TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Monday, October 7, 2024

Halloween Miura Card

 Back in April 2024 I made a post titled Fancy Fold Re-Visited and I decided to use this same fold for a few Halloween cards this year.  I have so many Halloween cards I need to make and I'm the type of person that gets bored with the same style and same papers and same dies so I like to mix things up.  To add to my selection to hand out this year I went back to this design and Oh My how adorable.  My papers are a generic package that I received from Amazon.  They were listed as 12" x 12" double sided Halloween papers.  In actuality they came in more like 12" x 11 3/4" and the design was the same on both sides.  This was fine with me because it didn't make me have an anxiety attack over which side I was going to use lol.


I stuck with the black white and orange sheets with this set of cards.  I think there were 3 different designs in this color combo so I did use 2 of the designs.  I loved the way they turned out. I think I used only this paper pack for all my Halloween cards this year.  

Hope you like this set.  Next one to come is sample I did for my ladies club.

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

Saturday, September 28, 2024

MINI SLIMLINE FANCY FOLD

 Quick easy and a MINI!!!  What could be better? I wanted to have another fancy fold option in mini form and there really aren't very many options out there for the mini slimline cards.  I always like the look of the stepper cards and thought they shouldn't be too hard to re-size.  Boy I was right.  Super easy once I figured out you can't just grab a piece of 6x6 piece of paper.  Duh what was I thinking?  That sure did make it super mini lol.  Anyway for those who make steppers, you know the process of assembly so all I'm really going to do here is give you the basics.  Like the base size and the cutting area.  Since it's a mini scraps of DSP can be used for the layers which is a double plus of this card.

Here's the template:





Your base card stock is 6" x 7".  Just follow scoring above and cutting line.  Then here are the 3 cards I made using this size.  They fit perfectly in those Dollar Tree envelopes.





Off to get more Halloween cards done before Halloween so see you next time.



Friday, September 27, 2024

Faux Stepper Card

 Hello!  It's time to jump into Christmas cards. We are jumping Easy Peasy so that you can whip out quite a few of these in mass production quickly.  I'm doing a Faux Stepper card today.  This one fits perfectly in your general envelopes because it measures  4.25" x 5.5" when folded.  Your personal message goes on the back.  If you are using colored card stock for the base of the card just make a small label piece to place on the back to write on.

To make this card you need the following:

(1)  solid cardstock  5.5" x 7" scored with 7" top of scoreboard at:   1 3/4,  3 1/2 & 5 1/4

(1)  solid cardstock  3 1/4" x 8 1/2" scored at 4 1/4

(2)  DSP  1 3/4" x 5 1/4"

(2)  DSP  1 3/4" x 1 3/4"

(1)  White cardstock for a label on back if it is needed.

(1) 3"x4" Christmas cut apart from 12 x 12 sheet for front


Score the 5.5 x 7 solid card stock and then add the 1 3/4 squares dsp to each end of first scored section.  Skip next section then in third section add one strip of 1 3/4 x 5 1/4 dsp. Accordion fold the piece and set aside.  Next fold 3.25 x 8.5 piece of solid card stock and adhere Cut- Apart to one side.  Glue this to the accordion fold piece centered as shown to the front with the 2 small squares on either side.  Glue the back to the last accordion fold back to complete card.





Basically, this is it.  Now time to embellish.  With the extra strip of dsp 1 3/4 x 5 1/4 glue this to the bottom back of the card.  Above that will be where you will put your message.  If using colored cardstock you will want to add a piece of white cardstock back here to write on.  Then on the front add embellies where you think they are needed.  Maybe some bling or flowers or even a holiday wish if one is not already on your cut-a-part.  As you can see I kept mine super simple with just 1 embellie.  I will sign my card on the back.


Thats it for now so until tomorrow.  Yep tomorrow!  I have catching up to do lol.


Monday, September 2, 2024

All Flowers can be Perfect

 Hello!  My apologies for this extremely late post.  Seems like this one got lost in my list.  I guess I wrote it, saved it and then skimmed over it to right the next one and then completely forgot about it and it just kept sliding further and further down the list.  Today as I was surfing through some of my old posts, I noticed this draft.  I could not believe how far down it had slipped.  So I thought what the heck, I'll share it anyway with you today.  It's a few months old but I hope you still enjoy it.



Alot of times we are told nothing is perfect.  Well that is not quite true when it comes to flowers.  A flowers has so many parts that there is always something perfect about it.  It could have a perfectly straight stem or the perfect curve to the stem.  The pedals may be a perfect shape or each one shaded just right.  Even when a few pedals are missing on a flower if you turn it just right it can still look perfect.  And so can be paper flowers made by an over anxious 7 year old! LOL

Over the weekend my granddaughter was dropped off while the parents went to have taxes done.  Of course she wanted to do a craft and with her drop off being at the spur of the moment I was not prepared.  So the quickest thing to do was suggest we needed some flowers for some tags I need to make later.  Well she was more than eager to help out.  She got out a couple punches and grabbed just a couple pieces of cardstock and punched away. Then it was time to assemble.  She did not want to take time for shaping so it was gather a couple and just glue them together to be fluffed later.  I thought she would like to use some foam dots too but after doing 1 she changed her mind and went back to the glue.  What is it with kids and their love of glue?

She made a few which we put aside for later use.  She was returning in a few days and I figured we would make a few gift tags then.  Here are her flowers.



Not too bad considering that she only had 2 hours here and she gathered all the punches and paper and punched the flowers first. They are a bit wonky. They were definitely flat as a pancake until I pulled up the pedals some.  She forgot the leaves but got to those later.  So at first glance, no not perfect but perfectly loved. Then I took a couple and made a few embellies for her to see how we can add them to a tag when we get to that project.




She had not seen the embellies until she returned on a different day. When she did return she was eager to sit down with the tags, flowers and embellie ideas and go to work making a few more embellies and then on to the tags.  She decided to package these up and give to her mom as a surprise gift.  What a sweetie.  She kept asking me to make flowers with her but she is very competitive.  If I made one better than hers she gets all sad and pouty claiming she can't do anything right and then gives up.  So to not have that happen I helped by cutting the sentiments and adding fishtails to some or cutting scraps into smaller squares to add to the embellishment.  Just so she saw me working on her project made her happy.


See her flowers turned out "Perfect".  Perfect because she made them.


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

Crafting at the cabin TAG TIME

So Hello!  Another beautiful day at the cabin and another day of paper fun.  Remember earlier I did a post about those 12 x 12 sheets that are in pads of Designer Papers that we never really know what to do with?  They are the full sheet scene type sheet that are usually used for scrapbooks but we as card makers or in my case tag maker rarely have any use for those pages and usually end up just sticking them in a corner somewhere.  In that post I did the more country style Christmas tags in a hunter green, browns and brownish reds.  This time I'm going for other sheets that have even larger prints on them.  I'm talking sheets like these.

Well I learned something while trying to work with smaller paper pads for the kids' kits over the 4th of July and that was that I really do prefer to use these bigger 12x12 sheets that I would normally ignore for the tag backgrounds than use the smaller all over prints.  Why???  Because when you cut these sheets into the desired number of layers you need, each tag looks totally different.  In comparison, if you had cut out the layers for your tags from a typical all over print all tags would look identical.  So I took those 3 sheets, cut them into 6x6's for easy traveling and decided they were the next cabin project. You can already tell that the tags are all going to look different just by cutting these sheets into 6x6's.  
Along with brand new embellies to adorn these tags.  By brand new I mean brand new homemade lol.  I plan on using some embellies that I have pre-made at home from punches my granddaughter Claire has done for me.  She is such a great helper.  She is just turning 7 and absolutely loves anything crafty and when she saw all my punches laying around the dining room....well she just could not resist.  So I handed her a bunch of coordinating colors for the tags and set her up to punch away.  Here's what she gave me in one evening!  Yay for my Claire Bear!  So this collection of tags are all going to be done in BLUE.  I know.  You're thinking blue is not very traditional but we don't always have to have red and green for Christmas.  I think blue is a perfect winter color so those are the colors I gave Claire.    


Well we started out with Blues and silvers until she found the paper that had gold in it and then she wanted "Golden" stuff. LOL  So though it wasn't in my plan I let her punch some gold shimmer paper.  I'm sure I can squeeze it in somewhere.

So here we go!  I used 110# white card stock for the tag bases and cut various size tags.  I got quite a few 6X6 pieces out of those 3 sheets of 12x12 designer paper but I didn't want to go too crazy with the number of tags.  Plus I wanted to be able to use some more of those sheets to help establish the embellies.  Claire, being only 7, wasted quite a bit of useable paper while punching so I did end up turning her scraps into usable scraps and set them all on the side for a different project.  You already saw those scraps used on the small winter set I made for another niece -in-law.
So most of the embellies that I had made for my niece-in-laws tags were Blue/White & Silver so as I started putting together this set things looked too familiar to me.  I am not a creature of habit.  I do not like repeats and I like things to be a tad different so after laying all the embellies on top of the bases I had decided to wait until I got home to make a few that had a little pink an gold in them to add to the blues and silvers.  Feeling much better after making a few more embellies, these tags went together lickity split!  Mainly due to the fact that everything was all ready to go so all I had to do was lay out all the tag bases that I had already adhered the first layer of DSP on and start applying the embellies.  I think I like this system.  I might go get some containers and have them filled with embellies that  I pre make and then all I have to do is cart the containers and tag bases up to the cabin with me.  It's a thought.......though I don't usually follow through.  I tend to take the "Long road home" LOL    



So as you can see after I got home I got a bit crazy.  Basically because we ended up staying home longer than  I expected so I had way more time on my hands.  I was able to add some pink to my Blue tags and then as you can see add way more tags.  But thats ok I'm sure going to need them come Christmas.

Well that's it for now.  Til later........................











 

Monday, August 5, 2024

CRAFTING AT THE CABIN 2024

 Hello.  Got a late start posting this summer.  Ok lets be real, I got a late start crafting this summer up at the cabin.  We did not arrive as early as usual due to the many plays we attended that the grandkids were preforming in at the end of the school year.  By the time I got up here it was time to prep for the 4th of July festivities we host every year.  Seemed one thing just led to another.

So today is kind of a craft dump.  First lets start with these cute little wooden owls.  I did these with the kids before the 4th so I could hang mine in our little woodland garden area up north.  Well mine still isn't hung.  Hubby is a bit slow when we get up here.  Seems he'd rather strum his guitar by the lake.  LOL  Guess I'll give him a pass after all he did cut the wood for these owls for me.

We used tree twigs at the bottom and then ties some jute on it to resemble the feet.  the branch was attached with wire and put through tiny holes we drilled through the owl.


Some jute was stapled on the back to hang them with.  So cute.

Second project I worked on were card kits for my grandnieces.  My nephew brings his family up here to use the cabin every summer for a week.  The perks of being my favorite.  So to make sure the have something to do in the evenings or on a rainy day I try to have some sort of paper craft ready for them.  Last year it was tags and this year it's a small set of cards.  I made them 2 samples and bagged everything they would need.  I made all the major embellies and even made the envelopes since the cards are made of my scraps and measured 4 x 4.5 so they needed custom envelopes.


Each packet had 4 bases and 4 double sided DSP's for them to begin with.  They can get inspiration from the samples which I kept super simple since 2 of the kids are ages 6 and 9.  I didn't want them to be too complicated.


Well that's it for now.  I have alot more embellies to gather up and some more cark kits to make for other people.  Plus another HAPPY MAIL idea.  So stay tune.  I'll be crafting at the cabin at least til November.


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

Monday, July 22, 2024

Quick Slap Together

 While out with a close friend one weekend at a local scrapbook store she came upon a super basic card kit.  It was definitely a no frills set of 6 cards. 4 of them 4.25 x 5.5 and 2 of the 4 x 9 slimline cards.  My friend brought up a good point about this type of kit though I did convince her not to buy it .  Her point being that there are many times that at the sur of the moment you need a card and many of us do not have one on hand.  So many people then run to the local drug store (do they still call them that?) and pick one up for way too much money and we always feel like it's just not a "good enough" card.  What would be better would be a handmade one.  Having a quick kit readily available to just "SLAP" together but still look wonderful would be a great idea.  So this local store had a great idea!  Just not great enough for me to let my friend purchase it hahahaha.  I of course convinced her that I could make her a kit just as nice alot cheaper and in fact we could make many kits to have on hand in themes by just picking out a few sheets of Designer Paper while we were in the shop.  So that is exactly what we did and set up a date to make a bunch of kits.  In the mean time I stuck to my promise to make her a starter kit.  

I'm calling these SLAP KITS.  Mainly because that is what you do.  You just SLAP them together and your done.  If you want to add more embellishments you can but if you are on a mission and need one right now these are perfect because they literally take less then 2 minutes to make if made as is.  Here is what I put together in a kit to give to my friend.

Now I did take things 1 step further than the store kit.  The store kit was a total of 6 cards mine has 8 because I had to include at least 1 simple fancy fold that is so easy it's ridiculous!  It's also a mini slimline so I felt it had a place in the quick to make card kits.  Below is how they look at the very basic.  Also a side note the store kit did not come with sentiments.  That to me had plus's and minus's in my opinion.  The plus is that you can decide and make your own making the card truly personal but the minus is that you would need to find matching card stock and take the time to find a die and do the cutting, gluing etc.  Though not really time consuming to make your own sentiment it sure is easier to just "SLAP" on a ready made generic one right? 


Now I will admit these were the hardest cards I have ever made.  Why you ask?  Because I am a futzer. Is that a word?  Probably not.  I fiddle.  I can't leave well enough alone.  I add a little, walk away then come back and add a bit more.  I can't help it.  I love do dads.  So making a card with nearly nothing on it is super hard.  Every time I walk by I (to myself) sing "do do do do ..do do..do do. Don't touch this"  I seem to remember back in the 80's or maybe it was the 90's my son listening to some rapper singing something with those lyrics in it. LOL These were a little bit easier to leave alone because of the paper I used.  Isn't it pretty?  Those butterflies are part of the paper not something I added.  So think about what paper you choose when making your "SLAP" kit.  It can make a big difference.

As I said I will be making more of these "SLAP" kits so that I have a kit for kids and one that's more masculine.  My kits will definitely have more embellishments but not a lot so that I won't be overwhelmed when I'm in need of a quick card.

Pssssst......don't tell my friend but I made a few embellies from the scraps.  I just had a few strips and pieces ready to just toss because lets be honest I can't keep everything even if I usually do.  But this time I was going to toss because I needed to pack up to leave on a trip but as usual I just can't do it so..............here we go.  I pulled out of the paper toss out bag, piece a few embellies, feel better.  HAHAHA.

Until next time.....................

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Envelope Pocket Happy Mail

 I LOVE HAPPY MAIL!  Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone, not that I'm begging but I wish I got more!  LOL  I love going out to the mail box and finding a mystery envelope from someone unexpected.  Sometimes it's a pretty card and boy there are talented people out there and sometimes I feel undeserving of someone's kindness but it's always fun!  So it is not surprising that I am always looking for cute little ways to make my Happy mail a little bit unique.  Since I love fancy folds my fall back is usually a fancy fold card and then all the makings and instructions for the receiver to make one themselves.  

I came across this video on YouTube for pocket tags using envelopes.  She filled the pockets with scraps of book pages just torn and folded in half.  I think it was just an embellishment to look at not something functional or useable.  I decided to make mine a useable/useful, pocket/ephemera, happy mail/embellie.  They are fun, can be mass produced and are relatively flat for mailing.  That is if you don't go crazy lol.  I do have that "Crazy" trait.

So what do you need?  Oh???  You want to see what I'm talking about?  Geeze, I thought we'd just skip the formalities! hahaha.  Ok here you go.  This is what we are going for.  This is the sneak peak.



This little beauty measures about  3  1/4" x  3  5/8" without the tag part sticking up.  It all depends on how you tear and how much of an edge you have exposed on the side and how much sticks out of the pocket.  You'll want to remember that it cannot be bigger than the size of the envelope you are going to slide it into to mail.  So take that into account when making these.  The main Envelope will have 2 pockets.  1 pocket will have another envelope in it.  Remember those Teabag envelopes I made in my post Ephemera Embellishment Fun?  Well those are what I used in the first pocket and in the second pocket I made vellum sleeves.  So now for supplies:

1   sealed standard white envelope 6  5/8" x 3  5/8" I used Dollar Tree envelopes. 

Scrap DSP

Rose Printable Journal card (I used a freebie from internet)

Distress ink in brown/grey/blue or rose for distressing envelope (your choice)

Misc die cuts etc (for putting into pockets)

sequins, glitter etc to pretty up your pocket fronts if you want.


 First seal top of envelope. After sealing it closed hand rip each end to make jagged edges and then fold in half to allow both jagged edges to show.  With Distress ink of choice, ink all the edges of both sides of the envelope.  Making sure you get those jagged edges real good.



I then took a printable Rose journal card that I printed onto lightweight printer paper. I tore the edges so that the piece would fit on to the front portion of my pocket piece and then inked the edges and glued it to the front.  Before gluing the first pocket flap down I cut a piece of scrap DSP into a tag top shape, inked it and glued it in place and then glued the front pocket flap to the back flap.  Added a homemade grommet to the tag part and basically your envelope pockets are done except for any embellishments you would like to add to the front.

Next I just grabbed one of my little teabag envelopes I made previously and put 2 work die cut out and some tiny words in there and then slipped it in the first pocket.  My next pocket (and this you will need to measure because each one may be different) I needed a strip of 3.5 x 7" piece of vellum scored in 1/2.  I used washi tape on each end to seal 2 of the ends leaving 1 end opened for filling and I used a 5/8" hole punch to put a notch at the open end.  I filled that pouch with 2 small tags,  2 matching tickets, and a small journal card.  I tried to keep everything pretty flat.  Also since I used a printable from the internet, the page I chose had a couple different journal cards on the sheet and different sizes so I printed 2 sheets and used all the extras for making my embellishments.  That way all 4 of mine were tied in together by the color and pattern.  Obviously if you are only going to make one, by all means use scraps if you have them but if you are going to make multiples or gift some it is always nice to have things blend.  My only difference is in the teabag envelopes since these were made at a different time.  They seem to work though.



I see me making alot more of these.

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



Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Ephemera Embellishment Fun

 Hello!  I think Spring is finally here.  Well maybe lol.  Anyway a friend of mine shared a video of recycled teabag envelopes.  Those little envelopes the tea bags come in when you buys a box of tea.  So often we just throw those out.  There have been many people on the internet that have done tea bag art where they discard the tea leaves and use the little thin sashes to make an embellishment for a junk journal of scrapbook but usually people just threw out the little envelopes that those tea bags came in.  Well my friend found this cute idea and knew it was right up my alley.  Boy I came home and wanted to gathered all I could find and get to work.  Not knowing what I was going to do with them at the time just that I had to make them.  Well Guess what?  There was not ONE SINGLE tea bag in an envelope in my entire house!  I have tons of different brands of teas as I love tea.  I won't go into all the different brands but everyone one knows the main one that has been around forever.  The one in the big yellow box.  Dare I say the name?  I mean I don't want to "Diss" them because they no longer put their tea bags in individual envelopes.  I mean everyone is making changes to their product packaging.  But geeze just when I counted on my box I opened it to find they are now in 4 separate trays of 25 bags wrapped in gold cello type paper.  UGHHHHH.  Yes Lipton I see your point but.  Then I ripped through my other herbal teas and they were all individual pouches but the type you had to rip open not an envelope.  I may have to reach out to friends to check their cupboards.

Time to pivot.  So with nothing to go by I decided that a normal teabag envelope is 2.5" x 2.5   A friend of mine one time gave me a box of linen paper from her office when the office was moving to a different building and all paper products with logos had to be discarded.  Although it was super thin paper (thinner than normal printer paper) she figured it could be used as an insert sheet for sentiments inside of cards so instead of trashing it she brought some home.  I was lucky to get some and decided this was the perfect weight for the teabag envelopes.  I cut a bunch of strips 2.5" by 6" and scored at 2.5" and at 5" .   Since these were already white I didn't need to Gesso so I went right into watercoloring each piece just to give color.  I used a Pearl pan watercolor set.  My first attempt I was way too heavy on the color and I chose too dark of colors for Shabby Chic.  My later ones are much softer in back ground color.  But it's fun just to play and get messy.  I splattered after the paints were dried too.  

Next was to make them look like teabag envelopes.  If you remember those envelopes had little ridges along the sides.  Hmmmm, how to do that only on the sides.  Using the scoreboard did not give me what I wanted but I had a pastry roller in the kitchen and when placed on the edge of my envelope as it sat on the edge of my Cuttlebug platform right after I applied wet glue it seemed to give me what I wanted.  Perfect?  No, but it'll do.



Now to embellish.  You can use whatever you'd like.  Left over stickers.  Some of those Tim Holtz ephemera 's.  Scrap lace. Buttons or bows.  Charms or even pop can tabs.  What ever you have laying around.

Now how to use these.  First the could have a paper clip added to the back and be used as a paperclip inside your journals or books.  Add to the front of a tag making the open side the front and gluing the one side to the tag, you can then insert another smaller tag into it or maybe folded cash. Add inside pockets of mini albums to hold little tag messages or cropped photos.  Fill with little extra sequins, tiny tags, punch outs, or how about mini envelopes in the envelope lol then seal flap and punch a hole in the corner tie a ribbon and add to a package or tag as an extra gift to a crafty friend.  I just add a ticket and thread to the front of mine and inside I slipped in a few extra tiny word die cuts.  Maybe a few grommets will be added later too.



Careful....these are so addicting to make.  I could go on and on and on and on.  I really wish they were the real deal.  Re-cycled teabag envelopes.  They might have turned out to be a bit of a more perfect envelope but I'm happy with these


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

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Puzzle Card

 Well Hello there!  Is Spring coming yet?  I think the groundhog lied.   Both the famous Punxsutawney Phil and our Local Woodstock Willie predicted an early Spring.  Well we had some beautiful days and then BAM we got back into the 40's again and yesterday it was into the 80's but today it will be in the 50's then this weekend 1 day in the 80's the next in the 60's.  Good Gravy!  Let's get with the program guys!!!!  The only thing good about the weather is the time I get to spend watching Susan Campfields videos and she has not failed me again.  If you remember last time she brought me the lovely Double Stack Display Card that I turned into a Sympathy card.  Susan has all her PDF's for her fancy folds available on her site at a reasonable price.  You can head over there for all the measurements.  

Today I'd like to share with you the Puzzle card.  This one is a "Let the Paper be the Focus" for the front of the card.  You really don't need to put a sentiment on the front if you don't want to.  What a great card.  So quick to put together and I bet it would be a great card for beginners too.  Although I wanted to add to my Birthday collection I also wanted to add a quick card into the Christmas pile too and this one is going to be a favorite.  This is one that will be great for scraps too and you know I'm all about scraps.  All together you would only need 1 piece of 3.75" x 5" DSP for this card all the rest would be solid cardstock.  So can you imagine how many cards you could get out of a pad of paper or better yet out of mix and match scraps?  Take a look at these beauties!  Now the first 2 had actual patterns/scenes.  One is from Heartfelt Creations and the Other is G45 Let's Get Cozy Collection (this is going to be a great Christmas card).  These 2 you have to be quite careful to make sure you are gluing in the correct order.

The next one was a sheet of Charcoal & blush floral border 12 x 12 DSP in a    pad.  When this piece was cut and glued together it would be wise to note the order but you might be the only one to really notice if it is out of order.



This one was done with an "All Over" pattern.  It would not matter which direction the placement of the puzzle goes since every piece looks the same.  I feel as those with this one though it would benefit from a sentiment on the front of the card.  To me it looks a bit naked with out.  



But as you can see the Puzzle idea can work on this type of pattern too.  Don't you just love this G45 print?  I swear I have been hording this one sheet forever.  LOL This type of print doesn't have to line up like a puzzle so it gives you an idea where you can use any scraps you have laying around for this type of card.   I think they are all very adorable cards that are pretty easy to whip together.  Vamp them up a bit with a little bling.  I think I will with some extra small flowers and they are then super duper cute.  As I said before these when folded are 4.25 x 5.5.

Head on over to Sue's blog to purchase her PDF.  I do not benefit at all promoting her blog.

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

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

It's for the BIRDS

Birds of a feather want to stay out of the weather and what better way to do it than with the beautiful cedar houses my husband made for me and my lady friends to decorate at my ladies weekend of crafting this past weekend.  We are just a small group of 4 who get together for the weekend and socialize and craft and this time I brought birdhouse for use to put in our yards.  I posted the before houses in my last post and could not wait to get at the paint.  

I will admit when I mentioned that I thought it would be cool to make whimsical houses all 3 of them sighed unenthused.  I really had to rev them up and I was failing.  I swear it felt like there were 3 toddlers in the room throwing mini tantrums because the mommy wanted them to take a nap.  LOL  Most of the complaint was the fact that nobody thought they could paint whimsically.  Then there was disappointment that I did not bring stencils to make it easier (duh...then it's not whimsical  right?).  So after some prodding I finally got them up and at 'em and got them started.  Guess what?  Once they saw I brought a couple embellies they got a little more excited.  Next thing you know they were off and running.   

Now for the reveal.   


I think they turned out great!  I wasn't quite done with mine because I always seem to keep on adding details as time goes by.  I swear if my husband doesn't hang it soon I'll just keep on adding to it.  Maybe I should start another house.  Heeheehee.


The ladies enjoyed this craft so much they asked for my husband to make more in different styles so we can do it again.  Guess we will all have new Gated "Bird Communities" coming to our yards soon.


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

Thursday, May 2, 2024

A No Card Day

Hello friends!  I have a spring in my step and the birds have "Spring" on their mind.  They are "Twitterpated" all over my back yard.  What is Twitterpated you say?  Have you not seen Bambi?  I believe a conversation between Thumper and the Wise Old Owl discuss the birds being Twitterpated.  I'll just leave it to your imagination. Or you can google ...Bambi movie twitterpated...and a short YouTube video with that scene pops up.  Cute as can be.   Lets just say I think all that Twitterpating should be done in nice whimsical birdhouses.  So this weekend my lady friends and I are gathering for our annual "Girls Weekend"  We craft, we eat, we eat, we, gab, we eat, we craft, we eat, we gab, we eat, we snack, we craft......lol get my drift?  We eat alot!  But we do craft a bit and this year I thought it would be fun to decorate birdhouses for our yards.  Make them Whimsical. I got my hubby to make them for me though he made 5 and I only needed 4 but that's ok as I'm sure at a later date my granddaughter would love to decorate one. 

I thought I'd share a quick post with the starter houses.  Truth be told I nearly forgot to take a picture before I packed them up and as soon as I get to my friends house it will be too late because my mind will be else where like eating.  Hahahaha.  So for now here's the before.  Stay tune for the after's.  I bet they will be amazing.


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

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

With Sympathy

Hello.  Well not my favorite card to do but sometimes they have to be done.  I know I  am never in the mood to make a sympathy card when I need one so now is probably a good time to make some.  When they are not needed so they can be put into a folder safely tucked away until needed.

Today I have 2 of them.  One a 5 x 7 and the other a fancy fold but when folded it fits into a regular 4 .25 x 5.50 envelope.  

First up the 5 x 7.  Its a trellis looking front very similar to what I did back in April.  You can see that one  HERE .  The Sunflower I have dimensionaled with 3 layers.  The stamp and die set is from Temu so it is unbranded.  The tear drops are the punch outs from the with sympathy die.  I just saved the tiny pieces and they looked like tear drops so I used them.   In my original post I stated that I followed a Jennifer Mcguire video to make the card   WATCH   The solution to the writing on the inside that I had with my original cards I fixed this time by making the trellis on a 4.75 x 6.75 piece of card stock the same color as the base of the card and then adhering it to the front with foam to the 5 x 7 base.  I think it turned out awesome.


My second card is a fancy fold that I learned from Susan Campfield.  Its called the Double Stack Display Card.  Super super cute.  I am going to make alot of these types of cards.  These are adorable.   Sue has her PDF's for sale at a reasonable price so you can head on over there for directions for this card.  The papers I used were from an old 12 x 12 pad of DCWV I had in my stash.  I love the colors. 




Well I hope you like these.  I will be working on a few more to build up a small collection so I'll be ready if needed.

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

Friday, April 19, 2024

FANCY FOLD RE_VISITED

 So the other day I was searching the craft room for a music note punch that I knew I had but for the life of me couldn't find.  My DIL wanted to borrow it for a project so I was on a mission.  While on my search I came across a card I had made a Million years ago.  Ok maybe not a Million but sure looked like a Million LOL.  It was probably one of the first fancy folds I had done (and not very attractive) .  Boy I've come a LONG way BABY hahahaha.  I definitely had a good laugh.  First, I had no idea what the fold was called. Second, I was not very creative.  I mean where are the layers?  Or shall I say why is the base DSP?  Third, what the heck size card is that?  I must have just "Willy Nilly" said "Yep! this can be a card size!"  Probably never sent it to anyone because I could never find an envelope.


So I decide to go to my favorite browse area (Pinterest) and see what I find.  To see if this card really does exists.  Guess what it does.  Strangely though I do not find it as far back as I am sure this card was made.  Mine is definitely made back in maybe 1998 and the only ones I am finding on Pinterest are on blogs dated only as far back as 2019.  So I'm thinking this card that I had originally made is from one of those card making books that were so popular back in the 90's when we didn't really have the internet to cruise through.

Right now this card is called a Mini Miura or a Tri-fold Miura Ori card.  It is a form of origami.  Not difficult to make.  In fact the base is rather easy.  The layers take some time and it would be helpful if you make templates if you are going to make multiples of this card or want to make more in the future or want to teach it to a class because those will be the most time consuming.  I will share a picture of those measurements at the end of the post.  For my sample though I just grabbed some of the papers I have that I let my granddaughter play around with.  Since I wasn't sure how the card would turn out I didn't want to waste precious papers.  Well ends up I love how it turned out.  This one would make a great kids card. There's an extra piece put on the back so it can stand.  My original one does not stand at all which is a problem for me.  The extra piece on the back can be done a couple different ways.  I chose to angle cut mine but it could be left straight.


Its kind of hard to see the bottom right but if you look at the shadow on the table you can see how there are 2 little points.  The one on the left is from the back piece I attached to the right side of the card allowing it to stand when opened.  If you don't angle cut that piece it will still stand but instead give a straight across look.  I used 65# cardstock for this card and it does seem sturdy enough to stand but if I am to make one with my usual papers I would definitely put more thinking into my papers.  For example if I am only going to use 1 layer (like above) of DSP I would make sure that my base cardstock is at least 80# so that I am sure it will with stand multiple openings and closings.  But if I am going to put a layer on the base and then DSP I may just use 65# for the base.  Otherwise the card may end up rather thick for mailing.  

To write out the directions will make this sound way too complicated.  Trust me.  I tried writing it out in this post and ended up deleting the whole thing.  I was confused just reading it.  So instead here's pictures.  Just zoom up.




Way easier.  The Yellow is your base.  The orange are the solid layer and if you want a DSP on top of that cut a second set 1/8" smaller of each piece out of DSP.  If you are omitting a solid layer then the orange measurements are to be used for your DSP as I did for my card.

A piece I forgot to photograph was the piece for the back to make it stand.  All I used was the templet (Orange piece size) of the right back piece flipped so point is on left corner.  Or do not cut a point at all just glue this piece to the back and it will support the card for standing.

I hope you give this a try.  I'm going to make a few to have on hand.  They're quick and cute for little ones.


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





Monday, March 25, 2024

Last minute Easter Table Decor

 I am always wondering why I wait until the very last minute to make my table look marvelous.  Then get disappointed when it doesn't look magazine worthy.  So here I go again.  One week until Easter and I want little decorations on my table.  First as you saw in the last post are the napkin rings.  Well guess what?  Do not wait until one week before Easter to get cake plates and napkins.  I hopped ( ok guess that's not really funny bunny) over to Joannes, Michaels and Hobby Lobby and failed at all 3.  I could either get plates or napkins but not both.  Or Both in different patterns which I did not want.  Then I stopped at this Antique Mall place we have that also has small business in it.  I was there the week before and saw a real cute table decoration I thought I could get.  Surely they'd have napkins and plates within all their Easter stuff.  Nope!  They did have the decoration though but only 1 and I wanted at least 5 so each separate family could take one home.  That's ok I can make them right?  After all I have a week.  LOL  Now I have 2 missions.  Napkins/plates and craft stuff for table scape.  

Well this was bombing fast. I gave up on the napkins/plates to focus on the craft and realized I had to pivot.  First there was no way I could eat 5 cans of soup fast enough for the craft so little buckets will replace those, second the buckets only came in 4 colors so to avoid having 2 of 1 color I pivoted to making only 4 for the table, third, there were no rusty flat bunnies to be found so cloth ones will have to do and  fourth, faux carrots were scarce in the size I needed so smaller have to do.  Got home and realized I still needed foam and moss but decided to search the garage for leftover foam insulation from a different project and cut that up and I had some of that colorful basket shredded paper that will replace the moss.  It'll work,  I'm sure.  Exhausted after all that planning I came home and took a nap.  LOL  After all "Tomorrow is another day" Or so Scarlet says hahahaha.

Lucky for me my husband went out to the grocery store and lo and behold he found napkins/plates that will work perfectly.  Good job hubby!

After gluing foam into the buckets I stuck shish kabob skewers into the bunnies and carrots to stick into the foam.  The tinier carrots at first just laid on top of the colored shredded paper but I was pretty sure they would just roll off when they tried to take them home so I used tooth picks to just sort of stick them into the shredded paper a bit better.  The front still looked a bit empty so I stamped an Easter greeting on some yellow cardstock and used the cut offs of the skewers to poke them into the front.  These are not exactly what I had wanted but as a last minute thing I think they will look pretty cute on the table and each of the 4 different family's will be able to take a little something home (besides food) lol.


They will definitely look cute on the table.  I'm also pretty sure the girls will all love their little take home gifts too.

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

Monday, March 18, 2024

Cute Little Napkin Rings

 Ooooooo................Easter is nearly here!  I just now took down St Patty's Day......whipped up Easter decor and need to get my butt in gear getting food bought and table decorations made.

Not sure how much I will manage to get done considering how close Easter is to St Patty's day this year.  Geeze, you'd think they'd plan this better lol.   Anyway I may not get everything done but I think I just might be able to get the napkin rings done.  Thanks mainly to Maymay.  Ok....I know ...again I'm not original but heck Pinterest is just so easy to NOT have to think. Hahahahaha!  And..... Maymay keeps sending me these emails!  Okay......  Geeze.............I know ......I signed up for them.  But if I didn't I'd have to think!  So there!  Method to my madness.

Ok back to napkins.  Maymay sent out an email recently with 3 easy Easter projects and the one that caught my eye was of course the napkin rings.  It would only take 3 sheets of 12x12 colorful card stock for me to make 18 needed rings.  Each sheet makes 6.  From each sheet you will be cutting out (12) 7  3/4" x 1  1/4 " strips.  Following Maymays instructions cut each sheet of 12 x 12 down to 12 x 7  3/4.  then score with the short end at top of scoreboard and score at 1  3/4 and at 5  3/4.  rotate and have 12 " at top of cutting board and cut into 1  1/4 x 7  3/4 strips.  You will get 9.  From the leftover pieces of card stock cut the same size and scored strips.  Mountain fold all your strips.  



Above photo shows the process.  Strip on left is the size and scores.  Strip in center has the mountain folds.  2 strips above yellow egg shows that you glue the 2 together at the short folded areas.  Colored one above it shows how it should look when the short areas are glues leaving the longer areas above the other fold ready for ear forming.



With your bone folder you will be taking the straight piece just below the fold on the left one and curling it do the same to the other side and it should look like the piece on the right.  Now look closely to the piece on the right.  The very tip of the left hand strip has a very thin line of glue.  Attach that (right sides together) to the strip on the right.  It will kind of make it look like a heart.  See below.



Once dried tie a string around the card stock to bring the ears together. Accordion fold a napkin and slip it in the opening and then fiddle with the ears to open them up a bit.  I obviously need some prettier napkins and probably some prettier string but I wanted to get this project out ASAP since Easter is right around the corner.  LITERALLY! I hope this wasn't too confusing.  If it is you can always check out Maymay made it on YouTube.  I think the table settings are going to look adorable even if these are the only thing I get done this year.  My family always expects something cute on the table no matter how small and this just may be it for this year.  1 down....17 to go!

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

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

G45 POP OUT CARD

My excitement over fancy folds seems pretty obvious right?  I have been searching both Pinterest and YouTube to find Fancy folds that I haven't done or at least haven't done in a long time.  Now that I make so many of my own embellies, even my old fancy folds are looking fresh with homemade embellies.

So over last summer I bought an 8x8 pad of G45 papers called: Wild and Free.    I never did open the pad to look the papers over (nor did I open the other 2 collections I bought).  I needed a Birthday card for my niece and she's a bit of a wild child (lol) who loves animals and this collection just suits her.  I decided to do a card similar to the Bee card I did earlier except instead of it having a double pop this one only has a single.  It's a simpler card and doesn't take as much paper but is still hefty in the thickness.  The directions can also be found on Sams YouTube channel just as the Bee card was.




I think now that I look at it I should have played around with the belly band more.  Make it more, not sure how to put it, enlarged?  The piece with the Born to be Wild ephemera on it looks small to me like it needed another larger layer behind it.  Thats why I add the sequins though they didn't thrill me.  But this one will do as is and maybe I'll be happier with the next one. 

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

Sunday, March 10, 2024

TIPS AND A TIP FOR TIPS

 Have you ever just done things automatically and then realized that other people never heard of your methods?  I thought about it the other day when I decided to fill a small glue bottle with some tacky glue.  With the big hole of the Tacky glue and the tiny hole of the mini glue bottle you are always bound to get glue all over the place.  Well  💡 idea.  I dispose of alot of syringes from saline flushs I have to do for my son.  These cannot be recycled and there are no places that take them.  Once in awhile I have found an animal rescue that will take them after I clean and sterilize them to use for feedings.  But what if I took one of those and filled it with glue to fill my mini glue bottle?  Well by golly it worked like a dream!  I can either re-clean them or just toss them.  I choose to re-clean.  Plus I donated to a few card making friends to use too.

Another great light bulb idea is think foam insulation from your local Home Improvement Store.  My Daughter-in-law bought 1/4 of a sheet for a project and had my husband cut some shapes for her.  Out of the scraps I had him cut me a few 3" x 3" squares.  Not very pretty (I'll work on that another time) but I am always losing my pin from my glue bottle on my table.  Now when I pull it out I just stick it in the foam.  TaDa no more lost pin.

Speaking of pins.  I really love using those small bottles that have the tiny metal tips.  I tend to buy the Crafters Companion brand on  Amazon .  They are easier for my hands to squeeze.  But I am not a fan of losing that pin.  Alot of people have made those long beaded thingies for their pins which are cute but in my opinion just get in the way of my travel bag when I'm traveling and since I use those mini bottles they make the bottles topple over.  So I found that knitting needle point protectors work perfectly!  With the pin already in the metal tip...firmly force the point protector over the head of the ball of the needle.  It takes some effort because the hole of the protector (depending on which ones you buy) are smaller than the ball but it will go on.  Then you have this cute little doodad on top of your needle that is alot easier to locate on the table.  I got a bit carried away with mine and bought a bunch.  I'll link my 2 purchases but what I did was use a different top for different glues.  Example the purple bear is for my Bearly Art Glue, the blue hedgehog is for tacky glue, The lamb is my granddaughters school glue, and the frog is my dollar tree glue.



Another bit of info for all you glue people.  We all have our favorite.  To be honest mine is actually one that is only called "Liquid Adhesive" and I get it at the Dollar Tree.  They changed the recipe a bit and it is runnier but I just leave the cap off for a day or two and it thickens up to where I like it and then I transfer it to my little glue bottles.  Anyway that is not what I was going to say...........I was going to say that if you intend on using Aleen's Tacky Glue in one of these fine tip glue bottles the fine tip will get well kind of stuck.  Not really clogged because the pin is there but because the glue is so thick it doesn't go down into the bottle all the way and sticks to the sides.  The pin goes in but after a few uses it builds up and then the pin doesn't want to come out and you have to work at it.  I still like using it in these little bottles but I now take the extra time after each day of use to remove cap,  run hot water through it, wipe it off and then return the pin.  I know..extra work but the smaller bottle is easier to work with so I don't mind the extra work.

I re-use old Cricut mats for gluing projects too instead of tossing them out.  They may not look great but they keep the table un sticky lol.  

Well those are my tips for now.

Happy Crafting!!


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