USA Birthday Card!

Here is an easy card you can make for an enlisted friend or family member or for Operation Write Home:

I made this card for my niece’s husband who is leaving for basic training, it was also his birthday. I built it on a kraft cardbase, tore a book page and sprayed it with my homemade shimmer spray and layered an embossed blue panel that I glided a white Gel Stick on top to bring out the design. I stamped a never before inked Statue of Liberty and colored it with Gel Sticks. Added a few eyelets and a Happy Birthday sentiment and that was it! Easy peasy! Have a great Monday everyone and til next time happy crafting!

You Can’t Expect Perfection 10 Minutes Before the Party!

Howdy crafters! First off let me apologize for email bombing you yesterday. I had taken some posts down a couple of years ago because the artwork was being published in magazines and I forgot to republish the posts after the magazines came out. So yesterday I figured I’d put the posts live again and they would be filed in on the dates that I created them, which they did, but also they were sent out as new posts to all of my subscribers…sorry about that. But at least you can see how far my photography has come over the years and hopefully my crafting ability too….well, maybe not in the case in this project:

I love making last-minute cards, especially for kids. My husband asked me yesterday “Why do you rush around to make a card last-minute for a kid [Disclaimer-referring to kids in general, not the kid this card was given too, he is a sweetie!] who won’t appreciate it?”  ”There’s no point stressing out when you can just buy a card at the store.” OK, two things here, I am not stressed out by making a last-minute card, it is freeing, I use my latest stamps, I will try a new technique and play with color, I don’t worry about perfection because a child does not judge a card and I am getting something done, it’s a card, it is made, it will never have to be made again unlike the floors that need to be re-swept  dished that need to be rewashed and all of the other daily drudgery that does stress me out. Making cards is fun and the bit about kids not appreciating it, I think they do like the handmade card especially if it reflects their personality.

I had some matching paper scraps on my table left over from craft fair packaging so I layered them on the envelope, did some stamping and slapped on a couple of pieces of washi tape, done! I love to be able to spend an hour on a card but I probably love slap-dash crafting even more! There is no time to worry when you only have 10 minutes, if you make a mistake work it into the design. And most importantly happy crafting!

 

Stamp credits: Look & 10: Crafty Secrets, Others: Stampin’ Up!

Haberdashery…

Do you hear that? Ahhh, quiet. February vacation is over, the kids are back at school and hubby is off to work. I am enjoying a nice cup of coffee, the dog is napping and all is peaceful. I will have to spend a little time peeling Nerf targets off the wall, deflating air mattresses and disassembling forts but all of that is easier to do without the kids running around and protesting. The kids were not the only ones to have fun over vacation. We (hubby & I) went to a friends 40th birthday party this weekend and here is the card I made her:

I made her centerpieces too, I’ll share those in a day or two. The stamps I used are from Hero Arts (background), Crafty Secrets (Happy Birthday & 40) and the dress form was a freebie that came in my new issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. The ribbon, tulle and rhinestones are all from Papermart. After making the centerpieces I had a 2″ wide scrap of the polka dot tulle laying on my counter and rather than throw it away like any sane person would  I kept it and tucked it in my scrap ribbon jar. When I went to make the card it was perfect and it will match her party theme, bonus! I also like to make my envelopes match my cards so I placed a stencil (crafter’s workshop) over my envelope and sponged on the same color ink I used on the card.

I couple of years ago I picked up this stamp from Judikins, it is so cute to stamp on the flap of an envelope:

Well, I better keep it short and sweet today, I just realized I have some laundry to catch up on and it is bright and sunny today so I am noticing how filthy my house really is time to bust out the pine-sol! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Bounce! {add crochet to a card!}

Happy Monday folks! I don’t want to jinx things by saying this out loud (wait, I ‘m typing, this doesn’t count then, ha ha) but this morning went so smoothly.  I taught one of my girls to crochet this weekend , she was inspired by the totally rad poncho I was working up, she was instantly “hooked” (‘scuse the bad pun!)  The kids were all up early and after breakfast the girls sat knitting and crocheting quietly in the living room. What a relaxing way for them to start the day, much better than me nagging them to get up for school! Why am I talking about crochet you ask? Because I crocheted a border for this card:

This was for a birthday we went to yesterday. To make the crochet border you simply punch holes in a strip of cardstock and pull the yarn though as if the holes are your foundation row. It is the same technique I showed you in the Crochet Heart Video.

I love to use yarn on cards because then you can use the yarn to tie on a tag to the present or even use in place of ribbon on a gift. Yarn comes in so many textures and colors (remember the comedian Gallager and his bit about “colors only found in yarn” LOL!) and it is pretty cheap. A great use of yarn leftovers!

Another fun tip is to decorate the envelope if you have the time. All I did here was press 3 small inkpads along the edges of the envie (wow, it would totally rock to use this technique as a border on a scrapbook page!) and stamp 2 of the stamps I used on the card and tag over it. I colored the presents because the pink ink was a bit dark and I wanted them to stand out.

So, how is your Monday going? If you are feeling stressed might I recommend some yarn therapy? Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Triple Time {stamping} Take 2 & Tips!

TGIF! Do you have some crafty time planned this weekend? If so here is a really fun technique to try, it is called Triple Time Stamping. I made a traditional TTS card last week (you can see it and instructions here) but the thing I did not like about it was all the layers, there was a lot of paper hidden that you could not see, that seemed a bit wasteful. check out my waste-free Triple time card:

 

You still get the look of the stamped layers but you cut all of your layers from one piece of cardstock. First stamp and color your image. I used circle dies (these are from Lifestyle Crafts, they were free with a clearance gadget I bought a few months ago and I use them quite a lot…probably because I don;t have any other circle dies LOL!) to cut concentric circles from my stamped and colored image and from my matting cardstock. You can also use a circle cutter such as the Creative Memories ones many of us have. Notice how I lined the dies up the same way. the dies on the coral cardstock are a size larger than each of the dies on the stamped one. BTW the mearmaid is from Sweet Pea Stamps.

 

Now cut and layer, it is that easy!

Coloring tip! I stamped my image in Memento and colored it with alcohol ink markers but I did not like all of the white in the background so I grabbed my Faber Castell Metallic Gel sticks and colored in the background and blended it with a waterbrush. To give the mermaid the appearence of being underwater I brushed some of the gelato over the colored image. Since I was brushing a watercolor medium over the alcohol marker there was no smearing. Go ahead, mix that media!

 

I wanted this card to have a beachy feel so I glued sand and sea glass to the bottom flat part of the easel card. Be warned, it takes a full day for that glue to dry and it is way to heavy to mail  but what a nice look huh?

 

Like I said this card weighs a ton so I won’t be mailing it, I think I might use it as a decoration for my twins 8th birthday party. I really liked the turquoise and coral color combo so I decided to use it on my girls b-day invites.

So this morning I decided to make the invitations and I printed the wrong date! Really, can you belive it? I was already assembling them so I used a white out tape runner pen to fix the mistake and wrote the correct date in with a matching marker. I stamped the background with a chevron Cover a Card (Impression Obsession) stamp, printed the info on my computer and die cut the info out with the same circle dies as I used on the mermaid card. I am looking forward to making some simple favor bags and banners with that stamp.  

Well, how’s that for a really chatty post? Have a great weekend and til next time happy crafting!

It’s not all rainbows and unicorns…

…but this card is! I used the paper beads to embellish this card using the sketch at Oriental Stamp Art. The cheerful paper is by K&Co and stamps are by About Art Accents:

 

Do you have a sweet tooth yet? I posted a tutorial on making the paper beads here, I coated them with glitter nail polish for a little extra bling.

I am heading out with my daughters to girl scout camp today and I am bringing paper bead supplies with me (and nail polosh! not every color I own because after all we a “roughing it” LOL!) in case we have rainy weather and are stuck in our cabins. I hope you have a great weekend and til next time happy crafting!

Glitter tips!

Yesterday was my SIL’s birthday and she likes sock monkeys so made her this card:

 

You pull the tab and it pops up to reveal the sentiment. I have a tutorial on how to make the card on this post if you are interested, it is very easy! The monkey stamp is from Stampin up and to get the impressionist look I colored it with watercolor pencils. I colored the background first with blue, yellow and green and spritzed it with water then colored on the damp paper with the same pencils to leave the “brushstrokes” then when it was dry I colored the monkey and blended with a damp brush. I used Inktense pencils from Derwent.

To adhere glitter that will dry in seconds I use clear nail polish. I am done with stickles and glitter glue because I always smear it. The nail polish dries before I can possibly drop the card or stick my elbow in it. Great tip for clumsy crafter! I gave my kids all of my stickles:)

To remove glitter from my silicone craft mat (Yes, I know nothing s supposed to stick to it but glitter and embossing powder clings to a craft mat with a vengeance!) I wrap a piece of old-fashioned masking tape around my hand and press it to the mat to pick it up. Easy and done!

One of my daughters also made a card for her aunt, she loves the fancy folds as much as her momma!

 

Yep, my 7 year old’s card making skills are as good as mine…what took me so long to learn? 

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

You Party Animal, You!

Happy Saturday folks! do you have a lot of birthdays to attend? Well, why not make a few fun card like these using fun “party animal” stamps from Lost Coast Designs:

 

I can’t resist animals dressing up or acting like people, it’s just too dang cute! These shakers (I did a video on making shaker windows, you can see it here) are filled simply with standard 1/4″ punched scraps of cardstock. I love how the paper circles bounce around in the shaker. Wouldn’t it be cool to use this technique on a scrapbook page with a photo of a kid an a “ball crawl” house? I think I have a photo like that from out first trip to Storyland…I’ll have to find it!

 

So, at the Stampin up party I went to I bought the jewelry tag punch that I used for the banner on the cards (FYI you can use any shape for a banner!)  I sell handmade jewelry at craft fairs so it would be very handy and I love little spaces to stamp words and letters on cards. The tag does not have a hole in it though and if you want to punch one it likes to get stuck in your tiny punch. So I solved the problem by punching the inner hole first, you can use this tip to make tags from other small shapes too, use what you’ve got!

 

Here are the two cards close up, this first one is for a party we are attending tomorrow using the Circus Dog stamps:

 

Ane here is a generic one using Party Hat Cats I can have on hand when I need it:

 

I really recommend you have a look at the fun and funky stamps from Lost Coast Designs, they are unique quirky finds you can’t get elsewhere, I use them so much!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Fun Circus Dogs & A Punch Tip!

Happy Monday folks! The sun is shining, the kids are still sleeping and I am enjoying a cup of chocolate mint coffee I bought went on vacation in North Conway NH last week. Ahhhhhh… The weekend was busy, we had a Cub Scout cookout/movie Saturday and yesterday a birthday party to go to. Here is the card and tag I made for the birthday girl:

 

I snagged the Circus Dog stamps at the stamp show I went to last month from Lost Coast Designs (Next year I am visiting their booth first!) I didn’t know what I would make with these stamps but I couldn’t resist them, turns out they are perfect for a birthday card!

 

The tag was simple, I used scraps of paper from the tag and then I used the markers that I colored the images with to color directly on the Purple Onion Birthday Noteblock stamp and then stamped it on glossy photo paper. It is a quick, fun, way to make a tag.

TIP: You can use any regular punch to create a border. Simply flip the punch upside down (so you can see inside the punch) and line the edge of the paper up to the edge of the punch window. Punch the middle of your edge then work out from there. Now, by using the shape punches you already have just think of the borders you can make!

 

That’s all for today. I hope to get some cleaning and organizing done today then maybe to take the kids for a bike ride, I hope the sun stays out! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A Colorful Card {for your Monday!}

I was playing around with my homemade stain some more and made this card:

 

The tips on my homemade daubers are a little less than a half inch wide so coloring in the blocks on the embossed design was a snap! I also dyed the seam binding with the homemade stain!

Have a great Monday and til next time happy crafting!