Santa Cards

This year I made a few Christmas cards using my Cricut and SCAL program.  The Santa hat and holly are free downloads from Birds Cards. I ran the trim and pom pom through the cuttlebug to emboss and used foam squares to pop up just the one edge of the hat.

These next three Santa's were done using a kit I bought from SVG Cuts.  I first saw this card HERE on Splitcoaststampers.  I love how she used the Peachy Keen stamps for the face.  I don't have those stamps so I hand drew the eyes myself.  Those eyes are what really makes the card. On the card above, I glittered the trim and pom pom and ran the beard and mustache through the cuttlebug to emboss. The holly is a button I had.

This card I used paper from My Minds Eye for the hat, the holly svg from Birds Cards and ran the hat trim, pom pom, beard and mustache through the cuttlebug to emboss.

This card is actually smaller than the previous two.  Those are about 5 1/2 inch square.  I reduced the files down to about 80% for this one so that it would fit into a standard envelope.  The hat is paper from My Mind's Eye.

I made this card a few years ago.  I saw similar cards on Spitcoaststampers.  Using them as examples I free-handed the hat, trim, beard and mustache.  The nose and brows are an SU! punch.  I ran everything through the cuttlebug to emboss. The eyes are brads.

 

Supplies used:

Paper: SU! Real Red and Black, My Minds Eye, CTMH Parchment and Blush, Hollo's White

Black and White Glaze Pens

White Gel Pen

Ink: SU! Real Red and Cameo Coral, CTMH Crystal Blue

Red Rhinestones

SVG files: SVG Cuts and Birds Cards

Cuttlebug folders

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol

 

Mom's 85th Birthday

(front)

(inside)

(last page of candles)



(last page)

(card inside clear box)

 

Here is another candle card.  This one was for our mom's 85th birthday.  You can see the details on how to make a candle card HERE.

Supplies used:

Graphic 45: A Ladies Diary 6x6 pad

K&Co. Bailey

American Craft: Peach, Mediterranian, Vanilla, Olive, Truffle

CTMH: Buttercup

Distress Ink

Cheery Lynn: Miniature Rose

MS Pine Branch Punch

Small Retro Flower Punch

SU! Bird Punch

Outline stamp birthday verse

Glossy Accents

Rock Candy Distress Stickles

Rhinestones

String Pearls

Glitter

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Carol and Cheryl

Christmas Digi - Birdie Brown

I found this digi called Happy Santa on Etsy in Birdie Brown's shop.  It is so cute, I had to have it.  I have a friend who collects Santa's.  Every year I make her a card with a Santa and every year it has to be a different Santa.  This may be the card that I send her.  Or maybe I will make another using one of the other Santa's in this set.  We will see.

 

I used Spellbinders Circle Nesties to cut the circles out of the card.  I used a larger one on the top layer with the trees then a slightly smaller one to cut through the blue layer and the base of the card (use removable tape to tape everything in place before cutting so that the layers don't move).  I attached a piece of acetate behind the blue layer before I adhered it to the card base.  I used foam squares to attach Santa, girl and conversation bubble.  The tree was cut out of a scrap of the tree paper and glued to the inside of the card base.

 

Supplies used:

Birdie Brown Happy Santa digital stamp

Patterned Paper - unknown

Copics

Acetate

Ribbon

Spellbinders Circle Nesties (large & small sets)

Foam Squares

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol



Christmas Cards

I saw this CARD and knew I had to CASE this card using the wisemen from the Hero Arts Heavens Rejoice set.  I did not have the full set to use, though; I had a teacher's set that Hero Arts sent to The Embellished Scrapbook Boutique so I had to use a different sentiment on the front of the card.  I used MFT Fishtail dies.  I used a Tim Holtz script stamp on the white fishtail.  The larger white is a glitter paper.  I had a request for 70 of these cards.  The same person also bought 70 of my nativity cards last year:

I used the Hero Arts Greatest Gift set for this card.  For the yellow, I used a piece of cardstock with a circle punched out and sponged CTMH Buttercup.

 

Supplies used:

Hero Arts Heavens Rejoice, Greatest Gift

MFT Fishtail dies

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol

 





Baby Shower Card

I made this card to go with a shower gift for my niece, Sarah, who is due January 5.  She is having a little girl named Avery.  The card matches the gift that my sister and I made for her - a First Year mini scrapbook.  Stay tuned for pictures of the scrapbook.

Directions on how to make a criss cross card can be found HERE on Splitcoaststampers.  Just scroll to below the video at the bottom to get the directions on how to make the vertical criss cross card.

Supplies used:
American Craft cardstock
Bella Blvd Baby Girl pack
Punches: MS lace, SU! tab, Marvy scalloped circle (blue & pink punches)
SU! ribbon
Cricut Create A Critter cartridge
Glitter (bird is outlined)

Thanks for looking!
Carol

Folded Christmas Tree

The scrapbook store that I work at (The Embellished Scrapbook Boutique) had their annual Christmas Card Round Robin event this past weekend.  The teachers make up card kits and our customers can go around the room and make as many of each card as they would like for $1.50 per card.  This year we had 29 different designs and about 20 kits of each one (click on the above link to see the cards).  This is one of the cards that I made for the event. 

 

I found the pattern on Splitcoaststampers.  You can find a tutorial HERE.  I just found this tutorial today.  It is a little different than how I did mine, but this will work for you.

 

Supplies:

WRMK Yuletide Red Plaid paper

American Craft rouge & olive cardstock

Gold glitter paper

WPlus9 Clear Cut Stackers Stars

WPlus9 Iconic Christmas (sentiment)

EK Success small star punch

MFT Fishtail dies

Spellbinders M-bossibilities folder

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol

 

For the Week Ending 11/18/12 Post 61

You "Leaf" Me Breathless

This is a cute little freebie digital stamp that I downloaded from Whimsie Doodles.  His name is Jayson.  I made the card for my boyfriend who is currently in a long term care hospital about a half hour away from home.  I thought it might cheer him up.

 

I colored Jayson with Copic markers and added a clear Spica pen to the leaves in the bag for a little sparkle.  I also cut out the leaf bag from a second image and popped it up to give the card some dimension.

The patterned paper is from an old CTMH paper pack called Harvest.  I punched some leaves from some freebie leaf punches my sister received years ago and randomly scattered them at the bottom of the card to look like a leaf pile.  I also popped up a couple of the leaves.

 

Supplies:

Spellbinders Oval Nesties

Copic Markers

Spica Pen

Leaf Punches - unknown

CTMH Harvest Paper Pack

CTMH Cardstock

Jute from Menards

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol

 

Trombone Notes



When I saw the Brass paper from Moxxie's Musically Inclined paper line, I knew I had to use it in some way for spirit bags for my niece. She is in her high school marching band and will at some point during football season give spirit bags filled with goodies to her squad. Last year she didn't want her mom or I to do anything for her bags. This year she wants something cool. Getting her to tell us what that is is a different story. (She's 15 - that should explain it.) Every idea we throw out to her has gotten shot down. I did get her to agree to a notepad covered with paper. This is what I came up with:

I had these little notepads in my stash.  I cut 2 pieces of chipboard 1/4 inch longer than the length of the pad and 1/2 inch wider than the width. My pads are 3x5.  I covered one side of each chipboard with the Brass paper and used CTMH pepperwood cardstock on the other side.  On the back inside cover, I created a little pocket for the notebook to slide into.  I didn't want this notebook to be a one time use type of thing when all the paper is gone.  I used 3/4 inch wire to bind the book with my Bind-It-All.  The trombone on the front is from the Cricut Quarter Note cartridge (my niece plays trombone).  I cut the trombone from gold cardstock I got from Hollo's Papercrafts and backed it with juniper and pepperwood CTMH cardstock.  The letters from "notes" is cut out using My Favorite Things Die-Namics By The Letters.

I stamped each page of the note pad with the music notes from the Pure Innocence Christmas Caroler stamp set in juniper CTMH ink.  I only had to make four notebooks so it wasn't so bad.

 

My niece seemed to like these.  I hope they make it into the spirit bags.  If you have any other inexpensive ideas (besides candy) that high schoolers would like for their spirit bags, let me know.

 

Supplies

Chipboard

Moxxie Musically Inclined Brass

CTMH cardstock - juniper and pepperwood

notepad

Gold cardstock

Cricut Quarter Note cartridge

MFT By the Letters die

PI Christmas Caroler music notes

Bind-It-All wire

Rhinestones

 

Thanks for looking!

Carol

Shhh, It's a Secret - Password Book

We made this cute little internet password book for a friend's birthday. The book itself was all handmade. Cardboard was cut to 9 x 5 1/2 and covered with paper from CTMH. The cover paper was cut an inch bigger than the cardboard so that it could be wrapped around the cardboard.  The front was decorated with ribbon before a complimentary piece of paper was cut to about a 1/2 inch smaller than the cardboard and placed on the other side of the cardboard to cover up the edges of the cover paper. (You can see a little bit of this on the picture of the tabs below).

 

The pages were created using Word and printed on a 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock (front and back) then cut in half. 

An SU! punch was used to create the tabs and CTMH letter stamps were stamped to make the index. Here is where you can see a bit of the greenish diamond paper on the inside back cover of the book.  Be sure to attach your ribbon before covering the inside back if you want to tie your book closed. 

This is a picture of the back cover.  The book was bound together using a bind-it-all.  (Have had the machine for years and never used it!!) Ribbon was tied to the coils.

My Favorite Things Pure Innocence girls were stamped on 1 1/2 inch squares and colored using Copics.  A bit a glitter was added to them and to the background paper.

SU! and CTMH ribbon was used as embellishments along with a strip of paper from the back cover.

If anyone is interested in the Word file for the pages, just e-mail and let us know.

Supplies:

CTMH paper

CTMH & SU! ribbon

MFT Pure Innocence stamps

SU! punch

Copics

Glitter

Cardboard

CTMH letter stamps

Bind-It-All

Thanks for looking!

Carol and Cheryl



Misc. Cards

I made these cards years ago as a birthday gift for a friend.  I gave her a box of various all occasion cards. Only a few of my friends would I consider giving handmade cards to as I know they would appreciate them. I get most of my inspiration from Splitcoaststampers.  They are a great resource and the members are always sharing templates and new ideas.



This card was hand cut from a template I found on Splitcoast forums.  The sprinkles are brads. The cherry is from a punch then glossy accents added for shine. The cupcake wrapper is silver paper run through a paper crimper.

Just one of the many Eiffel Tower stamps that I own.

Another one that I found a directions for on Splitcoast.  For the strawberry, after I stamped it, I colored a portion with a brown marker then added glossy accents to make it looked like it was dipped in chocolate.

A simple card with hand torn edges and the Happy Birthday cuttlebug folder.

Found a template on Splitcoast and modified it a little bit to fit on the card the way I wanted it.

Very simple thank you card using old Chatterbox paper and CTMH ribbon.

Thanks for looking!

Carol



Hibiscus Digi

This card was made with another digi stamp from Beccy's Place.  She has a great selection of free digis and digis that you can buy. 

I used the Gamsol Magic or Magic Colored Pencil Technique to color this image.  Check out these great tutorials on Splitcoaststampers and Inky Antics.  One of the things I love about this technique is that the shading is automatically done for you.

Supplies:
Beccy's Place Hibiscus digi stamp
Prismacolor pencils
Gamsol
Circle Nesties
Cheery Lynn doily die
Kassie's Brocade CB folder

Thanks for looking!
Carol

Lovely As a Tree

Lovely as a tree is one of my favorite SU! sets.  It seems I use this tree stamp the most out of the whole set.  I stamped this with Memento Tuxedo black and colored with copic markers.  I then sponged color on with PTI Tye Die Duo - Chamomile and tore the edges.  The sentiment is from PTI.

In 2006 I posted two cards on Spitcoast HERE and HERE.

Supplies:

PTI Kraft

Copics

PTI Tye Die Duo - Chamomile

PTI sentiment

Thanks for looking!

Carol

A Ladies Diary Clothespins

I saw these beautiful clothespins on Splitcoaststampers HERE.  I just loved them and had recently seen this paper at the scrapbook store.  I knew I had to make some.  ESB only had the 8x8 paper pad and not the 12x12 sheet of these lovely ladies.  I knew I could make the smaller images work.

Because the ladies are much smaller than the length of a regular sized clothespin, I first mod podged a strip of decorative paper to the clothespin.  I then cut the ladies into strips and mod podged them over top.  Once the mod podge was dry, I brushed Tim Holtz Distressed Stickles Rock Candy over top. Added the pearls, flowers from Petaloo and some rhinestones and I was done.

Thanks CntrywmnStamper for the inspiration.

Supplies:

Graphic 45 Ladies Diary

Mod Podge

Tim Holtz Distressed Stickles Rock Candy

Petaloo Flowers

Strand of pearls

Rhinestones

Thanks for looking!

Carol



Lucille Ball

I made this card as a store sample for the Embellished Scrapbook Boutique.  The photo of Lucille Ball is actually a photostamp from The Stampsmith.  With these type of stamps, you need to stamp the image on glossy paper (not photo paper)  with archival ink for the best results.  I then colored the image with chalks.  For some reason, the peachy color on the flesh does not show up very well even in real life. 

I handmade the flowers using a small retro flower punch by Paper Shapers.  Just stack six flowers on top of each other with glue in the center.  Alternate the petals as you go.  On the top flower, crease each petal down the center, place glue on the petals and bend up so they meet in the middle.  You have to hold them for a bit while the glue dries.  On the remaining layers, lift each petal up to give the flower dimension. 

Supplies:

Stampsmith: Lucille Ball

Martha Stewart punches: Frond and border punch

Paper Shaper: small retro flower

Paper: Darcie

Thanks for looking!

Carol

Linked to:

Tatertots and Jello

Delightful Order

Marblehead Lighthouse

The Marblehead Lighthouse stamp from Stacy Stamps is one of my favorite stamps.  I have a few other lighthouse stamps, but this one seems to be my go-to stamp when making masculine cards.

The Marblehead Lighthouse is within 30 miles of my home.  I spent a lot of time in Marblehead as a kid, however, we did not ever visit the lighthouse because it was closed to the public.  It is now open to the public.  I have been there a few times, but never when the lighthouse was open for tours.  To see what the lighthouse looks like IRL click HERE.

These are just a few of the cards I have made with this stamp over the years.  I notice I tend to use a navy theme when making my cards.

The lighthouse was stamped on the white card base then matted with a red oval and a navyish colored mat.  The birds and the wood pillars are from the Sailing Set by Stacy Stamps and the the moon is the Moon/Sun stamp also by Stacy Stamps.  I have found that the white craft ink from SU! is the best for stamping on colored cardstock. 

To learn to tie this Carrick Bend knot, click HERE.  You only want to go through the first six steps.  I had a better website with animation, but the page is no longer available.

The navy background was also run through the Happy Birthday cuttlebug folder.  It was actually by accident as I was talking on the phone while making this card and wasn't paying attention.  After I ran the white though the folder, I realized that the navy and white lined up perfectly so I could still use the navy cardstock. 

Used a ticket punch on the corners and Tim Holtz Bricked embossing folder on this one and added some twine.

The corners were punched with a Southwest punch on this one.

I have tempted several times to color this stamp but have never been happy with the results.  This one turned out ok; I'm still not thrilled with it.

Supplies:

Stacy Stamps: Marblehead Lighthouse, Moon/Sun, Sailing Set

Embossing Folders: Happy Birthday, Bricked

Twine
Punches: Ticket, Southwest
Oval Nesties

Thanks for looking!

Carol

Accordion Card - How To

We have received many requests on how we did the card base for our 90 Candles Birthday cards.  We decided to do a little picture tutorial for you.  This tutorial is for a 6"x6" finished card, but you can adapt it to any size that you need. 

First start by cutting 12"x12" paper in half to get two 12"x6" sheets.  Score each sheet at the half at 6 inches.  If you are using textured paper, be sure to score and fold your sheets so that you have some that are folded with valley folds and some with mountain folds (see below).  If your paper doesn't have texture, you can just fold them in half.  For our candle cards, we needed nine 12"x6" sheets.

Once you have your sheets cut, you are now ready to start assembling the base.  You want your first sheet to be a valley fold card (sheet 1-2) so that when it is folded shut, the fold is on the left and the opening is on the right.  This way, when your card is all assembled, the first page opens like a regular card.  We wanted the textured side to be visible on the inside of the card so we put the textured side up.  Next you want to take a mountain fold card (sheet 3-4) with the textured side up and attach it to sheet 1-2.  You will adhere side 3 over top of side 2.  Make sure everything is lined up evenly and that each piece can fold properly.

Your next sheet will be a valley fold card (sheet 5-6).  We put the smooth side up on this one because you will not see this sheet when the card is open. (Be consistent: we made sure the textured side was face down on all the sheets that were covered so that when you flipped the card over, it was uniform in appearance.) Adhere side 5 behind side 4. 

Your next sheet will be a mountain fold card with textured side up and would be adhered on top of side 6.  Alternate between valley fold and mountain fold cards until you have the length of card you want.  Make sure you end with a valley fold card (textured side will be up on this one).

(illustration of card assembly)

  

The above picture shows the first few pages of the card we did for our uncle when it is assembled.  When it is open, you cannot see the front cover of the card.

 

This picture shows the last page of the other 90-candle card we did.

Some other information:  On our first candle card, we cut the brown pieces 3"x6" and adhered to each sheet.  This will leave the card base color showing at each of the folds.  When we did our second card, we cut the brown 3"x12".  This way, you only see the card base color on the mountain folds.  Either way you do it, make sure that your card is open so that you can line each piece up evenly with the next.

The candles were cut 3"x7/16".  We used a mix of patterned paper and solid card stock and assembled them in the same order on each of the pages.  The flame is the wing of the SU! Bird Punch.  On one card, we used a yellow patterned paper which gave it a bit of a flame look. On the second card, we used solid yellow cardstock and then sponged a darker yellow around the edges of the flame.

This card is too thick to put into a regular 6x6 envelope.  We used a clear plastic box that Papertrey Ink packs their stamps sets in.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Carol and Cheryl

For the Birds

StacyStamps has some great nature stamps.  I used the Chipping Sparrow on these cards and colored using Prismacolor pencils and blended with an Adirondack refillable pen filled with 91% alcohol.  I did a search on the internet for a picture of a chipping sparrow so that I could get the colors right.  I cut out the whole stamped image and used foam dots to pop it up.  I also stamped an extra flower and cut it out to add to the lower left corner. You can't see it in this picture, but the center of the flowers are glittered. 



(close up view)



This one is another variation.  I again stamped an extra flower and added it on top of the bottom flower with a foam dot. 



This is StacyStamps blue jay.  I also colored it using the Prismacolor pencils and blending with an alcohol pen.  I tore the paper around the image then sprayed it with Goosebumps spray.  After the Goosebumps dried, I antiqued it using a brown ink on a sponge then wiped the excess off.  You can see the Goosebumps up close on the image below and a bit of the antiquing.  



Supplied:

StacyStamps: Chipping sparrow and Bluejay

Goosebumps spray

Glitter

Prismacolor pencils

Alcohol marker for blending

Oval and Scalloped Oval nesties

CTMH paper

Cuttlebug embossing folders

Thanks for looking!

Carol