cardmaking Archives - Cricketleg Creative

“Something New” Challenge

January 12, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Well, hi! And welcome to the entries for the most recent Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge theme of “Something New.”

Fortunately, I have a good amount of “something new” items to choose from as Christmas and my birthday are pretty close on the calendar. I’ve been able to receive and hand pick a few juicy items!

So without further ado, here are my four entries into this “Something New” Challenge. Let’s go!

Sunshine

While it wasn’t a Christmas or birthday gift, it is nonetheless new. What am I talking about? The December Hero Arts kit items used to make this sunshine card. I just barely blogged about this card, so if you’d like to read up on it, you can check it out here.

I love how this card turned out. Very simple and clean and features one of my very favorite subjects to create……SKIES!!!

Snowflakes

Another recent kit treasure is from Simon Says Stamp. It’s the January card kit of the month and it’s sold out! No wonder, as it’s pretty awesome.

It came with all sorts of juicy stuff, as you can see below.

For this card I used some of the stamps from the stamp set as well as the snowflake die. I stamped some of the snowflakes with Versamark ink and used white sparkle embossing powder (I believe from Hero Arts) to finish them off.

The background is made using ink blending brushes and blue, pink, and purple ink. To give the background a mottled appearance I sprayed it with a fine water mist. But that didn’t give me quite enough texture. So I sprayed it with Distress Resist Spray and let that dry. I then reapplied some of the ink blending to intensify the color and contrast. Love it.

To give it some interest, I cut up the card and mounted it onto metallic silver paper. The sentiment and the die cut snowflake have that same paper. Kind of fun.

Hello Floral I

My daughter gave me some lovely patterned paper for my birthday the other day, along with some other paper crafting goodies! (Thanks, Audrey!) So I thought for my “Something New” Challenge I could use that paper.

The floral pack of paper is just gorgeous and also has a texture to it. I love black and floral, so I paired some black cardstock with this black and pink floral. Wanting to do something a little different, I decided to use some greenery die cuts and use the negative space left behind as the design.

The “hello” is die cut from the center and then filled back in with a white cardstock die cut. To give it some shimmer, I used my Spectrum Noir glitter brush both on the greeting and on the negative space die cuts.

To finish off the card, I used white and black glitter tapes to create a border around the card. Paired with a lovely pink envelope I think it makes a charming card.

Hello Floral II

After all that die cutting, I didn’t want to waste what came off the above card. So I decided to use those “scraps” to make another card. A sister card to the one above.

After playing around with it for a while, I decided to use that white glitter tape to make horizontal stripes on the card. That scalloped circle makes a nice backdrop for the sentiment from the first card. I mounted that with foam tape so it sits above the paper.

The greenery die cuts from the first card are glued and tucked under that circle. Also charming.

And fast. I love using scraps from one card to make another. It’s a great tip!

Okay, there you have it. Four entries this time for the “Something New” Challenge. And now I’m off to work on a custom client order. I don’t do those often. You can see what premade cards I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

Y’all take care!

“Anything Goes” Challenge

December 1, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this time is no rules–just anything goes!

As much as I love freedom, you’d think I’d cheer with an “Anything Goes” challenge theme. But what I’ve found is that I actually enjoy some light parameters within which to work. Still, I do love me a challenge, parameters or no.

So, without further ado, here are my five entries into this “Anything Goes” challenge.

Camellia Thanks

Well, I don’t really know if it’s a camellia, but it looks like one to me! I stamped it on cardstock, colored it in with Copic markers, fussy cut it out, and mounted it onto patterned paper.

You can’t tell it from the picture but there’s also super fine glitter on the center parts of the flower.

Simple card, but the camellia is the star of the show!

Birthday Wishes

I have really come to love ink blending. That’s the technique I used to make this rainbow starburst card. Post It notes were used to section off the “rays” and I ink blended between them.

The lines were not as crisp as I’d like so I used different colors of metallic tape to cover them. I love that look!

A simple white-embossed sentiment finishes off the card.

Busy Bees

The star of this card, in my opinion, is the inked and embossed background. It was touch-and-go for a while there as I got the hang of which colors seemed to work best, as well as which embossing folders worked best.

Simply put, you ink up one side of an embossing folder, carefully lay a notecard down on that inked side, close it, and run it through your die cut machine.

Sometimes it comes out looking like a fail, but once the ink dries, the color usually evens out.

Discomfort

This may seem like a strange quote to put on the front of a card, but I sent this specifically to the author of the quote, Brooke Castillo. She’s a life coach, trains other life coaches, and is the host of my favorite podcast (The Life Coach School Podcast).

I just wanted to send her a note of thanks for all the good she puts into the world! And I thought that using this letterboard die set from Sugar Pea Designs was a perfect way to highlight her contributions.

Happy Thanksgiving

Look how versatile that letterboard die set is! I get to use it on another card!

The possibilities are somewhat endless for this set as it can be used for any season, any (short) saying, any mood. I love it!

And I think we all know that the vibe of this particular card is especially true. I don’t know about y’all but those Thanksgiving leftovers…..phew. They ’bout did me in.

Embellishments are from a recent Simon Says Stamp card kit of the month (items from that kit also used on this card).

Thanksgiving Challenge

November 17, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Simon Says Stamp has offered the Thanks/Thanksgiving theme for the most recent Wednesday Challenge.

Because I’ve done a bunch of “thanks” cards lately, I chose to focus on Thanksgiving for the theme. I typically don’t make Thanksgiving specific cards.

I’m still working on building up my supply of stamps, dies, and supplies from a loooooong cardmaking break. And one of the challenges for me with these, um, challenges is that I have to be extra creative to figure out how to use what I already have. Or use what little I have recently accumulated.

So this week’s entries are a combo of old and new. Old and new papers, stamps, and supplies.

Autumn Thanks Stacked Card

So this one was posted earlier this week (which is why it’s not in the group pic above) along with more info and a YouTube video. I’ll post the picture here, but to learn more about the card, check out the blog post.

I used paper and stamps from Simon Says Stamp.

Old Fashioned Stove

If you’ve read my About Me page you’ll know that I used to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. Hence, the majority of my stamps are from that company. Not only that, but the majority are from back in the 90s!!

Back then, a cozy country feel was all the rage. I still love looking at this old fashioned stove stamp on my stamp shelves but find that I rarely use it.

But with Thanksgiving and all it’s turkey, dressing, pie, etc., I figured a cooking themed card would fit just right. It’s paired with lots of stamped and cut out accessories and food. A Simon Says Stamp background paper and sentiment complete the card.

old fashioned stove thanksgiving challenge

Stained Glass Cornucopia

One thing that always bothered me about the set of stained glass stamps from Stampin’ Up! was that it wasn’t card sized. But I’ve solved that by pairing the embossed and colored image with some patterned paper and a sentiment.

I’ve shown a close up here so you can see that the gold embossing powder has glitter in it. That powder is still going strong from back in the 90s when I first bought it. It’s called Motherlode. Not sure if there’s an equivalent powder out there now.

Here’s a close up of that glittery embossed image.

Autumn Scene

Back in my demonstrator days, I would often act as “hostess” for various groups of orders and would consequently earn hostess stamp sets. Sometimes this was great. Other times I was like, meh.

The two stamps used below are from a hostess set that I have NEVER USED. Nope, not even once. I just didn’t think they were very practical.

So–and this is one of the things I love about participating in challenges–I dared myself to use these stamps and make it pretty. Surely I could challenge my creativity here and look beyond the outline image on the stamp.

I have to say, I’m pretty happy with the result. I’d like to do this scene again but for a spring look. Hey, maybe they’ll do a spring challenge in a few months.

The card is framed with some new paper from the monthly Simon Says Stamp kit. I also trimmed it with some bronze metallic tape and a leaf die cut out of bronze metallic cardstock.

Autumn Floral

We’ve come full circle here as I’m using that sunflower and leaves floral stamp from the first card I’ve featured in this post. This is another embossing project. And I decided to do everything embossed in a copper powder.

I used alcohol markers to color in the embossed images. I’ve used a metallic brown and a metallic copper tape at the top and bottom to give some accent. I really love using this stamp but doing completely different color palettes each time. It’s a fun challenge in and of itself.

If I could start this card over, I think I would double or even triple emboss the big “thanks” stamp to give it a more even finish. But I think it still looks great.

So there you go! These cards will be sent off soon to some ladies from church to wish them and their families a Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ll see you in the next challenge!

Y’all take care!

“Movie Inspiration” Challenge

October 30, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

The Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge that almost didn’t happen. I didn’t think I could make “Movie Inspiration” work….

Well, hi!

Each Monday and Wednesday I eagerly check the Simon Says Stamp blogs to see what our newest challenge will be, and then hunker down to plan. In fact, planning/executing/shooting/blogging for these challenges are automatically built into my planner each week.

This week, however, the “Movie Inspiration” challenge them didn’t, well, inspire me.

I mean, sure, it sounded fun. But I immediately assumed that I wouldn’t have any suitable stamps to create for this challenge. Because I use these challenges as fodder for blog posts, I was naturally disappointed. “Guess I won’t have a blog post for this one,” I lamented.

Then one night, as I was finishing up all my tasks from my planner, I noticed I just had one more: plan SSSMC projects for this week.

I was so tired and wanted to just stop. But I’ve been trying hard lately to really honor commitments to myself! So I figured, hey, I can just look around my stamps and see if anything happens.

Wow!

So many ideas came to me! I quickly wrote them down and went to bed. As I lay there trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep, each card planned itself in detail in my mind and I found myself feeling impatient for morning to come so I could make them!

What I’ve realized is that, while I do enjoy challenges that are more in my wheelhouse, the challenges that are really satisfying are the ones that really challenge my creativity! Coming up with something original and then bringing it to pass? So fulfilling!

So here they are. My Movie Inspiration Challenge entries….I love them all, but I’ll list them in order from least to most favorite.

Movie: Beaches

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, Beaches. But I remember vividly the strong friendship between the main characters. I loved the parts that showed them in their youth.

And this stamp from Delafield Stamp Company (no longer in business) reminded me so much of those two young girls at the beach. I’ve had this stamp for almost 30 years. Wait, what? Sigh. Yes, it’s been that long.

I stamped them first, masked them, and used ink blending tools to create the sand dunes, sea, and sky. A Printworks sand fence stamp and Happy Stamper sea oats stamp complete the scene. (I think both of those companies are also not in business anymore.)

I colored the girls with my Ohuhu markers, which I also used to add some shading to the sand. A white gel pen was used to make the waves.

The quote is just a quote on friendship that I thought fit the mood. This was printed out from my computer using Canva.

Movie: The Water Horse

I admit for this one that I’ve only seen that movie once. But I’ve had this InkaDinkaDoo stamp trio of the Loch Ness Monster for…..okay, can I just say a long time and not say the years? It’s a little depressing. 😉

Anyway, my point is that I don’t know that I have ever used these stamps and I really wanted to. The three stamps are head, hump, and tail. I stamped the hump multiple times to make her longer.

So I figured I’d make a night scene with my monster gliding along peacefully. I used some moon/cloud stamps from an old Stampin’ Up! Halloween set (that I also used in one of the entries here). Everything else is Ohuhu markers.

Unfortunately, you can’t see the glitter on all Nessie’s spikes, but it’s there!

The sentiment was printed off from my computer using Canva.

Movie: Mona Lisa Smile

Interestingly, the stamp that inspired this movie choice only got a cameo role in my next card. From Posh Impressions (also out of business….sheesh!…I’m showing my age here) the blank easel stamp sparked an idea in my head.

“Artwork…what movie was it where they all painted a picture based on the same famous work….Mona Lisa Smile!”

Yes, so I found some children’s coloring pages online of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings. I shrunk them down and printed them off onto cardstock, much like you would for a digital stamp.

I chose four images that were each a unique interpretation of the original. Then I chose four media to use, one on each: markers, watercolor, colored pencil, chalks.

Though the sentiment is not a movie quote, I think it fits nicely. Printed from my computer using Canva.

Movie (star): Lucille Ball

No, I did not pick and actual movie for this one. But I have a couple of Lucy stamps and I never use them! (My other one is from “The Chocolate Factory” episode of I Love Lucy….love that show!)

But hey, Lucille Ball was a MOVIE star, so that counts right?

(correct answer = yes)

I wanted to use one stamp, lots of bright color, and a quote from the lady herself!

I think it turned out fun. AND it’s a quick card to make.

Movie: Dances With Wolves

Yes, my favorite entry, finally!!

It wasn’t my favorite idea. I had a teepee stamp from PSX (guess what? out of business) and really wanted a way to use it.

Side Note: why do I have so many stamps I’ve never used that are kind of random? Whenever we’d go to visit my husband’s family in California I would always head to the rubber stamp stores in the area. It was option overwhelm and I would just pick stamps I thought looked cool. I got home, though, and could never figure out how to make them work!

I do love the movie, Dances With Wolves, though. My husband and I saw it as newlyweds. Great times!

I stamped the teepee, masked it, and stamped again. The rest of the card is all marker, except for some grass texture stamps.

My favorite part of the card is the sky. I googled different sunset pictures to find the one I wanted. And then I did my best to pick the right colors. The blend is so much prettier in person.

As soon as I picked this movie for one of my entries, I knew exactly what the sentiment would be. That line, spoken by the character Wind in His Hair, always gives me chills and makes my eyes get all prickly with tears. Printed off from my computer using Canva!

Okay, folks. That’s another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge in the books! So curious to me that it went from being my least favorite theme to my absolute favorite so far. It really sparked my creativity!

See you next time. Y’all take care!

Buffalo Check Santa Card

October 6, 2020 Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards, Uncategorized

This Santa card with his Buffalo check background was really fun to make and fun to video!

Forgive the vertical orientation for this time lapse video. Having never ever shot one, I really wasn’t sure which way to orient it. I’m fairly techie, but I’m not super current on the best ways to set things up for social sharing. And at the time, I had no intention of sharing to YouTube.

Also, still figuring out the whole overhead camera rig thing. Needs to be more close-up for sure!

Anyhoo…

Much as I would love to have all the bells and whistles that many of my modern card-making mentors have, I am left with what I have on hand. And that’s somewhat dated.

I’ve had this Santa from STAMPIN’ UP! for ages and really just wanted to make a cute and cozy card. I used a vertical lines stencil from Printworks (out of business now, I believe) to create a gingham or buffalo check for the background. The greenery and black trees are made from paper punches, and not the good kind that are easy to punch. No, these are the ones that you get a workout using!

The sentiments and tree are also from SU! but are definitely more timely. I think the black and red cardstock really set things off.

Coloring with “Copics”

I colored the Santa and tree with my Ohuhu markers, and they’re….um…okay. For now. Eventually, I want to have Copic markers which are the gold standard for alcohol-based markers. My Ohuhu’s are not as wet (from what I can tell from other videos) and so the blending is more challenging. Still, I have really enjoyed using them and would recommend them to beginners who need a more budget-friendly alternative.

Since making this card, I’ve had a chance to binge-watch (and I do mean binge!) a true master in the Copic craft: Sandy Allnock. I highly recommend checking out her Copic videos. She also has watercolor, colored pencil, and other videos. I’m just so inspired by how she can take just a couple of stamped images and create a world around them with markers! Amazing!

Anyway, watching her videos has inspired me to be a little more daring in how I color. So I’m much more proud of some of my later cards. Still, this one still gives me all the cozy feels, so I still love it!

Here’s the time lapse of the card creation:

Thanks for watching! Now go create something!