paper inspiration

I'm a graphic design geek. I have been for a long time. I know this is a papercrafting blog, but inspiration can be found anywhere.



I stumbled across this awesome Flickr pool of business cards today. Definite eye candy for this girl. The image above is the one I liked the most. (Originally found at creativebits.org)

mr. & mrs.

One of my coworkers is getting married tonight. I really love the little bride and groom from A Muse, but the only local vendor of A Muse is over an hour away from me. I just didn't have time to drive out there to see if they had it or order it online and get it in time. So I substituted the "mr. & mrs." as my main image, which I typeset in Adobe Illustrator and punched out using a 1-3/8" circle punch. I used Papertreyink's Faux Ribbon set for the "best wishes" sentiment. After I assembled it, I realized I'd rhymed my text. [smack forehead] Oh well. I used the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder for the top two-thirds of the front/card base. The dots on the ribbon were originally blue, but out came my trusty Signio white gel pen and I fixed that. The scalloped circle was cut on my Cricut using the Mini Monograms cartridge, 2 inches real dial size. To give a little contrast on the scallops and make them pop from the background, I inked the edges with VersaMagic cloud white and then carried the dots theme through in the center of the scallops with my white gel pen.

Because it was going to be hand delivered, I wanted to dress the envelope up a little. I used the large swirl from SU!'s Doodle This in opposing corners and wrote the recipients' names in the middle.



Stamps: Faux Ribbon, Papertreyink; Doodle This, SU! (envelope only)
Paper: Mellow Moss CS, SU!; white
Ink: VersaMagic cloud white; StazOn jet black; Mellow Moss, SU!
Accessories: Cricut & Mini Monograms cartridge; Ribbon, All My Memories, Genteel; MM paper piercer; Cuttlebug & textile A2 folder; 1-3/8" circle punch, SU!

happy mother's day

Months ago, I saw some Wild Asparagus designer paper at one of my LSS and I just knew I was going to use it for my mom's mother's day card. I didn't have a layout idea back then, but the paper was perfect.



I was inspired by Michelle Wooderson's tent topper cards for the layout. While I don't have any of the scallop punches, I have the Cricut and the Mini Monograms cartridge, so I'm able to do scallop circles and squares. They seem to be all the rage right now. I used my new Papertreyink set Green Thumb for the flowers. The ribbon and "mom" stamps are actually from Martha Stewart's new line available at Michaels. I'm not crazy about Martha, but when I find the perfect item for a project I'm working on, I don't care so much who makes it. I'd also been looking for a small alphabet set in clear, so I tried that too.

Stamps: Green Thumb, Papertreyink; Sans font, clear set, Martha Stewart
Paper: DCWV Neutrals stack; Home Sweet Home Floral, My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus
Ink: VersaMagic red brick and spanish olive
Accessories: Large and small oval punches, SU!; Mini scalloped decorative scissors; Brick piped nylon ribbon, Martha Stewart; paper piercer, Making Memories; Cricut & Mini Monograms cartridge; bling crystals, Joann's $1 bins

thinking of you

My SU! demo lost her grandmother this week so I wanted to send her a little something. I didn't want it to be a sympathy card per se, but wanted it to be a bit more cheerful to make her smile instead of sad.

The card is pretty much self-explanatory, except for the scalloped border on the striped paper. I created that using my medium corner rounder with the guard removed. You can see a tutorial for this over at Beate John's blog, fresh & fun. She totally rocks!



Stamps: Flower and swirl, Rhonna Farrer, Autumn Leaves; Thinking of You and small flowers (inside card & on envelope, not shown), Studio G (Michael's $1 clear sets)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, SU!; Candy Cane, Candi, Cactus Pink
Ink: VersaMagic Pink Petunia and Tea Leaves; Staz-On Jet Black; Close to Cocoa, SU! (inked edges)
Accessories: Anastasia's Attic Ribbon, Marcella, K&Company; medium corner rounder, EK Success (for scallops)

thank you

My old boss sent me the most hilarious e-greeting from Hallmark yesterday. It was a Hoops and Yo-Yo card called "It's Sarcastic Wednesday." It was almost spot-on appropriate for my workplace (except the part about the pizza). What's really sad, though, is that I don't work for a big corporate company; I work for a small independent firm. And we're still treated like crap. Anyway...

To acknowledge the e-greeting and tell her how much I loved it, I made a little thank you card for my old boss. I've had the idea for this card for a while now and had the pieces on my desk already. I really like how it turned out, though I don't think some of the best details are visible in the scan. The flowers are coated with crystal glitter and the vase has been covered with Aleene's Paper Glaze to give it a glass effect.



Stamps: Vase & Blossoms, Great Impressions Rubber Stamps; Riveting, SU!
Paper: Box of Cards premade patterned card base and Brights stack, DCWV
Ink: Staz-On Jet Black; SU! Certainly Celery & Apricot Appeal (for watercoloring flowers)
Accessories: Tombow markers + waterbrush; 1/2 inch circle punch, Marvy; 1-3/8 inch and 1-1/4 inch circle punch, ticket corner punch, SU!; crystal glitter, Joann Essentials; white organdy ribbon; Aleene's Paper Glaze

Though I didn't scan it, I also stamped and watercolored a little piece of the matching large background on the front of the envelope. I masked off the parts I didn't want on the stamp with tape, inked up the stamp, pulled the tape off, and stamped the little part in the corner. I want to try to incorporate something on the envelopes from now on. It just adds a special little touch, I think. (You can see the background stamp here.)

2nd altered notebook

I didn't do much crafting this weekend. I just wasn't all that inspired. I had plenty of time, but no motivation. Except for this little notebook which didn't take too long at all. I don't have a recipient in mind for it, so I think I'll stash it for a possible "prize" at my best friend's baby shower in a few months.



This notebook, which I found with the pen included in Michael's $1 bins, was so easy to cover. (I should go back and get more!) I cut a piece of patterned paper to the same height as the book, but left it overlong at first. I measured where each of the folds were and scored them. I measured where the slits should be for the pen holder part and cut those with an exacto between the 2 scored lines. Then I attached the paper, starting with the back, and folded it around to the front, gluing each side in progression. When I reached the front, I glued it down too and then trimmed the excess off the cover with an exacto knife.

The doodle flower is stamped with Versafine Onyx on white cardstock, colored with my Tombow markers and a waterbrush, and cut out. (I scribble my markers onto a piece of transparency and use the waterbrush to pick up the color. I like the softer watercolor effect instead of straight coloring with the markers.) Once I put the cutout against the background, I didn't think the color popped enough, so I traced around the black lines with the corresponding marker's fine tip.

The "One of a Kind" label is stamped in SU! Certainly Celery and punched out with the Designer Label punch. Everything is adhered flat without dimension in case it gets frequent use or tossed in someone's bag.

Stamps: Doodle Leaf Flower, Hero Arts; Designer Label, SU!
Paper: Scribbles, Autumn Leaves (Target)
Ink: Versafine Onyx, SU! Certainly Celery
Accessories: Tombow markers + waterbrush; Designer Label punch, SU!

niece's birthday card

Quick, rush, gotta get it done so it can get in the mail in time! [sigh] This is the story of my papercrafting right now. I can't seem to work ahead, even knowing birthdays and anniversaries are coming up.

This card is so not what I planned to make for my (almost) 5-year old niece. I wanted to use the Cricut, cut out a birthday cake, make the right number of candles, and maybe even use a shadowbox card for the layout. There was just no time to play. Honestly, using the Cricut is more time consuming than stamping. I can never figure out what size things are going to cut when I use an image for the first time, so there's lots of trial and error involved. While I love the fact that the Cricut cutouts are scalable (unlike some other die cut machines), sometimes it's easier to use a stamp.

The Pocket Full of Posies paper from DCWV has little spots of glitter all over it. To tie in the main image, I watercolored the cake with my Tombow markers and waterbrush, then covered it with Sakura's stardust gelly roll pen. I also ran the stardust around the rings of the sentiment and over the gift in the middle. To add just a bit more glitter (she is turning 5 after all), I covered the flower brads with glue and dipped them in the glitter too. It is, of course, more sparkly in real life than the scanner picked up.



Stamps: Cake, Katie & Co., Michael's $1 stamp; Riveting, SU!
Paper: DCWV, Pocket Full of Posies 8x8 stack, Brights stack
Ink: Versafine Onyx
Accessories: Tombow markers; glitter; 1-1/4 and 1-3/8 circle punches; word window punch, SU!; Making Memories gold flower brads; Sakura stardust gelly roll