Valentines Day Whooo do you Love

Valentines day is just around the corner and I've made a couple cards for the grandkids and my grand nieces.  I posted the Monkey card earlier from my Friday night gathering but I'm posting it again with a second one that is similar.  Then I cased a card I saw on Pinterest by http://thequeensscene.blogspot.com/2011/01/whooo-loves-ya.html.  I LOVE OWLS! This was from 2011 and I just thought it was so cute.  Also I hadn't given June back her Owl punch yet (oops...heehee) so it was like a "Sign" that I make this card!

  The top photo Owl card is a 5.5 x 5.5.  I used a 6x6 paper pack and ribbon from Michaels.  I used googlie eyes on this one instead of the paper punch pieces from the owl punch which is from Stampin Up.   The card next to it is a regular A2 card 4.25 x 5.5  The Monkey paper and stickers were given to me by a fellow stamper and I do not know where the paper came from but the stickers I believe she got a Hobby Lobby.  The hearts were cut from the Cricut and the gold paper is the Waffle paper Stampin Up use to carry.  It is no longer available.

  The bottom photo Owl card is also 5.5 x 5.5 and the paper used there was from a 6x6 paper pack that I believe I got last year.  I just used a tiny scrap of the ribbon from the first card so to make it look like it had a ribbon I cut a border from the Martha Stewart heart border punch. I omitted googlie eyes and just used punch pieces from the Owl punch.  On the Monkey Card I had to omit the Waffle paper since I didn't have any so instead I just hash lined the hearts.  I think I should have put a doily behind it but maybe I will for the next one I make.  

  I still need 2 more Valentines so I guess it's back to the drawing board!  I guess I better hurry up too because as soon as June see's this post she's going to want her Owl back!  LOL

Til Later

HAPPY CARDING
(by the way I gave my dear friend back her owl punch last night :(  Will have to borrow it again for tulips!)

Holly Hobbie Birthday and other Friday Night Cards

Such adorable stamps and I got them FREE!!!  This is a Holly Hobbie set that was exclusive to the UK edition of Cardmaking and Papercrafting Magazine that I got I think last year.  June decided to C.A.S.E. the example that was featured in the magazine for all of us to make at our Friday nite gathering.  She changed up the papers a bit though.  Here's what we made.........

Boy how did she know that I needed Birthday cards?  LOL.  Anyway I think this is just such a sweet card.

 One of the other ladies had us make another Birthday card That I swear took us all of nearly 2.5 hours just to color.  The paper was a shimmer paper that did not let you blend the colors very well so it took alot of patience.  In the end it too was a beautiful card.

The image was from an embossing folder and she embossed extra so that we could cut the flower and butterfly out and dimension it.  I have a few folders that I believe I could do this technique with so I'll have to try this again.

Another one of the ladies brought us valentines day cards to work on.  The first being for our husbands and since mine every once in awhile checks out my blog I cant post the picture but lets just say its a very luxurious looking card.  It's also larger than what we usually make measuring about 5 x 7.  She also brought a real cute kids card.

I LOVE these monkeys! The Monkey in the middle (Haha wasn't there a song kids use to sing about being the Monkey in the Middle?) anyway...........the Monkey is a Sticker that matches the paper!!!  How awesome (and simple) is that?  The gold rufflie stuff?  Well to be honest I wasn't paying attention and I'm not sure what that is.  It came on a tube about 6 or 7 inch's wide so I guess you buy it by the roll.  I believe she said they got it at the Scrapbook expo.  I'll check with her and let you know if anyone is really interested.

So that was our Friday night get together!  Lots of fun!  We also did a little demo on the envelope maker and a bow maker my husband made for each of us.  I'll do a post on those at a late date.

Now it's back to the craft room to make more birthday cards....after all IT"S SNOWING AGAIN!!!  Till later.....


HAPPY CARDING!!

Birthday Card Dilemma

Hello there!!!  While the winter storm continues to pound I have been in the craft room.  I had a dilemma the other day.  I got together with my card making group on Friday and it is one of the ladies birthdays this Wednesday.  Well I wanted to give her a card.  Problem was all on hand Birthday Cards I had were ones we made as a group so she had already seen all those cards!  I dug deep and found 1 lonely Birthday card that I made ages ago.  So today with the weather so crummy I figured it was a good day to try and get a few Birthday cards made to have on hand for my ladies group so that they receive something different from what we normally do.  Here's what I came up with.

Both cards are done in designer paper that I got at Archivers before they closed their stores   One the top card I used a House Mouse stamp that I bought on eBay.  We no longer have a stamp store near us as all the mom & pop stores have closed and Michael's, Hobby Lobby and Joann's have limited stamps.  Lucky for me I do have a stamp store near my summer home but she carries exclusively Northwoods or her own design so eBay is a great source for me.  The card is 6x5 and matted with a very pale pink and a med pink strip that I used a border punch on that is only there to add a little pizazz under the ribbon.  The other one is a tent card that is 5 x 5.5.  I used one of my homemade paper flowers on that one.  and a couple brads next to the Birthday wishes.  I think both came out rather well.  I'm taking a little break right now to watch my husband clear the driveway again of the snow.   Hope you are all staying warm and enjoy the Super Bowl.   Me???????  I think I'll go back to card creating!  I'm not really a football fan.  Til later..................................





HAPPY CARDING!

Easiest Valentine

Hi Card makers!  The evening is nearing and we are getting ready for maybe our first "Big" snow of the year.  We have had so little that it's kind of exciting that we may actually be getting a good amount.

I don't think I've mentioned that June and I are now organizing and carrying out monthly crafts at a local Nursing home.  It has been so much fun and the residents there really enjoy it alot.  They are having a Valentines Day Party for family and friends and we had decided that maybe they would like to make some valentines themselves.  All supplies are prepared by us and they just have to put together.  There are various skill levels but they are all quite limited.  Most have suffered strokes or seizure and have lost the ability to use both hands, what use they do have is quite limited on some.  Others have various degrees of Alzheimer's.  Our craft days are therapeutic for fine motor skills as well as attention spans.  So "On with the Craft"!

Budget is of the utmost!  To make the cards look professional we wanted envelopes.  So instead of card envelopes we decided to make our own and use letter size envelopes.  We got a box of 40 from the dollar store and decided to create our cards to fit these envelopes.  June is also designing a 4 x 4 card that I will share later and we will make envelopes for those with old paper we no longer want.

So here's what I got so far.  I showed these examples to June and I think we might be doing the one on the far left and maybe #3.  We can't give them too many choices so it needs to be minimal.  These cards fit into letter size envelopes.  Finished base size is 3.25 x 6.25.  For alittle bling I used sequins.  As you can see pretty simple. and can be done with scraps and inexpensive envelopes from the dollar store.  Hope you can find some use in these samples.  Can't wait to see what June comes up with!  I'll let you know!!  Til then...........


HAPPY CARDING!

Holiday Pack From Michaels

Valentines Valentines Valentines!!!!  Time to start thinking! only 2 weeks til the big day.  

I don't send out many valentines but I do give one to my lovely husband and my dear children and Grandchildren so I do need a couple.  My granddaughter also like making her valentines and I was quite impressed with this years selection for all her classmates.  Its a Kitty face made out of a 4.5" heart.  The bow was made from a animal print pack from a Michael's Recollections pack....So cute and she had to make 28 of them!  So proud of my little 1st grader girls enthusiasm to craft.

I had decided to make my first Valentine a simple one using this years holiday pack from the Recollections line at Michael's.  Such awesome prints this year.  

Michael's had these on sale when I bought them so I was able to get them 5 packs for $10.  Now I don't really care to use the Recollection line for my base card.  I find the weight just not right for me so I used whisper white from Stampin up as my base.  Though I guess you could use the pink as the base if you don't have any other white or if you don't mind the Recollections weight.  I'm just pretty picky so please do what you are comfortable with and the card will look just fine.   My base card is 6.5 x 5.    I then used the solid red from the pack on the lower right as my next layer measuring 6.25 x 4.75.  The banners are next and were cut 1" wide.  The length I just eyeballed and cut what looked good to me.  Unfortunately I glued everything down and forgot to measure those but I'd guess 3 of them are 3.75" long and 2 are 3.5".  The stripe paper was from the pack on the top.  The hearts were punched out with a Martha Stewart heart punch from the heart paper in bottom right pack.  So nice that they are interchangeable.  Anyway the hearts are added with dimensionals.  The top banner is the solid red cut 4.75" x 1" and I used a border punch.  Any border punch would probably do.  I attached a 1/2" x 4.5" whisper white (or you can use the pink from pack on right) that I had stamped my Hugs and Kisses.  Add a little Bling and done.  Super easy!

I really want to come up with something for the black chalk pack next.  I love that paper!

Well I think I'm back on track so stay tune for more valentines!

HAPPY CARDING!!!!!

A Saturday collection of Cards

Oh my goodness I finally was able to get back to my blog only to discover that I had written this and never posted it.  What a Ditz!  Life can sometimes get so crazy!  Sooooo....sorry but here is my very very very late post  OR my very very early Christmas 2015 post...LOL!


Well I'm backing up a bit here to the beginning of November.  Halloween was over and Thanksgiving was on it's way but I was still in "Christmas" mode.  My husband was out for the evening with our son and a friend at a "Cigar Box Guitar" event.  I was going to just mope around the house but instead decided to invite my friend June over for some card making (what else!).  It's so nice to have someone willing to just spend a quiet evening card making.  I think we achieved 4 different card styles resulting in 6 total cards and in only 4 hours.  Plus there was alot of talking in between.  So now on with the results......

1st card

June brought the supplies to make this cute folded Christmas tree card with present pop outs inside.  So adorable.  We made 2 of these and they were easier than I thought.  Love love this card!






2nd card

This one I actually designed for my Daughter-in-laws 5th grade class to make during their after school craft event.  I had some pieces left over so we each got to put 1 of these together.  So easy even a 5th grader can do it!  LOL  I don't think the school kids did the stitch marks around the squares but I thought it added to the card.




3rd card 

Another one that June brought supplies for.  Love this stamp and framelit set.  I believe its from Stampin up.  This card was so pretty
and easy due to the framelit doing the hard work of cutting out the tree on the red panel that we dimensional.  we made 3 each of these.  That's how quickly we were able to put them together.











4th card 

The lighting does not do this card justice.  I made this using the Martha Stewart border punch and a snowflake border embossing folder.  If you look closely every other circle in the border punched out area has a little sequin that shows up.  the sequin is actually adhered to the inside of the card.  The front had some added sequins to the snowflakes.  Pretty much a simple card.










Well there you have it 4 relatively simple cards you could whip up before the holidays.  Take the basic idea, change up the paper, use stamps with ornaments instead of trees and maybe a Santa instead of a snowman.  It'll work no matter what you choose.
June and I had a great evening!  You can get alot done when all the elements have been cut, scored, embossed, and gathered into kit like projects before you even get together to start making.

Later!!!!

HAPPY CARDING

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The New Year is upon us and I am hoping you all had a joyous Holiday!  Ours was filled with a ton of joy and laughter.  My nephew and his wife had brought their new addition to our family celebration and it was such a blessing to hold a little bundle again.  The grandkids and nieces and nephews as well as grand nieces had a wonderful time enjoying the festivities.  Not very much card making got done since I was more focused on holiday decorating and gift making.  
  One of my simpler yet best decorating item was a log centerpiece.  Two of them were on my dining table while a third adorned the kids table.  They were such a hit that I'm gathering supplies now to make them as gifts for next year.
                                                                

 I made 2 of these.  The birch log came from my stash from up at our cabin.  I love the burlap poinsettia but unfortunately I was only able to find 2 of them.  I had my husband drill a few holes into the top of the log and stuck the greenery and poinsettia's into it.  I filled in spaces with pine cones from some that I had collected for other projects.











This one I had to use red poinsettia's but it looked great                                                                   on the kids table.  

These brought just the right amount of wow to the table without taking up alot of room.  Plus they weren't very tall so it they didn't block any ones view.

Ive been out hitting up all the craft stores checking out all the clearance items so I can make a few for next year.  I just hope my wood delivery guy brings me some decent birch logs next spring.  I guess they could be made out of cedar too.  I'm pretty sure I have a cedar tree up north that needs to come down and I could use that but I really like the look of the birch.







Well the next up and coming holiday is Valentines Day.  I need to get some idea's together for some cards and get back on track.  I still need to keep my mind open to craft ideas though since I'm sure the grandkids are going to want to make something soon.  I also have teamed up with June and we are now involved in a monthly "Crafting Therapy" session at a local nursing home which has been quite fun so in between my cards expect to see a few crafts every now and then.

Until next time.......


HAPPY CARDING!