CENTER STEP CARROT MUNCH

Fun fold time!!!
Love this type of card especially at Easter for a fun spring look.  I was hesitant at first due to the cutting but once I did it....it was EASY! 

Here are some quick steps.  I started with a piece of 5.5 x 11 110lb Recollection card stock in white.  This stock is so sturdy and is great for folds such as these.  It allows the card to really stand well and not be floppy.  This is my new go to for bases with fun folds.  Warning though...it is hard to score and you need to go over your lines a few times to be able to fold it but Oh My Gosh it is well worth it.  It is available at Michael's in the larger packs for $12.99 but use a 40% coupon and it's quite a deal.  Comes in white, cream and black.  Ok ... back to steps..... You know what?????  I stink at this so I'm going to take a shortcut and have you follow the directions of "Our Daily Bread". You can find it HERE .  They have the easiest directions with a photo for reference.  Of course you still need the measurements for decorating and I can help there! 

For this card I used Hot Pink card stock for mats from a Recollections paper pack from Michael's.  Its their smaller packs with I think 25 sheets for $3.99.  The Zig Zag DSP was from open stock at Hobby Lobby. With Hot Pink you will need: 
(2) pieces 1 3/8 x 4 3/8
(1) piece 2 1/4 x 4 3/8
(1) piece 7/8 x 5 3/8
With DSP you will need:
(2) pieces 1 1/4 x 4 1/4
(1) piece 2 1/8 x 4 1/4
(1) piece 3/4 x 5 1/4

The stamp is a Northwoods stamp from 2013.  Love that little bunny!!  The eggs are all out of scraps that I had and I used various dies.  1 was a small Sizzix 2 egg die and the other is a Egg nesting die that I bought on eBay a few years ago.  
I glittered some of the eggs myself using Xyron sticker maker and some glitter.  Not bad looking but what a mess.  I probably should have bought sticker eggs LOL.  The words are from Stampin Ups Hostess set Wacky Wishes.  Love that set!  Wish I owned it but I don't so I guess I'll have to keep borrowing it. Heehee.  I didn't have an Egg die in the size I needed so I hand cut it.  Uneven?  Yes but I think it looks fine and I didn't want to change it to a circle when everything else is egg shaped.
I think I'm going to make up card kits for our gathering Friday night.  The other cards we will be making are all Easter so what the heck maybe we'll do this one too.  I'll cut everything out first though or it could be a long night of measuring and cutting.  I guess if they want to make more of them they will just have to read my BLOG for directions!  LOL
Well I have work to get done and then carding with the ladies.  This weekend I hope to just stay home in my craft room and enjoy the beauty of the snow that we are suppose to be getting. Fresh snow always makes the old stuff already on the ground look nice and clean....and somehow puts me in a relaxing state.  When nightfall comes you... go outside listen to the silence.. and just BREATHE.

HAPPY CARDING!!

THE TRAVELING CARD MAKER

I got my new email from SCS and one of the forums was on traveling with your stamps and what do you need to bring for extended stays.  It got me thinking.  What basics do you really need?  I think my suggestions are geared more toward retiree's who have dual homes that we travel between during the course of the year.  I myself have stated a few times that I have a summer home on the lake and I spend alot of time there during the warmer months.  I love being at the table overlooking the lake and make a bunch of cards.  Supplies are limited due to space but crafting is still possible.  So I decided to make a list of what I actually keep up at the cottage and what I tote back and forth.
First I'll start with what I leave up there.  This is a seasonal home and if anything will freeze it is brought back home for the winter.  Otherwise this is what stays all year long.

Paper trimmer.....since it literally is used just for trimming bits and pieces I use a trimmer/scorer from Making Memories that I got on clearance at our local craft store.  I don't love it but its convenient, portable and a combination piece.  Like this one  It does what I need it to do and takes up little space. Cuts, scores and has an envelope maker tool and bone folder.  Word of advise get a different bone folder.  This one is really cheesy. :(

Regular scissors and decorative Fiskars scissors......sometimes you just need a decorative edge and I don't have a spare sizzix machine or cricut to leave there so I have come to depend on my decorative scissors.  Straight????  Not always but if you trace a small guiding line and follow it.. it does come out pretty straight.  Just have to have patience.  LOL  Of course you need regular scissors for cutting twine, ribbon etc.  Any household scissors will do as long as they cut!

A couple inexpensive punches......I tend to like having a heart punch about the size of a quarter.  This can be used for a couple of applications.  First the pointed bottom of the heart can be use for V cuts for banners and the top heart part can be used for decorative rounding of corners if you use it upside down.  A 1.5" and a 2" circle or oval punch.  I have circles only and make ovals with them by cutting rectangle's and rounding the ends with the circle punch used upside down.  I'm not too picky!  haahaa

Brads....Buttons.....I bought a mason jar full at an antique store that had various colors for like $5.  I then have a small jam jar that I have put various brads in that I pick up on clearance during the year.  I try to keep it generic by only buying the round ones in any color.  That way I won't have to worry that all my blue ones are flowers and I'm trying to make a guy card.  Stay neutral as much as possible.

Twine or ribbon.....ribbons are nice but Oh My Gosh too much to choose from so I only have white, black and cream and I only buy the sheer type so it match's anything really.  Twine?? I have of course the neutral color jute type but I also bought a ball of white crochet thread and I can color it with my markers to match the project.  Again must get creative.  An extra mason jar contains scrap ribbons from projects I've done at home and that along with the button and brad jars sit on a shelf as a pretty Knick Knack on the porch.  See functional too! 

Colored pencils...kids watercolor box.....both of these can stay there year round.  I have a set of both crayola watercolor pencils and regular colored pencils.  I get the soft coloring look from the watercolor pencils and with the regular ones when blended with a blending medium like this it creates a copic effect.  I use the kids water color box for putting a wash on my stock for a background prior to stamping. 

A couple small paint brushes, sponges, a stylis, clear school ruler and a school paper punch like what you use to punch a small hole in a tag for a piece of string to go through.  Nothing fancy.

A heat gun....I have multiples so I just brought one up to the cottage to leave as well as an extra glue gun.  Which is nothing you have to have but is nice when you do.

All of this stuff except trimmer can fit into a shoebox and slid under a bed or in a bench. Anyplace really.  We have a nightstand in one of the bedrooms that it could fit under though I have a cabinet in the living room and I just slip it in there.  All of above stays up there all year long.

Next your tote...This carries all the stuff that cannot stay up there all year along with extras if I'm working on a particular project.  Mine is about 12" x 8" and maybe 6" high with little separators in it and pockets around the outside.  In there I keep the following which
is always in there.

Ink pads.....I have 2 blacks (one memento one staz on), 1 versa mark, 1 sepia (for antiquing).  
Emboss powders....I use those daily pill jars and have a little of different colors in each.   In case I wanted to do any embossing. Like this one.  Had to mark what was in each since the little cups are colored.

Tape runners and glue sticks and a few clear stickles (since that will take on the color of what ever color you put it on)

Acrylic blocks in a few sizes.  I'll be honest..Ive been picking up a few from the dollar bins at Michaels and Joanns that I can keep in the shoe box instead of hauling my good ones back and forth but since the bag usually comes and goes with me its not really a problem to use the ones from home.  I just figured after so many years it's about time the cottage gets it's on supplies!  LOL

Stamp cleaner and blender pens
brayer
Xacto knife and Tim Holtz distress tool

These are the things I HAVE to HAVE so that I'm not going AAARRRGGGG while carding at the cottage.  I then put papers and usually cling stamps into an Iris box (which can also be tucked away under a sofa or bed ) for my projects.  Sometimes I just leave the Iris box up there and just put all my finished cards into a Ziploc bag to bring home.

Well that's it...WHEWWW :)  Seems like a lot but in reality it's just a shoe box, iris box and a tote.  I do most of my more intricate cards at home and more CAS ones at the cottage.  So I don't need a ton of stuff and it just forces you to be a bit more creative.  I'll share some of those ideas another time.

Til Then

HAPPY CARDING!!

Technique Friday last Friday

Ok so I'm a bit behind.....but ?????  Anyway last Friday a few of us ladies gathered to try out a few techniques.Though not very new to at least one of them they were totally new to me.  I tend to stay in my comfort zone but I really wanted to try these.  First up, cracked glass.  Let me say mine was the only disaster.  Apparently you are to stamp and color then add layers of clear emboss powder until it looks smooth and pooling while your heating.  Then you put it in the freezer for a bit, take it out and bend it and it's suppose to crack.  June has done this before and has never had the results I got.  LOL  Oh mine cracked!!!! Right off the paper in spots!!  Oh for Petes Sake!  Went back to craft room, tried adding a little Crystal Effects to re-glue the pieces on.  Looked terrible...so I re-heated it.  Dumb idea.  Well the card would have looked nice but oh well.  Here's mine and let me tell you the picture makes it look much better than it actually is. LOL

Ok let's move on!
Next was Northern lights.  Loved doing this!  We followed a tutorial by France Martin..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W_0yey4RW0  We tried this on both Shimmer paper which is what France Martin used and we tried it on glossy paper.  At first, since I was doing both papers at the same time, I wasn't really liking the way the colors went on the glossy paper but by the time you got to the last step of the black I think both are equally nice.  I will definitely try this again and you should give it a try too.  Go to France's YouTube video's and follow her tutorial.

Left is Shimmer and right is Glossy.  Sorry about the flash mark but the glossy picked up on that and when I turned the flash off the colors didn't come through true.  Tree's turned out bolder on the glossy paper.  I used the same ink for both prints.  Sure looks different though.
Can you imagine how much fun that night was!!  And we're not done yet.  1 more technique and then a card designed by one of our ladies.

Embossing as a resist!  Just saw something similar on a YouTube video from Dawns' Stamping Thoughts.  How ironic that June had already decide to do a card with a similar technique.  We Versa marked some butterflies and flowers on to white card stock then we white embossed. Then choose your color pallet and starting with the lightest sponge each color over the embossed image's.  The white embossing works as a resist.  when all colors are on, rub the surface with a dry cloth to brighten the images.  So pretty.

And finally.........an adorable Easter Card!!
The image was a Northwoods stamp and the greeting was cut from the Cricut.  Simple but Elegant and it fits into a legal sized envelope so no big expense there!  This card was so refreshing to make after the intense moments of the other 3 cards.  

Love the gray with the purple!
Well as you can see it was a fun fun evening!  I can't believe Friday is just around the corner again and we have a some Easter cards planned!  Though someone (shhhhh, we won't say who....lol) thinks we need to do some Christmas cards.  LOL....alright alright alright.....maybe next gathering?????
Til Next Time......

HAPPY CARDING!

Let me call you Sweetheart

Valentines Day!!!!!  My granddaughter was so excited to make a few cards so we both went through all my magazines to find the one that had the free Valentines day papers.  After all I have to use those papers!!  Had to laugh it was another old one that she found and wanted to use.  It was the Cardmaking Papercraft 2010 issue.  Wonder what happened to this years magazine and it's Valentines day papers?  Hmmmmm   need to search the craft room again!

Anyway there were 3 sample cards and of course she wants to make all three and she wanted me to make the same ones so here we go redesigning the cards just a wee bit so that we could get 2 cards out of each pattern.  She did an excellent job for 6 yrs of age.  This is what we came up with:

these 2 are mine

these 2 are my granddaughters

and the left is mine, right is hers

They are kind of cute and she worked so hard.  After she went home I was in the mood for another card so I made this one:

I used a Victorian 6x6 paper pack I got at Hobby Lobby and some gold Bazzil card stock for the mats.  The card is 5.5 x 5.5.  I cut a 2" heart from my Cricut and embossed it and then rubbed a little gold ink over the top.  The white circle is actually the garbage piece from when I was die cutting a red circle earlier.  If you use wax paper between your die and the card stock the card stock releases much easier from more intricate dies.  Well I had it laying around and figured it was similar to using vellum so why not?  I thought it worked out well.  So well in fact that I deliberately cut a 1" circle from the wax paper to put behind the button in the upper right corner.  No idea who is getting this card.  Maybe I'll just keep it in my stash.  Because after all we all need to keep saving things!!!  LOL

And finally....so not to be out done by his sister My grandson added his personal touch to his preschool valentines.  He watercolored paper "willy nilly" and then I cut some hearts from his paintings, cut a few red ones for background and he glued his little heart out!  No pun intended...heeheehee.  He to did a great job!

Well its off to the Nursing home to do our Craft therapy with the residents.  And of course... we are making VALENTINES!!!!

Happy Valentines Day to all and til next time......

HAPPY CARDING!

Easter????? Really????

So it was brought to my attention that I have ignored the free papers that come in one of my magazines.  I Ab-So-Lutely (I meant to type it that way heehee) LOVE Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and Quick Cards magazine from the UK.  They're kind of pricey here in the US but well worth it.  Along with great card examples and step by step directions there are a few freebie papers in the middle of the magazine.  These papers are of the same in thickness and texture as the rest of the magazine which is probably why I have never used them.  I always thought of them as super lightweight wrapping paper and I would never use wrapping paper on my cards so I have ignored them too.  The magazines also give you a few card ideas to use those papers with.  In the past I have used the ideas but with different papers.  So this year my resolution is to go through every one of my magazines and use up all the free papers inside!

Soooooo.......last night June came over and I randomly picked a magazine off the shelf.  It was the April 2010  issue of  Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and the papers happen to have been for Easter.

The card ideas and remaining papers

  Well alrighty then, Easter it is!  There were 4 different patterns though each one is only about 8x5ish and we both wanted to make the same card so we had to change up the original sample card a bit so that we had enough for 2 cards.  We also added a little BLING to our flowers.  I LOVE BLING!!  So here's what we got.

Now we still have 3 more patterns to do but last night we just didn't have time so I will probably make the remaining 3 by myself and post those later.  If you happen to be able to see either of these magazines by all means check it out.  I can't praise these enough.  Oh and did I mention that each magazine also comes with another Freebie?  The company includes a special surprise with every magazine.  Always changing but it could be special designer paper pack, stamps sets exclusive to the magazine (awesome!!!) framelet dies, decoupage papers, embellishments...the list goes on and on!  Now if that doesn't entice you I don't know what will!  LOL  Check out their web site too.

http://www.cardmakingandpapercraft.com/
Enjoy and until later........................


HAPPY CARDING!

Valentines Day Whooo do you Love

Valentines day is just around the corner and I've made a couple cards for the grandkids and my grand nieces.  I posted the Monkey card earlier from my Friday night gathering but I'm posting it again with a second one that is similar.  Then I cased a card I saw on Pinterest by http://thequeensscene.blogspot.com/2011/01/whooo-loves-ya.html.  I LOVE OWLS! This was from 2011 and I just thought it was so cute.  Also I hadn't given June back her Owl punch yet (oops...heehee) so it was like a "Sign" that I make this card!

  The top photo Owl card is a 5.5 x 5.5.  I used a 6x6 paper pack and ribbon from Michaels.  I used googlie eyes on this one instead of the paper punch pieces from the owl punch which is from Stampin Up.   The card next to it is a regular A2 card 4.25 x 5.5  The Monkey paper and stickers were given to me by a fellow stamper and I do not know where the paper came from but the stickers I believe she got a Hobby Lobby.  The hearts were cut from the Cricut and the gold paper is the Waffle paper Stampin Up use to carry.  It is no longer available.

  The bottom photo Owl card is also 5.5 x 5.5 and the paper used there was from a 6x6 paper pack that I believe I got last year.  I just used a tiny scrap of the ribbon from the first card so to make it look like it had a ribbon I cut a border from the Martha Stewart heart border punch. I omitted googlie eyes and just used punch pieces from the Owl punch.  On the Monkey Card I had to omit the Waffle paper since I didn't have any so instead I just hash lined the hearts.  I think I should have put a doily behind it but maybe I will for the next one I make.  

  I still need 2 more Valentines so I guess it's back to the drawing board!  I guess I better hurry up too because as soon as June see's this post she's going to want her Owl back!  LOL

Til Later

HAPPY CARDING
(by the way I gave my dear friend back her owl punch last night :(  Will have to borrow it again for tulips!)

Holly Hobbie Birthday and other Friday Night Cards

Such adorable stamps and I got them FREE!!!  This is a Holly Hobbie set that was exclusive to the UK edition of Cardmaking and Papercrafting Magazine that I got I think last year.  June decided to C.A.S.E. the example that was featured in the magazine for all of us to make at our Friday nite gathering.  She changed up the papers a bit though.  Here's what we made.........

Boy how did she know that I needed Birthday cards?  LOL.  Anyway I think this is just such a sweet card.

 One of the other ladies had us make another Birthday card That I swear took us all of nearly 2.5 hours just to color.  The paper was a shimmer paper that did not let you blend the colors very well so it took alot of patience.  In the end it too was a beautiful card.

The image was from an embossing folder and she embossed extra so that we could cut the flower and butterfly out and dimension it.  I have a few folders that I believe I could do this technique with so I'll have to try this again.

Another one of the ladies brought us valentines day cards to work on.  The first being for our husbands and since mine every once in awhile checks out my blog I cant post the picture but lets just say its a very luxurious looking card.  It's also larger than what we usually make measuring about 5 x 7.  She also brought a real cute kids card.

I LOVE these monkeys! The Monkey in the middle (Haha wasn't there a song kids use to sing about being the Monkey in the Middle?) anyway...........the Monkey is a Sticker that matches the paper!!!  How awesome (and simple) is that?  The gold rufflie stuff?  Well to be honest I wasn't paying attention and I'm not sure what that is.  It came on a tube about 6 or 7 inch's wide so I guess you buy it by the roll.  I believe she said they got it at the Scrapbook expo.  I'll check with her and let you know if anyone is really interested.

So that was our Friday night get together!  Lots of fun!  We also did a little demo on the envelope maker and a bow maker my husband made for each of us.  I'll do a post on those at a late date.

Now it's back to the craft room to make more birthday cards....after all IT"S SNOWING AGAIN!!!  Till later.....


HAPPY CARDING!!

Birthday Card Dilemma

Hello there!!!  While the winter storm continues to pound I have been in the craft room.  I had a dilemma the other day.  I got together with my card making group on Friday and it is one of the ladies birthdays this Wednesday.  Well I wanted to give her a card.  Problem was all on hand Birthday Cards I had were ones we made as a group so she had already seen all those cards!  I dug deep and found 1 lonely Birthday card that I made ages ago.  So today with the weather so crummy I figured it was a good day to try and get a few Birthday cards made to have on hand for my ladies group so that they receive something different from what we normally do.  Here's what I came up with.

Both cards are done in designer paper that I got at Archivers before they closed their stores   One the top card I used a House Mouse stamp that I bought on eBay.  We no longer have a stamp store near us as all the mom & pop stores have closed and Michael's, Hobby Lobby and Joann's have limited stamps.  Lucky for me I do have a stamp store near my summer home but she carries exclusively Northwoods or her own design so eBay is a great source for me.  The card is 6x5 and matted with a very pale pink and a med pink strip that I used a border punch on that is only there to add a little pizazz under the ribbon.  The other one is a tent card that is 5 x 5.5.  I used one of my homemade paper flowers on that one.  and a couple brads next to the Birthday wishes.  I think both came out rather well.  I'm taking a little break right now to watch my husband clear the driveway again of the snow.   Hope you are all staying warm and enjoy the Super Bowl.   Me???????  I think I'll go back to card creating!  I'm not really a football fan.  Til later..................................





HAPPY CARDING!