Posts Tagged ‘Handmade Greeting Cards’
A Sale-A-Bration Easel Card
Aloha, all!
We are still right in the middle of Stampin' Up!'s great annual FREEBIE promotion, Sale-A-Bration! (Quick note: to save a bit of typing time, I'm going to refer to this promotion in the rest of this post as SAB.)
For today's project, I've made an Easel Card (one of my one-page instructions sheets here!). The best thing about this card is that there are THREE SAB FREE PRODUCTS that I've used in constructing it!
- The Bouquet is made with a stamp from the set, Happy Moments.
- The greeting inside the card is made with a stamp from Wonderful Words
- The sides of the scalloped layer (made with So Saffron Card Stock) is punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch. Yes, you can get a PUNCH, in Stampin' Up!'s new style, FOR FREE!
And do you recognize the Designer Series Paper? I've only used it here a few times in the last week or so – it's Tea Party, still my favorite of Stampin' Up!'s luscious papers. Peeking out through the scalloped border is a layer of Pretty in Pink Card Stock, and some Soft Subtles Brads set everything off so nicely. For the "stop" inside the card – which helps that easel front stand up and be notices – I punches some small flowers with the Trio Flower Punch.
Here is the layout if you'd like to try this cute little all-occasion card!
Subscribe to the comments for this postWow! It’s a Brand New Look for Robin’s Craft Room!!
Aloha, all!
You would be hard put to find any similarity between that wonderfully neat new desk in my new blog header and the rat's nest that is currently in the real craft room. But I LOVE IT!!! Thanks so much to Michelle Laycock who took my ideas about what I wanted and came up with something totally unexpected, and totally delightful! Now I want to get out the Greenhouse Garden Stamps and make some Hibiscus cards to celebrate! But that will have to wait until I finish up this week's (ugh) chores.
For now, I'm going to recycle a card I made last fall. I just love the Hibiscus flowers that I can make with this stamp set! And a fitting "Thank You" to Michelle for her fabulous job for me!
A Heartfelt Shamrock
Aloha, all!
This morning I was in the grocery store and I could not believe that I was seeing a bag of GREEN M&Ms! Oh, no! I had to have them for some kind of St. Patrick’s Day project! But I couldn’t see Stampin’ Up! coming up with a shamrock treat cup (although, if they did, I’d be first in line to buy them). What to do, what to do. Just about everyone who knows me knows that, while I can take someone else’s idea and jazz it up to make it my own, I managed not to be in line when they handed out the genetic make up for true creativity. So it took me awhile to figure out how I was going to make the Heart Treat Cups into a Shamrock. Believe me, there’s lots of scraps of various green card stock all over the craft room, most from failed efforts to punch hearts into shamrock submission.
Finally – voila! I had my Shamrock Treat Card! Not only that, I used THREE products that were meant to be either for Valentine’s Day or for something related to engagements/weddings. For this card, I used the Heart Treat Cup, the Stampin’ Up! Heart of Hearts Embosslit, and the Sweetheart Stamp Set that’s advertised in the Heart Treat Cups flyer. I used the Full Heart Punch to make the opening for the treat cup, and also to make the shamrock stem.
The small shamrock that I used for the background stamp is from the stamp set, Holiday Blitz, and the small greeting at the bottom right is from the set, All Holidays.
The colors I used for this project are Garden Green (for the darker background and Sweetheart stamp), and Green Galore.
The instructions for making the treat cup card are in (as always) a one-page tutorial!
Thank You, Lucy!
Aloha, all!
Yesterday I posted about an address booklet I made for my friend, Lucy. When I stopped by her home this morning to deliver the little gift, she had a gift for me. A Valentine gift! It was a jar of freshly made Lilikoi-Guava Jam, all packaged up in a box made with the Sending Love Designer Series Paper, sealed with hearts punched with the Heart to Heart Punch. Whoa! The best part of all of it was that my husband felt like he had to taste the jam and made himself some toast. He’s been feeling so sick for the last few days that I was thrilled that he had an appetite for something with some flavor.
So a big "Thank You" to Lucy – and, of course, a Thank You card will be on its way with Tuesday’s mail pick up.
What better way to make a Thank You note for a Valentine’s Gift than with some of the same Sending Love designer series paper. And this fit right in with a challenge for one of my online Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator groups, SUDSOL. The challenge was to use Red, White and Blue in a design. The colors for this card are Real Red, Not Quite Navy (my favorite Stampin’ Up! blue) and Very Vanilla. The ribbon is one of the new 5/8" satin ribbons, and the stamp set is from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, Happy Moments.
Once again, I used the new Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches to make a border around the whole central motif. I can hardly wait for an excuse to use this punch set!
Valentines for the Grandkids
Aloha, all!
After I finally got the craft room back in shape, I started tearing it apart again to make these cards for our grandchildren. The bears are from the Build A Bear Workshop set, Beary Best Friends (118052) and the greeting is from the set, Beary Nice Wishes (118050). While these sets were introduced in the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog, which has expired, they’re in the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog, too! If it’s in the Build a Bear collection, it’s still current!
NOT ONLY THAT – THERE’S A SPECIAL DEAL RIGHT NOW! For any $20 you spend on the Stampin’ Up! Build A Bear collection, you’ll get a certificate for $5 off a $25 purchase at any product at a Build A Bear Workshop store.
Now back to my cards. I had so much fun cutting out the "paper doll" bears and the little girl bears’ dresses that I felt like a little girl again myself!
Each of the dresses is made from a different one of the glittery papers from the Designer Series Paper set, Sending Love, and I used Crystal Effects to make their patent leather shoes and accent the heart in the "I {heart} You Beary Much." I stamped "Happy Valentine’s Day" from Teeny Tiny Wishes inside each of the cards.
I used the new Scallop Trim Border and Scallop Trim Corner punches for the girl cards, and the Pinking Hearts Border and Corner punches for the boy cards. This is the first time that I used the Pinking Hearts to make a square, and I found it to be a lot easier than the Scallop Trim punches. But I think I’ve got the Scallop Trim punches down now, and I’m ready to write my own tutorial on it. I’ve read tutorials and still had to figure it out my own way. I’m hoping that the tutorial I write will help you out, too! Look for it here next week!
A Challenge for YOU!
Aloha, all!
Just a quick note today to make an announcement – I’d like to FEATURE YOUR CARDS on my blog! Have you used one of my templates, either from recent posts or from any of my tutorials? If so, just e-mail me a picture and I’ll be glad to post it here for my blog followers to ooh and aah over! And believe me, they will. I know that I look at some of my cards and think, "Oh, that’s just an ordinary card." But they I get a compliment out of the blue and remember that everyone is different. I may have made the same basic card several times, but there are those of you out there in blog land who’ve never made a card like that! We all love any ideas that we can get our hands on. Of course, there are those that make us want to drop everything and go create. I find those to be rarer. But I learn something new from EVERY card I see (well, unless it’s a totally complete copy of another card – and that really doesn’t happen that much). When I hold a class, even when I cut papers ahead of time and put the same inks and embellishments out for everyone, every card ends up being different – and interesting!
So e-mail me a photo (or photos) of your creations, and I’ll showcase them here!
So now I realize I can’t just put out a pictureless blog post! So here’s an idea of how I worked with a card that ended up having two slightly different looks. I’m still not sure which one I like best, but both make me think a bit as I look at them.
Here’s the first card. The paper is from the Designer Series Paper set, Razzleberry Lemonade. I really enjoy looking at the paper. But I have found it hard to use much as a background because there’s just so much color and design in it – everything else is overwhelmed – including that blank piece of Melon Mambo Card Stock! Hmmm. But now that I look at it again, maybe it’s not so bad….
On to the modified version. I slipped in another strip from the background paper. What do you think?
A Few Card Sketches
Aloha, all!
Whenever I do a class that involves a particular card layout, I try to make a sketch for the class participants. Sometimes I just give them a picture of the card on which we’re working. But I also include the dimensions so they can go to their own craft rooms and make other cards using those same dimensions.
Yesterday I shared the sketch with dimensions of the card I featured. For today, I’ll share some other sketches. I’m going to try to do that more often in both my blog posts and my newsletters so that you can have a blank slate to use even if you don’t have all the cool Stampin’ Up! products that I used to make mine. Of course, I’m ready and able to help you purchase any of the products I use. I only use CURRENT Stampin’ Up! products, so you can be assured that you can order (or at least earn) anything I share here.
This sketch is the one for the Birthday Card I showed off in one of my watercolor posts earlier this week. Just imagine your own stamped image on the top layer of the squares, and your own border punch and embellishments to top it off!
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This is the sketch for the first watercolor card from earlier in the week, featuring Flower Fancy and Sincere Salutations. There’s a much larger area to show off stamps, texture and embellishments on the top layer of this card.
Did I Mention I {Heart} Watercolor?
Aloha, all! No, I didn’t use the new stamp set, I {Heart} Hearts, in my watercolor class! But now that I think about it, I believe I shall have to watercolor a Valentine while there’s still some time!
But I did demonstrate one more card using one of my "old" favorite sets, Flower Fancy. A few days I showed off a Get Well Card using this set and some watercoloring. Today’s card is a card for any occasion: Get Well, Birthday, or even just "Thinking of You." Stamp a greeting from my other "old" favorite set, Sincere Salutations, and you’ve got yourself a complete card!
While I used quite a few different colors on the earlier Flower Fancy card, for this card I stuck with a bright pink that’s very nicely accented by some Melon Mambo 1/2" Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon and a couple of Fire Square Rhinestone Brads. I layered up some Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo card stock, and made the basic card using Confetti Cream card stock, which I think nicely accents the off-white of the Watercolor Paper. (Question: why do they call the heavy stuff "paper" and the lighter stuff "card stock." Just rambling.)
When I sent my newsletter out this week, I was still feeling pretty achy, and I managed to make a couple of typos, including one in the "sketch" of the card that was the main part of the tutorial. That’s what comes of not being able to sit for long enough to proofread properly! Anyway, I thought I’d use a blog post to make the correction. That got me to thinking (a dangerous occupation for me right now). As long as I had dimensions already made for my class participants, why not share them with you as I post my cards?
Here, then, is the sketch for today’s card. Note that the small squares are so EASY because they use PUNCHES!!
Tomorrow I’ll share some more sketches from recent cards.
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A Little More Watercolor
Aloha, all!
I’m still trying to get back into my routine after being a bit "out of it" for awhile. I’m still not 100%, but it’s driving me crazy not being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it and for however long I want to stick with it! Did you get all that?
When I taught my watercolor class last week, I couldn’t just do one project. And while I could sit and paint designs from Flower Fancy for a long time (and I’ll share another with you tomorrow) I needed to use something else that required a bit of a different technique. This card uses one of the stamp sets from the 2010 Sale-A-Bration Catalog, Happy Moments. While that stack of gifts would stand very nicely by itself, stamped on some colorful paper, I thought some watercolor might help it stand out in a different way. For the bottom two boxes, the technique was to have a darker color around the perimeter of each box, with the fill a lighter color, to give the boxes some depth and even what looks like a bit of shine. The top box has its own "shine" courtesy of a few dabs of Crystal Effects. It’s been dry enough here in East Hawaii the past few weeks that the Crystal Effects dries much more quickly than it usually does here.
There are two more brand new products feature on this card. The Scallop Trim Border Punch is one that you can get FOR FREE as part of this year’s Sale-A-Bration. You may already know the routine – purchase $50 worth of Stampin’ Up! products on one order and you get to pick something FREE from among dozens of current Stampin’ Up! products, many of which you can ONLY GET during Sale-A-Bration. While this punch will be around after Sale-A-Bration, my thinking is why not get it for free while the getting is good?!
Finally, another delightful "find" from the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog is the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack. As I mentioned yesterday, I was reluctant to purchase the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt, but now I can’t imagine why – it’s so versatile. It’s the same with the Designer Series Paper Stack. What stood out in the catalog (for me at least) was all those pictures of trees that really don’t "fit" here in Hawaii. But I talked myself into buying the paper and let me tell you I will be using it all – and probably not use a tree ever. There are so many gorgeous geometrical designs,using eight colors (according to Stampin’ Up! – a lot more than that according to what I’ve been using!) I used Pumpkin Pie as an accent color, and Pumpkin Pie is one of the colors mentioned by Stampin’ Up! as being featured in this paper set. But I also used Tempting Turquoise on this card, and it seems to me to be a great "match" for this particular paper. Sure, I could have used Taken With Teal, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as bright and cheery, IMHO!
Tomorrow a bit more watercolor, then back to some Valentine Cards!
Just Hanging in There?
Aloha, all!
Oh, my, it’s been awhile since I’ve taken the time to sit and chat. The problem has been in the sitting, as my back has really been giving me a hard time over the past couple of weeks. So it’s been hard to keep my focus and do everything that I’m used to doing. But I’ve been hanging in there.
For one thing, I’ve been able to spend some time in my craft room because I do most of my papercrafting standing up. That has nothing to do with my back; it’s just the way I like to work. I may have to analyze that one day. But for today, I’m going to take some time to try to catch you all up on what I’ve been doing.
To begin, I have a friend – Marcia – who has also been under the weather. So a get well card is definitely in order. Getting that designed and made fit right into a watercolor class that I presented last week. For that class, we used Stampin’ Up!’s Watercolor Pencils. These are one of the hidden gems in the Stampin’ Up! catalog. I’ve taken art lessons on and off for the last 20 years or so, and watercolor is the medium in which I work most of the time these days. So taking a wet brush in hand is just a delight, especially when I can use Stampin’ Up! products.
There are quite a few Stampin’ Up! products in this card, some old and some brand new. You’ll probably recognize the "old" stamp sets, Flower Fancy and Sincere Salutations. It seems to be that I’ve been using these sets since I became a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. And I never time of them. They’re comfortable old standby stamp sets that I can turn to for every need.
What I didn’t expect was how well they coordinated with one of Stampin’ Up!’s newest product lines, felt embellishments. You may remember the Felt Flurries of Christmas 2008. The newest felt line, Sweet Pea Stitched Felt, has so much more to offer!. I have to tell you that I couldn’t quite get myself to but any when we available to preorder from the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog. But Stampin’ Up! gave me these free when I received my My Digital Studio certification. Can’t have something lying around and not using it, can I?!
When I get myself back to where I’m comfortable staying in one position for any length of time, I’ll prepare some kind of a tutorial on the use of the watercolor pencils. For now, I think I’ll take a break and go walk around a bit.
