Christmas Minis Part III

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!  Did you shop on Black Friday and find some great deals?  I hope yours was one of the fun experiences I've heard about Friday, and not one of the more outrageous ones that we all read about and saw on the news reports...crazy!  I shopped the mall on Black Friday once, and since that one time, I've never done it again. It was back in the "old days" when you set your alarm for 3:30AM to be at the stores by 4:30 AM and wait in line until they opened the doors at 6AM. Top that with the fact that I'm not a fan of being in a crowd, and you have a recipe for disaster.  But I found the deals I went after...LOL  Now I much prefer to find deals on the computer in the warm comfort of my home.

I'm in full-blown rush mode now to finish more Christmas cards, but to be honest, I'm far from getting the number done that I've made in years past.  I'm not an assembly-line card maker (OK, except for those vintage minis I showed you earlier - I liked all the images on the sheet I purchased from Janet and had to find a way to use them all), and I like to experiment with designs as I go along. While that might make for a more enjoyable construction process for me, it's more time-consuming.  But I'm making progress, and today I have a couple more 3-1/2"x5" "twin" minis to share with you. .

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: Authentique Wonder collection (green), BoBunny (red)

Vintage Images downloaded from the internet      Hug Snug seam binding

Dec 25 stamp: Inkadinkado    Chipboard frames: Tattered Angels

Silver & Gold German glass glitters, Cotton lace: Etsy    Bells: craft store    Pebbles Glitter Candy Dots

Spellbinders Classic Ric-Rac insert Edgeabilities

Thanks for stopping by!

For Our Blessings We Are Thankful

An early Happy Thanksgiving wish to you and yours.

Supplies:

Vintage image: The Vintage Workshop      Spellbinders Fleur-de-lis Squares Nestabilities

Laces and trims: Etsy      Fall bead spray: local craft store

A Thankful Season

It's Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. and I still haven't firmed up Turkey-Day plans.  I do know, as a long-time San Francisco 49'er fan, I will be joining those who are out of the kitchen and in front of the tv when their game comes on. It's a late afternoon game Pacific time, so it shouldn't be a conflict no matter how the day's plans work out. :)

In the spirit of the holiday, here's a Thank You card made up at the request of a friend.  When she requested it, I knew I wanted to use this sentiment stamp, and realized the design I'd used for the "hello" card a few posts back would work perfectly with a minor size adjustment, so I "card-lifted" myself.

Supplies:

Patterned Papers & Cotton Lace: Prima (Romantique collection)

Sentiment Stamp: Papertrey Ink     Large Fabric Flower: Frogfeathers, Etsy

Stick Pin: Maya Road      Leaf & Pearl Flourishes: Recollections

Hug Snug Bows      Handcrocheted flower

Happy Monday!

Two for Thursday

Hope your week is going well.  We've had a beautiful fall week (so far, anyway) with mild temps and light breezes.  The leaves on the oak trees out front have turned deep orange and deep red, and in the afternoons when the sun is on that side of the house, the orange light comes through the front windows - it's just beautiful! But rain is supposedly on the way, so I'm thinking those beautiful leaves will be all over the lawn soon. LOL

I have a couple more cards to share with you today. The first is a masculine birthday card, in a turquoise and brown combo that I love to use.

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: Authentique Gathering Collection        Sentiment stamp: Papertrey Ink

Sentiment block:  Spellbinders Labels Twenty-two      Buttons: American Crafts

Edge Punches: EK Success and Fiskars

This card was made for a friend's recent housewarming party.  I have a stamp that has this sentiment on it, but the size wasn't right, so I printed it on my computer to get the size I needed. 

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: PinkPaislee Nantucket collection , Bo Bunny et cetera collection, BasicGrey Curio collection

Angel wings: Tim Holtz      Pearls: Recollections and Martha Stewart      Mini Roses: Prima

Hug Snug seam binding      Cotton lace: Etsy

Thanks for stopping by...I'll be back soon with more to share.

Green Tangerines November-Part II

This card is made with fun in mind.  Yes, it's a bit bulky for mailing, probably requiring a padded envelope, but every now and then it's fun to send a card that's a surprise with its dimension!

There's a fun little mini bag in the kit that I trimmed with pinking shears at the top, and covered with a strip of patterned paper and one of the SRM stickers applied to a punched scalloped circle.  I applied the "believe" SRM sticker to the strip of patterned paper, and distressed it by rubbing gently with the side of a bone folder.  I needed a little more "weight" on the bottom of the card to counter the perceived weight of the tags stacked inside the bag, so I pleated some of the velvet ribbon in the kit, folding the pleats as I adhered the ribbon to the papers beneath. The papers covering the tags are all included in the kit, as are the mini clothespins that I used as "clips" at the top of two of the smaller tags (so the recipient could remove the two small tags and use them as package decorations or put on their tree!). I added stamped sentiments and mini sentiment tags to the smaller of the two tags, and mini bells to the top of the larger tag. 

Next up is an A2-sized card that is cut into a pennant shape.  It uses another of the "Happy Holidays" rub-ons from the kit and more of the pretty red velvet ribbon.  I die cut a poinsettia and leaves using Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die set, glittered the edges of the flower petals, and used 5 of the Queen & Co. yellow gems from the kit to simulate the inside of the flower.

Here's another card with no sentiment on the front, but unmistakable in its message.  Everything here is from the kit with the exception of the evergreen piece and the mini pinecone.  And once again, I pleated a small portion of the velvet ribbon to add more texture to the top of the card to support the perceived "weight" of the evergreen and pinecone pieces. The Hug Snug bows are centered with one of the American Crafts buttons from the kit, and topped with more of the yellow gems, which are repeated on the lower right corner of the card.

This "noel" card was made with pieces of patterned papers left from the other cards. It's accented with more of the May Arts crochet velvet ribbon, and another of the Maya Road transparent snowflakes that's been accented with clear coarse glitter and the Queen & Co yellow gems from the kit.  

And lastly for this month, another snowflake card, this time using the aqua patterned papers, three of the Maya Road transparent snowflakes, and more of the KaiserCraft pale blue pearls as accents on the glittered snowflakes.  I printed the sentiment on my computer and "anchored" it with two blue pearls.

I have a few more new cards to share with you later this week...until then, have a great one!

Green Tangerines November Card Kit - Part I

I had a lot of fun making holiday cards with this month's card kit from Green Tangerines.  Today, I'll show you five of the ten cards I made up, and the second batch of five cards will post tomorrow.

One of the things I usually pick up each year at the craft store are a couple small branches, or sprays, of artificial evergreen, and if it has little pinecones on it, even better!  I cut it apart and use pieces on cards, package decorations, place cards, etc.  So I couldn't resist using some on a few of the cards this month.

This first card uses the holiday tag that's included in each kit. I happened to get one of the yellow tags, and at first, I was a little unsure how it was going to work out. But as soon as I started laying out pieces of paper and the velvet ribbon, it all fell into place with a little shuffling of materials.  I dyed a couple 10" pieces of the Hug Snug seam binding from the kit (I used handmade mists - one of gold, and one olive green), one of the American Crafts glitter buttons from the kit, and a strip of the May Arts green velvet cotton lace.  I put some Martha Stewart tinsel glitter around the edge of the tag (a little hard to see in the photo - I put it over the white border around the image), and added some clear coarse glitter to the sprigs of evergreen up by the ribbons. (And you'll notice there isn't even a sentiment on the front. Sometimes cards don't really need one, and this is one of those times. )



This next card uses one of the Maya Road transparency snowflakes from the kit. I added some Martha Stewart clear coarse glitter to the inside of the snowflake, and accented it with some of the Queen & Co. gold gems from the kit.  More of the green velvet cotton lace ribbon, some of the Hug Snug (left uncolored), and a small printed sentiment tag add the finishing touches.  (I used the Tim Holtz Ornate On-the-Edge die for the bottom edge.)

On this card, I cut a couple pieces of the Maya Road double ruffle elastic lace - I stretched the lace out slightly and machine-stitched it to a strip of the turquoise American Crafts ribbon from the kit. *HINT: the elastic in this cotton lace is very strong - I tried using both ATG tape and  Terrifically Tacky tape, and neither was strong enough to hold the stretched-out lace in place.  So if you want to use your lace in the same manner, I strongly suggest hand or machine stitching it to the top ribbon, or to the paper or cardstock beneath it, to hold it to the length you stretch it to.

I dyed a couple more 10" strips of the Hug Snug to turquoise and red shades to match, and topped them with another of the glitter buttons from the kit. A few of the KaiserCraft pale blue pearls from the kit add a finishing touch to the ribbons. The sentiment is one of the SRM stickers from the kit, adhered to cardstock that's punched in a scalloped circle shape and lightly glittered around the edges.  And I couldn't resist adding a couple more small pieces of evergreen around the bows, too!

This Happy Holidays card uses one of the TPC rub-ons from the kit for the sentiment.  I used a Martha Stewart Punch-Around-the-Page punch (eyelet lace) for the lacy doily edge. I wanted to add some stitching, but knew it wouldn't show up as boldly as I wanted, so I used a Uniball Signo Broad white pen to draw in the stitching. I added a couple gems from my stash to one of the Maya Road pearl stick pins from the kit to complement the button and Hug Snug bows.

And lastly, for today, is a holiday card in non-traditional holiday colors - something I love to make.  It uses more of the elastic double ruffle crochet trim, but this time has strips of the patterned paper down the center. Five of the silver glittered buttons from the kit run down the center of the black and cream patterned paper.

I textured plain cream cardstock in a diamond pattern using my Martha Stewart scoreboard and the envelope scoring piece to get the scores on a diagonal.  I die cut a shape for the sentiment block, and used the American Crafts stamp from the kit for the sentiment.  A light application of glitter around the edges, a small red ribbon bow, and a few Pebbles Glitter Candy dots (not in the kit but available at the store) finish off the sentiment block.

See you tomorrow with the rest of the cards from this month's kit...

Sweet and Simple Christmas Minis

OK, I can hear you bonafide "clean and simple" cardmakers chuckling at me calling these sweet and "simple," but these are about as flat as I can make a card without giving into the urge to add more embellishments to them, so this is my version of "sweet and simple."   :)

I purchased a set of high-resolution vintage images from madebyjanet on Etsy ( I highly recommend Janet's images - the quality is beautiful), and after printing them onto photo paper, added a tiny bit of glittery accents to each one before adding them to the fronts of the cards.  I used tinsel sticks (I can't break the habit of calling these "pipe cleaners" - I'm really aging myself doing that, hmmm?) from the craft store as the tinsel "ribbon" across the fronts of the cards.  Using small pieces of various patterned papers (from Authentique, Graphic45 and BoBunny), I just added a strip of lace, 3 gems, and bows of scrunched Hug Snug, and these 3-1/2"x5" cards are ready to go.

I'll be back soon with the pics of the sample cards for the November Green Tangerines card kit add-on...I had fun making holiday cards with this month's kit, too!  Have a wonderful week!



Just a note to say Hello...

Long time no see! I've gotten some crafting done in the past couple weeks, but they're not things I can post just yet, since they're for upcoming gift-giving occasions.  But I also got a few new cards made up that I finally photographed, so I'll start today with this shabby chic-inspired card made up in softer versions of traditional fall colors.  The leaves are finally starting to turn on the oak trees out front, and it's inspired me to start using new seasonal color combos.

Supplies:

Patterned Papers: KaiserCraft Miss Nelly Collection (red), Prima Romantique Collection (floral and dot)

Cotton lace, mulberry rose, fabric leaves: Prima      Fabric flower: Frogfeathers on Etsy

Tim Holtz grungeboard flourish      Hand crocheted flower       Spellbinders Classic Scallop Edgeabilities

(sentiment printed on computer)

I'll be back tomorrow with some more Christmas minis...see you then!