Using leftover strips for Halloween cards...

 

This card was quick and easy,but lots of fun to put together. I started with an orange A2 card base. I cut a black panel that was 4" X 5 1/4", and before adding it to the front of the card base, I glued on three strips of DSP that measured 1 1/2" X 5", 1 1/4" X 5" and 3/4" X 5", keeping a 1/8" border on all sides and between the strips.

This layout is a great way to use up some leftover strips of DSP and could be adapted to almost any occasion.

After gluing my black panel with the strips to the card front, I die-cut a couple of little ghosts and backed their faces with black cardstock. I never like to leave open holes for eyes and mouths.

The sentiment was a cut-apart from an old paper stack. I popped it up with foam tape and also popped up the ghosts.

On the inside, I stamped a sentiment and glued on a bat die-cut that just happened to be laying on my worktop.

This is another Halloween card I made recently. I had a strip of the spider web DSP that was not large enough to cover an entire card front. I cut a 5 1/2" length of it and centered it on the card front. Then I glued a 1/8" strip of black cardstock down each side.

The sentiment was printed with my computer, die-cut and popped up with foam tape.

A spider die-cut was glued directly to the sentiment panel, and the other two spiders were popped up with foam dots.

I added a simple stamped sentiment to the inside and another die-cut spider.

When you read this, we'll be on our way home from a quick RV trip to northern Minnesota to visit Lake Itasca (the headwaters of the Mississippi River) and Itasca State Park. It's a beautiful area and usually quiet and restful this time of year. We love going there!

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

Cheryl

Another Christmas card...

 

Late last year I purchased this large "JOY" die, but I didn't have a chance to use it on any cards. I promised myself I would use it this year. I also bought the little penguin die set because I thought it was just the cutest.

To make this card, I first cut "JOY" out of glitter cardstock. Having all the letters connected makes it easy to glue it onto an A2 card front and keep it straight.

I placed a couple of snowflake stickers in the center of the "O" and added gems to their centers. I added the penguin after it had been pieced together, popping it up with foam tape.

I think on future cards, I'm going to try placing the penguin as though it is sitting on the bottom edge of the "O." I think that might look pretty cute. I could even create a scene behind it with a snowy landscape and a tiny tree or two.

This is the sentiment I added to the inside. 

I really enjoy making cards when I have some cute dies to work with. I also love using pretty holiday embossing folders, so you may see some embossed Christmas cards in future posts.

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

Cheryl

It started with a die-cut "thank you"...

In a container of odds and ends, given to me by the thrift store, was a die-cut, yellow "thank you" that had been run through a Xyron machine to turn it into a sticker. Whoever created it left it sandwiched between the adhesive material and the clear cover strip. I decided I needed to use it as soon as possible before I lost it in my card-making mess.

I added a piece of DSP in shades of blue that looked like the sky on the top half of my A2 card front and a green polka dot piece on the bottom half. The "thank you" was easily placed on the green portion since it had been turned into a sticker.

I have a die set that includes this fence and the tulips. I thought they'd add some interest and texture to the card. If you look closely, you'll see that I cut the tulip leaves and stems fromt the same green DSP as was used on the bottom of the card front.

The butterfly is a sticker that I had in my stash.

I added dark brown Nuvo Drops to each fence post where the die had cut a small hole.

Once I had my little scene adhered, I used my bowmaker to make a bow with some sheer blue ribbon. I added a narrow strip of double-sided tape across the join of the two pieces of DSP to hold the ribbon in place.

This is the sentiment I stamped on the inside. I added another butterfly sticker for some interest.

When I was volunteering at the thrift store yesterday, I was summoned by one of the employees to come to the area where these cards are sold. A customer wanted to talk to me. I thought it might be someone who wanted me to make a personalized card for them--I've had those requests in the past. 

It turned out that the customer just wanted to tell me in person how much she enjoyed the cards. She said she especially loved the sentiments I put on the inside of each one because they always seem to say just the right thing for her purposes. She confessed that she thought she purchased "half" of the cards I brought each week because she loves them so much. She also said, "Please don't ever stop bringing them in!" 

She has no idea how she brightened my day.

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

Cheryl

Sweet image for a Christmas card...

 

The thrift store where I volunteer gifted me a slew of pre-printed card blanks like the card base you see above--32 in all. It took me quite a while to decide what to do witth them.

I went through my Christmas die-sets and found one that created this little gingerbread baker. I thought it would make a cute card, so I started cutting out all the pieces that go into putting him together.

I used little containers to hold all the pieces for 16 of these images. Then, as I watched TV at night, I inked the edges and taped them together. 

The sentiment was the only part that was popped up on the card front.

This was the sentiment I stamped on the inside of each card.

I have gotten 16 of these cards completed and have started cutting out the pieces for 16 more of them. It's a great way to use up scraps!

We had my brother over for dinner last night to celebrate his 78th birthday. I'm so glad that one of my five siblings lives close to me. Family is a blessing!

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

Cheryl

More tri-panel Halloween cards...

In my last post I shared a trip-panel card that I had made for Halloween. I had so much fun making it that I decided to make four more of them.

I added a cutaway tag to the front mat of each card, popping it up with foam tape. I embellished each tag with a single enamel dot where the hole would be.

One of the most fun parts of making these cards was to create the little scenes on the center panels. I took out my Halloween dies and tried to put together something spooky.

I love having a cloud stencil, and it's fun to use it with different colors of ink.

These clouds got a little dark. Looks like a nighttime storm is brewing!

For this card I used another cutaway on the center panel, matting it with some black cardstock.

I should have taken some photos so that you could see the fun Halloween prints that make up the first, scored layers that are glued to the black card bases. They become visible behind the front "tag" panels when the cards are opened. If you make a card like this, you'll see what I mean.

I will have more Halloween cards to share with you soon--they're my favorite cards to make.

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

Cheryl

Tri-panel fun fold...

 A few weeks ago I watched one of Dawn Griffith's (Dawn's Stamping Thoughts) videos here and decided to try my hand at the card she was demonstrating. It's a tri-panel fun fold and makes a really fun Halloween card.

This is how the card looks when it is closed. I didn't have my computer with me in my craft area, so I tried to make the card from memory after watching the video. I don't think I cut and adhered all the layers, but I was okay with that.

The large sentiment on the front was stamped. The small rectangle that says "October 31st" was a cut-apart from a paper stack. It was one of many different ones on a single sheet, so I just cut it out and popped it up on the card front.

This is how the card looks when it is open. It makes a nice display card. The skeleton and "Frightful" were two more cut-aparts, and on the last panel, "Happy Halloween" was stamped. 

I learned a couple of days ago that my grandson, who just started college in Boston a couple of weeks ago, suffered some serious injury at school. He was going down some stairs and his foot caught so in a split second he decided to just jump down over the last four steps. He landed badly and ended up breaking five bones in his left foot and three in his right. He is on the swim team there, but probably won't be able to swim at all this year. I feel so bad for him and hope he is able to stay positive, focus on his studies and look forward to next year. Please keep him in your thoughts.

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

Cheryl

Using some oversized gold letters...

The thrift store where I volunteer gave me a small collection of very large gold metallic letter stickers. They did not include a full alphabet, but there were a few multiples of certain letters. I went through them and came up with three words and three card ideas.

I didn't measure the letters but I think they were about 2" high, and some of them (like the Os) were more than an inch wide.

I started with a mini-slimline cardbase. I'm not sure what size it was - I just made sure the word "cool" would fit nicely across it. I liked the contrast of the gold against the blue and I thought the stars were a perfect pattern for this card's DSP.

Since the letters were stickers, it was pretty easy to apply them to the card front. 

The short sentiment was stamped, cut out and popped up with foam tape.

I stamped some blue stars on the inside, along with a couple of sentiments.

This is an A2 cardbase, so you can see how these three letters almost fill up the 5 1/2" width of the card.

I used a stencil, some black ink and a blending brush to create the web pattern on white cardstock, which was then adhered to a black cardbase. Finally, I added some die-cut spiders. Quick and easy!

I stamped a sentiment on the inside and added another die-cut spider.

This card actually looked better IRL than in this photo. I cut the red cardstock to the size I wanted, applied the sticker letters and then added texture with an embossing folder. 

The embossed panel was added to a mini-slimline cardbase and embellished with a die-cut mortarboard. I also added a stamped "congratulations," which was popped up with a foam strip.

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

It was kind of fun to go through these letters and figure out some words I could use--kind of like playing scrabble. Because the letters are so large, they're definitely attention-getters and make good focal points for cards. If you have a cutting machine, like a Cricut or Silhouette, you could cut large letters like this for cards. Other words that would work as focal points could include "happy," "baby," "Mom," "Dad," "Sis," "Bro," "Nana," "HB2U," etc.

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

Cheryl