Do you realize, as of today there are exactly two months left till Christmas?! Are you ready?
I signed up for a shaker card exchange on SplitCoastStampers, and I've been working on some ideas. After a couple of epic fails (like glueing the darned thing closed *before* putting in the shaker bits!!) I finally completed a working prototype. Not sure if I want to make 5 more of these, but I do like the end result. And as it happens, this week is The Cats Pajamas Anything Goes challenge. Since this is from TCP set 'Reindeer Kisses' how perfect did that work out, huh? I haven't played in a TCP challenge for ages, so I think I deserve that part lining up for me... since I spent the weekend working on my failed cards. ;) They were both completely different ideas so maybe this one is meant to be!
I could point out all the glitches, but I won't! It's not like anybody reads my blog to learn stuff so I'm sure I can just keep those things to myself, hehe. I colored in the penguin and reindeer with Copics, and used Tumbled Glass distress ink for the 'sky'. I tried a new-to-me trick for the glitter. I used my clear double sided tape (the tape with the red liner that sticks to your fingers like crazy when you peel it off! lol) and covered it with glitter. Sure enough, once you've shaked and rubbed off the excess glitter, it still looks shiny and glittery but nothing comes off. I love that tape, it's pretty much my favorite adhesive. I just bought two 50 meter rolls for super cheap, I think I'm set for a while now. :)
One of my biggest pet peeves is the photography part. I suck at it. My hands are really shaky so I have a teeny tiny tripod that I use, but it's not very stable so I still need to steady it with my hands. And my camera isn't that great. Honestly, some days I get better pictures with my iPhone! So I'm bummed that you can't see that the sentiment is heat embossed. I used Crimson Red Versafine ink and Judikins clear detail embossing powder. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the light to catch the gleam of the embossing so it just looks flat in the picture.
Both the big and little circles were done with the Simon Says Stamp stitched circles. The stitching really takes it up a notch without any extra effort. Really glad I finally bought that set! I just need me some squares... and some rectangles... and, and, and... :D
I hope you're all having fun working on your Christmas cards. I'm not going to start mass producing till my MISTI arrives this week. Super squeeee!
Alright, I'm done for today.
Today I picked up a Pentel Aquash water brush at Michaels. I've wanted one for a while, but it's always a matter of prioritizing. Couldn't think of any other one thing I wanted to use my 40% off coupon on, so there you have it. Mine mine mine!
That's it, that's all! Maybe I'll post something in the near future that I used it for. :)
I'm really in love with all my Paper Smooches stuff, but I specifically bought the Crystal Clear set with shaker cards in mind. I bought the Crystal Clear stamp set, along with the Crystal Clear 1 and 2 die sets which make up the mason jar.
Back a few months ago I won a Bella Blvd prize pack which contained the Rover (dog) and Riley (cat) release. Of course that prize was a match made in heaven. Thank you Bella Blvd!! I was hoarding it... silly me... and decided there was no better time to break out some of the paper than to use with my Paper Smooches mason jar.
Now I have to say, because I don't think I mentioned it last time, Kim Hughes from Paper Smooches really deserves a shout out. She does a new release EVERY month. She must be a crazy lady. ;) On top of that, she is super duper generous and during the design team's release blog hop she gives away several Paper Smooches gift certificates. I was a lucky girl in September and won a GC. I promptly spent it and several dollars more to stock up on some stuff I'd been coveting for awhile. So thank you to Kim for her kindness, I hope it comes back to her a hundred fold. :)
You're gonna think that all I do is go around from blog to blog looking for prizes to win, but I swear I don't! I have to admit I've been pretty lucky, but I also think it's because the stamping/scrapbooking industry is truly one of the most generous out there. I'm starting to have a hard time convincing my husband that I'm actually winning this stuff every time it arrives in the mail. First world problems, right?!!
So back to my card. Here it is:
As mentioned, the paper is Bella Blvd and the jar die and stamp are Paper Smooches. The 'Ruff day' and bone outline stamps are also Paper Smooches from the 'Paws for a Cause' set, and the other bone stamp (in white) is from the Lucky Dog Two set.
I was looking around online for bone shaped confetti to use in my jar. I didn't really find anything that appealed to me so I thought why not make my own? I stamped the bone outline multiple times on velum, then fussy cut each one out. I used a different bone stamp with Versamark ink and white embossing powder for the three bones you see on the kraft paper. I took three of the vellum bones and strategically glued them on the kraft paper as well. That's a tip I learned from Jennifer McGuire, she usually glues a few sequins directly to the card when she makes a shaker card so that they don't all fall to the bottom. It's much prettier that way. She's one smart cookie! Another tip I learned from her is to use your powder tool (the one you use when heat embossing) on the acetate clear plastic piece to prevent your sequins and other bits from sticking to it. I made my own with cornstarch and a trouser sock and that works just fine too. It's just to remove some of the static.
If you look closely you might even see my reflection in the jar, LOL! Now, here's my own tip for you. Do not do what I did: the card seemed to be curling a bit, so once it was finished I ran it through my die cutter machine (I have a Fiskars Fuse) between the plates just to flatten it out. Bad idea! It smooshed it down too much and the bones stopped moving around as freely as before. Fortunately I followed the 'glue a few' tip and so you see a couple sticking out. :)
I hand cut a banner out of vellum and stamped 'Ruff day?' on it with black pigment ink and used clear embossing powder to give it some texture. You can't really see that because I suck at taking pictures, but it looks nice in person. I felt I couldn't see the sentiment well enough when putting my vellum banner directly on the card, so I cut out a slightly smaller one out of a light kraft cardstock and glued the vellum to it. Then I used some adhesive foam to pop up my banner on the card.
I'm pleased with the overall card. I don't normally add sentiments to my cards because I don't know what I want to use them for but I've realized that when blogging, the cards look more polished by adding a sentiment. By popping it up on foam, I can always swap it out with something else later on. Besides, if you were having a 'ruff day', wouldn't you want a jar full of dog bones?!! ;)
I'm entering my card in the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge again, I love the wide variety of entries we see during the Anything Goes weeks, they're all very inspirational! Already I've spotted a favorite, you have to go check it out! It's a circular card with rainbow colored butterflies, by Dasha in Slovenia, you will love it!
Okay, I think I've carried on enough for one blog post. I hope you enjoyed this card. I'm thinking of tackling a Christmas shaker card next, any suggestions? I'm kinda coveting the new Holiday Lights dies from Paper Smooches' October release... I have a thing for Christmas lights... payday is Friday. Hmmm... LOL.
