Welcome to Valley Oak Paper
I design handmade greeting cards.
Yeti Anniversary
I created a felt yeti with Rocky, the Dancin’ Yeti for his launch. But I also wanted to color him with Distress Watercolor Pencils. This time I created a friend for him. 💗
So Very Merry 3
On Day 3 of Online Card Classes So Very Merry, Jennifer McGuire showed us how to create Hanukkah cards. The basic idea is to cut ¼” blue cardstock strips to act as candles.
Hello Pumpkin!
The scene I was visualizing needed a frame of some sort. After browsing through my Spellbinders bin, I selected a die set called Essential Arches. From this I used the 5th largest arch to cut out a piece of watercolor paper and a piece of Accent Opaque.
To give the scene some context, I used the Kat Scrappiness Scene Builder Stencil and my Distress Watercolor Pencils. I drew with the pencils along the lines, removed the stencil and added more shading.
Distress Embossing Glaze Swatches
I was a bit disappointed to find out that Ranger doesn’t have any round labels for the older Distress colors. So I made some.
Fintastic Sharks
The shark and friends are from a Lawn Fawn Stamp and Die Set called Shark Duh-Nuh Flip Flop. I colored them with my Distress Watercolor Pencils.
Watercolor Envelope
To go with my wobbling reindeer card, I’m making an envelope. The envelope dies I use are by Trinity Stamps. It’s a big die set, but you only need three of the dies to create a regular A2 envelope.
Tea-riffic Birthday
This is the card I’m creating in today’s video. It has this fun, wobbling effect, created with an action wobbler. I’ll give you tips for helping your mug wobble better in this video. I’m also using Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils to achieve a loose watercolor effect when coloring.
Distress Watercolor Pencils 1
When I got the new Distress Watercolor Pencils, I took them all out of their boxes and rearranged them according to the order on the Ranger web site. In this video I’m swatching the first box, from Spun Sugar to Fired Brick.
Tropical Birthday
‘Things With Wings’ is the theme for my June 2024 YouTube cardmaking video hop. For this hop, my starting point was the recent Spellbinders die set Tropical Friends. It creates a parrot and a toucan.
Jaycee’s Cards
I was going for a cyanotype effect and used Ranger Archival Ink in the color Cobalt. Archival ink on a firm linen ink pad is pretty easy to work with.
Arctic Treat Box
For the box, I’m using a Sizzix die set called Seasonal House Gift Box. It creates a super cute mini milk carton.
Stitched Mother’s Day
For this card, I used the Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month for April 2024. It’s called Stitched Wall Hanging and includes an oval embroidery hoop, as well as two stitched flowers and a stitched leaf.
Wise Vintage Owl
To highlight the vintage floral pattern, I used my Tim Holtz Medium Brayer to add some Lost Shadow Distress Oxide on the raised areas.
Color Catalog & Towering Blooms
Everything had the same intensity, so nothing was emphasized. Adding a white off-set layer to the bottom of most die cuts helped a lot.
Shaped Shaker Card
Today’s card is a shaped shaker card, so I’m starting with the card base.
Foiling Textured Paper
The best cardstock for hot foiling is the smoothest. But you can make your own smooth cardstock in a few simple steps.
Happy Lunar New Year
Here in Silicon Valley the Chinese New Year is celebrated almost as much as Valentine’s Day. Next year is the year of the dragon, so there are lots of dragon toys and dragon-shaped sweets in stores right now. The Lunar New Year is on February 10, 2024. Traditionally red and gold are associated with the Lunar New Year.