by Karen Endress | Oct 13, 2016 | Hello--Thinking of You
As so often happens, you can follow the progression of my card making from scrap to scrap, so here’s another look at that oh so pretty Echo Park floral paper (We Are Family by Lori Whitlock) I used recently. It’s very similar to one of the papers in the My Mind’s Eye On Trend 2 collection by Jen Allyson (which I also have, so at least I’m consistent!). There’s just something I love about the shape of those little flowers!
This was a simple card, the part that took the longest was deciding what to use on top of the flags in the top left corner! As usual, Neenah Solar White 80 lb. for the cardbase, layered with the EP paper. The black & white side strips are the reverse of the floral paper. And if those aqua flag ends look just perfectly cut…well, they are!! Because I didn’t do it! These are from the Teresa Collins Studio Gold 7 Labels pack and they’ve come in very handy already 🙂
I used two more as a base for the sentiment. The hello is die cut from The Crafter’s Workshop hello die from scrap black cardstock which I layered onto one cut from black craft foam to give it more dimension. The “friend” part was stamped with The Paper Studio “Everyday Expressions” which has many useful single words.
To finish off the card I finally found the perfect match for that top corner—a heart shaped “button” epoxy chipboard sticker from a really old Heidi Grace collection called “Cartwheel.” The bling is from KaiserCraft in aquamarine. Stash!! I did add one more touch (unfortunately after I photographed) which was to fill the holes in the heart with silver Stickles.
As you can see from the photo, they’re just these two gaping holes & I had no matching fibers at my temporary craft area (a.k.a. the dining room table.) I’m hoping to do a post soon on this and the fun I’ve had there with my crafty friends this month then carry it all back up to my real craft room. My DH has been VERY understanding of the mess so far, but…
Blessings! 
by Karen Endress | Sep 23, 2016 | Hello--Thinking of You
Hi, everyone! Here’s another card origin story for you!
Often my card ideas come from seeing a sentiment, some patterned paper, an embellishment (like the previous “Believe” card), or even just a particularly pleasing color combination. And very often, a new card will emerge from the scraps of a previous card with new elements added to round it out.
This idea came from the backdrop papers I used to photograph the last card. They looked really pretty together as they were from the same DCWV stack I used for that card. Hmmm…my mom likes pretty cards, she’d really like that floral paper & I could use another one of those words from the Color Splash pack!! A card idea is born 🙂
I double matted (DCWV) the blue floral to cover the entire cardbase (Neenah Solar White 80 lb.) and used the red dotted paper as an accent. I chose a darker red for contrast (Recollections Vintage Collector) and cut both with different sizes of the Spellbinders Labels One dies, positioning them so that the word would be about 2/3 of the way down the card. This time I used Faded Jeans Distress ink to color the chipboard word instead of Zig markers and it blended much better 🙂
I grabbed some textured light blue & vellum scraps (from the bits & pieces dishes that are overflowing onto my desk) to layer under the ‘Love’ word for contrast. Then I went to the color section of my ScrapRack for some red embellishments. Most everything in the ScrapRack is unlabeled and as old as the hills but still quite usable! I found the flower & the postage cancellation mark there–YAY! Using my stash!!
Finishing touches included some DMC floss that I wrapped around the ‘L’ and tied into a bow as well as a few coordinating enamel dots (MME Lost & Found Christmas) from my stash. Inside I stamped the Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards sentiment you can see test-stamped in the first picture. Looking back, I’m not totally pleased with the placement of that postage circle, but it is a handmade card and I’m pretty sure my 97 year old mom is not going to be critiquing her card! Have a great weekend!!
by Karen Endress | Aug 22, 2016 | Hello--Thinking of You
The starting point for this card was the intent to use some of my stash paper. I browsed till I found this gorgeous foiled paper from the 2012 DCWV “White Ginger” stack. (I did mention I was a paper hoarder—I have even older paper than that!)
I layered the foil with a brown paper with a tiny check pattern from the same stack and added a strip of pearlescent green cardstock. It came from a mat stack, but I can’t say which one as I got so tired of looking through ten or twelve mat stacks for the exact color I needed that I just tore all the papers out and put them in color order in a mesh bin. It took a long time, but was totally worth it! I do know they were all DCWV mat stacks, though 🙂
The sentiment is the Penny Black “to say hi” stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with WOW white embossing powder.
For this cluster on the top left I cut some strips from the brown check and green cardstock as well as an additional pattern from the White Ginger stack, cut flag ends, inked the edges with Colorbox pigment ink stacks, probably Rain Forest and Surf’s Up. These stacks are my “go to” for inking edges because they are small, easy to handle, and with just three or four carefully chosen stacks you have almost any color you could possibly need. Of course I may have a few more than four, but they have served me well over the years!
To finish off the card I wrapped it several times with some very hairy 🙁 twine salvaged from a package, tied (with great difficulty) a bow and glue dotted the bow & button (source unknown) to the card. It kind of looks like it’s threaded through the button, but believe me with that twine I would not even have attempted it! Anyway, I usually do just cheat and pretend I threaded the button 🙂 Does that make me a bad person? Let me know if there are any kindred spirits out there who can’t be bothered trying to thread twine through buttons!! Happy crafting! Karen
