TAC Savvy Projects for People on the Go

Guest Designer Debra Miller and A Card A Day in the Month of May

It’s Sunday, May 1^st and “A Card A Day in the Month of May” is now underway!   A whole month of new ideas using sketches, plus every day is a blog hop.  So we hope you will pull out your favorite TAC stamp sets and play along during May. 

Sketch 1 is the featured sketch this week (May 1 – 7).  I love sketches – it is really quite amazing to see how each designer “interprets”  the basic elements drawn.  Feel free to rotate the sketch, the dimensions are a suggestion, layer if you like and squares can be rectangles, circles, oval etc… 

My card today follows the sketch quite literally.  I used "Hope Perches" a Level B hostess set, papers are Winchester SWIC and cardstock.  The image is colored with Copic Markers.  I sponged the edges with Cognac and Burnt Umber Palette ink. The center background is pastel blue chalk.

 
This second card is still quite literal, however I rounded some corners and added a few brads and floss. And of course, the color palette is completely different.

  
Supplies: Stamp set "Good Things"; Papers Cha Cha SWIC, Bazzill Dark Sky, Beeswax, Berrylicious; Black Scrappers Floss, Silver Brads, Copic Markers.

Hope you enjoy Day 1 of "A Card a Day in the Month of May".  Please come back tomorrow to see more cards using this same sketch!

Blessings,

Deb

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Going Green with Christine Pennington

Oh my word, I sure had loads of fun with all my crap I tend to hoard!  I have a sickness, I look at every empty container, box, scrap, etc wondering if I can make a card with it.  I have a box full of goodies just waiting to be re-cycled, re-purposed, re-used and/or re-designed! 

My first card was a random idea I came up with while at work. {sssh!} I brought in bagels to share and I just could not part with the bag they came in or the coffee sleeve on my coffee cup, so I cut the handles off the bag and then went to work by making some fun paper flowers. The stems are made from the handles. {smiles}. Stamp set: Be Still.

 
Next up, is a really beautiful card IRL.  I, of course, added another paper flower I made from the re-cycled bagel bag. The black strip is a scrap piece of card stock, that I pleated using my Scor-pal!  Stamp set: Hope Perches {Hostess Level B Set}.  Copic Colors: B00,B02, E59, G82, G94, YR24

To make my next project, I used an old cd to make a clock.  For fun, I took the photo in Black and White. Hubs asked if I would make him one {smiles}.  Stamp Set: Happily Grateful. Did, you notice my pretty blue butterfly I added using Picnik? {smiles}

The last project I have for you today is a re-purposed family-sized pickle jar!  I decided to make a "butterfly keeper".  What would a post from Christine be without a butterfly somewhere?  LOL It was really hard to take photos of it..sorry for some of the blurs in some parts of the photos!

Anyhew, I bought some plastic grass and the awesome speckled eggs from Hobby Lobby, they look like real eggs and not like the regular plastic eggs. The orange butterfly is hanging from the lid w/fishing line. This jar is totally awesome in person! Stamp sets: Butterfly Swirls & Want to Fly  Copic colors: BG05, BG09, YR15, YR18

So there you have it...Go Crazy Green with me, 

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My Retiform Cards for the Retiform Blog Hop

 

So this is my first RETIFORM card in YEARS!  It took me a LONG time to finish ~ I started it months ago and wrapped it up months later.  {smiles}  I knew there wasn't a hurry so it got set on the back-burner for quite some time.

I wanted to use this set (when I started this card it was football season) and make a card with our school colors which are Texas Orange and Black!  YUM!  I decided to add in some gray because it goes with everything right!

I hadn't intended on stamping in every box around my image but I forgot what I was doing and before I knew it ~ almost every inch of this card had 'KICK OFF' stamped on it somewhere.  Oh well.  I don't think it's terribly awful!

 

I really like adding layers on top of the RETIFORM.  I don't know why but I need a more distinct focal point.  So I added one and applied it to my card with pop dots.

 

Here are the inks I used ~ Tangelo, Potters Clay, London Fog and Tuxedo Black Memento Inks.  I also used these foam make-up sponges to get a smoother finish.

 

So ~ I TOTALLY forgot I had already made a RETIFORM card and prepared this blog post ... and it was only like 2 days ago I did this!  Oh my!  LOL!

So ~ I thought I needed to get a RETIFORM card made because I hadn't crossed if off my list yet.  I have 2 more cards that I was going to feature but you can't see the RETIFORM in them so I'm posting them later.  Here is the card I created and following is how I got to this point!

 

So ~ time to get started.  I wanted my card to look as good as this one by Heather Scott.  So I placed it on an easel in front of my workspace.  My inspiration piece:

 

Then I decided to try something I've NEVER done before.  I pulled out my cardstock and looked at palette's that I wanted to work with.  Then I looked for ink to match.

 

 

 
I cleaned up my work area and surrounded myself with the supplies I was using.  I opened up my Inspiration Book so that my main stamp set was in front of me.  WOW!  Look at me go!

 

 

I gathered up some scratch paper, ripped it up and put some glue marker on the back of it to try and hold it in place while I worked.

 
I am using these makeup sponges because all of my hydra sponges are designated for other colors and I don't have any others on hand. 

 

 

 

My paper slipped off so I stopped and called the pink good!

 

 
Yep.  It's about now that I realize I've done it wrong.  Oh well.  As tempted as I am to start over I'm not going to.  I can make this work! 

Notice on Heather's card that she has TWO really crisp lines for the ripped cardstock.  I don't.  Saddums.

 

 

 
I wanted to show you which adhesive I use for this tiny frame.  I LOVE this Tombow Mono Glue!  LOVE IT!

 
I used Copic Markers R11 and R20 to color in my bird.  And then added more color and stamping.

NOTE:  The flat tone of my bird.  Look specifically at its eye ...

 

I later took a brown marker and started to add some dimension myself.

 

I think this card may have looked better had I left off the 'hope perches in my soul' HOWEVER that was one of the parts I just COULDN'T leave off!  This girls soul needs HOPE perched in it!

 
So here's my card next to the masterpiece.  You notice I placed my watermark signature under the masterpiece!  Ok ~ it really did look best there.  It is funny though!

Heather's card is certainly more striking and one of the reasons is because of her color palette.  She is working with two strong colors and next to each other they are BAM!  PERFECT colors for her card and her images.  The entire package Heather selected works well together! 

I choose two colors that to me read more feminine, soft, delicate and worked sweetly with the images I had chosen.  These are all details that set the tone for the final result.

 

Guess what ... I didn't use ... Glossy Accents ... even though Heather did!

 

Here you can really see the brown I added to the image.

 

I also decided to emboss on a couple of layers because the card seemed so one dimensional to me.  Now it's busier than I'll get out!  LOL!

 

This is a technique that just requires you to go for it!  If you just can't seem to get started then find a card you like that is done with this technique and recreate it using your own palette and images. 

Additional Supplies for Hope card:  Pixie Dust and Spanish Olive VersaMagic Ink, Transcendence Emboss Powder, Nesties Dies, brown marker

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

.... now let's go make another card!