Aluminum Foil Snowflake

I discovered yet another fabulous blog. It's called 52 (Christmas) Cart Throwdown. The current color challenge is purple, metallic silver and white. So I put together this card with the large silver snowflake as a focal point.  I used two shades of purple and a white cardbase.  To create the silver snowflake, I adhered aluminum foil to cardstock and ran this through my die cut machine. It embossed and cut beautifully. I added purple gems to the snowflake and layered the snowflake on a piece of purple vellum. The background is a punched background that I adhered to a white cardbase.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Punch: background: Martha Stewart, Snowflake: Fiskar's Fuse
Gems: Studio G
Vellum and Patterned paper: Unknown (bought it at a garage sale)
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

This is another card I made for the same challenge. I used aluminium foil to create the silver snowflakes and the bottom edge of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Snowflakes: Emagination, EK Success
Penguin: Fiskar's Fuse
Tag: Fiskar's Fuse
Twine: Twineology
Markers: Bic Mark It
Colored Pencils: Crayola
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

Flowers for a Friend

This is a simple card that I put together for a friend. She loves bright colors and flowers. I started by punching the flowers. Next I added punched circles to the centers and then adhered the flowers to white cardstock. Using a marker and a green colored pencil, I drew stems and leaves. I matted the panel with the flowers onto red cardstock and adhered it to the cardbase.  To finish the card, I randomly punched holes in a strip of red cardstock and attached it to the card.
Supplies:
Cardbase: DCWV
Cardstock: DCWV, scrap pieces
Markers: Bic Mark It
Punches: McGill, circle punches
Colored pencil: Crayola
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

I hope you are having a great week! Thanks so much for stopping by.

Look What "Santa" Brought Me

A special "Santa" gave me a delightful new punch for Christmas. It's a Martha Stewart Anywhere Punch. I used it to create the beautiful background on this card. I used two other punches to create layered snowflakes then hung them with gold trim from the top of the card.  I matted the red background and snowflakes on dark green cardstock and finished the card by adding three small bows. I am linking this card up for the current challenge at Jingle Belles. The challenge:  USE NEW CRAFTING GOODIES to create a card.

Supplies:
Cardstock: DCWV, Fox Paper Co.
Punches: Martha Stewart Anywhere, EK Success, Emagination
Gold trim
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

Handmade Castles

Here are a couple of castles my son and I have created over the years. They are completely handmade from cardboard or foam core.  They look complicated but are easy to make. In addition to cardboard and foam core they require just a few tools, including an Xacto knife, straight edge, hot glue/glue gun, and a bit of paint.  Foam core is easy to shape. Scoring it allows it to bend so that you can create shapes like the towers. We even included a working portcullis in the first one! Painting each little stone onto the walls took us a long time, but it was well worth it.

Happy Birthday Flag

I'm still experimenting with the stamps that I recently required. This time I inked the cardbase with mulitple colors and stamped the confetti background across the card. I then added black and white strips.  To create the banner, I stamped happy birthday on white cardstock, colored it with markers and inked the edges with the same ink that  I used on the cardbase. I cut a fish tail at one end and punched two 1/8" holes at the other end. I slipped a piece of a skewer into the holes to create a flag and adhered it to the front of the card.

SUPPLIES:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Stamps: Provo Craft, Clear Impressions
Cardstock (from my scrap stash)
Skewer
Markers: Bic Mark It
Inks: Ranger Adirondack, Pitch Black, Studio G
Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Thanks so much for visiting!

Thinking of You

This is the third and final card that I created with for December sketch challenge at The Sketch File. I started by punching flowers, inking around the edges and layering them. I adhered them to the cardbase along with the punched leaves, the red patterned paper and black cardstock. I finished by printing the sentiment on my computer and adhering it to the front of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Recollections
Patterned Paper: DCWV
Flower Punch: Stampin' Up
Leaf Punch: McGill
Ink: Studio G
Adhesive: Sotch ATG

Best Wishes for Sketch FIle

Kathy has the January sketch up over at The Sketch File. This is my take on the sketch.  I started by die cutting the oval shape and cut and layered two horizontal strips.  I dry embossed dots onto the oval and the smaller strip and added punched flowers with crystals to the oval. The flourishes are hand cut and tucked behind the oval which is adhered with dimensional adhesive.

For more inspiration and to link up your project please visit us at The Sketch File.

Supplies:

Cardbase: Paper Studio

Cardstock bits and pieces from my scrap stash

Die cut: Fiskars

Flower Punch:  Stampin' Up

Pearls: E Line Pearl Crystals

Flourish:  hand made
Sticker: ?

Embossing: Fiskar's Texture Plate

Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

Hope you enjoyed visiting!

Thanks with Postage Stamps

I am still experimenting with a  few of the new stamps I recently acquired. For this card,  I repeatedly stamped the vine image on white cardstock, then used a punch to create a postage stamp border around each one. Next I wrote a letter in each "postage stamp"  and adhered them to a strip of black cardstock. I cut two strips of paper with decorative scissors and mounted the sentiment and these strips diagonally across the cardbase.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: DCWV (orange/aqua) black...from scrap stash
Stamps: Provo Craft, Clear Impresssions
Scissors?  no name on them
Pigment Ink: Ranger, Adirondack Earthtones: Pitch Black
Punch: Ek Success
Markers: Bic Mark It
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Birthday Balloons

I recently acquired a collection of stamps and decided it was time to use some of them. I am relatively new to stamping, so I am still polishing my technique.  The balloons and the sentiment were both stamped and colored with markers.  I stamped directly onto the card base then added the orange cardstock to give the card a bit of dimension.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studio
Stamps: Provo Crafts, Clear Impressions
Corner Rounder:  Creative Memories
Cardstock: DCWV
Decorative scissors: ?? (no name on them)
Markers: Bic Mark It
Gel Pen: Sakura
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Color Challenge @ Create

I created this card for the card for the January color challenge at Create: Northridge Publishing.  

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: DCWV
Punch: McGill
Twine: The Twinery
Die Cut: Fiskars Fuse
Adhesives: Scotch ATG

New Punch

I couldn't wait to try my new Martha Stewart punch. I have had a great time playing with it and put this card together using the punched shape as the focal point.  I started by creating embossed lines with a scoring board, then punched the shapes and added brads to the center.  I matted the green cardstock on a piece of white cardstock that was the same size so that the brads didn't show through the punched design.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Fox River Co, white: scrap piece
Score Board: Martha Stewart
Punch: Martha Stewart
Brads
Gel Pen: Sakura
Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Argyle Challenge

All About Argyle is the challenge at 365 Cards. I was surprised I to find that I actually had paper with an argyle pattern. My goal for this card was to keep it simple. I cut a strip of the argyle paper, mounted a strip of white cardstock on the front and a few punched leaves. I added a bit of detail on each leave with a colored pencil and that completed the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Patterned Paper: Oriental Trading
White cardstock: from scrap file
Leaf punch: ??? no name on it
Adhesive: Scotch ATG and Scotch Quick Dry

Polka Dot Thank You

This card is based on the current sketch at Unscripted Sketches. I haven't done a card for a  Unscripted Sketches challenge for a while and thought it was time to try one again. For this card I started with a Kraft cardbase and used a bit of Darice decorative tape and MME Antique Dots paper. I followed the sketch quite closely.  The only addition was the sentiment tag that I punched with a Stampin' Up punch and inked with Page Craft ink.

Let Well Enough Alone

I woke up with this card swimming around in my head. I started by adhering twine in the sunburst pattern on the front of a square piece of white cardstock. Then I punched the tags in the center from two different shades of cardstock and added the punched circles and the button. After it was all adhered, I decided it would have been better to leave off the circles....but it's too late now!

Supplies:
Cardbase: DCWV
Twine: The Twinery, Carribean
Tag Punch: Stampin' Up
Circle Punch: EK Success
Button: ?
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, Scotch Quick Dry

Dotted Love

This polka dot card is for the Pick Two challenge at 365 Cards. The challenge was to create a card using  two of the following choices:

1) Pattern choices: Paisley, Polka Dot, Houndstooth, or Toile

2) Themes: Love, New Year's, or Winter

My card has both polka dots and a love theme.  I began by cutting the card shape. I traced around a shaped card that I received last year then added the Core'dinations polka dotted cardstock (sanded the dots) and Offray green polka dotted ribbon. I used an EK Success punch to create the heart and wrapped it in the green ribbon.  I hand cut and adhered the sentiment.

Happy Birthday, candle challenge

It's day 300 of the card challenges at 365 Cards. Today's challenge is to create a card with a candle and flame.  I used a candle stamp, markers, colored pencils and Washi tape to create this birthday card. To create the shape, I traced around a Christmas card that I had received last year.

Supplies:
Card base: Paper Studios
Washi tape: Darice
Stamp: Stampin' Up
Markers: Bic MarkIts, Zig
Ink: Memento

Starry Tree

The cue card challenge at CASology is STAR. So I used up a bunch of my star shaped buttons and created a this card with a starry tree.  After adhering the buttons, I added a bit of glitter to the top of each button to give the card a bit of sparkle and dimension.

Supplies:
Card base: Fox River Paper Co.
Cardstock: Fox Fiver Paper Co. (red), Paper Studios (cream), Core'dinations (brown)
Colored Pencil: Crayola
Trim: ?
Buttons: Favorite Findings
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, Scotch Quick Dry
Glitter: Premier Diamond Gold

2012 Family Ornament

Each year I send handmade ornaments to family members. This year's ornament is this Double Ball Ornament. I found a tutorial for this ornament at Split Coast Stampers. This ornament is made from cardstock from the I Believe MME collection. It's quick and simple to put together, unless you aren't making 55 of them like I did!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

O Christmas Tree(s)

This card came together very quickly. I began by printing the words to "O Christmas Tree" on white  and yellow cardstock. Then I hand cut trees from the printed cardstock, added ink and adhered the trees to the front of a cardbase. I wrapped twine beneath the trees and tied it into a bow and finished the card by tearing the upper edge of the card base at a diagonal.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Recollections, Coredinations
Twine: The Twinery
Ink: Anna Griffin
Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares, Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
Marker: Bic Mark It

All in a Row

This is the second card for the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays and the 10 Minute Craft Dash at Pretty Pink Posh. They teamed up for an exciting challenge.  The challenge is to create a card/craft in under 10 minutes with a holiday/dashing through the holidays theme.  This card was completed in 8:13.  I started by using a scoring board to create the embossed lines then added brads in a diagonal row.  I finished by adding the ribbon and bow.

SUPPLIES:

Cardbase: Paper Studios

Scoring Board: Martha Stewart

Ribbon: Offray

Brads: ??

Ho Ho Ho

I created this card for a 10 Minute Card Dash at 10 Minute Craft Dash @ Pretty Pink Posh and Cas-ual Fridays who have teamed up to offer a fabulous challenge.  The goal is to create a CAS holiday themed card in under 10 minutes. I was able to create my card in 9:26!

I started by using a scoring board to create the diagonal embossed lines on the cardbase. Then I hand cut the letters for Ho Ho Ho and adhered them to the card. I drew some snowflakes on each letter with a gel pen, then tied a ribbon and a bow around the top. Next I punched six snowflakes and adhered them to the dangling piece of ribbon (sandwiching the ribbon between two snowflakes).  

SUPPLIES:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Score Board: Martha Stewart
Ribbon: Offay
Cardstock: Fox Paper Co.
Adhesive: Elmer's Glue Spots, Scotch Quick Dry
Gel Pen: Sakura
Punch: Emagination

Personified Snowflake

This is my second card for the snowflake challenge over at The Paper Players. This personified snowflake card is for a young friend of mine.  I began my adding a face to the snowflake and then added hand made hat and mittens. I adhered  two other snowflakes behind the first one to add dimension and then adhered the snowflake to a piece of vellum. I trimmed the vellum with white cardstock , attached it to the card base and added embroidery thread.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Fox River Paper Co.
Vellum: ?
Snowflake punch: EK Success
Embroidery thread: DMC
Polyfil for mitten and hat trim
Gel Pen: Sakura
White cardstock: recollections
Marker: Zig Memory System
Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares

More Layered Snowflakes

I made  this simple snowflake card for the "Snowflake" challenge over at The Paper Players.  I used a cardbase that already had a circle cut out and just added the blue cardstock behind the front panel. I added a layered snowflake and a strip of blue with snowflakes punch in it.  I used the blue snowflakes to decorate the inside of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Mrs. Grossman
Snowflake punches: EK Success
Blue Cardstock: DCWV
Adhesives:  Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares, Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Tree Ornament Card

I put this card together for the "tree" challenge over at Allsorts Challenge. I had the red ring in my scrap stash and decided to use it as the base for an ornament shaped card. I adhered the red ring to a white cardbase, cut the card base into the shape of an ornament, added gems and the hand cut decorated tree.  The lights on the tree were punched from metallic paper. I used the flame only of a birthday candle punch to create the lights.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Fox River
Patterned Paper: DCWV
Gems: Studio G
Trim: ?
Metallic paper: Hygloss
Candle punch: EK Success
Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Layered Snowflakes

Although I've already mailed all my Christmas cards, I'm still eagerly creating more. These two cards were both made with snowflakes and were pretty simple. I used a die cut for the largest snowflake and punches for the smaller snowflakes. On the first card, I added dimensional adhesive between two large snowflakes and then layered the smaller snowflakes on it.  On the second card I added dimensional adhesive behind the smaller snowflake.   Both cards came together quickly and I deliberately left off the sentiment so that the cards would remain clean.

SUPPLIES:

Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Recollections, Water color paper
Patterned cardstock: MME
Washi Tape: Red
Ribbon: Offray
Snowflake die cut: Fiskars Fuse
Snowflake punches: Emagination, EK Success, Tonic Studios
Adhesives: Elmer's Glue Spots, Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy the Next Chapter of Your Life

I created this table top centerpiece for a retiring librarian. Since she is a librarian, I created a  mini book for the focal point and framed it. The book shape is a die cut. On the left hand center page I printed the definition of retirement and on the adjacent page, I wrote a sentiment. To personalize the book, I asked library staff members to each write a message to the librarian on a page of the book. The hardest part of the whole project was getting everyone to write something in a timely fashion. Once I collected all the pages from the staff members, I sewed the pages of the book together with fish line and  adhered them to a cover created from heavy cardstock and velvet paper. I mounted the book on  crimped cardstock and framed the book with scalloped edged cardstock. (I printed "Enjoy the Next Chapter of Your Life" before cutting the frame pieces.) The base of the center piece is made from foam core. Once I determined the dimensions, I scored it in the center on one side to allow it to fold to make an easel.  To stabilize it and keep it standing,  I attached a piece of ribbon between the two panels (on the inside so it isn't seen by the recipient).

Supplies:
Base: foam core
White cardstock:  Recollections
MS Word
Paper Crimper: Marvy Uchida
Velvet paper ?
Die Cut: Ellison
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, Elmer's Glue Spots
Scallop punch: Stampin' Up

Multi-tasking

Are you a multi-tasker? I certainly am. I love to multi-task.  Normally, I listen to audio books while working on cards or scrapbook pages. Yesterday I made this simple card while I was chatting  on the telephone with a sister.  I had the leaves on the top of my work table and was playing around with them as I talked. The next thing I knew, I was creating a card. I adhered the punched leaves to a mat, added a button in the center and inked around the outer edges of the mat. I attached the mat to the cardbase with dimensional adhesive and it was done. The card was finished loooooong before the telephone chat!

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock:
Punch: Punch Bunch? (There is no name on it)
Button
Ink: Anna Griffin
Adhesives: Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Squares, Elmer's Glue Spots, Scotch Quick Dry

Thanks for coming by today! 

I really appreciate each of your visits.

Memory Fails Me

As with the previous post, I created this card for a Washi Tape challenge and have forgotten who was offering the challenge. Since my memory fails me and it would take an incredible amount of time to search through my blog reading list, I'm just posting it here.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Patterned paper: pieces from my scrap stash
Punch: McGill
Decorative tape: My Mind's Eye: Indie Chic
Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry

THANKS SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY!

Let it Snow!

This card was inspired by a challenge to use Washi Tape. When I first saw the challenge, off I ran to be creative. The card came together very quickly, but I had to put it aside before  posting it because something more pressing came up. This morning I discovered it still sitting on my craft table and photographed it, only to realize I had forgotten which blog was offering the challenge. So, to save a lot of time trying to look through my very long blog reading list, I'm just posting it.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: piece of scrap white cardstock
Snowflake punch: Tonic Studio
Decorative tape: My Mind's Eye, Indie Chic
Adhesives: Scotch Quick Dry, Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Tape

Cheerful Happy Birthday

This card is based on a sketch created by Becky Fleck over at Page Maps. My take involves a bit of dark red cardstock and some wonderful decorative tape. I used the red decorative tape around the outer edges of the card and yellow decorative tape for the horizontal strips and flowers.  The card came together pretty quickly.I followed this fabulous sketch quite closely with the exception of adding the white detail to the maroon cardstock banner. I tried it as a solid color and it just didn't work so I added the detail.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Decorative Tape: Indie Chic
Punch: McGill, EK Success
Gel Pen: Sakura
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
Wire
Lined Patterned Paper: DCWV

Festive Snowmen

The color challenge at Simply Less is More is RED & GREEN. I started with the snowman, added the festive green and red scarves and detail with a white gel pen.I adhered them to a frame with an oval center and added white punched snowflakes here and there.  

Supplies:
Cardbase/cardstock: Paper Studios (brown, green and red cardstock are pieces from my scrap stash)
Punches: Martha Stewart, snowman, Emagination and Tonic Studios, snowflakes
Marker: Bic Mark It
Colored pencils: Crayola
Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Tape, Scotch Advanced Tape Glide, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Jingle Bells

It's time for the December sketch over at Kathy's Waffle Sketch File. I hope you'll take a moment to hop on over and see what the the other design team members have created. 

Have you stopped by her blog yet?  If not, I encourage you to do so. A new sketch goes up on the first Tuesday of the month and  new projects are added as the month progresses.The challenges are "anything goes" so the possibilities are endless.

About the card:
I loved Kathy's sketch and knew right away that I wanted to make jingle bells.  I started by punching circles from metallic paper. I used two different sized circle punches. Then I used a 1/8" circle punch to punch two adjacent holes in each circle. Using scissors, I cut at an angle to the small holes to create the bell shapes.  I added metallic bows and adhered the string and bells to "music" background paper that I created from a word document.  I used a dark blue mat and a white cardbase.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Paper Studios, Fox Paper Co
MS Word
Metallic Paper: Hygloss Embossed
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, Elmers Glue Spots
Trim: metallic

Ringing Bells

I think I like making Christmas cards best of all. There are so many wonderful images to use. For this card, I couldn't resist using metallic paper to make a few bells. I hand cut the bells, added a silver circle at the base of each and a little silver trim and they were finished. I layered them on a mat with a scalloped edge and backed this with metallic paper.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Trim:
Metallic paper: Hygloss
Punches: Stampin' Up Scallop Edge, 1/8" circle (?)

You Make My Heart SING

Now that my son is a teenager, I decided to update some of the photos hanging in frames throughout the house. The photos in this layout are a few of the ones I removed and are some of my favorite photos of him.  Although  I am normally more of a chronological scrapbooker,  I decided to combine these three photos from different years into one layout.  I tried to keep the layout simple and used some of my favorite patterned papers from DCWV: Heirloom Collection.