Card - Flowers - Thank You

I made this card for my real estate agent who helped my purchase my next home.

She as been amazing. I paired it with a yellow flower potted plant and dropped it off at her office today.

Card base A7 in Stampin Up Crushed Curry.  I cut a layer of striped designer paper to leave a small border. I used a leftover scrap of card stock to put a band across the top third of the card.  

I used Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die to cut a Not Quite Navy flower, a Marina Mist medium and a Crushed Curry small one. Adhered together with a blue mini brad then adhered to the card front with double sided tape.

A white single insert and a yellow envelope and it's ready to go.

Card - Thinking of You - Watercolor

A card for a friend who received a tough diagnosis recently.

It is important to know that people care and are thinking of you.

I just painted a quick watercolor of water, earth and trees.

The flowers in the water don't jive with the pine tree in the dirt but I wanted a bit of color and pretty.

This was painted with my Winston Newton travel palette.

Trimmed to fit on a 5x7 ish sized card in the portrait orientation on a True Thyme base.

A white quarter sheet insert and an ivory envelope.  A bit of a write and a stamp an it will be on it's way.

Cards - A7 - Florals

I needed a distraction today so I put my hands to making some cards for my stash.

I found some A7 (5.25 x 7.25 inches) envelopes which were free when received so nice to destash.

The floral designer paper I chose is by Anna Griffin in this grey brown color cut to about 4 inches. 

The dark layer is some Early Espresso in Co-ordinations style which means it has a colored core and folding the card stock reveals that color so I used it for the layer and band instead.

The script paper at the bottom designed by Blue Fern Studios - Paisley & Vine - Bohemian. 

The card base is Stampin Up Sahara Sand.  A white sheet insert and ivory envelope.

This card has the same components.

I cut the floral paper to leave a large board all the way around then cut a Early Espresso layer leaving a narrower border.

SU Sahara Sand is the A7 card base used in the landscape orientation.

I cut a band of the dark brown card stock and flagged the end. Using 3 ivory mini brads I adhered it to the 2 other layers.

This full layer was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.

A white insert and an ivory envelope.

For this card I chose a Stampin Up More Mustard card base to fit in an A7 envelope.

I cut the floral designer paper by Anna Griffin in the mustard color to leave a wide border all the way around.

I layered a piece of Early Espresso card stock behind leave a narrow strip on the left and right sides. These were adhered to each other with double sided tape.

I cut a strip of the dark brown card stock and then added 2 Stampin Up Five Petal punchies in the dark brown and the More Mustard colors with a tiny flower punch in the center all adhered to the layers with a More Mustard mini brad. 

A white insert with an ivory envelope.

A Stampin Up More Mustard base to fit in an A7 envelope.

The Early Espresso but to leave a small border all the way around and the mustard floral by Anna Griffin cut a bit smaller to provide an even brown border on all sides.

I added a band running top to bottom on the left hand side of the floral piece.

I punched a Martha Stewart butterfly punchie in More Mustard and adhered it to the 2 previous layers with a yellow mini brad.

This was all adhered to the card front in the landscape orientation.  White insert and an ivory envelope. 

Card - HB - Floral Ribbon

I found this floral ribbon at the ReUse Center this week and I thought it would work for a card.

I chose to make an A7 card because it did not cut off any of the rose ovals.

I chose a SU Handsome Hunter green card base. Then I added a smaller layer of SU Rose Red card stock. Then a piece of Very Vanilla to highlight the rose ovals in the ribbon.

I painted the right hand side of the VV layer with some rose colored watercolor leaving a spot of a greeting. Once the watercolor was dry and pressed flat I adhered the pieces in the layers you see.

I stamped the greeting with SU Cherry Cobbler ink with a SU greeting stamp.

I then wrapped the ribbon along the left hand side and taped the ends to the inside of the card.   I added an insert and 5x7 inch envelope and the card is ready to go.  This is for my sister who celebrates a birthday soon.

Card - Slow Stitch - Pink & Brown Stripes

With my challenge slow stitch project finished for this week I needed another.

I just dipped into my stash of scraps and chose coordinating strips of fabric.

I started with the print and added solids that matched. I hand stitched them in the quilt as you go fashion onto a foundation cloth. Once I was done I trimmed the piece to 4x6 inches. I stitched a brown seam binding all the way around. 

I placed it onto a SU Regal Rose A7 card base and stitch it in the 4 corners. I added the button and the double butterfly accent with stitches as well.  

The butterfly accent was created with the Sizzix Wingged Beauties die set for the brown and Martha Stewart butterfly punch for the pink in the same color as the card base.  I added a white insert and white envelope. 

Unfortunately, the card box does not handle these bigger cards so well.

Christmas Card - January 07

I made a card for a friend who celebrates Christmas on January 7th based on the Julian calendar.

I decided to make her a special card for her Christmas day.  I searched the internet for Christmas cards and downloaded one which I thought worked well.

I needed to add a bit of width to the image so I added navy bits on each side then I was able to print it on 4x6 photo paper. It had white borders which I did not want to keep. Before I trimmed it, I used the photo to create the embossed frame for the photo onto the 5x7 card base in SU Groovy Guava.

Once trimmed I adhered the photo into the frame and it was perfectly even.  That worked well.  I used to make these embossed frames a lot earlier in my card making.

I added a full insert on the inside to cover the embossed frame and that was it.

She really liked it.

Card Exchange - October 2021

I made a couple of large cards for my October card exchange.  Since they are late and it Christmas time I chose to make them with a Christmas theme.  Love making Christmas cards at any time.

I chose turquoise alcohol ink background paper in 4x6 and cut ornaments with the Sizzix Bigz Die - Ornaments #4. One of each design.

I cut the hangers from copper metallic paper and glued them on top.

I added copper metallic thread.

I embossed a layer of white with a Cuttlebug folder from the Winter Bundle.  I wrapped the thread to the back and adhered the snowflake layer to the front of the Tempting Turquoise card.

The ornament was adhered with 3D foam tape.

I added a Stampin Up Modern Label greeting which was offset with a punchie from the same paper as the ornament.

On this one I added the copper star and mounted the turquoise one in the left hand corner.

These are large A7 5x7 cards.

These are on their way to my card exchange partners.

Thank You - Large Card

I created the card to put next to the treats at Mom and Dad's apartment.

The small cards will be addressed to individuals that Mom & Dad choose.

This is a general card to communicate with the other neighbours.

I have chosen nuts, chocolates and candies to share with these wonderful people.

I started with a Taken with Teal card base in the A7 (5x7) size.

I adhered a piece of alcohol ink paper in 4x6 size to the card front.

I then printed the words on vellum with the ink jet printer and embossed the words with silver powder.

I trimmed the vellum to allow the background to show.  Adhered the vellum with tiny white brads in the four corners.

Exchange Cards - Christmas Cards

I am playing catch up on my exchange cards.  With Dad`s hospitalization I have spent more time with Mom which involving traveling.   These are December`s cards then I will get the November and October ones done.

I chose Stampin Up Christmas Jingle designer paper because it had a green and red side.  I decided to make A7 or 5x7 inch cards. I printed a greeting layer of Very Vanilla with greetings in Real Red and Old Olive trimmed to leave a border all the way around. I punched 14 stars out.  Then applied thin 3D tape to the bottom ones and thicker 3D tape to the top ones.  The top ones match the card base color.  I placed them in a round shape to create a wreath. I added a Real Read wide grosgrain ribbon below the wreath and taped the ends to the back.

I adhered the greeting layer to the card front and pressed them over night.  This morning I added the prism elements of a snowflake on one and a star on the other adhered with Bling Zots.  I then added a thin gold cord bow to the wreath.

These are headed to my exchange partners. 

Christmas Cards for Seniors

 

I prepared some Christmas cards for seniors which will be distributed to nursing homes by a local scrapbook store.

I have several techniques in this collection of 24 Christmas cards.  

1) recycled commercial cards onto new card bases and new inserts - several which worked better in the 5x7 size.

2) refurbishing handmade cards I have received - some from friends who took my card making classes so the designs are mine but I did not make the cards, some I received in my monthly card exchange. 

I am very happy with the selection and variety in this collection.  Soon they will be delivered to the scrapbook store.

Christmas Card Challenge - March - Large Greetings

I decided to make Christmas cards with large greetings for my March cards.

It was easy to find some greetings on some of my Cricut cartridges.  They are easily sized and cut.  I chose the Winter Frolic cartridge.  It's hard to tell how large they will be on the first cut so I ended up with some larger die cuts than I planned so I used 5x7 cards (A7). 

The large greeting was cut from white pearl card stock at 3.5" T.  

Of course, the fun part was making acrylic ink background with photo paper.  These are 4x6 sheets and I used my Nick Bantock liquid acrylic colors for these. The colors were: Deep Turquoise, Cerulean Azure, Prussian Blue, Chrome Yellow, Chartreuse Leaf, Vermillion Lacquer, and Sapmoss Green.

I added colored sequins to the card fronts adhered with Bling Zots. For the first one the sequins were Christmas green, the red one was gold,  and the other was red and green.

I used a bit of color watered down to spatter the card fronts once I was done which helps to marry all the elements.

For the 5x7 cards I needed a clean pull of color across the 4x6 as I could not trim it.  Sometimes I end up with white edges or finger prints in the corners as I turn them over.

I see that I ended up with some pink sequins as well as red on this card. Not my intention but that's how it goes.

I have documented these in my Cricut manual so I can get smaller die cuts next time.

Always nice to have a few larger cards in my Christmas card box.

Super happy with these.

HB - Sister

I chose one of my oil on water abstracts for a birthday card for my sister. Her favorite color is green and she likes things that are more muted.

I will see her tonight at the Solstice Party one of my other sisters is hosting. She is hosting a party as she has just finished another summer course and it is the longest day of the year!

I love the dark edges of the bubbles and their evenness of their surface. 

There is a good variety of sizes and they sit on this ledge of muted green which is a large pool of oil along the bottom.

Doggie Birthday Cards

I was asked to make some birthday cards for her granddaughters with a card she received for her birthday.

I managed to get two 5x7 cards made because it was a trifold card.

This is the full card front.  I had to cut it down a bit on the length.

I adhered it on a pink card base.

I then printed a greeting on a piece of the same pink card in Rose Red.  I trimmed the piece to .5 inch by 3 inches.  I then used a corner rounder on the top left and right corners. It was adhered to the card front aligned along the stitched line with 3D foam tape.

I placed a blank white sheet insert.





I trimmed the cut out layer of the card to just under 5 inches wide.

I chose a warm white card base to coordinate with the gate in the image.

For the greeting,  I measured to determine where I could place it then color printed it onto the card front when I printed the credits on the back.

The doggie layer was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape aligned to leave a small border on the bottom.

I placed a blank white sheet insert.

Sympathy Card

I made this card for my friend who lost her Dad a week ago. 

I have recycled a commercial card front into this 5x7 A7 large card. 

I trimmed the commercial card on both sides.  I trimmed extra on the right because there was some pink which I wanted to remove. With only the purple left I chose a purple card to coordinate. Purple is her favorite color so that should be appreciated.

Now I had to add a bit of cardstock on the right to make an even border.  I cut a strip from the back of the card and cut it with my Deckle Edge scissors. I taped the edge to the straight edge with tape.   I added a length of purple satin ribbon over the join and tape the ends to the back of the layer.  It was adhered to the card front.

I added iridescent sequins to the card front with Bling Zots. It will be on it's way tomorrow.

Happy Birthday 80th

I made this card for a friend who is celebrating her 80th birthday.  I have been invited to a party for her this afternoon.

I wanted a larger card as I will include a 2018 Fridge Calendar.  I chose to make a 5x7 inch (A7) card. I started with the 3.5x5 inch photo of a pink cosmos.   I created the greeting layer and since this photo is not the same proportions of a 5x7 I had to adjust the border spaces.  I chose Regal Rose for the frame and Not Quite Navy for the greeting.  I printed the greeting layer then trimmed it close to the border. I adhered the photo above the words.

I chose a deep warm blue card and cut down the 8.5x11 to create the card.  I cut the 8.5 down to 7 1/8. Then I scored at 5 1/8th and folded then I trimmed the other half to be even with the front.

I chose to align the greeting layer with an even border on the top, left and bottom edges. That left a wider border on the right.  I decided to add some soft seam binding wrapped around the card front and tied in a knot on the left.  The greeting layer was then adhered over the ribbon onto the card front with 3D foam tape.  It adds a nice dimension to the card.

I can put an insert which measures the 5x7 on the inside and it is ready to give.  I chose a nice A7 envelope from Paper Garden - Pink Lemonade.