Comforting Others in Times of Sorrow

Hello friends,

This is not the kind of card making one likes to do during the Christmas season.  Sadly, my church needed some sympathy cards, and one for me, too, as a dear member of our church family just passed on.  Rather than purchasing store-bought cards, my church orders from me and then donates a sum for each card to my church library ministry account. Making greeting cards for my church is a wonderful way to make my library budget stretch just a bit further and also a way to serve my church family.  So, I just thought why not share with you all what I've been busy doing lately.  I pray that these cards will in some small way show love and caring thoughts to the deceased sweet family.

Blessings,
Annie

Remember These - Glass Slide Mailers?

Class time is coming around next week so I'm busy getting card ideas and kits together.  A while back I found a couple of packages of glass slide mailer folders that I had stashed away.  What a surprise - had forgotten that I even had them.  I used to do a lot of altered art but had really gotten away from it.  So I thought why not put these to use in a card - but what do I do, how do I go about it!  I didn't find much of anything to give me inspiration, actually nothing at all, so this is a totally "winging it" card.  And using Graphic 45 paper is always awesome!

 The red base card opens so you can add a Christmas sentiment inside.  Hope you like it.

Blessings,
Annie

Glass Slide Mailer Card

1.  Fold the card base and round the corners; lay aside.

2.  Emboss the green card stock with Elegant Dots; attach to card base; lay aside.

3.  Slide mailer – color all edges with the black marker.  On the inside color the center of the slider so that the cardboard won’t show after you attach the decorative paper; set aside.

4.  From the green dots paper, cut one panel to fit inside the glass slide pocket; glue or tape in place.

5.  With the red plaid paper, cut three panels – 1 ½ x 3 ¾ inches.

6.  With one of the red plaid paper panels, cut out the center of it using the smallest die from the A2 Matting Basics A.  Attach this panel over the glass slide pocket.

7.  Attach the other two panels to front and on the left inside the slide mailer.  You may need to trim a bit.

 8.  Cut out three ephemera from the G45 paper.  Tape or glue one to the front, one to the left inside, and mount one in the pocket on the right.

9.  Using Glossy Essentials to attach the slide mailer to the center of the embossed paper and the red Dew Drops to each of the four corners of the embossed panel.

 Supplies:

Black permanent ink marker (slanted tip)
One rubber glove (for use with the black marker)
Mounting Tape
Pencil
Scissors
Glue bottle or pen
Glossy Accents
Double-stick tape or tape runner
Corner rounder punch
Paper trimmer
Four red Dew Drops (or similar item)
One slider mailer
Two designs of complementary decorative paper (I used G45 Christmas paper – small red plaid and green dots)
A quarter sheet of green card stock
8 ½ x 5 ½ inches red card stock for card base, folded
Stampin’ Up embossing folder – Elegant Dots
Spellbinders Dies – Resplendent Rectangles; and A2 Matting Basics A

Out of Africa

Card making today was a birthday card for my pastor, who just made a mission trip to Uganda, Africa . . . which gave me just a perfect time to use some of my African design stamps.  More importantly, of course, was the team's opportunity to minister to so many children at the orphanages. Being inspired by a card that I saw on Pinterest at Cards by Teresa, I also got to use a technique that I haven't used in a long, long time. 

I started by cutting a 3 1/2 inch circle from a piece of scrap card stock to make a mask.  Next I cut and folded an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch white card base.  After taping the mask in place, with Distress Ink Squeezed lemonade, I sponged the entire circle. Then while leaving a bright spot in the middle, I sponged around it with Distress Ink Dried Marigold.  I finished the outside edge of the circle with Distress Ink Ripe Persimmon. 

Rather than using a solid image stamp, I chose to us an open image for an entirely different effect.  The image was stamped with Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black.  For a final touch I used foam tape to mount the sentiment.  The dotted paper you see behind the card actually isn't part of the card -- just used to make the white card stand out. 

Wishing you wonderful hours of stamping!

Annie

Color Wash Backgrounds

Good afternoon, my paper crafting friends,

As often happens in early spring, I start cleaning out the cupboards and storage places.  And, almost always, I find something that I haven't used for a very long time.  The found object is the inspiration for these cards and this blog post.  Long before spray washes were so popular, Stamp Zia (Zana Clark) had created a color wash that was packaged in little bottles - without a spray nozzle.  I used them a time or two and then put them on the shelf.  Sound familiar?  Well, needless to say, my cleaning cupboards quickly came to a halt and I sat down and started playing with my "new" old toys.  Here are a couple of the final results.

Stamp Zia is now out of business, but Ranger has wonderful color washes, (with nozzles LOL).
The Ranger craft mat is perfect for this technique.  After spreading it out, I poured onto it a drop of three colors, followed by misting it with water.  Next, take a quarter sheet of white water color paper and lightly touch the ink with it, moving around to cover the whole paper.  You can blot off the extra water or just leave it.  Use a heat gun to dry both sides of the paper - it will curl then flatten out.  Once dry, I used a small paint brush to randomly brush on Pearl EX powder.  I used colors to match my color wash colors, but any complementing color should look good. I used Memories black dye ink to stamp the images.  On the green card, Clear Wink of Stella was brushed onto the black flowers and leaves.

The measurements for the blue card are:
8 1/2 x 5 1/2
Score at 2 1/8 inches and 4 1/4 inches.

May you have a gloriously blessed day!
Annie

Another Fun Class

Hello stampers and paper crafters,

At my class last week, I took us back to stamping images for our cards - just taking a little break from the die cuts except for the little bird, and also used embossing powder.  It was really fun to stamp and cut out, and actually be involved with making the images for our cards.  I'm not giving up die cuts by any means, but stamping was a creative boost that I needed.  Here are the three cards that we made.

This card is actually four layered panels on the card base - starting with the top panel it is a white panel, striped paned, white panel again, and polka dot panel.  I think it would make a great masculine card.  The die cut bird was mounted over the stamped leaf branch.

For this card I downloaded a music background from Pinterest.  You can find it on my Pinterest board:  Ann Lancaster - Clip Art.  I stamped the Dahlia two times on pale salmon card stock and embossed with white embossing powder.  They were colored with Copic Chrome Orange #YR04 and shaded with a bit of Light Suntan #E13.  I cut out the center petals of the second image and mounted it over the whole dahlia piece.  The leaves were also stamped and cut out - stamped with Distress Pine Needles and sponged with Distress Evergreen Bough.  The music panel was embossed with a wood grain embossing folder and edged with Evergreen Bough.

On this card I used handmade paper for the background panel.  On the brown rectangle panel I used Scrapbook Adhesives E-Z Runner White, placing three strips of the tape and covering with glitter.  It holds the glitter wonderfully and you don't even have to press the glitter down - just sprinkle on and shake off.  To make the jewels match the olive green layered panel, I used a circle hand punch, attached the punch outs in place, and then attached the jewels over them.  This is a great way to make jewels match your color scheme.

Well, I hope you picked up a few handy tips for your card making.  Have a great time creating!

Blessings,
Annie

Cold Shot

Cold shot is a term used by snipers.  You make the shot without a practice shot first.  Chief Park Ranger Griffin McCray of Gettysburg National Military Park knows all about cold shots, as he was formerly a SWAT team sniper.  Therefore, when Griffin was called to a crime scene in the park at Gettysburg, along with Finley Scott, a forensic anthropologist, they were able to determine that an expert sniper killed the victim.  Also called into the case are two of McCray’s three best friends from college days – Declan Grey an FBI agent and Parker Mitchell a crime scene analyst.  However, the third friend, Luke McCray, brother of Griffin McCray, had mysteriously disappeared after the tragic death of his and Griffin’s sister.  Their world – and their friendships – crumbled.  Each of the group realized that if they were going to be able to work together and solve this case, they were going to have to confront the dark days of the past.  Little did they know that their investigation would lead them to the mysterious disappearance of Luke.

The plot of this story has a lot going for it.  I really liked the action and suspense and how the author led us through the collection of clues and tied them together. What I did not like is the author’s weak attempt to add to the story a budding romance between Griffin and Finley.  I mean how could this woman, Finley, – all at the same time – 1. be fearfully shaking in her boots,  and  2. so overcome by Griffin’s closeness and manliness that she could hardly breathe from the excitement of standing next to him?  These romantic notions seemed to be randomly thrown in and did not add anything of merit to the story.  It was the same with references to God and faith – just thrown in so it could be called a Christian fiction book.  Not!

Bethany House Publishers provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

A Special Valentine Card

Hello again, friends!

I had a special request from my pastor to make a valentine card for his wife.  Of course, I said yes, but, me oh my, could I do justice for the occasion.  I wanted to make something that was feminine and a bit elegant. Thankfully, once I got started it all fell into place.  I was happy with the result, Pastor was happy, and hopefully Pastor's wife will be, too.

Here is what I used:  background panel - Sizzix Textured Impressions Dots & Flowers Set;

layered motif:  Spellbinders Shapeabilities Lacy Doily Motifs; hearts:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Hearts.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Annie

Hearts-a-Plenty

Hello again friends,

I just got back from the gym and need to take a little rest break.  So I thought what better time than now to enter my next blog post showcasing two of the cards we made at my last class.

The first card is a case from Pinterest. I couldn't resist because I'm just smitten with the Impression Obsession Heart Flourish.  I also loved those little tiny flowers, made with the Impression Obsession dies Spiral Flowers and Leaf Cluster.  To make it suit my fancy, I used a different border punch (Stampin' Up hearts border) and added red card stock under the punched border.  I also decorated the inside of the card by adding red strips to both inside panels and decorated them with the punched out white hearts created by the border punch.  A big thank you goes to Kittie Caracciolo for inspiring me to create this card.

 This second card has kind of an old-fashioned look which I love.  The ribbon overlaying the decorative paper (which has raised embossing on it) has an embroidered flower design with sequins attached.  Not sure how well it shows up in the picture but it's really pretty.  It originally was a wired ribbon, but I removed the wire to make it lay more smoothly.  To hold it in place, I used 1/8" Red Line Tape (can use Score Tape), on both sides of the ribbon and over to the back side at top and bottom.

I die cut the "love" heart from red card stock using the Savvy Die Love Heart #10061 and backed it with white card stock.  For the final touch, I punched two sizes of small hearts and then added white floss to one of the larger ones.  All of the hearts are adhered with mounting tape.

Well, that's it for today.  Thanks for checking out this post!

Blessings,
Annie

Glaze Background Technique

Hello again!

Today I have a technique to tell you about that is new to me.  I've done this technique before using alcohol inks and distress inks  and also Luna Lights.  But this time I used Golden Glaze, an artist medium.  I normally use it on pages when I'm making an altered book.  The product I used is a slow-drying, water-based acrylic with a satin finish; colors - Violet Earth, Sea Foam Green, and Fresco Cream.

On a piece of grey card stock, I randomly poured about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of each color.  Using a Tsukineko Squeegee (a credit card is a substitute), I smoothed the colors over the card stock, lightly blending as I covered the whole panel.  You may need to add a bit more of one color or another, to your liking.  Keep in mind to not over blend or your colors will become muddied.  Lay aside to dry or if the piece is not too damp, you can dry with your heat gun.  Next, I lightly sponged Memories White Dye ink over the entire panel.

Once dry, I embossed it with Tim Holtz wood grain embossing folder.  The leaves were made using Impression Obsession Leaves die set.  Give it a try and let me know if you liked the technique!

Blessings,
Annie

Fun With TeePee Cards

A couple of my stamping friends introduced me to the TeePee card a few months ago.  This is something I have wanted to try since then but just no available time.  So after sitting on the back burner for a while, I finally got one made.  I also was shown a great video with easy-to-follow directions.  In case you haven't seen this particular video, I'm passing the link on to you.  My thanks to Debbie at The Crafty Pad Designs.  Here's my version of the card:

Hope you'll have some fun with this.  Until next time!

Blessings,
Ann

Fold-Back Flap Card

Good morning, blogging friends,
It is no surprise I have had hearts on my mind recently.  All the stores have their Valentine's Day displays up and hearts are everywhere.  But I was thinking hearts I don't want to just use my heart supplies for one event during the year.  Why not work them into any kind of occasion card? So with this in mind, this card was created:

It's a very quick and simple card.  Below are a few instructions to get you started.

Fold Back Flaps Card

5 ½ x 4 ¼ card base ( 8 ½ x 5 ½ )

5 ¼ x 4 Doublesided DP panel, BoBunny A Gift of Love

2 ½ x 2 ½ piece of Brown card stock

Spellbinders Nestibilities Classic Hearts S4-136

2 sizes of Cherry Blossom Punch or any flower punch (small and medium)

Brown Brad

Memories Baby Pink Ink Pad

Distress Walnut Stain Ink Pad

Sentiment from Impression Obsession, C8560 Loving Heart

On the DP panel on the right side edge, measure 2 5/8" down from the top.

Measure again 2 5/8" down from the top, only this time place the dot 2” to the left of the first dot.

Cut the paper between the 2 dots; that would be 2 inches from the right side.

Score from each of the right side corners to the center dot and then fold back the triangle flaps.

Lightly distress the edges of the pink flowers with the Memories Baby Pink Ink Pad.  Round up/mold the petals.

Using a brown brad to hold them together, assemble the 2 flower pieces, the brown heart, and the DP panel together.

Adhere the DP panel to the card base.

Stamp a sentiment in the opening between the flaps.

Hope you like the card and want to make one.  Blessings,

Annie