/* */ Beulah Bee: kraft paper
Showing posts with label kraft paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kraft paper. Show all posts

May 02, 2020

Blue Skies



Does anyone know what day it is because I am seriously starting to lose track of time.

As one day runs into another during this sequester, I'm grateful for my hobbies which have recently grown to include playing the piano--something I haven't done for a while.

I've spoken about my two great aunts, Esther and Ada, and how I inherited many of their keepsakes. Ada was a college professor with a masters in Music and I have hundreds of pieces of her sheet music including the song "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin.

That was my inspiration for this tag made to link up with Simon's Monday challenge this week because it is not a card.


I modified the image by replacing the wings, punching holes in them and scraping away the printing to lighten spots for tinting. I used a Gelly Roll and various ink pens to modify the umbrella.


The background is an image transfer that came from an old book page, I drew circles and made dots for the border and the text was produced on a vintage typewriter.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

May 12, 2019

Happy Mother's Day

This is the card I made for my Mom this year. I am so grateful to have her still (she's a nonagenarian) and these days, our roles are reversed somewhat but more than a mom, she's my truest friend.

That's washi tape around the outside (pink polka dots), the scalloped border was hand-drawn and embellished with white paint and glitter glue.

The stamped pieces (Simon's Delicate Flower set) were cut from transparent paper that I tinted with inks and pasted onto book paper along with some more washi.



I used white and black gel pens to make lines in the background, on the borders and to further emphasize the line quality on the flowers.

I'm linking to the Monday challenge at Simon, the theme is "Add Something Metallic" and I think my glitter glue may qualify.

If you are a Mom, I hope your day is as special as you are!

May 04, 2019

Beautiful to Me


Let's just say you don't see these greeting card techniques everyday so I thought they might be worthy of a share. I made this card for my stamping sister, Thelma, using the new bottle of glitter that she had gifted me.

I stamped my images (Simon's new Delicate Flowers set) on purple cardstock, outlined the edges with Nuvo Glitter Drops, used bleach with a paint brush to lighten the colored paper, tinted the space with colored pencils (orange and green), and finishing up with a big ol' fussy-cut.




I mounted my cut-out on some Prima cardstock (Ephipany), used black Scribbles to bring out the stamens, and edged the card with thin dark grey paper and more Glitter Drops.

I've used Nuvo Crystal Drops before but this was a first for the glitter drops and I must say they are very useful for a number of reasons. First, the are very easy to apply--the fine tip and soft-sided bottle allow for good precision. Second, this stuff is tough! Even after using the bleach, rubbing in the tints, and cutting right next to it, the glitter never came off the paper. It reminds me of Glossy Accents with glitter in it.

April 24, 2019

Sending Hugs


I got side-tracked trying out a new stamp set from Simon called Delicate Flowers and ended up with a card I hadn't really planned on.

I'd been experimenting with coating thin papers with various mediums to use for collage. I had some rice paper, coated one side with fluid medium, let it dry and then decided to stamp it with my new set to make some masks.

After cutting the pieces out, I played around with tinting them and liked the result so I decided to use one of the flowers plus leaves on a greeting card. If you look closely, you'll see that the flower is transparent.


The background paper with the scrolls, bird, etc. is old stock from Prima called Epiphany.


I messed-up stamping the sentiment so I cut out that section, replaced it with a smaller square and re-stamped my text. A good save and one I'll remember if and when I mess-up again!


Yes, it looks handmade and it's a bit unconventional, but I'm dedicating it to all the encouraging commenters from my last post, embracing my greeting card style and learning a few tricks along the way.

April 20, 2019

Hello Friend

This card/stamping took so many tries that I almost gave up.

My artistic point-of-view takes a turn when I set about making a card. I try to be very precise so it looks "store-bought" but if it were a tag or mixed media project, I'd embrace the imperfection.

Eventually, I come around and remember that the hand-made qualities are what makes card-making superior to those that are mass-produced and machine-made. I will be bookmarking this post so I can remind myself of this point for the next time!

In this close-up, I'll point out that I stamped the image (Tim Holtz Flower Jar) on scrapbook paper using archival ink and tinted it with gel pens. For the water in the jar and the table-top, I spread the ink using a water brush (same as with the tops of the purple flowers).

The submerged stems were hand-drawn and smudged and it was tricky to get it to look right. I should have practiced on some scrap before attempting it on my card and I wouldn't have had so many do-overs (duh!).

The oval frame was machine-stitched but needed something else so I used a white Gelly Roll pen to highlight the edges.

Some of my readers know that I often use dimensional products like Scribbles or Liquid Pearls to make dots. I recently discovered a new product called Nuvo Crystal Drops (which I really like) and went kind of crazy with them here.

Mounting all of this on kraft cardstock helped convey the old-fashioned feel of the card.

I'm linking up to Simon, this week's Monday challenge is Beautiful Blooms and then I'm tossing this card in the post. 

BTW, the sentiment is from a new stamp set by Simon called Delicate Flowers. I splurged and bought the May card kit and am excited about using it.  Stay tuned!

May 27, 2018

Thanks ...


After working on this card, I now have new respect for the challenges that this art form presents and for the artisans who make it look so effortless.

Mixed-media? No problem--you can just paint over a part you don't like. Card making requires more planning and if you make a mistake sometimes you just have to start over.

But practice makes perfect, right? So I plan to do just that and purchased the June Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp. It features a lovely stamp set called Beautiful Flowers and I have used it for this card.

The kit came with three dots (red, yellow, blue) of an artist-grade watercolor paint from Daniel Smith and this was the only paint I used to tint this stamping.

Using the science of complimentary colors becomes critical in this scenario because you must tone down the primary pigments for the colors to look more natural.


The border was made with kraft paper using the new Tim Holtz 3D embossing folder called Botanical (also included in the kit) and machine-stitching provided some accent.

Otherwise, it's a bit of a plain jane but I didn't think it needed anything else since the flower image is such a show stopper. Thanks to this new stamp set, I now have some sentiment stamps that I was sorely lacking which will help me with my new quest in card-making.

April 26, 2018

Polyommatus Theo


This moth was clipped from some vintage Tim Holtz kraft paper and it was labeled as a "Polyommatus Theo." Now you know.


It became a decoration for this greeting card made from other Tim papers as well as an old book page. I seldom add sentiments so I can use the card for any occasion.


The flowers (Stampers Anonymous Flower Garden set) had another life before they became a part of this card. When a tag I was working on turned south, I cut them off the tag and reused them.


I used a transparent white paint to fill-in the flowers and the Distress inks underneath bled through. This explains the coloring you see in the final piece.

The text stamp is Stamper's Anonymous Ledger Script and the dots are Perfect Pearls and there's also a bit of machine stitching (something you don't see on a store-bought card).

I'm linking to Simon's Monday Challenge blog for this week's theme which is Flower Power.

December 02, 2017

12 Tags for Christmas 2017 - 'Tis the Season


A page from a Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper stash was a key ingredient for this, my second tag for Christmas, 2017.

A light wash of white acrylic was used to bring out the resist design. It was embellished with stamped elements (the deer, pine bough, and cut-out holly leaves) along with some burlap ribbon and numbers from a vintage Tim Holtz grunge board collection.

And it wouldn't be a Christmas tag without adding lots of glitter (Gold, Rock Candy Stickles) and that is absolutely my favorite part about making these tags and I can really get carried away with it!

The text that wraps around the arch was made by cutting a strip from a pad of fairly thin paper. It was dampened lightly so I could round the shape before pasting. I used a slow-drying glue that allowed more time/wiggle-room and gently manipulated it to follow the curve.

September 16, 2017

Praesepe



Back in 2011, Tim Holtz introduced a paper stash called Kraft Resist--it's printed on pure kraft cardstock in black with an accent image printed in a clear raised enamel which resists inks, paints, and sprays.

One of the page designs features a map of the world with a resist design of a star-shaped compass and that's what I used to create this tag for Simon's Monday Challenge Blog. This week's theme is "It's Written in the Stars."

I used Seedless Preserves and Mowed Lawn distress stains for tint and embellished it with dots of three different 3D paints in off-white, rose and copper.

The face is a stamp from Paper Artsy and the text was clipped from an old dictionary.

August 12, 2017

B. terrestris


Coloring. That's what my husband calls it when I'm working in my craft room. Today his description is very accurate.

I took a vintage image (Graphics Fairy), transferred it to kraft-colored card stock with gel medium (an image transfer) then used colored pencils and distress inks to give it some color.


For me, the biggest challenge when working on kraft-colored paper is making sure I have enough value changes (lights and darks). In this case, the addition of white on some of the long grasses helped.

May 04, 2017

Happiness


Ah, the merry, merry month of May...

The high temp today in my neck of the woods was 104°F.  A bit warmer than normal, to be sure, but pleasant just the same as May means the crowds are thinning out and the pace is beginning to slow--a precursor of the quiet peace that comes with the heat.

My tag was made to celebrate the great outdoors which is the theme this week for the Monday challenge blog at Simon Says Stamp.

It was an opportunity to use a new Tim Holtz stencil called Floral which I fell in love with after seeing Paula Cheney's Instagram post and was the inspiration for the colors I used.

Rather than use a monoprint technique as she did, I opted to use texture medium over a text background then sanded it down before tinting with Distress inks. The medium helped to resist the ink and retain the stencil pattern.


The moths were cut from a discontinued Tim Holtz paper stash called Kraft Resist which I tinted with Distress markers and a white gel pen. The text is from the new Idea-ology Clippings stickers.

I didn't use machine stitching for the accents because the texture medium just didn't want to feed through smoothly. So, I opted for my backup method which is a good technique for those who don't have a machine.


I use a piece of cardboard placed under the tag and punch holes for my hand stitching with a "pin tool." It's a leftover from my days making pottery but I think it would be easy enough to find a substitute to punch the tiny holes needed. Pre-punching makes the stitching so much easier and it's a curiously pleasant task!

It's also a great method when accuracy is a must as I have more control punching than I do keeping my foot steady on the sewing machine pedal. A simple backstitch is all it takes to complete it.

December 01, 2015

12 Tags for Christmas - April


The emphasis for Tim's April tag this year was on using a watercolor technique along with a clever way to assemble a word band insert using kraft paper.

My holiday version features a poinsettia stamp by Penny Black and I didn't use a die-cut for the text-- it was stamped and embossed instead (Tim's Christmas Words).

And it just wouldn't be as Christmas-y without some bling so I applied gold Stickles on the border and used black 3-D Scribbles for accent.

I really like this one--it's easy to see why using watercolor with stamps has become so popular and starting with a spritzed background really elevates the technique.

In case you don't know about my 12 Tags for Christmas series, this post will fill you in on the why and what for's.

April 05, 2015

Under Cherries


I was blessed with some really good fortune last month as I won a gift certificate from Ellen Hutson which I used to order Tim's new Flower Garden stamp set (it was love at first site).

My luck improved even more when Tim used this stamp set for the April Tag of 2015 and I'm so happy that I have one to use!

I stamped what I think is a cherry or apple blossom on some watercolor canvas that was cut out and pasted to a background made with Tim's Kraft Resist paper. 

I altered the paper background using paint and stamps.

My hand-lettered text was made with a gel pen and comes from this Haiku poem (translated by Asataro Miyamori):

Under cherry-flowers,
None are utter strangers.


Click to Enlarge
I have to say a word about Ellen Hutson because this was my first experience ordering from their site.

I really like their fast shipping policy. They strive to fill your order and ship it within one business day after you place it.

They use USPS Priority Mail so you get it in three days and it comes in a nice sturdy box so nothing gets smashed.

Thanks Ellen (for the gift) and thanks Tim (for what may be my all-time most favorite stamp set ever).

August 29, 2014

Aporia crataegi


I've never seen a Black-veined White Butterfly (except via You Tube) and I think they are quite nice.

Inspired by this this photo, I created a tag by printing it, cutting it out, pasting mulberry paper behind the wings, tinting it with paint, ink and colored pencils, and pasting it to a distressed background.


I'm linking it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp. This week's theme is "witch kraft" and while it may not be apparent that I used kraft paper--it's there, as a background, now covered with layers of paint and ink.

A happy accident caused by using too much Seedless Grape distress stain to darken the kraft paper compelled me to sand and rub at it with the hopes of making it lighter. When the top layer of the paper began to peel away, I gathered up the bits and pasted them back on and spread a layer of thin white paint on top.

August 25, 2014

Antoinette


Did you ever wonder why brown paper bag-colored card stock is called "kraft" paper? It's not a clever take on the word "craft" but instead, comes from the "kraft process" a term used in paper making. Others must have wondered about this too because there's a Wikipedia entry for it. And did you know that manila paper was originally manufactured in the Philippines, which is how it got its name.

Click to Enlarge
To celebrate this new found knowledge, may I present a tag made from both manila and kraft paper which I'm linking to the "witch kraft" challenge at SSS.

I pasted the kraft paper onto a manila tag, stamped it with archival ink, transferred an image using polymer medium, tinted it with distress inks, stains and some colored pencils and added strips of printed kraft paper to the border.

The light-colored image plays nicely off the kraft-colored background and this week's challenge was the perfect excuse to finally use it.

February 12, 2014

Birds of a Feather

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Here is the valentine I made this year for Thelma (my good friend who introduced me to card making). I always push the envelope when making something for Thelma as she's somewhat traditional but has begun to let her creativity run wild after a bit of inspiration.

I stamped directly onto kraft paper card stock using a rainbow ink pad and the French script stamp from Dark Room Door. I tore strips of washi tape to make a border then blotted on Picket Fence Distress stain. The hearts were cut from deli-wrap that was stamped and trimmed with acrylic paint. The birds were made by stamping (Tim Holtz, Birds on a Wire) on the back side of some glitter paper then cutting out and pasting the front side up. I edged the border with dots and lines using a fine-tip marker.

The inscription on the inside will read:

Birds of a feather stick together!
Happy Valentine's Day

It just so happens that the Wednesday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is "Get Krafty" so I'm linking it there and then it's off to the mailbox so Thelma will get it by Friday.

February 02, 2014

Heart Candy Love


Just a simple tag inspired by Tim Holtz using his Kraft Resist Paper Stash for a background, a paper punched strip and some hearts, embellished with sewing machine stitching, white Scribbles and a black fine-tip marker.

The love script is a store-bought stamp, the postage stamp frame was hand-cut. To get a chalkboard effect, I mixed white and clear embossing powders together after stamping with white pigment ink and used a white charcoal pencil to cloud the background.

To see more detail, click to enlarge...