Happy May Crafters! Time for your monthly Red Letter Journal card club update!
This month’s theme was chipboard. To be precise, it was naked chipboard. Participants could cover it with paper, paint it, emboss it, glimmer mist it, whatever tickled their creative fancy! Of course, the Create & Craft team was on hand armed with their “dressed” chipboard cards!
I know you are all anxiously waiting to see who gets the coveted honor of Amy’s favorite card of the month, and I am delighted to bestow the honor on . . . drum roll please . . . Joe Rotella! Just look at the colors! I am really happy with how well the picture turned out – how nicely it picked up the colors and details. Of course, a picture can never truly capture how gorgeous these cards are. Joe’s “naked chipboard” piece is the beautiful copper flourish to the left of the card. Using the Zing, Joe cut the design then covered it with . . . I’m ashamed to say . . . I have no idea! Something shiny and coppery! I’m going to blame Shirley for my lack of knowledge! Going forward, we are not allowed to sit next to each other in card class! I’m sorry Joe, please comment and tell us what you did. The card is just beautiful! And I can’t help but point out the coordinating Eiffel Tower stamp on the card. It’s those little touches that make Joe’s cards coveted by all the card club members!
Let’s stick with the Joes and look at Joe Morgan’s card! How cute is this! I had the privilege of being able to work on my cards with Joe, but we’ll talk about that disaster in just a moment. I love how Joe Morgan thinks outside the box. While helping me, he retrieved a bag of chipboard paisleys. I thought, “He’s going to make really pretty, decorative paisleys for his card.” No, that would be too easy! Joe proceeded to break apart the paisleys and arrange a smaller inner paisley on top of a larger outside piece to create the body and head of a bird. He then painted them with a shimmery paint; and after the paint was dried, he used alcohol inks to add color. While working Joe said, “Oh! I just bought Elphaba some new cat toys! I can use the feathers from those for my birds!” Poor Elphaba! I didn’t get to see the finished product until card club, and I just loved the little extra touches like the bird seed. Joe Morgan is also really good at stamping the envelopes with a complimentary stamp. Notice the splash of color on the envelop stamp? It matches the feather on the bird! There were ones with red feathers, ones with blue feathers, and ones with purple feathers; and they ALL coordinated with their envelopes! Simply awesome!
Next up, let’s take a look at Betty’s card. Look! Those April showers did bring May flowers! Betty started by cutting several flowers (just the petals) out of chipboard. Using ink, she added some color then layered several flowers to give the bloom dimension. A flourish for a stem, a large stamp with a field of flowers for the background, and a button with baker’s twine ties everything together. One thing that Betty always does that I love is her use of decorative corner punches. I never think to do that, and I always love it! It easily adds a delicate touch to the card’s design.
Up next, the dynamic Lassak duo – Carole and Joanna! Here’s where I have to apologize again and blame Shirley for my lack of knowledge! I am going to try my best. Please forgive me and feel free to comment with more info.
The sewing form on Joanna’s card was cut using the Zing (I’m just sure of it!) and painted black. Two jewels were added to the bottom to give it bling because what gal doesn’t want a little bling?! Even though the theme was naked chipboard, my favorite part of the card is the dress. I’m a sucker for pink and for polka dots! I may not be a prissy girl, but I do love me some pink polka dots! Very pretty and very elegant.
Carole has two great pieces of no longer naked chipboard on her card . . . no doubt cut with the Zing! The top flourish is covered in glitz which a picture cannot do justice. You should have seen it sparkle! The other piece contains a napkin collaged oval. If you haven’t had a chance to take a Create & Craft collage class, you don’t know what you are missing! It is an extremely fun and easy way to impress someone with your own handmade designs. I am wishing I was in Carole’s group as this would have made an excellent card for my grandmother for Mother’s Day! It would have gone great with the collage frame I made for her!
Finally, we have come to the last card . . . my card. This was an aggravating project for me. I had this vision in my head of what I wanted to do – the technique I wanted to use. When that technique did not work, I had to improvise. While Joe Morgan helped me greatly, I was still disappointed with the end product. First, let me tell you about the failed technique. I found it online and watched it several times. I even cued it up for Joe to make sure I wasn’t missing something. The artist started with a piece of naked chipboard which she covered with Versamark. Next, she dumped extra thick embossing powder on the piece, lifted it carefully out of the powder, and proceeded to slowly heat it to melt the powder. After the powder was melted, thick, and glossy, she let it cool a minute then covered it with Perfect Pearls. Her end product was this beautiful, shiny, metallic piece of chipboard. Everything went “smashingly” up to the Perfect Pearls. It wouldn’t set. It wasn’t dark, and it kept coming off on my fingers. We even tried setting it with water and with Glimmer Mist. Nothing produced a like result. In the end, Joe ended up helping me cover the chipboard with glue, then glitter, then Versamark, then extra thick embossing powder. It was very messy (as we applied the glue and Versamark with our fingers), but it did produce a thick, shiny, and smooth glitter surface. Sadly, if you bent the chipboard in any way, the layers would chip off. Chipping chipboard really puts a chip on my shoulder! In the end, I loved the colors; but that was it!
Now, I need your help. What do you like about this monthly blog? What would make it better? Would you like for me to feature my top 3 cards from the entire group – not just Create & Craft? Would you like for me to feature just one card and walk through the creation – step by step? I feel like mixing it up and want your opinion!
Next month’s theme is a card sketch. Using the sketch layout, we are to create a card with similar components in the arrangement of the sketch. Everyone is welcome to join the club! If you are interested, just contact Red Letter Journal or a member of the Create & Craft team, and we will make sure you get signed up! The next meeting is June 3rd at 3pm! Hope to see you there!
