Well, I can't believe my youngest turned five this past week. He's getting so big! And he had a great time at his party. I think he even appreciated this card, lol! He said, "Look at the puppy!" That's not much, but at least it got a comment, like many of the cards didn't! He, um, hasn't learned to at least pretend to look at the cards yet...just digs in for the presents, lol.
I got to use one of my new Cuttlebug folders from a set I bought from HSN. I also sort of airbrushed the color on the dog with my Copics and used a Spica pen to color the puppy's tag. The "Make a Wish" is a rub-on from Three Birds' Perfect in Platinum rub-on set that I got on clearance from HSN. The party hat is the other impulse buy from Michaels I mentioned in my last post. The "paper" across the bottom was actually from a sheet of KI Memories Sheer Delights that I got on clearance from Two Peas. (I luuuuuurv clearance!)
Supplies: Unknown dots dp, yellow and green The Paper Company cardstock, KI Memories Sheer Delights "Birthday", Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Cuttlebug (I think it's Harlequin?); Three Birds Perfect in Platinum rub-on; K&Company Layered Accents "Party Hats"; Sandylion puppy stamp from "Boy Clear Stamps" set; Colorbok orange brads; Memento ink; Copics and Copic Airbrush System; Martha Stewart zigzag rotary cutter.
Do you ever rearrange stuff in your craft area and discover lost/forgotten treasures? That's the motivation for this card. I had a birthday card to do and I was looking through a rarely-touched plastic bin and came across some tags I had completely forgotten about. I have so many Prima flowers that rarely get used (don't know why) so I resolved to find some that would coordinate with the tag.
I also just got my first Core'dinations cardstock. Joann was having a buy 2 get 3 free sale and I figured, why not? Of course, I'm a horrible friend and while I get the card made a week in advance, I don't mail it till the day before her birthday. Doh! Hope she liked it all the same.
Supplies: Generic kraft card blank, Core'dinations (sorry, don't know which color), generic tag, Prima flowers,Stampin Up cordoroy button, Papertrey twine, Around the Block Paper Treats brads (flower centers), Happy Birthday Cuttlebug embossing folder, Background Basics Retro from Papertrey, (background stamp) and Versamark, EK Success corner rounder.
This card is for my daddy's birthday. Yes, I'm almost 40 years old and I call my dad Daddy. :-) He'll always be my daddy!
My Father-in-Law's birthday is coming up very soon. I'm pretty sure he doesn't follow my blog, so I'm pretty safe in posting this early. :-)
I used Papertrey Ripe Avocado for the card base and rounded the corners with my EK Success corner punches. I used my brand new EK Success Upper Crest border punch for the Ripe Avocado strip on the right. I also used my Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder to emboss the white strip. The patterned paper is from a K & Co Scrap Pad to Go. I stamped the Just Rite border in Dark Chocolate on white cardstock and used my circle Nesties to cut it out. I stamped the Just Rite sentiment with Versmark and used Stampendous Detail White embossing powder to heat emboss it. I used my circle punches (Fiskars and EK Success) to cut out the Ripe Avocado and Dark Chocolate layers of the sentiment. The ribbon is from American Crafts Brown Classics collection. The buttons are from Basic Grey, and the twine tied through the buttons is from Papertrey.
I hope he likes it. He's one of those rare people who actually saves my cards, which makes me feel pretty good. :-) Now....to pick a present, lol!
I recently purchased the Papertrey Ink set With Sympathy strictly for the graphics. I absolutely love the huge vine stamp. When I received it, I actually thought to myself, boy I hope I don't need these sentiments. I mean, we all have people in our lives who lose loved ones, but you never WANT to make a sympathy card.
Well...a friend's father passed away last week. They sort of knew it was coming, and since he was in such extreme pain, perhaps it was for the best for him to pass. This weekend I made this card for her. It was the first card I made with this set. I took it to work today and asked the rest of my team to sign it and we gave it to her. Hopefully it lets her know we care!
Supplies:
Paper: random card blank; Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream; Bazzill
Stamps: Papertrey Ink With Sympathy
Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Chalk, Memento
Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 4; Martha Stewart border punch; EK Success corner rounder
Embellishments: Paper borders (a freebie with my order from Cutter's Creek); toffee organza ribbon from C. O. D. Wholesale
Well, my mom always taught me it was polite to send thank you notes. Of course, she never required hand-made thank you notes, but these days, people kind of expect that from me. :-)
So, it was my son's 7th birthday celebration last weekend, and as with many seven-year-olds, he got lots of stuff. I made these thank you notes for him to give to his friends and to send out to family. Now, I just have to get him to write them. :-)
Supplies:
Stamps: Sentiment from Papertrey Ink Beyond Basic Borders; star from Sandylion Boy stamps
Paper: Various Papertrey Ink cardstocks (Perfect Match 2008 colors, Kraft, Vintage Cream); DCVW Nana's Kids striped paper
Inks: Memento, Versamagic, Cats Eye Chalk
Tools: Cuttlebug; Spellbinders labels die; Fiskars crimper; EK Success corner rounder
Etc: generic square antique silver brads
I saw these cupcake stamps at Michaels today -- one of the Studio G $1 sets -- so I got them. For a buck, how can you go wrong? :-) Once I got them home....hmm....what to do with them? My half-brother's birthday is coming up. He'll be 20 this year. I have some cards made, but wasn't sure I wanted to send any of them to him. I feel better knowing that this one was made FOR HIM. So...I have some really, really old (we're talking 20+ years old?) Prisma markers. Yes, they're still good! Anyway, I knew there was a reason I never pitched them and now I know why. Apparently I enjoy coloring. I feel a Copic habit coming on, lol!
Oh! I also actually used my Cricut again today! The black panel was designed in Inkscape and cut with SCAL. It's been so long since I've cut anything on my Cricut. I should use it more, but I just have so many other tools and techniques that I can use, too! I also got to use my new Argyle Cuttlebug embossing folder. So, I hope he likes it! Thanks for looking!
Edit: I forgot to include the inside of the card. I don't normally do anything on the insides of cards, but I recently purchased Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set. As a result, I'm trying to pay more attention the insides:
Supplies: Papertrey Kraft for card base; yellow patterned paper from Sam's paper pack; True Black Papertrey cardstock; Bazzill Apple Crush (light green) cardstock; Studio G stamps; Inkadinkado Birthday Fun ("Happy Bday"); Prismacolor markers; Memento Black ink; Colorbox Chalk ink; Argyle Cuttlebug embossing folder; Basic Basic (green with white stitching) and Offray Spool O'Ribbon ribbon; circle punches.
Here's another card I did a while back but didn't post. This one was inspired by the Cuttlebug embossing folder in the grey strip (Floral Fantasy) and the stamp in the center of the flower. I received both of them by way of Scrap-aholics.com's closing sale. It's hard to see because it was stamped in red and clear-embossed. I thought I had every color of ribbon in the world, but when I went looking for this green, I couldn't find one wide enough. So I *had* to go to Michaels to get some green ribbon. (Or at least that was the excuse, lol!)
I think this will be my step-mother's birthday card in April. I hope she likes it! I received my Birthday Basics set from Papertrey a couple of weeks ago, so I think one of those nice sentiments will go inside.
Supplies: Black and white polka dot paper and grey strip, Making Memories Scrapbook Basics black & white mat set; red strip, The Paper Company; flower border stamp, Papertrey Ink Around & About Sentiments; flower center Hot of the Press Expressions; green flower, Prima; red flower, unknown; green ribbon, Michaels; border punch, Martha Stewart; Floral Fantasy Cuttlebug embossing folder; adhesive rhinestones, Michaels.
I've been trying to use the supplies I have, because I am apparently a serial collector. :-) I know there are people who can identify with that. And so far, I haven't been too good about resisting buying new stuff. But...back in December, I placed an order with one of my favorite online sellers, Cutters Creek. Kim, the owner, was running a promotion offering freebies for certain orders. I ended up "winning" one of these freebies, and she graciously sent some laser-cut borders with my order. I hadn't used them yet and it's FEBRUARY!!! So I thought it was long past due. I actually did this on Sunday, but haven't had time to take pictures until now.
The patterned paper on the card is from a paper pack that was sold just before the holidays at Costco. The gold metallic strip across the front is Fresh Paint Gold Pearlescent Paper from Marcella K. I embossed it using a Sizzix Texturez plate through my Cuttlebug. The green scalloped strip is from the freebie pack. The stamped image is from a K & Co. stamp set called AB Lotus Greeting Stamps that I got from Michaels for $1.99 on clearance. Woo hoo! :-) This clear stamp set contained about 9 main stamps plus 8 smaller complimentary stamps. So, great deal for $1.99! The main image is stamped in Hint of Pesto Versamagic chalk ink. I used one of those complimentary stamps inVersacolor Sand pigment ink on the off-white card blank.
I cut the main stamped image and the blue scallop using my oval Nestabilities. I trimmed the card blank and added a blue border punched from the Fiskars Threading Water border punch. The blue is Bazzill cardstock from a winter pack.
Thanks for looking!
Well, I have at least a few cards to go to the kids at the hospital. I may make a few more, but I have a couple other challenges to get done plus stuff for my son's school. Now, I realize it's January 3, but I don't want to take on too much and then not be able to pull ANY of it off! So....starting slowly....
I've made four each of these cards. The first one uses $1 stamps from Michaels. They're stamped in Black and Warm Red Color Box Chalk Ink. You can't tell very well from the pic, but I used my Zig Embossed pen and drew in the center heart of the circle stamp, then clear embossed it. That's why it looks a bit darker. I colored the open hearts on the other stamp with watercolor pencils. The round stamp was cut using my circle Nesties, with a scalloped circle behind it. You probably recognize the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and Fiskars Threading Water Punch. The sentiment stamp comes from the Costco Inkadinkadoo Occasions set and is stamped in Black Color Box Chalk Ink. Unfortunately, I don't remember where the blanks for this or the second card came from, but I believe they're from a Joann "Card Essentials" card blank set.
The second card uses squares punched from pink DP I got a LONG time ago. The pink ribbon is from Michaels' Basic Basic collection. It's a 5/8 inch, two-tone pink ribbon. The sentiment also came from the Occasions set and was stamped in black chalk ink. The border punch is Fiskars Diamond Border Punch.
The third card blank is from a neutrals cardstock pack from Michaels, cut down to size. I got to use my handy-dandy Scor-Pal to make the creases for the cards. The stamp is another $1 Michaels stamp and is stamped in Orchid Pastel Color Box Chalk Ink. Because of the shape of the stamp, the design was inspired by Lisa Somerville's card; I just turned it sideways. The paper scraps are the same pink DP I got a LONG time ago. And that's pretty much all there is to this card!
So I'll be sending 12 cards off on Monday to Pat for her Cards for Kids program. Like I said, I hope to send more, but at least I'm sending some!
This may be my Christmas card for next year.
The stamps (snowman, snowflakes on the maroon, and sentiment) are from an Inkadinkadoo set purchased from Costco. I don't have a membership, but a friend took me to our local Costco -- they didn't have the stamps. A gracious member of a group I belong to offered to buy the three sets of stamps and mail them to me. I was so excited when I received them and this is the result.
I will probably make changes by next year. For that matter, the entire design might change by then. There's so much time between now and then! One immediate change I'll make is to heat emboss the sentiment. The packaging on the silver card blank that was purchased on clearance at Target said it was printer friendly, but they lied. The paper does NOT take ink. These are the same blanks I used for this year's cards, and I tried everything, to no avail. I didn't really expect the sentiment to pop on this. It was only later that I thought maybe heat embossing in black would be a better plan. That, and the snowman won't be at such an angle. He looks like he's toppling over!
I don't usually do well with sketches, but that's because I'm way too literal. This one at PageMaps gave me motivation to do my MIL's birthday card for the beginning of January. While she was here for Thanksgiving, I got some Inkadinkadoo birthday-themed stamps. The challenge was to use the sketch as a guideline, but the finished card had to incorporate a stamped image. My submission uses a stamp in silver pigment ink from the same Inkadinkadoo set on the red strip, the cupcake with glitter frosting, and the Happy Birthday sentiment (another Inkadinkadoo set from Costco). I regret that the sponsor of the contest is Hero Arts and I don't have any of their stamps. (Shhhh...this could be a good way to get some! :-))
I hope my MIL likes it. Shoot...I hope PageMaps likes it! :-) It's pretty much a match to the sketch -- like I said...I'm too literal. I need to work on that in the new year.
Thanks for looking. If nothing else, this was a good exercise and I got a nice card out of it. I may try another challenge in the future.
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