Hi Card makers! The evening is nearing and we are getting ready for maybe our first "Big" snow of the year. We have had so little that it's kind of exciting that we may actually be getting a good amount.
I don't think I've mentioned that June and I are now organizing and carrying out monthly crafts at a local Nursing home. It has been so much fun and the residents there really enjoy it alot. They are having a Valentines Day Party for family and friends and we had decided that maybe they would like to make some valentines themselves. All supplies are prepared by us and they just have to put together. There are various skill levels but they are all quite limited. Most have suffered strokes or seizure and have lost the ability to use both hands, what use they do have is quite limited on some. Others have various degrees of Alzheimer's. Our craft days are therapeutic for fine motor skills as well as attention spans. So "On with the Craft"!
Budget is of the utmost! To make the cards look professional we wanted envelopes. So instead of card envelopes we decided to make our own and use letter size envelopes. We got a box of 40 from the dollar store and decided to create our cards to fit these envelopes. June is also designing a 4 x 4 card that I will share later and we will make envelopes for those with old paper we no longer want.
So here's what I got so far. I showed these examples to June and I think we might be doing the one on the far left and maybe #3. We can't give them too many choices so it needs to be minimal. These cards fit into letter size envelopes. Finished base size is 3.25 x 6.25. For alittle bling I used sequins. As you can see pretty simple. and can be done with scraps and inexpensive envelopes from the dollar store. Hope you can find some use in these samples. Can't wait to see what June comes up with! I'll let you know!! Til then...........
HAPPY CARDING!
Valentines Valentines Valentines!!!! Time to start thinking! only 2 weeks til the big day.
I don't send out many valentines but I do give one to my lovely husband and my dear children and Grandchildren so I do need a couple. My granddaughter also like making her valentines and I was quite impressed with this years selection for all her classmates. Its a Kitty face made out of a 4.5" heart. The bow was made from a animal print pack from a Michael's Recollections pack....So cute and she had to make 28 of them! So proud of my little 1st grader girls enthusiasm to craft.
I had decided to make my first Valentine a simple one using this years holiday pack from the Recollections line at Michael's. Such awesome prints this year.
Michael's had these on sale when I bought them so I was able to get them 5 packs for $10. Now I don't really care to use the Recollection line for my base card. I find the weight just not right for me so I used whisper white from Stampin up as my base. Though I guess you could use the pink as the base if you don't have any other white or if you don't mind the Recollections weight. I'm just pretty picky so please do what you are comfortable with and the card will look just fine. My base card is 6.5 x 5. I then used the solid red from the pack on the lower right as my next layer measuring 6.25 x 4.75. The banners are next and were cut 1" wide. The length I just eyeballed and cut what looked good to me. Unfortunately I glued everything down and forgot to measure those but I'd guess 3 of them are 3.75" long and 2 are 3.5". The stripe paper was from the pack on the top. The hearts were punched out with a Martha Stewart heart punch from the heart paper in bottom right pack. So nice that they are interchangeable. Anyway the hearts are added with dimensionals. The top banner is the solid red cut 4.75" x 1" and I used a border punch. Any border punch would probably do. I attached a 1/2" x 4.5" whisper white (or you can use the pink from pack on right) that I had stamped my Hugs and Kisses. Add a little Bling and done. Super easy!
I really want to come up with something for the black chalk pack next. I love that paper!
Well I think I'm back on track so stay tune for more valentines!
HAPPY CARDING!!!!!
Oh my goodness I finally was able to get back to my blog only to discover that I had written this and never posted it. What a Ditz! Life can sometimes get so crazy! Sooooo....sorry but here is my very very very late post OR my very very early Christmas 2015 post...LOL!
Well I'm backing up a bit here to the beginning of November. Halloween was over and Thanksgiving was on it's way but I was still in "Christmas" mode. My husband was out for the evening with our son and a friend at a "Cigar Box Guitar" event. I was going to just mope around the house but instead decided to invite my friend June over for some card making (what else!). It's so nice to have someone willing to just spend a quiet evening card making. I think we achieved 4 different card styles resulting in 6 total cards and in only 4 hours. Plus there was alot of talking in between. So now on with the results......
1st card
June brought the supplies to make this cute folded Christmas tree card with present pop outs inside. So adorable. We made 2 of these and they were easier than I thought. Love love this card!
2nd card
This one I actually designed for my Daughter-in-laws 5th grade class to make during their after school craft event. I had some pieces left over so we each got to put 1 of these together. So easy even a 5th grader can do it! LOL I don't think the school kids did the stitch marks around the squares but I thought it added to the card.
3rd card
Another one that June brought supplies for. Love this stamp and framelit set. I believe its from Stampin up. This card was so pretty
and easy due to the framelit doing the hard work of cutting out the tree on the red panel that we dimensional. we made 3 each of these. That's how quickly we were able to put them together.
4th card
The lighting does not do this card justice. I made this using the Martha Stewart border punch and a snowflake border embossing folder. If you look closely every other circle in the border punched out area has a little sequin that shows up. the sequin is actually adhered to the inside of the card. The front had some added sequins to the snowflakes. Pretty much a simple card.
Well there you have it 4 relatively simple cards you could whip up before the holidays. Take the basic idea, change up the paper, use stamps with ornaments instead of trees and maybe a Santa instead of a snowman. It'll work no matter what you choose.
June and I had a great evening! You can get alot done when all the elements have been cut, scored, embossed, and gathered into kit like projects before you even get together to start making.
Later!!!!
HAPPY CARDING
The New Year is upon us and I am hoping you all had a joyous Holiday! Ours was filled with a ton of joy and laughter. My nephew and his wife had brought their new addition to our family celebration and it was such a blessing to hold a little bundle again. The grandkids and nieces and nephews as well as grand nieces had a wonderful time enjoying the festivities. Not very much card making got done since I was more focused on holiday decorating and gift making.
One of my simpler yet best decorating item was a log centerpiece. Two of them were on my dining table while a third adorned the kids table. They were such a hit that I'm gathering supplies now to make them as gifts for next year.
I made 2 of these. The birch log came from my stash from up at our cabin. I love the burlap poinsettia but unfortunately I was only able to find 2 of them. I had my husband drill a few holes into the top of the log and stuck the greenery and poinsettia's into it. I filled in spaces with pine cones from some that I had collected for other projects.
This one I had to use red poinsettia's but it looked great on the kids table.
These brought just the right amount of wow to the table without taking up alot of room. Plus they weren't very tall so it they didn't block any ones view.
Ive been out hitting up all the craft stores checking out all the clearance items so I can make a few for next year. I just hope my wood delivery guy brings me some decent birch logs next spring. I guess they could be made out of cedar too. I'm pretty sure I have a cedar tree up north that needs to come down and I could use that but I really like the look of the birch.
Well the next up and coming holiday is Valentines Day. I need to get some idea's together for some cards and get back on track. I still need to keep my mind open to craft ideas though since I'm sure the grandkids are going to want to make something soon. I also have teamed up with June and we are now involved in a monthly "Crafting Therapy" session at a local nursing home which has been quite fun so in between my cards expect to see a few crafts every now and then.
Until next time.......
HAPPY CARDING!
