An Early Christmas

I'm preparing a Christmas card workshop so I've been experimenting with a few different cards. I don't have tutorials yet because my business is very busy this week but I'll get some up soon. In the meantime, here are some cards I might make! This first one is so simple, random stamping makes the base of the card with a simple strip of paper across the bottom third for sentiment stamping. Brads complete the look. The stamp set is Gratitude.


This is a 6 x 6 card, my new favorite size to make. The colors are juniper, creme brulee and cranberry, the stamp set is Vintage Christmas. I highlighted the circle with a window charm.

Back to a 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 card, the colors are creme brulee, juniper, olive, and tulip, the stamp set is Christmas Melodies and the paper is......a secret. Find out when the new catalog comes out in September! The dove is sparkled with Prisma Glitter. The patterns for card two and three are from the incredible Wishes book, you have to buy this book, I can't even properly explain how much I love it!

One Card - Three Looks - Card One

I'll be sharing three versions of one pattern this week. Here's card number one, directions are basically the same for this as for Card Two and Three that I'll be posting on Monday and Tuesday respectively but this is a sneak preview. You will be amazed at how one pattern, even using the same color palette, can look so different. Wishes is the magic book that can make that happen! See you tomorrow!!

Think Pink!

Since I'm off to do a workshop today I took some pictures of the cards I made at a crop on Friday to share with you before I go. They use one of my favorite color combinations, pink, green and white. I took a pack of Daydream paper with me to the crop. I find that concentrating on one paper pack at a time helps me from being overwhelmed with too many choices. I used my Wishes book for the patterns on these. Supplies for this card: Daydream paper, Tickled Pink stamp set, sparkles, blush, sweet leaf and lilac mist inks, trimmer, foam tool, corner rounder and popdots.

I used some leftover Stickease on this one, I matted the stickers before attaching. See the dry embossing on the green paper? I used a crimper on the pink and blue. Supplies: Daydream paper and Stickease, sparkles, ruffled punch, crimper, sanding block, circle and ruffled circle punches, dry embossing tool, foam tool, and trimmer.

Supplies: Daydream paper, Tickled Pink stamp set (no longer available), Just Because stamp set (no longer available, both of these sets were special promotions), foam tool, sparkles, ruffled punch, trimmer, sweet leaf, lilac mist and blush inks.

Supplies for this card: Daydream paper, Just Because stamp set, sparkles, trimmer, foam tool, corner rounder, lilac mist, sweet leaf and blush inks.

This is my favorite. I put the pink cardstock through my crimper twice then sanded it. I used the Extreme Happiness stamp set (I think that it might be my new favorite stamp) and rock and rolled the edges in the lilac mist ink, after you ink it in sweet leaf "roll" the edges in the lilac mist, it makes a unique look. Supplies: Daydream paper, crimper, sparkles, trimmer, Extreme Happiness stamp set, pop dots, sanding block, foam tool, lilac mist, blush, and sweet leaf inks.

I'll get back on my unfinished projects this week and hope you will too.

Wishes

I'm going to show you a something a little different today. Close to my Heart has a brand new card-making book called Wishes. In it there are several bulk card patterns that show you how to make many cards from just a few pieces of pattern and cardstock papers. Today I sat down with it and made twelve cards that I'm thrilled with. Because it's a copyrighted book I cannot give you measurements nor show you the patterns I used but I would like to show you the cards and comment on a few different aspects of bulk card-making. Here's the book, it really is a must have. You can order it through my website here.

The bulk card-making requires really very few papers, especially when you see how many cards they make. For this particular one I used 2 pieces of patterned paper and 2 pieces of cardstock for the basic layering. You also need six pieces of plain cardstock to make the card bases. The one I used made 12 6" x 6" cards. Now here's where I tweaked it a bit. I like colorful cardstock for my card fronts but I don't want to waste my colored cardstock on the whole card so to this particular bulk card pattern I also cut 12 6" by 6" card fronts in pretty colors. The kit I used for these cards was from a constant campaign we had a few months back called Key to my Heart. The paper is some of my favorite, too bad I can't get it anymore (yet)! Here are the papers I cut for the cards.


With any card bases you need to score them halfway down the sheet with an embossing tool and the groove in your trimmer. Yes you can just fold the card but it folds so much smoother doing it this way.


If you've been watching my blog for the past 16 days you know that I really like to use an embossing tool to add texture to my cardstock. I don't really like the look of plain cardstock too much so making some grooves in my papers and sanding them really makes for a cool looking card.


Here are the beautiful colors of cardstock from Key to my Heart. I made grooves about every inch then turned the card and did the same in the opposite direction, pretty neat, huh?


Once I cut all the pieces according to the patterns and did my dry embossing it was just a matter of following the directions in the Wishes book to put the basic card together. To make the cards really special you have to add your own creative touches.

Card 1 With this first card I rounded the corners of two of the sides and used a eyelet border punch to add interest to the sorbet colored pattern paper. I added the juniper paper because the little squares I cut were the same pattern as the paper strip behind them. I love how it made them pop out. I had a whole bunch of leftover stamped circles (Kanji Phrases stamp set) already mounted on a circle and covered in a window charm along with the matching translation so I just plopped one right on this card along with the matching English translation of the Japanese character. It didn't need anything more than that.


Card 2 On this card I added the elusive "magic mesh". We don't sell it but I sure recommend you find some. This stuff is self-adhesive and adds so much to cards and layouts. I again used my Kanji stamp and found a juniper strip of paper to fill up the bottom of the card a bit. With embossing and distressing it already looked great but I also punched the borders for good measure. The upper right corner was looking empty so I used the ever useful Adorning Corners stamp set to fill it up.


Card 3 Again on this card I put some magic mesh, the Kanji stamp and phrase. This time though I added a big circle behind the stamped piece and dry embossed it as if I were cutting a pie! I love how it looks. Remember on all of these I kept the basic pattern from the book but just added my own little embellishments to finish them off.


Card 4 Here's a card using a lot of the same elements but still managing to look completely different than the rest. I added magic mesh, punched a border, attached my Kanji character and phrase and that was all it needed to turn out great.


Card 5 I love the way the flowers look doubled up here. Can you see how I diagonally embossed the sorbet cardstock for a different look? The brads match the papers, of course, cause all of our products are matchy-matchy!


Card 6 On this card I went Stickease. Since none came with the Key to my Heart kit I used ones from Unforgettable which has a lot of the same colors. I punched out the holes in the yellow (Creme Brulee) cardstock then added Stickease flowers in the center accented with brads. The sorbet pattern paper is punched with a border punch, has a sentiment stamped on it and then the flower on the left hand side is also a stickease with a brad in the center.


Card 7 This card is very simple, the basic design is from the book then I punched it with a border punch, slapped a couple of stickease on and added brads.


Card 8 This card was a little different but I did use the eyelet border punch and a big circle again, this time embossed straight across and vertically. I used a brand new stamp set I got in the mystery box just today too. The flower has a button in the middle of it threaded with waxy flax. A couple of brads complete the card.


Card 9 This is the most modern looking of the cards, the three circles were in my scraps stash and so I just layered them and stamped a sentiment. Three brads completed the look.


Card 10 This card has a stickease flower and a brad in the center. I also added a smaller flower from the stickase set on the yellow (creme brulee) punched out piece. I stamped a sentiment on the square and that was it for this easy card.


Card 11 This one has the Kanji character smack dab in the middle, a border punched piece of pattern paper and the Kanji phrase strip that I used on several others. Again, those were already done, leftovers from other card making excursions so no extra effort for me. You can do the same with your old embellishments.


Card 12 This final card was the best use of the stickease for me. I really love the title on here and the balance of the flowers with the brads. These cards were so much fun to make.


Now here's a little contest for you. There are twelve cards but only six patterns used. The first person who writes a comment telling me which cards match (i.e. card 1 matches card 4, card 2 matches card 7, etc.) and gets it right, gets one of the cards sent to them. Have fun!