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!

Green Tangerines October, Part 3

Last, but certainly not least, are these three cards made with the October Card Kit Add-On.

The first thank you card uses 4 of the chipboard buttons in the kit - I threaded them with pieces of narrow ribbon and matted them to squares of cream cardstock.  A couple pieces of some of the kit's patterned papers, a strip of the scalloped trim, a bottom edge punched with an EK Success edge punch (Daisy Scallop in this case), a little bit of machine stitching around the edges, and a sentiment stamp by Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards (this one is not from the kit), and it's ready to send!

I originally had this next card laid out with just the two patterned paper pieces on the cardstock base, but then I found a scrap of blue cardstock in my stash that didn't exactly "match" either of the blues in the patterned papers, but it did sit right between the two shades...I guess that's what made it work!  I left the chipboard frame in it's natural color, threaded a piece of the brown sheer ribbon under and over the frame, and glued one of the gold bead sprays, included in the kit, behind the sheer bow.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts sentiment set, and as I often find I have to do, I cut the words apart so they'd fit on the small oval tag.

And finally, a card not necessarily in "fall" colors, but I still had some of the cute black and white dotted paper left, and that gingham ribbon...how could I not do a black & white card with them?  I like mixing black & white with lime green - it's a color combo that seems to work in any season. 

I used one of the Tattered Angels chipboard stamp-edge frames from the kit, and covered it with Martha Stewart coarse clear glitter.  To match the edges of the frame (I like to have details/colors in duos on my cards wherever possible), I used a Fiskars stamp edge punch on the bottom edges.  The white label is a Spellbinders die, but any rectangular label shape will work well as long as it fits inside the chipboard frame. I ran the die through an embossing folder, then applied one of the "thankful for you" rub-ons included in the kit to the label. The paper leaves, mini white flower, and Maya Road pearl stick pin are from my stash.

And now you've seen all 10 cards I made up with this month's card kit. They'll be on display at the store if you live nearby and would like to see them in person.

There will be another card kit add-on in November, and after that, the card kit add-on will be taking a break until January.  So stay tuned for some winter holiday cards coming up in a few weeks!

Green Tangerines October, Part 2

You're probably beginning to see that the main theme of the October card kit add-on is "thankful" - just in time for you to make up some fun cards celebrating the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday season.

This first card is a side-step card. I found a great tutorial for this technique here.  The finished size is A2 (4-1/4x5-1/2") so mailing is simple...but wouldn't it also make a fun and festive place card at your Thanksgiving table, with the menu on the left side (you could move the flower cluster to the upper right) and a personalized handwritten message to your guest inside?

For my card, I used a vintage image I found on the net, cropped into a circle, for the decoration on the right side.  The gold cotton lace and the gold adhesive pearls on the doily are from the last card kit, and I added a crocheted flower that I made, along with an inked Wilton doily cut in half, twine, and a couple leaves and flowers from my stash.  The gold and black button, gold bead spray, white loop ribbon, and Happy Thanksgiving sticker are from this month's kit, as are all the papers and cardstock.

This next card uses a technique I've used in months past on other kits - a cutout on the front with the embellishments on the inside showing through.  Here's a little hint to the easiest way I've found to do this: adhere all your patterned papers to the front of the card base first, then die cut or punch out the shape.  This way, all the papers are adhered to your punch-out piece perfectly matching the arrangement of the papers on the outside front, so when you adhere the cutout on the inside of the card, everything will align and match up easily.

The decorative bottom edge on this card was made using the Tim Holtz Ornate On-the-Edge die. I used both the gem circles in the kit on this card- the larger one on the outside of the cutout edge.  Then I punched another circle of off-white cardstock, adhered the turkey sticker in the kit to it, and used the second gem circle around this. I centered this second circle over the first cut-out and attached it to the inside of the card to show through when the card is closed. Everything else on this card is included in your kit, with the exception of the Hug Snug and narrow green ribbon used for the bows. (The sentiment sticker is also in your kit - I adhered it to a piece of cream cardstock then punched out the scalloped circle.)

This final card for today is made up in traditional autumn colors, and just a fun and playful way to say thanks. I added a trio of small white flowers and some dyed Hug Snug seam binding for bows, but all the rest of the materials for this card are in the kit, including the Technique Tuesday sentiment stamp (the same sentiment stamp as used in the "million and one thanks" card posted yesterday). 

The banner flags are cut from the banner patterned paper in the kit. I punched a couple tiny holes in each (I used a large push pin) and threaded a piece of crochet thread through them. The chipboard scalloped frame is dry-brushed with blue acrylic paint.  Again, I handcut the scalloped edge on the brown patterned paper by simply following the edge of the circles in the pattern - easy peasy! 

Tomorrow I'll be back with the last three cards I made up with this month's kit.  They're my attempt at a more "clean and simple" style.

Have a great Saturday!

Green Tangerines October Card Kit Add-on, Part 1

I'm going to split this into three posts this month, and by request, try to give you a little more detail about each card. This month's kit was a lot of fun for me to play with, and hopefully you have as much fun with it as I did!

This first card uses the cute vintage Halloween tag included in each kit -  I just love that little girl in the picture and was happy that the "luck of the draw" landed that tag in my kit! I added some hand-dyed Hug Snug seam binding from my stash, a button and some twine, and a black chipboard button that's been around too long for me to remember who made it- :)



On this thank you card, I dry brushed one of the chipboard frames in the kit with white pearl paint, and inked the edges dark brown. I added a silver bead and white pearl to a Maya Road leaf stick pin, and a small pearl flourish from my stash. I applied Liquid Pearls across the green ribbon...I wanted a more casual, "shabby" look here than more small adhesive pearls would give.  The fabric loops under the button are formed using the ribbon in the kit and just baste-stitching and pulling it into a circle. There's a little of the tulle on top of the button, too. I hand-cut around the circle pattern on the brown paper to form the "scalloped" edge, and used Fiskars' Upper Crest edge punch for the white and green bottom edges.

This card was fun, because, until I saw the patterned paper and how well the colors looked together there, I would never have thought to use these colors together!  The sentiment is one of the "thankful for you" rub-ons included in the kit - I just cut the words out from the center of the black print rub-on and applied it to a small die cut label. The pink decorative tag is cut using a Spellbinders die; the large plum print doily uses paper from the kit and Spellbinders' Picot Edge Circle die.  I added 1/2 of a Wilton doily inked with Distress Ink, pink and tan Hug Snug seam binding for the bows, and a small Crafty Secrets die cut flower (from their "Greetings & Sentiments" sheet) behind the bows.  The gold bead flourish is from the kit, as is the strip of white cotton lace up the side, and the pink button over the bows. (The two gold pearls were from last month's card kit.)

Lastly for tonight, this "Thanks so much" card uses one of the large chipboard flowers from the kit, along with some of the tulle, the white ruffled ribbon, and banners cut from a piece of patterned paper from the kit. The large fabric flower is made using a strip of fabric from my stash, and a Cosmo Cricket "Glubers" 2" adhesive circle.  The pearls, pearl stick pin and paper leaves are from my stash, also. The sentiment on this card is stamped with Papertrey Ink stamps.

I'll be back tomorrow with some festive Thanksgiving cards made with this month's add-on kit.  See you then!