BIRTHDAY POCKET CARD

Today is my cousin's birthday, and this is the pocket card that I made for her:

This card also features Stampin' Up!'s gorgeous Share What You Love designer paper, Rich Razzleberry velvet ribbon, circle and Starburst punches, glimmer paper, and sentiment from Perennial Birthday stamp set.  

"OH SNAP!"

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter, my daddy's birthday, and my nephew's birthday.  Since my nephew enjoys film photography, I thought Chalk Couture's Oh Snap! chalk transfer (February 2019 Club Couture) would be perfect for a chalkboard and wooden base to include with his gift!

My son, who also has a keen interest in photography (both digital and film), used some of his equipment and effects to stage and shoot this photograph.  When I asked him to take a photo, I thought it would just be a photo, so this blew me away!

The chalkboard project probably took all of 5 minutes to create, and that includes drying time.  

If you are interested in learning more about Chalk Couture products or if I can be of assistance, please let me know.  You can view all available products HERE.

MY EASTER/SPRING CREATIONS

I don't know what it is about holidays.  They come around every year, but some of them sneak up on me.  That happened with Easter.  I had been busy working in my stamp room, moving some furniture from one side to the other and filling a lot of garbage bags, when it dawned on me that it was time to put Easter cards in the mail if I planned to send any.  As is usual when time is of the essence, I didn't have any idea what kind of card to make, so I started looking at my stamp sets.  It was Lawn Fawn's How You Bean? set that screamed "use me!".  Coloring the candy was so much fun, and the process went quicker than you might think once I was happy with the selected colors.  

When the cards were finished, I knew that the jelly beans didn't really capture the spirit of Easter so I stamped "Happy Spring" on the front and "Happy Easter" on the inside.  Soooooo . . . my Easter cards weren't at all what I might have designed if I had worked on them earlier, but I think they still brightened the day of those who received them.

But then, in keeping with the true spirit of Easter, I saw an adorable cross-shaped Hershey's nugget holder that Birgit Seidler created, and I just had to make a few.  She speaks German, and I don't.  She measures in cm, and I don't.  Fortunately, this was an easy enough project to figure out, and aren't these little gems adorable???

I cut two strips of cardstock at 1" x 8.5" for each cross.  The strips were scored at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 inches from one end, and then at 1.25" from the other end.  After folding into shape, I adhered two strips together at the top.  

For the three pinched "joints", I started with the left, then the right, and then adhered the left and right at the center which created the three triangle shapes at the top part of the cross.  

Lastly, I glued the bottom two pieces together.

I chose Stampin' Up!'s Gorgeous Grape, Pineapple Punch, and Grapefruit Grove cardstock for my crosses, and I used strips of Gingham Gala designer paper to wrap the Hershey's nugget candy.  I used one of the Bitty Blooms punches and the Butterfly Duet punch to decorate the crosses, as well as Baker's Twine.  The sentiment is from His Grace stamp set.

And then . . . I decided to make a box for some of the nugget crosses . . .

Thank you for visiting my blog today!  I wish YOU a Happy Easter and a Happy Spring! 

"GRACEFUL GARDEN" FUN FOLD

Sharing today a fun fold card that I made recently.  I don't know if there's a name for this card style, but it is definitely an easy one to make.  I even decorated a coordinating envelope, although the color doesn't show up very well.

It's a fun one, right?

TRIANGLE POP-UP CARD FOR DADDY'S BIRTHDAY

Just a quick post today--one that I meant to share last week on daddy's birthday.  

It's always a bit of a challenge to make a masculine card, but the Triangle Pop-Up isn't one that can be sent to just anyone because they might pull it out of the envelope, flip it all around, and not know what to do with it.  My friend, Laura, sent me one of these cards recently--beautifully decorated for Easter--and she was also sweet enough to tell me how to make it.  I must admit that when I removed it from the envelope, I kind of scratched my head because I had no idea how to display it.  She included a photo, though, and that made all the difference.  Actually, I was able to figure out how the card displayed but, until I studied her photo, I hadn't realized that the center had it's own kickstand (of sorts).  I was anxious to make one of these cards, and that's how daddy got lucky enough to get one for his birthday . . . with a photo of how to display it.  Ha!

Isn't it a fun card design?  You might be surprised to learn that this cardgolds nearly flat for mailing. My mother sent a text message on daddy's birthday showing a picture of him with his card--and it was perfectly prepped for display!  

CABINET FACELIFT

Yesterday, I turned my craft room upside-down, inside-out.  A new TV came in, and I decided I wanted it on a different wall.  That, of course, meant moving furniture.  In my craft room, the "furniture" mainly consists of storage cubes, bookshelves, cabinets, etc.  You know they're all FULL, so it's a job to flip the room.  It's still quite chaotic in here but, as I looked at the tall pantry-style cabinet (which is now across the room), it looked much more plain (and ugly).  And so I decided to add a subtle decoration to the doors.

I think I'm off to a pretty good start, don't you?  Two things that I've learned already:

(1)  Starting at the bottom was an excellent idea!

(2)  I definitely need to rotate the image transfer so it won't appear that I'm trying to line up/match any portion of the design.

(3)  It would be kind of nice if that right door didn't hang a bit lower than the left.

I don't believe I've ever attempted to do a furniture facelift, and I can't promise that this one won't end up being a disaster.  So far, I'm excited about this project and am sooooooo anxious to be finished.  I can't hurry it along, though.  I'm using Chalk Couture's Modern Floral transfer and Fawn Couture Ink and, after two uses of the transfer, I'll be washing it and waiting for it to dry.  I guess that will give me time to work on getting my room back in order--and saying goodbye to many items that have been taking up valuable real estate in this room.  Wish me luck!!!