Love you a latte...

My husband and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary. I had just gotten the "Love you a Latte" cartridge, and I was itching to use it on a card.

 

One of our favorite things to do is to go to this wonderful retro movie theater in our part of the city. This particular theater was built in 1948, and they have kept it much the same over the years. They've even maintained the lobby furnishings from that era. It only costs each of us $2 for a ticket! Can you believe there are still theaters that only charge $2? Of course, that's because we're both senior citizens, but the rate for younger adults is only $3.

 

After the movie, we like to walk across the street to our favorite coffee shop. I always get a latte and my husband always gets a chai. This coffee shop has live music on the weekends, so we sip our drinks and listen to the music. It's the perfect date night for a couple of old geezers like us!

 

Hence, my anniversary card was perfect! The sentiment is computer-generated onto a Spellbinder's label die. I inked the label while it was still in the die and also colored a couple of white pearls with a ProMarker to look latte-like. The pearl flourish that I used for the steam coming from the cup is part of a full Zva Creative pearl flourish.

I kept the inside simple with just a little inking and a couple of coffee beans for decoration.



Hope you enjoyed my card today. Thanks so much for stoppoing by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!

Cheryl

Paint chip embellishments...

One of my sisters has been doing some fixing up around her house before the snow flies here in the northland. My brother helped her remodel her bathroom, and when she was about to throw out the paint chips she had used to select her wall colors, he told her (as I've trained him to do) that I could use them for my cardmaking obsession hobby.  My brother dutifully brought them to me, and I used them for some die-cut flowers and sentiment, as well as the label to frame the sentiment on this card:

 

Whenever you bring home paint chips to help with your redecorating or remodeling, don't forget that they can be used for making embellishments for your cards, once you're through with them. I don't know if they are hard on the cutting edges of your dies or punches - it's possible that they are - but I've used them with no obvious ill effects so far.

 

I added three pearls in the flower centers and a ribbon to finish off the card.

Paint chips are wonderful for small embellishments like this because you can get a range of color tones all on one sample. I liked that my sister had already picked out complementary colors that just happened to match some pretty paper I had in my stash.

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

Happy Birthday robot...

Our grandson Sebastian turned 8 on October 12. This was his fun birthday card - perfect for an 8-year-old, don't you think? I used the Robotz cardtridge to cut him out at 4 1/2".  The balloons were cut with a Cuttlebug die. I stamped and colored the cupcake and cut it out by hand. I thought this particular robot needed something in both hands.

Here are a couple more views of Mr. Robot. The two decorateive strips across the bottom were cut with a border punch by EK Success, I believe. I added glossy accents to the balloons, the thermometer on the robot and the cherry on top of the cupcake.


I had to come up with a sentiment for the inside of the card that matched the whole techno theme. Here's what I decided on:

I found a great font that actually looks like the old computer printouts. I sure hope he likes his card!

 

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

Cheryl

Halloween cards to share with my book club...

I have had so much fun making Halloween cards this year, that I decided to make a few extra ones to share with my book club.  Here's what I came up with:

These first two would work nicely for teens or adults. I guess they'd be okay for younger kids, too, but not nearly as much fun as some of the others I made. 

The card made with craft card stock has an aperture that I backed with starry sky paper and added a yellow moon. The ghost and cat were stamped, heat-embossed and cut out by hand. The flourishes in each upper corner were cut with a Spellbinders die and the chevron border was stamped across the bottom.

For the card on the right, I cut the "Happy Halloween" strip from some DSP and matted it with black. The orange circle with a bat was stamped, heat-embossed and hand cut, while the other two bats were cut with Happy Hauntings and mounted on dimensionals. Don't you love the MS goo border punch for Halloween cards?

 

Here's what the inside sentiment says.

 



Here are two more cards - one with a little witch cut from one of my sister's cartridges - I think it was Best Images of 2007. The other card is made with a Sizzix embossing folder and Coredinations cardstock (black with white core) that has been sanded to show the creepy design.

These next three cards are pop-up slider cards that were so much fun to make.  The first photo shows them closed, and the second photo shows when the slider is pulled out and the front image pops up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a little peek at each of the images on the front. The mouse and owl were cut from Happy Hauntings and the double pumpkin was cut from Stretch Your Imagination.

My final two cards each took about 10 minutes to make. I used a Spellbinders label die for the face and the hair (which I finished by hand cutting the "bangs") and a couple of circle punches for the eyes and nose. The circles were cut in half for the eyelids and nose. Everything was inked around the edges. The cardstock is really much greener in real life!

 

The back cardstock piece is scored about 3/4" down from the top and the front and backs are glued together above that score line. That way, the card can be opened easily, with the back bending at the score.

I hope you've enjoyed a little peek at some of the Halloween cards I've made. Altogether, I think I made 24 or 25, and I had a blast doing it.

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

Cheryl

What a lovely pin cushion...

I have three of the most talented sisters in the world. I am always amazed at what they can do. The older of my two younger sisters made this lovely pin cushion for me.

Isn't it one of the prettiest pin cushions you've ever seen? And it's all one unit.  She adhered the cup to the saucer. This gives it great stability, but not only that, it provides a space to put a couple of sewing items you may be using at the time.

See  what I mean in the picture on the left?  She told me that she had to hunt and hunt to find just the right cup - one that she felt would be just right for me. Well, she hit the nail on the head with this one. I love the dramatic colors--I can be a bit of a drama queen, but don't tell anyone. I'm hoping my sisters haven't really noticed that. LOL


She also took great pains to find just the right embellishments - including the pretty trim around the edge, the little white flowers and a pretty black vintage button.  You can see that button in the next photo. Just click on any of the photos for a little closer look.

I think she pretty much used her hot glue gun to adhere everything. You can be sure, if I had done this, there would be blobs and glue strings showing all over it!


Thank you, Deb, for this beautiful gift! I will treasure it and, more importantly, use it! Do you think people would think I've gone a little nuts if I keep it on my dining room table? It just seems too pretty to put downstairs by my sewing machine!


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

Halloween cards...

A while ago, my sister sent me some photos of Halloween cards she had made. I often ask her for pictures of her cards so I can share them here. I don't have all the details, but I think you'll enjoy seeing these anyway:

For this card, my sis had to get out her sewing machine. She said she hadn't done any sewing in quite awhile.

The smiling pumpkin on this card (right) is a fun dimensional sticker.  I thought this was a great way to use up those extra pumpkin stickers!

On this bat card, she decided to draw a little faux stitching around each piece of cardstock. I think it looks great! She used a couple of red gems for the bat's eyes.

This last card is a top/bottom gate-fold card with a fun exterior and interior:

I'll be sharing some of my own Halloween cards in the coming days. I hope you've enjoyed my sister's cards and are inspired to make some of your own. Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl

 

Another Christmas card sample...

As I said in a previous post, I like to make several Christmas card prototypes and choose from them which one I will mass produce. When my sister came to visit recently, she brought along her "Sweater Weather" cartridge and I decided to cut a few images from it. This card evolved after I had cut out the sweet little Christmas stocking: