Fan fold cards...

I decided some weeks ago that I was going to make fan fold cards for my daughters for their birthdays this year. Lisa Curcio has a great tutorial here, if you'd like to learn how to make them, too. 

These cards are so dramatic looking. I think they really pack a visual punch when pulled from the envelope.

I used three different pairs of patterned papers, and I'm really not sure which one I like best.

I used a delicate and very feminine paper for this card. I loved the soft colors against the burgundy mat.

I used a small lacy-edged circle for the sentiment and popped it up with some foam squares

The inside of the card is simple with just a stamped sentiment. 

I used a different patterned paper on this card that was more beautiful IRL than it is in the photo. Every part of the floral design is outlined in gold which isn't really apparent here.

The second marble-like print on the wider fan piece is gold and red, which compliments the floral print nicely.

The sentiment was stamped on a small scalloped circle which was glued to the black lacy-edged circle. Both were popped up with foam squares.

This paper was the same color combination as the previous one with the same gold outlining. 

These cards were a little fiddly to make, but well worth the effort. They were all 5" X 7", but there are several videos online that explain how to make an A2 version. Just search for "fan fold tutorial" and you'll find them.

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

Cheryl

In sympathy and friendship...

 

I made both of these sympathy cards from a single sheet of 6" X 6" piece of scenery DSP. I love these muted scenes for sympathy cards, so I try to make the most of each sheet. If you look carefully at the two pieces of scenery, you can see that they fit together to make one scene with the stream in the center.

I cut 3/4" off top of the 6" X 6" piece and then simply cut it in half so that each piece was 3" wide.

I also cut a 1" X 5 1/4" piece of wood-grain patterned DSP and adhered it over a narrow piece of dark green cardstock (the same cardstock that was used for the base) so that a 1/8" edge was exposed on the right hand side. 

After stamping a sentiment onto the scenery piece of DSP, I glued it to the righthand side of the front so that a 1/8" border showed at the top, bottom and right side. Then I glued down the woodgrain piece so that there was a 1/8" border on the top, bottom and left side of the card front. I allowed the dark green edge to overlap the scenery DSP to ensure there were no gaps.

The photo above is a better look at the other card, made exactly the same way.

Finally, I stamped a sentiment on a white panel and adhered it to the inside.

I think this is my favorite way to make sympathy cards. Do you have a favorite way to make them? If you do, I'd love it if you'd share.

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

Cheryl

8 is great and 9 is fine...

 

I like to put ages on kids' birthday cards from time to time. These two cards are examples of that.

I had an entire 12" X 12" sheet of the little girls and flowers pattern that you see in the two ovals. I've had it for a very long time, not knowing what to do with it. I finally decided I could isolate some of the girl images, cutting them out with one of my stitched oval dies.

Before I added the panel of DSP to the front of the cardbase, I added a length of lacy border sticker. It's so delicate and looks almost like real fabric lace!

The red "8" is also a sticker, but the tiny strip sentiments were printed with my computer and popped up with foam strips.

The die-cut oval was also popped up and embellished with a red twine bow and some gems.

You can see on this card that I did not always put the gems in the same place. I just looked for an open area that seemed to call for a little embellishment.

My friend Lynette has given me some children's birthday cards with ages on to donate to the thrift store, so I have a good supply of them for now. They sell quickly, though, so I'll need to make more before long.

This is the verse I stamped on the inside of each card.

Children's cards are so much fun to make. I'm a little sad that all my grandchildren are teens and young adults now. Their cards take more time and thought and aren't nearly as much fun.

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

Cheryl

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #233: Fun in the Sun or (Option) Anything Goes...

 

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Hello, and happy July! I hope you are enjoying your summer (or winter, if you live in a different hemisphere). Lately, it has been hot and mostly sunny where I live, so "Fun in the Sun" was a great theme for creating some cards at Let's Craft and Create. 

I have an edge die that cuts the shape of fluffly clouds. I cut two 5 1/4" wide panels with this die and brushed on some light blue ink to add depth. I popped up the tops of both layers of clouds for a little dimension.

I cut and assembled several rainbows, knowing that I would always use the extras on future cards.

The sentiment was  heat-embossed with gold embossing powder and the yellow circle was adhered to the yellow glitter die-cut.

After adhering one of the rainbows, I tucked the bottom edge of the sun under the clouds and over the rainbow (remind you of a song?).

I added a small portion of another rainbow to the inside after stamping a sentiment.

I had such a good time making the first card, that I decided to make another one:

I used several die-cuts besides the rainbow, including the sun, clouds and "sending smiles" sentiment. The largest and smallest clouds were popped up with foam tape. The strip sentiment, "on your birthday." was also popped up.

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

I hope you'll give this challenge a try. Remember you can always choose to enter under the "Anything Goes" category. We love to see your entries, and we're always inspired by them.

Be sure to check out the Design Team creations st Let's Craft and Create. 

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

Cheryl

CAS wedding card...

 

I think this is one of the most CAS cards I've ever made.  And it's white on white on white!

The top layer was cut at 3 7/8" x 5 1/8". I scored four lines vertically and four lines horizontally, with 1/8" between any two of the lines. Each set of scored lines is 1" in from the side it parallels.

After making the score lines, I adhered the panel to another white piece of cardstock that measured 4" x 5 1/4". Both of these panels were then adhered to the front of a white, top-folding A2 card base.

The cake was a dimensional sticker that was added to the front at the junction of the score lines.

"Congratulations" was die-cut from silver metallic cardstock and glued across the top of the horizontal score lines.

I added a strip of the metallic carstock on the inside and stamped a sentiment to the right of it.

This card was so simple, but I really liked the end result. I have a couple more of those cake stickers, so I think I'll use them in the same way.

For those who celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July.

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

Cheryl

Celebrating 250...

 

I made quite a few cards for the 4th of July this year. Of course, all but two of them were donated to the thrift store, and I was very surprised when they all sold--and quickly, too. In past years I have donated only a couple, thinking that people really didn't make a practice of sending them. Maybe the fact that this is the 250th year of this country's independence has made the difference.

These cards were a great way to use up some scraps of patriotic patterned paper, so I made more of them than I am sharing here. Once again, it felt good to use some scraps.

The fireworks were die-cut from glitter cardstock, the word "celebrate" was stamped, and the 250 was die-cut from a scrap of red cardstock.

This card was made in a similar way, except the fireworks were part of the pattern on the DSP and the word "celebrate" was die-cut.

Just a simple sentiment was stamped on the inside. In fact, all the cards I'm sharing here, have this stamped on the inside.

I had a sheet of very, very busy DSP and was perplexed for a while as to what I could do with it. I finally tried a couple of simple ideas you see above. I had a full 12" X 12" sheet of this DSP, which meant I could get 6 cards from it.

Since the pattern included gold and silver, I used a strip of gold metallic cardstock down the left side with the die-cut 250 centered on it and a few holographic stars for sparkle.

For this card, I placed the 250 a little differently and added a light gold glitter cardstock burst of fireworks. To draw the eye to it, I added a gold gem to its center.

And finally, because I love making bookbinder cards, I had to make a couple of those, too. This time, I stamped the word "celebrate" on some white cardstock, cut it out and popped it up over the 250, which was made up of vinyl sticker numbers.

The binding on the left was covered with strips of red, white and blue cardstock that were each a tiny bit wider than 3/8".

Are you doing something special on the 4th? We may go and watch one of the local neighborhood parades, or head to the lake in a park that is only blocks from our house. A lot depends on the weather and how comfortable it is to be outside. This week we are having a heat wave with temps in the 90's and high humidity. I am super grateful for air conditioning on these hot days. We never had air conditioning when I was growing up, and I remember trying to sleep in the hot upstairs of a poorly insulated house!

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

Cheryl

A simple idea for some fun cards...

 

These two cards were made to donate to the thrift store, and they were quick and fun to make.

The numbers were die-cut and glued directly to the DSP panel on the card front. The circle sentiment was stamped, die-cut, and popped up with a foam square.

The candles were cut as 1/4" strips. I don't remember exactly how tall they are, but I would guess them to be about 4". Of course, you could make them any height you wanted.

I used a scissors to slightly round the top corners of each one.

The flames are actually leaves, cut from metallic gold cardstock, using a leafy frond die. This worked so well, because the tiny "twigs" that connected the leaves to the main stem became the wicks for the flames.

I popped up every other candle with some thin strips of foam tape, but all of the flames were glued directly to the DSP.

I stamped a sentiment on the inside. Every 7-year-old loves to be called awesome, don't they?

This card was made exactly the same as the first card, except for the different number of candles.

And this is the sentiment I stamped inside of this one.

I happened to use a scrap of DSP for the candles on these cards, but a piece of heavier printed cardstock would work great, too. You could even use a lighter-weight patterned paper if you adhered it to some cardstock before cutting the candles.

You could also use plain cardstock. Remember those boxes of birthday candles in several colors? You could mimic them with different colors of cardstock.

I hope this gives you some fun ideas for birthday cards for kids.

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

Cheryl