A Belated Birthday Card

I usually try to be on time with birthday cards. My grandmother (Loretta) used to say the card should arrive ON THE DAY (the emphasis is hers) and that was that.  However, there are times when I have been a tad late with a birthday card and it is nice to put extra care into making a card which might make the recipient feel a little better about the birthday wishes sent even though they are tardy.

This is the card I made today on my YouTube channel (47cmc).  I started out trying to spray  a lattice pattern on a background paper using a mask, but gave up after creating a huge mess.  Instead of a masked background, I opted for patterned paper.  Much easier!

That's it. Pretty clean and simple. I usually don't gravitate toward purple, but I love the blue and purple color combination used on this card.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The following supplies and materials were used on this card:

• Papertrey Ink Royal Velvet card stock for the card base
• Moments patterned paper by My Mind's Eye (all patterned papers used on the card are from this paper pad)
• Happy Belated Birthday sentiment from the Birthday Bash stamp set by Papertrey Ink
• Momento Elderberry ink
• K&Company Susan Winget Botanical Flower Layered Accents (flowers)

This Week's Cardlift Card

This week's cardlift card demonstrated on YouTube is out of the 75 Creative Card Challenges special issue by Papercrafts Magazine.  The designer of the card which is called Feminine Birthday Greetings is Michelle Woerner.

I really loved the elegant simplicity of the card's design and wanted to try making it.  Here is my version of the card.  I was pleased with how it turned out and it really was not hard to make.  I had fun going through some of my handmade flowers to pick just the right ones for this card.

Materials used on this card include:

Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White card stock (for the card base)
Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush card stock
Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate card stock
Papertrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages stamp set
Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags 2 die
Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die
RV13 Copic Marker to color the pearls
Craft Store Pearls

Yet Another Valentine's Card....

I made this card in response to Papertrey Ink's Make It  Monday Video where they featured a card with oversized embellishments.  Most of the cards I make tend to be pretty dimensional.  I like to use flowers and other 3D type embellishments on my cards.

The card photographed on the left was made using the Heart Prints stamp set by Papertrey Ink (the hearts in each of the three windows were stamped using this set); the Take Three die by Papertrey Ink (used to cut out the three "windows" on the card). The card base is Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White card stock.

Other products used include a Michael's small hearts background stamp, pink seam binding, handmade resin heart and I Am Roses paper flowers. I cut out the flourish in the upper right corner with my Silhouette Cameo and added pink bling from the craft store as well as a resin butterfly made with a Martha Stewart Crafts butterfly mold.

 If I send cards with dimensional embellishments on them through the US Mail, I have to mail them in a padded/bubble envelope.  I usually try to decorate the envelope a bit when I mail a card this way.  The stamps used on the bubble envelope are also from Papertrey Ink's Heart Prints Stamp set.

This was fun card to make.  I think I am going to go through Valentine card making withdrawal after February 14th!

More Valentine's Day Cards

Okay - so I am officially hooked on making Valentine's cards.  I just love the colors and the over the top decoration these cards seem to warrant.  For anyone who likes girly and frilly (and that would be me), Valentine's Day cards are the most fun to make.

The first card, pictured at left is the card I made on my YouTube channel this week.  It is based on a design by Mona Pendleton in the January 2013 issue of Cards Magazine.  I thought the design lent itself well to a Valentine's Day card and that is what I made.  Card dimensions 4.25 inches wide by 5.5 inches long.

The second card is a little over the top.  The swirly heart on the top left corner of this card was cut with my Silhouette Cameo.  The Love Stamp in the top right corner of the card is from Michael's ($1.50 stamp).  I tied some twine around this embellishment and added a small off white button on top of the twine.  The top heart and arrow were cut using a QuickKutz die. The Happy Valentine's Day is another Michael's $1.50 stamp and the Be Mine stamped on the heart comes form a Papertrey Ink Heart Prints Vol. 2 set.  The heart background was also cut using the Silhouette Cameo. Card dimensions 4.5 x 4.5 inches.

The third card is a longer card.  I used foil wrapping paper on the strip on the left side of the card and cut out the heart from this paper as well. The heart was cut using the Sizzix Primitive Hearts die and embossed with a Paper Studio hearts embossing folder.  The strip of foil paper was also embossed using a long Cuttlebug embossing folder (the 12 inch Sweet Chelsea folder).  I popped the heart up with pop dots and tied some twine around it, then attached a tag stamped with XOXO (this is a Stampabilities stamp from Hobby Lobby).  The black flourish stamp is a stamp I have had for a long time and unfortunately do not know who makes it.  I added bling from Hobby Lobby all along the flourish.  The next photo is the inside of this card.  You will see I used the same Love stamp from Michael's (I really LOVE that stamp!) and added a small pink heart to the bottom of the white mat.  The dimensions of this card are 4 inches wide by 8.5 inches long.

I think I may have a few more Valentine's Day cards yet to make.  At some point I will have to move on to make some birthday and thank you cards I will need to send out soon.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting my blog.

Valentine Fever

I usually do not make too many Valentine's cards, but for some reason I am really having fun making them this year.  Maybe it is all the wonderful colors especially the vibrant reds and soft pinks and maybe it is all of the Valentine ephemera I have stored on my computer which inspires card making.  Whatever it is, I have not yet escaped the urge to make more Valentine's cards.

Here are two that I made recently.   One uses an image of an old postcard that I really love. I especially love the blues used in this image.  I embossed the word "Love" on the tag on the basket.  The tag was blank and I thought it needed something.  I also used foil wrapping paper to cut out the hearts used on both these cards.  I purchased this wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby using a 40% off coupon (which brought the roll down to $3.84 - not bad!).

I also purchased some glitter wrapping paper from Michael's (Hobby Lobby does not carry the glitter paper). The foil paper embosses beautifully as you can see in the photo to the left.  I tried putting the glitter paper in an embossing folder to emboss it as well, but you can barely tell it is embossed so I abandoned that idea.The foil and glitter wrapping paper die cut well too.  Using these papers will save me a bit of money on purchasing specialty papers (the foil and glitter wrapping paper are obviously not as sturdy as card stock, but you can certainly die cut the shapes out of the wrapping paper, then die cut some chip board, glue the foil/glitter shape to the chipboard and you will have a sturdier embellishment).  There are all kinds of colors to choose from and I am slowly accumulating rolls of both these types of wrapping papers, using a coupon to make it more affordable.

Have a great week and thanks for visiting my blog!

Card 1 Materials:
Aqua Mist Card Stock by Papertrey Ink
Hawaiian Shores Card Stock by Papertrey Ink
Handmade Vellum Flowers
Recollections Flower (top left of card)
I Am Roses teal flowers (top left of card)
Happy Valentine's Day sentiment - Michael's Stamp

Card 2 Materials:
Papertrey Ink White Card Stock
K&Company Kelly Panacci Valentine Paper (2011)
My Favorite Things Insert It -InstaFrame die
Hearts cut from foil wrapping paper
Be Mine Sentiment by Papertrey Ink

A Little Thanks

After the holiday card making comes time for the "thank you" card making.  Thank you cards are useful all year round and I usually make these type of cards more often than most any other type - except, of course, birthday cards.

This thank you card is based on a design by Jen Campbell as featured in the January 2013 (still not used to typing 2013!) issue of Cards Magazine.

This was a fun card to make and very easy. I was drawn to the simplicity of the design.  It is cute without being fussy.   Don't get me wrong - I love fussy, but sometimes you need a more streamlined card.

The materials used for this card were:

Silhouette Cameo for the four larger tags (these tags measure 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/8)
Holiday Shapes die by SimonSaysStamp (*the small hearts were cut using this die)
Tiny Tags die (small tag with the word thanks stamped on it) by Papertrey Ink
Thanks sentiment from the Tiny Tags stamp set by Papertrey Ink
Rich Cocoa ink by Memento
In A Stitch Blossoms - Bright Red by Sassafras
Stardust Stickles by Ranger (*applied to the small white heart)
Hardware store twine

Any tag die could be used to make this card as long as the scale works to fit the size card you are making.

Easy peasy!  To watch how this card comes together, please visit my YouTube channel at 47cmc.

Thanks for visiting my blog!