Happy Halloween!

Today I have a couple cards to show you, as I wish you and everyone out there a Happy Halloween:

This card is actually a 4-panel card. I matted and embellished all four panels on the inside and two panels on the back side. The one back panel is what actually is seen as the "front" of the card when it is folded together to put into an envelope.

Here are the four inside panels:

And here are the four back panels:

I left some space under the "Happy Haunting" on that left-hand panel where we can sign our names and write a brief note with a white gel pen.









One more card made using this same pattern:

These cards were each made from a 6" X 12" piece of cardstock, scored on the long side at 3", 6" and 9". I cut a right triangle from the two top corners of each panel.

That is to say, when the card was folded together, I measured 1/2" toward the center of the front panel from each top corner and 1" down the side from each top corner.  Then I connected those two points with a straight line and cut through all the panels at once.

I think the shape looks a bit like a coffin or a grave marker - good for Halloween, right?

I used various stickers, stamped images, cricut images and punched shapes to decorate the cards. You can also see some Halloween-themed washi tape and some glitter tape.

These were fun to make, but fairly time-consuming with six different panels to embellish on each card.

I hope your children or grandchildren have a safe and fun Halloween. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Special-fold Halloween card...

This Halloween card was made with half a sheet of 12" X 12" paper.  First I cut the sheet in half.  Then I scored one of the resulting 6" X 12" pieces on the long side at 2", 4", 8" and 10". Then I measured 3" up from each end and made a mark.  I cut off a triangular piece from the left mark to the top of the 4" score line.  I cut another triangular piece from the top of the 8" score line to the right mark.

I think the embossing folder that I used was by Darice, and the "Creepy" sentiment and the bat were cut from the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Don't you love that "Creepy" font? I used some Memento London Fog ink to do a little shading on the embossing. Love how that turned out, too.

Here's a side view that shows how I decorated each panel after making the mountain and valley folds. A couple of spooky eyes and some speech bubbles was all it took.

The other panel has a couple of small banners that say "Happy Halloween." There is room underneath the banners to sign the card and write a brief note with a white gel pen.

And a quick peek at the other side - more eyes and speech bubbles on the purple panel and a skull and crossbones sticker on the black panel.

Using double-sided paper gives this card a fun look, even from the back!

I really like trying new card folds. This one was one of the easier ones to make and embellish. If you've got some Halloween cards yet to make, give it a try. It comes together pretty quickly.

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

Christmas card fail...

A neighbor gave me some old sheet music that she no longer wanted. I thought I'd try to use some of it on some Christmas cards. I was pretty disappointed in the results.

In "real" sheet music, the staff lines and the notes are so far apart! It's just not scaled for cards. Fail #1!  I'm thinking I should use my printer to print out a reduced-size copy of it. That might help.

I had a scrap of green Christmassy card stock, and decided to use that for my center rectangle. It does look a little better IRL, but not a lot. Fail #2! I think I should have used black cardstock.

I also tried heat-embossing on the ornament with some gold sparkly embossing powder that I have, and it looks awful. Fail #3!  I don't think I'll be using that embossing powder for any sentiments in the future.

The inside looks a little better with some different gold embossing powder. I think I'll take the scalloped circle off the front of the card and re-do it with this stuff.

I'll try this card design again with the changes I've talked about, and we'll see if it looks any better.

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

Sympathy card...

Sadly, we recently needed a sympathy card because a friend passed away from cancer. This is what I came up with:

I really like this embossing folder for sympathy cards. There's something so poignant about it. I embossed my piece of cardstock and then applied a little green chalk to highlight the bird and the reeds. It's very subtle, but it adds just a little something extra to the embossed pattern. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed.

I kept the inside as "quiet" as I did the card front. I again heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and added a couple of score lines at the top and bottom.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Even though we go through sad times in our lives, we must still remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Cascading circle card...

This is a cascading circle card that I made for one of my granddaughters for Halloween. It was actually really fun to make. The hardest part was deciding how to decorate each circle. You really can't use anything that pops up too far, or it won't fold together nicely.

This picture shows the bottom circle with the two top circles still folded together. You can see that you have to remember to lay them in opposite directions before punching the holes and adding the brads that connect them.

This photo shows all three circles cascaded out. You can also see where the connecting brads have been placed. I would have liked to add googly eyes, but again, that would have made it harder to close it, so I just used a little Diamond Glaze instead. The bit of ribbon at the top helps the receiver to pull the card fully open.

When I inserted my brads, I put the points of a small scissor under the head of the brad before I spread out the prongs.  This helped keep the connection fairly loose. I didn't want it so tight that it was hard to open and close. The circles were each made 1/2" smaller than the previous one, which left that nice 1/4" border and made them all nest nicely together. I believe I started with a 5" circle.

To keep from having to use extra postage for a square envelope, I made my own envelope at 5" X 6".  Every time I have to do this, I appreciate my WRMK envelope punch board even more!

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

You're becoming a classic...

I needed to make a couple of a couple of masculine birthday cards in the past month, so here's what I came up with. This one was for my brother who turns 66 this year. I thought that the "Route 66" sign would be perfect, given his age.

This one is for my SIL who is nowhere near 66 years old, but really enjoys classic cars. I think he'll like the classic look of this red convertible. I also made the envelope beneath the card. I liked the chevron "tracks" on it, and since it was from the same stack as the cracked yellow DSP, the colors coordinated perfectly.

Both the Route 66 sign and the convertible are images from the Nifty Fifties cartridge. I love that cartridge, and it has some great images that work well for those oh-so-difficult male cards.

Here's a little peek at the interior of the first card. The inside for the second one is much the same. It's simple, but I think it works with the card front. The sentiment is computer-generated, and the font I used is called Magneto. I think it looks like one a car manufacturer might use in its ads.

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

Happy anniversary to my wonderful husband...

In my "maturity," I have become quite the choco-holic, so to say I love someone more than chocolate is truly saying a lot. I often buy the good quality dark chocolate bars - you know...ones like those from Lindt, Ghirardelli or Godiva. Then my husband and I will have a piece or two of chocolate with our tea after our evening meal.  We both enjoy this a lot, but I'm the one who really LOVES it.

I hand-cut the chocolate kiss for this card and then used a few ProMarkers to shade it a bit and give it some depth. I think you might be able to just make out the shading if you look closely. It's much easier to see IRL.  The hearts were cut from the George cartridge, and you can see that I embossed the white one with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

I hand-cut the little sentiment banners and added a small glitter heart on the end of each. The hearts were left over from making last year's Valentines, and I knew they'd come in handy! The sentiment was done with my computer and the font is Vivaldi.

The inside is simple with another glitter heart and lots of room to write a personal note.

We don't give each other gifts on our anniversary - we figure it is gift enough just to be together. I think I may offer him a piece or two of chocolate though (and have a couple myself) to celebrate!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope there is lots of chocolate (or whatever else you love) in your life.

Remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

If the shoe fits...

My sister and her friend, Connie, are both crafters and card makers.  They often make special cards for each other, even though they live in the same town. In fact, they are even within walking distance of each other.

My sister sent me the photo below of the Halloween card she made for Connie this year.

Isn't this a fabulous card? She cut the shoe using her Cricut and the Happy Hauntings cartridge. Then she added the lace, square brads, the spider web border at the top, the pink polka dots and the sheer black ribbon.

I just love all the extra little details on this shoe, and I know that Connie is going to love it, too!

I was particularly intrigued with the font she used for the words "Witch" and "fabulous." When I asked her what it was, she told me it was Vivaldi. I know I am going to use this font more often, now that I know just how pretty it is. In fact, after getting the name of it from my sister, I immediately used it on an anniversary card I was making for my husband. It looks great with its romantic flourish. I'll be sharing that card with you in a couple of days.

If you love this card as much as I do and would like to pin it to one of your Pinterest boards, just hover your mouse over the photo and the "Pin" button will appear in the upper right hand corner.

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

Happy Birthday, Sebastian...

My grandson turns 10 today, so I want to wish him a very happy birthday! He spent some time with us this summer, and one of the things he liked to do was practice his skate-boarding on the walk in front of our house. For that reason, I thought he'd like this card:

I think he'd be thrilled if he could ride his skateboard like this! I added a few stars made from glitter paper, because...well...everything looks better with a little sparkle!

The image was cut from the Dude! cartridge, and I used my ProMarkers to color some parts of the bottom (skin-toned) layer to add some more dimension. I actually prefer to do this when I can, rather than cutting out all those tiny pieces and trying to adhere them together properly.

I liked the blue and green patterned background paper except for the odd red centers on some of the circles. To change them, I simply colored them with a purple marker (to better match my skate boarder) and then added some Diamond Glaze on top. These centers look nearly black in the photo, but they truly are a deep purple.

For the inside, I added a few more glittery stars to my sentiment and embellished the panel with a couple of flags cut from the DSP.  The card didn't bend back easily, which is why it looks a bit rounded on either side at the top.

I do hope Sebastian has a spectacular day! He is growing up in Germany, so we don't get to see him as often as we'd like.

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

A couple of Halloween cards...

This card was made with a few stamps, stickers and a circle die.  To determine the placement of the holes in the strip of black cardstock, I first cut 3 circles out of scrap cardstock and adhered them with repositionable tape. That way I could make sure they were evenly spaced. Then I simply placed my circle die over the top of each scrap paper circle and cut the hole in the right place. The black cardstock was adhered with foam tape and then the skull and crossbones stickers were centered in each hole.

Here's the inside of the card.  The sentiment was computer-generated and I stamped a few more spider webs for fun.

Speaking of spiders, I had this sheet of green Halloween DSP with a fun little spider on it. It would have been a great page for a Halloween scrapbook layout, but I decided to cut a piece of it to use for this card.

I added the googly eyes and the sentiment. Those googly eyes make any creature cute, don't they?

For the inside of the card, I used another piece of the paper on which I adhered another, smaller spider from a sheet of coordinating elements and also the "Happy Haunting" phrase from the Happy Hauntings cartridge.

I really love making Halloween cards. I usually try to make interactive cards, but this year I've been too busy to spend that much time on them.

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

Two cards, twice the fun...

I recently made these two cards with a new (to me) stamp set by Jillibean Soup. I love these larger sentiments.  The other sentiments that come in the set are "hello there" "love you bunches," This is me missing you," today makes me smile," "Wishing you joy," "So happy for you." The bolded words are the ones that are in the large, heavy font.

Here you can see a close-up of the heat-embossed sentiments and how nicely they stamp. I know I will use these stamps a lot. They make really quick and attractive cards.

The flowers were created with a Reflections punch and the leaves with an EK Success punch.  For the flower centers, I punched some little circles from the coral DSP with a hole punch, adhered them to my flowers and covered them with Diamond Glaze.

I hope you enjoyed my cards today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Adding my own personal touch...

I've had these little thank you notes hanging around for a long time, but I've just not been able to bring myself to use them. Since I make my own cards, it's very difficult for me to send out a manufactured card. I feel like I'm cheating!

These are small cards - 3" X 5" - and I really wanted to use them, but felt I needed to add my own personal touch before I'd be comfortable doing so.

Here's what I did to dress them up:

I simply added a pearl made with a Viva Decor pen to the center of each flower and a tiny bow out of baker's twine to the center flower. I also rounded the two bottom corners of the card.

It's silly, I know, but I now feel okay in sending these cards out to people.

Do you ever do this kind of thing to ready-made cards? I'm really hoping I'm not the only one!

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

Birthdays are like hairballs...

This card was a blast to make. I cut the cat from Cindy Loo at 3.5 inches (I think). I inked up the different layers and added some dimensional paint to the eyes and a little two-layer punched flower by her ear.

To anchor my cat, I used one of my Spellbinders peony nestability dies to create a little white background piece. The hairballs were made with Diamond Glaze and some gray and brown Fun Flock. That stuff makes the perfect hairballs!

My sentiments on the front and inside were computer generated.

This card was for my stepdaughter's birthday, and it gave her a good laugh! We always need to laugh on our birthdays, right? Otherwise, we'd cry!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day (especially if it's your birthday!).
Cheryl