more fun with artisan labels!

some days a gal is just brimmin' with snappy blogpost titles...and some days not...clearly, today was a "NOT"! (sorry about that!) i do have a couple of moderately nice xmas cards to show ya, though. 'member hanneke's sketch from last week...that i said i thought i would use again? uh-huh: i was right!

(patterned paper: love elsie + red glitter gift wrap; cardstock: core'dinations; dimensional stickers: k&co; word stickers: 7 gypsies, ribbon: michaels; other: colorbox inks, zig pen)

(patterned paper: love elsie, basic grey; cardstock: core'dinations; cardstock diecuts: k&co; velvet scallop ribbon: american crafts + vintage teeny rickrack from the lovely debb; other: colorbox inks, zig pen, foam tape)

somebody (possibly june?) asked me how i (a non-diecutter-owner) do my nested artisan labels. the answer is that i trace a k&co label tag onto some patterned paper or cardstock (usually i hold several pieces together to get a few done from one cutting) and then i glue my cut label to the next layer and cut that one about 1/8" around the first. generally i just do that by eye--i am a decently even cutter, and also nothing i make is ever going to be so precise that it will matter if it's a teeny bit wonky--plus you know inked edges and charmingly not-quite-even outlining compensate for a multitude of sins!

♥happy tuesday, darlings!♥

we've been!

to quantum of solace, i mean.

(FINALLY!!!)

LHJ and i blew off everything big & small* we were meant to accomplish yesterday in favor of seeing a movie and scarfing up indian buffet. and you know what? it was SUCH a good call: sometimes even a really really busy girl just needs to spend quality time with her husband, her cinematic heart-throb, and some samosas, ok??!

you don't have to run, honey...i'll wait! :)

i know the film has gotten quite mixed reviews, but having seen it, i'm not totally sure why. it's got something for pretty much everyone: car chases, boat chases, foot chases, motorcycle chases, airplane chases...at least 25 gloriously exotic locations...characters that cross and double-cross and even triple-cross each other...and lotsa stuff blows up reaaalllllllllll gooooooooood! :) ok, so it's more actiony than the traditional bond film; and there's not a lot of witty banter or romance. but when you realize that it picks up 30 minutes after casino royale left off, and is basically the story of bond trying to find the baddies what killed his girlfriend...well it'd be kinda weird if it *was* a traditional old-school 007 adventure. jeff & i liked it. a lot. and not just because it stars a certain someone i'd pay $9.50 to watch reading the phone book... (which yeah, i totally would!) ...i was a bond fan long before daniel craig came along and i have to say i like the way they are updating the franchise without (to *me* anyway; i know there are those who disagree) ...sacrificing the things that made it popular in the first place. roll on bond 23!!!!!!!!!

*i am considering converting to the eastern orthodox church in order to snag that extra two weeks of card-making...if your holiday greeting arrives on january 6th...you'll know what happened! :)

core'dinations, part 2

so yesterday i was talking about how many cool shades and color combinations were in the rather gorgeous, super-huge assortments of paper we caardvarks received from the lovely folks at core'dinations*. did i mention that the prize for the current challenge is a totally craveable core'dinations prize pack??! kinda makes you wanna make a card for the flickr gallery, doesn't it??! ;)

we're concentrating on cardstock...but technically the challenge is just to make a new card without any patterned paper. for example, you could make something like this:

"beyond b-leaf"

there are certain motifs i go back to again & again; particularly when i am feeling out of my depth. cupcakes are one. birds are another.
(tho i've been monsta-based of late, i still love my little feathered friends!)

i'd call this a "patterned paper step-down card": i used a mcgill leaf punch on a whollllllllllllle lotta scraps of green from the 12x12 and 4x6 super assortments and then stamped them in dark brown ranger distress ink with a stampendous stamp called "swirl motif". i colored a maya road chipboard tree with a sharpie and gave it some interest with a stampendous wood grain stamp. i traced a small maya road chipboard bird & wing onto scraps of blue which i stamped with a sassafras swirl. the background is constructed using sheets of vintage collection which i outlined with a zig marker and inked the edges with a few colorbox shades. cardbase is a piece of williamsburg blue from the large super assortment.

and now let's talk texture! because the realllllllllly cool thing about core'dinations is that the inside isn't white...it's a coordinating color to what's on the surface! so if you tear it, sand it, distress it or antique it, suddenly you have TWO shades for the price of one. niiiiiiiice, no??! the other caardvarks did some FABBBBBBBBULOUS stuff using cuttlebug embossing folders... (it's the EF's which are gonna eventually land me at michaels, droolin' in the c-bug aisle!) ...i used our old friend the scor-it board to make a few versions of plaid...and then played around with some other ideas. basically, there's not much you can't do to this stuff...it'll NEVER fall apart...and it'll always look great!

"new mary janes"

you may've already guessed this from yesterday's post, but i'll say it again anyway: i looooooove the "black magic" cardstock! in this case it's black with a pale blue core...to go with my multi-layer "fake patent leather" flower.

i cut some freehand flower shapes and a big circle from some scraps. i wet & crumpled & sanded each piece, and then i used an embossing ink pad to apply and heat several layers of judikins "amazing glaze" and then when it had cooled completely i cracked the glaze in a bunch of places to make it look like leatherette. (you can't entirely see the results in the photo...but IRL it's pretty cool!) i layered the results with a doodlebug fabric flower and secured the whole deal with a junkitz brad to which i had affixed a michaels $ spot epoxy sticker. a bit o' queen & co felt fusion for an accent...et voila!

"wish"

this was probably the fastest card i made in this whole assignment. which is cool, since i think it looks kinda sophisticated.

again, i made a "scor-it special" plaid background, this one oriented diagonally, and placed it on a darker blue cardbase. i traced one of my fave k&co artisan labels onto the same dark blue cardstock from the 4x6 assortment and stamped & white-embossed a rhonna swirl in opposing corners, before outlining the whole thing with white signo pen. i affixed the cut-out shape to burgundy and cut the second shape by eye about an eighth inch bigger. a few k&co xmas diecuts, some new prima slightly-sparkly poinsettias (can you say YUM?!) & leaves, (affixed with making memories jewel brads) millinery pearls from the lovely debb's care package, and i called it a reindeer day!

"a giftbag i'm keeping"

in the course of my distressing experiments (ok, but you know what i mean!) i came up with a texture that both lovely husband jeff and i thought looked quite a bit like old worn leather...and what better project for "leather-look" than a little purse??

using a sheet of black magic with a pale pink core, i dampened & scrunched & flattened & re-wrinkled & sanded & generally beat the heck out of it until i liked how it looked. then i flattened it back out and fashioned it into a bag that is 5" x 5.5" x 2". for the "trim" i took a strip of vintage collection dark pink, martha stewart border punched to make it lace-trimmed and used the scor-it to simulate some pleats before sanding it to get a nice aged look. i made handles of jewelry wire & some pearl-ish beads from michaels. i lined the purse's interior with the same pink (for decoration & stability) and topped the whole thing off with another stamped & distressed compound flower. other supplies: cherry pie crackle stamp, heidi swapp bling circle, amanda blu fabric flower, cloud 9 brad, colorbox inks, paperchase tissue paper.

*please see yesterday's post for descriptions of the exact products and appropriate links to the relevant core'dinations pages!

taking stock...

...CARDSTOCK, that is!

it is caardvarks challenge day, darlings, and this time we are eschewing the joys of patterned paper in order to see what kinds of creativity we can unleash using cardstock! "why?" you ask? well, aside from the fact that it's a good idea to occasionally step away from all the amazing variety of prints out there and really focus on design*...the very good and very generous folks at core'dinations sent each of the caardvarks' dt a selection of their quite astonishingly cool products.

and when i say "a selection" what i actually mean is pretty much sent us each a

rainbow ♥ inna ♥ box

(a box that weighed eight pounds, might i add!)

wanna see??

are you drooling yet?! thought so. ;)

from top left: black magic in "spellcaster"...it's black on one side and a color on the other! PERFECT for distressing...or even just for making a card that's black outside and light-toned within; super assortment in "nostalgia"...there are 80 sheets in FORTY--yes, four-zero--shades!!!; vintage collection in "retro mod squad"...it's got a slightly glossy two-toned texture on one side--like beautifully hand-dyed linen--and a lighter shade inside and on the back ; and 4.5x6.5" super assortment in "so mod"...i love this smaller size for guilt-free punching and cutting and using a whole bunch of colors at once!

but wait, because it turns out that this stuff doesn't just loooooooooooook good...it does, of course...but looks are *almost* the least of it.

(having said that, can i just say three words here? range of colors!!! holy moly...the large assortments have shades that are like a half-tone apart! there had to be a painter involved in developing these; even LHJ was seen flipping thru the larger assortment pad going, "wow! the colors are all different...but so close!" when you can impress husbands with your art supplies, you've done all right, i'd say!)

really, though, it's the quality... (heavy & solid; yet malleable to folding/tearing/distressing/playing!) ...the color core... (it ain't white inside...there's a perfectly coordinated, just-the-right-amount-of-contrast inner layer!) ...the creativity of the products... (can you say "black magic"? hellllllo, gorgeous!) ...the practicality... (every sheet is textured on one side, and smooth on the other; so if you want to stamp, or write smoothly, just flip that baby!) ...that impressed me the most. it's good stuff. so much so that i will seek it out in future. seriously. i'll even pay retail!!!

we made an extra-large inspiration gallery this time, so i'm going to split my contributions into two posts. for today, i'll show the projects where i mostly focussed on the multitude of color choices, and the way the various lines coordinate and enhance each other.

"sweet"

when in doubt, start off with a cupcake; that's my policy & it serves me well.

i mounted a pale pink 4x6 sheet on a black magic cardbase with pale pink interior; (the scallopped white layer is a slight cheat; i used staples' cheap glossy photo paper for a teeny bit of sheen that's much more apparent IRL) the cupcake top is vintage collection dark pink with heidi swapp fuzzy rub-ons as icing (again, the texture is rather cooler than in the photo) the black magic cupcake wrapper with a pale brown interior is scored and sanded to be chocolate-cake-ish; the dark pink heart on top of a texturey prima in my head looks like one of those edible glace flowers! other supplies: prima crystal flourish, ek success glossy chipboard word, colorbox inks, foam tape.

"monsta notes"
yes i've made an attempt at monsta design! (it had to be done) mostly i used punches and chipboard shapes as templates; the squiggley bits i drew myself. the green one is secretly my favorite, but SHHHHHHH don't tell the others!!!
the cards are constructed from black magic and each has an interior shade which coordinates with its exterior. each features a vintage collection panel thinly matted on a slightly lighter bit of 4x6 super-assortment paper. the monstas are made of tone-on-tone 4x6 shades with black magic accents. the making memories silver brads which attach the michaels' zebra ribbon did not photograph well, but look cool IRL. other supplies: googly eyes from michaels, colorbox inks, zig & signo pens, foam tape.

"mod & merry"

apparently i was feeling the pain of patterned-paperlessness on this one...i actually used the solid cardstock to make my own pattern. if you know of a 12-step program in central nj, please email me. :)

again, a black magic cardbase... (sheesh i LOVE that stuff!) ...this one has a green interior. i used 3 sizes of ek success & marvy square punches on multitudinous shades of pink & green scraps of all the collections. (there were even some mid-tones i left out rather than start a whole sheet!) i layered them quite wonkily, but lined them up straight. i can think of A LOT of other shapes this same idea would work with, and at some point you'll probably be seeing some! other supplies: ki chipboard tree, heidi swapp chipboard letters, karen foster gel sash & slide, making memories brads, foam tape. (yes, i DO use foam tape on every single thing i ever make, actually. no, i am not interested in a 12-step for that, but thank you for asking!)

"torn-ament of christmas trees"

i flat-out stole this idea...at least the torn layers part. the problem is, i have NO idea where or when i saw it. if it's yours, you have my apologies and thanks!!!

the dark blueish green cardbase is from the 12x12 super assortment (yes, i know it looks black in the photo!) again i used scraps of pretty much every color of green from every collection, typed bits of the lyrics of "O Tannenbaum"... (in german & english, obviously!) ...on some of them, then i tore & layered, tore & layered until i got some decent sized pieces and ONLY THEN (this is the crucial part) made them into triangles using my guillotine trimmer. the yellow stars are more misc. scraps from different collections which i crumpled & distressed & sanded & inked & cut into shape. other supplies: white sparkly dcwv cardstock (yes, a TOTAL cheat, and i admit it; trouble is, SNOW needs to be **SPARKLY** folks!!! if core'dinations make sparkly stock i will happily convert, ok?!!!)

here endeth the first lesson from the big book of cardstock. tune in tomorrow to see more cards, which feature tearing, sanding, scoring, wrinkling, distressing and other fun stuff!!!

*yes, i know, i gasped too, at the very idea. no patterned paper??! MOI???!?!? but i genuinely do feel like the scariest challenges are the ones i most NEED to at least attempt. and while i will probably never turn into a solid-color clean-n-simple zen mistress, this was a valuable exercise in re-thinking habits...and i am even somewhat proud of my results! why not make a card and upload it to the 'varks flickr gallery on or before 12-18??!

(my apologies to nancy reagan)

...but you know monstas...

on the plus side: they're great at lookin' cute and conveyin' holiday greetings

on the minus side: they'll steal catchphrases from absolutely ANYONE; and you definitely don't want to leave your xmas cookies unattended...or your socks...or your smaller furry pets...

anyway here's the latest card:

(monsta cut from paperchase giftwrap; patterned paper: basic grey, mustard moon, dcwv + vintage sheet music; cardstock: core'dinations; bling circle: heidi swapp; letter stickers: 3 bugs; cardstock sticker: 7 gypsies; epoxy sticker: michaels $ spot; other: fiskars border punch, dymo labeller, colorbox inks; zig pen; foam tape)

tune in tomorrow for a very special caardvarks gallery in which lauren is thrown UTTERLY out of her comfort zone...with verrrry different...but still quite interesting...results!!!

3-D monstavision!!!!!

or at least...

...a vision...

...of 3 monstas!

these three, actually:

(monstas cut from paperchase giftwrap; patterned paper: basic grey, dcwv, doodlebug, creative imaginations + vintage sheet music; chipboard button: love elsie; rub-ons: creative imaginations; other: dymo labeller, colorbox inks, zig pen, scrap of ribbon)

text reads, "3 kings were busy so we came instead"

in the course of my recent & extensive research into the field of xmas monstas, i have found the pink ones to be much more silly than the others. these might just be the silliest ever...thus they are my favorites!!!

xmas bonus (sketch)

you know, i have a bone to pick with those ladies over at 2 sketches 4 you: every single week, in addition to a awesome design by kazan or laura they also give us a BONUS SKETCH by one of the amazing design team, as well! how's a girl supposed to keep up with all that fabulousness??!?!?!

last week's bonus sketch was by hanneke van dalen. get used to the name...and the sketch...i will be repeating it. possibly quite a lot. :)

hanneke's sketch (& her breathtakingly cool card) calls for the cool artisan label i love so much to actually *BE* the card's shape...her fellow design team member katie anderson* compromised by making a clear acrylic card and putting the shape on top. i tried both of those ideas and my card just did not want to cooperate. so i made a plain old square card and put the cool sketch-based part of it on top. cause that's the way i roll, ok??!?!

(patterned paper: basic grey + vintage sheet music; cardstock: core'dinations; cardstock diecuts: k&co; rub-on: creative imaginations; other: colorbox inks, zig pen, foam tape)

i managed to make a few more cards over the weekend and also finished up my projects for the very special caardvarks design team gallery that kicks off the next challenge on friday. meanwhile, you still have until midnight on wednesday (12-3) to enter a card in the current caardvarks' photo challenge, for which the prize is a guest designer spot on yet another very special challenge which will kick off on january 1st! oh yeah...and did you see the cool spotlight interview our own jenyfur pohl conducted with jennifer mcguire? what??! you didn't?!!! well then, WHY are you still here???!???!?! :)

*my fellow caardvark & 2S4Y dt member heidi van laar also made an exceptionally cool version of this sketch which you can see on her blog...altho...DO NOT go there if you don't have like 30 minutes to scroll around and drool over her creations, ok?! trust me.