Card Making - House Cards

I have been working on a House Card project.

When I bought a new to me place back in May and moved in June I was so grateful to my real estate agent.

I thought it would be nice as I was a card maker to make her some cards.  We discussed it and came up with some designs. The first samples were not quite right.  I am a bright colors person and she is a neutrals person.

I cut the houses with my Cricut machine and the Wrap It Up cartridge and some black card stock. She wanted a neutral background and I gave away much of the 12x12 DSP to my sister when I gave up classes after I retired.

So I made some up with ivory card stock and a bit of strong tea.

The gold heart was cut with a Sizzix multi sized thin lets set. I traced around it with a fine black marker to give it some definition. 

The banner was printed and then washed with tea as well so coordinate well with the card.  I cut the banner ends by hand with scissors.  They have a white quarter sheet insert and white envelope.

This set of cards includes red card bases and navy card bases to go with the logo.

The white layer was cut with a multi sized tag set.  I then cut the chimney with the end of a gift bow die in my collection.

I printed the sentiment then cut it with a smaller sized die from the same set.  The colored offset layer behind was cut by hand with scissors and the paper cutter. It is the other color from the card base. Blue on red card and red on blue card.

They have a white quarter sheet insert and white envelope.

I cut some with the chimney on the right hand side and some on the left hand side.

I am not used to doing production work since I have not offered classes for years.

I had to inject some variety and what limited way I had.

This is a panel card on white or off white A2 card bases.

I designed all the elements my self and inserted the logo she sent me.

I printed the rounded window topped frame and logo in color then I printed the scene in black so I could watercolor it with out the ink running.

I used my Stampin Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I have 2 sets which I bought second hand. One set is mostly Subtles and the other Rich Regals but some colors have been swapped.

I used the Subtles for this project. 

I cut the tan window die cut with a QuicKutz die which is two pieces so it had to be aligned for every cut.  I quickly make a drawing on paper I put under the clear plate so that made aligning easier.

Once cut the die cut was adhered with double sided tape. These come with white envelopes.

So glad to show my appreciation.

Cardmaking - Houses

I made house cards today. 

I am meeting with a friend next week to discuss the type of cards she would like so I thought I should make a few more samples.

I bought a set of thin dies from the big arts & crafts store last week.  They are nested and there were 3 different sets in the one package.

The set I wanted was the one that cut a square with a point on top which looks like a basic house shape. House thinlits, yeah!

The challenge is how to translate that shape.

For this card I added a triangle for the roof with was cut at 2.75" on the sides.  I made the roof green.

The house is cut from teal textured card stock. I created the window with a 1" black punchie and a 5/8" yellow one and added lines with a black fine Sharpie.   The door is cut with a rectangle thin die, glue to the house and trim to the bottom of the house. I added dots and dashes on the roof and solid lines around the edge of the teal layer with the black marker.

The house mounted to 110 lb card stock base in white.  A quarter sheet insert and a white envelope.

Another option would be a still life composition I put together and photograph.  

Then, the image is printed on 4x6" photo paper and trimmed to the right size.  For the sample I just used the house still life I did for my digital Christmas card.

I added a bit of black paper to bring out the greeting on the image.

Again, white insert and white envelope.

These are the innards of the Cricut frame houses I put on the next set of cards.

Once the frame had but used I had shapes that could be a house.

I glued the pieces to a green A2 card base. 

I outline the full house shape with the black marker which worked really well.

I used a fine black Sharpie marker to add the details to the top and bottom windows.  I added a chimney on the right hand side as well as a triangle tree.

I printed a few greetings on white cardstock in several fonts and trimmed them as needed to add to the cards. I added this one just above the door.

Another card using the innards. 

On this card I put a layer of designer paper behind the house.  

This time I put solid shapes in the windows cut from the same card stock.

Added a yellow sun in the left hand corner by trimming a yellow circle and then used the black marker to add rays.

The greeting was punched out with the Stampin Up Decorative Label and mounted above the door again.

Again, outlined the house with the black marker.

A white insert and white envelope.

These cards feature a Cricut die cut.  I spent a long time getting the shape I wanted.  Of course, I have not used the machine in at least 2 years. Fortunately, I packed everything in the box so I was not missing anything I needed. Tools, mats, and the machine.  The cartridges has been unpacked too.

Just browsing Cricut cartridges to see if there was a house shape I could use, took a while. I have been working on that for at least a month.

I chose the Wrap It Up cartridge. The image I selected is the School House. The card feature cuts this nice outline of the building.  It took about 5 test cuts from scrap paper to determine the size on the machine the get the die cut I wanted. Once, I had the size right I cut it from good black textured card stock. I cut it 6x12 inches which is the size of my mat.  I can tweak that later. 

I chose a teal card base in A2 size in the portrait orientation. I cut a piece of Stampin Up designer paper to leave a small border.  Yes, a die cut this skinny is fiddly to adhere. I used dry tape runner adhesive so I could just pick up the extra glue with my rubber erasure. Leaves no mess. 

I die cut a heart from a scrap of red card stock with the Sizzix nested thinlits. The smallest one.  I adhered that over the door.

I added a trimmed greeting along the top of the card.  A white insert and envelope for this one too.

With a change of designer paper and card base I can create a card with a totally different feel. 

This card features classic neutral colors with a hint of metallic.  An ivory A2 card base, the house outline die cut, a gold metallic heart punchie outlined with the black marker. 

The greeting banner cut the ends of the greeting and mounted it with 3D foam tape.

A white half sheet insert and white envelope.

This was a long day of fussing but I have made good notes so I should be able to recreate the Cricut cuts easily.

Welcome to my Kitchen

We had a great time of fellowship this morning during our Welcome to my Kitchen get together.

Our numbers were down due to some ladies being away in warmer climes, some dealing with health issues and others too busy to attend.  There was 11 of us.

As you can see we had a heart theme with a glitzy table center piece.

I chose a devotion on the heart theme called "What Love Looks Like".  We all need to be reminded to be kind, gentle, and consider others before ourselves.

I made quarter sheet heart handouts with the characteristics of Love for each participant. 

The paper is by Scrap Ease - Cotton Candy.  I cut the pink hearts with one of the heart thin lits from the Sizzix set.  I printed the words onto the designer paper.

Our hostess set up a pretty table with reds and whites. She provided fruit salad, yogurt, raisin bread and cinnamon buns with a generous amount of  tea and coffee.