Photo Calendars

I created some photo calendars this year for Christmas gifts. I had decided that I would like to make a calendar with barn pictures so I spent a couple of days on my vacation travelling the highways and back roads of Ontario scouting out barns and other interesting buildings. Ontario barns are quite different than Alberta barns. They generally have stone foundations.
The garden calendar has a few closeups of flowers and garden ornaments like statues and water ponds. I really liked the shot of the door on the front of the calendar. That shot was a Parkwood Estate in Oshawa. This gave me the opportunity to use my Zutter Bind It All machine to install the o-wire binding at the top. I used MS Publisher for the layout. I'm happy with how they turned out.

Small Christmas Cards

Small square cards for co-workers. I used double-sided scrapbook paper. The snowflake punch is the glacier punch from MS. The punched shape is very delicate and needs to be handled very carefully while applying glue so it will make it to the paper intact. Color printed greetings punched with the STUP! window punch. I used envelopes left over from another project.

Card - Digital - Joy

I designed this card with a decorative font and a polished stone background image. I scanned a background I did up this summer. The word JOY is 3 separate letters layered onto a square of polished stone background which has been converted to sepia. It took a while to work out the print colors, card stock and the layout. It is printed in chocolate brown on natural parchment card stock.

My 3D Art - Christmas Vignette

This is different from my usual card art. We are having a contest at work for those who decorate their offices. This is the vignette I set up in front of my desk. I started with the "Merry Christmas" wood blocks which I have owned for many years. I got them when swapping with another crafter at the end of a slow sale. She did not want to bring them home and I liked them so we did some Christmas trading. The gifts are just empty boxes weighted with glass marbles that I wrapped with dark green gift wrap and added some pink gross grain ribbon bows. The large ball ornament, my sister made for me a while ago. The steel tree I bought at the Butterdome Craft Sale last year. I'll let you know if I win!

Card Club - Nov - Vellum ornaments

Another vellum card. This is wonderful printed vellum I found at a garage sale. I used the bright goldenrod cardstock to highlight the ornaments. I ripped the bottom of the vellum to allow the color printed greeting to be on the bottom edge of the card. The header was stamped and gold embossed with a circle border from Hero Arts. The burgundy cardstock hides any glue used and the tiny gold brads keep the vellum secured to the card.

Card Club - Nov - Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree was cut from commercial handmade paper. It is cut from a 12x12 and it's dimensions are 4"tall and 3 inches wide which works well in the 12 inch format. I get quite a few out of one sheet. Sizzix Star die for the silver star. I forget where I bought this nice mirror like silver paper but it's really nice. The vellum creates a nice snowy background for the tree. Snowbank was cut with my CM wavy cutter out of the same silver paper. Add a brown trunk. The vellum is attached to the card under the tree and snowbank to eliminate the adhesive showing through. Great traditional Christmas colors.

Card Club - Nov - Glitter Snowflakes

I used organza fabric with silver glittered snowflakes on it. The scan does not do justice to the snowflakes. They are gorgeous. I use Terrifically Tacky Tape (with the red liner) to glue the fabric to the inside of the card. It covered the full front of the card. A white piece of cardstock with a greeting was ripped into a snowbank. I included a couple of brads to help keep the fabric in place. The snowflake is MS Glacier Snowflake punch. It is a very nice punch but the shape is very delicate and several were broken during the class while attempting to put the brad in the center. I finished off the card with a white satin/organza ribbon at the top fold.

Card Club - Nov - Glitter Star

I had a great class tonight with my Card Club. This is a very simple card with the red gold star paper being trimmed to leave a 1/4 inch border all the way around. The glittered star was die cut with the Sizzix Primitive Star die. It took a while to find the right glitter cardstock. I have several sheets that will have to be used for another card making session. I found this one in Ontario while I was on vacation. The star is mounted on foam tape for dimension.

Christmas Stack Class - Poinsettia & Star

These cards were designed to fit a standard #10 envelope. I found nice red ones on sale after Christmas last year! The ivory cardstock was spattered with gold acrylic paint. The greeting was color printed and clear embossed on vellum. The poinsettia flower is made up of a small daisy punched from the gold giftwrap, a beige silk flower, a red velvet hydrangea flower with the leaves from a dollar store flower pick. The gold gift wrap I bought a Winner's just recently. I went back for a second roll because it's gorgeous paper. The second card uses a Stampin Up! Real Red cardstock piece embossed with Cuttlebug Devine Swirl embossing folder. The star is cut with the Sizzix Star die. The vellum is held in place with 3 gold brads.

Christmas Stack Class - Star

This is a very simple but elegant card. The cardstock is Christmas green. I layered a white Cuttlebug Christmas Words embossed piece of carstock. The star is a large sequin but I discovered that it is exactly the same size as a one of the stars on the Sizzix 3 Star die which came in handy when I ran out of sequins. I cut the other stars from gold and silver metallic cardstock. It filled the need very well. Having enough supplies for a large class can be a challenge! The 7/8" organza ribbon was placed on the fold once the insert has been glued in place. The star is stuck with a Zot. The sequins came in gold, red and green so I put deep brown cardstock with cream ribbon with the gold and red cardstock with a sheer green ribbon with the red ones.

Christmas Stack Class - Snowflake

I placed the Sizzix Large Snowflake die on to a ripped piece of vellum, onto a nice blue card. The greeting is color printed and punched with the Stampin Up! Word Window Slot punch. It provides a adhesion point for the vellum. The brad is a clear crystal medium. I layered a white silk flower between the brad and the snowflake. The ribbon is 1/4" white gross grain that I buy at a packaging store here called "Creative Packaging". Good value. There's a slot in the fold to accommodate the ribbon going around the front of the card. The other color option was plum with ivory accents which worked as well.
I love this card.

Christmas Stack Class - Gingerbread Man

It was a great class today! Many of the ladies walked away with a stack of Christmas cards ready to send. Everyone was happy with their cards. The cardstock is Always Artichoke from Stampin Up! This wonderful guy is the Sizzix Gingerbread Man die cut in a warm brown cardstock. A bit of Berrylicious Bazzil cardstock to color the hearts on his tummy. The background paper is scrapbook paper. The ribbon is from the Value bin at Michael's. It's really nice ribbon in a ginger color which matched perfectly. It was soft and really nice to work with. The icing was put in with a Milky Way White Galaxy Marker. I've started using this marker because white gel pens have just stopped working after just a bit of use.

Christmas Tags

Here's the Christmas Tag kits I designed this year. It's a set of 20.

The top left hand corner is alchohol ink backgrounds on cardstock with acetate overlays. See my earlier posting on alcohol ink backgrounds.

Top right hand corner are square taags with glitter cardstock with Sizzix die cuts.

Right hand middle are recycled Christmas cards. I cut them with my large crescent Sizzix tag die. Worked really well.

Bottom left is cream & holly gift wrap with poinsettias made with the Stampin Up! five petal punch.

Bottom right is double sided designer cardstock.

The ties are a mixture of satin ribbon, cool fiber, and cording.

Card Club - Oct - Paper Buttons

The paper buttons were cut from card stock with the Sizzix Buttons sizzlet. The narrow gross grain ribbon I bought at Michael's in the value bin. I made several color combinations. A couple were baby cards. The punched holes at the top and bottom were created with the tools in the other photo.
The red plastic canvas, a push pin and a thick computer mouse pad. I think is a great use of plastic canvas. Just stick to the same corner in each square and you have a line of evenly spaced holes. Give it a try.

Card Club - Oct - Embossed Foil

I bet you would not guess that the accent on this card is recycled foil. I had the girls at work saving the foil from applesauce and yogurt containers for my class. They were wondering what I was up to. I cut the foil with my Sizzix circle die and the cardstsock circle with my Creative Memories circle cutter. They were glued together. Then the circles were embossed in a small Cuttlebug embossing folder. Works very well and looks great. The greeting was stamped below the accent. The strip was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.

Card Club - Oct - Prima Flower

I bought these Prima Flowers in a tin a while back. Of course I chose the Bright ones and they are about 3" in diameter. There was aqua, green, orange, pink, red, yellow, turquoise flowers.The white square is 3" square where I have punched the Martha Stewart Arches border punch on opposite sides of the square. A flower brad holds the accent together. Then I slid the cardstock strip through the slots and glued it down on both sides. This allows the accent free to move around. The girls had the choice to make it a wide card as well.

Card Club - Oct - Embossed Half Circle

I found inspiration for this card in a card magazine. The cardstock is colored with an light cardstock embossed layer. I used the Cuttlebug Divine Swirl and the Spots embossing folders which loosely translated into cards for ladies and guys. The ladies card had this 60's daisy punch and the guys had a circle with a punched star. I used the Stampin Up! 1.75" circle punch to create the space for the accent. The Happy Birthday greeting was stamped with white craft ink then embossed with clear powder. I realized that I should use white embossing powder to help it stand out. The stamp is from a Michael's $1.50 set.

Card Kits - Christmas Cards

This is a simple elegant card. The star is cut out of wonderful textured gift wrap paper with the Sizzix star die. The vellum is ripped on both sides and folded to the inside of the card and taped down with double sided tape. The greeting's color is coordinated with the card stock color. It is color printed and punched with the Stampin Up! word window punch and glued to the card. I made kits with green, purple, brown, and blue card stock. Very versatile design.

Cards Kits - Christmas Snowflakes

It's the time to be thinking about Christmas cards for those of us who make their own. The cardstock is navy with white speckles purchased from a place in the US that my sister visits occasionally. The tag is a Sizzix Clearlits Circle Tag Die which is a good size of 1.75" round. You can see through the die because the plastic is clear. It's very cool. The three snowflakes are large plastic confetti I bought at after Christmas sales a couple of years ago. The greeting is color printed and mounted on a navy layer. I love this narrow gross grain ribbon.

Scrapbook Layout - Pink Flamingo

This is a 2 page layout from a class I recently attended. It is Stampin Up! Pink Flamingo designer paper on Real Red cardstock. I really like the paper selection. The colors are vibrant and punchy. I created my flowers with the 5 petal punch with brads in the centre. A word is meant to be above the turquoise rectangle on the first page but since I have not decided which pictures are going on the it I will wait to add the word in black letters. It was a good evening.

Cards - Kid Cards

I set out to use a scrap piece of gift wrap. I thought this would make very nice cards for little girls. I was right. The paper had Snow White, Mulan, Ariel the mermaid, Jasmine, Rapunzel and more. I had to do a bit of research just to figure out which was which. The stamp is a clear set from Michaels in the $1.50 bin. I used a tiny brad to dot the "i" in the stamp. The colors were great.

Cards - Kid Cards

I thought I would work on cards for kids. I had purchased some balloon punched shapes a while back so I designed with those in mind. I thought they would make birthday cards for boys. I tried a new Cuttlebug embossing folder (Distressed Stripes). I made a variety of color combinations. This was traditional primary colored one very suitable for boys. I drew the strings in with a black marker. I wish I owned this punch.

My Art - Alchohol Ink Backgrounds

I tried my hand at alcohol ink backgrounds last night. I've made some with my sister on several occasions so jumped in and I tried it solo. I am working on a couple of Christmas projects and needed some cool backgrounds. I used liquid acrylic paint with rubbing alchohol. I applied the liquids to glossy coated cardstock with a felt on wood block tool. It was a lot of fun and I have quite a few color options to choose from.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is a picture I took last year. It was a great day and the fall colors were spectacular.
I hope that you will have a great Thanksgiving Day and give thanks for the blessings in your life. I will celebrate with family and it will be very good.

Card - Daisy Punch - Another presentation

Here's another card I've created with that flower punch. This time I punched the cards then stamped the greeting in black and used colored inserts in a variety of colors. Worked very well.

Blogger Comments - Click on the post

I became aware this summer that it was not obvious that you can leave a comment because the comment link is not appearing on the post listing. I've been able to determine that viewers can leave comments by clicking onto the posting then the post comment message appears. The comments link can appear on the posting list but I am at a loss after research in help file and blogger forum to make it appear. Please leave a comment if you are so inclined.

Blog Header - My Art

I know I just put up a new header recently but I really wanted my own art on my header. I did some background paper with my sister a couple of weeks ago. I scanned a small piece for this project. We used watercolor and painted it on wet cotton paper. We added coarse salt to create the white sparkles.

Card Club - Sept - Credit Stamp

I purchased this stamp over the summer. I thought it would be nice if the girls at my card club could stamp the back of their cards and add their initials or names with the year. I brought a black stamp pad and most girls stamped the back of their cards. That is a good thing. Most everyone appreciates a handmade card and it is good to add your touch to the front and back of the card. A little bonus available every card club class. Keep an eye out for one that suits you. Stampin Up! does offer a set with several different ones. If several friends get together one set will provide one for each person. What a good idea!

Card Club - Sept - Handmade Paper

I love the colors in this handmade paper (white, royal blue and turquoise). I found ribbon to match the cardstock. The crescent tag was cut with a Sizzix die then I highlighted it's edges with the ink pad. The greeting is from a clear set from Michael's. I used a itty bitty brad to keep the tag attached to the handmade paper and form the dot on the i in birthday at the same time. Hot glue is a good choice to get handmade paper to stick to cardstock.

Card Club - Sept - Daisy Punch

I have owned this daisy punch for at least 2 years but I have not used it till recently. I have decided to make an effort to use what I have instead of buying more "stuff". This punch leaves the hole instead of the shape which takes a bit of a different approach. The layer behind the daisy is also cardstock I have had for a long time. The decorative paper is new and it sort of brought all these colors and materials together. The rubber stamp is from a clear set from Micheal's and I really like it a lot. Some kits had blue and green cardstock with similar decorative paper.

Card Club - Sept - Maple Leaves

Here's a card suitable for a fall birthday or Thanksgiving. The scrapbook paper is a wonderful fall leaf collage. The two top layers have ripped edges which adds to the card which have been highlighted with the inkpad. The maple leaf is stamped on a 1" circle and layered with a 1.25" burgundy circle. The mustard gross grain ribbon was a good match.

Card Club - Sept - Metal Ring

First class of the fall!!! There's has been some change as several from the group have moved away and I expect I will have a few new ladies join the group. I bought some of these metal rings by ScrapWorks for accents on cards. They hold a 1 inch circle greeting. I bought several colors including pink, green, mauve and the grey you see here. I added some of those white confetti daisies and a punched border. The punch is EKSuccess Swiss Cheese border. Works very well. I liked the less symetrical style of it. The white insert shows through. The girls could choose from several options for greetings.

Christmas Cards, Christmas Cards

I've designed a lot of Christmas cards recently. My personal Christmas cards are made which feels great.
The samples for my Christmas Stack class and my Card Club class in November are done. Check out my website for class details. In the brainstorming many ideas have been generated and those ideas rejected this year will be there next year for another go round.

A New PINK Blog Header

I have been wanting to add a little character to my blog header so today was the day. I managed to find some textured paper in a color I liked. With a bit of help from blogger help I was able to size it appropriately. I have adjusted the text color a bit to match better. Another check mark on the todo list.

Scrapbook Layout - 1st pages of 2008

This is a visit to my parent's place for Family Day. It was a cold but clear day so I took my camera outside. I managed to get ice crystals on the raspberry bush with my macro. Cool. Blue Alberta skies can be so great. I split my centre picture and snowflake between the 2 pages of the layout. A concept for me. This was a layout which was a part of a scrapbooking retreat earlier this year. Great Stampin Up products.

Last 2007 Page - Yahoo!

This is my last page for my 2007 scrapbook. Great fall page. I'm so glad to be done so I can move on. I printed the first 6 months of 2008 on the weekend so I'm ready! I didn't get as much scrapbooking done this summer. It flew by!!

Birthday Candle Card

I designed this card as a kid birthday card but it is a versatile design. By changing the decorative paper you can have a card for a boy, a girl, a teen, a woman or a man. The candle is a QuicKutz die which cuts the solid as well as several patterned ones. Great to use up small scraps of cardstock. It's a great size and the flame has 2 pieces.

Paper Storage

Paper storage is always a challenge. I have been storing my cardstock and bond paper in a inexpensive file cabinet. The weight of the paper has been hard on the drawers and it was difficult to see the very back of the drawer. I spent several months researching options. I finally decided on an Ikea piece (my favorite store). It is Trofast. It's found in the children section. It is deep enough to lay the cardstock on the eleven inches and still store boxes of envelopes behind. I have 3 shelves in each half. Of course it needed doors. The doors that come with the unit are chunky blue plastic ones which I didn't want. The temporary doors are cut from foam core with handles attached. I will make permanent ones with thin wood with magnets to keep them in place. I now have full access to all my paper. I have not sorted it all in colors yet but it gives me a really good idea which colors I have a decide supply. Much of this comes from my sister's trip south of the border. I use a lot of cardstock and envelopes in my monthly card club.

Stampin Up Party Thank Yous

These are my thank you cards for my Stampin Up Party. Susan my demonstrator showed us how to make an ink pad with reinkers and a baby wipe. At the end of the party it was to be discarded and I just couldn't do it. I used the baby wipe to produce 10 sheets of decorative paper with the ink left in the wipe. The colors she used were Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Crushed Curry. I used the paper in my thank you cards by punching a negative flower punch then layering on pumpkin cardstock then a near match for rich razzleberry card stock. The greeting is a clear stamp from Micheals.

Craft Time

I had my sisters and neice over for a craft day yesterday. These are the cutest red reindeer which were part of our Christmas celebrations. My sister found red velvet paper to reproduce these cuties for her scrapbook pages. Excellent choice. I spent a couple hours fighting technical issues to gain access to all the the family photos from Christmas 2008. We have it solved. Thanks for all the help. We headed out for Thai food then back to scrapbooking. It was a good day.

Main Street Festival

I brought my crafts to this festival in Leduc, AB on Saturday, July 18th. It was a good day. It was sunny and hot (31C) with a breeze. With four blocks of street blocked off we had roaming performers, a car show, dragon boats on the lake, a petting zoo, face painting, food vendors (ice cream sold out) and lots of room to move around. I'm happy with my sales for the day. You can check it out next year for a good family day.
I found a scrapbook store named Scribblers 'n Such which carries a wide variety of QuikCuts dies. I will be back with a wish list.

Christmas Stack Class - Gingerbread

This class was requested by some of my card club girls who wanted a head start on their Christmas card making. I'll have another class in the fall with new designs. The Gingerbread man is a Sizzix die cut. The decorative paper is Christmas giftwrap. The twill tape greeting sold on a roll was applied with heat and bond. The white frosting is a gel pen on this sample but for the class I brought a Galaxy Marker - Milky Way White with a broad point which did a super job. The red paper background was a bonus because I didn't have to cut extra red paper to ensure the hearts were red (an extra step I've done in the past). The fiber on the spine is red cotton with a gold thread.

Christmas Card Stack - Embossed Vellum

The accent on this card is a color printed image on vellum which has been embossed with clear powder. The options for images are endless. This star is a symbol from a stars font on my computer which has been set to white in the document so no embossing powder sticks to it. The blue watercolor background is a scan from some work I did several years ago. I brought several corner rounders for different looks. This is the classic corner rounder. The white card sets off the bright colors of the accent. The greeting was color printed on the card. I found having greetings on the front created a challenge with I came to creating verses for the verses. I would recommend at least some with no words on the front.

Christmas Stack Class - Silver Star

The accents on these cards are silver stars from a tree garland. Of course a Zot keeps them in place. The decorative paper again is foil Christmas giftwrap. The red one has silver swirls which appear black on the scan. The blue one was blue foil with white swirls. The ribbon is red 3/8" gross grain ribbon and the blue is Martha Stewart twill ribbon. They were a great color match. The ribbon again is brought to the inside of the card through a slit in the fold. These were the favorite in the group in the class.

Christmas Stack Class - 3D Snowflake

Really like those Cuttlebug embossing folders! I used the snowflake one on this card in several colors. The snowflake worked with turquoise, royal blue, lavender, purple. I couldn't go down the pink road. The greeting is color printed to match the embossed layer and ripped on top and bottom and trimmed to the edge on both ends. The 3D snowflake attached to the card front with a Zot. Works very well. I've made up the last few snowflakes into kits. It feels great not to have leftovers!

Christmas Stack Class - Black & Copper

The background paper is copper textured giftwrap I bought at Superstore on clearance last December. It was a great deal! The ornament is a Sizzix die cut which has been splattered and painted with Making Memories Copper Glaze. The greeting is a Michael's $1.50 stamp applied with Versafine ink. I was expecting it to quickly dry on this pearlized paper but not so much. I ended up having to use my heatgun on them. Good thing I didn't leave it to do in the class! The accent is pop dotted and the string was put in with a permanent black marker. I offered Sizzix primitive stars as an option. Nice classic card.

Card Club - May - Scallop Note

This is a very simple note card. I used my Scor-Pal to create the embossed lines on the front of the card. The Stampin Up! scallop punch and 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 punches do such a great job. The white daisy shape is a die cut flower I purchased at Michaels in the wedding section. They come in many colors and I hear crafters are coloring the white ones with ink, etc. The greeting was color printed onto the card before it was folded. Again any color combination is possible. I had yellow, pink, orange, purple. A full rainbow of possibilities.

Card Club - May - Acetate Window

I have seen this style of card on a couple of places on the web. The greeting was laser printed on acetate (StazOn ink is an alternative). The fold is at the top of the card. The front was cut and the acetate glued into that space. The bottom of the card front is now trimmed to be even with the back piece. I sandwiched the acetate between the cardstock and the decorative paper. I made the same style with male oriented paper and placed 3 brads instead of the flowers. The insert then is just a quarter sheet so that you can see through the "window" when the card is standing.

Card Club - May - Vellum

The card is navy with a navy white plaid scrapbook paper trimmed to size and adhered to the front. The tree and greeting were laser printe onto vellum. There are two ways to the attach the vellum. In this sample I have made a simple knot. The other way is an inny-outty. You make two 1/8 inch holes on either side of the middle of the card. Pull through the two ends of ribbons from front to inside of card one in each hole. Now cross them and return the ends to the front of the card through the opposite hole. Pull tight and trim ends. Fits well in the masculine theme I had for this month.

Card Club - May - Father's Day

Father's Day is soon! Are you sending yours a card? I am.
On this card I used a leaf image I designed myself several years ago when I was screen printing on cardstock. Now the color printer can do the same effect with less mess. The cardstock is Always Artichoke from Stampin Up! I'm finding I am using that color a lot lately. The acetate greeting allowed my girls to add the greeting or not. The scrapbook paper was very versatile allowing quite a few color options for accent and card.

Scor-Pal Tool - Very good investment

The Score Pal tool was a great investment! I love it! It was expensive but after preparing 200 card kits in the last seven days it was invaluable. The score is straight, smooth and consistent. It handles 12x12 paper which just adds to it's versatility. My last tool was a scoring blade on my paper cutter. A little wobbly and not always straight. The scoring grooves provide all the popular measurements like 4.25, 5.5 and a bunch more. The scallop card had two scores at it was very fast to get them both done!

I would highly recommend it to anyone who makes cards on a regular basis.