NanceE's Paper Designs

Monday, February 12, 2018

Never Hide Your Wings

Happy Monday!

A quick card this morning to get in with the Casology challenge ---

I had some background paper left from the plastic wrap technique I had played around with a few weeks ago, so I cut them into butterflies. I cut the top layer out of silver foil paper. This is one of them.

Butterfly Blessings!

Sunday, February 11, 2018

A Pastel Thank You

Happy Sunday, at least for another few minutes.

I've been busy in the craft room off and on again today. The hubs has been on a four day work spree with hospice, day and night, so the house has been quiet. Wait, what am I saying? We have two kittens who race and bound up and down the stairs and hallway, under and over furniture. Then they "visit" me in my craft room only to steal my paper, paint brushes, tape and today Bella crawled into one of my stamp bins! And here I thought when our boys moved out we'd have peace and quiet. LOL Anyhow, I have managed to do more crafting this weekend than I have in a while, feline chaos and mayhem aside.

I'm sharing a card I made for the current Muse Challenge since I haven't been able to play for a while. I took my inspiration from the colors, the butterfly and the layout, although I switched placement of the sentiment.

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Butterfly Notes, Wild Garden (Catherine Pooler); Enchanted Garden (Sugarpea Designs for Catherine Pooler).
PAPER: White cardstock (Neenah); Midnight Black cardstock (Catherine Pooler).
INK: Midnight Black, Mint To Be, It's a Girl (Catherine Pooler).
EXTRAS: Pastel enamel dots.

For Following Challenges:

Muse Card Challenge #252

MUSE BLESSINGS!

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Sending Golden Hugs

Good evening!

I have another post this evening of a card I've been working on for a while now and finally finished it this week. I just love this stamp set, Stay Golden, by Kindred Stamps. Do you recognize them? The Golden Girls! How adorable are they?

I had shown the set to my son and daughter inlaw and they asked me to do a get-well card for a friend of theirs who loves The Golden Girls. I've been needing to practice more coloring and so this provided me a good chance. I still need more practice, particularly with hair.

The stamps are not actually as large as they are on my card. I wanted to try and enlarge them a bit so I used my copier to enlarge them. I colored them with Copics, mounted it on plaid pattern paper from My Favorite Things, then added the sentiments. The sentiments are from two different stamp sets. "We are sending you" is from Hero Arts' Support Prayers Love set. The 'Hugs" word die is from Say It-Hugs by Technique Tuesday.

Golden Blessings!

Forever You

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. It's rainy but spring like here in the Triangle of NC. Actually, the perfect kind of day for crafting and Carolina basketball! Just excuse me, I'm a HUGE UNC basketball fan. I have my youngest son to thank for that as he has loved UNC since he was 9 and is also a UNC grad, so they're family. ;D

Anyway, I played around with a new technique yesterday - faux enamel with embossing powder. Here is a tutorial I used, thanks to fellow crafters, Nancy Littrell and Bonnie Klass. And another tutorial.

Thought I'd share my three first attempts at this technique ---

In the photo above, the hearts are in order in which I made them. I didn't have any white chipboard, so I used some thick white 110 lb Neenah cardstock. After I did them I thought I probably should have tried my other 110 lb cardstock by Recollections as it is a little thicker than the Neenah but not as bright a white.

Anyway, I discovered the cardstock had a tendency to curl up due to the thickness of powder. When I tried to flatten the larger heart under a book, it cracked some, so I wound up not using it. You can see too that my second attempt, the larger heart, is much more course and bumpy. That could have had something to do with it cracking as well and the fact that I left the parchment paper on it longer . I think the key is keeping the heat tool on it as you peel off the paper to get a more smooth look.

I also found a difference in heat tool effectiveness as well. I have a newer Wagner heat tool with a more narrow tip and I have an old (10 years old) Marvy Uchida heat tool with wider tip. The Wagner one tended to get super hot and began to smoke and burned the parchment paper quicker. So I used my older one and it seemed to actually melt the powder better with less burning of the parchment paper and it didn't smoke.

I think it is a really cool technique and I am going to pull out a few different dies and other powder colors and try it again. So there you have my two cents worth on my first experience at faux enamel with emboss powders.

I wound up using my 3rd attempt on a card ---

SUPPLIES:

PAPER: White cardstock (Neenah 110 lb); Pink vellum (Recollections maybe); Gold foil sheet (Stampin' Up).

EXTRAS: Heart die (Spellbinders); Forever sign die (Technique Tuesday); You word die (Cas-ual Fridays); Swoosh heart die (Poppystamps); Pink, red and dark red emboss powders (Recollections); Super fine gold emboss powder (WOW); dimensional tape; Tombo Aqua Mono glue.

I kept my card CAS so the heart would be the main focus. I used pink, red and dark red emboss powder. They're so old I don't remember the brand, maybe Recollections. I also added some WOW super fine gold powder.

For Following Challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Love Is In The Air

Loving Blessings!

Thursday, February 8, 2018

4 Crafty Chicks #389 - ATG & Mardi Gras Twist

Happy Thursday!

It's time for a new challenge

4 Crafty Chicks!

I'm your hostess this week!

With Fat Tuesday/Lent next week,

I thought it would be fun to have a

Mardi Gras Challenge twist.

4 Crafty Chicks #389 - ATG/Mardi Gras Twist

If you aren't familiar with what Mardi Gras is, it is celebrated on "Fat Tuesday". Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. So Fat Tuesday is a day when you are to "fatten up" eat a big feast in preparation for fasting during the six week long Lenten season. It's a big party mostly in New Orleans with lots of food, bands, parades, parties, etc. I've never been but I've heard it's a pretty wild party!

Mardi Gras colors typically are purple and green, sometimes with a harlequin pattern. However, I couldn't find much in my stash that really complimented what I was going for so I stuck with black, white and gold.

Supplies:

Stamps: Balloons & Sentiment - Bold Balloon Stamps (Sunny Studio).

Paper: Black cardstock (Catherine Pooler); Whitecardstock (Neenah); Patterned Vellum (Die Cuts With A View); Gold Foil (Stampin' Up).

Ink: Midnight (Catherine Pooler); Versamark.

Extras: Mask die (Poppy Stamps); Streamers - from confetti cover plate (Hero Arts); Stitched scallop die (Pretty Pink Posh); black sequins (Stash).

For Following Challenges:

Time Out Challenges#102

Crafty Chick Blessings!

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Alpaca My Heart

Happy weekend!

It's an exciting weekend here at the Salkeld abode because it's SuperBowl weekend and my beloved Patriots are playing in it and on the verge of winning their 6th Title! Nah, I'm not excited. LOL

I'm also working on lots of different card projects trying to finish up many, some very late in completing.

I've been wanting to play along with The Daily Marker's 30 Day Coloring Challenge and I finally got some coloring done! So I'm sharing the card I made with the colored pieces.

I love this faceted cover plate by Lil' Inker Designs because it has a hidden heart in it that you can emphasize. Also, a friend of mine wanted an alpaca valentine card so I used the Gerda Steiner llama set. Did you know alpacas and llamas are actually very different? So I chose the llama that best resembled an alpaca. After I finished of course, I thought of the phrase, "Alpaca my heart and send it to you", which would have been perfect. So I'll have to make another one and use it.

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Llama & Cacti "Llama Tell You" (Gerda Steiner).

PAPER: Neenha white cardstock; Bristol smooth cardstock (Swathmore).

INK: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor Pens

EXTRAS: Sentiment die (Lawn Fawn); Facet cover die (Lil' Inker Designs); Heart dies (Sunny Studio).

For Following Challenges:

Friday, February 2, 2018

Loving Hearts

Happy Friday!

Sharing a card for the challenge

Inspired By All The Little Things

Supplies:

Stamps: Love Is In The Air (Catherine Pooler); Plaid background (Catherine Pooler).

Paper: White cardstock (Neenah); Kraft (Recollections)

Ink: It's A Girl (Catherine Pooler)

Extras: Scallop border die; Stitched heart dies (Lawn Fawn). Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); green ribbon.

Loving Blessings!

Thursday, February 1, 2018

4 Crafty Chicks #388 -Recipe Twist - 1 Word, 2 Pattern Papers, 3 Hearts

Good Morning!

Happy February!

It's love month and in the U.S.,

it's Heart month.

Even if you don't live in the U.S., take this month to be good to your heart, the physical, one as well as the emotional one.

It's also time for a new challenge

4 Crafty Chicks!

Leanne is our wonderful hostess

and she has a recipe for us!

4 CC #388 ATG and Recipe Twist - 1 Word, 2 Pattern Papers, 3 Hearts

Supplies:

Paper: Patterned Paper: Yours Truly (Pebbles). White: Neenah; Colored cardstock from stash.

Dies: Word "love" and postal die, "Love is in the Air (Catherine Pooler); Stitched and doily hearts (Lawn Fawn).

February means Valentine's Day and this year I am trying to send out more Valentines. It shouldn't be a day just for lovers. We all need love and appreciation and why not spread it around more on Valentine's Day. So here is one more I've made. Sweet and simple and I just love pink and turquoise together.

Stop by the Hen House if you haven't yet and see what the rest of the chicks have created and leave them some blog love. Also welcome our new Guest Designer for the month, Tangii!
Welcome, Tangii! Then join us and share your "recipe" twist card with us. If you don't want to participate in the twist, remember we are now always Anything Goes so you can link up as well, as long as it is new.

Crafty Chick Blessings!

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Keeping Christmas Designer Blog Hop

I have some exciting news! The Challenge Design Team is BACK! YAY! After our Christmas Hop last month, Lesley asked us all if we would be interested in participating in a monthly Christmas Hop throughout the year.

Of course we all said YES!

The Challenge Design Team,

along with friends, Kelly Lunceford and Julee Tillman,

will be sharing Christmas creations

on the 25th of each month!!!

Every Christmas I seem to be rushing to get cards made to sell and to send myself. I know I'm not the only card maker out there who then winds up not sending the cards they make. I have vowed to change that this year! Ok, so "m not off to a good start but hopefully this monthly hop will help at least in my Christmas card department!

The whole idea is to have some Christmas cards in our stash all ready to go for December 2018! Hopefully we will inspire you as well to keep Christmas going, at least in your crafting, all year long.

So, hop along and be sure to visit each blog and leave everyone some blog love too.

There is a lot of inspiration and ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

Kelly Lunceford

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld (You are HERE!)

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

SUPPLIES:

Label Die (Spellbinders); Mustache die (Stampin' Up); Glasses die (Paper Smooches); Sentiment die (Lil Inker Designs); Scallop frame die (WPlus9); Diamond shaped die (Catherine Pooler). Circle die for nose is part of an angel die (Poppy Stamps).

I went simple for this card, using all die cuts, so it's pretty clear cut (no pun intended). I made a card similar to this a couple years ago. The beard and Santa's head are a Spellbinders label die that I cut out of white glitter cardstock and cream cardstock then, I used half of each one.

Using all die cuts can be a quick way to make several of the same card design. It does take some time diecutting all the pieces but once one is assembled, it goes pretty quickly. I think my most time consuming thing was figuring out which frame dies I wanted to use around the Santa face.

Hope you have fun hopping and be sure to come back every month on the 25th for more Christmas inspiration to help you get a start on your Christmas cards!

Keeping Christmas Blessings!

4 Crafty Chicks #387 Watercolor Backgrounds & Anything Goes!

Good Morning, Thursday!

Boy this week has kind of flown by! It was Monday and now it's Thursday! Tuesday and yesterday were a bit of a blur. LOL No alcohol has been involved! I've been mending a bit of cellulitis on my eye all week and on antibiotics for it so I feel a bit out of it. Evidently I scratched my eyelid somehow and woke up Sunday with a swollen eye. I thought it was pink eye but it's cellulitis due to the cut. At least now I can close my eye without pain. It's tough to sleep with one eye open. lol

Anyway, since it's time for a new challenge

4 Crafty Chicks!

Lori is our hostess this week! She's chosen a twist theme of Watercolor backgrounds!

4 Crafty Chicks #387 - Watercolor Backgrounds

I love making watercolor backgrounds but I wanted to try something new with this one. So, I used a technique with acetate to smoosh your watercolor ink around but also have a bit more control of where you want the colors. I found a tutorial by Kristina Werner of KWernerDesigns. It's super easy.

I used Catherine Pooler inks and acetate to make my watercolor background. When I was done, it resembled sunrise/sunset clouds to me. So, I die cut the ballons from the "Love Is In The Air" die set by Catherine Pooler in gold foil from Stampin' Up. Next, I dry embossed the background with a diamond embossing folder by Sizzix to add more texture and interest. The sentiment stamp is by Neat & Tangled for Catherine Pooler. I stamped it in Versamark and embossed with WOW gold fine emboss powder and fussy cut around it. To finish it off I added three gold sequins.

So stop by the Hen House and see what the other Chicks have created, all fabulous, as always! Leave them some blog lovin' as well. Then, get inky, no really GET INKY this time and create a watercolor background to join the twist part of our challenge! OR create whatever you want and join the Anything Goes Part of our challenge since our challenges now are always Anything Goes but with an added optional twist!

For Following Challenges:

Crafty Chick Watercolor Blessings!

Thursday, January 18, 2018

4 Crafty Chicks #386 - Sympathy + ATG

Good Morning, Thursday!

Hope you are having a good week!

It's cold again here in central NC with a "touch"of snow. LOL Let me start over...we have SNOW, people! The most snow in the last 7 years for this area! While we only have about 4-5" here in Cary and Raleigh, 20 miles west of us where our youngest son lives, in Durham, has around 9-1/2". Parts of Chapel Hill/Carrboro region got 6, 10, 11 inches, someone got a foot! We're the south! Flurries shuts everything down! Go ahead northerners, laugh! Really, it's ok. The hubs and I are from the north so we laugh about it all the time. They are forecasting today's morning rush hour to be the worst one in years. That doesn't sit well with me since the Hubs worked last night (ER/hospitals don't get snow days). He's been waiting since we moved to NC 15 years ago for a REAL snow and while what we have (4.5") is really borderline, he's excited. He is determined to come home and go sledding. Alert: it's been at least 16 years since we have been on a sled. I told him to put one of the EMS teams on alert for that "event". hahaha To be continued...

At any rate it's time for a new challenge

4 Crafty Chicks!

It's or new chick, Amy's first official time as hostess this week

and

she wants Sympathy cards.

So let's give her a big hearty welcome with lots of participants!

4 Crafty Chicks #386 - Sympathy Twist + ATG

They're probably our least favorite cards to make, right? However, they do serve a purpose in showing love, concern and support to someone who has lost a loved one, human or otherwise.

A friend of mine just lost her beloved 15 year old dog. So I made this card for her.

STAMPS: Sentiment from Guiding Light Stamp Set (WPlus9);
PAPER: Neenah White cardstock; Coated white cardstock (Tim Holtz); Gold Foil (Stampin' Up).
INK: Black Onyx (Versafine); Icing on the Cake (Catherine Pooler Inks); Ultra Marine, Turquoise Crystals (Brusho).
EXTRAS: Lattice frame die (Naturally Inspired by Catherine Pooler); Dog die (Tim Holtz); Wings -Thoughtful Faerie(Poppy Stamps); halo - part of Angel die (Memory Box); Cloud dies -Let's Go To The Beach (Paper Sweeties); Clear Emboss Poweder (WOW).

I started out with my blue background. I've been playing around with the plastic wrap technique and made the background for this card with Brushos, Magic Sizing (because I have no starch), a little water and plastic wrap. I love how it turned out. In fact, I created two A2 sizes of these colors. I even cut the collar out from the background color.

Then, I took the brown, Icing on the Cake, ink by Catherine Pooler and swiped it a couple times on white cardstock to create my own brown cardstock to cut out the dog. This has sparked a question --- is swiping ink on cardstock considered stamping or just swiping? I actually smushed it than swiping.

The sentiment I stamped with Midnight Archival ink by Catherine Pooler onto the background and sprinkled some clear emboss powder to help it set more on the coated background.

Be sure and stop by the Hen House and check out Leanne's, Lori's and Amy's projects for the week and leave them some blog love. Designers love comments too!

Then, get inky and either create anything your heart desires since we are an always "anything goes" OR make a sympathy card for this week's challenge twist.

For Following Challenges: