Sunday, April 28, 2013

Working and Stamping

So the last six months have been so crazy with work and more work. I have had little time to craft (or blog). Well, at least a few things have slowed down a bit so I have finally had some time to get back into my mess of a craft room and actually work on some fun projects.

Here is my display from the Stateline Friends Weaving Retreat where I introduced the new stamp designs.

As some of you may know, I have been producing my own line of rubber stamps. I started with a few sheets of stamps and after using them myself for a few years I decided to start offering some of them for sale. A year ago I introduced four sets of baskets with accompanying words/sayings. This year I added two more sets. I barely had time to get the new sets made let alone use them, until recently. Even though I haven't had any time to craft that hasn't stopped me from buying more stamps, paper and inks.

I never do anything small. When I buy paper, I buy a lot...



I love the new sets of Darcie's and Tim Holtz stamps I picked up. I think they go so well with my basket stamps. Here are two of the cards I made using the new stamps.



While I keep one sample of the cards I make and I usually photograph them to put on Facebook I have never tried taking photos of process, until now.*


 I started out stamping a large background image in Ranger Distress Ink, Vintage Velvet on a piece of cream colored card stock.

I then added a strip of butterflies and moths along one side using Dusty Concord.

 Here is the panel with both images.

To add a little more interest to the background I added a strip of texture in a contrasting color.

 Next I used a blending tool and some more Vintage Velvet to edge the cream colored panel.

I had stamped and cut these shapes using my Sizzix eClips cutting machine for another project and had a bunch of them left over. They were on a whitish card stock, but I thought if I edged them with the Vintage Velvet they would look fine on the card.

Unfortunately they didn't look like I wanted them to, so I used some Scattered Straw colored Distress Ink and a blending tool to tint the white paper to better match the cream colored background this was going to be layered on.

Since I already had the shape of the basket stamp drawn using Adobe Illustrator and brought into the eCal software that came with my eClips machine I was easily able to cut a sheet of shadows out of purple card stock.

To assemble the cards I layered the stamped pane (I added "Shaker" to the lower left-hand corner) onto a purple fold-over.

To add a bit more dimension to the card I used a square of foam tape to raise the basket off of the surface of the card.

I usually make a few modifications after I make the first design. Here you can see how the baskets on the white paper stood out in too much contrast for my taste. I also initially stamped the word "Shaker" in the same purple as the butterflies, but I wanted to add some more brown into the card. When I make cards I always make a bunch at the same time. Once I have all my elements cut and my design figured out, it is just as easy to make a stack as it is to make one.

*Sorry if all of the photos are not the sharpest, I took all of these just with my iPhone.

2 comments:

  1. WOW- you are so high-tech and 'with it' - I am jealous!!!

    Your cards look GREAT!

    I'm still so impressed how you cut the shadows on your eClips. I just (JUST) got a Silhouette and I spent the entire weekend 'learning' to design my own shapes. Obviously, you're miled ahead of me... lol

    I love that huge stack of cardstock, too! Where'd you get THAT?!

    :)
    -kory k

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    Replies
    1. Kory,

      Thanks. It helps that I am a professional illustrator and graphic designer, so I am pretty good at using Adobe Illustrator. So far I have drawn all my shaped in that, saved them as SVG files, plugged my laptop into my eClips and opened the SVG files in eCal which runs the eClips. Creating the nesting shapes and creating a whole page of the shapes is a snap with the eCal software. But, again I am used to drawing programs so can stumble my way around until I get it figured out.

      The paper I bought at a paper warehouse type place, one that is a retail division of a professional printing source here in St. Louis. I took about half of what I had bought to OfficeMax and had them cut it into either 8.5x5.5 for cards or 4x5.25 for inserts. I am now stocked for quite awhile.

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