Thankful...

This is a pretty awful photo, but it was just impossible for me to get a good one. The leaves were cut from gold metallic cardstock, and they are very reflective. I know we've all tried photographing reflective crafting materials and been completely frustrated by the results!

I used some alcohol markers on the metallic CS to give my leaves some fall color. They kept their shine, and the colors gave them more of a fall look. For comparison, the "thankful" was cut from the same gold cardstock and no color was added.

I was actually pretty amazed at how the metallic cardstock took the color, and I think it looks pretty cool.

The center leaf has been popped up on dimensionals.

The inside sentiment was computer-generated.  It actually came from a Thanksgiving card we received from our auto insurance agent. I liked it, so I decided to use it on a few cards myself.

I'm writing this post on Monday night, and my hubby had to go to urgent care today for his new knee, as it swelled up again and caused him a lot of pain. He had to use his crutches to walk. They didn't really do anything for him (again), and I will be taking him in for an appointment with a P.A. tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. I sure hope this doesn't keep happening!

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

Cheryl

Pocket full of posies...

Remember the words to "Ring around the rosie?" It popped into my head when I made this card because of it's second line, "Pocket full of posies."

I purchased a set of pocket-shaped dies because I thought they'd make cute cards, especially when they're filled with flowers...or even frogs!

For this card, I first adhered some checked DSP to the front of a white card base. I cut my pocket out of some blue denim-like DSP and added some stitch lines with a white gel pen.

I used a flower die set to cut some flowers in various sizes. I gave them a little shading in their centers and added some gems and leaves.

I had a strip sentiment on hand that said "It's your happy day!" I thought that was perfect for creating a birthday card.

I stamped a birthday sentiment on a white panel and adhered it to the inside. Card done!

This was so much fun to make and sold quickly at the thrift store. Now I need to find some frog dies so that I can make a card with frogs in a pocket. I think that would be a fun birthday card for a boy.

We went to our granddaughter's band concert last night. She plays trombone in the 10th grade band at a local high school. The concert was wonderful! I am amazed at how well they played some pretty difficult music. She loves being a part of the band, and it's fun to see her enthusiasm for learning and playing music.

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

Cheryl

Believe in the magic of the season...

 I found some pretty Christmas wreath downloads--free ones--from the Hungry Jpeg, and so I decided to use them to make some holiday cards. Here's what I came up with:

I made a red card base and then used a pinpoint snowflake background die on a red panel that I adhered to the front of my card. I then cut my wreath out with a circle die and a slightly larger circle out of gold metallic cardstock.

I added some Nuvo drops in gold and red wherever there were dots or berries in the design. I also outlined some of the holly leaves with a gold sparkle pen.

The sentiment was heat-embossed with gold embossing powder, cut out with a pinpoint circle die, matted with a gold circle and popped up on dimensionals.

As a final embellishment, I added a narrow strip of the gold cardstock and added a die-cut bow.

I stamped my inside sentiment with red ink and added some stamped holly. I colored the holly leaves with a gold pen and filled in the berries with a red pen.

I like the way these cards turned out, and I may make a few more of them to fill out my stash of Christmas cards.

I spent Sunday afternoon this week in the emergency room with my hubby. His "new" knee swelled up and was so painful he really couldn't walk on it. They checked him out, determined it wasn't anything serious, and sent him home again with some pain pills. Of course that all took about 5 hours! He's doing much better today and is able to once again walk with that leg, putting weight on it without pain. 

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

Cheryl

Let's Craft and Create Challenge #177: Anything Goes or EnTWINEd (use twine)...

It's November and we here in Minnesota are hoping to get through the month without icy roads and piles of snow to shovel. At least that's what I'M hoping! I'll also be doing lots of crafting this month, making Thanksgiving and Christmas cards.

For this month's challenge at Let's Craft and Create, I've chosen to make a Christmas card--mostly because I'm a bit behind in getting my usual 90 cards made plus 20-30 of them to donate, 

I love how my snowman turned out. He was created with a multi-layer stamp set. I used a combination of blue, gray and white inks on the various layers of snow, and I used black and gray inks on the hat.

To get my twine perfectly placed, and to keep it in place, I notched three tiny half circles with a 1/16" hole punch on each end. The half-circle notches are so tiny that you can't even see them once the twine is there. The tails of the twine were secured on the inside and a separate piece was used to tie a bow.

This is a "book binding" card, so the 1" section under the twine is adhered to the card back with some strong tape. That way my twine is not visible except on the front of the card.

The bright red scarf is actually die-cut from a snowman die set and glued in place. I thought it was just the right pop of red and coordinated nicely with my twine.

I masked off my snowman to blend some light blue ink to create a landscape behind my snowman. I used a torn piece of paper to mask off the "snow."

My inside space is a little narrower than usual because of the "bound" section on the left.  That's okay for my Christmas cards because I usually just sign them and include a separate family letter.

If you look closely you'll see that I have also blended a little light blue ink on this panel except where the stamped sentiment is . I've also adhered three of the same die-cut snowflakes that were used on the front.

Now it's your turn. We LOVE seeing all the creativity that crafters use in making projects for our challenges, so we hope you'll join in. The Design Team has provided some incredible inspiration for you over on Let's Craft and Create. I hope you'll take a peek. I know it will crank up your mojo.

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

Cheryl

Like a fine wine...

 

Recently, I purchased a die set that included a wine bottle, wine glass and a cluster of grapes. I've used that set to create this card.

I started with a piece of  ink-resist DSP from Stampin' Up. I used a blending brush to add some purple ink to the paper. When I was done, a quick wipe with a soft cloth removed the ink still sitting on top of the resist pattern. I love how quick it is to create just the right color of DSP with this paper.

I cut my wine bottle from green vellum and my wine glass from an uncolored piece of vellum. I colored the back sides of these pieces to create the illusion of wine. They were adhered by covering the entire back of the die-cut piece with double-sided adhesive. That way, you can't see the adhesive through the translucent vellum.

The label was a separate die piece cut from white cardstock and sponged along the edges with a little tea-dye Distress Ink. I hand wrote "Fine Wine" on the label with a fine point black pen.

The grape cluster was cut from white CS and colored with an assortment of markers, colored pencils and pens.

My curlique stamp in the right had corner of my focal panel and the sentiment came from a wine-focused stamp set. I've had this set for a long time and haven't used it nearly enough! 

The inside of my card features a border stamp from the same wine-themed stamp set and a birthday sentiment from a different set.

It was fun making a wine-themed card. I happen to like a nice glass of red wine from time to time, although I wasn't drinking any when I made this card! lol

Having just recovered from a knee injury from mowing my lawn (I have a frayed meniscus and the mowing really irritated it), I am now struggling with bursitis in my left shoulder. It got so bad I was really having trouble sleeping. I think it's on the downhill trend right now, though, as the discomfort seems to be lessening. It really interrupts my crafting when I have an aching shoulder!

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

Cheryl

Halloween house...

I had fun making this Halloween house easel card, but it did take a lot of time -- so many little pieces to cut and assemble!

I used several die sets for this card to add all the little characters.

This is what the inside of the card looks like. The circle is several layers thick, and the "Happy Halloween" is cut from some thick packaging material.

And here's what it looks like with the easel in place. 

I made several of these cards. To increase my efficiency, I cut out all of my pieces first, then glued all of the windows together and finally assembled the card. 

This house die can also be used for other occasions, like Christmas (red house with snow?) or Easter (pastel house with bunnies and eggs.

It also fits inside an A2 envelope.

 I didn't put any sentiment on the front of this card. I thought it had a lot going on already. After looking at the photos, though, it occurred to me that I could have put a banner at the top of the roof that said "Spooky" or something similar. What do you think? Any other ideas?

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

Cheryl

Some days you just have to put on the hat...

 

I have a couple more Halloween cards to share with you today. They were quick to make since I already had the hats stamped, colored and die-cut. I had actually done that last year and saved them in my "Halloween supplies" box.

The sentiments were stamped, cut out with a rectangle die and adhered with foam tape. The rickrack was from a reel of different sticky-backed trims in Halloween colors that I've had for a couple of years.

The reverse-scallop circle was cut with an old Spellbinder's die. I inked the edges, popped it up with foam tape onto my card and then added the hat (also with foam squares) and some holographic stars.

I used this stamp and die set quite a lot last year, too. It's really great for Halloween cards--especially those I make for teen girls or female friends and family members.

I saw this sentiment online and thought it was funny, so I reproduced it with my computer. I added a clipart witch's hat in the middle of it, which I have colored with alcohol markers. Both cards had the same sentiment inside, just different colored bands on the hats (to match the hats on the card fronts).

I have finally finished putting away all of my Halloween cardmaking supplies. And I also got all of my personal Halloween cards in the mail. Boy did that feel good! I still have a few to share with you here on the blog, but I'm looking forward to moving on to Thanksgiving and Christmas cards very soon.

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

Cheryl