Happy birthday silhouette...

One of my beautiful granddaughters turned 9 recently, and I made this card for her. I used a freebie silhouette stamp that came with my last issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine. I heat-embossed the stamped image with black embossing powder and then cut it out with a Spellbinder's Floral Ovals die.

It's difficult to see in either off these photos, but the black strip of cardstock across the center is embossed with a border embossing folder that also came with the magazine. My sentiment is framed with a Spellbinder's Fancy Tags die.

I love this little Silhouette stamp, and I can see myself using it again - especially for those girly cards I will need for my other four granddaughters. Yup - I've got 5 granddaughters and 5 grandsons. It's so nice that they're evenly split like that!

I used a larger oval die from the same Spellbinder's set for my inside. It's such a pretty die and nicely dresses up my card's interior.

If you live in the U.S., did you go out shopping today to catch some of the Black Friday sales? I'm writing this post ahead of time, but as I write this, I am planning on going for a couple of hours with my daughter and her husband. My husband will definitely NOT be going. That is so not his idea of a good time. lol

I enjoy sharing this U.S. tradition with my kids, but I never go out if it's just me. I just wish that none of the stores would open until 5:00 a.m. Friday morning. Some of them are now open on Thanksgiving Day, and I always feel bad for those who have to work instead of spending the day with their families.

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

A Thanksgiving threesome...

I managed to get enough Thanksgiving cards made and in the mail to arrive before Thursday. Phew! Today, I'm going to share some pics of the final three.

This first card uses a Martha Stewart double-edged punch called Vine Trim. I inked the edges of my vine before adhering it to my card. It was a great way to cover up the seam between my patterned and plain cardstocks.

The circle sentiment was stamped and heat-embossed with a coppery-colored embossing powder. I bought this stamp at a garage sale last summer, so I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

I cut it out with a circle die and added a glitter CS mat behind it. My little leaf was made with a punch (Recollections, maybe). I used some distress inks on my off-white CS first and then punched it out. I added the veins with an embossing stylus.

The interiors of the cards I am sharing with you today are all pretty similar - computer-generated sentiments and a little leaf or two like the ones on the front of the card.









Here's card number two..

For this card I used a different circle die for the mat and a Darice embossing folder for my center strip. I lightly inked the embossed design to help it stand out a bit more.

My little leaves were made the same as on the previous card - ink up the paper first and then punch them out.
















And, finally, my third card for today...

This time I simply added a little seam binding and a bow. Easy, peasy!

We will be heading to my daughter's home (200 miles away) for Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to working in the kitchen with her. She has a MUCH nicer kitchen than I do, so it should be loads of fun. She's also a MUCH better cook than I am, so maybe I can even learn something!!

I wish you a wonderful day on Thursday, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not!

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

A birthday card for my sister...

My sister's birthday was November 19, and I made this card for her with a couple of stamps from "A Year in Flowers 3" by Flourishes. I started out by adding a strip of pink cardstock across the width of my mat and then layering some lace trim on top of that. I also heat-embossed "Birthday Wishes." My DSP looks a little splotchy in the photo, but it's supposed to have a sort of distressed look. That wasn't caused by me trying to make cards with greasy fingers!! lol

I had to look online to see what colors I could choose from for my cyclamen. I knew they came in shades of pink and purple, but I didn't know if they came in other colors, too. What I found is that they are pretty much limited to pinks, reds and purples.

I chose a pink for my image. I know my sister likes pink (or at least she used to!) and it looks really good on her, too.

I colored my image with ProMarkers and cut it out with a stitched oval die.

My little tag was cut by hand, and I inked around it to give it a little more definition.

To decorate the inside of my card, I used a strip of my DSP and cut a couple of flowers from my lace trim for each end of it.

I can hardly believe it is nearly Thanksgiving! I will hopefully have a couple more posts during the rest of this week, but I can't guarantee anything - it's going to be a busy week!

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

So very thankful...

Another Thanksgiving card to share with you.

I used a couple of paper flowers by Recollections and a flourish cut with my Cricut from the Tie the Knot cartridge (I think...). It could have been another cartridge - there are so many of them with flourish images.

I used an old Cuttlebug alpha die set to cut my letters. I cut three of each and layered them to add some dimension. As a final touch I drew some faux stitch lines around each one.

The inside of my card has a brown mat (same paper as that on the front of my card) and a computer-generated sentiment.







Today we took two of our grandsons to see "Inside Out" at our favorite movie theater. This particular theater was built in 1948-49 and they have kept it as true to the era as they can. They've even kept the retro furniture and table lamps in the lounge area. It is so cool! And another great feature is that the tickets are only $2 each for seniors and kids. You can't beat that! We often go there on Friday nights. It's the cheapest entertainment we can find anywhere! Afterwards, we usually go across the street for a decaf latte (for me) and a chai latte (for my hubs). The lattes cost WAY more than the theater tickets!

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

A leafy wreath on brick...

I like the idea of a wreath made of leaves. I've often thought of making one for myself, but haven't found leaves at the craft store that I think look realistic enough.

Anyway, I thought I'd use the wreath idea for some Thanksgiving cards.

I used the Sizzix Tim Holtz "Bricked" embossing folder for my background. I used brown CS, but inked it with some darker brown ink to add some depth.

For my wreath, I used a couple of graduated circle dies to cut a ring for my base. Then I used some distress inks (shades of red, gold, yellow and light brown) and sponged some scraps of off-white CS in a random way. Finally, I simply used a Recollections punch to create my little maple leaves. Once that was done, I began gluing them to my ring, and you can see for yourself how it turned out.

My sentiment was heat embossed with some copper embossing powder, and the leaf beside it was attached with a glue dot.

A couple more leaves on the inside, along with my computer-generated sentiment.

I made a few of these cards. It was so much fun to see how the leaves turned out. I thought the colors were very close to the maple leaves we see in Minneapolis in the fall. Some are truly this brilliant!
















My 8-year-old grandson is staying with us for four days while his parents take his sisters to a swim meet in Milwaukee. He is such a delight. He still likes to be read to at night, which is also a treat for me, as I love reading out loud. He was also excited about having broccoli for dinner tonight. Isn't it great when kids love what's good for them? For his school lunch tomorrow, though, he wants me to pack him a cheddar cheese and dill pickle sandwich. How's that for a combination?!!

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

More fun with glitter...

I have the Simple Holiday Cards cartridge, and I decided to cut out one of the Thanksgiving cards included on it. I cut only the card base, not the accompanying layer that is meant to go behind the cut design.

Once the card base was cut, I added a sheet of double-sided adhesive to the backside of my card front. When that was in place, I added some autumn colors of glitter to the open design.

I used deep brown, copper and gold glitters, burnishing them in with my finger.

I added two pieces of DSP to the inside of my card to cover the adhesive and to add some interest behind my sentiment.

I used my computer to print my sentiment onto some off-white cardstock and cut it out with a Spellbinder's die.

I actually really liked how this card turned out - and it was SO quick and easy!!

Today, I'm actually going to start wrapping some Christmas gifts. Can you believe that it's that time of the year already? With 10 grandchildren, I always have to get started as early as possible. Quite a few of them have to be mailed (some even overseas), so the earlier I get them done, the better. Have you started wrapping your gifts yet?

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

Thanksgiving is just around the corner...

...and I've made about 15 cards to send out to family and friends.  Here's the first one I made using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.

Please excuse the slightly blurry photo. I guess I was focusing on my pretty leaf, which meant that my sentiment was out of focus.

Anyway, I cut my top mat at 4" X 5 1/4". Then I positioned it on my Cricut mat so that my leaf would cut out in the center of the top half of my mat. It takes a bit of finagling to get this figured out, but it worked perfectly once I did.

After the leaf was cut out, I took it out and colored the outline with a ProMarker to make it match my card base. Then I put the leaf outline back into the negative space (minus its little fill pieces). Once it was in place, I put a square (cut from a sheet) of double-sided adhesive behind it. On the front, I added three different fall colors of glitter in the negative spaces and burnished it in with my finger.

The sentiment was heat embossed with a copper-colored embossing powder, and the ribbon was a left-over scrap from my stash.

Here's a little closer look at my leaf. It's actually really, really pretty IRL. I'm just not adept enough at photography to capture it properly.

My glitter colors are gold, copper and a deep brown. They actually blend really nicely together and add some gorgeous sparkle to my CAS card.

The inside of my card has a computer-generated sentiment. I fiddled with that, too, to get it to print the right color. I wanted it to be a rich brown to fit in with my fall colors, and I think I achieved it! The only embellishment I added was a stitched line (cut with a die) across the top to mimic the stitch lines of the ribbon on the front of my card

I liked these cards so much that I made 6 of them. I've got a few other designs, too, that I'll share with you in the days ahead.

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

A little hostess gift...

We were invited to dinner last night and the hostess is a dynamite cook. Her specialty is Indian food, which we love! I wanted to take her something other than the usual bottle of wine as a hostess gift, so I decided to make a little set of notecards.

I dug out this paper stack because it has some lovely foiled papers and the quality of the cardstock is top-notch.


Add caption

It's by Craft Smith and is called "Holiday Elegance." Even though it is meant for the Christmas holiday, there are many papers that can be used for other things. In fact, only a couple of the patterns are clearly Christmas, with ornaments and Christmas trees on them.













I decided to use my Sizzix die that cuts nice little notecards that are about 3 1/2" X 5 1/2" with a fancy front edge. I made two of each of the designs you see below for a total of eight cards.

The fancy white scroll piece on the front of each card is a die that comes with the Sizzix set. I added some double-sided adhesive to one side of some cardstock and then cut this embellishment out for each card. That way, I could simply peel off the backing of the adhesive and stick it down onto the card front. I didn't want to try gluing something onto the foil. I'm a messy gluer, and any extra that squeezed out from under my die-cut would have really shown.

I also made some envelopes for my cards using my CTMH Envelope Punch Board. I edged the back flap with a gold metallic marker and stamped a little flourish on each one with some metallic gold ink.

Just these two little touches really dressed up these envelopes!

Finally, I needed a little box to hold my notecards. Once again I used my Envelope Punch Board to make this box and added a belly band to keep it shut without having to glue it. I figure my friend can reuse this box for a gift, if she chooses.

Here's one last look at all the pieces. Again, I'm only showing you four of the eight cards here. I had a hard time trying to fit everything into the photo, so I just displayed these four.

I think my friend really appreciated this different kind of hostess gift. And I had fun making it!

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

We make a great "pear"...

My DH and I celebrated our anniversary while on a trip to Arizona a few weeks ago. I didn't have much time to make him a card, but came up with this one using the Preserves cartridge.

I cut one pear, then flipped the image on my Gypsy to cut the other pear. I'm sure you can see in the photo that I also did a little inking around the edges and shading on the leaves. The little heart was created with a punch. I printed out my sentiment with the computer and then die-cut it with a Lifestyle Crafts label die.

The inside of my card is very plain, but I did write a personal message to let him know how much he means to me. He is a great guy who always has my back, and I love and appreciate him every day. We often talk about how lucky we were to find each other.

I've been busy making Thanksgiving cards, and I hope to get some of them photographed tomorrow so I can share them here. We're supposed to be having some major storms tomorrow, so we'll see if there is enough decent light for photographs.

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

Choo, choo...look who's two!

My daughter needed a birthday card for her sister-in-law's little boy who was turning two and asked me to make one for her. I figured that little boys like trains and animals, so why not incorporate both into my card?

I dug out some older dies - a Sizzix train die and a set of Cuttlebug animal dies. Here is what I came up with:

It was fun to try to figure out how I could fit my animals into the train cars. It worked pretty well to have their heads sticking out of the openings. I wish I would have had a little "engineer" figure to put into the engine. Since I didn't, I added some vellum over the window to give the illusion that there is someone on the other side of it. Finally, I added a "2" sticker to the smokestack and used my Impression Obsession cloud dies to make some puffs of smoke.

I added some layers behind my giraffe (to color his spots and eyes) and the elephant ( pink for his ears and black for his eyes). Since these are one-layer dies, they need a little something to give them some dimension.

My hills were made with a Paper Smooches stitched die.

 
The inside of my card was pretty plain with my computer-generated sentiment and a couple of strips of DSP. I wish now that I had added an animal or two here, as well. Next time...

The weather is still very nice here, but the forecasters are telling us it will change soon. In fact, they reported that one year ago today we had several inches of snow. It won't be long and we'll be shoveling the white stuff again!

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

Let's Craft & Create Challenge #107 - Lots of Bling...

I was so happy when our fabulous leader, Eileen Dobson, at Let's Craft & Create announced that the November challenge would be "Lots of Bling." I love adding bling to my cards, so I decided to use this opportunity to create a blinged up Christmas card.

I decided to use white on white with lots of sparkle.  I started with a white card base and a white mat that I embossed with a border embossing folder. I just received this EF as the free gift with this month's issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft. I used my glitter pen to add some sparkle to the poinsettia centers and the holly berries.

The glittery goodness across the center is a strip of 2" wide glitter tape. It really amps up the sparkle on my card. Then I took a piece of vellum and heat embossed my greeting onto it with some sparkly silver embossing powder. The picture does not do it justice at all!

My poinsettia was such fun to create. I started with a 1" circle of white cardstock as the base on which to attach my "petals." Then I cut 5 large, 5 medium and 10 small holly leaves out of vellum using the Cheery Lynn Holly Leaves die.

Once my leaves were cut, I dipped the points of each leaf into some glue and then into clear glitter to give them a little sparkly dimension.

Finally, I started adhering them all to my 1" circle and then finished my flower with 7 adhesive-backed gems in the center.

Here's an angled look at all the sparkle on my card.

I used the border embossing folder on the inside, along with a narrow strip of my glitter tape and a heat-embossed sentiment.

I really like how this card turned out. I'd like to try it using another color, too. May mat the front panel in red and then make a red poinsettia. Or how about pink?






Now please take a little time to check out the blingy creations the rest of the Design Team has made to inspire you.

Eileen

Catherine
Cheryl – that’s me!
Gail
Hazel
Karen
Ursula
Maryvonne
Mary
Monika 

Aren't their creations amazing? Now, go. Make something. Remember lots of bling! Then upload it here. There's a prize to win!

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

Cheryl 

Simple birthday card...

I always like to have a few birthday cards ready to go, and here's one that I made not long ago...

My medium blue sky was debossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. Then I added some clouds cut with my Impression Obsession cloud dies (a set of three sizes).

The balloons were cut with an old Cuttlebug 3" X 3" die. I simply added some strings and the "shine" spot on each balloon with my white gel pen.

Did you see that all three strings are held in place on the sentiment label with a red enamel dot? I did add a little glue, too, to keep them there!

The scalloped label was cut with a Lifestyle Crafts die, and the "Happy Birthday" was heat embossed.

The inside of this card is super simple, as you can see.

Today was a glorious day here in central Minnesota. It was over 70 degrees, and they're promising more of the same tomorrow. How is a girl supposed to get cards made when it's so nice outside??

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