Beautiful baby...

 

I had a white card base with three pre-punched holes on the right side of the card front. I covered the front with a panel of DSP, then used a 1 1/4" circle punch to create the holes you see above. My punch was just a bit larger than the existing holes so I had to punch through the cardstock, too, but it worked fine. I could have used a circle die that was closer in size to the existing holes, but using the punch was so much quicker!

I had the die-cut and inked teddy bear in my stash, and I thought he'd look cute on this card. He's popped up on some foam squares.

ETA: Since my bear was die-cut, I am adding this card to Darnell's weekly I.D.E.A.S. calendar post here. This week, the prompt is to use dies or fussy-cutting in making your card.

The stamped words are also popped up with foam tape.

I punched out three yellow hearts and popped them up in the center of each punched circle.

When the card is opened, the three hearts are visible on the inside. I also stamped a sentiment there, centering it between the fold and the three hearts.

Yesterday I decided to spend some time cleaning up my crafting area, but I kept getting distracted by all the stuff in there. In fact, while I've was "cleaning," I put together five cards! It's probably safe to say that I got more cardmaking done than cleaning.

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

Cheryl

Using adhesive-backed vinyl on cards...

I recently purchased a sheet of adhesive-backed vinyl at the Dollar Tree. I liked the colors and design of it, so for $1.25, I thought I'd give it a try.

The vinyl cut easily with my guillotine cutter. I simply cut it to size and then, after peeling the backing off, I added it to two navy blue cardstock panels.

The background of the vinyl doesn't look as white as the cardbase in these photos, but it's a much better match in real life.

I embossed a strip of vellum and wrapped it around my panel before I adhered the panel to the card front. I popped the stamped sentiment up on top of this strip and added a die-cut butterfly with an enamel dot at its center.

On this card, I added a strip of navy blue cardstock across the front and popped my sentiment up on that.

Once again, I added a butterfly, popping its wings up with tiny foam dots.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside and added a smaller butterfly for embellishment.

This card was made a little differently. It's a top-fold card with a decorative die-cut front edge. I added the vinyl directly to the card front and finished the bottom edge of it with a strip of navy blue cardstock.

I cut two small tags--one in white and one in navy blue. I stamped the white one with a sentiment and connected them with navy blue twine, tied in a bow.

I popped them both up on a narrow strip of foam tape.

I added a strip of navy blue cardstock to the bottom of the inside because it would show through the decorative edge on the front. I also rounded the two bottom corners to better fit with the card front.

I still have some vinyl left to make two or three more cards. It's surprisingly easy to work with.

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

Cheryl

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #222: Anything Goes or Polka Dots and/or Stripes...

 

Happy August, everyone! Summer is sliding by so quickly that I am certain we are going downhill and picking up speed as we head towards Fall. I don't know why I am always surprised by how quickly Summer comes to a close. I do look forward to seeing the Fall colors on the trees, though.

So, as you enjoy these last weeks of warm weather, vacation trips, beach outings, fairs and fairways, I hope you'll also spend a little time making something to share for our next challenge at Let's Craft and Create. You can enter under the all-encompassing "Anything Goes" or choose to make something using polka dots and/or stripes. I have decided on the latter for my make.

I have been to a number of weddings where the bridesmaids and groomsmen were dressed in black and just one other accent color was used for the flowers, the cake and other decor. 

Even though I've never made a predominately black and white wedding card before, I decided to make one for this challenge using some striped and polka dot papers. I felt like the striped design was representative of the men in the wedding party and the polka dots were definitely more female.

For this "bookbinder" card, I added a score line 1 1/4" to the right of the center score line. I then added the striped paper to this narrow section and tied a ribbon around it before gluing it down. 

The stamped and die-cut sentiment was popped up with a narrow foam strip.

I chose a deep red cardstock with a nice sheen on it for die-cutting the three layers of my flower.

The layers were each curled slightly with a bone folder and then glued together at the center before being adhered to the card.

The flower center was cut from some black cardstock and glued in place.

Since this flower die set didn't come with any leaf dies, I searched through my dies to find a couple that would work.

Since this is a "bookbinder" card, the space on the inside measures 4 1/4" X 4 1/4". I cut a piece of white cardstock that was 4" X 4" on which to stamp my sentiment. This was then adhered to the inside.

I hope you'll join us at Let's Craft and Create for this fun challenge. We all have some sort of striped or polka dot papers in our stash, don't we? And if you have something else in mind, there is always the "Anything Goes" option.

Be sure to check out all the inspiration from the Design Team here.

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

Cheryl

Simple "new baby" card...

 

I had a scrap of the striped paper in my stash, and, when looking at it, I thought it would be perfect for a baby card--especially since there was also a happy yellow stripe in the pattern. I covered the seam where the stripe and yellow papers meet with a strip of the same navy blue cardstock that the cardbase is cut from.

I used two die sets for this card: one for the banner and the other for the baby buggy. The banner die set includes the solid banner and then a number of words that can be cut from it, like thank you, happy birthday, congratulations, etc. 

I glued some navy blue cardstock behind the cutout word and then popped the banner up with foam tape.

The buggy is glued directly to the card front, and I thought it was more interesting to make it from the navy blue cardstock, rather than one of the pastel colors I usually use. I also liked the contrast of the white ruffle against the navy blue.

I used matte metallic silver cardstock for the wheels and frame and added Nuvo Drops to the centers of the wheels.

I stamped the inside sentiment with navy blue ink.

I am currently very low on baby cards to donate to the thrift store, so I will be making some more of this card design and others. This is no chore, though, because I love making baby cards!

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

Cheryl

Rest, relax, recover...

 

To make this card, I started with an A2 aqua card base and a panel of white cardstock that measured 4" X 5 1/4". I made two marks on the left hand side of the white panel--one that was 3/4" down from the upper left-hand corner and one that was 1 1/2" down from that same corner.

Then I also made a mark on the right hand side that was 3" up from the lower right-hand corner.

Using my small guillotine cutter, I cut from the 3/4" mark on the left to the 3" mark on the right. Then I cut from the 1 1/2" mark on the left to the bottom right-hand corner.

I glued a strip of the aqua cardstock along each cut so that a little less than 1/8" was visible from the front.

I adhered some DSP onto the card front before gluing down my two white pieces with the aqua trim.

Once the white was in place, I stamped my sentiment.

I had the palm trees, shell and coral in my in my stash. They were leftover pieces from a partial kit that the thrift store had given me.

I glued the first palm tree directly to the card front and popped up the top of the second one. Then I added the coral and the sand dollar.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside to finish the card.

I really liked this card design, and I think it could be used for all kinds of occasions with lots of different die-cuts, stamped images or ephemera. I'd like to try making one where I emboss the panels on the front, too.

If you try making one, I'd love to see it.

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

Cheryl

Sweet wishes...

 

I had a partial sheet of cardstock printed with some lovely, glittery strawberries on one side and a solid, deep pink on the other side. I decided it was time to use up the rest of the sheet, so I made these two cards.

I die-cut two of the strawberry images, using a stitched circle die, and then cut a doily as a mat for each of of them.

I also die-cut the "sweet wishes" sentiment for each of the cards. I used the deep pink side of the cardstock for this.

The background was created by cutting panels of a matching blue cardstock and then using a striped embossing folder to add some interest and dimension.

If you look closely at this angled photo, you can actually see the glitter of the strawberries.

The circles and their doily mats were popped up with foam squares.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside of each card. I also fussy-cut a strawberry and a flower and added them, as well.

Now that I've used this paper up, I wish I had another sheet of it. The glittery strawberries are so pretty, and I think someone will enjoy giving these (they've been donated to the thrift store) to a friend or family member. 

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

Cheryl

Cattail frame on a masculine card...

I needed to place an order for envelopes from Amazon, so while I was at it, I added this cattail frame die to the order. I thought it would work well to create some masculine cards.

I started by blending some pink, yellow and orange inks onto a white piece of cardstock to create the background. When that was done, I die-cut the frame and glued it to the slightly larger piece of inked background. 

To keep the proper shape of the frame, I left it in the die as I applied some liquid glue to all parts of the backside. Then I laid it glue-side down onto the background and used a piercing tool to poke through the holes to dislodge the die-cut and adhere it to the background.

After the glue had a couple of minutes to dry, I trimmed off any excess background that extended beyond the frame. I also added two tiny flying insect die cuts (from another die set).

I added foam tape to the background to pop it up on the kraft cardbase.

Finally, a stamped sentiment on the inside finished the card.

I plan to make more cards like this and try some other color combos for the sky, like yellow, purple and dark blue. What colors do you like to use? 

Speaking of skies, we had some stormy ones here last night. They produced a hard rain for a short period of time. More storms are predicted for tonight, but then we can look forward to some cooler weather. It has felt like a sauna outside lately, so temps in the low 80s will be a nice change.

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

Cheryl