Merry Monday #22 Card

Lesley at Always Playing With Paper has a new Christmas Card sketch and I am happy to play along!

 

I used a coordinating Christmas set that came with two sided paper and a page of stickers; the scalloped border and heart are stickers from the package. I embellished the heart with a punched snowflake and a gem, and used a narrow strip of the star printed paper down the scalloped border like a ribbon.

The card is 4.5 x 6.5" ... I'm doing pretty good with my New Years Resolution to make cards using other sizes than A2.  Into my Christmas Card Stash with this one!

Thanks for stopping by today.

FTL192 Christmas Card

The new sketch is up at the Clean & Simple stamping blog and since it's a card layout I quite often use anyways, I just HAD to play along. In fact, I made two cards and will post the second one another day.

 

I used one of those fun shaker stickers by K&Co as the embellishment.

The snowflakes are from a Martha Stewart punch, I outlined the panels and scalloped circle with a Sakura glitter pen, and the dots are flat metallic stickers. I suppose with the bulk of the shaker I could have gone ahead and used gems!

The scalloped circle was cut with a Nestability die, as the shaker needed something to separate it from the green panel.  Into my Christmas Card Stash with this one!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

A New Home Card

Our DD and family are moving to their new house this week - and this is the card I made to welcome them. I thought they'd enjoy getting some 'Happy Mail' at their new address:

 

This is a 6" square card, and I cut down some MME patterned paper to make it. That house and tree are just too cute, with lots of sparkle and shine in the paper.

The card base itself was made out of the orange sparkly patterned paper, and the house panel was attached on top of that. 

I added another piece of the house paper to the inside, and stamped it with a stamp I've had for many years, by Darcie Hunter.

Thanks for stopping by today!

DD#4 Monochromatic Butterflies Card

Before I get to my card, I have EXCITING news.

Really Exciting.

My 'Sunshine Challenge Card' was chosen as one of the Dynamic Darlings for the week.  I'm so honoured and excited and, well, PROUD!!

This is the badge they gave the Darlings:  (I have emailed them for the coding so I can put it up on my blog as they suggested).

The next bit of exciting news, is that I finished the digital scrapbook I've been working on. Fifty Six pages.  Yes, 56 pages.  In a week.  I quite happily hit the BUY BOOK in iPhoto last night at 10 pm, then did a little happy dance. Just a little one, because I was very, very tired.  But it's DONE!  And it will be in our hands well before we leave for Israel.  It will be a gift that is easy to pack, since it comes in a nice sturdy box, and will be protected during the flight. I will take photos of the finished book once the wonderful UPS driver delivers it to me next week. Waa Hoo!

Since I needed some time away from my computer, I got up this morning with the intent to play along with the latest challenge at Dynamic Duos.  This week's challenge is to make a monochromatic project using the following colours:

I don't have Bashful Blue, but I did have two brand spankin' new card stock packages from my PTI order ... Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist.  The envelope is 5x7" and the white card base was cut to fit inside.

I used watermark ink and a large Stampin' Up background stamp for both the Hawaiian Shores panel and the Aqua Mist scalloped panel. The scallop was cut with a PTI die, and I cut it again out of a white card stock scrap to give the panel a bit of contrast. 

Each butterfly has three layers:  Aqua Mist, White and Hawaiian Shores. They were glued together just in the center, attached to white card stock squares that were popped up with Stampin' Up Dimensionals. I love those things - they aren't as high as regular foam tape but they still give just enough dimension.

The butterflies still needed 'something', so I added the silver tear drops with my iRock tool. The seam binding is by Martha Stewart, as is the butterfly punch.

 

Finally, I added an extra punched butterfly to the inside of the card. No sentiment on this one, so I can add an appropriate verse inside when I go to send the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Songbird Spinner Cards, 2nd one.

Here is the 2nd spinner card I made with my new PTI spinner dies and the Songbird paper stack. This one is an A2 card, and should be able to go through the mail in a regular envelope.

If you look closely, you will see that this is the piece trimmed off of the bottom of the 6" panel I used to make the first spinner card HERE.

I used the straight spinner groove die on this card, and the cute little bird was hand trimmed from another piece of paper in the paper stack. He just rolls and spins right along the track!

The word stamp is by Verve. I thought I could use this card for a number of occasions. See? I told you I was having a blast with the new dies.  :-)))

I have almost 40 pages done in the digital scrapbook I'm working on, and I figure there will be about 12 more pages until I can hit SEND and get it off to Apple for printing. Whew - it's been a huge project, but I'm so proud of what I've done on it so far this week ... and it's a gift I will be happy to bring to Israel.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Freshly Made Sketch #36

I needed to make an engagement card, and took a break from scrapbooking to use the new sketch at Freshly Made.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of top fold cards, I wanted to make this a spinner card and it just worked better with a horizontal spinner. I didn't like the idea of a heart spinning downwards for an engagement card.  :-)

I turned the sketch on it's side, and used this beautiful pearlized blue print paper (DCWV). When I laid it out, it STILL needed something so I matted each of the pieces with black after adding the scalloped border (PTI die) to the top rectangle.

I am SO hooked on spinner cards.  :-)  I love the way the hearts roll and spin along the track. Right now the engaged couple live in different countries (!!!) so their life is a little crazy and I think they will get a kick out of the spinning hearts. I'm sure they feel like that sometimes.

After cutting the track with the PTI die, I lightly outlined it on the card base with pencil and used a stamp positioner to help me stamp the words (Crazy Stamps). I am having the WORST time lately cutting anything straight or lining anything up. I don't know what is going on. Even with the stamp positioner, I managed to stamp the words slightly crooked. It's making me insane.

I glued some white pearlized paper to a piece of chipboard, then cut it out with a Sizzix Primitive Heart die. The smaller hearts - which are outlined with a Sakura glitter pen - were punched with a SU punch.  It's hard to see in the photo, but I used the same gel pen to colour in the dot above the "i" in CONTRATULATIONS.

There was a beautiful silver pearl envelope in my stash, and I cut down a white card base to 5x7" to  use the envelope. The inside is lined with a piece of white card stock, so the spinner doesn't catch on any machinery as the card goes on it's merry way to the engagement party in Arizona.

The (digital) scrapbook is flying along, I'm so pleased with how it is turning out and have done THIRTY pages!!!  I'm about 2/3 finished their photos  - and am more comfortable now with the layouts. They will read the book 'back to front', and 'right to left' - the opposite of how we do over here. I've never done an entire album using someone elses photos before - it's sure a different way to scrapbook!

For those that have asked, when I digitally scrapbook I use a 11 x 8.5" (landscape) canvas in Photoshop. Once I have all the layers and shadows finished, I flatten it into a single layer & save it as a .jpg. This can then be imported into iPhoto as a single photo, and dragged onto one of their book templates as is.  I am just careful not to put anything important close to the edges.  Hope this answers your questions!

And thankfully, I can digitally cut things perfectly STRAIGHT and have no trouble lining anything up. Otherwise I'm afraid I'd have to 'throw in the towel'.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Square Baby Girl Card

The challenge this week at the Less Is More Challenge Blog, is to create a CAS card for a baby or child. Chrissie and Mandi like their white space, so I hope they think there is enough on my submission this week.

 

The card base is 5.25 x 5.25" square, and the pretty, sparkly papers are by MME. I have sure got some great use out of that paper stack!  I used a Nestability label for the oval, and the baby rattle sticker was leftover from other projects and sitting in my 'Odds & Sods' pile.

 

I have left the inside blank for now, and will add the words or verse when I go to send the card.

 

I may or may not have time to post this upcoming week. I have decided to tackle a HUGE project, and of course there is a time limit.  We are going to Israel for our DD's wedding. I wanted to bring the groom's parents something and hubby suggested I do a photo book of their trip here to Canada in February. So the book has to be done, submitted, and received before we leave.

The idea is BRILLIANT, but I don't just drag the photos into pre-selected templates in iPhoto. Oh no, not me. Since I used to design digital scrapbook kits, I am actually digitally scrapbooking each page. Then I flatten it and save it as a single photo and drag THAT into the photo book as a full page photo. I 'hand paint' every single shadow on the elements and photos, but at least I've realized I don't have time to create an entire kit for this album. I am taking advantage of the many talented designers out there and using their kits for the book. 

Oh, the time this is taking. But - it truly is a gift from the heart and I know that they will appreciate it more than any trinket or somethin' somethin' I could bring them. Obviously, since this will be a surprise I won't be posting the pages on my blog. At least not yet!

This weekend - with the groom's help - we got the cover words done in Hebrew. I also managed to create FOUR, two page spreads.  There will be at least ten more.  

So I'll be busy creating, but quite possibly not anything I can share unless I really need a break from my laptop.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunshine Challenge Card

This weekend I managed to combine two challenges with my card ... something that rarely happens.

The latest sketch is up at the Clean And Simple Stamping Blog (FTL #191), and the colour challenge at Dynamic Duo's is as well.

Yellow? You know I don't work easily with yellow. But paired with black? AACK ...  If it weren't for the talented design team at the Dynamic Duo's blog to inspire me, I doubt I would have been able to manage this one.

I did trim off the center panel below the banner though, as it seemed to detract from the banner itself. Other than that, I stayed pretty close to the sketch. Thankfully we are able to use a neutral (I chose white) with our DD colour challenge and I CAN work with touches of yellow.  :-)

The sun is a cut I had in my 'Odds & Sods' pile, an extra also used on the THIS card.  Often I will cut extra's of something in case I mess up or really like the finished product and want more.  It worked perfectly!  The yellow is SU's So Safron and ALMOST makes up for them discontinuing the lovely soft yellow they used to carry.  I used chalks to lightly add colour to the one end of the banner, and the words are also by SU.

I did choose the 'dessert option' at the DD challenge, which was to use dry embossing. The center panel was embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, and the clouds were cut with a Memory Box die from Impress.

I popped the clouds up with foam tape for some dimension - I like the shadows they throw.  The yellow scalloped borders were cut with a MFT die.

All in all, an A2 card with both yellow AND black that I'm happy with.  Go figure!

Have a wonderful day - thanks for stopping by.

First Birthday Card

My parents wanted me to make them a card for our Granddaughter's first birthday this month, and this is what I came up with:

It's a 5-1/4" square card, and the patterned paper block is embossed and glittered. I wrapped a ribbon around it, tied a bow and popped it up onto the white card base with foam tape.

A Child's Year is probably one of my most used Cricut cartridges. I have made SO many things with it, but they were posted on my old blog so won't show up again here. This little one in a high chair with a cupcake and one candle? Perfect for a sweet little girl's first birthday. I cut the main silhouette image out of black card stock and the shadow out of pink then glued them together. Finally, I added some glitter to the top of the cupcake to catch the light a little.

The lacy frame's size was adjusted to be longer with the Gypsy, cut out of white card stock then embossed with a folder. It was popped up with foam tape, and then the high chair image was popped up as well. I love it when we can hand deliver cards - look out foam tape!

I added another panel of the sparkly paper inside, and stamped the words (SU) in black. If I'd had my PTI Smoky Shadow ink when I made this card, I would have used that!  (The dark words are easier for my parents to read).

I sure had fun making this card, and my parents loved it too. It's just so hard to believe an entire year has passed already!

Thanks for stopping by today.

30th Anniversary Card

My husband and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary this month, and this is the card I made for him:

A very long time ago, I ordered a 12x12" package of textured card stock in various retired In Colours from the Stampin' Up Clearance Rack. I used the orange and yellow from that package for this card. The focal picture is from our March holiday in Arizona, and I Cricut cut the numbers/shadows and word. The Gypsy helped me weld the letters ... all from 'Opposites Attract',  I'm pretty sure.

When attaching everything to the card front, though - I messed it up. I do not like top fold cards because they tend to slide open and fall flat. I intended to make this a side-fold card, but of course I like the LOOK of a top fold card so ended up assembling it as such. Bah. 

The solution? I cut an easel (Tim Holtz) out of the same orange card stock and ... problem solved. Plus, I didn't need to put the card in an envelope, because with the easel back it was standing at his spot at the kitchen table when he came home. 

The words inside are by Gina K Designs, and are exactly how I feel. Nestie labels were used to cut them out and mat them, since the words are so much smaller than the 6" area of the card.

30 years and still going strong.

Amazing.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Freshly Made Sketch #35

Yay!  The new sketch is up at the Freshly Made Sketches Blog, and I couldn't wait to play along. While I haven't yet posted them, I have been able to keep up with my goal of five Christmas cards a month for the 2012 Christmas Card Challenge at Splitcoast. But that is all I have done - my 5 a month, and that is NOT going to get me to the number of cards I will need for the holidays.

With that in mind, I made two Christmas cards using the sketch:

 

What a FUN and versatile sketch! I can see me turning to it for a number of different occasions and a range of colour combos.  I added the sticker shaker circles (K&Co) because I found them on clearance at Michaels in January and - ahem - loaded up.  Sheesh.

The patterned paper has a lovely pearlized embossed pattern on it (K&Co), green card stock from PTI, white card stock from Office Depot.

The 2nd card was made almost identical, except that I added a green patterned paper panel to the card front before adding the sketch 'ingredients'. I love it when a sketch leaves me wanting to make another card. And then another ...

Check out the Design Team inspiration at the Freshly Made Sketch blog, and also the other submissions from people playing with the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Songbird Spinner Cards - first one

One of the items that was in my Papertrey Ink Order was their spinner die set. I have had a blast with it! Every time I use a one of their creative dies, or a sheet of their wonderfully heavy card stock I think to myself "it was worth every penny".  Maybe it's a good thing that shipping is so expensive or I would be on their site shopping with every new release!

This is a large, 6" square card. I cut down two different 12x12" pieces of patterned paper from the Songbird stack to make my group of spinner cards, and will share the others another day. It looks simple enough, and fun comes from watching the red sparkly bird spin around on the wavy track. I also used one of my favourite stamps from the PTI order ... 'bring on the HAPPY!' in my new favourite ink colour (Soft Stone).

The card itself is actually CAS, with a fresh colour scheme and touch of sparkle. Into my stash with this one, and I will happily use it for a one of the many family occasions where I need a card (hand delivered).

PTI Spinner dies are Totally Too Much Fun.  For both the creator and the receiver!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Freshly Made Sketch Card #2

Here is my 2nd card for the Freshly Made Sketch #34.

 

This time I kept the sketch in the same orientation, and used 3 tiny butterflies (SU embosslet) in place of the gems.  The label was Cricut cut with the Elegant Edges cartridge and I used my PTI Smoky Grey ink again. I like it even more than I did with the first card!

This card is 5x7, the creamy yellow card base (and matching envelope) are from Walmart; the 3-d butterfly sticker and all the papers are by K&Co.

I believe the words are by Stampendous. Another sympathy card for my stash. I will have missed posting this on the Freshly Made blog, but still wanted to share the card while it was 'fresh'.

Thanks for stopping by today!