Vintage Carnations

Hello!  I'm so glad to see you!  It's been a while since I sat down at the computer due to all the attention we've been focusing on the house and LuLu.  There's more to tell, but everything is fine and today I'm just going to share about card making.

Before I took my stamp room apart for the new floor I looked through my digi box to see what I might color while the room was inaccessible.  As it turns out, I've been too busy to color anything since I finished this card on July 2.  It is a free Carnations digital stamp from the Digital Two for Tuesday blog.  Post also includes a mum.  The illustration is from an 1893 book -- very vintage and yet as beautiful as ever.

I've always been fascinated with the transformation of this type of image.  You wouldn't expect it when you see the beginning.  The black disappears when it's done, and it looks like no-line coloring.  I used Copics for the coloring.

I covered the card base with some nearly vintage designer paper -- Scarlett's Letter by BasicGrey.  I loved this paper pack so much I bought two and have mostly hoarded it.  All covered up with a large image, you can't really see how pretty it is, but I hope to be showing more of it soonish.  I love the write up on the BasicGrey cover:  "Cause a scandal.  Get into some trouble.  Scarlett's Letter is a risque color combination of red, black, cream, and a touch of green blended into bold, courageous patterns.  Totally unique."

 

It will be difficult for me to create any new cards until I get my room in order.  Rich had a problem with the Stamping Command Center.  The large L-shaped desk had to be taken apart to remove it from the room but, alas, it broke in several spots and could not be saved.  I salvaged the two desk tops and hope to fashion some sort of work space with them.  Pictured below is the area where the desk used to be.

I know I'm going to go on another sorting and purging spree.  There's too much of something here, but I'm not sure yet what that is.

It won't be so long till I come back to visit again.  I have cards previously made, but afraid I'm falling short on some of my DT duties.  I know you all understand.  Sending good wishes full of love and happy to everyone!

Stamps:  Free digital stamp from Digital Two for Tuesday, Hero Arts Small Greetings, SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80#, black, BasicGrey Scarlett's Letter designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Going Gray  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Sequins, stitching

Merry Snowflakes

It was hard to put my mind to it, but I made a small batch of Christmas cards.  I believe I made these in May.  I looked at some of the oldest Christmas paper in my collection and decided I would make an effort to use it.  One 6x6 sheet made four cards, not that I'm trying to stretch it, but that's the way it worked out with this design.  The white snowflakes are layered onto an old CTMH color -- Green Chiffon -- which I'm loving all over again.  It's kind of a minty green.

Inside was super easy because I used a digital sentiment which my friend, Donna Ellis, designed and offered as a freebie on her blog here (scroll down).  I printed up a bunch of these for future use.  It really helps.  Thanks, Donna!

Four cards closer to being done, but I have quite a way to go yet.

Moving along...  They're coming to lay new flooring in our whole house the week of July 12, so I'm doing what I can in my stamp room until then.  I'll have to take everything out of the cabinets and find someplace to put it.  What a jumbled mess that will be!  Cannot move the furniture without removing items because it will all be too heavy and awkward.  I'm sure you can imagine.  They'll do the bare floors in two days, then the livingroom carpet another day.  I'm keeping my eye on the prize, but not looking forward to the process.

Take good care till we meet again.

Stamps:  Inside sentiment free digital from DE - see above  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, SU Purely Pomegranate, CTMH Green Chiffon, Webster's Pages Christmas designer paper (old)  Ink:  Printer for inside sentiment  Other:  Memory Box Merry Cursive and Bauble Snowflakes

Slimline Hello

Hello and welcome!  I've got flowers and a big "hello" on a slimline card today.  I don't make many slimline cards, but this one insisted on it.   The flowers were sized right, and I recently purchased these cool wood grain letter dies that I hadn't used yet.  I started playing and the next thing you know I had a card!

It really all started with the flowers.  It's a digi stamp and it is totally FREE.  Interestingly, it's an 1892 needlework pattern.  You can find it here.

I've had a long-running fascination with these vintage images over at the Digital Two for Tuesday blog.  If you decide to visit there, do take time to scroll past the first page or two, or search the categories or archives.  She hasn't posted since 2018, but blog owner, Cora, has a treasure trove of digitally refurbished illustrations that color up beautifully.  All are scanned from various catalogs and publications, copyright expired so no worries about infringement  Over the years it has been one of my favorite crafty pastimes to turn these old-timey images into current card creations.

I colored with Copic markers.  The wood grain letters are new-to-me Memory Box Wooden Alpha, triple-layered for dimension.  I Copic colored some die cut flowers for extra decoration and gave them light gold glitter cardstock centers.  The black border strip is cardstock.

I dearly love my stamps, whether wood block, cling, or clear, and it's great fun to search through the drawers of old favorites or pull from the basket of new-to-me stamps, but I also like to keep a boxful of digi-stamps printed up and ready to color.  Now and then I sift through the box and find something I'd completely forgotten about.  I feel fortunate.

I'd like to join these challenges:

NBUS Challenge #25 -- My never before used schtuff is the Wooden Alpha

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #108 -- I've used the middle vertical column:  florals, free (free digi image), any shape die

 

Have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  1892 digitized embroidery design from Digital Two for Tuesday (free)  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, black, SU Bermuda Bay, light gold glitter cardstock  Ink:  Printer  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Memory Box Wooden Alpha, Elizabeth Craft Bunch of Flowers 4, Die-namites Small Ivy  Other:  1/4" circle punch

A Rose for Sympathy

While I was taking a little blog break Marcella at Power Poppy came along and gave us a new digital stamp... and when I say "gave" I mean it's FREE to everyone!  It's called Rose -- a simple name for an image of classic elegance.

Marcella created this digital rose in collaboration with Alyce Keegan of Kit and Clowder for one of Alyce's free coloring classes.  This is a big deal for anyone who wants to learn more about coloring.  I checked it out and I'm a little bit stunned by her generosity.  What an opportunity!

For today's rose I used SU Watercolor Wonder crayons (retired), coral over yellow.

I bring these watercolor crayons out to play every now and then.  They're a bit waxy so the colors spread differently than regular paints.  Also, I don't get a lot of saturation.  Nevertheless, I still have them after all these years, and they look so pretty all lined up in their tins.

Needing to replenish my sympathy cards, I chose Power Poppy's Soothing Sympathy clear set for my sentiment.

I'll see you again on Friday.  Wishing you a happy day!

Be a Mermaid

Oh, happy day, after a 3-week abstinence I got to play in my room!  That's a long time to go without getting crafty, don't you think?  This card is a great bundle of little things... the kind of card that grew on it's own and became much more than I'd originally planned.

It started with the sentiment.  It's a digital gift that Donna Ellis shared on her blog here (scroll to the end after you get there).  I've always loved this sentiment, whether it applies to a mermaid or a unicorn.  Would you believe I have neither mermaids nor unicorns in my collection?  Soooo... before our vacation I went on a search and (ahem) ended up with quite a few things in addition to this mermaid tail.  I know that you know how that happens.

The sentiment, the mermaid tail, and the stencil with which I made the water are all new to me.  Everything else is from my stash (clouds, swirls, Nuvo Jewel Drops).  The mermaid tail was inked with Distress Oxides, then smooshed with Versamark and embossed with an iridescent embossing powder.  The panel of stenciled water was cut apart and the darker water in the foreground popped up.  A hint of very light blue Copic (B0000) was added to the clouds and swirls.

Supply list can be found at the end under my signature.

Thank you, Donna, for this beautiful digital sentiment, and thank you all for stopping by today.   I hope to be back soon and, in the meantime, I hope you're enjoying your days in whatever way you choose to spend them.  By the way, I just have to say this:  I cannot believe it's September already!  Happy almost fall!

Stamps:  Digital sentiment from Donna Ellis here  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White  Ink:  Distress Oxide Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves  Coloring:  Copics  Accessories:  Iridescent embossing powder (old), Nuvo Sea Breeze Jewel Drops, Echo Park Sail Away stencil  Dies:  Frantic Stamper Mermaid Tail and Trio of Swirls, Poppystamps Twirly Clouds

Double D Challenge: Looking Back in Time

First order of the day:  All winners from our 3rd anniversary/birthday "It's on the Menu" challenge were announced on the 15th at Double D.  Please check there for a full winners list.  I will contact the winner of my prize.  Thank you!

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Our new challenge at Double D is "Looking Back in Time".  Think of something that reminds you of days gone by.

Do you recognize the White Rabbit on my card?  I read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass when I was eight years old.  Now, there's a bit of nostalgia from the (ahem) distant past!  I was able to bring this memory back thanks to an honest to goodness vintage image digitally remastered at Digital Two for Tuesday (and it's free!).

More card talk in a minute, but first have a look at our inspiration board:

The Double D team will vote on creative winners, and there is a prize for a random winner, as well:

I've had this image printed and awaiting color for I-don't-know-how-many years.  I always thought it would be fun for a belated birthday card, but never got around to it.  I do have a "sorry I'm late" sentiment, but it was too small and the font wasn't quite right for the vintage look, so I used this one instead and I think it still gets the point across.

An ornate frame, a pad of old-timey papers, watches cut from one of the papers, sepia-toned Copic coloring with just a spot of color...  I don't do much vintage these days, but, gosh, this was fun.  I also stamped an old SU Sanded background over the image and sentiment panels to give a little more aging, and then finished it off with copper brads.

I even propped the photo with an antique book -- Poems by James Thomson (born 1700).  I don't remember where I got the book, but it has an inscription in it dated 1898.  Definitely looking back in time!

Well, that's enough from me, I suppose.  I hope you'll take a look at the Double D blog and all my teammates' vintage-themed cards and be inspired to play along.  Thank you so much for your visit!

Stamps:  White Rabbit free digi from Digital Two for Tuesday, SU It's Your Birthday, SU Sanded background  Paper:  Neenah Classic white, Neenah Husk card base covered (not visible), Bo Bunny Timepiece designer paper  Ink:  Printer, SU Close to Cocoa, CTMH Parchment (for the Sanded background), Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Brads, Sue Wilson Porto die and Pierced Flags

Flowerful Friday: Red Roses for Sympathy

Welcome back!  Today's Flowerful Friday is another sympathy card.  Still working on that order and making prettier cards when I have the chance.  This is an 1893 illustration from The New Guide to Rose Culture.  I promised myself I'd color more of the digis I saved from Digital Two For Tuesday, so they'll be sprinkled in here and there.  Remember, everything at DTFT is a freebie.  You can find these roses here.

This image does have a vintage look, but I lightened it up with white and pretty aqua.  You can see it's printed in sort of a teal-green.  I like that.  However, it was absolutely not my idea.  It was my printer's idea.  It does the strangest things when it needs a nozzle cleaning, and it needs a nozzle cleaning every time I use it.  Well, I forgot... and imagine my surprise when it printed this color.

I printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and used Copics for coloring.  Retired Just Rite sympathy sentiment in die cut rectangle.  Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Frames.

I'll pop in with something cheerful on Monday.  Staying focused...  Have a happy day!

Flowerful Friday: Another Free Digital Stamp

Happy Friday!  I don't know about you, but Friday sure sneaked up on me fast.  It was a busy week and I was not home enough for quality stamping time.  That's when I get in a hurry and nothing turns out worth a darn.  I've taken a notion that I want to reserve Fridays for flower cards.  Well, sheesh, it would be nice if I could actually color some flowers.  So after casting off several duds I thought maybe it was time to share something I colored last month.

This is an extra super simple card.  Well, somewhat simple.  It didn't take much time, but I like it.  As stated in my title, it's a free digi.  You can find it here at the Digital Two for Tuesday blog.  There are two pretty flower images in that post, both embroidery designs.  This one had a vertical orientation, but by flipping it horizontally and dropping it off the side it made the smaller image appear to be in the background.  You'd never know this was a 1953 image.  It looks very current to me.

I added a double row of stitching and some silver cord.  A Stampin' Up sentiment.  Lots of white space.  I printed on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White and colored with Copic markers.  That's all, folks!  Hoping for better stamping times coming up.  I'd like to get ahead on my card needs before summer calls me away.  Have a happy weekend!

Purple Poppies

Just one last card before the weekend, and I hope it will leave you with pleasant dreams of warm weather and sunshine.

Isn't this a pretty poppies stamp?  Well, you can't buy it, but you can have it for free.  If you like to color and don't mind digital stamps there are all kinds to choose from at Digital Two for Tuesday.  Now, when you first click on the blog you may think it's not your thing, unless you're a very vintage-minded stamper.  I don't do much vintage these days, but many of the images Cora has shared do not appear vintage at all.  This one, for instance, could pass for a brand new stamp.

Colored with Copics and popped up on a sanded Core'dinations card base, some pretty iridescent sequins added... where's the vintage?  In fact, Cora found these poppies in a 1953 Jane Snead embroidery design booklet.  I still say, "where's the vintage?"  Does that mean I'm vintage, too?

If you'd like to have these poppies to color one of these days, you can find them and more right here.  Click to open the image in a light box, then right click and save.  These Jane Snead images are some of my favorites.    To see more of the pretty Jane Snead flower designs, click here and scroll down.  There are many I've colored in the past and many more I'd like to color in the future.

I've been following Cora on Digital Two for Tuesday for years.  It's a hugely selfless thing she does, searching out these images and cleaning them up for us to use.  Picking out one of her many vintage images and giving it a new look is a treat I haven't given myself for a while, but since I've been coloring so much lately...  I plan to do more.

That said, I have some brand new stamps I'll be spending time with, as well, so I'll be back next week if stamping continues to happen.  See you then!