Happy Birthday, Hadley!

My granddaughter Hadley turns six years old today. They grow up so fast and it's really hard to believe she is already six!

This is one of my favorite photos of Hadley. She lives in Portland, Oregon, so doesn't get many chances to enjoy snow. Luckily, they had a little snow before Christmas, and, as you can see, Hadley was excited.

For her birthday card, I decided to make an easel card that sits atop a little box of drawers.

This is what the box looked like from the top. The doily circle is cut with a die and the butterflies were all cut from the Kate's ABCs cartridge.

I also decorated the sides of the box with a bit of the patterned paper that I had punched with the Martha Stewart "Doily Lace" border punch.

The box was made as a one-piece lidded box. I looked online at how some other boxes were made but ended up making my own pattern. I'm not sure anymore, but I think the finished size was about 5" X 5" X 1 1/4". I didn't have a large enough piece of cardstock to cut it all from one piece, so I cut it out of two pieces and adhered them together at the back. The ribbon is adhered to the underside of the box with double-sided tape and keeps the lid down when it is tied in place.

Here you can also see the top of the card. The image was cut from Kate's ABCs and the number 6 was cut with a Cuttlebug die. I have a couple old sets of Cuttelbug alpha/number dies that I use from time to time.

This photo shows the "card" outside of its pink box. The base of the card serves as the top of the little four-drawer gift box. Another doily holds the easel card in place.

Here's a photo showing each of the drawers opened. The drawer handles are little wooden beads that are attached to each drawer with some fine gold wire. You can just see some of the little treats I put in each drawer for Hadley. You can also see how the easel card sits atop the drawers.

Here's one more peek at the top of the card and the inside. I had so much fun making this card for Hadley, and I hope she enjoys the little surprises it holds for her.




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

Valentines galore!

My sister has been very busy making Valentines. I was so pleased when she sent me some pictures and gave me permission to share them with you. Here are some of her beautiful creations:

  This Valentine is one of my favorites. I just love the different colored hearts. She used a Martha Stewart punch for the smaller hearts and her Cricut to cut out the larger ones. The banner was embossed with a Paper Studio embossing folder.

 These two cards are for her granddaughters, Ashleigh and Ella. Aren't they pretty? The letters are some 3-D stickers by Paper Studio, and the doilies were cut with a die. She used a couple of different border punches to accent the tops and bottoms of each card.

I think they are so pretty, and I'm certain her granddaughters will love them.

 This hot air balloon image was cut from the Victorian Romance cartridge. I really love this image and have even asked my sister to cut a few for me since I don't have this cart. I love the way she used the metal embellishments to add some shine and dimension.

This Valentine was made with a pre-cut card base that features a scalloped bottom that folds up and over the top of the card front. My sister stamped and heat embossed the image and sentiment. I love the way she added "Bee Mine" on two little hearts. So clever!

This Valentine is a simple card but oh, so pretty! I love the embossing on the card front. She used a punch to create the white border and then added some pretty dimensional heart stickers.

This is the last Valentine I'll share with you, but not to worry--my sister made several more which I'll share with you in another blog post. She used the Martha Stewart medium branch punch to create the pretty red wreath with its tiny heart ornaments. The heart border across the bottom has been stamped and heat-embossed - another wonderful touch that makes the card even more special.

As you can see, my sister does a fabulous job making cards. Thank you, Michelle, for letting me share these. I know that each one of them has a lot of love and care packed into each piece of paper and embellishment!

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

A Washi Valentine

One of my daughters gave me a Washi tape dispenser filled with Washi tape for Christmas. I love it! Thank you so much, Shanna!

Washi tape is fun to use as an embellishment, but really useful for other crafting needs, too (see more on that below).

You can see all the different colors of Washi tape, and it spins, so it's easy to get just the right color when you need it. My daughter said she found this particular item at Costco. Love Costco! It's a good thing I didn't see it first, or I might have purchased it for myself. :)

The first time I ever used Washi tape was when Patti, from Cherich Each Precious Day, selected my name to receive her blog candy, which included Washi tape. Thank you, Patti!

While I've used it a few times as an accent on a card, I wanted to see if I could make it the focal point, too.

Here's what I came up with:

For this lavender and purple Valentine, I used my Gypsy and the George cartridge to cut a rounded corner rectangle with 4 heart cutouts. Each of the hearts was sized at 1.5". I also used my Cricut to cut the white mat.

Once I had everything cut out, I laid the lavender rectangle over the white rectangle and traced the heart cutouts. Then I used some purple Washi tape in two different sizes and laid pieces of it over the top of the heart tracings. In between the strips of Washi tape, I adhered some 1/4" double-sided tape. As I took the top backing off the tape, I added glitter over the top of each piece and burnished it in. Some of the strips are a dark purple and others are a lighter, more pinkish purple.

Once I had all my pieces of tape in place, I embossed the sentiment onto the lavendar heart panel using dark purple embossing powder.  Then I adhered the lavendar layer onto the white mat with some foam tape.

It looks so sparkly and pretty in real life. Wish I could have gotten a better picture of it, but I think you get the idea.



I kept the inside of the card plain so that I can write a personal note.

I mentioned that I like Washi tape for other uses besides embellishing cards. Here are a few of the other ways I use it:

• I use it all the time to hold dies in place when I send them through the Cuttlebug.
• If my Cricut mats are losing their stick (and I don't have time to re-stick them), I use Washi tape to hold the paper in place while it is being cut by the Cricut.
• You know all those instruction pages at the beginning of your cartridge manuals?  Well, I put a piece of Washi tape around all of them on each side so that I can easily and immediately flip to the first image page.                                                
• I actually tried covering a round Card Candi with a little piece of Washi tape....and it worked! I haven't used it yet--I'm just waiting for the right card idea to come along .
• When I need to cut a very small or thin scrap of paper into an even smaller piece, I use Washi tape to hold it onto the bed of the cutter. I have a small Fiskar paper cutter and a larger guillotine cutter and I've used it with both of them.
• Washi tape works great as a masking agent on a stamp or on paper. When using it on a stamp, I just cover up the part I don't want inked with a small piece of tape, then ink up the stamp. Before stamping, I simply remove the tape. 
• I have even added some Washi tape to some white cardstock and then cut out a cute little Washi tape button with one of my button dies. Some of the wider Washi tapes will allow you to cut bigger dies. Of course, you can always stack pieces of Washi tape (as I did for the hearts in the valentine above) onto cardstock and then cut an image out with a die.

Do you have a unique use for Washi tape? If so, I'd LOVE it if you'd share it with me. It's a great product and I'd really like to add to my list of ways to use it.

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

Christmas in January...

Well, I made a (sort of) resolution at the beginning of the year that I was going to try to make 4 or 5 Christmas cards each month. I'm also hoping to post them on the 25th of the month. So....since today is January 25th, it's time to post my first 2014 holiday cards.

You may remember that when I needed an extra Christmas card in December - after receiving a new address from a friend - I quickly made two cards like this:

 Since I made two of these, and only used one, I've saved this one towards my January Christmas Card Commitment. And I decided to make a few more cards like it, but also try a couple of different things with them.

First, I tried cutting the snowflakes out of glittery blue cardstock. It's very hard to get a good photo of anything glittery, but at least the photo below gives you an idea of how this changes the look of the card:

I used the same glittery silver embossing powder for the sentiment that I had used on the previous card. It doesn't look very silver in this photo, but trust me, it is. And it's beautiful! I'm not sure why the blue snowflake in the upper right hand corner looks so terribly out of focus, but I was just too lazy to take another photo.

I still added the gems to the centers of each snowflake, and for the largest one, I applied a tiny little snowflake to the center under the gem for a little added dimension.

I thought the blue glitter cardstock looked okay, but I wasn't wild about it.

 Next, I decided to try something really fun - I cut my snowflakes out of white cardstock, pressed them face down into the Versamark ink pad and then covered them with the glittery, silver embossing powder that I had used for the sentiment. I held them in place on a heat-proof surface (my Silpat) with my piercing tool and then used my embossing gun to melt the powder that was clinging to the surface.

I thought they turned out great! I used Gem-Tac by Beacon to adhere them, because some of the embossing powder does get onto the back of the snowflakes, too, and melts there. I was afraid that regular craft glue might not hold them, but I'm certain the Gem-Tac will. I use it to hold all my gems and embellishments and it works great.

Here's a close up of one of the snowflakes. Can you see how the embossing powder has melted around the edges? It actually looks like a sparkly metal embellishment.













I liked how these turned out so much, that I made three of them. While I didn't take a photo of it, I also heat embossed the inside sentiment (and a couple of small stamped snowflakes) with the silver embossing power.

So now I have 5 cards ready for Christmas 2014. My Christmas Card Commitment has been met...so far.

You know, I have some red embossing powder that has some gold glitter in it. I wonder how that would look on these snowflakes?

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

First Valentine of 2014...

This cute little truck was cut from the Everyday Paperdolls cartridge. It didn't have layers, but it was easy enough to cut it out on gray (using the blackout feature to create my base), black, blue and yellow cardstock and then cut them apart, as needed, to create the layers. I also inked the edges of the blue and yellow layers for a little added dimension.

I added some Diamond Glaze to the windows and wheel centers, although you can't tell in these photos. The image was popped up on foam squares so that I could add the "load" of hearts into the truck bed. They are just some glossy, glittery heart stickers in different sizes.

The white mats on the front and inside were cut from the Elegant Edges cartridge (love that one!). The little heart cutouts on these mats was perfect.

These Valentines will soon be heading to a couple of my grandsons along with a Valentine treat that I am also papercrafting. More on that later.

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

I haven't posted in a while. Here's why...

I actually have been busy with craft projects, getting a good start on my Valentine cards and treats. I'll start posting those later this week. What has really kept me busy the last few days is this:

I've been sewing this dress for my 8-year-old granddaughter, Polly, who is studying the life and culture of a century ago. She, along with her class, is visiting an historic schoolhouse and the class was invited to dress in the clothing of the day.

Polly, her mom (my daughter), her little brother and I went out to Joann's Fabrics to pick out a pattern and some fabric. We had a fun time looking at fabrics and thinking about whether they might be similar to something that would have been available then.

The buttons that I sewed onto the front of the dress were some very old buttons that I had inherited from my mother. The price was still on the two cards of buttons:  6 buttons for 10 cents!

Here's a picture of Polly in her dress. Do you see her little toes poking out from under the long skirt? Don't worry, she will be wearing shoes to school! She also has to take her lunch wrapped in a bandana and tied to a stick. How fun is that?

You can't see it in the photo, but I made a little head band out of some of the extra brown ribbon to hold her hair back. It has a little bow off to one side and looks so cute on her.

I asked Polly what she had learned that she thought was good about a century ago and what was not so good. She said the "not so good" thing was that the children had to walk to school, even when it was very cold (we live in Minnesota - it can get COLD). The good thing was that they got to wear dresses like this. :) Awwwwww.  She knows how to make her grandma feel good.

I hope Polly has a lot of fun wearing her pioneer dress. She sure looks cute in it!

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

For the birds...

I received a great Martha Stewart border punch from one of my daughters for Christmas.

It will punch a line of birds along the edge of a piece of paper, creating an interesting border. But....if you take a scissors and hand cut the remaining tiny bits of their tails away from the rest of the paper, you can have this...

I love these "birds on a wire." I'm sure I'll use it as a border punch, too, but I'm also fairly certain that I'll use it more often like this.

A couple of Spellbinders label dies were used to create a space for my sentiment. The stamp is an older one--not sure of the make. I bought it used at my local ArtScraps store.








Next I want to try punching out a line of birds from different colors of cardstock, cutting off one or more single birds from each color and adhering them to make a colorful lineup of birds. I'm thinking I could also adhere just one of a different color for a "You're one of a kind" card. I'm sure there are lots of other ideas for this punch, and I'm looking forward to trying them out.

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

A Clean and Simple Thank You...

I finally decided to do something that was not related to a Christmas card or tag. Of course, I need to stock up on a few thank you cards again, so that was my first choice.

For this card, I adhered the patterned paper to the turquoise mat and then cut the oval out of both papers at the same time with a Spellbinders die.

I placed it on my card base and marked the position of the oval aperture with a pencil. That way I knew exactly where to stamp "Thank You," and I could easily erase the pencil marks before adhering everything together.

Here's a closer look where you can just see the slight shadow around the white oval, which indicates that it is recessed behind the black and white patterned paper.

A piece of bright ribbon added some color and I was done - in a matter of minutes!

I left the inside blank so that I have plenty of room to write my note of thanks.

I think I'm going to make a number of these with different patterned papers so that I have a supply on hand. I'm also working on a birthday card for my granddaughter who is turning 6 at the end of this month. I'll share that with you closer to the time of her big day. I don't want her to see it before she actually receives it!!

I also need to get going on my Valentine cards. With 10 grandkids to think about, I have a lot of cards to make! I've been surfing Pinterest looking for ideas and have collected a few. My problem is I write my ideas on little pieces of paper here and there and then I have a hard time keeping track of all those notes. I really need to get more organized in 2014!

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

Giving Christmas cards a second life...

We get such beautiful Christmas cards from family and friends that I really can't bear to just throw them all out when the holidays are over. But we all know that we can't keep ALL those cards forever! I do save the handmade ones, of course. As a card maker, I know the time and effort that went into making them.

But the purchased ones are also beautiful. I enjoy receiving them and looking at all the different designs and sentiments. To be able to enjoy those pretty Christmas cards for yet another holiday, I turn as many of them as I can into Christmas gift tags. Here are some examples I have made from this year's cards:

These two tags were cut from the same lovely card. You cannot see it in the photo but the windows of all the buildings are a shiny metallic gold and there is some sparkle in the snow.

Here's an example of what I put on the backside of the tag. If the card has a written note that I need to cover up, I simply cut a second tag out of white cardstock and glue it onto the back.

A little festive ribbon is all it took to finish these tags.

Here are two more tags from Christmas cards. I fussy cut the little snowman from the front of a card and popped him up on 1/4 inch pop dots. The little piece of green plaid with a gold border was also cut from another card and adhered to the tag shape, which I cut out of a piece of green cardstock using the Art Philosophy cartridge.

The wintery scene was on the center of a card, so I cut it out with a Lifestyle Crafts lace square die and simply added some glitter around the edge and a sheer ribbon through one of the corner loops.

This happy little snowman was part of a larger Christmas scene on the front of a card, but I thought his smiling face would make a great gift tag. I cut it out with a circle die and then cut a larger circle out of gold cardstock to frame the image. Another white circle on the back provided room for the "to" and "from."

It's a lot of fun to look at, re-read and then make tags out of my Christmas cards. As I continue these little creations, I'll be sharing more of them in the coming months. Do you use your cards for any sort of crafting project after Christmas? I'd love to hear about it if you do.

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

Spectrum Noir markers - thought I'd give them a try...

A while back I came upon an offer of a free card kit that contained two Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I just had to pay the shipping cost. Because I love using my ProMarkers so much, I thought I ought to give the Spectrum Noir brand a try, as well.

Here is the card I made from this little kit.

The two markers were a vibrant yellow and a turquoise. You can see how they mix when overlapped to create the green color.

The kit provided three butterfly images so that you could layer them like this, and even have an extra for another project. Isn't that a fun look?

I embossed the sentiment with some turquoise embossing powder that I just happened to have on  hand.








Are you recovered from the holidays and back into your normal day-to-day groove? I did manage to get all my Christmas decorations put away and the house put to rights. I'm having a bit of a struggle, though, to get back to my usual crafting schedule.

Another one of my problems of late is that I haven't felt like cooking a thing! With all the cooking and baking I did for Christmas, I'd just as soon have chips and salsa for dinner for awhile. My poor husband would rather have some decent meals, but he's kind enough to eat the scanty ones I've been preparing without complaint. Tonight it was some potsticker dumplings (frozen in a bag-just had to cook them in a little oil and water) and some frozen vegetables (yes - I cooked them!). Maybe I'll dish us up some ice cream to have with our (Christmas) cookies later on. I sure hope I get back some of my old enthusiasm for cooking soon. Even I'm bored with what I'm serving!

Happy New Year to all of you, and thanks so much for visiting my blog today and during the past year. Your comments are so encouraging, and I appreciate every one of them.

As usual, don't forget to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl