Perfect Pinwheels

I mentioned in my last post that I visit You Tube on occasion and I found yet another video that inspired today's card.  About the time that CHA was going on I saw several videos featuring pinwheel dies that of course I was lusting over, but when I saw the Simon Says Stamp video that shows how you can make simple pinwheels without any dies I immediately started thinking about what I could do with them!

As usual I started out with the pattern  papers -- this time using several sheets from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Girl collection.  After Selecting coordinating card stock, ribbon, and ink, I set out to make the pinwheels. They were really easy!  If you like this look I definitely recommend watching the video I have linked below.  Of the two methods described I used the glue dot method.

In addition to these being so easy and fast to complete, I like that you can make these pinwheels any size you like.  I made mine with card stock cut at 2" square.

After the pinwheels were assembled cutting the card stock, inking the edges, stamping images, and putting everything together went pretty quickly.  I decided to make a gate-fold card and I stamped the inside with a cute bird image from the coordinating stamp set Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink.  This card is so cute!

I love this card!  Ive decided to enter it in several challenges:

1.   Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog -- Anything Goes
2.   Pile it On -- Fun Folds 
3.   Allsorts Challenge Blog -- Anything Goes 
4.   Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog -- Anything Goes

Supplies used are as follows:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, textured Melon Mambo.  My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Girl 6x6 pad.

Stamps:   My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink, My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy True Blue, Ki Memories Party Icons.

Ink:  Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip.

Embellishments:  American Crafts satin ribbon, Recollections brads, buttons from my stash.

Adhesives:  Tombow Mono permanent adhesive runner, Skor Tape, Glue Dots, foam squares.

Other tools:  Paper trimmer, scissors, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, artist sponge.

Creating a card sketch book

I don't know about you, but when I'm looking for inspiration, or for tips on how to do things I go to You Tube a lot.  One of the people I follow on You Tube is Kristina Werner.  I love her cards and when she posted her video on making a card sketch book, I knew I had to make one too.

I didn't copy hers exactly, but if you compare mine to hers you can definitely see how I used her layout.  I started by choosing the patterned paper.  Since I may use this book regularly I wanted to choose a pattern that I like to look at, and I've been saving these two sheets from American Craft's "Hello Sunshine" collection for a special occasion.   I then chose letter stickers and embellishments to match, and of course added some ink to almost everything.  The pop-up flower originally had a button in the middle that I pulled off in order to stick some of the letters on, I like how it turned out. 

To bind the whole thing I had to be a bit creative as I don't have the stapler that Kristina uses in her video, and I couldn't find my regular stapler.  Instead I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch holes through the center of the booklet (the same way it would have been stapled) and threaded some bakers twine through. 

Below is Kristina's original video.  You can find her blog post where she includes the page templates here.

The supplies I used are as follows:

Cardstock:  American Crafts "Hello Sunshine".

Ink:  Color Box fluid chalk ink Chestnut Roan.

Letter Stickers:  American Crafts Thickers Sunset.  Ki Memories epoxy stickers Good Tidings.

Other Embellishments:  American Crafts Daybreak Details.  Ki Memories brushed flowers. We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Bakers Twine.

Tools:  Paper Trimmer, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile.

Adhesive: Skor Tape.

Spring is coming, or so they tell me...

Happy Leap Day everyone!  Today's card I'm entering in the spring challenge at the cuttlebug spot.  This challenge came at a good time because after the last storm we had I think it may be awhile before spring arrives in person. :)

 

I started with Tim Holtz's Seasonal Paper Stash.  I used a strip from the 6x6 sized print of vintage seed packets.  I love this print as it reminds me of my Nanny and Grampy's garden that they had when I was young, and going with Grampy to pick out seeds. 

I chose cardstock, ribbon and ink to coordinate with the print.  After stamping and embossing with my Cuttlebug, I added some ink with a Ranger Inksentials tool to bring out the embossed pattern on the background, and around the edges of all of the pieces with an artist sponge. It seems that these days I can't help but ink everything!  I decided not to add a sentiment because its always nice to have a pretty notecard on hand as you never know when you will need one. 

I love how this card turned out! Perhaps spring isn't as far away as I thought. :)

Here is my list of supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Rich Razzleberry textured, Very Vanilla.  Recollections Kraft.  Tim Holtz Seasonal Paper Stash.

Stamps:  Fancy Pants "Little Star" clear set.

Ink:  Stampin' Up! Rich Razzleberry, Mango Mambo, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip.

Embellishments:  Stampin' Up! Hemp Twine.  Purple satin ribbon from my stash.

Embossing folder:  Cuttlebug paper Lace II.

Other tools:  We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, paper trimmer, Ranger Inksentials blending tool, artist sponge.

Adhesives:  Tombo Mono permanent adhesive runner, foam squares, Mini Glue Dots.

February is the month of love..

I know Valentine's Day passed quite a while ago but I really enjoyed making Valentines this year, and you could adapt these to use for any holiday or birthday.

The first cards I made were sent to family - my son's grandparents, godparents, and aunts and uncles.  I rarely make square cards but I felt like doing something different when I sat down to make them.  These were 4.25" square so that they would fit in an A2 size envelope and wouldn't cost any extra for mailing.

I started with the 6x6 Be Mine collection from Echo Park.  I looove these papers!  So cute and sized just right for cards.  I coordinated the card stock and baker's twine once I decided on which sheets to use, and once I decided on layout I made these assembly-style using my Cuttlebug to cut all of the circles, flowers, and banners ahead of time.  I made these over several days, but if I had make them in one shot it really wouldn't have taken much time.  I made a total of 8, but I just photographed my favourites. :)

Here is my supplies list:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo textured, Very Vanilla, Whisper White.  Echo Park "Be Mine" collection 6x6 pad.

Stamps:  Fancy Pants "Little Star" clear set.

Ink: Color Box Chalk ink Charcoal, Rouge, and  Dark Peony.

Ribbon:  We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Baker's Twine.  Pink satin ribbon from my stash.

Adhesives:  Tombo Mono adhesive runner, foam squares.

Dies:  Spellbinders Standard Circles, Large.  Cottage Cutz  Flower mini.

Other tools: Sponge, paper trimmer.


I also made a card for my husband.  This was our 10th Valentine's day together, and while we didn't do a whole lot to celebrate I wanted to make a special card for him.

Again I started with the "Be Mine" papers from Echo Park. Since I don't have a whole lot of Valentine stamps, I chose the sheet that had the sentiment "so In love with you" in the corner.  At first I considered cutting out the sentiment by hand, but my cutting skills aren't the greatest, and since the sentiment was flush into the corner I didn't have a die that I could use to cut it out evenly, so I decided to use one of my circle dies to cut it off center, and then I would just put the sentiment in the corner of the card, like it was on the sheet I took it from.

The circle set the tone for rest of the card.  I cut various circle shapes from the sheet the sentiment came from, and a music sheet from the pack to layer together.  I also used Cuttlebug's "Seeing Spots" embossing folder to add more circles to the background.  Some ink, an arrow to emphasize the sentiment, and some sparkles I couldn't resist finished off the card. This card turned out to be one of my favourites and my husband loved it too.  :)

The only change I would make is that the arrow and strip at the bottom was die cut from a sheet I embossed first, so the emboss flattened a bit when I ran the dies through my Cuttlebug.  You can still see the emboss though so I wasn't concerned enough to start over, just something to remember for next time.

Here are the supplies I used:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up!  Basic Grey, Melon Mambo textured.  Recollections Kraft.   Echo Park "Be Mine" 6x6 pad.

Ink: Color Box Chalk Ink Charcoal, and Rouge.

Dies:  Spellbinders Standard Circles Large.  Quik Kutz (Lifestyle Crafts) Arrows Cookie Cutter dies.

Embossing Folders:  Cuttlebug Seeing Spots.  Quik Kutz (Lifestyle Crafts) Hounds Tooth.

Other tools:  Ranger Inksentials blending tool.

Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry.

Embellishments:  Pink gems from my stash.

It's been a while...

Hi All!  Its been a lot longer than I thought it would be between posts, it appears life got in the way.  With that said, I've still been crafting like crazy and I have a bunch of things to post. Keep an eye out over the next several weeks and you'll see what I've been working on.  :)