Tag bright

Mailbox Stamp and Color

CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is involves a few of firsts for me. A sort of first to start things off, I thought I was going to make 2 of these. Instead of my usual one-of-a-kind. I had a piece of paper to stamp on big enough to stamp twice. I tried, but I underestimated how much ink was left and had a really faded version 2.

It all turned out ok, I used that second try to test out colors.

  • First stamp that needs to be colored
  • First time using alcohol ink markers. (didn’t even know they were a thing until about a month ago)
  • First time adding a stamped message to the inside

I learned that maybe spending a bunch of money on markers that have an extra fine tip might be worth it in the future. Most of the areas are so tiny I couldn’t color in the lines very well. I bought a fairly cheap set on Amazon. The review compared them to the name brand kind that have tri-tips, these only have chisel and brush.

Here’s the inside. It came in the box with the stamp on the front. Based on the packaging I’m pretty sure they are Stampin’ Up. I’m sure others have used this set and made much fancier cards.

I also took a photo from the bottom to show the depth with the foam tape. The wallpaper and cardstock paper are taped down and the cardstock with the stamping and coloring is mounted with foam tape.

I think this card looks awesome and it’s part of my personal collection. Someday the right person will come along that I just have to send it to them.

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ice cream card laying down

We ALL scream for ICE CREAM

CraftyK Leave a comment

The actual cross stitch on this card is probably the smallest one I have done all year. When I asked my cousin’s husband some things she likes one of his answers was ice cream. I remembered I had saved this pattern years ago from a cross stitching website that had free patterns from their magazine available. It’s so cute I knew it was just what I needed.

close up of ice cream cone

Since the stitching wasn’t going to take up a huge space on the card I wanted to add some stamping. This included a few firsts for me. I tried out a white pigmented ink. I have a purple fine glittery embossing powder that I decided to try out on the white ink. I still haven’t figured out how to keep the powder on just the ink and not loose it all from everywhere, so it looks a bit messier than I intended. I’m still trying to figure out this whole embossing thing.

focus on stamping

It was fun to watch this one as the heat gun finally started to solidify the powder. It did take a really long time and the paper warped. The card was under a big book to try and flatten it out before sending.

ice cream cone with no backstitching

I also remembered to photograph it before the backstitching. It’s amazing what some outlines can do to a pattern. You can tell what it is, but it really pops once it’s done. I almost forgot the stem, but luckily realized it before I put everything away.

front top view of ice cream card

I know I said that I did some new things, another new thing was mixing stamps. I didn’t want a bunch of white space so I went through my stamps to find something to fill in the space with. I chose the lollipop as it’s another type of sweet. In the same set I found this small confetti looking stamp. I don’t know that I used it as intended, but I tried to put it around in different areas to fill in the space. I feel that I could have done some more maybe? It’s like using a brush in Photoshop, but this can’t be undone. Once you stamp, it’s on there. Makes me scared to use it.

So this was a first in trying out layering different elements. The different ink colors, stamps from different sets, and embossing some ink. I took some hot pink construction paper to put behind the ice cream cone. The pink paper is attached with double sided tape and the cone is attached to that with foam tape. I think I might have a foam tape addiction? I’m using it on just about every card that doesn’t have a frame. I felt that the yellow paper would mean losing the pink of the ice cream, so I made the shadow thing behind it to bring back the pinks.

Stitching

Started: September 7th
Finished: September 7th

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full front of ice cream card

angled fish

Fish in the Sea

CraftyK Leave a comment

This card is for a cousin (married into the family) that I have only met a couple of times. I called her husband to get some ideas of things she likes. I have heard about some from others, but decided to ask someone closer to her for ideas.

During the conversation I learned that she likes to scuba dive. I had seen this pattern on the cover of an old cross stitching magazine I have and immediately thought it would make a great pattern for a card. I wasn’t able to use their full pattern as it was too big, but I pulled this smaller section to use for the card.

fish card laying down

On this card I did backstitch as I went. The crunch for time is on and I have to change up how I work a little bit.

fish under the sea

 

For the frame I used a thicker wallpaper that has some sparkle in it. I wanted to make sure to use wallpaper because she sells luxury custom built homes. Wallpaper seemed like the perfect touch to finish this card. As usual the frame was cut out with the Cricut.

 

Stitching

Started: September 2nd
Finished: September 4th

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full front of fish card

Elephant Love

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close up of 2 elephants with balloons

If you remember the elephant card I made for an August birthday, this one is quite different. This one I “designed” myself from different patterns I found for elephants and balloons. I did draw the grass myself. The happy birthday is a font from the WinStitch program I drew everything in.

close up of yellow balloon

I started this cross stitch on a Friday, did the majority of it at Side Projects Club on Saturday and finished up the back stitching on Sunday. Compared to the last card this one is much smaller and much easier due to the lack of quarter stitches.

Assembly came with some challenges. I have done enough of these to know that I would really prefer to get them in straight. I think I finally found a good way to accomplish this too!

Taking double sided tape I lined the edges closest to the hole I cut with the Cricut (well I cut the whole thing out of a 12×12 paper and scored it with the Cricut). Then I started to place the fabric down into the opening. I have learned that the fabric does not adhere to the tape right away, so there is opportunity to move it around to try and get it as straight as possible. I try to use the holes as a guide.

front view of the cross stitch in the card

Since it’s not the stickiest thing ever it’s hard to truly “stretch” the fabric across without pulling it off somewhere, I was at least able to get it pretty darn close. Now it’s remembering this technique for the next one I do with a cut out…

To really hold it in place I cut out another piece (with the Cricut) the from the 12×12 page slightly smaller than the 4.25″ x 5.5″ side and used more double sided tape along the outer edges of that piece to adhere it to the inside of the card. From what I can tell this worked well since I had enough clearance on each side and the fabric is completely underneath.

Stitching

Started: October 18th
Finished: October 21st

 

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close up of blue elephant and word happy

cropped in front view

Born to Sparkle

CraftyK Leave a comment

This card became a last-minute add on to the 2018 family card project. I didn’t realize my niece’s birthday was at the beginning November and not the end. I wanted to make a card and decided to go for it and create her cross stitch card a year early.

I also felt that I needed to redeem myself from the card I made for her last year. It was my first attempt at doing something custom using different elements after being inspired by an Art Journeling class on CreativeLive. It was around that time that I discovered the Cricut and that has changed my crafting completely.

last year's card

Last year’s card

After the last few mishaps with the back stitching, this one has NONE! Once the stitching is done this is ready to put onto a card.

In my rush to get started I did not take a “before” image to share. I don’t even think the beginnings made it on Snapchat. I put on my CreativeLive lighting class and got down to business.

front view of card

I’m not sure why I thought that if a pattern was up to 80 stitches wide I could fit it on a smallish card. On 14 count that’s almost 6 inches. This project is on a very small piece of 22 count to make it closer to the 3-4 inch mark. Having barely finish a 22 count a few weeks ago I think my eyes were still able to look at itty-bitty holes. I pulled out the size 28 needle again and got started.

close up of stitching

This one was run so close to the edges of my fabric I wasn’t even able tape up the edges. I just had to be very careful not to fray anything, which didn’t work. I found myself pulling on the fabric a lot. Luckily I didn’t fray it to the point of taking out stitches.

top view of card

To keep with the purple sparkle theme I used my purple shimmery paper as a mount. The crazy design cutout was drawn in Illustrator using one of the built in brush patterns. Without a machine I wouldn’t have been able to cut all those curves.

Stitching

Started: October 27th
Finished: November 1st

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side view close up of card

Flutterby the Butterfly

CraftyK Leave a comment

I started this pattern at Side Projects Club. It is because of this group that I have gotten through so many cross stitches the last couple of years. This year is turbo mode with all the cards I’ve been making.

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I found this pattern in a library book called Stitch Graffiti by Heather Holland-Daly. I enjoyed this book so much I bought it! I can only dream and aspire to create fun and creative patterns like she has, but for now I will continue with the ready-made ones. I have yet to venture off cloth, but I would like to try stitching on screen sometime, it never would have crossed my mind before reading her book.

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Although I’m not to the point of creating awesome designs, I did do my own thing for the colors. I don’t have the correct variegated thread, so I combined two colors that are close to create my own version of variegation. The colors work well together and stand out from the dark cloth.

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This is the first project that I am branching out from the usual white or cream colored Aida cloth and trying the dark blue. To make things even more complicated I thought I had purchased 14 count, turns out it’s 18 count. So this project got extra small very quickly. Luckily at Side Projects Club there’s lots of light and white tables to bounce light back to see the holes in the cloth. Working on this at home is a bit more of challenge.

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To finish this card I used E6000 to glue the corners to the paper. This thing isn’t moving at all! I think it ended up a little crooked, but overall it turned out very nice. I also used a small corner rounder tool per my mom’s suggestion to make this look a little softer.

This is a birthday card for someone I used to talk to a lot, but we recently had a falling out. I hope she gets it and enjoys, but I can’t be too surprised if it comes back to me as I am not certain of her new address and sent it to the only one I have.

Stitching

Started: July 14th
Finished: July 20th

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Happy Birthday Clown

CraftyK Leave a comment

This cross stitch was started 6/3 and finished 6/16. I needed a fast turn around so it could be mailed to my cousin in Texas.

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the beginning

Everything starts as a blank canvas. This is the first time I have cut enough fabric that I didn’t have to worry if I would stitch right off the side. I’m learning and making progress making non kit cross stitches.

I chose this pattern from a library book I checked out. My cousin was really into clowns as a kid, he had them all over his room. So when I saw this I immediately thought of him and looked up his birthday to make sure I could get it done for this year.

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The finished card

It took a little time to pick a color for this card. I wanted to keep it bright and not clash too much. I think it turned out just right. I even got the square cut just the right size. It may not have cut in the exact right spot I wanted, but it was the right size. Like I said, I’m learning and getting better at this!

If anyone is interested in a cross stitch card, I plan to start selling them once I finish my personal card list.

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Keep creating and don’t forget to follow along on my crafting adventures on Snapchat! You can see updates and works in progress before they make it to the blog.