6x6 Octagon Card

 I am on a roll.  Last week I hurt my knee.  Well kind of, it really hurt itself by having arthritis and when the weather gets goofy my knees get goofy.  So I do a lot of sitting and surfing Pinterest.  Then I hobble over to some supplies that are not hard to get to and get to work at the dining table.  Another fancy fold gets done because I have nowhere I can go and nothing else I can do.  Then Lickity split I can get back to the sofa and write up on the blog.  All while hubby cooks and cleans.  Hmmm I could get use to this if it included me being able to go out to the craft stores too hahaha.

Anyway this time I stopped again on a video by Crafting with Quilling.  She made this cute Octagonal Pop Up card .  Since I have quite a few Birthdays coming up and I'm not able to really get around I thought another fun fold would be a great thing to keep me busy.  I had also remembered that I had just received in the mail a new die from Amazon for a Belated Birthday.  How perfect.  I was unable to get together with one of my friends on her birthday due to her being ill and now I had the perfect sentiment for inside this card.  I changed the way Monika decorated her card by adding DSP to the gate flaps in front and by making a bellyband that hers did not have.

I like the peachy colors with the greens.  This paper was from an old paper pad that I had dis-assembled along time ago tossing prints I didn't care for and keeping the few I did like.  Yes I was that wasteful.  That was before I realized that papers I didn't care for could be cut down way small and used as tags or incorporated into embellies.  Boy the things you learn the longer you do papercrafting.  Now I save the tiniest of pieces lol.

If you like this stye card check out Monikas channel NO CUTTING DIES Octagonal Gatefold Pop Up Card STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL Antique Charm Collection

Till next time..................

An Fancy Fold Fan Card

 Do you ever browse through Pinterest and find a card that you think "Wow this looks easy"?  Gather all your supplies, watch the YouTube video and then think hmmmm this looks easy enough?  Well I did just that.  I found this card on Pinterest and the next thing I know I'm looking at different variations of the card.  I watched 3 different videos.  Each one was basically the same card just a bit of a different name for the fold  The Original video I watched was from Crafting with Quilling.  She called the fold "Double Diamond Fan Fold" This card had definite points on the side pieces of the card and the finished card measures 6x6 using a 12 x 6 piece of heavy cardstock to start.  She only gave measurements for the base of the card so I went on to another video which was Tina Shaw.  Now she called the fold "Double Fan Fold".  This was probably because the sides of this card were straight.  The base for this one started with a heavy piece of cardstock measuring 9x7.  The finished folded card was approximately        Now I liked the fact that Tina gave all directions for measuring the layers making this task a bit easier but I still wanted to watch one more video.  So one to Mixed up Crafts.  Sam called her card "Double Diamond Fold"  This was basically identical to the card in the first video I watched except that Sam gave directions on measuring (helpful).  This card was also a 6x6 when finished.

After all my searching and watching I opted for Tina Shaws card.  I am not really a big fan of 6x6 cards unless I'm hand delivering (which my next one I am).  Also I had found in my stash some Downton Abbey Papers that I had bought quite awhile ago and the size she used and the straight side edges were perfect for what I wanted to do.

My friend is a huge Downton Abbey fan so this is going to be the perfect card for her.  Make sure to check out Tina blog if you'd like more details on how to make this card.  Hers is beautifully done is Christmas Snowflake papers.

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

.Tina Shaws video tutorial

Birthday Card Indecisions'

Don't you just hate it when you spend time making a fancy fold card for a special birthday and then decide you don't really like it?  I have done this more than once for the same person.  Part of the problem too is that she is also a card maker and when I have told her this in the past she has always said that I was probably being too hard on myself and that my card was probably just fine.  So now when I am not happy I make her a brand new one AND I give her the I am unhappy with.  Now true to form or should I say her very loving personality she usually tells me the card I dislike is perfectly fine.  I can never tell if she's being truthful or not.  Doesn't matter she's worth 2 cards anyway.

So here's what I had been working on.  Its another Susan Campfield tutorial that I followed.  She called this an Overlay fun fold card.  I have done her cards before and before I forget you can find this YouTube tutorials HERE There she has links to her blog where you will be able to find all her other tutorials.  Anyway I loved using this plum paper I had and I had a sheet of 12 x 12 floral print in various plum colors that I had no idea how to use.  It was very busy but using so little on the card did not make my eyes go bonkers.  Then I had a sheet of this wrinkled green specialty paper.  I do not now the brand but it reminds me of a homemade paper and I got it at a LSS many years ago. I think what I disliked was the die I used for the sentiment.  Though I liked the sentiment, it did not show up well on the floral paper and I think it would have been better if I had something that said happy birthday across the green banner instead.

The next card was also from Susan Campfields YouTube channel.  This one she called Diagonal Gatefold.  This was the one I replaced the above card with.  I was much happier with the results of this one.  I was also surprised with the little twist Sue did to make this.  Very clever.  Check out her video.

I love this card and I'm so glad I have extra paper that I can make another one.  Of course just as I thought my friend liked both cards and saw nothing wrong with the first one.  Ok this time I know she was just trying not to hurt my feelings because that first card did not work at all as a birthday card.  In fact, I took all the left over pieces of papers and turned them into sympathy cards.  So much better suited.  I'll show you those later.

Now with that being said I'm off to the next set of cards. So til next time...................

Gnome for Valentine Card

 Hello.

On Sunday my son and his family were here for family dinner and as usual my youngest granddaughter asked if I had a craft for us to do.  Well this time I was ready for her.  Wish I was ready for me.  As I totally forgot to take most pictures of her creations.  Shame on me. 

First we had a heart garland to make for draping across their fireplace.  I had made one similar with my ladies group but ours was with wooden hearts.  I did not have time to go out searching for wooden ones so I made some with a die I had and then punched out a few smaller ones to embellish.  She stamped words, threaded string and searched through a ton of beads for as many red and white heart pony beads that she could find.  It turned out just as cute and her mom did send a picture after my granddaughter decorated.

On to the next project, Valentines Day Cards for family.  I had received the cutest Gnome die as Happy Mail.  Noticing that it only cuts on 3 sides I realized it was probably for a card front but a small card.  Like a 4x4 size.  Perfect Valentine size.  My granddaughter had never used my Gemini before.  She always used the Big Shot but the Gemini was out and I decided this die would be a good introduction to electric die cutting.  She had so much fun.  Of course again I was forgetful on the photo taking.  She was slipping the last card in the envelope when I  yelled:  "WAIT".  I quickly snapped a pic and we went on our merry way.

The white heart is where she signed the card.  I made all the envelopes.  She tried but she wasn't strong enough to punch down on that envelope punch board by WRMK then to finish off the envelopes she used those heart seals I had made and told you all about in a previous post. (see I told you I'd use them eventually, well at least some).  I think it added a nice touch.

Of course, now she wants to make wax seals.  So, I suppose for Easter we will find some sort of idea to use the wax seals and she can learn how to make those next.

Oh before I forget here's her heart garland strung across the fireplace at her house.  It's a faux fireplace so no worries that the paper is right in front of it.

Well that's it for now.  Til next time......................................

Forgotten Toys

 Something "Old" is always "New" again right?  Well sometimes.  I guess it's all in how you look at things.  So lets look.  I got my inspiration to look from a friend and fellow Blogger.  She joined a challenge series this year called "Unused No More".  Each month a group of ladies post a card using something they have that they have not used yet.  One thing my friend loves doing and is really good at is challenges.  Me????  Not so much.  I never can commit, I'm never on time, and I don't seem to follow rules very well. Just ask my friend she will agree hahahaha.  Anyway, I did like the idea somewhat.  

Down in my craft room sits on a top shelf this really cute machine that I just had to have many many years ago.  I did not want it when it was Black but when it came out in Pink..............well I was hooked.  Yep it was the Texture Boutique Embossing Machine that was all the craze in the early 2000's and the limited edition Pink one was a must for me.  Who cares that it only embossed and that you could do the same exact thing with your Big Shot .  This was a cute little thing that looked like a purse that looked adorable on the shelf in my craft room and that's what mattered at the time.

Come on...who can resist that?  Well I used it for awhile and now for at least the last 12 maybe 15 years it has sat.  So after reading my friends Blog I decided to kind of use their idea of using something once again.

With Valentines Day coming it's the perfect time to make some simple and quick Valentines by embossing some backgrounds.  So pulling out some Pink and White paper, heart dies and punches I got to work.

You might have to zoom up to see the embossing but both cards I used a folder that had tiny flowers on it and the top card I used another folder on the hearts that was kind of like a lattice effect.  I have no idea what these folders were called as there are no markings on either one so I assume they are just generic ones.

By the way my friend Is an AWESOME stamper and colorer.  If you love stamping and coloring you should check out her work.  You can find her Blog HERE 

 I had all intentions of going simple with my Valentines and at first I was a bit hesitant.  Simple is not my style.  But I am really glad I read my friends post and that my Eagle Eye noticed that little pink purse way up on the shelf.  That gave me the idea that simple could still be very pretty even without a Fancy Fold.  Now BAM!  I have 8 Valentines all ready for the mail!  Whewwww....early for once.

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

A HEARTFUL CARD

 Its nearly Valentines Day and I have gathered supplies to make the cards needed this year for the grands along with supplies for my youngest granddaughter to make a few simple ones herself.  Then I get the notice that my nephews BFF from college is now getting ready to send his just turned 13-year-old into surgery for heart surgery the day before Valentines Day.  We have also grown close to this family and they all call us Aunt and Uncle and I was told that my young "Bonus" niece was not upset that she needed to have this surgery (which has been known since birth) but more upset that she was going to be missing the Valentine festivities in the community and the Dance at school. So to raise her spirits her mom had asked for people to send her some Valentines.  Well, that is right up my alley.  So, all other cards got pushed aside and off to work I went on her special card.

I didn't want just any old card and who am I fooling?  I usually make fancy folds anyway.  So a 3D Floating Card was what I decided to make.  It's one that I have seen from Iced Images where she shows 3 different sizes and calls them Framed Hexagonal Pop Up Cards and then from Sam Culcott where she calls it a Floating Hexagonal Pop Up Card.  Hers is a 5x7 only and done just a wee bit different.  A bit easier though the panels are not as wide as Iced Images are.  I took the easy route.  Its going out in the mail next week so she'll have it in time for Valentines Day.  I just love how this card turned out.  

I do not want to take credit for the card directions so head over to Sams YouTube channel to see how this is made.  Or if you'd like a different size check out Iced Images also on YouTube.

Now if you'll excuse me I really must get back to my Valentine Days cards.  Being behind this year I needed to go simple so no fancy folds this time.  YIKES!  Hope I'm forgiven.

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

Wax Seal Embellies

 Well here I go again.  Jumping 100% in on a new adventure for me.  Wax seals.  Well kind of new adventure.  Way way back when I was young and it was a "Thing" to have "Pen pals" from different countries it was not unusual to dabble with wax seals.  Those adorable old fashion wax closures you would see on letters in movies, especially ole Victorian movies when special letters were sent through the post.  This was to assure the receiver that the letter or special papers had not been seen as long as the seal on the envelope had not been broken.  My mother being quite a crafty person (probably where I got it from) made me my own seal by taking a brand new Nickle and rubber cementing it to a small spool of thread (as the handle).  I would then drip the wax from an actual candle on the envelope after I had licked it shut then impressed the wax with the Nickle.  

I decided to bring back the wax so to say!  Excited to re-try something old (but not with a Nickle) I hit up Amazon for some supplies.  Valentines Day is on it's way so I indeed wanted a heart stamp and I might as well get an easter one.  Then while I was at it I leaped toward 2 Christmas and then thought I should at least have 2 everyday ones.  Because of course you should never try something new with the bare minimum right?  Then of course I needed wax.  Well there are the candle type ones that you light and drip. But I think those are more for letters.  I want to do embellies so I kept looking.  Well they had these chips.  Well ok....but then you need the spoon and the warmer base and the tea light candles to melt the chips.  Ahhhh...here we go I found wax glue sticks.  I have a bunch of glue guns so I could dedicate 1 to wax.  So I bought a pack of pink for Valentines day and a pack of metallics just because I wanted them.

So my supplies come in and I think I'm ready to go.  Well...Slow down Susan.  This is harder than I remember.  I had a silicone mat to use and melted some pink wax, went to impress it and...hmmmm.  How long do I have to hold this?  When I lifted it was stringing.  So I set it back down and let go of the stamp piece and it sunk so far that when I was able to pull it off the stamp it was nearly translucent.  Try again  This time I held it. Dang it when I lifted it wasn't cooled enough on the bottom and it got a ripply bottom.  Try again.  Hold......hand tired....this is dumb.....can't be right....how long does this take?  I think I need YouTube.

You can see the seal on the far top right how thin it is that's my first.  Then the one on the middle left is the bottom with the blubs from when I lifted too early before it was fully cooled.

Instead went out for coffee with my BFF and had a long talk.  Certain things came to light.  One was that the pink sticks were not wax at all.  They were labeled Acrylic.  The metallic ones are labeled wax/resin.  Still have not tried those.  Another thing we talked about was real glue sticks.  Could those be used?  Could you then use Mica powers to highlight them?  Hmmmmm interesting.  So home I went to check out these ideas.  Interesting....glue from your normal glue gun works!  Mica powders work great too and so do Dollar Tree Mermaid eye shadows.  Its subtle but pretty.  I also found that the metal stamp pops right off quickly if you are using both a low melt gun and if your metal stamp is cool to the touch.  So I kept it on top of a bag of ice and rotated which stamp I was using.  I then took off and tried an entire bag of Dollar Tree mini glitter glue sticks with excellent results.  The less intricate the design the better with those sticks but it worked!

Regular hot glue before using eye shadow

or Mica powder

I can't wait to show you what I make with all these as soon as I figure that out Hahahahaha.

For now this is it. I need to make more of the Pink ones for Valentine cards I want to make.   I'll be back next time with what you can do with these beauties.  Til then Happy Crafting!

Accordion Tag Card

 One of the hardest cards I have to make are birthday cards for boys.  You would thing those would be the easiest for me since I raised 2 boys, my sisters all had boys, my brother had twin boys.  I was surrounded by boys.  But I am ALL GIRL!  I love making "PRETTY" things.  Flowers , Butterflies, Birds, Pinks, Purples and so on and so on and so on.  So of course it took me all day trying to figure out what to do for a 9 year olds card.  Now top it off with the fact that this 9 year old has Fragile X Syndrome.  An inherited chromosome disability.  Jack will probably just toss this card aside and never really look at it.  But his mom will and she cherishes the cards I have made for her other 3 children and I do not want to skimp on Jacks just because he won't care.  Though the card may be viewed by him for a brief second I do know that he loves yellow.  Sponge Bob being a favorite of his to see on TV.  I had already made a few Sponge Bob cards so no way I was doing that again but yellow I could stick with.  Bright colors are also a favorite of his so I went through some of the papers I put aside for my granddaughter to mess around with and found some really bright prints.

The only yellow cardstock I had was pretty thin cardstock.  I think I got it from Michaels in a small 12x12 pack that had primary colors.  This may have only been 65lb.  So I decided to make an accordion card so that I could beef up the thickness with layers and make it sturdier.  I also decided to make pockets on the inside to hold some tags.  I chose to hold only 2 but you could fill each pocket with a tag or maybe one of them with a gift card.  One of my tags was just for show the other I used to sign the back.  I then went ahead and used the scraps to decorate the envelope to match.

The finished size of this card measures 3" x 5.5".  I used a standard envelope that I bought from the Dollar Tree and just decorated it.  There is no glitter or sequins on this card so there is nothing that Jack could ingest that could harm him it is all only paper.  Although truth be told he will probably not even open it.  But his mother will love the fact that I have made him a special card just as I have made all her other kids special cards and that's what matters.

Now I can go back to "Girlie".  LOL  I need a card for a friends birthday next week.  Whewwww.  She loves frilly stuff.

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