Technique Tuesday - Tri-fold Shutter Card

Today's technique is a card that I found over on SplitCoast Stampers, and it was designed by Beate Johns.  I love the unique folds in this card.  Here's my take on Beate's card:

It's called a tri-fold shutter card.  It has three folds, of course, and a unique way of opening, as you can see in this open view of the card:

It is much, much easier to make than it appears, as it does look kind of complicated.  It's a simple matter of scoring and using a paper trimmer to make just two cuts, then folding!  I used Penny Black stamps, and My Mind's Eye patterned papers.

I have entered this first card in two challenges:
Caardvarks Challenge http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/  - birthday card
and
Penny Black At Allsorts Challenge  http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/ - A burst of summer color

Beate created a marvelous and very informative video that has all the steps for making this delightful card.  Here's the link to her You Tube video with full directions:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su-3T3sd4r0&feature=related .

Here's another card I made with this technique:

The open view really is the same color as the front, but for some reason I couldn't get it to photograph correctly....don't know why, because it 's the same camera, same lighting, but it just photographed poorly in the open position.  But, at least you can see the openings and folds.  Penny Black stamps, and K & Company papers.

Hope you'll give this beauty a try...it's so fun.  I'm already thinking what a terrific Christmas card it would make.  Oh, and can you just picture it in pretty fall colors?!  Hmmm, can you tell what's on my mind?  I'm definitely NOT a fan of this summer heat!  Now, before I get stoned by all you sun worshipers, I'm off to read for a while before going to bed. 

Have a wonderful week, and remember to make time for yourself to enjoy the people and things you love!

Blessings and peace,

lynda

Garage Sale Cancelled

It's a rainy, rainy day.  Makes me think of that little diddy, It's a rainy day, it's a rainy day, it's raining outside and we can't go out and play, why do we need the rain, anyway!  OK, well that usually elicits at least a little laughter from Keeley, especially when accompanied by my crazy antics!  So, you're not so easily amused....hmmm.

Well, the purpose of this email is to inform you, just in case you didn't receive my email, that the stamp/scrapbook garage sale we had scheduled for today and tomorrow has been CANCELLED!

We have rescheduled the garage sale for two weeks from now, on SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, AUGUST 7 & 8.  Saturday from 9 AM till 4 PM, and Sunday from 11 AM till 4 PM.

Now, it's off to work for me.  Friends are coming over later, and we'll have some food, play some games, and laugh at the rain!!  Hope you enjoy your day, and weekend!

Blessings and peace,

lynda

Technique Tuesday - Faux Linen Card and Scrapbook backgrounds

FAUX LINEN TECHNIQUE
This is a simple technique that gives you a linen-look background.  Here's how it's done:
Start with glossy white card stock.
Use sandpaper, or a sanding block (I LOVE the Tim Holtz Idea-ology sanding block), and rub the block vertically along the glossy white.  Be sure to keep the sanding somewhat straight, and vertical, not around. 
Next, rub the block horizontally across the card stock, again, keeping straight lines.  Sand until the glossy sheen is almost gone.
Dust the powder from the sanding off the card and your work surface.
Ink a brayer or sponge with ink color desired, and ink over the card.  The lines scratched into the card stock from the sanding will absorb more of the ink than the glossy, giving your piece a linen look.
To bring out extra texture on the paper, you can sand again after inking. 
On this first card, I stamped the word background before I started the sanding.  This is optional.
 I used fire brick and aged mahogany distress ink on this first card, and Penny Black stamps.  I stamped the flowers right over the linen panel.

On this second card, I stayed with the fire brick and aged mahogany distress ink, and used Hero Arts stamps, and K & Company papers.  The birthday greetings and you're special, and the darker red panel under the birthday greetings panel are all made with this technique.
And finally, on this last card, I used peeled paint distress ink, and Penny Black stamps.  The green panel was made with this technique.

All of the pearls (and the crystal on the card above) started out white or clear.  I used permanent markers to color them the color I needed.  I used my Magenta Peel-Off markers, but Sharpie or any other permanent marker will do the same thing.  They also work great on the peel off stickers, and brads and clips.
To get the sponged look with the white border on this card, I die cut the image with a Nestabilities. After cutting, I left the template on the card, and sponged lightly with blue ink.  The template keeps the edge of the card white, so when you remove it, you have a white edge.
To get the narrow border around the panel, I taped the template to black card stock, and cut around it with a very sharp craft knife.  I like the narrower border.

That's it for this evening.  I hope you enjoyed this technique.  It's one of my favorites.  If you go on www.splitcoaststampers.com and do a search for faux linen, you can watch a you-tube video on it.

STAMPING AND SCRAPPING GARAGE SALE - This weekend, Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24, from 10 AM until 4 PM, I am having a HUGE garage sale at my house.  I have even more stamps and embellishments than last year, and everything is rock-bottom priced to SELL!  Hubby said I have to get this stuff out of the basement and all over the house.  It seems to be taking over. 
If you did not get an email, and live near Rochester NY and would like to come, please email me at keeleysgram@yahoo.com, and I will give you my address and directions.

Have a wonderful evening!

Blessings and peace,
lynda

Technique Tuesday - Cards For Kids Drive and Crayon Resist Technique

I happened upon a really great website a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't get it out of my mind.  I kept going back to it, and re-reading about the Cards for Kids that Jennifer McGuire has started.  I had been meaning to make some cards, but every time I started, I couldn't think about what to write, what to stamp, etc.  Let me start at the beginning.

Cards For Kids is a card drive started by Jennifer McGuire through her blog.  People (like me and you), make cards for seriously sick children.  We send them to Jennifer, and she forwards them along to the children.  She is in the 3rd round now.  There are 13 children for whom you can make cards.  Jennifer has lots of samples and ideas to get you started, and I will post some of mine here on my blog as well.  Here's one of mine:

As you can see, I keep these quite simple.  And bright and cheery.  I will write a little note inside.  There are lots of ideas on J's blog, so do stop by and check it out.
You can make one card, for one child, or as many as 13 cards, one for each child.  Even one card is appreciated and will mean so much to these children.
Here is the link to Jennifer's post about Cards for Kids  http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/my_weblog/we-are-collecting-cards-for-ten-children-and-their-families--kate--sami----a-few-things-to-know--this-card-drive-will-be-on.html .  Please stop by to check it out, and if you have a few minutes, maybe even make a simple card and send it along to Jennifer.  You will be blessed!

Today's techique cards:





So, on to the technique for today.....which is WHITE CRAYON RESIST.  As I was making my kids cards to send to Jennifer, I made a couple using this technique.  It's quite simple. 





How it's done:

 

Start with white glossy card stock.

• Stamp image with black ink.  Heat set or let dry thoroughly.
• Using a white crayon, draw highlights wherever you want there to be white in the finished image.  On the butterfly, I outlined loosely with the crayon, and on the owls, I colored the eyes with the crayon so they would stay white, and added some white lines around the owls and underneath.
• Brayer over image.  I used Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pads.
• Using a tissue, rub over brayered panel.  This will remove any crayon, and reveal the white resist left by the crayon!
• Use your panel on a great card!

Another drive Jennifer is hosting right now is Cards for Grace http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/need-your-help-cards-for-grace.html .  Grace is a little girl who just lost her twin sister, Ellie, to cancer.  You can read about Grace and Ellie on this link. 
Jennifer would like to send a huge box of cards to Grace by the end of July.  If you would like to make a card for Grace, please send it to Jennifer by July 31st.  Information and address is in the link. 
And, finally, here's my card for Grace:

I also made Grace a little tiny notebook from one of those mini composition books at the dollar store.  I just covered it with some patterned card stock and some stamping.  Here it is:

I wrote her a little note in the card, and sent a note on how she might use the notebook to write her thoughts and feelings.  My heart aches for Grace and her parents.  I'm going to send a card along for her parents, as well. 
I will post more of the kids cards as I get a few more made.  If you have any questions, Jennifer will be happy to answer them.  By the way, only Grace's card is due by July 31st.  The other kids card drive goes through August.
Thanks for stopping by today.  Blessings to you and yours,
and
PEACE!

lynda

Friends daisies

Hi!  I just finished this card for the Penny Black At Allsorts challenge over here http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/ .  Stop by to check out all the samples, and maybe even enter the challenge!  There are great prizes, all from Penny Black! 
The theme is "A burst of summer color," so I chose bright yellows and pink and orange.  I colored the daisy stamp with Marvy brush markers and spritzed with a fine mist of water, then stamped.  Then I brushed on some gold Perfect Pearls mixed with water, to give the flowers some shimmer.  Added some light images on the flower panel, used an EK Success punch, layered, and embellished with flowers, pearls, and ribbon.
And,
here's the card:

Stamps are all Penny Black:  3628K Windflower, 2652J Dot & Scroll Border, 2653 Deco Border, 1989E Harlequin Border, 3144F Softer & Kinder.  American Crafts Ribbon, Blue Hills Studio pearls, Joanne's flowers.

That's it for tonight.  If you're here for the Technique Tuesday post, just scroll down one for the tri-panel, punched border card.

Blessings and peace,

lynda

Technique Tuesday - Tri-panel, Lace-border card

I've had a really pretty card for several months now, and have been meaning to "card-lift" it, because I love the simple folds and touch of lace border.  I received this card in a Magenta card swap I had joined, and it was made by Jaimie Sandler.  I think it is my favorite of all the cards I received, not only for the unique style, but also the fine craftsmanship, and the bright colors.  It really makes me smile.  Here's the card Jaimie sent me:

This card features three panels and two folds.  Here are my cards, and directions on how to make this simple, three panel card:

Inside/open view above

Simply start with an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock, and score at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8". Fold top down and bottom up.  Punch 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" x 5 1/2" piece of coordinating or contrasting card stock with a lace edge punch to create lace border, and adhere to inside of upper flap. Add stamped panel and any other stamping and/or embellishments you'd like.  Easy!!
Here's another one....I just couldn't stop:

Open view above, and fully open view below

As you can see, you can keep things as simple as you like, or go all out and add layers and lots of stamping and embellishments.  Give it a try, and I guarantee you'll be coming back to this design again and again.  It's easy, yet elegant and classic!

Hope you're finding ways to stay cool in this heat.

Blessings and peace,

lynda