Sympathy cards

I hate making sympathy cards, and these last couple were the hardest ones yet. a really good friend of mine passed away suddenly at age 34 last week, and every time I sat down to make a card I started crying. This card is for my Dad and his wife, it took me hours to be able to actually sit down in my craft room without bawling like a baby.

My Grams was such an amazing lady. I see so much of her in me, and I can only hope to be 1/2 as great as she was. We were always close, even when I was a very young child, I loved spending time with her. Some of my favorite memories growing up are at her place and hanging out with her. I'm so glad I was able to move her out here with me for these last few years. For quite a while she lived just down the street, and we would go over often, usually just to hang out and chat, maybe play a few card games. She taught my son how to play connect 4 and Chinese Checkers, 2 of his favorite games. I loved taking the 2 of them to the park around the corner. She loved to watch him, and he loved to show off for her. I am heartbroken that my son will slowly forget how wonderful she really was until she is just someone he remembers from photographs.

Here they are last summer. She was 88 and on a merry-go-round, on a horse too, not just the bench. We took her to the local amusement park, and she had so much fun. Sevastian had the time of his life getting her on rides and showing her all the best rides. She went on way more than I normally do. I'm so glad they got to have that memory together.


I always knew somewhere in the back of my head that this day would come, but it never seemed real. I just thought she would always be here, or at least for a lot longer. My great grandma lived until 106, and I was in my 20's. I really hoped my son would have his GG around that long.

I've babbled long enough, here is the card I made in remembrance of her. She used to paint when she was younger, and she loved trees and lakes.


I've made a photo tutorial for this card, so I'll get that up sometime in the next couple of days. I leave tomorrow for Saskatchewan and a couple funerals. Once I get back and get back into the swing of things I promise I'll get more cards and scrapbook pages up on here. I've been making a Heritage Album for a while now, and I really want to get it done. I had hoped to give it to GG at Christmas, but now it will be for my son.

Thank you all for your kind emails, I really appreciate all the thoughts and prayers.

mountains

For those of you that don't know, I live in Calgary, Alberta, and while I love living here, there are some things I wish were different. Like heat, we don't get really hot in the summer, which is kind of nice, but when it comes to gardening, esp vegetable gardening, it's not the best. Last year was unusually cold all summer, so I never did get much from my garden. When the frost killed my garden last year my zucchini's were only as big as my pointer finger. While this year has been better so far, it's not been really hot enough yet to get a good garden going. I've only had a handful of peas, bean, strawberries, and raspberries so far. The rest of the garden is growing, but I probably won't get a lot from it again this year. What does that have to do with stamping? Well it makes me think about how cool it has been, and that it's like an Arizona winter basically which inspired this snow themed card.

I love using my brayer, it never fails to create beautiful cards, super fast. I made a moon mask by punching out a 1 1/4" circle from a post it note, and to create the look of snow covered hills I ripped post it notes to the right shape and then sponged the blue slightly over the edge. To do this you will want to start on the post it note and rub in a circular pattern until you just barely rub onto your cardstock. Otherwise you can end up with too much color, or a big blob by accident.



Stamps: Extreme Snowboard, Lovely as a Tree
Inks: StazOn Black, Bashful Blue
Paper: Whisper White, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy
Misc: Platinum Shimmer Paint, Post-it Notes, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Sponges

To create all the wonderful shimmer on the card I made what I call Shimmer Mist. You take several drops of shimmer paint and add rubbing alcohol (70% works best) in a spray bottle. Then you can spray over your cards lightly. If you want a lot of shimmer like here, sometimes you will need to add the shimmer in layers so your card does not get too wet. The alcohol dries quickly, but can still warp your paper or cardstock if it gets too wet.

Hopefully the weather heats up so my garden will start growing better, and so I can be inspired to create some non winter cards and scrapbook layouts.

Oh Christmas Tree....

I love Christmas trees, they look so pretty, and the real ones smell so nice too. I have tons of Christmas stamps that have trees in them too. I actually cased myself with this card. Last year I stamped Dasher where I stamped this tree. I think the Snow Swirled Tree looks amazing with the retired Bride Specialty paper. I used my brayer to ink over the paper with Elegant Eggplant ink, and then took a tissue and wiped the ink off to reveal the white swirls. The rhinestones are the perfect touch to finish this card off.



Stamps: Many Merry Messages, Snow Swirled
Inks: Elegant Eggplant
Papers: Brushed Silver, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Bride DSP (retired)
Misc: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Elegant Eggplant Rick Rack (retired), Brayer, Rhinestones

Brayer Tutorial

I have had a lot of requests to do a video showing how to do the gradation technique and I finally got some free time that was also quiet. I really do love using my brayer and I hope this little tutorial will show you all how easy it is to use. I will make another soon that show the whole making of a card with a brayer, but I wanted to give you all the tips and basic know-how so you could start playing with yours.



Stamps: none
Inks: Marina Mist
Paper: Whisper White
Misc: Brayer, Medium Window Sheet

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or email me and I will do my best to help you out.

it's the last one for a while....

... I swear!! If you are sick of brayer cards, this is the last one for a while. I have a few other cards to show you soon, but I wanted to make sure they would have arrived before I posted them on here. This is the last from my last brayer basics class. It is just a very simple card, but I love it for masculine birthday cards.



Stamps: Inspired by Nature
Inks: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Basic Gray
Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, DSP (retired)
Misc: Horizontal Slot Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Brayer, Sponge Daubers

I am off to bed, I have to get up early to finish getting paper cut and ready for my classes this weekend. Then I have another meeting with the healthy homes people to do another home visit. I love this program, it really helps you to learn all the things you in your own home can do to help the environment and save money. The visit tomorrow is all about food and sustainable choices. I have learned a lot so far, and I really love all the new cleaning products that are 'green' and are also better cleaners.

If you are in the Calgary Area, I have one spot left for Monday night's class, it is from 6-9pm at my place, email me if you are interested.

I love my Brayer

I know I have been showing you all a lot of different brayer cards lately, but I really do love using my brayer. Whenever I need to make a quick card I grab my brayer. This is very similar to one we did for my brayer basics class. I had to make a card very last minute (I almost forgot a birthday and needed to mail it asap) so I grabbed my brayer and whipped this card up. It took me literally less than 8 minutes to make the whole card and get it signed and in the mail. This uses the gradation and masking techniques.


Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Occasional Quotes (level 3 hostess set), Sanded
Inks: Not quite Navy, Basic Black
Paper: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Basic Black, Night of Navy
Misc: 1" Circle Punch, Signo White Gel Pen

Remember the 80's??

I normally choose not to remember the 80's, but that is what this background technique reminds me of. I cased this from linda on SCS, but changed a little bit and added some extra details like the punched out stars. I also misted the DSP with some water and crumpled it a couple times, I wanted the paper to look quite distressed, and ripped. I then sponged the edges with basic gray ink. This is another card from my most recent Brayer Basics class. It is a lot of fun to make.


Stamps: Extreme Guitar, Starring You (retired)
Inks: Basic Gray, Sage Shadow (retired)
Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sage Shadow (retired) and Nouveau Chic DSP (retired)
Misc: Star Designer Brads (retired), Brayer, Star Punch (retired), Sponge Daubers, Stampin' Dimensionals,

Brayered Night Sky

I really love how simple it is to create a simple, yet beautiful background using a brayer. More and more the brayer is becoming my tool of choice when I want to create a simple easy and fast card.



Stamps: Lovely as a Tree
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black
Paper: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant
Misc: White Gel Pen, Brayer, Post it note (for masking), Black Marker

emboss resist

I really do love trying out new techniques, and this is such a fun one, and there are so many different looks from it. This is actually a sample from one of my brayer classes. We had a lot of fun those nights.


you can see the clear embossing powder here
and here you can see the DSP showing through the clear embossing powder.
I highly recommend using an embossing buddy before you ink your paper with the Versa Mark, I forgot to do it here, so there was some leftover embossing powder, and my design is not as crisp as it could be.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Medallion
Inks: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Papers: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, patterns DSP in Bashful Blue
Misc: Brayer, Half Back Pearls, Hodgepodge Hardware, 1/4" Night of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Versa Mark, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun

I need to run, I will have people here soon for my open house, and I still have to eat.

Upcoming Classes and Open Houses

MY UPCOMING CLASSES:

I am offering new classes. The first is a class on sponging and brayering basics, and the second is a watercoloring class. I have several dates for each, so please check my website for info on them. http://inkcrediblecreations.stampinup.net

Included in the sponging and brayering class is 6 sponges to get you started as well as a technique sheet to take home so you can re-create the cards again and again. You will make 6 cards with the techniques you will learn. Cost is $30.00 If you bring a friend you both will save $5. Deadline for registering is February 4th.

Included in the watercoloring class is a blender pen as well as a technique sheet to take home so you can re-create the cards again and again. You will learn 8 different ways to watercolor and will take home 8 new cards. Cost is $30.00 If you bring a friend you both save $5. Deadline for registering is March 4th.

Open House info:

ATTEND any of my FREE JANUARY OPEN HOUSES for your chance to create make n' takes using our new Clear Mount stamps, New Punches, Big Shot dies & more. Stop by anytime and bring a friend for more fun and more chances to be entered into the door prize. I will be demonstrating how to use and assemble the new clear mount stamps as well as My Digital Studio.
Jan 22nd, 1-7pm
Jan 23rd, 1-9pm
Jan 24th 1-7pm
RSVP by Jan 19th.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'

I love brayering

If that is even a word...lol. It took me a long time to start to play with my brayer, and while I am still no where near as good as some people are I love to use it to create quick and simple cards. This one I did a while back for a challenge to use only the very basics of card making. Cardstock or paper and ink. I sort of expanded that by using the brayer, but I figured since it was not an actual embellishment of any kind, that it was ok. I also love that this card took me only about 4 minutes to make, including cutting all the cardstock, and putting it all together. Normally my cards are about 10 minute cards, since I am very particular about placement, making sure everything is exactly lined up and all that. I sometimes hate that I am so picky about that, but in the long run, it always looks great, so I guess that is the reward. This card is called 'broken flowers' since the petals go downwards I can not convince my son that they actually grow like this. I hope you like it.


Until next time, Happy Scrappin'