Art-Without-Anxiety

Monday, October 2, 2017

Angie's Thank You Card

I am lucky enough to live about 30 minutes away from a fantastic pain clinic. I've been a patient there for about 5 years and have seen staff, including doctors, come and go. Throughout all the upheaval, I've been blessed with awesome people. I've been treated with respect, dignity, and my medical treatment hasn't suffered a bit. The office manager, Angie, told me at my last appointment that she was leaving, sort of. She'd probably be popping in (she travels from Utah) occasionally and as soon as her husband finds employment, she'd be back at the clinic full time. I really grew close to Angie and I decided I wanted to make her a Thank You card for all her help (I don't do this nearly enough - it's going to be one of my resolutions!)

Anyway, there was this technique I'd seen where the sentiment literally pops out at you. I thought I had pinned it, but couldn't find it, so off to Jennifer McGuire's blog I went. If you want to try something new, Ms. McGuire's is the place to go. She has a TON of cool techniques on her blog. If fact, I got lost checking everything out! But I did find the technique I wanted to try; it's from 2013's Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember event, and as always there is a fantastic video - Jennifer named the card An Autumn Hello.

Here is my version:

What I Used to Make my Card:
Water Color Paper
Distress Oxide Ink in Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet
Distress Spritzer
White Card Base
Matching Color Cardstock (I used Mint Green)
Thanks - Stamp & Cut from Hero Arts, #DC-152
Little Things for Lucy's Cards, Jewels, Ice Cube Mix, #LBJ03

I first made my Distress panel using the Oxide Inks on a piece of watercolor paper, smooshing the inks about and spritzing them with water (if you aren't sure how to play with Distress Oxides, feel free to take a look at my Pinterest Board - there are a lot of different techniques out there!) Once the panel was to my liking, I set it aside to dry overnight. Since I am die cutting the paper, I want it to be thoroughly dry or it will rip. Trust me on that one.

The next day, I chose where I wanted my "Thanks" die cut to be, and cut the word out of the panel. Be sure to keep ALL the INSIDES of the LETTERS - you'll need them! I set my word aside and made a stack of paper with the mint green card. I made two stacks of three sheets each and glued them together with a glue stick, just as Jennifer did in the video. Well, when I put the die and paper through my Big Shot, all of the extra glue smooshed out of my stack and got everywhere. I should have let them dry overnight as well! Eh, nothing ~~a few~~ about ten wipes couldn't clean up! So I cut "Thanks" out of both stacks and then glued them together. I decided to give them a bit of time to adhere to each other, so I took the afternoon off.

For some reason this looks much lighter than the card is.
The card above is true to color.

Later, I attached the water color panel onto my white card blank. I adhered my original (oxide inked) "Thanks" to the mint green stack, and then carefully placed that back into the spot created from the initial die cut. This is where you need the little "innie" pieces - you then have to glue the "innie" cut outs onto the card. I didn't take this into consideration, and the next time I make one of these cards I will use a larger die but it really wasn't that difficult at all. I used a toothpick and a straight pin to work the pieces in where they belonged. I am very pleased with this card - it looks very difficult to make, but was easy (my favorite kind!)

Before I go, I want to remind you all that Halloween is literally around the corner. It's my very favorite holiday, but can be a horrible event for your fur babies (black cats can be at GREAT risk - if you have a black cat, please keep it indoors for this one night). Please keep them safe inside, preferably a room away from where you will meet trick-or-treaters. Some pets don't like the door bell (my Mew freaks out!) so we actually sit outside and distribute the candy so no extra doorbell stress. Finally, absolutely NO CHOCOLATE for dogs - it's deadly!

Thanks SO much for reading this all the way to the end! I hope you enjoyed my card and got inspired to try something new of your own ~ Fondly, Christi

I am going to enter Angie's Thank You Card in the following challenges:
Allsorts - #435, Sentiment in Focus
Just Us Girls - #413, Wild Card Week, Word Cut Dies
Less is More - #348, Watercolor
My Time to Craft - #355, Die Cuts Only
Creative Friday - #189, Die Cuts/Punches
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Use Your Dies
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge - Use Die Cuts and Punches

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Trick or Treat

Hi, everyone! Halloween is on the way and I am creating like crazy! It was only in the low 50's today, dreary and rainy, so it was a perfect day to hang out and create; after the football game, of course! I paired one of those crazy birds with a brand new die. I hope this inspires you to get started on your Halloween crafts! And I do hope you are having better weather.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Square Card Base (5 1/2" x 5 1/2")
White, Black, Purple and Orange Card Stock
Tutti Designs Spiderweb Window, #TUTTI-376
Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Stamps, #CMS212
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bird Crazy Dies, #660954
Tim Holtz Crazy Talk Stamps, #CMS236
Googly Eyes
Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Embossing Powder, White, #WhiteEP2
Embossing Ink
Distress Ink in Carved Pumpkin
Derwent Inktense Pencils

I began this card thinking my window would be orange, but changed my mind. Instead, I die cut the window out of black card and inserted it into the negative space left from the orange cut. I then used carved pumpkin to edge the design. I then cut a piece of white card with the intention of layering it behind the window, but I set that aside. I needed to choose a character to peek out of the window first!

I have quite a stash of images I've already colored in and I chose this crazy bird out of that pile. I did use Inktense Pencils to color him; I'm getting smarter, I wrote it on the back of the image what medium I used to color it. After that, I added the googly eyes (mostly because this is what I look like when I see a spider!) and positioned the bird where I wanted him to be. I glued him in place and trimmed the rest of the image. Then I added the white card to the back of the window.

Lastly, I chose a pretty purple card out of my card stock, stamped the phrase with embossing ink and heat embossed the sentiment with fine detail white embossing powder. I assembled the entire card and there you go! I am thrilled that I got this die. Even though it is geared toward Halloween, I can see no reason why I can't cut the webs out of it and use it all year round! Thanks for reading and please visit some of the Dies R Us blogs (enabler alert - the store is having some awesome sales!) and don't forget to enter the challenge; there is a new one on the first and the fifteenth of every month! ~ Fondly, Christi

Don't forget to play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store. A new challenge begins on the first and fifteenth of every month.

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