Hi all! Gosh, I’m glad it’s Friday. Aren’t you? I even had a short work week. I’m just ready to catch up on some sleep this weekend. :)
I’ve noticed that I buy certain types of stamp sets because I think they’re so SO cute and then never use them. Usually they’re the type with a little character on them or the ones that require coloring with inks or markers or whatever. Not sure why I don’t use these as often. Hmm. Anyway, this little stamp set by Hero Arts, Wonderful Birthday, has been patiently waiting to be used and this week I finally broke it out.
Stamping on Patterned Paper
I stamped the main balloon on some patterned paper. I did this on last week’s Finally Friday card with the sentiment as well. When you stamp onto patterned paper you have to be super careful about not picking a busy pattern, especially when you’ll be stamping words. The basic rule is this: one of the two elements (either the paper or the stamp) needs to be less dominant. So, you could have a busy pattern like small flowers and then stamp a solid heart. That would work. Or, you could take a subtle striped patterned paper and stamp a detailed flower. One or the other, never both.
Also, you need a contrasting color for the stamped image. In both my examples, I used white embossing. The white stands out on the pattern. Embossing really helps with this because you can get a strong, clean contrasted image.
Anyway, for the rest of today’s card, I used a bunch of Hero Arts chalk inks (Punch, Cerulean, and Grass) and paper from Cosmo Cricket’s Garden Variety 6×6 pad. :)
CHALLENGE: Create either a birthday card, or stamp onto patterned paper. Upload your creation to the TwoPeas gallery and your card will appear at the bottom of this week’s Finally Friday page!
I’m checking in from San Antonio, Texas this morning. :) We arrived early EARLY this morning (barely 6 hours ago). We had quite the adventure getting our rental car and finding our hotel for the night. Apparently, Alamo Rent A Car is remodeling their location at the San Antonio airport. The shuttle dropped us (and about 7 other people) off at the lot and there were no cars. Um… kind of need one. So we waited. And waited.
Finally a couple of the workers brought some cars around. We could tell the workers were not expecting so many people all at once and it was so disorganized because of the remodel. They had no idea what to do with us.
I stood there next to my sister-in-law and mom and eventually approached one of the attendants. “So… none of these cars are the inexpensive standard 4-door I reserved.”
The lady in the booth just said, “Take whatever car you want. Doesn’t matter.”
Really? Okay. We drove out in a fully loaded 2010 Chysler 300. Not bad! However, then we drove around in circles looking for our hotel thanks to a faulty GPS. We eventually found the hotel on our own. :)
Anyhow, enough rambling (I’m super tired… I probably won’t remember posting this later! LOL!)…
For this week’s card, I decided to try out a bit of hybrid cardmaking. Hybrid means that it’s a mix of digital and paper. In this case, I printed out the cloud and flowers (from this kit by Holly Brook Jones) and the blue gingham patterned paper (from a Jen Martakis kit). Then I cut them out and combined it with cardstock, traditional patterned paper from Making Memories, a stamp from Hero Arts, and a button.
Also, in the video, you’ll see how you can use a regular word processing program like Microsoft Word to open and print digital elements.
CHALLENGE: Create a hybrid card. Upload your creation to the Two Peas gallery and select this Finally Friday challenge and your card will appear below on this week’s Finally Friday page.
Before I started creating this week’s Finally Friday card, I sat at my craft desk and sifted through products that I wanted to use. I was envisioning bright colors, possibly hot pink, lime green, and chocolate. But when I saw this muted, pastel combination of products, it intrigued me even more. Just goes to show that it’s best to “go with the flow” and design from your gut. :)
Oh, and BTW, the Corner Chomper is back in stock at TwoPeas! I know a few of you are still looking for it. :)
CHALLENGE: Create a card with a pastel color palette. Have fun with it! Simply upload a creation for this challenge to the TwoPeas gallery, select this Finally Friday video when you upload your image, and your creation will be linked up the challenge and appear at the bottom of this week’s Finally Friday page.
Valentine’s Day is just over two weeks away, so this is a perfect time to make some mini cards (yes, another one!). I love the 3×3 card size because you can get 8 cards out of one sheet of 12×12 cardstock. Economical and super tiny cute. :)
CHALLENGE: Create a small/mini card. Simply upload a creation for this challenge to the TwoPeas gallery, select this Finally Friday video when you upload your image, and your creation will be linked up the challenge and appear at the bottom of this week’s Finally Friday page.
For this week’s Finally Friday card, I wanted to do two things: use Origins patterned papers from BasicGrey, and try cutting an intricate design with my Cricut (more on that in a entry later today). For the intricate design, I chose one of the more loopy and thin designs from the Card Words Designer Cuts digital kit. Anyhow, the pairing of the Origins paper and a white sentiment was perfect!
I decided to use a black card base because I wanted the white sentiment to stand out even more. TIP for using black cardstock: Black cardstock can look very flat and boring. Create interest by adding a texture with embossing (heated or dry). Sometimes you can also make it more interesting with a different shape of card. I did this with clear embossing the Designer Woodgrain stamp from Hero Arts.
CHALLENGE: Create a card using black cardstock, or create a thank you card. :) Simply upload a creation for this challenge to the TwoPeas gallery, select this Finally Friday video when you upload your image, and your creation will be linked up the challenge and appear at the bottom of the FF page.
