Make 'n' Take Card Class

I spent some time a week ago on Saturday at a Make 'n' Take class put together by my friend Tina Dowty, a Stampin Up demonstrator and Cathy Trumbo, who is also a Stampin Up demonstrator.  They do a once a month card class in Rocklin.  It is about a 3 hour class and for a small fee we get the opportunity to make 8 cards during this time frame.

All of the paper pieces, ribbon, string, are pre-cut and there are examples for us to use as a guide for putting together our cards.  We do get to do some of our own crafting, such as stamping the sentiments for the cards, inking the cards if it is a stamped card, and punching out flowers or cutting out butterfly's, whatever the card design calls for.  We are free to use our own artistic license in putting the cards together, and we are not required to do them exactly as the examples show.

These are the cards we did this month.

 

These two were fun.  The background paper we stamped on was printed with stars and dots.  We inked the sunburst and then sponged over it.  When we were done, we wiped off the ink so the stars and dots came through.  It was a cool technique.  A die-cut of the word happy and stamping the word birthday and we got a cute little birthday card.

These two were our first stamping project for the afternoon. We stamped the butterfly and then used a framelit die to cut out the butterfly.  On the background white we inked some scattered dots and a couple of opaque small butterflies.  We put some pearls down the center of the butterfly and used some pop dots to raise it off the background.  We stamped Happy Birthday along the bottom and then mounted this on some pink card stock and then on craft paper cards.  A beautiful little card.

These two cards were our 2nd inking project of the day.  It was a layered flower stamp set using pinks, corals, greens, and yellows.  It also uses a yellow ribbon to tie everything together.

The final project was a paper piecing project using some reversible paper.  That nice thing about them is you can use both sides of the papers to complete your card.  This one included a couple different sizes of punched flowers and as a background to the printed papers we had an embossed background in white that was mounted on a black card stock.  All of the cards had pearls or jewels/gems of some sort to give them some sparkle.

See you next time!  Until then, Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Tin box makeover

I had picked up these lovely little metal tins for a great price while shopping for another craft project.  I thought they would make a great gift project.  Another friend's birthday last month.  She loves when she receives my craft gifts...she's a big fan of my homemade goodies and I enjoy her delight when she opens them.  The tin's measurements are 5 1/2" by 3 1/2" wide and 1 5/8" deep.  I had used some papers from DCW's Tradewinds paper pack.  The piece I chose for the top of the box had two of these beautiful butterflies one at the top of the page and one of the bottom.  I'll get two different boxes out of that particular page.  I cut the strip to fit the top and rounded the corners.  I attached it to the top of the box with a tape runner after inking the edges with some Tim Holtz distress ink.  I cut the paper to showcase the butterfly which left some space on the lower right corner of the lid.  I wanted to personalize the box for my friend so I pulled my chipboard letters out, found a "J" and painted it with some copper paint I had.  After it dried I added some pretty pearls to the ends of the swirls of the letter.   I took some copper and gold threaded ribbon from my supply and glued that around the edge of the lid.  I also glued it around the inside rim of the box.  That was an accident, as I realized afterwards that it would make closing the box a challenge.  I would not do that the next time.  Around the outside of the tin I cut two strips to band the box; because there were two seams on each long side of the box I cut two small pieces of the ribbon I used around the lid edge to cover the seams on the band.  My adhesive of choice was E6000 to make sure everything stuck properly.  I also cut a piece that matched the lid piece and used it to line the bottom of the inside of the tin.

Once the box was all finished I started making matching note cards for the tin. I cut strips of natural card stock for the back of the card and pulled some of the other patterned paper from the Tradewinds paper pack.  I used the corner rounder to round the corners of the card and then cut a small square of the natural card stock.  I stamped the word "thanks" from a StampinUp! stamp set on the square and mounted it with foam tape to give it some dimension.  All together I made eight little cards to fit in the tin.

I decided the set needed some matching envelopes.  Since these were not standard sized cards I made some envelopes out of the same card stock I used for the cards.  When they were finished I stamped my girlfriend's initials on the back flap of the envelope to add a little flair.

Here is the completed set.  They turned out quite nicely.  Since I bought a few of the tins ($1.75 each online) I will be able to make a few more gift sets.  These would be cute with a Christmas themed paper, maybe little Christmas thank you notes!

 Off to do some more crafting!  Go ahead, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Mother's Day

Capitalizing on the punch idea for Mother's Day, I had found another Pinterest idea here.  I used some more of my Asian inspired paper but I made both the top and the bottom of the dress out of the same paper.  I still used the tab punch for the top, but I took my scallop punch and punched across the top edge to give a scalloped edge to the top of the dress. For the skirt I took off the sides of the scallop and used those as layers so it gives the appearance of ruffles.  I tied up the waist of the dress with a gold edged ribbon and added some red bling along the top of the dress.  I used the SU! butterfly sizzlet and punched it out of the same paper and added bling along the spine of the butterfly.  I cut the strip for the sentiment and stamped it.  I then added a small flower in the corner with some more bling!  Finally to finish it off, I mounted it all on a reddish card stock on top of tan for the base of the card.  I added the same ribbon I used for the dress sash for the edge of the card and tied a little metal butterfly I had in my stash to finish it off!

That's it for this one.  Take care and Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Threaded Card Toppers

Over the weekend I worked on some threaded card toppers.  Many, many thanks to my friend Cathy over at Scrappin Cat's Creative Endeavors for the Cricut cut file which she created and showcased here. Her blog title indicates a Pazzles file, but bless her heart she also made a Cricut cut file which she graciously shared.  I am always looking for ways to use up my paper scraps...my mother was raised during the Great Depression where you used and reused everything, what can I say, waste not, want not.

These are my first two attempts which I did horizontally.  The patterned paper is from K&Company, one I have shown before on my blog, I added some bling on the front and the papers have some glitter already so I think they turned out nicely.  I left the insides blank for the recipient to write her own notes.

 

The next one was done vertically.  I added a butterfly to the one on the right and added a swooshie with some dots as accents.  On three of the four cards I did a layered sentiment tag and then mounted that on pop dots.  I added some bling to the bottom of two of them.  I used cream card stock for the backs and used one of the patterned sheets in the paper pad for the background paper.

And finally, I decided to do a couple of these with ribbon.  I had some ribbon I'd picked up in a grab bag over at Stamper's Corner and decided to use it.  I chose white card stock for these and once threaded with the ribbon I mounted it on a lavender card stock and then mounted all of that on a white A2 size card.  I chose the lavender background paper scraps to cut a small sentiment block and made a thank you card.  After stamping the sentiment I inked the edges and mounted it on pop dots before affixing it to the front of the card.  I added a couple of the butterflies from the sizzlet to the top of the front of the card, added a quick sentiment on the inside and called it done. 

The next one used the same ribbons only in reverse order with the darker purple ribbons on the outside and the green one in the middle.  For this one I picked a darker purple to mount the threaded layer on and for the larger tag and mounted a lighter green (to match the ribbon on the front) on top and stamped my image and added some darker green bling above and below the sentiment.  I used my Spellbinders die for these tags.  Again I raised this one with pop dots to give it some dimension.  I left the inside blank.  

These were fun, easy and best of all used up scraps!  See you next time!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

 

Baby Shower Cards

As I mentioned in a previous post, busy month for us with celebrations, including a baby shower and a couple of other babies being born to people we know.  I was surfing some blogs recently and saw this cute idea for a baby carriage card at MaggieMadeCards.  (I've tried the website, but it says it's currently not available, sorry.)  I'm trying to utilize my Cricut so I can learn all the wonderful things it is capable of doing.  When I saw this card I figured it would be a good project to hone my Cricut Design Studio skills. When all done, I had created my own little cut file!   

The first card I did was for my son's boss whose wife had delivered a baby boy.  I chose to make it with bright primary colors, blue and red since it was a boy.  I didn't get pictures of it before he gave it to the boss, but I had made a second one so he had a couple of options to pick from.  For this one I chose a burgundy colored paper for the carriage and a gold colored card stock to accent it.  I wanted something a little different than the traditional boy/girl blue/pink options.  I embossed the bottom piece of the carriage insert with a bubbles or circle embossing folder and used a texture plate with squares on it for the smaller piece on the top of the carriage.  I chose three small brown buttons and laced them with some brown and tan bakers twine I had and threaded it through the buttons.  I chose an ivory oval and stamped special delivery on it and used pop dots to give it some dimension.  For the inside I used another half circle of the gold card stock and stamped a lovely baby sentiment on it.

This next one is for a girl...now I've flipped back and forth on the color scheme idea and decided to go with a lavender baby carriage and pink accents.  I've embossed the lower half of the carriage front insert with a small flowers and the carriage cover with Swiss dots.  I added a matching lavender oval to the front with the word baby in blocks stamped on it.  I added white pearls to the inside of the carriage wheels and used my Stampin Up! butterfly sizzlet to punch out some little butterflies for accents.  I dropped two on the carriage cover and one on the carriage handle.  On the inside I stamped my sentiment in a pretty purple ink to stand out on the lavender card stock.

This idea can be done is so many different colors (think pro sports teams) and even some patterned paper for the inserts which would make a wonderful option! 

Go on...Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Magazine Card File

Recently while on Pinterest I found this cute little idea here for holding cards. I frequently make card sets for individuals as gifts and have wanted a way to gift them to the individuals. I think I have found my answer. The lady who shares this idea has a detailed tutorial at the link above as well as a picture of the cuts on graph paper with dimensions which I printed out as my guide.  She made her example out of white card stock and banded the magazine file with two different papers and added embellishments on the front of the box.  I chose colored paper for my files, just to change things up.  Here is my first one using a nice deep grass green color... I created a white band for around the box and used a Martha Stewart punch (Starburst I think) for the edges. 

The circumference of the box is greater than 12 inches by about 2 inches, so I stopped the border punch at each front edge and just did a plain white piece on the front.  I then added a scrap of pretty floral paper from K&Company and brought that around the perimeter of the box and stopped at each front edge.  I used the big flower punch by EK Success and punched it out of the same floral paper and layered on top of it a piece of white card stock.  I inked the edges and stamped it with a sentiment from my friend Shawn's

new stamp set you can check out here.  I had made some monogrammed note cards with green card stock as the accent pieces so this magazine file went perfectly with them.

Next I chose a blue card stock without pattern.  The instructions are really straightforward and this is just a breeze to make.  It goes together quickly and easily.  After putting the box together I again chose a piece of white card stock to make the first band around the box.  This time I used my StampinUp! floral border punch.  This was a little more complicated making sure the borders matched top and bottom.  Again because of the circumference being longer that 12" I pieced together the part that went on the front of the box...I made it the width of the front of the box and and extra 1/2 inch on each side and matched as closely as possible my punched border to have continuity.  The inside floral boarder was from a package of K&Company adhesive borders that I bought with the papers mentioned above.  I also had some separate embellishments/stickers which I used on the front of the box and then again on the back spine of the magazine file.

  These cards were monogrammed note cards and I used a light lavender card stock for accent.  These card magazines hold about 10 A2 notecards and envelopes nicely.

I hope my friend enjoys her gifts.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

 

Scrap Cards

Still using up some of my scraps, from My Minds Eye stash.  These are just general cards for various occasions, thanks, illness, missing you.  I used the idea referenced in yesterday's post but turned the scrap pieces on their sides and added more to go the length of the card from top to bottom.  I also staggered them to add some visual interest.  I added some pretty green ribbon edged with gold from my stash.  For the sentiment I used my Sizzix Decorative Labels dies and stamped my sentiment in Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink then ran it through my Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I added a green pearl on each side of the label then popped it up on pop dots.

Next I took my Stampin Up lacy border punch and punched the same scraps used above and layered them from the bottom of the card about half way up the card.  I used some olive green satin ribbon and laid that over the edge of the top scrap to give it a finished look.  On the sentiment label I stamped in green and added green pearls to complete the look.  I also popped this label up as well.

Last, I grabbed my Martha Stewart punches and started playing.  This particular punch looks like a starburst...I'm not sure of the name of it and apologize for that...it went really well with the paper scraps I chose as it has somewhat of a starburst pattern. I used the punch around the page punch and punched along one side of each strip.  I punched four strips and laid one along the left edge and one along the right edge of the card.  The remaining two strips I put down the center of the card and backed up the straight edges to each other.  I used the large starburst punch and punched a 2 inch starburst out of the same paper.  I pulled a golden rod paper and punched a small 1 1/4 inch circle and a cut a large 2 1/2 inch circle.  I stamped my sentiment on the smaller circle and mounted on top of the starburst and then mounted the whole thing on the 2 1/2 in. circle and added a gold jewel at the bottom.  I put pop dots behind the circle to lift it off the page.  I really like the way it turned out.

And finally, my friend Shawn has designed her own set of sentiment stamps.  She is selling a small number of sets and if you are interested you can check them out here.  She is offering a great deal on them...there are 22 stamps in the set.  A great addition to your stamp collection for a really reasonable price. 

 

I really love to get comments, so please feel free to leave one.  See you around...until then, Imagine, Create and Enjoy!

More Romance

I posted some romantic cards earlier and promised a view of some more of what I sent off.  For the background of this card I used a solid red glitter card stock I had picked up to go with the craft paper from this Recollections Love Letters pad.  It is another 6 x 9 card.  For the card mounted on the front I used the corner of one of the 12 x 12 sheets from the pad with a beautifully glitter embossed flower and some swirls overlaid on music stanzas.  To make the sentiment block on the front of the card I inked up my Cuttlebug frames die and cut the block. This was my first try at inking up the die/embossing folder and I really like how it turned out.  I used Tim Holtz' Fired Brick ink.  I added the sentiment on the front along with some matching red bling on the schwoopie's.  Some of the cards I left blank inside so the sender could write their own note inside.

The next 12 x 12 sheet had this beautifully embossed word Love in the lower corner.  I used that section of the card stock and cut another 6 x 9 card.  Since the card had the word taking up the majority of the front of it I felt like it didn't require much added embellishment.  I added one large crystal bling to the end of the L schwoop and then used my SU! butterfly embosslets die to add a couple of embossed butterflies.

For this card I used the rest of the red glitter card stock for the back and the other section of the music notes paper from above.  I wrapped a gold satin ribbon threaded with a bejeweled red heart around the top of the craft card and affixed it on the back side.  I used the thank you stamp and stamped it in the small block on the faux sewn line.  It fit perfectly in the space provided!  I love it when that happens.  I then mounted the craft card on the glitter card stock.

I am really enjoying this paper stack and thoroughly loved making these cards.  I hope the recipients enjoy receiving them as much as I've enjoyed making them. 

Once again, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Romantic Kraft Cards

A few weekends ago I was browsing Michael's aisles and found this wonderful kraft card paper pad from Michael's Recollections line of supplies.  It is called Love Letters.  It has some beautifully embossed papers that are wonderful for making Valentine's cards or love notes for your spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, well you get the idea.  I decided to make this as a gift for someone so will only share a couple of them here.  I'll share the rest once I've sent them off...so stay tuned.  This paper for the first card was patterned with writing and flowers, music, etc.  Additionally it had these two pretty birds perched on the front and they were overlaid with a burnished copper embossing.  I found the beautiful matching ribbon in the Thanksgiving decorations at Michaels on sale and knew it was a perfect match.  The other nice thing about the paper pad is it had two page of tags/embellishments in it.  The tag across the bottom is one of them.  It is kind of hard to see, but it is raised with foam stickies, it says For My Love in the same burnished copper and I stamped a love sentiment next to it in copper.

For the second card, I chose to highlight the perfect block on the left side of the page and use it as my sentiment location.  In the lower left corner there are two flowers that are embossed with a glittery red as is the word Love and the No. 206.  I used my Martha Stewart embossed heart punch and punched a small red glitter embossed heart for the upper right corner of the box and used the Butterflies Sizzlet from SU! to add a butterfly in the lower right corner.  Then to finish it off, I stamped the love sentiment you see in the box in red and added a glittery red ribbon from my Christmas ribbon stash.

I can't say enough about this paper pack.  It is really wonderful and has some beautiful patterns and embossing on it.  Check it out the next time you're in Michael's!  Great for making Love Notes for your sweetie!

See you next time.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Graduation Cards – Part 1

Lots of graduations this year for us!  Two in our family alone!  I was looking for a sample of a graduation cap card and found a few great tutorials on You Tube.  The one that I really liked was this one by Dawn Olchefske who is a Stampin Up! demonstrator.  I changed up her design by using the school colors for each of the graduates.  First I did one in a royal blue and orange, the colors for Consumnes Oaks High School here in Elk Grove.  After cutting the backing cardstock in the blue and marking the fold lines I added orange inserts to the graduation cap lid and the bottom of the card.  I added some orange cording with a black brad to anchor the tassel to the top of the hat and on the orange paper inside the cap I stamped Celebrate and You Rock!  I added some deep blue bling to match the cap color.  I chose to add Jolee’s Boutique graduation stickers to this one.  I cut them apart and modified them slightly so they would fit (mostly) under the fold down section of the cap.  I think this one turned out pretty cute!

Card Closed



Card Open



The next two cards I did are for my nieces.  Both are in the same family and both graduate on the same day, one in Northern CA and one in Southern CA!  Rob and Lisa will have fun getting to both of those functions!  Anyway, because the girls haven’t yet opened the cards, you will have to tune back in to see what their cards look like.  Each one is different.  I can’t share them yet as I know at least one of the girls checks out this blog and I don’t want to ruin the surprise!

Come back by soon!  In the meantime, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Mother's Day Card

I have recently gotten some Martha Stewart punches.  They are the deep edge Aster punch, the Starburst punch around the page border and corner punch and the Starburst punch around the page punch that allows you to punch anywhere on the page (i.e., in the middle of the paper).  They had been sitting on my craft table, staring at me...you know...you buy something cuz you think how cute it would be to do a project like that, and you get the item and then it sits and stares at you...at least some of my supplies do that!  Not with everything, but with a few things.  Anyhow, I digress...I decided Mother's Day was the perfect time to use these punches.  After a few attempts with the punch around the page punch I got the idea.  First of all, the way these punches are set to work, you must have evenly sized paper on all sides (if I'm wrong, someone please enlighten me!).  If you don't, you get some half punched flowers or starbursts and others with holes in them.  After I figured that part out it turned out to be pretty easy.  I used purple card stock to punch around for the background against which I mounted some pretty patterned paper from K&Company's Botanical Specialty paper pad by Susan Winget.  She makes some beautiful papers.  I stamped my Mother's Day sentiment on the patterned paper.  I then had a background to mount the butterflies I had cut with my Sizzix machine and my SU! butterfly die.  I then added a large Aster flower made with the deep edge punch out of contrasting green color and added some bling.  What card or project is complete with out a little bling.  I mounted all of this on a specialty white iced looking paper.  On the inside of the card I used my butterfly stamp and stamped butterflies on the left edge of the card, then covered one of the stamped images with a pretty, glittery, blinged out butterfly, and added another butterfly die cut from the Sizzix and added the schwoopie in the lower right corner.  I thought it turned out pretty nice.  My mother-in-law liked it which is the important part!  Thanks for visiting today.  Hope to see you again soon!

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Gift Card Holders

Last fall sometime, I was surfing the net and found a cute little StampinUp! tutorial on some easy as pie gift card holders (I don't recall the blog or video offering, sorry).  I thought I'd give it a try since I had lots of scraps left over from my journal gift making marathon!  The paper scraps were mostly from Christmas pads but some of the patterns and colors were generic enough they could be used for general gift card holders.  I have altered the original design.  That demonstrator used solid card stock with patterned paper on the flap only; I used patterned paper mounted on card stock for the entire card holder.  The measurements are approximately 7-5/8” long by 4-3/4” wide and then scored at 1-3/8” and 4-1/2” to provide the cards folds.  They use a standard 4-3/8 x 5-3/4 inch envelope, sealed and cut in half, which provides you with two pockets.  These are glued together back to back and then glued to the card stock.  One half of the envelope holds the card you see below with your sentiment on one side and blank on the other side to personalize and the other half of the envelope holds the gift card.

On the outside you cut 3 pieces of solid card stock, patterned paper, and then your other solid card stock for stamping your sentiment or decorating as you see fit with stickers, etc.  In these samples they have Christmas holiday sentiments stamped on them.  I then glammed them up with some Stickles and some bling. Once completed, this block is adhered to the lower front of the front flap with pop dots to make it stand away from the background.  It functions as the piece that holds the flap in place once you have put the sentiment card and gift card in the envelope pockets.

The last card is more generic, although the papers, as noted above, were from a Christmas paper pad.  This one will be used for a thank you gift for someone.  These are handy little gift card holders and can be adapted for most any gift situation.  I showed them to a friend who made some for her BUNKO gifts when it was her turn to be hostess. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.