Surprise 50th Birthday in 2010!

My friend Carla's 50th Surprise Birthday invite...did I dare do a card that would be seen outside the family?

Oh sure, why not...Carla's been a friend a long time.  She'll be forgiving in my learning my new hobby!  So, I just dove in and even made my own flower!  Since I did not have a flower die, I made a hand-drawn template and hand-cut all the flower layers from different colors of cardstock and design paper.  Did I have a clue if it would be a flower when done...heck NO!  It was just a papercutter, scissors, glue and little ol' me to make the layout, flower, computer-produced sentiment and poetic verse inside!  It is actually amazing what you can do without a lot of tools, but it does take more time that's for sure.

March 2010...Birthday for David!

David, the computer whiz...a birthday is coming!

David and his computer are inseparable...thus the theme of the card.  But I couldn't find any paper that was computer-oriented, but I did find a little Jolee sticker set with computer dimensionals.  For the paper, I decided to make my own using a binary code converter I found online and typing it into Microsoft Word.  The words that I have converted to binary code are related to a favorite online game that David was playing in 2010 - Everquest.  I wrote a poem about David's character in the verse inside...what FUN!  

Thinking of you Mom...2010

I missed have the time to make Mom a Valentine's Day card this year, because my time was so short and I had no time left to mail out of state, but I was thinking about her.  To let her know that she was thought of, I decided to design a card for her soon after Valentine's Day and mail it off to her.  I had purchased the paper on my previous shopping expedition because it has hearts on its back side.  Since it was no longer a Valentine card, I like the reverse side with the pretty pastel flowers and my card evolved from there.  I went to WalMart and found the little silver metal butterfly in the jewelry-making section.  My Mom loves all things butterfly!  And, here is the finished card:

Mom's Thinking of You card

2010 Valentine's for the Ladies!

This was a learning lesson. . .and I found I didn't allow myself enough time to complete the cards I needed and allow for mailing time, so I had to forego making a Valentine for my daughter and her husband, who live in Oregon.  As Jackie lives locally, I was able to at least get a card finished for her.  I loved the little heart button I had purchased at Joanns, so I worked on a design that could incorporate them and one of the stickers that I got at Scrapbook Nook.  For my first feminine Valentine card, I was please and hoped that Jackie would like it.

My next card was for my son to give to his girlfriend.  I chose the two little lovebirds puffy sticker and built on it.  I love this roses paper that I found at Joanns.  I used the "X-O" brads that I found on my shopping expedition and used my corner rounder on the corners.  I thought the card turned out for about my sixth card that I designed totally from scratch.

2010 Valentine Cards for the Men!

Valentine's Day was just around the corner...I really had to make card for my family.  I made my first trip to my local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Nook in Kent, WA and to my local JoAnns store to buy Valentine papers.  What I had used for Christmas just wouldn't work for this holiday, that's for sure.

I bought paper, ribbon, buttons, rhinestones, brads, embroidery floss, twine, and a page of puffy stickers, but I was very conservative.  But,. . .the slippery slope had begun!  Looking back...I see that I was stuck on making them all horizontally and opening from bottom to top!

John's card - Feb. 2010

David's card - Feb. 2010

Mark & Ginger's card - Feb. 2010

What fun it was...again...I was so proud of myself!  I love this quick self-gratification.  Sewing was a lot harder and took a lot longer to finish.   I was in my element!

February 2, 2010: Husband's birthday card!

And then came John's birthday (February 2010)...so it was time to try my own creative juices again.  I only had some scraps of paper actually leftover from my Christmas cards, but I was actually able to use them and make a non-Christmasy-looking card.  I had a moose button laying around and feathers from a craft project several years ago, and I thought. . .hey, if I cut the button shank off and make the little mouse flat it might just work!  Then it needed something more, and I spotted the bag of feather in my craft storage box.  I stole the brown scalloped oval from a kit of cards I bought to practice with and had not yet put together, and...Voila here it is!

Christmas 2009...My First Self-designed Card!

Here is...my very first self-designed card for my son, David, for Christmas!  My sister had this beautiful paperline in her scrapbook store, and I fell in love.  One of the sheets was composed of rectangular cutouts that could be used in various ways, such as I used on my card below is the focal point and sentiment.  I made 5 other cards, but lifted ideas or parts from others that I saw in magazine, etc.  Little did I know I was on the slippery slope of becoming an addicted cardmaker!

October 2009: First Card Made!

These two little cards were part of a three-set of notecards, and they were my very first attempt at making cards in October 2009!   At that time, my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner.blogspot.com) had just opened a scrapbooking store in her home town, and I went down for a visit with her and our Mom.  My sister held a card class with pre-designed cards and papers. 

 
I learned about distressing edges using a Colorbox Cat Eye Chestnut Roan, which gave my cards a bit of an antique look.  I also learned "order of assembly," (i.e., attaching ribbon to papers before attaching it to the card base, using a double stick tape gun (for me that was a challenge...so awkward), using the corner rounder tool, and "popping up objects."  I have to tell you I felt all thumbs for sure, and I wasn't too sure I'd ever feel comfortable.    I did find, probably because I've sewn all my life, that I have an eye for color and layout.  All this surprised me greatly as my sister has always been the crafty person (including tole painting, which I find awe-inspiring), and I've always been the seamstress and the cook.  But, I was extremely proud of myself when I finished my very first set of cards!

My Papercrafting Journey Begins!

This is a new adventure...I am trying to start a blog for my papercrafting, particularly cardmaking, but who knows what else I might include in the future!  Several cardmaking friends, including my sister, who has been a crafter for many, many years, a scrapbook store owner, and my cardmaking mentor, kept telling me I should definitely start a cardmaking blog.

When I started making cards almost two years ago now, my sister also told me that I needed to come up with a personal logo to sign the back of my cards so that people would know who made the card.  I pondered this advise for a few days and realized I had already come up with my "crafting" name about two years previous, and here is the story.

I have always been a seamstress all of my life, though I do not sew like I used to, but I became interested in making some crafty sweatshirt jackets with patch pockets in a collage of patterns.  I made several for myself, and then family and friends starting asking if I could make one for them.  Thus, my gifts for everyone near and dear to me became a sweatshirt jacket.  After the first few, I decided I needed to add a label representing myself, the seamstress, and thus was born my lovely black with turquoise embroidered Chatterbox Creations label.  I came up with this idea for my craft name from a nickname that my high school friends gave me one day based on my maiden name, Chatfield.  They thought it fit me to a tee.  I guess, I was (am??) somewhat of a chatterbox when around friends; otherwise, I could and can be pretty shy and quiet.  

I developed a Created by Chatterbox Creations logo for my cards and computerized it to make label stickers to adhere to the back of my cards.  Much to my dismay, about a year ago, I found there was a Chatterbox craft company, as I see papers mentioned every now and then made by Chatterbox, but when I Google it, I can't seem to find a business.  But, I claim longevity on the name for over 50 years!  Well enough of this chatter, I need to get back to business!

So, about starting this blog. . .after trying to get my blog set up, I found I have much to learn about how this blogging process works!!  I'm usually pretty computer savvy, so I had hoped it would go smoothly. . .that it would be user-friendly, quick, and easy.  So far, this seems not to be so!  I find it extremely funny that to build this blog on Blogspot sponsored by Google, I had to do Google searches to find things I didn't understand from their directions, which seemed to be a bit cryptic, to say the least!  But, I SHALL persevere!