Fast Forward Christmas

As time flies by and Christmas Eve is quickly approaching I realized how many crafts and cards never got made.  I always seem to have so many plans and then fail to complete them.  Time slips away from me, grandkids get colds and just want cuddles and some days I just wanted to sit and watch a Hallmark movie.  Ok confession maybe "3 in a row" Hallmark movies!  LOL  I did get done what had to be done though.  All gifts were bought, cards that were needed were made and mailed and crafting with the grandkids was done.  I even threw in cookie baking and a few crafts of my own for gifts and just for fun.  What didn't get done on a regular basis was this blog.  I was always putting it on the back burner.  Just barely squeezing in a tidbit here and there.  I also managed to ignore browsing through some of my favorite bloggers post and when I did I'd forget to leave a comment.  So I'll say I'm sorry and I will try to do better in the New Year.

So quickly now here are a few of the things that never made it to my blog.  My huge project was my Advent Calendar.  I LOVED decorating this as much as the grandkids love coming over and opening the drawers for little surprises.

This little paper star is super simple and oh so cute.  I found the tutorial by mistake....I was browsing Pinterest for star ornaments with popsicle sticks and for some reason this one popped up.  check it out.  Collette Mitriga does a quick yet thorough tutorial on how to make this beauty.

This is it closed up.  Its a little thing measuring 2x2 when closed.  You need 6   4x4 squares to make it and only 12" of 1/4" ribbon.  So cute.  I will be playing with these later in the new year and probably make a few for Memorial Day and the 4th of July.  I think they would be so cute in red, white, and blue don't you?









So many extra cards and tags were made too but I have since mailed them and used the tags on gifts so I guess there is no sharing of those.

This was a quick craft I did with my ladies group and with my grandkids for their teacher gifts.

These were recycled jars that we decorated with ribbons and misc. Christmas branches.  The insides were filled with Potpourri and a small battery tealight was placed inside.

Here I made more snowmen and some little tags.  The snowmen are made from recycled Frappuccino bottles.  I used wooden candle cups for the heads and my husband cut out the hats for me.  I filled them with candy and these were handed out at as gifts to my lady friends as well.  Extras were made and my Daughter in Law handed them out to the teachers she works with.   Yep!!!!  Drank alot of Frappuccino!!!  I now have to diet all this Christmas season! heehee.

I think that's it for now.  I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy all other Holidays.  Have a wonderful time and I will be back in the New Year!

Snowman Haven

Another day another craft...lol.  It sure has been a crafty December for me.  Today as my daughter in law was dropping off the baby she informed me that the other 2 needed a gift for their CCD teachers tonight.  Yikes!!!  Way to give me a heads up!  Quickly I ran through my Pinterest for something super simple and quick.  I would have much preferred something more religious but that would have had me running out to Hobby Lobby and I had no time for that with everything else I wanted to get done today.  Besides for me a craft store trip takes at least 3 hours...I mean I HAVE to browse right???  Then I came across a set of snowmen made from 2x2 lumber.  Well it just so happened that my hubby just replaces the spindles on the deck and we have alot of scraps.  YAY for me...not so much for him because I sent him to the garage to cut (3) 6" pieces (3) 4.5" pieces and (3) 2.75" pieces.  Got out the wood glue...glued and clamped and when the kids got home this is what they painted.

Super cute.  Ok the middle set is a bit of a mess but the 6yr old tried and that's what counts.

Snowman treat holder

Well I sure have snowmen on the brain.....and I've noticed I'm doing a whole lot more crafts lately than cards.  I will get back on track as soon as the holidays are over.  I just have so many inspirations right now and I want to make it all!  LOL

Today is from the Envelope punch board.  All you need is a sheet of white card stock and a sheet of black and then some tiny scraps of orange.

From white you will cut 1 strip 2  1/8 x 11 and score at 5 1/8 and 5  7/8.  Then using your punch board line 1 end up at 2 1/8 mark and punch....flip and repeat then do the same on the other end.  It should look like this:

Then from black cut one 2x2 square and two pieces 2 1/8 x 1/2.  On the 2x2 round the top corners and then place that centered into your punch board to cut a top notch.  Save that tiny piece punched out for the mouth.  Then with the 1/2" strips round the corners on all 4 sides.  Save those tiny pieces for the eyes.

Now assemble.  Place a York patty on one side of the body using score tape. Place the 2x2 square between the top edges of the body then add the brim to front and back.  The hat band and the scarf is washi tape.  Glue on mouth and eyes.  Cut little triangles from orange for the nose and I then added glitter glue for buttons.

I think they're pretty cute.  Kids are going to love them.

Off to do more

SNOWMAN HATS CENTERPIECE

Hello!!!  Still no snow here but I have snowmen on my mind.  I am a big hoarder of recyclables.  If I think it can be transformed I save it.  So while having been taking care of my new granddaughter over the last year, she went through quite a bit of formula.  Well those can had to be good for something.  Sure enough I found the perfect use via Pinterest.  Snowmen hats!  I checked out alot of Pins too.  Some said to use black plastic plates, others said cut black foam board but one suggested old 78 records!  Hmmmmmm....off to Goodwill I went and lo and behold......they had some for $1.99 for a box of 6.  SCORE!!!!  Home I went with some black spray paint and tacky glue.  I sprayed all the cans black and then glued them open side down on the record and let them sit overnight to totally dry.  The next day...lined them up and started decorating.  Of course I have to have 1 blooper.  I glued 1 of the cans upside down on the record so this hat had to become a vase.  But that's OK.  My daughter in law loved it so I gave it to her for her mantle.  Anyway here's the finished project.

I really should have taken a better picture but I was getting ready to give these to some lady friends as an early Christmas gift so I just plopped them on the table and snapped the picture.  Later after I had already given them out I looked back on the picture and thought oh my goodness I could have at least cleaned off the table!  LOL  Well now everyone knows I'm human and have normal human mess's!  Well my friends loved their hat centerpieces and now I need to go make one for me!

Are you feeling crafty yet?  Holidays are just around the corner!

HAPPY CARDING and CRAFTING!

Christmas Stars

 I cannot believe that Christmas is only 2 weeks away.  Time has really gotten away from me.  Though I have gifts bought and house decorated and I'm finishing up my addressing of cards I still wish I had more time to do some of those fabulous Christmas crafts everyone is pinning!  So many awesome ideas and yet I'm sure I won't be able to make all of them.

With today being a chilly day I had decided to try out a paper star that I saw on G45 Facebook page this week.  The tutorial looked pretty simple so I thought I'd try it out.  Here's the link to their facebook video : here

First let me say that although sticky tape is convenient,  I did find that some of the pieces opened up when I got to the hot gluing part of the project.  I reinforced those pieces with hot glue.  I'm not sure that I would have liked hot gluing the entire project though since I'm not very careful and I do tend to burn myself alot.  Anyway....here's what I made so far.

Though I don't have any I bet these would look great if they were sprayed with that spray glitter you can get at Michaels.  My favorite is probably the red and green one on the bottom right. 
If you get a chance to try these I would.   If done in all white and glittered they would look great as snowflakes hanging from a window.

Another tutorial to follow is this one: here  In this one she tells you to use scotch tape to connect the pieces.  I really think something like score tape works much better.  Holds better and you don't see the tape.  That being said it is a great visual in this tutorial.

Well I'm off to see what else I can squeeze in.....Til next time.......................

HAPPY CARDING!!!

Tim Holtz Mini House Shadowbox

Hi and Happy November!  You know what that means?  Christmas is right around the corner and boy do I have a ton of projects planned!  One has to be kept "Top Secret" due to the fact that it is what my ladies group is getting for Christmas and I don't want them checking the Blog for inside information!  LOL

So way back in February (I think) I had attended a scrapbook show in Rockford.  The ladies and I saw these adorable little shadowboxes at a Tim Holtz booth.  Now when I say little I'm not kidding they are only 5x4.  Everything inside these are teeny tiny.

I used some Graphic 45 paper scraps for little banners inside and on bottom front as well as those teeny 1/4" boxes you see up in the attic part of the house.  I embellished the tree with tiny balls just glued on top of the branch's.  Those little pine cones are from a Hemlock tree I have up north at our summer place and they were the perfect size for the tree.  The bigger box to the right of the tree I will have to admit my friend Cindy put it together out of foam board she had so all I had to do was decorate it.  I used little miniature candy canes on top of the box as well as some of the smallest jingle bells I could find.  The little silver ones are on top of the box in the back far right.  The little dog was from another friend, June, who got them as a set of miniature ornaments and we just snipped off the string.  I put a glass snowman in the dome up in the attic and added a bit of snow glitter inside to have it resemble a snow globe.  The little green wreath on the peak is just a piece of potpourri.  Sometimes its hard to find tiny items so you use what you have and that worked out just fine.  Oh lets not forget the icicles!!  Another friend, Karen, made those with Crystal Effects squeezed onto wax paper and then sprinkled with glitter.  As you can tell this was a joint project and the five of us had a good time making them.  Each of us had different ideas for decorating them.  I wish I had pictures to share but I haven't received them yet.  At least not all of them.

I would love to do another one sometime.  I think they are so darn cute.

That's all for now..............next time I think I'll share and easy Teacher/Hostess gift.

HAPPY CARDING!

Halloween Pumpkin Cards

Halloween is just around the corner and I have alot of cards to send.  I had always sent 1 to my grandkids and my grandnieces and well people keep having babies and this year I have had to add 4 more children.  So I needed a total of 13 Halloween cards!  Oh my!!
Well I decided to make simple ones.  A friend of mine had a pumpkin card die that she bought from Stephanie Barnard. You can get it HERE.  Line up the main die piece slightly off the fold end of a base card and cut out the pumpkin.  Then cut remaining pieces to decorate your pumpkin.  Easy Peasy.  I whipped out a bunch.  Still have more to make but at least I started and I can be finished in time to get them in the mail!  That's a win for me!

I also found this simple little card on Pinterest.  Could not get the link to work but it looked easy enough to C.A.S.E. with just a picture.  I used a 4" circle and put it through an embossing folder... die cut out some leaves which I also ran through a few folders...glued the top of an acorn in the middle.  I swiped a little Tim Holtz walnut stain ink or the tops of the leaves and the pumpkin too.  The little curlys on acorn cap sides is just a piece of brown coated floral wire wrapped around a pencil.   Sometimes you just have to use whats on hand...lol  I found a sheet of scrapbook paper in my stash that had words on it and I just cut out the word pie.  Now this card can be for Thanksgiving or a fall birthday, or even Halloween.  Just put a different sentiment.

That's it for today.........til next time!

HAPPY CARDING!!

ANNA GRIFFIN STYLE IMPROMPTU

Hi everyone!  Beautiful fall day here today and as my Mondays go I'm busy, busy, busy with grandkids and Monday night family dinner.  Now that all is done I have time to sit and relax and share my most recent cards.

Last Friday I popped in on my friend who had another one over to make a guy card and a birthday card.  I showed up with no intentions on carding but just to chat.  Well needless to say creative juices were flowing and I offered up some suggestion on the guy cards they were making (boy I should have taken a picture of their final card) and they turned out great!  The second card they were making was a birthday card using an Anna Griffin embossing folder.  The two of them did a glitter technique on their cards and then took the rest of the pieces to assemble at a later time.  I also had brought home some pieces to work on at home.

The one on the left was the Anna Griffin embossing folder.  I wasn't thrilled with the turn out so I tried again.  Since I did not own the same Anna Griffin folder I use a Cuttlebug one that looked similar.  I liked this a bit better and I needed a birthday card !
Both of these cards are 5x7.  I really like this size and I think I may do more cards in this larger size.  Sometimes I think we all tend to stick with what is comfortable.  4.25 x 5.5 cards are so convenient.  You can get 2 from 1 regular piece of card stock and envelopes are easy to come by.  But, I also think that a more elegant card should be bigger and this certainly fits the bill.

Well now I wonder what to work on.  I still need a few more Christmas cards but I'm also working on my Advent Calendar.  Hmmmmmmmm...decisions decisions.
Until next time

HAPPY CARDING!

G45 CHRISTMAS and then some

Ahhhhh.....the start of my favorite pastime.........making Christmas cards and using my favorite line of papers....Graphic 45.  I don't think I can ever have enough of the G45 Christmas line.  I love the retired ones just as much as I love the new releases.  There is something comforting about G45.  I think it may be the fact that it reminds me of Christmas's past.  Where things were simpler.  The colors are so warm.  
Today's card it pretty simple.  I'll let you in on a little secret.....2 of the papers are not from the Christmas line.  That pretty little plaid is actually from the Raining Cats and dogs line.  I needed a plaid and did not have the Christmas one but this one worked just as well and......well the green swirly paper is just a piece I had on hand .  I don't even know where I got it.

I used a Die'sired Christmas Blessing die that I got a deal on at my local Tuesday Morning.  I think I payed $2 for it!!  Great Deal though reading it as Christmas Blessings is quite difficult because the word Christmas doesn't look like Christmas at all.  I lined the inside with Very Vanilla since the card base is black.
Now a little peek...in my last post I mentioned making that snowflake card in different colors.  Well I got started and here's some samples of just a few that I did.

Red and Green shimmer paper...love it!  This time I too the largest snowflake and glued it down on the left side of the card.  Then the right points of the snowflake interlock with the right side flap keeping the card closed.  I wasn't sure if it would work but it did.  Whipped these 2 between Paw Patrol and Shimmer and Shine cartoons on Nick Jr.  Had the grandkids today and they kind of hog the T.V.  LOL

Have a splendid day and til next time....................................
HAPPY CARDING!

CHRISTMAS? Where has time gone

Hello!!  I cannot believe that it has been July since my last post.  I have had such a crazy summer.  My sister had knee surgery and my son was hospitalized and time really got away from me.  I didn't get to spend much time with my ladies group either.
The other day I headed to Hobby Lobby to see what kind of fall crafts were out and boy I couldn't believe Christmas Trees were decorated and there was Christmas everywhere!  I did manage to pick up some fall and Halloween colored embellies but truth be told all that Christmas got me in the mood for more Christmas cards.  So I went ahead and clicked on the Sizzix die I have had in my cart at Amazon and waited.  Well it arrived yesterday.  Yep on a Sunday!  Fed Ex doesn't know that Sunday should be a day of rest.  LOL Anyway this is the die I bought seen here. 
So very easy to make and I think I'll be making these in an array of colors.  Sure will make my cards for Christmas go quickly.
Here I did it in Black with light blue.

     
















I think if I use Red or Green shimmer paper for the base and then cream for the inside it will look quite Christmasy!

Now that I'm in the mood I'm going to head to the craft room and start my producing and maybe come up with a few more Christmas card idea's.  But first to finish my Halloween cards.  I'll post those soon.  Til then.........................

HAPPY CARDING!

G45 Halloween Style

I love Fall............I love the colors........I love the smells.........I love the decorations.  G45 is going to help out this coming season as I can't resist all the wonderful fall papers.  Some of which can be found in various collections.  In the Children's hour the October and November papers are fall themed.  Time to Flourish has a few fall themed papers as well.  Rare Oddities is filled with awesome Halloween themed papers.  If your lucky enough to locate Halloween in Wonderland or Happy Hauntings you will be thrilled with the fun Halloween papers.  
I decided to make my tag using the more available Time to Flourish pad.  This tag is more like a piece of wall art since it measures 5x10.  The card is a bit larger than normal too ...it's a 5 x 6.

I love both of them and it's addicting.  I could just keep on making these.  In fact I think I will.
Today's post is extra extra special.   I finally have Internet service at my summer place.  Tho so much slower than what I have at home I am at least thrilled that I can check my emails, post, SCS friends and....................Post my Very First Blog post while away from home.  So in my excitement I have decided that I will also have my first give-away.  By the end of next week (cut off Aug 4th)  if you have left a comment on this post, your name will be put into the hat to receive these 2 items.  After your name is drawn you will receive a message in your inbox with details on how to obtain your items.  I hope this goes well.  Remember this is my Very First time attempting this so please bear with me.  LOL  Winner will be announced Aug 6th.  Good Luck

Birthday Cooking!

Well I can't believe what I can accomplish when no body disturbs me!  Got the Birthday card I needed done!!!  This one is for a friend who loves to cook and is a Vegetarian so fresh veggies are always in her kitchen.  I saw this Graphic 45 paper collection called Home Sweet Home and knew this was the paper to use for her card.  I'm using my Shutter Flip card as my base.  It is the same base I used for the post Golf Anyone where I used G45 Sports Collection and for the card Shutter Flip .   Directions are on the Shutter flip post.  Anyway this is such an easy card and I love being able to see how it looks in different papers.  As I said this time I used G45 Home Sweet Home.  Love the brightness of the colors in this collection.

There are very few embellishments on this card.  The pretty papers were nearly all you need.  I did use a paper doily which I cut up and added to certain areas for texture and I dimensionaled the stamps and apple.  In the corner of one doily I was able to utilize an old paper punch of utensils.  I added a little Glossy Accents for sheen.  Although it doesn't really show up in the pictures I also used a little stickles (clear) for sparkle.  Seriously......who doesn't like sparkle???
Wouldn't this make a cool base for a Christmas card??  Thin I'll try that too.

Well that's it................now to pack up my stuff and head north for a relaxing few days.

Til later............HAPPY CARDING!!!!!!!

Halloween in July??

Hi!  I have been so busy with our Summer place that my Blog keeps getting ignored.  LOL  I had wanted to get a Birthday card done and I did but goofy me (maybe it's age????) forgot to take a picture then I forgot to write a post.  I then mailed the card off to my sister.  UGH.....figures!  Then I got hooked on this Halloween card/display project.  I figured I'd make my demo for my other sister who we will be seeing soon.  She does not live nearby so I figured I'd had to make it in advance.  If you recall, not too long ago my ladies group made these Fancy Christmas Gate Fold cards seen here.  I took the concept of that card and made it Halloween.  I think she'll like it!

 I used yarn to close this one instead of making a belly band.  I also centered the 4x4 front square and omitted the 1.5x4 strip that was on the original Christmas one.

I used weird things like bottle cap on the front and here inside I used pop can tabs on a wooded arrow with yarn tied on it just because.  Little birds are also wooden embellishments that I glittered bright green.

Ok now I really need to make another Birthday card.  Hopefully I'll get it photographed and a post written before I mail it.  Today maybe?????

Til next time
HAPPY CARDING!!!

Guy Sport Card

Ooops 1 more post!  I'm still working on scraps from various Graphic 45 papers.  This time it's a Guy Card.  We never seem to have too many ideas for these so when I come up with one I run with it!  LOL  If you remember I made a Golf card a bit ago and these are some of the left overs.  I once again used the Friendship shutter design for this card for it is the best style for using tiny pieces.  The Friendship card directions can be seen  here.  These are so quick to make.

I made this a Birthday card.  I always seem to need a guy birthday card so this is going in my stash.  Though you can't tell from the picture the bottom right soccer ball has a bit of Wink of Stella on the black parts for some shimmer.  The star is popped up as well as the tickets.  So are the little soccer balls on the red square.
All in all pretty cute.
Now I'm sure that's it for now..................
HAPPY CARDING!

Graduation G45 style

Hello!  Well I know it's a bit past Graduation time tho some people are still having summer graduation parties.  So with that in mind I decided to try a Graphic 45 graduation card for an adorable girl entering High School this year.  Away with the cutesy cards and onward to a more grown up feel!  I went through my papers and found this party sheet from Graphic 45.  I decided to make a stair step card with a die I borrowed from a friend. and here's what I came up with:

The background is from the Mothers Goose collection.  LOL...Humpty Dumpty is on the reverse side.  I needed a pattern green and this worked!  Anyway there is nothing on the steps although I suppose you could put the year on them but I didn't have any pink or green numbers and I was way too lazy to cut some on my Brother.  So I just added some buttons on the steps and 1 on the front with little sliver paper scraps tucked behind it.  The butterfly was from the Dollar tree.  Pretty simple card considering the base is a die.

That's it for now........................
HAPPY CARDING!

Christmas befor July

It's time for another Christmas card.  I know I have been quite involved with fancy folds and I love doing those but I needed a quick card for our Friday Ladies night.
This card is your typical 4.25" x 5.5" card.  No fancy fold...no fancy cuts.

The paper was a sheet of 12x 12 that I got at a Scrapbook store.  They remove the little strip on the edge that tells you the company and name of the paper for easier storage in their shelves.  Convenient for them a pain for me because I cannot pass the info along.  Anyway I got it about a year and a half ago.  It's double sided with the argyle print on back.  I used red glitter washi tape between the papers for extra sparkle as well as using it on the tag and for the hole enforcer.   I added a small ribbon to the tag and popped it up on front of the card.

By the way a simple tip..................to make coordinating hole reinforcers just punch DSP or glitter paper or another color cardstock with your hand held hole puncher then with a 1/2" circle paper punch line the hole you just made in the DSP in the center of the punch and punch out.  Perfect reinforcers. 

While I'm at it I thought I would share some other cards.  First...one of the ladies needed a Thank you card and wanted to do one of those Hydrangea flowers so the group of us helped her along to design this card.

There is a cluster of 1 large and 3 smaller flowers puffs next to each other.  Each puff was made by gluing tiny flowers on small circles then each circle was stacked on top another by using dimensionals.  I takes about 4 circle layers per puff.  That's alot of tiny flowers!!!  The card base was made from shimmer paper embossed with a Dotted Swiss folder.  The corner pieces were die cuts from Heartfelt Creations cut from white shimmer paper.  Leaves were from a Poinsettia die (do not quote me tho since someone else cut them out and I didn't really see what they used)that were cut apart.  Beautiful when finished and great job on every ones efforts to make this absolutely awesome. 

Next a Graduation card I helped my Daughter in law do.  She picked the colors and wanted to do a Shaker card but wanted a step card too.  We used Stephanie Barnard's stair step card die and just added a few more inches to 1 side and slipping it over the cutting ridge instead of under so it would not cut that end.  A trick I learned years ago to enlarge the fronts of certain card dies.  Then it was up to her to decorate.

She used stickers she was able to find at Michael's and some glitter numbers for the steps.  She did a great job!

That's it for now.  Til next time..........................................

HAPPY CARDING!

Mini Christmas Squash book

Hello!  Well I visited my LSS and was inspired again for Christmas by buying alot more of the Graphic 45 St. Nicholas collection.  On one of the shelves was a fun fold card that I knew I had not attempted.  The girl behind the counter had no idea what it was called so I snapped a picture and decided to hunt it out once I got home.  Well the style was called a Squash book.  Continuing my Christmas theme and my use of Graphic 45 papers as well as my love for fun folds I decided to give this a try.

Above is the example that I snapped in the store and it was made with the Door County Line of papers exclusive of the Door County Rubber Stamp Store.  Anyway I searched the Internet and Pinterest trying to find this type of card and came up with numerous video's for the Squash book but all of the ones I saw was using 3 pieces of paper.  When the book was finished the inside squares measured 4 x 4.  Well I knew the one I saw was a 3x3 so I searched that and also came up with tutorials where you used 3 pieces of paper.  In my mind that's ridiculous since your pages were 3x3 you could just score and cut a 12 x 12 sheet.  so that's what I did.  One 12x12 sheet of cardstock scored at 3, 6, and 9 rotate and score again at 3, 6, and 9.  Then 1st row cut off the last 2 squares, 2nd row cut off last square, 3rd row cut off 1st square and 4th row cut off first 2 squares.  Should look like this:

Now fold top left corner to the center and the bottom right corner to the same center.  Crease well.  Should look like this:

Open again and take the top left corner and fold it to the bottom right corner making the paper completely folded in half.   Like this:

Now go back and crease all the fold lines.  Making sure they are well creased.  It should look like this.....yes I changed papers because those pinkish ones are for my granddaughter and she wanted to fold them.  We had a couple folding issues and had to start over.

Now accordion fold pushing triangles into place.  Easier to do than explain but end results should look like this:

And when completely folded it's a little 3x3 squash book.  On the outside squares seen on far left and far right is where we will be putting the 4x4 covers.
Cut 2 squares 5.5 x 5.5  from DSP of Choice and cover 2 cardboard squares that measure 4x4.  This will be the front and the back covers.  Cut 10 Squares of DSP measuring 2 3/4  x 2 3/4.  6 of these will be cut in half diagonally.  Attach each to the inside squares and embellish.  Easy Peasy!!  I know a couple ladies that just might dive in and give this a try.
Here's my first one and of course its with more scraps of my Graphic 45 papers but I'll probably use up some of my Recollection papers too on another one.

And of course here's the one my granddaughter and I made for Fathers Day.  She like it better when I'm doing the same one so the one I made went to my Husband from our youngest son.  The Graphic 45 Sport Collection worked real well with this.

   This was mine to my hubby.











   

Here's Tori's for her dad.








As I said the Graphic 45 papers worked wonderfully.  Love using scraps!  Well that's it for today.  Going to try making another with Recollection papers.  A more bright colored one!

Til later..................................
HAPPY CARDING!

Easel Card with a Twist

I missed a friends Birthday and I wanted to do something different.  Seeing that I am on a fancy fold kick I decided to do an easel card but with a twist.  The main card base is 4.25" wide and 6" tall.  By the time I finish adding extra pieces and embellishments the card will end up being roughly 6" x 6".  I'm using my favorite paper line Graphic 45 and this time I'll be using 1 sheet from the Children's Hour Collection.  The base of the card is made with a 12 x12 sheet of Pink Shimmer paper.
Start with a piece of card stock (in this case pink shimmer) and cut 4.25 x 12.  Score on the 12" side at 6 and at 9.  Fold in half and then make at mountain fold of the 9" score line.  This is the easel base.  Cut another piece of the pink shimmer 4.25" x 6"  This will eventually be glued on the lower half of the front of the easel base when completely embellished.  Pieces glued on the bottom of the 4.25 x 6 are actually 6" wide therefore now making your card wider when completed.  After all the papers and embellies were attached to the 4.25 x 6 pink shimmer it was attached to the main base.

I was going for a Shabby Chic look so I added lace, doily's, sequins, buttons and a little shimmer from my Wink of Stella pen.
I think it's pretty cute and I can't wait for her to get it.  Now to ship it out to Spokane!  Oooppps............hope she doesn't read this post.

Time to find another fun fold!
HAPPY CARDING til then!

Little Christmas Shutter

Hello!!!  After a trip to relax I'm back with energy to make a few cards.  Only 1 got done while I was away.  Goodness I was sure taking it easy!  LOL  This card I did whip together with a few scraps from my Graphic 45 stash.  This is exactly like the Friendship Shutter card I did earlier which can be seen here if you want more info on this card.  More Christmas Shutter card examples will be posted later as I have a ton of scraps and this goes together so quickly.

Well I'm off to whip up a few more cards in between watching the Grandkids.  Hope I can crank some out!
Til then................................
HAPPY CARDING!

Fancy Gatefold Christmas

Hello!  I am getting ready to be computerless (is that a word?) for the next 10 days so I'm trying to get my post up before the computer goes down.  I had been busy working on a Gatefold card that went a bit wild.  I saw the original on a Graphic 45 post and thought since I have alot of Graphic 45 scraps I'm going to give it a whirl.  This card measures 5.5" x 7"  an odd size yes and if I was more careful it should have only been a 5 x 7.  I'll explain that later. 

On the left is the card closed with a "Belly Band" to keep it from opening.  This just slides off the side.  In the second photo you can see a tab on the right side extending beyond the side of the card.  This is where I made my mistake and caused the card to be a 5.5 x 7.  I love the look though and decided that it would be a hand delivered card so it was OK.

Here is the card wide open and on the right the card with the far left panel turned in.

     

A word of warning....................these are addicting!  You stop....think your finished.....walk away...come back and you start adding little doodads here and there.  LOL

I made card kits for my group which met up last night.  Each kit had a different combination of papers.  All embellishments were the same but not all used them.  Here are a few of the ones made last night.  First picture is of them open and then what they look like closed.  First up mine.

                                                                                         And now here are two more

and 2 more

They all look so different and everyone there agreed that its addicting!  I am sure to make more as special gifts over Christmas.  I think these would look great as a display on a side table or mantle.  There are no real directions.  Your base card is 10 x 7.  Made into a gate fold by scoring at 2.5 and 7.5.  The added square which is added to the right front panel of the gate is a 4.75 x 4.75.  You can see how it is only glued to the right side when the card is opened.  The bottom front piece is a 2.25 x 4.75 piece and it too is attached only to the right side.  This card is all about the layering.  Pull out papers and just start covering every inch!  Walk away and come back to add more.  It really is quite fun.  People will be impressed by what you can do with layers.
Going to go but some New Graphic 45 papers and build one with more of a theme.   Hmmmmmm  wonder what that will look like??

Til next time
HAPPY CARDING