Tuesday, July 16, 2013

parade of rejects: quince hues (CFC)

Back to the rejects.

So, there was this submission call to create cards using Design Seeds color palettes.  Love those.  But to create a card based purely on a color palette (no white or black allowed!) is truly challenging for me.  So many possibilities and that makes my life SOOO difficult.  I cannot wait to see the cards selected for that issue!

I went with a design I had used earlier and made a baby card cuz I thought the colors would work.

Image Credit


quince welcome baby

Some misting, some PP circles, some stitching and sequins.  A less-than-perfectly-aligned stamped sentiment... was that the kicker?  Or too many colors in the PPs.  Don't know.  Never will.  That's OK.  It's been used already :)

I'm joining the challenge at CASual Fridays #109 cuz I've got dots even if they're not doing the polka.

Thanks for watching.  More from this series to come.


Supplies welcome baby:
Paper: CS Papermania, PP October Afternoon
Stamps: Paper Smooches
Ink: Glimmer Mists spray ink, Versamagic
Tools: punch EKS, sewing machine
Other: sequins

Saturday, July 13, 2013

we interrupt the regular programming...

...for my first published card!!!


It's kinda crazy.  If you start to play the submission/publication game there are three things to get your head around:

  1.   You have to be in the mood for Christmas in Spring, Valentine's Day in Summer, etc.
  2.   You need to know your supplies.  Did I mention you need to know your supplies?
  3.   There are lightyears between submitting and seeing your project in the magazine!
But the wait is over.  You can see it here or in the Birthday Creations  edition of Paper Crafts Magazine on page 55.  (Still pinching myself!)


As I mentioned in this post, I kept to a theme/technique for my cards when I submitted for the first time. Thought that if they kept seeing the die cut "hb2u" idea it might grow on 'em ;)  I doubt that that makes any difference to tell you the truth.

Funny thing about this card was that it came together as an afterthought!  Some of the die cut letters that were left over from the die cut negatives that I used on other cards for the submission were laying around in a little pile on my ironing board... and looking at them I got the idea for the "Scrambled Happy Birthday." 

I do like this card as I look at it again.  Guess it's a good one to have as a "first."  I was a little nervous, wondering if it would actually appear in the print issue or just the digital one.  DD was embarrassed at the book store when we were flipping through the issue and I saw it was actually in the print issue and I may have let out a little shriek!  There it is, paired with a great "29 forever" card from Wendy S.   Of course I wonder why this card and not another from the bunch I submitted, but hey, that's not my job. Oh, this was kinda nice too!


9251337238 e4073907a8 Birthday Creations, Vol. 3 Blog Hop!


Thanks for sharing in my happy news today.  There is a great blog hop going on at Paper Crafts Connection. Check out some of the great cards from the issue as well as newly-designed ones based on some cool sketches.




Supplies Happy Birthday:
Paper: (solar white) Neenah, (gray graph paper, backside of Seen & Noted 4x6” phrase cards) Pebbles
Stamps: Hero Arts
Pigment ink: (Versafine Smokey Gray) Tsukineko, (Iris, Carrot, Curacao, Lemon from the Vitamin 10-pad collection) Aladine
Accent: (white iridescent sequins 5 mm) Eurocrafters, (yellow iridescent sequins  6mm) Rayher
Sticker: (Yellow Chevron washi tape) Bella Blvd 
Dies: (Circle Stax Set 1) Dienamics, (Parker Lower Case Alpha, Parker Numbers) Memory Box

Thursday, July 11, 2013

parade of rejects: wish you may

Ever seen a card morph?  Well, you saw this card in my previous post as it was submitted for a Christmas card call - Christmas cards using non-Christmas products.  And rejected.  Now you will see it as it was tweaked and submitted for a different call, as a birthday card this time. 

wish you... have a happy birthday


Only changed the size of the star bearing the sentiment and the sentiment itself.  PC-generated the sentiment which is a play on that old rhyme "I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight".  Remember that?  When you make a wish on a star?

Well, I love this version too, but the mag didn't.  So it's being retired ;)

BTW, I'm on vacay in MI right now and having one heck of a time trying to pull photos into my blog posts from my flickr account.  Blogger will not recognize the URL of my flickr page.  So I finagled something by copying HTML code in - way too techie for me ... can you see the photo OK?


Supplies wish you may:
Paper: cardbase Bringmann, CS American Crafts, vellum
Stamps: PC generated sentiment
Ink : Adirondack, Hero Arts
Tools: die Sizzix
Other: crochet thread, sequins


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

parade of rejects: winter wishes (CASOS, The Paper Players)

OK.  So then there was a call for submissions for Christmas cards.  Sticking with my "I have to have a theme" line of thinking, I went with stars.

You may remember I was on a bokeh kick awhile back.  Well bokeh met stars for this card.

starry bokeh

I stamped the bokeh dots on the cardbase and then adhered vellum between the base and the textured and die cut CS.  Added sequins like the night stars and one star "falling" with the sentiment.  "Wishes", as in "wish on a falling star."  I kinda liked the idea.  But the mag didn't.

I was happy to get some constructive criticism on this one and was told that the sentiment didn't really fit the theme and it was hard to read.  OK.  Back to the drawing board.

I tweaked this guy and tried again.  Just keep watching.

I'm joining the Christmas in July fun over at CAS on Sunday as well as at The Paper Players #153..  Join in.


Supplies warm wishes:
Paper: CS Bringmann, American Crafts, vellum
Stamps: sentiment Penny Black
Ink: Hero Arts, Adirondack, Versamark
Tools: die Sizzix
Other: crochet thread, sequins







Sunday, July 7, 2013

parade of rejects: hb2u misted

You've seen these rejects a while back.  Now you can meet the cousin.


I like the misting (Dylusions inks BTW) even better on this card than on the other misted one.   And the white embossed letters are easier to decipher on this design.  That "2" on the recycled acetate?  Eh.  And if you look closely you'll see the risk when embossing large areas.  Difficult to get perfect coverage, which leads to some spray ink finding its way into the nooks and crannies.  Now, does that make for a reject?  My theory is that if you have a knock-their-socks-off card, then no it doesn't.  But it sure doesn't help a mediocre specimen.  Just sayin'.

Have a good one.


Supplies hb2u misted:
Paper: cardbase Craft UK
Stamps: Technique Tuesday, "2" We R Memory
Ink : Versamark, Dylusions, Stazon
Tools: 
Other: clear embossing powder, recycled packaging

Friday, July 5, 2013

parade of rejects: hb2u vines2

In my last post you've met the shower gel can that inspired my first card that I actually submitted to a magazine.  I mentioned that I submitted it for the Inspired By feature in Paper Crafts.  Well, while there I checked out the submission calls that were current and saw the call for Birthday Creations: Vol. 3.  And I decided to give it a go and make some more cards.

Now I've always been known as the gal who has to have a theme.  Birthday parties have a theme. Rooms in the house have a theme.  Or a feel. When I took pics in college with my sorority sisters, I was the one who made everyone lay down on the floor so our heads were in a circle and the photo shot from above.  Or I made my big and little sisters climb a tree to get a shot of our "family".   Family tree.  Get it?  Tja, not everyone loved my ideas but the photos were definitely cool!

So I figured if I was going to submit cards to a call, they were going to have to have a theme.  And the "hb2u" idea was born.

Meet hb2u vines2.


Tja.  The ink color is an amazing reddish-pinkish-orange.  No idea where the bling idea came from but  I think it works.  And I will use this card, but I must admit my generational stamping is less than perfect =  publication reject.

Just keep watching.


Supplies hb2u vine2:
Cardstock: (solar white) Neenah 
Other paper: (black scrap)
Clear stamps: (branch) Papertrey Ink
Pigment ink: (Vitamins) Aladine
Dies, embossing folders, brass templates: (Parker lower case alpha) Memory Box
Other:  square gem, adhesive 

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

parade of rejects: it started with a ... can

Welcome to the first in my "Parade of Rejects."  Parade - cuz it's nearly July 4th and I've got a good few entries to share with you.  And rejects - well they are.   They've been to a couple submission calls and back and they weren't selected.  The word may sound negative, but I'm not.  I'm enjoying this submission thang...


Hold on to your hats.  This can is what made me actually submit a card for the very first time.  In a roundabout way that is.

I was relaxing in the tub, staring at this wonderful can of shower gel DD had given me for Christmas, and I thought "hey, that's a cool logo."  And "hey, I could make a card based on that."  And "hey, Paper Crafts has that Inspired By page at the end of each issue."  Tja, now you know how some crazy ideas are born.

So.  How to translate it into a card?  Papertrey gingko leaves.  And Memory Box die cut letters/numbers.  I actually ordered the numbers to make this card cuz I didn't have 'em.  And no, they weren't on sale ;)  And this is what happened.


Well I certainly enjoyed the process on this.  But trust me, it's a reject.  It's been submitted a couple times - the experts say if it comes back three times, give it up.  OK.  I'm givin' up.  But I still like it.  I would love to hear your constructive criticism on my rejects - so many talented designers out there who might have a tip or two for moi.  I'm a true believer that you're never too old to learn :)

Stay tuned.  And have a good day.


Supplies hb2u vines1:
Cardstock: (solar white) Neenah 
Patterned paper: (gold CS) Folia
Other paper: (black scrap)
Clear stamps: (branch) Papertrey Ink
Pigment ink: (Vitamins) Aladine
Dies: (Parker lower case alpha Memory Box), (square Framelits) Sizzix