12/29/2017

Love Mail - A Die Cut Only Card

Good morning!  Hard to believe that Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Well maybe it's not that close unless you're a card maker and need to start making your cards!  This card is made using only die cuts.  As an added bonus, since I cut the pieces out of the various colors of card stock (rather than all white and coloring the pieces) I have enough leftover to make another card in the reverse colors!
For this card I picked the patterned paper first and chose colors based off of it.  I cut an A2 card base from Very Vanilla card stock, a panel for the front that is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches from the paper and a panel from Rose Red card stock using the largest of the Nested Stitched Eyelet Rectangles dies.
I used snail adhesive to glue the eyelet panel to the patterned piece.  I placed it at an angle that I felt was pleasing, then used my paper trimmer to cut the overage.

Very easy to do.  I have also done this with scissors if the amount of paper hanging off the sides is small.  However, I'm not that good with keeping the cut perfectly straight so I find the paper trimmer works best for me.
I cut the mail box and letters from Love Letters and the postmark and stamp from Love Postage using various colors that matched my patterned paper.
I played around with placement before gluing down.  I did cut off the branches from the mailbox post and added another letter and some small hearts (not shown in this photo). 

Dies used: Cottage Cutz Love Postage, Love Letters and Nested Stitched Eyelet Rectangle 

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I hope you have a great New Year's holiday weekend filled with fun and some time to be creative!

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12/25/2017

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday surrounded by family and friends.  Today's card celebrates family and friendship.  Santa brought our family a fun gift today - DNA kits to trace our heritage.

So of course Santa needed cards.

These were really fun to make and went together pretty fast (three cards in three hours) considering the amount of coloring to be done.  I often try to match the card recipient's hair color and skin tone but in this case I wanted variety (who knows what will turn up in those DNA samples!)
I probably used 75% of the E markers that I have.  I shaded hair and skin but I did not spend time shading the clothing.  Clothes and the photo background were colored flat.

For the card background I used Altenew's Peace on Earth stamps.  This set comes with Merry Christmas in around 14 or 15 different languages.  I stamped them in Versamark on a Crumb Cake background.  If I had to do it again, I'd make them a bit closer together, but I think it works anyway.

When adhering the photo I added washi tape to give it that put-up-on-the-refrigerator feel.

Stamps: Mama Elephant Photo Bomb, Altenew Peace On Earth
Die: Lawn Fawn photo frames
Copic markers:  To numerous to list - see above :)

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a Merry Christmas!


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12/22/2017

A Sweet Little Fox

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone is ready for Christmas!  I'm almost there - but not quite.  For today's post I decided to switch things up a bit.  It's a little late for Christmas cards, so I thought I'd share a Valentine's card.  This card could also be altered for a birthday by simply changing the paper and sentiment.
I started with a piece of red card stock 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches that I scored and folded in half.  Then I cut a piece of patterned paper to 4 x 5 1/4.  I used the second largest stitched heart die to cut a heart from white card stock.
I cut the fox from Cajun Craze, the word "Love" from red and all other pieces from vanilla card stock.
I colored the bird, heart and fox nose and eyes using Copic markers.  I used B24, E99, Y18, R27 and black.  After gluing the tail tip and chest to the fox, I used a sponge dauber and Cajun Craze ink to shade him (or her).
I then assembled all the pieces for the final card.

This card goes together quickly and makes for a fun clean and simple card.

Dies: Cottage Cutz Sweet Fox, Stitched Hearts Set, and Live Laugh Love

Thanks for visiting today and have a Merry Christmas!

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12/15/2017

Gingerbread Man Gift Card Holder

Happy Friday!  It's been a little while since I have posted.  I was away on a business trip and when I got home I was evacuated due to one of the wildfires in California.  But, we're back home, safe now and I'm ready to get back to creating!

We're getting down to the wire for Christmas and if you're like me, your go-to gift (especially for teenagers) is a gift card!

The Cottage Cutz Fancy Pocket Plus die makes the perfect gift card holder.  It comes with accessory dies or you can decorate it for any occasion using other dies.  Here I used the Cottage Cutz Gingerbread Man Cupcake die.
I cut all of the cupcake pieces from various colors of card stock.
I used Crumb Cake ink and a sponge dauber to shade the edges of  the gingerbread man and icing.
I cut the pocket from a coordinating color and used a hole punch in the top so that I could make a tag type holder.
Next I assembled the cupcake and used foam tape n the back so it would sit up off of the pocket.
After assembling everything I added Nuovo drops for the sprinkles on the frosting.

I love this pocket because it makes gift card holders so easy!  I made this into a tag but you can easily use it to add to a card.

Thanks for visitng and I hope you have a fun and creative weekend!

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12/06/2017

Remounting Wood Mounted Stamps

Today's post uses stamps that I haven't used in quite some time.  Mostly because they are fairly large, solid, wood mount stamps and I found it difficult to get a good clean impression from them. 
The introduction of stamping platforms made it easy to get good impressions for cling and photo polymer stamps, but not wood mount stamps.  And if you're like me, you have a rather large library of wood mount stamps that are no longer used much because you prefer to use a stamping platform with cling or photo polymer stamps.

I knew I could re-mount wood stamps but hadn't done it prior to this.  I was a little concerned I'd ruin the stamps.  But last weekend I decided - why not try? I'm not using the stamps as mounted anyway.



It was a very straightforward process. Ten seconds in my microwave and the rubber stamp came off with little effort.  The sticker on the top of the block also came off and I re-stuck (is that even a word?) it to the foam side of the stamp.  Five minutes later I had a set of cling mount stamps!

Super easy and useful.

I made this card for the CAS Colours and Sketches color challenge this week.  It's Seasonal Color week - pick a 2017 color challenge and use those colors to make a holiday/seasonal card!  This is a great challenge website - very fun challenges that switch weeks between being a color or a sletch challenge.  In January I will start as a member of the design team.  I hope you will play along with us!

Stamps and dies: Stampin' Up! Keepsake Ornaments
Ink: Peek-a-boo Peach, Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush
Embossing folder: Stampin' Up! Pine Boughs

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12/01/2017

Hope for Healing

Today's post features a card of encouragement for those courageous women we know who are battling breast cancer.
I started this card by watercoloring a piece of 6 x 5 inch mixed media paper in three different shades of pink - Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette and Primrose Petals.
I then cut it down to fit the front of an A2 size card base.
I used the second largest rectangle from the Double Stitched rectangle set to cut a white panel for the front and I used two shades of pink for the sentiment.
I found the two shades of pink made the ribbon stand out a bit more.

This card was also entered into this week's CAS Colours Sketches challenge blog sketch challenge.

Dies used: Cottage Cutz Hope, Double Stitched Rectangle Set

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you have a great weekend and find some time to be creative!

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