valentine's day cards

I had a fun time creating some Valentine's cards this year. I usually forget to make them but this year I was ahead of the game. So far ahead in fact, I was even able to mail some out to family and friends!! I know amazing!!

These ones below I used my Sybill (Silhouette) to cut out the circle accents. There were three of them which is where I got the hearts that are on the front of the cards. But I liked these two styles better so they made it onto the cards. I added some stickles to the red hearts. The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder. I was happy with myself for getting these to turn out pretty close to what I had in my minds eye.

These next ones were so much fun to make. I created the background myself using one wooden stamp for the large red hearts ($1 bin at Michaels), the pink hearts are from a $1 acrylic set from Studio G and then inside the red hearts there are clear embossed hearts that I had from one of my Paper Smooches stamps sets. Pretty sure it was the sewing themed set.

I then used another wooden block $1 stamp for the 'with love' circle. I heat embossed that as well. Added a bit of twine and called it done. 

I shall post more tomorrow. Lots of stuff going on around here. Have you heard there is a HUGE vote coming on March 11th?? Make sure you vote yes for the new school. Thanks!!

Even the minions know we need a new school!!

unofficial challenge

One of the scrapping groups I am a part of on FB tries to have monthly challenges to keep us all on our toes as well as keeping those creative juices flowing and not drying up. For some months there have been a few going on which is always fun. 

However, around Christmas time we discussed possibly doing a Christmas card monthly challenge. Many ladies thought that might put a few of us under too much stress/ pressure/ cardiac arrest. So we have an unofficial monthly Christmas card challenge. Make four Christmas cards every month if you are able. If you cannot, no biggie. If you can at least you will have that many cards done before the Christmas season hits again! Sounds good to me. And since I was done with my valentines, I had a couple hours to play.

I dug out an older holiday slab that I have had for a bit and grabbed a couple of patterns out. I like the blues and greens on these papers. I also did a gate fold card (I think that is what it is called) to test it out. I think I like it a lot. I cut the banner with my Cuttlebug using my Spellbinders dies. Heat embossed the sentiment with silver powder and added some silver pearls to the corner.

Inside I heat embossed in silver the sentiment. Still lots of room for a picture or a special holiday message.

Not too shabby and they didn't take too much time. I need to whip up a couple of adult valentines and some birthday cards. Off I go....

snowman thank you's

Playing around on Pinterest to find projects for Alex to do had me coming across some fun thumb print stamping ideas. One of which was 'stamping' a snowman. Alex then decided he didn't want to "Build a Snowman" (have you seen Disney's Frozen?? We love Olaf around here). I didn't let that stop me!! Then I was thinking I had some foam circle stamps that would probably work for snowmen and what do you know... they did!!

Here are the six guys waiting for me to finish them up. I stamped the two circles with white paint and let them dry. Used one end of my dry embossing tool to create their eyes and smiles and an eraser on a pencil for the buttons in black paint. I grabbed some scrap orange cardstock and cut the carrots. Nothing precise about them, just eyeballed them to fit on their faces.

Here are the cards completed. I should mention I created the snowmen on a smaller piece of Kraft cardstock and then attached that to the card front. Worked out much better for me since I don't like the look of ribbons and such poking on the inside of the cards I create. One of my pet peeves.

Close up/ side view. The one banner on the card in front was the first one and didn't work out exactly as I had wanted it but you can see I improved the placing of the banner on the others. I punched holes on the sides of the snowmen's neck to give me a place to string the bakers twine through for their scarves. I also added 'stick' arms by using a heavier jute I had laying around.

I used Versamark ink to stamp the snowflakes which are from Paper Smooches (thanks mom) If I make these cards again, I may do the stamping first along with some embossing. I have a lovely sparkle powder that I think would rock the front of these cards.

The banner was heat embossed and hand cut. Used a bit of foam tape to give the banner dimension and curled up the edges.

Two of these sweet guys were sent out by the kiddos and four are still living here. If you want them, drop me a line!!

teacher christmas gifts 2013

I have the pleasure of helping out in one of the kindergarten rooms with an amazing teacher and her equally amazing helper/ partner in crime/ friend/ paraprofessional extraordinaire. I help out twice a week so I can hang with both the AM and the PM classes. Cutest littles ever!!

But once again I digress.....

I made each of these ladies a set of eight cards for a Christmas gift. So much fun as I love making cards!! I also love using a new tool. I picked up the Fiskars hexagon punch on the black Friday weekend for a steal at Joanns. I also purchased a corner punch from Fiskars to replace the one I misplaced in my office and got both punches for under $10. Seriously happy day for me!!

So using my new hexagon tool I went to work on some cards.

And there you have a fun little something to give to two ladies who let me come into their classroom and paint the children!!

quick post for my friend ali

Christmas is coming rather quickly and boy do I have a ton more to do... So this will be a quick and simple post for today.

I made this card for my special friend who ran away to Canada after becoming a part of my heart over the past four years. Oh sure, use the excuse that her entire family is there and it makes her husband happy to be at home more. 

What about my needs?? 

Geez, some people can be so selfish. 

(and yes that would be me)

I found the bird cage stamp at Michaels and thought of this special lady right away. I could see it stamped and heading her way. Then I looked and there was this adorable bird stamp. How perfect!! It was like the universe aligned and said to me "yes you need those stamps". Well who am I to go against the entire universe?? 

Oh the best part?? The cost of both of the stamps was $1.00!! Serious on sale baby.

I stamped the cage and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. It turned out a bit too gold and not perfect. So I dug through my stash and found some metallic rub ons that worked amazingly well to 'age' the cage. That then brought me to the point of deciding the entire card needed an aged look. Inking to the rescue. I stamped the bird and popped him on the top of the cage since he needs to be free! I used some glaze pens for his beak and his eye. A bit of washi tape to create the table for the cage to sit on and some pearl bling and I called it done.

Very happy with how this turned out.

smooches = thank you

At least it does to me and this great cow stamp!! The stamp set is from Paper Smooches. Love their adorable characters and the phrases. The stamps work amazingly well. Even for someone like me who is not that great when it comes to stamping. Good thing I have lots of paper to practice on!! :)

Yesterday on the Paper Smooches blog a lovely prize package was being offered up to a randomly drawn winner for posting a Thank You card. I do believe that smooches does equal saying thank you!

I made this card for a sample for my card party last month. I LOVE the cow. I mean seriously- how cute. And pink. Well what fun is it to color in a white cow?? Absolutely none. I used my EK Success colored pencils that I have had forever to color the image. I don't think I am ready for Copics. I certainly know my hubby is not ready for me to be into Copics. And neither is the bank account. I can see that becoming a costly addiction/ necessity.

I used paper from DCWV summer stack from eons ago. I like how the pink pops out from the other colors. I used my nesties to cut the cow out, popped with pop dots and a paper punch for the sentiment. A little bit of rick rack I had in my stash and there you go... a heartfelt thank you card.

I would love to win the drawing. Really I would. I have one package of their stamps. I NEED more. :) I have a rather large list of Paper Smooches stamps that I would give my firstborn to own. Seriously... they are that amazing. Check them out.

May your day be full of smooches!!

october sketch challenge card

I have been a busy little creator the past couple of days. Love it!! Below is the sketch for the Christmas card Facebook group I am in.

This is a really fun sketch. So much so I used it for this card as well as on a card I made my mom and a set of birthday cards. Totally loved it. Really I did.

Papers from a holiday stack from years ago. Heat embossed the sentiment and the snowflakes with gold embossing powder. Sewed around the edges, added some white twine-looking string and pop dotted the scalloped circle. Very happy with it.

Thanks for looking and stopping by!! 

you are invited

To look at these fun Halloween party invitations I created for an amazing lady I know. I love challenges and that is what these were. She wanted something simple and cute Halloween not scary Halloween. I saw these papers and knew I was hooked!! Too bad I didn't buy enough of them!! Augh! I calculated wrong in my head. Lesson learned. Write down the amounts before heading out to the store. Not saying they didn't work out, but not exactly as planned. :)

This first one there are three of these. I love the double sided goodness that is these papers. Yummy!!

These are the ones that I messed up on the quantity of paper. There are six of this invite. But like I said, I like them both so much!!

And here is the insert all ready to be filled in. I had to use many different Studio G dollar stamps to get this. I do believe I need to invest in an invitation stamp for the future. Not that this didn't work and it didn't really take that long, but I think it could be easier.

Orange gingham ribbon was from my stash and has been here for quite awhile! I put a piece of orange cardstock on the back of the pocket to cover my less than wonderful stitching. I could not get the tension right to save my life. It looked fine on the front but the back was a nightmare (definitely headed for the scary Halloween) Plus adding the cardstock helped with the fact that the pattern paper was upside down from being folded in half. Next time I know what I will do different. So I guess it is all good in the long run.

I am now all done with my orders and will be bored if I don't get any soon. Seriously... going to work on some of my own stuff for a bit. It will be a nice change.

May your day be as wonderful as a party!!

triple the fun!

I had an order for a set of cards for a set of triplets. How cool is that?? They are eighth grade girls so I went with some bright (but not too bright) colors with bling. Because who can resist bling?? Not me!

I made each of them a card portfolio to hold their set of four cards and put their initial on the front as well as on the cards. I used the same design on all of them but with different paper combinations from the same paper line. Totally fun. The first three pictures show the portfolios closed and set to go.

This one shows you the inside of the portfolio with the cards inside.

And here are the cards for each girl. Used a bunch of bling and liquid pearls and some sewing.

May your day be triple special!!

card order

Another card order from my card party that is complete! So very happy for that. I totally love making these cards but it feels so darn good when they are complete and I can get them to their new owners. Love that!!

These papers were from a Holiday stack I picked up a couple years back. Then Sybill got to cut out the Noel. A little sewing and bling and Merry Christmas to you!!

I love the springy-ness of this card and better still... I got to use some of my twill stash from eons ago!

A couple of criss cross thank you cards. I used my Cuttlebug for the present stamp and added some of my newly purchased bakers twine from K. Andrews website. It is lovely but feel I might have to hit up the Twinery for some other colors that she doesn't carry. I need a couple of pinks, a dark blue, light orange, brown and maybe a dark green. :)

Same card different color grouping.

May you always find the correct sentiment for your day!

for an eight year old girl

I made the following cards for an eight year old girl. Her mom made the request at my card party and I had a total blast making these cards for her. The little girl's favorite colors are green, orange and purple. I mean could I possibly choose a better color palette?? So much fun and the DCWV Nana's Kids stack was full of that deliciousness. Plus glitter which all girls simply L O V E!!

I colored the owls with her favorite colors since they are such cute owls!! They are from Paper Smooches and are so much fun!! They have a ton more sets of stamps that I would kill to have. Of course I would have to win the lottery or suddenly fall into money excess but they are fun to drool over and dream about.

I used my Spellbinders Nesties to cut out the images that I stamped. And did some embossing with my Cuttlebug. Totally fun cards to work on!

Here is another of the Paper Smooches critters that I have. So darn cute!! I used the scraps from creating the other cards to do the background on the chickie cards. Plus using my border punch and sewing machine. And no card is complete without some bling!!

This is the card box that all eight cards are stored in. I am very happy with how this set turned out.

May your day be full of bling and happy colors!!

ordination card

While my mom was hanging out with us last month, she asked me if I could make an ordination card for her for a gentleman at church. Sure! Why not??

I had to search the internet for some ideas as I have never done that type of card before. I found a few ideas and crammed them all together and this is what I came up with.

The dark brown on the side where the writing is turned a bit black in the picture. And the cross... I love it so much!! Sybill cut that out of DCWV metallic cardstock. I embossed the flourishes on vellum with my Cuttlebug. The letters were cut with my red Sizzix using Sizzlit font Playground.

I printed the Bible verse onto vellum and then attached it to the brown paper with the tan paper as accents for the inside of the card.

Mom was pretty happy with it and so am I! Somehow it is always my mom who comes up with these great challenges for me. She is testing me, I know it!! (love you mom!!)

May your day be not so challenging.

gift card holders

I have made so many of these gift card holders over the years. They are simple to make and add such a personal feel to a gift card. Cuz you know, sometimes gift cards are not very personal. I made these up for my card party and they were a hit!!

Again, I am using that DCWV Christmas stack. I love the different papers that are in there. Seriously love them all. I only need to figure out a way to use the giant ornaments/ tree branches and bows that came in that pack and I will be a very happy lady!!

I used puff paint on the Santa hat which is pop dotted. I heat embossed the edges to give it the sparkle. I also heat embossed the snowflake below.

May all your gifts be sparkly and bright.

looking like christmas

These are the last Christmas cards I whipped up for my card party last week. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in them and it never hurts to have extras for my own stash!! I used DCWV Christmas stack from ages ago. I really need to pick up a new one this year. Just to mix things up a bit. :)

I stamped the images using Studio G dollar stamps and heat embossed them using gold powder.

I sewed with metallic gold thread which is a very cheap brand and breaks ALL THE TIME!! And yes mom I was even using my metallic needles. I kinda like how it worked out with the extra and such. Gives it a homey feel.

So... do you need any Christmas cards?? Head over to terri's treasures and let me make your season bright!!