Wedding Bell Blues

 A very close friends daughter is getting married.  I held this little girl when she was a baby and now in her late 20's she has finally found the love of her life.  The 2 of them have been through thick and thin with a few bumps in the road since high school and their relationship has survived.  Last year they got engaged and we all marked our calendar saving the date.  Then here comes COVID.  Plans get re-arranged.  Though they are still getting married on the planned date, only immediate family will be attending and they plan to celebrate next year.  I still wanted to make them a card and this is what I came up with.  I used my favorite white shimmer paper for the entire card.  I'm kind of a hoarder of shimmer paper lol.  Its my favorite paper to use but I only use it on real special cards.

I noticed the pearls didn't show up well in the first picture so I added a close up of the flowers.  That little touch of green is the only color added to an all white card.  I still have to ad the sentiment and then I'll be done.

Pretty simple and fits in a 5x7 envelope.  One piece of cardstock is 5x7 then the next is 5x6.  On the 5" side of both of these I used a Martha Stewart border punch.  Punching both sides of both pieces of cardstock.  Then on the 5x7 one I scored each side at 1.5.  On the 5x6 one I scored both sides at 1".  Then I embossed a piece of card that was 4x6.5.  After embossing I scored the long side at 5".  When folded back it gets sandwiched between the 2 larger pieces.  Hope this makes sense.  To decorate the front I used various Anna Griffin dies and some Tim Holtz leaves dies.  The happy couple are total outdoor people and work in that type of environment so leaves made sense to me.

Simple but elegant.  I am so sad that I will not be able to attend.  I cried at her sisters wedding and I wanted to cry at hers.  To wait a year seems so unfair.  Stupid COVID.

Well til next time...............................

HAPPY CARDING!

Coffin/Couffin Basket/Cradle

 Did you know that the word Coffin was from an Old French word meaning Basket in English and that its modern day French word Couffin translates to Cradle?  Makes it seem like a not too eerie thing when you say your making a Coffin card.  lol  

I had decided to try making Coffin shaped Halloween cards for the kids this year.  Not having a Cricut I had to make my own template for the card and the layers.  Alot of trial and error since I had a hard time getting my left side the same as the right side and then needing to shrink it for layers.  Let me tell you I made it a whole lot more complicated than it had to be.  Silly me should have just gone on the internet....look for coffin templates...copy one I liked into my computer and then just shrink it 2x's for the layers. But noooooooooooooooo........I have to waste all morning and part of the afternoon measuring and cutting only to find out after I folded it that it wasn't even.  So don't be like me...................take the easy route.

I ended up with 2 different sizes during my trial.  I intend to use both sizes for cards.  The smaller ones do not work as layers for the bigger ones due to my measuring.  The angles on both sizes are totally different and cannot be used together. (see I made it complicated lol)  The smaller one though would be a perfect size for a tag so I may make a few of those too.   

All the insides are a variation of what you see above.  Inside each card I will be placing these adorable Halloween face masks I found on line at Amazon.  They take awhile to arrive so you may not have time to get them for your cards but they also have Christmas designs.

Christmas masks

I might order some of these for my Daughter in law.  She teaches at a school and these would be so fun for her.

That's all for now. Til next time.

HAPPY CARDING

Not a Card but a Pumpkin

 Today I share another type of recycled project but not in card form.  My husband always has scrap wood in the garage from previous projects but unlike me he doesn't like to save for a rainy day.  In fact usually these scraps are burned within a week.  Lucky for me this one piece was buried up against the wall from a firepit chair I had him make for the grandkids.  He actually only got 1 made and I definitely wanted more but I'll have to wait.  Anyway I saw in an email from HomeTalk these adorable pumpkins.  With the one 2x12" board that was about 30"long I was able to get 3 pumpkins.   He also had a piece of 1 x 6" board that we used for the bases.  The ones on line were white washed but I prefer orange and did an "Orange wash" on them and then stained the bases with a very thin layer of black stain.  I also added some fall leaves and raffia to the stems.  The originals just had the stems.  We also rounded our pumpkins.  The originals had 45 degree angles in each corner making them look a bit like little stop signs.  It was cute but I prefer the rounded corners.

Aren't these guys just the cutest???  I love them.  So will my daughter in law.  As much as I love how these turned out I actually already own some carved wooden pumpkins that I put out on my front porch so I really don't need these too.  I just wanted the fun of making them and now I will also have the joy of handing them over to her for her front porch.

Check your garage....these are so simple and can dress up your front porch too.

Till next time

We used a stivck for the stem.  Yep he has a cornor filled with various siz sticks!  For what you ask???  No clue but I got to use one for the pumpkins.  A few dollar store leaves and some raffia and they are done.  

My original idea when I saw these guys was I was going to give them to my Daughter in law for her front porch.  But they are so cute I want to keep them!  No no no I won't!  I mean I already have wooden pumpkins for my front porch and I don't really need more but they are super cute!  I'm sure she is going to love them and it didn't cost me a thing.  Everything was already available right here in my own house and garage.  Love these types of projects.

Now to go through the garage and see if I can find some wood for a scarecrow for the front porch.  Heck I bet I could find enough wood for at least 2 but I better hurry...tomorrow looks like a day he's planning on having a fire in the fire pit.  YIKES!

Gatefold Birthday Card

 I figured it was about time I put some real thought into a Birthday card instead of just whipping one up at the last minute.  A friend of mine has a birthday coming up in October. (yeah I know! I'm actually planning ahead lol)  Anyway in the past I have tried to come up with a Fallish theme since it's an October birthday but this year I decided to go in a different direction.  She also loves larger cards so this one is a 5"x7".  I'm not sure what you call this fold.  It might be called a double gate but I'm not positive.  

You need 2 pieces of heavy weight card stock cut 7" x 10"  On both you will score at 2.5" and 5" on the long side. Glue the 5x7 sides together to form the center of the card. As shown below.

When closed there will be a small gap at the center.

Now decorate! I find to make this a bit easier you can use a themed paper pack.  I used the Authentique Dame paper collection for mine.  Also to keep it closed I cut a strip 1.75" x 12" to make a belly band.

I think this would look really cute with fall papers too.

Thanks for stopping by and til next time................................

HAPPY CARDING

Recycle Tags

Well Covid has changed the way many of us do things.  I for one can't stand going out to the stores and I really can't believe that I have not stepped into a craft store since February.  7 months!!!  OMG...if you asked me back in November if I could stay out of Hobby Lobby I'd tell you "NO WAY"!  But here it is 7 months later and I have yet to step into any of my crafty places.  When I need supplies I load up my Amazon cart and then click.  We only have 1 mom and pop scrapbook store out this way but it is 20 miles away so I don't go there either though I would have supported them if they had an online store but they don't.  So Amazon it is.

Now I need tags.  Usually I make them from extremely heavy kraft card stock but lately I have just grabbed whatever I have had laying around and turn it into a tag.  You can get alot of tags from the recycle bin.  Here are some things I grabbed out of our cart.

The copper looking piece is a back of a calendar which I ended up not using for a tag base but the boxes and the mailing folder I did use and I got alot of tags.  I probably could have gotten more out of the scraps by making smaller tags but I just wanted some larger ones for now and I'm sure my bin will be full of new cardboard soon.  So here's what I got so far.

I got 22 that are on top which measure 3" x 6".  Then bottom right are 2 at 2.25" x 5" and on the right 3 of them at 2.5" x 5".  Thats 27 tags from trash!!!  Now to cover them.  I also plan on shaping the tops of the tags too.

Now some of the embellies are recycled too.  A page from a magazine for some words, a popcorn bag, an old calendar for some words and pictures and even some starbucks sleeves.

So to start with here are a few Halloween tags and 2 everyday tags.

Even used some green bubble wrap for the bow on the top second tag.  Papers were from the scrap basket except the popcorn one which was an actual bag from popcorn.

You'd never guess these tag bases started out as boxes from the recycle bin.

Well I have 14 more to go so I'll post those later.

Til next time....................

HAPPY CARDING!

Another Pandemic Birthday

 My oh my days have changed.  With Covid we are all trying to do our best to make the "Littles" feel unforgotten on their Birthdays.  I know in my own family my Daughter in law has arranged 3 different Birthday parade.  Well almost 3.  First she did a combined parade for my 12 yr old granddaughter and my 40 yr old son.  She was able to get the local library to participate as well as our movie theater which dropped off a huge bag of theater popcorn for the 12 yrs old and for the 40 yr old she was able to get a local brewery to drop off some craft beer.  We had so much fun doing the parade and the kids got to watch at least 30 cars drive by honking and shooting silly string and water balloons.  Next was my 4 yr old granddaughters.  We had about the same number of people participating but this time added in a local farm that brought a pony for her to ride around in the back yard.  Talk about one HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!  This time my son was able to get a hold of an Ice Cream truck to be in our parade and then set up in front of their house handing out ice cream for the first 15 min before moving on through the neighborhood to his usual route.  Now the 3rd parade is to happen next week.  Not sure what my Daughter in law has lined up of my 9yr old grandson but I'm sure it will be awesome.

One of the Facebook groups I belong to had a mom from California asking about cards for her 4yr old who is so disappointed that she can't have a party.  I told the mom I'd send a card and told her of our parades.  I guess she is hoping to have one for her daughter.  Anyway the little girl loves princesses and I just happened to have Echo Parks paper pack called Perfect Princess      .

Of course you know me and fancy folds......if I have the opportunity I go for those!  So I made a double diamond card for this little girl who I have never met.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I did making it.  Bet she'll enjoy the $2 for ice cream more....lol.

I've made a few of these and I know I'll make alot more in this style.  They are so easy but so so so cute.

Til next time................................

HAPPY CARDING