Celebrating a Friend's Birthday!

The wife of one of my husband's long-time friends is having a birthday in February.  I wanted to make her a card to let her know we were thinking of her on her birthday.  I had recently attended a Stampin' Up Occasions KickOff where we were able to use some of the new catalog items to make-n'-take sample cards to take home.  I chose to give our friend one of the cute birthday cards I made at this event.  The card was designed by one of our hostesses, Dara Peterson.

I just love the stamp set, Party with Cake, and its coordinating pop-up die, Party Pop-Up Thinlits, that this card was designed to use.  We die-cut the Party Pop-Up die with white cardstock and then masked and sponged the candles, happy, birthday, and the cake stand using a different ink color on each.  I did choose the change my cake stand color from Tip Top Taupe to Crushed Curry as well as one of the washi tape strips.  The corner confetti was stamped from the Party with Cake set, and a patterned paper oval backdrop for the cake, a bit of washi, and baker's twine finished off this cute little card.  (Note:  Layers popped up off card base; Oval die-cup + pop-up cake are popped up off card front).  I love it!  Thanks Dara for sharing it with us.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up Products:  Cardstock--Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Whisper White; DSP--Cherry on Top.  Stamps--Party with Cake (2016 Occasions).  Ink--Pool Party, Rose Red, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry.  Dies:  Oval Collection Framelits.  Washi--Cherry On Top set.  Baker's Twine--Crushed Curry.

Throwback #2 to Christmas 2011

Here are some miscellaneous card that I made for Christmas.  Some of these were kits that I modified to convert them to a more "me" card, mostly to add more laying and more colors to the overall look, which in turn, englarged them as well.  To start, here are a few more snowflakes, and then there's a whole group that I colored with my Copics.  Its fun to look back and see what I was doing for cardmaking back in late 2011, and specifically what my Chrismtas card looked like then.

More snowflakes!

Again, more snowflakes!

A little holly for the Christmas season!

Critters from the cold visit at Christmas!

Critter #2 fresh from the ice and the cold!

Can't have Christmas without peppermints, and my gosh, their ornaments too!

Throwback Christmas 2011: Snowflake Card Kit Modified!

This was the first year that I tried to make homemade Christmas cards for half of  those to whom I usually send cards.  I successfully made about 21 card, but I only posted about four of them to my blog.  I will attempt to post a few more now. . .some four years later!  It's interesting to look back on card I made four years ago and see changes that I have made in my cardmaking skills and designs.  So, here goes!

I will call these cards my 2011 snowflake cards.  There are six cards made from a card kit that I purchased from a cardmaking instructor, Angela Kelley, who used to teach at my sister's scrapbook store in Redding, California.  (Just a note:  my sister closed her store in May 2010. . .the economy was not kind to "Mom & Pop" stores from 2008 forward).  

I took Angie's card kit, and first, I decided I wanted to enlarge them a bit and add more pattern to each by adding more layers.  I added two more patterned layers to each card by adhering the bottom pattern to a larger white card base than the one provided for the cards.  (In the early days of my cardmaking, I usually always used a white card base but applied a pattern to cover it fully on the front for the mat layer that was actually visible.)  With the present cards, I used at least a 1/4-inch mat edge for each pattern, basically framing the original card front's design onto these two new layers.  This process not only enlarged the cards, but also added more coordinating patterns and interest to each card as well.

On this card,  I rotated it 90 degrees and made it a horizontal card instead of a vertical card.  I mounted the sentiment oval on the lower left and added rhinestones to the upper left panel for balance.

To enlarge this card, I used the polka dot layer provided only under the top two-thirds of the card front instead of the entire card and then added a muted stripe at the bottom under the ribbon.  I also added two mat layers under the sentiment and two new 1/4-inch  mat layers under the new card front.

Again, to this one I only added two 1/4-inch mat layers under the card front instead of just using the white cardbase provided.

On this card, I actually cut the first layer down a bit, so that I could add a third layer of plaid and be able to have my plaid cut where I wanted it to be.  (Sort of like using the same thought process cutting plaid fabric for a skirt front and a skirt back so the plaid side seams will match perfectly horizontally when sewn together.)   I then added the two 1/4-inch edged mat layers under my plaid as on the other cards mentioned above. 

This card only had minimal changes. . .I added the two 1/4-inch mat layers under the card front instead of just using a white cardbase.

On this final card, I trimmed down the card just a bit so that I could add my two 1/4-inch mat layers under the card front.  I actually like the shortened rectangle that almost looks like a square now.  To me, before it was just a little bit too wide for its height before.

Throwback Christmas 2010!

Now, we have advanced a year.  I remember that this year, I was determined that I would try making all my Christmas cards from my own design.  This would not be so difficult to do since at that time I was only making eleven cards for my mother, mother-inlaw, my children, and my children's in-laws.  I did case one card I saw in a cardmaking magazine, because I just absolute loved it, and posted it to my blog already.  You'll find it posted August 14, 2011, entitled The Last of Chrismtas 2010!  In case you want to take a peek, this is the link: http://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2012/04/the-last-of-christmas-2010.html.


I found some chipboard Christmas embellishments at WalMart that year when their Christmas stock was first put on the shelves, and I will make note. . .I have never seen that WalMart has had this type of chipboard embellishment again, which I find somewhat disappointing.  With these little gems, I was able to fashion eight different cards, with totally different Christmas themes.  Here is a peek at three that I have never published. . .throwbacks to 2010!

This one used a variety of paper patterns.  The sentiment, Believe, was die-cut from the bottom trim on the Christmas paper used for the main body of the card.  I tied little bells to the bridge of the red-checked ribbon bow, and triple layered the sentiment with plain and scalloped circles using my Spellbinders dies.

This one was almost entirely the WalMart chipboard embellishments with two layers of coordinating patterned paper and two layers of satin ribbon layered on top of each other.  I added the little red rhinestone to the tree's topper.  I thought this card was an easy card, but pleasing when finished.

This one is my final entry from the WalMart chipboard embellishment group.  With this one, I just found some Christmas papers that I thought coordinated well with the little chipboard Christmas tree.  I added a sentiment with a scalloped mat layer in a color complimentary to the striped paper, and add blue grosgrain stitched ribbon to match the blue in the presents under the tree.  The bow looked a little bare, so I popped on a white plastic snowflake from my Christmas embellishment stash.

My final entry on this post is a card I challenged myself to make from this particular collection of Christmas papers.  I've had these papers in my stash for two years and had never felt the least inclination to use them.  As a matter of fact, I had asked myself more than once why I bought them!  The difficulty is that all the colors in every sheet in the collection are non-traditional Christmas colors made up of pinks, golds, yellows, blues and aquas, and a whole gaggle of non-Christmas greens.  I used three different patterns from the collection and found this little felt, padded snowman's head that I thought went nicely with the paper colors.  I even made the card sentiment by fussy-cutting words found on a fourth piece of the collection papers.

Throwback Christmas 2009!

I thought I would post some of the Christmas cards I have made in past years that I have never posted to my blog.  Some of them are cased cards with little modifications, some are cased with lots of modifications, and some are of my own design. 

I remember thinking when I first started making cards that I really didn't like little A2-sized cards as they looked more like a note card and usually "nice" card were much bigger.  So, if I was going to take all the time and effort to make a card, I wanted it to be viewed as a "nice" card; thus, it had to be larger.  So, it seems that every time I looked at a card design, I always looked at it through that lens, and even to this day, I still find myself using that lens.  I now realize that what I really are different colors, patterns, and layers, and the size doesn't always matter.  Therefore, I find myself modifying a design that I actually really like, by adding layers, which often increases the size of the card as well. 

 

I guess in introducing throwback cards, the best place to start is at the beginning. . .so with that said, the following card is one I cased just a few months after I started making cards in late 2009, and I then modified and enlarged it.  I remember thinking:  I'll never be able to design and come up with my own cards from scratch!  It's just so difficult to pick all the right papers to coordinate with one another, and then figure out what embellishments look best!  The card on the left is my cased and modified card, and the card on the right is the original card:

            

              (cased by Carlene Prichard)           (original design by Angela Kelley)
                        Size: 5-1/2" x 7"

You will note that I used the background paper of the original card as a smaller layer on the larger SU Chocolate Chip carstock card base.  I distressed all my edge, rounded some corners, offset my sentiment label to right of center, and added a larger white satin ribbon with a brown velvet ribbon.  It does give the card an entirely different look.

Valentine Wreath for My Door!

If you view and/or read my blog, you will have seen that I am now into making Deco Mesh wreaths for the holiday to decorate my door.  My first wreath is near and dear to my heart because it is a Seahawks wreath.  I have now made four of these:  one for my son & daughter-in-law, one for a cardmaking buddy's birthday, and one for my son's girl friend's birthday (an avid fan as well).  Here is a link to that project: http://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2015/08/seahawks-wreath-for-her-birthday.html 

My second project was loads of fun. . . I so love Halloween!  I love to make Halloween cards and I love all the fun decorations.  When the children were growing up, my oldest son and I fashion gravestones for the front yards out of tombstone shaped outdoor plywood, painted them gray and used one of those huge permanent black markers to assign them to clever characters for our lawn.  We, of course, had cobwebs and eerie music to fill the area surrounding the house.   Our house was the talk of the neighborhood.  As soon as I saw all the Halloween goodies in the stores, we had to get started on our next wreath project. .  .for Halloween!  Here is a link to that project:  http://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2015/10/halloween-wreath-lets-try-it-again.html

Now, we are onto Valentine's Day, which is soon to arrive.  Since Michele and I were not able to get together to get much shopping done, except for our Deco Mesh itself, I went out by myself to find embellishments to finish up our wreaths with a flair.  I found it really difficult by myself to choose as I really didn't know what Michelle would like or not, so of course, I over shopped and that means we spent another whole evening later making numerous returns before February 14th as many stores do not take back seasonal items at all after the season has passed, even with a receipt!  But, with all that said, I still have to say, we were very pleased with the way our wreaths turned out.  I made mine with more of a focus on red, and she used a raspberry pouf in her base; therefore, hers ended up with more of a pink-toned focus.  Take a peek below at my finished project, which is gracing my front door:

Valentine for a Son!

About two years ago, I went to a Card Buffet cardmaking event hosted by my Stampin' Up Upline, Liz Thayer, where we could make as many cards as we found time for in a four-hour period.  There were usually at least ten different card designs from which to choose.  I made one card that I really liked, which was a thank you card, but right off the bat, I thought it was a Valentine card until I read the sentiment found in a Stampin' Up stamp set named Chalk Talk.  

To this day, I have always wanted to make this card as a Valentine card, and this 2016 Valentine's holiday is the time.  In thinking it over, the thought came to mind that if sentiment read, A Son Holds Your {Heart} Forever, using an actual heart instead of the word, it would be perfect!  Of course, I did not have a stamp that said this, so I created it on the computer and printed it onto the Crumb Cake cardstock.  I was really pleased with the result.  My words were longer than those on the original Chalk Talk sentiment; therefore, I could not die-cut my tag using the Chalk Talk Framelit dies.  I decided to use the Ornate Tag punch, and cut it narrower to more closely replica the look I was trying to achieve.

On my card, I decided to add Chocolate Chip cardstock as the card base and make the original Cherry Cobbler base a middle mat layer instead.  My sentiment tag received the same three layers as well.  In addition, I added some Early Espresso Gorgeous Grunge lines as well as the Cherry Cobbler used on the original design, and I used a different washi tape, coloring the light one with a tan Copic Marker to blend better with the Crumb Cake card front.  I also added more hearts to the left side of the card to more replicate a shower of hearts.  I really think my son will like his Valentine card.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up Products:  Cardstocks--Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Red Glimmer.  Stamps--Gorgeous Grunge.  Ink--Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler.  Punches--Ornate Tag, Small Heart (retired), Heart to Heart--smallest (retired).  Ribbon--5/8" Natural Chevron (cut in half), Linen Thread.   Stash--Washi tape.  EK punch: Ribbon Slot.  Spellbinders die:  Nested Heart (smallest).  Size--4-3/4" x 5-3/4".

Another Checked Valentine Card!

I've made my third card using the brown, white, and red checked heart patterned paper from TPC Studio, and I still have enough paper left to make at least two more cards!  

I saw a card on Pinterest with a unique fold design that I thought I'd like to try.  I saved it to my Pinterest Layout Ideas board a few weeks ago, and I remembered it when I was looking through my board for pattern ideas for my last "key" card.  The author of this Pinterest save called the its style the Collar Fold.  After taking a look at it, I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out myself without a tutorial.  I figured my first step should be to figure out what stamp or embellishment I would put in my "collar opening," which would help determine the depth of my cut to created my collar.

I have been trying to organize my stamps into seasonal and occasion lists so that when I wanted to make a Valentine card, for example, my list would tell me which stamp sets I could use to make that type of card.  My list is further broken down into stamps sets that have small or large sentiments for that season or occasion list as well.  From my Valentine list, I discovered several stamps sets with cute hearts that could be added to my collar opening, and I discovered the retired Hearts A Flutter stamp & die sets had an open bodied heart with an eyelet edge, which would allow a word or small sentiment to be added to its center.  From this point, my card just flew together easily, and I was very happy with my first try at a Collar Fold card.  Take a peek below:

Recipe:  Papers:  Stampin' Up cardstock--Early Espresso, Real Red, Very Vanilla; Pattern-TPC Studio--The Reasons I Love You/ Little Lovin'.  Stampin' Up Stamps: Hearts a Flutter, Bloomin' Love (xoxo).  Stampin' Up Ink: Early Espresso, Rose Red.  Stampin' Up Framelit die: Hearts a Flutter.  Stampin' Up punch: Curvy Corners.  Recollections Pearls.  Stash: 5/8" Sparkly Sheet ribbon; Antique Gold Key.  Style: Collar Fold.  Size: 4-5/8" x 5-3/4".

Valentine Key to Love!

I just finished another Valentine card that I want to show you.  On a whim, I decided to try to make as many cards with different styles as I could using the checked heart brown, white, and red paper until I ran out.  I have to say, so far this is my favorite card using this paper.

I thought my checked heart paper would lend itself well to the layout idea of a card I made at a Liz Thayer cardmaking event about a month ago, which was also similar to Sweet & Sassy Layout #09 that I had saved to my Pinterest Layout Ideas board a few weeks ago.  Both are shown below:

             

I used a Darice embossing folder on the Early Espresso layer, plus I enlarged my left-hand rectangle larger than both layout design samples.  I added little key charm to the rectangle layer tied with sparkly red yarn to match the sparkly sheer ribbon.  Since I like sparkly, I decided I should use red glitter paper for my popped flowers to coordinate well with the sparkly ribbon.  

Though Liz's design popped both the patterned rectangle piece off the card front and the square heart-stamped piece off the rectangle (thus, the square was double popped on the right-hand side), I decided to only pop my layers once.  I adhered the left side of my heart-stamped square directly onto the patterned rectangle layer and only popped it on the right to match the rectangles elevation from the card front.  

Recipe:  Paper:  SU Cardstock--Very Vanilla, Real Red, Early Espresso, Red Glimmer; Pattern--TCP Studio--The Reasons I Love You/ Little Lovin'.  SU Stamps--Bloomin' Love.  SU Ink--Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler.  SU Dies:  Bloomin' Heart (flowers).  Darice Embossing Folder--Heart-Coeur.  SU Pearls.  Stash--5/8" Sheer Sparkly Ribbon; Brass key; Sparkly Red Fine Yarn.  Distressed.  Size--4-5/8" x 5-3/4". 

Friendly Valentine Card #2

I'm on to my next friend Valentine card.  I thought I would try the same layout design, but eliminate the embedded embossing and use one of the cute little journal tags that I found in my Valentine stash.  The sentiment is perfect for one of my friends, "I Like Hangin' Out With You."  

Next, I began to search for the perfect patterned paper companions that would work well together and with my tag.  When I found the Little Yellow Bicycle foil hearts hanging from a curly while clothes line, I thought it was the perfect base.  I soon found the other two patterned papers that would work for the banner and its half-circle topper.  I decided on the rose-pink cardstock I had used in my first friend card and decided to pair it up with red for the tag and the banner underlays.  I used larger brads on this card and I think I like them as well, but the jury may still be out on that one.  Take a peek at my finish card and see what you think.

Following my traditional cardmaking routine, I now turned my attention to designing an inside that compliments the outside, finishing it off with my own idea for a verse, using the Be My Valentine stamp from the Stampin' Up Delightful Dozens stamp set, which has unfortunately, been retired.  I made my verse using the computer and added the stamp at the bottom in Cherry Cobbler ink.  I also decided to color in my stamp heart with the Stampin' Up Rose Red marker.

Recipe:  Paper products:  Recollections 200 Sheet Pack: Red, Rose pink; K&Co.  Little Yellow Bicycle--Heart Strings with Foil; PaperMania--Mini Hearts; WRMK--Love Struck-Forever Yours.  SU stamp: Delightful Dozen.  SU Ink: Cherry Cobbler (inside).  SU Punches: 1-3/8" Circle.  EK Stickos: Red Bubble Hearts.  SU 1/4" Brads (retired).  Computer-made verse.  Size: 5" x 6".

Friendly Valentine Card #1

I have several cardmaking friends with whom I exchange Valentine cards just for the fun of it.  We usually plan a friends-lunch-out adventure and meet at one of our favorite restaurants.  Our luncheon is coming up soon, so I needed to get my cards finished pronto.  I wanted to use a technique that I learned probably going on four years ago now, and that is embedding patterns with the use of an embossing folder.

I chose a bright and colorful patterned paper that incorporates almost a horizontal stripe collage of patterns with many different colors of pinks, reds, and a few other pastels as well.  From many of these patterns, I punch small and medium-sized hearts, which I adhered to a white cardstock rectangle.  I then embedded them into this rectangle by using the Square Lattice embossing folder by Stampin' Up that is now retired.  This is my favorite embossing folder to use for this technique because it has a tightly woven pattern that really works well for embedding.  Next I decided to incorporate a banner using one of the paper patterns as a focal point and to also use it as the anchor for my planned sentiment.  I finished it off by adding mini brads in coordinating colors for an embellishment interest.  This is my little embedded Valentine pattern card. . .take a peek below!

To finish my card, I turned my attention to designing a coordinating design and Valentine verse that compliments with the front of my card creation.  I decided to incorporate the front sentiment into the inside card verse.  I must say there is certainly a LOT of PINK!  Take a look see at the finished product below:

Recipe:  Paper products:  Recollections 200 Sheet Pack: Red, Hot Pink, Rose pink; Darice Core'dinations Cardstock: Soft Side-mint; K&Co. Valentine Stack (retired).  SU stamp: Delightful Dozen.  SU Ink: Rose Red, Cherry Cobbler (inside).  SU Embossing Folder: Square Lattice.  SU Punches: Heart to Heart (retired), 1-3/8" Circle, Decorative Label, Itty Bitty Accents-Heart.  EK punch: Graceful Heart Corner.  SU Mini brads (retired).  Technique: Embedded Embossing. Computer-made verse.  Size: 5" x 6". 

XOXO Valentine!

I recently purchased the Bloomin' Hearts die from the Stampin' Up 2016 Occasions mini catalog, and I was determined I was going to make a card with it this year.  It seems I usually buy new products during a holiday time, and I don't end up using it until the next year (or even after)!  I was also determined I would use it with a black, white and red color scheme. . .but read on. . .it didn't turn out to be black, white and red!

Making the Card---

While going through my stash of Valentine papers to use for my two friendly cards, which you will see posted at some point in February, I came across what I thought was patterned paper that matched my color idea with white and black mini checks and red hearts on alternate checks.  So, I pulled it out of the stash box and set it aside to make later, because I needed to finish any cards I had to mail, or like my two friendly card that I would be seeing the recipients soon.  

Today, I was all excited, because this was the day I got to use my Bloomin' Hearts die and my black, white, and red color scheme.  All this while the checked paper had been patiently waiting, and my subconscious creative mojo had been stewing over this paper.  Before I even started, I had decided who would receive this card and the style and design I would use.  I was going to make a gatefold card using a black cardstock base and red glimmer paper for its middle layer and for the die-cut heart with a doily underneath my heart.  Lo and behold, this paper was NOT black, white and red, but dark brown, white and red!  "OMGosh, what to do now!"  I had the card layout all visualized, all I had to do was plan the cutting sizes and get to work cutting!  Not to fear, I easily decided an Early Espresso, red and white card would be just as pleasing. . .problem solved.

The paper is double-sided and had a red foil heart border on the back pattern.  I thought this would be kind of cute to add instead of having only the checked pattern, so I planned accordingly.  After I glued the delicate filigree heart die-cut onto my doily, I still felt it was a little flimsy to be the piece you grabbed to open the card, so I thought a large, red cardstock scalloped heart cut with my Scalloped Circle dies would add to its sturdiness and look nice on the backside when the card was opened as well.  This idea worked very well.  

Next, because I decided the white in my paper pattern was actually more of a pale cream and the border was definitely a darker cream, I made my popped flowers on my red filigree heart of a pale cream glitter paper that I had in my stash.  NOTE:  the filigree heart die comes with two little flower dies, one larger than the other, to add where the filigreed heart has these flower shapes in the its pattern.  I finished adding these, the other embellishments, and the sentiment, and satisfied with its look, I proclaimed it done.

For those of you who have viewed and read my blog before, you know what comes next. . .creating and finishing an inside design and verse that compliments my card's, hopefully, creative front.  

Recipe:  Papers:  Cardstock-Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Red Glimmer; DCWV-Glitter Cardstock Stack; Pattern-TPC Studio--The Reasons I Love You/ Little Lovin'.  Stampin' Up Stamps: Bloomin' Love.  Stampin' Up Ink: Cherry Cobbler.  Stampin' Up Thinlit die: Bloomin' Heart.  Spellbinders: Scallop Circles.  Stampin' Up punch: Word Window (shortened).  Wilton 4" Doily (Michaels).  Queen & Co. Twinkle Goosebumps-Red.  Size:  5-1/2" x 6".

Bloomin' Love & Happy Hearts!

I went to a cardmaking gathering hosted by my Stampin' Up upline, Liz Thayer, where she provided us with three card designs to make as a make-n-take.  It was a fun gathering of just six ladies who made the hour trip south to visit Liz and see her new home that they purchased about six months ago now.  We, of course, each brought a dish of food and Liz provided the beverages.  What a fun way to spend the afternoon.

One of the cards we made was a Valentine card using the new Stampin' Up Bloomin' Love stamp set, with lots of lovely popped layers to which I decided to add a white cardbase as another layer.  This card's colors are soft and elegant and the bottom Crumb Cake layer is texture embossed with the Happy Hearts embossing folder, which adds to the wonderful three-dimensional aspects of the card.  Thank you Liz Thayer for this lovely design. . .it was great fun to make! 

Now on to finishing the inside of the card so that it is ready to send off to someone special for Valentine's Day.  I brought the soft and elegant colors into the inside and embossed my Crumb Cake layer with the same Happy Hearts embossing folder as the front.  I printed my verse onto the Blushing Bride pink layer and added the My Valentine stamp from the Bloomin' Love stamp set.  I finished off the corners with a little embellishment and it was ready to go.

Recipe:  Stampin' Up papers:  Cardstocks--Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer; Love Blossoms dsp stack (2016 Occ.).  Stamps--Bloomin' Love (2016 Occ.).   Ink--Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Rose Red (inside).  Embossing Folder--Happy Hearts.   Love Blossoms Embellishment Kit (2016 Occ.).  Punch--EK Scroll & Hearts Edger.  Pearls.  Computer-made verse.  Size--4-1/2" x 5-3/4".

Valentine's Day is Imminent!

Valentine's Day has been creeping ever closer, and here it is now in the imminent category!  I few weeks ago, I decided I should try to use up some of my old Valentine paper and embellishment stashes.  Then again, I also wanted to use some of the new products in the 2016 Stampin' Up Occasions mini catalog, so now I knew I was going to be pulled in both direction.  I decided to start with my stash so I wouldn't feel so guilty if I ended up using more new than old.

The first stash idea that popped into my mind was My Mind's Eye's original Lost & Found Union Square papers that I have had for six LONG years now!  It was first published in 2010 and I bought my first pieces then.  Over the next several years, I stocked up on a more and more each year if I saw them on sale, as they were a little pricey because most pieces had glitter on them.  Now, I even have the 6"x 6" paper pad that came out a few years after the original 12" x 12" collection was published.

The piece of paper from this collection that came to mind was what I called the red glitter LOVE paper.  Now, this 12" x 12" paper, of course, is made with scrapbooking in mind, so it has rather large patterns to deal with.  I measured the lower right-hand corner of this paper where the glittery red LOVE word was imprinted, and decided a horizontal card with the big LOVE word in the center would work really well.  My mind evidentally chewed around on this idea subconsciously for several days, and one day in the middle of the night, I woke with an image of the LOVE word fussy-cut out and popped up in the center with some layers involved, of course.

After several days of completing my errand lists, doctor appointments, and celebrating my husband's birthday were finally over and done with, I was able to get to my craft table around noon today.  By this time, I had actually pulled out the paper I was thinking of and had decided to use SU's Early Espresso as my cardstock base.  Today, I actually began working on this LOVE word card that had been fermenting for going on two weeks.  In the meantime, I had received my most current Stampin' Up order, and there were some of the things I had ordered that had also been popping in and out of my mind to use as well!  

My first step was to fussy-cut the LOVE word and its surrounding design.  I decided to underlayer it with Early Espresso cardstock, so I traced its shape onto the cardstock and fussy-cut it about 1/8" out from my trace line.  I wanted use my new corner punch from Stampin' Up; thus, I ended up using both the eyelet corner and the 2-scallop corner as well.  I was really please with this effect.  I adhered a layer of the pattern paper to my espresso cardbase, and I popped up the set of red glimmer and the top patterned paper from this base set of papers.  I then adhered my espresso, fussy-cut underlayer to my LOVE word and popped this set up as well.  I added some small and mini red gumdrop glitter gems to the front, and I was done! Below is the final version of my LOVE word card, which I think I am well satisfied with!

As is my tradition in cardmaking, my finishing job is to create an inside that coordinates and compliments the outside design that I have created, so I turned my focus to accomplishing just that.  I had the idea to use my new SU stamp set, Bloomin' Love as I liked the flourishing My Valentine stamp in this set.  I built a verse around using this very stamp, and voilá here is my completed inside:

Recipe:  Papers:  SU cardstock: Early Espresso, Red Glimmer, Very Vanilla (inside); MME patterned: Lost & Found--Union Square: Home Sweet Home-LOVE; Darice Kraft cs (inside).  Stamps: SU-Bloomin' Love (inside).  Ink: SU-Cherry Cobbler.  Punch:  SU-Curvy Corner Trio; EK-Scroll & Hearts Edger.  MultiCraft: Gumdrop Glitter Gems.  Computer-made verse (w/stamped My Valentine). Size: 4-1/2" x 6".

My Husband Celebrates His Birthday!

My husband celebrates his birthday today, and I wanted to make a special card that if you knew my husband, and then saw the card, you'd know right away that card was meant for him.   I was excited to see a stamp set in the 2016 Sale-A-Bration flyer this year named, Sky is the Limit.  I couldn't wait to add it to my stamping stockpile, and, of course, I knew just who would get the first card made with it for his birthday!

My husband received his private pilot's license when he was in his twenties and even owned a small plane with his father for several years until job promotions and transfers no longer made it possible for us to keep it.  But, he still loves to pilot his own craft, and he would probably love to buy another plane now that he is retired.

As it turns out the new Stampin' Up 2016 Occasions mini catalog has several products that fit into my aeronautical card theme.  There is a Sunburst die that looks very interesting, and I have had the chance to use it twice at two cardmaking events that I have attended.  I would like to add it to my collection, but I have not done so.  It would have been the perfect die for the card I had in mind for John, but I decided not to let that stand in my way.  Over the last several years, I have made several sunburst ray cards that were handmade, and I thought why not, it should work just as well, if not better than die.

I wanted my ray papers to have a sky theme to go along with the biplane stamp I planned to use, so I used the night sky constellation and the world map papers that are in the Going Places paper stack.  I needed at least two more patterns or types of paper, but I did not see anything else that jumped out at me, so I decided to make my own paper by stamping a Compass Rose onto black cardstock with White Craft Ink.  For my fourth paper, I decided to use an antique gold glitter paper.

As my card evolved, my sun got changed into a sentiment sun by under-layering the sentiment with gold glitter paper, plus layered over some vellum clouds as well.  I heat embossed my biplane in black, fussy-cut it out, and double popped it up to overlap the sentiment sun edge just a bit.  I added a trio of  black and metallic gold gems on the lower right corner to finish off my card front.  I'm pretty pleased with my homemade sunburst ray card, and I think it will please my hubbie as well!

Below shows the inside coordinating design and little birthday verse with a "flying" theme that I made for my husband's card.

Recipe:  SU products:  Cardstock--Basic Black, Naturals Ivory (retired), White Vellum, Going Places dsp stack (2016 Occasions); Ink--Craft White; Stamps--Sky is the Limit (2016 SAB), Going Global  (2016 Occ.); Punches--2" Scallop, 1-3/4" Circle; Embossing Powder--Black.  Other: Darice Glitter Silk-Kings Crown; Recollections Black Pearls; Studio 112 Gold Metallic Gems.