Final post of 2011

While I love stamping there are times when I don't have an appropriate stamp and I use a digital image. At the end of the day it's the outcome that's important so I don't beat myself up about it.

Card Recipe
Craft Creations brown kraft card
Xerox Colortech+
Pink Petticoat digital image
Dusty Concord Distress Ink
Copic marker
Chalks
Heart gems
Flower
Ribbon coloured with Copic marker
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

The image on this next card is a wood mounted B Line stamp (LF127E). It was in a goody bag that I bought from Linda Brown when she was closing down her shop recently. It probably isn't a stamp I would have been drawn to on the shelves but now I've used it I've warmed to her. She lends herself to black and white and luckily I had the papers and ribbon in my stash.

The butterfly easel card has to be my favourite of the templates that Sara at Cardmaking Paradise has published this year. It's so easy to make and can be dressed up or down, but whichever way it looks great.

Card Recipe
Coredinations CoreColor Cardstock - Malaysian Orchid
Crafty Individuals Springtime background papers
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
Stamens
Flat back pearls
Pen-touch Silver pen

Card Recipe
Pink Card
Bella Press Watermelon Polka Dots background paper
Printed vellum
Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink
Stamen
Flat back pearls
Flower stamp - Dimension Fourth
Sentiment computer generated

I cannot believe that it's a year tomorrow since I started this blog. The year has gone faster than any I've known. Surely now I'm retired the days, weeks and months should seem endless. Well they did for the first couple of weeks and then everything gathered speed!
Thank you to everyone who has visited Avoiding the Duster and to those who have left comments. They are much appreciated.
I wish you a very happy, healthy and fun 2012.

Maggie

Christmas cards

Time seemed to catch up with me this Christmas and I made fewer cards than last year. Here are the cards I made this yuletide.

Card Recipe
Card
Anna Marie pearlescent card
Black card
Stamps
Crafty Individuals - CI-254,CI326
Ink
Versafine Onyx Black
Other
Double sided adhesive sheet
Bottle top
Black Promarker
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

Card Recipe
Card
Craft Creations - Cream Hemp Embossed, Cream Linen Embossed
Ink
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Stamp
Crafty Individuals CI-168
Other
Red organza ribbon
Glamour Dust - gold
Pen-touch Calligrapher Pen Gold

Card Recipe
Card/Paper
Anna Marie pearlescent card
Craft Creations Paper - Snowflakes On Blue SRO66P
Ink
Distress Ink Faded Jeans
Stamp
Freebie from Craft Stamper magazine
Other
Stampendous Crystal Glitter
Martha Stewart edge punch
Organza ribbon coloured with Faded Jeans Distress Ink

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Memento Tuxedo Black
Distress Ink Festive Berries
Stamps
Hero Arts Merry Christmas C2850
Personal Impressions Patchwork Robin PICST001
Other
Copic markers

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Distress Ink Broken China
Versafine Onyx Black
Versamark
Stamps
Anita's Snowflake
Stampendous Reindeer Swirls set
Other
Detail silver embossing powder
Pen Touch Calligrapher Pen Silver
Fibres

Grandchildren's Christmas cards

The first three of these cards used templates from Cardmaking Paradise.

Card Recipe
Card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock
Red Card
Inks
Distress Inks - Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo
Other
Beads
Googly eyes
Zig Posterman white pen
Chalk
Ric-rac braid

Card Recipe
Card
Brown, white, red and black card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock
Other
Die cut holly leaves and berries
Glitter snow
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

Card recipe
Card
Red Card
Core'dinations Core Color - Cream of wheat
Glitter card
Ink
Vintage photo Distress Ink
Other
Wooden holly embellishment

I still needed a card for our eldest grandson. I thought I'd have a go at making a shaker card although I'd never made one before. I remembered a tutorial I had seen on Joanne Allison's blog last Christmas for a shaker ornament. I decided to leave it as an ornament but it could easily have been mounted onto a card.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Black card
Inks
Distress Inks - Forest Moss, Broken China
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Stamps
Snowflake - Anita
Snowman - Clarity
Tree and deer - Crafty Individuals plate CI-257
Other
Snow glitter
Red organza ribbon
Rub'n'Buff - Grecian Gold

Two card swaps

I took part in two Cardmaking Paradise swaps.
The first was to take a quote as a starting point, mine being -

I put the quote on the inside of the card.

Card Recipe
Card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock.
Xerox Colortech+ white card
Inks
Distress Inks - Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Wild honey, Rusty Hinge
Archival Coffee
Stamp
Inkadinkado
Other
Rafia
Quote computer generated using Annifont

The second swap was a Christmas card.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+ white card
Inks
Distress Inks Broken China, Tumbled Glass
Versafine Onyx Black
Versamark
Stamps
Stampendous - Reindeer Swirls set
Anita - Snowflake
Other
Spellbinders die cut snowflake
Diamond Stickles
Rhinestone

To see all the swaps go here.

How did that happen!

My younger son was 30 recently. Not sure how, as it seems no time at all since he was a baby.

I covered one side of the embossing folder with Distress Ink before putting it through my Wizard. I love that shabby effect.

Card Recipe
Card/Paper
Xerox Colortech+
Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage Paper
Ink
Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Broken China
Other
Font - Typewriter
Martha Stewart edge punch
Tim Holtz embossing folder

Cats!

This card is a variation of one I made back in June (here) which had been based on one I saw displayed at The Craft Barn.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Ink
Versafine Onyx Black
Black Soot Distress Ink
Stamp
Katzelkraft Mini 03
Mask
Creative Expressions Stone Wall
Sentiment
Computer generated with Typewriter font

I've had the stamp I used on the next card for some years and the image still makes me smile.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Craft Creations Hi-5 Pearl
Inks
Brilliance - Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Lavender
Stamps
Swirl stamp - maker unknown
Cat - Rusty Pickle
Sentiment - Personal Impressions Mix and Match set PICSA6070
Other
Fibres
Craftworkcards Candi

Summer time tag card

I used Bundled Sage Distress Ink applied with Cut'n'Dry foam for the background of this tag card and then stamped randomly over the top with Paper Artsy's Dots and Script stamps using the same colour ink.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Tim Holtz Core'dinations Colorcore Cardstock
Stamps
PaperArtsy - Dots (SM15), Script
Tim Holtz Papillion set
Flower - freebie with Craft Stamper magazine
Inks
Distress Ink - Bundled sage, Dried Marigold, Spiced marmalade
Mask
Tando - MSKlEAVES 2
Other
Cosmic Shimmer - Rich Gold
Gold Glamour Dust
Fibres

Butterfly Easel Card

This butterfly easel card template from Cardmaking Paradise is fairly quick and easy to make.

Card Recipe
Card
Craftworkcards Digital Ultra Smooth Premium Card
Tim Holtz Core'odinations Colorcore Cardstock
Craft Creations spotty paper
Inks
Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge
Versafine Onyx Black
Stamp
Darkroom Door Wildflower Collection
Other
Cosmic Shimmer Rich Gold
Tim Holtz Florets Masks
Flower arranging stamens
Flat back pearls
Paper flower

I was posting the card so I made a box to send it in - so easy to make with a Hougie board. I stenciled Distress ink through and around a Tando mask and added a stamped butterfly. The stamp was a freebie with Craft Stamper magazine.

Butterflies and flowers

For this card I put two pieces of cardstock together with eyelets to form my base and scored a line about an inch in on the front piece to allow for opening.

Card Recipe
Card
Core'dinations Core Color Cardstock "Latte"
Brown card
Inks/Stains
Wild Honey Distress Stain
Distress Ink - Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge
Broken China
Cosmic Shimmer - Rich Gold
Stamps
Tim Holtz Papillon set
Crafty Individuals CI-185
Other
Ribbon
Eyelets

Now for something completely different!

This card is in complete contrast to my previous post.

The background was created with Distress Stains. I used a die cut as a stencil for the clock face and sponged Black Soot Distress Ink through it. Applied the same ink over umbrella man and around the edge of the background and quote.

Card Recipe
Card
Papermania Kraft Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks/stains
Distress stains - Peeled Paint, Wild Honey
Black Soot Distress Ink
India Ink Black
Die Cuts
Tim Holtz - Umbrella Man, Clock
Stamps
Tim Holtz - Good Thoughts Collection
Other
Brads

60 not out!

This easy decoupaged chap is from the La Pashe Flippin Men series. The striped paper was a free download but I can't remember where from though.

Maze Book

I took part in the Cardmaking Paradise Maze Book Swap. This was my first attempt at making this type of book and I was very pleased with the end result although I did have a few mishaps along the way.

I received a lovely book in return all the way from Australia made by Colleen which contained some great quotes, words of wisdom and a very funny joke.

To see this one in its entirety and all the other swapped books go to Cardmaking Paradise and click on Maze Book Swap.

Flower Easel Card

Used another of the Cardmaking Paradise templates to make this flower easel card. The base card was slightly more mauvey in real life. The white pieces in the centre of the flower were some plastic bits left from a stain glass decoration kit my sons had. I knew they would come in useful one day but didn't expect to wait nearly twenty five years for that day to arrive!!

I made a box to put the card in. It was the first one I made using my Hougie board - it was so easy.

Laptop Card

A friend's teenage son spends hours playing War Hammer games, so the laptop template from Cardmaking Paradise was just what I needed to make him a birthday card and he loved it.

Card Recipe
Black Card
white card
Silver card
Acetate
Down loaded War Hammer picture and Dell motif
Letters and numbers computer generated.

Three birds and a frog!

I made this birdhouse card for our eldest granddaughter's birthday using a Cardmaking Paradise template.

Card Recipe
Card/paper
Greyboard
Anna Marie designs white smooth card
Craftwork cards digital ultra smooth premium cardstock
Black card
Recycled green paper from a diary
Paint/ink
Paperartsy Fresco Finish - Orchid, Dolly Mix, Crackle Glaze
Momento Tuxedo Black
Stamps
Woodware Birds FRS206
Other
Paper flowers
Flat back pearls
Leaves cut with Marianne die

I stumbled on the digital image on this next card by accident and it fitted the bill for our eldest grandsons birthday. He spends many a happy hour catching the frogs in our pond. (Much to my displeasure and probably the frogs!)

Card Recipe
Card
Papermania Kraft card
Xerox Colotech+
Stamps
Grass - English Stamp Co.
Bull rushes - maker unknown
Digital Image
Fred She Said
Inks
Spiced Marmalade
Dried Marigold
Dies
Spellbinders Nestabilities - scalloped circle, labels four
Other
Sentiment - computer generated
Copic & Promarkers

Tag Cards

This tag card was a Design Team project for Cardmaking Paradise. The remit was to use lots of texture. I think I ticked that box! The card measured 19 by 10 cms and stood "A" shaped.

The top part was embossed and then the embossed part was painted over with Fresco paint to give a a shabby appearance. The lower half was stamped and clear embossed before applying wall filler through sequin waste. Distress ink was then applied to this area. I die cut three petal pieces for the flower which I spritzed liberally with water, scrunched up the pieces and then gently opened them up and left to dry over night.

Card Recipe

Card
Xerox Colotech+ Copier card
Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash

Inks/Paints
Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge
Versamark
Adirondack Pitch Black Pigment Ink
Distress stain - Broken China
Fresco Paint - Ice Blue
Personal Impressions Clear Gloss embossing powder

Stamps
Tim Holtz Papillion set
Hobby Arts CS034D Scene-it Sentinent (CS034D)

Embossing Folders/Dies
Cuttlebug Swirls
Spellbinders Labels 4
Tim Holtz Die - Elegant Flourishes, Tattered Florals

Other
Tando Leaves 2 mask
DIY fine surface filler
Flat back pearls
Ribbon coloured with Distress Stain
Fibres

Following publication of the tag project on Cardmaking Paradise Sara challenged members to make a tag card. Mine was smaller than my Design Team one - this time 7cms by 15cms. The background was the wrinkle free distress technique. I then laid my mask over the top of that and sprayed with water and blotted off excess and dried the tag. However the masked areas didn't show up enough so I put the mask back on but not in the same place and stenciled on some Distress Ink. Now it was much more to my liking.

Card Recipe

Card
Craft Creations Taffeta Smooth White
Anna Marie White Smooth Card

Inks
Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint
Versamark

Stamp
Craft Stamper freebie

Dies
Spellbinders Labels 4
Tim Holtz Elegant Flourishes

Other
Distress Embossing Powder - Peeled Paint
Ribbon coloured with Distress Ink
Flat back pearls
Sentiment computer generated
Brad