Sunday, June 15

Cards

I am so glad that I bought the Big Shot Machine.  It accepts dies from other companies.  I have tried Sizzix, Quickutz and Wizard Nestabilities.  The Big Shot works just like a charm!  I also love how it takes all those embossing folders.  I found better use with my Fiskars embossing plates now.  I have also tried embossing folders from Sizzix, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and even brass stencils.  As long as you have the Big Shot Multi-purpose Flatform, you're ready to go. 



This lazy Sunday morning, I played with my Big Shot.  I dug my old brass stencils and embossed with it (flowers in the circle).   After embossing, I cut the circle and scalloped circle using my new Nestabilities.  The white flower stamps are from Autumn Leaves by Rhonna Farrer, bought from the dollar section in Joann's.  So far, I would consider ColorBox Frost White Pigment Stamp as the best white ink for dark cardstock.  For embellishmets I used leftover paper strips, ribbon, chipboard tag and a flower brad.  "You're Special" is a rub-on by ColorBok.  The one thing I like about making cards is I get to use a lot of my left-over supplies.  It's just so hard for me to throw away stuff, and everytime I make cards, I'm glad that I didn't throw a particular scrap of bg paper or piece of ribbon.

Last week I got inspired from a pop-up card Jerosha made.  You can see her really cool card here.  I remember buying a book about pop-up cards (The Pop-Up Book by Paul Jackson), and took it out.  I thought making pop-up cards was going to be easy.  If I counted it right, it took me about 4 or 5 tries to finally create a "satisfying" one.  It involves a lot of folding, and folding it right.  And my mistakes involved folding where I shouldn't be folding.  One wrong fold, and you have to start from scratch.


For this card, I used Simply Chick stamps by Provo Craft, and I colored them using Copic Markers.  These markers are so cool because they just color so evenly, and don't bleed.  I'm so glad I bought them when I was in Japan.  They may be a little expensive than most markers, but I think it's worth the investment.  After making this card, I decided to make a different design for a card-making swap I joined in SplitcoastStampers.  Using the same set of stamps, I decided to make a simpler one.


 


This involved a lot of cutting, though.  So it took longer to make, especially when I had to make 7 of them.  But I like how there's more space to write inside the card, unlike the first one above.  And I wanted the element of surprise that's why I only stamped a short phrase in front.

Here's another card I made for another swap.  We are supposed to use a stamping technique, and I chose the "Chalkboard" technique, which I learned from Splitcoast Stampers. 

 

I was in the mood for some "oriental" look when I made this card.  This technique is pretty simple.  Just stamp on a dark cardstock (preferrably black) using white pigment ink, then daub chalk on the image with your preferred colors, using a cotton bud or sponge daubers.  I used The Stencil Collection chalk for this one.  It's also better to apply the chalk while the ink is still wet, so it clings better.  If you want, you can spray a little bit of hair spray to set the chalk.  I love this BG paper from the DCWV Far East Mat Stack.

Time to eat my late lunch...

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