Party like a Celebrity

Hi there, welcome back.

Thank you guys for continuously supporting my artistic explorations.

Today I'm showcasing an invitation designed both by hand and on the computer using adobe illustrator. First I had an interview with the young man whose birthday will be celebrated by the event, to have an idea what sort of design he wanted.
He indicated glitz and glamour like a celebrity style party event with a nautical theme. ...I said ....oookay then, I will see what I can come up with.

So he wanted silver stars, action camera, musical notes (he's a pianist), red and blue and yellow colours and I said 'all of that I should place on a one-sided invitation which will also include the name of the invitee, the event,the date, the time the address"... Oh and he wanted the invite to be slim and landscape design. I said no problem but will you allow me to use judgement if needs be in the design and he said go for it

After he left I was freaking out as to what kind of crazy ...!? theme is this but nevertheless I soon calmed down and said ...you can do it ...just think...! So I got out my computer and designed this in illustrator. I assured him there would be stars but all the details he wanted was too much.



Sent this he said he liked and I advised him that when I add the red, blue and yellow cardstock with embossed words, it may change somewhat, he said he trusts me because his mom trusts me so go ahead.I tried for a long while embossing silver stars on the invite it looked ...blah....so I said why not try gold and die cut big gold stars. This was the eventual design



His text was like "WOW, WOW, WOW!" He was so excited that he gave out some of the invites before his mom could put the stamp of her restaurant logo and RSVP on the back of it for authenticity.

Wow that was a close call!
Oh the cardstock used was Red Hots, Blueberry sour and Marshmallow chick bought at Ellen Hutson.They actually gave me the colour advice re cardstock for the nautical theme.
The star die was from SSS bundle of stitched shapes.

Thanks everyone for dropping by see you on on Friday for my next adventure!
Feel free to leave a comment!

Simple Neutral Tones (Black and White)

Hi there folks

Welcome back to my blog.

Today I decided to try my hand at doing cards in just the neutral tones of black and white. Now my style of card is very simplistic and I love to use a white background as my negative space on a card.

So I was sitting down listening to interviews on www.creativelive.com and this idea just came to me. I know its probably not new but I decided to do a little dabbling with Kuretake black paint to watercolor a simple background for these cards... I can tell you I had a lot of fun. Firstly I began by stamping an image then just swishing the brush a bit I was able to build interest into the design.

I used

White cardstock
Kuretake Black paint
Black Velvet no 4 brush
Penny Black Sunny Days Stamp
Other Stamps
Black ink
Other Paper



These three cards were done very simply and with little to no effort. I really enjoyed just letting go and let my creative side just take over...You should try it....Its freeing....

Here's another look at all 3



If you like these cards check back on Friday for another blast of these simple monochrome watercolour cards




© 2016 rendesigns.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Birdie

Hi there, welcome back...

Its been a while since I have posted. Today I decided to try the MFT (My favourite things) challenge. Never did it before but it was interesting and a lot of fun actually much more than I thought. They give you these beautiful colours from which you make a card.

The colours were Daffodil, Sour Apple,Gumdrop Green and Biscotti. I did not have these exact colours but I used colours as close as I could find or make. So I improvised using paints from the peerless water colour collection and cardstock pieces I found in my stash.

The main image used was from the Penny Black collection called 'critter fun'...a cute collection of dogs, cats, butterflies, birds. The flowers were from Alte New collection called 'Mini Blossoms.'
Hope you like my card.

Day 3- 1st card

Hi folks. Thanks for stopping by today!

I should really be showing day 4's cards but I was out all day yesterday running errands so I only got started on Day 3's lessons today. Here is one of the cards..its where you learn to set the scene. So we are combining several techniques from before and adding the technique of negative painting.

The teachers are truly talented and brilliant. I know I would have to practice alot to improve my watercolor techniques, but they have given me so much ideas for cardmaking.....

Here is my stamped scene! I did not have any vellum for the exercise so I painted the beachballs freehand.

On the 13th day of Christmas Cards

Hi folks its the 13th day of christmas cards and I am still going. Today I feature the Crafter's Companion Barkley Rubber Stamp Christmas Set - 1st Class Christmas.

This is a gorgeous rubberstamp which gives you a clean impression. I really enjoy colouring these images and the watercolour paints make it very easy to do.

These stamps are a wonderful, fun addition to any stamp collections.

Hope you love today's creation and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Please leave me a comment!

Do you make your own envelopes for your Handmade Cards?

If you are like me, your answer to this question would be Yes!!!

You see I like crafting so when I learnt from Crafter's Companion, I could make my own envelopes,I was excited. I bought the Ultimate Crafter's Companion Tool . Its been probably 4 years and I still use it today for scoring and making envelopes and boxes. The tool is really versatile....

Anyway, I used to buy envelopes from an art store for my handmade cards. Coloured envelopes, texturized envelopes and oftentimes I encountered a few issues.

1) The card was often times too big for the envelope because I would forget to measure before cutting (my fault) and there was no way of trimming it without spoiling the design

2 ) Some of my customers would request certain sizes of cards and I had to go searching stationery / art stores in Trinidad (and there aren't many) to get the particular size envelope

3) It was costly and at the time customers were not willing to pay extra so I had to absorb the loss

4) The store would run out of stocks and there I go again looking for envelopes

When I found the online store crafter's companion, you could imagine I was pretty excited. I bought paper in bulk from a paper company in Trinidad and for a fraction of the cost (more like 1/20 the cost) I was hooked and begun making my own envelopes. Since then I have designed my own envelopes adding other elements to the outside of the cards.

Now I can adjust the sizes of the envelopes to customers request, the cost of making cards have reduced, less time is spent hunting all over Trinidad for envelopes and I no longer run out of envelopes.

Again, thank you for visiting my blog ....till next time. Don't forget to leave me a comment.

'One of a kind' Cards vs 'Repeat designs'

ONE OF A KIND VS REPEAT DESIGNS

Whether you like to receive cards, send cards or design cards, I am sure you've been asked on many occasions about your preference for 'one of a kind' or 'repeat' design. 

For me the answer is definitely a resounding 'One of a kind' cards ...you know... different designs every time. I love to play with all of my card making tools and resources. Love the adventure ...don't you???

ONE OF A KIND CARDS

From a designer point of view for me..... its refreshing,its exciting...its challenging and I love challenges. I love to see things as an adventure as I try not to take life too seriously all the time (just some times). I tap into my inner child to explore the world of fun in my card making process.

Thats why I will be celebrating 100 days of christmas starting
23rd September and ending 6th January 2016 with a new card design every day...you may find that some of the stamps were repeated but still its a different card.

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For the person who is purchasing the card they often tell me - its like what no one else has, so its unique. You have captured the essence of the recipient and so on and so on.

They feel special and also proud to be giving someone a card that they would not find on any other shelf. 


REPEAT CARD DESIGNS

To argue for the Repeat card designs - they are easy to do as the design has been done and sells well ,therefore it takes less time to make.

You can still personalise these cards by adding a name or special greetings to the inside or outside  (for handmade cards). Does not require any design skills or any additional thought to go into the design....No hassles, no mistakes....

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The Purchasers....

There are people who dont care too much for design. For them...it should just be appropriate- birthday, wedding, christmas etc Voila! they buy it...No thought goes into whether the recipient would like it or how they would feel to get a card such as this. 

Its a purchase to get the job done...give a person a card for a certain occasion. There is nothing wrong with this...Its a choice!

Now that I have given you the two sides of the coin which one are you?
'One of a kind' or a Repeat design...? 

What are your thoughts.....Leave a comment!

(Just a little note- I am currently on a break from card making as I am out of the country so I thought I would discuss a few questions that I have been asked to comment on several times in the past. So if I sound like I'm babbling its probably left over pina colada in my system. )

Tranquil Hibiscus

Hi folks...Thank you for your continued support for my blog. I know its been a while since I posted. Some upgrade works were being done on my property which involved an excavator and in the middle of the work some cables were cut in error. Yes...my internet cable was one of those cut...It was a nightmare getting it sorted out with the provider. In the Caribbean, the customer service for certain services is a nightmare. I tried using a different provider but they said they could not provide the internet service as the area in which I live, require cables to be upgraded and they havent reached my area as yet. So I had to work with the current provider. To make a long story short...I finally regained service so I am back... Today's card is a sympathy card I did for a friend of mine whose mom died.

In making the card I used a hibiscus stencil, tim holtz distress inks and stitched dies.

This design can be used for birthdays, get well, congratulations as well. Ideas are limitless, colours are limitless. Please leave a comment on my blog if you like this design. Thanks for stopping by.... see you...

Sympathetic Sunday

Welcome back! Today I thought I would change things up bit and post a slightly different card. The only stamping done was the message 'With Sympathy' I did this card for a friend whose dad has just died and I thought I would share it with you. For me it is easier to do Sympathy cards geared towards women or for a family which includes women, as you can do flowers but when its for a man I like to try and see what I can come up with... So this is my card for today...... Let me know what you think...

For the message 'With Sympathy'

Crazy in Love

Hi there again....Welcome back to rendesigns. Today my card is entitled "Crazy in Love". As I said, this month I am featuring cards by randomly choosing stamps in my stash.... I love this cute little stamp by Stacy Kay...it was fun colouring with markers I found in a little art store here in Trinidad. Its a pack of 20 fabercastell markers. About 20 years ago I started colouring with markers with my sister who is now deceased. I never picked up markers after she died in 2003. She was way better than I was. This is a card she drew and coloured with markers and colour pencils, that I found recently.

Beautiful isnt it..... Told you she was very talented. So this is me trying markers again......

The card was coloured in a combination of markers, water colour pencils and water colour paints. Hope you like. Dont forget to leave me a comment.

Other products used were

Thanks for stopping by!

Jumping in the leaves....

Hi there...and welcome to rendesigns...

Happy to see you all ....... for the next month I will be using stamps I have in my stash in colorful ways!

I have been purchasing stamps over the years, and would you believe I have never used some of them in card making! I started off making cards with stickers but I have grown to love stamping and there are lots of fantastic and very cute stamps out there. Follow me in my journey of using stamps from my stash to make beautiful cards.

Today my card is called "jumping in the leaves".....I chose this heading from the stamp "Take time to jump in the leaves". I think it is so cute. It reminds me of my childhood days...but it also reminds me not to take life too seriously!

This card was done in shades of blue using Tim Holtz distressing inks. The stamp which was used repeatedly was from HOTP (Hot off the Press). The Message was heat embossed in white..... Hope you like it! Dont forget to let me know what you think...