More Christmas

The card was fun to make, but took too many steps. Embossing and inking the paper and then punching out 8 large boho blossoms for each wreath. Then glueing together and decorating, etc. The flower is made from 2 strips of 12" paper scalloped edged with a punch. The size of the flower depending upon the width of the strip. The top flower is 3/4" and the bottom is 1".

Christmas in August - Embossing Folder Experiment

This was done using the Stampin' Up! petals a plenty embossing folder. It was a lot of work to setup, but the results came out nice. I made myself a "cutting pad" out of cardboard that matched the thickness of one of the sizzix cutting pads. I did this by cutting up a cereal box and made 4-5 sheets the size of the pad. I then punched a hole using a nestability circle. I lined up the holes and glued the cardboard together. To emboss, I used a regular pad, then the folder with cardstock inside, then with the cardboard "pad" on top, shimming with some cardstock till it went thru well enough to emboss. The result is a nice embossing with an unembossed circle in the center to embellish. I wish I could say this was my idea but I saw this ages ago somewhere and don't remember who came up with the idea.

The rest is done with delightful decorations - I made a stencil by punching a piece of cardstock, then pounced in cherry cobbler, then some early espresso for shading. Covered with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Punched another hole in a piece of cardstork and masked off the embossing. Pounced in Daffodil Delight and the Peach Parfait around the edges.
The tree branches are done using the big pine tree top from lovely as a tree stamped in Crumb cake, Pear Pizzazz and Always Artichoke.

Sentiment is from heard from the heart stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Hook is a gold paper clip opened, and the ribbon is from my stash.

In need of cards

I gave a huge stash of cards away to my son's band to use in a fundraiser next week. I hope they make alot of money - it's a silent auction - I hope they are nice enough that people want to bid on them. I also gave them all my purse gift card holders - I know they will be popular, especially with the end of school coming up. They will make perfect gifts for female teachers (of course filled with a starbucks or other gift card!).

So with that, I have nothing left and May is a huge month for birthdays plus I have two nieces graduating college and a nephew graduating high school. I needed to get my act together today to make some cards. The music of the night card is for my nephew...he loves Phantom of the Opera and composes his own music. Thought it would be fun to distress some paper to make the music look old. The Congratulations card is for one of my nieces, and the happy birthday for one of my sis-in-laws. One more graduation card and one more birthday card to make (I think) to get thru May. I have scrapbook day with some gals tomorrow, so hopefully that will work out perfectly.

Faux Parchment

Just playing some more while the olympics are on. Made by using the Faux suede technique and antiquing the paper with choc chip ink.

More Christmas cards

Ok, I'm on a roll now. The first is done with my new exclusive HSN cuttlebug folder. The Peace is a $1 stamp from M's, heat embossed. Very simple but nice.

The second was done with Winter Wonderland cartridge except for the flowers which were punched, scored and glued together. Losts of Angel Dust and the background paper is sparkly too.

Tag card with Flower

Tag card made with Joy of the Seasons, flower cut with Plantin Schoolbook. Center is a $1 punch from Michaels. Closeup of the flower to show the work to make it pop.

Another button card

Button came from Christmas Cheer cartridge.

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #52

This week's challenge was to pick a previous challenge as HM&F is celebrating it's year anniversary. With Halloween coming, I did Challenge #8 (Halloween) and I used one of my favorite stamps. I also did something fun - I made a home made button. Can't say it's my idea, but if was from the Splitcoast stamping Monday challenge. Its very easy:

Cut 4 pieces of same design from any cheap card stock. I cut these ovally pieces with my cricut using the George cartridge.

Cut one piece of same design from pattern or stamped card stock (or even plain).

Using a liquid glue, glue all together with your "nice" one on the top.

Let dry.

Sand the edges - this is what makes it look like one piece when you are done.

At this point punch holes with a cropodile or other hole punching device.

Use Glossy accents or other clear laquer to finish - the toughest part is keeping your holes clear. When it's almost try I start clearing out the holes with the end of an opened paper clip. Haven't experimented yet with repunching the holes or waiting until the glossy accents are dry.

This is really cool because you can make coordinating buttons for all your projects and can do them in any shape!

First card in over a week

How do you get your crafting energy back when you lose it? I have no excuses, I had a very light work week. I thought I was going to be very productive in terms of making cards but no such luck. Even tonight, all I did was take some elements that were already done: the angel was already colored and cut, and the background was already cuttlebugged. The only energy I had to expend was to change the color thread in my sewing machine and sew the card. You'd think I could do more like this, but it's still not working. Still a few months til Christmas, thank goodness.

Standup Card

I wish I was creative as some of the people out there. The card itself is not my own idea, you can find instructions for cutting and folding at http://www.cricutchristmas.blogspot.com/. But the rest is all mine. Package cut with Joys of the season at 4". Cuttlebugged and sewed the background and cuttlebugged the package too.

House Mouse Challenge #51 - Songs/Lyrics

This week's challenge was to let a song inspire you...so my inspiration is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. What cute star - this little house mouse is. I finally sewed on a card again too! I was worried because I haven't done it in ages, but the stitches came out pretty straight. The red paper is embossed once, brayered on the back with white ink, and then embossed again. I like the texture it gives the paper to double emboss it, and the double embossing seems to press the ink into the paper so it looks like it's part of it rather than sitting on top.

Wedding Strawberries

Thanks to Donna "Popsicle Toes" M. for the cut file. Perfect for my parent's anniversary coming up. Her blog is on the right side of my page. I hope you'll check it out because she is uber talented and I love her style of cardmaking.

Winter Car Brayered with soda can snowflakes

Snowflakes were cut out of a soda can using my spellbinders snowflake die. Then cuttlebugged and inked. Sizzix snowflake embossed background and Inkadinkadoo snowman.

Halloween Brayered Card

Still practicing my brayering. It's a hit or miss proposition sometimes. Yesterday's card came out great and today's only so-so. But it's still ok I think.

Used Stampin' Up! and Inkadinkadoo stamps, Stampin' Up! inks and cuttlebugged on Core-dinations paper. Hobby Lobby was having a sale and I got a big stack of this paper in a rainbow of colors. I really like the sanding effect. Finally, used my favorite new MS drippy goo punch!

Best Brayered Card yet!

I became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator if for nothing else to be able to get some supplies at discount so I can do more with brayering. The craft ink is just the best and it's the supplies that make the difference. This is a copy of a card by Michelle Zindorf, who is coming to my house in January to teach the technique. Go to her website - you can learn like I did!!

http://www.zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/.

First on the block

I'm not usually the first one to find new products when it comes to crafts, but I was in Joann's today and so, so excited to find some new Sizzix embossing folders! They were almost sold out, (Halloween was totally sold out) but I got a Christmas set and set called Textured.

Here's a couple quick cards, hopefully I will have a chance to make some more soon with them. Best part is that there are 4 in each set and they cost $10....I had my 50% Michael's coupons with me - Yay! So 2 for the price of one!

(Note to Mom: check it out - I finally finally figured out how to tie a pretty bow, even with one sided ribbon. Only took 47 years, right?)

Candle Card

Still trying to get my card making mojo back. This is a relatively simple card using my cricut and cuttlebug. Used Christmas Cheer, Christmas Solutions and George. I love all my stampin' up! papers...they are nice and heavy weight and the colors are great.

"Flower Pot" style Santa

Everyone has been doing flower pot cards, including me. I saw a variation with a cupcake which I loved and it got me to think, what can I do? So being on a Christmas roll, I decided to do Santa. However, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong and this card, which is actually quite simple, took me 2 hours to make! Then I forgot to save the cut file! So I guess this will be a one of a kind unless I decide not to make the beard shaggy (that's what took all the time - I welded on at leat 30 or so little moons with the tips sticking out from the beard).

Santa is from doodlecharms, and there's some george cuts in there too.

Cuttlebugged the beard and hat.

Hope you enjoy the fruit (or in the case the santa) of all my labor tonight!

Drippy Goo Holiday Card

I got a Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch and had to try it out. This was hard to photograph as it's all metallic paper. The "snow" is glittery paper which you can't tell either...

The ornament is made from Joys of the Season and cuttlebugged.

BBTB Accent Essentials #13 and Cuttlebug Spot #42

Love when I can do two challenges at once. The Bitten by the Bug (BBTB) challenge was to use the snowflake from accent essentials, and the Cuttlebug Spot challenge was to use a favorite folder. This didn't come out like I saw it in my mind's eye, but it's cool! It looks tons better in real life as the snowflakes are all stickled with icicle and they look like jewelry.