WHERE I'VE BEEN (AND A PRETTY CARD)

 

Remember when I said that I was going to try to breathe more life into blogging?  I was doing pretty good, and then we bought a house and moved.  Funny thing . . . my son is the one who was looking for a house and planning to eventually move, but his search found a house that he wanted my husband and I to look at.  My first reaction was that it was really pretty but too big and quite a bit above budget.  Several days later, we looked at the photos and specs and decided to do a walk-through.  Long story short, the house was perfect, we bought it, we've been slow-moving for about six weeks now, and my craft room is still in limbo.  I don't think I've stamped or created anything with paper since early December, and I can hardly wait until the rest of my craft room gets moved to the new house.  It's the big storage items (countertop, cabinets, drawers, etc.) that I'm waiting on.  Today I needed to make a sympathy card, and the February Paper Pumpkin kit was the only set of readily available products. It was quite nice to use a little of this and a little of that to create just the card that I needed.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s retired "Heal Your Heart" stamp set, which I always keep close at hand.  

As much as I enjoy how quick the Paper Pumpkin kit projects are to make and the fact that 99% of what you need can be found in that one little box, I sometimes feel that more layers and embellishments are needed for the projects.  So I added a few snippets and layers to give my card some texture and dimension.  

You know that I like to make sympathy cards as needed because, during the process, I think about the person who will receive the card and the person who has passed.  I won't mail a sympathy card unless I'm pleased with it, and I was quite pleased with this one.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before my craft room is in perfect order and ready to fully enjoy!

Have a stampin' good day!

MASCULINE BIRTHDAY CARD - SIMPLE TO MAKE, WOW TO RECEIVE

 

Need a masculine birthday card but have no idea what to make?  This one is for you!

It just so happened that it was (a little past) time for me to mail a masculine card, and I saw something similar on Pinterest that I really liked.  Although the design is simple, I think it has an understated elegance and LOTS of texture!

Just look at all of the texture!  There's a rustic brick embossed background, linen texture to the black cardstock, a sleek smoothness to the gold die-cut foil, and the elevated banner (with upward-curved ends) that the "happy" rests upon.  And, of course, those two shiny gold rhinestones.  BUT . . . the texture didn't stop with the front of the card.

The inside of the card features another banner with a black heat-embossed sentiment.  Thinking of stamping the sentiment on that stark white liner seemed so "blah", and I was quite pleased with the small banner.  It will be a pleasant little surprise for the recipient, too.

So there you have it . . . a short and sweet idea for a masculine birthday card.

Have a stampin' good day!

"MORE THAN AUTUMN"

It's been a while since I've shared a project, and it's also been a while since I've had a block of time to devote to a fun creative session with stamps, ink, and cardstock.  Today's post is a rather shameless CASE of a gorgeous project that Wendy Weixler shared recently.  When I saw her card, I was so glad that my very own "More Than Autumn" bundle was en route to me.  I loved the way that Wendy used the Perennial Postage dies to create sections on her card. 

The "More Than Autumn" bundle is most certainly a keeper!  Isn't it fun how the dies in this bundle make it easy to create a two-colored leaf???  That is just genius!  

As you can see in the photos, I added glittery accents to some of the images, which were all colored with alcohol markers.

Hopefully, you can see that the word "pumpkin" was cut from a strip of gold foil and then adhered to a snippet of ribbon.  In the above photo, you can see some of the glitter, the two-color leaves, and the sponged die-cut postage shapes.  Although my play time is limited and sometimes too scarce, this is not the last you will see of the "More Than Autumn" product bundle from me.

Shhhhhhh.  Don't tell my sister, but this is going to be her birthday card.  

I hope you have a stampin' good day!

WELCOME BABY SIDE-STEP CARD

What's more exciting than a new baby?  

Well . . . I suppose there are lots of exciting times over the course of one's life, but we can all probably agree that new babies are among them.

One of my son's friends recently welcomed a new baby, so I used my Cricut to make this card for him and his wife.  I think the card is just so adorable!  Beth Carmichael is the one to credit for this sweet design, and I only added the custom welcome sign on the front.  

In real life, the cardstock baby didn't look quite as green-grey, but I realize that I probably should have chosen a different color.  Still, I was quite pleased with how this card came together.  There were quite a few pieces to assemble, but that's what adds to the details.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Hopefully, it won't be long before the next post.  :-)

PROJECTS FOR NATIONAL GOOD NEIGHBOR DAY

 

I have the pleasure of working at a club in a 55+ community, and today I get to teach a paper craft class featuring the above projects.  They were designed with National Good Neighbor Day in mind, which is September 28th.  

Cookie Box

First up is the adorable Cookie Box.  I love the generous size of this box, which will hold a LOT of cookies, but it's large enough to hold other gifts/treats, too.  It's 6" wide and 3" tall!

Like the other projects planned for this class, I tried to keep things simple because I don't know what anyone's experience with paper crafting might be.  The box has a sweet little label and a scrunched flower decorating the top.

Slide-Up Gift Card Holder

We all love a project that has a little hidden wow, and this one seemed perfect for my class because it's so super easy to make!  Again, the design was kept very simple.

As you can see in the below photo, a little pocket slides up from the bottom when the card is opened.  The pocket can easily hold a gift card, cash, check, etc.

Square Column Card

If you follow my blog, you know how much I 💗 Square Column cards!  I still have several pieces of cardstock cut and scored--just ready to decorate and mail.  Because they're so easy and quick to make, I had to include one for this class.  In the below photo, it's folded flat and ready to mail:

Below you can see it on display:

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s retired "Sidekick Sayings" stamp set.  I thought it was very fitting for National Good Neighbor Day.

I thought the attendees would need something they could put their completed projects in to carry home, so they each will get one of these bags:  

Although the decoration for the bag isn't one of the class projects, I couldn't resist the opportunity to provide an idea for how to make a bag pretty.  I like this way of holding a card so it doesn't get lost or overlooked.  The card and flower were designed in Cricut Design Space and cut with my machine.  The Cricut even did the writing on the card holder!

I'm excited about the class today and quite pleased with the projects!

PACK YOUR BAGS, SUMMER! | SUITCASE SHAPED CARD

 

It was so nice to enjoy a few low humidity and cooler temperature days recently.  Actually, it just made me that much more ready for Fall, and that's what gave me the idea for this suitcase card.  At first glance, you might have thought I was ready to pack a suitcase and run off to some warm, sunny, tropical place but, no . . . I'm just inviting Summer to pack her bags and move on out.  Anyone who has visited my blog for a long time already knows how much I adore shaped cards.  I designed this one using Cricut Design Space and then cut all of the pieces (it was a handful).  For the first time, I used six print-then-cut images, which is more than I've ever used at one time.  Since I made about six of these cards, the process involved a lot of cutting and assembly.

The above photo shows the inside, which was the main card base.  The front of the card had a Crumb Cake layer, and the inside had a white cardstock layer.  The two images on the inside were print-then-cut images.  They look quite nice, huh?

I'm not even gonna lie . . . I fall in love with my Cricut machine all over again each time that I use it.  Designing cards is easy, and it seems that there is always a huge abundance of shapes and images to use.  Being able to press a button and have everything cut while I do something else is quite enjoyable.  In the above photo, you can see the tag, which the Cricut not only cut but also did the writing.  Notice the texture on the Crumb Cake cardstock layer?  I inked the inside of the embossing folder with ink, and it really made the texture stand out!

Above is a view of the card from the top.

And below is the front of the card again:

So where do you stand on the Summer/Fall debate?  Want more Summer or ready for Fall?

"WHAT'S COOKIN'" SLIMLINE CARD

The other day, I was looking for a stamp set and enjoyed re-visiting the baking/food stamp sets that I had grouped together.  It was "What's Cookin'" that really called to me and, when I opened the stamp case, I found a card similar to the one that I'm sharing today.  It looked so fun and easy that I felt compelled to make another one.  The background for my card was a scrap of paper that was laying on my desk, and the only new product that I used was that gorgeous copper-colored twine (from the upcoming mini catalog) that was also on my desk.

The images were stamped with Crumb Cake ink, although it looks a bit gray in the photos.

The utensils were die-cut from Silver Foil, of course, and looked so much nicer in person.  For some reason, I struggled with taking photos of this card.

It's unfortunate when fun stamp and die bundles (like this one) seem to retire too soon, but I'm glad I held on to this one.  

Have a stampin' good day! 

SOMETHING DIFFERENT: A WOOL FELT ORNAMENT

 

I have several hobbies.  The trouble with having a variety of hobbies is there's not always enough time (or space) to get all the supplies out and start working--at least not without having to first do a major tidy-up.  If you enjoy crafts like I do, then you are probably like me and DREAD the tidy-up.  And then a package arrives with new supplies, and . . . well . . . it would be wrong to not open and test them, right?  That's what happened the other day.  I had ordered two nesting templates from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  This one and this one:

    

I shoved everything else to the side (in what I call teetering fashion) so I could get busy choosing the colors for my project--an ornament.  I chose wool felt rather than felted wool since it's less expensive but also because my ornament would not be laundered.  I used both of my new templates to create this project:

It turned out pretty cute, huh?  For the backing, I used a piece of grey felt.  Now that the ornament is finished, I know that I should have chosen blue or white for the backing since some of the grey shows around the edges.  All of the snowflakes were cut with dies and my Big Shot machine.  I had planned to put a larger snowflake in the center of the mitten, but then I found the cute holly leaf and berries buttons in a kit at my parent's house.  I figured since I hadn't yet done anything with that kit, I could use the buttons on this project.

Finishing touches were the addition of pearl beads in the center of the snowflakes.  I've just recently been working with sewing beads onto wool projects, and it really takes them up a notch.  It's a bit tricky, though, finding a needle with a small enough eye for beads--especially the really tiny ones.  

What you can't tell from the photos is that this finished ornament is 8.25" x 8.75" from the widest points.  It's quite large and will show prominently on my Christmas tree!  I think my next project will be a pillow with a sweater applique in the center and two mittens tied to one corner (of the pillow).  Won't that be sweet?  Or maybe I will make a wall-hanging instead of a pillow.  Maybe I'll make both!  All I can say is that this was a really fun project--and it was kinda quick, too.

I guess it's "tidy-up" time now since my room is a hideous mess of teetering items all around.

MORE "SIMPLY ZINNIA"

 

Can you ever get tired of these gorgeous vivid colors???  I absolutely adore the "Flowering Zinnias" designer paper and, as you can tell, I just keep reaching for it.  Today's card features a very simple technique that's quite relaxing to make.  You just cut strips of paper (mine were 3/4" but you can cut to whatever width you like) and place them randomly on your cardstock (mine was 4" x 5-1/4").  You want to make sure your strips are long enough to extend the edges of the cardstock, and then cut off the overhang.  

When I sat down to make this card, I was quite frustrated with myself.  I had found a card on Pinterest that I really wanted to make, and there was even a video tutorial.  I can't tell you how many mistakes I made or how often I felt lost while watching the video.  I've watched that person's videos numerous times and have always had great respect for her ability to demonstrate how to create projects, but . . . argh!!!! . . . I really think she went too fast or maybe it was the angle of her camera over the project that made following along such a challenge.  At one point, I was sure that she was angry about someone forcing her to re-create that project for the video and thought she wanted viewers to be lost.  Okay, so maybe that was my own moment of madness.  I can't say for certain.  Anyway . . . I was left with a mountain of cardstock cuts and an unfinished project which, if I'm honest, made me mad.  It's so rare for me to get lost watching a tutorial!  I even found two other videos demonstrating that same type of card and was able to follow them both.  The last one really excited me because it used just two pieces of cardstock and went together quickly and easily.  The only problem was that it was top heavy with a base that wasn't sturdy enough.  So I tossed those failures and chose another challenge.  Again, I got turned around and didn't flip or turn when I should have, and then adhesive that was supposed to be useful was on the wrong side.  It was time to turn out the lights and call it a day.

My first order of business today was to successfully complete a card, so I chose cheery paper and something easy to make.  For this "Simply Zinnia" project, I cut four of the flowers from Flirty Flamingo cardstock and sponged the edges of the petals with Flirty Flamingo ink.  Didn't they turn out pretty all layered together?  Of course, I had to add some sparkly rhinestones, too.

Well, this is all that I have to share today.  Maybe I'll re-visit something new and/or more challenging soon--and I hope to end up with a finished work of art.  I guess the take-away from today's post is to not give up.  When something is too challenging, stick with it.  If you still don't succeed, back down to something less challenging.  It will definitely make you happier!

Have a stampin' good day!

"SIMPLY ZINNIA" EASY SIDE-STEP CARD + INSTRUCTIONS

 

The "Flowering Zinnias" designer paper is so bright, colorful, and cheery!  To accompany the paper that I chose for this card, I stamped three zinnias from the "Simply Zinnia" stamp set, colored them with alcohol markers, and then cut them with a coordinating die.  A white gel pen was used to add highlights to the center of the flowers, which I think enhanced the depth and brightness of the coloring.  

This side-step card is the easiest one that I've ever made.  It required none of the awkward cuts and scoring that are usually necessary to create a card like this; instead, you only need two pieces of cardstock to create it.  The main card is 5-1/2" x 8" and scored at 1, 2, and 5 inches.  The tall stand-up panel is 3-1/4" x 8-1/2" scored at 4-1/4".  As you can see in the above photo, I adhered the stand-up panel before adhering the strip of designer paper across the bottom front "step".

The stand-up panel is adhered at the bottom front and the bottom of the card back.

The right portion of the card had a wider space--perfect for the sentiment label.

It's a fun design, huh?