Category: Online Card Classes

One of my goals this year is to try to not make everything complicated. I have a tendency to overthink/overanalyze. To that end, I have been making more cards with the same mindset one would apply to practicing the piano. In other words, every card I make doesn’t have to be the next best thing. Sometimes you just need to practice a piece of music over and over. 🙂

So today, I’m revisiting a card I made in July during the “Stretch Your Stamps” Online Card class. (A fabulous class by the way!)

Here’s the original card.

And here’s my remake, inspired by the fact that it’s a sunny day in the PNW and spring is around the corner!

The Die-Namics die has two sizes of hexagons. I used the larger one as a mat for the patterned paper as I thought that helped add some definition to the paper against the kraft background.

Supplies: Echo Park “Everyday Eclectic” paper; other “Echo Park” collection paper; Twinery twine; Copics: Y21, BG11, BG53 RV25, RV29, YG13

I’m continuing to work my way back through cards shown in the Online Card Classes courses. Today, I’m sharing a card I created based on one of Jennifer McGuire’s cards from the Online Card Classes Inspiration Showcase course in which the large background stamp is “inked” with paint.

 

The card background is the same “Silhouette Grasses” stamp stamped with Versamark and clear embossed. Stamping with paint is easy, and I really enjoy the results! The butterflies were die cut from white cardstock inked with soft stone shadow ink.

I’ve still got the concept of “home” on my mind as a result of the map course I’m taking (which I mentioned in this post). For this home-themed card, I was inspired by a card created by Jennifer McGuire for the Online Card Classes Summer Cards course. I’ve had the “Whimsical House” stamp set for awhile but have never used it before.

 

As you can see, I’m using the same design (from Jennifer McGuire) as in some of the other cards I posted last week. It’s a great design to use as I try out techniques!

I decided to make another card with the same design that I showed in this post. For this card, I created the panel with a technique shown in the Online Card Classes Inspiration Showcase course.

 

When I took the Inspiration Showcase course, I was fairly new to cardmaking and stamping, so I’ve been revisiting the techniques taught in the course. The background stamp was “inked” with the acrylic paint dabber. After the paint dried, I added distress inks in layers, beginning with the wild honey, followed by the spiced marmalade, and finally with the persimmon.

I’ve been decluttering and organizing over the past several days – craft supplies and magazines for the most part (a long overdue task). What I haven’t been doing is playing much with stamps!

So today was a “get back into the saddle” day for cardmaking. I pulled out my Online Card Classes Kick Start course notebook, which I finally put together yesterday with all the class printouts, and turned to a lovely card by Jennifer McGuire. In fact, in the lesson, she shows five variations of this same design.

 

The background was stamped first with white ink and then again with green for a shadow effect. The next time I make a card like this, I’ll use a background stamp that lays down a little more ink as I think that would be a bit more effective. I dry embossed the butterfly to give it a bit more texture and dimension on the page.