It's my birthday!

Sorry for not posting lately! I've been trying to get three LTC sets made all at the same time and it wasn't going as well as planned. The handle with care LTC was made for the CATS swap. I'm debating whether to take a picture of the card opened or not. I know this is a spoiler blog but sometimes it's best to experience things in person. If you are getting this card, cut the silver tape carefully. It may work best to cut the sides first so that the middle can be raised up a little. Also if you got a funky colored version of this, it's because I ran out of the brown cardboard. The corrugated paper was a lucky find. I was looking for inspiration for a cardboard substitute (regular cardboard was too thick to use when folded for an LTC) when I stumbled on a pack of this corrugated paper that was on clearance. Love it when things work out for the best.

In other news, I turned 25 today. There will be a few more spoilers in the next week or so. :)

S is for Swan

Here's my submission for the S round of the Alphabet LTC swap. S is for Swan! This card is deceivingly simplistic (it's only made up of 3 stamps). It's harder than it seems to  line up everything just right, but I think it worked out very well for a first attempt and I'm quite happy with the results. :)

This is a totally random note... but Versafine ink pads are just lovely to work with. Where have these been all of my life? They give great detail, it's easy to clean off the stamp, and best of all, they're archival! I never thought I'd be raving over an oil-based ink. I'm using the Versafine small and I think before the end of the year I'll have a dozen of these in my possession.

R is for Rainbow Lorikeet

Another alphabet submission. R is for… Rainbow Lorikeet! Simple watercolor background with a feather stamp. I carved the feather way back when I first started Letterboxing. :)

I based the rest of the carve on a photo I took while I was visiting my parents in Kansas this summer (again at Tanganyika). The weather was stormy so my boyfriend and I were the only ones in the Lorikeet exhibit. While I was having a dance party with one bird, my boyfriend had 4 of them; one dancing, one checking out his hair for goodies, and two kickboxing. My boyfriend wanted assistance in removing his new-found friends, but I couldn't stop laughing. I had to cut the video I took down a lot due to bad camerawork. (I had several Lories on me as well)

Merrie Melodies

Note: The top sketch was my original idea for this LTC, but it ended in tragedy when I messed up Pussyfoot's face. :( It was rather upsetting because the rest of the carve went so well.

This is the making of my “Favorite Childhood Cartoon Character” LTC set. Here we have some of my favorite oldies (1950s Chuck Jones), Marc Antony and Pussyfoot. This scene was from “Kiss Me Cat”. These two are so cute. He was teaching Pussyfoot about mouse hunting. The AQ# is on the inside of the card.

This LTC (number five, yay!) was a one-off I did after carving my boyfriend’s signature stamp. His nickname is Longshanks, so I felt a long-legged impala would suit him. This was extremely delicate work. I stamped on the three separate colored papers and cut out the super teeny tiny pieces. The worst parts were the antlers and face/ears. I kind of threw this card together on the spot. The brown oval and blue backing pieces aren't actually glued down. I haven’t finished this card because I’m not sure if I like the brown/blue combo.

P is for Porpoise and poor poetry!

This is the fourth set of LTCs, made for the third swap, an alphabet series. This round was “P is for…” and in my case, P is for Porpoise. Ideally I would've had a grey that was in between the dark paper porpoises and the lighter ones, because neither was quite right. I couldn't decide which ones to use, so I did a mix of darker and lighter ones. Some of them are in portrait and some are in landscape view. This just depended on what looked better. I also love variety in cards, so that was nice.

The background paper was made out of Crayola watercolors and watercolor paper. I cut out each porpoise by hand, and by accident, I figured out a neat method for the waves in front. Tear strips of paper, watercolor them, then pounce them in clear embossing ink/powder. (I used a matte embossing powder; Hampton Art clear) Heat emboss and glue down, then trim off the excess. I still felt that the card was missing something, and when I asked about it, FloridaFour suggested a beach ball. PERFECT! So… I set about fussycutting dozens and dozens and dozens of these papers and ball slices. Again, I do not have punches. A large circle punch would've save me so much trouble. After gluing each piece down, I embossed that as well to give it a little shine. It’s a really fun card and I enjoyed making a royal mess of it :) It was a labor of love for sure!

Here’s the little prose I put with the card’s clue to add more of the alphabet feel to it;

Do you know what I am? Here is a clue:

My body is smooth and shiny,
my tail a paddle and rather flat,
my home is large and briny,
and I am portly— not fat!

My snout is short but my smile is wide,
and if you could stand the cold,
you could swim by my side.

If you've not guessed by now, I am the Porpoise!

Don't worry, I'll stick to my day job.

We got your invitation!

This was the third set of cards for me, and my second swap. The swap was for Picnics & Parties. People unintentionally invite bears to their campsites, and I thought it would be funny to see the bears enjoying a picnic of their own. It was then given the title "Dig In!"

For this one I used water based dye ink pads as watercolors. Meaning I blotted the ink pads on a palette and added water to them, and then painted with them after stamping my image. I don’t know if it adds to it or not, but I cut out all of the bears (mom and baby included) and the tree trunks out of separate papers and glued them to the card. I guess it’s interesting to be able to touch the slightly raised surface.

This set actually wasn't my favorite and I was pretty worried that it wouldn't be well received. I was wrong about that. :) Letterboxers are a very loving and supportive group. It doesn't matter if you try something new and it doesn't work the way you planned. Keep at it!

The first swap

My second LTC set, titled “Her Wild Heart”. I took a leap of faith and joined my first swap. The theme here was Recycled Art Revisited. You couldn't carve any new stamps, buy any new embellishments, paper, etc. I used old scrap cardstock in various colors, a 2012-2013 calendar, two recycled hand carved stamps of my Border Collie, Aarka, some homemade embossing “ink”, and some magazine pieces for the slobbery tennis ball on the back. I don’t have any punches, so I used the edges of things I thought looked interesting and cut them once I traced them. The tennis ball shape was made using a traced button.

And so it began...

My first LTC attempt, I named “Springfoot”. The Kangaroo was one I took photos of at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. I was really nervous about asking people for personal trades, but everyone was kind and warm. Sunia and HousepitalityHostess had me hooked in no time. I was also overwhelmed by how awesome everyone was with their card creations. My first attempt looked pretty shabby in comparison.