Friendship Card

I have been away too long.  I have missed coming here and sharing my fun projects.  I have a lot of them still to share, but I just haven't made the time to sit down and get them posted.  Tomorrow is my monthly crafty day so I'll work on getting my projects organized and getting some pictures taken to share.  In the meantime, I found this recently in my blog photo collection.  Honestly, I don't remember all of the details.  I know the punches came from Stampin' Up! as well as the paper.  The ribbon, I think, is from Michael's.

 

I cut the card base as a normal A2 card and then trimmed about half an inch off make room for the scallop border.

Update:  Guess what I stumbled upon in my craftroom first off today?  You're so good!  You're right!  It was this paper.  It is from Stampin' Up!, and it's called Springtime Vintage.  All Stampin' Up! Papers are two-sided and this is the front and back of one sheet.  The stamp is from a Stampin' Up! set called Wings of Friendship.

End of Year Cards for my Students

Just wanted to post really quick to share the ADORABLE cards I made for my students for the end of the year.  I decided to dust off the ol' Cricut Expression for this project.  I have decided that I don't use it enough and need to start exploring my cartridges to see what I can make from them.

The cards are 3.5 x 3.5 using white cardstock from Walmart.  The paper is from my stash of "ugly" papers (the papers that get set aside because no one can think of anything to do with them).  These particular papers, I am embarrassed to share, have been in the back of my van for over a year, where they were placed in a box and left there.  That box is kind of an island of misfit scrapbook papers for me.  Although, I must admit, ugly paper isn't so ugly when you find the right project for it.  :)

The hippos were cut at 2".  I used the accessories as well (puddle and grass).  The inside of the card said, "Hippo Hooray!  We've had a great year.  Have an awesome summer!"  All solid colors came from Walmart textured paper packs.  The bling is from Stampin' Up!.

 

The monkeys were also cut at 2".  The green and black are from Walmart.  The brown was from Michael's (Recollections), and the tan is Creamy Caramel (retired) from Stampin' Up!.  The inside said, "It was fun hanging out with you this year.  Have a great summer!"  

 

The only thing missing is a stamp or printed sentiment of some kind.  I didn't have a stamp that would work and didn't have time for printing this time around.  I'll keep that in mind for next time.  

By the way, speaking of time, one thing I learned is that when making cards with layered designs, Xyron is the way to go.  I used 2 way glue for the monkeys and it took FOREVER.  I used my 5" Xyron for the hippos and saved tons of time.

The cartridge is Create a Critter.  I love how they turned out so much that I just bought Create a Critter 2 to play with as well.  By the way, keep on the look out for my next post, which was a bulletin board for the end of the year using the Create a Critter cartridge as well.  I'm going out of town-to see Wicked in New Orleans with my best friend-but I will try to post while I'm there if we have some downtime.

I'm linking this to Use it Tuesday for their Anything Goes Challenge.  Head on over there now to see other fun projects!  :) 

Thank You Cards for my Nieces

I'm so far behind in my posting.  I'm so sorry for that.  That last 9 weeks of school was a killer!  We did two major projects and then the end of the year crunch is always time consuming.  I'm going to be working on my crafting and blogging steadily over the summer, though, so that I can get into a routine that can carry over into the next school year.  I have been making some things and then saving them as drafts to post later so I'll have a lot of posts this week for you.  :)

My sister and I recently did the Expedition Everest Challenge 5K and Scavenger Hunt down at Animal Kingdom.  It was a blast!  We're both working on getting healthy and improving our lifestyles and doing fun runs like that turns out to be a great way to get motivated to do that.  Plus the sister bonding has been great.  :)  Anyway, she lives about an hour and a half away so we don't get together often to train together.  The first time we got together for training, my daughter came with me to watch the little girls and we stayed the night before the practice run so we would already be there the next morning and wouldn't have to get up and drive.  I am so not a morning person.  The little girls said we were having a royal sleepover and thought it was all about them, which was totally adorable, and partly right.  lol

These are the thank you cards I made for them for letting us come and have a royal sleepover with them.  The oldest one's nickname is Lilybug and the little one is the "Silly Little Monkey."  

I used a variety of Stampin' Up! paper and Walmart patterned paper.  The red is Cherry Cobbler from Stampin up!  The red polka dotted paper is from one of their Christmas collections.  I don't think they carry that one any more, though.  The black and white patterned paper is from Walmart's black and white 8.5 x 11 pack.  The black textured and white textured papers are both from Walmart.

  

The lavender and yellow papers are both from Stampin' Up!  The green polka dots are from Hobby Lobby and the patterned paper at the bottom is some I had in my stash from forever ago.  I probably got it from Michael's, because that's the only craft store I got patterened paper from back then.  

 

The lady bug and monkey are both blingy stickers I found at Hobby Lobby.  It was so perfect that they had something there for both girls at the same time that I just had to get them.  The cards were made around the stickers. 

I was hoping they would love them!  Look how happy they are!  My sister said she is going to frame them and make them part of their room decor.  Great idea!  I'll get pictures and add them when I go see them in a couple of weeks for our next practice run.  We're doing the Happy Haunted 5K in October.  Woot woot! 

She Did it Again!

The bestie has been busy again!  Just look at what she came up with.  What a heifer!  Now I've got to really pull it together to come up with something to compare to these gorgeous cards.  (Can you tell we're a little competitive?  Okay.  Maybe a lot competitive.  lol)  

She's starting her own blog, by the way, so I'll just give you the general down-low here and then add her link when she gets it up and running so you can get more detailed information on them.  I'm pretty sure all the colors are from the Brights collection from Stampin' Up!  The patterned paper is from the last catalog, but you could do these with the new patterns just as well.  The new paper is really great.  The stamp is also from Stampin' Up! and was carried over to the new catalog.  I loved these so much that I'm getting that stamp set this month at our monthly hostess party.  (You can order it here.)  Then I'll post what I come up with as well.

 

 

Let's Encourage Each Other

This is a card that I will be giving to someone special (who will not be named, because she might read my blog and will see this before she gets it) who needs some encouragement.  When you have a lot going on in your life, it's nice to get a little note to bolster you up so that you can deal with it all.  People don't really do that anymore.  We all have so much going on that we don't take that time to send a little something to someone else.  If we all did, then we would all be getting something special here and there that would really help us deal with the stresses in our lives.  Let's share the love!  :)
 

Everything for this card came from Stampin' Up! except for the patterned paper, which came from a friend, who thinks she got it from Target.
 
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Old Olive and Melon Mambo (I think)
Ink:  Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Pretty in Pink 
Stamps:  Flower: True Friend; Inside Sentiment: Whimsical Words
Bling:  I can't remember what they are called officially, but I call them blingy brads.  :)

I'd Forgotten I Made This Card

 

This was one of the first cards I ever made about 4-5 years ago.  I was sorting through some pictures on Facebook and came across this one.  I love this card even though I made it when I was just an inexperienced, card-making baby.  The colors are so great together, though, aren't they.  How did I manage that?  Seriously, you should see some of the cards I was so proud of at the time.......and can't believe I actually took pictures of.  lol

Promise you won't tell where I got the paper........you'll never believe this.......Dollar Tree......shhhhh!  It'll be our little secret.  Can you believe how cute it turned out with a pack of $1.00 scrapbook paper?  The base paper came from Michael's, but the rest is from the Dollar Tree.  The stamp is from Stampin' Up! I think it was a hostess set, but I'm not sure.  I'm not at home where I can check just now, but I will later and add it in.  :)

Totally Stole This Idea!

One of my favorite bloggers is Robyn over at My Pink Stamper.  She did this card awhile back that was just so simple and elegant that I had to do some for myself.  I left off the sentiment so that I could add them later as needed, but here is my version.  If you click on "My Pink Stamper" above, you will be taken to the video tutorial she did.

The paper is Whisper White from Stampin' Up!  I did a 5.5" x 8.5" folded in half card base.  Then I embossed about 3/4 of a 5.25" x 4" piece of Whisper White. I affixed the velvet ribbon (from Hobby Lobby) onto it, using the "cheater method" from My Pink Stamper.  I use my ATG Gun instead of Scotch tape, though.  The flowers are from The Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby.  I bought a package of the black and white and a package of the pretty aqua and then mixed and matched them.  The bling came with the flowers.  I used hot glue to adhere the flowers.  Aren't they pretty?  I just love the ideas she comes up with.  They are so simple and always cute.

I'm linking this to DLART's Thankful Thursday Linky Party.  Go and check out all of the cute projects when you get a minute!  You won't be disappointed.  :)

New Card for the Recruit

The inspiration for this card came straight from Robin at My Pink Stamper.  She posted a video for the cutest card the other day, and I was just so excited to make one myself.  I don't have the Cricut cartridge she used, and it was going to be about $30.00 to buy it (not the time of the year for extra stuff like that) so I looked through the ones I already had.  I found this cute little birdy on my Create a Critter cartridge, which I have NEVER used but just HAD to have.  I actually have a lot of cartridges that fall into that category.  I really need to start using more of my stuff.  I don't even know what I have!

Isn't he just the cutest thing?  I used Night of Navy from Stampin' Up! for his body with a brown I got from Michael's during one of their 8 sheets for $1.00 sales.  The yellow came from Hobby Lobby and the patterned papers are scraps that I've been using for all of his cards (leftover from the sendoff back in September).  I drew a little 'glint' in his eye, because it seemed so plain.  The ribbon is 1/4" grosgrain from Stampin' Up! in Chocolate Chip.

I don't have any of Robin's stamp sets (sniff sniff).  I never could decide which one I wanted to start my collection with.  Then she announced her retirement and it was at a bad financial time for me.  By the time I could get any, all the ones I wanted were sold out everywhere.  Ah, well.  I can take the same ideas and use my Eclips (Which I named Soleil Moon.  I know.  By the way, I named my Cricut Jiminy and my Samsung Galaxy is named Andromeda.) to draw the words for me.  Zoomed in, it doesn't look very clear and pretty, but you can't tell it by just looking at the card.  I used my Night of Navy stampin' markers.  The Eclips drew the trace-line, which it wasn't supposed to do.  I filled it in after.  I'll be playing around tomorrow to find out why it did the outline when I asked it to just do the 'fill'.

Overall, I really like it.  :) 
 

I Just Made This Using Scraps, Ya'll!

I needed to put together a quick card for my youngest so I could get it sent out today with an item he requested for one of his DIs.  Wish I could share how that turmed out, but I think it's an inside joke so I'll have to wait until I have clearance on that one.
Anyway, the paper is a 4.75" x 8.5" piece left over from the sour cream treat boxes.  The polka dot paper is also left over from those treat boxes 1.5" x 4.75".  The Not Quite Navy piece is left over from the recruit cards 1.75" x 4.75".  I made the snowflake fresh, but it was from scrap paper.  Glue it all together and it looks like an 'on purpose' card. :D

Oh No She Dih'ent!

Remember awhile back when I told you about the kiss-up competition I had going on with my bestie?  Well, she responded in true beautiful form.  Just look at this stinkin' cute card she made for our grade level aide!  What a heifer!  ;)

 

Now I've got to start planning my retaliation...........

Finally Got Them Sent Off! Whew!

I think I've mentioned that I was working on cards for my youngest son's recruit platoon.  I also decided to do some for my oldest son's flight of AFROTC cadets.  My daughter needed a couple to give to friends as well.  Anyway, I ended up making a grand total of 92 of these.  They were so simple to make and turned out really pretty.  

 

The paper is the white 12 x 12 paper pack from Walmart, Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy, and Not Quite Navy from Stampin' Up!, and a cute seasonal paper pack from Hobby Lobby.  I think it's by The Paper Studio.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! It's from a set called Sincere Salutations.  It's one of my favorites.  You'll see it on a lot of my projects.  :)

For the Marine recruits, they can only have power bars, so my mother-in-law went in together and bought power bars for the whole platoon.  I wish I had taken a picture of them.  I tied a blue ribbon around each one and then pop-dotted a sparkly snowflake on each one.  

For the ROTC cadets, I baked some cookies and did the same with the ribbon and snowflakes only on plastic baggies.  

You Only Live Once Card

Another quick post just to show my latest card to my youngest at boot camp.  It's based on a cute birthday card with frogs that we did at our Stampin' Up! hostess party last night.  I really like how it turned out.

I used Kraft from a paper pack I got from Michael's a long time ago and Night of Navy from Stampin' Up!  The stars and patriotic paper are left over from his send off back in September.  I used the decorative label punch for the sentiment, which is from a set called "Fifth Avenue Floral."   You wouldn't think a flowery set would be the one to go with for a marine recruit, but the sentiment goes perfectly with how I raised him and his desire to succeed in this endeavor.  

I used a cheap pair of zigzag scissors that I got from Michael's years ago to cut the border under the stars.  The scissors did not like the thick Stampin' Up! cardstock and you can see that's it's a little bit of a rough cut, but I actually like it better that way.  It looks distressed and goes perfectly with the "tone" with the Kraft paper and other dark colors and ink distressed edges.  It's even better in person.  I hope he likes it.  :)

Latest Card for my Marine Recruit

Earlier I mentioned that I needed to get another card made for my youngest.  He requested some pictures from home and it was time to send another round of power bars and Gatorade packets anyway.  

By the way, we're a little over a third of the way through.  I miss him so much!  I can't wait to see him again in January!  :)

Here is my latest patriotic card.  I'm sticking with the patriotic theme for his cards, because he's a homebody, and this is actually the last thing we expected him to do.  He has asked us to share his address with everybody so I know he's homesick and wants to connect.  I don't want to do anything seasonal that would cause him to think about what we might be doing to get ready for Christmas without him.  I want him to remember what he's there for when he sees red, white and blue with stars and stripes.  :)

By the way, I couldn't find a manly border so I used the decorative label punch and only punched the edge, lining it up as I went to make it look more borderish.  I'm undecided as to whether or not I like it.  On the one hand, it's interesting and not girly.  On the other, it's not bordery enough either.  Guess I'll have to head back to Hobby Lobby to find something I can use.  There are just some hardships in life we must bear.  LOL :)  

I'm Ready to Take the Next Step

I'm ready to take it to the next level in my craft blogging.  I'm going to enter a design challenge.  I found one I thought I could handle at Digital Tuesday Challenge.  

The challenge is to make a Christmas card using white, kraft, and blue.  The card has to incorporate something digital, whether it be digi paper, a digital image, text or whatever.  My mind immediately went to penguins.  I love penguins in Christmas decor-even though they don't exist anywhere near the north pole.  ;)  

So here's what I came up with:

Isn't he just the cutest thing?!?  I did a google search in images for "Christmas penguin," and this is one of the adorable images that came up.  Then I retrieved it in eCAL as an image and as a trace.  Then I shadowed the trace (kept the shadow but deleted the trace).  I had to tweak the points on his right foot in the shadow, because it wanted to cut a huge chunk out of it (OUCH!), but that wasn't too hard to do zoomed way in.

The paper was a little trickier.  I chose the Whisper White and Brilliant Blue from my Stampin' Up! supply right away and found a piece of Kraft that I got in a Walmart stack a long time ago.  Then what do to.  I had stickled the scarf and eyes of my cute little guy and he just stood out too much from the plain paper.  I decided to tear the white and stickle the edges to look like snow, but that looked odd against the plain blue on the plain kraft.  I tore the blue.  Now I was getting somewhere.  It looked like an iceberg against pretty blue water.  I finally decided to use my Simply Scored diagonal plate to emboss the kraft, and it all came together.  I really love it!  I do think that I'll use Inkscape next time to separate the colors on the penguin and cut them out as layers and piece them together to give him a little more dimension.  I'll try to work on that this week and post him so we can compare the two.  :)

Here's a closeup:

 

Quick and Easy Gift Idea

These are inspired by a project we did in a Stampin' Up! hostess class with Lisa Marie.  I had some paper from Walmart I wasn't sure what I wanted to with.  I do that a lot.  I see cute paper and buy it in case I find a project that would be perfect for it.  :)  Am I alone in this?  I hope not.

Anyway, this is a great project for those times when you need a quick and easy gift.  I made one for the daughter of our grade level chair.  She was in the 2nd grade, I think, and she came to my room during a teacher planning day and helped me with classroom organization that needed to be taken care of.  

A great tutorial on this project can be found at Dawn's Stampin' Thoughts.

Here is the brightly colored one.  I have not embellished the cards yet or stamped any kind of sentiment.  I haven't decided what I want to do yet.  I'm thinking I'm going to just add some bling and leave it sentiment-free so whoever I give it to can make it into whatever they need it to be.  I used the same paper to make the envelopes so that they coordinate.  I love the bright colors!

The black and cream looks elegant (it's even better in person, let me tell you).  I made four of the same card.  That's why there's only one picture of the card.  The envelopes for that one are just like the ones I made for my last post so no picture.  Hope that's okay.  :)

 You can't tell it, but the ribbon that it hangs from is a cream grosgrain.  Sorry about that. 

By the way, the 6 x 6 page protectors are no longer available from Stampin' Up!, but one of the ladies in my scrapbook group used regular 8.5 x 11 and just cut them down to 6 inches in height.  I've also see them done with 8 x 8 and cut down to 6 inches in height.  This is one of those projects that there are no rules for.  You use what you can find and make it work.  I love those kinds of projects!  Don't you?

Easy Breezy Set of Cards

The cards featured this time are from a one-sheet wonder that a friend shared with me.  I don't know where she got it from, but you can find OSWs by doing a google search.  There are a lot of free ones, and some that are sold for a small fee.  I don't usually buy things I can make on my own, but OSWs are worth paying for.  :)

This one is cool, because it is digital.  She gave it to me in a PDF file so I used some of my digital paper from MyGrafico and the turned the paper over and printed out the OSW on the back.  Cutting it was a breeze this way.  Then all I did was raid my Stampin' Up! card stock supply for matching colors.  I was so happy!  I found four perfect papers.  That doesn't always happen, but this set must have been meant to be.  :)

The base of the cards is Very Vanilla and the coordinating colors are Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, and More Mustard.  The box is from a great craft blog called Jill's Card Creations.  What a great marriage between projects!  

Here come the pictures!  Enjoy!  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.  :)

The cards:

This one has bling issues.  I'm going to have to reposition them.  Somehow they didn't get set right on top of the adhesive.  :(

The box:

I think I'm going to find paper for the sentiment that is a little closer to the color of the background paper.  It matches the base of the card, but it stands out oddly here I think.

 

The tutorial says that it will hold 4-6 cards and envelopes, but I have 8 cards in there and there is room for 8 envelopes.  The invitation envelopes from Walmart don't fit, so I'll have to get some smaller ones.  This is going to be a great gift!  :)