Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Card Club - Feb - Star

The Olympics affected attendance at Card Club this month. We were few in numbers but I was home in time to see Canada win the gold medal in Ice Dance and the presentation of medals.

This card a bit of a nautical feel. I glued the insert into the card first then wrapped the ribbon around the fold and tied the knot and trimmed the ends. The star is a Sizzix die cut from textured card stock. Glued it to a square of great striped paper. The tag is color printed. Added a cotton thread hanger to the tag and wrapped on the ribbon.

Card Club - Feb - Victorian Paper

This card has a layer of really nice giftwrap glued to the front. I added a length of ivory rick rack across the bottom third. I assembled my accent starting with a pink Stampin Up! Scallop punch, a black circle, a pink foil circle topped with an ivory circle greeting which has been raised with a pop dot. The accent then is mounted over the rickrack on the bottom right hand corner.

Card Club - Feb - Acetate Card


The card is a clear piece of acetate cut and folded as regular card. We want to place our elements so that no adhesive shows. Determine where the five petal punch will go based on alignment of the yellow gingham paper. Make a hole in the card front with push pin and attach the silk and cardstock flowers to the card front. Place adhesive on the inside of the card behind the flower accent. Looking through the card place your yellow gingham square. Again, looking through the card align and glue the orange layer to the inside back flap of the card with a bit of adhesive. Turn the card over and glue the yellow gingham flower over the adhesive showing. Tie the ribbon along the folded edge and trim the ends.







Card Club - Feb - Buckle Card

I started with the ribbon which is taped down to the inside of the card. (Turn the ribbon over to navy if you have a red card). I layered a MS medallion punch with a Stampin Up! flower punch then held them in place with a tiny silver brad. I used a tiny brad because the prongs are very narrow and it was easier to insert it through the push pin hole in the ribbon and cardstock. Stamped the greeting in navy with a small clear stamp. I punched the Stampin Up! Horizontal Punch as far as I could toward the centre. I placed the navy strip next to the edge of the card then folded half into the slot space. The next fold is even with the card edge again. That leaves a small tab which gets glued down to the inside back of the card right on the edge. The trick is to make sure it aligns with the slot. Glue the insert into the card. Now press both insert flaps towards the back and pull the navy strap through the slot and back to card edge. Slip the spiral paper clip over the edge to keep in place.



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Art - My Craft Space

I bought these letters for my craft space. I found them at Michael's in the $1.50 section. The letter selection was not great but I managed to find what I needed for this great word. I found enough for my sister as well. They are black enamelled metal in a great roman lower case font. They are 5.5" tall and have hangers on the back to mount them on the wall. I love them! Michael's had 20% off everything today so it was a great find.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Cards - Prima Flower

A nice burnt orange card. The accent is created with a white 2.25 square punched with the MS Arches border punch. The Prima flower, a white silk flower is inserted on the brad which holds them all to the white square. A contrasting strip of cardstock is slipped through the slits then glued to the card. This allows the accent to slide on the strip. I made kits with red, yellow, green, pink, orange Prima flowers.

Cards - Five Petal Flower Accent

I started with a white card then added a layer of pink cardstock. The scrapbook paper is wonderful mixture of great colors. I bought this package of paper at a clearance sale but I didn't even remember it. Does that happen to you? I created an oval greeting and printed it in color. I wrapped organza ribbon around and taped it to the back.
The flower accent is created with the Stampin Up! Five Petal punch. The purple is one punch, then the pink is one five petal punch which has been punched again after being rotated to the middle of the petal. The white one is from the Stampin Up! 3 small flower punch. All held together with a flower brad. I mounted the flower accent over the ribbon.

Cards - Cricut Top Note

I selected ivory cardstock. I created this top note shape with my Cricut out of chocolate brown scrapbooking paper. I placed 1/4" ivory gross grain ribbon across the top of the card through a slit in the fold. I cut a tag with the Cuttlebug and then stamped Thinking of You from a small clear stamp set. I attached the small tag onto the ribbon with a small safety pin. I made several different color combinations.

Cards - Owl

On this card I placed an owl cut with my Cricut out of scrapbooking cardstock. I had bought several 12x12 sheets that were not great on the one side but just chocolate on the back. I thought he should be sitting on something but I struggled a bit about what it should be. I tried stamping a bit of wood with a border stamp, I tried a piece of fiber, I thought of something more dimensional but nothing matched very in color. So I settled for a strip of the same paper whose edges were distressed. I used my distress tool but you can use the edge of your scissors or xtacto knife. The background was stamped in brown with Stampin Up! Itty Bitty Background stamp.


Monday, February 1, 2010

Cmas Card Challenge - February - Evergreens

Evergreens at Christmas - They can be decorated Christmas trees, plain pine trees with pointed or rounded boughs, simple triangles. They can be stamped, embossed, die cut, brads, printed paper, glittered, ribbon, paper pieced and more other presentations I've not listed here.

This is my card for February's Christmas Card Challenge.

I picked a dark forest green card. I chose a tan color for the background and ran it through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The trees are the Sizzix medium Pine Tree die using the same paper as the card. I added a bit of snow to the trees with a white craft stamp pad. The moon is punched with a 1" circle punch. I tore a snowbank then stamped "Merry Christmas" from a small clear stamp set. I made 4 of these cards.
Total Christmas Cards - 6

Therese's card for this challenge.
http://tmalakart.blogspot.com/2010/02/challenges-christmas-cards.html

Send me a link to yours!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Simple Card - Oval Floral

I did a bit of clean up on the weekend. I was sorting through left over card club materials from from at least a year ago. I found these color printed images and decided to use them. This is dogwood, there were tulips, and pansies as well. I cut them with my Creative Memories Oval cutter then cut a larger oval in a complimentary color. I punched the edge of the card front with the MS Arches border leaving the card insert to show through. I stamped a greeting below the oval accent.

Simple Card - Flower Pot

The main element of the card is a watercolor flower pot which was cut from a sheet of gift wrap. The sheet had all these 2.5" squares of iris, tulips and violets. Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that I use gift wrap on a regular basis as I find it to be good value. I chose the card stock to highlight the colors in the pot. I cut the scalloped square with my Cricut Create machine. For the accent on the bottom right side I stamped a butterfly then punched it out with an oval punch, then punched another in the same color as the scallop square and just offset them enough to create a shadow for the oval.

Simple Card - Japanese Paper

The scan does not do justice to the gold metallic in this Japanese paper. I mounted it to some nice textured burnt orange cardstock. I found it only needed a small accent as there quite a bit going on in the paper itself. I layered a gold daisy with an ivory daisy and held them to the card with a large brown brad.

Simple Card - Red Pick Up Truck

Here's another simple card. This one has a Cuttlebug embossing folder that looks like a steel plate done in grey cardstock. The red pickup truck is color printed and cut out. The greeting accent was created with a Cuttlebug slider in black, a 1 1/8" red circle and a stamped greeting punched in 1" circle. This greeting came from a Michael's $1.50 clear stamp set but I've used it quite a bit. The accent is placed onto the ribbon and turned into the inside of the card then stapled into place.

Simple Card - Stamped Birds

I have a friend who requested some simple card kits. I designed kits which needed glue, tape and pushpins as tools. I placed a strip of ivory/chocolate brown script scrapbook paper on the left with a chocolate brown metallic ribbon next to it. Used scotch tape to hold it on the inside. The scan does not do justice to the ribbon. The stamped birds are from Magenta. I stamped my greeting from a small clear set on the Stampin Up! horizontal slot punched shape.


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Guys making cards

I have a friend who runs a program for adults. She is going to try card making with men. She requested simple card kits. I made a several card kits which only use glue and a push pin for the brads. It was interesting to work through the process of what subject matter a guy would like to see. What do you think of my choices in the next few posts? I decided that I would not make pink frilly cards but in the end likely the cards they make will be given to gals. I would like to think that card making would appeal to men as well. I hope she has good success with this new endeavor. I checked with my internet group and it seems there are a few guys who are into making cards. Here's one of them.

Scrapbook Layout - Winter 2008

You will see that I was successful in cutting a few things with my Cricut Create. It printed some things I wanted and several I didn't expect. It's another tool I need to learn how to use. It is good.
I had a 4 page layout of winter pics I took in March and April 2008. I enjoy being near the river valley and the white snow is a nice contrast to those evergreen trees! I wanted the pages to be quite neutral so I chose a blue grey cardstock and this one has grey mats for the pics. Each page had it's own accent color.

Cricut Create Machine

I joined my sisters as a Cricut owner. I chose the Create machine which cuts 6x12 inches with a few of the new features. I have not had much chance to try it out yet. I have the Graphically Speaking & Storybook cartridges. It will add another option for my card making and card club.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Cmas Card Challenge - January - Snowflakes

The options for snowflakes are endless. Check your supplies for brads, stamps, 3D, die cuts, embossed, printed paper and I'm sure a lot I've not listed. Dig deep and see what turns up.

Here's my card.
I cut my cardstock along the 11" then scored in half and used it with the fold on the left to make a landscape card. I have used the Cuttlebug Devine Swirl embossing folder on the top right hand corner. The greeting is color printed on white. I ripped the top edge and aligned it's top and bottom edge to where the embossing ended. I punched a one inch hole and wrapped coordinating angora type fiber around it and tied a bow. I then placed double sided tape on both ends of the white and placed on the front of the card. I placed the brad in the centre of the hole using a push pin to make the hole. I had to trimmed the card again to ensure even edges because the embossing changes your card stock a bit. Total Christmas Cards made: 2


Therese's card - http://tmalakart.blogspot.com/2010/01/challenges-christmas-card.html

My 2010 Christmas Card Challenge

I am challenging myself to make Christmas Cards all year long instead of cramming during my busiest time of the year. I also have several Christmas Card Classes scheduled this year so I will need some ideas for those. I have decided on a theme for each month.

Here's my list:

January - Snowflakes
Feb - Evergreen trees
Mar - Gingerbread
Apr - Nativity
May - Candles
Jun - Poinsettias
July - Angels
Aug - Winter (Snowmen,etc)
Sept - Stars
Oct - Wreaths
Nov - Stockings/Ornaments
Dec - Santa/St. Nick

Each month I will make several of the same card based on the theme for the month. I will post my card here. Do you want to join me? You can use this blog as inspiration if you want to get your cards made in good time this year. Click on the post to leave a comment. If you want to be reminded of the challenge become a follower of my blog then my post will arrive in your reading list every month.