Coaster Calendars

I've created another version of my Coaster Calendar for the sale on the weekend.  I chose verbs.  I hope this inspires others to action.

These make great gifts for friends, teachers, a girlfriends exchange, or special people who live far away because they are easily mailed.  Imagine the pleasure of opening a Christmas card to find a small gift inside.

I chose 4" coasters to which I glued 4.25" squares of designer paper.  I chose light to medium colors to allow my action verbs be visible and easily read.  Once pressed and dry I trimmed the designer paper to the edge with scissors. I then used a sanding block to soften the edges.

I designed the action verbs to be 2" by 4".  I printed them on vellum so that the designer paper would still show through when placed above the calendar.  I printed them in black on the color printer and clear embossed them.  I trimmed the 4.25 to 4.00 inches and then corner round punched the 2 top corners to repeat the round corners of the coaster.  I taped the vellum where the calendar would cover it.  I did add a bit of vellum adhesive in both top corners.

To make the calendar, I created the calendar in software, printed it on 8.5x11 paper, cut it into small pages, stapled the pages to a backer then adhered the backer to the front of the coaster.  I added a black eyelet at the top to provide a hole to hang the calendar and secure the vellum.  I used my Crop-a-Dile to set the eyelet.  It's perfect for the job.
I have added a magnet to the back so they can stick to the fridge or a file cabinet.


I included a credits label on the back.

Card - Challenge - No Flowers

I started with a Bazzil card - Pinecone which worked well with the stripe in the canvas.  I layered onto the card front a piece of blue textured card stock cut to leave a small border. I die cut the adhesive striped canvas with the Tim Holtz Ornamental die.  I put brown eyelets in the top and bottom points and blue brads in the left and right points.  I chose a piece of ivory which matched the stripe in the canvas. I stamped the Magenta Birds stamp with Versamark Olive ink pad and trimmed the paper then distressed the edges.  The birds were adhered with double sided tape, I hope it sticks because I'm not sure what else to use.  I punched a Stampin Up! Modern Label punchie in the same color as the card. I then layered a SU Word Window punchie onto it.  It is the same ivory card stock stamped with the greeting in the same color as the birds.
I've submitted this card to the ABC Cards - No Flowers.

Card - Yellow Daisies - Clean Up

I've been cleaning up my workspace.  As I excavate I found this sample from these I did for Ready to Go Kits in March.
With no stickers left in my stash I came up with a new idea for my trio.  The card stock is Brilliant Blue and I punched 3 daisies in the same card stock.  I mounted small yellow handmade paper daisies with blue eyelets.  These were placed above the large greeting color printed on white.  I then mounted this layer onto blue card.

Challenge - Eyelets

I got up this morning and decided this card needed a bit more. Does that happen to you?  It needed something to unify the elements so I added some Radiant Rain Egyptian Gold mist to it. I covered the greeting so it would stay bright and clean. I'm happier with the card!

I made this card for an on-line challenge which was using eyelets on the card.
I cut the trees with the SU Stocking Accents die.  I selected the tree and cut it in gold, silver, and copper. I mounted them onto crescent black card stock tags cut with a Sizzix tag die. I added eyelets to each in corresponding colors.  I added cording ties that coordinate with the color of the trees.  I mounted to the card with 3D foam tape.  I added a greeting made with SU Modern Label punchie with Merry Christmas punched out with the SU Word Window.

Christmas Card Challenge - Oct - Navy Red and Silver

October is a color challenge - Navy Red and Silver.  I wanted to use my newly acquired SU! Ornament stamp set.  The Joy one is my favorite.  I stamped it in Versamark and embossed in silver.  I punched it out and place a small hole in the hanger with a 1/16" punch.  I pulled through a length of crochet cotton to create the hanger.  I wanted to repeat the swirls in the ornament so I embossed the silver top layer with the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl folder.  I punched the bottom of the layer with the SU! Eyelet border punch.  I selected some red Designer Paper for bottom portion of the card. I taped the ornament string to the red before adhering the silver embossed layer.  Once the silver was adhered I wrapped a length of white 1/4" gross grain ribbon across and taped the ends to the back of that layer.  This was then all glued to the navy card front.  I left my ornament hanging loose.

Card - Color Challenge

I made this card for Crazy for Cards - Color Challenge.  I started with a yellow card, I added a navy blue background layer embossed with Cuttlebug Polka Dots embossing folder.  I cut a pink label cut with a Apothecary Framelit.  I cut a white rectangle with a QuicKutz die.  I stamped the greeting from the SU! Sincere Salutations in navy and rubbed the edges with the ink pad.  I mounted the greeting with 3D foam tape.  I used 2 navy brads to hold the label in place. I punched the one edge of the green strip with the SU! Eyelet border punch.  I slipped the green strip under the pink label and aligned it with the left edge of the label.

Card - Challenge - Apothecary Framelit

I created this card for a sketch challenge on Clean & Simple Cards FTL203 using the Apothecary Accents Framelits.  Aren't they great?
I wanted to give the card to some guys who worked on renovations at my house so I chose SU Well Worn DP which I printed from the His & Hers DVD.  I placed it on an Early Espresso card.  I cut the Framelit accent in blue trying to match as close as I could the color in the DP. I printed the greeting on Very Vanilla and cut it with SB Oval Nestabilties.  I adhered the accent die cut onto the DP and tack it down then placed burnt orange eyelets on either end. I used my Crop-a-Dile to put them in place.  I found some twine which I wrapped through the eyelets a couple of times and knotted it on the right hand side.  The greeting I splattered with walnut ink and rubbed the edges as well.  I mounted it over the Framelit die cut with 3D foam tape to leave space for the twine.

Baby Boy Card

I started with the blue toy giraffe.  I color printed him onto vellum then cut the vellum with the Tim Holtz Ornamental die. I know it doesn't show very much on the scan.  I found some boy looking designer paper with soft dots in green, taupe, mustard and cream on a blue background. I place it on some coordinating taupe card stock.  I glued the designer paper to the card front then I held the die in place with 2 brown eyelets on the top and bottom.

Cards - Thanks

A set of cards with a soft, pastel and floral look on ivory cardstock.

Left: I used a piece of floral scrapbook paper. This came from the Slab IV that Michaels sold years ago. Nearly 100 sheets of 12x12. That takes a while to use. I cut the rectangles with a QuicKutz nested set of dies. Stamped the greeting and added a small bright green brad.

Right: I used coordinating scrapbook paper and created a 30-70 split. I placed a coordinating piece of cardstock over the joint. I added 3 eyelets and stamped the greeting in grape ink.

It's good to be in the habit to say thanks regularly.

Card Club - March - Flower Trio

The cardstock is a great denim color which matched the scrapbook paper very well. I repeated the lines in the paper by ripping the paper vertically. I glued the 2 pieces leaving a space of cardstock onto which to place my flowers. I punched 3 flowers in a color that brought out the golden yellow in the paper. I mounted the flowers with denim blue eyelets

Card Club - April - Daisy

Very simple but elegant card. I used a square punch to create the hole which limited where I could put the square. I punched the daisy from the square ensuring a perfect color match. The white square is about 2" square so the daisy was centered on it with a yellow eyelet. I have the Making Memories tool kit but we discovered the Crop-a-dile did a great job as well. The ribbon needed to be tied on before the daisy could be put in place. The easiest way to glue the daisy into the centre of the hole was to place glue on the card then line up the flower and press. Many colors and always white ribbon so that was a bonus when preparing.