Grace-ful Thank You

I love the bold colors in this card, the paper is Close to my Heart as is the cardstock stickers, stamp and embellishments. I also used Close to my Hearts Cricut Cartridge - Art Philosophy for the great layered tag in the center.

I first started by distressing the background, using the CTMH sanding paper, I distressed all the paper. It creates the great denim, rough feeling which goes with the rich fall colors of the paper.

Close to my Heart usually has coordinating cardstock weight stickers along wth other coordinating products. Here I used the coordinating cardstock stickers and Antique Copper Brads to punch the rough, mascuine feeling in the card.

Here is where the masuline feeling gets thown out the window with this great cardstock weight Heart sticker, so cute, I just couldn't resist.

And we fnish it all off with the inside of the card, a great blue (Twilight Blue), with cardstock sticker and Close to my Heart stamp in Cocoa Brown.

Fully Thank{Full} Card

Thought this monthe I would do a series of just Thank You cards. I had fallen in love with Basic Grey's Mellow Collection, with the colors, images, design, everything. So when I had some pieces left over I decided to make a great card.

I had just enough cardstock to do a long side fold card, I also purchased the coordinating die cuts, so I punched out the flowers on the sheet. Layering the flowers and popping a brad in the middle, I misted them with water and started squeezing and pushing the petals into place, the out come is this great 3D flower on the front.

In my stash was some random Creatve Memories stickers and there I found the perfect sentiment. I finished the card front with some cute amber jewels highlighting the great images in the paper.

Lately, for me, a card is not complete without some paper on the inside too. It uses up the extra pieces I would have normally thrown away and it looks pretty.

A success I think, I just wish I had more of that paper...

Trendy Chevron Thank You Card

Trying to get back into a routine since summer so I might have a bunch of posts in a row. I have been busily making cards and other goodies for the upcoming Christmas Bazaar here in Yuzhno, mostly cards as my focus will be on the kids section of the bazaar. But I have got to make something, my creative juices continue to flow! So with the trend of chevron design I decided to make a chevron using a diagonal design I had in my stash.

I also had a great Thank You rub on from Basic Grey in my stash as well. So with the help of adhesive pearls and cardstock from Close to my Heart a great monochromatic card was created.

I hope it sells for charity and I have many more cards to show you.

Mojo Monday Challenge #237

Up for the next challenge was Mojo Monday, and thier latest sketch. A cute little sketch and everyone one loved it there are lots of entries. I was having a challenge figuring out what to do with 4, not 3, jumpy circles? I could do flowers, but most of the ladies did those, I could do the actual circle, too cliche, or I could do butterflies? To many ideas, I ended up thinking about it for a day and realized that what hangs not at the same level are lanterns, the are never just in a straight line, so with some asian inspiration I dug out my Pagoda cricut cartridge.

There are awesome lanterns, dolls, fish lanterns, pandas, anything with an asian theme you can think of on this cartridge and other than this card I have used it once. It was a great layout that I will probably post another day but hopefully soon we will visit China or Japan and that cartridge will be smoking that day! :)

It is also full of Kanji characters, each page has a different word, and even though there is no birthday...celebrate is a great way to say happy birthday anyway, or anything else for that matter.

It was looking pretty plain with just the paper so I decided to add some jewels, maybe it kinda looks like fireworks, too much Kung Fu Panda for me, and sprinkled them around.

Last but not least, I looked at the sketch again and saw that it needed a label or ribbon down near the bottom, but I wasn't going to put any words on the front, so I was thinking I needed a fan, but where would I find that? So next idea, I had some wider red grosgrain ribbon and ended up folding that across the card for an awesome pop of color.

All in all I thought it turned out pretty nice, even with all the thinking going on. Want to play the next card challenge? On Mondays of course, see the next sketch -->HERE

Clean & Simple Challenge #185

I ended up joining some challenge sites lately to get some extra inspiration. One of them was Clean & Simple, no prizes but fun layouts, all cards so that should get me back up to my old stock level of cards as our Happy Hobby craft show wiped me out. This is the sketch:

A simple sketch but with endless possibilities, if you want to see what others have made with this sketch you can go HERE!

This is my version I put my self under the wire to make this card so with a little help from my cricut and Graphically Speaking cartridge I think it came together. I also have limited ribbon here and had to choose colors that went with my ribbon.

And of course the inside of the card can not be naked so with the leftover papers I put the rest of the sentiment on the inside!

Provincale Fair Flair

Just a quick little post about this card, I finally made a layout and a card using the Provincale Fair paper line from Tinkering Ink. I have been holding on to this paper for about 3 years and was not sure what I was going to do with it. It ended up making the most beautiful layout and I was amazed by this little card. I am totally in love with the line drawn flower and painstakingly cut as many as I could out of one of the sheets. Then another paper had this great huge swirl across it, which made me fall even harder. So with the last cut flower and a small piece of patterned paper I created, what I think, is a beautiful card. Just pretty enough for any deserving person.

Even though it didn't really need it, I added some bling to my card, I had some dark blue Gemstones from Close to my Heart and sprinkled this card with them.

Then I added a great stamped 'Happy Birthday' in Outdoor Denim courtesy of Close to my heart and added some subtle touches like die cut flourish from the Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge. I am falling again for this card and am happy that Plan A is taking effect, to use up my current stock of scrapbook supplies before I go home to Canada...I am well on my way!

Birthday Bash of a Card

I had gotten the Birthday Bash Cricut Cartridge before we left for Russia, so I had had some time to play with the cartridge. I would cut some words here and there, as we have seen in a previous post, but it was time to really dive into the full potential of this cartridge. I am only showing you the card today, but, I had also made a layout using this Imaginisce paper called All Kinds of Happy. With the leftover paper I made this fun card, good for boy or girl, with the cute dog in the party hat.

After I pieces the dog together, I thought, 'How Plain.' and leaving my Cuttlebug back home in Canada I had to improvise, so out came the stickles! The paper already had little shots of glitter everywhere...I was just improving the overall look of it! Pop that dog on a handstand up with 3D foam tape and we had the start of an awesome card.

To finish it off, I wanted the card to stay gender neutral, so ribbon was out. The coordinating pink dots was the back of another paper in that line and top it all off with a trio of buttons.

Let's not forget the inside of the card, this cartridge features a phrase function and it is awesome for all the words that say Celebrate! I choose the party hat to go with my dog and the little 'to' just cut right along with the phrase. As my Daughter would say 'Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!'

Happy Birthday Little Guy

Even though the Christmas Bazaar is long gone, the Happy Hobby Craft Fair is just around the corner. This cards was originally made for the Bazaar but never sold, I am sure that it will this craft fair. I have some scrapbook supplies that I have been holding onto for 4 years or more, these papers are some of them, I bought them before I know what I should and shouldn't buy, I guess I was trying to mass an inventory. Now, being in Russia, I do not have access to any new papers and have chosen to either use it or sell it off at the end of this year. Out with the old, in with the new! I actually like the way that this card turned out, it's clean cut with a rugged edge to it, with all the buttons and sewing in and olive color it does scream boy, you know barely see the purple.

I had fun inking the edge of the card and cutting the sentiment out with the Birthday Bash Cartridge from Cricut. I added and sewed the cute buttons on the front. There was no circle originally but my 1 year old had a blast picking them off, did it turn out better...maybe! Just a little update, I am needing to do some more photographing, but I have been doing tons of projects lately. On my list this next week, taking photos and one more blog post before the end of the month, we'll see if that happens.

Going strong in the New Year

Finally figured out how to add posts to my blog over here in Russia, I apparently need a new computer! I am back, full tilt in scrapbook/card making mode and have been pumping out some great cards and awesome layouts, but today I want to share a card I made last year, of course last year was only a couple of days ago but I digress, circle and shape cards are all the rage at the moment and thanks to my cricut, I am able to make them. I love the circle cards and even though in my ex-patriot community there aren't a lot of babies around, every so often a cute little baby does come home with some one, so this card is for them.

I have had this paper forever, it is Making Memories and I think it was called Animal Crackers (boy), I also used a Making Memories rub-on for the cute 'little one' sentiment and topped it off with a ribbon I had lying around.

The close up is of the paper and the buttons, the paper was flocked which is why I held onto it for so long. A fun, soft card for a cute, soft baby. The buttons were from Close to my Heart, which I am very sad but had to give up my consultant status when I moved over here! Still some of my favorite scrapbook items and my sister still sells it, so I can always get something. Just a little something to get you all by till I make my next post, I am hoping to keep up my blog with lots of new ideas and inspire some of you!

Finally I am posting for the first time since we moved to Russia. We have been here for almost 4 months now and it is an adjustment. Life is so convient in the States and since moving here, I only go out once a week to grocery shop and have had some difficulty finding some items I need. However that does give me lots of time to craft and have just finished creating some beautiful cards for the local expat Charity Christmas Bazaar. In the next couple of weeks I will show you some of the lovely things I have been making in my extra, extra spare time. This post is about Colorado and how I miss my friends there, but I made some great cards with a Cowboy theme, just to reminisce.

A cute little cowgirl card for all the birthday girls!

And for the Cowboys........

Split the difference and a gender neutral, just for fun and the sticker was cute. All supplies were Close to my Heart, Sasparilla Line. Would love to hear what you think! Comment!

Just around the corner!

Here is Christmas right around the corner and I thought, cause I haven't blogged in a while, some of my favorite Christmas cards I have made. All of these cards contain Close to my Heart paper and each one so individual!

This one has some great circles on it and I used a very old paper pack, Just Chillin, I still love the colors in this palette and the retro snowflakes.

This card is made entirely from cardstock alone. I love Pink for winter, it seems soft just like snow. But the multiple shades of pink make the card for me! With real stitching around everything you just want to touch this card over and over!

This is a fun paper pack called 'Jingle' and I love the different shapes on this card. With a heat embossed 'Jingle' and stitching I constantly run my fingers across it!

I constantly get compliments on this card, maybe it's monocromatic scheme or just a bit of sparkle but everyone loves this card!
This awesome card has some of my favorite colors, Blue and Brown, not overly traditional but with white snowflakes, rhinestones, heat embossing, ribbon and stitching this card has lots of elements to play with!
I hope you liked my cards and find inspiration in them!

5 for $5 Workshop - Thank You's

Lately, I believe thta there is a lost art of giving real, hold in your hand cards. Even I am guilty of giving e-cards, they are fast and some are really cute, even though I have a hundred cards I have made and can send at any time, convience is key with e-cards. So my goal this year was to stop sending e-cards and start making cards to give away. One set of cards I NEVER have enough of are 'Thank You's". I make them and send them out immediately. I like to give them to eveyone, for helping me with lunch, giving us a gift, for being nice, mostly for anyone who has gone that extra mile, I try to give a card that also goes tht extra mile, I made it for them. This month's workshop is dedicated to Thank You's. On Wednesday this week, we will be making 5 Thank You's for $5, a great price for any handmade card, seeing as how Hallmarks printed cards can range from $3 - $20, I am pretty reasonable!

I always try to give variety with my card workshops, using lots of different colors and trying interesting techniques on each of them.

This card is really fancy, with organza ribbon, cute scalloped edge and jewels.

A cool card for a male or a co-worker, this fun card has a fun design with a retro 'Thanks', this card can be assembled in under 5 minutes.

I adore the colors on this card, with a sampling of Close to my Heart's Boom-di-ada paper pack, this card is sure to please anyone. Front and center is a sweet flower Thank You for your friend.

With subtle colors and fun faux stitching, this card is an easy crowd pleaser.

This card was inspired by a fellow consultant, I call it Fairway Trees, cause it looks like the trees are on the fairway. This is an easy card to get more creative with because the Treetops (C1368), there are a variety of trees that you can choose from!
Each card is different and fun, I hope that when they take these cards home, they will be mailed out right away...why not when you have them on hand!!!

Random Stamping Creation #1

Just as I thought the first thing I started on after random stamping my papers was Thank you Cards. Stamped with Aspiration(C1340)in Juniper, Hollyhock, Blush and Bamboo, the final page looked like this:

I finally decided that making Thank You cards you save me time when our little girl arrives in August and who wants to make Thank You cards after the baby comes! So this sheet yielded 16 small cards, each one an individual.

The cards are 3"x3.5", made out of Hollyhock Cardstock, then I took my cut up piece and lightly sponged the edges with Blush Ink and adhered to the cardstock base. Then I stamped 16 'Thanks' and matted them on a small piece of Hollyhock Cardstock (leftover from the cutting the bases), popped them up on 3D foam tape and Voila! they are complete.

I have already completed another project with the Random Stamped Backgrounds so I will post that tommorrow. If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear what you think.

Creative Colors Class - Expedition

For March, I decided this class will follow the old wives tale, in like a Lamb and out like a Lion or vice versa. At least I tried to follow the Lion part, this months paper pack was Expedition, awesome desert colors in a Zoo or Adventure kit. This Creative Colors kit class is only $5 and comes with a variety of papers and accessories.

What is included in the Expedition Kit is 2 sheets of Bamboo Cardstock, 1 sheet of Autumn Terracotta Cardstock, 1 sheet of Distressed Olive patterned paper, 1 sheet of Safari Stripe patterned paper, Hemp or Twine, 2 Antique Copper Photo Corners, 1 Antiques Copper Ribbon Slide, 1 Antique Copper Bookplate, 2 Antique Copper Photo Clips(Arrow or Rectangle)including all the brads you need. All Antique Copper accessories are actual metal not plastic or resin painted to look like real metal, that is one of my favorite differences with Close to my Heart products. In this class you have the option of making either cards OR a 2 page layout, I have included some of my examples of what you can do with this kit!

This fun little monkey card was crafted with using the bare basics of the kit, just ink, stamps and some dry embossing was added to make this a kid and crowd pleaser.

One of my favorite sayings of all time is on this card. A little more interesting to say than, 'Stop and smell the flowers.' With a fun stamped background, and the awesome patterned paper this card will definately be sent out soon.

A fun cut out and tactile stitching make this card easy on the eyes. Super fast to make and easy cuts, I will make more with different papers!

Even though I didn't use Zoo pictures for my layout, our recent trip to the Garden of the Gods had the perfect colors for this paper. I ended up using all my accessories on this one page but I love the dark embellishments against the light background. I will post some other layouts I have done tomorrow with this paper and you can see the versatility of use. This creative colors class is on Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 7pm for those who want to join us, just email me and I am sure I can get you in if you are in the Denver Metro area.