Hello Friend

"Hello Friend"

5" x 7" Top Fold Greeting Card

Blank Inside

The "Hello Friend" greeting card was extra fun to make probably because of the unique die from Cheery Lynn Designs.  The die information is "Screen Door with Cat" #A2164. I chose to use real birch wood veneer for the screen door.  

As the wood is very, very thin, there is no problem cutting the image. The die actually comes packaged with 2 pieces of screen and extra screens are available through the site.  I took a look at our local Home Depot store and found this gauge of screen available by the foot.  Since I usually do produce several of any one given card design, Home Depot was a good way to go for me, bringing the cost down considerably. To add depth and the appearance of an interior, a green and white striped patterned paper is used behind the screen and cat.  While this addition looks fairly simple, there is a trick to layering all of the pieces securely to the reverse side of the door.  I used 1/8 inch score tape and adhered each layer separately. 

Estate Fence die #98285 by Memory Box is utilized to give the background some interest.  I attempted to find this die on the website's product index and it looks as if it is no longer available.  Not to worry, I have seen many variations of the estate fence available through most of the popular companies offering paper crafting dies.

Last but not least is the greeting "Hello Friends" from the Cuttlebug Friends Forever Embossing Folder and Dies.  I had a difficult time locating this set but finally found it on an Etsy site and you can get there from HERE.  

All cardstock used in the card is Bazzil Bling which has a pearly shimmer not picked up well in this photo and the base is Hammermill 100# Digital Color Copy paper.

Oh, almost forgot, I chose a Swarovski flat back crystal to dot the "i" on "friend".  That should do it.

If you don't want to duplicate "Hello Friend"  yourself,  there will be six available later in my Etsy store at Crane Island Comforts on Etsy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weeds Are Growing Like Crazy

As promised, here is card number two in the series made as sets for Christmas gifts.

This was an engrossing card because I had no idea what I was going to do until it took shape during the creative process.  That's always fun but I  don't know why it also makes me nervous!?!  I mean, it's only paper, which I have a ton of, and embellishments, powders and ribbons, which I also have a ton of, so what's the big deal?  Somewhat the same feeling you get gazing at a blank sheet of watercolor paper and being afraid to apply the first color.  It's an art thing, what can I say.  Total neurosis, I digress.

O.k., this is my study in raspberry and tan.  Don't blame me, Colormates says its raspberry and who am I to argue?  Every once in awhile it's fun to do something unexpected and for me, throwing tan in with just about anything looks unexpected even though I usually like the results after the fact.  What you're looking at here is a Colormates Medium Racy Raspberry base with a craft brown mat from my stash so I can't give you a manufacturer on that one.  It's embossed with the ever favorite Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder leaving a l" blank area in the bottom half of the mat.  This is where I was intending to emboss a greeting but decided to change my approach in mid-stream.  Go figure.

Next up, here comes the Medium Racy Raspberry again, using Spellbinders Fair Isle Pendant die studded with jewels in the four corners.  On top of that I applied ribbon from Joann's and one of the treatments it always tickles me to use which is finding ribbon that matches one of my stamps!  See the Poppy Boxed Set post http://craneislandcomforts.blogspot.com/2010/02/poppy-boxed-set.html and you'll find a card that illustrates this same treatment.  Thank you Joann's for cooperating with my desires, that's very sweet!

The focal point is a Spellbinders Large Classic Oval using the #4 die and craft  brown paper, also embossing with the same die.  The stamp is Stampendous "Weeds" (hence the title of this post, sorry) embossed using Versamark ink and fine white detailing powder.  Here's my take on white embossing powder.  After holding up numerous brands side by side in the jars, white is not always white.  Most of what I've seen is actually off-white and while this might seem like nit picking, when you've spent all of this time and sweat, yes sweat, on a card and the white embossing looks as if the bleach got left out of the wash, well, you get the picture.  The whitest white embossing powder I've ever been able to find is from "The Peddler's Pack" in Beaverton, Oregon.  They must buy in bulk and repackage it in their own containers but honest, it is WHITE.  They have a web site and the owner, Joyce, is always happy to answer any questions, she's is a real delight to speak with on the phone.  Remember the beautiful witch in The Wizard of Oz?  That's what she sounds like, honest!  Love you Joyce. . . .

So, all of this is finished off with three little itty, bitty pearls  centered under the oval.  I've used water-marked bond paper to line the inside of the card but didn't include a picture since who wants to look at white paper anyway?  Hey, not me, I'm still o-zoning on the blank white watercolor paper!  Can anyone recommend a good therapist?

Thanks for visiting, oh, and putting up with me!