Christmas 2011. . .Snowflake Cheer

This is another card whose original design was by Angela Kelley.  Once again, I have enlarged this card by adding two more layers to the base:  the light blue cardbase and the soft moss green snowflake pattern.  Again, I think the two new color layers enhances the card, but certainly does not take away from the original design.  This is such a restful card, soothing in its quiet presentation.  I hope that my good friend and her husband enjoy it and know that it was made and sent with thoughts of our long-time friendship in mind.

Christmas 2011: Love those Mittens!

I love this next design made by Angela Kelley.  I have enlarged the card by adding to more layers and with the added bonus of more color:  a new soft lime green cardbase with a red mat layer next, and then the front of the card.  I really like these new layers, I think it adds a lot more color to the card and brings out the green and reds in the mittens better.  The mittens were cut from a patterned piece of paper with mittens all over using a Spellbinder circle die.  Such a great card, and I thank Angela for her original design.

Christmas 2011: Snow Flakes Falling

This next card was also a design by my sister Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner).  Again, I needed to make the card larger, and it came a 5-/4 inch square.  I added the BoBunny Double Dot layer and enlarged the snowflake paper by cutting it in half and spreading it open under the center belly band.  I also added the Scalloped die cut under the snowflake circular sentiment, offsetting it just a bit.  I think my changes added to the card's design, but yet it retains the flavor of the original design.

Christmas 2011: A Card for Son & Wife

Mark & Ginger's card evolved and original design kit by my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner.  Once again, I enlarged my card and made it square. I added a new card rose red base, added the teal snowflake layer and added the doily lace border.  The rest of their card is composed of the pieces in the card kit.  Isn't that just the cutest idea of clipping the winter clothing to a knotted clothesline.  The winter clothing was fussy-cut from a pieces of scrapbook paper.  

A Son's Birthday in October, 2011

My youngest son, Mark, birthday is in October.  I like to make cards that focus on who the person is. . . .by depicting their job, their hobbies, their travels, etc.  Mark is a builder of homes, and takes after his Dad in being able to repair anything.  One difference from his Dad is that he builds homes from scratch, and that is something that his father has never done, though he can do some pretty major home repairs as needed.  

This was my second birthday card ever for Mark, and I had found these cute little metal tool embellishments during my travels in California and I had to buy them for future use.  They, of course, were perfect for Mark.  I loved the colors on Mark's card and the way it turned out.  One thing that may not be clear by the picture is that the aqua patterned paper just below the tool rectangle mats actually has raised and embossed tools, which is pretty cool-looking on the real card.

Anniversary #7 in September 2011

September brought Don & Michele's anniversary...this was #7!  I think since I could not spend a lot of time on Mark & Ginger's card in July, my psyche told me to go overboard for Don & Michele. . .LOL!

I was definitely thinking vintage as well.  I made the crossword puzzle in Microsoft Word, using a table with many tiny squares colored and not.  The word sheet behind the crossword is actually all the questions by number that relate to the actual crossword, which I made up and printed in Word as well.  I also placed the crossword, questions, and answer key (upside down) on a sheet of cream paper and enclosed in an envelope attached inside the card for them to complete on their anniversary...a tad easier than trying to figure anything out on the card front's crossword!  I found the vintage circus tickets online; they happened to be for a Sunday, their actual anniversary day ~ I was stoked!  But, they were the wrong color for my card color scheme...so I put them in PaintShop Pro and changed the color to peach!  Lots of computer challenges...but lots of fun to do!  I love combining computer skills with cardmaking though I don't like make digital cards!  Somehow they don't have enough 3-dimensional layers to them.  I use the computer for the sentiments most of the time instead of stamps, for typing my poems and verses for the inside the cards, and for making my own script paper, things like the crossword, papers with words, etc.

(original inspiration from a card in a cardmaking magazine.  I should have written the information down at the time I thought I might make something like it to give the original author credit. . .I apologize for that lapse.)

September 2011: A Birthday Follows Mine

It was time to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law whose birthday follows mine by just one day.  And yes, again, she would get a Copic-colored card.  I found this little Magnolia stamp that looked like Tilda was lounging back, low-key on a summer afternoon.  June lives in California territory where the sun still shines warmly and brightly in early September, so I thought she was perfect.  I colored Tilda's clothes to match the My Mind's Eye belly band that my little image looked like she was sitting on.  Love those corals, browns, tans, and greens.  I was pretty sure June would like her card very much.

(Heidi Gonzales: My Lil' Scrap Corner design: enlarged, modified and add-on to make it more me.)