Vellum balloons...

 

I made these two cards recently to donate to the thrift store. I had purchased a new set of stitched balloon dies and wanted to use them, so I picked out some colors of vellum from my stash. I love the way the vellum is translucent, making it look like an actual blown up balloon.

After deciding which dies from the set I wanted to use, I cut them out and simply glued them to a white panel. I know that you have to be very careful in putting glue on vellum, because it can show through and look messy. I used my needle-point glue bottle and added a tiny stream of glue along the stitched edge of each balloon. It worked great; you really can't see any of the dried glue!

The "Happy Birthday!" stamp was heat-embossed, and I added a few holographic stars for some extra embellishment. The strings for the balloons were hand drawn with a fine-point felt tip pen.

 

The inside of each card was stamped (I see this one is a bit crooked--I should have re-stamped it!), and a few more stars were added there, too.

I am now busily working on Thanksgiving cards for family and friends. I have about half of them done. I plan to finish them this week (God willing and the creek don't rise, lol), and then it will be the big race to get my Christmas cards done.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

I'm finally done making Halloween cards...

 

This is the cute Halloween card I made for my two elderly aunts. They are dear ladies, and it does my heart good to bring a smile to their faces with my cards.

I stamped all the images, cut them out with coordinating dies and then colored them with markers. Even the ghost got a bit of light gray shading. Each one is popped up with a foam square.

The frame was cut twice--once from black cardstock and once from black foam core (from Dollar Tree) to help pop it up a bit.

I glued the cardstock frame on top of the foam core frame and then glued that to my card front.

On the inside I stamped a sentiment and another little ghost.

This card was made to donate to the thrift store, but I envisioned someone buying it for a young boy. I think boys would like all those dancing skeletons.

The green panel was popped up on foam tape, as was the sentiment.

I cut an extra skull for each skeleton, backed it with a scrap of black cardstock and popped it up with a dimensional.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside and added a little skeleton from my stash.

I started this card with an orange card base. I glued on the web-patterned DSP and then used a blending brush to add a little white ink to the center.  "Happy Halloween" was die-cut and glued directly to the DSP.

The pumpkin stack was backed with black CS to better show the pumpkin faces. The whole stack was popped up with foam squares.

I added two spiders cut from gray glitter cardstock so that they'd show up against the dark DSP. I even gave them some red eyes with Nuvo Drops.

I had another little pumpkin laying on my desk, so I added it to the inside along with the stamped sentiment.

This card was my own creation, but I did see one that was similar in the card section of my local drugstore. I like to look at the cards whenever I stop to pick up a prescription or other supplies.

I started with a white A2 card base and used an arched rectangle die (A2 in size) to curve the top. There are 15 dies in the set (the A2 sized one is the largest). 

Then I cut a top panel with the next largest die. I selected the second smallest die in the set to cut the arms into the panel, using the partial die-cutting technique.

The eyes were punched black circles with half a punched white circle for the lid. The mouth was cut with the smallest oval die I could find in my stash.

After adhering this panel to the card base, I put a dimensional under each arm to pop it up a bit and glued on one of those pumpkins that was still lying on my desk. The sentiment was printed with my computer and popped up with foam tape.

I finished this card with another die-cut panel on the inside and a stamped sentiment.

If you can stamd to look at one more photo, I thought I'd share one I took of the pretty trees on my street.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

A few more Halloween cards...

 

I had a couple of sheets of 8" X 8" cardstock in my stash that was patterned with mottled orange at the top and two patterned strips across the bottom. I cut it to fit an A2 card, making sure I kept the patterned strips at the bottom.

I heat-embossed the sentiment, using Versafine black ink and clear embossing powder. The little trick-or-treaters were die'cut and glued directly to the card front.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside and also added a stamped spider for a bit more spookiness.

I also had some large black tags in my stash. I decided to dry emboss one of them and then swipe over the embossing with a white ink pad. I added the tag to my card front (did you notice I used the same cardstock on the front of this card as I used on the previous card?) and then glued on a couple of die-cut ghosts and the word "spooky."

If my ghost's eyes look a little wonky, it's because they are! I used some black Nuvo Drops to make them and I wasn't careful enough to keep them the same size. I figure it's ok, though. Ghost's eyes don't need to be perfectly symmetrical.

Instead of tying a ribbon through the hole in the tag, I just glued a knotted piece of ribbon over it. 

The inside of this card was exactly the same as the previous card.

These cards were made using the bookbinder fold. The cute little witch images are AI images I got on a Facebook site. I simply placed them onto a Word document, sized them and then copied and pasted them to fill the document before I printed it out.

I love the colors in each image and chose the aqua for my card bases and purple for the mats and the embossed strips. After I had embossed each purple strip, I used a finger dauber to add a little black ink to the raised designs.

The sentiment was stamped, cut out and popped up with a couple of thin foam strips. If you haven't yet purchased any thin, foam strips, they are super handy when it comes to sentiments like this.

On the inside of each card I stamped a sentiment and a few stars.

I think this was my favorite Halloween card to make. I love the bookbinder fold and the image was just so cute--not at all scary!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

Halloween cards for the grands...

 

I had a lot of fun die-cutting, coloring, and putting together this sweet little ghost witch for each of my five granddaughters. There were quite a few pieces, but I cut them all out of white cardstock and then colored the individual pieces with alcohol markers.

The strips of DSP on the bottom were leftover pieces from my stash. This was a great way to use a few of them and deplete my pile a tiny bit.

Here's another one with a different background and different strips of DSP at the bottom.

The bat was also die-cut and added as an embellishment.

The sentiments were stamped, die-cut and popped up on foam tape.

I added a little die-cut pumpkin and a stamped sentiment to the inside of each card.

This is the card I made for each of my five grandsons. I found the Halloween stamp collage online. It's an AI image. The entire image included four rows of stamps, but I cut them in half and used just two rows, matted with purple CS, on each card.

I embossed a strip (just over an inch wide) of the purple cardstock with a spider EF and then used a finger dauber to add some black ink to the embossed spiders.

The sentiment was stamped, die-cut and popped up on foam tape.

If you would like to find some AI images online, just search for "AI images" in Facebook and many different sites that offer them will be listed.

On the inside, I stamped a sentiment and added a little skeleton (I had a few of these in my stash).

I think my grandkids still enjoy getting Halloween cards, even though half of them have already graduated from high school!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Another frilly ghost and more...

 

I love this frilly-skirted ghost, and I thought this time she needed a starry sky background.

I had some pretty 6" X 6"night-sky papers and chose one of them for her background. I also had the bat and "Spooky" stickers in my Halloween supplies box. They were the perfect addition to this card. Because the bat looked a little blah, I gave it some white eyes with Nuvo Drops. Much better!

The ghost face was backed with a scrap of black cardstock so that the eyes and mouth weren't just empty holes.

She's been popped up on foam squares to give her some extra dimension.

I used some purple ink to stamp the sentiment and a few stars on the inside.

This card was a quick make. I had the Halloween verse printed onto white cardstock already (a leftover from last year). I cut the panel just wide enough to hold the verse and 5 1/4" long.

To put my card together, I cut two narrow strips of black and white Halloween DSP that were each 5 1/4" long and added them to the front of my card on each side.

Then, I added the center panel with the verse. I centered it so that it overlapped each strip of DSP slightly, and then I added a narrow orange strip of CS on each side of it.

Finally, I stamped a bat at the top and popped up a die-cut pumpkin at the bottom.

I stamped "Happy Halloween" on the inside and colored in the "Happy" letters with an orange marker to complete the card.

This card used up a bunch of scraps from my Halloween stash. I created the background first and then added it to my card base.

I cut the arched shape out of white cardstock and then did some ink blending on it, using a few colors from the striped background.

Once the shape was sufficiently inked, I added a die-cut witch on her broom (left over from last year), a "Spooky" sticker and a few holographic stars.

The arched panel was popped up on foam squares.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside, and then I added a strip sentiment with one of those holographic stars at the end of it. I added some purple ink around its edges and popped it up on some narrow foam strips.

I believe I have made close to 50 Halloween cards so far (most of them were donated), and I'll continue to make 20 or so more of them. I'm not sure why, but they are my favorite cards to make, so I'm really having a good time doing it!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

A colorful birthday card...

 I'm always trying to use up old supplies, and this card was one that came out of that effort.

This colorful cardbase had been in my stash for ages. For a long time, I couldn't figure out how to use it. The sentiment, which I had printed with my computer, was matted with blue cardstock and popped up on dimensionals. I know it doesn't seem to make sense with that question mark at the end, but it will when you read the sentiment on the inside.

I selected some scrap pieces of cardstock that matched the card base and die-cut some candles.

The "star" flames were cut from yellow glitter and metallic gold cardstocks. The stars were very sparkly IRL.

The candles were tucked behind the sentiment panel and glued directly to the card base.

See? I told you it would all make sense when you read the inside!

This was fun to make and satisfying in that it used up at least a little bit of that old stash.

We are back from our little trip to watch our 15-year-old grandson play football in West Fargo, ND. Here's a photo we were able to get just after the game:

It was a chilly night so we were bundled up, but our grandson was hot and sweaty. He played nearly every minute of the game because his coach has assigned him both offensive and defensive positions. I didn't know coaches ever did that, but our grandson wasn't complaining. He loves the game!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

Bachelor Buttons and a Halloween card...

 

My maternal grandmother always had Bachelor Buttons growing in the flower beds around her house, so I try to plant them from time to time, too.  When I saw this AI image, I just had to use it for a card.

I embossed a white panel and adhered it to a white card base. Then I matted my image and popped it up on foam tape in the center of my card front.

The sentiment was heat embossed and added at the top.

The inside was very simple with a sentiment stamped with blue ink.

This card started with a gray card base. I cut a gray and white patterned piece of DSP and blended some gray ink onto all four edges before gluing it down.

The "BOO" die was new for this year's Halloween cards. I cut it out of some dark gray glitter cardstock. After cutting it out, I used a black Sharpie to color the spider.

I really like the webs inside the letters. They add lots of interest, don't you think?

To finish off the card front, I added a little skeleton that I had in my stash.

Once again, I added a stamped sentiment on the inside to finish the card.

We are going to watch my grandson, who is 15, play football tonight. It should be fun! It will be the first football game I have been to in a long time.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl