My sister has been busy making Easter cards...

I had a fun chat on the phone with my sister today. As usual, we talked about our cardmaking and the fun of buying new supplies. She has purchased a new Cricut cartridge called Edge to Edge and has used it to make some of her Easter cards.

My sister cut the "doilies" on each of these cards from the Edge to Edge cartridge. Aren't they pretty?

Here are a few more of her Easter cards:

For this last card, she used a basket stamp that she found at the used craft supply store that we shopped in when she last came to visit. We had so much fun finding bargains and feeling good about re-using items that had been donated by someone else.

One last card of my sister's that I'd like to share with you is a fun birthday card:

She used the Robotz cartridge to cut the letters out of some glittery paper. She added to the sparkle with some glittery silver rickrack. You can't have too much bling, right?

Thanks so much, Michelle, for allowing me to share your cards.  And thank YOU for stopping by and looking at them, too. Just remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A birthday card for a young girl...

Did you see my recent post about the Envelope Punch Board? If not, you can check it out here. On that post, I explained how I made some faux-rickrack with the Punch Board. Here is a card on which I used that faux-rickrack:

I layered the rickrack to reflect the pink and yellow in the DSP. The image was colored with my ProMarkers and cut out with a Spellbinders die (the scalloped oval behind it, too!). The sentiment was computer-generated and cut out with a La La Land folding banner die. The decorative corners were cut with a Lifestyle Crafts die.

I love the dimension of these banner dies. I created a word file that prints the sentiments out in a slight arc, and I print a whole page of them at a time. I cut a banner out of vellum to use as a guide to mark where I need to place my die to cut each sentiment out correctly. That makes it super easy to cut out the sentiments, even though I can't see through the dies.

The inside was kept pretty simple with a stamped sentiment and 4 of the Lifestyle Crafts corners.

This was a quick and fun card to make. I love having the option of creating my own rickrack to coordinate with the papers on my cards.

Again, if you want to know how I made it, just click here.

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

March Christmas cards and tags...

As I promised (myself) in January, I have made my batch of Christmas cards and tags for March. I'm hoping to ease the Christmas card making job come November and December by making 4-6 cards and tags each month.

This month's card design was VERY simple. I bought a simple tree die during Archiver's going-out-of-business sale. It was one of their "gently used" items so it didn't have the original packaging with it. I'm not even sure what brand it is. The set also included a simple snowflake-type star die - meant for the top of the tree, I think - which I used as a star in the "sky." Here's what my card looks like:

I cut the tree out twice - once from kraft cardstock and once from patterned cardstock at an angle.  I cut the trunk off the patterned tree and then adhered it on top of the kraft cardstock tree so that there was the appearance of a brown trunk. The tree was then adhered to the card front with foam squares. I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder on the green cardstock and added some red stitched ribbon that I've had in my stash for ages.

The star was cut from gold cardstock, and I added some stickles to its points to to coordinate with the gold glittery stripes in the patterned paper.

The inside is pretty simple. I happen to have a small stamp that was very similar to the star on the front of the card, so I stamped some at random on the inside, too.

These cards were so quick to make that I actually got six of them done in a very short time.

Last month, I had so much fun making tags from kraft cardstock using a Hero Arts house stamp and matching die, that I decided to make some more. This time, however, I used white cardstock and colored them in pastel colors, using my ProMarkers.

The two "candy trees" on either side of the houses were popped up on foam squares, and I used my Marvy Uchida Snow marker to add snow on the roof and bushes. While the snow was still wet, I sprinkled it heavily with glitter and let it dry. Once dry, I used my heat gun to puff up the snow.

Here's a side view :

You can see the candy trees that were popped up on foam squares and the puffiness of the "snow" after it's been heated. It adds such wonderful dimension to these tags.

The back of each tag was stamped with "Merry Christmas" and "To" and "From."


I plan to use these tags with some of the pastel-colored Christmas wrapping that I seem to buy with some regularity. I'm always on the lookout for something other than the usual Christmas colors, so I find myself picking up pale aquas, blues and yellows whenever I see them. These tags will be perfect to use with those papers.

Well that's it for me today. We had real snow here again this morning. Will it ever stop??? I am looking forward to the warm summer months like never before! I sure hope it's warm where you are.


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

LEGO card with Card Candi...

This was a fun card that I made for my daughter to add to her stash of birthday cards. It was a bit time-consuming, but fun to see it come together.

The card candy was colored with my ProMarkers to match, as closely as possible, to the cardstock. I then used some tiny foam squares to attach each piece of Candi.

This side view shows the fun dimension of this card. It did get a little heavy with all the Card Candi and foam squares, but since these cards are generally attached to a gift that is taken to a birthday party, the weight was no problem.

The inside was kept simple very simple. No reason to detract from the fun front of the card, right?






One of my grandchildren will most likely be giving this card to a friend. I think they'll enjoy doing that because they seemed to think this card was pretty cool.


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

Happy Birthday with vellum flowers...

I've had this pink vellum sitting in my "special papers" drawer for...well...years! I've been meaning to use it, but I just hadn't quite figured out what to do with it until now.

I used some white embossing powder on the pale pink vellum for these flowers . I did add a bit more color with my ProMarkers to the flower centers on the backs. Then, keeping with my pink and black motif for this card, I added a black gem to each center. I'm not sure if I like that or not. Would a pink, white or clear one have been better?

Here's a little closer lookso you can see how translucent they are. I think this gives them a really delicate look. Love that! The heat-embossing makes them really easy to cut out, too.

One of the fun things I did with this card was to make the front of the card about 2.5 inches shorter than the back of the card. This is a 4.5" X 6" card. I thought the flowers were the perfect way to finish that front edge.

The black gem flourish at the bottom is actually a section cut from a roll of this type of flourish that I picked up at Michael's for a really good price. I think the whole roll was only a dollar!

Here's a look at the inside of the card. It looks pretty unconventional with the sentiment placed so low, but it seems okay IRL.  There was still plenty of room to write a line at the bottom and sign our names.

I'm linking this card up to the challenge on Capadia Designs to use some item that's been sitting in your craft room for a long time. If you'd like to enter that challenge, you'll find the details here.

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

Funky flowers...

Just a quick post from me today. One of the first stamp sets I bought had some very funky flowers on it. I've never used them until now. I decided it was time to make a "funky flower" card.

I stamped the flowers and then added some hand-drawn stems, a bow and a sentiment. I also used a Viva Decor Pearl Pen to add some little red centers to the flowers.

Hopefully, it's obvious, but I tried really hard to match the ink I used to the colors in the DSP.

Here's a peek at the inside.

I left it pretty plain and simple so that there is plenty of room for a personal note.

This weekend my 10-year-old granddaughter is competing in the State Swim Meet. I'm so proud of her, and I know she'll do well. It's amazing for me to watch her. She has such wonderful form, and even at 10-years-old, the muscles ripple in her back and shoulders. She is something to behold!

Well, that's it for me. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by. Remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!
Cheryl

Envelope punch board review...

I was lucky enough a couple weeks ago to win a We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board from Nina Yang at Waffle Flower Paper Crafts.  Thank you, Nina!!!  I was thrilled as I had been considering this tool ever since it came out and wondering if I should order it.

Update:  this envelope punch board is now on sale at Joann's for $11.99!
 
  As you can see on the chart located on the tool itself, it makes dozens of sizes of envelopes. The first thing I did was make the largest and smallest size listed.

The instructions were easy to follow. When making the largest envelope, the paper overhangs the tool itself, so you need to flip the paper over to complete the score lines.

The largest envelope is 6" X 8.5" and the smallest envelope is 2.5" X 3". For those of you who use the metric system, it comes with the metric equivalents on a sticker that can be put right on top of the other measurements.

The multitude of sizes came in handy today when I made a 4.5" X 6" card with some flowers hanging over the edge on each side. I knew it wasn't going to fit in the envelopes I usually use for this size card, so I checked the sizes on the board, and sure enough - there was an envelope for a 5" X 6" card that would be perfect!

I also decided to try a few other items that I had seen on various blogs and on YouTube.

The first was a pretty little bow from one 10" X 1" strip of paper. I added a tiny piece of paper around the center to make the bow look complete.

These were so much fun that I made a few more and added some embellishments to the centers. Won't they look pretty on a package or even a card?

There are a number of tutorials on YouTube for bows like this, but I happened to watch this one.

Next, I made an English cracker-style treat box. It was very quick and easy to do after watching this video on YouTube.

Finally, I decided to see if I could come up  with something else without watching any videos or reading any tutorials. I took a strip of designer paper between 3/4" and 1.5" wide (and any length) and punched it every half inch on the envelope punch board, alternately flipping the paper from front-side-up to back-side-up.  It created a sort of paper rick rack.

I took another strip of paper and, keeping it top-side up, punched every half inch along one side. This creates an inverted scallop border like the gray one you see in the above photo. I can see using this to create a little water scene on a card.

I also found that you can layer the rick rack for a colorful border or embellishment. I actually made a card with the yellow and pink combination which I'll share with you in another post.

The punch board also has a great corner rounder incorporated into the board. I discovered that this corner rounder falls between my 1/2" and 1/4" corner rounders.

Here's a picture of two pieces of paper, each with the corner rounded with my 1/2" corner rounder.

Do you see how the blue mat is a little wider at the corner because the white paper has been rounded at the same angle? I have long wished I had a 3/8" corner rounder (a 1/4" one is too small!) so that two corners like this would fit together more accurately. Well, the envelope punch board has just the right size corner rounder!

For the two sheets of paper in the photo at the right, the blue corner was rounded with my 1/2" corner rounder and the white corner was rounded with the envelope punch board. See how nicely they nest together? I am much happier with this combination, and I'm so glad I didn't invest in yet another punch to do the job!


Thanks for sticking with me through this post. I'm glad to share with you the little bit that I've discovered about the envelope punch board. I'll share more as I learn more.

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

Baptism card...

My daughter's nephew on her husband's side was baptized today. He's such a sweet little baby. Since my daughter had to travel 4 hours to come to Minneapolis for the baptism service, I wanted to help her out a bit by making a card for her to give to the happy family. Here's what I came up with:

I used some pale blue textured cardstock for the mats and some pretty embossed paper for the rectangular panel. I used a die to cut the label and it's mat and then ran the top of the label through the Cuttlebug in my Swiss Dots embossing folder.

I looked and looked in my cartridges, trying to find an image of a cross. I came up empty! Then it occurred to me that a "t" can look like a cross, so I checked my Fontopia cartridge and, sure enough, it had a 3-D lowercase "t" that would work perfectly as a cross! I cut the bottom layer of the "t" out of the blue textured cardstock and the top layer out of a pearlized pale blue cardstock. I also ran the top layer of the "t" through my Cuttlebug with one of my embossing folders - can't remember exactly which one, but I know it had a detailed, all-over pattern, which I needed because the cross was pretty narrow.

The inside of the card is pretty simple. The sentiment was computer-generated, and I just added a couple little hearts punched from the same pearlized cardstock I used for the cross.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with how this turned out. I am always amazed at how some images can be used for purposes way beyond their original intention. It's fun to make these "discoveries" and use them successfully.

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

Hello...

Sometimes you want a card that just says "Hello." I like to have some of those around in case I want to send someone a quick note. This card is one of those:

I started with a deep pink card base. Then added some pretty black and white paper that had been adhered to a black mat.  A pink satin ribbon added a little spark of color.

The "hello" was cut with a Cuttlebug die. The three pink gems started out as clear ones. I just colored them with a ProMarker to match my color scheme.

The sentiment label is a Spellbinders die. To get the narrow shadow, I simply adhered the label to some black cardstock and then hand cut around the label.

Sometimes I wish every set of label dies increased by 1/16" for the graduated sizes. I realize that would mean that every set would have to include about 16 dies, but wouldn't that be nice?

Well, that's it for me today. We are still dealing with mountains of snow here in the Minneapolis area. The piles are so high, we don't know where to put it anymore! Intersections are getting very tricky because it's tough to see around the big piles of snow at every corner. It is supposed to be in the 30s later this week. I can't wait!

I hope the weather is great wherever you are. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Lacy, feminine birthday card...

I had a bit of this pretty lacy patterned paper left and wanted to make a card with it. Since I always need to have a few birthday cards on hand, I decided to make a feminine one that would be perfect to give to one of my aunts.

Because "side B" of this paper was also really pretty, I wanted to show it off, as well, so I decided to turn down a corner of it.  I used a MS punch to make the white lace along the edge. I also used an Impression Obsession button die to make the pretty blue button that looks as thought  it's holding the paper in place.

You can't see it, but I put some strips of foam tape under the turned down piece right near the fold. This helps ensure that it doesn't fold sharply, but curves nicely over the foam tape.

Here's another peek at the button. Once again, I cut out four layers of the button and glued them all together to make it sturdy and to add some dimension. I used some yellow crochet thread to tie the little bow.

I dressed up the inside with some more of this pretty paper and a couple more buttons.  The sentiments on the front and inside were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with blue embossing powder.  I had fun making this card, and I hope the person who receives it enjoys it, too.

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

Multi-purpose card...

Sometimes its fun to make a card that isn't focused on an event such as a birthday or holiday. This card is one of those.

 This card was made with some papers and a tag that came in a goody box that I won from one of the blogs I follow. I love the pink and black color combo with a few other pastel colors thrown in for good measure.

Here's a side view of the card to show you that the little buttons and the tag were attached with foam squares to give the card some extra dimension.

The buttons were made with my little button dies from Impression Obsession. Love those dies!

When I make my buttons, I cut through a double layer of cardstock, resulting in two button shapes. I glue these two together, cut two more and glue them to the first two. This four-layer button is sturdy and has dimension, almost like a real button!

I did not add a sentiment on the inside, because I wanted this to be a sort of "all-purpose" card.

I did add a couple more little buttons. I think they add just the right bit of color.

Here's a closer look at these two little buttons. I threaded them with some pink and white baker's twine, the same twine I used on the front to make a bow on the tag.










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