Use It! with Lucy's Cards - Class 1: Lesson 3 (Clean and Simple)

It's time for Day 3 of my Use It! class. I hope you have enjoyed seeing how my card-making brain works. :)

A recap on my supplies for this class:

Mama Elephant's Up and Away set

Paper Smooches' Salutations set

Heidi Swapp's Confetti stencil
Clearly Besotted's Rounded Tag Die

Hello Sunshine and Into the Woods 6 x 6 pads
Welcome to lesson 3:

Lesson 3: Clean and Simple

Clean and simple is how I work.

I love it.

And there are some AMAZING CAS gurus out there, my favourite being Laura Bassen. She really is incredible, right?

People often comment on how simple my cards are, and I like that. However, simple does not necessarily mean easy. It's HARD to stop adding more and more pretty things… you have to know when to stop. :)

So on to today's card… not many steps, not many photos… it's CAS after all. ;)

Creation

Stamp the cute critter onto woodgrain paper and again onto kraft cardstock. (See I stamped him twice… that's because I messed up the first one just a teensy tiny bit. And with a CAS card, teensy tiny mistakes show up!)

Trim the face, tummy and feet from the kraft critter and adhere to the woodgrain one.

Trim a piece of white card stock to 3 3/4 x 5 1/2".

Play around with where you want your critter to go, then stamp the sentiment.
Add some stitched lines beneath where you plan to place your critter. I adhered him temporarily with some washi tape while I did this so I could see where to add my stitching.
Stamp a flower on yellow paper and trim.

 

Cut off the threads, making each a slightly different length. Adhere the loose threads on the reverse of the card.

Trim a strip of woodgrain paper and adhere behind the white panel.

Adhere to a notecard.

Step away. :)

TIP: Clean and simple cards rely on white space. So make sure your cardstock is good quality and pristine before you start. There's nothing more annoying than finding a speck of dirt on your card just after you've finished… believe me, this has happened to me MANY times. :)

OK - so that's it for today.

Lesson 4: Watercolours follows tomorrow.

Bye for now.
P.S.
Just to say - this is my 1000th blog post!!!
Wow! How time flies!

Supplies

*Mama Elephant Clear Stamp UP AND AWAY Set ME1306-035	*Paper Smooches SALUTATIONS Clear Stamps Kim Hughes	*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn INTO THE WOODS Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack	*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn HELLO SUNSHINE Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack
*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment	*Hero Arts Layering Papers SNOW PS610	*Neenah Environment 80 LB SMOOTH DESERT STORM Paper Pack 25 Sheets	*Martha Stewart SCORING BOARD Score Craft Tool 42-05002

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Use It! with Lucy's Cards - Class 1: Lesson 2 (Stencils)

Welcome to Day 2 of my Use It! class where I take a selection of supplies and create a series of cards each featuring a different technique. If you missed Lesson 1, click HERE.
Firstly, let me thank those of you who emailed me or left such kind comments on yesterday's post. It was great to see that people liked the idea. :)

A recap on my supplies for this class:

Mama Elephant's Up and Away set

Paper Smooches' Salutations set

Heidi Swapp's Confetti stencil
Clearly Besotted's Rounded Tag Die

Hello Sunshine and Into the Woods 6 x 6 pads
And now it's time to begin lesson 2:

Lesson 2 - Stencils

Today's card features stencils and embossing paste, a super fun technique with lovely results. I was first inspired to try this by my sweet friend Debbie who in my opinion is the queen of embossing paste.

Creation

Adhere a sheet of patterned paper to your work surface then adhere the Confetti stencil to the patterned paper. Washi tape works best for this.

Apply White Embossing Paste. I use a kitchen palette knife for this. (No fancy tools for me…)

Scrape off the excess paste and return it to the pot.

Remove the stencil carefully from the patterned paper then sprinkle the paste with White Gold glitter, tap off the excess and set aside the paper to dry.

TIP: Be sure to clean your stencil immediately as the paste dries hard. (Experience has taught me this…)

Once completely dry, die cut a tag from the patterned paper. (You could of course cut the tag first then apply the stencil…)

Stamp the monkey on woodgrain paper and cut him out. Stamp him again on white paper and cut out the face, tummy and feet.

Pause briefly and say "awwww". He is just too cute!

Stamp the sentiment onto the tag.

Stamp a flower on white paper and trim. Paper piece the monkey together then adhere the monkey and flower to the tag. Add dots of pink watercolour paint to the monkey's cheeks.

Cut two strips of the pink paper and adhere them behind a panel of white woodgrain card stock.
Stitch along the top with silver thread.
Adhere the tag to the background with foam adhesive.

 

And that's it.

 

Loving the texture the embossing paste adds, and the sparkle from the glitter… 

And today I have a bonus card.

I created a masculine card using exactly the same technique. I added some Calico Shine Mister Huey's to my heart background. Instead of spraying it, I flicked it onto the card for bigger droplets.

  

Variations
Adding different colours of glitter would be fun. You could even go with a rainbow effect if you had lots of time to spare. :) Alternatively, leave the paste to dry, then add Glossy Accents on top before adding the glitter (as I did with THIS card).

That's all for today.

Join me tomorrow for Lesson 3: Clean and Simple. :) And again, be sure to leave a comment if you have any questions or requests. I've had a few suggestions of future techniques (keep them coming), but would love to hear of any products you purchased and did not quite get around to using yet. If I have them, I'd love to help you with them. :)

Bye.

Supplies

*Heidi Swapp CONFETTI 6 x 6 Stencil HS00838	*Mama Elephant Clear Stamp UP AND AWAY Set ME1306-035	*Paper Smooches SALUTATIONS Clear Stamps Kim Hughes	*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn HELLO SUNSHINE Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack
*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn INTO THE WOODS Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack	Clearly Besotted Rounded Tag Die	*Simon Says Stamp WOODGRAIN CARDSTOCK WHITE 111 LB	*Wendy Vecchi WHITE EMBOSSING PASTE Studio 490
*Martha Stewart WHITE GOLD GLITTER 1.5oz M111019	*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment	*3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent	*Cuttlebug Die-Cut & Emboss Machine Provo Craft 2000293
*Studio Calico SHINE Mister Huey's Color Mists 101284	*Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD	*Hero Arts EMBOSS ULTRA FINE CLEAR EMBOSSING POWDER PW111	*Precision Heat Embossing Emboss Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200
*Bazzill ROCK CANDY Card Shoppe Heavy Weight 8.5 x 11 Cardstock	*Hero Arts Layering Papers SNOW PS610	*Martha Stewart MINI SCORING BOARD Score Craft Tool 42-05013 New 2012

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Use It! with Lucy's Cards - Class 1: Lesson 1 (Paper Piecing with Patterned Paper)

If you are anything like me, you love to buy new supplies.

If you are anything like me, you often fail to use these new supplies enough… oh dear!

Welcome to Use It! my new blog class.

Each day this week, I will offer a card featuring a different technique, but created with the same selection of supplies - some new and some not so new. 

I will accompany each card with step-by-step instructions and photos to show you how I made it. I'm not offering anything new or innovative, but I always enjoy seeing others' processes and thought maybe someone somewhere may find it useful. :) I hope so anyway…

If this week is a success - if you enjoy it - I will try to do some more. And I will take requests too… techniques or products you would like to see me use.

Supplies

So first things first, here are my supplies for my first ever Use It! week.

Firstly my stamps. I chose two sets that I thought coordinated well together - one new and one not so new. I wanted images and a good mix of sentiments so I could create a variety of different cards. My choices:

New: Mama Elephant's Up and Away set.

Old: Paper Smooches' Salutations set.

Next, I decided to add in Heidi Swapp's Confetti stencil. This stencil has three different designs on it and is therefore suitable for lots of different themes and designs.

I knew I needed a tag die as I use tags a LOT so I selected Clearly Besotted's Rounded Tag Die.

And finally, paper. I decided to work with two different 6x6 paper pads, both by Lawn Fawn: Hello Sunshine and Into the Woods.

Preparation

Once I had chosen my supplies, it was time to sketch.

I always sketch out my ideas before making cards. This works best for me and ensures that the time I have to create is used well. Plus, I can sketch and plan whilst doing other things (such as feeding babies!!).

Having a super pretty sketch book also helps me a lot. For some reason, I have no desire to sketch in a boring old notepad.

Here's a glimpse at the inside of my sketch book… you can see that I write a lot down too. Although my cards do not always turn out exactly as sketched, they are usually pretty close. Today's card is the one in the top left… you can see the changes I made as I worked on it. :)

So - on to today's lesson:

Lesson 1 - Paper Piecing with Patterned Paper

Creation

Die cut a tag from white card stock. 

Stamp the sentiment - part in black ink, and part in Silver Shadow Ink.

Stamp the bunch of balloons onto the tag.

Stamp the balloons again onto three different patterned papers.

Trim the balloons, using one colour as a base piece to adhere all the balloons to (I used the grey paper).
Stamp the bunny onto white card stock and trim. Add a drop of pink watercolour to its cheeks and adhere to the tag.

Adhere the balloons together and add to the tag.

Create the background by trimming cloud paper to 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".

TIP: To avoid wasting precious patterned paper, trim two strips of grey polka dot paper and adhere to the reverse of the cloud paper. I always use washi tape for this… I have a LOT and do not use it very often. :)

Add some stitching to the cloud paper panel. TIP: Do this before adhering the background to your card so your stitching is not visible on the inside of the card.

Adhere the background to a 5 1/2 x 4" folded card. 

Adhere the tag to the card with foam adhesive.

And voila. :)

 

Variations
This card would be super cute in baby girl pinks too, or simply change the sentiment for a birthday or congratulations card.  Adding glitter or glossy accents to the balloons would add sparkle or shine.

I'll be back tomorrow with Lesson 2: Stencils. Hope to see you then.
P.S. Please leave me a comment if there's anything you might be interested in seeing in future classes.

Supplies

*Mama Elephant Clear Stamp UP AND AWAY Set ME1306-035	*Paper Smooches SALUTATIONS Clear Stamps Kim Hughes	Clearly Besotted Rounded Tag Die	*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn HELLO SUNSHINE Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack
*PRE-ORDER Lawn Fawn INTO THE WOODS Petite 6 x 6 Paper Pack	*Derwent 24 INKTENSE COLORED PENCILS Watercolor 0700929	*Derwent 12 INKTENSE COLORED PENCILS Watercolor 0700928	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad SILVER af257
*VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment	*Hero Arts Layering Papers SNOW PS610	*Cuttlebug Die-Cut & Emboss Machine Provo Craft 2000293	*Ranger Inkssentials MINI GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Dimensional Adhesive .5oz
*Ranger Inkssentials GLOSSY ACCENTS Glue Dimensional Adhesive	*3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent

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