the front.  It feels great and I know my aunt will love it! 

Technique Thursday

This isn't really an official technique but recently I have been playing around with a few different techniques and have been going crazy making designer papers that I love the look of using scrap pieces.  I'm going to make a few cards here so I'll start with 4 scraps of white.

First I take my sponge dabber and randomly sponge on one colour (I used summer sun) in blotches leaving some white. 

Once that is done I take another colour (island indigo) and sponge it on the remaining white overlapping with some of the first colour to make another.

 Once the scraps are done to your liking take the first colour (yellow) and stamp with a background stamp.  I used Michael Strong's Cloisonné Mosaic Frame.  You can see the colour faintly in the background.

 Now take your stamp and fold it so when you ink it up with the darker colour it is only partially inked.

Stamp.

 Finish stamping the same way all over the scraps.

 Here are the cards I made with those scraps.

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Monday

My week to do the card captain in the Michael Strong Yahoo Group.  I bought these Dylusions Sprays the other day and had to try them out.  I absolutely loved the results I got with "Lemon Zest" and "Postbox Red".  I sprayed quite a few papers with those 2 colours and here are some results:

So bright in real life.  Love them!  I love making designer paper to use on cards and scrapbook pages!  I used a couple of stencils to make these -- one was a stencil from Dylusions called "Diamond of a Border" but I don't know who made the other (with the uneven circles).  Anyhow I turned one into this card:

I used Stampin Up! Summer Sun, Real Red and Basic Black.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up! ("Voila") and the pearls, hardware and embosslet to make the butterflies (Beautiful Wings) are also Stampin Up! 

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Friday

Last day to be card captain.  Another faux postage card.  I used Mike background Lily stamp and coloured the "stamps" in with Copics.  RV00 and RV25 for the lilies, YG63 and YG99 for the leaves and BG10 for the background.  I used the Sizzix postage die "Frames, Stamp Combo" to cut out the stamps.  The rest of it is Stampin Up! except for the tiny brads and the stamped "cancellation" lines.  The sentiment is from the stamp set "Watercolor Trio" and the script on the "stamps" is from the stamp set "Charming".

I tried it with the same background as yesterday but it was too white for me so I ended up trying grey and I liked that.

Here's the white one:

Here are a couple of cards I was going to show but liked the other ones I made more.

This is the first time I used the lily stamp set but you can tell there is glue on the "stamp" so that got rejected. and turned into the card above!

This one used the same background as the one above but didn't do it for me.  Maybe that green mat needs to be darker.

Somehow this one got lost on my computer and I just found it.  I can't believe I didn't show my little Gecko until now!

Okay that is it for my week!  Thanks for looking!  I've just got these new Dylusions sprays so I think I'm going to sign up for another week to try them out.

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Technique Thursday

Here is my card for Thursday.  It used the Faux Postage technique that I found on Splitcoaststampers.  I used Mike's Cloisonné Silhouette Panels (the butterfly one) to make the picture on the "stamps".  The embossing folder is called "Victorian" and other than the tiny white brads and the scissors I used to cut the "stamps" out everything is Stampin Up!  I tried it with and without a butterfly but I think the butterfly adds some brightness so I like that one the best.

I was also playing around with the background from yesterday and decided to do a few without the stamps.  The first one uses Mike's Mosaic Frame rather than the butterfly panel.  Here's what they look like:

 

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Wednesday

Here is my card for Wednesday.  I made the card with Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue Stampin Up! cardstock.  Also used Stampin Up! Crumb Cake Taffeta ribbon and crochet ribbon.  The BB cardstock in the background was sponged with Tim Holtz Salty Ocean to match the "stamps".  I stamped Mike's Cloisonné Silhouette Panels (the butterfly one) in CC on the background and in Salty Ocean on BB for the "stamps".  The butterflies are a die from Stampin Up! as are the punches (for the "stamps" and for the salutation) and stamp (from "Watercolor Trio") for the salutation.  The butterflies are Pretty in Pink Stampin Up! cardstock that are sponged with Tim Holtz Pickled Raspberry.  I also used Tim Holtz Tea Dye to stamp the "Birthday wishes", the speckles on the background and some sponging.

I didn't quite know what the look I wanted was so I took pictures of several different arrangements. 

In the end I decided to go with this one:

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Tuesday

Here's my card for Tuesday.  I used the Sizzix postage die "Frames, Stamp Combo" to make the postage stamp.  I used Michael's small Fish to make the picture on the "stamp".  I also used an old sketch and copied the layout from that.  The colours used were Pacific Point and Marina Mist.  I used Not Quite Navy to make the 63 and lines.